Eternity Row by S. L. Viehl Page A

over and took one of Reever’s hands in mine. Tenderly, I pressed it to my cheek, making him focus on me. “Duncan. Sweetheart. I’m okay. It’s over. Now get on that exam table before I tranquilize you.”
    Reluctantly, he turned away from his intended victim. “I don’t want to be examined.”
    “You mean you’re not going to let me expose your magnificent body and make all the other girls jealous? I’ll cry.” I led him over and tugged on his sleeve. “Tunic off, please. Squilyp, you repeat those tests?”
    “Twice. Results were identical, both times.”
    “Okay.” I went on to explain the findings to Reever as we prepped him for a thorough examination.
    When I was finished, he said, “You didn’t want to tell me.”
    “Not really, but I know better.” He’d taught me on Terra that we were partners, in every sense of the word. And partners didn’t hold out on each other. “In return, you can do me a favor and leave Dhreen alone.”
    His eyes went from dark green to crystal gray. “I want to ascertain the level of his memory loss for myself.”
    He wanted to pound him into the deck.
    “Duncan, give it a rest. He’s not faking it.”
    “He acquired this amnesia before you could learn about the conditions on Oenrall.” His mouth became a thin line. “That seems very convenient.”
    “I’m sure his memory will return in time.” I calibrated the table scanner. “If it doesn’t, I’ll go down to Oenrall by myself. My immune system can handle anything Dhreen’s people dish out.”
    Squilyp prepared the biopsy tray. “I don’t think it’s wise, Cherijo.” He gloved before placing the monitor leads on Duncan’s chest. “The Oenrallian has many connections within the League. There may be no health crisis at all.”
    “No. Whatever this thing is, it was more important than making money to him.” I thought of how he’d bargained with my creator, trading his services as a spy for Joseph’s promise of aid. “More important than our friendship.”
    “And Jxinok?”
    He was referring to my promise to stop by Maggie’s homeworld, which was supposed to be in the same quadrant. “We still need to work on that one.” I gloved and masked, then caught that silent, masculine communication thing my husband and my boss did over my head. “ What ?”
    “I don’t trust Dhreen,” Duncan said.
    “Nor do I trust this Maggie person,” Squilyp added for good measure.
    “Guys. Guys .” I activated the scanner arm, which slowly began mapping out Reever’s internal organs. “None of this is a big deal. I find out what the problem is on Dhreen’s world, and we fix that-I owe it to Dhreen. We go to Maggie’s world-assuming we can find the damn thing-and see what little present she left for me. Then we outrun all the mercenaries and lizards and find a nice, quiet non-League world to settle down on. Piece of cake.”
    “You are not indebted to Dhreen,” Squilyp said. “And I am not too sure we can outrun the Hsktskt.”
    “He got us off Terra, and I gave him my word.” I moved over to the other side of the table, and inspected the long, hair-thin biopsy needle. “As for the Hsktskt, playing war games with the League will keep them tied up. Now, shall we find out why Reever has cornered the kidney market, or chat all day?”
    Since my hands were steady, but my stomach wasn’t-I’d been forced to operate on Reever back on Terra, and twice had been more than enough-I had Squilyp take the biopsy. As soon as he extracted the tissue sample from the budding organ, I prepared a slide and popped it in the electroniscopic unit.
    “Here we go.” I peered in the scope, and saw what appeared to be healthy, fully functioning kidney cells. I stepped back, then fed the data into the diagnostic unit. A moment later, the screen confirmed my diagnosis.
    “According to known medical science, it’s absolutely, positively a functional kidney.” I went over to the table, dressed the small biopsy puncture, and