Jeanne G'Fellers - No Sister of Mine by Jeanne G'Fellers (reading tree TXT) 📗

The level lift doors slid open with an airy swoosh, admitting Tatra. She glided across the room to give Krell a compassionate embrace. “I am so sorry. She was such a sweet girl.”

“She’s not dead, Tatra. She’s down there.” Krell tapped the view-screen, intent on the picture.

The Healer glanced at Firman. He shrugged and shook his head in similar bewilderment. “Denial,” he whispered.

“There’s nothing to deny!” exclaimed Krell, pushing Tatra away. “LaRenna is very much alive. I know it. I feel it in my heart.”

“You’re positive she’s alive?” A physician’s analytical tone seeped into Tatra’s alto. Her concern for Krell now extended beyond the usual grief counseling and into her actual mental status. “How do you know? All indications are to the contrary.”

Krell gazed at her in astonishment. “She’s near. Can’t you feel her? I hear her voice. Smell her scent. She’s close, Tatra. Getting her back is all I can think of.”

“Do you dream of her?”

“Every time I close my eyes.” Krell’s expression darkened. “Mostly nightmares as of late.”

“Tell me about them.”

Krell stepped back when she noticed the detached clinical expression on Tatra’s face. “I don’t need any of your psychoanalytical jargon trying to convince me I’ve lost my senses. I know she’s alive. I know it!”

“Chances are she isn’t.” Tatra glanced again to Firman. “You have to face facts.”

“Facts?” Krell’s denying expression shifted into indignation. “You physicians think you’re above error. You know what you can do with your facts, Healer Wileyse?” Krell overturned one of the worktable chairs in a lunge that shoved Tatra against the wall. “You can shove them and that self-serving, know-it-all analysis up your bony ass!”

“Krell, release me—please. Your personal pain doesn’t give you the right to attack another.” Tatra chewed at her bottom lip. “I only wish to help.”

“Back off, Krell.” Firman laid a hand on his sister’s shoulder. She shrugged him off and shoved Tatra into the wall again.

“Pain? Woman, you’ve no idea the pain she’s endured!”

“Krell, NO!” Firman jerked back with all his might, tumbling them both over the worktable. Tatra retreated to the corner nearest the lift and watched, gasping as Firman turned his sibling’s anger. “Come on, Krell, it won’t be the first time I’ve dropped you a peg.”

“And it won’t be the first time I’ve kicked your fool ass either!” Krell swung at him, stumbling forward with the effort. Firman grabbed her arm as she moved, twisting it high on her back.

“If that’s the best you can do then I’m disappointed. LaRenna could have done better than that.”

“You bastard!” Krell wrapped her foot around his ankle and jerked hard, careening him to the floor. Firman pulled her down as he fell then rolled on top, neatly pinning her with his knees.

“Stupid move, Kimshee. LaRenna would’ve known better.” Firman pushed his knees deep into Krell’s back, encouraging the string of curses she threw at him. “Come on Taelach, you too weak to fend off a mere Aut? How do you expect to care for a mate when you can’t whip me?” Firman hauled Krell’s head back by the hair then bent close. “If this is the best you can do,” he whispered in her ear, “then maybe she’s better off dead.”

Krell bent with uncontrollable wrath, throwing Firman off her back. “You sorry son of a bitch, I told you she’s not dead!” She grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and swung him headlong into the viewer’s control board. The impact scattered an arcing electrical spray across the room. “She’s alive!”

“She’s dead and you know it!”

“NO!” Krell grabbed him again, throwing him across the worktable and into a far chair. “Had enough, old man?”

“Not on your life. This is just getting interesting.” Firman reached across the table, snagging Krell’s tunic. “Come here, kid. Let me knock a little reality into that thick skull of yours.” He ducked a punch and landed his fist squarely in Krell’s face, sending her sliding back across the table. “Your woman is gone. Deal with it.”

Krell quickly shook off the blow. “You’ll have to do much more than that to convince me she’s anything but alive.” Her sweet right toppled him to the floor.

“Whoa!” A grin crinkled the skin surrounding Firman’s stinging eye. “It’s about time you put some energy into it. Put that much effort into finding LaRenna and you just might get her back.”

“What?” Krell stumbled back and dropped her arms.

“You heard me.” Firman threw his arm around his sibling in a bear-grip hug. “I haven’t put up with your crazy notions for thirty-nine passes without learning they have an annoying habit of being true.” He shoved Krell to the floor and collapsed on top of her, his deep laugh shaking the floor. “Come on. Hit me again. I haven’t tussled with you in ages.”

Krell chuckled and lightly punched his arm. “So, you’re going to help me?”

“You know it.”

“Have you lost your minds?” Tatra exited her corner to face them, one hand on her hip, the other shaking a critical finger. “You try to kill each other one minute then laugh together the next? I don’t understand!”

“You wouldn’t.” Krell clouted Firman’s back. “You don’t have a sibling.”

“Think of it this way, Tatra.” Firman scrubbed affectionately at Krell’s head. “She was going to blow regardless. Would you rather have been tossed around?”

“Certainly not,” warbled the healer. “I’m no fighter.”

“That’s obvious,” he snickered with a wink her direction. “You’re all bone, no flesh. That crash would have snapped a twig like you.”

Tatra gaped. “You mean to tell me you think she’s alive, too? Ockson said she was in a bad way before the launch ever went down.”

“Ockson is a fool who’d never seen LaRenna before today,” interjected Krell.

“True,” agreed Firman. “I’ve seen her work. That little Kimshee left more than one mark on Cance’s face. If Krell’s convinced she’s alive then I am, too.” He patted Krell on the shoulder and winked at Tatra. “Hey skinny, did Ockson say when the search teams were setting out?”

“They’re assembling