Chapter 6

The next morning the High Lords used one of their communicators to contract the Antares and inform them of their approach as they were coming within the distance the sensors on the other ship would be able to detect the cube. Of course the High Lords could have easily hidden their presence from the Antares but that wasn't the intent since Mev wished to meet the Republic ship. There was some final business between the High Lords and the Antares before their separation would be complete.

As the two ships approached each other the High Lords' cube appeared in the sensors of the Antares as a silvery sphere more than 2 kilometers in diameter, a size which was considerably larger than the Antares herself. It was only because Mev opened communications via video link that the Antares had any knowledge of who was occupying the sphere that was rapidly approaching them. None of the Republic battle cruiser's sensors were able to penetrate the energy fields surrounding the High Lords' cube.

As soon as the cube was within a few kilometers of the Antares Mev sent Sheila Blake to the other ship to meet with the captain of the other ship and make the arrangements for those who were to be moved to the cube. Sheila remained in telepathic communication with the other High Lords who remained on the cube, the shields surrounding it provided no hindrance to that form of communication.

The current events had been foreseen by all the High Lords to a greater or lesser extent depending upon each one's abilities. But the exact details of who would be transferring and how many people would be coming remained unknown until the actual transfer arrangements were made. While monitoring Sheila on board the Antares Mev and the other remaining High Lords were also making preparations to receive those who would be moving to the cube.

Several hours passed and then a shuttle left the shuttle bay of the Antares and made its way toward the cube. As the shuttle approached the cube Mev used one of the Republic communicators he had to contact the shuttle and inform the pilot where he should go. As the shuttle approached the shield an opening formed allowing the shuttle to enter into a pocket in the shielding. Once fully inside this pocket the shielding closed and the shield pocket dissipated. This resulted in the shuttle now being inside the sh8ield and on the same side of the cube as the control tower. The shuttle came in for a landing to an area set aside as a landing pad near the control tower.

As the shuttle settled to a stop on the metal deck of the cube Mev transported himself to the shuttle and was standing waiting as the door of the shuttle opened. Mev was only slightly surprised when the first person to come through the door of the shuttle was Dr. Mori from the Antares medical department. From his precognitive senses Mev had a pretty good idea of why Mori was there.

"I had wondered what you were planning to do after you left the Antares. You managed to come up with this in that short a time, I'm impressed. Though it looks like things are still a bit unfinished," Mori said to Mev when they met.

"It's easier and more comfortable to travel with a ship so we managed to put this together. We're building it as we go along," Mev answered.

"I have brought ten refugees with me on this trip as well as 20 suspended animation chambers containing some of those who were two badly injured for Antares Medical to handle. Can you do something to help them Mev?" the doctor asked.

"Yes. It will take some time but it is possible to restore everyone in a hibernation chamber to health again. It is possible for every one of them to be restored to what they were before," Mev replied.

"Even those with brain damage?" Mori asked, afraid to hope for this.

"Yes, even those can be restored fully, without any lasting handicap," Mev answered.

"I find that hard to believe, some of them are so far gone even a major hospital would be at a loss. But if you can save even some of them I would be extremely happy," Mori said. The plight of those in the suspended animation capsules had been a heave weight upon Mori's mind, and there were more than 200 in forced hibernation due to injury, both from the crew of the Antares and civilian refugees.

"Worry not. There are none in such a state who are beyond our capacity to restore to health. You may bring them all if you wish and none would be list if you do so," Mev told Mori. During his time on the Antares Mev had known about the plight of those in the suspended animation chambers but had not been in a position to help them before. Things were different now.

Zira and Shina suddenly appeared next to Mev and Mori was startled somewhat by their sudden arrival even though he already knew about the High Lord powers. "How do you do that?" Mori asked.

"If you remain with us, as your thoughts indicate you are inclined to do, you will get the opportunity to learn how it is done. You know Zira from before and with her is Shina, who we added to our group on the planet. Her condition when we met had some of the same hopeless nature as those on the suspended animation chambers. They will assist you in your efforts," Mev answered.

The people on the shuttle who were not in suspended animation capsules began to file off the shuttle and Kathleen with several others from the orphan girls group helped them with their mostly meager possessions. A deck just below that already inhabited had been prepared for those who would be coming from the Antares. At the moment there was mostly just empty rooms there, the people moving in would have to assist with constructing the furnishings and equipment.

For Shina working with the injured humans in suspended animation was her first occasion to use her powers in an intentional way. Shina had been shocked at what she had done to Basak, not so much for what had happened to him, since his life had been forfeit due to his treachery. Instead it was the completely involuntary and unintentional nature of the power blast she had sent toward Basak. She had not realized up until then that she was capable of such a thing, nor the magnitude of the change which had been wrought upon her.

The other High Lords in the group had not pressed her to do anything with her powers, though they cheerfully answered every question she had asked of them, both before and after they had come to the cube. And they had done nothing to exclude her from complete and full membership in the group to whatever extent she wished to have. But at the same time the others had given her whatever space she needed to come to terms with the changes that had come upon her and her family.

But when it came time to begin dealing with the medical problems of the humans and healing them, Mev had pushed Shina into participating. It was a task she had felt was impossible to refuse, especially since her role would be assisting Zira. Shina knew Zira was the one most knowledgeable of healing spellcraft and spellcraft in general of the group. Once Zira had assured her that she would watch over Shina and ensure she did no accidental harm she had consented to join in the healing sessions.

Everyone in a suspended animation capsule had been injured beyond the capabilities of the Antares sick bay and many would have little chance of survival even after returning to a full Interstellar Republic hospital. Dr. Mori was pessimistic that even the High Lords would be able to do anything for them, but it seemed to be a better chance for them than sleeping until the Antares was able to return to the Republic. Mori had decided that if the High Lords were indeed able to restore the sleepers to health he was going to remain with them to learn their secret of healing.

The first sleeper that Zira and Shina revived had been a victim of decompression, the compartment the woman had been in had been opened to vacuum when the Antares had taken a hit in her previous battle with Morro warships. Mori had been able to repair and heal most of the other damage from the vacuum exposure but there had also been brain damage due to hypoxia. Mori had doubts if even a top hospital in the Republic would be able to do much to restore the woman's brain function.

Mori had deliberately chosen one of his most challenging cases to go first, just to see how the High Lords would handle it. If Zira and Shina managed to heal this one then it was likely they would be able to restore every one of the others. It was a miracle beyond what Mori dared hope for.

Mori and his two assistants shut down the suspended animation capsule and in so doing revived the person inside it. However, the woman who had been sleeping there had been in a mental vegetative state and was unresponsive. As instructed by Zira Mori laid out the patient on a table to await the High Lord's ministrations. His assistants closed up the suspended animation capsule and wheeled it away to be returned to the Antares. There was no need of such a facility on the cube but the Antares might have a future need of it.

Shina, Mori, and the two assistants looked on in interest as Zira began the work of healing the first patient. Because of her condition the woman on the table was essentially unconscious with no ability at present to awaken. Zira placed her hands on the injured woman's chest and began her work.

To Mori and the two assistants it seemed like nothing was happening and the three were soon feeling puzzled but didn't say or do anything to interfere. But for Shina things were very different since while she was essentially untrained she was still fully and completely a High Lord of Venda. Because of this Shina was able to perceive a considerable amount of what was happening, though much of it exceeded her understanding.

Initially, Shina could somehow sense that Zira was extending her perceptions into the unconscious woman's body. Shina didn't understand how she was able to tell this was happening but somehow the certain knowledge of it came to her immediately. Zira quickly looked over at Shina and smiled to let her know she was sensing things correctly, then Zira returned to her work with the unconscious woman.

After a few minutes Shina somehow sensed that Zira had finished her spellcraft scan of the unconscious woman's body. After a moment Zira began the actual work of healing and when this happened Shina actually saw something happening, though it wasn't actually her physical eyes seeing it. Shina could easily see a red glow flow from Zira's hands into the unconscious woman's body, spreading within it in all directions. The glow, while somewhat dim, was also completely visible to Shina. But strangely enough when Shina closed her eyes for a few seconds she could still see Zira, the woman she was working on, and the red glow of healing power.

Unlike Shina, Dr. Mori and the two medics did not really sense anything happening. However, Mori was so intent on seeing and understanding what was happening that when Zira started sending the healing energy into his patient's body he thought he might have seen a faint reddish glow. But when he blinked it was gone.

Zira continued pouring the healing energy into the woman on the table for nearly five minutes. In addition to the brain damage the woman also had some remaining lung damage due to the imperfect healing of even Republic advanced medical care. If left to only her own energy resources Zira would have been only able to heal a few people before needing to rest but now she was able to draw upon spellcraft energy from a number of different sources, including even the engines of the cube itself. So the healing she was performing now made little drain upon Zira's own energies.

Suddenly, the woman on the table sat up suddenly and looked wildly around her, breathing in gasping breaths. Zira stepped back allowing Mori to rush to the table, the patient was now conscious with her last clear memory the bulkhead blowing out and the air in the compartment escaping after it. The woman's strange breathing was entirely due to her memory of the her last breathless moments in hard vacuum.

The woman on the table soon quieted with Mori's attention and a short explanation of what was happening. Mori was able to understand and explain what had happened, but not how the healing had been accomplished. Once the patient had calmed the doctor busied himself with as detailed an examination of the woman as he could make with the facilities and equipment he had with him. While that was going on Zira walked over to Shina.

"What did you see of what just happened?" Zira asked the younger High Lord woman.

"First I could somehow sense you 'looking' inside that woman's body. Then I saw a red colored glow flow from your hands into her." Shina answered.

"Your senses are good, you can see what is happening even if you don't understand it yet. This technique is actually quite easy. But it does take a lot of your energy unless you can find someone or something to draw it from. Fortunately, we have many energy sources we can draw upon now for such workings," Zira said.

"I think I would like to learn how to do it. Is it the same thing that saved me?" Shina asked.

"It is similar but not quite the same thing. In your case your complete body and genetic structure were remade to be as you are now. But here we are only restoring them to their existing nature. The person that I just healed remains a human just as she was before, though perhaps in better health than she ever had before." Zira explained.