The Way Back (Champions of the Crystal Book 4)

Chapter 20: Resolution

The download took six days, ten hours, thirteen minutes, and thirty-one seconds, by Sabrina's count. During that time, she managed to eat, sleep, and converse reasonably intelligently, but the only thing she was truly aware of was the excruciatingly slow passage of time and the prayer that ran constantly in the back of her mind.

Ford distracted her by dragging her through the documents Praxatillus had sent him and badgering her for suggestions in approaching the Committee with changes the Council of Trême wanted made. She also played endless games of chess with him and Tirqwin. Khediva stayed mostly silent, except to request help in getting Tirqwin's mind off his role in what could well be a family tragedy. Tirqwin spoke to the Committee on Ford's behalf, expressed his outrage to Mara and the Council of Trême about the conditions under which Sabrina's mindscan had taken place, and worked with Khediva to set up a way for Sabrina to edit her memory copy, deleting certain material considered classified by Homeworld.

Khediva was notified immediately when the download was complete, but none of them was allowed to come to the station until summoned, and they waited in vain for the summons. Sabrina fidgeted quietly until she just couldn't stand it anymore. "Khediva, send me over there!" she burst out, springing to her feet and heading for the upper control deck.

"Sabrina, I cannot do that. You know that," the Wayship said, trying to be reasonable but unable to mask the irritation in her voice.

"If you don't, I'll do it manually!" Sabrina threatened. She had barely started to reach out for the controls when Tirqwin grabbed her wrist, making her yelp in pain. "Let me go, damn you!"

"Sit down," he hissed.

"Get out of my way, Tirqwin. I'm going over there!"

"Sit down or I will sedate you."

"You'll have to hold me down to do it!" Sabrina set her teeth and made an effort to twist out of Tirqwin's grip. The pain brought tears to her eyes.

"Stop this, Sabrina!" Tirqwin shouted. Catching her shoulder with his free hand, he pushed her back against the control pedestal so she couldn't find room to maneuver. "Stop it! It will do no good. All you will do is distract them. They have to run some tests, confirm what he has absorbed and how he is processing it."

"I don't have to interrupt them. I just want to go into the observation room, like before. Please!"

"Father, isn't there some way—" Ford began.

"No!" Tirqwin roared. "Both of you, sit down and be quiet! We will wait this out like rational beings!" He pinned Sabrina with a fierce gaze until she looked down.

"Sabrina," Ford said into the uncomfortable silence that followed, "it's going to take some time. But remember, if the worst had happened, there would have been word already. There wouldn't be anything to test. So we know he's not dead or comatose."

Sabrina slumped in Tirqwin's hold, and he released her. She turned to Ford. "I know. But—but that doesn't tell me who he is, or if the download scrambled his mind!"

"We can't do anything about it, whatever's happened," Ford pointed out. "Come on, Sabrina. Sit down." He tried for a smile. "Don't make Father break your arm, or Mother will never forgive him. Or me."

"I'm not under Mara's protection right now," she muttered.

"Doesn't matter a bit," he said.

She sighed, then took a deep breath and stood up straight. Catching a glimpse of Tirqwin, she said, "I'm sorry, Tirqwin."

"No," he said after a moment. "It is I who am sorry. At the moment I am extremely sorry I did not return you and Scotty to Earth the first time you asked me to. You both could have been spared so much pain."