Black Hole Heartbeat

Querius - 57

Querius' memory continued to growl for days. He had never physically stood

in the tree's presence, that much he had figured out. He continued to tinker

with his turret upgrade, hoping to settle his mind. So far the answer had not

come.

"Try this, Krakk," Querius said, handing him a bracelet.

Krakk strapped it around the girth of his wrist. Querius guided him over to a

long glass tube, just wide enough for Krakk to fit his arm inside. There was a

dense blue gel at the far end, about a foot and a half away from Krakk's fist.

"Will the ballistic gel be strong enough, Doctor?"

"The turret is only loaded with pellets, not bullets. This test is just to see if

the trigger can withstand the strength of your grip. Forr's bionic limb offers

the same level of pressure."

Krakk grabbed the trigger. The mini turret fired three rounds into the blue

goo before it snapped under the strain.

"Fantastic!" Querius shouted as the pellets hit the ballistic gel.

"The trigger broke, Doctor," Krakk said.

"What? Oh, that can be fixed, that can be fixed. No! The tree! Ranger's

fucking tree!"

"You've remembered?"

"My books! My fucking books!"

Querius frantically pushed aside the equipment on his desk until it spilled on

the floor with a metallic crash.

"Your textbooks are in those drawers," Krakk said, pointing.

Querius raced over and yanked open the top drawer, flinging books aside.

They landed on the ground, covers splayed and pages creased. Eventually he

found the right one, slamming its bright green cover down on the desk. He

skimmed the pages wildly.

"There!"

His finger tore the page as he pointed to one of the photographs. There was

a mass of fine print page taking up the entire right leaf, but the left page was

covered in a large, glossy picture of a tree. Its trunk was hooked over and

crooked, its roots fat. They stretched down the hillside. It matched the

drawing perfectly.

"Tupurs. It's a small planet not too far from the Jahlder homeworld, Herso. I

once wrote a study on the small worms that inhabit its terrain. Visited the

planet but never saw this tree. Read this book extensively. The page, the

image, it must have gotten stuck in my memory. Rather ironic."

"Ironic?" Krakk asked, picking up the mess.

"The worms I studied. They had a nasty habit of boring into skulls, trapping

themselves inside," Querius said with a smile.

"I don't understand."

"That's exactly what my memory did."

Krakk stared at him for a second.

"Should I input Tupurs's co-ordinates into the ship's computer?"

"Yes, yes, Donovan will need them. I'll radio Ranger and let her know we've

found her tree."

Querius ran his finger rapidly across the text, soaking up the information

once more.

"Oh no. Oh no, this won't do," Querius said.

"Doctor?"

Krakk stopped searching the grip map for Tupurs and glanced over.

"Yes, yes. I remember why I have not seen this tree now. When I visit planets

I like to explore them, have the feeling that my feet have touched every blade

of grass on its surface. I thought maybe this was not the case with Tupurs

because I was younger, obsessed with my work. No time for leisure, back

then. That is not the reason. Tupurs has a forbidden zone, a small palace

guarded by marching guards. Interestingly, this is a mixed race army, a quite

unusual concept for an organized security outfit. Bands of mercenaries, yes,

but –"

"Interesting maybe, but worrying for Captain and her crew," Krakk

interrupted.

"Hm? Oh, of course, of course. I'll be sure to notify her of the impending

hostile forces."

"I've located Tupurs, Doctor. Now I need the specific location of the tree on

the planet's surface."

Querius ran his hand to the bottom of the page, examining the small print.

"Oh dear. It doesn't appear to say."

"Can you figure it out?"

"I haven't done this in a long while," Querius said, laying his hands on the

paper.

He was about to focus his absorbsion panels when he noticed the tear. He

smoothed it down with his palm then splayed his hand across the page. His

absorbsion panels drank the information in. Giddy knowledge flooded him.

He lifted his hand away from the book and took a handkerchief from his

pocket, blotting away beads of sweat.

"Did you find them, Doctor?"

"Yes," he said with a weak smile.

He walked over to the map and typed in the co-ordinates.