hair, praying that his luck hadn't run out.
He could feel her temperature rising even though her body was trembling as though cold.
"Lainey? Lainey, can you hear me?"
Her eyelids fluttered open. Her beautiful brown eyes were glazed with pain.
"Micah?"
"I'm here."
"I can't see you."
His arms tightened around her. "I'm here,cominza ."
"I'm dying, aren't I?"
"No!"
She tried to lift her hand so she could touch him, but she didn't have the strength. A single tear rolled down her cheek.
"We'll never... get married... now."
"We will, Lainey, I promise."
"Love... you..."
"Lainey!" He shook her slightly as her eyelids fluttered down. "Lainey! Don't leave me." Ah, Great God, don't let her die, please don't let her die.
He sat there through the night, holding her body close to his, heedless of the cold, of the damp ground, of the monotonous throbbing of his wounds. He thought of nothing but Lainey, of what she had come to mean to him, of how much he had grown to love her in such a short time. He could not lose her now.
Time and again, he glanced skyward, willing Pergith's ship to appear. Xanthia possessed remarkable medical technology, but even their doctors couldn't restore life once it was gone.
He placed his hand on her brow, feeling the heat radiating from her skin, the chills that wracked her body. She'd lost so much blood. How much could a human lose and still live?
The minutes passed slowly, each one like an eternity, and then, in the darkest hour before the dawn, he heard the faint whir of a ship.
Looking up, he saw Pergith's spacecraft break through the clouds to hover directly overhead. The bottom hatch opened; a moment later, a transporter beam carried Micah and Lainey up into the ship.
"Zermicazyne!" Pergith entered the transporter room, his arms outstretched in welcome, until he saw Micah's burden. "Tjete," he swore softly, "who have you got there?"
"Her name is Lainey St. John, and she's badly hurt."
"It is against regulations to bring an earthling on board an exploratory vessel," Pergith said. "I could lose my commission."
"Your commission be damned," Micah said curtly, and before Pergith could argue or ask any more questions, Micah swept past him, carrying Lainey down to the hospital deck.
A doctor and two medic assistants, both dressed in light gray jumpsuits, looked up as Micah burst into the room and placed Lainey on one of the examining tables.
"She's dying," he said, choking on the words. "Do something."
"You do not look so good yourself," Pergith remarked, entering the room behind Micah. "Maybe you should climb up on the other table?"
"Lainey first," Micah insisted.
"We will take care of her," the doctor said, pulling on a pair of sterile gloves. His gaze swept over Micah, noting the dried blood on his left arm and right shoulder. "Do not worry, commander. Rathe, take Commander Zermicazyne into the other room and look after his injuries."
"I am all right," Micah said, not wanting to leave Lainey's side.
"I am the commander of this ship," Pergith said firmly, "and you will do as Doctor Corda has ordered." Clasping his hands behind his back, Pergith fixed his gaze on the doctor's face. "I want him to have a complete examination."
"Pergith!"
"Head to foot," Pergith said. He glanced back at Micah. "I will be in my quarters when you are through, Commander."
Micah glared at his old friend, but there was nothing to do but obey. He wasn't on Earth now. Technically, he was on Xanthian soil, and Pergith was in command.
He glanced over his shoulder as he followed the medic out of the room. Lainey's face was as pale as the thin white cloth that had been placed over her. Her hair, as black as the crystals of Maddorriah, only emphasized her lack of color. But it was the dark crimson stain on her chest that held his gaze. She had been badly hurt, and it was all his fault.
Following the medic into the next room, Micah striped off his clothing and stretched out on the exam table, feeling its built-in warmth relax him until he was hardly conscious of the dull ache in his arm and shoulder.
He closed his eyes as the medic quickly and expertly washed the wounds with warm water laced with a soothing antiseptic, sprayed his arm and shoulder with a pungent disinfectant, and neatly stitched the wounds. When that was done, the medic applied the lazerpad which would accelerate healing and eliminate scarring.
With the injuries taken care of, the medic subjected Micah to an in-depth physical examination, pronouncing him in remarkably good