Page 30 of Kailirex

CHAPTER 18

STELLA

I didn’t care how many people stared at me, I was getting on that shuttle pronto and getting down there to my mom and dad.

I bit back a sob. Dad! Why had he collapsed while walking Sookie? Had someone tried to mug him? Was it his angina or a heart attack, or… I blinked tears away furiously as we ran through the shuttle bay’s doors and across the bay, A stroke? His doctor was always on him about losing weight and watching his cholesterol.

Gentle hands guided me up the ramp of a shuttle I was about to go right past.

“It’s this one, my love.”

I nodded, hurtling inside, relieved to see my brother and Piloris already strapped in.

“Sit and I’ll strap you in,” Kailirex said softly, moving in front of the nearest empty seat. I plonked my ass down, leaned around him as he made good on his promise, and demanded, “What happened?”

I immediately regretted my shrill tone as I took in Eric’s look of devastation.

“They don’t know yet. Mom called on her way to the hospital. She said Mr. Zanecki was with him when it happened and he got a jogger who stopped to call 9-1-1.”

“Mr. Zanecki? The landlord?”

“Yeah. Mom said she’d explain more when we get there, she just kept saying Zanecki’s grandson’s all at fault. But I have no idea why and she was too worked up to say.”

“As soon as the call ended, I contacted sickbay, who is liaising with the hospital they are taking your father to. If he requires surgery, I’ve asked he be placed in a pod and brought up,” Piloris added.

I glanced over at Kailirex, who was buckling up beside me. He’d promised me pretty much the same thing, that the Mylos doctors would make sure he was okay.

“Thanks,” I told them both and they gave me a nod.

“Okay, we are cleared for take off,” Tillin said, none of his earlier humor on display now. He was all business.

We cleared the landing bay and the Fleet in silence. It was only as we began our re-entry that Eric spoke. “So, I see you got the great big alien hickey too.”

“What?” I stared at him dumbly.

He pointed to the fresh bite mark on his neck. “We’re twinsies.” He sighed. “Not how I wanted Mom to find out.”

I began to cry. “Or Dad,” I sobbed. “What if it gives him another heart attack?”

“We don’t know that was what it was,” Kai reminded me, rubbing soothing circles across the back of my hand.

“What else could it have been?”

“His angina,” my brother supplied. “Shock. He’s right, we don’t know. All we know is he collapsed, and let go of Sookie’s leash. Mr. Zanecki yelled at a guy running past to call an ambulance, and a lady on her way to catch a cab caught Sookie and held onto her until Mr. Zanecki took her once they put Dad in the ambulance. Then he remembered to call Mom. Poor guy was stunned seeing Dad just go down like that, right there on the sidewalk.”

“And Mom says it was his grandson’s fault? Why, what was he doing?”

Eric shrugged. “Dunno. I’m not even sure he was even there.”

“ETA is twenty minutes,” Tillin called out.

I blinked. “Are you speeding?” I asked suspiciously.

“Maximum speed is authorized in case of emergency," came the reply. “Don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe. We’ll slow down as we enter cruising altitude just outside the city. Air traffic control has already cleared us a path.”

True to his word, we arrived several minutes later, though they had felt like hours.

“Hi! We were told to expect you!” A woman in a skirted suit called out as we exited the shuttle. “I’m Lucy Monahan and I’m from patient services. If you’ll just follow me, I’ll take you to your father.”