“Yes. I mean, no. I mean, let me put my pants on first.”
“Duly noted,” Penelope said with amusement.
Tyff got dressed quickly, running his fingers along the leather straps as he settled them across his chest. He had worked hard for his honor. He wouldn’t give it up for anything. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to think about it again, because from today he was staying on the ship.
“Okay, Penelope. Let’s go.”
She teleported him immediately, and Vende waved at him from the counter.
“Tyff. Good morning. I’ve set up first drill for today. Would you like to inspect?”
“I would.” Tyff breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t been expecting Vende to be on task. They headed out to the training room and watched the recruits running through a standard drill of hand-to-hand combat.
The few hundred troops making simple, repetitive movements and war cries comforted him greatly. It had been a long time since he’d seen such serious training. He could tell from the dedication on their faces, they were fully committed to their way of life.
No mates or babies here—just Preor doing what they did best.
“A flight session is about to begin up on the platform,” Vende said. “Amryn is still getting over his injuries, but he is up there to organize the drill.”
“Excellent.” Tyff smiled. He turned to ask Vende about the ship routines for the rest of the day but stopped suddenly as a wave of dizziness hit him.
It was like the breath was stolen from his lungs. He gripped the wall as his head swam. He could hear Vende speaking to him, but he couldn’t make out the words.
He heard a loud, steady beep—a medical sound. For an instant, the hospital room was real enough to step into, and he almost did. When Vende clapped him on the shoulder, he shook his head, biting down on the wave of nausea as he stood up again.
“Are you okay,” Vende asked, concerned.
“Yes.” Tyff composed himself, giving Vende an even look. “I’ve just been under a bit of stress. What’s next?”
“We have some areas set up for our new human crew to live in,” Vende said. “They’ll be working in small groups with Preor as they learn their positions. The goal is for us to integrate and learn about each other, so it’s more important to build working relationships than give them complicated jobs.”
“I don’t think I’d want any near the mainframe,” Tyff said absently. Vende nodded.
“We’ve had quite enough sabotage, I think. We can screen them carefully, but humans have proven themselves good at infiltration.”
They checked over the new dorm rooms, both of them satisfied that they were comfortable and secure. They had Penelope teleport them up to the training platform so they could watch the morning flight exercises.
Amryn stood on one of the farthest edges of the ship, gesturing and calling out to Preor in the sky. Tyff was relieved to see everyone working hard, the drills an expression of the long years of battle training. He was about to walk over and confer with Amryn when he had another bout of dizziness.
This time it was darker, and his stomach went cold with it. He felt a longing in that darkness—something he felt he should answer. He did his best to shake it off as he focused his eyes back on the aerial maneuvers.
“I can’t wait to get back into a routine,” he commented, almost absently.
“Well, that might not be the best place for you, Tyff.”
“What?” He looked over at Vende in shock. “What do you mean? Getting back into the regimented hours is one of my goals for this new program.”
“Yes, I understand, and I am in full agreement. We need to reassign the positions and get every Preor back into military routine. But the war master does not practice with the troops. He leads them.”
“Me?” Tyff took a step back. “I was only the understudy for defense master! How can anyone—”
“Tyff,” Vende said, smiling. “Your passion for the return to military operations makes you the perfect candidate. You must know that.”
“I…” He looked up into the sky, watching the others perform impossible athletic moves. He wanted to be up there with them, not watching from the platform and evaluating them.
“You could take a new direction,” Vende said. “A war master can change the program however he sees fit. In fact, I think that would be a necessity, considering how much change we have gone through already.”
Tyff shook his head. “I would find it difficult to accept command. I’m just a soldier.”
“So was Jarek, once,” Vende said softly.
Tyff turned to head back into the ship, not sure where to go next. He was pleased with the organization so far and relieved the ship was coming slowly into order. He didn’t know why he felt so uneasy.
As they descended into the main halls, Tyff felt a sharp pain lance up the back of his head. He managed to stop himself from grabbing it, but his vision blurred as the pain cut through his temples.
“Tyff,” Vende asked, with some concern.
“I’ve been having headaches,” he admitted. “I think it’s just stress. You didn’t see the blast sites. I’ve seen all-out war, but watching innocent people attacked?” He clenched his fists, trying to banish the scene from his mind.
“You should see Yazen,” Vende said. “Just to make sure.”
Even though Tyff had resisted getting medical help until now, he knew he couldn’t delay it any longer. He thanked Vende and asked Penelope to teleport him to medbay.
“Tyff!” Yazen greeted him cheerfully as he materialized by the door. “What can I do for you?”
“Eager for patients?” Tyff laughed at his own joke.
“No. Never,” he answered. “I’m just working on distilling certain compounds, and its boring as hell. What have you got for me?”
“I’ve been having headaches,” Tyff said, tightly. “Strange dreams. Moments of vertigo.”
Yazen raised an eyebrow. “Vertigo? Sit down.” He gestured to a bed nearby. Tyff sat down, feeling very uncomfortable. He was sure nothing was wrong with him.
Yazen turned on the unit, taking out a wand and fanning it around Tyff’s head a little. Yazen checked the readout and nodded.
“I don’t see any internal injuries in your body or brain. Did you get hurt in the battle?”
“No. I wasn’t hit.”
Yazen tapped his fingers against the edge of the machine, going deeper into the readings.
“I’m sorry to tell you this, Tyff, but this has to be emotional or mental. I can check on you again in a few hours, and I think you should get regular scans, but for now I can’t see anything wrong with you except some strange brain wave spikes.”
“What does that mean?”
“Certain parts of your brain are firing up. They are working much harder than the rest of it. See?” Yazen pointed at the perfect image of Tyff’s brain where it spun slowly on the screen. It looked like a thundercloud with all the lights flashing inside it.
“What’s happening?”
“It’s like you’re dreaming, but you’re awake.” Yazen grinned. “It’s quite fascinating. I hope you don’t mind if I want to take regular readings?”