Морган Райс - Return стр 9.

More pain flashed through him, this time seeming to clench around his heart and crush it, holding it still so Kevin couldnt feel it beat. It was the kind of pain he couldnt have believed existed; the kind of pain that seemed to encompass everything at once.

There were so many images in his dreams; so many things hed done that he might never have had a chance to if the world had been a different place. If he hadnt had his power, would the Hive still have come? Would he have been all the places he had, seen all the things he had?

However much Kevin had done, it wasnt enough. He didnt want to die. He hadnt wanted to die at any point in this. It wasnt fair.

Come on, you have to do something!

The words seemed to come from a long way away, Chloes voice drifting in through a thin gauze that was still far too thick to reach through.

We are attempting to, a voice replied, and although Kevin didnt recognize the individual, he recognized the Ilari language. If wed had time to study what was happening with him

There is no time, General sLara said. Do what must be done.

Wait, Kevin tried to say, but the words wouldnt come out. What do you mean?

Then pain hit him, and if hed thought hed known what pain was before, this was a hundred times worse. It seemed to run through every cell of him at once, burning and freezing, tearing at him and crushing. It was as though it was tearing him apart, atom by atom, and rebuilding them one after another. Each cell was subtly different, subtly changed, and now it felt like a cool wave running through him, transforming him as he went.

Blackness rose up for him again, but this didnt feel like the blackness of death. Instead, it felt soothing, and gentle, and pure. It wrapped around Kevin as surely as a blanket, and finally, he could feel his body again.

You can open your eyes now, Kevin, General sLara said.

Kevins eyes felt gluey and hard to open. He felt tired

Kevin, Chloe said, far less gently. Wake up.

Kevins eyes flashed open, and he saw the room around him, white walled and gentle seeming. There were blue-skinned aliens around him, in pristine uniforms that seemed familiar. It took him only another moment to realize that this was yet another hospital. He was spending far too much time in these places. General sLara was there, looking on with obvious concern. So was Ro, and it was even stranger seeing the expression on the face of an alien species that normally had no emotions.

Then there was Chloe. She stood over him, and Kevin could see that she had been crying, although now her tears seemed to be ones of joy rather than pain. She reached out for him.

Kevin, I thought you were dead! she said. I thought

I thought I was dead, Kevin said, trying to make a joke of it even though it was anything but that. He could still feel the pain that had been clamped around his heart, so crushing and dangerous and deadly. Hed truly thought that he was going to die. Hed thought about all the things hed done, and all the things he was going to lose.

As Kevin looked over at Chloe, though, he felt a burst of shame, because it hadnt been her hed thought of in that moment when hed been so certain that he was about to lose everythingit had been Luna. It had been times with Luna that had come into his mind when hed been thinking about moments from the past that mattered. It had been Lunas memory hed grasped hold of and kept close to him in the moments when he was dying. It had been Luna, not Chloe, whom hed been so afraid of losing. Just looking at Chloe now felt like a betrayal, even though it was something that he couldnt help.

Kevin, what is it? Chloe asked. Of course shed seen it.

Its nothing, Kevin said, dismissing the thought. Instead, he stood up and walked around the room, trying to assess how he felt, ready for his body to be weak and ready to collapse from the effort involved even in trying to move. He was actually a little surprised that the medical staff there let him, but maybe they wanted to test how he was too.

Instead of collapsing he felt healthy. Kevin wasnt sure hed ever felt that healthy, at any point in his life. He could breathe easily, and there was no pain in his head, no tightness in his chest. It was only because all the things that had been wrong with him were gone that he was able to realize just how bad the sickness had been.

It felt as though there had never been a day of his life before this when he had been truly well, because this wellness felt almost alien compared to everything that had gone before.

Are you sure youre all right? Chloe asked him, and Kevin nodded. He wasnt sure how he could describe it.

I dont think Ive ever felt this good, he said. He looked around at General sLara and the medical staff, who all seemed to be looking over at him as if trying to check that things were working as they should. What did you do?

We cured you, the general replied. We scanned your body, searching for defective patterns, and then used our healing technology to overwrite those patterns with something new. Your brain has been stabilized, so that your illness cannot progress.

And my ability to translate signals? Kevin asked, and then realized the answer to that question before any of the others could say anything. The Ilari werent speaking his language, but their own. He could still understand them, could still sense the signals of the AIs communicating with one another, and could still translate them when they got too loud.

appears to be fully recovered

may be necessary

The procedure should have affected nothing but your illness, General sLara said, with a glance across to one of the medical staff, who nodded. Kevin could see her relief at that confirmation.

Kevin should have felt joy at that. He did feel joy, but there was more to it than that. He felt as though this should have been harder somehow. After all the work that scientists had done on Earth trying to stabilize and heal him, it felt impossible that these aliens could just make him well with so little effort.

You healed me, he said. Why? Why did you heal me? You know what I did. You know Im responsible for the destruction of the world you hid on.

And we tried you for that, General sLara said. We agreed to let you stay. Do you think we would hold back our healing from you when we had the ability to help you? That is not who we are. It is not right.

The sheer goodness and benevolence of that overwhelmed Kevin in that moment. How could these aliens be so benevolent? It seemed impossible that anyone could be so generous to someone who had done so much to hurt them. After all that hed done

It wasnt your fault, Kevin, Chloe said.

Kevin wished he could believe that. All he could do was feel amazing levels of gratitude that the others felt that way.

Thank you, he said to the general. I I dont know what to say.

Theyd given him back his life. Theyd healed him, when no one else could do it, and theyd done it when he was sure they had every reason not to do it.

You dont need to say anything, General sLara said. We help those who truly need it. We seek peace where it can be found. We forgive.

That seemed impossible to believe. Kevin wasnt sure he would be able to manage to forgive the Hive. If he had a chance to destroy it, then he would. And yet he looked across to Ro. Kevin didnt hate him. He even trusted him, and yet the former Purest had been one of those trying to destroy his planet.