"What the... You.... You! What're you doing here? How??" Daril was startled, and was not without a cause. Siever had appeared out of thin air behind us without warning, and he was standing, slightly arrogant and nonchalant. Daril got up still stunned, and turned to face the other.
"I've been here all along." Siever said, sitting elegantly on the other side of the bed, as if ready to discuss financial affairs. The translator made the simultaneous conversion between the languages "But since your daughter apparently made up her mind to share her little misadventure from those days, despite my warnings" he said giving me a stern look. "I thought it would be better to try to make a deal with you at least, sir."
Daril was a leat scared to death. He cast a quick glance at the instrument in Siever's hands and turned his attention those silver eyes. He cleared his throat, composed himself and spoke with a steady voice. He seemed to be still deciding what was the best reaction to express at that moment.
"What kind of deal?"
"As I explained to your daughter earlier, there are certain legal issues that need to be discussed to ensure the diplomatic integrity between your planet and your place in the Empire. She can not stay here anymore, because of the thing that is killing her. — Siever said firmly.
"Legal issues? What is it that, that's killing you?" Daril hesitated and asked me.
"To preserve her security, I can not explain, or allow her to do so, what is affecting her body so much, but I can say that it is... a substance that was impregnated in her body. It is somewhat harmless to my kind, but yours is much more sensitive and fragile. Her body can not stand for it.
"You are creating bioweapons to annihilate us!" Daril exclaimed in alarm, casting quick glances from Siever to me.
"Please, don't say that... " Siever said impatiently, and apparently offended. "It's not because I, or anyone else, are creating such disgusting weapons. It does not make even more sense, since there is no longer a war or a situation that can provoke a new one. And that's exactly this kind of situation I'm trying to avoid here.
"So what is harming her? Why can't you tell?" Daril raged.
But the answer did not come from Siever.
"Dad, listen…" Daril turned her attention to me, "He told me what it is... I saw it! And I understand why I can not tell anyone... I already knew before, when we talked and I did not tell you about it... if you can, please, do not insist on trying to find out."
Daril calmed down a bit, but he still looked really troubled. I noticed that Siever had become quite tense and was now relaxing again. He probably thought I was close to tell him about the relic for my father.
"But whatever what kind of thing it is, my dear, it might only be killing you!" he said worriedly. "Your body is so cold and you're looking terrible... that's not normal."
"Ms. Latrell, listen to me" Siever insisted "what is within your daughter, matches what is within me. Those two things can cancel one another perfectly and this will give her more time to resist, as long as I stay by her side" Siever explained. "But even if I stay here beside her, that will still have a limit."
I could only cringe at his words. My chances does not seem to be good, and I was increasingly afraid of what could happen to me from then on.
'How do I know that you're not trying to steal my daughter? That you are not you lying or that you just want to use her as a guinea pig for some weapon you do not want to admit you're breeding?" Daril asked.
Siever held Daril's gaze, but did not respond immediately. This was only making me more and more nervous about that situation.
"What do you want me to do to prove that I'm not trying to do any of these things?" Siever asked casually. "My initial plan, if you'll excuse me for my boldness, was to simply forge the death of your daughter and take her with me without legal impediments. She can no longer belong to this planet anyway. Staying here and staying away from my supervision will only cause her pain and death. And practically speaking, the easiest way to solve this mess would actually be to allow her death, and then remove the substance from her body. But this is not a very smart option. She was somehow magically taken to where I was, and carries what is minimally necessary to survive this... let's say... illness.
"Forge... death... her… magic…?" Daril stammered "Do you want to take her from this planet with you?"
—"Yes" Siever replied.
"Why can't you do what it takes to save her from here?" accused Daril. Siever took a deep breath, impatient. I ended up asking myself that too, now that the doubt had been raised by the father.
"There are not enough protection devices here to keep me, her and yours safety... The slightest attempt to instigate any interference of this kind on this planet, seemingly unworthy of this need, will draw attention, as well as an extended stay of mine, should it be discovered. "
Dad and I were stunned for a moment as we absorbed Siever's words. Finally, Daril continued the questions:
"And why is there such a need for protection? Who do you don't want to call the attention?"
"These substances that I and her have added to our bodys are very valuable" he said simply. "There were cases where happened attempts to remove it, well ... this is not a very simple matter, considering that these things only will come out from our dead bodys. So the ideal for our safety and our families is to draw as little attention as we possibly can from potential thieves."
"And what does Emperor Gionardi have to do with this story?" Daril asked, remembering of my story."Or was not he what she told me to have found?"
For a moment Siever looked really enraged at the mention of the emperor, but then he took a deep breath and answered in annoyance:
"Well... He is the most 'reliable' security source ah... that I have access."
I could even feel in the air that Siever was really very reluctantly to become a subject from Marco. I wondered then what could have happened to grown so much enmity between then that went far beyond the most recent events. Daril was already so focused while thinking about this all, that I thought I could even hear her mind working.
"Right, then…" said Daril smoothly "what is your actual plan? Even if you prove to me what you are saying and I decide to believe and support you, you also have to convince her mother, since, as you have said before, there are legal issues to be clarified."
"Actually, my plan is simple…" Siever started talking as if he were about to explain the rules of some ordinary card game. "I forge her death, so that your family performs a funeral, and I can replace her body and take her with me to where it is safe and I can carry out any necessary procedure to keep her alive."
"What if I refuse to compromise with this?" Daril asked insistently.
"If that happens, unfortunately, I will only have the practical alternative I told you earlier: let her die and drain the substance that is killing her before it connects with another person from this planet. Ideally, no one should know nothing at all about this matter, but since she involved you, I can count on your collaboration so that she can count on mine."
Daril stared at him for a long time. I could already feel the tension emanating from Dad's in the air. Then he walked away from us, waving his head from time to time, and started pacing while muttering to himself. Siever, like I guessed, remained seated patiently, almost distracted, and still elegant on the edge of the bed, waiting for my father to finish arguing with himself.
"So…" Daril finally started to say "prove me that what you are saying is true, and I can think of helping ... as long as you guarantee her life to me. "He took a few more laps around the room and began to list "How can I know that another doctor can not cure it? I need to know that she will not really survive if nothing is specifically done exclusively for you... And as for your identity... leave me a written document, programmed to decrypt from here a specific time, with your identity mark, so that I can expose you to justice if you do not come back with her."
Father realy thought about a lot of details. I didn't expect that he was so sly. But Siever agreed to everything, then got up, straightened up, and went to the window.
"What you gonna do?" I asked confused.
"I recommend you stay in a hospital and try to survive until I come back, and do not say anything about the plan to anyone else "he said with a sadistic smile, and disappeared into the void."