Page 35 of Star Defenders (My Alien Mates 2)

"He is unconscious," Mazic said firmly. "He'll stay that way if he's left where he is, so we need to hurry."

J'avet nodded and unlocked the door to the isolation room. Danec had slumped against the door and now flopped to the floor.

"Grab his boots." J'avet crouched and started undoing Danec's trousers. "Hurry."

I crouched and grabbed Danec's boots. I tugged them off and shoved them into a plastic box Luuvor held. I slid my hand under his ankle and helped J'avet slide his pants off, one leg at a time.

"That should be it," I said.

"Everyone out then." J'avet dropped the trousers into the box and Luuvor snapped the lid shut.

I gave Danec's sleeping face a quick, regretful look and followed the others out.

J'avet closed the door behind us.

Mazic started the scanner which would read the entire isolation room.

"This will take some time," she said. "It's not as specific as the new body scanner, but should give us a good idea of the situation."

J'avet nodded. "Body scans for everyone else. No one leaves the infirmary until they're clear of nanobots." He paused for a moment, then added, "Scan that box first."

I stood beside Mazic, rocking on my feet with a mixture of impatience and fear.

"There are certainly more parasites than before, and more active." She could have been talking about the menu for the night's meal, she sounded so bland. "If we could freeze them, we might remove them."

"If we do that, we might kill him," I said with a sniff.

"We might not have a choice," J'avet said over my shoulder.

I turned to glare at him. "I'll go in there with him and try to extract them myself, if I have to," I said. "I won't give up on him."

"If it's him or the ship…" J'avet said.

"It's not there yet." I paused. "You would really destroy the ship if you had to, wouldn't you?"

"To save the IF, I would," he agreed. "You should be ready to make that call if necessary."

"Me?"

"You." His hand swept across the room. "Doctor Mazic, all of us. If we have to make the sacrifice, we will."

I stared at him until he frowned.

"What?"

"Would blowing the ship up kill the nanobots?" I asked.

"Technically, they're not alive—"

I scowled.

"I don't know," he admitted.

"Seems we should find out before we kill ourselves then," I said bluntly.

J'avet looked thoughtful and nodded. He walked to the comms panel on the wall and spoke to someone in engineering.

"Controlled experiment. Small explosion. Yes. As quickly as you can."

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