Free Endurance by Richard Chizmar

raised all along its spine. Long, dangerous-looking talons sprouted from all four paws—which it had dropped on. Sharp fangs glittered as it released a terrifying bellow.
    Was that my nice, quiet, pacifist pal, Alunthri?
Roaring
? Some acting job.
    Dchêm-os stepped in between the Chakacat, the Major, and me. She scanned the other crew members, her broken incisor bared in a exasperated grimace. “Me, you know. This Terran bitch dead, I vowed to see.”
    “I don’t think that’s going to help, nurse,” I said. And what was this “vow” stuff? “But thanks for the thought.”
    “This area alive, she will not leave,” Dchêm-os said. “Before we can make use of her, don’t kill her.”
    Alunthri let out another feline screech for good measure.
    “I would kill her for using my air,” the Major said.
    “See?” I said to Zel. “Just get out of his way, you’re perpetuating his breathing problem. Take Wild Kingdom here with you.”
    “Up, shut!” Dchêm-os yelled at me, then turned on the Trytinorn. “The wounded, she can treat. Until she dies, it won’t be long now.”
    “Get out of the way,” Devrak said.
    Finally something got through my preoccupation with getting stomped on by the Trytinorn. Until I
died
?
    “We can’t trust her,” someone shouted.
    “In a few hours, she’ll be dead.” The nurse swung toward the other voice. “Makes no sense, killing her now.”
    “Go back to that part about a few hours,” I told Zella. At the same time, Alunthri gave the little nurse a decidedly ferocious look.
    “There are other doctors!” a third voice said.
    Dchêm-os sent a look of antipathy in that direction. “Yes. All confined to Medical, they are.”
    “I’d still like to know why I’m going to die in a few hours,” I said, feeling a little disgusted myself.
    “Enough.” The Major spat out the word. “I will hear her bones grind under my feet.”
    “No.” Dchêm-os grabbed my good arm and hauled me to my feet. “Mine to claim, her death is. Of my people, by the right!”
    “Zel, I don’t think he’s going to let you keep me alive until it’s convenient for you personally to kill me,” I murmured, eyeing the Major. The dizziness. Zel not wanting me to operate. “Or have you taken care of that, too?”
    “Digitalizine,” the little nurse said without a hint of remorse. “Enough to kill three Terrans, I injected you with.”
    That was interesting, I thought. That particular drug took a few hours to induce a fatal seizure. And all I’d felt was a little dizziness, now gone. Had my boosted immune system neutralized the toxin?
    “You are League first,” the Trytinorn reminded the nurse. “Step out of my way, or share her fate.”
    “I will sh-sh-share it.” Alunthri pushed past Dchêm-os and shielded me with its body.
    “Thanks, Alunthri, but I can handle this.” I stepped around the Chakacat and eyed the nurse. “Get lost, Zel. Do some soul-searching. Maybe you’ll locate one.”
    “Touch you, I won’t let them.” Her dark fur rose stiffly all around her nose. “Mine to kill, you are.”
    She was determined to protect me until I dropped dead from the digitalizine. To her, undoubtedly a perfectly logical situation.
    The Major removed Dchêm-os by picking her up with his long, prehensile lip/nose and setting her down ten feet away. Others forced heraway from the inner circle, which left me and Alunthri facing the towering giant being.
    “I have my orders from the Colonel,” the Major said as he started toward me. “You have to die.”
    Alunthri sprang at the Trytinorn, and landed on his broad back. I heard the Major’s surprised gasp of pain when the Chakacat sank its claws into his tough hide. Devrak couldn’t shake it off, not without trampling some of his people in the process.
    “Alunthri.” I spoke low and softly, to get its attention. “Do you remember promising to return the favor when I set you free on K-2?”
    The Chakacat’s tail switched back and forth as