The Bearens' Hope Book Four of the Soul

by Laura Jo Phillips

  A soft knock at the door caused Stalnek to flinch slightly, his nerves were so frayed from the waiting. Aside from the fact that William was his son, he was extremely important to the Brethren. He was currently the most advanced member of their race. There had been several others up until a few hundred years earlier when an entire compound was destroyed during the Bolkin Wars.

  The Brethren hadn’t fought in the wars. They remained apart from humans. In fact, humans were not even aware of their existence. But the Brethren’s main compound had been near the former city Phoenix, and they had all been killed when the Bolkins glassed that city without warning.

  Even though the Brethren had since been careful to build their compounds far from any human habitation, Stalnek still worried about the safety of his son. Aside from his importance to the Brethren, William was also Stalnek’s pride and joy. Which was why William was on Li-Hach-Cor. It was a planet with a small population of farmers under the protection of the fierce Li-Hach. And William’s presence there was largely unknown. It had been the safest place Stalnek had been able to find for his precious son.

  “Enter,” Stalnek barked after he took a moment to calm himself. It would not be wise to show weakness of any sort, not even to his cousin and right-hand man, Kevlin.

  The door opened and Kevlin entered, closing the door carefully behind himself. Stalnek studied Kevlin’s expression and the way he moved, and mentally braced himself for bad news.

  “The message bounced, didn’t it?” Stalnek guessed, unwilling to wait for Kevlin to work up the nerve to say it himself.

  “I am sorry, but yes,” Kevlin replied. “The message was not received at all. It was a clean bounce.”

  “Damn,” Stalnek said softly, turning to look out the windows behind his desk in an effort to conceal the worry he couldn’t hide. He struggled to set aside his personal feelings for William, and think of the situation in terms of what was best for the Brethren. After all, William was the undisputed Chosen of the Brethren, the one who would follow in Stalnek’s footsteps.

  Kevlin waited patiently. He was very worried about William himself, though not for personal reasons. He totally despised William. He was self-centered, pushy, rude, and cruel, all traits he had learned at his father’s scaly knee.

  Kevlin would never repeat that estimation of course. He valued his life too much. But he also knew that, like it or not, William was the culmination of many centuries of effort for the Brethren, and their Chosen. They could not afford to lose him. They could not afford to lose any members of their dwindling race.

  “Prepare my yacht,” Stalnek said as he swung around to face Kevlin. “I am going to Li-Hach-Cor myself, and I want to leave as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Kevlin replied. “I have already contacted the hangar and they have assured me that the Chameleon can be ready to leave in twelve hours.”

  “Very good,” Stalnek replied, pleased that Kevlin had come to the same conclusion. “Will you accompany me?”

  Kevlin bowed. “If that is your wish, I would be pleased to do so.”

  “Select a crew,” Stalnek ordered. “Tell them to report at the hangar immediately. And get my brother in here. Jarlek will need to oversee the Redoubt while I’m gone, so I will need a few hours with him. ”

  “Yes, Sir,” Kevlin replied. “What of the berezi pull?”

  “How many are on the list?” Stalnek asked.

  “At this time, just one,” Kevlin replied. “There are three potentials expected within the next few weeks though.”

  That there would be four potentials in a few short weeks was a huge number. And that was a problem. A very big problem.

  Stalnek had secretly wondered if his failure to find new berezi over recent years was due to a decrease in the numbers of berezi, or a decrease in his ability to scent them. All he had to do was scent Berta to know the truth, but he refused to do that. Whenever he went to the old compound to scent potentials, he deliberately avoided the woman.

  That was why he had chosen to deal with the Xanti. The absence of new berezi had left him no choice. William had to have a berezi, and there was no other way to find one. He would never admit that he was no longer able to scent them as that would seriously endanger his position as leader of the Brethren.

  The truth was, his last message to William was a request that he return to Earth. He could trust William, if no one else. And William could scent berezi.

  It suddenly occurred to him that if he were able to return to Earth with his son, William would be able to scent these four new potentials. It didn’t matter whether or not the Xanti had delivered the long promised, and very expensive, berezi to William on Li-Hach-Cor. If William could scent a berezi among these four potentials, it would renew belief in Stalnek’s power.

  “Tell Darck to wait until all four are available, then do a mind-wipe only,” Stalnek decided. “When I return, we will pull them for testing.”

  Kevlin nodded. That was easy enough. They routinely mind-wiped every female who returned from Jasan as a contract bride or a Candy Bride anyway, whether they were potentials or not. Kevlin had never agreed with that practice. In his opinion it was far too risky. But it had been Stalnek’s idea centuries earlier when he’d worried that the shape-shifters on Jasan would appeal to too many berezi, and once Stalnek made up his mind to do something, he never changed it.

  “With your permission I will begin making arrangements,” Kevlin said politely.

  “Fine,” Stalnek replied with a casual wave of his hand. As soon as the door closed behind Kevlin, Stalnek turned back to the windows. Now that he was alone again, he let himself think about William. He could not imagine what might have happened to him, but he was determined to find out. And if anyone had harmed his son, they would pay. In this, he promised himself, he would not bend, whether it was in the best interests of the Brethren or not.

  Chapter 5

  Jasan, Berria Outskirts, Council Complex

  Jackson Bearen stared at the sealed glass enclosure containing the body of the Xanti and fought to keep his bearenca from springing forth in fury at the sight. In all the centuries of his life he had met and seen many different species of intelligent being. This one was, by far, the most alien to him.

  “Our greatest enemy is a giant bug?” Prince Garen asked Elder Vulpiran.

  Elder Vulpiran, the lead council scientist and one of the eldest of the Clan Jasani, smiled tightly at his Prince. “Yes, I am afraid so, Highness,” he replied. “A highly evolved, and intelligent, arachnid-like arthropod. Or, as you say, a bug.”

  Jackson glanced at the other warriors gathered around the glass cube containing the Xanti to see if they felt as repelled by the Xanti as he was. Maxim and Loni Katre were, as usual, stony faced, but they had already seen the Xanti close up, so they’d had time to get used to it. Everyone else, the Dracons, Lobos, Gryphons, even Ran Katre and Eldar Hamat, all seemed to feel the same as he did.

  Jackson watched Prince Garen shrug, and understood what he was thinking. It didn’t really matter how they felt about the Xanti. The point was, thanks to the Katres and their new Arima, Summer, they had what no one had ever had to their knowledge: the remains of a Xanti. Further, they had the Xanti’s bio-mechanical shell.

  “Please continue, Elder Vulpiran,” Prince Garen said.

  “Though the body appears much like the creature we call a spider, you can see that it has some distinct differences,” Elder Vulpiran said. “Instead of two main segments, the body has three. The head is rather small, which one would think indicates a small brain and limited intelligence. However, the brain is not, in fact, in the head. The brain is in the middle, or thoracic segment and much larger than one would expect, accounting for what we know the Xanti’s true intelligence to be. Also, the body has ten legs rather than the expected eight. These legs are extremely dexterous and, apparently, are used much as we use our fingers. Even though the interior of the bio-mechanical shell appears to be somewhat small, the Xanti actually fits qu
ite comfortably inside of it, though there isn’t much room for it to move around. Many of the interior controls are situated in various limbs, but with the length of the legs, it is easy enough for the Xanti to reach all of them.

  “The stinger on the end of the abdominal segment contains a neurotoxin that is quite deadly, though we believe that once used, the stinger itself remains in the victim, and causes the subsequent death of the Xanti. Lastly, because of its internal organs we believe this specimen to be male. However, it has rudimentary and, we believe, nonfunctional, sexual organs. We also found a disabled long-range metaspacial transceiver embedded within the abdominal segment.”

  “Disabled thanks to Arima Katre,” Prince Garen noted.

  Elder Vulpiran nodded. “Yes, Highness, it is only thanks to her that we have this specimen at all.”

  “What about the bio-mechanical shell?” Prince Garen asked, turning away from the Xanti. The rest of the warriors followed him, none of them having any further desire to gaze upon the Xanti.

  “It’s really quite extraordinary,” Elder Vulpiran said. “Arima Katre shut down all of its systems, but happily she did not damage the hardware. We have had time for only preliminary study so far, but we will have a full report for you soon. Clearly it gives every impression of being a humanoid being, down to real hair, synthesized skin and blood.”

  Prince Garen shook his head. “I would like some method to be developed that would allow us to instantly identify a Xanti, no matter what its bio-mechanical shell appears to be.”

  “We shall put that at the top of our priority list, Highness,” Elder Vulpiran replied.

  “Excuse me,” Jackson said, “I have a request as well.”

  “Certainly,” Prince Garen said.

  “I am most concerned about the Xanti camouflage system known as Blind Sight that the Katres came up against,” Jackson said. “I believe that system is what allows the Xanti, or anyone who has it for that matter, to enter our territory without detection. Until we find a way to counteract it, we cannot be secure.”

  “You’re correct of course, Jackson,” Prince Garen said, turning to Elder Vulpiran. “I would say that the Blind Sight system must be at the top of our priority list.”

  “Agreed, Highness,” Elder Vulpiran replied. “Unfortunately, we have no idea which of the security systems brought back from the compound on Li-Hach-Cor is Blind Sight, and we must be very careful as we go through these systems. There are many traps and self-destruct mechanisms built into all Xanti electronics.”

  “Understood, Elder Vulpiran,” Prince Garen said. “We will be as patient as we need to be, but anything you are able to learn will be of help.”

  “We will make it a priority, Highness,” Elder Vulpiran promised.

  “Thank you,” Prince Garen said. “Now, what about this reptilian being?”

  Elder Vulpiran moved to another glass enclosure and the warriors followed, surrounding it as they had the one containing the Xanti.

  “Thanks to Doc’s foresight in taking tissue samples and sending them ahead, we have a little more information on this one. It has a very interesting, and disturbing, combination of DNA. It is part Narrasti, and part human, but there are some oddities that indicate something more.”

  “More?” Prince Garen asked.

  “We found a genetic anomaly which we believe to be similar to those that Riata discovered in Princess Lariah and Arima Lobo.”

  “Believe to be?” Prince Garen asked.

  “High Prince, it is most unfortunate that we did not look to the future more than we did. But, the past cannot be rewritten. Rather than take a sample from Princess Lariah when she arrived on Jasan, Riata used her talents as a Healer to get a mental image of her DNA.”

  “Yes, I remember,” Prince Garen said. “It was my idea.”

  “When Arima Saige was ill, we again relied on Riata’s talents, and no tissue sample was taken,” Elder Vulpiran continued. “By the time we learned that the Katres’ had an Arima, it was too late to ask them to get a tissue sample from her. As far as I am aware, no such samples exist for any of them, and there is no record of their original DNA sequence.”

  “Actually, I don’t think that is correct,” Prince Trey put in. “I recall Lariah telling us once about genetic testing on Earth. And since Saige was ill before she came here, I think it’s at least possible that such tests were run on her. There is a good possibility that there are records on Earth that could help us with the information we need.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Garen said. “We must look into getting copies of those records.”

  Trey nodded, accepting that task for himself. Prince Garen turned back to Elder Vulpiran.

  “I remember Riata saying that Saige did not have the same genetic anomaly that Lariah had,” Prince Garen said. “I don’t think we can assume that any genetic anomaly indicates Jasani ancestry.”

  “Agreed,” Elder Vulpiran replied. “However, it must also be remembered that each Clan has slightly different DNA, which we believe explains the differences Riata noted.”

  “Do you have any theories as to how, or why, this reptilian creature would have anything resembling Jasani DNA?” Prince Garen asked.

  “We suspect that, as Commander Katre has suggested, Narrasti survivors reached Earth, much as some of our own women did,” Elder Vulpiran replied. “Assuming this is true, it seems apparent that they mated with humans, and at some point, began mating with berezi. Of course, this is speculation only.”

  “Are you able to determine whether this being was able to shift?” Trey asked.

  “We think not,” Elder Vulpiran replied. “It has an accelerated regenerative ability, and some of the correct cell structures necessary for transformation. However, they appear to be mutated in a way that we do not yet understand. Perhaps with further study we will learn more.”

  “Is this being related to Amara Winicke?” Garen asked.

  “We have circumstantial evidence that points to that conclusion,” Elder Vulpiran replied. “We do not, however, have physical evidence as yet, and Ms. Winicke has been resistant to our requests for a blood sample.”

  “Eldar Hamat, have you been able to get anything out of Ms. Winicke yet?” Prince Garen asked.

  “Nothing of use, Highness,” Eldar Hamat replied. “I have no wish to force her compliance with drugs, or to take the needed blood sample without her consent, but I am afraid we may have no choice.”

  Prince Garen considered the problem. Everyone in the room knew that if Mara Winicke were still deemed to be Clan Jasani, there would be no hesitation in administering a truth drug or taking her blood. But, by the Prince’s own agreement, she was no longer Clan Jasani. She was now Citizen Jasani, and, by their laws, the rules were different.

  “I wish to think further on this matter,” he said finally. “I will let you know, Eldar Hamat, when I have made a decision.”

  Eldar Hamat nodded. He understood the problem as well as his Prince did. None of them wished to break their own laws, but the survival of their species was at stake.

  “Thank you, Elder Vulpiran, for your time this morning,” Prince Garen said.

  “You are most welcome, Highness,” Elder Vulpiran replied with a bow.

  “I would ask that the council make the study of these specimens a priority,” Prince Garen said. “Any information gleaned from them may be critical for us all.”

  “Of course, Highness,” Elder Vulpiran replied. “I can assure you that the council is in full agreement with you in this matter. We will report our findings to you as soon as possible.”

  Garen nodded, took one last look at the Xanti, and left the room, the other warriors right behind him. Garen led the way through the maze of corridors that made up the Council Complex, a large, sprawling building situated half way between the town of Berria and the Hidden City. Once they were outside, Garen led the group to the center of a neatly clipped lawn, far enough from the building to ensure privacy. The other warriors gathered with the
Princes, forming a large circle.

  “Lariah has asked that she, Saige, and Summer be allowed to meet with Amara Winicke,” Garen announced.

  “Why?” Eldar Hamat asked in surprise.

  “She thinks that, as a Nahoa-Arima, she may be able to induce Mara to reveal things to them that she will not tell anyone else,” Garen replied.

  Eldar Hamat considered that for a moment. “It is possible,” he said finally. “But I do not trust Mara Winicke. It is entirely possible that she would attempt to harm Lariah if given the opportunity.”

  “That is our concern as well,” Garen replied. “Lariah believes that Saige and Summer would be capable of protecting her.”

  “That is certainly true,” Faron Lobo said.

  Garen nodded, fully aware of Saige’s capabilities, and her willingness to use them. He then looked to Maxim Katre.

  “Summer would allow no harm to come to Princess Lariah,” he said with a smile. “That I can promise.”

  “None of you have any objections to your Arimas doing this?” Garen asked.

  Faron chuckled softly. “We have no objection, though we would ask that you not let Saige know that you asked us. She would not be pleased, to say the least.”

  Maxim laughed, much to Garen’s surprise. “We have no objection either,” he said. “But if you tell Summer you asked our permission, I warn you that we will deny it, my Prince. She is very good with that katana she carries.”

  Garen grinned. “Lucky for us that our Lariah is so sweet and biddable,” he said. Trey snorted and Val coughed.

  Garen glanced at each of his brothers, then shrugged. So maybe Lariah had a bit of a stubborn streak. He wasn’t going to admit that in front of the other Clan Consuls.

  “We will grant permission for the interview then,” he decided. “It would be preferable to using memory drugs on the woman. The after effects of those can be unpredictable on humans.” Garen paused for a moment, thinking. “As Mara is still incarcerated at the ranch, the interview will have to wait until we all return there.”