Harry's Sacrifice

by Bianca D'Arc

  The general looked from one man to the other over her head. “I am glad you are so thorough in your planning, Patriarch,” was all he said, though she got the impression he approved of Ronin Prime’s positioning of her in this group. He was a tactician, after all.

  “It is my calling, Patton Prime.” Ronin bowed his head slightly as if in acknowledgment.

  “She is also my Resonance Mate, General,” Cormac insisted on throwing in for good measure. Roshin felt her cheeks heat with a blush as every Alvian in the lift focused on her once more. Not content with that attention, Cormac took her hand in his and the Hum sounded. “Listen, brothers,” he addressed the group now. “I never dreamed I would find my mate, but I have. What was a faint tinkle before I took the gene therapy is now a loud and lovely Hum.”

  “You have taken the gene therapy?” The general’s eyes narrowed on Cormac again, taking some of the attention away from Roshin, for which she was grateful, though Cormac still held her hand.

  “I have,” Cormac confirmed. “It has not fully run its course yet, but already I can tell you that I would never go back. The things I feel now…”

  When words failed him, it was the human major who claimed everyone’s attention with a totally different line of inquiry.

  “Excuse me, but is your name really General Patton?” Major Rollins seemed hard pressed to hold back a grin, which puzzled Roshin greatly.

  The Alvians were distracted by the question and the general turned to the human who stood several feet away surrounded by the rest of the group.

  “I am Patton Prime, general of tactics,” the general acknowledged with a slightly puzzled expression. The humans began to laugh and the puzzlement turned to a slight indication of anger. “I do not see why my designation is humorous.”

  “General.” Caleb O’Hara stepped in to save the situation. “One of the most revered generals in American history is a man named George S. Patton. He was a legend in military circles in our mid-twentieth century. If a Patton was part of Hara’s original crew, I can only assume he was somehow related to you.”

  “Indeed.” Hara nodded. “Patton found his Resonance Mate and stayed behind when the rest of us went into stasis.”

  The conversation ended when the lift opened. They had arrived on one of the lowest levels of the city. The area where the prisoners were kept.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Harry dreaded what might come next. He’d never been in the pens before, though he’d been sorely tempted to investigate many times in the past. Only the need to keep his knowledge secret from his mother and all others who would no doubt log his presence in an unauthorized area had kept him away.

  That and the fear that gripped him when he thought about what these poor people had suffered. His small power of empathy meant he would feel things—horrible things—if he got too close to the humans kept in captivity. Fear of those horrors was something he wasn’t proud of, but he was human enough to admit it—at least to himself.

  Grady 2 waved away the soldiers who stood guard over the entrance to the underground prison. He was a high-ranking soldier and very close to the top of his genetic line. He had a great deal of authority here—as did the rest of the officer contingent that had accompanied them all down here.

  Now it was just possible that the officers remained loyal to the Council, in which case they could turn around and lock Harry and company up down here and throw away the key. But of all the scenarios that could happen, Harry thought that one unlikely. He hoped he was reading the situation correctly.

  The group started walking slowly, passing by twos into the narrow corridor between cells. The cells had walls, not bars, and doors that locked from the outside. A viewport allowed anyone on the outside to look in at any area of the small room, including the personal areas like the shower and toilet facilities. Harry was disturbed by the marked lack of privacy despite the illusion of solid walls.

  Hara stopped and the rest of the entourage followed suit. Hara walked beside Grady 2 at the front of the group, Percival right behind him. They seemed to discuss something before moving on again, and then Harry felt Percival’s thoughts broadcasting to everyone around who had telepathy. It was loud, strong and unequivocal.

  “Do not fear. Those of you who can sense us know that there is a large party of Alvians and others walking through the cell area. We mean you no harm. In fact, we hope to free you before all is said and done. My name is Percival.”

  “I’m Angela,” a voice answered in their minds. A strong, female voice. “You need to speak to Moira. She foresaw your arrival and has been telling us what’s to come, though she isn’t a strong telepath. Still, she’s given us all hope for the past few months and now, finally, you’re here. Bless you.”

  The emotion in Angela’s words was clear. Relief, coupled with a fledgling hope. Harry started to feel better about this sojourn into the bowels of the Alvian city. Maybe it wouldn’t be as bleak as he’d feared.

  “Bless you for staying strong, Angela,” Percival said. “I’m only sorry we couldn’t come sooner.”

  “You’re here now and that’s what matters. Seek Moira. She’s our leader, if that’s the right way to put it. She’s more like our mom.” Angela’s tone conveyed humor at the description.

  “How do we find her?” Percival asked.

  “Last cell on the left. There are three people in there. Male, female and child.” Again, there was a humorous feel to Angela’s tone and Harry puzzled over it. Apparently this Angela knew something they didn’t.

  Caleb tapped Hara on the shoulder, having heard the strong telepathic communication just as Harry had. He saw some discussion take place and then Caleb led the way down the long hall to the last cell on the left. He knocked on the solid door and waited for a reply.

  The Alvians seemed surprised by his polite gesture. Apparently nobody else knocked before entering a prison cell—or waited to be asked inside.

  “Please enter,” came a small, high-pitched voice from the other side of the locked door. It sounded like the child.

  Caleb nodded to Grady 2, who input the unlock code and the door opened silently. A young girl stood on the other side.

  “Hello, Moira,” Caleb said, surprising everyone, including Harry. “I think you and I have a lot in common.”

  An older male and female came up behind the child. “I’m Jose and this is my wife, Siobhan.” The man was dark skinned with black hair and brown eyes. The woman was pale with red hair and freckles. The girl was a pretty mix of both, with deep-auburn hair and light-brown eyes. These were her parents.

  “Caleb O’Hara,” Caleb introduced himself, reaching over the head of the little girl to shake her father’s hand and then her mother’s.

  “You’re the Oracle,” Siobhan said with a bit of awe in her voice. “Moira said you’d come, but I was afraid…” The woman broke down, tears flowing down her cheeks as she reached for her husband’s hand.

  Every Alvian in the area, including Cormac, started in surprise when the loud, pure Hum of their resonance sounded through the hall.

  “Breeds can Resonate with each other?” Grady 2 looked mildly puzzled and intrigued.

  Jose let go of his wife’s hand and put one hand protectively on Moira’s shoulder.

  “You call us Breeds, yet you don’t even know what the word means,” he sneered, clearly disgusted with Grady 2’s Alvian aloofness.

  “It’s an English word. The shortened form of half-breed, which means part one thing, part another,” Moira piped up in her little, penetrating voice. “Like me. I’m part Mexican and part Irish…and part Alvian.” Her words caused a hush to fill the hallway. “As is every human you’ve imprisoned. Probably every human left alive, though there may be one or two pure-blooded humans who survived in the most remote places. We are all part Alvian. Whether you like it or not, your race has already mingled with ours. We are you and you will one day—if my visions hold true—be us. We are one.”

  The little girl’s voice was spoo
ky in the echoing hallway and it carried so that even the men crowded in behind the main party could hear. The bots were working overtime, recording silently and winging away to be replaced by others at Roshin’s command.

  “You are wise beyond your years, Moira.” Caleb finally broke the silence. “I’ve foreseen the same things you have for many years. It’s the only thing that’s kept me going all these years. The knowledge that someday we would share the Earth as it was meant to be. As Hara intended.” Caleb turned to Hara and let him step forward.

  The ancient went down on one knee in front of the child, meeting at her eye level, though the symbolism of his repentant stance was not lost on the gathered crowd.

  “I’m sorry, little one, for everything that’s happened to you and your people.”

  “It’s okay.” She shrugged her little shoulders. “I’m young and I’ve been with my parents all this time, though I would’ve liked to play outside more.” Now she sounded like a little girl. “It’s the others who’ve suffered, Mr. Hara. They are the ones who need your help and understanding.”

  “I know, little one. And they have it. I will do everything in my power to see that your visions become reality.” Hara bowed his head in what looked like surrender and felt to Cormac like…sorrow?

  “I know you will.” The little girl reached out and patted Hara’s shoulder in a consoling, endearing way.

  Hara stood and turned to face the gathering in the hallway. Tall as he was, he could be seen by most of the men who were gathered to witness the scene.

  “Warriors of Alvia,” he began in a low, intense tone. “Can you stand by while innocent civilians are held prisoner, in secret, beneath your very feet? This little girl has done nothing wrong. She was born in captivity. What is her crime that she be locked up and not allowed to see the sun? For that matter, what is the crime of any of these people? Grady 2, are you familiar with the reasons this family is being held?” Hara turned to the man who stood by the dataport on the outside wall of the cell.

  Grady 2 pushed a few buttons. “There is no crime listed. They are called test subjects and ordered held indefinitely by Councilor Hearn’s order.”

  Hara turned back to Jose and Siobhan. “Did you volunteer to be test subjects?”

  “No. Never!” Jose stated with some anger. “We were existing peacefully, eking out a living by growing crops and bartering with our neighbors in the Waste when your soldiers came and abducted us. No reason was given. We have been here for nearly fifteen years by my reckoning.”

  Cormac looked at the men all around him. Many wore frowns. It was not seemly that people be abducted against their will and held indefinitely. It went against every tenet of Alvian law.

  Cormac saw an opportunity. He went to the dataport on the next cell, which was conveniently nearby, and searched the record.

  “This one has no crime recorded either,” he said in a loud voice. “And an indefinite sentence.”

  Other soldiers got the idea to check their closest dataports. Soon, the same report was coming in all up and down the hall. The people being held in the cells had committed no crimes and could be kept forever. It went against everything that was right and just, and the honor which every Alvian soldier was pledged to uphold was suddenly on shaky ground.

  Someone got the idea to call in representatives of the Alvian legal system and everything moved quickly from there. The judiciary currently had no representative on the High Council, which was seen as very suspicious as the stories of the human prisoners came to light.

  Alvian justice moved very swiftly, and the lawyers and advocates who arrived as the word got out had things moving along at an unprecedented pace. Judges were called and made decisions on the spot. They ordered the locks made to work in both directions on doors to those they believed unlikely to cause disruption. They allowed families the freedom to take their children to the recreation areas above ground during daylight hours. They allowed communication between non-violent prisoners via com consoles installed in their quarters.

  All of these immediate orders went into effect while the bigger cases revolving around their imprisonment were being prepared for the open court. The vast majority of court proceedings were open in Alvian society and unprecedented numbers of citizens wanted to view the trials. Not only was the building where they were held filled to capacity, but the trials were being broadcast for all to see.

  Major Rollins was called as a witness to the Alvian military’s actions against Breeds in the wild. He was even able to provide recordings of captures, which were corroborated by the actual soldiers involved. They didn’t lie to protect themselves. They felt no shame or remorse. They simply told the truth, in the typical Alvian way, helping the humans build their case.

  Cormac was amazed by the swiftness of the justice dispensed. By the end of the day, the fate of over a dozen human families had been decided. They stayed in the city for now, in their cells, which now opened and closed at their discretion. Major Rollins and his friend, Darcy, stayed in the pens with them, talking to them about the outside and what the humans had rebuilt, letting them know they had a place to go should they want to leave the Alvian city.

  Roshin had proven her worth over and over, getting the feed out to her contacts and allowing the Alvian populace to see what was going on when the Council would have kept them in the dark. The Council themselves had been shut up in closed session for hours until finally, after the evening meal, the Council Chambers themselves were stormed by a group of Alvian soldiers, acting on authority of the judiciary.

  Once the warriors and legal system was set into motion, it didn’t take long for the tide to turn. Every Councilor was taken into custody pending investigation. The free broadcast of Hara’s every move resumed, but other things were broadcast as well, such as interviews with Ronin and discussions with some of the winged Zxerah, as well as some of the human Brethren.

  It was as if the Alvian people had been awakened. Their curiosity was aroused and feeding on all the new information being disseminated. Calls for a vote were increasing as the people lost faith in the Council. Historians reminded people of the old system of government where a single leader was advised by the Council and a murmur built into a clamor, people wanting to execute their democratic right to decide what form their government should take and who should be running it.

  It was well past midnight when Hara finally took Percival’s many hints and left the pens. People were free to move about down there now, which was a good start. Cormac followed behind the small group that followed the ancients, which consisted of Harry, Roshin and Caleb as well.

  Some of the Zxerah acted as protectors and honor guards. Ronin had stayed behind, organizing his people—many of whom were helping the newly freed humans adjust. Zxerah were used to dealing on an equal basis with humans and were best suited to interfacing with those who’d been held.

  They all trooped up to Caleb’s apartment first, making sure the ancients were safe and comfortable. The Zxerah would guard them while they slept, as they had the night before. Then Harry led the way back to his place. Cormac, Roshin and Harry were all exhausted from events of the day, but nobody moved toward the bedroom, collapsing instead on the couch as Harry went to the dispenser and got hot drinks for them all.

  “That was quite a day,” Harry observed absently, slouching against the back of his well-cushioned chair.

  Roshin murmured agreement as she sipped her tea.

  “I never thought to see this day,” Cormac thought aloud. “I have studied Breeds as much as the Maras would allow, but I had no idea the extent of the secrecy that had been employed to hide what the scientists were doing.”

  “How does that make you feel?” Harry asked quietly, but somehow Cormac felt the hidden import of the question.

  Cormac thought for a second. “Disgusted.”

  “Sad,” Roshin put in. “The Council has been lying to everyone for such a long time. I don’t think anyone will just let that go. Even if they can’t feel
, they know right from wrong. What we saw today was just plain wrong.”

  “And you were instrumental in getting the word out,” Cormac pointed out. “I’m very proud of your actions, Roshin. You are a credit to the Zxerah.”

  Roshin looked at him with an eager sort of pleasure in her eyes. Cormac liked that he’d been able to make her feel that kind of response. He wanted to spend the rest of his days finding ways to make her smile. To make her feel good emotions. To give her pleasure.

  “I thought you did a great thing when you looked up the next cell’s records, and by your action encouraged everyone else to do the same,” she complimented him in return and he felt his chest swell with her approval. He liked the feeling.

  “You both did great jobs today,” Harry said, drawing their attention. When they both looked at him, he went on. “I know I’ve been difficult to deal with since this whole relationship started, and for that I am sorry. I always thought I’d find a human mate, but now I know why you were put into my life, Ro. And even you, Cormac. I’ve been less than gracious about accepting two Alvians. I didn’t really understand why it was shaping up this way until today.”

  Harry leaned forward and took one of Roshin’s hands. Cormac immediately heard the Hum he had grown used to hearing whenever either of the men touched Ro’s skin.

  “You two were meant to be here, at this time, doing the things you are best at in order to help free my people. I always thought I had this grand destiny, but I see now it’s not mine alone. You two are part of it. A big part of it. Today would have gone a lot differently if either of you had not been here.”

  “I’m sorry I’m not human,” Roshin offered quietly. “But I can’t change what I am.”

  “I don’t want you to,” Harry was quick to reply. “I’m learning there’s a big difference between what I thought I wanted and what I have and never want to let go. If you can forgive a stubborn human, I know that you’re my true mate, Ro. And if Cormac has to be part of the deal, then so be it.”