Homeworld: Beacon 3

by Valerie Parv

  Timo’s lips thinned. “That’s what Lorne said. But how do you know it’s not a natural phenomenon?”

  She put her teacup down, the liquid inside it as cold as her hands around the cup. Although she couldn’t see the Kelek, she was positive they were behind this. “The prince probably saw the same signs I did.” Even if not in the same way. Lorne was a scientist himself, and his brother Michel a marine biologist. Their hereditary royal status might be an anachronism in the modern world, but there was nothing backward in their thinking.

  Timo’s ready acceptance lifted some of her chill. “It’s not impossible. In Alaska there’s Project HAARP. We don’t know much of what goes on there, but experimental weather technology has been talked about. The US Government denies HAARP is a weather weapon, but there’s a mighty big wall of secrecy around it.”

  He looked at the screens then back to her. “In the UAE the Arabs have built huge fields of ionizers to generate waves of negative ions. As the ions rise into the lower atmosphere, they attract dust particles. In turn the particles attract condensation from the air. When the clouds can’t hold any more moisture, it’s released as rain.

  “They had rainstorms in the desert over Abu Dhabi during July and August. Normally they’re bone dry.” He stopped in front of her. “The HAARP ionizers look eerily similar to those at Abu Dhabi.”

  “It isn’t the Arabs,” she said bleakly.

  “Then Project HAARP—”

  “No.” As she watched the devastation being unleashed on her adopted country, Elaine knew there was no avoiding what she had to do. “You’re on the right track. The weather is being manipulated. But if it’s who I suspect …” Her voice trailed off as she considered what she was about to say. Timo meant everything to her, as her partner and the father of her child; she owed him the truth. What it would do to their relationship, she dreaded to think. He’d been so many places and seen so much, knew so much, she was positive he moved in circles beyond most people’s awareness. Still, this next step would be a doozy, even for him.

  “Timo, there’s something I need to tell you,” she began. Starting with her own alien origins, she told him about Adam and Garrett, and how they’d destroyed the first Kelek ship. She left nothing out. “Now you know it all.”

  He dropped onto the sofa beside her. “That’s quite a story.”

  “Not a story, the truth.”

  He ran both hands through his dark hair. “I’ve always suspected there was more to you.”

  Here it comes, she thought, bracing herself. It had been fun; he would always be there for their child. He would take care of her until the birth; money would be no problem. All things she knew anyway. Timo wasn’t the type to abandon his responsibilities.

  But basically, he was about to say it was over between them.

  Elaine wasn’t given to crying, but tears hovered. She felt as if a great chasm had opened between herself and Timo, and she was a breath away from toppling in. For the first time, she hated her alien blood.

  “Say something,” she prompted as the silence lengthened.

  “I’m thinking,” he murmured. “If these Kelek can manipulate weather, they must have the technology to counter the effects.”

  A hysterical laugh burst from her throat. “You’re thinking about the problem?”

  “Of course. I’ve seen enough political jockeying in my life to recognize the pattern. The Kelek want something, and this weather is only an opening gambit.”

  Nearly bursting with joy, she slid an arm around him and pulled him closer. “Have I told you how wonderful you are?”

  “Not nearly enough.”

  “I’ve just told you I have alien blood and the ability to see across the universe, and you don’t even react.”

  His lips skimmed over hers. “I’ll react plenty once it sinks in. But you’re still Elaine, my amouvere. That hasn’t changed. Unless you’re really a quivering blob of protoplasm, taking human form as a convenience.”

  She lifted herself to kiss him, taking her time. He didn’t seem to mind.

  “For a blob of protoplasm, you’re a pretty good kisser.”

  When she pulled away slightly, she tasted coffee on his breath. “Sorry to disappoint you, but this is the only shape I have.”

  “Pity. The sex might have been interesting.”

  “You don’t find me interesting in this shape?”

  He pressed closer, letting her feel his arousal. “What do you think?”

  With a sigh, she moved away slightly, resenting even that much space between them. “I think you need to let what I’ve told you sink in a while, then answer your own question.”

  His eyes were dark, his palm warm as he cupped her chin. “I can answer now, but I get that this isn’t the best time. Later will have to do for us.”

  There would be a later. She almost broke down at the thought, but took her cue from his steadiness.

  He stood up, all business. “Why do you think the Kelek singled out Carramer for their weather attack?”

  So it was as simple and complex as that. She wondered if Timo knew how much his acceptance meant to her. She was truly blessed, finding perhaps the one person in the world capable not only of dealing with what she’d told him, but of moving on to the next steps.

  Being loved was one thing; being totally seen and understood was a gift she’d never expected to receive. But Timo was right, their own concerns would have to wait.

  Chapter 7

  “Aren’t you going to give the humans your list of demands?”

  “When I’m ready.”

  She and Kam were in the captain’s cabin at last. He’d dogged her steps as she ranted her way through the ship, firing off orders and chivvying her people to get all systems back to full capacity. Those who’d served her longest kept right on doing their jobs. Newer crew members reacted as if they were seconds away from being shoved out an airlock.

  The sounds of controlled chaos reached her through the cabin walls. She smiled. Even aboard her own vessel, a little terror went a long way toward getting things done.

  “Are you waiting for power to be fully restored?”

  “It came back while you were pouring our drinks.” Attuned to the feel of her ship, she’d instantly detected the change in the pulse of the engines.

  He turned. “Then why put off contacting the humans?”

  She moved behind him, running a hand down his bare back, satisfied when he shuddered. “I have more important things to do.”

  He didn’t need to ask what they were. He’d known when she engaged the voice lock as they came in. He hadn’t demurred when she slid his uniform shirt off over his head and pressed herself against him. Now he went rigid. She caressed him again, starting at the sensitive hollow of his shoulder, moving slowly down. He arched like a bow.

  Adepts were such responsive creatures, she thought, his reaction inflaming her senses. Taking the glass from his fingers, she set it down and steered him to the bed. He stretched out face down, resting his head on his arms, and she levered herself over him. Removing his remaining clothes took only seconds. He hadn’t lifted his head but she heard him moan as she kneaded his shoulders then moved down to work on back muscles knotted with tension. Her own tension grew as she eased his.

  Her arousal soared. Throwing her weight around the ship had sharpened her other appetites. She reached to her groin and pressed an area of skin the size of her little fingernail. Instantly her body responded as if a real male organ had sprung from between her legs instead of a virtual one seated deep in her brain.

  Naturally, it had taken a woman to invent the procedure. What Kelek man would ever think to make a woman so much his equal? The implant was expensive and painful to have done, but Akia hadn’t hesitated. Running a ship gave her some of the power she craved. This completed the cycle.

  Since the procedure’s effect was mental as much as physiological, she was unchanged outwardly. Her appearance, hormones and bodily functions were still female. However she wa
s some men’s worst nightmare, a woman who could perform like a man at will, and with whomever she chose. Gath had been furious because she’d had the procedure done without consulting him. Their marriage had effectively ended then, requiring only his death to free her completely.

  Kam had no such problem. There were times when he’d take the upper hand, and times – like now – when he recognized her need to be the one in control. I’m close to falling in love with you, she thought.

  “Yes,” he murmured, looking at her over his shoulder.

  She couldn’t subdue the intensity of her emotions. “Get out of my head. You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

  “I’ve known for a long time.”

  She had, too, she accepted, realizing something else: she wasn’t close to loving Kam – she did love him. The awareness barbed her with fear at being so vulnerable, even as she shook with delight. He understood her better than anyone, including Gath, who’d never accepted her warrior side, trying to mold her into the partner he required – an admiring sycophant.

  Kam not only accepted all her facets, he gloried in them. She leaned over him, letting her hands convey how much this meant. His skin heated and he stirred restively. Virtual power shimmered through her as she let him feel the wild patter of her heart and the brush of her hair across his skin when she bent to kiss him. A lightning bolt of pleasure speared her.

  What did it matter if the sensations were all in her brain? Wasn’t that said to be the most erotic of all organs? Kam would share her pleasure as the implant projected her feelings to him, they only needed to breathe the same air. Even better if there was an emotional connection. A physical link was the ultimate, of course, but not essential for the implant to work.

  This aspect had angered Gath more than anything else. “You can have sex with anyone from halfway across a room,” he’d thrown at her. “What does that do to us?”

  His accusation had hurt, although she knew that any us had been in danger long before she opted for the procedure. Instead of letting it enrich their relationship, Gath had allowed jealousy and insecurity to destroy what remained.

  She wasn’t making the same mistake with Kam.

  Pushing thoughts of Gath away, she focused on the adept, making love to Kam with her mind as thoroughly as she would have any other way. Holding him, enjoying his male beauty while she sang in his thoughts almost blew her mind.

  His, too, she saw when he shuddered and choked on her name. His explosion of breath came a fraction later than hers as she collapsed on top of him.

  Then he rolled her over and banded her hips with his arm. “Not done yet,” he gasped. “My turn.”

  Where he found the strength she couldn’t imagine, but she welcomed his gifts as he’d accepted hers. It was moot whether real physical pleasure could match the intensity generated by the implant, but he came close and she closed her eyes as passion washed through her with a force stronger than the tsunami she’d created.

  She saw when Kam lost himself in the tidal wave, his eyes glazing. But he held her tight and took her with him, all reason sweeping away. She glimpsed something almost feral in his eyes and suspected he was reflecting her look, before everything exploded in a whiteout of pure sensation.

  *

  “We can’t just sit here. We have to do something.”

  They were back in the main house, Guy hunching over a screen and studying whatever he’d found on the flash drive snatched from Adam’s computer. Garrett was too wound up to write, and didn’t share Guy’s fascination with Adam’s charts and graphs.

  The shelter hadn’t been needed and the house was still in one piece except for the occasional breakages. Garrett couldn’t say the same for the coastline below them. The spectacular glass walkway, built to withstand almost anything, had cracked in several places, and stretches of balustrades had shattered. Yet they hadn’t borne the brunt of the tsunami. That honor went to Black Tree.

  Elaine had looked there and reported the damage to Garrett, who’d heard the jumbo-jet roar of the wave as it drove at the land. Main mission control and the shuttle had survived, but most of the infrastructure, including the launch pad, was a mess.

  Below Adam’s house, debris pockmarked the cliff face and all traces of greenery had disappeared. If that was the worst they would experience, Garrett wasn’t complaining. The death count was still coming in from the worst-affected areas.

  Giant waves battered the shoreline, and would for several hours yet. But the two of them were safe. Adam’s whereabouts were still a mystery.

  Guy looked up, his expression calm. What did it take to rattle the man, Garrett wondered, not caring if Guy read his thoughts. When it came to anti-social, Adam had nothing on his genetic twin; Guy was as impenetrable as the statues Garrett had seen on a research trip to Easter Island.

  “What would you suggest we do?” Guy asked. “The cliff road was cut by a rock slide.”

  They’d heard the news on Garrett’s iPad. The quake had fractured sections of the cliff face and the tsunami had done the rest. Their only way out by road was blocked. If not for Adam’s foresight in providing a battery of back-up generators, they’d be without power, too. Keeping to the main living areas and turning off non-essential systems ensured the fuel supply would last several days.

  “We could get out there and start clearing the way.”

  Guy didn’t dignify the suggestion with a response. Elaine had already scanned the blockage and told Garrett some of the rocks were the size of a car. Without earth-moving machinery, they were stuck.

  Garrett looked at the graphs on Guy’s screen. “What are you doing anyway?”

  “Studying the pattern of the tsunami.”

  “We already know it wasn’t a natural phenomenon,” Garrett snapped. “Elaine and I figured that out for ourselves.”

  “We still don’t know its purpose,” Guy said mildly.

  “To cause terror and soften us up for …” Garrett’s logic failed him. If it was the Keleks’ doing, what was their objective? Fear, certainly. But to what end? “You think they’re picking up where the first ship left off, trying to force us to take them to Prana?”

  “If the weather events are their doing, it’s outside their pattern.”

  “Their pattern as we know it,” Garrett reminded him. “Maybe they’re not all slavers and military types.”

  “This one apparently isn’t.”

  Garrett reached for the plate of sandwiches he’d thrown together after they emerged from the shelter. Guy wasn’t eating much, he noted. Regular life of the party.

  Then he thought of Adam, a foundling for most of his life, or so he’d thought. How much worse was it for Guy not only to have his past a blank, but also his very origins. In his shoes, Garrett would be an Easter Island statue, too.

  Guy gave him that quizzical look but said nothing. Damn it, having his thoughts read was a pain. Okay, read me then. Read everything. And he poured his anger and frustration down whatever linked them.

  He saw Guy blanch. Immediately Garrett stemmed the flow, feeling childish and petty. Neither of them could help being what they were. And if the weather attack was an opening salvo, they’d have to work together against whatever came next.

  “Exactly,” Guy said as if they’d had the conversation.

  “Any ideas?”

  “Presumably some sort of demands.”

  Garrett paused mid bite. “What if they don’t have any? They could be playing with us, cat to mouse.” On the couch, Lurid looked up at him as if alerted by the word mouse. He should feed her, too. When the men had entered the earthquake shelter, the cat had shot past them from wherever she’d been hiding. She’d settled beside Garrett on a sofa, her expression reproachful, as if blaming him for the disturbance. So much for giving them a clue to Adam’s whereabouts.

  Guy looked thoughtful. “What would the Kelek gain?”

  Garrett offered Lurid a piece of chicken from his sandwich. She looked at it in disdain, then slowly began to lic
k it as if doing him a great favor. “Satisfaction,” he proposed. “Destroying planets might be a hobby or a sport.”

  “That’s not what I sense. There’s a great hunger for something.”

  If Guy was sensing the Kelek, at least it proved they were there. Not just in Garrett’s imagination. Humanity was under attack. “Conquest?” he suggested.

  “More personal.”

  “Revenge. For their ship, and for the soldier I killed.” That thought still left a bitter taste. When he’d fought the young Kelek, Garrett hadn’t wanted him to die. Too many had already died on that man’s ship.

  Alive, the soldier could have taught them about his people. They’d have had a chance at brokering a peace between Kelek and human, ending a conflict that served neither side. In the air force, Garrett had seen – and caused – too much death over inherited hurts. Somebody had to be first to call a truce. But, about to slide over the cliff, the Kelek had rejected the hand Garrett had stretched out to save him.

  Why did it always come down to us or them? From space he’d seen the tiny ball of dirt and water that was humanity’s home. The Kelek had their own version. Surely an advanced species had more important things to do than revisit old hatreds, old scores?

  Was humanity really so advanced? After Garrett’s tour of duty in the Gulf had come conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, the Ukraine. He hadn’t served in most of them but his experience stayed with him. There always seemed to be a new theater of war springing up somewhere. Not much of a track record. He didn’t want the Kelek to wipe Earth off the star charts, but he understood the temptation.

  “It isn’t all that clear cut, is it?” Guy said.

  Garrett pushed aside the remains of his sandwich. “Never is.” He pulled his iPad to him and swiped his way to the news feed. Relief efforts were being hampered by blockages like the one on the cliff road, but aerial rescues were underway. The city was largely intact except for the waterfront areas, and people were being warned to stay away from the shore until the giant waves subsided.