Gateway to HeVan

by Lucy Kelly

  The next few hours passed quickly. Only once, did her Ankida interrupt. Glynnis made them wait in the hall and asked Malpha what furniture pieces or other things she would want to take with her. Her Ankida would be responsible for seeing they got to the ship undamaged. After considering it, Malpha decided there were a few things she wanted to take with her, after all. When they broke for lunch, Glynnis asked if Michelle and Cassandra could join them. By this time, Malpha had softened enough that Glynnis believed it would do her more good than bad to meet more human women.

  When Cassandra and her mother arrived, the four of them sat down together. It didn’t take long to break the ice. Michelle took one look at the six-foot tall woman with Amazonian curves and thick brown hair to her knees, and she immediately went into hairdresser mode.

  “Oh, what wonderful hair you have! You don’t mind, do you?” she asked, already reaching to run her hands through Malpha’s hair and check for split ends and texture.

  “You’ll have to excuse my mom. She’s always worked in hair salons. She had her own salon back home and plans to open one here, along with a day spa,” said Cassandra, seeing the somewhat worried look on Malpha’s face.

  Michelle laughed. “Oh, I’m terrible, aren’t I? And we haven’t even been properly introduced. I’m Michelle, Cassandra’s mother. As you can see, I have another on the way,” she said, giving her burgeoning belly a loving touch.

  Malpha was struck by the look of love she saw on Michelle’s face as she touched the part of her body holding her unborn child. She’d never seen it before. I want that, she thought.

  Just before they finished eating, Cassie slumped over in her seat.

  “What’s wrong? Is she all right? Would you like me to contact a medical?” Malpha asked, very concerned.

  Michelle reached over to make sure Cassandra’s hair wasn’t getting on her plate. She stood and held up her daughter’s shoulder so she wouldn’t fall out of her chair.

  “Cassandra is a Seer. She’s having a vision. We’d prefer no one knew about her gift,” said Glynnis to Malpha.

  Malpha gave Glynnis a searching look. “No one will hear it from me,” she said.

  “Thank you, dear.”

  “She’s so vulnerable like this; you should guard her closely,” said Malpha.

  “Don’t worry, we shall,” said Glynnis.

  “Why do you trust me so easily?” Malpha wanted to know.

  “I’ve raised two girls of my own. You can’t hide who you are from me,” Glynnis answered her.

  Moments later, Cassandra came out of her trance. She took a minute to gather herself together, drinking some water and straightening in her chair. All this time, she hadn’t looked at Malpha. Finally, she did and couldn’t help going off in a fit of giggles.

  “Cassandra, child, you’re being rude,” said Glynnis.

  “Sorry,” she said, before going into another round of laughter.

  “Well, you really have to tell us now,” said her mother.

  Cassie nodded and took some deep breaths to get herself under control.

  “Malpha―how do you feel about children?” she asked.

  “Children? Well, I would like to have children, of course. I’m afraid the Goddess is not happy with my lineage and would deny me this blessing. I would be overjoyed to have children,” she added.

  “Well, that’s good; you’re going to have quite a lot of children. You see, your husband is going to want a son.”

  Cassie couldn’t help it; she went off on another peal of laughter.

  “What’s so funny about him wanting a son? Lots of men want sons,” Glynnis said, getting exasperated.

  “It’s just that he’s going to have to be patient. He won’t get one unless you get pregnant more than twelve times,” Cassie said.

  “Twelve?” asked Malpha, her jaw dropping.

  “Twelve girls,” clarified Cassie. “They’ll be your army, Malpha; you’ll be teaching them. You’ll be teaching your son, too.”

  The four women looked at each other and they all burst into laughter. Glynnis’s Ankida, who had spent the morning lugging items back and forth to the shuttle, were hungry and tired when they walked in to find the women laughing. Glynnis shooed them out to eat their own lunch. With orders to come straight back after, there were more things they needed to take to the ship.

  “Alright, Malpha; let’s let Michelle and Cassandra take care of packing the rest of your things. If they miss anything, we can always send it to you later. You and I have things to discuss in the office before you leave,” said Glynnis.

  Reminded she was leaving, just when she thought she had made friends, sobered Malpha. Losing her smile, she led the way into the office.

  “Don’t give me that look. Just think of those twelve little girls and how you’re going to start the women’s liberation movement on KowLer. And—since women can travel now, you can expect visitors. I especially want you to contact me when you’re pregnant with your first child. I’ll come for a nice long visit then. Now, let’s get this done,” said Glynnis in a brisk voice.

  Thinking of all that Glynnis had said, Malpha squared her shoulders. Standing tall, she led Glynnis to the other room. The two of them sat together behind the desk. Glynnis worked on the computers while Malpha gave her instructions. Glynnis had an old-fashioned notebook she’d brought with her and was taking notes in shorthand. Malpha asked her what the strange writing was.

  “Is this how you write your language on your planet?” she asked.

  “No, this is a type of phonetic writing. It allows me to take down a conversation at the speed with which people talk. I can make notes as you’re giving me instructions so I don’t forget later,” she explained.

  Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the outer door. Malpha called out and the door opened. In walked twelve individuals.

  “You must be the Council,” said Glynnis from where she sat. Then she turned to Malpha.

  “Malpha, dearest,” she said, patting her arm, “would you go and get my purse? I left it in the other room.”

  “Of course, Regent,” Malpha answered.

  Giving her a short nod, she left the room. By addressing Glynnis as Regent, Malpha was giving Glynnis her proper title and letting the Council know they had to tread softly.

  The Council waited until Malpha left the room.

  “She called you Regent,” said the woman standing at the head of the group.

  “Yes, I recently joined with her uncles. I decided to stay here in Purgat instead of asking them to move to the House of my ancestry,” Glynnis said.

  “She didn’t call you Nam-Nin, or queen,” stated the same woman.

  “That’s correct. The Nam-Nin’s arrival has been delayed. She’s helping the KowLer with a small fertility problem they’re having. She and the three hundred pregnant women in her retinue will arrive soon,” explained Glynnis in a clear voice.

  Just then, Malpha returned, carrying Glynnis’s purse with her.

  Michelle and Cassandra came to the door.

  Seizing the opportunity, Glynnis looked and turned to get up from the chair behind the desk. For a moment, her back was to the room. She looked Malpha in the eyes and glanced over at Cassandra and back, then raised an eyebrow. She smiled at Malpha’s very slight nod.

  With a politician’s smile, she walked over to the woman who had been speaking and held out her hand.

  “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Glynnis MacTavish, recently of Earth and now joined to Rale, Recca, and Rufan Kolrami. I am descended from Tamiel, as have the daughters of my lineage. My granddaughter was the one who discovered Nam-Nin Tamiel where she lay in stasis. It was she to whom the Nam-Nin passed her powers. She is the Nam-Nin now; I’m only here to help with the transition.”

  “Why are you holding out your hand?” asked the woman in front.

  “It’s a method of greeting on her planet,” explained Malpha.

  She then went on to introduce each of the men and women of t
he Council to Glynnis, Michelle, and Cassandra. The members of the Council were amazed to see a pregnant woman. It distracted them for a few moments.

  As soon as the introductions were concluded, Michelle hurried Cassandra from the room. They didn’t want her to have a vision in front of the Council.

  Glynnis took her purse from Malpha with a thank you and took out a memory saver.

  “Let’s just plug this in, shall we?” Glynnis asked. “I’m sure it will clear things up,” she said.

  She walked over and plugged the crystal into the viewer on the wall Malpha had used yesterday.

  “Now, everyone please find a seat; make sure you can see the viewer,” she said. She waited until they were all seated before starting the recording.

  The screen lightened and then cleared. Everyone in the room could see Addie in the gel chair in her quarters in all of her very pregnant glory. On either side of the chair were two of her Great Danes; behind her stood her three Ankida: Arjun, Rune, and Kylan.

  “Hello,” Addie said, as she started to glow and throw off golden sparks in the air.

  “I am Aditya Marie Perez Azazyel, descendant of Tamiel and Nam-Nin of the Nephilim. One of the women suffered a miscarriage yesterday. We are proceeding with care. It is imperative we have immediate medical knowledge on Nephilim pregnancies. My grandmother is acting in my place. Her words must be obeyed as coming from my voice. There are two things which must be changed immediately and put into law. The first, a Nephilim female has the choice to stay in her House or go to the House of her Ankida. This is to be her choice from this day forward. Second, all of the women I’m bringing with me come from a distant planet. More will be arriving. After they are joined, if they wish to take their Ankida and visit family back on their home planet, they are allowed to leave HeVan. We do not keep prisoners. Thank you for your attention. We will speak again upon my arrival.”

  The screen went dark.

  “Well, this memory saver should answer all of your immediate questions. Now, Marga, as head of the Council, would you please gather the requested medical information and have it brought here in four hours?” asked Glynnis.

  “Why do you need four hours?” Marga asked.

  “Because that’s when Malpha is leaving to take it to Addie,” she explained.

  “But she can’t leave; she’s the Regent,” said Marga.

  “No, she’s not the Regent; I am. I thought we made it clear earlier,” said Glynnis patiently, as if she were speaking to a four year old child.

  Marga came close to where Glynnis stood and lowered her voice. “The House of Purgat is in debt to the Nephilim. Now, since the queen has been found and will be returned, it’s time for them to pay the price of ten thousand years of…”

  “Stop right there,” Glynnis said in a sharp whisper. “You will not hold the child guilty for the acts of her grandmother. If there is any debt, it is owed to Malpha for taking the task of holding a people together for so long with no thanks and little help. You all just barged your way in here as if you had the right, which you don’t! You can all just take yourselves off and send a warrior back with the requested information. We can speak again tomorrow after I’ve calmed down and you’ve grown some compassion and some brains,” Glynnis ended in a near shout, hands on her hips.

  Her Ankida, hearing her, entered the room, “Glynnis, is everything okay?” asked Rale.

  “The Council was just leaving; perhaps you should help them on their way,” she said. “Keep one thing in mind,” she said to them as they were filing out. “The re-birth of the Nephilim people has come. It’s time for positive, constructive thinking. Your job is going to be to provide the queen with help and advice. I’d suggest you begin gathering data.”

  After they left, she turned to Malpha and said, “Let’s go see Cassie.”

  The two of them quickly went into the other room. They didn’t get far; Cassie was out cold on the floor, twitching.

  Recca had followed them in and quickly bent over to place her on the bed. He turned to the women, “What happened?”

  “Cassandra met the Council,” explained Malpha, giving her uncle a close look.

  “I think we shouldn’t wait for the Council to send us information. We can download what we need from here and send the rest later. I think Malpha should leave right away,” Recca said.

  Just then, Cassandra sat up, “Sabotage!” she said. “You have to leave before they can sabotage the ship. I have to go with you. I have a lot to tell Addie,” she explained.

  “Damn, I wanted to write a long letter to Addie explaining a few things. Now there’s no time,” said Glynnis.

  “If Michelle and Cassandra don’t mind quickly packing the rest of my clothes, I’ll show you how to use the inter-planetary high-speed transmitter. You can record a message and then send it off in a compact high-speed transmission. Even if you send it tomorrow, it will get to the KowLer system before we do,” explained Malpha.

  “That’ll work—show me,” said Glynnis.

  For the next twenty minutes, everyone worked frantically. Within the hour, Malpha and Cassandra were in the shuttle and on their way. Just before take-off, a warrior, not part of the regular crew, was caught trying to board. He was detained and brought to Glynnis.

  She was working at Malpha’s desk, reading over her diaries, trying to get a feel for what had been happening lately when the man was brought in. He had a belligerent look on his face.

  Letting out a sigh, Glynnis once again turned on the memory saver of Addie speaking. While the Council hadn’t openly reacted, she knew, in general, the warriors had a very strong reaction when they saw Addie’s glowy routine. This proved true as the young man immediately went to his knees and held up his hands, palms up, when Addie started letting off her golden sparks.

  “Now, tell me, young man, why did you want to get on the ship?” asked Glynnis.

  “I was told to personally deliver a case of Seraphian brandy to the Lady Malpha to give to the queen,” he explained.

  “Who told you that?” she asked.

  “Councilman Hend of the House of Celestia—he knows Malpha’s fathers were from the House of Seraph and they’re no longer exporting brandy outside of their region. Malpha is known for her preference for it. Since she hasn’t been able to get any new supplies, the Councilman thought she would appreciate the gesture,” he said.

  “I see. Well, if that’s all, you may go. Tell the people of your House to gather images of all warriors wishing to be joined. We will transmit them to the vision matcher on Earth to find your joins. Nearly all the warriors from the original expedition found joins. Those she finds joins for and others chosen by the Nam-Nin will be making a trip to Earth to meet or find their joins,” she added.

  “Thank you, Regent, I will,” he said, as he got up to leave.

  After he was gone, Glynnis tried out the new speed transmitter to send a message telling Malpha the case of Seraphian brandy was suspect and to toss it out the airlock. Given the amount of brandy the woman kept in her cellar, she knew it would be hard for her to do, but necessary.

  Next, she carefully worded a message for Addie, making notes so she wouldn’t forget anything. It took nearly two hours but she had a lot to tell. Finally, she called it done and sent it off.

  “There, it’s in your hands now, baby,” she said to herself, then getting up from the chair. She was tired; she wanted to check on Michelle and Sergio and then find her Ankida. She was happy to find them coming down the hall as she left the office.

  Chapter Sixteen

  BianCa was soaking in the tub. Her body’s sore muscles needed the hot water. All of the wonderful sex she’d been having since she was released from the medical bay ten days ago—well, she just wasn’t used to this much sexual activity. It was a revelation; she’d wept when she felt her first orgasm. She didn’t know what was happening and neither did Thors. With so few women on HeVan and the fact he believed he would likely never have a mate, he had never studied how to please
a female. Then, for some reason he didn’t understand at the time, Arjun took him aside and gave him some pointers.

  Best of all, was the memory saver which taught him how to perform the Kuan Haddis, a Nephilim pleasure massage the male performs for his mate.

  When BianCa thought back, she couldn’t help but blush. She couldn’t wait to try out the male version, Kālu Ki’, on Thors, which Grace had explained to her. She still blushed when she viewed the instructions on the memory saver. Though she would have to hide it from Thors, she didn’t think he would like her to be watching it, even if he did enjoy the results.

  She and Thors had returned to KowLer the previous evening. They had then spent most of the night christening her bedroom in the city palace. She would find the energy to tackle the previous duke’s rooms later. Right now she didn’t want to think about him!

  The water was starting to cool and she was considering climbing out and facing her people, when Thors opened the door. Running in between his legs and over to the tub were the two Great Dane puppies Addie had given her. As they rushed across the floor, Dora, the female, slipped and slid the last few feet on her butt. Barney, the male, gave her a sniff before putting his paws on the edge of the large tub. As soon as he realized there was water, he jumped down and ran back to Thors.

  Dora, disgusted with her brother, leaped up to give BianCa kisses and fell into the bath water. Both BianCa and Thors laughed as Dora tried to climb out and kept slipping back into the water. Thors finally leaned over and pulled her out. He got a good dousing, as she immediately shook herself, spraying water everywhere.

  BianCa couldn’t stop giggling as she climbed out of the tub with Thors’ help. As she reached for the towel Thors handed her, Dora ran from the room. She could see her jump on the bed and start rolling in the covers, which started BianCa laughing again. Thors wasn’t paying attention; his eyes heated as he looked at BianCa. He still had trouble believing he had been so blessed to have a join of his own. He would miss his homeland and family, of course. Having BianCa made any sacrifice worthwhile, however. He knew with her by his side, they could accomplish anything.