by Astra Lynne
Maybe it was because she was tired, or maybe the constant passing out and blows to the head were getting to her, but Amelia knew there was a question begging to be answered about the whole thing and she would not rest well until she could form it and begin thinking about it. She couldn't even form a clear enough thought for her communicator to kick in and fill in the gaps. She exhaled sharply and began to pace about the tent. Maybe if she moved around a bit the thoughts would clear up. No, she thought, she needed air. She needed to look around and get fresh air. Pausing, she wondered if it was safe before remembering Julia say there were Warriors patrolling the camp. She counted the grid of tents to find her way back to hers.
Amelia could hear laughter and talking coming from the right of where she stood and she guessed it was possibly a common area. All of the unformed questions in her head had her feeling too irritable to be social right now. There would be time to meet everyone and hear their stories. Right now she just wanted to think. She began walking in the opposite direction and soon realized the camp was much bigger than she originally thought. There was a river running along the perimeter of the encampment so she decided to follow it for a bit. She liked being near the water back home, and Mattaki had said there were no beasts in their waters except for the oceans so she guessed it was safe.
Amelia thought back and tried to remember everything she had heard or been told since she first learned about the Reaping. She thought of everything she learned on the ship, but it had only been about protocols and history of the Mari-Ursians and Humans. She thought of how shocked Ellenaki had seemed to learn Mattaki had seen her on his Walk, but she hadn't had a second thought about she and Mattaki as a couple. Many people disagreed with the Reaping. But why? Humans would be in the Hive or in an encampment, why would it be so controversial. They thought Humans were lesser beings. Mashda had even referred to her as livestock. But you ate livestock didn't you? Mari-Ursians were mainly vegetarian. But there were other types of livestock. Sheep for example, were livestock for wool. Amelia smiled at how easily her mind wandered. She stopped to admire a flower and a bee flew out. She couldn't believe her eyes, but there it was: a bee. It looked almost exactly like the bees on earth with a fat yellow and black body only slightly bigger. It hovered over the flower for a moment and then flew away. Bees shouldn't be able to fly based on Aerodynamics, she thought. Maybe the reason they weren't supposed to fly was because they were an alien being and Earth Aerodynamics just hadn't figured it out yet. She smiled at the thought that bees were an import from Mari-Ur.
Amelia's blood ran cold as she had a realization. It was the only bee she had seen on the planet. It was the bee study that jumpstarted the whole Reaping in the first place. They called the place they were storing the Human's the Hive. Maybe it was all connected. She wondered if the Bee population was dying on Mari-Ur as well. "There are currently less than 3,000 bees on the entire planet of Mari-Ur" Amelia's communicator added at her thought. She turned and began heading back to camp. She had to ask Julia if there was a way to contact Ellenaki. "Ellenaki is currently at the residence of Councilor Mashda Urak. Connecting." Amelia stopped in her tracks. Why would Ellenaki be with the Councilor? What did the communicator mean by Connecting?
"Amelia," Ellenaki's voice sounded in her head as clearly as if she were standing right there.
"Ellenaki? Can you hear me?"
"Yes."
"I didn't know the communicator could do this," Amelia felt strange having a telepathic conversation with Ellenaki.
"Not all of them can. I updated yours when you were at the Hive. Are you ok?"
"Yes, are you?"
"Yes, do not worry about me for now. Where are you?"
"Ellenaki, there are bees on this planet. But only 3000."
Ellenaki was silent.
"Why are we really here Ellenaki?"
"Amelia, it's a difficult conversation. But it's not what you think.
"Why are you at the Councilor’s residence?" Amelia realized she may not want to know the answer to that.
"That is also not what you think."
"Then tell me the truth Ellenaki," Amelia demanded.
"Fine, humans and Mari-Ursians are more connected than you think. When we settled Earth, we took humans as our mates. When we realized we had interrupted the process of Human Evolution, we had to find a way to protect Earth and reset the Evolutionary pattern. But we also needed a way of protecting our offspring. To ensure the Mari-Ursian blood line died out as much as possible we had to make sure no two Mari-Ursian and Human hybrids mated with each other. This proved to be a bad decision because it spread the Mari-Ursian DNA even further. Add to it the likelihood of those with Mari-Ursian blood to be inexplicably drawn to each other through our phenomenon of Fated Mates."
"But you told me Fated Mates are only shown to you during your Walk."
"That is because the Walk is a test of physical and mental endurance. The stress triggers a response in the very DNA of a Mari-Ursian that draws them to their Fated One. Therefore if a human with Mari-Ursian DNA runs a marathon or suffers a great trauma, then they may in fact trigger the response for being drawn to another person with Mari-Ursian DNA."
"Stress? Like waking up on an alien ship or being attacked by the Scincidians?"
"Exactly," Ellenaki sighed.
"But that wouldn't explain the birthrates on Earth. And the bees."
"That's a much longer conversation, and I am not in a position to tell you now."
"Are you working with Mashda? Are you with them Ellenaki?"
"Amelia, it is not that simple."
Amelia removed the communicator and stared at it. Amelia picked a large leaf and attached the communicator to it. Carefully she floated the leaf on water and sent it floating down river. If they were tracing her whereabouts through the communicator, maybe the river would carry it far enough away to give them a chance. Watching the communicator float away on the leaf made her realize she no longer had the luxury of being too careful, too passive. Julia was right, there was a War coming and like it or not she was smack dab in the middle of it. There were still many questions and doubts, but no matter what, she was determined she would find a way to answer them.
The End
A note from the author:
Dear Readers,
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my book. It is my greatest hope that you enjoyed it. I have wanted to be a writer my entire life and all of you make that possible! This is the first in what I hope will be a long career entertaining you all with the sexy aliens and amazing planets I love so much.
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