New Hope (The New Earth Colonies Book 1)

by Nina Silver

  I nodded. “I thought it would never happen.” I tried to lick my lips, but my mouth was so dry it just ended up making them worse. His eyes heated, and that energy started building between us again. I fanned myself - because it was hot and I was feeling hot.

  “Come on, final stretch.” Arlo stated, and we started walking again. My feet sunk in the sand but I drudged on. Our food and water ran out a while ago, but the brief sleep we had taken underground had helped energize me a bit.

  I couldn’t wait to get back to New Hope and reach out to Dr. Morton with all the new symbols and see what he thought, I had taken many pictures of the new ones, and had even plugged them along my algorithm. Now I just had to go through the possible meanings that my informator would spit out. Evidence pointed towards my discovery of their numerical value. I had been noticing the symbols on the buildings of the base, and having computed them - it made perfect sense. I just had to convince Dr. Morton - pfff easy peasy! I snorted at my sarcasm.

  Despite the extreme heat, a chill ran up my spine at the idea of those poor humans stuck in those vats!

  “You okay?” Cove asked his warm hand a comforting weight now around my waist.

  “Yes, I was just thinking about what we found.”

  “I know, it was disturbing. But we’ll be able to call reinforcements in less than fifteen minutes.”

  “That is a bit comforting.” But not a lot. How long where the Ourupta there, how long were those humans there? I just had too many thoughts and questions to have a calm mind.

  “I can offer some more comfort - if you’re in need of it.” Cove whispered near my ear. My breath hitched, my heart skipping a beat. I felt scandalized, but I couldn’t deny how much I enjoyed his attention.

  “Uhm…” I opened my mouth to say something smart and cute and funny - something Xan would say in this situation, but I came up with nothing.

  “Still shy?” Cove grinned.

  “Yes.” My cheeks flamed even more.

  “We’ll have to do something about that eh?” He teased me again, as his hand slowly crept higher up my waist until his thumb rubbed the underside of my breast. A shuddered breath left my lips, and I focused straight ahead on the growing buildings.

  “I’ll need to use your com’s systems as soon as we are back.” Arlo pronounced breaking the tension between Cove and me.

  “Was planning on it.” Cove acknowledged him.

  When we were a few hundred feet from New Hope, a group of teenagers ran up to us. Joey and his friends.

  “Chief, you’re back!” He cried with excitement and relief. “We were just about ready to send out a search party. My da’ was leading it.”

  “We had an adventure Joey, but we’re all good as you can see.” Cove let go of me, and I barely kept myself from sighing in dismay at the loss of contact. “Where’s your dad now? I have something important to talk about with him.”

  “In the Commons, with a bunch of others.” Joey pointed to the big building, and we all made way for it. When we entered, the cold air of the temp controls hit us, and I sighed even more. My stars, this felt amazing. A group of 20 or so women and men turned at once to look at us. I recognized a few of them, Jo, Joey’s dad, and Cove’s brother among them.

  “Cove.” Jo cried in relief and ran to him. She threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, he patted her arm but made no move to wrap his arms around her. An ugly feeling of hurt and jealousy popped inside me, and I tried to squash it down. Jo was worried about him, of course, she’d hug him. His brother came up next and reassuringly clapped a hand on Cove’s back.

  “We just noticed no one had returned since yesterday.” The brother, I think his name was Siel, explained.

  “It’s a long story. First, Jo can you take the General and his team to our com’s center?”

  “But Cove, you just got back and...”

  Cove raised a hand stopping her. “Do as I say, I’ll explain later.” Jo gave him a glare, but ultimately nodded and then turned ushering the Neptunians after her.

  “I understand you were all coming to search for us.” Cove addressed the gathered crowd. “For that I offer thanks, now I must focus on some business I have, but I will explain soon.” The group nodded, most of them dispersing leaving behind only Siel, and Tyler.

  “What happened?” Tyler asked.

  “We fell down a tunnel built underneath the sphere.” Cove explained. The two men looked at me briefly before their attention turned back to Cove. Awkwardly I sat there as he told what had happened and what we had found. I wanted to send the new information to Dr. Morton, but Cove had been holding onto my things, and I didn’t want to interrupt while he was talking to the other two.

  After a barrage of questions from them, and Cove patiently answering, the Neptunians and Jo returned. Jo who still seemed angry threw a glance at me and then focused on Cove. “Is anyone, going to tell me what’s going on here?”

  “I have to talk to you. Privately.” Arlo stated looking at Cove. Cove gave a meaningful look at his brother and then Jo before turning to Arlo.

  “We can use my office.” Cove moved towards one of the doors, leaving me behind.

  “Excuse me?” I called after him, and he stopped in his tracks turning to look at me. “Can I have my things please?” I pointed to my bag still slung over his shoulder.

  “Oh yeah of course.” He moved and carefully hung the bag over my shoulder, his palms gently rubbing my arms before leaving. He leaned in closer. “After I deal with this mess, I’ll come find you.” His words held much promise and heat, and I bit my lip nodding slowly. I did want him to find me.

  They left, leaving me with Tyler, Siel, and a sour-looking Jo. I gave them a small smile and then waved. “I’m going to go get some rest. I’ll see you later.”

  “Sure thing.” Siel grinned and gave me a small finger salute. Tyler just looked at me seriously, and Jo continued glaring. I made my way out of the Commons and then walked the few hundred feet towards the unit building. The yellow sun beat down on my sweaty form as I continued walking- the heat was just as much as before, but I was much more used to it now. I reached the housing unit building, and again coolness enveloped me as the doors shut behind me.

  When I was finally in the room, I quickly undressed and ran to the wash unit for a shower. I set my timer intending to use most of my allotted time as it was already close to dinner. I lavished under the cold water, working out all the kinks and sore spots in my body, and cooling myself down.

  My thoughts kept returning to the poor people in that base, and all the possible Ourupta knowledge that we could garner. Along with those, thoughts of Cove, and his lips on me, his arms around me kept coming as well. My breasts tingled, and I grew wet just thinking about his hard length rubbing against my hip. His eyes had been smoldering and hungry, and that jagged scar on the side of his face made him extra dangerous and appealing.

  I ran my hands over my body imagining it was him, my breathing came out faster, and I grew even wetter. I cupped my breasts, teasing my nipples, and a small moan escaped me. It felt so good, I wished he was here with me - touching me. Before I could continue with my plan, the timer went off, and I quickly stepped out of the shower. I pressed my com checking the time, on Saturn the workday was almost over so I had to send those files to him soon.

  I hastily dressed in a white dress with long sleeves, but low neckline that reached my knees, and then went to work. I compiled a quick list of all my conclusions and then send it to Dr. Morton along with a bunch of photos. I decided it was best not to include any that I took at the Ourupta base, at least not yet since I had no idea what Arlo and the Neptunians wanted to do.

  Cove had shared the truth with his brother and the enforcer, but I wasn’t that brave to break direct orders.

  I started writing notes and looking at more symbols from the sphere. Absentmindedly, I wondered if it had held even after the cave-in. I don’t remember seeing it in the rubble. I focused on some of the bigger symbols of the
sphere, from previous knowledge, we knew that the bigger the symbols, the more important they were. I inputted as many as I could on my informator, and then set my algorithm to work. It typically took a few minutes to spit out all possible meanings and then I would have to go through them and make corrections, and changes. It was a time-consuming process, but I loved it. Almost like solving a puzzle.

  I moved on to the next batch of symbols, thoughtfully translating the ones I knew. One indicated the concept of time, and another meant return. I puzzled over the third one, a combination of three different smaller symbols, two of which I knew little about, the third one indicated completion - readiness. Feeling frustrated at myself for not being able to work more of this out, I sighed and rose to my feet. I paced around the room, talking through everything I knew about Ourupta language - but I was exhausted and beat, my stomach gurgled - and hungry.

  I checked the time, 7:30, I gasped feeling surprised at how fast the time had slipped by. I better make it to dinner, since I only had half an hour.

  I hastily walked to the Commons, only to find it quiet and mostly deserted, unlike the other night. There were a couple of people spread out at tables, and I saw Cove, Jo, Haze, and Siel sitting at one quietly speaking. I was unsure whether I should head there, my stomach churning with anxiety. I shrugged to myself, I never really had an issue eating alone, so I'd just grab some food, eat and then head back. The four of them seemed to have a personal discussion, and I would not interfere. I also kind of dreaded - seeing Cove, because I knew if I saw him and we stayed alone something was going to happen. And I wasn’t sure if I had plucked enough courage for that right at this moment.

  I greeted the food server, who handed me a pot of vegetable soup and then a piece of something that resembled a BLT sandwich. I thanked them with a smile and headed towards an empty table. Halfway there, I heard someone calling out to me.

  “Doc, come sit with us.” Haze waved me over with a friendly smile. With my nerves tingling, and acutely aware that Jo was giving me the evil eye, I made my way towards their table. Jo was sitting next to Cove, and on his other side sat Haze, I gave a small smile to the brother, Siel and sat beside him.

  “I don’t believe we’ve met each other. I’m Siel.” He extended his palm, a bright, flirtatious smile gracing his face,

  “Hello, Iolee Panou.” I shook his hand, taking in how similar he looked to his brother. Same gray eyes, and same golden skin, but his hair was a dark brown instead of black. And of course - no sexy scar.

  I turned to look at Cove sitting across from me, his eyes giving me shivers again. I looked at my food and started eating.

  “Thanks for inviting me to sit with you.” I thanked Haze, who just smiled.

  “Of course, how’s your wrist holding up?”

  I looked down at it. “It’s okay, doesn’t hurt much.”

  “You can see our doctor tomorrow. It should be easy to patch up.” Cove suggested his eyes causing trembles.

  “It’s really fine…” I answered, my heart thumping harder.

  “How come you didn’t come to the res meeting?” Haze asked and I frowned.

  “Res meeting?”

  Jo snorted. “We had a meeting so that Cove could tell us about your findings.”

  “Oh, we did? I didn’t know about it or I would have come.” I spoke with a frown, I would have gone too, I wasn’t just saying it.

  “Why would she come, she’s not a resident of New Hope anyway.” Cove stated, his eyes boring within mine. His words, although true, caused slight hurt in his exclusion of me.

  “Didn’t miss much really.” Siel stated with an easy smile. The conversation just stilted after that, and I ate in thoughtful silence as my mind ran to thousands of places all at once.

  “So, what was New Hope’s reaction to the news?” I tried to break the silence and the racing of my thoughts.

  Jo laughed sarcastically. “Why would you even care?” She patted her hand on Cove’s forearm resting on the table. I looked at the contact unblinkingly, that jealousy coming out again.

  Cove threw a warning look at Jo and then turned to me. “As well as can be expected. Neptune is sending reinforcements and they’ll be in by tomorrow night the latest. No one likes the news.”

  I nodded thoughtfully. Made sense. They probably feared what would happen with all of that Ourupta so close to their families and friends. I knew I’d feel the same. I continued eating slowly. Silence was reigning again and it felt awkward as if I had caused it by simply sitting at their table.

  “So, you live in Saturn?” Siel asked with the same friendly smile on his face.

  “Yes now.”

  “Before?” Haze asked.

  “I grew up in Jupiter - but moved to Saturn for university at 16.”

  “You got an impressive career.” This surprisingly came from Jo who despite her kind words continued frowning at me.

  I said nothing but gave her a friendly smile. Despite her dislike of me, I did not feel the same way for her.

  “Are we waiting for the reinforcements before we go in again?” I asked.

  “That's the idea.” Haze stated and got up. “I think I'm gonna head out and go get some rest. I'll see you folks tomorrow.”

  Siel soon followed and then Jo, Cove and I were left in an awkward kind of trio. I had the last bite of my sandwich and then got up. Cove was obviously waiting for something from me, and Jo kept throwing looks at him apparently waiting for something from him.

  “Going to get some rest?” Jo asked sweetly.

  “Yes, I could probably do with some more sleep.”

  Cove rose to his feet. “I have something I want to talk about with you.”

  “What?” Both Jo and I asked simultaneously. I turned and looked at her, her cheeks were pink and her eyes shone with something overzealous.

  “Jo.” Cove sighed in exasperation.

  “Cove.” She said back with the same tone of voice.

  I cleared my throat feeling the rising tension. “I'm going to head out.”

  Cove reached out and gently cupped my elbow. “No stay, Joahna will be leaving. Jo, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Jo’s cheeks burned a bright red, her mouth forming a tight-lipped smile. Her eyes almost spewing fire.

  “Fine.” She turned around and headed out of the Mess Hall, her legs jerky and stompy at the same time.

  My cheeks burning from my embarrassment at the tension I had seemingly created, I looked up at Cove.

  “I think you upset her.”

  “I angered her - big difference.” He snorted and gently led me out of the mess hall and into the commons.

  He walked us towards the door he'd gone into with the Neptunians mere hours ago - his office.

  My arm tingled where his hand held me, and my breathing had already labored thinking about what he wanted. And honestly, what I wanted as well.

  We entered his office and the dim lights came on. I looked around noticing the heavy wood furniture - nothing alike the sleek plastic colored ones everyone used now - so old earth yet so comfortable looking. My nerves zapping all over my body, I hurried inside and took as many steps away from him before turning to face him.

  Sixteen

  Iolee

  “What did you want to talk to me about?”

  He took a step towards me. His form strong, tall, and intimidating but in a right way. My stomach fluttered, my nerves tingling even more. “I didn’t really want to talk to you, you know that.”

  “Then - then what do you want?” I asked my throat closing up, my body heating with anticipation. I don’t know why I asked questions I obviously knew, except I couldn’t clearly think at this moment - since I kept asking stupid questions. My breasts started tingling, indicating my building arousal.

  “You know that too.” He grinned and took another step towards me. My hands trembled and I clasped them in front of me. “Do I make you nervous?” He asked gently.

  “Kind of.” I felt my body heat even more as
I looked around the room avoiding his eyes. “Was it hard to make the announcement? Did you tell them everything?”

  He didn't answer for a few minutes until I looked up and caught him staring at me. “We told them most of the truth but we kept the Ourupta hive a secret. We didn't want to cause panic. Some know, the enforcers, my brother, and Jo.”

  I nodded understanding that keeping that a secret was probably for the best, at least until the other forces arrived. “I can see why. I'd do the same if I were in your place too.”

  “Yeah, I hope it was the best choice. I guess we can't do much but wait until tomorrow anyway.”

  I felt sympathetic towards him, and reached out and placed my hand on his arm. “It must be hard to know that there's not much you can do as a Chief of New Hope.”

  He placed his hand over mine and gently squeezed it, taking it between both of his hands. “It's hard being a Chief always.”

  “Is it? I had no idea how hard the living conditions were here - I mean I knew - but had not grasped the reality of it since I had never been here on New Earth before.”

  “I understand. I know it's not your fault. So, don't feel bad if you are. Most people up in the Colonies don't know about it. How can they? The government hardly speaks the truth anymore.” He made a small sarcastic kind of snort, and I frowned. I would not have believed him before but seeing New Hope and the way its residents lived I could see how neglected it was by the governing body.

  “How did you become Chief? I heard what Arlo said - you were a general - why give that up?”

  His hands squeezed mine and brought it up to his face. He rubbed his cheeks against my hand his eyes briefly closing - an expression of pleasure passing over him. “It’s a long story…”

  “I have time.” My words came out breathless, my chest heaving as pleasure ran all over my nerves from his delicate movement.

  “My dad was Chief here. I grew up here but made it to Neptune. Dad was an ex-military and had helped establish New Hope. I was visiting home six years ago in between missions, and we had to make a run to another reservation, St. Lucia, a couple of hours to the south of here when traveling via transport. My dad, mom, and I went with a few other res people. There was a storm and our transport broke down.” He paused and instinctively I grabbed his hands with my free one. I could tell this was hard for him - he already seemed lost to his memories - a faraway look in his eyes. “You haven't seen a storm yet and you’re lucky. They are sudden and violent, many times creating firenadoes - a wind tunnel full of fire and electricity. We can't even predict them before they happen - they just come. Well, we got caught in one. The transport, an old model, easily flammable exploded and killed many of the people including my family.” He placed my hand on his scar. “That's how I got this. I tried to help my parents - they had gotten trapped when the transport upturned.” I could hear the pain in his voice and wanting to comfort him I ran my fingers over his scar. His eyes caught mine. “I was furious then so much that I decided to resign and come here. It took a year, but I managed to get away from Neptune. The people here wanted me to be Chief - and in many ways just handed me the position. I decided why not - I was going to be here so why not take care of the res.”