by evil wind
"I agree,” Kahmal said.
* * * *
By the time the Alluvia touched down thirty feet from the Ailith , the dust storm on Montyne Vex was at full force, the winds whipping around the two ships at a gusty eighty miles per hour, howling like a banshee. The noise was deafening as the doors of both craft opened, staggering the crewmen and women who were struggling to reach the other ship. From his place at the vid-com console, Dakin Hesar was watching the Terran men being herded out of the A lluvia and over to the Ailith . He could not hear what was being shouted—and doubted those speaking could hear, either—but through the swirling dust, he could make out that the men from the Alluvia were stunned to find other Terran men among those ushering them to the larger ship.
"Is there anything left on the Alluvia we need to transport over?” Dakin asked Augenia.
"No. All that was done on Serenia,” came the reply.
"Then hustle, ladies,” Dakin said. “That Rysalian Prime ship is breathing down our necks!"
With the fourteen breeders on board the Ailith and the Amazeen prepared for takeoff, the StarRaider's engine revved loudly—kicking up even more red dust on the plateau of Montyne Vex—then the huge vessel began to lift into the air. The backwash of its mighty engines sent copious amounts of dirt over the Alluvia so that by the time the ‘Raider began to bank away from the Vex, the Amazeen ship was little more than a lump under the red dust.
As the Ailith circled over the main plateau in order to gain speed to make its run toward the wormhole, the dust storm began to decrease in intensity.
"Hey! Is that a man down there?” Marti Holloway asked her co-engineer Nyndham Dax.
"Where?” Dax asked, squinting at their screen.
"I thought I saw someone on the western side of the plateau,” Marti said leaning closer to her screen, but decided she hadn't see anything for the rim of the plateau was in view and uninhabited.
"Dust swirl,” Dax told her.
"Must have been,” Marti agreed.
* * * *
Sajin Cree stood buffeted by the dry hot wind bearing down on him as he backed into the cave to keep the sand from suffocating him. The force of the gale-like winds tossed his thick black hair wildly and pushed against him like an invisible hand. It was all he could do not to stagger against its wrath. He thought he had heard the engines of landing ships but the loneliness was playing tricks on him again. There was nothing and no one there. He was alone. Squinting against the shifting sands swirling up to him from the plain below, he surveyed his domain with a sharp eye, probing the fluctuations in the ether around him, until he was sure he was still alone on his empty world. Not even the furry critters that climbed among the rocky crags or burrowed into the hot sand could be seen scurrying about. After one last sweep of his amber gaze across the vast expanse below, he turned and went back into the cave.
The barren, windswept planetoid of Montyne Vex had been his home for nearly fifteen months. He had been hiding in the caves there for so long he could not remember how the space station on which he had been born looked.
Sajin reached up to touch the laser-imprinted tattoo on his left pectoral. He rubbed absently at the puckered scar beneath his torn jumpsuit bodice.
He was edgy, but he thought he knew why. He was nearing the time for Transition. Perhaps that was why all the animals had fled. Not that hiding posed much of a problem for him. With his inbred abilities and instincts, he had no trouble finding the creatures’ lairs. If truth were told, the thrill of the hunt was the only pleasure he had on Montyne Vex.
Idly, he wondered what would happen when he had exhausted his supply of the Sustenance on this barren world.
"You will die,” his parasite whispered to him.
"But you won't,” Sajin snorted.
"No, nothing can kill me save the fire."
His attention shifted over the leaping flames and he shrugged. “And me, too, for that matter."
Sajin went back into the cave and sat before the sputtering fire, staring into the flames. The smell of wood bothered him, but he didn't know why. It was certainly more pleasant than the smell of his flesh when the tattoo had been applied. Once more he rubbed at the scar—a habit of which he was unaware—and sighed deeply. Tomorrow, he'd have to venture down from the plateau and gather more wood for the fire. Such mundane work annoyed him, but he knew it was necessary for him to survive.
The thought of dying in such a manner unsettled him. Had that not been how most of his bloodbrothers had ended their existence on Rysalia Prime? Even in his dreams—and Reapers were not allowed to dream his parasite reminded him—he could hear the screams as the flames spread. In that conflagration the Daughters of the Multitude had set the first group of Reaper Cadets on fire and nineteen brave men had died in agony as the females cheered.
Yet there were allies among the females. Those women helped free five Reaper Cadets before the cheering, bloodthirsty Multitude realized anything was amiss. So intent were the women, so mesmerized by the screeches of agony coming from the Cage of Fire, Sajin and four of his bloodbrothers had been able to escape. But as luck would have it, their departure did not escape notice and a lucky laser blast had set Aidan's tunic on fire. The hapless warrior had run into the crowd, away from the safety of his rescuers, despite Sajin's frantic call. Aidan had died, but not before taking with him two females of the Multitude he had embraced in his death throes.
Aidan had been Sajin's own twin. He was grieving for his twin, though he did not know the feeling in his body was that of exacting sadness. The loss of his twin bloodbrother was emptiness not unlike the terrible loneliness Sajin had been forced to endure on Montyne Vex and would be forced to endure for as long as he drew breath.
* * * *
And on board the ship speeding toward the wormhole from Rysalia Prime, a secret, coded transmission went out from the Multitude's ship to another ship half a day's journey away: “Sajin Cree is in the western caves on Montyne Vex."
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Prophetess-Mother—adorned in the plush robes of her exalted office—came onto the bridge of the Revenant and took the command chair offered her by the captain, Imelda Doine. The ship was an LRC—a long-range cruiser—that had once belonged to the Prime Reaper, himself, and had been expressly chosen by LeJong Kym as her personal flagship. Retrofitted to exacting specifications in weaponry and speed, the Revenant was a formidable vessel though not one single thing had been changed in the captain's quarters. Now the quarters of the Prophetess-Mother, those belongings there still bore the scent and touch of the warrior who had owned them.
"They are one hour from the anomaly, Your Eminence,” the captain reported. “Shall we follow them through?"
"No,” Kym replied. “Stop beyond the danger zone away from the wormhole and when you are sure...” Her dark eyes had bored into the captain's. “When you are very sure the StarRaider is safely out of range, send the transmission, and then fire the missiles to collapse the anomaly."
"You are sure this is what you want?” the Auxiliary Prophetess inquired. She wanted to try one last time to have the Prophetess-Mother see reason.
"Aye, Shei-Ling,” Kym said. “I am positive."
"If that was Sajin Cree on the Vex..."
"It was,” Kym said. She lifted her head. “And he will be mine."
"If not the father then the son,” Shei-Ling said softly.
"Aye,” Kym said. “That will be the way of it."
Giving the order to slow the engines of the Revenant , Captain Doine crossed her arms over her chest and watched the vid-com screen as the fleeing StarRaider approached the anomaly. She cast a quick look to the Auxiliary Prophetess but when no more discussion of the wisdom of closing the wormhole was made, turned her attention back to the other ship.
"Ten minutes to breech of the wormhole,” the Revenant's Nav Off reported.
"Prepare your weapons, Lawrence,” the captain ordered.
"Aye, aye, ma'am,” the weapons specialist r
eplied. She began gearing up the missiles that would be fired into the wormhole.
Every eye was on the vid-com and when the electric blue sparks rippled like waves around the ship then settled, the StarRaider was no longer in sight.
"May the Wind be always at your back, Kamerone Cree,” LeJong Kym said, her heart breaking and her eyes filling with tears. She looked to Captain Doine. “When you are sure he is safe, Captain, send the transmission then let's end this once and for all."
Doine nodded. “Send transmission now then on my mark in ten, nine, eight...” the captain of the Revenant began.
* * * *
The percussion from the closing of the wormhole washed over the Ailith and it dropped a few feet but soon righted itself, the ripple effect of the disturbance barely registering on the ship's computers. "We can never go home again,” Iyan told Khiershon.
"Don't think of it in that way, my friend,” Khiershon said. “Think of it that we have left our troubles behind us."
"I hope so,” Iyan remarked. “I truly hope so."
As most of the passengers on board the Ailith either slipped into the E.S.U.s for their one and a half month rotation at hyper sleep or made their way to their quarters to rest or to thank their gods for deliverance from the threat of the Multitude, Dorrie Burkhart and Raine McGregor were sitting quietly at a table in the lounge with a snifter of potent Chalean brandy from the duplicator.
"I will try harder this time, Dorrie,” Raine said. “I really missed you and I was so afraid I'd never see you again.” He hung his head. “I know I'm not easy to live with but...."
Dorrie reached out a hand to cover his. “I really never once doubted I'd go home,” she said. “I knew if Kam couldn't find a way to get us there, you and the others would.” She squeezed his hand then released it.
"I know you love him,” Raine said and looked up at her. She was stunned to see tears in the Serenian's eyes. “But I love you, and I will do whatever it takes to show you that I do."
Though there would be only one man Dorrie Burkhart would ever love in her lifetime, she knew that man was forever off limits to her. She smiled. “Then you'd best learn how to change a tire, McGregor,” she said, “because I've changed my last one for your royal ass."
* * * *
Khiershon Cree, the ten Reapers who had been saved from execution on Rysalia Prime and their female counterpart had all decided to watch the disklettes pertaining to Reaper history and programming together as a team. The disklettes that contained their personal histories were to be saved until they could view them privately. When the last disklette was finished, all twelve of them sat like statues, unable to speak or move for the knowledge they had gleaned from the data presented had shocked them to their foundations. Though Khiershon had discovered some of the hidden information already, the full scope of it had rocked him and he—like his bloodkin—was astonished.
"Does he know of this?” Taegin was the first to ask.
Khiershon nodded. “He viewed the disklettes on Rysalia Prime."
"And you say there is more he is to be told?” Taegin inquired and at Khiershon's silent nod, asked how much more shocking must that information be.
"It pertains to him,” Khiershon said, “but I've a feeling in my gut it will effect all of us, as well."
"This is disturbing,” Rylan said. “Very disturbing."
"We can swim,” Eachan said. “I don't find that disturbing."
"It's a scary thought but to be able to plunge into a stream and swim.... “Braiden's eyes gleamed with contentment.
"I like that we can have as many mates as we like,” Comyn said.
"No, we can't,” Khiershon said sternly.
"I heard you have mated with two women,” Taegin remarked then held up a hand when Khiershon would have berated him. “Not that I am advocating such a thing."
"It is true I have had intercourse with two women, but I have had only one true mate. The reason I was able to sleep with the other was because I never had the indoctrination given to me before puberty that told me I could not happen."
"But we can mate with more than one woman,” Comyn said.
"You do so at your own peril,” Khiershon said. “I can tell you having a woman who is not your mate hankering after you is a pain in the ass."
"Mayhap I will,” Comyn replied, “and mayhap I won't."
"Well, Coure, I can see a problem with doing such a thing, you idjut,” Killian said dryly.
"Aye, so can I,” Ghrian said, “and if it's all the same to you, I am quite happy with that restriction of just one mate."
"As am I,” Corydon remarked. “I've an Amazeen."
"Aye, as well as most of us does,” Toryn commented.
"If the prohibition is strong in us from that indoctrination, I doubt we will be able to take a second mate,” Taegin told them. “As for me, I don't wish to test the strength of the prohibition."
"Aye, it would depend on just how strong the sublim during the indoctrination was,” Ghrian agreed.
"May I suggest while we are still trying to absorb all this, we retire to our quarters and view the disklettes on our individual lives,” Khiershon said. “Best to get the bad news out of the way before we start learning about how to live on Terra."
"When will that begin?” Comyn asked.
"My lady has suggested it be done in an E.S.U.,” Khiershon said. “We can readily absorb it quickly and easily like sublims."
"Good notion,” Taegin agreed. “I'm all for ease of learning."
"Then beginning tomorrow, we'll enter the E.S.U.s set aside for us and take our training on how to be good little Reapers on planet Terra,” Khiershon said with a grin.
"Terra won't know what hit it,” Danielle commented with a wink.
* * * *
Raven stood looking down at the sleeping Reaper. The ‘bot's head was cocked to the side as he observed the man then it swiveled around to give Troi a perplexed look. “'A conscious slumber seems to take, and would not, for the world, awake'." "'But sleep that pondereth ... ‘"
"'By a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to?'” Troi asked.
The cybot shook its head. “'For the heart whose woes are legion ‘tis a peaceful, soothing region',” Raven declared.
"'To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,'” Troi said softly.
"'All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream',” Raven replied.
Nodding together, Troi reached out and broke the seal on Kamerone Cree's E.S.U. Very gently, he put his hand on the Prime Reaper's shoulder and shook him.
"'Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!’”
The sleeping Reaper's golden eyes opened slowly and though it took them a moment to adjust, to focus, Cree knew who was hovering over him.
"I've missed you, Troi,” he said hoarsely.
Troi hung his head. “'I can no other answer make but thanks',” it whispered.
"And you are Raven?” Cree asked. He put a hand to his temple were the pain had started in earnest again.
"'Nevermore',” Raven replied with a bow of his head.
"You two getting along?” Cree queried.
Troi grinned. “'My lord, this is a fond and desperate creature'."
"Good,” Cree said. He tried to sit up and found he was too weak but both ‘bots hastened to slide their hands under him to lift him. “Where's Tylan?"
"'Off with his head!'” Troi proclaimed. “'I dote on his very absence.’”
"I know you don't like him but could you cut him some slack for me?"
Troi sniffed. “'I am not in the giving vein today'."
"Please? For me? Will you go find him?"
"'Some of us will smart for it',” Troi said then trundled off, muttering to himself.
Raven bowed elegantly then hurried after its fellow ‘bot.
Cree sat there with his fingertips pressed tightly to his temples, trying to quell the nausea that was pushing up his thro
at. The pain was almost more than he could stand and it took every ounce of his strength to keep it at bay. When he heard Tylan snapping at Troi, he couldn't keep from smiling though the very movement of his facial muscles sent spirals of agony through his head.
"'You are not worth the dust which the rude wind blows in your face'!” the ‘bot sneered.
"And if you don't leave me the fuck alone I am going to turn your plastiform ass into dust!” Tylan hissed, spinning around to fix the ‘bot with a hateful glare. “Get the hell out of here. Why did you wake him up in the first place?"
Troi lifted his head. “'There is something in the wind',” he said then stomped off.
"Something in the wind? Something in the wind?” Tylan repeated. “What the hell is that supposed to mean you piece of plastiform shit?"
"Could you snarl just a bit softer, Kahn?” Cree asked, wincing. “I think my queen summoned him to wake me."
"Your parasite?” Tylan asked. He came up to the E.S.U. and lowered the side so the Prime Reaper could swing his legs down.
"No, not the parasite,” Cree replied but didn't feel like explaining about the goddess who had spoken to him.
"You look like shit,” Tylan said and put a hand out to smooth the hair from the Reaper's sweaty forehead.
"I feel like I've got a gods-be-damned ten-ton Diabolusian warthog sitting on my head,” Cree said as he struggled to ease his legs from the mattress of the E.S.U.
"That bad, huh?"
"That bad."
"I was going to come wake you in about an hour anyway,” Tylan said.
Cree lifted his head and looked up at Kahn. “Are we to Corinth yet?"
"Corinth?” Tylan asked then grinned. “Reaper, we're about an hour from the backside of Terran's moon."
The Reaper's mouth dropped open. “What?” he asked.
"You heard me."
"How long have I been asleep?"
"Almost two months,” Tylan said. “We managed to encounter a solar storm that knocked us way off course or we'd have been closer to the Terran moon before now. You missed one helluva rocket ride during that storm and we have slight problem."
