Not of This World

by Tracy St. John

  She answered with a tone that warmed him from head to toe. “You never lost faith in that.”

  “In you,” he corrected. “Now you are safe with us, for as long as you are here. Until you go home.” He heard his voice catch and cleared his throat. “I will continue to do all in my power to shield you from harm.”

  Jeannie drew a breath. For a moment she seemed about to say something, but she clenched her jaw tight. She wore an expression of hurt and Kren frowned. Why did she look that way? Wasn’t she happy that all she wanted was coming to pass?

  Before he could ask her, she said, “Thank you for all you’ve done and all you plan to do. Let’s put this behind us and move on, then.”

  She turned and headed for the door. “I’m going to get some air. I can’t stand staring at that drone’s head while Arga works on it,” she said as she left him.

  Kren puzzled over her abrupt change in demeanor. What had upset her? Did she still not believe he would keep her from all harm?

  If only he could make her see that he’d lay down his life for her.

  * * *

  Jeannie paced the lawn between the enforcement dome and tidy line of dartwings. The gas giant Cadi hung over her head, her lone companion in the sky. The distant calls of animals were the only sounds of life beyond herself. She’d not taken her jacket off when she’d come back from her halfhearted attempt to run from Hahz. The air had a definite nip, and she shivered. The cold had been part of the reason why she’d hurried back to the dome.

  A very small part of the reason she’d returned.

  The soft grasses cushioned her bare feet. A little heat rose from the ground, keeping the worst of the chill from her toes. She’d have to go in soon, however. She’d have to get warmth for her body, though there was none to be found for her heart.

  She felt more alone at that moment than at any other time in her life. Not because she was on an alien world. Not because Earth was so far away. But because of Kren.

  It hurt that he acted so eager to send her home. She realized how much she had hoped he’d wanted to keep her with him. Worse still, she wanted to stay. On Risnar, she’d found a sense of belonging. At the examination, the villagers of Hahz had gathered to support her because they cared enough to defy their exalted Assembly. She had friends.

  But she didn’t have Kren. Without him, the old emptiness yawned, the same emptiness that she’d come to know after her father abandoned her by taking his own life. After her mother had deserted her. After her sisters had shunned her.

  She couldn’t ask to stay, not even with the caring support Hahz had given her. She couldn’t afford to chance her heart with people who would let her down. She would not fight to stay as she might have before Kren had made it clear he was ready for her to go. She would go to Earth once the portal was taken from the Monsuda. She would live her lonely void of a life and pretend she’d not let her guard down for one second. That she hadn’t fallen in love.

  It was better this way.

  * * *

  Kren fretted after Jeannie walked out. As he paced he told Arga, “I think I messed up. Jeannie’s upset about something. I don’t know what, though.”

  His friend scratched the tuft of mane at the top of his head. “I noticed. You know, she’s wonderful, but confusing. At least I always know where I stand with our women.”

  Nex, who had been standing nearby, walked past. He crooked a conciliatory smile at Kren. “It’s no wonder we stay separate from the females. We distract them and they confuse us. I suppose it’s much the same with all women.”

  He kept moving, going to his computer podium. Kren deliberated over what he’d said and shook his head. “Jeannie is not like Risnarish women. She is more similar to us: emotional, active, and passionate.”

  He’d said the last without thinking. When he’d realized how he’d described the Earthling, he grew warm with embarrassment. But then, he’d been overt about his affection for her by holding her close in front of others. Surely they guessed by now how he felt.

  Arga gave him a sly grin but didn’t tease. Instead he advised, “In that case, you must show her she can rely on you. I know your hearts, and I know you are determined to keep her safe.”

  Kren blew out a dejected breath. “It may not matter, not if we find a way to send her home soon.”

  “What if you could convince her to stay?”

  Kren’s hearts slammed hard in his chest. Hearing his wish spoken aloud made the hurt over losing her more real than ever.

  He said, “Even if she wanted to stay, Elder Yees has decreed she return home.”

  Arga flapped his hand dismissively. “You can petition for Jeannie to live here. If the council won’t allow it, you can approach the Assembly. That is, if she wants to remain and has a good reason to do so.” His ears twitched forward in pointed meaning.

  “You mean because of me? I don’t know that they’ll go for that.”

  “You’ve gotten to know her, right? Her mind? Her spirit? If she doesn’t have enough cause to stay with you, does she have any reason to not want to go back to Earth?”

  “She does, or at least I thought she did. She is alone on her planet. No one to care about her. Here, she has me. I care.” He cared, all right. From his very hearts, he cared.

  Arga shrugged. “Maybe I’m too simple a man to see why this should be so complicated. If she wants to live on Risnar and you want her to as well, why should that be denied?”

  Kren had begun to feel optimistic about the chances...if Jeannie would consider the possibilities. Could he convince her? Did he have enough time before securing the portal was attempted? Together, could they sway the Assembly?

  He saw an argument that might make a difference. “The Monsuda might have portals in every hive. Who’s to say they won’t make an effort to reclaim Jeannie once she’s on Earth? They’ve made concentrated efforts against Hahz already. They may search for her, even with the tracking device removed.”

  Arga nodded approvingly. “You could run with that. Jeannie will be without protection if we send her home. The Assembly cannot deny that fact.”

  Kren’s blood ran cold at the idea. He knew what had to be done, and not just so he wouldn’t be alone. He’d promised to keep Jeannie safe. It didn’t end with the Assembly’s judgment that she was real.

  He had to win her heart. He had to get her to want to remain on Risnar.

  Unfortunately, if the Assembly sent him after the Monsuda as quickly as it seemed they were determined to, that left little time.

  * * *

  Jeannie’s mind was a pendulum, swinging to and fro. He could love me. He loves me not. He could love me. He loves me not. He could love me. Couldn’t he?

  Though moments before she’d given herself up to being sent to Earth, had faced the certainty of leaving Kren, she now realized things were not so cut-and-dry. She had no idea how long she’d be marooned on Risnar. All the men of Hahz might not be enough to win out over the many drones filling the hive. Hadn’t they estimated their numbers to be in the thousands?

  Maybe the Assembly would elect to remain behind their village barriers. It was obvious the Monsuda couldn’t get into Hahz. They’d tried everything and hadn’t been able to breach the forcefield that kept the Risnarish safe. Maybe Jeannie wouldn’t be given the unwanted opportunity to return to Earth.

  Maybe Kren would learn to love her, not just want her in his bed.

  Yet that meant leaving Earth open to invasion. To annihilation and slavery. Guilt stabbed Jeannie at her selfish wish to remain on Risnar while the Monsuda destroyed her race.

  Her confused musings were interrupted by the door to the enforcement dome opening. Kren stepped outside, and all Jeannie’s consternation ended in a moment.

  Her being filled to see him. If Jeannie had believed in Spirit, she would be looking at her soulmate. She couldn’t deny her feelings
for him no matter how hard she tried to convince herself they were not meant to be. She loved Kren as she would never love another man.

  He came out onto the walkway that led from the dome and stared at her. His expression was soft and pained but determined too. He gazed at her with all the emotion she felt for him. She thought of how he’d knelt before her, swearing protection.

  He cared. He did. She would stake her life on that. She’d stake her heart on it.

  He started toward her, his steps slow. Jeannie moved toward him too, but she needed to run. Her pace quickened until she was on the verge of sprinting to him, of flinging herself in his arms and telling him she wanted to stay forever.

  They were only a few feet away from each other when the dome’s door opened again. Nex burst out and yelled, “Kren! We’ve got multiple drone attempts to breach the barrier!”

  Kren wheeled around in an instant and ran into the dome. Jeannie went into her sprint, racing to follow. It was no matter that duty had torn him from her grasp for the moment. No matter she’d have to stand back and let him work. All that mattered was that she knew where she needed to be right now.

  With him, for as long as she was able.

  * * *

  Kren ran into bedlam. Multiple alarms blared, making his ears fold shut. The walls were alive with map projections flashing dozens of indicators of where the boundary was under assault. More projections showed surveillance feeds of perhaps hundreds of drones firing scattershot at the barriers all around Hahz. The other officers were at computer podiums, fingers erupting from their hands as they keyed in commands, voices calling to the system and each other as they verified the containment held against the attack.

  Kren hurried to the main computer, where Arga worked. His partner told him, “The barrier is fine, but I’m calling in all able-bodied for full defense.”

  “Good.” Kren approved. “This nonsense has gone far enough. It’s time to remind the Monsuda of who they’re messing with. Nex, open up the armory and get ready to arm everyone.”

  Jeannie stood at his elbow, her wide eyes darting from screen to screen. “How can so few of you fight all of them?”

  “We’re not few,” Kren said with grim satisfaction. “We are one thousand men strong. While this small squad is devoted to law enforcement within the village, every last Risnarish male is trained to fight in combat situations. If the Monsuda want a war, they’ve got it.”

  The drones’ heavy assault had activated Hahz’s full fighting force. Kren sneered. He looked forward to tearing apart the Monsuda’s minions. After days of uncertainty over Jeannie, it would be good to get rid of a little tension by unleashing wanton destruction.

  Reminded of his Earthling, Kren turned to check on her. She had stepped away to avoid being a distraction as they tapped commands into the main computer. She stood next to Arga’s usual podium, close enough to watch without impeding them.

  She’d started to hurry to him outside, wearing a look that made his hearts beat faster than the drone assault ever could. Maybe he wouldn’t have to work so hard to convince her to stay on Risnar after all.

  She gazed at him now, anxious at the situation...but yearning, as well. A sweet smile curled her lips at whatever she saw in his expression. She dipped her head, a tiny motion that communicated volumes. Her body leaned toward him, though she stayed at Arga’s station.

  She wanted to stay. She wanted to stay! She wanted him. He radiated joy at that moment.

  If not for the hideous drone’s head sitting on the podium inches from her tiny fingers, its white eyes staring unseeingly at her, Kren would have thought her the perfect picture. Even the flashing lights and insistent alarms fit the moment. His world had exploded in a fabulous demonstration of fireworks.

  The dome’s door opened, and men began pouring in. The warriors of Hahz stormed the building, ready to defend their women, children, and village. Their skin was armored, their faces set, and they stared excitedly at the commotion on the viewing screens. At the sight of so many drones trying the village’s defenses, they curled their lips in defiant anger. Their muscles bunched, eager to fight their ancient enemy.

  Kren’s attention went where it needed to in an instant. “This is not a drill. You see the situation. Multiple attacks. The border holds firm, but they’ve gone too far this time. Claim your weapons and fall into formation outside. Captains, remain in the staging area and await my command.”

  As more men arrived, they queued up before the armory door where Nex, Bort, and Pon waited. Suspended in an anti-gravity field, the weapons and ammunition floated out of the secure chamber in precise lines. The officers wasted no time handing out the firepower. Most fighters got plasma rifles. Kren nodded his approval as the captains of various squads claimed boom cannons, the heaviest portable artillery available. Those brutal arms would disintegrate anything fired upon. Damaging the landscape was never something to be entered into lightly, but with dozens of drones on the attack, the boomers would cut their numbers in a hurry.

  “I’m sorting the assignments now,” Arga said, his many fingers flying over the computer. “Deployment in three minutes!” he yelled without looking from his work. “Squad captains, be ready to—”

  Jeannie’s scream cut him off. All the men whirled around to see a fiery gold oval disrupt the air next to her. It reached from the floor to higher than her head, a rift wide enough for her to walk through. It beamed from the now glowing eyes of the drone’s head on Arga’s computer station.

  Jeannie took a staggering step away, her hands up in a defensive posture. Then she froze. Her eyes were wide but glazed, her mouth open but silent.

  Kren heard himself roar from a great distance. He ran forward—or at least, he tried to run. Though his legs strove with everything they had, it felt as if they waded through a mire. The air he fought to drive through had turned thicker than stone. Each moment stretched into hours as he strained to save Jeannie.

  Two drones stepped out of the fiery gold portal that had formed before the Earthling. Kren roared again, and the sound echoed from many other throats. The drones looked at them as they took Jeannie by the wrists with casual indifference.

  A voice said, “Too much opposition in place. One portal available for activation. Retrieval only.”

  Jeannie’s feet left the ground, her toes hovering just above its surface. She glided into the portal, flanked by the drones. Kren reached for her, his grasping fingers elongating to catch her before they could take her.

  His fingertips skimmed against her soft, insubstantial blouse. It slipped through his attempt to clutch, sliding away like water. Jeannie went through the portal with her captors. Kren was a bare inch from its edge when it winked out of existence, erasing her.

  “No!”

  His despairing scream filled the air now empty of the woman he’d sworn to protect.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Kren waved his arms where Jeannie had been only a moment ago, searching desperately for a sense of her or the portal she’d been taken through. There was nothing. No one.

  She was gone.

  The alarms cut off. Nex spoke into the sudden silence, his voice strained. “The attack is over. The drones are leaving.”

  Kren spun around to confront the drone’s decapitated head. Arga was already there, bending close to examine it without touching. The eyes no longer glowed. It appeared as dead as when he’d pulled it off the mechanism’s body.

  He told Kren, “They used this to open that doorway. It must be like the portal they used to take Jeannie from her world. But this was a smaller, localized version.”

  “This is what they wanted. All those attacks on the barrier were so we’d capture one and bring it in. So Jeannie could be taken.” Kren felt sick inside. He’d played right into the Monsuda’s hands. It was all his fault.

  He reached for the drone’s head, batting Arga away when his pa
rtner tried to block him. “No! The important thing is to get to Jeannie. Maybe this portal can be activated again.”

  “You need weapons, Kren. Wait!”

  Kren didn’t heed him. He grabbed the drone’s skull. For an instant, the curved top fit into his cupped palm, a solid object. Then it crumpled in on itself, imploding until it disappeared.

  Kren shrieked with rage. He would not lose Jeannie. He could not.

  He charged over to the door leading into the armory. He knew where the entrance to the closest hive was, the one Jeannie had come from. He’d go in and find her. If it took forever to go through the tunnels, if he had to fight off every drone and Monsudan on Risnar, he’d find her.

  Arga and Nex grabbed him. “Wait,” his partner insisted. “You can’t go after her like this.”

  Kren gave him a deadly stare, though he knew Arga realized how he felt. It was the same imperative that drove his friend to seek his guardian. The irony of the situation was not lost on Kren, but he didn’t have the time to appreciate it. “Do not try to stop me, any of you. You are brothers to me, and I would hate to harm anyone. But I am going after her, and I will take down anything between her and me.”

  Arga gave him an impatient shake. “We are not stopping you, you fool. We insist that you wait while the rest of us get our weapons to follow you.”

  Nex grinned big enough that his sharp back teeth were exposed, making the usually mild medic appear bloodthirsty. “The Assembly said we would go to war. We’ll just move the date up a little.”

  Kren looked at them and the other men who had responded to the call to defend the barrier. They were all still lined up, the three columns stretching out the door. They were armored and ready to claim their weapons.

  “I go to save one Earthling. Not for Hahz. Not for Risnar. For Jeannie,” he told them.

  Bort hefted a boom cannon. “I have no problem with that.”

  “Lead us, Kren,” someone called. “We’ll go to that hive and exterminate the infestation once and for all.”