Salene's Secrets

by Laura Jo Phillips

  Talus caught the scent of blood and frowned down at her for a moment before reaching for her hands. “It’s all right, Zerura,” he said while gently urging her to relax her fingers. “We’re all safe here.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, opening her fists so that he could see the fresh half-moon shaped wounds on each palm just below a matching set of half-moon shaped scars. His eyes hot with unshed tears, he raised her hands to his mouth and kissed them gently.

  “There is no need to apologize,” he said. He lowered their hands, but did not release her, needing her touch to keep himself calm. He raised his voice to include Jinjie and Tonka in the conversation. “The Aegl had scanners and sensors trained on the wreckage. Captain Royce reviewed the data carefully and determined that the explosion came from within the wreckage itself.”

  “Do you think it was an accident?” Salene asked. “A fuel tank erupting or an ordinance locker exploding, something of that nature?”

  “No, love,” Jon said, keeping his voice calm and gentle for the sake of the children and Salene, even though less than a minute ago he’d wanted nothing more than to roar with fury. “It was a thermonuclear explosion. The most likely explanation is that the Doftles copied the Xanti, and set things up to self-destruct in the absence of a specific signal or action over a specified period of time.”

  Salene nodded, fully understanding what a dead man’s switch was, and the many ways the Xanti had used them. The explanation was more for Jinjie’s and Tonka’s benefit than her own. She searched Talus’s eyes and braced herself.

  “Tell me the rest, please,” she said, freeing one of her hands so she could reach up and stroke the muscle still twitching in his jaw.

  Talus looked into her eyes and felt his throat tighten. “I cannot begin to express how much I missed you, Zerura, and mere words will never be enough to tell you how much I love you.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered. She went up on her toes and pressed her mouth to his in a gentle kiss. “Tell me.”

  “The Aegl was towing the wreckage, so it was quite close when the explosion occurred. It caught some of the destruct device’s electromagnetic pulse.”

  “How bad?”

  “The Aegl has adequate life support, communications, attitude control, and enough power to run all internal systems, including the infirmary. The Blind Sight Khurda just installed has its own dedicated and fully shielded power source for just this reason, so it’s fully operational. Unfortunately, there was massive damage to the Aegl’s fusion reactor, main drive, and maneuvering thrusters, so it’s not going anywhere under power. She’s in a stable orbit around this planet and hidden from sight, so the crew should be fine until reinforcements arrive in a few days. That’s the good news.”

  If that was the good news, she was almost afraid to ask for the bad, but hiding from the truth worked no better than ignoring it. “Go on, please.”

  “With the fusion reactor down, main power is out all over the ship. The transporter has an auxiliary power capability to send at molecular level resolution, which is high enough to send most kinds of food and equipment. To send living beings through it you need to be at quantum resolution, and that takes ten times as much power. By law, we cannot transport weapons at less than atomic resolution, which still takes twice as much power as molecular.

  “What all that means is that we’re not going to be able to count on help if we get into trouble down here, nor can they send us weapons. The first question is, do we sit tight in this cave until help from Jasan arrives in three or four days, or do we implement your original plan to walk to the silo?”

  Salene opened her mouth to respond when an electric chill raced down her spine. She shivered, attracting the Gryphons’ full attention. “Zerura?”

  “We can’t wait,” she gasped.

  “Why?” Talus asked, his hands tightening around hers.

  “I don’t know, but if we don’t do this now, if we don’t get those people out of Silo 56 within…,” she paused, thinking. “I don’t know exactly. A couple of days, maybe three. If we can’t get them out of there by then, there’s no point in going at all.”

  “Then we’ll get them out,” Talus said, not doubting her for a moment. “We’re going to have to come up with a different plan, though.”

  Salene nodded, pulled her hands gently from Talus’s, then went to the side of the cave for the blankets she’d just folded and spread them out. Once they were all settled again, Talus turned to Tonka. “What can you tell us about the security on this world?”

  “There isn’t any,” Tonka replied. “Or there wasn’t when I was last in the silo which, admittedly, was before the Nomen took over more than six months ago. To my knowledge the Doftles rely on Blind Sight to hide themselves and all they do, and their cameras to record everything within each silo. The Nomen themselves are well armed, though. We learned that yesterday.”

  “How many silos are there?”

  “Oberto thought it was more than one hundred, and less than two hundred, but we were unable to derive a more precise number before he was killed.”

  “Can you tell us anything about them?” Jon asked. “Their numbers, their movements, their weapons? Anything at all will help.”

  “I don’t know much, I’m afraid. Oberto and I traveled down the mountain to watch the silo every couple of weeks. He wanted to know how many Nomen were on this planet, and also keep an eye on them in case they started looking for us, but we learned very little for all our efforts. I can tell you that they visit the silo every fifth day to replace the guards, and that this sector has one big spaceplane and two small ones.”

  Talus frowned, but Salene understood what he wanted to know. “The large one is about the size of a medium troop carrier,” she said. “The other two are fighter size. Their design was unfamiliar to me, and to Jinjie as well.”

  “Thank you,” Talus said, then looked back to Tonka. “The planet is divided into sectors?”

  “Yes,” Tonka said. “From my time as a guard I know that the planet is divided into sectors, and that each sector has silos. I don’t know how many sectors there are, or where they are, or how many silos are in each.”

  “Did you find out how many Nomen there are?”

  “No,” Tonka said. “We couldn’t get close enough to see inside the transports. We learned that there are generally only ten Nomen on guard in the silo at any one time, but that’s all I can tell you in terms of numbers.”

  “Does their schedule ever vary?”

  “No,” Tonka replied. “The Doftles are adamant that their rules and schedules be followed precisely, without deviation.”

  “That’s very helpful,” Talus said. “It means they’re predictable. Since they were here yesterday, we have what? Four days to get there and leave?”

  “Including today, yes, that’s correct,” Tonka replied. “On the fifth day, the Nomen will return.”

  “No, four days is too long,” Salene said. “We have to get there sooner than that.”

  Talus reached over and squeezed her shoulder gently. “Do you think we’ll be able to walk there, in this weather, in less than three days?” he asked Tonka.

  “Without snow on the ground I would say yes, absolutely,” Tonka replied. “With the snow as deep as it is, I can only say that I think so. I wish I could be more specific, but I never made the journey without Oberto, and he had a bad limp. I can only give you my best guess.”

  “We understand, Tonka,” Talus said. “Will there be snow on the ground once we leave the mountain?”

  “I don’t think so,” Wolef said. “This is the fourth snow storm I’ve experienced, and so far I’ve seen no more than a light dusting of snow on the flat lands.”

  “How many people are in the silo?” Jon asked.

  “About a hundred.”

  “That’s not too many, so long as they all cooperate,” Talus said.

  “It’s unlikely that all of the people will want to leave,” Tonka said. “In fact, I’d be sur
prised if half of them were willing to leave the silo.”

  “Why not?” Jon asked in surprise. “Don’t they want to be free?”

  “I’ve known most of those people my entire life,” Tonka said. “They are good people who work hard and yes, I think they would all like to have freedom. But like myself, most of them were born in the silo and that means that they’ve never seen anything beyond its walls. They don’t know how to find food, build shelter, or even start a fire. The silo is all they know, and to them, leaving it is certain death.”

  “I understand, Tonka,” Talus said. “We’ll do our best to assure them that they won’t be abandoned on their own, but if people choose to stay, we can’t force them to do otherwise. Perhaps when our ships arrive and their safety can be guaranteed, they’ll change their minds.”

  I do not mean to insult your people, Talus Gryphon, but are you certain that they’ll care enough to try to convince people who’ve chosen to remain captives that it would be better for them to leave?”

  “Yes, Tonka, I’m certain,” Talus replied. “If I’m wrong, it won’t matter because my brothers and I care, as does Salene, and Jinjie. We will not give up until we have freed everyone, and made sure that they have a safe place to live, and a way to provide food and shelter for themselves and their families.”

  “You are generous, Talus Gryphon, and I thank you for it,” Tonka said, dipping his head low.

  Talus returned the gesture solemnly, then turned to Salene. “I’m sorry, Zerura, but we’re going to have to take the children with us.”

  “I know,” Salene said. “But we can get supplies, right?”

  “Yes, we can get supplies.”

  “That’s going to make an enormous difference,” she said. “Since we know that the Nomen use infrared, you three need to get yourselves some survival suits. Jinjie, if I get suits and clothing, can you shrink them down to fit Mali and Tab?”

  “Yes, do be easy.”

  “Excellent,” she said. “We’ll need more food, too. I think we can make what we have last, but it would be nice if we didn’t have to have stew for every meal. And shelter’s going to be an issue once we leave the mountain. All I’ve got is a little one man tent, and that’s definitely not going to be enough.”

  “None of those things will be a problem, Zerura,” Talus said. “Let’s make a list of what we’ll need. We’ll read it to Captain Royce and he’ll transport it down for us.”

  “Wait,” Salene said suddenly. “Will the Nomen be able to trace your transport signal?”

  “No,” Kar said. “The Aegl is a new ship, fitted with the latest transporter. There’s virtually no fringe ionization from the matter stream, so the signal is undetectable from ten or more feet away.”

  “That’s a relief.” She fell silent for a few moments, then rattled off a list of items that included warm clothing, boots, gloves, sleeping bags to replace the rough blankets, survival suits for Mali and Tab and a few other things. Jon recorded her list while Talus and Kar worked on another list of items for themselves. When they were finished, the Gryphons went to the first cave to transmit their requests to the Aegl and speak with their captain.

  “They’ll let us know when they’re ready to transport everything down to us,” Jon said when they returned. “It won’t take long.”

  “Thank you, Jon,” Salene said. “I have something for each of you,” she said, reaching into her pack for a flat cardboard box that she’d taken from her weapons roll earlier. She opened the box, revealing half a dozen bracelets in different colors and designs.

  “Um…women’s jewelry?” Jon asked doubtfully as he looked into the box.

  “These are personal transport disrupters,” she said. “Dede got an extra half dozen of them for me before they left Jasan. The problem is that there are seven of you, and I’ve only got six extras.”

  “Jinjie do be make two small for Mali and Tab.”

  “I was hoping you could do that,” Salene said. She took two of the bracelets out of the box and set them down on the log in front of Jinjie.

  “How do they work?” Kar asked, reaching into the box for what appeared to be a gold bangle.

  “Not a clue in the cosmos,” she said with a shrug, then blushed when her men all grinned at her.

  “We’re sorry, love,” Jon said. “We just missed hearing you say that is all.”

  “It’s all right,” Salene said, smiling. “Anyway, Ata did explain it all to me but it flew way over my head. I do know that they each have a small button on them somewhere. If you press it, it will disable the disrupter for five minutes so that you can voluntarily be transported, then it starts back up again so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to turn it back on.”

  “Does it have to be touching your skin to work?” Talus asked.

  “No, but it has to be within a few feet of you.”

  “That solves one problem,” Jon said. “As long as Jinjie remains on your shoulder, or one of our shoulders, he’ll be within the scope of the device.”

  “Oh, that’s good,” Salene said. “I wouldn’t have thought of that. What do you think, Jinjie?”

  “Do be good idea,” he said.

  “Can you make three of these bigger?” Kar asked Jinjie.

  “No, do be make smaller, but not do be make that bigger.”

  Salene picked up the bracelets Jinjie shrank for the children,knelt down by Mali and placed one on her wrist, then placed the other one on Tab. Both children smiled, admiring the pretty bracelets. “Those will help keep you safe, so don’t take them off, okay?”

  “We won’t,” Mali said. “I promise.”

  “Thanks, honey,” she said, ruffling Tab’s dark curls when he grinned up at her. Then she turned back to the Gryphons. “Any other ideas?”

  “Because of the way they work, I think we can just use a bit of cord to tie one around our necks, Tonka included,” Jon said.

  “Perfect,” Salene said, reaching for a coil of twine on the side of her pack and handing it to him. A few minutes later they were all protected from unwanted transportation.

  “These are great, Salene,” Talus said. “I feel a lot less worried knowing we can’t be yanked out of here at any moment.”

  “I know what you mean,” she said. She returned the empty box to her pack just as Jon’s wrist device beeped.

  “They’re ready to send our stuff down,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot so it’ll take us a few minutes to carry it in and sort through it.”

  Salene nodded and watched the Gryphons leave. Then she turned her attention to Mali, who’d been looking pensive and sad for the past half hour despite the pretty new bracelet. “Come sit with me, Mali,” she suggested, patting a place on the blanket beside her. Mali got up, walked over to her, and sat down, her steps a little slower than usual. “Would you like to tell me what’s troubling you?”

  Mali nodded, and Salene smiled. Mali was so much like her. Serious, straight forward, and honest. “I wished really hard that you wouldn’t send me and Tab away cause we don’t know what a ship is, and we don’t want to be away from you and Tonka and Jinjie.”

  “Do you think that caused the problems the ship’s having?”

  “No,” Mali said slowly, stretching the word out thoughtfully. “But I’m kind of glad about it, and that’s bad.”

  “Are you glad that the ship is having trouble? Or are you glad that you don’t have to go to a place where you don’t know anyone?”

  “The second one,” Mali said.

  “That’s okay then,” Salene said. “They’re not the same thing, honey. Being glad that you don’t have to do something you didn’t want to do doesn’t mean that you’re glad something bad happened. Do you see the difference?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Good,” Salene said, noting that there was still a line of worry on Mali’s forehead. She had the distinct feeling that Mali’s worry about the ship had been the least of her concerns. “What else is on your mind?”


  “Are you going to Promise with one of those men?”

  “Promise?” Salene asked. Mali shook her head, obviously at a loss to explain, so she looked up at Tonka hopefully.

  “She means take a mate.”

  “Ah, thank you, Tonka,” she said, then took a moment to consider her answer. “Remember when I told you that I’m not human?” Mali nodded. “And that I have three dads, and one mom?” Another nod. “Well that’s because Clan Jasani women always have three mates. To answer your question, yes, I will Promise, or what we call soul-link, but with all three of them.”

  Mali nodded, her little shoulders slumping as she dropped her eyes. “I thought so,” she said sadly. “You like them a lot.”

  “I love them, honey, and they love me, but I don’t understand why this makes you sad.” She thought about the sadness in their eyes earlier. “Do you think that I can’t care about all of you at the same time?”

  Mali frowned. “I don’t know. Can you?”

  “Yes honey, I can, and I do.”

  “That just makes it harder,” Mali said, sighing heavily.

  “I don’t understand,” Salene said gently. “Please tell me what you’re thinking.”

  “When you said we could go to your ranch, me and Tab thought you wanted to keep us.”

  “I do want to keep you.” Mali frowned up at her in confusion.

  “But you can’t.”

  “Why can’t I?”

  “Because if you do, then you can’t have your own babies. Aunt Lei said so. She said we ruined her life cause she had to let us live with her and that meant she couldn’t have her own babies.”

  “I see,” Salene said, instantly angry though she did her best to hide it. “What else did Aunt Lei say?”

  “She wished we never were born,” Mali said, her eyes back on the floor. “Grandfather heard that and got real mad until she said she didn’t mean it, but she really did. They fought about us a lot.” Mali looked up at her with tears in her eyes. “I tried so hard to stay out of her way and I always took care of Tab so she didn’t have to and he never makes any noise or does anything bad but she still was always mad at us. She pretended to Grandfather that she cared about us, but she told me she didn’t really mean it.”