Devotion

by Harmony Raines

  The sound of a cruiser door made her jump; she had been dozing off, feeling happy and content. But the sound of someone else in the near vicinity made her call quietly to Charlie. He came quickly, the hunted look returning to his eyes and when she ushered him inside, he didn’t object.

  Only when the door opened and Okil walked in, did she relax. However, when she saw his face, she was immediately on her guard.

  “What’s happened?” she asked.

  “Nothing,” he said shaking his head.

  “Then why do you look as though the world has ended?” Had they found about Charlie? Or simply rejected Tikki coming here?

  “Because in some ways it has.” He avoided her gaze, which scared her even more. Okil had always been open with her about everything.

  Tikki went to Okil and held him close, not wanting to lose him, but knowing she had to allow him an escape clause. “If it’s to do with us, with me and Charlie, then just say I blackmailed you into it.”

  “It isn’t.” He pulled back from her. “Listen, why don’t we go on a trip? I would love to show you the ocean. I thought we could take a picnic and go to a secluded cove I know. No one will be there. Charlie can play in the ocean and we can talk.”

  “OK,” she nodded. “Charlie, we are going on a road trip. How does that sound?”

  “Great,” he said clapping his hands together in excitement. “Can we see the elephants again?”

  “Elephants?” Okil asked.

  “Yes, we saw them when we came here yesterday,” Charlie said and began to walk around stretching his neck out really long. “They walked like this. And they are grey.”

  “The arunda. Yes. We can fly that way and see if we can spot them.” Okil went to the kitchen and began to fetch foods from the cupboards. He seemed a little happier but his skin looked grey, as if he had received a shock.

  “Okil,” she said, touching his face with her fingertips.

  He looked down at her and smiled. “Don’t worry. It’s not bad news and it has nothing to do with you and Charlie. Not directly, anyway.” He opened a satchel and began placing food into it. “I’ll tell you when we reach the ocean. I just need to clear my head first.”

  “OK,” she said and helped Charlie put on one of Okil’s big sweaters and then she lifted him up and carried him, trying to disguise the small boy as nothing more than a bundle of clothes. They might fool anyone from a distance, but close up you could still make out the form of a small child. She hoped no one was suspicious enough of her coming to Karal to be watching closely.

  Okil went first, opening the ramp so Tikki could go straight into the cruiser. “Why don’t you both sit up front,” he said to them.

  Charlie ran, or waddled, with the sweater around his ankles up to the front of the cruiser, and Tikki laughed as she watched him. Okil lifted him into one of the seats and managed to secure the seat belt around him, while Tikki settled down into another seat, staring at the vast array of controls.

  “This cruiser is like magic. It can fly anywhere, drive anywhere, and I’m not even sure if it couldn’t go underwater if it needed to.” Whether Okil was joking on that last point she wasn’t sure, but then he added, “But usually over water, we hover. Shall we try that when we get to the ocean?”

  “Let’s go,” said Charlie, putting his teddy down next to him on the seat.

  Okil checked they were all secure and then pressed the button for the ramp to close. The engines hardly made any noise as they pulled forward out onto the road. Leaving his house behind left Tikki nervous; out here they were exposed. What if they were stopped, would they have enough time to hide Charlie? And above all else, she worried what news Okil had to share, because even though the colour had returned to his face, he still looked concerned.

  “There,” Charlie pointed, and sure enough off to the left were a herd of the massive animals they had spotted from the air. Okil looked too, and then eased back on a lever whilst increasing their speed. Slowly they rose into the air, keeping low over the grass as they sped towards the arunda.

  “Look at their long necks!” Charlie cried, and despite everything, Tikki found his enthusiasm contagious. This was the most excited and animated she had ever seen him.

  “There are so many different animals on Karal, Charlie. We will try to see as many as we can. If you want me to, I can bring some books home from the great library in the tower. They are like encyclopaedias, filled with every animal on our planet. Would you like that?”

  “Yes, please, Okil Daddy,” Charlie said.

  Okil paled at the words but didn’t correct him. “Then I will bring some home with me tomorrow. Shall we go to the ocean now?” he asked after they had swung around and passed over the grazing arunda twice. “There are other animals we can look out for. Some fish in the ocean can jump high and try to reach the cruiser as we fly over them.”

  “That sounds like fun.” Charlie settled back down but kept a close eye on everything below them as they flew over the ground. Tikki sat back and enjoyed the ride, seeing the world below in a myriad of colours, but not able to fully appreciate it yet. For her, there was too much at stake, so many problems to overcome. Would she ever be free to enjoy Karal?

  The most exciting thing about the trip, for Charlie at least, was when they climbed the side of the mountain and then skimmed over the top. Okil played with them and for a moment, she truly thought they were going to scrape the bottom of the cruiser on the highest peak, but then they crested it and slid down the other side.

  Charlie whooped loudly and raised his hand in the air, his teddy tucked securely under his arm so that he didn’t fall off the seat. Then Charlie opened his eyes in wonder as he saw the vast ocean laid out in front of them.

  “Wow, that is the most amazing sight I have ever seen,” Tikki said.

  “Me too,” breathed Charlie. “Can we see the fish?”

  “Sure. Let’s see if we can get them to jump, shall we?” Okil headed out across the ocean, the cruiser about two feet above the swell. At first, there was nothing to see, and then there were occasional flashes of spray rising up around the windows of the cruisers. “Take your seat belts off and look down.”

  They both did as he told them to, leaning over the console, careful not to touch anything. There, to the sides of the cruiser, were silvery fish. They leaped, flicking their tails as they raced across the ocean with the cruiser. And then Okil rose higher in the air. “Buckle up.”

  They both sat down and did their seat belts up, Tikki checking Charlie’s was secure. And she was pleased she had, because Okil rose higher and then flipped the cruiser so that it flew on its side for about two hundred feet. Charlie yelled in delight as the fish leaped at the cruiser, before disappearing back into the ocean. Ten, maybe fifteen, of the fish swam with them, leaping so high they nearly hit the cruiser. Charlie placed his hand on the glass, as though trying to touch them. It was both thrilling and magical, a memory to store away forever.

  And then they were heading for the beach, the water too shallow for the fish, and they broke off and disappeared back into the blue depths of the ocean.

  “That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen,” Tikki said, while Charlie was speechless, still staring back out of the window to catch a glimpse of the fish.

  “Now let’s go paddle in the ocean,” Okil said.

  “Is it safe? Will those fish come and bite my feet?” Charlie asked.

  “No, the water is too shallow; they only swim where it is deep. They are long gone and you are safe, Charlie.”

  “Will you hold my hand?”

  “Of course.”

  The three of them stripped off their shoes and socks, and with wild abandon ran in the surf and played on the beach. It was the best day of her life. Tikki knew it because she had never felt so free, so alive, and for a precious hour, the three of them lived in the present, no cares for the past or the future.

  At last, they sat on the beach, the breeze soft in her hair as Okil brought the food
for them all to eat. It was while they ate that she asked him the question that she needed an answer to. “What happened, Okil?”

  “It seems surreal now, as though it can’t be true,” he said, staring out to where the twin suns were beginning to descend over the horizon.

  “But it is real. Whatever it is, so tell me,” she said firmly, not wanting to be kept in the dark any longer.

  “Elissa went in to see Darl this morning.”

  “Yes, I know. She told me.” Tikki stopped eating, shock on her face. “It’s the baby. There’s something wrong with the baby?”

  “Not exactly wrong. At least not in the way you imagine.” Okil seemed to be choosing his words very carefully. She let him take his time, wondering how bad it was if it was this hard for him to put into words. “We have been searching the universe, generation after generation, for a species to mate with. Each time we have until the prime to find a suitable species and breed. We hoped when we found humans that we would be able to set up a colony somewhere and use you to make our future secure.”

  “Use us,” she shuddered, but understood his meaning. “I already know that is why the deep space pilots are being sent out. That’s what you said, Okil. Was that a lie?”

  “No. At least for now it is the truth.”

  “Okil, I can handle the truth. Tell me everything.”

  “The deep space missions are the only hope Earth has. Or at least the human race has for its survival. They need to find a planet to relocate to, and the Hier Council have accepted this because they want to ensure our species always has females to breed with. Your human females are very important to us. To maintain your species so that our next generation can breed with them, the council will allow some of the males to go to. Our lifespans are so different; we need humans to breed a new generation while ours ages to maturity. You understand that?”

  “Yes.”

  “The mission has not begun yet. The pilots are preparing for the mission and in the next few weeks, the females will be chosen.”

  “To go with them?”

  “Yes. They will be from the lottery pool. Only they will not only be chosen for their breeding capabilities, but also for their suitability to go with a pilot to explore different worlds. The decision was taken so that the pilots do not lose their chance to breed before their prime ends.”

  “What if they conceive and are stuck out in space?” She shuddered at the thought.

  “It is not my decision or yours Tikki. The council rules on all things and that is their decision. ”

  “So what has changed? You still need us to breed with, and we need you to find us a new planet. So we both make sacrifices.”

  “But what if the Karal no longer need humans?” Okil looked at her, and she felt cold dread seep into her bones.

  “Is that what has happened? You don’t need us anymore? Have you found a new species to breed with?”

  “No. We need this generation of females, your generation. But after Elissa’s scan, Darl has found that we might not need the colony.”

  “I still don’t understand.” Tikki said thinking over all he had said and wondering why he didn’t simply come out and say what was on his mind. “Okil, tell me.”

  “If we were not confined to just breeding males. If the balance of our species was restored. We would not need humans.”

  “How is that possible? I thought you could only have boys.”

  “Until now, yes. But Elissa is having a baby girl.”

  “What? That’s impossible.” She shook her head.

  “That is what I believed, what we all believed, until this morning.” He took a long, steadying breath. “You have seen Elissa’s hands. I told you about them.”

  She nodded, trying to connect the dots, but they kept moving.

  “Well, Darl thinks that when Marin tried to mend her skin, the procedure transferred enough DNA into her body to change things. In some way that has resulted in her conceiving a female. He has analysed her blood and thinks he can replicate the outcome.”

  “Your race would once more become self-sufficient. Able to conceive girls and boys.”

  “Yes. We would no longer need the colony.”

  “The council will cancel the mission. And humans will likely become extinct.”

  “Yes.”

  Chapter Twenty-One – Okil

  Tikki sat and thought about he had said, while Charlie ran up and down the beach, carefree and happy. Okil’s thoughts turned to what it would be like to have a son, or a daughter. How strange. It had been so long since a girl had been born on Karal, they would have to change their whole way of life.

  What an incredible thought.

  And yet he was torn. He had devoted so much of the last few months to trying to get the Hierarchy to plan the deep space missions. Finally the missions were becoming a reality, only for it to be taken away again. The Earth would be left with no hope.

  He spoke to Tikki again, needing to share his predicament. “At present the only people who know about this news are you, me, and Darl.”

  “He didn’t tell Elissa?” she asked.

  “No. I think he was too shocked and he wanted to run through some checks and analyse the data. If he went on just what he saw, he might have it wrong.”

  “Surely he can tell a boy from a girl?” Tikki asked. “Elissa is quite far along; shouldn’t he have noticed all this in an early scan?”

  “It’s something he never thought to look for. He simply looked at vital organs in the earlier scans. Elissa is the first, remember, and the furthest along. This is all new to him. He never thought to look for whether the child was male or female. Why would he, when all the other children for centuries have been boys?”

  “Poor Darl. He is having a hard time. What with me, Charlie, and Reja.”

  “This was the biggest shock of all. Now he is excited at the prospect of using our DNA with human females.”

  “But what if they aren’t willing? Breeding a child is one thing, being part of an alien experiment is another.”

  “Darl thinks he could localise the trigger and inject it into the human egg.”

  “Still. It would have to be done with the agreement of the host woman.” She was scared to hear Okil’s answer.

  “We don’t always have a good record at treating females with respect.” He looked out across the ocean, remembering the last generation of mothers. “When I was a child, my father was a guard at the breeding house. I was fascinated with the thought that my mom was in there somewhere. I used to dream of meeting her, of having her hold me. So one day I stowed away when he went to work, I somehow got inside, convinced that I would find my mom, that she would see me and instantly recognise me.”

  “And did she?” Tikki asked, seeing the reds and blues skimming his skin as the dual suns slowly set in the distance, casting their violet glow across the ocean.

  “I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head at the memory. “There were so many of them and when they saw me, they all thought I was their child.”

  “Oh my goodness,” she said, seeing his distress as colours skimming his skin. They fired like beacons across his cheeks, lighting up his face.

  “They all wanted to hold me. To touch me just once. And then they began to wail. This shrill, pitiful sound that filled the breeding centre until I thought the walls would burst with the grief of all those who had given birth and had their child taken from them.”

  “That’s so sad,” she whispered.

  “It has lived with me every day since. I hear them sometimes when I dream. I see those faces. The hands reaching out to me.” He turned his dark brown eyes on her. “It’s why I have tried so hard for history not to repeat itself. I want your species to be part of this world, for you to be part of our child’s life. But this changes things. We may become self-sufficient, but with that will come your species’ demise. And I fear the Hierarchy will try to accomplish this at all costs.”

  “There has to be a way to make it work. Three o
f the council have children on the way. Women they love. We must persuade the Hier Council to allow the deep space mission to go ahead.”

  “Or we could keep the news to ourselves. The child is not due to be born for another three months. That will give us time to launch the missions.”

  “And keep this from Elissa too?” Tikki asked, not relishing that thought at all.

  “I don’t know. I think that you all have a right to know.” He hesitated and then asked, “Would you consider having a girl?”

  “I don’t know. What does it involve? I never liked the idea of anything medical.”

  “A small procedure. Risk-free, Darl said.”

  The thought made her feel sick. But she would do anything for Okil. “Do you want me to?”

  “I don’t know. What I am trying to work out is whether it is something human females would agree to, or if they would have to be forced just as our mothers were forced.” He took Tikki in his arms and kissed her. “I wish we could go back in time to when things were simple. I wanted to bring you here and give you this wonderful life. For the Karal to help humans find a home, to enable your species to live and thrive. For the children of this new generation to be born and know what it is to have two parents. And now. None of it is right.”

  “Okil, I am sorry. I know I have made things so much harder for you.”

  “No, Tikki, don’t apologise. I have seen how humans behave, how they come together and help each other. This is what I will do for you. I swear. We will make this right. But I can’t see how.”

  “First we have to go and see Elissa. It has to be her decision to tell the others, and to tell the council.” Tikki laid her head on his chest. “I would do anything for you not to be part of this, Okil. But as a selfish human, I could wish for no one better to be there for us.”