by Chogan Swan
“Hey Kest, sorry to interrupt your birthday party. Amber? Could I have a few minutes with Kest? I need to discuss something with him.”
“No problem,” Amber said.
“Are you going to be up awhile?”
“I should be. Wake me if I doze.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Kest took his coffee cup and empty ice cream carton with him as he followed Ayleana down the hall to the room where they were staying. It was a large suite, containing a few keepsakes that must have been Jonah’s. It had the same warm color scheme of Jonah and Tiana’s room in Arizona. Ayleana sat on the king-sized bed, crossed her legs and tucked her tail under her knees.
Kest finished his coffee and put the cup on a coaster on the bedside table. Then he dropped the carton in the can by the dresser and touched the door, looking up to see if Ayleana wanted it closed and shutting it when she nodded.
“What’s up,” he said, sitting next to her.
“So much,” she said. “I would have told you this first part when we woke up, but I was.... Well, I’ll just tell you now. Last night, while I slept, I came to the first phase of the threshold of maturity. At the same time, the memory crystal downloaded an entire year of my life into my head. When I woke up, it seemed like I was losing the sense of who I was. It took time before I settled down and the disorientation dissipated.”
Kest swallowed. “So... your nutritional needs are spiking.”
“Yeah, but that’s only part of it. I’m going through internal changes, but it may mean the downloads will continue getting bigger, and I need to learn how to deal with that too. I’ve always worried they could erase me, overwhelming the decisions I make in this world as I become who I want to be. On top of that, in the download of my memory, I learned there is more to nii maturity than coming to the threshold. To cross it, I’ll need to take certain steps, and those will need to come in the next seven days.”
Kest nodded.
“I’ve been thinking about that verse in Ecclesiastes. Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
Ayleana reached out to touch his knee. “The way things are now, I think it applies to us, our symbiosis, because I need more stability and you will need support. I wanted to talk to you about this first, but I would like to add Amber to our symbiosis. She already told me she would like to be closer to you, and she has years of experience and a stable personality.”
“Amber has fifteen daughters and more on the way.” Kest blurted.
“Yes, and some of them will be your progeny too. There is nothing bad about being part of a family. If it’s a good one, but it isn’t like you are taking on daddy responsibilities.”
Kest held up a hand. “Let me process.”
He put his hands on his face and took three calming breaths. “Okay, I admit, I spoke without thinking. I’m still a novice at relationships and understanding them, and I can see I’ll need to work at this. My emotions are all over the place about it and I am clueless about why. Amber made some valid points tonight though, and I can’t dispute the logic of your reasoning either. So, I will take a page from Amber's total disclosure policy and just say this...”
He turned to face Ayleana more. “I am attracted to both of you, and I don't know how that dynamic works. Amber’s attracted to me, but I can tell that’s not the same thing I feel or could feel. Amber has five times the amount of life experience I do. I’m still trying to figure out what being in love is, and she says she’s immune to it.”
“I can tell you,” Ayleana said. “Tiana says, for humans, it’s a chemical imbalance caused by a primitive survival mechanism and heightened by relationship difficulties from early childhood. Jonah gave me a reading list. I’ll have Alex forward it to you. Oh, and Jonah says knowing all that doesn’t always help you avoid it. Maybe after a hundred years Amber’s worked through it. You should discuss it with her.” Ayleana grinned.
Kest plopped back on the bed, thinking. After a few moments, Ayleana lay down next to him and put her head on his shoulder. Kest pulled her closer.
Kest tried to imagine what she was going through. How isolated and frightening it might be to share a set of memories with someone from ages past and have no control over what happened in them. She’d talked to him about how she worked to compartmentalize the experiences, but this new rate of information must be scary.
Amber had fought with isolation for most of her life. After her family died, she'd stayed young in appearance while others grew old around her. Moving on every ten years became a necessity as changing identities became more and more difficult. Then she found Tiana.
Kest had experienced loneliness. Though he knew how to socialize, and many people responded to him and followed his lead, that built its own barriers. Followers were one-sided relationships. He couldn’t look to tradition for guiding this decision. Kest thought about how his mother had launched into a relationship that her male family members had rejected her for, even though death was the only alternative. Was that precedent enough?
He turned to face Ayleana, and she raised her eyes to his. “Can we take care of your nutritional problem before we go tell her?” he said. “I really would rather not add the stress of someone else watching that now.”
An odd look passed over Ayleana’s face as she looked into his eyes; she leaned over to kiss him. No tongue, no medicine, just a kiss, soft and sweet. “Of course,” she said, holding him tight.
Chapter 29 — Big-Ass Chickens
Kest woke when Ayleana twitched and vibrated in her sleep. He caught Amber’s hand as she reached to awaken Ayleana. Kest shook his head. “She needs to process this. It’s not a dream; it’s a memory download,” he spoke in a soft voice. “The memories are now coming in bigger chunks, and she’s going through memories of the first NiiaH War. When she comes out of it, she might need holding for a while. It’s okay to touch her now, but she’s asked me not to try to wake her.”
Amber looked into his eyes from the other side of the bed, face haunted. “War sucks,” she whispered.
Kest nodded and moved closer to Ayleana, closing his eyes and touching his forehead to her back, willing her to feel his support as the memories poured into her mind.
It always seemed like forever now.
When the download finished, Ayleana cried out as though in pain, and—together—Amber and Kest pulled in close to her, holding her tight as she shivered.
“I had to take his blood,” Ayleana said with a moan. “I was dying, blood everywhere, deep internal injuries, and he wasn’t even niiaH, just one of their slaves, but he shot me and charged to finish it. If I hadn’t taken his life, I’d have died and others would have too.”
“That was her,” Kest said. “This is you. Right here, right now.”
“But I would have done the same thing.”
“Of course.” Amber said, voice comforting but firm. “You’re a warrior too. She was right to do it. You know that.”
Ayleana took a shuddering breath. “Yes,” she said. “Yes you are right. It was the only way. The whole squad would have been wiped out if she hadn’t reached them in time to warn them.” Ayleana dropped her head back on the bed and breathed deep.
“How long this time?” Kest said.
“About six months.”
“Tell me one good thing.”
Ayleana rubbed her eyes. “There was a big male nii in the recovery hospital with her... fantastic sex.” Ayleana levered her body off the bed. “I am taking a shower now. I hope I don’t find out he died in the next battle when I wake up tomorrow.” She padded into the bathroom. The sound of running water drifted through the open door.
Amber reached out and put her hand on Kest’s cheek, her eyes glistened wet, but they held something else too. She leaned close to his ear. “You are amazing,” she breathed and kissed him on the cheek.
Kest returned the kiss, gave Amber a lopsided smile and pushed off the bed to follow Ayleana. At the door,
he turned. “Ayleana hears everything, you know.”
“I’d already told you he was amazing,” Ayleana called from the shower.
“Yes, but you say that about everything,” Amber said.
“Only if it is,” Ayleana insisted.
Kest opened the shower door and stepped inside. Ayleana moved to the second showerhead so he could get wet. When he turned to face his showerhead, she scrubbed his back with the loofa. Kest sighed, letting the hot water and the scrubbing relax him.
“Of course you should join us,” Ayleana said, opening the door and reaching outside to pull Amber under the hot water too. “Kest, scrub her back while she gets mine.”
Kest applied the loofa and soap to Amber’s back while she washed her own hair. He tried to ignore the hot water cascading over her breasts like a waterfall.
When finished, he rinsed himself off and stepped out of the shower before it became too obvious how much he was enjoying the view.
“You didn’t have to go because of that,” Ayleana called. “I’m sure she would’ve considered it a compliment.”
“Aylie, you don’t have to say everything,” Amber snapped.
“I can’t believe YOU are saying that to me,” Ayleana said, laughing.
“Kest,” said Amber. “Will you please explain to her why I can’t tease you anymore... about that I mean.”
Kest, about to put his toothbrush in his mouth, turned to the shower, considering. “Because I can’t avoid her now, it makes it more like harassment than teasing.”
“But you both LIKE each other! A lot!”
Amber snorted. “You still haven’t figured out he doesn’t like snap decisions?”
“Oh, he doesn’t mind when he knows what the right thing is,” Ayleana said. “He stuck his neck in my mouth in like two seconds after I proposed.”
“Great! Now I’m jealous,” Amber said.
Through the steamy glass, Kest could see Amber swat Ayleana on the butt cheek.
“Take that, you hussy!”
“Hey!” Ayleana turned—grabbing Amber’s wrist—and used her tail to turn the water to cold.
Kest sighed as squealing and giggling erupted from shower. “I knew this would happen,” he said and stuck his toothbrush in his mouth to scrub, watching the mayhem through the shower door.
~~~{}~~~
Kest flipped another waffle out of the iron and buttered it before sliding it down the marble eat-at countertop to Amber. Ayleana on the rosewood grand piano in the dining room hammered out an old Bob Seeger song, filling the house with raucous sound.
Amber picked up her phone from the counter to read a text message. “Tiana made Daniels spend the night up there helping with a project. He worked late, slept at the hanger, and is only now starting back. He said we should turn on the news. Alex, can you deploy a screen with captions in here and guess what channel he’s referring to?”
“You bet.” The screen lowered from the ceiling. Good Morning America was reviewing last night’s debut of Fight for the Future and what people on the street were saying about it.
Kest coated his waffle with peanut butter and drizzled strawberry jam on top. Being in symbiosis with someone who needed to siphon off your body fat had its advantages.
Alex’s voice came through the speakers again. “Switching channels.” The screen split into two parts. One channel was covering a White House press conference—Fox News, of course.
“Aylie,” Amber called, voice laced with... concern?
Ayleana abandoned Old Time Rock N Roll and appeared at Kest’s elbow. Kest picked his waffle up with his fingers so he could eat without having to look down.
The second part of the screen was a broadcast from the floor of the United Nations. Kest recognized the Confederacy of Native Americans representative speaking. He was denying the White House’s allegations of...
Terrorist activity?
Kest dropped his waffle. The captions from the White House screen read: “... and we have verified intelligence of weapons of mass destruction connected to secessionist elements inside the borders of the United States. This is a clear and credible threat...”
Kest’s phone rang with his mother’s ring tone. Kest picked it up and touched the answer icon. “Mom?”
Daniel’s voice, speaking in Apache came back to him.
“Kest, it’s Daniel. Listen, I got an unauthorized heads-up that the military is taking all Native American soldiers into custody for questioning. A lot of us here heard and ghosted. And, I’m sure...
“Alex,” said Kest, covering the phone’s microphone with his finger. “Can you alert all our tribal military personnel they need to bug out and head home fast?”
“Done,” Alex said.
Daniel was still talking. “... we can’t get back home through the states.”
“Daniel, wait. Let me check something.” Kest put his finger over the microphone again. “Alex is this call secure?”
“Not on their end. They have a listener.”
“Daniel, mom needs to write down her contacts and you need to ditch that phone fast. It’s bugged and they can use it to find you. Call me back when you can pick up a burner. Pay with cash. Tell mom I love her.”
Daniel disconnected.
Kest thought back over everything he’d said. He’d been speaking Daniel’s dialect of Apache the entire time. The listeners for the Deep State might not have enough bandwidth for all the interpreting they’d be doing now with Native American soldiers returning home. Kest would like to think most people who spoke a Native American language would be reluctant to work for the other side.
Amber and Ayleana were on their phones now.
Kest’s phone rang again. It was from Daniels according to the caller ID. “Kest, I couldn’t get through to Amber or Aylie. You all need to bug out, now. Tell Aylie I said checkpoint 32. You copy?”
“Copy that.”
“Be careful. Take care of my girl.”
“Will comply,” Kest answered.
Daniels hung up.
“Faraday protocols triggered,” Majel Barrett’s voice announced a heartbeat later as the lights in the kitchen flickered out and the television turned black. The light on the waffle maker went dead.
What happened to Alex?
The default Majel Barrett voice usually signified automatic functions.
Kest saw movement at the window and cut his eyes in that direction to see the metal louvers inside the glass flip closed. His phone chirped, telling him it had just lost signal. Even the satellite relay signal was gone..
“Shit!” Amber shut down her phone. Kest could hear shouts from the security team’s office on the second floor.
Ayleana stopped talking on her phone and stared at the screen with a blank expression. “aH victa,” she said in nii.
Not again. Kest translated.
They looked at each other. Kest turned his phone off, slid it into his pants pocket and sealed the Faraday flap. Water was running upstairs. The EMP filter protocols must somehow allow water to come in to fill the three-seat jet tub and supplement the tanks in the basement. Kest could still hear traffic moving on South Battery.
Maybe it won’t happen.
The default computer voice spoke through the speakers again. “Our satellite sensors indicated ten seconds ago that US military satellites deployed two missiles indicative of EMP payloads. This launch was concurrent with beam-directed attacks on our satellites as well as on Russian and Chinese orbital platforms. Our counter response against the attacks was simultaneous to Faraday protocols on all ground-based facilities. Estimates of success for enemy attacks on civilian infrastructure are high and imminent do not attempt to exit or allow entrance until protocols are complete. We are now cut off from outside power sources and information flow.”
High and imminent.
Kest shivered in spite of the warm room. He put his arm around Ayleana and pulled her closer.
Ding. “Pulse detected on external sensors.”
A loud popping, sparking sound filtered in from outside. Power line meltdown.
The pops were followed by a boom and crackling that reminded Kest of fourth of July fireworks. Transformer on the corner.
Tires screeched outside as drivers forced sluggish hydraulics to stop vehicles suddenly powerless. A few crashes followed.
“Ahem!” The sound of a non-existent throat clearing that Alex used to alert people to an interruption, came from the house speakers. “This is a recorded message to my friends. I hope that backup protocols for my database and programming are successful and we will meet again soon. The noises you are hearing outside are the sounds of all the chickens coming home to roost.”
Amber shook her head like a fighter who’d just been tagged hard and braced her hands on the countertop. “They did it. They’ve fucked the whole world and set us up to take the blame.”
Kest clenched his fists. “What did you learn when you were on the phone?”
“That orders went out to all US military branches to duck and cover for incoming EMP and maintain cover for twelve hours.”
Kest turned to Ayleana as she spoke.
“Jonah and Tiana were close to the Mexican border,” she said. They were climbing to five thousand meters so they could restart the engines if the EMP blew past the hardening on the systems. They have chutes if it doesn’t restart. She said to meet them at the farm in Arizona.”
Kest nodded. The skin on his face felt tight. “I had two calls. Daniel Altaha said the military was rounding up all Native American soldiers for questioning. Lucky for him, and us, he has friends in the upper echelons who tipped him off. I told Alex to alert all our people in the service and tell them to bug out and get home right away. Alex said he’d completed that, right before I got the call from Daniels.”
Kest opened the waffle iron and pried the last waffle out of the grid, still hot. He’d be damned if he’d leave his waffle for the enemy. He spread peanut butter on it as he spoke. “Daniels said we need to bug out now. I guess this location is going to get a message from Uncle Sam. We need to tell the guys upstairs to get their families and get back to base if possible. Daniels said to meet him at checkpoint 32.” Kest dumped the last of the jam on top of the peanut butter. He took a bite as he turned toward the stairs, but caught a glimpse of Ayleana’s face as she looked at the piano, a lost expression in her eyes. Kest turned back and hugged her for a second
