Monica drew back and looked up at him wide eyed. “You said …?”
He leaned down and kissed her with such heat that her toes curled and her eyeballs swam around her head. “I mean to make that official, beloved. Just as soon as I manage to convince your other mates that I belong in this tribe.”
It took all Monica could do to keep her balance when he left her. She watched him as he joined the others, in too much shock to really absorb what he’d said.
He paused at the top and whistled.
Kunga bounded across the yard to them, nearly bowling her over when he paused and stood up to hug her.
Monica braced herself and hugged him back, although she drew the line at the kisses he obviously meant to share. “No! I am not kissing you, Kunga!”
She heard Torin chuckle and then he whistled again and Kunga let her go and ran to him, quickly climbing the ladder.
She watched for a few moments and then hurried inside, climbing stairs until she reached the highest vantage point.
She stood at the portal, watching, until they were out of sight.
Then she turned and faced the aliens watching her. Sniffing, she surreptitiously wiped her eyes and headed to her cabin. She could work when she’d had time to vent her emotions in private—without a critical audience watching.
When Monica managed to pull herself together it occurred to her that she had the perfect opportunity to take care of personal business that she hadn’t wanted to discuss with the guys.
Because she thought they might be against it.
She was willing to risk it, though, because she wanted a real life, a real future and this certainly pertained to that.
The doctor was at his desk when she arrived.
He didn’t look terribly welcoming, but he gestured for her to take a seat.
She surprised him by speaking their language—and he looked pleased, which was a good sign. She got straight to the point. “Did you run the tests?”
He nodded, opened a drawer, and took out a folder. Taking the materials from inside, he spread them on his desk. “Using our latest data I can find nothing to suggest that there would be a compatibility problem between you and your mates.”
Shock rolled through Monica, but before she could really feel the pleasure that followed, he held up a hand.
“This is using our database, our information. You are … well, it is amazing how closely related we seem to be—our species and yours. But … and I strongly warn you, I cannot emphasize enough that I cannot be absolutely certain there will be no issues. To the best of my knowledge, there should not be but I cannot guarantee.”
Monica nodded shakily. “I didn’t think you would be able to. But there are no guarantees in life.” She paused before she posed the next question. “Does this mean that you would be willing to perform the procedure?”
The doctor considered that with misgivings. “I am willing to do my best. There again, I cannot guarantee that the results will be what you want.”
Monica nodded. “I have no chance at all now. Even if the odds are stacked against me, I feel like I’m willing to try it because some chance is better than none.”
“Living is better than not,” he responded wryly.
Monica felt her heart clench with fear. She ignored it. “There is existing and then there is truly living. I am willing to gamble all or nothing on having a truly fulfilling life.”
* * * *
Monica was focused enough on the procedure, recovery after the procedure, and the work she was handling in Torin’s absence that her mind was divided in her worry about the guys.
Until the day arrived when they were supposed to be back and they weren’t.
She managed to keep from panicking the first night, managed to convince herself that it had just taken longer than they’d guesstimated. She was less convinced the following day when there was still no sign of them. By dusk of the third day they were late, she was next door to a complete, blithering lunatic.
She loved them.
They had become her entire world.
And she’d never actually told them that because she wasn’t convinced they felt that way about her and she didn’t want to put herself in a position of humiliation if they didn’t.
And now she was never going to see them again!
All she could think was that if she’d gone with them whatever had happened would have happened to her, too, and she wouldn’t be trying to decide if she even wanted to live without them.
By dawn the following morning, she’d made her up mind.
Whatever had happened, she was going to find out because she wasn’t going to just sit her fanny in the comfort of the ship and wonder.
She dressed in layers of warm clothing, packed food, water and medical supplies, collected a pair of snowshoes for trekking in the snow and left the colony ship. She’d just slogged her way up the first rise when she caught a glimpse of movement in the distance.
She stopped, her heart in her throat, her eyes tearing with the effort to pierce the gloom.
She let out a whoop of relief when she realized that it was the snow-cat heading her way.
Then she sank to the snow in knee weakening relief, struggling to keep from bursting into tears.
She’d been staring at the tractor happily for several moments, trying to convince herself that all three men were inside and everything was fine when her brain finally finished interpreting what her eyes were seeing but trying to dispute.
They were being followed.
And it was a sizeable group.
The snow-cat couldn’t move fast enough to outstrip them.
“Oh god! They’re going to attack!”
That thought had barely sunk in when she heard the alarm coming from the compound behind her.
With an effort, she surged to her feet. “No! Wait! They’re coming! It’s Torin and Dar and Kael! You can’t lock up! You can’t lock us out here!”
But they either couldn’t hear her or they didn’t give a damn. The gates swung shut with a resounding, metal bang, leaving all of them outside.
And she was the only one not inside the armed vehicle!
“Oh my god! oh my god!” she muttered over and over in a terrified litany, trying to jar her brain into functioning.
It seemed unlikely the guard would open the door and let her in because she couldn’t run in all the heavy gear she was wearing and she didn’t think she could make it to the gate fast enough to put a safe distance between her and the horde that was headed her way.
She tried.
Slipping and falling and rolling more than she was able to actually run, she beat the gang to the door but they were on her heels and the guard refused to open the door for her.
She knew it was protocol, a protection for those inside, and she still wanted to gut the bastard!
Turning away, she stared in horror as the group that had been following the tractor outstripped it, heading straight for her.
The door of the snow-cat opened.
Kunga leapt from it, lunging into a ground eating run.
Torin hit the snow right behind the beast, running nearly as fast as Kunga.
And behind Torin was Dar.
Slashing left and right as they passed the intruders, they put them on the ground without breaking stride.
Kael, who’d clearly been left in charge of the vehicle, put on as much speed as the thing was capable of and maneuvered the machine around the group.
By dent of sheer determination, they put themselves between Monica and the thundering hoard of barbarians.
And she realized belatedly that she had put them in more danger than they would have been in if she’d kept her head and stayed where she was supposed to.
To her absolute amazement, the group charging toward them halted almost as one when they were still a dozen yards away.
One man stepped forward.
“We mean no harm! We just do not want to be left! Let us come with you!”
C
hapter Twenty
Their fury that she had put herself in harm’s way totally ruined the homecoming. Her worry about them was somewhat mollifying—she could see that—but they were still furious.
She could see their point, unfortunately. If their roles had been reversed ….
She took her ‘medicine’ as long as she could stand it and then surged to her feet with anger equal or surpassing theirs. “If you think for one damned minute that I’m going to put up with the three of you ganging up on me any time you’re upset, you need to think again! I said I was sorry—and boy am I! You can all go to hell for all I care!”
With that, she stalked to her room, slammed the door satisfyingly, and locked it.
There was dead silence in the other room after she left.
After a few minutes the guys stalked out of their quarters, leaving her in sole possession and slammed the outer door hard enough to weaken the hinges.
She waited until she was sure they weren’t coming back and then enjoyed a long crying jag to relieve her tension and frustration.
She could easily have been killed.
She knew that.
And she thought their anger, if they cared about her, wasn’t excessive given the circumstances.
But they just didn’t understand that she felt the same way about them. She’d thought it was worth risking her life to try to save them.
Was it her fault they didn’t need saving?
That, instead, she had put herself in a position where they had to risk their lives to save her?
She didn’t even know if their mission was a success, but she wasn’t in any mood to talk to them about that or anything else.
She didn’t see them again until a meeting was called in the great hall to discuss the small army of feral survivors that were outside their gates—some begging, some demanding to be allowed in.
They’d at least seemed fairly orderly when Torin had told them that they were not going to be allowed in as a rowdy group. Their best chance of acceptance was to present themselves as orderly citizens requesting aid.
That, she supposed, was the focus of the meeting.
The guys were already in the hall when she arrived.
They’d saved a seat for her.
She thought about snubbing them and sitting elsewhere, but they had the best seats, situated directly below the dais where the council members had assembled.
The first announcement was that the mission was a huge success. They had recovered enough salvage to fix the warp drive and affect the last of the repairs needed before launch. They expected to have the ship ready two weeks earlier than originally projected.
Monica was thrilled.
And pissed that she didn’t learn it any earlier than anyone else.
The next item was a discussion about the horde outside their gates and that went on for nearly an hour, with the council enumerating all of the reasons why they should not be allowed in. Mostly, the colonists just sat and listened to their leaders without comment.
The insurmountable objection was the scarcity of supplies.
It didn’t help that they were considered a danger to everyone else due to the fact that they’d been living a life of kill or be killed, but the main thing, according to the council, was that it just was not possible to save them. They could not stretch supplies to feed them on the voyage.
In vain, Monica waited for someone, anyone, to object.
She wasn’t inclined to put herself forward, disliked drawing attention to herself. That was why she just sort of exploded out of her seat. “You are not going to just leave these people here because you’re scared of them? I wouldn’t leave a dog in this hell hole!
“Granted we don’t know what they had to do to survive this long, but they are strong and resourceful or they wouldn’t have. That makes them exactly the kind of people you’ll want on your side when you get to the new world! People who know how to survive and can help you to survive!”
“Sit down!” the head councilor shouted. “You are not one of us! You have no voice in this meeting!”
Monica merely gasped in outrage, but Dar, Torin, and Kael surged to their feet.
“She is our mate,” Kael growled. “That makes her one of us!”
“If anyone here has, Meeka has earned her place and a right to speak!” Dar snarled.
“You would not be going to a new colony if it was not for Meeka and her people!” Torin ground out.
“Fine!” the councilor snapped. “But I have not heard her volunteering to give up her place!”
“If you are afraid of them, then quarantine them, or lock them up, but you cannot abandon them to die here!” Monica said tightly. “I will give half of my rations to save one of them.”
That comment silenced the entire room. For a handful of moments there was not even so much as the scuff of a boot against the floor. It was if the entire group had turned to stone.
“We, also,” Torin said after sending Dar and Kael a questioning look. “We will each give half to save three others.”
The councilors gaped at them. “Well! That is just ….” The lead councilor began, only to be cut off by someone in the far back of the room.
“I will give half of my rations to save one!”
“Order!” the councilor objected.
“I will also give half of my rations!”
“Me too!”
“Yes. I am willing to share my rations.”
“You are all insane!” one of the other councilors managed to wedge into the declarations, but she was drowned out in short order as, by ones and twos, the other colonists stood to offer half of their rations.
The councilors were outraged and furious with Monica for turning the colonists against them, or at least their wishes, but they could see that a riot was brewing and they wouldn’t get away with ignoring the will of the majority.
Not everybody agreed, but the majority did stand up for the unfortunates waiting hopefully, or hopelessly, in the snow.
When the decision was final, a holding area was designated for the newcomers until they could be ‘processed’ and the militia was sent to collect their weapons and escort them to the holding area.
It was in point of fact the garage area where the equipment had been stowed, but it was easy to see that it was pure luxury for those who’d been scraping by, living off the scared landscape.
Monica could see that they were distrustful and some of them clearly afraid that they were being tricked and the colonists meant to put them down like the animals they saw them to be, but they settled in a reasonably orderly manner. They were given small rations of food and water and told that they could expect no more because the colonists were sharing the little they had.
They looked disbelieving, but they didn’t argue.
Torin looked grim as he surveyed them. “They will riot if they are here long. These conditions ….”
Dar shrugged. “Are so much better than they have had in a very long time that I cannot agree. They are uneasy. They need to be assured that they are only being held here until they can be processed, but they will find their patience once they see that that is what is happening.”
The medical staff arrived before they left the area and began to organize the group for tests and examinations. So they had the chance to see that what Dar had said was true.
“It is a good thing that we have cut the length of time of our journey,” Kael said dryly. “I am already hungry and they have not cut my rations yet.”
Monica smiled up at him. “Thank you for supporting me,” she murmured. “The council is not happy with me.”
“I will always support you,” Torin said, “even when I do not agree with you. But this time, I completely agreed. Thank you for standing up for these people when no one else would.”
Monica reddened with discomfort. “They would have. They were just intimidated by the councilors. It’s hard to ignore your leaders even when you think they’re wrong and you disagree with them. Hard
to say something you think your peers will disagree with. I just felt like I wanted to say something, had to, even if everybody else disagreed.”
They had left the area when a young woman approached Monica. She paused for a long moment, glancing from one to the other and finally returned her attention to Monica again. “Thank you,” she said, her voice shaky with emotion. “I wanted to say something, but I just … I could not. At least, not until you did.” She bit her lip. “I am glad that you are here. Really glad.”
Impulsively, Monica hugged the young woman. After a slight pause, the woman returned her embrace. She looked a little disconcerted when Monica pulled away—Monica’s first realization that this was not something they customarily did.
The woman smiled. “I hope we will be friends.”
Nothing she could have said would have been more welcome! A friend—finally—so many miles from home and after she had despaired of ever having a friend again!
* * * *
Monica didn’t know about the others, but her stomach had knots that had knots as she listened to the final checks before launch. Due to the fact that they had brought back the wherewithal to get the colony ship to where it needed to go before they all died of old age, she and the guys had been given seats in the cockpit to observe the momentous occasion.
It was terrifying.
She almost thought she would have preferred to be in their quarters where she could only guess what was going on.
She would’ve been frightened half to death either way, but she could’ve hid her eyes, closed the portholes, in their cabin and pretended they weren’t about to die.
Front row seat!
She dragged in a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly.
A warm hand touched hers and she looked up to see Torin had placed his hand over hers where she was digging her nails into the arms of her seat.
“It will be ok, beloved,” he said with a faint smile. “I am almost completely convinced that we tightened every bolt.”
Monica felt a flicker of amusement. It eased some of her tension.
She swallowed against the tightness in her throat with an effort. “We don’t have an anti-grav drive so I’ve never experienced it.” That wasn’t a lie, but she’d only said it to explain away her abject spinelessness.
Exodus: Extinction Event Page 19
