Alexis stayed quiet, looking at her.
“This is too much, can you understand? Twenty-four hours ago I was free as a bird and suddenly I have a child and a...what? Boyfriend? Suitor?” She shook her head, and tried to stop Alexis from talking with a gesture of her hand.
“Free as a bird? Maybe you would have left the ship and the crew to their fate?”
“Ugh, of course not, but...” Leora thought about it.
“But what?”
“They are my responsibility!” she exclaimed angrily.
“So you’re not so free, then, if your conscience forces you to do what you consider are your obligations.”
“It isn’t the same! You can’t compare sailing, worrying about people and giving orders to cleaning diapers and making pablum.”
“I’m not going to tell you you’re going to enjoy cleaning up poop or making pablum, but in the end you’ll see that in some ways it’s the same thing. You won’t want to see your child in pain because his butt is dirty or crying because he’s hungry, so it will be natural to give him what he needs, the same way that you sailed for the well-being of your passengers. With the important difference that your passengers wanted to be there, while...”
“My passengers didn’t know what was going to happen.”
“And you did? Do you blame your mother now for having you right when the end of the world was going to happen?”
Leora was going to answer when she got the point Alexis was trying to make.
“Huh!” huffed Leora.
“You can choose to not have it, of course, but think about it, you thought you couldn’t have children and you had resigned yourself and now suddenly this happens.”
“Do you believe in destiny?” she asked, intrigued.
“No, actually, but I must admit that throughout my life I have seen things that seemed impossible. And, they happen at just the right moment. Things that if they hadn’t happened, the course of history would have been changed, completely different.”
“Like miracles, are you saying?”
“No, nothing supernatural, but things so improbable that it’s incredible that they happened. And beyond that, events whose consequences have lasted for decades and centuries, across countries and continents,” he reflected, looking far away.
Leora looked at him, intrigued.
Alexis seemed to come out of his trance and sighed.
“Would you consider being engaged to me?” he finally asked, taking her hand.
“Let me think about it, Alexis.”
“What do you have to lose?”
“I worry about what may happen going forward.”
Alexis sighed again.
“It’s late for you to return, do you want to sleep here?”
“Sure, but I don’t feel well.”
“I promise not to do anything to you that you don’t ask me to. If you want to sleep, count on a warm, comfortable bed.”
“Okay, I really need to rest,” she agreed, smiling a little.
“I’ll get everything ready.”
“Do you have your sword here?” she asked, suddenly curious.
“Yes, I try to always have it near me.” He went over to a chest of drawers, looked through one and carefully took out his sword.
Leora could see the brilliance and the reflections in the Atlantean metal while he took it from its sheath, which he left leaning on the bed, and he took it by the grip with his right hand that was covered in leather. With a firm movement, he swirled it around. The sword buzzed, cutting the air while he made a complete turn, then he changed hands, repeating the movement a couple of times. Finally, he held it firmly and handed it to Leora, who had been sitting there, mouth hanging open.
“Take it carefully, it’s much sharper than a knife,” he advised her.
“It’s very light!” she exclaimed in surprise when she took it.
“That allows me to use it for a long time without tiring out, though there are those who prefer it to be heavier to have more force with the strikes. For that, they add heavy metals into the hilt or in the core of the sword. It seems unnecessary to me. I could cut a human in half anyway as if he were made of butter and I can’t remember the last time I had to fight with another Atlantean with the intention to kill.”
“This leather is so that it won’t slip?” She pointed to the piece that wrapped around the hilt.
Alexis made a movement so quick Leora couldn’t follow it. Suddenly she saw that the leather had disappeared from the grip and now circled Alexis’ wrist. He made a couple of movements with the weapon and released it suddenly. Leora was frightened for a second, until she saw that the sword was hanging from Alexis’ wrist.
“It’s a safety mechanism to use in certain combats, if they yank the weapon from your hand,” explained Alexis, while he frowned and gave the sword to Leora.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing, it brought back some memories. Of the first time I made one of these...”
He took the sword delicately from Leora’s hands, who had been admiring it and moving it back and forth. He put it back in the sheath, and showed her the place in the hilt where he’d taken the material for the ring.
It was barely noticeable, but it was clear that somehow he’d pulled out a strip of material.
He put it back in the drawer.
They spent the rest of the day talking and finally, Leora put on the ring. It was the only piece of jewelry that she wore.
CAPTURED
Negro River, December 26, 2027. 10:00 a.m.
Leora spent Christmas at Rho. The morning of the twenty-fifth, she’d barely shown up at the control center when Althaea noticed her ring and whistled in admiration.
“Wowww, look at that!” exclaimed Althaea, admiring it.
Leora looked at it. The material was so light, it was easy to forget she was wearing it.
Sofía grimaced and Leora noticed it.
“What?” she asked.
“Gea isn’t happy. But I’m learning to keep her at bay,” she said, eating an apple.
“Oh...okay,” wavered Leora, not knowing what to say. Sofía’s dual personality scared her at the beginning, but she was getting used to it.
Juan Carlos came in to the center at that moment and came over to Althaea to kiss her. Leora looked at Sofía, who looked at her father. The relationship between Juan Carlos and Althaea was moving forward, and Sofía was okay with it.
Leora spent the rest of the day as on other occasions, learning about the city and its people.
A few hours later, the laboratory sent them good news. The vaccines were almost ready and Raquel was personally supervising the packaging. There were several large packages, so they decided it would be better to deliver them in person instead of making many trips via drone. This would ensure that they had surveillance to prevent sabotage.
When everything was ready in a couple of days, Leora and Alexis could go together in the motorboat to take them.
It was two hours until sunset. Leora got out of the truck at the same time as Alexis and they both walked towards the motorboat that was moored at the river’s edge. Towards the north, a black border across the sky announced a storm front.
“Why don’t you stay? You shouldn’t be traveling so much now,” Alexis said, worried.
Leora smiled.
“We’re almost there. When we deliver the vaccines and everyone on the ship is immunized, I’ll arrange things so that my second takes command. Then I’ll come back and stay here while the others settle in the village.”
“You’ll stay with me?” Alexis asked, touching her cheek with his hand.
“Why not? I’ve had worse company,” she answered, impassive, while she got into the motorboat.
“Geez, thanks, I think,” Alexis answered sarcastically.
Leora couldn’t stand it and smiled. But then she got serious.
“You seriously would stay with me?” she asked, looking at the ring.
“Of course, Le
ora. You’re beautiful. But that almost doesn’t matter to me. What I like about you is that you’re independent, courageous, and intelligent,” he said a low voice, almost embarrassed.
She blushed. And she got upset feeling the blush in her cheeks. What future could she have with an Atlantean? But it was true that this man drove her crazy.
“We’ll see each other the day after tomorrow,” Leora responded, while she started the engine and Alexis helped her drop the ropes.
“Call me when you get there, please,” Alexis asked.
Leora accelerated and headed the motorboat into the river’s current, waving to Alexis with one hand, who returned the gesture.
Leora accelerated and steered the boat down the middle of the current as she had already done several times. As she headed towards the ocean, the current contributed to the boat’s speed and she went pretty fast. She had calculated the time of departure to get back to the ship before it got dark.
She’d been traveling for half an hour when, behind a gentle curve in the river, she saw a small column of smoke off to the left. She lowered the speed to see what was going on and when she had the origin of the smoke in sight, she headed the motorboat in that direction. There was a small campfire near the narrow sandy shore.
Leora was surprised. A fire meant survivors. Were they okay? She approached slowly towards the shore, until it ran aground. She switched off the engine, leaving the keys in contact position, and got out of the motorboat, pulling it to make sure the engine was off.
The fire was burning, but she didn’t see anyone around. Suddenly she heard a ‘whoosh.’ The next thing she felt was an explosion of fireworks in her head and then nothing. She was already unconscious when she hit the ground.
In Rho, Sofía frowned. For a minute, she thought she’d felt something strange...she waited a moment but whatever it was had disappeared. She shrugged her shoulders and kept eating her sandwich while she looked through the genealogical trees from Tzedek’s experiments.
Elias smiled from ear to ear. Practice makes perfect and he was an expert at hunting. He approached the unconscious body of the woman and turned her over. She was bleeding from her head, but breathing. He admired her body and ran his hands over her silhouette, pausing a little on her breasts, while licking his lips. He picked up the bolas that had fallen at his side, put them away and went to get the 4x4. He pulled it over to where she was, and with some difficulty, got her into the back of the vehicle. He extinguished and buried the fire and started driving.
A few minutes later he was at his bunker.
Alexis looked at the darkness outside. Why hadn’t Leora called him? Was she angry again? He sighed and thought about getting in touch with her. He went to the communications console and stretched his hands towards the controls. He hesitated a minute and retracted his hand. Knowing her, she’d get upset if she didn’t want to talk to him and he called. But it seemed strange that she wouldn’t have communicated. On one hand, there was Leora, the woman, who might not want to talk to him; on the other, it was Leora, the captain, and she never broke protocol. He decided, lifted his hand again and was just about to pick up the communicator, when it rang. Alexis jumped and answered:
“Captain Robert here.”
“Captain, I’m glad I found you. Giuseppe here...we were expecting the captain before nightfall, but we wanted to confirm whether she had stayed with you or if she just left later.”
Robert went pale.
“Are you telling me the captain hasn’t arrived at the ship?”
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line.
“Captain, I’m afraid she hasn’t arrived.”
“It’s best that a motorboat be sent immediately to rescue her.”
“I understand, Captain. We’ll do it. Hmm, Captain, who will go in the motorboat?” his voice was full of worry.
Damn it, he’d forgotten about the virus. He needed a motorboat, but not at the cost of the life of one her men.
Had any boats passed by on the way down the river? Thinking about it, it seemed to him that he had seen a boat with an outboard motor a few minutes before arriving. He didn’t remember seeing other boats.
“I take back that order, Giuseppe. No one should take that risk until you’ve been vaccinated. Wait for instructions, please. Be alert in case the captain arrives or tries to communicate.”
“Yes, sir,” said Giuseppe after a pause.
“Sofía!” exclaimed Alexis, after hanging up with the ship.
The first thing Leora felt was an awful pain in her head. When she tried to touch it, she couldn’t. She moaned involuntarily as she slowly opened her eyes to see that she was lying on her side on a bunk in a small, windowless room. She was amazed to see that her feet were tied and her hands were tied behind her back.
Seated in a chair near the bed was a man staring at her. He didn’t seem unfriendly, he was shaved and looked clean. She couldn’t keep her eyes open and fell back into unconsciousness.
Sofía was seated, relaxed, with her eyes closed. Her jewels shone. When she opened them, for a moment, a slight glow could be seen in her eyes, before everything returned to normal.
“I’m sorry Alexis, I can’t find her,” she apologized, looking worried.
Alexis walked back and forth across the room.
“Where could she have gone to?”
“I don’t have any idea, but I can’t think why she’d go anyplace but the ship.”
“Is it possible that she’s somehow invisible to you?”
“I can find any conscious being from here to the ship and beyond. I captured her image clearly when she left here. Now I can’t feel her, which means she’s asleep or fainted, or is...”
“Don’t even think about saying it,” interrupted Alexis angrily. “She must have had an accident. She has too much experience to have died in a stupid accident, in a boat, in daylight. I’ll go look for her.”
“But it isn’t daylight anymore.”
“If she’s had an accident, time is critical. She might be injured. I’ll take a portable radio, so we can stay in contact. If you are able to read her, advise me immediately.”
“Of course, we’ll meet here in fifteen minutes,” Sofía replied, worried, as she ran to get things ready.
Leora woke up again. Her head still hurt horribly. She looked around and saw that the man was still there staring at her.
“Who are you and what am I doing here?”
“Relax, love. My name is Elias and you’re in my house. We’re safe from the virus here. And I can provide you with food and protection, in exchange for your services, of course.”
“Services?”
“Clean, cook, sex. Nothing you haven’t done before.”
Leora felt a chill. Was this guy crazy?
“You’re aware that you’re kidnapping me?”
“Kidnapping?” he sounded surprised, indignant. “None of that, I’m giving you a wonderful chance to live with me and be the mother of my children.”
Beyond crazy, he was off his rocker, lost his marbles, his ducks were not in a row, the lights were on but nobody was home. She had to get out of there, right now.
“I have to use the bathroom,” Leora asked.
“You’d better not try anything,” he spit out, disgusted, while he took the ties off of Leora’s feet. He finished untying her and pointed towards the bathroom.
“And my hands?” she asked.
“As far as I know, you don’t need your hands to go number one or number two.”
“How will I pull down my pants?”
“I’ll do it for you,” he offered, as he approached to take off her shoes first.
When he started to take off one of her boots, Leora kicked his head with her other foot, making him stagger and fall. She sat up straight and the pain in her head stopped her for a second. As soon as she recovered, she immediately went to the kidnapper’s side, who was trying to sit up, and kicked him in the stomach. She knelt down beside him and search
ed him with difficulty given that her hands were still tied but didn’t find any weapon or keys that would help her. She stood up and looked around. The room was small and claustrophobic, and she didn’t see anything of value.
She went out and found a narrow hallway, with several doors coming off of it, and she traveled it to the end. She found a door that was firmly closed that she couldn’t open no matter how hard she tried to turn the knob or unlock it. She went back and looked behind each door. She found what looked like storage rooms with merchandise, a small room with a couple of bunk beds, another room with machines that looked like transformers and water processing equipment, a small room with a table, chairs, and a blackboard, and a small kitchen...she hadn’t found anything in the other rooms, but went into the kitchen hoping to find a knife.
She clumsily opened drawers behind her back and in the second one, found what she was looking for. A set of silverware, some kitchen knives among them. She got one with difficulty, got it between her hands to cut the rope and started moving it back and forth. She’d just started doing it when it slipped out of her hands and fell to the floor. Cursing, she found another knife and repeated the maneuver, this time holding it more firmly. She started to cut the rope. With a start, she heard grunts and noises in the hallway and redoubled her efforts to get free. Her hand stiffened up and she almost dropped the knife again. She tried to relax her hands to release the cramp, but in response had pain so acute that it brought tears to her eyes. She twisted a little to look at her hands behind her back and saw that the rope was almost cut through. She made another effort until it was finally cut. Making almost a hysterical sound, she could feel the knots loosen and the remains of the rope fell to the ground. She turned to get out of the room, running into the barrel of a gun pointing directly at her face.
“Just breathe deep and I’ll blow your head off,” Elias threatened her.
Was he serious or was it just a trick?
As if he read her mind, Elias moved the gun and shot at the wall, then pointed it at her again. The sound of the gun made her jump and deafened her for a minute.
“Put your hands up slowly and go back down the hallway to your room,” he instructed her, while he backed up slowly to give her room to pass, without lowering the gun for a second.
Earth Keepers Page 42
