The Aledan: A Psionic Love Story Excerpt

Parts of this post are rated R for sexual and or violent content.

THE ALEDAN:A Psionic Love Story

by Chris Myers

An Abridged Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE

        Hankura shrugged in frustration and rolled over on his bunk, unable to quiet his mind so he could sleep. He was alone in his darkened cabin aboard the Argus Lu, a passenger freighter. It had just put into Earth Orbit to take on two more passengers and leave some freight. Then it would take Hankura to Velran, a place he did not want to go.

        It wasn't fair! Why did he have to go to Velran alone? He didn't want to be on this ship with these stupid people who tried cheer him up and make his voyage fun and interesting. It wasn't. He didn't want to go anywhere but home. He wanted his mother. He wanted his father to love him again instead of being angry all the time.

        Tears filled his eyes and his throat ached with longing. Someday, he would go back and show them they were wrong. They would be sorry. Someday.

Finally, sleep claimed him, and his mind drifted into a dream that wasn't his own. This dream was more real than any he had ever dreamed. In the dream, he shivered with fear and cold. He was huddled under an abandoned stairway in a dark alley. A hard rain fell steadily, forming shallow pools in the scarred pavement around him.

        At some point he realized it was not a dream. He felt her presence, the psychic force of her consciousness pulling him into her mind. Her thoughts, her fear, her pain filled his mind. The little girl was down on Earth. She crouched alone in the dark, more afraid than she had ever been in the short span of her five years.

        Jerry told her to wait no matter what. He would come for her when he finished what he had to do. He gave her the knife and fled. He would be gone however long it took for him to find and kill the man who had killed their mother.

        Hours passed. She sat shivering in the corner against the cold brick wall---alone except for the rats. When they ventured too close she menaced with the sharp knife then pelted them with the pieces of broken pavement she had gathered before dark. Although she hit several with the concrete rocks, one broke through and came to close. She screamed and plunged the knife into it, killing it. After that, they stayed back for a while. Michelle shuddered, exhausted. Her body ached with the cold and her eyelids drooped as she longed for sleep. But the rats were out there waiting. Sleep would mean death--endless sleep just like Mommy.

        Some of the rats moved closer again, but the sound of their claws on the pavement opened her eyes wide with terror. She screamed, ending it in a sob as she slashed desperately with the knife.

Jerry, please come back! Don't leave me all alone like this. I want Mommy. Oh, God, I don't want to be alone.

        She was sure nobody would hear or care what happened to her. But in blind desperation, she tapped her latent psionic ability and sent a mind-cry with such force that someone did sense her plea.

Hankura sat bolt upright in his bunk and brushed the wetness from his cheeks. He realized he was crying, but this time his tears were for someone else--- Michelle...and he reached out.... He sensed the little girl felt even more alone and scared than he was.

        Michelle, don't cry. You're not alone. You don't have to be scared of those rats. You can make them go away with your mind. I can help you.

        Gradually, she stopped crying. She no longer felt alone or as scared. He was with her even though she couldn't see him. "Who are you? Why can't I see you?" She said to the voice in her head.

I'm Hankura from the Aledan Colony. I'm thinking to you. That's why you can't see me. I'm up in a space ship far above Earth.

        Thinking to her? Michelle shrugged. She felt it was true. She felt his presence even though she couldn't see him, so he must be real.

        "Are you going to come down here?"

        I wish I could. I have to go to school on Velran. My parents don't want me to go to the Psi Institute on Aledus so they're sending me to the University of Learning on Velran.

        Michelle looked skyward as his thoughts touched her mind. She could feel that he was scared and alone, too.

        "My parents are dead," she said aloud. "Jerry's gonna kill the man who did it. When he's done, he's gonna come back and get me. That's why I have to stay here--so he can find me. But this place is scary. Will you think to me until he comes back?"

        Okay. Where I'm going is scary, too. There are lots of strange aliens, and I have no friends there.

        "Do they have gangs and overlords?"

        No, it's a school. Mother is making me go there to learn the Patterns of Insight so I won't hurt Normals when I think to them.

        "But you're not hurting me."

        'Cause you're a psion, too. Anyway, you thought to me first.

        "I did?"

        Yeah. But, you'd better not let anyone know or they might send you away to Velran, too.

        "Could I bring Jerry?"

        Probably not. They wouldn't let me bring Trevin and Capra. I have to go alone.

        "Well, there are probably other kids like you at Velran. You won't be alone.”

        Maybe, but the teachers are aliens with ugly fangs and scary faces. My use-to-be friends said they eat people.

        "Dead people or live people?"

        I don't know. They probably lied anyway. After their parents found out I'm a psion, they weren't allowed to play with me.

        "Rats eat people here, sometimes dead ones and sometimes live ones. They wanted to eat me until you showed me how to make them go away. Can you show me how to do that with people?"

        It's against ALEDAN Law.

        "Overlord Law?"

        ALEDAN Law.

        "That doesn't count here. Show me."

        I can't. I promised Mother I would never do that again. Somebody might hurt you if they ever found out you could do that. Besides, you need to learn to use your powers better, and so do I.

        "Do they teach you that on Velran?"

        They teach everything there, they have a special school for human psions.

        "I wish I could go to school with you. I wouldn't be scared if you were there, and we would probably make friends with other kids like us."

        I wish you could come, but they won't let me come and get you. When I grow up, I'll come back and teach you the things I learn. I promise.

        Michelle sighed. She knew he meant it, but she didn't believe it would really happen. Daddy promised he would come back, and he never did. Mommy promised she would come for her, and she never did, either. She didn't believe Jerry would ever return. Why should she believe Hankura?

        The sun's rays peeked gradually over the towering ruins of the ancient city through the mist rising from the wet streets. Michelle stirred in her sleep and brushed at the big black fly  buzzing over her stringy red hair.

        "Mishy? Where are ya, kid? Mishy!" The impatient sound of her brother's voice registered in her mind and she opened her eyes and blinked.

        "Here, Jerry. I'm here," she called softly and strained to hear the sound of his footsteps. She sensed his nearness long before he found her. By then, she had turned her attention elsewhere.

        "I have to go, Hankura and pretty soon, I won't be able to hear your thoughts anymore. But it's okay. Jerry's here, now. I'm not scared anymore." She spoke with her eyes raised to the morning sky, wishing she could go wherever he was going, too.

        Someday, I'll take you there . . . or maybe Aledus. I promise.

        "But, how will you find me?"

        With psi--I'll find you. Believe me.

        "I do," she answered softly, and she did.

        Jerry frowned. He hunkered down under the stairway in front of her and stared into her eyes. After a moment Michelle focused on his face and smiled sheepishly.

        "Mishy--who were you talking to? Are you all right?"

        "I'm okay. I was just talking to Hankura. His parents sent him on a star freighter from Aledus to a school on Velran."

        "What?" Jerry frowned and raked a bony hand back through his unruly red hair. "How can he be on a starship when ya were just talkin' to 'im?"

        "Well--he wasn't here exactly--not like you're here. I heard what he said in my head." Michelle touched her temple. "Psi. He helped me make the rats go away, too."

        "Who told you that word—psi?"

        "He did."

        "And I suppose he killed that rat over there, too."

        "Of course not." Michelle chided. "I told you he wasn't really here. I killed that rat with your knife."

        Jerry looked at the dead rat and the bloody dagger on the ground beside her, then grinned and pulled his little sister into his arms. "You did good, kid." He hugged her. "I'm sorry I left you alone so long, but I had to."

        "I wasn't alone. Hankura was here—sorta."

        "Ah--sure, kid. If you say so." Jerry crawled further under the stairway with Michelle under one arm. It had been a long night, and he was tired. He should never have left the kid alone for so long. Cold and scared, alone all night, it was no wonder she was hearing things. She still felt cold to his touch, so he cuddled her wiry little body close--to warm her.

        "Jerry?"

        "What?"

        "Is Mommy really gone forever? Forever?" Her voice trembled on `forever'.

        Jerry's arms suddenly squeezed her too tightly and she groaned. He loosened his hold, but he was trembling. It was a long time before he answered.

        "Y-yes. She is gone forever." He rasped, tears filling his eyes. Michelle sniffled softly; she had known the answer before he'd said the words.

        Years later...

        There were no heroes in the ruins--only survivors. She and Jerry survived from day to day.

Michelle didn't stop to question their lifestyle, because she knew no other way of life except in her dreams. She felt Hankura's presence in those dreams even after ten years. Some of them left her aching physically, for something she didn't quite understand. But she never talked to Jerry about Hankura anymore. She knew it would make him angry.

        As time passed, it became harder for her to believe in someone she had never seen and the beautiful places that existed only in her dreams. Jerry was the only person who loved her and cared what happened to her, and she wondered if maybe Jerry were right when he said Hankura wasn't real. Then there was Berke for a while . . . . He'd rescued her from a gang fight, and she felt she owed him something. All she had to give was herself.

        She still thought about Hankura once in awhile, but she didn't tell Jerry, and the remaining eight years she and Jerry had together left her with rich and lasting memories.

As the years passed, life became no simpler, nor did the dangers of street life ever permit Michelle and Jerry to let down their guard.

        They were tired as they trudged back to the abandoned cellar they called home. Scrounging for food that day had been discouraging.

        Usually they found good pickings after the agri-market outside the Starport complex closed for the day. Someone else had gotten there first. None of their other sources had yielded more than a few morsels apiece. They were going home hungry as well as tired.

        Half a block from safety, four strange men accosted them. It didn't matter that Jerry and Michelle had nothing to steal. These thugs were after them.

        Michelle dropped the few morsels she was saving for later and reached for the throwing knife strapped to her calf. She flung the knife deep into the neck of one man, but another charged her before she could pull the dagger from her belt sheath.

        The dagger was her only chance to even the odds against this bigger man. He grabbed her arm and swung her toward him. By the time her fingers closed around the hilt of the weapon, his blade plunged between her ribs into her right lung. Had she not been struggling so violently, it might have been driven through her heart instead.

        He pulled the dagger out and let Michelle fall. She gasped and coughed on the blood that filled her lung as she sank to the ground. The dagger was in her hand, but she no longer had strength to use it. The scene before her faded as her consciousness receded down a long dark tunnel. So this was death.

        No! You don't have to die, Michelle. You have the ability to heal that wound. Don't die. Let your mind open to that power within you. Live, Michelle. Live.

        It was a dream, but not a dream. Hankura was there with her floating in a mist. She felt cold, so cold, until he reached out to touch her forehead. Then his warmth seemed to spread through her. Jerry was wrong. Hankura was real--tall and strong and handsome. She couldn't die, not now. He had finally come back for her . . .

        But when she opened her eyes again, he wasn't there. She was lying in the dirt where she had fallen. It hurt to breathe, but she was no longer drowning in her own blood. As she felt the hilt of the dagger in her hand, she remembered what had happened and strained to see where her brother was.

Michelle gasped as she saw that the same thug who had stabbed her was locked in combat with Jerry. A livid stain spread over Jerry's belly showed that he had already been stabbed at least once.

        Michelle pressed her left hand over her partly healed wound and pushed herself to her feet, still clutching the dagger in her other hand. The enemy had her brother down, his knife raised to strike. Michelle stumbled, then lunged, screaming as she drove her dagger deep into the man's back. It was a killing wound, but not quick enough to save Jerry.

        "Oh, Mother of Life!" she cried as she pushed the man's body away. Michelle fell to her knees beside Jerry, horrified at the knife she saw sticking in his chest. Not thinking clearly, she grabbed it and pulled it out as though she could erase the damage it had done. Blood spurted from the wound as she cradled him in her arms, sobbing.

        Hankura, help me! You have to help me heal Jerry, too. I don't know how. I can't do it without you.

        But he wasn't there. When she tried to make Jerry's bleeding stop as she had her own, she found she didn't have the strength. She was still too weak from her own wound.

        "It's okay, Mishy. You did good, kid. In a place like this . . . it was bound to happen sometime." He choked and gasped for breath as blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth. Michelle continued sobbing softly.

        "Hey, hey--Mishy. You done all you could. Now, you gotta take care of yourself . . . so get the hell outa here before any more of 'em come. . . . Go to the mountains--get yourself some supplies and go to the mountains. Ain't no kinda life for you here. An' remember . . . remember how I taught you to fight. Remember wha-- Remember . . . ." He sighed and closed his eyes.

        Michelle wanted to stay with him longer, but she heard others coming. It took all her strength to stand and stumble away. There was nothing more she could do for him.

        By then, it was growing dark. Michelle found the secret opening leading to the cellar where she and Jerry had been living. Without him to share it, it was a cold, filthy place . . . and Michelle had never felt more alone in her life.

        If Hankura was ever going to come, he should have come today when she needed him. Why did he help her and not Jerry? Damn him! Why?

        How could Jerry's death have been real? How could Hankura come to her and leave her when she so desperately needed him? She didn't want to believe it. Tears filled her eyes again, but she hurt too much to even cry.

 

CHAPTER TWO

        "Michelle!" Hankura had been thrashing around for quite sometime before he bolted upright in his bed. His heart was pounding and his body was soaked with sweat. He groaned softly and tried to catch his breath.

        His roommate stirred in the bed across the room and roused as he sensed Hankura's agitation.         "You dreamed about her again, didn't you?"

        Hankura nodded his head. "It was more than a dream, Casir. She needed me. I felt her needing me, and I wasn't there. She nearly died. We were in limbo, and I touched her soul. Then she found the will to live," he murmured. "I didn't want to let her go."

        "How long has it since you first mind-linked with her?"

        "Almost twenty years standard." Hankura sighed.

        "She must be a strong one."

        Hankura shook his head. "She's not any stronger than you or I."

        "Not psi-quotient, diamond head--psi-bond, Hankura. If she were that strong, I would feel her in my dreams, too. But, you're the only one who feels her."

        "You mean like psi-mates? That's crazy?"

        "Then, you give me a better explanation why you can't get a female you've never met face to face out of your head in twenty years of trying?"

        "I can't. It's just that--well, I thought psi-mating was just a myth dreamed up by that madman Malkan."

        "Maybe Malkan was crazy, but the prophet Narcaza wasn't. He was your own ancestor, and he believed it," Casir pointed out. "Mesgar believes it, too."

        "Space! I don't know what to think anymore, Casir. All I know is I could feel her reaching out to me as she was dying. I didn't want her to die. She wanted me to help her heal her brother, too. But she was too weak. If I'd pushed her too hard, she would have died, too, trying to save him. I had to break contact because I couldn't stand her pain. Her brother is dead now, and she's all alone. I promised to get her out of there a long time ago. I'm afraid she might not make it until I get there. I've got another two years in the program, and I don't know how long she can stay alive without Jerry to help her. Half the time she thinks I lied to her, and half the time she doesn't think I'm real. I feel her pain, Casir, I feel her despair like she's part of me."

        "I know. I feel your dilemma," Casir empathized. "What are you going to do?"

        "Take a bio-chip implant for the last two years," he said. The computerized organic implant would feed information directly into his brain over a period of three months. By taking the last two years of medical school through a bio-chip, he could leave Velran with his physician's certification in three months.

        "But, can you handle the headaches, Hankura?" Migraines were a side effect of such implants, which is why most students didn't use them.

        "I know it can be pretty painful, but I can't wait any longer. I have to find her before those barbarians kill her. Maybe once I know she's safe, I can get on with my life."

        "Only if you include her in your plans."

        "If that's what it takes. I'll worry about that when the time comes. I just can't live with this constant fear for her life anymore."

        "Care to make a small wager? Say 50,000 chips that you two are psi-mated?" Casir grinned.

        "I don't think so. I don't like the odds."

        "Ah, so you are beginning to believe it."

        Hankura shrugged. "Maybe I am."

#

        After three months preparation, Hankura was ready to leave on his journey. Casir went with him to the hangar at the Velran Starport to see him off in the mran space craft that was waiting to be launched.

        "It sure is a beauty," Casir said, admiring the sleek triangular shaped craft.

        "At a million chips, it ought to be. It's nearly new."

The two men stood looking at the silver and blue craft in silence. Hankura was dressed in a shiny silver flight suit, and Casir wore a loose fitting white suit that was currently fashionable among human males on Velran.

        Casir spoke finally after a long silence. "You remember the first few days after you got here when I wouldn't even talk to you?"

        "Yes." Hankura grinned wryly. "I was ready to choke you just so you would say something. I didn't know what you were trying to do because you were so good at blocking my probes."

        "Well, when you came walking into our quarters that day, I had a feeling we could be good friends. I didn't want that. I knew that one day you and I would be standing here like this, and I'd be losing my best friend.

        "You were lucky, Hankura. Your parents sent you here because they thought they were doing you a favor---even if you didn't think so at the time. My family sent me here with 5 million chips and said don't come back. That was pretty hard to take . . . ."

        "I know," murmured Hankura. "It took me awhile to figure that out." He paused. "You know you could come, too."

        Casir shook his head. A stark contrast to the Aledan, Casir was as fair as Hankura was dark with platinum hair and amber eyes. The Aledan held his gaze, studying those familiar features.

        "I've done a lot of crazy things in my life, but going to Earth with you after some dream girl is not going to be one of them . . . . Besides, with you gone, someone will have to console Jana and Delara. It might as well be me." Casir grinned suddenly.

        Hankura grinned, too. "They always liked you better anyway--"

        "--Except for Carianne. She isn't taking your leaving well at all."

        "I tried to explain. It just wasn't working, and our co-habitation contract was up anyway." Hankura shrugged. "Every time it seemed like we could really be close, Michelle would haunt me again. Mesgar thinks it is psi-mating. If it is, he said I had best learn to accept the mind-link because I can't change it."

        "My sympathies, friend. At least I won't have to share the ladies with you anymore."

"Don't be too sure. Maybe this obsession is just a psychological quirk--an aberration that will wear off. . . ."

        "Who are you kidding?"

        "Myself." Hankura sighed. "It's just that going to Earth these days is a good way to get myself killed. I have a bad feeling about this whole thing. Yet, I know I'll never have any peace until I find her."

        Casir swallowed hard. "What happens if you do find her? You're not planning to stay on Earth, are you?"

        "Certainly not! I promised my parents two years ago I'd return to Aledus after I finish here."

        "Oh yeah. I remember you arguing back and forth about that for months over the telcom. I thought you finally decided not to go."

        "Mother changed my mind. It meant so much to her, I didn't have the heart to refuse her again.         But that doesn't mean I'll stay forever. What about you? What are your plans?"

        "I'll let you know when I decide . . .if I can find you."

        "I'll leave word with my family . . . if I make it back to Aledus."

        "You will. I have faith in you." Casir held out his hand, not fooling his friend at all. Casir was worried. Going to Earth was highly dangerous ever since the Procyon Wars. This might really be the last time they ever saw each other.

        They both knew it.

        Hankura shook Casir's hand and turned to board the ship. He stopped abruptly and turned back to embrace his friend, briefly. No more words were necessary. After one last look into Hankura's dark green eyes, Casir nodded and Hankura turned without looking back to board his ship. Casir watched the hatch close behind him then turned and left the hangar.

        Although he couldn't watch Hankura go, he was glad he had finally accepted Hankura's friendship. The Aledan was the best friend he would ever have.

#

        In the weeks after Jerry died, Michelle kept on fighting to survive, mainly because she knew it was what her brother wanted and because of Hankura. Despite her doubts, she couldn't let go of her dream. Without him there was no reason to keep living, and no one to care if she didn't live.

        Her wound healed quickly, it seemed, because she willed it. When she was well enough, she began stealing food and supplies where she could. Then she stole, Orion, a young blood bay stallion to carry her and the supplies into the mountains east of Farringay.

        Orion didn't like the serving as a pack animal at first. He dumped Michelle and the supplies twice before Michelle made him understand what she wanted him to do. The two became fast friends and allies.

        Michelle was glad to get away from the city ruins. Ever since Jerry died, she had nightmares . . . and she heard voices in her head---so many, she couldn't separate them. Somehow she knew she could escape those voices in the solitude of the mountains. The chatter seemed to fade as she got further from Farringay.

        The journey took two days, and she looked for another day before she found the abandoned farmstead where she decided to settle. The dwelling, a rundown log cabin was set in a badly overgrown yard. To the left of the cabin near the woods was a small shed inside a roughly fenced-in pasture. The property looked as though it had been neglected for years. The whole spread was little more than a large clearing in the mountain forest. But compared to the ruins of Farringay, it was beautiful. The air was fresh, and there were green growing things all around her. She felt safe there. She decided to claim it for her own. With any luck, it would be a long time before someone came along and tried to take it from her.

        In the next few days, while she mended the pasture fence with branches from the forest, Michelle wished that she and Jerry had left Farringay long ago. They could have had a good life here. She didn't remember when her family had been driven down from the mountains to keep from starving after an especially hard winter. Jerry had told her a little about it; but he hadn't talked about that part of their past much.

        He had told her about how farmers planted seeds to grow the fruits and vegetables that they salvaged from the agri-market each week. He didn't know all about farming, just that the seeds were planted in rows and covered over with dirt. So Michelle stole several kinds of seeds from different pack animals at the agri-market. She didn't know what would grow from the seeds, but she would plant them and find out.

        In the meantime, she could get along by foraging for food in the fields and forest. The supplies she brought wouldn't last very long. Despite growing up on the streets of Farringay, she knew enough about country living to identify some types of edible plants---dandelion, plantain, oats, wild carrot.         She and Jerry used to forage the overgrown lots in their territory for such plants and roots when they could find nothing else to eat.

        Michelle cleared a patch of ground near the cabin to plant her seeds. She did the work by hand. After she pulled out the tall grass and brush by the roots, she used a broken hoe that she found near the cabin to break ground for planting her seeds. The hard work gave her no time to grieve or think about the past. But when the hardest work was done, she could no longer deny the strange sense of expectancy that was stealing through her.

        Michelle raised her eyes to the clear, blue sky and Hankura's promise whispered itself into her mind. For one brief moment, she remembered the dirty and frightened little girl crouching in the alley alone that rainy night. Sometimes, that little girl was too much a part of her.

CHAPTER THREE

        His lips were firm against hers, and Michelle moaned as he kissed her long and slow and deeply. Her body felt electrified under his touch and she ached for him to fill her. Hankura pressed his thigh tight against her loins as he took time to savor her body with his mouth. She moaned again, pleading silently for him to enter her.

        She parted her thighs instinctively as he moved over her to oblige. Their eyes held for a moment, and she smiled up at him. Then they both trembled with anticipation as he finally lowered himself to take her and make them one. They moved together in a passionately, intimate rhythm, drawn steadily toward the ecstasy of mutual satisfaction.

        But just as they were about to climax, Hankura was gone.

        "No!" Michelle cried as she woke, still aching to feel him inside her, the warmth of his hard body against hers, and the comfort of his thoughts entwining with hers. But Hankura wasn't there, he never was. She was alone in the dark cabin, wanting a man she had never seen except in her dreams.

#

        Cursing the sticky, wetness spreading over his groin, Hankura awoke in the solitude of his small space craft. It was only a dream, but the result was real enough. Michelle had given him some of the best erotic dreams of his life without even knowing it. It was a bittersweet meeting of their minds that always left him depressed afterward. He always woke up alone, ready to sell his soul just to hold her . . . to make love to her as he dreamed of doing. In those moments, he felt it was certainly worth the risk of going to Earth.

        After a few calming breaths, Hankura got up from his bunk and went into the sanitary closet to shower and dress. He still had another hour for sleep, but he wasn't tired anymore. When he was dressed he slumped into his pilot's seat to monitor the auto-guidance system.

        Hankura knew that going to Earth would be risky, long before Jed Rankin warned him of the dangers. But he had no choice now. Aside from Michelle's beckoning, a power overload in the auto-guidance system had sent him off course and ate away most of the five small crystals that powered the Arius Mran.

        If he didn't put down on Earth and get replacements, his ship would eventually lose power completely and he would die in space. On the other hand, if he put down on Earth, he could get himself killed by merely being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

        Hankura let out a rueful sigh, shifting his lean, long body in the pilot seat. He felt vaguely sad as he considered the path that led the motherworld of humanity to this state of ruin. The Earth had known a proud and glorious history until they had tried to take Procyon III from alien colonists. Retaliation for the massacre of the alien colonists nearly destroyed Earth. A series of conflicts followed, ending Earth's rein as a major power in the Federation.

        The planet had succumbed to barbarism after the Procyon wars. Earth's natural resources were severely depleted, and the population was decimated.

        Lengthy negotiations brought the conflict to an end after three hundred years. The Federation had been forced to admit wrong-doing to the Mesaarkans and relinquish all future claim to Procyon III. Since that time, the Mesaarkans had built a thriving colony, and their world had become a prominent influence in the United Galactic Federation.

#

        The landing was routine until he crashed into the forest.

Trees cracked under the weight of his ship, and branches scraped the hull heavily as the craft set down, echoing the sounds of destruction through the quiet of the night.

        There was only superficial damage according to the computer readouts. But, considering his recent experience with the guidance system, Hankura decided to check the hull himself in the morning. He didn't trust a computer that would send his ship nearly a full sector off course.

        To conserve what little energy was left in the power crystals, he shut down the outside lights and most of the interior systems. Although he wasn't due to sleep for a few hours, there was little else he could do in the dark forest. So he lay down on his bunk and tried to relax until daybreak.

He lay for a long time staring up at the ceiling interior of the ship's upper hull and let his mind wander.

        He sensed Michelle reaching out to him, and he felt as though her soul were trying to meld with his own. Without ever having seen her, he felt physically aroused. His groin ached with the overwhelming need to join her body to his. He had felt the need many times before in the erotic dreams they had shared, but never with this intensity. He understood that this mating instinct was being triggered by the psi-bonding. At the moment, it threatened to overwhelm his other reasons for coming to find Michelle. He had never wanted anyone so much.

        Hankura sensed that he had been a cherished imaginary friend, sometimes more real to her than others. He kept her company when she was alone and afraid, and he shared her fears in his dreams.

#

        Michelle felt his presence long before she caught sight of him. It was a strange feeling--a kind of magnetism that made it impossible for her to turn back. It frightened her a little.

        Then images of places she had seen in their shared dreams started to unfold in her mind as the strange-familiar presence grew stronger. She saw the endless blackness of space and felt his loneliness on the journey to Earth. She didn't know how to shut out his memories.

        Michelle stopped at the edge of a small clearing. The sudden urge to turn and run almost overwhelmed her. He--Hankura was coming nearer. She wanted him to come, but now that he was actually here she was afraid.

        They saw each other almost at the same time and stood staring in awe for several moments before either moved toward the other. Hankura felt her fear and awe entwine with his own, mixed with a compulsion to reach out and touch her . . .mind and body.

        He was all she had expected physically--tall and well muscled with umber hair and emerald green eyes that seemed to look right through her.

        Michelle felt beautiful in his eyes in spite of the ragged overalls that clad her slim figure. She felt his sexual attraction as well, and it awakened feelings that she had suppressed for a very long time. A vision of them entwined in a sexual embrace accompanied that yearning.

        Her face flushed, and Michelle felt shaken as she realized her vision of them together touched his mind, too. His eyes were warm and he grinned, moving toward her with his hand extended. It was clear he meant to fulfill her sexual longings.

        "Nooo!" She backed away in unreasoning panic. She wanted him but she was afraid to give herself into his possession despite the bond of their minds. She was afraid of the way he made her feel. He moved closer, and she turned and ran.

        As Michelle ran, Hankura felt her fear and when he saw the memories flash through her mind he understood. Dropping his pack in the middle of the path, he ran after her. He overtook her more quickly than he expected when she tripped and fell over a tree root.

        He knelt beside her and reached to comfort her, but she screamed and struck at him. Her wiry strength surprised him as he caught one driving fist and then the other. But before he realized her intention, Michelle broke free and knocked him on his back, scrambling to hold him down. In the stunned moment Hankura hesitated, she found her knife. Straddling his middle, she held the point against his Adam's apple.

        Hankura met her steady gaze with a startled look. His first impulse was to bat away the knife and overpower her, but he knew that would be a mistake. Just then, she needed to feel in control of the situation, and he knew why.

        Michelle, I didn't come all this way to hurt you. I'm not like those monsters who raped you, simply because I'm a man. You know me and I know you. I'm Hankura. Remember our dreams? Remember!

        She felt the truth in his thoughts even though her old fears made her try to deny him. After all these years, he had really come back for her. She sensed that he was warm and gentle and strong; just as she always knew he would be. Now she knew beyond all doubt that he had never been a dream.

        Michelle started to tremble and took the knife point away from his throat. Then she moved off him and sat back on her knees, clenching the hilt of the dagger in her fist. She saw a drop of blood where her slight pressure on the knife had caused the point to nick his flesh and regretted that she had hurt him even a little. So many emotions welled up inside her, she started to cry. She had waited so long for him, been through so much.

        Hankura sat up slowly on the ground beside her and held out his hand, aching to comfort her. As she saw his outstretched hand through her tears, she looked into his face and let herself feel his warmth and compassion. Slowly, she laid down the knife. She put her hand in his and let him draw her gently into his arms and hold her close. For a time she wept softly against his shoulder and shared her memories with him. His own eyes filled as he felt the pain and joy and fear of her past, and he held her more tightly, softly stroking her tangled hair. Then he shared his memories with her.

When she was calmer, he reached into her mind:

        Now you understand. We've been part of each other since we first touched minds as children. Our minds are in harmony because we're psi-mates. That's why we've been linked all these years.

        "How can that be true? I'm not a psion." She shook her head.

        But you are. That's how you knew I would come back to find you. We are two halves of a whole yet separate unto ourselves. You only need to touch my thoughts to know my what I'm thinking.

Text Copyright © 2015 Christine A. Myers

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This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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