Note: Some of this material originally appeared in Chapter Two, but revisions moved it to Chapter Three.
While the
children slept, three more hovercrafts touched down in the yard of the house
they occupied. After talking with Otian and Rona, Hankura had contacted his two
closest friends Casir and Delmran.
Delmran arrived with Lishaad, Otian and Rona just after Hankura and
Chelle. Soon afterward, Casir arrived
with his two wives Jana and Delara.
There were hugs and introductions all around. It had been years since the longtime friends
had seen each other. Lishaad was new to the group but welcomed with open arms
just as Chelle had been.
“They must be
exhausted. They’re asleep,” said Chelle.
“They are all feeling vulnerable and confused.
I wish we didn’t have to do this.”
“I don’t see that
there is any choice,” Casir said gently. “They’re children and you are the
parents. They are far too young to make this decision. I saw what the
psi-mating did to Hankura whenever you were in danger,” he said to Chelle.
“It was hard for
both of us,” she admitted. “It’s hard
for them, too. That’s why we have to do
this. It’s good that they are sleeping,
they will be more receptive.”
“Are we ready?”
Hankura asked. When everyone accented silently he said, “Let’s do this.”
Otian and Rona
hung back as the seven telepaths joined hands in a circle. Hankura started with Chelle and pulled each
of their minds en rapport. Individually, none of them were strong enough to
convince the children to come home or do anything they didn’t want to do, but
together they hoped they could.
Jamerin, we know what you did. What do
you think Mesgar would say after all he taught you? Hankura asked gently. You know that we love you, but what you did
to us is unacceptable.
But, Daddy, they were taking Parei
away. I had to stop them.
What you have done goes against
everything Mesgar taught you. We can’t allow you to continue on this path. You must
put away the memory of recognizing Parei as your psi-mate.
No! No! I can’t I won’t. His telepathy was so strong that it
took all of them to contain it so that it didn’t harm them.
Jamerin, it’s only until you are
eighteen. Chelle
explained. Please, put this recognition
in a secret place and keep it there until you are old enough to claim your
mate. Until then Parei will remain your friend and you will see her every two
years when they come to Oltarin.
I don’t want to! I DON’T WANT TO! YOU
CAN’T MAKE ME!
Even seven of
them together found it hard to hold back the force of his telepathy in his
childish tantrum. Muscles tensed and hands squeezed hands. One by one the seven
dropped to their knees, straining with their combined psionic energy to hold
back the force of Jamerin’s telepathy with their mental shields. The nagging
fear that Jamerin would break through if he pushed them much harder slithered
through their minds.
JAMERIN, STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY! It was Mesgar, channeling his telepathy
through Hankura and Chelle and their friends.
Teacher? Jamerin’s attention immediately focused on his beloved teacher.
You have broken the Psionic Code of
Ethics using mind control on your parents and encouraging Parei to do the same.
You know what you have done is wrong. The Wholaskan admonished. With
your great psionic strength comes great responsibility. You must do no harm to
those who would not harm you.
I’m sorry Teacher. I didn’t want them
to take Parei away. We are psi-mates. We should be together.
You are children, Jamerin. It is not
your time to claim your mate. Even at eighteen you will have much to learn
about life but you will learn together. If you can’t control yourself, your
parents must return you to Velran to learn patience and control. I can’t risk
your hurting anyone because you can’t control your anger.
Hankura and
Chelle held their breath. If they had to
send him back to Velran, they would have to put him in stasis to protect the
rest of the people on the ship. They would have to send him alone. Their life
was on Oltarin. They had already been
gone almost three years.
Do you want to go back to Velran
alone? We have no choice if you won’t obey the Psionic Ethics Protocol. We
can’t let you hurt people. We won’t let you.
Jamerin didn’t
answer for a long time. He was crying inside, ashamed that he had broken the
rules his beloved teacher had imparted to him and Lara.
No, I don’t want to go. I will wait
for Parei until we are eighteen. I will be good. I promise.
What else? Mesgar prompted.
I’m sorry Mommy and Daddy and
everybody.
All right then, put the memory away
and sleep. Hankura
told him. When you wake, we will take you
home.
Thank you, Mesgar. The seven expressed their gratitude as
one.
Did you think we would not continue to
monitor the Promised One after he left our care? We knew the early psi-mating
would be a problem, but it was a lesson he needed to learn. You took a great
risk my friends. Live long and live well.
Parei was a
little easier to convince. As much as
she wanted to be with Jamerin and Lara, she missed her mother and
stepfather. She wasn’t ready to live
life on her own as a fugitive from the adults she loved.
Three years
younger, Lara wanted to stay with her family.
She was already missing the security of Mommy and Daddy. She wanted to
go home as long as Jamie was going too. Aside from Parei, Jamerin was her best
friend.
When the team
finished reprogramming the children, Hankura released them from their
rapport. “Why don’t we go inside and
brew up some jern while we wait for the kids to wake up,” said Hankura. “That
will give us plenty of time to catch up.”
“Goddess,
I’m glad we took him to Velran!” Chelle exclaimed in relief. “I thought he was going to take us.”
“As we all did,”
Casir replied. “I’ve never known a human
that strong.”
“Neither have the
Wholaskans,” Hankura said as they all got to their feet. “Thank Goddess for
them.”
“Indeed,” Delmran
added.
“And thank you
all for coming to help,” Chelle added.
“What about
Parei?” Rona asked. “Is she going to let us take her with us?”
“She is,” Chelle
told her. “Once Mesgar got Jamerin to agree, she did too. We’ve got them until
they turn eighteen. Then the psi-mating will resurge.”
“I think we can
live with that,” Rona said and Otian nodded.
They went into
the house. It was an interesting take on
domed housing build from local wood and stone.
The wood cured to a stone-like hardness that could be polished to a
luminous sheen. It was one of a number
of new plans Casir’s company designed for New Demus.
“This house is just
beautiful, Casir,” Lishaad told him. “I should have no trouble selling
properties here with gorgeous houses like this.
“Thank you,”
Casir inclined his head graciously. He was as tall as Hankura and Delmran with
a build less powerful than Delmran but more so than Hankura. His platinum hair
and pale amber eyes were a stark contrast to Hankura’s and Delmran’s darker
good looks. The three of them had grown up together on Velran and become
lifelong friends. Each of them had dated
Casir’s two wives Jana and Delara but both of them preferred Casir, who had
never been able to choose between them. So he married them both on lifemate
contracts which was entirely legal on many worlds including Oltarin.
Jana was a tall,
fairly slim brunette, while Delara was not quite as tall with a more voluptuous
figure. They had each had two children
with Casir.
Delmran’s
lifemate Lishaad was tall and shapely with short black hair with a streak of
bright red at the front and sparkling brown eyes. Their daughter Beyonn was born
within days of Hankura’s and Chelle’s son Calan on Velran. They had become friends with Otian and Rona
on the journey to Oltarin on the Sential Trader.
Inside the house
the nine of them took seats around the table in the formal dining room. Casir used voice commands on the food
processor to order jern tea for everyone.
As everyone sipped their tea, they shared memories with Casir on what
had happened to them since Hankura and Chelle had parted with him on Zevus Mar.
“After all that,
didn’t you find psi factor,” Casir asked.
He knew Hankura very well and sensed he was not telling him the whole
story.
Hankura glanced
around the table at his friends, and silently conferred with Chelle about
telling them the truth.
“We are
psi factor,” he admitted. “As you know,
psi is genetically recessive in Normals and homogeneous in psions. Well, we discovered that it becomes dominant
in the offspring of psi-mates through a psionic reaction during fertilization. That means all our children genetically psi
dominant.”
“The Tregans only
suspect this,” Delmran said. “They tried
to capture Hankura and Chelle on the way to Velran to try to prove it. They want to use it in their genetically
engineered soldiers paired with their impenetrable mental shields.”
“Forn, that’s a
scary thought,” Casir swore.
“That’s why I
never reported it,” Hankura explained.
“I’d appreciate if everyone would keep that little secret.”
“But, if psi is
recessive tied to the X chromosome, how come your brother Trevin is not a
psion?” Casir wondered.
“He must have
been genetically modified,” Hankura shrugged.
“Otherwise he should have been, regardless of his father. Capra had a fifty fifty chance.”
“Do you think
dominant psi would offset the Tregan minds shield and make them psionic?” Casir
asked.
“I don’t know,”
Hankura admitted. “I didn’t have any Tregan genetic material to work with. The only psi dominant female I know is our
daughter Lara, and I won’t experiment with her eggs to find out. I suspect that the two could cancel one or
the other out. But I could be wrong. In
any case, Chelle and I thought it best to let everyone think we failed to find
anything new.”
“I hope that will
be enough,” said Delmran. “Renid is in prison for the rest of his life, but he
claimed there are others who will continue rebuilding their empire.”
“The bastards
ruined a lot of lives,” Lishaad muttered.
“That’s just
great,” Hankura said. “Mother of Life,
does it ever end?”
Jamerin was quiet
and brooding in the front passenger seat of the hovercraft beside his father as
it flew them toward their home in the Cerulean Mountains. His mother was flying the other craft home
with Lara. It was because of him they couldn’t all fly home together.
He was partly
mourning his parting with Parei, but also feeling embarrassed that he’d done
such an outrageous thing to his parents.
That Mesgar was forced to intervene when he would have harmed his
parents and their friends made him feel utterly humiliated. How could he be the
Promised One and do this to people who loved him?
He had not only
shamed himself, but he had also shamed his teacher whom he held in perhaps
higher esteem than his parents. And he
loved his parents deeply. His father was
almost killed on the journey to Velran, the journey they were making
specifically to help him regain his grip in reality. He didn’t remember much of that time in his
life except the feelings of terror and loneliness.
Jamerin finally
admitted to himself that he really didn’t want to live half way across the
world without his parents even to be with Parei. Neither did Lara. He was the eldest, he knew better, but he let
his emotions overwhelm his reasoning. His parents were right to come after him
and make him do the right thing.
By the time they
reached home, Jamerin sensed his father had forgiven him. When the hovercraft set down and glided into
their, Jamerin realized he was actually glad to be home.
He had missed his
adopted brother and Nalina---even Orin, though he knew the big Tregan didn’t
really trust him. Lanimer came running
down the stairs into the hoverport before it even shut off, “Jamie!
Hankura!”
“Space, I missed
you guys. Three years is a longtime!” Lanimer exclaimed and ran to hug Hankura.
Afterward Hankura
held him at arm’s length. “Goddess,
Lanimer, I swear you’ve grown ten centimeters.
I bet Saleah has grown too.”
Hankura released
him and Lanimer turned to Jamerin and gripped his shoulders. “You’ve grown, too, Jamie. You’re as tall as
I was when you left. And Saleah is walking and talking now.
She wasn’t even as big as Calan when you left.
Momentarily, the second hovercraft slid into the hover bay. As Chelle and Lara climbed out, Lanimer ran
to hug her as well. She hugged him and
kissed his forehead. “I really missed
you Lanimer. You look really good and so big!”
“I missed you too,” he grinned up at her and Chelle smiled back at
him. When she released him, Lanimer
turned to Lara who jumped into his arms and he swung her around in a circle
like he had when she was smaller and she giggled up at him when he set her down.
“Come on up everybody,” Orin called down. “Nalina fed Calan and she’s setting out
dinner right now.
They all climbed the stairs to the main level of the house and
took their usual seats around the dining table.
Hankura and Chelle said nothing further to Jamerin or any of the others
about his little escapade. They had both
sensed his remorse for what he had done on the way back.
Even Orin could see that Jamerin had changed from the boy he knew
before. He was amazed that when they
told of their run-ins with the Tregans that they didn’t think of him as one.
They looked at him as family and all seemed glad to see him again.
When Jamerin and Lara saw Nalina, they both went to her and hugged
her in turn, smiling up at her. It was
good to be home.
After the New
Demus incident, Jamerin adhered to the Psionic Code of Ethics Protocols as he
promised Mesgar he would. He was pleased to be reunited with his adopted
brother Lanimer who was five years older. Despite their difference in ages they
enjoyed many of the same things. They helped Nalina entertain the younger
children including her toddler Saleah. She and Orin had a son the year after
Hankura and Chelle returned from Velran.
Knowing they
would probably not return to Velran as a family, Hankura and Chelle procured a
variety of university level holo degree programs and established a learning
center in Blue Summit. Because there remained a shortage of medical personnel
they included the complete Med Tech series and set up internships at the Blue
Summit Clinic. Both Lara and Jamerin took the course with Lanimer. Unlike
Lanimer, Jamerin and Lara had no intension of pursuing a career in medicine,
but they both had psychokinetic healing abilities. All of the children had a voracious appetite
for learning new things, and it kept them busy over the long mountain winters.
Since Lara
expressed interest in becoming a veterinarian at a young age, her parents
imported the holo-program for her. She completed the program in three years
instead of four so she would only have to stay on Velran for two years to
complete her internship.
Calan’s dawning
came when he was four years old. It came
gradually so his parents were able to guide him in learning control. They encouraged Jamerin and Lara to share
memories of their psi training with Mesgar.
They could do it in a way that Calan almost felt he had actually been
there with them. It also served to draw the siblings into a deep abiding
friendship despite the difference in their ages.
Although Calan
was also a stronger in psion than his parents, his dawning was uncomplicated
and he understood the importance of control and the ethical use of his
abilities.
Despite their
busy clinical schedules, Hankura and Chelle took a few days every month for a
family outing. Calan was riding the
forest trails with his mother on her blood bay stallion Orion even before he
could walk. Chelle had always loved the peace and beauty of the forest. Hankura grew to love it in part because it
reminded him of that first day in the forest on Earth when he found her and
they made love in the soft moss on the ground under a green canopy of trees.
The Cerulean
Mountains of Oltarin reminded him of those mountains on Earth. There had been
times while living on Aledus that Hankura and Chelle both wished they could
have stayed there. At least they’d had freedom of their minds on Earth that
they never had on Aledus. Now it seemed they had it all.
Initially, they
simply took long trail rides through old wildlife trails. Later on they would
cut their own using special laser cutters to fell trees and the children would
use telekinesis to clear it from the path. They thought it was great fun to see
who could move the biggest pieces or the most at once.
Later on they
decided it might be fun to camp in the forest under the stars. They searched
for several long rides until they found the perfect spot about an hour’s ride
away from their home. They built an elaborate shelter from saplings and brush
and cleared space for a couple inflatable bubble tents, a fire pit and room for
the children to run around. It was not exactly roughing it with the bubble
tents as they came with most modern amenities, but sometimes they would lay on
blankets under the night sky and look at the stars and moons and look for
starships putting into orbit.
Other times, they
would take the children to the far points of Oltarin that were still being
settled or to visit their friends Delmran and Casir and their families. They
made it a point to gather a few times a year even when there are no special
occasions to bring them together.
Then there were
the horse clans’ festivals in Blue Summit that gave them the chance to mingle
with the first settlers of Oltarin. Their culture was a combination of that
reminiscent of 19th century Earth leaning toward that of a modern
space faring world. The children thought it was all great fun.
Aside from
Jamerin’s early dawning problems and psi-mating, Hankura and Chelle’s children
had a happy and well-rounded childhood. As Orin saw that Jamerin didn’t abuse
his abilities any further he discovered an honest affection for him that was
mutual.
As the children
got older they spent much time with the younger children of Brandt and Jaecyn
McKell. The McKells were their closest neighbors and the first friends their
parents had made on Oltarin. They were also often included in the family
gatherings that included Hankura’s and Chelle’s other friends.
While the years
seemed to pass slowly for the children who were eager to grow up and have all
the freedoms of adults, the years passed all too quickly for the parents.
Lanimer was the first to leave the fold.
He was a member of the first class of Master Med Techs to graduate from
the new program. He’d shared his plans to return to Zevus Mar with Hankura and
Chelle soon after they returned from Velran.
Though sorry for
him to leave, they were proud that he decided to return to the clinic his
father had run there. At twenty-one,
Lanimer bore an uncanny resemblance to his dead father. It startled Hankura
sometimes at the mannerisms Lanimer displayed that were so like Mikal’s. If
only Mikal could have been there to see him, he would be proud of the man his
son had become.
Seeing Lanimer
off on the Sential Trader, he thought back to his days on the Searching Star
before the Tregans. He and Chelle had been looking forward to their leave on
Zevus Mar for the chance to see Mikal and his family. Instead, they had gone
back months later to help with the rebuilding of Zevus Mar. With Casir’s help, he had instead found the
three graves of Mikal and his wives that Orin Hart had dug for them after he
couldn’t save them.
At least Lanimer
was saved. Now he was leaving, and they might never see him again. Now the
years would pass even more quickly until the time the rest of their children
would leave one by one. In two more years, Jamerin would be next.
Lanimer never
regretted coming to Oltarin. Nalina and
Orin Hart coming too, helped. They
became one big family with Hankura and Chelle and their children. When Lanimer was old enough, Hankura and
Chelle shared memories with him of his parents and how they’d wanted to raise
him on Zevus Mar. Now he was returning to Zevus Mar to one day raise his own
family there. Indeed, Mikal would have
been proud.
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