The Aledan's Children - First Draft Chapter Two Revised

CHAPTER TWO

The hovercraft set down gently in a small meadow by an empty house.  The house was built of local stone and wood for new settlers who would not arrive for several months.  Jamerin had picked it for that reason. It had been simple for Jamerin to take the hovercraft.  It basically piloted itself on voice command.  All he had to do was choose the coordinates of his destination. Despite his age, he had an intellect superior to many adults, but only the maturity a little above his eight years.

“Jamie are we going to live here without Mommy and Daddy?” Lara asked him.

“We have to Lara.  It’s the only way Parei can stay with us,” Jamerin said.  “We are just going to stay here until we can find someplace else.”

“Can’t Parei just stay here and we can come visit her?”

“Not alone, Lara.” Jamerin retorted. “She’s my psi-mate.  We will be pledged when we grow up.  She will be like your sister, then.”

“But Mommy and Daddy will miss us.  I can feel them worried about us,” Lara said. “We hurt their feelings making them think we were home when we were running away.”

“And we scared them too, because we can do that,” Jamerin said a bit smugly.

“Scaring people is mean,” Lara disapproved. “Mesgar told us that.  I love Mommy and Daddy.  I don’t want to scare them.  I want to go home.”

“Don’t be a baby, Lara. We can’t go back.  They will make Parei go back to Otian and Rona.” Jamerin snapped.  “Come on, let’s go inside and see if the food processor is working.  I’m getting hungry and I’m kind of tired after staying up all night.”

Jamerin opened the canopy and the door of the craft and they climbed out.  Parei took Jamerin’s hand and then Lara’s and the three of them walked up to the main entrance of the house.  It was locked, but Jamerin used his growing telekinetic skill to force the lock.  The door opened and they walked inside.  It was beautiful and completely furnished, including the food processor.  Jamerin programed the food processor to accept his voice commands and ordered breakfast of protein bars and hot sweetened cereal.

After breakfast, they found the bedroom with the largest bed and laid down on it together sharing the two pillows. Parei had been fairly quiet ever since they freed her from the shipping container.  Though she didn’t share her thoughts with Jamerin, he sensed that she too was troubled.  It bothered him.

Parei was conflicted in her loyalty to him and to her parents.  He didn’t really understand why even he felt conflicted.  The thought of being separated from Parei for years at a time was distressing to all of three of them. But Lara was right. What they had done went against the most basic practices of psionic ethics that Mesgar had taught them.

Jamerin knew it was wrong, but Parei was his best friend, his future mate. He loved her already as a child loves a favorite playmate.  He knew about sex and mating, but he didn’t have those feelings yet. They would come when he was older. He didn’t want to wait ten years to be with her or twenty years like Mommy and Daddy.

His eyelids felt heavy and he soon fell asleep despite his inner musings.

Thirteen-year-old had gone to bed before his guardians Hankura and Chelle had returned to their mountain home. He woke up and dressed eagerly that morning expecting to find them in the dining room for breakfast with their children.  He frowned as he started down the hallway from his room.  He didn’t sense anyone in the house except his adopted family---Orin, Nalina and three-year-old Saleah.

“Where is everyone? I thought they were coming late last night,” he said.

Nalina was setting out food as it came from the processor.  “They went to find Jamerin and Lara.  They ran away last night with a little girl from the ship---Jamerin’s psi-mate.”

“I went to unload the droid tram and one of their hovercrafts was missing.  Jamerin and Lara were gone, but he used psi to make his parents think they were in bed sleeping.” Orin told him.  “I wonder if taking him to Velran did any good at all.  They weren’t even home one night before he pulled something.”

“But why would he do that?” Lanimer asked.

“The little girl from the ship is his psi-mate,” Nalina answered.  “Her parents won’t let her stay here and Hankura and Chelle won’t let him go on the ship.  Psi-mating makes them do crazy things. “

“It’s not like they’re old enough to mate,” Orin muttered.  “They’re just kids.”

“Psions are different,” Nalina said. “They get attached mentally. You know Jamerin has always been very sensitive.”

“And undisciplined,” Orin grumbled.

“But he saved your life before he was even born.” Nalina reminded.

“And he almost killed you!” he countered. “Goddess, when I found you lying there like that, I thought you were dead!”

“I am fine, Orin. He didn’t mean to hurt me, I know he didn’t,” Nalina said. “His mind was damaged.”

“Well, I’m not so sure it’s fixed now. He used mind control on his parents for Goddess sake!”

“Oh, man!” Lanimer exclaimed. “Is he in trouble now!  I didn’t have to go to Velran to learn Psion Ethical Protocols.  My first mother taught me that when I was four.”

“But you didn’t dawn as strongly as Jamerin and you were receptive,” said Nalina. “Chelle says it’s the psi-mating.  The little girl’s mother married Captain Otian so she lives on the ship with them. They were together every day for six months.”

“I think he’s just a bad seed.  I don’t see how we can ever really trust him,” Orin said.

“Orin, he’s just a child! You have to give him a chance to adjust.”

“No child should have that kind of power!”

“Maybe not, but he does. We have to help him understand he must be careful.” Nalina said.  Despite what he had done, she still loved Jamerin. It wasn’t his fault that healing Orin had somehow damaged him. She could never forget that Orin had been shot trying to protect her and Lanimer---because despite his kindness to them, he was a bred a Tregan dog soldier….

At barely twenty, Nalina was orphaned during the bombardments at Lake Lessat. The village had been razed while Nalina was working at Mikal's agricomplex. She lived there with him and his two young wives, serving as governess for Lanimer. Mikal's two wives worked---Lania as an interpreter at Medrin Starport, and Merris worked in the mine outside of Elran. Mikal had been a Master Technician at the Elran Medical Clinic. He'd been hoping one day to complete his physician's training so he could become a physician like his old friend Hankura.

"All those dreams are gone now," Nalina's voice was thick with emotion. "He and his wives were all I had left. I think Mikal was beginning to care for me--maybe enough to make me his third wife. I could have been house mate for all their children. Merris' baby would have been born just before winter solstice. Maybe next year I could have born a third child for Mikal." She sniffled. "Now they're all dead. No one even buried them."

"I buried them--side by side," he told her. "I'm sorry they died. I thought they would make it, I wanted them to make it."

"So you buried them to salve your conscience?" Nalina's tone was sarcastic.

"I'm not like them! I hate them!" Orin asserted.

"If you hate the Tregans so much, why do you wear their uniform? Why do you look like them? What makes you different from those murderers?"

"My genes may have been strung together in the same pattern as theirs, but Nalina, I wasn't raised as an animal and conditioned to become a ruthless killer from childhood as they were.”

"I grew up in Veldis Lar before the Tregans took it. My host mother and her mate raised me with the same love they would have given a naturally conceived son. We were warned in time for my parents to escape, but the soldiers found me. Because I looked like the other soldiers, the Commander General had me dragged from my home in chains. They tried to break me on Tregas. Two months of brainwashing and survival training and they thought they could make me into a soldier. Ha! That kind of brainwashing only works with the young ones before the mental shield is fully matured. They figured pain would work instead."

Orin shuddered. "I pretended to be like them so they wouldn't kill me. I didn't want to die. Then, they sent me here to kill people who never did anything to me. But, they're the ones who made my life hell, so I killed them."

He fell silent for time, staring out into the darkness through the doorway of the bunker. The things he had seen since he came to Zevus Mar gave him many sleepless nights. He could still hear that Zevian girl screaming in his dreams as Damon tortured her. He should have killed Damon then--before he had the chance to hurt anyone else. But then, they would have killed him on the spot.

Orin wished he could stop feeling guilty. At least he had saved Nalina and Lanimer. They were safe now, and they could take care of themselves.

"You won't have to worry about me anymore, Nalina. I'll be gone by sunset tomorrow," he said abruptly.

She gasped. "You're just going to leave us here?"

"Do you want me to stay?" Orin's eyes mocked her and he laughed. "It's been a tenday and a half, and you're still terrified of me. You've been scared so long; you see only a soldier--not a man. You'll be glad to see the last of me."

Even in the darkness, Orin could see that she wasn't glad at all. But she was too proud or too stubborn to say so.

"Do you want me to stay, Nalina?"

"I don't know," she murmured with a defensive shrug.

She gave a sharp cry as Orin seized her arm and forced her to look into his eyes with his other hand. "Don't you, Nalina," he demanded in a hushed whisper? Her eyes went wide with fear and she shrank from his grip.

Orin let her go before his emotions took control of him. He jumped up and stalked out of the bunker into the cool night air. What had he expected? He might as well face it now as later. That's how they would all feel about him.

As a deserter, he was a lost man with nowhere to belong and no one to care….

But Nalina had cared. It just took her awhile to figure that out. Orin would have left that next day, but the Tregan’s came back looking for him.  He’d protected her and Lanimer by killing them all. Not until he came back wounded did she realize how much she had come to care for him. She also realized how much he cared for her and Lanimer because he had risked his life to save them.

He had been trying to protect them when he shot Casir and was in turn shot by Bren. He would have died except for Lanimer. Lanimer was the son of Hankura’s friend. Because Orin had saved him and Nalina, Hankura and Chelle had risked everything to save him….

Hankura completed every procedure flawlessly, but it wasn't good enough.

He took the scan readings twice to be sure there was no mistake even when his gut feeling told him they were right the first time.

"Mother, I don't know what else to do," Hankura muttered, looking up at Casir and then to his wife beside him. "I've outdone myself as it is. It would have been easier to clone him another body and switch brains--and they don't teach that on Velran or anywhere else I know of. The son of a bitch is still dying and I can't bring him back."

But--maybe I could. Her thought whispered itself in his mind.

"No!" Hankura pulled off his surgical mask and gripped her shoulders. No, Chelle. It isn't worth the risk. He's just a fucking Tregan. You can't risk your life and our son's for him. I sensed the fault in his mental shield, too... but you can't. He could take your life....

I know that, Hankura. It terrifies me, but he isn't like the others. We can't forget about Lanimer and Nalina. He saved them at the risk of his life. Can we do less?

But, his killings cost Kaara's life and nearly yours.

But he didn't know. Hankura, he was thrown in the middle of this the same as we were. Who are we to condemn him to death when we can save him? He is a man and we have sworn to preserve human life if it is within our power. We went against that once---we have a choice this time.

Mother of Life, Chelle! I could lose you in the process. His life is not worth yours to me ... you are everything to me--the essence of my life. I can't lose you.

Then, help me, Hankura. Help me save him and keep my life's essence. We could do it together---together our wills must surely be stronger than his.

Hankura stared deeply into her shining blue eyes, torn by the stirring of his conscience and his love for this woman carrying his child. She believed that his love was the key, the controlling factor in her healer's power. If they could keep Orin Hart alive, make him whole again, it would in some small way pay the debt they felt they owed for the killings in their escape.

Hankura prayed that the key would fit the lock.

Hankura and Chelle stood alone with the silent form of Orin Hart, his life slipping away, second by second. Hankura became enveloped in a wave of emotion as he gazed down into his wife's sparkling blue eyes. He understood more clearly than ever that this would be a healing for them as well. He brought his hand to her cheek in an exquisitely gentle caress as he touched his lips to hers. How he loved her!

We are one like the water that soars in the fountain. Your love is my love. Your sorrow, my sorrow, your joy, my joy... my life, your life. We are one on the Path of Insight. We are one as the water that soars in the fountain. Your soul is my soul---we are one in life...death...eternity. Thus is the Circle of Life. Together, we seek life for us, for Orin Hart, and for the son in our womb. We, as one spirit, seek the light of life.

Eyes held eyes, mind held mind, and then Chelle turned to the silent form on the table. The silence was broken only by the soft gurgling sound of the life support machine. In their singleness of purpose, Hankura and Chelle didn't hear it.

Hankura stood close behind Chelle as she held her hands poised over Orin Hart's massive chest. He moved still closer, molding her body against his as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Pressing his cheek against her hair, he lost himself in her spirit. Chelle leaned into his strength, immersing herself in the warmth of his love, and they became enveloped in the psychic aura of their life's essence. Slowly, Chelle lowered her tingling hands to touch the body and soul of a man called Orin Hart. Mentally, she approached the tiny fault in Orin’s natural mental block.

They-one---she and Hankura---were instantly plunged into a chasm of darkness. At first, it seemed like an endless dark tunnel with no light to guide them. Were they too late? No nightmare or reality could have prepared them from the cold, stark terror that gripped them on the blind journey. Falling, falling, falling with no sense of up or down.

Then, as if through a window, they sensed a tiny ember glowing in the distance. It beckoned them---the life essence of Orin Hart. There was a deathly stillness as the ember faded. They-one crawled through the window at the end of the tunnel by the faint light. Their light filled the darkness and touched the fading glow. In their light, Orin Hart glowed brighter and stronger, drawing energy from their light until they-one began to dim in his light.

His ember grew brighter and brighter. Flames grew up all around them, threatening to swallow up they-one. Orin Hart pulled at their light, hungry for the warmth that his essence lacked. But they-one stood bravely among the flames against his pulling and tearing until they-one nearly drifted into he and she again. He and she drew near death's ridge, the thread of their bond taut and thin.

Then the bond was strengthened by the tiny entity that was to be their son, and they were enveloped in the warmth of his essence which strengthened their bond and drew them together--three one. They came back from the edge of the chasm, taking back from Orin Hart some of their waning strength. They fled back through the window, into the black abyss.... back into the light of he and she.

Orin Hart lived. He and she lived. The unborn child lived.

It was some time before Hankura became aware of the light inside the surgical cell again and the warmth of Chelle's supple body gripped tightly against him. She gasped for breath against his crushing hold on her rib cage. Slowly, he realized and loosened his hold so she could breathe more easily. She was limp in his arms, but her deep, even breathing reassured him. He pulled the surgical cap from her head and blotted the dampness from her face. He tenderly caressed the soft, cropped hair that framed her face in wispy curls and smiled. The healing had been theirs as well. He didn't have to look at the readouts to know they had won.

The quest had weakened their bodies, but Hankura felt his spirit soaring with hers. After a time, he found the strength to lift her in his arms and carry her out in the cool of dawn.

Casir met them outside. Med-Techs were arriving to transport Orin Hart to a sealed life support chamber at the Elran clinic.

"Thank, Goddess!" Casir sighed. "He almost took you. I sense you're both very weak."

"We are," Hankura whispered. "She was right, you know. Love saved us in the form of our child. I never dreamed...."

"Nor I." Casir shook his head in awe, his pale cat-like eyes filled with relief. "Let me help you." He held out his arms and together they carried Chelle to the waiting hovercraft. Casir helped them both inside and stood watching until the craft lifted and slowly glided away. Then he smiled. They were going to be all right.

Not until a long time afterward did Nalina and Orin learn how close they had come to losing all their lives. Because of Lanimer, they had saved Orin after all they had suffered at the hands of the Tregans.  They made Nalina and Orin part of their family because they loved Lanimer and Lanimer loved them.

They would have taken Lanimer to Velran with him, but he didn’t want to leave Nalina and Orin for almost three years.

Sensing Nalina’s musings and remembering the day they found Nalina after Jamerin had inadvertently blasted her with psi he said, “Well, at least Jamie didn’t hurt anyone this time, so he must have learned something on Velran.”

“Thank Goddess for that,” Orin said grudgingly.

 “And I bet he felt bad when he found out what he did,” Lanimer added. “He liked her before the dawning of his psi messed him up.”

“Of course that’s my fault,” Orin sighed.

“It wasn’t something you meant to do. It just happened when Jamerin was at a vulnerable stage in his prenatal development.” Lanimer explained.

“How’d you get so smart,” Orin teased.

“I been studying. I’m going to be a Master Tech like my father and go back to Zevus Mar to live at our agricomplex. I know they still need techs and physicians there.”

“When did you decide this?” Both Orin and Nalina gave him a troubled look.

“Just been thinking about it lately. My inheritance is there and we liked living there before the Tregans came,” Lanimer said haltingly. “I just feel like it’s what I’m supposed to do.  You and Nalina could come.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Orin said. “I am technically still a fugitive. If they were to figure out I am Tregan, I can still go to prison.”

“But you only killed those bad Tregans. You only shot Casir by mistake. He helped get you off Zevus Mar.”

“They don’t know all that on Zevus Mar. I look just like those other Tregans and they’re never going to forget what they did there. I probably wouldn’t even live to see prison if I went back there.” Orin said. “I don’t blame you for wanting to claim what’s yours, but I can’t go back there.”

“I can’t either Lanimer. Our life is here, now,” Nalina added. “But Orin is right. When you are a grown man, it’s only right that you go back to claim your inheritance.” She paused and smiled warmly at him. “We don’t have to worry about that for a few years yet.”

Lanimer smiled back at her and started eating his pancakes. “Right. I can’t start tech training at the clinic until I turn sixteen. That’s going to take five years.”

“I sure hope Jamerin is planning on leaving, too,” Orin said stubbornly. He reached for his cooling jern and took a careful sip.

“Orin! Not in front of the children,” Nalina admonished.  “Chelle said it’s the psi-mating that has his feelings all mixed up---then spending the last six months with the little girl. It’s probably separation anxiety.”

“Do you think I will ever be psi-mated?” Lanimer wondered.

“If you are, I hope it’s after you grow up,” Orin said. “It sounds like it might make you a little crazy when it happens.” He cut off a small wedge from the stack of pancakes and syrup on his plate, speared them with his fork, and put them into his mouth.

With everyone served, Nalina sat down to her own breakfast. Three-year-old Saleah was finally learning to use a fork and spoon to eat. Now more food went into her mouth than on her face.

Nalina was glad Saleah was normal. She couldn’t imagine raising another psion like Jamerin. Lanimer was never the trouble Jamerin had been. But then, she had to remember why. The child wasn’t to blame. She hoped when his parents got this straightened out, he would be all right.

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