Captured (22 page)

Ekkatt lifted his head.
 
“Bikini?
 
I do not know this word.”

“Another time,” Mari said, as she steered him to her other breast.
 
“Now, I just want this.”

Chapter 17

Mari took Tirrit’s face in her hands and kissed him on both cheeks.
 
“Ekkatt, would you translate for me?”
 
Ekkatt stood beside his brother and nodded.
 
“Tirrit, there are many beautiful women on my world who would consider themselves fortunate to have a man such as you. The walking sticks wouldn’t matter to them at all.”

Ekkatt blushed and translated for his brother, who blushed even redder.
 
Tirrit sputtered for a moment then he replied, “I am fortunate to have a sister such as you.”
 
He placed a hand over her flat belly and Mari did not pull away.
 
She realized he was blessing her when Ekkatt translated his words.
 
“May the child within you grow healthy and strong and wise in the ways of both our races.
 
Fly safe.”

“Thank you,” Mari replied in Attun.
 
She climbed into the back of Ekkatt’s craft and watched through the open cockpit door as Ekkatt embraced his brother possibly for the last time.
 
A tear slid down her cheek which she wiped absently with the back of her hand.
 
When they’d packed their gear Ekkatt’s father had commented that he hoped to see his descendants in his lifetime.
 
Mari was glad he held onto that hope.
 
Once he dropped them into the wilderness, hope would be about all they had.
 

Baerkah flew low to avoid detection.
 
For a time Mari observed the terrain they crossed from the cockpit widow.
 
Attun-Ra was a wild and beautiful place. It was lush and big.
 
The mountains seemed higher and more rugged than those on Earth; the rivers were wider and faster. The trees were taller and
 
their trunks were thicker.
 
She didn’t doubt that the climb over the mountain pass and the subsequent search for the colony would be challenging.
 
Mari found herself drifting and growing drowsy as she listened to Ekkatt and his father converse in soft voices,.
 
Perhaps it was the pregnancy. She curled up on the floor of the craft, and resting her head on one of the backpacks, fell asleep.
 

* * * *

“She sleeps,” said Ekkatt, casting a glance over his shoulder.
 
“I fear I am asking too much of her.”

His father followed his gaze and looked at her.
 
“Based upon everything you’ve told me, she seems strong enough, stubborn enough.
 
Kosti and Lara made the attempt with two small children.”

“You have no idea whether or not they reached the colony.”

“No, but Kosti thought it possible.
 
I don’t believe he would have risked the lives of his mate and the children otherwise.”

“Perhaps he felt the danger of doing nothing was even greater.”

“Perhaps.
 
But if that was his reasoning, he would have told me to expect trouble after they were gone.
 
He did not.
 
He didn’t tell me much, only that he needed this favor.
 
Of course, I agreed.
 
Lara and her children were very precious to me and to Tirrit.”

“Father,” Ekkatt paused for a moment, “What did the children look like?
 
Human?
 
Attun?
 
Both?”

“Ah, the children were robust, well built.
 
Both of the children were born with the dark hair of our people, their skin a bit lighter in color.
 
Lara’s daughter had her father’s eyes, but her son, the infant born in our home, his eyes were green, a lovely gemstone green, like Lara’s, like Mari’s.”

“Was this Lara as small as Mari?”

“Are you concerned about the birth?”

“Yes.”

“Lara was smaller than our women, but larger than Mari.
 
I think…” his father hesitated, “I think all will be well.
 
If the colony exists, and I am convinced it does, and if you survive the journey, and I believe you will, she will give birth to a healthy child.
 
There will be trained medics there, Ekkatt.
 
Kosti told me that a number of the scientists involved in the original study took human mates. They accompanied them into exile.
 
I imagine they still live.
 
They can help her.
 
By now many of their children must have been born into our world.
 
Besides, the Attun volunteers were military.
 
They have medical training.”
 

“Mari has already lost a child.
 
I would not have her lose another.”

“She had a mate on earth?”

“Her husband, her mate, and her infant son died in an accident.
 
Their vehicle crashed into a river.
 
They drowned.”

Ekkatt’s father grunted.
 
“How long ago?”

“Nearly two earth years.
 
I would give her back what she lost.”

“Ekkatt, you cannot give her back what she lost.
 
You can give her a new life, but you cannot give her back the old.”

“I do not wish to lose her.
 
She has my heart, father.”

“I know.”

“Humans leak when they feel deep emotion,” Ekkatt began.

“Yes, I remember,” his father interrupted. “They shed tears.”

“I think it is a good adaptation.
 
I think perhaps our race would be better for it.”

“Perhaps future generations,” his father replied.

Ekkatt remained silent.

“You will give her the supplements?
 
Human females require a diet richer in vitamins and minerals than our females.
 
Especially when they are carrying a child.
 
They are omnivores, you know.”

“Yes.
 
I am familiar with their dietary habits.”

“So you understand that she may need to eat flesh, especially now?”

“It has occurred to me.”

“And you are willing to provide this for her?”

“Whatever Mari needs, I will provide.”

“Then I am satisfied.”

Ekkatt snorted.
 
“You are satisfied?”

“Yes.
 
I take great comfort in the fact that our line will not die out.
 
I trust you to keep her safe and provide many grandchildren for me.
 
The day will come, Ekkatt, when our people will open their eyes to see that their very survival depends upon those they think of as animals.
 
Your children will live as free men and women here, on Attun-Ra.”

“You have become a prophet, father?”

His father smiled.
 
“No, Ekkatt.
 
For a brief moment some years ago, I dreamed a dream, and it was perfection.”

“Father, the human female, Lara, her son…”

“I could not leave with them. Your brother needed me, and I feared the authorities would find her and our son and kill them.
 
I could not have survived that.
 
Kosti was my dear friend and her mate.
 
She belonged with him.
 
It was the only way I knew to keep her safe, to keep your little brother alive.”
 

“Father, I swear if they still live, I’ll get word to you.”

Ekkatt’s father laid his hand over his.
 
“No,” his father replied. “Don’t risk it.
 
One day, I’ll know the truth.
 
It is enough.”

Chapter 18

“Have you gotten the lay of the land?”

“Yes.”
 
Ekkatt pointed up to a break in the cliffs.
 
“I see the route.
 
Two days.
 
It will take two days.”

“Two days to that point?” Mari spoke up.

“Yes,” replied Ekkatt.
 
He’d spoken in Attun. She had understood his words.

Mari nodded.
 
“Yes, I think two days is about right.
 
I suspect that finding our way down the other side will be more difficult than climbing up this side.”
 
She walked toward the edge of the trees.

“Do not go too far,” Ekkatt called after her.
 
He watched Mari open her mouth and sniff the air.
 

“Nothing,” she called, “and I have to pee.”
 

Ekkatt inhaled deeply to check for any trace of the big cats.
 
There was none.
 
“It seems safe,” said Ekkatt, “but stay close and yell if you hear anything.”
 
Mari grinned and saluted before she turned and sauntered off into the trees.

She has courage
.

Ekkatt checked the straps on the two packs.
 
His mouth twitched when he saw the black eyes Mari had painted on the back of the packs.
 
She claimed some villagers in the country of India on her planet had successfully driven off man-eating tigers by wearing eyes on the backs of their heads.
 
He wasn’t certain this would work with the giant durra, but anything was worth a try.

Ekkatt opened the packs to see that the flight hadn’t disturbed anything.
 
He shifted the med-kit to the front of his pack just in case they needed something.
 
He’d brought warm clothes, socks, extra boots for both of them, wool blankets, and waterproof wraps.
 
He’d pulled out his father’s old
happa
, what Mari called a
tent,
and a large bag for sleeping.
 
They would have to share, but it would be better for her sake.
 
His body would keep her warmer than a
sleeping bag
.
 
They could not risk a fire, so he’d brought as much dried food as he could carry.
 

He’d compromised with Mari.
 
He’d wanted to carry everything, but she’d demanded he let her carry a share of equipment and supplies.
 
Her pack weighed a little over thirty earth pounds, his near ninety.
 
He’d brought along several uustal, one to sling over his shoulder and another for his belt.
 
Mari would carry a third.
 
He had plenty of ammunition, three knives, and an earth machete.
 
Mari had two short knives, and she’d insisted that he carry something she called
pepper spray
on his belt.
 

She’d found two canisters of the stuff in his father’s vacuum sealed chest.
 
She claimed they were effective against large carnivores on her planet and that the spray incapacitated them without killing them.
 
He’d laughed when she’d instructed him to make certain to point them at the cat, not at his own face.
 

“I’m serious,” she’d said.
 
“It’s easy to make a mistake with this stuff.
 
If you spray yourself, the cat might not eat you, but you won’t be moving for a while and I can’t carry you.”

“Ready,” called Mari, coming from the trees.
 

Ekkatt helped her with her pack then he slipped his own over his shoulders.
 
“Can you see the game trail half-way to the ridge?”
 
He saw Mari squint in the direction he pointed.
 
She nodded.
 
“We follow that,” he said.
 
“You walk in front.
 
If there is a giant durra in the vicinity, it will attack from the rear.”