Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1) (12 page)

"You don't have a choice,” he said softly.

"Want to bet,” she said just as softly. Their eyes locked in a battle of wills. This was a battle she would win. No one told her what to do. Ever.

"You might as well tell her what she wants to know. Otherwise you'll never get her to agree to go with you,” Riley said plopping down on the couch. Idris sat next to her.

"She always was a stubborn little thing, but so is Jayden,” he said with a chuckle.

"Five bucks says he loses this round,” Riley said. “Pardon? You want five male deer?" he asked with the cutest look of puzzlement on his face.

Riley burst into laughter, "No, bucks is a slang term for dollars.” “Money, you know, you use it to buy stuff.”

"I understand now. No, I am sorry I do not have any money."

"How long have you been speaking English?”

“Four of your days."

"Wow you learn fast."

"Only because we have translators implanted behind our ears. The more we hear a language the faster we can understand and speak it."

"Does Blue have one those translators?" Riley demanded.

"Yes, she had one implanted right before she died, disappeared,” he corrected himself with a wince.

"Ha, I knew it!" Riley jumped up off the couch and bounced over to Blue. She got between her and Jayden, breaking their stand off. Poking her finger at Blue, Riley proclaimed, "You are not a genius with languages. You have one of those Star Trek translator thingies in your head!"

“Okay…. You seem awfully happy about that."

“Yes, I am. It means you are a little less brilliant than I always thought,” she said doing a little boogie dance around Blue. Trust Riley to always make her want to smile when there was nothing to smile about. "I'm going to get coffee for everyone then we can sit down and talk like civilized people.” Riley informed them all as she danced into the kitchen.

When they all had a cup of coffee in their hands, the men sipped the hot drink cautiously. "Tastes like Trillis. A drink from your home world that has become popular on many planets,” Vihan said to Blue.

"It does,” Idris agreed.

"Start Talking,” Blue said petting Leo. He was picking up on her tension and was making soft growling noises. He didn't like all these people in their home anymore than Blue did.

Jayden looked at Idris, "You start,” he said.

Idris explained about the legend of the Chrystal Woman and how Shillidon was dying. "You are the only one who can stop it,” he told Blue.

"How am I supposed to stop a planet from dying?" Blue asked him in total disbelief.

"I do not know, no one does. We only have the legends to go by and nothing was written about that part,” Idris admitted reluctantly. "Based on the reaction of my, your chrystal when it got close to you, the chrystals should show you what to do,” he paused then asked, “What happened when you started glowing and floating in the air?"

Blue looked at him for a long moment before slowly reaching up and pulling her shirt down enough to show him the chrystal at her throat. "Your chrystal,” she refused to claim it for now, “Fused with my chrystal and dumped a lot of information in my head."

Idris walked over to her and ignoring the big cat, knelt down to study her throat. "You were born with a small chrystal but I have never heard of one fusing with another. May I?" he asked, reaching out to touch the pulsing crystal. Blue nodded reluctantly, bracing herself for what she would hear when he touched her. She really didn't want to hear his thoughts. Feeling his emotions was hard enough.

Before he could touch it the chrystal flared brightly sending out a pulse of energy that sent him flying across the room. He landed on his butt against the wall. His look of astonishment when he came to a stop matched Blue's. That was new.

Jayden and Vihan both started laughing and Riley joined in. “What was that?” Idris asked picking himself up off the floor.

“No idea, it’s never done that before,” Blue said touching the chrystal. “It has to be because of the new one.”

“Let’s try something. Jayden try to touch her chrystal,” Idris said. Jayden walked over to Blue and when he reached out to touch the chrystal Blue felt her stomach give the same flutter it had when Idris had tried. Once again there was a bright fare of light and Jayden was pushed back. He didn't get knocked off his feet because he was braced for it.

"You try it Vihan,” Idris said. The same thing happened. Riley went up to Blue and reaching out she touched the chrystal. Nothing happened. Leo also wasn't affected at all either.

Idris, Jayden and Vihan looked at each other. Blue thought that they were somehow talking to each other. They turned their intense gazes to Blue and Riley. "You trust her, you do not trust us. I think that the chrystal will repel anyone you do not trust if they try to touch the chrystal or you,” Idris said. "That is a great defense system your chrystal has.”

Yes it was,
she thought.
Too bad that it couldn’t do that when she was younger and the scientist had tried to cut it out of her.”
I didn't trust the LCA and this didn't happen when I touched him,” Blue said.

"It must happen only when someone tries to touch you, not when you touch them." Jayden mused. Blue nodded her head in agreement, that made sense to her.

"No offense but you said Shillidon is filled with these chrystals, if they all react to me like the one you brought I really don't want to go there. I have no desire to become a walking chrystal,” she said to Idris.

"I do not think they will. The chrystal I brought with me was tuned to you when you were a child and there is nothing in the records to suggest anything like that happening."

"How do you know? You said the records were incomplete. So you don't know what will happen anymore than I do."

"No, you are right I do not know. What I do know is that if you do not come back with us, Shillidon will die. If that happens so will a lot of other planets."

“Why? Why is one planet so important that if it dies others will too?" she asked Idris but it was Jayden who answered her.

"Shillidon uses chrystals to produce shields that are superior to anything anyone else has on the market. We are working to come up with a shield that is comparable but have had no success so far. Without those shields a lot of planets are going to fall to chaos. Not every race is friendly to others and someone is always trying to conquer someone else. Right now the biggest threat comes from the Ragillians.”

“Wait a minute. Who are the Ragillians?” Blue asked.

“I am getting to that,” Jayden told her. “They are not actually a natural race. They were created by a megalomaniac scientist who wanted his own army to conquer the galaxy. He took over a prison planet at the edge of our system and cloned the prisoners. They were the worst of society, murders, thieves and rapists. When he ran out of prisoners he cloned the clones only that did not work out so well. He found out that when you clone a clone the resulting clone does not last long. They only last about about two years before they start to break down and deteriorate. It takes a year to make a clone and bring it to maturity. During that time Doctor Ragillian brainwashes the clones to think he is their God. When they are ready to leave the maturation chamber they will do what ever he wants. If a clone shows the least sign that he is not compliant then he is destroyed. He has thousands of clones and he is constantly making more. They have no feelings, no consciousness. They are an army that does only what he wants them to do.”

“Holy Crap,” Riley whispered.

“Because he ran out of original material,” Jayden continued, “he now preys on defenseless ships to capture people from all races so he can use their DNA to make more clones. If he is not stopped there is a very real chance that he can accomplish his goals. The Alliance Combined Space Navy has been trying to find Ragillian’s base of operations for years so we can destroy him and his facilities before he can do any more damage. Without the chrystal shields it will be a lot easier for him to go after the core planets. If he can destroy the Alliance, all the better for him,” Jayden finished his explanation.

Blue took a few moments to digest all of the information. It seemed she had no choice in the matter. She was going home. “All that is very interesting and I can understand the importance of Shillidon and the chrystals. But if you didn’t know I was here how did you find me?”

“We were on a mission to meet secretly with someone who said he had information on the location of Dr. Ragillian’s base and the person who has been selling our technology to him and others. We were intercepted by six Ragillian ships. They did some damage to our ship and we went to hyper speed with no way to calculate where we would end up,” Jayden paused and Idris took up the tale.

"We came out of hyper in an area called the dead zone. My chrystal or rather your chrystal now, started glowing. It had not done that before and since I knew it was tuned to you, I thought it meant something. I hardly dared to believe that it meant you were alive. We got caught up in an anomaly. You would call it a worm hole, and were pulled into your universe. I think we were meant to find you,” he finished.

After another few minutes of silence Riley said, "That is so cool. Blue, it's just like Star Trek. Only it is real and you get to be the heroine and save everyone."

“Yeah….. Sounds like a lot of fun,” Blue said sarcastically.

"What is this Star Trek she keeps mentioning?" Vihan asked.

"It's a movie." When he still looked blank she added, "Entertainment, something you watch for fun."

Vihan nodded when he comprehended the concept, ”I would like to watch this movie,” he said.

“I will be sure to bring them with me,” Blue told him.

"That means you will go with us. Great, how soon can you be ready?" Jayden asked.

“I will need a couple of days to tie everything up here until I can get back. I also need to know if you guys can provide everything Leo needs to eat or if I need to bring a supply of food for him,” she said.

"You can not bring your pet,” Jayden told her.

She looked at him and said, "He goes or I stay. That’s nonnegotiable.” There was no need for her to say anything else. Everyone knew that she meant it.

Leo looked at Jayden and calmly licked his paw in total unconcern, as if to say tiger one, alien zero. He knew Blue wouldn't leave him behind. Jayden threw up his hands in defeat, "You do not need to bring anything. I am sure we can provide for his needs. Anyone else you want to bring?" he asked. Blue looked at Riley and cocked her brow. Riley wrinkled her nose and gave a small shake of her head.

"No, just the tiger and he is not a pet. He is my friend and companion." Jayden looked at the girl who had fascinated him from the moment he had seen her. His first thought had been,
mine
. And every moment he had spent with her since had deepened the fascination. She was beautiful with her large strange eyes and long flowing hair with the multi colored strands.

It was her personality that grabbed him the most. She was a combination of ruthlessness and gentleness. The way she had dealt with the man who had kidnapped the boy was perfect. A small bomb implanted in the body, sheer genius. And from what Vihan had told him about the weapons of this world, years ahead of anything they had. He knew she would do what she had to, when she had to. He saw how close she and the other female were and wondered why she was not coming with them.

But that was for another day’s conversation. "I am sorry but we do have to leave this planet tomorrow night. If I could give you more time I would, but I cannot." He would not mention the little fact that they were not entirely sure they would be able to get home.

The next twenty four hours was a flurry of activity getting everything ready. Blue signed a power of attorney giving Riley control of all her assets, which were considerable. In the event she didn't return after five years everything would be turned over to Riley.

She and Riley had collaborated on a video game years ago. The game had taken off and made them both multi millionaires. They could choose not to work another day in their lives and still have money left over. They weren't good at doing nothing and shopping didn't appeal to either one of them. Saving kids did, so that was what they did.

Riley was also a glass artist. Her sculptures were highly sought after and brought in high prices. Blue wished Riley would come with her but she understood that her place was here on Earth. She still had things to do. Blue vowed she would come back as soon and as often as she could for visits.

The aliens had moved the shuttle to Blue's cliffs and were loading the few things she was taking with her. Her computer and clothes. Some experimental programs she was developing and a DVD player with all of her movies for Vihan to watch. She insisted on taking Leo’s soft custom made bed which made the guys give her a perplexed look before they loaded it.

“Does she think we do not have a bed?" She heard Vihan whisper to Jayden. It was really just a small pile of stuff to show for her years here on earth. The only things she would miss were Riley and her beach.

The sun was setting as Blue stood on the cliffs with Leo by her side. Everything was ready to go. All she had to do was walk down the cliff path to the beach and she would be off this planet. She gave Riley a hug. They held on tight to each other for several minutes. When Blue pulled back she said, "I'll be back, I promise."

"I know you will,” Riley replied with tears in her eyes. They had a bond that would survive a lifetime. Even if they never saw each other again.

They were two strong women who had survived and thrived against impossible odds. Each knew what the other was thinking and feeling, no words were necessary. Riley knelt down to hug Leo, “You take care of her, okay big guy. I am going to miss you too.” She gave the tiger a kiss between his golden eyes. She stood up and told Blue, "Time for you to go.” She held up the small communicator Jayden had given her, "Call me when you get up there. I'll be the only person on Earth to receive a call from space.”

Riley now had her own translator too. Idris had implanted it so she would be able to speak any language on the planet. The two women smiled at each other in a bittersweet goodbye. Blue took one last look at the home that had sheltered her for the last ten years. Then she and Leo walked down the path cut into the cliffside, to the beach where the shuttle and men were waiting.