Hunting Cari (First Wave) (16 page)

The chorus
of “Yes, Sir” was spoken with enthusiasm throughout the ship.

Chapter Thirteen

“I have no
explanation as to why. All I know is that the tests confirm that somehow the
brain waves of the four of them are in-sync. They are completely connected
together. The most unexplained part is how the babies’ brains are showing a
strength we’ve never seen before, and they seem to be the ones keeping Cari and
Scaden locked into this self-induced comatose state.” Amun explained to Gracus
and Randor. His frustration at not knowing or understanding what was going on
with them evident in his expression.

“I don’t
understand this. Are you saying that the little ones are controlling their
parents?” Randor asked in confusion.

“Essentially…
yes.”

“How is
that possible?” Gracus just didn’t know what to think anymore. And with the
first ships arriving in only a few days, they had to figure out something and
fast.

“That we
don’t know either. Trust me; we are working around the clock trying to figure
this out. I’ve discovered a way possibly to wake them up, but I’m afraid of the
impact it might have on the babies and don’t really want to take a chance of
harming them.”

Amun knew
they agreed when they began shaking their heads emphatically.

“There is a
way that we might be able to wake Scaden without impacting the little ones.
They are connected more strongly with Cari; we believe because she is the one
carrying them, and we assume her gift is allowing her a greater ease to this
bond. Even so, there is still a risk, although very minimal.”

“Once we
are able to wake him, we are hoping he can wake Cari. But again, we don’t know
for sure. Everything about this, everything we have seen so far, is beyond
anything we could have ever prepared for. Our only other option is to wait for
the Med-Ship to arrive. Maybe they can come up with something we can’t.”

“No, we
can’t wait for the Med-Ship. We have no idea what the council will do since
they still don’t have the Ator-Ma. For all we know, none of our children will
ever receive it. If the council is going to remain adamant about that being the
only way to determine if they are really mates, then we are going to have to go
with our original plans. I won’t allow them to take my daughter’s mate from
her.”

It was the
only decision Randor could agree to in order to ensure Cari’s happiness. And to
guarantee that his great-children would grow up with their father. It broke his
heart to think that he may never see her again, or see his great-children, but
he knew in his heart it was the right decision. The only comfort he had was
knowing that they would be safe.

“Are you
sure?” Gracus had to know that Randor wasn’t going to change his mind.

“Yes, I’m
sure. Amun, how long will it take to wake him up?”

“It should
be rather quickly if our calculations are correct.” Amun walked over to the
body of his prone friend and began initiating the protocol that he thought
would wake him.

*****

Scaden dove
quickly under the water, and grabbing hold of Cari’s feet; he pulled her under
with him. They both came up for air laughing and sputtering. Cari giggled as
she grabbed hold of Scaden’s shoulders and wrapped her legs around his waist so
that he could hold her up in the water. Luckily, he was tall enough for his
feet to touch, but she wasn’t.

Scaden
smiled broadly as he held her tightly in his arms and walked through the water
until they were closer to shore. When he reached a point where he could comfortably
relax, he sat down and allowed the water to lap gently around his waist where
Cari’s legs were.

“What do
you want to do today,
Amalaya
?”

“Hmmmm … I
haven’t really thought about it actually. I figured we’d just stay here a
little longer.” Cari mumbled contentedly against his shoulder where she had
rested her head.

Scaden
chuckled at the sound of her sleepy voice. He’d woken her up to a couple of
times throughout the night to make love to her. After a few days, their routine
began including naps to catch up on the sleep they were losing at night, but
they usually took them a few hours from now.

He frowned,
thinking that she has seemed much more tired lately and wondered if he wasn’t
allowing her to get enough sleep.

“Are you
tired,
Amalaya
?” He stood up and carried her to shore, already making up
his mind that they would take their nap early today.

“A little.
But I’m fine.” She tried to get out of his arms to walk on her own, but he
wouldn’t let her and carried her into the house. She loved that he made her
feel so small and protected. On Earth, she was used to towering over most men,
that being around him made her feel feminine.

Scaden
placed her on her feet in the bathroom and gently dried her skin, getting as
much moisture out of her hair as he could. Leading her onto the bed, he sat
behind her and slowly brushed her hair, until she was swaying with from
drowsiness.

Placing the
brush on the table, he lay down and gathered her into his arms. She laid put
her head in the crook of his shoulder, threw her leg over his waist and
promptly fell right to sleep.

Scaden
absently stroked her shoulder as she slept soundly, his mind swirling with
thoughts he dared not think of when she was awake.

He still
couldn’t think of a way to save them, or himself, so they could remain with
each other. He knew the council would never allow them to stay together unless
they received the Ator-Ma, and nothing would change their mind. To them, what
he had done was the worst kind of criminal activity short of murder.

He wasn’t
prepared for the sharp, blinding pain to his skull that paralyzed him, o for
what happened next.

*****

Voices… he
could hear them but not understand them. What was happening? Where was Cari?
Had they been found? The pain in his skull began to subside slowly.

Opening his
eyes, he looked directly at Amun, who was leaning over him.

“What? …”
He began, having a hard time forming words.

“Scaden,
just nod or shake your head to my questions, ok?” Amun’s voice seemed to be
coming from a tunnel as his mind struggled to clear itself. He felt almost
caught between Amun at one end of the tunnel in his mind, and his desire to be
back with Cari at the other end.

“Scaden,
can you hear me clearly?” He nodded his head; the move making his head hurt a
little.

“Scaden, we
really need for you to get up. Try to concentrate on my voice and what I’m
saying to you. We need to bring you fully out of this. Can you concentrate on
me?” Scaden struggled to understand why he was asking such a stupid question.
What did he think was wrong with him to ask such a thing? He nodded his head;
this time there was no pain.

“He’s
showing signs of fighting the connection; we need to try harder in order to
completely break him free of it. We can’t shock him again.” Who was Amun
talking to? Scaden tried harder to clear his head. What the hell was happening?

“Commander,
you need to get the hell up now! Your mate is in danger, and you need to get
the hell up and help her now! Cari needs you!” Gracus’ sharp commands and
mention of Cari helped clear more of the fog from his mind.

“Cari?” He
turned towards Gracus, and saw just beyond his friend, Cari laying on a
med-bed, next to him. Seeing her laying there brought him awake with a jolt.

“Cari!
What’s wrong with her? What happened?” He demanded, his voice becoming stronger
by the second. Fear for Cari, driving the fog from his mind completely. He
tried to sit up, but felt a little weak yet.

“Let me
help you Scaden.” He turned at the sound of Randor’s voice and allowed the man
to help him sit up, facing Cari’s bed.

“What is
going on? Is she ok?” His eyes traveled the length of her body looking for
injuries; her stomach was very swollen! His strength began returning quickly,
and he stood up, Gracus catching him as he wobbled slightly.

Walking to
her, his hand rested on her swollen stomach. He drew his hand back quickly,
stunned by the almost electric shock and thump he felt against his hand.

“What the
hell happened to her?” He demanded angrily, wondering why they hadn’t cured
whatever was wrong with her. He barely heard what sounded like little alarm
bells going off in the room, not quite sure if he was imagining them.

“Scaden, I
need you to calm down. I think you’re scaring them, or they think you’re
rejecting them because you moved your hand away so quickly.” Scaden tried to
comprehend what Amun was saying. Who were they?

“Who the
hell are they? What are you talking about?” He was more confused than ever.
Looking around the room he couldn’t figure out who the ‘they’ was what he was
scaring or rejecting. It was just Amun, Gracus, Randor and a few med-techs that
were looking at him … really strangely.

“Scaden,
sit down, and try to calm down and let Amun explain things to you ok?” Gracus
sat him back down on the bed, the quiet way he spoke to him worried Scaden
greatly. Gracus never cut him slack… ever. Something was very wrong.

“Scaden,
you and Cari have been in a comatose state for weeks now. When we cut through
the wall to remove you both to MedLab, we found out that Cari was pregnant. The
‘they’ we were referring to, are your two daughters whom she is carrying. It
was them you were feeling when you touched her stomach. Here, I’ll show you.”
Amun ran a scanner over Cari’s swollen stomach and projected a hologram. Scaden
was grateful they had made him sit down as he watched, stunned, as Amun showed
him what looked like two blobs moving slightly in Cari’s abdomen.

He was
having a really hard time comprehending what Amun was telling him. He kept
looking from the hologram to Cari’s abdomen as if trying to get it to sink into
his mind.

“How long
have we been in this comatose state?” It had to have been many months to have
made her stomach swell that big.

“You’ve
been confined to your quarters for a little over three weeks. Cari had locked
herself into her own, the same time you were locked in.” Gracus informed him.

This wasn’t
possible. He had seen pictures of pregnant women on his planet and knew they
did not look like that at only three weeks. The child couldn’t be his if she
looked like that. Anger at the thought that she may have betrayed him made his
jump to his feet. He didn’t expect the sharp pain to his head as he stepped
toward Cari.

“Oh hell
Scaden! I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not like that! And if you don’t
calm down your daughters are going to kick your ass! You have no concept of
what they are capable of at this point.”

“We have to
get him out of here, while we explain this to him, or he’s going to upset them
even more than he already has.” Scaden vaguely heard Amun talking to someone
else and realized he was being led out of the MedLab.

The further
they walked down the corridor, the more the pain diminished and his head began
to clear. By the time they reached a conference room, several levels below, and
at the opposite end of the ship from MedLab, he was feeling almost himself. And
it didn’t escape his notice that every comm, in every corridor and room that
they passed, was showing Cari, the hologram and the now empty bed where he had
been.

Once they
had all sat down at the table, Amun, Randor and Gracus began to fill him in on
what had happened during the three weeks he had been 'out'.

When they
were finished, he sat in stunned silence and stared at the image of Cari, and
his daughters on the comm in the room. He was a father, of not just one daughter,
but two. Amun explained to him that the reason her stomach looked so big was
because their women only carried the baby until five months before they were
ready to be born. And since she was carrying two babies, Cari was going to be
much larger a lot faster than a normal pregnancy.

He was a
father. He couldn’t seem to get that out of his mind. And they had more than
their mother’s gift, and had struck out at him because they thought he didn’t
want them. He had to get back to MedLab. He had to make sure they knew he loved
and wanted them! He had to see Cari and wake her! He got up quickly, and began
running through the ship to get back to his family, to his mate.

He could
hear the others running behind him and didn’t care. His thoughts only on
getting to his mate and child… children, he had to correct himself. There had
never been twins born on his planet. Amun had to explain to him what they were.
How was it possible to have two exact looking children? Amun and Randor
explained it happened on Earth often, but how had it happened to him and Cari?
How would he tell them apart if they looked alike?

He slowed
his pace as he ran through the door to MedLab and stopped next to Cari, looking
down at her stomach in amazement and trepidation. He had to protect his family.
Would the council realize they were mates now? Amun had explained to him how
powerful his daughters were; his daughters… every time he thought of that the
emotions nearly brought him to his knees.