Knadyn: A Terraneu Novel (Book Six) (3 page)

With Ava gripping his hand tightly, Knadyn worried that he had said
something wrong. He mind was working frantically to figure out what was dream
and what was reality. The male ‘Jeromy’ had taken great pleasure in twisting
his thoughts around. He wasn’t sure if he had told them about his family and
Terraneu or if that was all locked in his mind. He would never forgive himself
if he had broken and told them anything personal about himself. He knew that
his body was dying, maybe he would live for another week or two and then it
would be too late. If he could hold on through the torture and not give in, he
might die without betraying his family, friends and community. At least he had
hope that the rest of his team was home on Terraneu and nobody else was going
through this.

When he had arrived six months ago, it had been a normal mission.
Everything went smoothly until gunfire had begun exploding around them. His first
priority was to make sure that the Earth humans didn’t get any of their
technology. He had started the self-destruct on all the equipment they hadn’t
already sent through the portal. He had then ordered his men to retreat and
after a mad dash through the countryside the others had made it. He was cut
off, but seeing his team had made it to the port pad, he had activated the
portal and sent them home. With unknown forces closing in around him on all
fronts, he had no choice but to retreat. Much later he made his way back around
to the port pad but it was too late. A rescue team would have abandoned the
planet by now. He worried that his family would be frantic, but there was
nothing that could be done for another six months. He had tried to make his way
on Earth until the next portal opening.

Then by a fluke, he had been caught. His armor was damaged and in his
weakened state, he ended up in the hands of Renee Rousard, his son Jeromy and
the government forces. They were the head of a small community that had
survived by living in a bunker. They called themselves the government and
wanted the power of ruling the survivors. Renee was suspicious about the area
around the port pad, but he had let slip that it was a “rebel area” and that
catching Knadyn had been a lucky mistake. Knadyn didn’t feel it was so lucky.

Jeromy or Renee, he wasn’t sure which one, had sent in a small Earth
female to talk with him. She had introduced herself as Ava Jean Howard. He had
been suspicious at first but Ava hadn’t done anything that first day but get
him water, which he desperately needed and opened the window for some sunshine
to enter the room. Which he needed even more. His body was the same as all the
population of Terraneu. Genetically altered to run on their two suns for energy
and water for hydration. He didn’t need to eat the food they kept trying to
shove down his throat. He couldn’t tell them that. Because then they would
really have a reason to torture him. In all of the visits with Ava, she had
never pressed for him to talk. She had just sat with him while he drank his
water. When they had talked, it was always about her life, her father and her
interests.

His thoughts returned to the present, and his eyes met Ava’s. She had
frozen when he stated that they didn’t have the same problem where he was from.
Then she hurried to unfastened one wrist and handed him a glass of water. He
averted his eyes and sipped the cooling liquid as slowly as possible, but he
really wanted to just gulp it down. His body was screaming for more. He watched
as Ava moved to the window and opened it slightly. He was glad for the sun, his
body eagerly soaked up the nutrient rays. She must have seen him looking
longingly at the water because she laughed softly.

“You can drink all of that if you want. I have more.” Leaning to pick
something up off the floor, she showed him a container full of water. He hadn’t
seen her bring that in so smiled gratefully. It was gritty as usual, but it was
cool and wet and he needed it badly.

Drinking the entire glass of water down he sighed, “You have no idea how
much I needed that.” When she just refilled his glass without comment, he
sighed. He knew that she was supposed to be getting information from him. Even
if he wanted to, he couldn’t tell her anything. Either of the rebel community
because he wasn’t from the rebel community, or the alien world he
was
from.

He supposed that he could make up stories about the rebels, but that
could get Ava in trouble. She would be blamed for getting false information
from him and the torture would begin. He had been warned by the one named
Jeromy that would be the next step. He wondered if Ava would be open to hearing
the truth. He knew not all Earth females were closed-minded and Ava was a scientist.
Her father a very well respected one before his mad uncles electromagnetic
pulsing satellite had destroyed Earth. Snorting with derision at himself, he
thought…that would be a good conversation starter, “
Say Ava, I am an alien male from a planet called Terraneu and my people
have been trying to fix the damage done to your planet by my mad uncle. We have
cleaned up your atmosphere, water and soil.”

Sighing heavily he asked, “Ava why do you keep coming here?”

She sat taller in her seat, “Do you want me to stop?”

“No.” He ran his hands over his spiky hair. “I like having someone to
talk to that isn’t trying to scramble my brain.” He jested trying to make light
of the situation.

“Not funny Knadyn.” She whispered and then shrugged. “You know why I have
to come in here.”

Knadyn looked at her face and saw her try to hide the fear. He couldn’t
stand to see her this way. “Jeromy is right when he said that nothing he did
will be permanent.” Not if he could get home into a medical unit anyway. Until
then he would have flashes of things real and fantastical all mixed up in his
mind.

“How can you say that? I’ve seen the results of their interrogations…”
She grabbed his hand and squeezed. His heart jumped at the contact and then
hurt for the suffering she must be going through. Her hand was covered in scars,
sores and callouses from working hard. Every time Ava came to see him, his
heart raced with happiness to see her again. Every time she touched him, even
though it was only in comfort, his body came alive. Who would have thought that
after all this time on Terraneu searching for the perfect woman, he would find
her on Earth instead.

Not only an Earth female, but one so frail it hurt him to see her so
small. He knew it came with rationing food and the lack of proper nutrition. He
would put her at five foot five to five foot eight. The shirt and pants she
wore were of a poor quality and were ill fitted for her frame. If she was over
one hundred and ten pounds, he would wrestle one of his sisters sacath covered
in treats. Her skin was pale as alabaster and prone to sores and rashes but all
of the people he had seen had that problem. Her icy blond hair was thin, lacked
any luster and at shoulder length…was beautiful to him. Her cheekbones were high
and her lips were naturally full and pink. She had a heart shaped face, with a
cute button nose. Out of everything about her though, he felt by far the best
feature was her eyes. They were framed with brows that had a nice arch to them
and her eyelashes were long. The color was a pale hazel that could become a
very nice deep hazel when she was emotional. He was drawn into her eyes over
and over again.

“I cannot tell the future Ava, but I can assure you that this will not
last for much longer.” He closed his eyes with fatigue.

“Knadyn…” Ava whispered softly, “You aren’t giving up are you?” he felt
her lean over his side.

Opening his eyes, he whispered back just as softly, “No Ava. I am not
giving up. I plan to hold on for another week.”

“Is that because the wormhole will be open then?” She was leaning over
his head pretending to plump a pillow. Knadyn’s breath froze in his lungs,
“Don’t answer.” She gasped out, “I shouldn’t have said anything.” Ava moved
back away from him to get the water canister. “I better get these out of here
before Jeromy decides to come in. Then I need to check in on my father. I will
see you later.” While Knadyn pondered what she had said, Ava was closing the
window and moving out the door.

How much did she know about the port pad? Her father was a brilliant
physicist and he could have figured it out. Had he told Ava and she knew also?
That would be helpful if it were true. He would be able to tell her everything!
He could explain that they had been helping clean up the Earth these last three
years. One way had been the atmosphere scrubbers his Uncle Kneus had invented.
They had also used probes to locate and transport all of the nuclear cores on
Earth into the sun. She might be surprised to know that of the over five
hundred nuclear plants and weapons facilities almost all of them had been
damaged in some way.

There would be so much more they could talk about besides the scientific
nature of his mission. He could tell her about his family. How the women had
come to be on Terraneu, the previously all male planet. He could finally tell
her how excited he was to be an uncle. His sister had been pregnant with twin
boys…and twin girls when he had left Terraneu. She would have delivered them by
now. He would tell her about the park and that his brother-in-law passed out
flat in the grass when he heard he was going to be a father. He laughed at the
memory and could swear he almost smelled the sweet grass and flowers of home
floating in the room. He would have to trust his instincts and tell Ava everything
the next time she came to visit.

Only she didn’t come back.

Ava was desperate with worry. After leaving Knadyn, she went to check up
on her father only to find out that he had disappeared the same day she had
left to negotiate with the rebels. When she had stormed over to confront Jeromy
for not telling her, they had a terrible fight.

“Why didn’t you tell me my father was missing the instant I got back? I
should be out looking for him!” She hadn’t bothered to knock. Instead, she had
thrown the door open and watched as it hit the wall and bounced back.

“Ava.” He had slowly risen off his couch and calmly closed the door.
“Nice of you to knock.” Ignoring her outrage, he sat back down on the couch.
“We already did a search for your father and were unable to find him. As far as
we can tell, he didn’t bring any supplies and has more than likely succumbed to
the elements. At his age—”

“If you say he is dead I will not be responsible…” Ava tried to get a
hold of herself. “He is the only reason anyone in this ‘community’ is still
alive. His work is the only hope we have to regain normalcy—” her hands were
gesturing wildly as she yelled, as was her habit.

“Let me interrupt you there.” Jeromy openly sneered at her. “Your father
was losing his usefulness in his old age. He was a strain on the resources of
the community, and
you
as his
assistant are more than capable to take up the slack in his absence.”

Ava clenched her fists, her fingernails digging into her skin. She
couldn’t believe they would so easily write her father off as a loss. “I don’t
know half of what my father knew. I won’t be able to help—”

“You better hope that isn’t true.” Jeromy suddenly lurched from his spot
and Ava worried that he might have been drinking something other than water.
Too late, she realized her jeopardy and started backing toward the door. She
was just reaching behind her for the doorknob when Jeromy pounced, grabbing her
face in a cruel hold. “If that is true, then you are useless. There is only one
thing I can recommend you for.” Twisting her face to the side, he leaned in and
whispered hotly, “You can earn your keep in the bedroom. Your skills, as inept
as they are, might garner someone’s sympathies.”

“You are such a cruel prick.” Ava breathed deeply against the pain in her
cheeks. Tears were pooling in her eyes and she blinked rapidly to keep them at
bay. She wouldn’t let him see her cry. She would rather die first. “I am going
to search for my father and there isn’t anything you can do to stop me.”

Her teeth were digging into her cheeks his hold tightened so savagely.
“That is where you are wrong.” Jerking her forward he wrenched the door open
and called to a passing patrol. “Jarrod, see Ava to her quarters and assign a
guard to make sure she doesn’t leave the premises. With her father missing I’m
afraid she is so distraught that she might do something…foolish.”

The guard moved over to grab her arms and pull her from Jeromy’s doorway.
His final words to her were, “Don’t worry about the prisoner. Since you
couldn’t get him to talk, father has agreed that we take the next step. You
won’t be needed with his
care
anymore.”

Ava stumbled and then started struggling. They were going to start torturing
Knadyn. She tried to reason with Jarrod. He was a friend after all, they had
grown up together and he was usually reasonable. With Jeromy telling him that
she was distraught over her father, he didn’t listen to her arguments.

“Just rest for a couple of days Ava. Your father is a tough old bird, he
might show up.” She could tell that he didn’t believe that. He was giving her a
pitying look that said the opposite of his words. “I can’t let you out of your
room to go running around the countryside. We need your skills too badly here.”

“It’s my father Jarrod. Please.” She had begged and pleaded but he had
tuned her out and locked her in.

“It’s better this way Ava. I’ll make sure you get your rations.”

Ava stalked angrily around her room. She had been assigned to a small
house with four other single women. Since she was to be guarded, they might
choose to temporarily reassign those women to other quarters. Ava had seen that
before. It would keep anyone sympathetic to her plight from visiting or getting
in the way.

Throwing herself across her bed, she fought the tears that wanted to
flow. She fisted her eyes in frustration, but she would not cry. She hadn’t let
herself since the day they had hurried into a cold government bunker. She
wouldn’t now. Her father was running around who knows where, doing who knew
what! Knadyn was going to be tortured and she was locked in her room with a
guard at her door. She needed to come up with a way to get out of here. With
that purpose in mind, she spent the next hours throwing out one plan after
another. What was she going to do?