The Sarran Senator (17 page)

::The reason Michael needs all these hugs
and kisses can be traced back to Bradley and his dislike of
displays of affection. Now hugs and kisses tell Michael he’s loved.
Whenever I think about my former son-in-law’s outright abuse and
Meg’s sire’s careless cruelty, my blood pressure goes up,::
Sam
sent to Tarin.

::Easy, my fox. Meg’s Sire died a painful
death—cirrhosis of the liver. As far as Bradley is concerned, be
satisfied that he is being tortured every day by the other inmates
who don’t like child abusers.::

They walked through the village with all six
cats trailing behind them until they reached the tavern. “May we
have a table for eight?” Tarin asked the owner whose nametag read
Jone.

“Certainly TeTarin, TeSamuel, TaMeg, welcome
and welcome to TeMark, TeJuraens, and TaSara. Are these your
offspring?”

“Michael is mine, Naffie is TaSyn’s Triad’s
offspring. The offspring claim a bond and refuse to be separated.”
Sara laughed.

“Bonding early is a sign of hi- psy levels.
You and TaSyn are fortunate in your offspring. They will serve
Saran well. What would you like to eat?”

Sam spoke up. “You should try the borad
steak. It tastes like pork but better.”

“Borad steak is really good,” Naffie told
Michael.

“I guess it’s borad steak for everyone. Do
you have a size that the offspring can eat?” Tarin asked.

“Yes, they can share a Warrior’s portion.
Would the fem like a fem-sized portion?”

“I think so, for me anyway,” Meg told the
tavern keeper.

“Me too,” Sara agreed.

“After last moontine, the cats eat for free,”
Jone said.
::Esteemed cats, would you also like to try borad
steak?::

::Yes,::
Aloysius replied.
::Large
chunks for Chou, Midnight, and me, and smaller portions for Bandit,
Shadow, and Snowy.::

“So, what are your plans for this rising
besides the midtines meal, Daddy?”

“Meg needs to either order some made clothing
or purchase material if she wants to make it herself.”

“You should have some things made up right
away. The Ta go to Syn’s next rising for coffee. Bring your own
teabags because everyone else sent their tea to you!” Sara’s laugh
tinkled through the tavern and Meg giggled.

Jone came back to the table. “I’ve brought
Tierest juice for the fems and offspring and lagger for the
Warriors.”

“That’s fine, Jone. Did you bond last
rising?”

“No, my Tyer and I bonded with Kate when she
came in with TaSyn on Brightstar’s first voyage. Kate makes
jewelry. She has a shop down the square.”

“We’ll be sure to visit when we finish our
meal,” Tarin said, then he took a large swallow of lagger.

“Try this, Mark, it’s better than beer,” Sam
said.

Mark took a swallow. “You’re right, it
is.”

Juraens turned to Tarin and said, “The Sky
Shield worked.”

“It would have worked better had we not had a
traitor planet side.”

“No one expected Hilnut to be a traitor. He’d
been with Zaron and Bron for years.”

“Bron searched his room this dawntine. He
found an old pamphlet advocating the cloning solution instead of
the Earthen fems. He must have felt betrayed by his leaders when
the fem became pregnant right away and proved to have off-the-chart
psy. His comm unit contained rants about Warriors being traitors to
real Sarran fem.”

“Sounds like Stoker at work to me.” Mark cut
of piece of meat.

“I would say that Stoker recruited him, but
who was his handler after Stoker was executed?” Juraens asked.
“That’s the question of the hour.”

“Syn said we should look for Warriors with
wavy auras or auras that change color. I think they learned how to
suppress the red or black ones when they found us looking for them
at the birthing classes.” Mark took a sip of his lagger.

“There has to have been a handler. Hilnut
wasn’t that bright. The plan was brilliantly conceived. He wouldn’t
have thought of it,” Mark said thoughtfully.

“Whoever it is, he must be an unbonded
Warrior. If he were bonded, the other half of the pair would be
distressed because he’d know his bonded was keeping secrets, either
that or he’s in on it.” Juraens seemed thoughtful.

“I don’t think it was a bonded Warrior.
Whomever he was, he couldn’t take the chance of detection and his
bonded would have known. Besides, from what I saw most of the
unbonded WarriorPairs found fems last moontine.” Sam frowned.

“Whomever it is dangerous because he’s
managed to remain undetected for so long,” Juraens added. “We have
to find out if there were any Warriors who didn’t attend the birth
classes and didn’t attend the mixing.”

“If they felt going into Triad with an
Earthen fem was wrong, they couldn’t bond to a Warrior because they
would run the danger of being bond struck by a fem. I’m newly
bonded and I know I’m unable to keep anything from Tarin. How much
more so would that be with a pair who have been bonded for years. I
think this guy is not bonded and disgruntled.”

“Did anyone take attendance at the birthing
classes or the mixing?” Meg asked. “I know they kept track of
us.”

“Who kept track of you? No one was assigned
to keep track of the fem. We don’t spy on our fem on Sarran,”
Juraens asked sharply.

“He had on the uniform of a Captain. I was
late to leave the barracks because I was putting the finishing
touches on my dress…and he came in. He surprised me getting
dressed. The Warriors never came into the barracks, I wondered
about that. He said he was in charge of seeing there were no
stragglers.
Snowy and Midnight were with me.”

::Bron, Zaron, convene the council at Castle
Air. Have them bring the Ta. Hilnut had a co-conspirator. Have
Warriors assigned to take the fems in the barracks to the field
house and search the barracks for explosives. I’ll explain when we
get there. We’ll transport in five mots.::

“Jone, charge this to the council account. We
have to go.”

“What about our lunch?” Naffie asked.

“Bring it with you. Transport yourself and
Michael to the kitchen. Tell Garlance and Emot not to leave your
side and wait for further instructions,” Juraens directed.

“Come on Michael. Take your plate. We’ll
return them next rising,” Naffie told him.

* * * *

The Te and Ta all transported into Castle
Air’s courtyard. Syn came out the kitchen door.

“Anya, Adele, Ellen, take the bebes to the
nursery with their minders. We need to go to the conference room.”
Syn turned to a Garlance and said, “I’m making you personally
responsible for the offspring and the bebes. If anything happens to
them, I’m going after you.”

“Yes TaSyn, you can count on me.”

“Are you sure, Syn?” Adele asked
nervously.

“I can see his aura, it’s clean.”

The Te and the Ta assembled in the conference
room. Bron snapped, “I thought this was handled last moontine.”

“There is new information. TaMeg told us
something at midtines that suggests Hilnut had a partner,” Juraens
said.

“What is the new information?” Zaron
asked.

“A Captain came into the fem barracks after
all of the fem were supposed to have left last moontine. TaMeg was
still there putting the finishing touches on her dress because she
helped all of the others first. The Captain startled her and he
told her he was assigned to pick up stragglers. She rushed,
finished dressing, and left the barracks with Snowy and Midnight.
All three said the Warrior had a wavy aura,” Mark reported.

Syn spoke up, “Meg was about ten mots late
last moontine…”

Snowy jumped up to the table. “I can see him
in my head. Can you look?”

“It would probably be better if you read me,”
Meg said quietly.

“Meg, you don’t have to do this,” Sam
protested.

“Yes, I do. Sarran have given me you and
Tarin, friends, and a life other than taking in other people’s wash
and mending. I have to give back. Go ahead TeZaron, read me.”

“TeSamuel, TeTarin do I have your permission
to read your fem?” Zaron asked.

“Meg is her own person. If she gives her
consent, she has our support.” Sam glanced at Tarin who nodded his
head.

“Come stand by me Meg, I’m going to put my
hands around your head and touch your forehead with mine.” Zaron
took a step towards Meg. She relaxed and closed her eyes.

“Vocar…he’s on the Brightstar. Mark, Juraens,
transport up to the ship and have the Admirals do a thorough
search. Find Vocar and any known associates. You have my permission
to invade his mind. Find his associates and round them up. When you
find them, space them on the spot. TaMeg and the cats were correct.
He had a wavy aura.”

Meg sat down a little unsteady on her feet.
Syn brought her some Tierest juice. She gulped it down. Sam
disappeared for about five mots and came back with a cup of tea.
Meg looked up in thanks.

::I’m broadcasting on all channels. We
found a nest of five vipers. Juraens read all of them, they’re
guilty. One of them said the Goddess was angry and hadn’t given him
a bond with a fellow Warrior because of the Earthen fem.::
Mark’s mind voice conveyed his disgust.

::Delusional…::
Juraens added.

::The disposition?::
Bron asked.

::They’ve been spaced. Unfortunately
without the cats’ rather creative
help,
::
Mark said
bluntly.

* * * *

TeAxit walked into the conference room. “The
barracks were searched. The team found explosives timed to go off
as soon as all the remaining fems got back to the barracks this
moontine. I think we got all of them.”

“We searched Hilnut’s quarters. He kept a
list. We captured everyone on that list and they were executed on
Brightstar. They were all unbonded Warriors.” Bron held up the
list.

“We can’t afford to lose another Warrior to
this madness. How can they possibly think that the Earthen fem are
less? Every single Earthen fem that has bonded is now pregnant. We
have proof that the bebes are healthy.” Zaron sighed.

“In the pamphlet they claimed that the bebes
won’t have psy. How can we prove that they do without waiting until
they can talk?”

::I’ve been given permission by the
Goddess to reveal one of the secrets in the fem archives. All of
the Zinnas have been able to speak to their bebes in the womb since
about nine phases into the pregnancy. They talk to us but their psy
isn’t strong enough to project far. They can only speak to the
person holding them. Physical contact is a condition of their
ability until the can speak and they will all speak early,::
Syn announced.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Bron exclaimed.

“Because the Goddess didn’t think it was
necessary for the Warriors to know until now. That’s why we needed
the baby psy monitors. They can only speak to us if we’re holding
them. With the psy monitor, they can call us to them without the
physical contact,” Anya backed Syn up. Ellen and Adele nodded.

Juraens and Mark teleported into the
conference room at the tail end of the conversation. “Do the other
fems know about this?”

“Everyone who is more than nine phases
pregnant,” Syn answered.

“Because of the nature of the situation, the
Goddess feels it’s finally the time to let our Warriors know about
the fem archives. The Sarran fem always knew. The Goddess told us
when we became pregnant. That’s how we found out about the mind
block to take away the pain of childbirth,” Adele said simply.

“Is there anything else we should know to
help our fem?” Tarin asked.

“It is because the Goddess feels she can
finally trust the Warriors to do what is necessary to aid their fem
that she agreed to reveal the existence of the archives now. The
bebes are all going to be HiPsy and some of them may have abilities
that surpass the abilities of the first ones.” Syn sat down next to
her WarriorPair.

An ethereal voice spoke,
::I have
carefully picked the Ta. They are my daughters and I selected them
for their intelligence, compassion, and their ability to judge
right from wrong. Earth and Sarran were always meant to mix their
genes when the right time came. I thought that we had time before
the crises, that Earth would have achieved unity. But the Zyptz
early arrival put an end to my timetable. Earthen genes are the
missing quotient of the Sarran psy equation. You are now permitted
entry to the fem archives, but should the Sarran slip into the ways
of their forefathers, my wrath will be terrible to
behold.::

“I was skeptical, but the Goddess is alive.
She lives on Sarran apart from us deep in the Sarran Ocean,” Ellen
said with a smile. She’s not a supernatural being. Just a long
lived one.

“The Goddess is real and lives under the
Sarran Sea! What genius. We never fully explored the sea because
all of the fish we eat are caught near to shore and it made no
sense to take a thirty-day trip across the ocean to get to the
other side of the continent when you could get where you want to go
faster by land without the danger of drowning,” Zaron
postulated.

“Because of the position of the oceans and
continents on Earth, before we learned to fly, boats were the only
way to go between the continents, therefore we explored the sea and
are now exploring the ocean floor. Sarran didn’t study oceanography
or marine biology. You are a land based culture by the nature of
your geography just as we became a seafaring and warlike culture
because of ours,” Sam observed.

“Is this something that the Warriors should
know now?” Juraens asked, not knowing to whom he was addressing the
question.

::The WarriorPairs may be told of the
archives upon achieving Triad but not before. They must not become
complacent. Take care of my fems, they bring great gifts to
Sarran.::