“Good night,” she said.
He kissed her on the lips briefly. “Good night.” The door closed, and he sighed before undressing and climbing into bed.
Interlude
Lisa was disgusted with the man who almost became her father-in-law. She’d learned Jeb had planned a memorial service for David without even waiting for the police to close their missing person investigation. She was surprised he hadn’t had David declared dead, but learned he legally couldn’t do it for a couple of years. Thank God for that, she thought.
Then he’d had the gall to act like the grieving father at the service, playing it up for all he was worth as anguished family members consoled him. All she could do the entire day of the service was cry, and David’s father treated her like an outsider who was lucky to be invited at all.
Her only consolation, if you could call it that, was the fact she would never have to see or talk to the man ever again, if she had her way. David had told her what his father was like, but she still hadn’t believed him until she was forced to get to know Jeb better after David disappeared.
She still woke up at times crying in her sleep because she might never know what happened to David, and the last time she had spoken to him had been when she’d refuse his proposal.
Chapter Fourteen
David wasn’t quite awake as he headed down to the main corridor of the ship. He still wasn’t used to getting up early and running, a practice he’d kept from junior high school until his knee injury as a sophomore at Michigan State. After his surgery and rehabilitation, he’d felt there was no point in running again. He would never play football again, so why bother? The doctors had repaired his knee well enough for him to walk without a limp. At the time, it was the best they could do. Even if he had come back and was able to run, he’d lost his burst; what the NFL scouts he’d talked to had termed ‘suddenness.’ He wasn’t big enough to out-jump the defensive players he played against in the game. His greatest asset had been his speed, and that had been taken away. His future in the NFL had been taken away by one hit to the side of his leg.
Somehow, his knee felt stable now, though. It no longer felt like it would buckle if he stepped wrong. He no longer felt a twinge of pain when he straightened it out all the way. He’d been thinking about it, and he didn’t think it was fixed, exactly. More like the stone’s power was helping to stabilize it better. He had no idea if that was the truth, but he didn’t really care. He could run now, and fast. With his new powers, and especially when he was powered up, he could run faster and farther than he’d ever dreamed. It was an exhilarating feeling. He didn’t know how fast he could run, as they hadn’t found a way to time him yet, but he guessed he was probably the fastest human being. Ever. Perhaps even faster than any living thing on Earth. He didn’t really care how fast he was, though. All that really mattered was that he could run again, which was what he had woken up so early to do. He was surprised to find he wasn’t the only one with the idea.
“Hey, Kieren,” he said to the figure he saw stretching in the corridor before him. He felt awkward, but he didn’t want to startle her.
“Oh, hello, David,” she replied, smiling, her head near her knees as she stretched.
He began to stretch his legs, not knowing what else to say. He and Kieren hadn’t really spoken to each other much since coming aboard the ship. He hadn’t really spoken to any of the others much, except for training and small talk at dinner. He spent most of his time alone in his room or with Janan.
“So,” Kieren said, “am I going to be able to keep up with you if we run together?” He saw she was still smiling.
“Uh, yeah,” he said, feeling stupid. “No powers, I promise.” He smiled back at her. She had seemed like a nice person when they had first woken up, and he’d been around her enough to see it wasn’t an act.
“I have to warn you, though,” he said. “I haven’t run for exercise in a couple of years. I don’t know what shape I’m in or how long I’ll hold up.”
“Why is that?” she asked, a look of concern on her face.
“Blew out my knee playing football,” he replied with a shrug.
“Oh no,” she said. “Were you a professional?”
“No, college,” he replied, stretching his arms over his head. “I never got a chance to go pro.”
“Hey, is that a tattoo?” Kieren asked, seeing a small dark shape on his stomach, just above the waistline.
David pulled his shirt down, looking embarrassed. “Oh, yeah. When I was a freshman in college, me and some of the other new guys went and got our numbers tattooed on us. Stupid, huh? I was number eight.”
“Not that stupid,” Kieren said, showing him a small, brightly colored butterfly on her ankle.
“Ha,” David said. “Don’t tell anyone. Especially James. I don’t want him to think I’m some dumb kid.”
“No problem,” she replied, smiling. They started jogging side by side down the corridor.
“Thanks,” he said, returning her smile.
“So what do you do now for a living?” she asked.
“I work for a marketing firm,” he said. Though he’d told them all what he did when they were first woken up, he didn’t really expect Kieren to remember. It seemed like a long time had passed since then. “Or at least I used to. I doubt I’ll have a job waiting for me when I get back. My boss is a real jerk.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said. “It wouldn’t be so bad if he weren’t also my father.”
She laughed. “Oh, I really am sorry.”
“Probably better this way anyway,” he said, chuckling. “Clean break and all that.”
They jogged along for a moment in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
“What about you?” he asked. “You said you’re a teacher, right?”
“Yes,” she replied. “I’d only been working in Detroit for a few months when ... well, you know the rest.”
“How did you like it?” he asked.
“Well,” she paused for a while, gathering her thoughts. “It was definitely ... different. And it was a huge challenge.”
“You said you were from Colorado, right?”
“Uh-huh,” she said. They were both running out of breath now. “Colorado Springs. I worked at a really nice school there.”
“Then why did you move?” he asked. “Did you have family in Michigan?”
“Well,” she said, “my older brother had been transferred to Detroit with his job. He asked if I would be up to moving out there to be closer to him. He said he could find me a great place to live; aka cheap; and the schools paid more there. That was before I knew what the economy was like and how underfunded the schools actually are in my district.”
“Not quite what you pictured?” he asked.
“No, not quite,” she answered.
By this time they had run from one end of the corridor and back four times, David was ready to stop. He would have stopped earlier, but had been engrossed in their conversation. Kieren was an interesting woman. He definitely found her attractive. He could see himself falling for her. He’d seen the way Gianni looked at her, so he’d probably have competition, but that could be solved easily enough.
“So,” she interrupted his train of thought, “I think this is it for me.”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Me too. I’m surprised I lasted this long.”
“Same time tomorrow?” she asked, smiling.
“Sure,” he answered, smiling back. “If I can get out of bed.” Her smile was contagious. He watched her walk away and wondered what it would be like to kiss her.
#
One inconvenience Kieren had found in being placed in the Sekani crew quarters was her room didn’t contain a shower of its own. Another was the showerheads lining the wall of the shower room were all set too low. She practically had to bend over to wet her hair. When she entered the shower room, she noticed that Yvette was already there, and hesitated.
“You’re welcome to join me,” Yvette said, noticing the hesitancy that Kieren displayed. “The water is hot.”
“Oh, I can wait,” Kieren replied. She’d never been into cheerleading or any type of sport in school where she would have had to shower with other girls, so it felt weird to shower next to another naked woman.
“Don’t worry,” Yvette told her, laughing, “I’m not that type of girl. I thought you might want to save some time.”
“Oh.” Kieren blushed. She hadn’t been thinking that at all. She decided it was okay to venture into the water. As she undressed, she noticed she was taller than Yvette, and probably skinnier. No, not skinnier, she decided, just not as sturdily built. Yvette looked like she could handle herself in a fight.
Kieren moved under the warm spray of water, feeling the sweat from her run rinse out of her hair. It was a good, satisfying feeling. One she hadn’t felt for a while, having had no real time to exercise back home due to her school schedule. She was proud of her improvements with her own body as well as with her powers, though she was still frustrated at times by her inability to concentrate enough to keep her energy field up.
“So, how are you dealing with things?” Yvette asked her.
Kieren jumped. She’d almost forgotten the other woman was still there. She laughed. “Well, I’m still not used to all of this, really. There are some times when I think I must have been crazy to come along. Like I was too impulsive for my own good. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I do,” Yvette answered. “I don’t know why I decided so quickly. My dad would probably remind me I’ve been this way my entire life.” She chuckled.
“Is your dad really Senator Manidoo?” Kieren asked her.
“The one and only. Who told you?”
“James. He sounded impressed,” Kieren said.
“Oh, really? That’s good,” Yvette said, now drying herself off with an oversized towel. “Did you vote for my dad?”
“Um, no. I voted Democrat,” Kieren said, looking away quickly.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell him,” Yvette replied, laughing again.
Kieren liked her laugh. It wasn’t some little girl laugh, like many of her friends from college still affected. Yvette definitely wasn’t a demure creature. “So what do you think of James?” she asked the other woman.
“I really like him,” Yvette replied. “I mean, what’s not to like? He’s six-foot-four, two hundred and forty pounds. He’s taken care of himself physically, which is good for his age, and he’s not bad to look at. Not to mention the fact that he knows what he’s doing.”
“I didn’t mean like that,” Kieren replied, now toweling herself off. “I meant as the leader of the team.”
“Oh.” Now it was Yvette’s turn to blush. “Well, like I said, he knows what he’s doing.”
“Not to mention he’s single,” Kieren teased.
“Yeah, there’s that too,” Yvette said, smiling. “And he’s good in bed.”
Kieren’s eyes opened in surprise. “Really?” She burst out laughing, her face turning red.
Yvette laughed with her. “Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Actually, I had wondered,” Kieren told her. “I’ve seen the looks you two have been sharing. And that Zazzil guy referred to you as James’s mate.”
“Yes, that. Well, it’s not like we were hiding the fact we’ve been seeing each other, but I guess I’d hoped it wasn’t that obvious,” Yvette replied.
“It isn’t,” Kieren told her. “But a woman knows, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Yvette told her. “Men can be so dense sometimes. Well, okay, most of the time.”
“You’re telling me,” Kieren said, thinking of Gianni.
“How are things between you and Gianni?” Yvette asked, almost as if she were reading Kieren’s mind.
“Oh, you know. Horrible,” replied Kieren. “He makes me furious sometimes. It’s like he enjoys seeing me angry.”
“I figured you two were either going to fall in love or kill each other on this trip,” Yvette said.
“Or both,” Kieren said, as they both laughed.
#
Yvette had never intended for things to become serious so quickly with James. Who knew she would have to be kidnapped by aliens to find someone? Of course, her father would throw a fit if he found out she was dating a man so much older than she was. That fact didn’t seem as important, light years from Earth and months from home. At night, she sometimes wondered if her father missed her at all. Their relationship was complicated, to say the least. There were times in the past when she was sure she would never speak to him again. She’d wanted to live her life her own way, and he couldn’t allow her to do that. Perhaps it was one of the reasons she’d agreed so quickly to come along on this trip.
Now, she had extraordinary powers that she’d never dreamed of, and she could hardly believe she wasn’t dreaming now. She had to train herself how to use them properly, trying her best to remember everything she’d been taught in various martial arts classes. She was a brown belt in karate, but she had attempted to learn what she could from other disciplines as well. She’d never used weapons, other than a bo staff and nunchaku.
Since she was capable of creating any shape with her powers, a staff was easy. She tried other shapes, such as spears, swords, clubs, and even tried an old-fashioned mace like she’d seen in history books. The only limitation of her powers was that the shape had to stay in contact with her at all times. She couldn’t throw her spears like Gianni shot his guns. But she could extend her arms from one end of the training room to the other, and wouldn’t have known she had limits if not for the incident with the ASP ship. She was glad she had found out now instead of in a more dangerous situation.
#
Now that the team’s powers had manifested during their training, James had to figure out how to best use them once they arrived on Rajan. Although he had been in the Marines for a few years, he was not a trained military tactician by any means. His police training provided only a limited amount of strategy, and most of it was for searching a building or disarming a single person, not fighting in an all-out war. He needed to think on a grander scale.
On top of that, he was working with a team of people with no training at all, and one who could possibly be too dangerous, considering her martial arts background coupled with her powers. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Yvette, but he would hate to see what could happen if she was ever really pissed off. Melding them all into a cohesive team would be the most difficult task of all.
#
Kieren thought it was interesting that the stones had given them each powers that coincided with their individual personalities. James was a strong man, mentally and physically, but at times, she could tell all he wanted to do was disappear for a while and be left alone. David was a runner, pure and simple. From the little she knew about him, he had been running all of his life, whether in sports or away from his father. Yvette was as fast and sleek and tough as any woman Kieren had ever known. Gianni was an expert at putting up walls around himself and sniping from protective cover.
She was always trying to reach out to people, to make contact, whether it was the kids she taught or other people she communicated with on a daily basis. And the flying—well, she had always dreamed of flying, and not only to escape, like the others might have, but to simply soar above the Earth and feel the wind rushing past her face. It was the ultimate form of freedom. She couldn’t wait until they were off the ship and she could really go all-out without worrying about bumping her head on the ceiling. They could, of course, be landing in the middle of a war zone, but she hoped the Krahn had left already.
At this point, she would be grateful if the fighting only lasted a short period of time and then they could all go home again. It was too late to change her mind about coming along on the trip.
#
Bhakat was stunned at the powers shown by the five Humans. He’d grown up hearing stories ab
out the Johar Stones and the power they gave to those implanted, but by now those stories were as much myth as anything in Rajani society. As far as he knew, the last time a Rajani had been implanted with a stone had been more than two thousand years earlier. It was difficult to know for sure, because records from the time were either lost or classified by the Galactic Alliance. Not much was really known about the life of Ruvedalin, besides what was passed down in his teachings, which, collectively, were called the Kha. The end of his life, which was chronicled by the Elders, was part of the information not classified by the Alliance.
Bhakat was still torn by his decision to go against those teachings and help the Humans train aboard the ship, but it still felt right, at least most of the time. He felt better knowing he was doing something instead of sitting, useless while the Humans prepared to save his planet.
#
Gianni was in the training room shooting small moving targets, or at least attempting to, while thinking about Kieren. That explained why he was missing half of what he aimed at. Finally, he gave up in frustration. He typed a command into a handheld tablet telling the computer to halt, and turned off his field of power, defeated. He’d spent a lot of time recently experimenting with his powers. He had found he could generate walls of energy now without keeping them in his line of sight or concentrating on them too much. He could still feel them in his mind as existing without having to visually verify it, as he had been doing in most of his training. It was getting easier to use his powers.
He sat down on the floor of the training area. His body clock was telling him it was late and he needed some sleep. But his mind wouldn’t rest, which was why he’d found himself in the training room in the first place. The trip so far had passed too quickly for him to sit and take stock of how he really felt about what he had stumbled into, and what still lay in store when they arrived at their final destination. Then there was Kieren, which complicated matters even more.
He’d set out determined not to get to know her; not to get to know any of the others, really, but especially her because he knew the dangers of becoming emotionally attached to anyone. He sighed and then swore, knowing he needed to talk to her, but unsure what he would say.
Rajani Chronicles I Page 21