“What do you know that I don’t?” Brennae fought down the panic that was building. “What is going on?”
“We can’t say.” Knadyn insisted.
“I have covered for you so many times, for so many things!” Brennae was truly worried now, “Please tell me what is going on.”
Her brothers looked at each other and finally Knacayn said, “She is going to find out soon enough.”
“Brennae.” Knadyn grabbed her hand, “The STAR unit told you that a randomizer was left on Antilles. The CEMP payload it carried would have been unleashed on Earth over twenty years ago.”
Knacayn took over, “It is theorized that the CEMP would have destroyed all Earth technology. Father is sending a probe through to Earth in a few days and if there is a chance of sustained life...a team will be sent through for reconnaissance.” He looked at her expectantly.
“Marcael and his men.” She gasped in air, “That is who the council is trying to send. If Earth technology is destroyed the planet would be in chaos...the mission would be very dangerous.” Tears began to well up in her eyes, “That is why you are warning me away from Marcael?” Brennae turned from her brothers, where would Marcael be. She started running to the council dome.
“They are finished with their meeting.” Her brother tried to reason with her.
“He is being shown to his living quarters. R1-NW4.” Knacayn called out to her just as she made it to the corner of the walkway.
Turning in the direction of R1, she ignored the looks the other members of the community were giving her. She had to find Marcael. Just then, she saw her mother standing with him at the door to his quarters. They both looked up when she reached them.
Gasping in air she held up her hand for a second, holding the stitch in her side she realized she might want to exercise more. When she was able to talk she asked, “Is it true?” Her eyes were locked on Marcael, but it was her mother that spoke first.
“Brennae I will leave you to show Marcael his quarters and tour of Terraneu.” Her mother gave her a hug and Brennae absently responded. Her eyes never left Marcael.
“Is it true?” She asked softly.
“Shall we go inside?” He sighed and waved her into his dome. Her mother must have shown him the entrance console because he put his hand to the controls and locked the door behind them.
“You are going on the mission if the planet sustains life aren’t you?” She moved toward the chaise couch and sat before her knees gave out.
“Yes. I have not talked with my men, but I know they will agree to go.” She felt the chaise give a little under his weight as he sat next to her. “Regardless of my men’s decision, I will go with the team that is assembled.”
She didn’t bother to ask why it had to be him. She already knew the answer. It was what he did. He sacrificed and gave of himself to keep everyone else safe. She didn’t know if it was training or genetic but Marcael wouldn’t be happy if he wasn’t serving a greater purpose. She didn’t think he could stop that part of himself.
Looking into his face she sighed, “Well then that settles that.”
Marcael looked at her wearily, “What does it settle?”
Brennae just scooted over and leaned into him, “We have three days to make some memories.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him up. “I remember you saying that we would finish what we started in the medical unit on the Elyon.” Suddenly shy and a little more than a bit uncertain of herself she said, “First things first though, let’s take a tour of Terraneu.”
Chapter Nineteen
Marcael hurried to keep up with Brennae as she moved along the paths. “All of the domes are made in the shape of a hexagon with twelve foot walls. We try to keep industrial domes isolated to their own rings, and the same with the living domes.” She was walking along a path that led past a group of four walled domes and she pointed them out. “Those are the original Square of four. The technology, porting, caging, and medical dome for this part of Terraneu are located there.” She waved around them, “The rest of the domes were built out in ‘rings’ around this spot.” She laughed, “That is until the women came here. Then they had to build New Haven to the south and McPhersonville to the north. Those are family communities with each couple or family allocated their own square of four domes, it allows for more living space than a single dome.”
She had announced that they would head to the east where the park and swimming pond were located. He kept track of the directions so that he could make it around Terraneu on his own. From his living quarters, the park was straight ahead then across the northbound main street. Taking a right there was another group of domes and the eastbound main street. Once they were heading east, it was about a twenty-minute walk to the park. When Marcael saw all the greenery, trees, flowers, benches and lamps he had to stop Brennae for a second so he could take it all in. It had been a long time since he had been able to stop and enjoy a sight like this.
Pointing to an area of the grass that had a design drawn on it he asked, “What is written on the grass? I do not understand the purpose.”
Brennae looked to where he had pointed and smiled, “That is the football pitch or in some cultures on Earth it was called a field. Either way it is where the teams practice and play football...or soccer.”
As they watched, some players arrived on the grass and began to warm up. To his amazement, they dropped about six balls on the ground and started kicking them around to each other. He was impressed with their abilities and remarked on it to Brennae.
“With determination and practice you could be that good.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him along, “You can give it a try another time. I want to show you the swimming pond.”
He was not sure what could compare to the things he had already seen. Then he saw the beginning of the swimming pond and his mouth fell open again. What he had pictured as a simple pool of water in the ground was completely wrong. This was a major engineering feat. From what he could see there were waterfalls and some type of river running in front of him.
“This is the main entrance, but there are others if you are coming from different parts of Terraneu. To the left of us is the moderate swimming area, behind that is the beginning area and to the right taking up the whole of that side is the advanced swim area.” She turned him toward the advanced swimming area. There were grassy patches placed around with chairs for sitting and he noticed that there were quite a few people enjoying the water. Brennae smiled and waved at her friends she saw, but they did not stop to talk as she pulled him along.
“Why is there a river of water running between the pools?” Marcael asked.
“It takes you from one swimming area to another.” Brennae answered, “You can see your friends and family in different areas by using the river.” She was walking past a waterfall so had to speak up, “Also if you get bored just swimming around in one pool, the river can take you around the whole swimming pond.”
“What is that thing inside that waterfall’s rock face?” Brennae had been walking toward a gate when Marcael noticed a strange glass like, bubble shaped addition to the inside of the waterfall. He could not see inside of it and was curious as to its purpose. When she did not answer right away, he drew his eyes from the waterfall to her face. Her eyes had turned a bright purple and he caught his breath.
“It is something my uncle put into the plans for this part of the park. There are more of them in strategic places, but only in the adult side of the swimming pond. It is off limits for children.”
The way she said ‘adult’ and that, it was off limits for children made him more curious. “So it is used for...?” he prompted.
Brennae laughed, “Well to understand why my uncle thought of this you have to understand that for the longest time my parents couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Not that they are much better now but back then they were constantly interrupting meetings and events with their...attraction to each other.” She laughed softly, “So the council threatened to inve
nt a ‘sex bubble’ to keep them from public displays of affection.” Turning to put her arm around his waist as they took in the area she sighed, “My uncle took the threat of making the sex bubbles and turned it into part of the design of the swimming pond. Since the people of Terraneu are highly sexual and do not have any reservations about showing it, the bubbles were a good idea. You can’t see into them, they are sound proof and totally private.”
Marcael could not help asking, “Have you ever been inside this sex bubble?” He tensed waiting for her answer.
“I will take the fifth on that.” She started to walk away when he stopped her.
“What is the fifth?” She had not answered the question and his imagination was getting the best of him.
“It is something I learned from my mother. Where she was from on Earth if you didn’t want to incriminate yourself you took the ‘fifth’, it was a law that you couldn’t be forced to make yourself look guilty.” She had moved against his side again so he held her close and sighed.
“I will take your answer of the ‘fifth’ and leave it at that. I should not have asked, because if you tell me ‘yes’ I would have to get the name of the male with you in that bubble so I could find him.”
She moved to look into his face, “What would you do if you ‘found’ him?” Her voice was filled with humor but he could see her eyes were serious.
“I would not be talking to him. He should not have touched—” he did not get to finish his thought.
“Marcael!” Brennae was truly stunned, “We are an open society. We are allowed as many sexual partners as we want. You cannot be angry with every person who ever kissed me or touched me. You wouldn’t have any friends—” this time he interrupted her.
“There has been that many?” He could not hide the outrage in his voice.
Brennae dropped her arm from around his waist and gave him a stern look. “Okay let’s get one thing straight right up front. I will not ask about the women and robots you have had sexual relations with in thousands of years...and you will not ask me about the males in mine. We both know I have done far less than you have anyway.” She held out her hand, “Deal?”
Grumbling to himself, he took her hand, “Deal.” Though he vowed to find every male she might have kissed...he knew from his time in the medical dome that Brennae was relatively untouched. The activities that led up to the point he had reached, is what he did not want any other male to have experienced with her. He knew he was being irrational, and he would work on that. With a sigh of resignation, he realized there was nothing he could do. The rules said no fighting over a female. Suddenly his spirits picked up and he got a wicked smile on his face. The rules say no fighting. They did not say anything about intimidation. Marcael had thousands of years of practice with the art of intimidation, he even considered himself something of a master at it!
Chapter Twenty
Brennae wasn’t sure what caused the wicked smile to light up Marcael’s face, but she was suddenly spellbound. His features had shown some strain still from his recovery, which was to be expected. He had almost been tortured to death and he was lucky to be alive after all. She hadn’t realized how truly, devastatingly handsome he was until just this second. His eyes were dancing with devilment and his face was softer and flush with a faint blush of color. His lips were parted softly and she couldn’t help but remember the feel of them against her skin. Before she could get distracted, she decided to keep the tour going. Taking his hand in hers, she pulled him along.
“Moving on then.” She hurried toward the exit from the swimming pond that went to the New Haven side of Terraneu. “If we go through this gate we end up on the paths to New Haven, which is one of the communities I told you about earlier.” She motioned with her free hand around her at the living domes just ahead. Explaining as she went about the domes and their space it wasn’t long before they had made it back to the industrial area of Terraneu. She suddenly had an urge to go to The Watering Hole, the dome that offered different flavors of drinking water.
“We are back where we started. Along here are the singles living domes and the industrial ones.” She waved around at their surroundings. “As you know I work in the sorrem holding.” She pointed toward a group of domes, “I thought you might like to try The Watering Hole. They serve flavored water that you might enjoy.”
“I will follow wherever you lead.” Marcael said softly his fingers giving hers a gently squeeze. Brennae smiled to herself and squeezed back. It was nice of him to say, but she had a strong feeling that Marcael was not the “following” type.
They continued their way along the path, Brennae saying hello to friends and introducing them to Marcael. When they got to a dome he might be interested in she pointed it out. As they passed the training dome, she remembered that the STARR had left him a going away present in one of the rescue pods and he hadn’t had a chance to see what it was yet. When they entered the dome, you could hear the men cheering and they followed the sound until they were in front of one of the mats. She pushed her way through the men with Marcael following to see what was going on.
“It is CABB!” Marcael’s surprised exclamation rang over the shouts of the men. “Colle is it safe to be training with him?” She recognized his friend as the male on the mat with the training bot. She had stayed to watch over Marcael as he healed, and Colle had visited and stayed to talk a few times.
“CABB cease.” Colle yelled and the training bot instantly froze. “Marcael you are out of medical.” His friend hurried over and Brennae moved out of the way so they could have their space. The other men from Marcael’s group hurried over too. She supposed they were going to be easy to spot. They were the only males on Terraneu with the pure white hair. Thinking about his men, she wondered how Baylech felt about the possible mission to Earth. He must be torn between his duty to his friends from the Elyon and his friends and family here on Terraneu. She made a note to ask her mother if the women’s council could talk to his mate, offer her some support if she needed it.
“I am sure you have heard the rumors about a mission for us. I want to meet tomorrow in the park, first thing in the morning to discuss what I know.” Marcael moved to her side and introduced her to the men around him. “If you will excuse us I am taking a tour of Terraneu with Brennae.” They all did some shoulder slapping and then a fist to chest salute thing. Finally, he was maneuvering her toward the door.
“If you want to stay and train with your men I understand. We can finish our tour another time.” Brennae offered when Marcael kept looking behind them. “I really don’t mind. I can take you to The Watering Hole for a nice flavored water afterward.” She laughed at the look of happiness on his face, “I will stay and watch for a few minutes, and then I need to check in with Iesti. I will come back here when I am finished with the sorrem. How does that sound?”
Marcael gave her a quick kiss, “That sounds very nice. Thank you Brennae.”
“Just remember that you are newly healed and take it easy!” She gave him a stern look but it was wasted on him, he was already turning back to his men.
“Colle, change of plans.” She heard him yell.
Brennae watched as he moved into the circle of his friends. They laughed and she could have sworn she heard Colle say, “You never could resist training.” Then they were out of earshot and she grimaced when she saw Marcael taking off his vest. He was planning on going on the mat with CABB? She had just warned him to take it easy! She moved to the side so she could watch Marcael train without being in the way. Marcael took to the mat the only covering was his pants. He had taken off his vest and boots. She almost yelled out that on Terraneu training was done with protective gear. Grabbing a blunted dagger, he faced off against the CABB. As he warmed up, she became mesmerized by his physique. His shoulders were wide, his chest and ab muscles nicely defined. When he bent and flexed, his thighs and gluts strained against the material of his pants. With her mouth slightly drooling at all that pale perfection she almost mis
sed when the training combat started.
Two minutes later if someone had asked her if she had ever seen the likes of that sparring match she would not have been able to answer. She was literally speechless. Marcael had asked Colle what level the CABB was set on, the answer to that was “the highest of course” like there was any other setting. Marcael had nodded that he understood and then the fight was on. The battle bot was extremely fast, moving first to the left then feigning right. The incredible thing was Marcael was faster. He bent and dove, doing things she didn’t know were possible. Before she could blink, the match was over. Everyone was cheering, asking Marcael to spar with him and to show how he did that.
Brennae just shook her head and left the dome to hurry back to work. She had left Iesti this morning with hardly a word when she went to walk with her brothers. He was usually very easy going, but she wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything she needed to do. When she got to the dome, she found Iesti inside one of the stalls.
“How’s it going?” She looked at the sorrem and noticed he was taping its leg. She knew it could be tricky so she hurried to help. “Sorry I left with my brothers and didn’t come back sooner.”
“It’s okay Brennae.” Iesti smiled, “I have heard the rumors about the Earth mission just like everyone else. I also heard if there are men going it would probably be the newcomers, Marcael and his men.” Iesti paused in what he was doing and the sorrem happily munched on grass. “I have never seen you like this for a male before.” He looked into her eyes, “Even when your brothers were hurt, or one of your uncles got on the wrong side of a training partner. You were always here working or off with the sacath. You didn’t spend a day at their bedside, much less three days. Meetings, dates, gatherings...all of those things could wait for after working hours. Not that I mind you going off, I’m happy you found someone worth playing hooky for.” He grabbed the sorrem’s foot and continued wrapping. “If it comes to sending them to Earth for that mission, I know how hard that will be for you.”
Marcael: A Terraneu Novel, Book Five Page 11