by V. A. Dold
She sighed her pleasure. “That sounds fantastic.”
Two hours later and well-rested, Krystal settled into the copilot’s chair to think. The ship was on autopilot while Doug was off somewhere in the ship doing God knew what. Gazing blindly off into space, she considered the website. First and foremost, she needed to check it for labeling words. She detested the term alien. ET and non-human were only slightly better. Coming up with nothing better, she decided extraterrestrial, other-worlder, and non-terrestrial were suitable alternatives.
If people only knew that they too were a genetic melting pot of numerous other world entities. As a matter of fact, humans were as much an extraterrestrial as any. Doug had told her that the world's governments kept the fact that humans were genetically made up of the DNA from many interstellar beings secret.
Apparently, the world leaders feared they would lose control of those they governed if their constituents learned that each and every one of them held great power. Power and psychic gifts that their leaders suppressed with ignorance and lies.
The truth was, over time, other-worlders had mixed with early man and dramatically altered the fledgling human race. Oh, the top echelon of the government knew all of that, but they guarded that secret fiercely.
While the majority of humanity’s galactic cousins were benevolent, there were a few malevolent beings who preyed on humans for a variety of reasons. Some wanted to enslave the people of Earth. Others wanted to eat them. And then there were the worst of all. Those who snatched children with the express intention of terrorizing them so they could feed on loosh. Loosh was created when a person was terrified at the moment of death. The adrenalized blood was what the evil extra-terrestrials prized more than anything. The practice was mortifying and needed to stop.
That was why Earth’s benevolent cousins visited the planet on a regular basis. Some even lived there, both walking among the populace in plain sight or concealing themselves. They protected the human race and the planet, fighting for humanity’s freedom from the malevolent ETs without the general population knowing they were ever in danger.
That secret was about to end.
As that thought resonated in her mind, Doug took the captain’s chair. “Did you sleep well, Djairi?”
“I sure did, I needed that more than I realized. Now that we’ve visited the first participating planet, I want to call a family meeting.”
“It should be midday when we land, and we’re close enough to use your cell phone. At this distance, the ship is capable of patching into Earth’s systems.”
“Wow! I wasn’t expecting that. My phone is in the bedroom, I’ll make my call from there and be right back.”
“Take your time.”
Krystal placed a call to the ranch. Her uncle and cousin could make the additional calls for her from there.
“Hello? Krystal? Are you back?” Lucas asked in greeting.
“Almost. We’ll be landing soon, and I want to call a family meeting. Can you contact everyone and get them to come to the ranch? Well, everyone except my parents.”
“That’s easy enough, they’re all here. Is there anything you want me to tell them?”
“Just let them know it’s about the matchmaking service and what level of disclosure we want to allow.”
“Ah. Yeah, we need a meeting for that. Okay, I’ll get on it and see you soon.”
“Thanks, Lucas. Bye.”
Krystal and Doug returned to find the walled garden completed and lushly planted. “This is gorgeous! Emma outdid herself. How in the world did she do this so fast?”
“I meant to tell you that time is different in space and on other planets. One day on Mer Ahn Tah is four and a half days on Earth. We’ve been gone for about six days.”
Doug walked over to the stone arch and extended a hand toward the opening. “Luperca has the portal online as well. I can feel the energy coming off of it.”
“That’s perfect. Once I get the info from the historian and finalize things with Quin, we can go live and get this started.”
“Speaking of getting started, we have a meeting to hold, and your family is waiting.”
“Oh, my goodness. I bet they are.”
They found the entire Le Beau family gathered in the dining room with coffee and pecan pie. “I should have known you’d find the food,” Krystal teased as she hugged each of her brothers.
“Hey, little sister!” Logan exclaimed as he pulled her in for a proper hug. “I hear you want to rock the shifter world,” he whispered in her ear.
“Just a little,” she whispered back.
Isaac leaned forward, clasping his hands on the table before him, his eyes serious, thoughtful, and assessing. “Come sit down and tell us how it went,” he called from the head of the table.
Doug held her chair for her and then seated himself before answering, “It went great. They were disappointed that only the United States would be open for finding their females, but that was to be expected.”
“Did they want to make changes to the website?” Quin asked.
“Not at all. They thought it was perfect. After we add the photos Doug took and get some info from their historian, we can take it live.”
Quin fist-bumped the air. “Damn, I’m good.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t hurt yourself patting your back,” Cade joked. “So, Krystal, Lucas said you want to tell the world about us? That isn’t going to happen, cher.”
“Put a lid on it, Cade. I don’t let anyone boss me around. You know that.” Cade folded his arms and grinned. “No, I don’t want to spill the beans about us, I was talking about the non-terrestrials.”
“Now that makes more sense than Cade’s stupid assumptions,” Stefan called from the other end of the table.
“Shut it, boys,” Isaac growled, then he smiled at Krystal, “Please continue.”
“Well, we can only keep a lid on non-terrestrials living amongst us for so long. I think we need to take the lead and control the information flow and what is given to the general public.”
Isaac nodded. “I agree. So, what are you thinking?”
“Well… it may be asking a lot, but I think the best thing we could do is address the nation with the president. You know, a presidential address but with guests. We would get the word out about the service while controlling what the public hears about our visitors. If we do it right, it could be a bonus for the president and his re-election. We would give the pertinent information but downplay it by focusing on the benefits of technology that comes with the visitors. And we could top it off by introducing Doug as one of the visitors, so humanity is less afraid of little green men.”
The family was quiet for a few seconds, finally, Emma broke the tense silence. “I like it. We all know we can’t keep the off-worlders a secret for long. As soon as women start applying, the public will know. I agree with Krystal, nip it in the bud.”
“That’s true,” Anna, Cade’s mate agreed, “but I have one concern. Can you handle that kind of traffic on the website? A national address could be more of a curse than a blessing.”
Krystal grinned in response. “I thought of that. We have all of the aura photo offices set up, and I can train the employees to not only take the pictures but also run the searches and compare the photos. That would free me up to do final quality control on the matches and talk to the spirit guides.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” Rose interjected. “Very good delegation and time management. If you would like help with meet and greet events and such, I’m your gal.”
“That’s very generous of you, cher,” Emma said, her eyes a little misty. “This is a very large and extremely important endeavor. We will need the entire family to pitch in and lighten the load.”
All the men of the family added their voices in agreement. Then single men began to grin and high five each other.
“What are you all getting on about?” Emma asked
“We’re going
to join in on the matchmaking. Krystal just might find our mates for us,” Logan announced.
Isaac’s brows rose, and he glanced at Emma. “That’s a good idea. The shifters are part of the off-world family after all.”
Emma shushed the men and gave them the look that would keep them that way. “What do you think, Krystal? Can you handle the extra traffic of the shifters applying on the website?”
“As long as I can train enough people to weed through the matches and Quin can set us up with enough servers to handle the traffic, I can handle the matches. The issue may be what we do with them after the matches are made. We may need a lot more room for couples on the ranch, and Rose may find herself busier than she bargained for.”
Simon put his arm around Rose’s shoulder, “Are you up for it, mon amour?”
“Sure, but under one condition,” she said with a grin.
“What’s that?” Simon and Krystal asked at the same time.
“If I end up spending a lot of time here at the ranch, Lucas has to build us a house along the river next to Emma’s and Isaac’s.”
Lucas didn’t bat an eye. “Of course, I’ll build you a house. As a matter of fact, I’ve already started a couple extra houses down there for family use. The ranch is a family property as much as the plantation is back home. Everyone is welcome to have a second home here.”
Rose and Simon grinned at each other. “We’re in.”
Krystal glanced at Quin. “How long will it take to gear us up with a mountain of servers?”
“Only as long as it takes to have them delivered. But that volume of electronics will require space, electricity, and air conditioning. Lucas, can you build an independent building just for servers? Say… twelve by twelve? I’ll talk to an electrician about the load we’ll draw and the safety codes required. That way, we can install a breaker box independent of the rest of the ranch to service the shed. And the server farm will require a two-ton AC unit to keep everything cool, or the heat generated by the electronics will burn out the servers.”
“I can get the crew on it tomorrow. We should have that built in a couple of days.”
Quin rubbed his chin. “I can get the servers delivered and assembled in the next seventy-two hours. Seeing as time is of the essence, I can set up five or six of them in one of the cabins to get the site up and running. Then once the shed is ready, I’ll set up the permanent server farm and free up the cabin for visitors.”
Lucas nodded. “That’ll work.”
Krystal frowned. “You’ll have to shut the website down to move the server farm, right?”
“Only for an hour or so. I’ll set up a bunch of servers and get them online to take the traffic load while I move the old servers from the cabin to the shed.”
“Wow, that’s fast. You the man, Quin.”
“That’s what I keep telling everyone, but no one listens.”
Rylon, who had been quiet up until then, leaned forward. “What about the secure communities for the couples who stay on Earth?”
“I have one under construction in San Saba. There is a beautiful 2,582 acre ranch on the Colorado River that borders pack land out there. I convinced the owner to sell it to me. It was the best option for the area. The pack’s land is adequate for their needs but cannot sustain additional housing. With the Ranch bordering the pack, it protects one side of the shifter land from public encroachment and allows the off-worlders the added protection of the pack.”
Marcus narrowed his eyes. “What are your plans for protecting the ETs from a water attack? That’s a weak point for infiltration.”
“True. And I thought of that. The entire ranch is being enclosed in twelve-foot electrified fencing as we speak, and the local pack has provided us with trained guard dogs to patrol the perimeter.” When Emma opened her mouth to argue, he held up a hand. “I also hired a landscaping company to line the interior of the fence with pretty bushes and such to hide the eyesore and lessen the feeling of being caged. We want our new family to feel safe and welcome.”
“That’s an excellent start,” Emma said when she was finally allowed to speak. “But I want to see it when it’s done. I’m sure there is more needed to offset that hideous fence.”
Isaac patted her leg. “Of course, mon amour. We’ll tour the property and the housing being built. But don’t get your hopes up about decorating. The men and women living in the houses get to choose the finishes.”
Emma deflated slightly. “Fine, but I’m adding a community garden.”
“That’s an excellent idea, Momma,” Rylon agreed. “The non-terrestrials are vegetarians. You can design a large garden with vegetables, herbs, and flowers for beauty and pollination. You can even add a fruit orchard.”
Now Emma beamed. “You can advise me on what to plant, and I’ll design it to serve the entire community.”
“How many houses are you building on the ranch?” Logan asked.
“I have twenty planned so far. But the final layout will have houses on acre lots with the public garden and orchard accounted for as well as park areas and walking paths etc. I’m also leaving an area open for future retail. I’m sure the community will want to have shops available to them that are safely within the ranch. So, in the end, there will be fifteen hundred to two thousand homes. I felt it was best to leave the final count fluid and allow the residents to dictate how they want the property used.”
Marcus nodded. “That’s a great plan. When you tour the ranch, I’d like to join you. I want to double-check the security in place and make sure we’ve covered all the bases.” Suddenly he snapped his fingers. “The sky. You didn’t account for helicopters and drones. Quin, can you come up with some kind of frequency jammer that makes it impossible for a drone to fly over the ranch?”
Quin looked thoughtful. “Yeah, I can figure something out.”
“That leaves helicopters,” Marcus growled. “The damn media and idiots hunting ETs will be an issue.”
Isaac barked out a laugh. “I already have that handled. Don’t forget, the president is one of my wolves. He quietly issued an executive order making the airspace over any designated off-world community restricted air space extending ten miles past the community boundary in all directions, and the murder of an extraterrestrial or his mate is an instant death penalty. That means we can shoot those helicopters out of our airspace. Now, add to that a military sniper team assigned to live in the community, all shifters of course, and we’re pretty damn secure.”
Marcus sat back and chuckled. “I’d say.”
“I’m impressed,” Seth added.
Lucas turned the page in his notebook and said, “Now that we have that settled, what do you need me to add to my to do list, Krystal? So far, we have the extra cabins under construction, I have the family houses along the river ready for decorating, Quin’s server farm shed will get underway immediately, and the portal garden is finished.”
“Gosh, after that laundry list, I hate to ask you to do more, but I need one more thing. I would like an office to work out of that is separate from the main house or my cabin. With the matchmaking service taking off, we will need to close down the dude ranch portion of our operation because we can’t have people on the ranch without vetting. That frees me up to work full time on the service.”
Before Lucas could question Krystal further about her office, Rose raised her hand. “Did you have something to add, cher?” Emma asked her.
“Yes. If I’m hearing everyone correctly, this endeavor is about to become much bigger than we planned. We could very easily end up with twenty or thirty matches at a time instead of one or two. Are we going to limit how quickly the couples meet up to slow the flow down or let them pour in? Because if they pour in, we need a large event building for meet and greets and social events.”
Krystal exhaled a sigh. “I don’t know. I can add number restrictions if you feel that’s best.”
Isaac rubbed his jaw. “This is unstable ground we’
re treading on, and I think we need to err on the side of caution. For now, set a number limit of one or two matches at a time. We can address that again once we have a handle on the fallout.”
Logan raised his hand. “What about the shifter matches? I think those should be handled differently. We could take those women to our pack lands.”
Isaac nodded. “That’s true. But to begin with, the shifter and the human will have to meet at the ranch to alleviate suspicion as to why they are handled differently. A human cannot be clued in on shifters until they are committed. So, the shifter will need to live here until he has the human’s agreement to mate with him.”
“The shifter pairings need to be kept separate from the ET pairings. We can’t have the humans here to meet the ETs mixing with the shifters. That’s asking for a whole kettle of worms to fall in our laps with accidental shifter disclosure,” Cade pointed out.
Emma shook her head. “I agree with Cade to a point. The shifter pairings should be directed to the plantation. We can handle that better there. But they need to begin on the ranch. There’s no other way around it. When a mate is found, the shifter will collect his mate here and drive her to the plantation. That will solve both issues.”
Isaac kissed Emma’s cheek. “I love your brain. You always have the perfect solution.”
“Okay, so non-terrestrials on the ranch and shifters on the plantation. I can do that,” Krystal injected. “Quin, can you please word the portion of the website about visiting the ranch to simply say you will be invited to meet your match without stating that they will remain here?”
“Absolutely.”
“So, back to your office, Krystal. How big do you want it to be?” Lucas asked.
Krystal closed her eyes and pictured the space. “All I need is two rooms and a bathroom. I would like a reception area with a secretary at the desk answering the phone and a private office large enough to meet up with the couples privately if they need advice of any kind.”
“Okay, twenty feet by forty feet should provide all the space you need. We can put it on the other side of our parking lot. That way, we keep the business side of things near the parking lot where the humans will be parking their cars if they drive in. You and I can meet up later to draw up the floor plan and place the walls where you want them.”