by Lucy Kelly
“You’re saying this guy is some kind of big-shot?” Josephine asked, calming down a little.
“HeVan is a constitutional monarchy. The queen appoints a council. There hasn’t been a queen for over ten thousand years. The council has gotten used to running things, and the power they wielded corrupted most of them. This guy was a member of the ruling council and had been for over a thousand years,” Becky said.
“You mean he’s old? It shouldn’t be too hard to catch some old geezer,” Jo said.
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that. I’m over seven hundred years old,” said Ishme.
Both Josephine and her sister, Aimeé, looked at him in shock. Aimeé turned to her Ankida. “Exactly how old are you two?” she asked them.
“I’m six hundred and thirty-one. Jorne is two years younger,” said Tonne.
“How long do you live—normally, I mean?”
“As long as we wish or as long as we need to. We have solved the illnesses of aging. With regular treatments, we can remain young. If we stop treatments, we live for about two hundred years.”
Aimeé started to say something more, but Josephine cut her off.
“You can have your nervous breakdown later. Right now, we have to figure out what to do about this fugitive. Becky, run it down for me. What is the current situation?” she asked.
Becky’s laptop was up by then, so she asked Jack to have any other Nephilim come into the room so they could all be updated at once. Until then, Josephine hadn’t realized there were more of them. For security reasons, they hadn’t told her. Now, she needed to know everything. If they were going to ask for her help, they needed to trust her.
The briefing was interrupted once with a call from Justyn, giving them an ETA on his landing on Earth. They hadn’t been able to pick up any sign of the shuttle on long-range scans. After that call, Becky continued to outline the problem. She then asked Jo to give her opinion on how they should proceed.
Fugitive apprehension wasn’t her normal area of expertise, but Jo figured she knew more than anyone else in the room, so she started to come up with some plans. She had one question to start.
“What makes you think he’ll land in the U.S.? Earth is a big world.”
“The only language on Earth he is aware of or could have access to would be English. We’ve purposely kept most of the Nephilim in the dark about Earth. The Nephilim have a policy of non-interference in cultures which aren’t yet capable of inter-stellar space travel. Since so far all the women who have joined with Nephilim men have been from the U.S., that’s the only language we gave them, so they could communicate with us,” Becky explained.
“Okay, that makes sense. But we still can’t rule out Canada, Ireland, and Great Britain. The last two are unlikely, as they’re island nations and much smaller in size compared to North America. I don’t see him putting himself into such a small area,” said Jo.
“That was our reasoning too. While Canada is a possibility, it would likely be the west coast where more English is spoken. The computer spit out a heavy probability he would land near Chicago. That’s where Addie is from; and he wants revenge on Addie,” said Becky.
“That doesn’t make sense,” said Aimeé.
“Let me take this one,” said Tonne, who had been paying close attention. At Becky’s go-ahead gesture, he spoke.
“HeVan has no countries. Instead, the planet is divided into twelve Houses. Your House is very important, your whole history and identity is tied to it. Rising up in rank and status in your House is the goal of every citizen of HeVan. If Addie is from this Chicago, he would view that as her House. To destroy or corrupt or take over Chicago, would, in his eyes, be a fitting revenge.”
“Do you think he’ll actually try to blow up the city of Chicago?” Josephine snapped out.
“No, his personality is such he’ll try to become a person of stature and power in that city. Exactly how he’ll try to accomplish his goal is anyone’s guess,” said Becky.
“We won’t find out because we’re going to capture him and return him to HeVan before he can do anything,” said Jorne, speaking for the first time. He and his brother were newly joined. They weren’t going to let anything threaten the future for which they had waited so long.
*****
Armus had passed between Uranus and Neptune and aimed for the next planet he saw, Venus. The long-range scanners had been locked out, so he didn’t realize it was the wrong planet until he got much closer. He picked up two additional planets. One was very large with rings, and the other was smaller. Even the short-range scanners picked up the blue of the oceans. He’d located Earth. The fact he’d taken the shorter route around the sun, reaching his destination before any pursuers were able to come after him, convinced him he was right—his plans were fated.
As he approached Earth, he began scanning for satellites and transmissions. His initial plan had been to go to the place he’d heard was where his nemesis, Queen Aditya, had originated. A place called Chicagoland. Setting his communications system to scan for any mention within the planet’s transmissions, he soon pinpointed the area. But the area was too congested! He was amazed at the sheer number of life forms his short-range scanners were picking up!
He started to have second thoughts about landing there. It would likely be the first place they looked for him. He wanted to be well established and powerful before he confronted any Nephilim. He then considered landing on the opposite side of the world from this Chicagoland place. He discovered other areas of the planet spoke different languages.
What a primitive species! They haven’t unified their people under one rule yet. It will be child’s play to take over.
Continuing to scan transmissions, he missed Ireland and England entirely in his scans of Europe, and moved back to the North American continent after a brief scan of South America. He didn’t like the cooler temperatures he picked up in the Northern part of the continent, and the Southern portion was also speaking a different language. By default, he wound up concentrating on the United States of America. He chose to land in an area that was unpopulated. He chose it because it was near the center of the land mass. He would later discover the region was called Colorado. The exact area he chose was in Estes Park, part of the Roosevelt National Forest. Armus didn’t know it was a park. There was proximity to the mountains. He could hide the shuttle, and still be able to reach a populated area fairly easily and quickly on the one-man transport in the storage room.
He waited until he was close enough for the short-range scanners to pick up topography and more transmissions. He would land in a wooded area west of the city of her House. He didn’t want the shuttle to be discovered. Both the shuttle and the transport were equipped with cloaking devices, so they would not be discovered.
With his landing plans in place, he decided to eat his dinner and wait for when this side of the planet faced away from the sun.
Chapter Twenty-One
HeVan…
Once again, Addie was headed to a meeting. It was almost four weeks since she had called three thousand of the ancient Nephilim women to come forth and serve their people. Before she sent them out, away from the palace and into the wider world of HeVan, she wanted to talk to them individually. After Tulia had saved Grace from Narva’s assassination attempt, she had asked Tulia and her sisters, Nintu and Fonia, to stay on at the palace and help the other ancient Nephilim women acclimate to their new time.
Paq and Branca were managing both the House of Celestia and the House of Seraph for the time being. Ultimately, they would live in Seraph and Celestia would be under the control of Tulia and her sisters and, hopefully, their Ankida.
Instead of trying to meet with them all at once, she’d set up daily meetings with up to three women from each House. At this rate, she figured it would take her a month or so to meet with them all if she only did one meeting per day. So far, she hadn’t been able to schedule more than one. Arjun, Rune, and Kylan, with the help of Jett, had put together mem
ory savers of Nephilim history. The same nanos, which had been used to teach the women from Earth, were given to the ancient Nephilim. By the time they went to their respective Houses, the Earth Nephilim women, and the ones from HeVan, would be on equal footing.
It didn’t bother Addie that women from Earth had the added advantage of various psychic powers. They had a harder road to acceptance than the ancient Nephilim women. Addie herself sometimes felt chunky and clunky when compared to the tall, graceful women.
Today’s meeting was with thirty-six women. It would be a little crowded, so she decided to meet in her largest living room. It reminded her of a hotel lobby or the great room at a ski lodge. The walls were hung with family portraits of previous Nam-Nins and their families in relaxed surroundings. It was bigger than one family needed, with five or six couches and a bunch of chairs, side tables, and coffee tables, mixed throughout the seating areas. She approved of the carpets, which were reminiscent of fine Persian carpets on Earth. The fabric colors were soothing to the eye, with just enough changes in pattern to make the room homey instead of institutional. Rune and Kylan had moved all the furniture around until it suited both her tastes, and what she needed for her meetings. Addie was pleased because they barely grumbled when she changed the sofas around for the third time. She didn’t want clashing upholstery. They were arranged in a big oval, with all the coffee tables in the middle and various end tables near the seating. This way, everyone could see each other as they spoke. It looked a little odd, but it would do for her purposes.
She talked to Jennifer Sharp about providing pizzas. They could be eaten easily in the setting, and were better than trays of different hors d’oeuvres. She wanted the women to eat while they talked, and not worry about passing things around too much.
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. I deserve pizza!
Rune brought in the HeVanian equivalent of beer. Addie wanted the gathering to be friendly. Pitchers of drinks, glasses and napkins, were spaced along the center tables when the ladies started arriving. Addie stood by the door and individually greeted each woman, asking them the name of their House. After explaining peel-and-stick nametags to Arjun, he had something ready for her to use. It was akin to an electronic nametag.
After you pressed your thumbprint on the back, your name and picture appeared on the screen on the front. They were about the size and thickness of credit cards, and Addie thought they were great. She immediately asked Arjun to have all palace staff and visitors to be given name tags. When Grace heard about it, she added a frame of distinctive color, denoting their security level.
The babies were four months old now and were awake for longer and longer periods of time. They were finished being breast fed for every meal, so today Addie’s six babies and Grace’s three were also spread around the room in their infant seats. The women would be welcome to pass them around and play with them while they talked. It was a win-win situation. The babies received a lot of interaction, and Addie was able to fit in a meeting long enough to talk to all the women.
If one of them got cranky or needed to be changed, Addie could easily take them over to a changing table she had set up in the corner of the room.
“Welcome, come on in,” Addie said, as she stood by the door. “Sit anywhere you like. There are drinks on the tables, if you’re thirsty. Here, put on your name tags.”
It took a while to get everybody situated. They were already cooing over the babies when she joined them.
“Good, you’re already getting to know the girls. This is one of the things I wanted to discuss with you,” she said, pouring a glass of water for herself and finding an empty chair to sit. “When you were all growing up, there were lots of babies and young children around. Now we have babies for the first time in over five hundred years. Can you imagine the problems? What do you think?” she asked them, trying to start a conversation.
It didn’t take long; these women were intelligent. They quickly saw the pitfalls they needed to address. Two things they needed to guard against were an entire generation of children feeling privileged and maybe becoming too spoiled. Not having older sibling role models was another concern.
While Addie knew these women would be faced with the challenges of governing and management, they had been raised and trained for those positions. This was a new situation. After about an hour, Jennifer arrived with the pizzas and the babies were ready for a snack and their naps.
Addie didn’t try to start any particular topic of conversation while they were eating; she let them take the time to get to know each other. At the half hour mark, she did request they change seats and sit next to women who were currently strangers to them. This way, any women who were from the same House, had to separate and mix with the others. Addie and Grace, along with their Ankida, had discussed different ways to blur the lines between the Houses.
They didn’t want to erase the different cultures of the various regions. Addie just wanted to promote the unity of the Nephilim people as a whole. The way people still saw themselves as Americans, whether from the state of Maine, or from the Deep South.
After everyone had eaten and the babies were all asleep, Addie started the second of the two discussions she wanted to have.
“The other thing I’d like you to keep in mind when you go back to your homes is the change in our culture, now that there are so many more men than women. In your time, women outnumbered the men. When you joined, you would most likely have one mate. Now, you’ll likely be joined with two, and possible, three. Is this a problem for any of you?” she asked.
Looking around at the others, Tulia decided to speak on their behalf. “Queen Aditya, in our time, only the highest born—and very special women—were gifted with multiple mates. All of us are excited to think we have been chosen for this honor. Truly, we are all very happy,” she said.
Addie smiled, “I’m so glad. I was worried about that. The other thing you all need to keep in mind is…men of today are much different than the ones in the past. They have, out of necessity, taken on duties which were never available to them before. We can never go back. I don’t want us to even try. It would be cruel to take away rights and positions which have been earned through hard work. They have held on for a very long time.”
“Queen Aditya?” whispered a quiet voice from halfway down the room.
“Yes, Sorsha, you have something to add?” she asked.
“Will we, as women, have to follow men? Are they suited to that role?” she asked.
“That’s a good question. Let me ask you all one in response. Do you think women are more suited? Recent events have proven to us that women can be treacherous, even murderous. The reason we are all here is the result of the actions of a woman. Going forward as a people, we need to find a way to govern our people alongside our mates. It’s not that women soften and civilize men. We soften and civilize each other when we join and make family units. We all help each other.”
Addie halted for a moment to gather her thoughts.
“Like so many of my ancestors, going back to Ashnin, I joined with this planet. That won’t change. We, as women, give life; that won’t change, either. As women, in general, we have a stronger need to nurture. Men, in general, have a stronger need to protect. If there isn’t anything to protect against, they’ll find something,” she added drily.
“I make it a point of having my mates defend me against insects,” she added, and a few of the women laughed.
“We might want to see if there are any planets which need to be explored or enemies we need to defeat,” added Nintu thoughtfully.
“While I would rather we didn’t go out and pick a fight right now, I think you’re right. Men like challenges combined with an element of risk. We have to remember we are the purpose. Men face those challenges and take those risks for us. We have to appreciate them for those qualities,” said Fonia, joining the conversation.
After that, they went into a sometimes serious and sometimes hilarious discussion on
the possible future roles of men and women in their society. When they were winding down the meeting and getting ready to leave, Addie had one more thing to mention.
“Oh, and as you all know, Justyn Rephaim, Margan and Trake Jors, have gone to capture Armus Hend. They’ve been gone for almost four weeks. I’m sure they’ll be successful. So, in two weeks, we’re having a girls' night party. You have all been getting to know each other and making friends among the women who came with me from Earth. I thank you for that. We’re all still adjusting to many different things here. Anyway, a week after Justyn meets Hend in the Mok-Tar—and whips his ass—I want to have a gala ball. I’m hoping some of you will have found your Ankida by then,” she said.
At that point, the meeting turned into a gossip session about men. When Addie discovered most of them were virgins, she gave them some pointers on pleasing their Ankida.
*****
While Addie was meeting with the ancient Nephilim women, Grace was working with Jalen and Jett to close the cases against the council members. She had a problem facing her. There were no prisons or jails on HeVan. While the society had laws and rules, the desperate situation had pulled the people together. Until more recent times, when a few had given up on recovering their people and decided to go out for whatever they could get for themselves.
The Nephilim people, as a whole, generally enjoyed serving the greater good more than working for their own gain. When many had given up hope of the queen returning, they started turning away from their culture, and sin walked in through the door.
Grace was worried about what might happen in the future, if it weren’t too late to pull back from the edge of the cliff they were teetering.