My Dearest

by Sizemore, Susan

  Down a corridor, up a stairway, through his office, into the bedroom, and finally closed the door behind them. Gently.

  "We tell no one about this. Do you hear me?" he demanded, before she could quite orient herself to where they were.

  She did not comprehend his words. "What?"

  He sat them down on the bunk and put his arm around her shoulders. She relaxed against his lean body. Star curled up by her thigh. She absorbed her world. After a while it was all normal again.

  "Star needs a bath," Megere said. After a few more moments she looked at North. "What do you mean tell no one?"

  "Ah, good. You're back."

  "You recovered very quickly, my lord."

  "Jealous?"

  "Extremely." She detached herself from this comfortable safe nest and tested her ability to airswi-walk. No dizziness, no disorientation. Good. She reached the door, then turned back to face the Lord of the Admiralty. "What did you learn from the octopus?"

  "I was passed on to a different octopus than you communicated with," he told her. "This one actually witnessed the creature fall from the sky. It would seem Mr. Flint was wrong about the Passing Ones."

  It took Megere several moments to recall the evening when they had watched the lights arcing in the sky. He'd told them there were legends on his home island which said the Passing was a migration of living beings. He'd been right about that. He'd been wrong about--?

  "Ah, yes... he said that no evidence has ever been found of one of the Passing Ones falling on land or sea, or burning up in the high air. He was wrong, I suppose. But shouldn't it have burned in the air? Only the largest of iron meteorites ever make it past the edge of the air."

  "Recall how large the creature was."

  Megere nodded, remembering a black mountain streaked with silver. It had been a teardrop island floating on the sea. Yet, it had been...

  "A living creature." The words almost swamped her senses. "There is nothing that can live beyond the highest edge of the air."

  "So we have always been told. So the world will go on believing," he added.

  "What an odd thing to say. You are joking, I trust." Despite her calm words, she feared he meant what he'd said. "The world must know about this."

  He stood. "It is the last thing the world needs to know."

  "The octopi wanted us to know about this," she protested.

  "That does not mean they want the rest of humanity to know. They were confused and concerned. They wanted a consultation. They have had one. My octopus and I came to the conclusion that the animal that fell from space had nothing to do with their species or ours. It was from some sort of migratory herd, nothing more. Space cows, my dear."

  "And how did the pair of you come to that conclusion?"

  "My confidant had shared thoughts with two of his folk who died trying to communicate with the alien creature. I cannot explain exactly what the octopus tried to show me. Herd animal proto-thoughts is the best I can explain it. We will never know why it fell to the sea. At least the octopi are satisfied that humans were no more involved in what happened to the creature than they were. They would be very angry with us if we did anything to endanger their water. We do not want the octopi angry with us. Now let us humans move on and let the octopi dispose of the creature's carcass as they see fit. What goes into the ocean belongs to them. We have a treaty with them to that effect."

  "It is not in the ocean, it is floating on the ocean. What floats belongs to humans," she countered.

  She did not like the darkly stubborn look in his eyes, or the way his wide mouth had thinned into an annoyed line. She did not like the outrage boiling in the back of her mind, threatening to take over logic. The world had changed irrevocably. She could barely wrap her mind around it yet, but she knew this change could not be hidden or ignored.

  "The world needs to know," she said.

  "The creature does not belong to humans," he countered. "It belonged to itself. It belonged to its own kind."

  "Agreed. But now that it is dead we have an obligation to find out all we can about it. It is more than a carcass, it is a whole new concept of life. Life from outside our world! We now know there is more life in the universe than on our world. There are implications - scientific, religious, ethical, philosophical - that need to be explored."

  "Explored? What implications?"

  "What if we fell from the sky too? What if everything we believe about our origins is wrong?"

  "What if it is? That doesn't change a thing about the world as it is."

  "The clerics would not agree with that. Nor would the philosophers."

  "You may not tell your mother."

  Megere smiled, but she would not be deterred. "The science must come first. You must send word to the universities so they can organize expedi--"

  "Absolutely not. Academics are useless in the real world. I'd have to assign ships to protect these expeditions. I cannot spare warships to babysit your scientists. There is a war on, if you recall."

  "This is not a military matter."

  "Everything is a military matter." He held up a hand when she opened her mouth. "This incident did not happen, Dr. Cliff. It did not happen until such time as I can personally report what we have seen and learned to the Emperor. In person," he emphasized. "In private. I must defer this to his judgement."

  Which effectively halted any other argument she could make.

  Megere did have other questions. "What will the crew think? What about Captain Ram?"

  "They'll think and say what I tell them."

  Of course. She shouldn't have bothered to ask.

  "You and I are the only ones who know the truth," he added. "For now let us keep it that way."

  This was an order, not a request. He had declared it a military matter, and subject to the Emperor's command. Her heart raced and her head ached with frustration, but she damned the war with the Framin Empire for North's decision.

  "So be it," Megere said, although it was between gritted teeth.

  His tense posture relaxed. So did his hard expression, but only momentarily. Worry crossed his sharp features. "I will let you in on one more bit of the conversation I had with the octopus. Octopi and humans are the top predators of our respective domains. If the Passing creature is a migrating herd beast there must be predators out among the stars that hunt it. Perhaps it was a hunter that drove it down into the air of our world. I do not want that hunter on our world, but I want to be prepared if star wolves do come. So do the octopi."

  Her thought was that this was an unlikely scenario, but she did not say so. It was North's duty to think this way, to plan for trouble. She could not fault him or think him foolish when his forethought might save lives.

  "I see," she said, and came forward into his tight embrace. "Protect me from the wolves, my love."

  "You know I always will," he promised.

  And they shared a kiss that went on to actions that resulted in exiling the dog out of the room.

  Megere came out of remembering the last few days and glanced at the man and dog sleeping on the bunk. The night was wearing on. She turned back to the desk, eager to get her letter done and claim her place beside them. She wrote.

  I do not think I have told you yet that the ship is returning to Ang. I can not tell you when the Ironbound will arrive, or at what port, but I will contact the family as soon as I can upon our arrival.

  I am sorry to have missed my sister's wedding, and the birth of my brother's child. Do I have a niece or a nephew? As for my personal news, well I want to tell you something important--

  North let out a deep sigh, and a groan which tugged at her heart.

  Megere quickly finished her letter, sealed it, and left it on the desk in the admiral's office with the other documents his yeoman would make sure were sent on the messenger boat. She then, finally, was able find sleep, with her head resting on North's shoulder.

  He kissed her awake. She laughed with her lips pressed to his.

  After th
ey had their way with each other, she stretched and turned on her side and watched him dress. "What time is it?"

  "Time for you to be up and at your station, Dr. Cliff," he answered.

  "You are absolutely correct, sir."

  She got up and adjusted her nightgown as he oh, so casually glanced at the desk, which was now folded against the bulkhead.

  "Did you finish your letter?"

  She smiled. "Oh, yes."

  "I would have liked to have read it."

  She clasped her hands before her, trying to look the picture of innocence. "I didn't want to wake you. Or for the albatross to have to wait before it sailed."

  "Or for the letter not to have made it onto the boat."

  "That, as well."

  "You told her didn't you?" He took a step toward her. "Tell me you didn't tell her."

  "I did convey important news," she told him.

  His hands landed on her shoulders. "Megere! I ordered you--"

  She watched the spark of anger grow in his eyes. Her innocent smile widened to a teasing one.

  "Relax, Adrew. The important news I sent her is that I have finally decided to marry you."

  He instantly went from growing anger to totally stunned.

  "That is important news, isn't it, Adrew?"

  He ran his hands from her shoulders down to circle her waist. "You aren't teasing me, are you, gel?"

  "Not a bit, my lord."

  He threw back his head and laughed. Then he picked her up and tossed them back down on the bunk. "To the dark gods with space whales and octopi worries," he declared. "The Framin better not try attacking right now. Right now, we are going to celebrate!"

  You can read more of Dr. Cliff and Lord North's adventure in the fantasy novel MEMORY OF MORNING.

  http://www.amazon.com/Memory-of-Morning-ebook/dp/B005GQLJUS/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_4