Kael moved close enough to gather her into his arms, glad then that Torin had taken the baby, making that possible. “What beloved? What is it?”
Monica swallowed against a queasy knot in her stomach. “It’s … they’re from the Exodus One.”
Torin frowned, struggling to recall if he had heard her mention that name before.
Kael blinked in shock. “The mother ship that brought you …?”
“Yes.”
“What don’t you understand?” Torin asked, thoroughly confused since he had never heard the entire story.
Monica shook her head. “They abandoned me on your world over three years ago—long before we left and came here. Where have they been all this time?”
Not on the world they’d settled. That much was certain, because they had expected to find other settlers from their own world and they had sent out dozens of long range drones to survey the new world and search for others. If there had been any other colony they would have found it.
She would have thought that they had decided to settle on a different world except for the fact that this world was the closest that was highly habitable, conducive to the best survival rate for their species. Unless the mother ship had been crippled somehow, it didn’t make sense that they would have settled on a planet barely able to support human life—or not capable of supporting it without a great deal of planet engineering.
But the discovery that their visitors were just as shocked as they were when the council leaders sent for her didn’t augur well for the possibility of getting the answers she’d hoped for.
Captain Clarkson, commander of the mother ship, Exodus One—the man who’d ordered their shuttle destroyed and then abandoned the sole survivor—was head of the group that had come to try to negotiate a treaty.
The group, which she supposed included several who at least knew her to see her, went slack faced with shock when she entered the village meeting room.
Or maybe it was because she was clearly pregnant and carrying a toddle.
And escorted by two alien males?
Clarkson shot to his feet. “You’re alive!”
Monica narrowed her eyes at him. “Yes. In spite of ….” She stopped herself. She’d thought she hated the man. She certainly didn’t like him, but did she dislike him enough to create problems for the other colonists?
She realized that most of her animosity toward the bastard had faded over the years.
She thought that was mostly because she’d had a good life, a happy life, and she wouldn’t have had the life she did if he hadn’t been a … ‘by the book’ soldier and decided the good of the many outweighed the good of the few. “… Everything,” she finished after a lengthy pause.
Captain Clarkson had reddened and then paled in the meantime. “We were surprised to discover they could speak and understand English.”
“They have proposed a trade agreement between our colony and theirs,” the head councilor announced. “Proposing to settle just beyond our northern boundary if we have no objection.”
Monica frowned. “Where were you settled before?”
Captain Clarkson blinked at her. “Earth.”
It was Monica’s turn to gape in stunned confusion. “Well … I don’t see how …? We settled here almost three years ago—maybe eighteen months after I was stranded on their world. I don’t understand how that’s possible.”
Captain Clarkson shared a look with the others in his group. “Neither do I. We came directly to this world from the ice world. We took no detours. We made good time, actually. We arrived weeks ahead of schedule.”
Monica looked at Torin questioningly. She could see he was turning that over in his mind.
“The folding,” he said finally. “There’s no other explanation. You said it was different than when you’d folded before. We must have … gone through a wormhole, some sort of time warp—maybe even traveled to an alternate universe.”
It seemed indisputable when they had left after the Earth group and arrived before.
Well, it might have been debatable except for the circumstance that they had established their colony nearly three years previous and she had a toddler and another baby on the way.
When all was said and done, what difference did it make, really?
Beyond the fact that she’d helped the people of the ice world claim the target colony world chosen by her own people and now they had to ask permission to settle.
Inwardly, she shrugged. There was room for many, many more. There was a primitive species on the planet but they were few in number and lived in tiny villages here and there around the globe.
Which was a very good thing because less than a month after the Earth colony ship arrived, the arks Torin’s people had built to survive the extinction event on their world arrived in a convoy.
Monica was still lost in confusion and wonder as they left the meeting, wondering if it was possible to repeat what they’d done and what the potential was for bringing the by now far flung tribes of mankind together across infinite space.
Mostly she was trying to shake Captain Clarkson, though, who had discovered a burning interest in her.
Probably wanted something, she thought resentfully.
She spotted Dar almost the moment they left the meeting, though, and her turmoil disappeared on the instant. “Dar!” she gasped with excitement, instantly capturing his attention.
And Kunga’s.
He dropped his kill, ordered Kunga to stay—amazingly enough Kunga actually obeyed—and hurried toward her, catching her full against his chest when she flung herself at him. “I was so worried! I thought you’d be back two days ago!”
Dar hugged her crushingly. “I missed you, beloved!” He set her away finally. “I told you I would not be back before today.”
Monica chuckled. “Yes, I know, but I thought sure you’d be back days ago!”
Dar kissed her soundly for that. “I thought that there was no rush when it was not my time to be with you. But you see I am back for that.”
Monica laughed although she was vaguely annoyed, as well.
Sex!
That was all they ever thought about!
Torin and Kael and Captain Clarkson caught up to them.
Torin and Kael exchanged greetings with Dar and began to discuss the hunt.
“This is my man, Dar,” Monica said by way of introduction.
“Oh. I thought …. Well, I was confused.”
“Oh! These are his bond brothers, Torin and Kael—my other men.”
That announcement clearly staggered him. He broke off and left abruptly.
Dar took the baby and linked arms with Monica while Torin and Kael went to fetch the beast Dar had brought for the family table.
They were back in a few minutes and there was something about their expressions that prompted a memory.
The way they’d looked when she’d dashed off to meet up with the Earth group.
“It’ll be nice to have someone to trade with,” Monica said after a moment.
Torin and Kael exchanged a long look.
“I doubt I’ll be going much, though. I mean, the baby will be due or maybe here before they even get started building. And, of course, we still have a lot to do ourselves ….”
Torin and Kael relaxed noticeably.
“I love you,” she murmured.
“Who?” Dar asked.
She laughed. “Well all of you, naturally!”
She waited a few minutes and irritation surfaced. “I didn’t hear a ‘we love you too’.”
Torin grinned at her. “I always call you beloved. I always have.”
Dar and Kael did, too.
Monica frowned thoughtfully.
“But ….”
“I love you, Meeka,” the three said in chorus—with just enough amusement in their voices to keep her guessing about their sincerity.
Not to be left out, James chimed in. “Lub oo mommy.”
The End.
Kaitlyn O'Connor, Exodus: Extinction Event
Exodus: Extinction Event Page 21