“Kneus was in the medical dome, I don’t know if he is there now.” She whispered, looking up at the brothers as they reached the Square.
They got the concentrated look on their faces so she knew they were talking to each other, or other members of the community.
“Kneus hasn’t left the Square.” Kniam stated out loud for her to hear. “We have done a lockdown. Ailech and Asteen are guarding our mates and children should this go badly. No one will come in and no one will get out.” His burning purple eyes locked onto hers, “I am sorry to lock you in with us Gwen. I know it is dangerous for Kneus to have made those marks on you tells me that, but we may need you in here.” The other brothers went to ask questions, and Kniam must have answered in mind because out loud he just said. “Our brother loves you, anyone can see that. He would never willingly put a mark on you.” He ran frustrated hands through his hair, “What are we dealing with? Do you have any idea Gwen?”
She just shrugged helplessly, “I don’t know Kniam. I need to be able to study the scans I took just before Kneus stopped me from sedating him.”
The suddenly quiet night was rent with the shrieks of an alarm.
“Well we know he is in the technology dome.” Knaleg drawled, seeming to take all this excitement in stride. “I had that alarm added to the computer systems. If someone tried to access vital information without the proper code it would activate the alarm, and also completely locked down all systems. It will take bio-readings from at least five members of the male council to unlock the computers now.”
Knollig stepped forward, “Did Kneus help you with that protocol?”
Knaleg thought then answered, “Yes, he did. Why?”
“Because it means that our baby brother is fighting whatever is going on in his head. If he knew that alarm was in place and he just set if off, he is warning us and helping lock up the computers at the same time.”
“We need to get in there and help him.” Gwen went to rush around Kniam, but he stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm.
“We are going to help Kneus.” He insisted gently, “But we need to come up with a plan first.”
Chapter Twenty Three
Damn them! Always thinking they are so smart! Trying to make me look bad. The rage was building and he wanted someone to vent it on! That pretty little ‘doctor’ would do nicely what was her name again? Gwen, his mind whispered back. Her name is Gwen, she is smart, compassionate, and funny.
“Oh...shut up! You are making me sick!” He snarled. “What the fuck did you do to the computers, and shut off that damn alarm!” The blaring was giving him a headache. With the touch of a button there was blessed silence. Laughing humorlessly to himself he snorted, “Not as damn smart as you think you are!” Now he just needed to crack the code locking him out of the computer systems.
“Kneus.” A soft voice sounded behind him. Ah, the sweet doctor was back for more was she. He knew he had her pegged right, she did like it rough. The other voice he just ignored. It was pathetic how it whined and begged for her like some love-sick teenager. “She came of her own free will, shut up already!”
“Yes, I’m here willingly Kneus.”
“Not you the other one.” He thought she was supposed to be smart, yet she hadn’t figured anything out. “I said shut up or you are going to make me angry!!”
“Okay, Kneus. I’ll stay quiet if you let me stay with you.” The female’s cow eyes were looking at him imploringly.
“I already said not you...you aren’t half as smart as he thinks you are!” Ignoring the female he went back to the computer. Really, if she was the most intelligent female on this rock then that was just sad! She was dumb as dirt, and he would almost say the dirt was smarter.
He felt a fluttering in his head and after a brief moment of excitement that he fought down he drawled, “Really brother. Having the female distract me was the best you could come up with?” He turned slowly from the console. Starting at the feet he looked his brother over. He really was a brute of a man. Tall and muscular with those chiseled features...but then again so was he! Laughing to himself over his private joke he finally made eye contact with the male he so hated!
“Long time no see big brother.” He spat the words out, and then suddenly shook his head and snapped, “Stop fighting me damn it! What a little prick you still are!”
“I haven’t done anything, I’m not fighting you.” Kniam spoke softly to try to calm his brother.
“Gods, you are so stupid. How is it possible that you survived all these years?” He turned back to the computer. “It fucking blows my mind that you are the leader here. I am a million times smarter.” He didn’t even have to turn to say, “You don’t want to do that Knaleg. I know you are there...along with Knollig.” He laughed a malevolent sound, “Brothers forever...fighting the evil forces that would harm those you love.” He turned and leaned back against the console. “Hello brothers. I must say Kniam and Knollig I am disappointed in you two.” His icy blank stare went over those two then moved to Knaleg. “But you little brother...you are a fierce beast are you not?” He looked over Knaleg and smiled, “You have the military look about you. Strong, savage...a killer in sheep’s clothing. You might prove entertaining.” He stood up and cracked his knuckles. “So who wants to go first?”
“No!” Gwen screamed then froze when Kneus looked at her.
“Go sit in a corner.” He snarled, “Females are weak and stupid and if you get in my way, I will kill you!” He grabbed his head and growled, “Which is why I told her to sit in the damn corner. Fucking cunt if she messes up my plans, I will kill everyone on this god forsaken fucking rock.” Whatever was going on in Kneus’ head must have stopped. With a growl he moved forward. “I just want to play a little. Now how does this work for you?” He flexed his mind, then all three brothers yelled out in pain.
“Does that hurt?” He asked mockingly. “How about this?” Again he let his mind go, and again the brothers yelled out. “It is no fun if you are just going to stand there crying. How about a new game.” He looked at Knaleg and Knollig, “Stay!” Both brothers froze un-able to move, their eyes flashing angrily at him. “You thought Kniam was the only one who could freeze someone in place with his mind? How amusingly ignorant of you. He and I are going to have some fun, you two don’t move...” Laughing menacingly Kneus added, “As if you could even if you wanted to!”
Walking forward he felt his brother try reach into his mind, to stop him using his abilities. “No cheating now Kniam!” He drawled mockingly, “I won’t try to mind fuck you...if you don’t try to mind fuck me!” He had reached Kniam and they faced off.
Chapter Twenty Four
Gwen could only sit hopelessly and watch as Kniam and Kneus fought. It was obvious that Kneus would win. Not because he was a better fighter, which was entirely possible, but because Kniam was fighting to subdue and avoid doing damage. Kneus on the other hand was fighting to do as much damage as he could. Poor Kniam’s face was a battered mess, and she knew he had broken bones in his ribs, leg and hands. Tears were streaming down her face at the pain Kniam must be feeling. It was just a miracle that Amber wasn’t here to see this. It was bad enough that she had to.
“You are such a disappointment brother.” Kneus mocked laughingly as he danced out of the way of Kniam’s fist. Suddenly he stopped laughing and grabbed his head, “I swear if you don’t stay out of this I will start killing people, instead of just playing.”
Kniam had taken the opening and grabbed Kneus in a bear hug. “Enough Kneus. Stop this madness.”
“Madness.” Kneus snarled and fought to free himself from his brother’s arms. “I warned you never to use that term with me again.” Gwen shrank in terror at the murderous look in Kneus’ face. If Kniam let go he would breathe his last breath she was sure of it.
Suddenly there was a ‘rippling’ in the air behind Kneus. Gwen wanted to scream but she couldn’t seem to fill her lungs. All that came out was a soft strangled sound. The rippling effe
ct continued until a massive, armored figure stood there. He had a weapon pointed at the back of Kneus, and without hesitation fired. Kneus’ eyes widened in shock for one second, then he slumped in Kniam’s arms. Since he hadn’t been expecting his brother to go slack, Kniam wasn’t prepared to support his brother’s weight. They both ended up toppling over onto the ground unconscious. Knaleg and Knollig were finally free from the mind lock that had them frozen to their spots. Both stood there uncertainly looking from the brothers on the ground to the stranger with the weapon.
“Hello again.” The stranger spoke with a whiskey-smoked accent. “Are you just going to let your brother’s lay there on the ground?” He put his weapon into some type of holster and looked around at his stunned audience. “I promise not to shoot anyone else...unless I have to that is.”
Knaleg and Knollig moved cautiously to help get Kneus off of Kniam. Gwen, keeping a weary eye on the stranger moved closer also. Doing a quick assessment of Kniam she told the brothers, “He needs to be put into the medical unit right away. He has too many broken bones to count. His ribs are what worry me most. They could collapse a lung, so move him carefully. Thank god the medical unit is so close.” Done with Kniams exam, she moved to Kneus. Gently moving the hair off his face, she hurried to examine him for injuries. It was as she had thought. Kniam had been fighting to block Kneus’ blows, not do any damage. All he had were minor wounds to his hands and some bruising to his kidneys and ribs. Looking up at the departing forms of Knollig and Knaleg she called out, “When you get done with Kniam we need to get Kneus into a medical unit, and then sedated.”
“That won’t be enough to save him you know.” The stranger whispered. Pushing a button on his armor his faceplate retracted revealing a sickly, gaunt face.
“What do you mean?” Gwen moved protectively over Kneus. “You stay away from him.”
“It is what has already been set in motion.” The male said sadly, “Not something I plan to do.” His cobalt blue eyes were intense in his pale face. “There may be a way, but we will have to act fast.”
As if on cue Kneus started writhing on the ground. His back arching off the floor, and then slapping back down. His arms were flailing madly and she had to hurry out of the way. Gwen cried out for the brothers. “Knaleg, Knollig...Help. Something is wrong with Kneus!”
The brothers came running back into the technology dome. Knollig rushed to his brother on the ground, Knaleg turned to the stranger. “What have you done?” he roared.
The stranger just put his hands up, “I have done nothing. There may be a way to stop this if you let me help you.”
Knollig was having difficulty holding Kneus down. “Help Knaleg. We need to get him sedated.” The brothers grabbed Kneus and hurried to half drag, half carry the thrashing form to the medical bay. The pale stranger followed them, his dark blue eyes filled with concern.
“Sedate him if you must. Then you need to hurry.” He coughed and Gwen was shocked when blood oozed from his mouth. He quickly wiped it away, looking at her he smiled crookedly, “We are almost out of time.”
Gwen hurried with the others into the medical dome. Once Kneus was locked into his bed and sedated the brothers turned on the stranger once again. She remained standing next to his bed.
“We need some answers to what is going on here.” Knollig snapped. “Who are you and what is happening to Kneus?”
Knaleg moved to stand with Knollig, waiting impatiently for the stranger to answer. He looked like he was about to explode at any second.
“Gods you two never change!” The stranger started laughing. When Knaleg went to move forward he held up his hands, “Don’t bite my head off! I will tell you what I can.” He coughed again, blood pooling on his lips. “As I already told the doctor here, we are running out of time.”
“So give us the condensed version.” Knollig snapped.
Sighing the stranger said, “My name is Baylech. I came through your port pad the day of the attack on Antilles. Before you and your mate Cat and the others came back. We were already here. Cloaked.”
“You just said we...” Gwen noticed that Knaleg’s face turned a deeper shade of red and she worried he might have a stroke! He took a deep breath then ground out, “There are others?”
“One other. We will get to that part. Do not interrupt me again or would you like for Kneus to die?”
Knaleg just pursed his lips together and glared at Baylech, “Go on.”
“When we scout a planet like Antilles we are tasked with following any Terra made signals and using any port pads we find. My partner and I found the one to this planet. Terraneu.” He laughed again, “Really, very original...New Earth. Very nice name for your new home.” He started to pace. “So. Once we find a port pad and use it, we then find out what that planet holds. In this case we found you. Normally we would have used the port pad to return to our scouting parties, but you closed the port pad before we could return. We were stuck here, but there is protocol for that as well.” He stopped and asked, “Is it possible for me to have some water?”
Gwen hurried to get him a glass and handed it over as quickly as possible.
“Thank you.” Baylech bowed low to her then continued, “The protocol for being on a strange planet with humanoids...well let me just be frank, not just humanoids...but you, well the path to take is clear. We set up the ANT, or Amplified Neural Transmitter—”
“For what purpose is this ANT?” Kniam had come out of his medical unit with a vengeance. “Knollig, Knaleg what is going on?” he demanded as he strode over to stand with his brothers. Gwen was surprised when Baylech slapped his fist against his chest and bowed.
“Kniam. I wondered how long it would take the medical unit to fix you. Sorry I couldn’t have stopped the fight sooner, once you had in that hold I knew it was my chance to stun him.” He returned to pacing. “I will let the brothers tell you what I have said so far.” He went back to drinking his water. Gwen noticed that Knaleg and Knollig had clearly decided to ‘talk’ in mind. She knew she was correct when Kniam snapped.
“So you have a transmitter out there somewhere. I ask again, for what purpose?”
The stranger coughed and again he frothed blood at the mouth. “I don’t have much time. I can’t tell you everything but I can tell you how to find the ANT. We had a...shall we say a ‘technical issue’ and had to move it. That took us a few weeks to find the perfect spot. We just got it set back up and running.”
The way Baylech had said ‘technical issue’ made her wonder how long he had been sabotaging the transmitter. Then it dawned on her, “That is why Kneus hasn’t had nightmares for weeks. You were moving this ANT thing around?” Gwen was beginning to understand but needed to let Baylech finish his explanation.
Baylech looked at her questioningly then decided to answer, “Yes. There would have been a lack of connection when we moved the equipment. It is safe to knock out the ANT now because they have to know it would be found. After the sleep study you did, you are a smart woman and would find the additional frequency we used on your scan of Kneus’ brain.” Baylech was hit with a bout of coughing and bent in half holding his middle he gasped, “I must tell you this...the other with me is guarding the transmitter, but he is as bad off as I am.” He tried to lift his head and Gwen saw his eyes were oozing blood now too. “We cannot live off the ship for any duration. It modifies space radiation that recharges our cells. Your suns...as nice as they are, don’t work for me. My cells are de-generating at an accelerated rate.”
He gasped in pain again and went to his knees on the ground, “This instrument will take you to the transmitter. You must destroy it or he will be able use all connections to shatter Kneus’ mind.” He reached for something on his belt, and held it out. Kniam strode forward to take it. “You have until the sedation on Kneus loses effectiveness. I am guessing less than an hour. I wish...I had time...to tell you everything...” With one final gasp Baylech collapsed on the ground.
“Gwen see what you ca
n do for Baylech.” Kniam charged toward the doors to the dome. “Knaleg, Knollig you two are with me. We are going on a hunt.”
“How do you know you can trust what he is saying?” Knaleg held his ground where he stood. “It could be a trap.”
“He could have done far more damage being cloaked.” Knollig argued, “When Kniam and Kneus were fighting he only used his weapon to stun, and everything he has told us makes sense.”
“We don’t have time to stand around debating.” Kniam snapped, “Kneus only has until the sedation wears off, then this ANT thing will take over his mind again. We have to find their camp and kill the other man if we have to, destroy this ANT, and free Kneus. I don’t care if I have to fight a hundred men to reach that thing.” Kniam was already out the door when Knaleg and Knollig hurried to catch up.
Gwen ran to the door to yell, “Make sure to release the system lockdown!” She had just turned back around when she yelled again, “Oh, and someone send for the female council! We are meeting here in the Square...Now!” She would have tried the computer, but she knew it would take the council a few minutes to get that system unlocked. The male telepathy network of Terraneu could have Amber, Jen, Mairi and Cat here long before that.
Turning back to the man on the ground she hurried to examine him. What she found was not encouraging. He was in a very bad way and fading fast.
Chapter Twenty Five
“Kneus can you hear me?” Gwen’s soft breath tickled his ear. “Wake up, please wake up.” He felt her lips against his then she moved away. A few moments later a soft whispering reached his ears. Not that he minded but why was Gwen kissing him?
Kneus: A Terraneu Novel (Book Four) Page 11