“He might not recover Gwen. You need to prepare yourself for the worst.” That was Kniam’s voice.
“She has faith that he will make it. Let her have hope Kniam.” Kneus wanted to laugh, Amber...effervescent, unsinkable Amber. “I would do the same for you, as would Cat and Jen for their mates.”
His still sluggish brain grasped the fact that they had put Gwen in the same list of ‘mates’, which had him reeling. He heard a round of murmured agreement. Both councils were here then? He tried to remember what had happened but his head hurt too much to focus. His brow furrowed in thought as he tried to recall his last memory. The last thing he could pick out of the jumble in his brain was the attack on Antilles. They had de-activated the port pad and he was working on finding shielding, weapons and reasons for the male blackouts. He had been working with Gwen...he found her attractive but...his brain screamed in agony when he pushed for more memories so with a groan he gave up trying to recall anything.
“I think Kneus just moved.” He heard Thian state.
“Kneus?” He felt soft fingers entwined with his and knew somehow that Gwen had grabbed his hand, “Can you open your eyes. I have it dimmed so the light shouldn’t hurt. Please try to open your eyes.” She sounded desperate, and some part of him wanted to comfort her. So with a determined grimace he slowly opened his eyes. It was a blurry mass of colors and shapes, but eventually he was able to focus.
“Gwen.” His voice came out raspy and dry. “Water—” before he could continue Gwen threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
“Oh Kneus...” she was kissing all over his face and Kneus knew something was terribly wrong. Though not unpleasant he wasn’t quite sure this was normal doctor/friend/colleague/patient protocol.
“Uh...Gwen.” He tried to talk but his throat was just too parched. He put his hands on her shoulder and gently pushed her up. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he needed to find out what was going on. He moved his eyes from her confused face around the room to land on Kniam.
“Can you please tell me what has happened?” Each word was a knife to his throat to speak, but he had to know. “Why am I in the medical dome? The last thing I remember was our council meeting after the attack on Antilles.” He wasn’t sure why, but his words caused chaos. He caught the words “doesn’t remember?” and “amnesia” before Kniam called for quiet. It got silent and Gwen handed him some water. He drank it down before she could stop him, then she refilled it and handed it back to him again.
“Please drink more, but slowly this time.” She advised him, “We need to get as much water into your system as possible, only gradually not all at once.”
“I think it best if we give Kneus some space.” Kniam turned to the group around him.
“I am staying.” Knaleg insisted stubbornly.
“I am staying also.” Knollig stated.
“I am going to check on the triplets.” Amber came over and gave Kneus a hug and a wet kiss on the cheek. “We were all worried for you...I am so happy that you are awake.”
“I will go with Amber.” Catherine hurried over and game him a hug. “You gave us quite the scare...” after kissing his cheek she moved off toward the door.
“We will come too. I need to check on the twins and all this excitement can’t be good for Jen.” Both Mairi and Jen moved to his side and hugged him.
Kneus had been so stunned with Gwen kissing him, that he hadn’t even noticed Mairi was no longer pregnant! His head started to pound again as he tried to gain the memory of the twins being born. He wouldn’t forget something like that, he swore to himself to be there for his brother and his mate.
“The twins...” he ground out desperately, “They have been born? They are healthy?” His eyes started to water from the pain but he needed to know. How had he missed the birth of his nieces?!
Knollig moved to his side, “The girls are healthy and thriving. We named them Chloe and Celeste. Do you remember anything about that day?”
As much as Kneus wanted to say ‘Yes’ he couldn’t. He felt as if an axe was splitting his head in two. “No.” He gasped out against the pain, “No, I don’t remember anything except researching with Gwen.”
Gwen rushed over and looked into his eyes. “No more questions for right now.” She hurried to press a button on his medical unit, and Kneus knew it was a sedative she had requested. His whole body felt languid and fuzzy. Before he lost consciousness he looked around frantically, “What is going on?” His voice was slurring. “Wh-a-t...i-s-h...wr-on-g...” he couldn’t finish, he lost his ability to speak. Just before he passed out he heard Gwen.
“It is going to be okay Kneus. You are going to get better I swear it, we are in this together.” He felt her breath against his ear, “I will never give up on you.” Then he lost consciousness again.
Chapter Twenty Six
Gwen wanted to scream and cry and hit the walls in frustration. Kneus had woken up which she was elated with. But he didn’t remember anything since the attack on Antilles as far as they could tell. All of the last months of working together, dating, making love and plans to be together were erased. Desperate to get hold of herself she took in deep breaths in through her nose, out through the mouth until she felt a small sense of calm.
Kneus didn’t need her hysterical and weepy over something that couldn’t be changed. She needed to remain calm and professional, for both their sakes. When she was alone in her dome she could fall apart. Right now she needed to keep a level head.
“Gwen?” Amber and the other female council had stayed after all and were hovering near her, “Is there anything we can do?”
Straightening her spine Gwen faced them, “Thank you for asking Amber, but no...There isn’t anything you can do.” She had a thought and found her first smile since sedating Kneus. “We found each other once, we will do it again. I won’t let Kneus out of the ‘mate’ trap so easily.” Gwen actually laughed with the others. “Go check on your families and you Jen...” She moved to hug all of her friends, “You need to get extra water and sun.” Once all of the females were gone, Gwen looked around at the remaining male council members. They had all stayed behind to see not only what was happening with Kneus, but there was also their mystery guest Baylech to worry about as well.
Gwen was tired and quietly moved to lie down on a medical bed. The males were talking softly to each other and didn’t stop her. With a sigh she snuggled into the pillow and stared at the rise and fall of Kneus’ chest. It was a comfort to see the steady rhythm of his breaths, they were a sharp contrast to the chaos of yesterday. Thinking back she remembered the males rushing out to stop the ANT that Baylech had told them about. She had called a female council meeting and they had all arrived in the medical dome.
“What in the holy hell is going on?” Amber wasn’t exactly calm as she had stormed in. “Kniam races out of our dome, then Asteen and Ailech make all of us ‘hide’ in our bathroom while they guarded the door.” Amber was pacing her hair frazzled and flying around her face. “Have you ever been stuffed into one room with three other females, five babies and four sacath?” When everyone just stared at her she seemed to lose it completely. “Well it isn’t very comfortable.” She shrieked.
“We were there too Amber.” Jen hurried to calm her friend. Everyone knew it was worry for Kniam and the other males that had her freaking out. “It is going to be okay. Kniam and the others are all fierce fighters if it comes down to it. Don’t let their civilized demeanor fool you.”
“That’s true.” Catherine hurried to add, “They may seem calm, but when they are protecting someone they care about they can be vicious. You know that better than most.” Catherine was referring to when Kniam had snapped a male’s neck for beating her unconscious then trying to kill her.
Gwen had decided to fill them in on everything that had happened. Starting with the nightmares Kneus had been having. The look the others gave her made her feel like a slug.
“I couldn’t tell you about the nightmares, h
e made me promise.” Gwen tried to make them understand. “If I had told you, then you would have told your mates...then they would have confronted him. Kneus would have stopped trusting me, and I would have deserved it.”
“It’s okay Gwen. We understand.” Mairi was the first to break the silence. “We would all have done the same, and you are right. It would have been impossible for us to keep a secret like that from our mates.”
“What else led up to this morning Gwen?” Amber had regained her compose, “What is going on and who is that fellow on the ground.”
“Oh shit.” Gwen gasped and slapped her head, “How could I have forgotten Baylech. We need to make a decision quickly.” She hurried over to the prone man and examined him again. He was unconscious and his vitals were weak and erratic.
“This is Baylech. He came through the port pad.” Gwen hurried to tell them everything that had happened. Kneus choking her, the brothers fighting, this mysterious man coming out of nowhere. When she was finished she asked, “What do we do? We don’t know that the men aren’t headed for a trap.” Amber gasped and her pacing stopped short. “Sorry Amber, but that is the truth. Baylech seemed to help, but it could all be a ploy to get to the men.”
“We have to make a decision fast, that poor fellow isn’t going to be alive much longer.” Jen pointed out.
“I say we let him die. He has served his purpose either way. By using that ANT thing to mess with Kneus’ mind, then sending our men out to find it. Either way he has done his job and is dying anyway.” Catherine didn’t seem to mind voicing her opinion.
“I don’t agree.” Mairi argued, “I was almost dead when the medical fix helped me.” She got teary eyed, “You don’t know what it is like to be so close to death. Don’t be so fast to proclaim that fate on anyone. If what that fellow said is half true, we need to help him. Either by making his passing painless, or trying to fix what is wrong with him.”
“Is that even possible?” Amber asked, “Can we fix him?”
Gwen had thought about the possibility of using the medical fix and trying to save Baylech. She just didn’t know if it would work or turn into a rather nasty science experiment gone awry. She told the other females the truth, “I just don’t know what the medical fix would do to him.”
“He is dying either way. I say if we are going to try to help him, use the medical unit and fix him.” Catherine added just so everyone knew her position, “If it turns out that he is lying and anything happens to Knaleg. I will kill him myself.”
“Yes Cat. I imagine there will be a line for this man’s head if our males end up in some kind of trap. I have to trust what I saw and what I saw is Baylech was helping us.” Gwen insisted.
“It’s settled then.” Jen sighed, “We move this man into a medical unit and hope for the best.”
The others had all grabbed an arm or leg while she had gotten the other medical unit ready. She wasn’t sure that Baylech would be thanking them for this or cursing them. Either way the die was cast. With some pushing and pulling they managed to get the male into the medical unit. Gwen had to override some safety protocols, and then with one last look at Baylech, she closed the machine and hit the button to start the change. With the amount of damage he had endured she expected this to be a long wait.
Tearing her eyes from Kneus, she rolled over to look at the other medical unit. It was still flashing and beeping quietly. She was hoping for some good news on at least one front today.
“Gwen.” Kniam whispered softly, “We have some questions as to what is going on with Kneus and we need to speak with you.”
Gwen sighed and sat up on the medical bed. “I know that there is a lot to talk about, but I wasn’t sure if you were going to ask until things had settled.”
“We are hoping to have answers for Kneus when he wakes up.” Knollig had moved to stand by the medical bed. The other men joined him until all of the members stood around her bed now. It was a bit intimidating to be surrounded by a wall of men, but she nodded for them to go ahead with their question.
“When we found the ANT that Baylech told us about, the other male was already dead.” Kniam started over with what Gwen had already learned yesterday. “We destroyed it of course, but marked its location in case Kneus can learn anything from it.”
“What we need you to confirm, what we suspect...” Knaleg struggled for the words. “Was this ANT thing controlling Kneus?” He finally asked.
Gwen reached for a portable console and moved it to her side, her legs hanging off the bed. “I think it goes much deeper than that. I don’t think the ANT was doing the controlling.” She needed to show them the scan she had done of Kneus. “Here is a normal scan.” She pushed a button. “Here is the one done on Kneus. For some reason and I think the ANT is why, it was as if Kneus had two different brain waves. I didn’t see it until I knew to look again for anomalies.”
Kniam found his voice first, “So there was another person inside Kneus’ head?”
“Yes. That is a good way to describe it. For some reason Kneus was susceptible and this ANT made it possible for someone to take over his body. While sleeping at first which Kneus took to be nightmares, then it became more powerful.”
“That is why I am in the medical dome?” Everyone gasped and spun around to see Kneus sitting up in bed. “Someone took over my body?”
“Not just someone...” They all gasped again and spun the other direction. Baylech was awake and sitting up in his medical unit. “Your brother, and you Kneus weren’t ‘susceptible’ you were genetically compatible. It worked exactly as you had created it to work.”
Chapter Twenty Seven
If he lived to be a million years old he would never forget the last few days. Not if there was another ANT, not even if he was cloned and his memories wiped! He swore the shock of it all would be imbedded in his genetic code forever.
After he had woke to hear Gwen and the others talking about this ANT thing, he had shocked them by asking if that was why he was in medical. Then the other fellow, Baylech he was to learn, had shocked them all by saying it was their brother that had been in his head...and he had created the device that helped him do it. The others had told him that he had been having nightmares, only they weren’t dreams, it was his crazy brother messing with his head. While asleep he had heard a voice repeating ‘we are coming’ that he took as a warning, only it wasn’t a warning it was a litany, a promise! They were coming and his mad brother was excited to have found them!
Now they were all together in a joint council meeting, the male council members had been fixed so they wouldn’t go ‘blank’ upon hearing the names Marcael and Elyon. They would want to stay awake for that part he thought sardonically. He was about to give a presentation on what he had learned from the archives. Baylech had helped with that as well. It had only taken one word to unlock the ‘missing’ information from the archives. The name of their insane brother: Knuan.
“Let me get started. This is going to be a long meeting. Mairi we will all understand if you need us to take a break at some point to feed the twins.” He looked at his brother’s mate and she nodded her head in thanks.
“We might as well start at the beginning. I have worked on the translator to keep things as accurate as possible. We will understand what is being said with the infliction of who is talking. No clean up of the words, so the recordings might sound rough. This is one of the first files I found when I input the name of our brother Knuan.”
Kneus clicked on the computer console and an image of Kniam appeared. He was in the familiar clothing of black leather vest, pants and boots. Kneus gestured to the holographic image, “This is a good place to start.” Kneus clicked again and the holograph started speaking.
“If you are seeing this there can only be one explanation. You are in danger far greater than anything you have ever faced. Well you have not faced this evil for what we hope has been thousands of years.” This Kniams voice was just a bit different, you could almost pick out a strang
e accent when he talked. “We hid the files relating to this part of our history in the hopes that you would never need to see it. Our hopes proved futile it would seem, so now we must arm you with knowledge so you can make a decision. I will say this, if you have the means to do so, flee now. Do not hesitate or wait. If you have not the means to escape the planet, well then prepare to defend yourselves...ourselves?? He is coming, or you wouldn’t be seeing this.”
Kneus hit the pause button. “There is a lot of technical information in this file about weapons and cloaking. We had to stop producing them due to lack of materials but we should be able to continue their fabrication now.”
Kneus looked to Baylech then around the room. “As to who is coming, Baylech has knowledge of our history and Knuan. He has asked to speak to these points.” With a nod Kneus moved to sit down so Baylech could have the floor.
He had survived the medical changes done to him. Kneus had been shocked that the trauma hadn’t killed the man outright. He had one obvious side effect from the change that the females hadn’t his hair was snow white. From his wounds or perhaps the trauma of the medical change Kneus couldn’t say. They were playing with genetics that had already been played with so the side effects could be numerous. As to the white hair, Kneus didn’t think the females were going to care. He had seen them staring at the newcomer almost as much as they chased Ailech.
“Thank you for allowing me to speak. I have a unique advantage of knowing this part of your history. Your archives may not be as accurate as I will try to be. It is a long story and I will try to be brief.”
Baylech started his accounting of their history, “Your father was a great King.” He ignored the females gasps and mutterings to continue, “His Grace was ruler over a land we called Hedal. It was prosperous, and grand with food, art, technology.” He seemed to be lost in memory. “The greatest city in all of Hedal was Socar. Never was there such a city and never again will there be. The people of Hedal were envied throughout Terra, and its King beloved.” He smiled in a wistful way. “One day it was advised to our King that he needed to build better relations with the neighboring nation of Aekaetum.” Everyone gasped when Baylech suddenly spit on the floor. “My pardon.” He apologized blushing profusely, “Old habits are hard to break.” He smiled weakly around the room, “Aekaetum was not as prosperous as Hedal, and they were forever fighting one war or another. Where Hedal was based on science, knowledge and technology Aekaetum was the opposite. The King however agreed to a marriage to improve relations and wed the daughter of a mighty warlord, her name was Elyon.”
Kneus: A Terraneu Novel (Book Four) Page 12