"Would that please you to hear the words?"
"More than anything."
"I love you, Gordon, above all things, as well."
He continued his caresses and gentle touches, but his mind was clicking away in a calculated manner that was more familiar to him than tender persuasion. "I may need to rely upon your love in the near future, Delphina. Someone is coming who would do me great harm. A man who would take you away from me. You know I would die if we were separated."
"Gordon, my love, we must not allow this man to do such a thing. Why would he do this? Who is he?"
Underwood sighed and slumped back in the chair, looking as forlorn as possible. "He is from your world, Delphina, and I am afraid he does not understand how much I need you to remain with me."
"Then we will tell him, and he will go away again."
"I'm afraid it won't be that simple. They'll just send someone else until I have lost you." He closed his eyes and grimaced in mock pain.
Delphina kissed his forehead and stroked his smooth head. "There must be something we can do."
Underwood pretended to consider her words, then carefully began outlining his plan to her. "They have so much more power than I, but if I were to possess a small portion of their knowledge, perhaps I would discover how to stop them from coming. I would require only a few of your special skills. Would you be willing to help me?"
"Of course, Gordon."
Chapter Sixteen
Hasten slowly.—Augustus Caesar
Having just finished her shift, Doctor Yeguli was about to head home when a phantom appeared in her path. The shape was humanoid except for the large black globe where the head should have been and the reflective, black shield that wrapped around what might be its eyes. Its arms protectively held a long object wrapped in a blood-soaked shroud. The beast growled and she stepped aside. Bloody fingers shot out from beneath their burden and grasped her arm. The phantom growled again.
Falcon stared at the frightened woman and tried again to communicate his need. What was wrong with him? He could not think beyond the dense, red fog swirling madly around him. "Falcon! Falcon! What's the matter?" The familiar, deep voice cut through the haze and made him turn toward the sound. Romulus. Falcon clung to the name, using it as a focus for his control. Reason found a foothold as he forced himself to remember why, when he had arrived in Innerworld, he had asked for the governor of the colony, and slowly, he defeated the pervasive fog. "Romulus. You once promised me a favor. I must request it at this time."
Romulus closely regarded the man whose gravelly voice confirmed he was his friend. "Of course." He took in Falcon's blood-splattered condition, then appraised the bundle in Falcon's arms. "Are you hurt, Falcon?"
"They killed her, Romulus. I should not have left her. She was protecting me. You will order the doctor to bring her back and repair what the butchers did to her."
Romulus frowned and pulled the sheet back to view the face. As he did so, Falcon clutched the body tighter to him. Whatever happened to Falcon in the last week would have to be explained later. "This is not the female you were sent to track. She's a Terran, isn't she? You brought her here, like this, knowing it's against our laws?"
"Her death is my fault. You promised a favor. Her life is what I ask of you. She has two beautiful, little children, Romulus."
Romulus did not hesitate to make his decision. "Release Doctor Yeguli's arm, Falcon. Let her show you where to put your patient, then we'll talk."
Falcon looked down at his own hand with disgust as he relaxed his fingers. "I apologize, Doctor. I am... upset."
She nodded at him hesitantly and, after assuring herself that what she was about to do had the governor's approval, she led Falcon to a treatment room.
When Falcon did not immediately return, Romulus went looking for him. He found him hovering over the patient, holding her hand in one of his and touching her temple with the other. "Falcon. You can't help her. Let Doctor Yeguli do her work, and you come with me. It's time for some explanations." He laid his hand on Falcon's shoulder and waited.
Slowly, Falcon gave in to Romulus's prompting and followed him upstairs to the governor's suite.
"Maybe we should start with an easy question," Romulus prodded. "What the drek are you supposed to be dressed for?"
Falcon managed an expression that fell between a grimace and a smile as he removed the helmet and sunglasses and shook his hair loose. "I exchanged clothes with a police officer. They were not acquired in a completely honorable manner, but I had little choice at the time." His gaze scanned the ruined uniform and his bloodstained hands. "I would appreciate the opportunity to improve my appearance before I report."
Romulus offered the use of his shower and a change of clothes in exchange for one more question. "Did you get the ring?"
"No. But I know where it is now. As soon as I am certain Steve will be all right, I will return for it."
"You took a terrible risk using the transmigrator just now, and you want permission to go back out? You were under strict orders—"
Falcon held up a hand. "Please, Romulus, my friend, I can barely hear your words, let alone respond intelligently. Your lecture will be considerably more effective without the smell of her blood in my nostrils." He accepted Romulus's shrug as permission to attend to his needs.
Rom tried in vain to correlate what he had just seen and heard with the Falcon he had met with a little over a week ago. He decided his co-governor's assistance was clearly required, and he sent out his mental call to her. Aster?
Hi, darling.
I think we may have a problem and I'd like your input. I'm in my office. Ill fill you in on your way.
All right. What is it? Aster headed to her mate's office as they continued their telepathic communication.
Falcons here, and, no, he doesn't have the ring. You can hear the update at the same time I do. It's Falcon who has me worried. He brought back a deceased female and demanded she be repaired. But it's more than that. I want you to see him, talk to him. Something is drastically different about our friend.
Ill be there in a few minutes. I love you.
"Say greetings for me, too," Falcon said as he returned. When Rom raised an eyebrow, he went on, "It is not difficult to deduce with whom you were communicating. You reserve that particular expression only for your mate." He smiled easily as he made himself comfortable. Between delivering Steve into capable hands and the hot shower, he had regained control of his overwhelmingly emotional state.
"She'll be here in a moment. Are you feeling better?"
"Yes, thank you. I apologize for my manner earlier. I am not yet accustomed to dealing with my own fears."
"So, it's gotten worse in the last week?"
"Yes and no. I. . ."
Aster's appearance in the doorway stopped Falcon from completing his explanation. She came forward and took both of his hands as he rose. "Hello, Falcon. I'm glad to see you in one piece. You were strictly ordered not to use the transmigrator unless you had retrieved the ring."
Falcon smiled. "The two of you are beginning to sound alike. I hope you will understand why I disobeyed your order when I have completed my report."
Aster squeezed his hands once and went to sit next to Rom. She placed her hand in his open palm and their fingers intertwined. Falcon had seen them touching before. He should not have felt anything unusual when Rom's fingers slid between Aster's. It was an insignificant gesture. Yet his heart trembled, and he found it difficult to take a deep breath. Steve. He should have stayed in Medical where he could make sure she was restored, where he could be there when she awakened. Steve would like to have her hand held like that.
"Falcon?" Rom waved his hand in front of him. "Are you sure you're up to this?" He and Aster shared a concerned glance.
Falcon blinked and cleared his thoughts. "I am fine. As I intimated, I am having a few problems adjusting." He caught Aster's slight eye movement and knew she was questioning his meaning. "It is all right, Romulus
. I believe if I explain this first, the rest will sound more rational. You see, Aster, before I left, I told Romulus I was experiencing some changes. My human emotions were beginning to surface— emotions I was not even aware I had. I was very disturbed by the belief that if I did not control and suppress these ... feelings, that I would lose some or all of my felan gifts."
Rom leaned forward. "I gather from what I've seen today, you weren't able to control your reactions."
"I do not believe I ever had a chance of doing that, especially after meeting Steve."
"Steve?" Aster asked quickly.
"Perhaps, after all, it would be better if I simply began at the beginning." For the next hour, Falcon gave his official progress report, peppered with personal asides that involved Steve, her family, his emotional growth, and his subsequent discovery of new and greater powers.
It occurred to Aster that what Falcon did not say about Steve told her more than what he did say, but it would not be proper for her to mention it. Rom had no such qualms.
"It sounds like Steve may have been a catalyst for this stage of your life, Falcon. Don't forget you are half Noronian, and therefore, subject to the same mating fever I had with Aster." He continued before Falcon could come up with a response. "What about that other little matter we discussed in our last conversation?"
The bronzing on Falcon's cheekbones rose before he could stop it. This was absurd! He was actually embarrassed over a normal physical function. Of course, he did not have any way of knowing whether what he and Steve had shared was normal or not.
"Falcon, you left us again," Rom taunted.
"Oh. Yes. The matter... has been resolved."
Rom could not resist. "Satisfactorily?"
Aster glanced from one man to another. There was something male going on here, and Rom was blocking his thoughts from her. Well, she would just have to get it out of him later.
Falcon finally gave in and laughed at Rom's question. If Aster were not present, he might have asked for some further insight on "the matter." Later. "Yes. Very."
"And I believe that brings us to the problem of Steve's presence in Innerworld. What exactly do you plan to do with her?"
"I am responsible. When she is well, I will return her to her family. She is needed."
Rom and Aster both spoke at once, "You can't return her."
"It is against our laws to allow an Outerworlder to return once they are here," Rom added unnecessarily.
Falcon sighed. "She already knows all there is to know. She has not and will never betray us."
"Even so, wouldn't you like to have her stay here?" Aster suggested.
That solution had never entered Falcon's mind, but he felt its seductive appeal immediately and determined to remain logical in the face of such a welcome idea. "There are two small children and her mother to be considered."
Aster opened her mouth, but Rom stopped her. "It is one thing when an Outerworlder is trapped here by accident. There is~always the possibility that it was meant to be in the greater scheme of life. What you are considering, Aster, would be a conscious decision that would change the future of two young lives, as well as countless others whom they would have affected. As long as we cannot see what those children's futures hold, I cannot condone interference."
Falcon nodded his understanding. "I have already interfered with their lives. Their mother should be alive and with them in their own world. There are two scientists from your mission who know of our existence. You trusted them not to reveal our secret. I ask you to trust me now. Steve will never speak to anyone of our world. I request permission to return to Outerworld while she is recuperating here. I will return with the ring and Delphina and will then take Steve home." And never again see her, touch her, love her. He struggled against the fist tightening around his heart.
Aster was shocked to see his feelings displayed so clearly. Her own romantic heart cried for him. "Falcon, perhaps you could stay out there awhile longer. Rom? Isn't there some way?"
Rom tried to warn her mentally that this was probably not a simple matter of star-crossed lovers, but rather Falcon's inability to blend in with Outerworld humans. Instantly, he realized the futility of such a warning in the face of her feelings for Falcon. "I suppose. We have not yet replaced the emissary we lost in that sector. Falcon?"
Falcon shook his head. "I know you both mean well, but there are too many aspects of Outerworld that rule out such an alternative. My eyes can be disguised, but only with great discomfort to me. Also, my senses are too acute for a world so filled with noise and noxious odors. A more critical problem involves my empathy. I would be forced to live every hour of my life with the guard up against a possible onslaught of emotion from some passing stranger. Now I have to learn to deal with my own emotions as well. I would never find the peace needed to do that if I were out there.
"If all that were not enough, you must know I am proud of my work here, both as a tracker and a trainer in the Arena. Whatever I did out there, my gifts would have to remain hidden. There would always be the fear that someone would discover I was different. I would not be content to deny my capabilities and my felan gifts constantly."
Aster could not refute his convictions, but she also could not stand the thought of an unhappy ending. At least she and Steve should have a chat when the woman awoke before Falcon took her back.
Falcon steered the conversation back to the business at hand by giving Romulus the coordinates of Underwood's Alaskan property. He anticipated being in Outerworld and back within a few hours.
Rom hoped Falcon's optimism would prove to be well-founded. "When you told us about your adventures this past week, it sounded as though having a partner came in handy. Would you like me to assign someone to go with you?"
Falcon tried to smile, but did not quite make it. "No. I fear no one could take my last partner's place." He took a deep breath and got up. "Now, if you will excuse me, I will check on Steve and depart."
After he left, Aster turned to Rom. "Well?"
Well, what? He's our friend. We both owe him our lives. Do you honestly think I would refuse him anything, simply because it happens to be against the law?"
Aster placed her palm on his cheek and gazed lovingly into his eyes. "You're a wise man, Governor Romulus. That must be why I love you so much."
Rom lowered his mouth to hers to deliver a leisurely promising kiss. "Are there any other reasons, my shalla?"
"Hmmm. Maybe one or two." Her tongue tasted his lips, then retreated quickly.
"You know, I think I'll accompany you on your visit to Medical. I'm curious to meet the woman who could create such a disturbance in our unflappable tracker."
Aster laughed. There were still times she was surprised when he knew what she was thinking. "Okay, but then you go away. I want to talk girl talk."
Steve was alive! Doctor Yeguli and her associate were repairing her body, and the monitors showed her heart and lungs functioning normally. The brain activity had not yet returned to the proper level, but Falcon was not concerned. The death process could be reversed any time within eighteen hours.
Only under rare circumstances were the restoration results less than perfect. Work on Steve had begun within one hour of her death. She would be fine.
He had to go. She would undoubtedly be furious when she learned he had gone on without her, but she would be unconscious for another ten to fifteen hours, and he could not be sure Underwood would remain stationary that long. He probably had already been told of the break-in and would have connected it with the two people tracking him. Falcon had to get to him before he moved again.
Although Falcon's mission was to retrieve the ring and Delphina, he made a mental promise to Steve to locate the scientist, Nesterman, and secure Gordon Underwood and any accomplices until Steve could deal with them herself. He decided to try to leave her a message telling her this.
Falcon requested and received permission from the doctor to touch the patient. Her brain activity was so low he pick
ed up nothing of her thoughts, but left his message in her mind anyway, with a promise to return for her soon. His fingers moved from her temple down her pale cheek. Heedless of the doctor's presence, Falcon bent forward and touched his lips to Steve's, then turned and left the room.
On the way to the transmigrator, his mind replayed pieces of the conversation with Romulus and Aster. He would have preferred not to have to think about it at all. There were no choices to make, no options to consider. Last week his human half had been a slight annoyance. Last week there had been no Steve. Tomorrow, again, there would be no Steve. In between she had taught him to appreciate all that being human meant. She had helped him, protected him, given herself to him. She was his first sexual experience. Naturally, he felt strongly about her. It was completely logical that it should sadden him to think of never seeing her again. Aster was his friend and a female. He would be saddened if he could never see her again. But the feeling of loss was not the same as he knew he would suffer over Steve.
There would be other females in his life now. Perhaps he would even be able to find a mate and fulfill the hopes of his felan ancestors by reproducing. But that thought was not accompanied by any feeling of anticipation or joy as he felt just thinking about holding Steve again.
Falcon wondered if Romulus could have been right about the mating fever. Would it happen that way for him in time, or would his felan half alter the symptoms? He did not believe it was possible to experience an attraction stronger than what he felt for Steve. But what did he really know about any of it anyway?
His human half told him he knew more than enough, but he had been wrong before. It was all too new and he lacked sufficient data to make a proper analysis.
"May I be of assistance?"
The question caused Falcon to look around him. He was standing in the Transmigrator Room, daydreaming again. He needed time to sort everything out, time away from people with questions and pending assignments. Perhaps he would return to Emiron for a time.
"Yes. I have special permission from Governor Romulus to transmigrate to these coordinates." He handed the technician a slip of paper and entered the glass cell.
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