The session seemed over almost before it began. Amanda opened her eyes and asked, “How long was I out?”
“Only about five minutes. I just gave you the new suggestion since I want to talk to you while you’re awake. Tell me what you remember about our session in your room?”
Amanda took a moment before formulating her response, “I remember saying I had twins which I had left in Tuala. Is that true?”
“Why don’t you tell me? Is it?”
After scanning her thoughts for a few seconds, Amanda nodded confirmation. “It is true! Can you help me?”
“My job is to help you, Amanda. What would you like to do next?”
“I’d like to get out of here so I can go home. I’m sure my family could help me.”
“What do you think it’ll take for Dr. Gascon to release you to go home?”
“I think we should resume our hypnosis so we can get to the bottom of everything. Can we start right now?”
“If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do. Are you ready?”
“As ready as ever!”
“Take a deep cleansing breath and release it slowly through your nose…”
Eight weeks had passed since Bryon had returned to work. He was not the same person anymore, he was both haunted and distracted. With his tall, muscular frame he always seemed formidable, but his current situation had him feeling less than confident, and it showed in his slumped shoulders and bowed head. Frasnia could not help but worry about his despondent condition. She looked for every opportunity to be able to make him smile, but they were few and far between.
She never thought she would look forward to the days when Bryon was gone from the office, but she now found herself scheduling him out more often just so she could enjoy the work environment without the dark cloud of oppression surrounding Bryon. What seemed almost worse was Bryon did not even seem to notice he was out of the office more than he was in it. Frasnia could not even bring herself to feel guilty about keeping him away. He never even commented on the fact that Frasnia had re-assigned a warehouse worker to be his personal telepod operator since Frasnia did not trust Bryon to concentrate clearly enough on his destination coordinates to arrive in one piece, if at all.
Frasnia had just begun working on the second quarter audit paperwork when the front door opened. Since it was after the break but before lunch, she was surprised to have a visitor. She set aside her papers and folded her hands while she waited to see who would walk through the door. With the sun shining behind the person, Frasnia could only make out the silhouette of a petite woman resting a small child on her hip.
The door closed, blocking the light from outside, revealing the identity of the newcomers. Frasnia looked at the curly-haired, blonde child with interest as she spoke, “Well, hello, Alena! It’s been a long time since you’ve been down here. However, I don’t think it’s been long enough for you to have had this precious little girl, though!”
A slight grimace marred Alena’s otherwise beautiful face as she replied, “No, this is Jena. She’s been in my care since her mother died in the hiking accident with Bryon.”
“Oh!” Frasnia exclaimed. “I didn’t realize…” she let her sentence trail off as her patil beeped for her attention. “Just one moment,” she said to Alena as she turned to take the call. “Hi, Bryon,” she said, and she looked up at Alena. “Let me check the inventory really quick,” she said as she switched screens on the patil to look up Bryon’s requested information.
She looked carefully through several screen pages and then switched back to the video screen. “You’re right, Bryon, the Beewa Quarry should’ve already received that order but our records show the shipment got quarantined at the Port of Cerid. Remember, that’s the shipment which contained the thousands of beetlesnatch hatchlings. They have to wait until the life cycle is complete to make sure a secondary hatching doesn’t take place.”
“Are you kidding? How much longer until it’s going to be released?”
“Our records indicate it’ll be arriving here by the end of the week. If it were up to me, I’d tell them to wait for two mesans just to make sure. I’d be terrified to come to work if there were even a chance of a beetlesnatch infestation here!”
“Okay, I’ll let Kenen know. He’s going to be furious at the delay even though it’s not our fault!”
“Sorry, Bryon. Do you want me to send something nice to Kenen’s house? Maybe a box of sweets or something?”
“I think that’d be perfect, Frasnia,” he replied with more enthusiasm.
“Have you thought about who you want to handle the transport? You do remember Cleon is scheduled out this entire week.”
“Good grief, I forgot. Can we get a temp worker or something?”
“Why don’t we let Ninan take it? He’s been dying to prove himself.”
“Fine. Can you arrange it? I gotta go, Kenen just came out of his meeting. Bye.”
“Bye,” Frasnia said just as the connection ended. “Well, I didn’t even get the chance to tell him you were here,” she said with some exasperation as she turned back to Alena.
“That’s okay, I should’ve called first anyway. I just brought some paperwork in for him to sign, but since he’s not here, I’ll take care of it myself.” Alena resettled Jena on her hip and looked at her watch. “Goodness, I’ve got to get going,” she said and turned to leave.
“I didn’t realize it was getting so late; the kids will be expecting lunch. Don’t bother telling Bryon I was here. He’s been so busy, I don’t want him to worry. I’ll see him at home. Oh, and I’ll send a beetlesnatch venom kit in with Bryon tomorrow, just in case. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to have it on hand in any case!”
“Thanks,” Frasnia called out as she watched Alena sweep out the door. She had so many unanswered questions concerning poor little Jena. Different ideas raced through her mind as she tried to figure out whether or not Jena was going to be adopted into their family or if they were waiting for the baby’s relatives to come and pick her up. Frasnia shook her head and wished she could have had more time to talk with Alena.
She knew she would not dare bring up the topic of Jena with Bryon for fear he would backslide into a more depressed state. The old Bryon never would have forgotten the quarantined shipment, but the fact that he was starting to smile again gave Frasnia hope he was on the road to recovery.
Deciding to keep her eyes and ears open for any further news concerning the child, she turned her attention back to work. She contacted a candy caterer near Beewa and ordered a basket of goodies to be delivered to Kenen’s house. She sent a message to Ninan’s supervisor to have Ninan stop by the office a couple of minutes before his lunch break and then returned to preparing the audit records.
Nearly thirty minutes later Ninan walked into the office. Frasnia could hardly believe it was almost lunch time, but the clock on her patil confirmed it. “Hi, Ninan,” she spoke cheerfully.
“Hi, Frasnia. I got a message from my supervisor that you asked for me to stop by.”
“Yes,” she said slyly.
“What’s going on, Frasnia?” Ninan asked with a smile quirking his mouth.
“An interesting turn of events,” she replied cryptically. “You know how you’ve wanted to try new jobs to see where your talents lie? Well, as it turns out there’s a shipment which needs to be ‘ported to Beewa at the end of the week, and Cleon is out until next week. Bryon forgot about Cleon being gone and wanted me to hire a temp, but I suggested he let you give it a try!” She waited for Ninan to respond, but when his jaw just remained slack, and he still had not replied she taunted him further by saying, “So, what do you think? Do you want to do it or should I hire a temp?”
“No, no,” he replied while fiercely shaking his head, “I’ll definitely do it!”
“Great, now that that’s settled, just be on the lookout for the order. It’s coming from the Port of Cerid and bound for Beewa. It should be here on Kamis, or really early on Jumat. Eith
er way, it needs to get delivered on Jumat. Kenen is really anxious for the order seeing as it’s already been delayed for weeks.”
“Sure thing,” he replied enthusiastically. He turned to leave for lunch and then had an inspiration, “Do you have plans for lunch today?”
“No. Why?”
“I’d like to buy you lunch to thank you for suggesting me for the job.”
“That’d be wonderful,” she replied as she stood and picked up her purse. “Let me lock up everything and I’ll meet you outside.”
“Okay,” Ninan replied as he stepped out into the sunshine and thought the weather was a perfect reflection of his current mood. The door behind him opened and shut. He turned and watched as Frasnia locked the door and rattled it to make sure it was latched. The sun highlighted the gold and red streaks in her straight, auburn hair. She turned, and his attention was caught by how bright green her eyes were in the sunlight. He cleared his throat and managed to say, “All set?”
“Yep,” she said with a quick nod of her head.
“Where do you want to eat?”
“It’s a nice day today, let’s get something from the marketplace.”
They walked in companionable silence for a minute before Frasnia asked, “How do you like your new house?”
“Well, it’s a lot better since I got my meager belongings out of storage in Cresdon. For a while there, my furniture consisted of a couple of crates and my bed was a pile of blankets on the floor. At least now I have a chair, a small table, and a cot.”
“That’s still not much,” she said sadly.
“No, but it’s more than I’ve ever had before,” he replied with a smile. “You can’t take much with you when you work on a shipping vessel.”
“I guess not,” she replied skeptically. She thought about all of the extra furniture cluttering her parents’ house and wondered how Ninan would feel about hand-me-downs. She decided to ask her parents first and then broach the subject with Ninan later.
“So how’s Bryon doing these days? He’s still not all there, is he?”
“No, but it has only been two mesans since that girl died,” she said sadly and then turned to Ninan excitedly and said, “You’ll never guess what I found out today!”
“Since I’ll never guess, what is it?” Ninan asked, amused by her sudden change of mood.
“Bryon’s wife, Alena, stopped by the office today to see Bryon,” she began and paused dramatically.
“And,” Ninan prompted as he guessed he was supposed to do.
“She brought a baby in with her.”
“She has three children, doesn’t she?” he asked with some confusion.
“Yes, she does, but she doesn’t have a baby.”
“So whose baby was it?”
“That’s the amazing part, Ninan! The baby was the child of the woman who died while hiking with Bryon.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Ninan suddenly felt nauseous, and he continued walking toward the marketplace with a sense of dread knowing he would have to share this information with Petre in his next letter.
“Nope,” she replied pertly. “Oh, you should’ve seen her. She couldn’t have been much older than four mesans, but she had a full head of curly, blonde hair and the biggest, most striking, blue eyes. Her name is Jena, isn’t that a beautiful name?” She paused long enough to glance over at Ninan and saw an odd expression on his face, “What’s wrong?”
Not wanting to reveal his true sense of trouble over this new turn of events, he said sadly, “I was just thinking that Jena is now an orphan like me.”
“Yeah, that’s rough, isn’t it?” she asked kindly and put her hand on Ninan’s arm to show her support and offer what comfort she could for his unfortunate upbringing. “It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Alena and Bryon adopted the poor girl.”
Ninan was happy they had reached the market and changed the subject by asking, “So, what kind of food do you want to eat this fine afternoon?” He gestured grandly at the various stalls and allowed Frasnia to take the lead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ninan had trouble concentrating during the rest of the day. He was thankful when his shift was finally finished, and he could take a walk to help him think. He knew he should contact Petre and let him know about his daughter, but was uncertain how Petre would react to the news.
Ninan did not have any respect for Petre or his lifestyle but wondered if maybe having a child would bring out Petre’s better side and finally turn him into a decent and honest person. No matter what, I’m going to have to talk to him in person. He did not have any desire to be seen with Petre anywhere around town; he would have to make arrangements to meet outside of town somewhere.
He had made up his mind what he would do by the time he reached his house. Ninan retrieved his writing supplies from the kitchen and took them to the living room so he could sit in his only chair and use the table to compose his letter to Petre.
Tishri 1, 3443
Petre,
I have some important news which must be delivered in person. I’d rather not meet with you in Kirma, but I’ll be near the Port of Cerid on Jumat, Tishri 5th. I can meet you at the Southside Town Deli at noon.
Please write back to me to let me know you will be able to make it to the meeting.
Ninan
He sealed the letter and walked it to the courier’s box at the end of the street. Ninan sincerely hoped he was doing the right thing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frasnia was excited about her news to share with Ninan. She had talked with her parents the night before, and they were more than happy to give their extra furniture to her friend. They had just moved to a smaller house, and they were feeling overrun with the excess.
She stood just outside the office door and waved urgently at Ninan when she saw him walk through the entrance gates. She smiled when he acknowledged her wave and changed the direction of his steps to come into the office. Holding the door open for him, she said, “I think I’ve got some really great news for you!”
“What’s that?” He stepped into the office and faced Frasnia.
“I hope you don’t mind, but yesterday you were talking about how little furniture you had from storage to fill your house.”
“That’s true.”
“Well my parents just downsized their house, but they still had all of the furniture from a much bigger home. I asked them what they wanted to do with it, and they said they would give it away if it would get them more space. Would you be interested in it?”
“Sure, that sounds perfect!”
“We could go over to their place after work tonight if that would suit you.” Frasnia could barely contain her enthusiasm.
Ninan smiled at how happy Frasnia was with this solution. He realized then that he was more than willing to go somewhere with this lovely woman other than for something work related. He could see himself in a relationship with her and thought the trip to her parents’ house would be a good start. “Okay then, I’ll stop into the office when I’m done with my shift, and we can head over there!”
Chapter Eight
SHEMALLA WONDERED WHAT she should do with the new information the Covington family had told her. In the fifteen years since her Earth assignment began, she had never had anything like this happen. Her training had not prepared her for Earth people trying to get to Tuala; quite the opposite, she was supposed to keep the Tualans in line when they visited Earth.
She did not know if she should talk to Elder Vargen about the situation or try to find a way to Tuala without the Elder’s help. Luckily, she would have a few days to decide how to create a passage for Amanda as she had told the Covington family she would. Now she just had to figure out if she really could make that happen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ninan was thrilled with his new task of delivering the freight to Beewa. He got up early on Jumat morning and went into the office to talk about the job with Frasnia before work began. He was glad she regularly got to work early.
He walked into the office, smiling in Frasnia’s direction as he could see she was talking on the patil. He walked up to her desk, rested a hip on the desk edge closest to her, and waited until her call disconnected.
“I’m glad you came in,” said Frasnia, “I’ve got a change in plans for you.”
“Okay,” Ninan said with a little trepidation that his assignment was being canceled.
“I just got off the phone with the transport agent at the Port of Cerid. It seems there isn’t anyone there who is willing to bring that quarantined load to our facility. It looks as though you are going to have to go there first so you can receive it before you are able to deliver it to Beewa. Is that going to work for you?”
“Sure, I don’t see why not,” Ninan replied with an inward sigh of relief that he was still on the assignment. That brought him back to his original reason for coming into the office to talk with Frasnia. He then asked, “Can you do me a small favor, please?”
Frasnia smiled and said, “I’ll do what I can. What do you need?”
“Well…,” Ninan began hesitantly, and he dropped his head and rubbed his nose with his index finger.
“It’s okay, Ninan, what do you need?”
“It’s just that this shipment today is really important for me.”
“I know that, Ninan. What’s the problem then?”
“I’ve been to the Port of Cerid so that’s not an issue, but I’ve never been to Beewa, so I’m not sure how to visualize coordinates to get there. I know Bryon is anxious to get this shipment there on time, and I want to do my best for him. Do you think you could help me with the coordinates?”
Frasnia was smiling by the end of Ninan’s explanation and replied, “Of course, Ninan. That’s what I do. Let me just finish printing out your plot maps as well as the verbal directions for both locations.” She turned to her patil and entered a few keystrokes before the printer began dispensing page after page. She gathered them up and slid them into a large manila envelope. She clasped it shut and handed it over to Ninan. “Clear coordinates and maps,” she declared with finality. “Make sure you look them over before you go.”
Ascension Discovery Page 35