Living With Syn

Living with Syn

By A.C. Katt

Published by
JMS Books LLC
at
Smashwords

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jms-books.com
for more
information.

Copyright 2014
A.C. Katt

ISBN 9781611520057

* * * *

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places and incidents are solely the product of the author’s
imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be
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resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

Published in the United States of
America.

* * * *

Living with Syn

By A.C. Katt

“Out of the mouths of babes…”

—Psalms 8:2

A small blond head pressed against the
transparent viewer of the private ground transport, or PGT. The
series of low wood and glass style dwellings whizzed past as the
vehicle progressed through the Ulna Heights. Clustered around the
Warrior Academy, the architecture of the heights blended with the
landscape. Here the trees towered over the sky paths with trunks
the diameter of the transport. Teal needle-like leaves
proliferated, letting the sunlight filter through to the
ground.

The transport left the heights and glided
over flowing grasslands, Tierest trees, and acres of wildflowers
indigenous to the high country. As they reached the lower
elevations, the tree line gradually changed. The view no longer
held the young offspring’s interest. Nafer wiggled and turned
toward the distinguished, chestnut-haired Sarran Elder who sat
across from him. Nafer scrunched up his impish face, which carried
the imprint of the viewing window. He seemed to be to be lost in
thought. Bron knew his offspring. The inquisition was about to
begin.

“Zadda, are we there yet? It’s taking too
long. Poppie and the Mommie are going to worry.”

The fact that Nafer spoke aloud drew dramatic
attention to his level of concern. Nafer rarely verbalized since
the Zyptz’s designer plague took his Zenna and Sib along with all
the fems of Sarran. He’d told Bron he didn’t see the need.

::You understand mind speech Zadda, so does
Poppie, so why do I need to talk?::

“Both Poppie and I have explained to you that
not all Sarrans have mind speech. It is impolite to make
assumptions on the level of a Warrior or a fem’s ability,
therefore, you speak aloud.”

Goddess, both Zaron and I spoiled Nafer after
losing Nara and Nessie and it really began to show when Zaron went
on the Brightstar mission.

“Why can’t we teleport?” Nafer looked up at
TeBron.

“I explained this to you, cub. Poppie has
things that must travel home in the PGT. Unless you wish to go home
without him, we cannot teleport to Ulna. Do you want to scare the
new fem who, as yet, do not know how advanced our psy is? It would
also put us all at risk, if our enemies discerned PsyOps
Secrets.”

Nafer pulled on Bron’s arm.

“How can we lie to the fem, Zadda? How can
you bond with a lie in you?”

Bron sighed and motioned his wiggling
offspring over to sit on his lap. But Nafer almost melded his face
to the glass in an attempt to see more of the outside. It could be
worse. If Nafer concentrated, he could teleport out of the
transport and be at the Ulna Depot in an instant, by himself and
out of the reach of the two unbonded PsyOps Security Officers,
Garlance and Stoker, who saw to their safety in the absence of
Juraens.

He pulled his offspring into his strong arms,
which even now rippled with muscle as if he still worked at the
forge with his own Zadda and Poppie. Nafer finally settled on his
knees, playing with the hair on his Zadda’s forearm. Both he and
Nafer were dressed in the traditional Sarran vest and light trews.
While Nafer wore soft slippers with reinforced soles, Bron had
donned his black Nathrian leather boots, knowing that Zaron liked
the way they shaped his calf. Nafer wasn’t the only one in the
household feeling anxious.

Bron and Zaron had experienced a period of
distance in their relationship since the passing of their fem and
femspring—Nessie, and Nara with their unborn bebe. The heat of
Planting and Harvest gave way to the Barrens, Sarran winter. In
their mutual grief, they retreated behind their mental shields,
each only allowing the other entrance for the benefit of Nafer. He
didn’t attempt to lie to himself; Nafer felt the difference.

Bron found comfort in knowing that Nafer
blamed the Zyptz and not his sires for the emptiness of their
encounters. TeBron’s call to TeZaron on
Brightstar
ended the
stalemate. The carefully erected barriers of three cycles ruptured
with the slight buzz of an unknown song in Zaron’s head. It
happened just after Nafer started to talk about mommies, when the
Brightstar
ranged within calling distance of his new
communication device that amplified psy. Both he and his bonded
felt unsure of where they stood with each other after three cycles
of withdrawal. He needed what they both so carelessly threw
away.

These thoughts took only a mot to fly through
his cerebellum. Nafer’s rear hit his knee, bringing him out of the
cocoon of his mind. He willed himself to serenity and stroked
Nafer’s back like Nara used to do when she wanted him to sleep.

“No Zadda, no nap, you can’t lie to the fems,
one is our Mommie.” Nafer wiggled.

“Nafer, will you please define your terms.
Zadda has no notion of what the word “Mommie” signifies.”

“Zadda,” Nafer whined, “I’ve told you so many
times, it is like a fem, but more. Mommie makes things called
cookies with chocolate chips and you sit in front of the tube with
the kitty on your lap, and eat cookies and drink milk. The Mommie
makes you midtine meal in a lunchbox with a Warrior who is a
spider. She plays chess, poker, and gin rummy. She knows how to hit
a ball with a big slab of wood—and then you run fast so you don’t
make an out. She understands everything, but she doesn’t know she
does. We need the Mommie and the Mommie needs us.”

That was a long speech for his son and he
expended much effort in trying to explain to Bron what apparently
was something best understood by experience. Bron knew this related
to the Earthen fem, yet he remained uncomfortable with the wealth
of potential of this word
Mommie.
He and Zaron had barely
found themselves again. To BondStir a second time was almost
unheard of in the canons of the Sarran Codex. However, a man could
fall into a large laptard pit ignoring the space between the words
almost and never.

The loss of Nara, Nessie, and the bebe left
him and Zaron with a hole in their psy that they seemed unable to
fill. To bond again with another fem felt sacrilegious. Yet, the
closer the
Brightstar
came to Sarran, the stronger he felt
that his and Zaron’s fate berthed aboard the ship; even worse, the
BondStir compulsion seemed stronger, more compelling, than what
they felt with Nara. Nafer had already mind-bonded to “Mommie.” He
and Zaron must put away their grief and fear and learn to open up
again to each other and the new “Mommie.” He sighed and attempted a
call to his Dragon. He felt Zaron but the mind blocks put in place
to ensure the success of the
Brightstar
mission still held
strong. He palmed the device in his pocket. Should he activate the
signaler? It would get him through the first set of blocks.

::Use it Zadda, please,::
Nafer
pleaded.

“Naffie,” it seemed a long time since he used
the diminutive that slipped so easily from his lips today. His
tendency toward diminutives and pet names always made Nara and
Nessie smile. The habit came, as he did, from the forge to the
castle and the castle failed to take the legacy of the smithies
from the brilliance of the engineer and Warrior. In truth, he was
less formal than Zaron who was raised to become a prince, so Bron
used colloquiums and soon had Zaron using them too.

His offspring looked up, interested in what
came next. “Naffie, we will tell the fem the truth of the Sarran
psy legacy once they bond. However, we cannot afford to hand our
enemies knowledge that we worked for millennia to conceal. People
fear what they do not understand. The other council planets
developed bio-machinery, genetic slicing, and genetic re-coding.
After the initial incident that brought more than two thousand
years of war, and the blessings of Triad from the Goddess Ulna, we
vowed to use only natural methods to enhance our abilities. We kept
that promise up until we lost our fem.

‘‘By slightly modifying the Earthen fem to
accept our seed they were able to absorb the antidote. Deliberate,
yes, but also ethical. If we did not give them the modification
with the antidote, the vaccine would fail. Their whole planet would
have been as ours and two humanoid civilizations devoid of fem. Yet
we cannot let them feel pushed.” Bron settled back into his seat
pulling Nafer with him.

Nafer bounced. “Zadda, that’s bullshit.
Everything has changed.”

“What is this
bullshit,
offspring?”

“Something Mommie says is shoveled at her by
most of her male acquaintances.”

Bron then knew himself to be defeated in a
debate with a child of six cycles. Maybe it was time to activate
the signaler.

* * * *

“And he who has one enemy will meet him
everywhere.”

—Ali ibu-Abi-Talib

The
Brightstar
landed smoothly on
Sarran. After the firefight in engineering, the bridge, and in the
Admiral’s quarters, the arrival was anticlimactic for Syn. A Yeoman
Warrior knocked on the door of her cabin to give her a message from
Anya. Prince Tonas, Co-Admiral with Prince Jonal, received a leg
wound in engineering but was recovering. The yeoman told Syn that
Anya would meet her after the unbonded fem were processed on the
tarmac. Tonas and Jonal had agreed that Syn would accompany Anya to
her new home.

Syn glowed with the warmth of Anya’s
consideration after her isolation on the ship. The new princess
insisted on extending her hand in friendship despite Syn’s somewhat
dubious reputation.

Duchess adamantly refused to ride in her cat
carrier and Syn was forced to put her in the cat bed that once
served as a market basket, but was now outfitted with a soft
pillow. She sighed.
It’s easier than hauling the carrier, but
only if she decides to stay put.

::Of course I’ll stay put. I wouldn’t want to
lose you in the confusion.::

Syn turned her head looking about the cabin.
There were rumors that Anya’s cat, Tigger, had psy ability. Could
Duchess be similarly talented?

“Was that you, Duchess?”

::Since there isn’t anyone else in the
room, dear, either you’re hearing voices, or I’m speaking to you. I
think you might prefer it to be me.::
Syn sat down on the bunk,
amazed. Duchess had psychic abilities. Anya told her Tigger did,
but Syn was skeptical about Duchess. The fluffy white Persian
climbed back onto to the bunk and sat next to the basket.
::We
should go. I don’t want to be trampled in the rush.::