Marcael: A Terraneu Novel, Book Five (11 page)

Brennae was going to kill her family! As much as she
loved them...she was still going to kill them. At least her mother had the
sensitivity to ask her father to knock before overriding the door locks. She
would give her that much. That had given her time to find her underwear and
throw it in the garbage. There had also been time to get Marcael a fresh
blanket and back into a medical gown.

“I am going to override the locks! It doesn’t take that long to wake up
and open a door!” Her father had sounded impatient and irritable.

“You are going to wait with the rest of us for the door to
be
opened!” Her mother had sounded...well, like her mother always sounded.
Cheerful.

“Why don’t we take the meeting to the council chambers? Brennae can bring
Marcael when they are ready.” Her uncle Kneus had suggested. Her face flamed
red that her whole family was probably on the other side of the door and knew
exactly why it would be locked. Come to think of it, how did they know she was
in here? Then she sighed, this was her family. They knew everything that went
on around Terraneu.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Her aunt Gwen had yelled, “Brennae just
bring Marcael to the council chambers. I am releasing him to leave medical.”

“We have some clothes for him out here that might fit! If not go to the
fabrication dome first.” Her Aunt Mairi yelled, and then she heard her Aunt
Gwen, “You stop working on that computer console this second Kneus!” After
that, there was a pained yell from her uncle.

“Oww. I get it Gwen, I’m stopping.”

Finally, there was silence and she hurried to open the door and grab the
clothing left for Marcael. He had been silent the whole time her family had
been outside the doors. When she handed him the clothing he thanked her.

“Can you tell me something before we go?” She waited until he nodded to
continue, “Exactly how many times did you spy on me at the oasis?” She tried to
keep her voice serious, but the smile was there in her voice anyway. When she
saw the blush rise in Marcael’s cheeks she couldn’t help but laugh.

“I would not call it “spying” as much as doing reconnaissance work.”
Marcael was putting on the pants, vest and boots in an attempt to avoid eye
contact. “I was trying to gauge the best way to make contact with Terraneu.”

“Throwing Barrett into the water and grabbing me up was the best plan you
could come up with?” She teased with a smirk.

“Yes. Well that did not go exactly as planned.” He got a wicked smile on
his face, “I would like to make the acquaintance of Barrett again during my
time in Terraneu.”

Brennae made sure to note that Barrett should stay as far away from
Marcael as physically possible, at least until he got over whatever was bugging
him. “I am just teasing you Marcael. It does not bother me that you were
watching me at the oasis. Anyone else I might have cared, but for some reason
I’m fine with whatever you saw.” It was her turn to blush over that confession,
“We should hurry.” Brennae worked a brush they kept in the medical dome through
her hair and arranged it in a messy ponytail. “They will wait to start the
meeting until you arrive.”

Marcael stepped in front of her, his fingers holding her upper arms. The
pants, vest and boots were not a perfect fit but would do until he could have
some made for him. The black leather material looked even more striking against
his pale skin and Brennae had to force her eyes from his muscular frame.

“What I saw at the oasis kept drawing me in no matter how hard I tried to
stay away. You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”

She leaned in to press her lips against his. The soft kiss only lasted
for a few seconds before Marcael drew away. “The others are waiting and I think
we should go.”

Smoothing her dress down she sighed, “You’re right. I should be at work
by now too.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door. “We are in the
medical dome, and the council domes are not very far. It will only take a few
minutes to walk there.” Just as she got to the path, she heard the clicking of
claws on the road. Turning her head, she saw them coming. All of the pet sacath
she usually gave good-morning treats out to had found her, and she didn’t have
any treats. “Brace yourself.” She warned Marcael just as they were swarmed.

Giving her attention to Cebat first, and then Tabec it was when she was
giving hugs to Lady that she realized something. Marcael wasn’t on the edge of
the group of sacath backing away. He was actively petting the ones that were
closest to him!

“That is Lady. She is my Uncle Knollig and Aunt Mairi’s pet. Well in
reality, both Chloe and Celeste grew up with her too, but she was originally
given to my aunt and uncle. She is Cebat and Tabec’s daughter.”
 
She smiled, “The male you are petting is
Titan. He is my Uncle Knaleg and Aunt Cat’s. Their twins are still in school
and won’t be out for a few hours, or you wouldn’t be seeing him.”

When the sacath realized she didn’t have any treats they all started
yowling in protest. “Stop!” Brennae yelled in a stern voice, “Go to Iesti.”
When she ordered the pets away, they always pouted but were too well trained
not to comply with an order. Laughing over the thought of Iesti seeing this
pack of sacath coming for him Brennae turned to Marcael. Her laughter sputtered
out and died at the intense look on his face. “What?” She suddenly felt like
she had been left with the most dangerous animal on Terraneu. She checked to
make sure there wasn’t something wrong with her appearance. Finding everything
in order and not having any idea what Marcael was staring at she fidgeted with
her hair.

“It is nothing Brennae.” Marcael assured her. “You can point me to the
council dome if you need to be somewhere.”

Giving him a mock-shocked look Brennae gasped, “I couldn’t possibly fail
in my duty to see you safely to the doors of the council meeting.” Seeing that
they were close Brennae took the time to offer as they walked along, “They will
be able to tell you which dome is to be your personal living quarters. If you
need to find me, or want a tour of Terraneu, I live in R1-NW5. The system is
easy to figure out.”

“I will find you Brennae. A tour of Terraneu sounds nice.”

Before she could say anything more, she realized that they had arrived.
“Here we are.” Pressing her hand to the console the doors opened and she waved
Marcael inside. “I’ll see you later.”

Hurrying along the path back toward the sorrem holding Brennae shook her
head. How could she be looking forward to seeing him again for the tour, when
she just left him five seconds ago? Smiling at her own whimsy, she walked
faster for the sorrem holding to help Iesti with what she was sure was a pack
of ‘treat’ crazy sacath.

When the door opened, Marcael could hear voices.

“Kniam. We discussed this and you said—”

He heard Kniam speak over his mate, “I want to know what his intentions
are towards our daughter.”

 
“Brennae is a grown woman, and her
choices are hers to make!” Amber stated emphatically, “She will not appreciate
your interference.”

Kniam didn’t back down, “I am her father and I want to know—”

“It is none of our business unless she asks for
advice. What you have to relay at this meeting has nothing to do with Brennae.
Don’t embarrass her by harassing him.”

Clearing his throat loudly Marcael felt the eyes of
every person swing to him. Then the talking in the room stopped. He was
motioned forward by Kniam who sat in the center of a table surrounded by the
other members of both councils. The women all had smiles on their faces, but
the males...did not.

“This meeting is to bring you Marcael and the female council members up
to speed on what we have learned from Brennae about Terra...what the women here
know as Earth.” He paused, “We will leave it to you to inform your men on what
is discussed.”

Marcael raised an eyebrow in surprise. He had not expected them to let
him be in charge of his men. He figured they would want to absorb them into
their community as fast as possible.

“Kneus is going to head this meeting since he is the most knowledgeable
about the content.” Kniam nodded to Kneus who took a cylindrical pointing
device and started a holographic presentation.

“What we know from what the STARR unit told Brennae is that over twenty
years ago, during our off world mission to Antilles to destroy our cloning
facilities...and your mission from the Elyon to find us...Knuan left behind a
‘randomizer’ on the port pad to Terra.”

Marcael groaned loudly. He had a bad feeling about where this was
heading.

Kneus looked at him sympathetically, and then clicked his device until
the topographic image of Antilles came up with the location of the port pad
marked on it. “What we learned from Marcael’s technical expert Mallex is that
this ‘randomizer’ was solar powered so it would continually dial waiting for a
signal. Which we all know would be every six months. Once it got an answer...”
Kneus looked to Marcael to finish his thought.

“Once it got an answer it would go through the portal to the port pad on
Terra.” He corrected himself, “Sorry, Earth. Once it was established there, it
would go through launch protocols. Did the STARR unit know what the payload
was?” Marcael asked.

Kneus nodded, “She said to tell you it was a CEMPS.”

“Well that might not be so bad then.” Marcael almost sighed with relief,
“How badly would an EMP field hurt Earth?” He looked around and what he saw was
not reassuring.

“I’m not an expert, but I don’t think it would be a good thing.” Amber
supplied.

“Wait a second. What does CEMPS stand for and EMP for that matter?” Jen
asked.

“The EMP stands for Electro Magnetic Pulse. It kills anything with
electronic components.” Kneus informed her.

Marcael knew what the CEMPS was so answered, “CEMPS stands for Cloaked-
Electro Magnetic Pulse- Satellite.”

“The port pad would have been guarded by whichever military or scientific
entity found it. I know that the government I was working for was close to the
port pad when Kneus and I came through. They might have control of it.” Cat
reassured everyone, “Even if this randomizer landed on the port pad on Earth,
it doesn’t mean that it would have been able to release the CEMPS.”

Marcael looked around sadly, “I am sorry to have to say this Cat but the
randomizer would have been cloaked beyond your people’s capacity to detect.
Launching the CEMPS would not have been a problem.”

“Okay.” Jen tried to gain some perspective, “Just because this CEMPS
thing went up doesn’t mean it could have done that much damage. Surely it would
have run out of power or been destroyed before anything truly bad happened.”

Kneus let Marcael off the hook when he answered for him, “Again according
to Mallex if the randomizer was solar, so to was the CEMPS.” He looked to
Marcael who just nodded. “Since it is ‘cloaked’ that means it can go in and out
of visibility as it is powering up. Earth technology would not have been able
to find it to destroy it. It would just keep going around in orbit, firing its
EMP at peak power as it was programmed to do.”

“Oh my god!” Gwen gasped and looked at the other women. “Almost
everything on Earth when we left had something electronic on it! Everything!”

Amber was in a state of shock, “Transportation, power grids, money—”

“The military.” Cat added. All of the women shuddered at the thought of
what an EMP would do to the militarized nations.

“You knew this had happened since Brennae got back and you didn’t say
anything?” Amber turned her questioning gaze to her mate.

“It has only been a few days and there isn’t anything we could do until
the port pad is active again.” Kniam answered.

“That is three days from now!” Mairi blurted out.

“That is the real reason for the off world mission to Antilles isn’t it?”
Jen asked her mate. “To get a base set up around the port pad to Earth?”

“Yes.” Thian muttered, “It was decided to have as few people know about
it beforehand as possible.”

“Decided by whom?” Gwen bit out, “The
male
council? I thought our
input was just as important.”

“It is...” Kneus went to explain.

“Enough!” Kniam stood up and used his gavel on the table to get
everyone’s attention. “We value the female council’s opinion on all matters of
Terraneu. We knew that the information about Earth would possibly be hard to
bear for the women and wanted to have all of the
facts
before we discuss matters as a group.” He sat back down,
“Marcael just woke up and we needed his input.” He nodded to Kneus to continue.

“This is a representation of what we think might have happened over the
last twenty plus years.” Kneus resumed the presentation. It showed the visual
of the portal, the CEMP being launched. It zoomed out to a satellite vision of
Earth, and then everything on the planet started to change. The lights went out
zone by zone. The fires started and burned. “We know that the nuclear power
plants, if not shut down, would have had melt downs—”

“Okay.” Amber rubbed her eyes, “Please stop.” Taking a deep breath she
asked, “What exactly are we voting on today? What is the immediate decision we
are facing?”

Kniam smiled sadly at his mate, “Kneus and Knalech have been working with
Mallex to create a probe. We will send it through the portal in three days and
get as many readings back as we can. IF the planet is still able to sustain
life, we have to decide on what measures we are going to take to intervene. If
any.”

“What do you mean if any?” Gwen gasped, “Of course we are going to help.”

“The reason for coming to Terraneu was for a new start Gwen.” Cat jumped
in, “As sad as the fate of Earth, it is not our responsibility to fix what is
happening there. That is even if we can. Any damage done was over twenty years
ago and we don’t know if anything we do will matter.”

“We might be able to find the CEMPS and destroy it, if we can even get
onto the planet without radiating ourselves. That is what the probe will inform
us.” Kneus hurried to add.

Everyone was suddenly talking over each other in small groups. Marcael
let his mind absorb as much as he could take in. Not having any sun and enough
water for a few days was making him sluggish, but it suddenly hit him. The
reason the council was letting him have command of his own men.

“That is where my men and I come in.” Marcael whispered. He might have
shouted for the quiet that settled over the room.

“What Marcael?” Mairi had been watching him, “What did you say?” She
asked kindly.

“I said that this is where my men and I would come in.” Marcael was
watching Kniam and knew that the male council members had already thought of
this.

“What is he talking about?” Amber looked from him to the male council
members, finally landing on her mate when no one else would make eye contact.

“You see my swee—” Kniam began.

“Don’t you ‘sweet Amber’ me!” She held up her hands. “What does he mean?”

“It means that my men and I have no ties to Terraneu yet. We are familiar
with the technology that was sent through and we are trained in combat and survival.”
Marcael sat up taller in his chair. “We are the reasonable choice to send on a
mission to Earth.”

All of the women instantly started yelling at his words but it was Amber
that jumped up, “That is not true! You have given your lives and happiness to
keep us safe long enough. You and your men deserve some peace. Besides, you
haven’t even healed from the change and couldn’t possibly go to Earth in three
days.” She shook her head as if it was decided, “You are welcome here. The male
council cannot just make a random decision like that. There is a voting process
and volunteers are taken, it isn’t demanded that any one person or group—”
Marcael almost smiled at her impassioned words and how her hands were flying
around as she talked. Now he knew where Brennae got that trait. That she was
fighting for his men warmed his heart.

“It is okay.” Marcael tried to forestall what looked to be a major fight
brewing, “I understand the decision. It is what I would do if I were in your
place. If Earth was as bound by technology as you stated, then there will be a
need for a team that is highly trained in tactics.” Standing up he looked to
Kniam. “May I have all the intelligence on this mission to prepare if it
becomes necessary? I need to gather my men and give them a choice.” He knew his
men well and they would choose to go to Earth and from the sad nod he got from
Kniam, he knew it too.

“You are staying in R5-SE2, I can have—”

“He is staying in R1-NW4 and if anyone says one word about it...” Amber
was close to losing her composure. Therefore, it was not a surprise when no one
contradicted her. “I can take you to your dome.” She walked around the table
and the other women followed suit.