Devotion (16 page)

“And the resistance finally caught up with him when they tracked down Sienna.”

Tikki had to ask Elissa the next question, although she hated to. “Elissa, when you were involved with the resistance. Do you remember anything about a doctor being held captive?”

“A doctor? No. Not that I recall.” She was quiet for a minute. “No. I never saw anything or heard anything about anyone being there against their will.”

“Only Charlie said his parents were being held by the people Harri was working with. He even saw Harri threaten his mom.”

“Harri was not the man I thought he was. I realised that.” She looked at Marin, and Tikki knew how difficult this was for her, and she didn’t want her to admit to her involvement in the deaths of the two Karalians.

“It’s all right, Elissa. It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember. Okil has gone to the tower with a chip Charlie told me was in his teddy. We think it has information on it that might give us some idea what is going on.”

“A chip? You mean, a tag?”

“No. It contains different information. I think it’s a memory chip.” She couldn’t help feeling the future of the entire human race was on her shoulders when she said, “I think it’s got information on it about a plot to destroy the Karal.”

Elissa’s mug of tole hit the floor and shattered into tiny pieces. “Oh my goodness.” Her hand went to her baby bump, stroking it as if she were soothing the child inside.

Marin came to her and held her close. “It’s all right. If the information is on there, then Okil will find it. And then we will stop it.” He turned to Tikki. “I think we all need to go to the tower. This is bigger than any of us. We need to get all of the Earth females and go. Now.”

“Are you sure? What about Charlie?”

“He needs to come too.” Marin took Elissa by the hand and led her from the room.

“Elissa, are you sure?” Tikki asked, unsure of entering the tower with Charlie. She couldn’t let anything happen to him, although it was difficult to see how Harri, or anyone, could use the child now. The chip was no longer in his teddy and his parents were goodness knows where. But surely the Karal wouldn’t send him back to Earth, not now the details of the plot had been unravelled.

“Yes. This is about my child too. She is a Karalian. All the others need to be warned too. And we need to confront the council, tell them about the child I am carrying and then make a bargain.”

“What kind of bargain?” Tikki asked.

“I’ll explain on the way. But right now you have to get Charlie and come with us.”

“What if they hurt him? What if they send him back to Earth?” Tikki asked.

“Tikki, it’s too late to think about that.” She came back to her sister and hugged her, making Tikki feel like a small child again. “He’ll be safe, I promise.”

“You can’t promise me this. You can’t promise Charlie this either. We have no idea about the council. I’m not a child anymore, Elissa, don’t promise me things you can’t fulfil.”

“Tikki. I’m sorry. I know I can’t be sure. But we have some leverage with the council.”

“What? The fact you are pregnant? You know they can just lock us all up and do what they want with us. I know what happened to the females they took before us. I know how they were treated, how they were used. Do you really think they won’t do the same to us?”

Elissa came back to her. “I know Marin wouldn’t let that happen to me. I also know Okil would die before he let that happen to you. Three members of that council have children on the way; they have grown used to the idea of bringing those children up as a family unit. I have every confidence that they will protect their women.”

“And if you are wrong?”

“Like you said, Tikki, I shouldn’t make promises I can’t keep.” She grinned at Tikki. “You grew up while I was away. I was so scared when I left you. But you have blossomed.” She hugged her and then whispered, “The Karal have never had to deal with pissed-off human females. We are not the stay at home and be quiet types. If they think they can just take what they want, they will be in for a surprise.”

Elissa straightened up and smiled at Charlie. “He is adorable. Don’t you think he needs to know what happened to his parents? What if they are still out there somewhere missing him?”

Although Tikki hated what was to come, Elissa was right. The Karal deserved to know about Elissa’s baby, and they all needed the truth about what the President was planning. The downfall of the Karal would affect each of the females on Karal too. It would affect every human who carried a Karalian baby.

Once more, she looked back at all the plans Okil had shared with her, all the places he had wanted to take her, and she wished with all her heart that he had brought her here and life had been as simple and as easy as they had dreamed.

Tikki was young, too young for the responsibility that had been thrust upon her. Yet she had to do what was best, not just for her but for all humans. “Come on, Charlie. We are going for a ride in Marin’s cruiser.”

“Are we going to see the jumping fish again?” he asked, coming towards her with teddy and his toys.

“Not today. We are going to meet some more people and then we are going to visit the big tower. Would you like that?”

“Yes.”

He took her hand. So small and warm, and she only hoped that she wasn’t betraying him as they climbed inside Marin’s cruiser.

Okil followed Torac to the council chambers. There he found only two other members of the council. Ishk and Lytril were standing apart, waiting for him. Torac dismissed the guards and then shut the doors behind him.

“Okil. You have been behaving very strangely of late and we have become concerned,” Lytril said.

“Concerned?” Okil asked warily.

“Yes. I mean more than usual. You have always had a softness for the humans of Earth, and of course after taking mates ourselves, we can appreciate some of their appeal. However, bringing an extra female to Karal was out of character. You have always gone out of your way to obey our rules.”

Now he understood. Earth must have asked for Tikki back, and the council now knew there was a reason he had taken her and not told the authorities on Earth. “I can explain,” he said.

“I expect you can give us
an
explanation. Whether it is the truth or not remains to be seen.” The Hier Ruler approached him.

“This female of yours, Tikki Sergeant,” Lytril continued. “We have investigated her background and found she has had dealings with a person whom we were already monitoring.”

“As I said, I can explain.”

“Can you?” The Hier Ruler paced back and forth. “We are led, by the Earth authorities, to believe that Tikki Sergeant is dead. Found in the bottom of a canal.”

So their plan had worked. “Yes. That was my doing. I removed her tag and planted it on another human body to deceive them.”

Torac, Hier Commander, spoke into his communicator and then said to Okil, “Is she at your home?” The Council were going to send guards to arrest her.

“Yes. Yes, she is. But there is something else you need to know first.” He had to explain about Charlie’s presence in his house now before it was too late.

“Before you try to explain what is going on, I wish to present the facts as we see them.” The Hier Ruler began. “A man, Harri, was a known associate of Elissa Sergeant. He was responsible for the death of two of our own. Elissa Sergeant claims to have no prior knowledge of the bomb that exploded at a rally she organised. A rally protesting our presence on Earth.”

“Yes. I am aware of those facts.”

“We have been monitoring this man, Harri. And have grave concerns about his associates. One of those associates is your female, Tikki Sergeant. We believe you tried to destroy some of the surveillance footage from his visit to her apartment the day before she came with you to Karal.”

“No. I viewed the footage, but never tried to destroy it.”

“So, you bought her here, after this Harri had been to see her. I believe he gave her something. A weapon, perhaps?”

“No. He was looking for something.”

“Something Tikki had in her possession?”

Okil stood silent. He was about to share the secret of Charlie with the council. He was about to betray Tikki’s trust. He had no choice: if the Hier Ruler wanted to, he could touch Okil and make him speak the truth. This way was much less painful and much more honest, and honesty was now their only defence.

“Yes.”

“So you admit to treason.”

“No.”

“But you brought a woman here who has plans to wipe out the whole of the Karalian species.”

“No.”

“We accessed the data you were viewing on the sim. We saw you looking at where the President of Earth met with Harri to congratulate him on his successful mission.”

“That is not what happened.” Okil raised his voice. “This Harri threatened Tikki. She was given a child to look after, and the child had the information this man was looking for. It was hidden on a chip. A data chip. I needed to look at it, to see what it was. They were using his parents to create a virus to destroy us.”

“And you had no prior knowledge of this virus? You did not purposely bring it to our planet in order to make way for the people of Earth to move here?” The Hier Ruler stepped in front of him. Holding out his hands. Okil had no choice but to place his hands in those of his leader. The Hier Ruler had the power to read his emotions; it worked like a lie detector test, only this one was one hundred percent foolproof. “They did not offer you an antidote in return for living amongst them here on our planet?”

“No. I had no prior knowledge of the data chip, or the virus,” Okil swore.

“But you are keeping information from us?” the Hier Ruler accused.

“Yes.” Okil gasped. The Hier Ruler was sending waves of unpleasant thoughts through his hands. In his head, Okil could hear the sound of the mothers, their wailing too much for his conscious mind. He had to tell the truth so that it would end. “When I brought Tikki here, I also brought the child that Harri was seeking. It was only this morning that Tikki found the chip.”

“So the child has been in your home all this time despite you knowing the law of Karal?”

More pain; his head would explode from all the pent-up misery it now contained. Okil managed to speak, although his voice was a whisper. “Yes. I hoped to save him. I had no idea why Harri was after him. Tikki asked me to help them and I had to.”

“Because she means more to you than the Karal?”

“I love her,” he sobbed. “But Karal is my home, and I would never hurt my people or my planet.”

“Was your home.” The Hier Ruler abruptly dropped Okil’s hands, turning form him in distaste. “Okil, I will consider what you have told us. And chose your punishment.”

Torac’s communicator beeped and he pressed a button, holding it to his ear to listen. “I see. Thank you.” He looked at Lytril. Okil turned to see the exchange; they both looked worried, a flash of red sparking across Torac’s usually calm exterior.

“Okil, I think we are about to get to the very bottom of this. I only hope you will not lose your neck in the process.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It seems we’re are about to have a human invasion.” And with that the doors of the chamber opened, and five human females and a small human boy stood in the presence of the council. Well, half of it, at least.

Tikki stood nervously in the doorway to the chamber, with Charlie by her side, his hand grasping hers tightly, while teddy was hooked under his other arm. All her fears were met when she saw Okil already here, his face flashing red and green as their eyes met. It appeared their arrival had interrupted something, and that something was not good. Okil was in danger, which meant the five Earth females were too.

“Vanessa,” one of the Karal said, coming towards them. “What is the meaning of this?”

“We have some news that you should hear. Then we have a bargain to make.” Vanessa stood firm with the rest of the human females, and Elissa looked relieved.

“A bargain?” This man, the Hier Ruler, she guessed, looked unhappy, disappointed even. “What kind of bargain?”

“First you need to know that I love you, and this is not about me choosing Earth over the Karal.” Vanessa said, going forward and placing her hands on Lytril’s arm. “I’m asking you to remember your compassion.”

Lytril frowned. “If you are reminding me of my compassion, I can only imagine I am not going to like what you have to say.”

“Oh, I think you might.” Vanessa looked at Elissa, who nodded. “Elissa is going to have a baby girl.”

“What? She was pregnant before she came here?” Lytril accused.

“No. The baby is Marin’s. But the skin on her hands has done something to her DNA, and that has given your species new hope. Which is what we are bargaining for.”

“I don’t understand, stop talking riddles. Tell me what your demands are.” He took a step back from Vanessa. “And what all of this has to do with the boy.”

The Hier Ruler’s cold stare turned on Charlie, who tried to hide behind Tikki. Tikki squeezed his hand and then put a protective arm around him. They shouldn’t have brought him with them, they should have hidden him away somewhere, but if something had happened to them, if they all got detained or sent to the breeding house, then he would be all alone and die from lack of food and water. No, bringing him was the right decision.

“Charlie has nothing to do with this. That is a separate matter for us all to discuss,” Vanessa said.

“So again, I ask for your demands,” Lytril said.

“That you carry on with your search for a new planet for humans.”

“Ahh, so now it becomes clear.” He turned and walked away from Vanessa, who looked as though she were about to cry. She must love her Karalian mate very much, and now she saw him turning from her.

“Torac.” Celia came forward now and went to one of the other Karalians, a huge man, dark in looks, and with the hardened face of a soldier. So this was the Hier Commander, the man who controlled the guards and would be responsible for the warriors who were to travel into space.