Kneus: A Terraneu Novel (Book Four) (13 page)

Gwen wanted to scream and cry and hit the walls in
frustration. Kneus had woken up which she was elated with.
But
he didn’t
remember anything since the attack on Antilles as far as they could tell. All
of the last months of working together, dating, making love and plans to be
together were erased. Desperate to get hold of herself she took in deep breaths
in through her nose, out through the mouth until she felt a small sense of
calm.

Kneus didn’t need her hysterical and weepy over something that couldn’t
be changed. She needed to remain calm and professional, for both their sakes.
When she was alone in her dome she could fall apart. Right now she needed to
keep a level head.

“Gwen?” Amber and the other female council had stayed after all and were
hovering near her, “Is there anything we can do?”

Straightening her spine Gwen faced them, “Thank you for asking Amber, but
no...There isn’t anything you can do.” She had a thought and found her first
smile since sedating Kneus. “We found each other once, we will do it again. I
won’t let Kneus out of the ‘mate’ trap so easily.” Gwen actually laughed with
the others. “Go check on your families and you Jen...” She moved to hug all of
her friends, “You need to get extra water and sun.” Once all of the females
were gone, Gwen looked around at the remaining male council members. They had
all stayed behind to see not only what was happening with Kneus, but there was
also their mystery guest Baylech to worry about as well.

Gwen was tired and quietly moved to lie down on a medical bed. The males
were talking softly to each other and didn’t stop her. With a sigh she snuggled
into the pillow and stared at the rise and fall of Kneus’ chest. It was a
comfort to see the steady rhythm of his breaths, they were a sharp contrast to
the chaos of yesterday. Thinking back she remembered the males rushing out to
stop the ANT that Baylech had told them about. She had called a female council
meeting and they had all arrived in the medical dome.

“What in the holy hell is going on?” Amber wasn’t exactly calm as she had
stormed in. “Kniam races out of our dome, then Asteen and Ailech make all of us
‘hide’ in our bathroom while they guarded the door.” Amber was pacing her hair
frazzled and flying around her face. “Have you ever been stuffed into one room
with three other females, five babies and four sacath?” When everyone just
stared at her she seemed to lose it completely. “Well it isn’t very
comfortable.” She shrieked.

“We were there too Amber.” Jen hurried to calm her friend. Everyone knew
it was worry for Kniam and the other males that had her freaking out. “It is
going to be okay. Kniam and the others are all fierce fighters if it comes down
to it. Don’t let their civilized demeanor fool you.”

“That’s true.” Catherine hurried to add, “They may seem calm, but when
they are protecting someone they care about they can be vicious. You know that
better than most.” Catherine was referring to when Kniam had snapped a male’s
neck for beating her unconscious then trying to kill her.

Gwen had decided to fill them in on everything that had happened.
Starting with the nightmares Kneus had been having. The look the others gave
her made her feel like a slug.

“I couldn’t tell you about the nightmares, he made me promise.” Gwen
tried to make them understand. “If I had told you, then you would have told
your mates...then they would have confronted him. Kneus would have stopped
trusting me, and I would have deserved it.”

“It’s okay Gwen. We understand.” Mairi was the first to break the
silence. “We would all have done the same, and you are right. It would have
been impossible for us to keep a secret like that from our mates.”

“What else led up to this morning Gwen?” Amber had regained her compose,
“What is going on and who is that fellow on the ground.”

“Oh shit.” Gwen gasped and slapped her head, “How could I have forgotten
Baylech. We need to make a decision quickly.” She hurried over to the prone man
and examined him again. He was unconscious and his vitals were weak and
erratic.

“This is Baylech. He came through the port pad.” Gwen hurried to tell
them everything that had happened. Kneus choking her, the brothers fighting,
this mysterious man coming out of nowhere. When she was finished she asked,
“What do we do? We don’t know that the men aren’t headed for a trap.” Amber
gasped and her pacing stopped short. “Sorry Amber, but that is the truth.
Baylech seemed to help, but it could all be a ploy to get to the men.”

“We have to make a decision fast, that poor fellow isn’t going to be
alive much longer.” Jen pointed out.

“I say we let him die. He has served his purpose either way. By using
that ANT thing to mess with Kneus’ mind, then sending our men out to find it.
Either way he has done his job and is dying anyway.” Catherine didn’t seem to
mind voicing her opinion.

“I don’t agree.” Mairi argued, “I was almost dead when the medical fix
helped me.” She got teary eyed, “You don’t know what it is like to be so close
to death. Don’t be so fast to proclaim that fate on anyone. If what that fellow
said is half true, we need to help him. Either by making his passing painless,
or trying to fix what is wrong with him.”

“Is that even possible?” Amber asked, “Can we fix him?”

Gwen had thought about the possibility of using the medical fix and
trying to save Baylech. She just didn’t know if it would work or turn into a
rather nasty science experiment gone awry. She told the other females the
truth, “I just don’t know what the medical fix would do to him.”

“He is dying either way. I say if we are going to try to help him, use
the medical unit and fix him.” Catherine added just so everyone knew her
position, “If it turns out that he is lying and anything happens to Knaleg. I
will kill him myself.”

“Yes Cat. I imagine there will be a line for this man’s head if our males
end up in some kind of trap. I have to trust what I saw and what I saw is
Baylech was helping us.” Gwen insisted.

“It’s settled then.” Jen sighed, “We move this man into a medical unit
and hope for the best.”

The others had all grabbed an arm or leg while she had gotten the other
medical unit ready. She wasn’t sure that Baylech would be thanking them for
this or cursing them. Either way the die was cast. With some pushing and
pulling they managed to get the male into the medical unit. Gwen had to
override some safety protocols, and then with one last look at Baylech, she
closed the machine and hit the button to start the change. With the amount of
damage he had endured she expected this to be a long wait.

Tearing her eyes from Kneus, she rolled over to look at the other medical
unit. It was still flashing and beeping quietly. She was hoping for some good
news on at least one front today.

“Gwen.” Kniam whispered softly, “We have some questions as to what is
going on with Kneus and we need to speak with you.”

Gwen sighed and sat up on the medical bed. “I know that there is a lot to
talk about, but I wasn’t sure if you were going to ask until things had
settled.”

“We are hoping to have answers for Kneus when he wakes up.” Knollig had
moved to stand by the medical bed. The other men joined him until all of the
members stood around her bed now. It was a bit intimidating to be surrounded by
a wall of men, but she nodded for them to go ahead with their question.

“When we found the ANT that Baylech told us about, the other male was
already dead.” Kniam started over with what Gwen had already learned yesterday.
“We destroyed it of course, but marked its location in case Kneus can learn
anything from it.”

“What we need you to confirm, what we suspect...” Knaleg struggled for
the words. “Was this ANT thing controlling Kneus?” He finally asked.

Gwen reached for a portable console and moved it to her side, her legs
hanging off the bed. “I think it goes much deeper than that. I don’t think the
ANT was doing the controlling.” She needed to show them the scan she had done
of Kneus. “Here is a normal scan.” She pushed a button. “Here is the one done
on Kneus. For some reason and I think the ANT is why, it was as if Kneus had
two different brain waves. I didn’t see it until I knew to look again for anomalies.”

Kniam found his voice first, “So there was another person inside Kneus’
head?”

“Yes. That is a good way to describe it. For some reason Kneus was
susceptible and this ANT made it possible for someone to take over his body.
While sleeping at first which Kneus took to be nightmares, then it became more
powerful.”

“That is why I am in the medical dome?” Everyone gasped and spun around
to see Kneus sitting up in bed. “Someone took over my body?”

“Not just someone...” They all gasped again and spun the other direction.
Baylech was awake and sitting up in his medical unit. “Your brother, and you
Kneus weren’t ‘susceptible’ you were genetically compatible. It worked exactly
as you had created it to work.”

If he lived to be a million years old he would never
forget the last few days. Not if there was another ANT, not even if he was
cloned and his memories wiped! He swore the shock of it all would be imbedded
in his genetic code forever.

After he had woke to hear Gwen and the others talking about this ANT
thing, he had shocked them by asking if that was why he was in medical. Then
the other fellow, Baylech he was to learn, had shocked them all by saying it
was their brother that had been in his head...and he had created the device
that helped him do it. The others had told him that he had been having
nightmares, only they weren’t dreams, it was his crazy brother messing with his
head. While asleep he had heard a voice repeating
‘we are coming’
that
he took as a warning, only it wasn’t a warning it was a litany, a promise! They
were
coming and his mad brother was excited to have found them!

Now they were all together in a joint council meeting, the male council
members had been fixed so they wouldn’t go ‘blank’ upon hearing the names
Marcael and Elyon. They would want to stay awake for that part he thought
sardonically. He was about to give a presentation on what he had learned from
the archives. Baylech had helped with that as well. It had only taken one word
to unlock the ‘missing’ information from the archives. The name of their insane
brother:
 
Knuan.

“Let me get started. This is going to be a long meeting. Mairi we will
all understand if you need us to take a break at some point to feed the twins.”
He looked at his brother’s mate and she nodded her head in thanks.

“We might as well start at the beginning. I have worked on the translator
to keep things as accurate as possible. We will understand what is being said
with the infliction of who is talking. No clean up of the words, so the recordings
might sound rough. This is one of the first files I found when I input the name
of our brother Knuan.”

Kneus clicked on the computer console and an image of Kniam appeared. He
was in the familiar clothing of black leather vest, pants and boots. Kneus
gestured to the holographic image, “This is a good place to start.”
 
Kneus clicked again and the holograph
started speaking.

“If you are seeing this there can only be one explanation. You are in
danger far greater than anything you have ever faced. Well you have not faced
this evil for what we hope has been thousands of years.” This Kniams voice was
just a bit different, you could almost pick out a strange accent when he
talked. “We hid the files relating to this part of our history in the hopes
that you would never need to see it. Our hopes proved futile it would seem, so
now we must arm you with knowledge so you can make a decision. I will say this,
if you have the means to do so, flee now. Do not hesitate or wait. If you have
not the means to escape the planet, well then prepare to defend
yourselves...ourselves?? He is coming, or you wouldn’t be seeing this.”

Kneus hit the pause button. “There is a lot of technical information in
this file about weapons and cloaking. We had to stop producing them due to lack
of materials but we should be able to continue their fabrication now.”

Kneus looked to Baylech then around the room. “As to who is coming,
Baylech has knowledge of our history and Knuan. He has asked to speak to these
points.” With a nod Kneus moved to sit down so Baylech could have the floor.

He had survived the medical changes done to him. Kneus had been shocked
that the trauma hadn’t killed the man outright. He had one obvious side effect
from the change that the females hadn’t his hair was snow white. From his
wounds or perhaps the trauma of the medical change Kneus couldn’t say. They
were playing with genetics that had already been played with so the side
effects could be numerous. As to the white hair, Kneus didn’t think the females
were going to care. He had seen them staring at the newcomer almost as much as
they chased Ailech.

“Thank you for allowing me to speak. I have a unique advantage of knowing
this part of your history. Your archives may not be as accurate as I will try
to be. It is a long story and I will try to be brief.”

 
Baylech started his accounting of
their history, “Your father was a great King.” He ignored the females gasps and
mutterings to continue, “His Grace was ruler over a land we called Hedal. It
was prosperous, and grand with food, art, technology.” He seemed to be lost in
memory. “The greatest city in all of Hedal was Socar. Never was there such a
city and never again will there be. The people of Hedal were envied throughout
Terra, and its King beloved.” He smiled in a wistful way. “One day it was
advised to our King that he needed to build better relations with the
neighboring nation of Aekaetum.” Everyone gasped when Baylech suddenly spit on
the floor. “My pardon.” He apologized blushing profusely, “Old habits are hard to
break.” He smiled weakly around the room, “Aekaetum was not as prosperous as
Hedal, and they were forever fighting one war or another. Where Hedal was based
on science, knowledge and technology Aekaetum was the opposite. The King
however agreed to a marriage to improve relations and wed the daughter of a
mighty warlord, her name was Elyon.”

“The King and his new Queen were deliriously happy and all thought them
to be very much in love. Their first year saw much change in the birth of twin
sons. They were named Kniam and Knuan. In the old tongue Kniam is ‘first son’
and Knuan is ‘first hope’. Well you Kniam lived up to your name. First in
everything you put your mind to. Your studies, sports, training, military
strategy...women.” Baylech looked to Amber when she snorted loudly. “My pardon
again my Lady Amber. I am retelling ancient history and mean no offense.”

“It is just Amber please.” She shrugged her shoulders, “I’m sorry for
interrupting, please go ahead.” Kniam had grabbed her hand since they were sitting
male-female with mates next to each other. Kneus flushed when he realized he
was sitting next to Gwen.

“Everything you did left Knuan second. He was mad with envy. Though your
father gave equal attention to all of his sons, because as years went by he had
been blessed with five strong male heirs, it was never enough for Knuan.”

“When I was fighting Knuan in the technology dome he said “never use that
term with me again.” Kniam broke in. “He was enraged when I said his actions
were madness.”

Baylech nodded sadly, “Yes that sounds like Knuan, he hates to be called
‘mad’ or ‘crazy’ or any term that implies mental weakness. He reacts quite
violently to anyone who says or implies those traits.” He paused his brow
furrowed, “Where was I?” He tapped his finger against the table, “That’s
right.” He smiled, “Now as time progressed, you were all given duties specific
to your status. Kniam you were training to replace your father one day as King.
Your brother Knuan was to be your First Advisor, a place of great honor, though
not high enough for him.” Baylech’s eyes moved around the room, “You Knollig
were in the Diplomatic Corps, Knaleg was in the Military Corps, and Kneus had
graduated from university and was working with the Scientific Corps. Everyone
else here on Terraneu was either your trusted friend, soldier or servant of the
King.” Baylech looked around the room, his eyes falling on Asteen and Ailech.
Kneus noticed something flashing in his eyes as he moved past the latter.

“It is about this time that things began to unravel.” Baylech had the
group spellbound in their seats. “Kneus brought word to your father of the
Queen asking for strange scientific studies to be done. Knaleg confirmed he had
heard disturbing whisperings in the military corps as well. Knollig was away on
a diplomatic mission and was rushed home on the Kings order.”

“I was a member of the Kings guard. In the middle of the night Marcael
came to us with a mission from the King. He was the youngest Knoet’un, which
translates roughly to ‘First Knight’, in the history of Hedal. There was no
other that could outsmart or defeat him. Even you Kniam were to train with
Marcael. So when he came to us we obeyed him as if we were talking to our
King.” Baylech paused in the story to drink some water. “That night we left
Socar on our mission and I never saw the King alive again.” His voice broke and
everyone gave him a moment to regain his composure.

Baylech continued, “You see your mother had planned an assassination of
her husband and four sons. Knuan was to take your place as King, however your
father escaped along with you four. A war was declared with heavy fighting
going on both sides, resulting in massive loss of life. After working
tirelessly to find a diplomatic solution your father was forced to admit to the
madness that had taken his wife. He knew that nowhere on Terra would be safe.
He ordered bunkers to be built for the long-term survival of those loyal to
Hedal, but only a few were completed before the end. A ship was refitted to see
you Princes into deep space in the hopes once you got here, to what you named
Terraneu, that your father and females would follow. He thought there would be
time to use the port pad and didn’t want to risk females on the ship. The
cloning eggs were a last minute addition to your supplies, he didn’t really
think you would need them. Using the port pad to come to you was to be a new
beginning, leaving Terra to the people of Aekaetum to do with as they would.
Your father presented this option to the Queen, end the fighting and those of
Hedal would leave Terra.”

“It wasn’t enough for your mother, she wanted your father and you Princes
dead. She had lost her own father and half of Aekaetum in the fighting. The
King didn’t realize that in her desperation the Queen would unleash her worst
weapon. The biological Kneus had warned the King about. Something so foul it
was sure to destroy all mankind on Terra. In her madness Elyon didn’t care
anymore, she had ceased to care about anything. Except for one thing...her
beloved son Knuan. Before the worst of the death toll hit Socar the King used
the ship and sent you four into deep space. There was nothing anyone could do
to stop what your mother’s scientists had unleashed. If he survived your father
planned to use the port pad to find you. If it became obvious that all was lost
he would sabotage it so that none from Aekaetum could use it either. Only a
true blood of Hedal would be able to unlock it. The ANT was to be used by your
father to connect to you Kneus, since you had created it. Your mother captured
the King and stole the ANT before he could have it destroyed.”

Baylech paused again and Knaleg took the opportunity to ask. “What was
the mission our father sent you on?” Knaleg was always curious about military
strategy. He wasn’t the only one who would wonder at this secret mission
though. Kneus had been curious too.

“We were ordered to pretend to be traitor’s to Hedal, ingratiate
ourselves to your mother the Queen, rising in her ranks if possible and to stop
her if we could. Unfortunately the only one that got close to the Queen was
Marcael. We never saw Knuan on Terra. Just before your mother unleashed the
biological weapon we were sent off world. That is the first time we ever got
close to him. Knuan had been in space onboard the Elyon for the whole of the
fighting.” Baylech answered honestly, “Everyone on Terra was dead or dying in
less than a week. The King knew long before his capture that your brother was
off world. He also knew that he had inherited your mother’s madness and would
never stop trying to find you. Which was wise of the King, since your brother
is indeed as mad as the Queen was if not more so. The Queen was caught in her
own trap she was infected before being able to leave Terra. She knew that if
she went to be with Knuan she doomed those on the ship to the same fate as
Terra. Her dying wish to her son was that you brothers reunite.”

“What is so ‘mad’ about that?” Jen whispered.

Baylech paused to look at Jen, and then sighing softly he finally
answered, “Her dying wish was that Knuan re-unite with his brothers so that he
might then bathe in their blood.”