Kneus: A Terraneu Novel (Book Four) (2 page)

It was the end of the meeting and Kneus sighed with
frustration. A feeling he was sure that the other council members shared.

“I am sorry. There is nothing we have found in all of our time spent
searching.” He waved his hands at the computer system, “The information is in
there somewhere, I just can’t seem to access it. Nothing has changed since Gwen
and I briefed both councils last week.”

Kneus paused to remember that meeting. He and Gwen had agreed on two
things that both the joint councils should be told. The first thing they had
worked out was what he and Gwen suspected and the computer simulations could
confirm: The humanoids that attacked Knaleg and his group on Antilles had more
than likely come from Earth. The when, where and how of that was unknown to
them still. The computer could verify that the males of Terraneu would have the
cobalt blue eyes that Catherine described if they were genetically programmed
to utilize some type of ambient space radiation, instead of the two suns of
Terraneu. What this meant was that the group that they had faced on Antilles
was space faring, not tied to any one planet, their origins almost certainly
Earth.

The second thing he and Gwen had reasoned out, was the only explanation
for this group to be searching for technology specific to what had been on
Antilles, and was here on Terraneu, was that they had some knowledge of either
the port pad system or of Kniam and this group having left Earth all those
thousands of years ago. Either scenario did not bode well for them if the
‘mystery soldier’ spoke the truth.

 
Whatever knowledge was being
blocked by the blackouts, or locked away in the depths of the archives could
potentially answer their questions. Which is why the details were so vital, and
the need to access them was urgent. It came down to the only explanation for
the blackouts was that they had done it to themselves.
They
had modified
their memories, and blocked access to the early archives for a reason. The more
digging him and Gwen did, the more questions were raised.

His attention returned to the present meeting when his brother Kniam was
quick to reassure him, “We know you are doing your best Kneus. Just keep
trying, and inform us if anything new should arise.”

Kneus went to stand up but was stopped short when Knollig asked, “What
about the nightmares? Are you still having them?” The concern in his brother’s voice
both irritated and warmed his heart at the same time. He should have known
better than to tell them about the dream he had experienced a few weeks ago.
Every meeting now they asked him if he was still having them. This morning’s
had been a mild example of what his mind had been tormented with lately. The
nightmares all had the same theme: His brothers and he were in mortal peril,
running somewhere, and then his brothers would disappear and he would get cold.
He never saw the person saying, ‘
We are coming.’
He would just hear the
spiteful voice. Since he wasn’t on Antilles during the attack, he didn’t know
why he made the warning the mystery soldier gave them malevolent. In all
regards Catherine said the male went out of his way to help them escape.

Averting his eyes he shrugged, “I haven’t had one in awhile now.”
Sweeping his gaze around the room his eyes landed on Knaleg. He could tell by
the raised eyebrow that this brother didn’t believe him. He continued on with
the lie, he had gone this far with it he might as well keep going! “I have been
sleeping so soundly that I wake up totally refreshed.” He gave a weak smile at
the other males.

“Kneus...” his brother Kniam began, “You can tell us if you require
assistance with the nightmares.”

He held up his hand to stop his brother before he got worked up. He
didn’t want to be a burden to the other members of the council. They all had
enough to deal with between mates and building new families. Out of all the
males Asteen and Ailech were the only two on the council that didn’t have the
worries of a mate and he supposed he could talk to them. It just came down to
the simple fact that he didn’t want to trouble them. He could handle a few
nightmares without everyone raising the alarm.

“I would tell you if I needed help Kniam.” He gave them a sincere smile
this time, “I really would.” He insisted and in case they thought to push the
matter he added, “I think the ladies might enjoy some company at the swimming
pond.” Kneus wasn’t proud of it, but one sure way to distract his brothers and
the other males of the council was to bring up the women. In his brother
Kniam’s case it was the added lure of seeing his sons and daughter.

“Don’t think we don’t know what you are doing.” Knaleg drawled out,
eyeing him seriously.

Kneus sighed, “Yes, but is it working?” He got a mischievous glint in his
eyes, “The last I heard, Cat had gotten a blue bikini like the red one that
Amber wears all the time.”

The mention of the infamous red string bikini was enough to get his
brother on his feet and moving toward the doors. “I think we should go to the
swimming pond.” Knaleg spoke as he rounded the table. “I know that we could all
use some time in the sun to charge up and get refreshed.” He paused at the
doors giving Kneus a smug look over his shoulder, “We can talk about your lack
of ‘dreams’ at the swimming pond. You need some sun as well!”

Kneus had been planning on going back to the technology dome and went to
argue. “I have pl—”

“You have to get outside and get some sun.” Kniam insisted, “This meeting
is adjourned. Asteen and Ailech I know you would prefer to go to the deeper
adult swim section. Is there anything you need to add?”

Neither of the council members had anything to add so moved off to find
their current partners. Neither of them was in a rush to settle down with “the
one” and in fact seemed to be enjoying dating and making friends.

“I know just the place to try to get some privacy with Jen.” Thian
hurried along with them. Being mated to Amber’s best friend from Earth, he
would be going along with the brothers to the children’s swim zone to find his
mate.

Kneus knew when he was beat. His brothers would try to get him alone to
talk at the swimming pond. He was tempted to try to get out of going, but knew
it was useless. They would find him, or send one of their mates to get him. He
couldn’t deny the women anything. Even the one who ‘shot’ him could get him to
do what she wanted. He could laugh now about the time his brother Knaleg’s mate
Catherine had confronted him over the barrel of a gun. Of course she wasn’t his
brother’s mate at the time, she was in fact investigating Mairi’s grandfather
and him for ‘kidnapping’ women. She had no way of knowing that they were
bringing them to Terraneu as prospective mates, and they were willing to come.
She had been lowing her weapon when he had activated the port pad and her gun
had gone off. Both of them had been injured, but he had ended up in a coma from
a head wound and couldn’t vouch for her lack of intent to shoot him. It had
worked out in the end though. She was the perfect mate for his military minded
brother!

Following along behind his brothers he wondered if he would ever have the
time to find a mate. Then with a sudden chill of foreboding he thought about
the nightmare. He had never let Gwen do any scans or talked to her about his
medical condition. What if his mind was permanently damaged from the injury he
had sustained or lack of suns on Earth?

“I just don’t understand where they could be.” Amber’s voice carried
across the lawns. “Whenever I call Cebat and Tabec they always come running, if
they aren’t already right by my side. They have never left Knadyn, Knacayn or
Brennae for this long. Something must be wrong.” Her eyes started to get misty
with emotion. Once a blue-green color they were slowly changing to purple. They
were now a striking mix of the three colors.

All of the females brought to Terraneu from Earth would eventually have
some variation of purple eyes. It was a side effect from using the two suns for
energy instead of eating. Gwen had studied the data on what had been done to
them. The ‘change’ as they called it took their bodies and made them work like
a solar panel, soaking up the suns energy and using that to regenerate their
cells. The only side effects were that your eyes turn a brilliant purple color,
you couldn’t eat solid food and your body was set to its prime physical
condition. Oh, and you also lived for about eight hundred years. Their new
bodies could and did absorb water that was ingested, like a sponge does. They
just couldn’t process solid food any more. If you tried to eat anything it was
immediately rejected by your body, the stomach just didn’t operate like an
Earth human’s anymore. If you drank an excess of water, you would have to use the
bathroom more frequently. Otherwise there were no similarities to their old
bodies. No amount of exercise could make your sweat smell, no cavities, no need
for glasses, no acne...unless you got pregnant. Then you might have an
outbreak. The only thing that was similar was the female menstrual cycle. Just
like on Earth, every female was different in the severity of their symptoms and
duration of their cycle. She supposed some things were just too much to hope
for that the “female time” would have gone away.

Gwen snapped out of her musing to try to catch up with her friends’
current topic of conversation. Amber was biting her lip in agitation. Her eyes
swept to the babies playing in the circle of her friends. Gwen thought about
the unusual absence of the pet sacath and it came to her that maybe Tabec, who
was pregnant, might be “nesting”. Most animal breeds on Earth did it to some
extent, she wondered if the sacath were the same.

“Tabec could be finding a place to nest so she could deliver her litter.”
Gwen wasn’t a veterinarian, and in fact had very limited experience with
animals. Her parents had never let her have a pet as a child, and working such
long hours as an adult she felt it would have been unfair to have one once she
was on her own. She had been a doctor on Earth but that didn’t mean a lot here
on Terraneu. The technology was so advanced she just dealt with some of the
minor issues. After the medical units had been updated recently to include all
details on females, babies, and now toddlers, she really didn’t have much to
do.

Amber jumped on the suggestion, “That is what I was thinking! What if
something goes wrong? I should ask Kniam to send out a search party.” She
jumped up, then sat down and then jumped up again clearly torn on what to do
for her pets.

Gwen tried to reassure her friend, “Amber, if instinct has taken over for
Tabec she will try to have her litter somewhere known to her. Somewhere she
feels is safe. I don’t think a search party will be needed.” Gwen reached for
Brennae and held her on her lap. “When was the last time you saw her?”

Amber sat down, her brow furrowed in thought, “I was out early today
getting some things for our dome. I had the triplets since Kniam was going to
the meeting with the male council.” She paused for a moment, “I let Cebat and
Tabec out to search for food. That is the last I saw of them. They didn’t
follow me to the edge of New Haven like usual, but I was too busy to think
about it at the time.”

Gwen was stopped from asking any further questions by the arrival of the
males. Kniam, Knollig, Knaleg, Kneus and Thian. Everyone in the group did the
‘mate’ thing, as Gwen liked to call it. The females all jumped up from where
they were sitting, with a toddler in their arms if they had been holding one,
and rushed over to kiss their mate. As soon as everyone was finished with
greetings, it was again brought up about the missing sacath.

“I can arrange for the males to look for them if you would like.” Kniam
offered and Gwen noticed he had pulled Amber tighter against his chest in an
obvious effort to comfort her.

“I saw them at your dome just before the meeting this morning.” Knollig
interjected. “They were prowling around the front door so I let them inside
since I have authorization to enter.”

“There you see!” Knaleg was on the ground playing with Knacayn. “They
must be at your dome. Have you been back since you left this morning?”
Catherine joined him on the ground and gave the baby a raspberry on his belly.
Knacayn burst out into baby giggles, which left the male shocked.

“What did you do?” Knaleg looked aghast at Catherine.

“I just blew a raspberry on his belly.” Catherine started laughing with
the shrieking toddler. “See...” she gently blew another one on his belly, and
again the baby burst into giggles. “It tickles them so you have to be gentle
and only do it a couple of times...but it makes them laugh.”

“Have you heard of this thing? Tickling a baby to make it laugh on
purpose?” Knaleg asked his brother.

“Yes. I have done it myself. They find it amusing and their laughter is
contagious.” Kniam had been smiling warmly at his son then returned his gaze to
look down at Amber, “Have you been back to our dome?”

“No.” Amber admitted sheepishly, “I forgot that I had locked the
automatic door this morning so we wouldn’t have a repeat of last week when the
neighboring sacath entered our dome. I can go check now.” She made to leave
Kniam’s arms but he stopped her.

“I will check on them, you stay and enjoy yourself. I will send back a
message to my brothers if there is anything to report.” Kniam gave her a quick
kiss and strode off. His long legs took him at a fast pace out of the swimming
pond.

“If there is anything I can do I will be there to help Tabec.” Gwen
assured Amber.

“Thank you Gwen, I know you will. We have Iesti ready to help if needed
also. He was very good with them when Mairi and I were kidnapped. He was able
to save both Cebat and Tabec after they were poisoned.” Amber sat back on the
grass, and then changed her mind. “I think I’ll take Knadyn into the water.”

She had asked the fabricators to make a three-part floatation device that
could be separated, but when snapped in place held all three babies together.
She scooped Knadyn up and put him into his floatie first. He knew what it meant
and grew excited. He started talking ‘baby’ babble, kicking his legs and waving
his arms. This show of excitement had Knacayn and Brennae struggling against
the arms holding them.

Gwen laughed, “Okay. I guess Brennae wants some time in the water as
well.” She put the baby into her floatie device and strode to the edge of the
pond with her. Handing her to Amber and Jen, who had helped Knacayn into his
floatie, they snapped the three together. It was amazing that no matter how
long any of them stayed in the sun, or played in the water they never got
sunburned...or the ‘pruned’ fingers from the water. Their bodies used both
elements so exposure to them just made them healthier.

Gwen sat at the edge of the swimming pond with her feet in the water.
Looking behind her she noticed the males talking quietly instead of joining
their mates.

“Does anyone know what has the men so worked up?” She asked of the group
around the babies.

“I think it has something to do with the research you are doing with
Kneus. Finding some way to shield us, or advance our weapons weighs heavily on
Knaleg’s mind.” Catherine was the first to answer.

“Knollig said he is worried about Kneus finding a mate to help him with
his stress levels.” Mairi spoke up, “Not that the shields and weapons aren’t
enough to have them in conferences all the time.”

Amber spun the floatie around and the triplets laughed and splashed as
they turned slowly in the water, “I heard something about Kneus having
nightmares. They are causing him to lose sleep and could be affecting his state
of mind.” She leaned in conspiratorially, “Kniam and the others are worried
about his mental health. Have you noticed anything Gwen?” Amber asked.

“Besides his brooding good looks, and ‘fix my tormented soul’, puppy dog
eyes?” Catherine teased.

Gwen knew that the others were aware of her attraction to Kneus, and they
usually kept the teasing to a minimum. It seemed that today wasn’t a day they
were going to let her off the hook. With a sigh she struggled to turn the
conversation, “I tried to get Kneus to let me do a physical when he woke from
the coma.” This got her a few snorts of laughter and she swore she heard, “I
bet you want to get physical with him,” but she ignored the teasing and kept
talking. “He has been working really hard and that could account for any
physical symptoms. As for the nightmares, those could be caused by any number
of things. I just wish he would let me examine him.”

This was apparently too much for the other women, they all burst into
laughter.

“You make it too easy.” Catherine gasped out, “Examine him...” she
trailed off when she couldn’t catch her breath.

After a few seconds of merriment Amber got everyone’s attention, “Okay,
enough. We’ve had our fun at poor Gwen’s expense. If the males are seriously
worried about Kneus, we need to figure out how we can help.”

“I agree.” Jen said, “Thian hasn’t mentioned details, I don’t think he
wants me to worry, but I know he is concerned about Kneus too.”

“I will do whatever I can.” Mairi was quick to volunteer.

“What do you suggest Gwen?” Catherine had stopped laughing and was back
in her “council leader” mode. “We will do whatever you recommend.”

Gwen thought for minute then said, “We need to keep an eye on Kneus and
report back to each other on anything out of the ordinary. He has been the same
as far as I can tell since he came out of the coma. Since I am working with him
I will try to find out about the nightmares. He hasn’t said anything about them
in passing, so it might take some creative questioning.”

Gwen had been watching the men huddled in conversation so she was the
first to see the change that came over them, they all glance toward the water.
The look of excitement on their faces told her something was up.

“I think the men have something to tell us.” She informed the group in
the swimming pond. “They just got really excited about something and started
heading this way.”

All eyes swept toward the males.