Laura Jo Phillips (24 page)

“I’m sorry,” Summer said.  “I tend to jump ahead.  Please, go on and I will try not to interrupt.”

“I do not mind your interruptions,” Maxim assured her.  “I just wish to give you the information in what I believe to be a logical order so that it will make more sense.”

Summer smiled, glad that Maxim was working so hard to be patient with her.

 “Jasani babies are born in threes,” Maxim said.  “Either all males or all females, never both at the same time.  In males, the three share one soul.  In females, each has their own soul, but that soul is destined to be paired with the soul shared by a male-set.  When the female’s soul is matched with her male’s soul, the four of them become linked together.  What we call
soul-linked
.”

Summer felt a strange warmth fill her as she listened to what Maxim was saying.  There was something almost familiar about it.  And that was a thought that startled her.

“How does any of that work with human women?” she asked, trying to shake off the strange sensations.  Of course this wasn’t familiar.  How could it be?  She’d never heard of anything like this before and, as she remembered everything she had ever read or heard, she was positive of that.

As Maxim began telling her about their mating fangs, how they were used, and how the serum in them was altered for use on human women, Summer began to have that weird, down-the-rabbit-hole feeling again.  But, she admitted to herself, what Maxim was telling her was no stranger than what had happened to her earlier with the Sensei and the katana.

“And an Arima?” Summer asked when Maxim finished with his explanation of how human women were altered in order to carry male Jasani babies.  “What is an Arima?”

“An Arima is the female Jasani who mates with a male-set and links them all together,” Maxim explained.

“But you just said that there are no female Jasani,” Summer pointed out.  “And I know for a fact that I’m not Jasani.  I’m human.  So how can I be an Arima?”

“We don’t really understand it all,” Maxim admitted.  “We do know that some of the women who escaped the destruction of Ugaztun made it to Earth because we share a familial genetic connection with Princess Lariah.  Both Lariah and Saige have been transformed into true Arimas by their male-sets.  As our Arima, you can be transformed into a true Jasani as well.”

“Do you mean to say I would be a shifter?” Summer asked.  “I’d change into a big cat, like you guys do?”

“If we perform the soul-link triad together, yes,” Maxim replied.

Soul-link triad? Summer wondered.  One thing at a time, she decided.  “But how do you know this?  How do you know I’m this Arima thing?”

“From the moment we scented you in that building, our mating fangs descended,” Ran said.  “There is nothing other than a true Arima who could cause such a response in a male-set without using the potion.”

“So, because of this biological response the three of you had, you are what?  Stuck with me?” Summer asked.  “You guys don’t even like me.”

“That is not true,” Ran said. 

Summer shook her head.  “Okay, let’s leave that part alone for the moment.  What happens if I don’t want to be your Arima?  What if I don’t want to change into a giant cat?”

“Then you don’t,” Maxim said, forcing himself to keep his face calm, though his heart was in his throat.  He had been wrong to prejudge her, and he knew it.  He would not make things worse by trying to force her into this.

“You will just let me walk away?” Summer asked.

Maxim took a deep breath and forced himself to think carefully before he spoke.  “Summer, please do not misunderstand me,” he began.  “We are not asking you to make a commitment to us right now and frankly, we are not ready for that either.  What I want, what
we
want, is for all of us to take the time to get to know one another.  But yes, to answer your question, if you wish it, we will let you walk away.  Whatever else you may think of us, we would never attempt to force any woman to do anything, least of all mate with us against her will.”

Summer didn’t know what to say, or what to think, or how to feel.  There were too many things happening that made no sense to her.  She needed time to sort things through. 

She was trying to think of a way to say that without being rude or abrupt when the vid on the wall beside the fireplace lit up and beeped softly.  Ran stood up and reached over to hit the button accepting the call.  Faron’s face appeared on the screen.

“I am very sorry to interrupt you,” he said, “but we have a situation here.”

“What is it?” Maxim asked.

“I’m afraid we need Summer,” Faron said.  “Doc says that the last woman with a Controller is in bad shape.  We’re going to lose her if something isn’t done fast.”

Summer leapt to her feet.  “Why?” she asked.  “What’s happening?”

“Never mind,” Maxim said as he hurried to Summer and picked her up.  “We’re on our way right now,” he told Faron before heading for the door.  Ran opened the door for them while Loni picked up her katana.  Then Maxim was outside with Summer in his arms, and they were moving so quickly that Summer again saw nothing but blurred images.  When they stopped, they were on the gravel path in front of the med-lab. 

Maxim set Summer on her feet and reached for the door.  “Thank you,” Summer said breathlessly, realizing she had again forgotten to breathe while they were moving so fast.  She stepped inside and paused at the feeling of barely controlled panic in the room.

There was someone lying on the exam table and Darleen, Doc, Saige, Dav and Faron were all gathered around it. 

“What’s going on?” Summer asked as she hurried to join them.

“We aren’t really sure,” Doc said.  “This woman’s heart is beating so fast, and so irregularly that it will fail very soon, but I cannot determine why.  Without knowing the cause, I cannot stop it.”

“It’s the eppy,” said a soft, weak voice from the corner of the room.  Summer turned and saw the familiar face of Keeper Tesla, a little pale and tired but obviously alive, lying on a bed with lines running to various machines behind her. 

“What’s an eppy?” Doc demanded.

“Every five days all of the women get an injection,” Tesla said.  “They said it’s to keep them from deteriorating, that if they don’t get them, they can die.  The injections are called
eppys
.  They were due yesterday afternoon.  We were prepping them when everything went...bad.”

Doc frowned in thought.  “Oh hell,” he said softly as he spun around and hurried across the room to the drug cabinet.  He grabbed a blood sample tube and hurried back.  With a couple of quick gestures he had a sample of the woman’s blood, which he carried over to another machine.  A few short moments later he swore again and went back to the drug cabinet. 

“These damned Controllers separate mind and body from each other,” he said as he opened the cabinet and reached for several different bottles.  “They lock the conscious mind into a perpetual nightmare, which triggers the fight or flight response.  That’s a real, physical response that is intended to last for seconds only, a stimulation event in the brain meant for survival.  It’s like being constantly stimulated to run for your life.  Before long it’s going to take a toll on the body.”

Doc prepared a syringe and hurried back to the table and began preparing an injection site on the inside of the woman’s arm.  “So, they give them eppys once every five days.  That has to mean some kind of epinephrine and norepinephrine antagonist, to suppress the fight or flight response.”

Doc slipped the needle in carefully and began injecting the drug slowly, watching the vital readouts on the display over the exam table carefully.  After a moment his shoulders relaxed a little.

“Yep, that’s doing the job,” he said with relief.  He withdrew the needle and continued monitoring the vitals for a few more minutes, but clearly the crisis was over. 

“I am going to take a guess here and say that these women have a life span of about five years,” he said as he disposed of the injector and began putting the drugs back in the drug cabinet. 

“Between five and eight, if they’re lucky,” Tesla said sadly.

Summer studied the woman for a long moment.  “Tesla, I do not understand why you risked your life to save your prisoners.”

Tesla sighed and relaxed back against her pillow.  “I couldn’t let them be killed like that,” she said.  “It was wrong.”

“It was also wrong to inject them with a device that took away their minds,” Summer pointed out.

“Is that what was done to them?” Tesla asked.  “I didn’t know that.”

“What did you think?” Summer asked, trying not to sound accusatory.  “You must have known something was wrong with them.  All of those women who didn’t so much as move an inch without an order to do so.”

“Yes, I knew something was wrong with them,” Tesla admitted.  “During all of the months I was there I tried every day to find out what was done, but I failed.  The other women who worked there didn’t really know any more than I did from what I could tell.”

“I don’t understand,” Summer said.  “Are you saying your reason for being there was to find out what was being done?

“Yes,” Tesla replied.  “In part.  The real reason I was there was to find my sister.”

“Sister?” Summer asked, shocked.

 “About two years ago my sister entered into a bride contract with a Jasani male-set and left Earth,” Tesla explained tiredly.  “We never heard from her again.  We tried to contact the men she was supposed to marry, but we never got a response from them.  So, I came to Jasan to find her myself.  I tracked her down to the slave compound, but by the time I got there, she was...gone.  She died there, I believe.  I insinuated myself into the place as a Keeper and tried to discover what had happened to her.  Why she ended up there, and how she died.  I never did learn what really happened to her, but I couldn’t leave.  There were so many women there who needed someone to help them.  So I stayed.”

“How did you manage to track her to the compound?” Faron asked.  “We have been trying to locate the missing women for many months and have never been able to learn anything.”

“My sister and I had a...connection.  We were twins.  I could always find her, and she could always find me.”

“Why didn’t you contact the authorities?” Summer asked.  “You knew something terrible was happening there.”

“Because I thought the authorities were a part of what was happening,” Tesla said tiredly.  “My sister signed a bride contract on Jasan, and then disappeared on Jasan.  I thought the Jasani were behind it.  Until now.  Now I am confused because I have no idea who was behind it.”

“That’s enough now,” Doc said as he eyed his patient carefully.  “This woman needs to rest.  You can speak with her more tomorrow.”

“All right,” Summer said.  She reached out and touched Tesla lightly on the shoulder.  “Tesla, I wish to thank you for protecting those women that you could, and also for taking care of all of us.  You are a brave woman.”

Tesla shook her head weakly.  “I should have done more.”

“Rest now,” Summer said.  When Tesla’s eyes closed, Summer turned back to the exam table and the woman now lying peacefully on it.  “Can we Heal her now?” she asked Doc.

“Yes,” Doc said.  “Unless there is some reason you need her to be conscious, now would be a good time.”

Summer looked to Saige who nodded and took up a position on the other side of the table.  Summer reached out to touch the woman, then closed her eyes and focused. 

It had been a very long day for Summer.  So much had happened that was both confusing and emotionally draining, and she had already healed one woman earlier in the day.  She found she had to strain to get a good mental grip on the Controller.  Once she was certain she had it, she reached out with her other hand to tap Saige.

She sensed the bright, cleansing light of Saige’s Healing power flash through the woman’s brain as she had before.  As soon as it faded, Summer pushed with all of her energy to destroy the Controller, reaching deep inside of herself for the strength to do it.  Realizing she had expended too much of her own energy, she still managed to hold on long enough to be sure she had accomplished her part of the Healing process.  Only then did she allow herself to slip away into darkness.

Chapter
28

“Za-Linq, report,” Xaqana-Ti commanded.

Za-Linq glanced over at the comm panel, took a moment to collect himself, then rose from his chair and strolled casually across the room. 

Za-Linq was not nearly as enamored of his Ruling Female as his predecessor had been.  Za-Queg had always had a soft spot for Xaqana-Ti.  Not that Za-Linq blamed him.  Xaqana-Ti was exceedingly beautiful with her large, gently rounded curves, her mesmerizingly graceful movements, and her scent so richly enticing it was enough to draw any male to her, whether of her brood or not.  And her voice.  Her voice was acknowledged far and wide as the most beautiful, the most dulcet, the most melodious in living memory.

“Za-Linq, report at once,” Xaqana-Ti snapped.

Well, Za-Linq thought to himself with some amusement, her voice
was usually
the most beautiful.  When she wasn’t angry about something.