Crow - The Awakening (85 page)

"Steven, your bond can be both a blessing and a curse. She will eventually support your endeavors and it is possible that you will be willing to take even greater risks because of that support." Penipe rubbed his hand that she still grasped. "Those risks could easily become reckless and get you both killed."

"Penipe, I would do anything to keep her safe," Steven insisted, then stopped himself before continuing.

Penipe watched him put that sentiment in a new light. "Yes, Steven. You see it now, don't you? You took a poison dart for her and yet that almost cost you both your lives. But it goes even deeper than that, Steven. As a deviant, when you go through the changes you will be able to take far more punishment than she can survive. What you tolerate could be killing her."

Steven stared at her silently for a moment, crestfallen at the possibility of causing the death of the one he loved so dearly. "What can I do?"

"Always be aware of the risks you are taking and trust your closest friends," Penipe smiled at him, putting her hand on his cheek. "You have a good heart, Steven. Don't ever forget that." She got serious and grabbed his ear. "And don't hurt my daughter."

Steven winced, and nodded. Penipe hugged him and he returned the embrace. "Thanks, Penipe. Without you I'd have never found Asherah. Or found myself."

"Without you, my daughter would have died," Penipe whispered in his ear. She mussed his hair and they both walked out to the table. Asherah grabbed Steven's hand as he sat down and he looked at her with a new appreciation.

He remembered something and thought for a moment. "When I was being robbed and beat up, you were taking my pain, weren't you?" Steven asked. Suddenly he felt her memory even though she tried to repress it and gasped. "Asherah. Did I really hurt that badly?"

Asherah looked down, sober. That was just one of many times she had tried to help Steven against her father's wishes, and it had cost her dearly.

"It really hurt you," Steven said, shocked, putting his arm around her. She had blacked out from the pain as she tried to shield Steven the best she could. Steven was shocked. "I'm so sorry."

She looked up at him sharply and her anger washed over him. "Never be sorry, Steven. I took your pain because I love you. Never be sorry for my love." Her irises flashed yellow as the blue-gray patches shrunk. He was taken aback by her anger, but saw what she was saying and had a greater comprehension of what Penipe was trying to impress on him.

"I will never be sorry for your love, Asherah. Ever." Steven ran his fingers through her hair as she looked into his eyes. Her anger shocked him, but her reason was part of him. He knew exactly why she reacted that way as he felt her passion in his heart. She gave him her strength, and he likewise gave her strength when she was suffering. Their bond kept each other alive during the worst of times.

She relaxed and smiled softly as she experienced him working it out. "Now you understand."

Steven nodded. He couldn't help but be awed by it.

"When we were between life and death, that wasn't a dream, was it?" Steven already knew the answer, however. She looked at him as he worked to digest the enormity of their relationship. "This is going to take some getting used to."

"You'll be fine, my love," Asherah thought to him. He felt her affection wash over him as she caressed his face and kissed him. Steven already knew he wouldn't have things any other way.

As it turned out, Lohet was in agreement with Steven about Jacob. They all sat outside around a large table and the Keratian actually brought it up as he was blending something in one of Sally's blenders. Sirel and Migalo had finished off their catch and Moringa was eating some greens she gathered from the forest. Steven brought another bowl of figs from the pantry to share with Asherah. She decided they were her favorite fruit now and Steven was wondering if he was going to have to raid their winter stores soon. But there was a late crop coming on at their old homestead and the trees looked like they were going to bear well.

Lohet leaned against the table as he ran the blender, thoroughly mixing up whatever drink he was concocting. "Jacob needs to be managed," he said, looking at Steven.

Steven stuck his tongue out at Asherah. She kicked him under the table as she bit into another fig, making him jump. She looked sideways at him and grinned while she chewed. Steven scowled briefly at her, then took a bite of the fig as she held it out to him. How could he stay angry with her? Lohet looked at the two of them for a moment, then continued.

"Our primary mission is the Sadari. The success of our mission is paramount to the survival of not just this planet, but the entire Cooperative." He stopped and looked at Steven. "I trust that Asherah has explained the Cooperative to you?"

"Briefly. I actually learned a lot about it in the meadow when I helped her with her homework." Steven said, thinking back and being shocked at how much he knew but didn't acknowledge. He remembered Asherah saying that he could travel to any of the planets, too. Thousands of galaxies. It was all so overwhelming to him. The core planet Steven rescued Asherah from, Endard, was in a distant galaxy, and it was as easy to travel there as it was for him to walk into the next room. Steven suddenly felt very small as he contemplated the enormity of the universe around him.

"Jacob is a distraction that needs to be addressed," Lohet stated as he poured in some more powder into the blender, then some ground herbs.

"What are the Sadari?" Steven asked while watching Lohet prepare his meal. He knew that they were aliens and they were considered the bad guys. That was about the extent of it. Asherah's understanding of them was still fairly rudimentary. Rachel was supposed to be a product of the Sadari, though Steven couldn't imagine how. She was soft and bubbly and very sweet. Hardly a ravenous conquering alien.

Lohet thought for a second. An abridged version would be faster. "They're an ancient technomorph species. Tremendous mental capacity but they have no ability to gate." He looked at Steven. "Think of them as deviants without the power." Lohet plunged a heating element into the blender to warm up the liquid. "They synthesize everything they need. They have no connection to nature and have no regard for other life. They are xenophobes and the only interaction we've had with them is through their golems, which act as their proxies." He looked off into the distance. "They are jealous of our natural ability to exploit fractures. They tried to take over core fracture worlds that acted as hubs in order to attempt to dominate gating, but we defeated them."

"If you defeated them then, what's the challenge now?" Steven persisted.

"Terra is in the same galaxy as their occupied region. Their gate has been irrevocably closed since the War. Terra… Earth… is the only other occupied planet in this galaxy that has any sort of connection to the fracture, and the fracture in the meadow is extremely strong. The Terrans here may have latent gating abilities that the Sadari lack altogether." He stopped and looked up. "The only reason we won was because they couldn't apply the full power of their technology. If they are able to access the fractures with their technology, the Cooperative is lost. One of their ships is up there now somewhere. It must have taken them over a thousand years to get here. If they synthesize gating capabilities, any part of the universe is but an instant away for them."

Steven followed his gaze upward. Anything that made Lohet nervous made him nervous. Lohet looked at Steven. "Steven, you may be key in incapacitating the Sadari." Steven found that hard to believe. "They cannot block your access to the fractures since you are a deviant and can create your own fractures. No amount of technology can block you." Lohet looked at him, wondering if telling him that was the right thing. However he was going to figure it out sooner or later anyway.

"Why would they have taken my biological parents?" Steven asked. While he now saw Sally and Jonah in a new light, he still had not forgotten about the subject of his obsession for most of his childhood.

"I can only guess. They are attempting to use them as models in their goals of synthesizing gatekeeping," Lohet sighed. "This entire ruse was a trap, Steven. They wanted us to detect them. And they clamped down on us the instant we arrived."

Steven scratched his arm as he looked at Lohet. He beheld the monster that had terrorized his nightmares for most of his childhood just sitting there mixing up a drink of something as if it was a normal, domesticated task. And this monster was telling him that he was key to stopping an overwhelmingly powerful alien force. Steven sighed. He was just a kid. He didn't feel powerful.

Steven looked at what Lohet was mixing. It was mostly white, with the herbs making it more off white, like a dirty milkshake. "What is that?" Steven picked up a pouch of the white powder and looked at it.

"Rodan blood," Lohet stated. "Dried, of course."

Steven put it down quickly and looked at Lohet. "You don't... hunt?"

Lohet regarded him for a moment while blending, then he decanted his meal into a pitcher. "We are not predators, Steven. We are protectors. Shepherds." He sniffed his drink and took a sip. "Our relationship with the Rodan is symbiotic. They feed us, and we protect them." He drank deeply then looked at the white stained pitcher. "This was from the Lydian district. Their varietal is remarkable."

"What could possibly be a challenge to you?" Steven asked.

Lohet smiled. "Where I come from, we are not at the top of the food chain. But then, neither are Terrans. We are very good at being protectors, however, which is why we remain the dominant species on our planet."

Steven shook his head, bewildered. Vampires that are shepherds and tend herds. That was a new one for him.

Lohet looked at his empty pitcher. "Fresh is better, however. Slightly fermented. It's been a long time since I've had a fresh meal."

"Maybe I'll have to sneak you in sometime," Steven said, grinning. He could do that now. He was reveling in the newfound freedom that his ability had gifted him with, while at the same time terrified of just how open the universe was to him.

Asherah looked at him and frowned, shaking her head.

"What?" Steven asked.

"His planet is too extreme for you, for most of us," she said. "You would be over five times heavier."

"I like it perfectly fine," Sirel chirped in. She landed softly on the table and sat down next to Asherah to play with her hair. Little discharges of electricity seemed to dance on Asherah's hair and Sirel giggled as Asherah rolled her eyes.

Lohet regarded Steven for a while. It had been a long time since they had a gatekeeper handy. "Supplies are running low. I'll have Penipe send a list to Tor'eng so we can get a full set of provisions." He looked at the pitcher, thinking. "Now, on to Jacob. The sooner we take care of that problem, the better."

Steven set his laptop up and pulled up their servers. Retrieving it had been trivial, thanks to his new abilities. He turned it for Sirel who started scanning their systems for any useful data. She was better at finding that kind of stuff than he was, which was a little humbling. Asherah informed him that she was many times older than Lohet. Sirel cocked her head as she worked then bounced to a song only she could hear. The laptop was crude from her perspective, and she deftly worked through Steven's system easily, slapping away Steven's finger as he tried to help. "Their base is still wrecked. I guess they didn't like your remodeling job," she giggled, elbowing Steven as she worked.

"He mentioned other bases," Steven said, looking at Sirel and realizing that he was sitting right next to an alien of immense age and power. Yet even from close up she appeared to be little more than an adolescent girl. She glanced sideways at him briefly and he looked down, embarrassed.

"Yes, I have them pulled up too, sweetie," Sirel said as she concentrated.

"They are geared up to combat aliens. Though they are totally ineffective. They have no idea what they are fighting and are reaching in the dark," Lohet observed. "But they won't respond to threats from us. Blind arrogance directs their hand." He looked at Steven. "But a threat from a deviant can be most convincing and take that arrogance down a notch." He smiled, his canines glinting in the sun.

A Mustang pulled up their drive. Brandon made it finally. He missed most of breakfast, however. He got out and reached back in and pulled out a bunch of books and walked over to the table. Moringa looked up and lit up with a big smile when she saw him. He sat down next to her and put the books down on the table.

"What are those for?" Steven asked.

"I'm going to teach her English," Brandon stated. "Work has given me a two week leave of absence while they investigate the shooting and we repair the property, so I figured I'd be useful here." He opened a book and started showing Moringa pictures and identifying them. She scooted closer, leaning against Brandon, fascinated by the books. Brandon blushed a little and Steven grinned. Moringa was especially gleeful when he showed her some oceanic pictures. Steven raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He looked back at Asherah who was grinning at him while nibbling a mushroom. Steven rolled his eyes.

"I've found him," Sirel said. "He's returning to an office in New York."

"Great. Now, let's make this good," Steven said, smiling.

"You will need some practice, Steven," Lohet said, appraising the young deviant. "A quick training course should be enough for now."

Steven raised his eyebrows and Lohet grinned. Steven gulped.

After making it through security, Jacob hobbled to his East Coast office, eager to get back to work. He had a fresh cast on a broken leg and his head was wrapped up but other than that he survived the collapse. Whatever hit them on the West Coast was more than they could have possibly imagined. Their hangers were wrecked, tunnels collapsed, and the deep chambers under partial collapse. The base was very close to being written off altogether. Jacob preferred to look at it as a learning experience. The lesson learned was that they were far from being an effective global defense force.