Kneus: A Terraneu Novel (Book Four) (8 page)

Gwen had never had such a whirlwind few weeks as
these had been. Between working with Kneus in the technology dome, and going
out together afterward she couldn’t remember ever being so busy. After their
first date she had been about to ask him in for a nightcap. Okay it would have
been water, but it was an excuse to get him into her dome. She hadn’t had a
chance to ask because with another quick kiss he had darted off. She thought
with a sigh that a better name for Kneus would have been Sheldon! He was
hopeless when it came to female interaction. That thought led her to wonder how
her favorite television series was progressing back on Earth. She would never
know now she supposed, but figured she could always make up an ending in her
mind.

With a bounce in her step Gwen made her way from her
dome. She hadn’t been working with Kneus for a couple of days now. There was a
female that had wanted to start a water bar, where people could go to gather.
Emma wanted to take it one step further however and thought to create
‘flavored’ water. She had said that it was something the females could relate
to from Earth, ‘a taste of home’ kind of thing. After thinking about it Gwen
had agreed to assist her, she had been trying to help Emma achieve a successful
formula without any luck for three days now. As long as the flavor was
artificial they had some decent results. If they tried to ‘juice’ any fruit to
add to the water, it just seemed too much for the stomach. Unfortunately the
artificial formulas left a nasty aftertaste in the mouth so were unlikely to be
desirable as refreshment. Gwen was undeterred however. She knew that if they
kept at it eventually they would find a recipe that would work. Emma was very
excited to make her idea a reality, and Gwen wanted her to succeed. She didn’t
realize how much of life on Earth revolved around food until coming here. This
water bar would give them another place to hang out, make friends, go on dates
or just bring a reader and relax in Emma’s planned lounge area.

Arriving at the dome that Emma was converting to use
as her business Gwen saw that she was already here. Gwen waited as she talked
with one of the males from the fabricators about what she would like in the way
of seating and cushions. When she spotted Gwen she thanked the male she had
been talking with and walked over.

“Good morning Gwen.” Emma smiled in greeting, “How
was your date with Kneus?”

Everyone knew that Gwen and Kneus were dating, and
that he had been taking her out almost nightly.

“Good morning Emma.” Gwen replied, “It was fun. How
was your date with Jax?” It seemed that surviving the attack on Antilles had
hurried Jax’s desire for a mate. While Lacey, the female he had been dating was
not ready to settle into a monogamous relationship. Emma on the other hand was
interested. She was very nice and Gwen hoped it would work out for them.

“It was very romantic really.” Emma sighed, “Jax
surprised me by stopping in shortly after you left. I was just cleaning up and
he had a formula he had created. I tried to warn him that you and I had some
really bad reactions, but he insisted he wanted to help.” Emma burst out
laughing at the memory, “He drank it down before I could stop him you can just
imagine what happened next.”

Gwen started laughing too, “Yes, I can.”

“After everything was cleaned up, including Jax, we
went to the park to visit. It was getting dark by then so we got a nice quiet
spot and just star gazed.” She got wistful and said in a soft voice, “Do you
ever wonder which star is the Earth’s sun when you look up at the night sky?”

Gwen thought for a moment, it would be a lie to say
she never thought about Earth when she looked out at the night. “Yes, I think
about Earth all the time. I try to remind myself that the life we are building
here is worth the sacrifice though.” Gwen shook herself out of it, “Flavored
water is not going to be one of those sacrifices if we can help it!” That had
Emma laughing once again.

“You are right!” Her voice held its normal
enthusiasm, “We are going to give this a burl!”

Gwen looked at Emma, “My instant Terraneu translator
must be off. What is a burl?”

“Oh, it’s a saying for giving something a try,
making an attempt at something. In this case flavored water.” Emma explained.

“Got it.” Gwen moved to where they had set up a
portable science station, “We are definitely going to give it a ‘burl’!”

*~*~*

A few hours later Gwen had to acknowledge defeat for
another day. It was discouraging really how often she had hit dead ends lately.
With Kneus the archives and now Emma and now the flavored water. Was there
anything on this planet she was going to be able to succeed at? Wondering at
her suddenly dejected state of mind she figured she might need to stop by the
fabricators for some feminine supplies if her train of thought was any
indication. She was always at her most depressed and moody just before her
monthly ‘visitor’.

With decidedly less bounce to her step Gwen moved
around Terraneu. Picking up supplies and stopping to chat with friends as she
came across them. She had promised Amber that she would stop by her dome to see
the now moving around sacathies. With that goal in mind she put away her
supplies then made her way to New Haven.

“Gwen, you made it.” Amber waved her into the living
room of her dome. “As you can see it has been a bit crazy in here!”
 
Poor Amber looked around with a grimace.

Gwen smiled to reassure her friend, “I just happen
to be looking for a bit of craziness in my day!” She looked around at what had
Amber in such a state and noted that the dome looked like any home with
children she had ever visited. It wasn’t dirty as much as it had a bit of
clutter everywhere. The triplets were playing with an assortment of toys on the
living room floor. Gwen had marveled at the speed with which they took to
moving around. Once they had rolled, then crawled and now they were pulling
themselves up, and taking baby steps. She knew that they would be walking
before their first birthday, probably within the month. That wasn’t the only
surprise Gwen realized with a start when she felt the brush of fur against her
leg and looked down to see the golden sacathie brushing against her.

“The sacathies are moving around without Tabec
guarding them?” Gwen asked in amazement.

“Yes. She is far less restrictive of them.” Amber
looked around, “Imagine my shock when they joined me in the bathroom yesterday
morning.” Amber laughed at the memory. “All of them mind you. The triplets
and
her two! Tabec still herds all
five of them around, she just doesn’t restrict them to one room anymore. They
have even taken some jaunts outside. Poor Cebat is still left to hunt and bring
food back, and I’m not even going to try to describe that mess!”
 
She shuddered dramatically.

“It’s a good thing Iesti said the sacathies can go
through training and whatever behavior thing Kniam wanted to do on them by
about a month old.” Catherine spoke from behind her.

Gwen jumped at Catherine’s voice, then spun around
and spotted her on the couch. “Cat, I didn’t see you there. How was your latest
trip into the wilds of Terraneu? You were only gone a couple of days, I thought
you were going to be out longer.” Picking her way through babies, toys and
sacath Gwen managed to find a place to sit on the couch close to Catherine.
Amber chose a seat across from them.

“It was nice to get away, but Knaleg wanted to be
back here for the council meeting.” Catherine continued, “I’m not sure why. I
know you are working hard at those archives, but I swear they just aren’t the
answer. If anyone could find anything in those files it would be you and
Kneus.” Catherine frowned, “I just think your talents are wasted on those
computer files.” She hurried to ask, “Amber said you are working with Emma on
flavored water? That is something I would really like to be fruitful.” She
laughed at her own joke, “Get it...
fruitful
...flavored water...?” She
trailed off when Gwen and Amber just looked at her. “Well I thought it was
funny.” Clearing her throat she asked, “So how is it coming along?”

It was Gwen’s turn to frown, “Nothing to report yet.
No matter what we try with real flavoring the body just can’t seem to adapt.
Anything with artificial ingredients leaves a nasty aftertaste.” Gwen wanted to
give them some hope that it might work so hurried to add, “I am confident that
we will find something. Which is what I was going to ask you Cat. In your
travels if you could bring back samples of the plants you come across. Maybe
there is something out there that we can use.”

“No problem. I will ask Knaleg if he knows of things
that don’t seem toxic. As we get farther out and he doesn’t know, we will just
have to bring samples back for testing.” Catherine seemed excited at the idea
of going farther than Knaleg had gone before, and her next words proved it. “I
can’t wait to take some time away and really explore! Going farther than he has
gone before is our hope.”

“Well you will have the perfect companion in the
male sacathie.” Amber looked to Gwen, “Mairi chose the female brindle, and that
means Cat and Knaleg get the male. You should have seen it Gwen. Cat had
thought to wait for a different litter and hope for a female. Knaleg was on the
ground rolling around talking baby to the male sacathie before she could even
say no.” Both Cat and Amber laughed remembering the image of Knaleg and the
sacathie. “Even more amazing was Cebat and Tabec left them alone, and the
little male was attached to Knaleg the whole time he visited.” Amber looked
around and Gwen would have sworn she was counting...one...two...three. Looking
back to Cat she asked. “Do you have a name for him yet?”

“Knaleg is letting me pick since I am not getting to
wait for a girl sacath. But I haven’t decided yet.” Her voice trailed off.

“Well as soon as you have a name picked out we will
start using it to call him.” Amber suddenly hurried over to where Brennae was
taking a few teetering steps, quickly moving toys from behind the toddler in
case she fell back. When she noticed the woman watching her Amber laughed, “I don’t
think a fall on her bum is going to hurt, I just don’t want her to fall on her
bum and get stuck by the toy she lands on.”

Before either she or Cat could say a word there was
a knock on the door. Amber yelled out, “Come in.” Then smiled when Mairi rushed
inside.

“I don’t know how you did it Amber.” She was pushing
the twin stroller and Gwen could see the girls were sleeping soundly. “They
only sleep for four hours at as time if I’m lucky, then they are up and ready
to be fed.” She paused in mid rant to see Catherine and Gwen sitting on the
couch. “Oh hello.” She smiled weakly, “I swear Gwen if you hadn’t used the
medical unit on me and healed my lower extremities I don’t know what I would
do. Not getting any decent sleep is one thing, but to be in
pain
too...”
She flopped dramatically onto the couch across from Gwen and Catherine. “I
sound like a wretch don’t I?” Before anyone could answer she continued on, “I
am grateful for all the help I’ve been getting. It is the only time I am able
to get things done around the dome. I just seem so overwhelmed. I thought it
would be easier somehow.” She ended on a pitiful sigh.

“You need to get more assistance if you are feeling
overwhelmed. There is no shame in asking for and getting help to keep things
running smooth. Even parents with one baby can feel as if they are drowning in
uncertainty, with multiples it can be even harder.” Gwen interjected before
Mairi could continue. “I would also like to do a medical check to make sure
your hormone levels are back to normal. I won’t take no for an answer, we can
go to the medical dome after your visit with Amber.” When Mairi went to argue
Gwen said, “Unless you want Knollig to be consulted.”

That earned her a glare from Mairi because everyone
knew that when it came to their mates, the males would have them in the medical
dome all day long checking their health if they thought it was needed.

“The triplets sleep through the night now and I can
give you the names of my helpers if you want Mairi.” Amber hurried to break
into the argument that was brewing, “The only problem you might have is that
you are breastfeeding, and I was bottle feeding. They won’t be able to assist
you with that, but they can help with the other things.”

“That’s okay Amber, I already have a lot of help. As
much as I hate to admit it, this might just be a physical issue. Your pregnancy
was a nightmare and afterward it’s clear sailing. My pregnancy was smooth, and
now I’ve hit a rough patch.” Mairi looked to Gwen, “I won’t need Knollig to
convince me to get a check-up. After visiting I will go to the medical dome
with you.”

As if on cue one of the twins stirred in her
stroller. Mairi rocked the infant gently until she fell back asleep. The talk
went around the room, they discussed babies, the sacath, and the plans to make
the next dance even better. No one was surprised when there was another knock
on the door and Jen came in.

“I have great news. See this?” Jen glowed with
excitement her finger pointing to a small red mark on her face. “It’s a zit!”

Kneus and the other council members were waiting for Thian to join them
in order to start the meeting. He was talking with his brothers, and it was a
relief to honestly be able to say that he wasn’t having nightmares. Lying to
them and knowing they knew he was lying was added stress he didn’t need. He had
been free of the nightmares for the past three weeks now. Getting extra water
and sun, not to mention how happy he was to be dating Gwen must be helping keep
them at bay.

“I have great news.” Thian burst into the dome, “Jen thinks she is
pregnant. She woke up with one of those ‘zits’ the women seem to freak out
over.”

Kneus wasn’t surprised, nor were any of the others.
Thian and Jen had been trying for a baby, so this was indeed good news.
Congratulations went around the room, even Ailech and Asteen seemed to get a
little misty eyed at the idea of another baby...or babies.

The conversation moved around the room. The council
discussed the lack of any progress in cracking the archives. The males teased
him about his growing attachment to a certain doctor.

“On another note...I have something that needs to be
discussed with the female council.” Asteen stated drawing everyone’s attention.
Kneus wasn’t sure what to expect since Asteen rarely brought a problem before
the council. This must be very serious, so he was shocked into silence by the
next words, “I have been listening to Earth music and there is some of it that
I find very disturbing. Why just today there was a song about some poor fellow
named Jessie, and the male singing was not a man of honor. He sang openly of
wanting to take this males female away from him.” Asteen had really taken to
his topic and continued passionately, “Should we allow this type of message to
be conveyed, when it goes against all of our codes of conduct? Maybe we should
consider censoring what music is allowed?”

Kneus had to hide his laugh behind a cough, and then explained to Asteen
when his glare turned to him. “Sorry.” He coughed again. “I haven’t had enough
water today.” He grabbed a glass and took a huge swallow then coughed again,
“Dry throat.” He cleared his throat. The idea of trying to tell the women that
they couldn’t listen to certain music was laughable.

“Asteen.” He reasoned, “I know that some Earth music may be disturbing to
us. And believe me I heard my fill on Earth and I even censored out the
extremely violent songs. The ones that made it through might have messages we
don’t always agree with, it is part of accepting those songs as a piece of the
females Earth heritage. What kind of society would that make us if we cut even
further
into their choices? Besides
we know the males are not going to change overnight to fighting in the streets
and stealing each other’s females.” Kneus finished with an imploring look at
his brothers.

Knaleg came to his rescue, “I know that the males find the music
entertaining and don’t think of the words as some type of doctrine to follow.”

Kniam had composed himself enough to add, “We have had thousands of years
as a community together, I don’t think that the males are going to throw away
their beliefs and high code of honor over some Earth music.”

“We are committed to enforcing any law that is broken and the males know
it.” Ailech drawled from his seat. “The thought of music making any male break
the law is absurd.”

“I don’t agree with banning the music, and I don’t think that is what
Asteen was saying.” Knollig interjected. “I think maybe we need to be vigilant
to the changes the males are going through now that females are here. Amber did
warn us, and we tried to prepare...but I think the message to take from
Asteen’s warning about the music is that with all of the changes the males are
going through we need to have a stronger presence in the community, not a
weaker one.”

Kneus noted that all of the males were listening intently as Knollig
continued, “We have been guilty of pulling into our own lives and not noticing
as much as we should about the community and it’s changing around us.”

“I am guilty of that.” Kniam spoke softly, “First with Amber, then the
triplets and sacathie.”

Knaleg spoke next, “I haven’t taken time away from security to be with
Cat. She is always up for training.” He thought for a moment and then added,
“But I am guilty of
listening
to the males less. When I’m around Cat I tend to focus on her alone.”

“Which is as it should be Knaleg, Cat is your mate.” Asteen said, “Ailech
and I have been around the unattached males and it is like Kniam said, they are
not going to change dramatically overnight.”

“What do you recommend we do for now? The community will never be the
same as it once was, there is nothing we can do about that.” Kniam added, “I
wouldn’t go back even if there was a way to do it.”

“We are aware of the issue with the males.” Ailech sighed, “All we can do
is keep an eye on the situation. Our genetic code demands honor and they cannot
overcome that. We could be making mountains out of mole-hills.” Ailech smiled
at the looks on the other male’s faces. “One of the females taught me that
saying.” Everyone laughed with Ailech glad for the chance to lighten the mood.

“Thian, when are you going to know for sure about a baby? Is Jen getting
scanned?” Kneus asked to change the subject back to a happy one.

“She is telling the females now.” He looked around at the men, “I think
she was going to your dome Kniam since that is where everyone always ends up.”
Thian laughed, “After she tells the females she is going to call for me and we
will have the medical scan done.”

After more discussions about security, and the health of the community
Thian suddenly jumped in his seat, “Jen is on her way to the medical unit in
New Haven.” His smile was enough to light the whole of Terraneu.

“Meeting adjourned then!” Kniam insisted with a crack of his gavel.

Thian had moved toward the door then turned back to look at Knollig,
“Males are reporting that Mairi has gone in also.”

Knollig looked confused, “That isn’t odd, she is friends with Jen after
all.”

“They are reporting just Gwen, Jen and Mairi.” Thian argued, “Nobody
else. Not even the twins are with her.”