Chapter Eight

 

 

Rumble hogged the bed. It was the first thing that Addy noticed about him.

“You are really teeny for something that likes to tangle in the covers. I can hardly wait to see what happens when Rokar is in here as well.”

Rumble let out a long strand of sound, and stretched happily in the sheets.

She tickled him and then got to her feet, heading for the sonic shower before she made her way out to the common space for breakfast. One of the indoor suits was definitely in order, in case the horticulturalists were in the common space.

With Rumble humming his happy song on her shoulder, she walked out of her room and out to get some tea and breakfast.

She paused when the six new members of the Citadel Iratho greeted her.

She waved good morning to everyone and then got her breakfast. Dawn was barely flirting outside the windows, but the plant-obsessed woke early.

Deahlia walked up to her and gave her a hug. “Hello, Aunty. I am afraid that things went a little peculiar yesterday. I was just so relieved to be rid of him. He doesn’t like me. He refers to me as a traitor.”

Rumble was still making his happy sound.

Addy hugged her niece. “He hates to be thwarted. You were close to being me but not quite me. It frustrated him.”

“I can only imagine. And can I say, you look just like my sister Hagatha.”

“You look just like Gertrude. It seems that cloning runs in our genes.”

They sat together on couches in the common area. The other specialists were watching them. The green one, Er-Hathu, asked, “Where is the dangerous talent stationed here at the base? I have been terrified of setting it off.”

Addy raised her hand. “That would be me.”

Rumble chirped confirmation.

Deahlia looked at her with a sad smile. “They couldn’t know. Your identity is a closely guarded secret. We all had to be sworn to secrecy in case we end up elsewhere.”

Addy snorted. “The secret is out. There is a bounty on my head. We have had one attack so far.”

Deahlia blinked. “What?”

“It’s fine. They were dealt with.” She smiled tightly.

Rocky piped up, “Here is the visual from the base sensors as well as the orbital station sensors.”

The display took up the wall, and Addy blushed as she saw her self sprint to her action station, paused, aimed, and flicked her finger. The splintering of metal was the precursor to a high-speed spiral into the ground. In the next visual, the dragon jaws clamped on the ship and flew off with it. There must have been a time lapse because the next thing on the screen was the ship being dumped into the volcano.

Her guests stared at her, and Deahlia looked at her finger as if it was a bomb.

“You could do that with one finger?” Er-Hathu whispered.

“Yes. I have been practicing control, so that was as minimal as I could get it.” She shrugged. “If he had gotten clearance, he could have landed.”

Deahlia cleared her throat. “Okay, so that is explained now. We were all wondering when we could come out to this posting, and this definitely is a good reason for waiting.”

“I am fine now. I can keep it from breaking the island into chunks, so you are all safe now.” She smiled, and Rumble made a louder sound of happiness.

Deahlia cleared her throat. “Are we able to head down to the surface for soil testing today?”

“Sure—”

“Adelheid, you will remain here until I can take you down to the surface. I do not want you on one of their riot runners.”

She twisted in her seat to smile at Rokar. “I don’t even know what that is.”

Rokar grabbed his favourite backless chair and sat next to her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

All eyes were on them, and she blushed as he waited for her to return the light caress.

She turned and brushed her lips lightly across his, and he smiled. “Good morning, Adelheid.”

There was a hopeful rumble on her shoulder. She laughed. “He wants a kiss, too.”

Rokar rolled his eyes but pressed his lips to the top of Rumble’s head.

The joy that sparked through the Yaluthu made Addy laugh. “I think he really liked that. Now, he feels part of the family.”

Rokar sighed. “I did not want him here.”

Deahlia raised her hands. “I am not taking him back.”

The room at large laughed, and Addy shifted closer to Rokar, gripping his hand. “So, how am I going to get down to the surface?”

“I will take you. When Iratho gives you his energy, you will be able to fly on your own.”

She stared at him. “Seriously? I get to fly?”

“Fly, jump, run at top speed. You don’t have wings, but you will be able to get around Iratho on your own.”

Deahlia smiled and then an expression of awareness came over her. “Damn. Aunty, I have a surprise for you.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah, it is in the container that was dragged outside the door. It’s from the family.”

Rokar took the remains of her meal from her. “Go and look. Rocky has scanned it, and it is fine.”

She got to her feet and looked down. “Ah, this suit should be fine.”

She went to the exit, opened the outer door and stumbled back, spitting. “Okay, that is going to have to wait. Sand storm.”

Rocky’s voice sounded. “Not a sand storm, the biological materials for the first planting are arriving. The ship is fairly large and very close to the island. It will be past in a moment.”

She dusted herself off, and Rumble shook the dust off his fluff. “Okay, cup of tea while I wait it is.”

Rocky spoke softly, “Perhaps you should head to medical for a scan, now that you have bonded to your Yaluthu.”

“His name is Rumble, but sure. I am on my way.”

She excused herself and headed to medical. She tried to get Rumble off her shoulder, but he was firmly attached. He growled when she tried to take him off.

“Fine. He’s coming into the scanner with me.”

“Good. It will be interesting to see him in action. You know the drill.”

She settled on her mark, raised her arms forward and gripped the handhold, and the scan began.

Rumble made a concerned sound and cuddled against her head, so she sent a warm and comforting thought to him, holding as still as she could.

“Adelheid, we are done.”

She sighed, soothed Rumble, and left the scanner. “So, what does the scan show?”

Rokar was in the room with her, and he was looking at the results. “It shows that I am an idiot and that I should have allowed the damned thing here sooner.”

She peered around him and looked at the baseline scan taken thirty years earlier. “Wow. Aside from the huge fluffy growth on my shoulder, I am reading normal right now.”

“Not quite, but you are calm and your brain is having time to repair itself from the stresses of your talent.”

She leaned against him and smiled when Rumble did the same.

“Why didn’t you want him here?”

“They self-replicate. He will moult, gorge, and his meal will go from seed to meat, and then, there will be an unknown number of offspring. He will complete his metamorphosis and end up as a raptor.”

She smiled, “What is his lifespan?”

“What is your lifespan? They live as long as their bonded companion.”

She blinked. “Seriously? I would have been dreaming of Yaluthu as a child if I had known they existed.”

“They didn’t. Not in this form. There was a wild creature that was much smaller and prone to predation. The symbiotic trigger allows them to survive and flourish.”

“Wow. In a few thousand years, the stars will be full of Yaluthu and Terrans.”

He chuckled. “I promise to take you on a trip when that happens.”

She paused, “I am not going to be around in a few thousand years.”

“If you, I, and Iratho are still linked together, you will.”

“And Rumble.”

“And Rumble.”

They stood together for a moment while the sound of the lab’s equipment hummed around them. Rumble began his happy vibration, and Rokar smiled, she smiled, and they returned to the group of specialists in the common area.

“The dust has settled, Adelheid. You can approach the storage unit now.”

Addy grimaced and winked at Deahlia. “I think I will need backup.”

Her niece got to her feet and followed her to the entrance. Rokar hung back and nodded his encouragement.

This time, the exit into the outdoors went smoothly.

Deahlia walked toward the huge box, and she brushed the dust off the pad. “It will open for you or me. Anyone with our bloodline.”

Addy stepped forward and pressed her hand to the pad. “This is so much fun. It feels like Christmas.”

The door hissed, releasing the pressurised atmosphere within.

Deahlia grinned. “Funny you should say that.”

Addy walked into the storage unit and the grin on her face couldn’t be contained. “It’s Christmas.”

She looked around her, and everywhere she looked there was shiny paper, bows, sparkly garlands and twisted ribbons. The boxes lined the walls. “What is this?”

Deahlia smiled at her. “When I was growing up, we were all told stories about Aunt Adelheid and her trip to the stars. Mom said that you were safe and asleep, but that we couldn’t forget you, so every year when we waited for gifts from Santa, we made presents for you because Santa couldn’t find you.”

Tears started to track down Addy’s cheeks. “How many?”

“Well, sometimes we got a little carried away, and after I came out to the stars, I got a gift everywhere I went, and so, there are currently four hundred and ninety-seven gifts. Each has a letter, some boxes are just filled with a year of letters, but it is the response to the Alliance when they told my mom what had happened to you, and they asked her if there was anything they could do for the family.” Deahlia came up next to her and hugged her. “You have been our Christmas tradition.”

Addy started to sob, and Rumble hummed and growled low. It nearly worked. The ground only shifted a little in a slow and steady vibration that mimicked the waves of emotion through her brain.

It was Deahlia’s clutching her in panic that pulled her back to control.

“Right. Well, I am at a quandary. I don’t know if I should come out here to open something or I should bring them all inside.”

Her suit chirped, and the small speaker at the neckline spoke. “I will have it brought to the cargo area.”

Addy chuckled. “Thanks, Rocky.”

Deahlia whispered, “Is it just me, or is the computer voice and the Avatar’s voice remarkably similar.”

“Yeah, they are similar. Rocky was programmed as a companion.”

Rumble was still concerned, so Addy gave him an assignment. “Go and find me something to open.”

He hopped off her shoulder, and he frolicked among the parcels.

Deahlia asked, “You really don’t mind him? He was a nightmare on the trip.”

“I really don’t. Even Rokar is getting used to him.” She smiled.

“How does that work? Are you mates?”

“The Drai can identify potential mates from a distance, and he knew I was his while I was imprisoned at the lab. When he could get a team to me, it was the same day that the experiments bore fruit.” She was suddenly concerned. “They didn’t have to do anything to you, did they?”

“No. I always had a penchant for plants. When the recruitment centre near my house told me that there was a placement for me, I grabbed it. I met our Avatar, had what an Avatar was explained to me, and once at the Lunar Base, I learned all about your actual situation. I have seen the scans, I can’t believe you survived.”

A large box with a huge bow on it was tapping Addy on the leg.

“We come from a long line of women who have survival skills. You should see your mom skin a deer.” She winked and took the box. “Thank you, Rumble.”

Deahlia looked at the box, and she hunched down, leaning against the pile behind her.

On the box was a series of handprints. They were all different sizes and obviously male and female.

“Keep the paper. This was the last one that Gran and Da were there for. They wanted the entire family to send it that year, so they paid for everyone to fly in and everyone marked it.”

Addy picked at the paper and eventually just slid the ribbon that was holding the whole thing together. She brushed the tear from her eye and carefully folded the paper.

The box was filled with items from around the Earth. “They have all travelled.”

Deahlia smiled. “Not as far as you, but they did what they could. Once you volunteered, we had a sudden burst of motivation. Mom was the only one who stayed in her home because she wanted to be a touch point for the rest of us. It worked.”

“It really did. I think I need a bigger room.”

“When the Citadel capsule is set off in our ship, you will have all the space you need, Aunty Administrator.”

Addy smiled and flicked the top of a bobble head. “I won’t pretend that the idea doesn’t terrify me, but I can and will do my best for the folks on Iratho. So many of them are descended from the original Volunteers, women and men I might have met. Even the older survivors are going to be welcome here.”

“Wow. Will Rokar-Iratho agree to that?”

“He will. He’s my mate, and he wants me happy. I am only too eager to take controlled advantage of that if it makes Iratho a place for learning, evolution, and protection.”

“The computer is listening.”

Rocky spoke, and there was a smile in the computer-generated voice. “I am listening, and I can agree on behalf of Rokar. Everything that has been done has been done to make a home that Adelheid would approve of. She is more than welcome to design her base, her home.”

Addy chuckled and kept digging through the box of love from her family and her world.