CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
NORA
I found the air aboard the Rered Rauner a bit oppressive as I set up my tablet to record the information of each of the captives in the fourth barracks room that day. I sure hoped that the engineers could service the air purification system to filter out some of the unpleasant smells.
I looked up as the next person in line approached. There was something familiar about the middle-aged woman standing in front of me. “Good day, ma’am. Could you please state your name and place of origin including your homeworld?”
“Asania Maktu. Waysatu Farseek.”
“Did you say Maktu?” I asked as a frisson of excitement shimmered through me.
“Yes, and my daughter Bethar is with me,” she replied.
“Thank you, I am pleased to meet you. There is someone here I believe who will want to see you. Wait right here please.” I touched the comlink in my ear. “Commander, do you have time to come up to Room B Eleven. I think I’ve found someone you know.”
“Who is it?” he demanded with a touch of impatience. I didn’t take it personally. I knew he was very busy.
“Asania Maktu and Bethar,” I replied.
“Are you sure?” he asked as though he hardly dared to hope.
“That’s the name she gave, sir,” I assured him.
“I’ll be right there.” He merely closed the connection.
“Do you understand what’s happening here?” I asked Asania.
“Someone said we are going home,” she said. “But our world was destroyed.”
“It was, but it’s being rebuilt. The Farseek Brigade terminated their contract with the Consortium to rescue the Farseekans abducted after the attacks.” I explained. “I am actually from Earth a planet somewhere outside Consortium sectors. I was taken by slavers too, and they rescued me with a bunch of others.”
I saw Commander Maktu as soon as he strode in through the open doorway. He gazed around the room and found the woman standing beside my table right away. He moved quickly until he was a few feet away then stopped.
“Mother?”
The woman turned and gasped, “Zared?”
He took the last two steps to her and swept her into his arms. He held her tight and rested his cheek against the top of her head. Though his eyes were tightly closed, I saw a tear slide down his cheek.
The next thing I knew I was crying, partly from the poignant reunions and because I knew how I would feel if I could hug my mother one more time. Bethar, who I was pretty sure was his sister, stood by for a moment, then went over to be drawn into their embrace.
Once I saw them together, I realized why she looked so familiar---because Zared was a masculine version of her and they shared the same teal colored hair. His sister’s hair was almost a sky blue.
I was thrilled for them yet sad for myself. I hadn’t seen my parents for two years before I was abducted. They had moved to Florida to retire, and I had stayed in the town where I grew up to take a job at the local hospital after nursing school.
Even though I didn’t see them often, we skyped every week. Then I disappeared off the face of the Earth. I can’t imagine what they thought had happened to me. By then, I’d given up the hopes of seeing or even contacting them again. So, maybe I was crying a little for myself, but also because I could imagine thinking someone I loved was dead then finding them alive.
On the other hand, I wondered how Harper would feel suddenly having a mother-in-law. But since she and Zared were solmatu, his mother should accept Harper as his mate.
Commander Maktu came over and thanked me before he took them away. I imagined he had gone to find Harper who was working one of the other barracks rooms.
I had to get back to work. We had ten rooms of around one hundred people each to identify and record before the shuttles started arriving with the liberated slaves from Nadoo.
Word had traveled through the settlements that the Farseek Brigade had come for their people. Once the ground teams had moved in the overseers surrendered their claim on the slaves.
Even though I had a long line of people to register, I made sure I greeted every one of them and looked into their eyes as we spoke. There were two young women in my line from Earth. One named Carrie Robin asked if there was a way back to Earth. I briefly explained the situation to her, as I hadn’t talked to Sahvin at that point.
Carrie started to cry. Like the rest of the fabulous four, she had been taken right off the street where she lived. She had gone out to pick up the newspaper from the driveway for her father. She was only nineteen and still lived with her parents while she attended community college.
I got up from my chair and went to give her a hug. “I know, honey. I felt exactly the same way when I got that news. But it hasn’t been so bad since we were rescued from the slavers. We’ve made new friends and the other three Earth women, and I have found mates---think husbands.
“It’s not the life we had, but it’s good. You’ll find your place here, too,” I assured her. “They are good people.”
She seemed like she wanted to pull away, so I released her and she brushed the tears from her face with her hands. She sighed and said, “I’ll be okay.”
“You will. The Farseekans will sponsor anyone who wishes to settle on Farseek. They have a shortage of females in fact.”
She smiled faintly and shrugged. “It’s not like I have anywhere else to go.” She moved on and waited off to the side for her friend Ronnie Brandon to register.
We went on like this for days, trying to comfort and reassure the influx of humanoids in every color one could imagine. Probably seventy-five percent were from Farseek. Aside from a few Earthers, the rest were from Consortium. Those who wanted to return to their worlds would get the opportunity once they got to Farseek.