Kneus: A Terraneu Novel (Book Four) Read online

  Whatever knowledge was being blocked by the blackouts, or locked away in the depths of the archives could potentially answer their questions. Which is why the details were so vital, and the need to access them was urgent. It came down to the only explanation for the blackouts was that they had done it to themselves. They had modified their memories, and blocked access to the early archives for a reason. The more digging him and Gwen did, the more questions were raised.

  His attention returned to the present meeting when his brother Kniam was quick to reassure him, “We know you are doing your best Kneus. Just keep trying, and inform us if anything new should arise.”

  Kneus went to stand up but was stopped short when Knollig asked, “What about the nightmares? Are you still having them?” The concern in his brother’s voice both irritated and warmed his heart at the same time. He should have known better than to tell them about the dream he had experienced a few weeks ago. Every meeting now they asked him if he was still having them. This morning’s had been a mild example of what his mind had been tormented with lately. The nightmares all had the same theme: His brothers and he were in mortal peril, running somewhere, and then his brothers would disappear and he would get cold. He never saw the person saying, ‘We are coming.’ He would just hear the spiteful voice. Since he wasn’t on Antilles during the attack, he didn’t know why he made the warning the mystery soldier gave them malevolent. In all regards Catherine said the male went out of his way to help them escape.

  Averting his eyes he shrugged, “I haven’t had one in awhile now.” Sweeping his gaze around the room his eyes landed on Knaleg. He could tell by the raised eyebrow that this brother didn’t believe him. He continued on with the lie, he had gone this far with it he might as well keep going! “I have been sleeping so soundly that I wake up totally refreshed.” He gave a weak smile at the other males.

  “Kneus...” his brother Kniam began, “You can tell us if you require assistance with the nightmares.”

  He held up his hand to stop his brother before he got worked up. He didn’t want to be a burden to the other members of the council. They all had enough to deal with between mates and building new families. Out of all the males Asteen and Ailech were the only two on the council that didn’t have the worries of a mate and he supposed he could talk to them. It just came down to the simple fact that he didn’t want to trouble them. He could handle a few nightmares without everyone raising the alarm.

  “I would tell you if I needed help Kniam.” He gave them a sincere smile this time, “I really would.” He insisted and in case they thought to push the matter he added, “I think the ladies might enjoy some company at the swimming pond.” Kneus wasn’t proud of it, but one sure way to distract his brothers and the other males of the council was to bring up the women. In his brother Kniam’s case it was the added lure of seeing his sons and daughter.

  “Don’t think we don’t know what you are doing.” Knaleg drawled out, eyeing him seriously.

  Kneus sighed, “Yes, but is it working?” He got a mischievous glint in his eyes, “The last I heard, Cat had gotten a blue bikini like the red one that Amber wears all the time.”

  The mention of the infamous red string bikini was enough to get his brother on his feet and moving toward the doors. “I think we should go to the swimming pond.” Knaleg spoke as he rounded the table. “I know that we could all use some time in the sun to charge up and get refreshed.” He paused at the doors giving Kneus a smug look over his shoulder, “We can talk about your lack of ‘dreams’ at the swimming pond. You need some sun as well!”

  Kneus had been planning on going back to the technology dome and went to argue. “I have pl—”

  “You have to get outside and get some sun.” Kniam insisted, “This meeting is adjourned. Asteen and Ailech I know you would prefer to go to the deeper adult swim section. Is there anything you need to add?”

  Neither of the council members had anything to add so moved off to find their current partners. Neither of them was in a rush to settle down with “the one” and in fact seemed to be enjoying dating and making friends.

  “I know just the place to try to get some privacy with Jen.” Thian hurried along with them. Being mated to Amber’s best friend from Earth, he would be going along with the brothers to the children’s swim zone to find his mate.

  Kneus knew when he was beat. His brothers would try to get him alone to talk at the swimming pond. He was tempted to try to get out of going, but knew it was useless. They would find him, or send one of their mates to get him. He couldn’t deny the women anything. Even the one who ‘shot’ him could get him to do what she wanted. He could laugh now about the time his brother Knaleg’s mate Catherine had confronted him over the barrel of a gun. Of course she wasn’t his brother’s mate at the time, she was in fact investigating Mairi’s grandfather and him for ‘kidnapping’ women. She had no way of knowing that they were bringing them to Terraneu as prospective mates, and they were willing to come. She had been lowing her weapon when he had activated the port pad and her gun had gone off. Both of them had been injured, but he had ended up in a coma from a head wound and couldn’t vouch for her lack of intent to shoot him. It had worked out in the end though. She was the perfect mate for his military minded brother!

  Following along behind his brothers he wondered if he would ever have the time to find a mate. Then with a sudden chill of foreboding he thought about the nightmare. He had never let Gwen do any scans or talked to her about his medical condition. What if his mind was permanently damaged from the injury he had sustained or lack of suns on Earth?

  Chapter Four

  “I just don’t understand where they could be.” Amber’s voice carried across the lawns. “Whenever I call Cebat and Tabec they always come running, if they aren’t already right by my side. They have never left Knadyn, Knacayn or Brennae for this long. Something must be wrong.” Her eyes started to get misty with emotion. Once a blue-green color they were slowly changing to purple. They were now a striking mix of the three colors.

  All of the females brought to Terraneu from Earth would eventually have some variation of purple eyes. It was a side effect from using the two suns for energy instead of eating. Gwen had studied the data on what had been done to them. The ‘change’ as they called it took their bodies and made them work like a solar panel, soaking up the suns energy and using that to regenerate their cells. The only side effects were that your eyes turn a brilliant purple color, you couldn’t eat solid food and your body was set to its prime physical condition. Oh, and you also lived for about eight hundred years. Their new bodies could and did absorb water that was ingested, like a sponge does. They just couldn’t process solid food any more. If you tried to eat anything it was immediately rejected by your body, the stomach just didn’t operate like an Earth human’s anymore. If you drank an excess of water, you would have to use the bathroom more frequently. Otherwise there were no similarities to their old bodies. No amount of exercise could make your sweat smell, no cavities, no need for glasses, no acne...unless you got pregnant. Then you might have an outbreak. The only thing that was similar was the female menstrual cycle. Just like on Earth, every female was different in the severity of their symptoms and duration of their cycle. She supposed some things were just too much to hope for that the “female time” would have gone away.

  Gwen snapped out of her musing to try to catch up with her friends’ current topic of conversation. Amber was biting her lip in agitation. Her eyes swept to the babies playing in the circle of her friends. Gwen thought about the unusual absence of the pet sacath and it came to her that maybe Tabec, who was pregnant, might be “nesting”. Most animal breeds on Earth did it to some extent, she wondered if the sacath were the same.

  “Tabec could be finding a place to nest so she could deliver her litter.” Gwen wasn’t a veterinarian, and in fact had very limited experience with animals. Her parents had never let her have a pet as a child, and working such long hours as an adult she
felt it would have been unfair to have one once she was on her own. She had been a doctor on Earth but that didn’t mean a lot here on Terraneu. The technology was so advanced she just dealt with some of the minor issues. After the medical units had been updated recently to include all details on females, babies, and now toddlers, she really didn’t have much to do.

  Amber jumped on the suggestion, “That is what I was thinking! What if something goes wrong? I should ask Kniam to send out a search party.” She jumped up, then sat down and then jumped up again clearly torn on what to do for her pets.

  Gwen tried to reassure her friend, “Amber, if instinct has taken over for Tabec she will try to have her litter somewhere known to her. Somewhere she feels is safe. I don’t think a search party will be needed.” Gwen reached for Brennae and held her on her lap. “When was the last time you saw her?”

  Amber sat down, her brow furrowed in thought, “I was out early today getting some things for our dome. I had the triplets since Kniam was going to the meeting with the male council.” She paused for a moment, “I let Cebat and Tabec out to search for food. That is the last I saw of them. They didn’t follow me to the edge of New Haven like usual, but I was too busy to think about it at the time.”

  Gwen was stopped from asking any further questions by the arrival of the males. Kniam, Knollig, Knaleg, Kneus and Thian. Everyone in the group did the ‘mate’ thing, as Gwen liked to call it. The females all jumped up from where they were sitting, with a toddler in their arms if they had been holding one, and rushed over to kiss their mate. As soon as everyone was finished with greetings, it was again brought up about the missing sacath.

  “I can arrange for the males to look for them if you would like.” Kniam offered and Gwen noticed he had pulled Amber tighter against his chest in an obvious effort to comfort her.

  “I saw them at your dome just before the meeting this morning.” Knollig interjected. “They were prowling around the front door so I let them inside since I have authorization to enter.”

  “There you see!” Knaleg was on the ground playing with Knacayn. “They must be at your dome. Have you been back since you left this morning?” Catherine joined him on the ground and gave the baby a raspberry on his belly. Knacayn burst out into baby giggles, which left the male shocked.

  “What did you do?” Knaleg looked aghast at Catherine.

  “I just blew a raspberry on his belly.” Catherine started laughing with the shrieking toddler. “See...” she gently blew another one on his belly, and again the baby burst into giggles. “It tickles them so you have to be gentle and only do it a couple of times...but it makes them laugh.”

  “Have you heard of this thing? Tickling a baby to make it laugh on purpose?” Knaleg asked his brother.

  “Yes. I have done it myself. They find it amusing and their laughter is contagious.” Kniam had been smiling warmly at his son then returned his gaze to look down at Amber, “Have you been back to our dome?”

  “No.” Amber admitted sheepishly, “I forgot that I had locked the automatic door this morning so we wouldn’t have a repeat of last week when the neighboring sacath entered our dome. I can go check now.” She made to leave Kniam’s arms but he stopped her.

  “I will check on them, you stay and enjoy yourself. I will send back a message to my brothers if there is anything to report.” Kniam gave her a quick kiss and strode off. His long legs took him at a fast pace out of the swimming pond.

  “If there is anything I can do I will be there to help Tabec.” Gwen assured Amber.

  “Thank you Gwen, I know you will. We have Iesti ready to help if needed also. He was very good with them when Mairi and I were kidnapped. He was able to save both Cebat and Tabec after they were poisoned.” Amber sat back on the grass, and then changed her mind. “I think I’ll take Knadyn into the water.”

  She had asked the fabricators to make a three-part floatation device that could be separated, but when snapped in place held all three babies together. She scooped Knadyn up and put him into his floatie first. He knew what it meant and grew excited. He started talking ‘baby’ babble, kicking his legs and waving his arms. This show of excitement had Knacayn and Brennae struggling against the arms holding them.

  Gwen laughed, “Okay. I guess Brennae wants some time in the water as well.” She put the baby into her floatie device and strode to the edge of the pond with her. Handing her to Amber and Jen, who had helped Knacayn into his floatie, they snapped the three together. It was amazing that no matter how long any of them stayed in the sun, or played in the water they never got sunburned...or the ‘pruned’ fingers from the water. Their bodies used both elements so exposure to them just made them healthier.

  Gwen sat at the edge of the swimming pond with her feet in the water. Looking behind her she noticed the males talking quietly instead of joining their mates.

  “Does anyone know what has the men so worked up?” She asked of the group around the babies.

  “I think it has something to do with the research you are doing with Kneus. Finding some way to shield us, or advance our weapons weighs heavily on Knaleg’s mind.” Catherine was the first to answer.

  “Knollig said he is worried about Kneus finding a mate to help him with his stress levels.” Mairi spoke up, “Not that the shields and weapons aren’t enough to have them in conferences all the time.”

  Amber spun the floatie around and the triplets laughed and splashed as they turned slowly in the water, “I heard something about Kneus having nightmares. They are causing him to lose sleep and could be affecting his state of mind.” She leaned in conspiratorially, “Kniam and the others are worried about his mental health. Have you noticed anything Gwen?” Amber asked.

  “Besides his brooding good looks, and ‘fix my tormented soul’, puppy dog eyes?” Catherine teased.

  Gwen knew that the others were aware of her attraction to Kneus, and they usually kept the teasing to a minimum. It seemed that today wasn’t a day they were going to let her off the hook. With a sigh she struggled to turn the conversation, “I tried to get Kneus to let me do a physical when he woke from the coma.” This got her a few snorts of laughter and she swore she heard, “I bet you want to get physical with him,” but she ignored the teasing and kept talking. “He has been working really hard and that could account for any physical symptoms. As for the nightmares, those could be caused by any number of things. I just wish he would let me examine him.”

  This was apparently too much for the other women, they all burst into laughter.

  “You make it too easy.” Catherine gasped out, “Examine him...” she trailed off when she couldn’t catch her breath.

  After a few seconds of merriment Amber got everyone’s attention, “Okay, enough. We’ve had our fun at poor Gwen’s expense. If the males are seriously worried about Kneus, we need to figure out how we can help.”

  “I agree.” Jen said, “Thian hasn’t mentioned details, I don’t think he wants me to worry, but I know he is concerned about Kneus too.”

  “I will do whatever I can.” Mairi was quick to volunteer.

  “What do you suggest Gwen?” Catherine had stopped laughing and was back in her “council leader” mode. “We will do whatever you recommend.”

  Gwen thought for minute then said, “We need to keep an eye on Kneus and report back to each other on anything out of the ordinary. He has been the same as far as I can tell since he came out of the coma. Since I am working with him I will try to find out about the nightmares. He hasn’t said anything about them in passing, so it might take some creative questioning.”

  Gwen had been watching the men huddled in conversation so she was the first to see the change that came over them, they all glance toward the water. The look of excitement on their faces told her something was up.

  “I think the men have something to tell us.” She informed the group in the swimming pond. “They just got really excited about something and started heading this way.”

  All eyes swept towar
d the males.

  Chapter Five

  Sometimes Kneus wished he were an only child. The problem with having brothers (and friends on the council) for thousands of years is that you don’t have any secrets! If you try to keep a secret they know all your “tells” and could figure out when you are lying.

  His brothers and Thian had tried to get him to talk about his dreams or nightmares on the walk to the swimming pond. He had managed to dodge their not so subtle attempts at conversation, until with a sigh of relief they had made it to the children’s swimming section. The others were distracted by the females, which gave him a temporary reprieve from their questioning. When Amber relayed that Tabec and Cebat were missing, he was about to volunteer to go looking for them but Kniam beat him to it, and had left to go check their living dome for the sacath. With his older brother gone, and the females taking the toddlers into the water he knew it was open season on him again. It hadn’t taken long before he was once again on the hot seat.

  “Are you going to tell us the truth?” Knollig raised the subject again.

  “I would tell you if I was having any significant nightmares.” Kneus insisted. If he could explain why he was having them, or if they gave any clarification to his and Gwen’s search for answers, he added silently to himself. “I think the dream I had awhile ago is just my subconscious trying to instill a sense of urgency in my research.” Kneus tried to put some confidence into his voice.

  Knollig raised his eyebrow, “Then I think it would be a wise decision for you to get more time outside, and tone down the pressure you are putting yourself under.”

  “I agree.” Knaleg frowned, “You are pushing yourself too hard. I have been working on improving our existing weapons system. If we don’t get any information from the archives, we can work with what we have.”

  “We don’t have to crack the mystery of the blackouts at the expense of your health.” Thian interjected.