Bridging the Distance

  It seemed to move in a silver blur as he gripped one alien by the throat and broke its neck with a single squeeze, then punched the other in the thorax so hard that the entire arm disappeared inside its armored shell and came out the other side, covered in black and green guts.

  Lorelei shivered in disgust and fear. She had scrambled to the far corner of the bed and huddled there, wishing she could look away from the carnage but unable to close her eyes, even for a second.

  In a matter of minutes all three of the blue beetle aliens were dead or twitching on the floor and Torn was standing there, one arm dangling useless and the other dripping, the black fist clenched at his side.

  He turned to face her, his gaze still wild and blank. The shadows were gathered around his blazing green eyes and for a moment Lorelei was so frightened she could hardly breathe.

  The nanites have taken over again! He doesn’t know me! He’ll kill me too!

  “Call him by name, daughter.” The warm, comforting voice filled her mind. “Claim him and he will know you.”

  “T-torn?” Lorelei whispered in a low, stuttering voice. “Torn, come back to me, please? It’s Lorelei. It’s your…your Mistress.”

  “Mistress?” The shadows cleared as the nanites dispersed. “Lorelei!” The huge Kindred went to her, coming to the side of the bed to fall to his knees beside her. “Gods,” he groaned and dropped his dark, shaggy head to her lap. “Oh Goddess…I should have heard them coming! Fucking Genoshian slavers…”

  “No, Torn! It’s not your fault.” She cuddled him close, feeling tears rise to her eyes as she stroked her fingers through his wild hair. “You were so brave!” She whispered. “You saved us!”

  “Maybe not.” He rose with another groan, his broken arm still dangling, and reached for his twin. “Bound!” he growled, shaking the other warrior’s shoulder. “Bound, what the fuck is wrong with you? Wake up, Brother!”

  At the sound of his name, Bound blinked and finally stirred. But when he looked up at Torn, his face was blank.

  “Who are you?” he asked, his voice puzzled as he looked from Torn to Lorelei and back again. “And…who am I?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Well, Torn’s broken arm is as good as new, yes it is, yes it is! But I am afraid that most of Bound’s memory has been wiped. Yes it has, yes it has.” The little Tolleg surgeon nodded vigorously, his long, furry ears flopping.

  Lorelei thought he looked a little like a cross between a Basset hound and a chimpanzee—he had the long muzzle and floppy, soft ears of the hound and the quick, clever fingers of a chimp. His big brown eyes were intelligent and sober as he looked at her, making her realize that despite his funny way of speaking, what he was saying was all too real.

  “What are you saying, Yipper?” Kat asked. She had come to sit with Lorelei for moral support while the little Tolleg surgeon worked on both twins. Now her hand tightened in Lorelei’s as she leaned forward anxiously.

  “Yes, what…what does that mean, exactly? About Bound’s memory being wiped?” Lorelei asked, her heart in her throat. “I mean, can’t you help him somehow? Jog his memory? Do something? He…he told me you were the best surgeon on the Mother Ship.”

  “How I wish I could help. Yes I do, yes I do!” Yipper said earnestly. “But before I fixed his arm, Torn told me he heard the Genoshians talking about using an instrument called a ‘Memory Thief’ on Bound.”

  “Yes, and?” Kat asked pointedly. “What is it? What does it do?”

  “Its filaments penetrate the skull and target the temporal lobes where much of a person’s long-term memories are stored, yes they are, yes they are! The filaments literally suck away the past thoughts and experiences, leaving the person what you humans call a ‘blank slate.’”

  “Can’t…can’t anything be done at all?” Lorelei felt the tears rising in her eyes and blinked hard, trying to keep them back.

  “I’m afraid not.” Yipper’s big brown eyes looked so mournful she was certain the little surgeon was about to start crying himself. It was clear he wanted to help and the fact that he couldn’t was nearly killing him. “His past is lost and I cannot bring it back. No I can’t, no I can’t.”

  He bowed his head, his long furry ears flopping forward to cover his eyes and a low, mournful howl came from his muzzle-like mouth.

  “Oh Yipper, please don’t cry!” Kat said hurriedly. “Oh dear, he feels so bad if he can’t help.”

  “I know how he feels,” Lorelei murmured. Her own eyes were streaming by this time and she felt bad enough to throw back her own head and howl like Yipper.

  Poor Bound, without any memory of his past or the people he loved. And poor Torn—he had only just come back from a traumatic incident and now his brother—the person he was closest to in the world—couldn’t remember him.

  And he won’t remember you either, whispered a little voice in her brain. Won’t remember that he loved you…or that you love him and Torn…

  Wait…she loved them? With a fresh sob, Lorelei realized it was true. Though she had known Bound such a short time—and Torn even shorter—being with the twin warriors just felt right. She was certain she would have been eating the bonding fruit Kat had left in her guest suite as a welcome home present and waiting eagerly to feel its effects if they hadn’t been attacked on their way home.

  Why did this happen to us, just when we found each other? she thought, despair filling her like dark, cloudy water. What’s the point of the three of us falling in love if we can’t be together?

  “Do not despair, my daughter.” The soft voice filled her head and, at the same time, a warm presence seemed to fill the cold waiting room outside Yipper’s surgical suite.

  “What?” Lorelei gasped, looking around before she could stop herself.

  “What…what?” Kat asked her. Then she frowned. “Do you feel that?”

  “The Mother of All Life.” Yipper raised his head, his big brown eyes wide and attentive. “Who is she speaking to?”

  “She? You mean…you feel it too?” Lorelei looked at the other two in disbelief.

  “Not it, doll—her.” Kat spoke in hushed, reverent tones. She looked at Lorelei. “Is she speaking to you?”

  “I…I keep hearing a voice giving me advice,” Lorelei admitted in a small voice. “I…thought I was just under stress. But now I wonder if I’m going crazy.”

  “You’re not going crazy—you’ve been visited by the Goddess, yes you have, yes you have!” Yipper nodded his head so vigorously his long ears flopped. “You must listen and do as she says.”

  “But…but I don’t believe in any Gods or Goddesses,” Lorelei protested. “I’m an atheist.”

  “It doesn’t matter if you believe in the Goddess, doll,” Kat told her, smiling a little. “She clearly believes in you. And if she’s giving you advice, you’d better listen.”

  “Do not despair,” the warm, feminine voice spoke again in Lorelei’s head. “All things happen for a purpose. Remember, you are the bridge that spans the distance.”

  Then the voice and the presence were abruptly gone—vanished as suddenly as they had appeared.

  “Well?”

  Lorelei glanced up to see that Kat was looking at her expectantly.

  “Well, what?” she asked, still feeling kind of stunned.

  “What did she say? What did she tell you to do?” Kat asked excitedly.

  “She…she just said for me not to despair.” Lorelei felt strangely reluctant to share the last part of what the voice had said.

  Also, she was still feeling stunned. For so many years she’d believed she was alone in the universe—that there was no creator, benevolent or otherwise, running things behind the scenes. To realize suddenly that the supernatural was real blew her mind and opened a whole host of other possibilities. Questions like “what happens after we die?” were suddenly relevant again. She felt like her head was spinning.

  I guess I’m not an atheist anymore—I can’t be. But then…what am I? And what’s go
ing to happen to me and Bound and Torn?

  “Excuse me,” she mumbled, rising unsteadily to her feet. “I…I need to get some air, I think.”

  “If you want fresh air, I know the best place on the Mother Ship,” Kat told her. “Come on—let’s take a walk.”

  Kat led her down the long metal corridors out to a lift which took them to the public transportation system of the Mother Ship. She didn’t say a word as she and Lorelei boarded the fast-moving train-like vehicle which took them to the vast, park-like area in the center of the ship.

  “Here we are,” she said at last, as they disembarked and strolled down the grassy slope to the parkland below. “Feeling any better, doll?”

  “I…don’t know,” Lorelei admitted. “I’ve been an atheist since college—I took this philosophy of religion class where the instructor talked all about how we shouldn’t believe anything we can’t see and it all just seemed to make so much sense…”

  “I think sometimes people only see what they want to see,” Kat said gently, hooking her arm through Lorelei’s. “Or they don’t open their eyes enough to see what’s all around them. I mean, look at the universe—all the planets and suns and comets and all the things we don’t fully understand like dark matter and black holes and quasars…how could it all be random? It’s too vast, too intricate, too perfect not to have been created by a divine hand.”

  “Maybe…maybe you’re right.” Lorelei looked up at the artificial green sun which shone down benevolently on the lush green and purple grass. “You’d think people like the Kindred with such advanced technology who have come so far wouldn’t believe in deities anymore.”

  “I think it’s because they believe that they’ve come so far,” Kat said gently. “And I also think the Goddess had more to say to you up in Yipper’s waiting room than you let on.”

  “She said…” Lorelei looked down at her feet. She was wearing some of the clothes she’d packed when she first came to the Mother Ship including her favorite black and silver flip-flops. “She said I was the bridge that spans the distance.”

  “The bridge that spans the distance?” Lorelei frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “I…I’m not sure. I don’t know.” Lorelei looked away. The Goddess—the Mother of All Life, as the Kindred called her—had said the same thing when she urged Lorelei to bring Torn and Bound together and help them recover their bond. But what could she mean now? How could Lorelei help to recover Bound’s memories if they were lost forever—stolen right out of his head?

  Kat looked at her shrewdly.

  “I think you know more than you’re letting on—more even than you think you know,” she said, squeezing Lorelei’s arm. “But if you do still find gaps in your knowledge, you might want to go in there and seek some guidance.” She nodded at a grove of lush green and purple trees right in the middle of the park.

  “What’s that?” Lorelei frowned. “Some kind of nature preserve?”

  “It’s the Sacred Grove,” Kat told her. “The priestesses who serve the Goddess live there. Sometimes they’ll give you advice—although it’s often confusing. But sometimes it’s nice to just go in and soak up the quiet of the trees. You might even ask the Goddess for help—she likes that, I think.”

  Lorelei looked at her uncertainly.

  “You mean…pray?” The word felt foreign on her tongue. She hadn’t prayed since she was a little girl in Sunday School.

  Kat shrugged. “You can call it that if you want. Or just call it speaking to the Goddess. Who knows—she might speak back. Or you might just find the clarity you’re looking for.”

  “I…guess so.” Lorelei sighed and looked at the cool, inviting shade of the green and purple trees. “Maybe that would be nice.”

  “I’ll leave you to it,” Kat told her. “Can you find your own way back to your guest suite?”

  “I think so.” Lorelei nodded.

  “Great. Come on up when you’re ready and don’t forget to stop in and say hi to me and my guys. We’re just down the hall so don’t be a stranger.”

  “Thank you.” Lorelei squeezed her friend’s hand appreciatively. “And thank you for all you’ve done for me, Kat. You’re very sweet.”

  “I’ve been in your shoes, hon,” Kat said. “Not exactly in the same position, but wondering what I was going to do with the two, infuriating, lovable, crazy-making Kindred I somehow ended up with. I believe the Goddess put you and Bound and Torn together—I think with her help, you’ll find a way.”

  She gave Lorelei a hug and nodded at the Sacred Grove.

  “Just be sure you take off your shoes before you go in there. It shows reverence and respect.”

  Respect for the Goddess…respect for a deity I didn’t believe in until an hour ago, Lorelei thought. But she couldn’t doubt the truth of the Mother of All Life—the Goddess had been speaking to her for days now. And since the Kindred deity had been willing to help her in the past, she hoped that maybe she’d be willing to help now.

  She waved goodbye to Kat, watching as the other woman went across the long expanse of green and purple grass, heading back to the public transport. Then she turned to face the Sacred Grove again. The leaves of the trees seemed to rustle invitingly.

  Well, it can’t hurt to try.

  Kicking off her favorite flip-flops, Lorelei walked under the shadow of the nearest tree and looked up into the cool, greenish shadows of the leafy canopy above her head.

  “Goddess,” she began in a low voice. “I never…never thought I’d be doing this—praying I mean—but, well, I need help. Kat says you put Bound and Torn and me together. I don’t know if I believe that’s true—honestly, I don’t know what I believe anymore. But…I want to find a way to help Bound find himself again, and I want to help Torn find his brother. I want…I want to bridge the distance between them. So please help me. Uh…amen,” she finished, not quite sure how to end her first prayer in years.

  For a long time Lorelei didn’t hear anything but then, so gradually she almost didn’t realize it, she felt the warm, feminine, powerful presence filling the Sacred Grove—filling her—with light and peace. Then, finally, the voice spoke in her mind.

  “Daughter,” the Goddess said, “Have patience and bide a while. When the time comes, you will know what to do.”

  Then the voice and the presence were gone, but the peace they had brought remained. Lorelei wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen but she had a deep, gut feeling that everything was going to somehow be okay.

  When the times comes, you will know what to do.

  She would just have to wait and see but she couldn’t help wondering when the right time would come and how long it would be before she could help the two men she loved.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Kat told me I might find you here. Hello, Lorelei.”

  Lorelei looked up, shading her eyes against the dying glare of the green sun. It was getting on towards evening so the artificial light was dimming but it was still bright. The man standing over her was so tall she had to crane her neck to see his face but she recognized him at once—Torn.

  “Oh, you’re finally up and around!” she exclaimed. “Yipper didn’t tell me you were being released today.”

  “Well, he did all he could for me and said it was time to let me go.”

  Torn sighed and sat down beside her in the grass. He was wearing the tight black leather trousers and tall black boots all Kindred warriors wore as well as a dark green uniform shirt which brought out the vivid emerald of his eyes.

  Lorelei felt suddenly shy. The Dark Twin was so big—so handsome. His hair had been cut and he was clean-shaven for the first time since she’d met him—had it only been a week ago? He seemed somehow like a different person.

  “Well it’s good to see you’re getting better,” she said lamely. “What exactly did Yipper do for you? Besides fixing your broken arm, I mean.” She nodded at his left arm, which was working just fine. The silver of his metal right arm was hidden but the
shiny black hand coming out of his shirtsleeve proved it was the same—or was it?

  “Not much he could do, to be honest,” Torn said roughly. “He couldn’t remove the nanites—tried like hell but the little bastards are a part of me now. Still…” He sighed. “I control them, not the other way around. So there’s that. And as for this…” he held up his right arm, “He offered to replace it with a prosthetic that looked more natural but I don’t see the point. This one served me well—especially against those fucking Genoshians. If I can’t have my own arm back, I might as well keep this one as get used to another.” He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling. “I’ve never given a good Goddess-damn for what things look like as long as they get the job done.”

  He certainly had “gotten the job done” against the invading aliens. Lorelei shuddered when she thought of the blue beetle-like creatures, twitching in their death throes after Torn had finished with them. The silver metal arm was like a lethal battering ram—a deadly weapon indeed.

  “I can see how you’d feel that way,” she said. “If it works, why not keep it? And…how is Bound?” she asked hopefully. Maybe if Torn was so much improved, the Light Twin might be as well. She had been to visit both of them while they were still in Yipper’s care, but Bound was almost always out of it when she came.

  Torn ran a hand over his face.

  “Bound is…about the same. Doesn’t know me—doesn’t know where we are—barely knows himself. But you know that—you’ve been visiting us both every day since we all got back here.”

  “I…didn’t know you knew,” Lorelei faltered. “I tried to come when you were asleep—I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “You could never disturb me…Mistress.” Torn reached for her with his left hand and Lorelei gave him her right, feeling a shiver as the familiar sexual tingle passed between them. The nanites at work, no doubt. But it felt wrong to be touching the Dark Twin without his brother. Without Bound, they simply didn’t fit together.