“No!” Sylvan found his voice at last. “No, I was warned of this but I could not believe it! Terex, how could you dare to make a deal with these soulless creatures without consulting the Council first?”
“Enough!” Terex pounded on the table with the Speaking Rock. “I am the head of this Council and I have decided to bring in allies who can help us in this war.”
“This war you started,” one of the other Councilors muttered.
“The Dark Kindred do not even worship the Goddess,” protested another. “They bow their necks only to the Collective and seek to eradicate emotion everywhere they go. They—”
“Excuse me! Pardon me!”
The council room door opened abruptly and Mei-Li, Six, and the hairy little Tolleg healer they had brought with them from the Z4 medical barge suddenly charged in, right past the guards standing watch outside. Mei-Li was looking much better than the last time Sylvan had seen her, if somewhat more disheveled. She was wearing a wrinkled green dress that appeared to be on crooked. Six, for his part, was shirtless and the little Tolleg had a strange device in his hand that appeared to consist of a short length of metal tubing and two sensor light disks. All of them were highly agitated.
“Apologies, Chancellor, we will take them out,” one of the guards said.
“No, wait!” Sylvan said. “Let’s hear what they have to say.”
“Thank you. I’m so sorry to interrupt,” Mei-Li said, speaking to Sylvan. “But I got a message from the Goddess last night that I was supposed to tell you before the council meeting started.”
“A message from the Goddess?” Sylvan asked, surprised. “What did she want?”
“To tell you that you have an intruder in your midst,” Six said, striding forward. He stopped dead when he saw the image of Two up on the viewscreen.
“Well, hello Six.” Two’s smile widened, showing even more metal teeth. “How very nice to see you again. And it seems you’ve defected to the Mother Ship. How interesting.”
“I tried to tell you.” Six rounded to look at Sylvan and the rest of the Council. “Two comes in the guise of a helper and ally when really what he wants is to make a conquest of the whole Earth. He and the Collective have plans to subjugate the entire planet and to kill or enslave its inhabitants.”
“But my dear Six, that simply isn’t true,” Two protested, giving the assembled Council a look of exaggerated innocence. “We are here as your brothers in arms, to help you defeat the Earth infidels and take what is rightfully yours!”
“This is exactly right,” Terex declared, striding forward to glare at Mei-Li and Six and the Tolleg. “And that is why—”
Suddenly the device the Tolleg was holding in his hairy little hands began to emit a piercing wail. At the same time the sensor lights lit up, one flashing emerald green and the other a blinding crimson.
Everyone looked at the device in surprise, even Yipper who was holding it.
“This is most strange, yes it is, yes it is,” he declared in his high pitched voice. “According to my soul finder, there are two beings within this one body.” He nodded at Terex.
“Impossible,” the Chancellor blustered. “What is he raving about? Guards, get rid of him!”
He would have had Yipper thrown out but Sylvan raised a hand to stop the guards at the door from coming forward.
“Hold a moment. Yipper, please explain.”
Yipper withdrew the device from Terex’s vicinity and thrust it at Mei-Li and Six who were standing together, holding hands. At once the wailing alarm stopped and the lights turned green.
“Do you see?” he said, turning to Sylvan. “This reaction indicates two souls bound together in harmony. Yes it does, yes it does. But this…”
He thrust it forward at High Chancellor Terex and it began to wail once more, the lights flashing brighter than ever.
“What does it mean?” Sylvan asked, although he was beginning to get the idea.
“This indicates a disharmony of the strangest kind. Yes indeed, yes indeed.” The Tolleg frowned. “There can be no mistake—two beings inhabit this body and one is repressing or smothering the other.” He nodded at Terex. “Though I do not know how this is possible, no I don’t, no I don’t.”
“This…this is preposterous,” protested Terex, backing away. “Put that thing away! Guards—come eject this hairy little imposter.”
“No, Terex—or whatever your name may be.” Sylvan came around the council table and approached the retreating Chancellor. “I have seen how the Tolleg’s tech works—it is both precise and accurate.”
“Thank you, thank you.” The little Tolleg nodded. “But Commander Sylvan, I do not doubt my results but how could such a thing be? How are there two beings in one body?”
“I think I have an idea,” Sylvan answered grimly. “It was not so long ago that we had a rash of demons from the Black Planet invade the Mother Ship.” He turned to the Council. “We thought we cast them all out, bonded to the black soul stone which we ejected into space. But what if one escaped? What if it found the one unprotected male on the ship—the unconscious form of Chancellor Terex? Remember, we never expected him to wake.”
“But I did wake up—thanks to your excellent medical care.” Beads of sweat were rolling down Terex’s cheeks and his eyes were flickering back and forth between burning red and ice blue.
“Look at him!” Sylvan roared, pointing. “Look at his eyes! They’re glowing red—like the eyes of the males who were possessed before.”
“We should have seen it sooner!” Councilor Sarr shouted. “From the moment Terex woke and took charge of this Council, he’s done nothing but try to sabotage us!”
“It was him that led us into this war,” cried another.
“And now he tries to put is in league with the Dark Kindred,” Sylvan said. He pointed at Terex. “Whatever unclean thing you are, you are not Terex!”
“No!” Terex suddenly stopped retreating and stood tall. His eyes were blazing crimson now, glowing in a way that lit his face with a red, demonic light. “I am not Terex—I am Ur!” The voice echoed and boomed weirdly, dipping into an unnaturally low register that even a Kindred voice could not normally reach. “I…Am…Ur!”
Sylvan felt sick. “We cast you out! You and all your foul kind.”
“Yes.” Ur grinned ferociously. “All but me, warrior. I found refuge in the last place you would expect—the head of your Council. And since that time I have been working to destroy your people as you destroyed mine.”
“You started this war on purpose by antagonizing Mei-Li’s father and manipulating the situation to look worse than it was.” Sylvan felt sick—why had he not seen it before?
“Correct, Councilor. And I also involved the Dark Kindred. I knew how you care for your little Earthling pets. I knew nothing would be more painful than seeing them hurt.” The thing inhabiting Terex’s body nodded at the viewscreen where Two was still grinning nastily. “I told the Dark Kindred they were welcome to kill or enslave the inhabitants and despoil the entire planet. And so they mean to do.”
“They will never succeed,” one of the other Councilor’s declared. “We will fight you every step of the way.”
“While you fight Earth as well?” Two asked from the viewscreen. “The seeds of discord were well sown between you and this war will not end soon. You’ll be trapped between the two of us, Councilor.”
“Two is right.” Ur smiled evilly, his eyes glowing red. “My advice would be to abandon the Earth to us and find a new world to call brides from.”
“Never!” Sylvan declared angrily. He turned to one of the guards. “We still have a chunk of the black soul stone—it is in my office. Get it and let’s be rid of this imposter.” The stone, being chunks of their home world, acted like a magnet to any of demons it touched. Sylvan had no idea how Ur had avoided its magnetic pull before but he was certain if he put the stone right up against Terex’s skin the demon would be sucked into it and rendered helpless.
Sylvan’s office was in the corridor right beside the Council room and the guard was there and back in a flash. Sylvan along with the rest of the councilors and the other guard kept the Ur-inhabited-Terex surrounded. They formed a ring around the possessed male and slowly moved closer.
“Here you are, Councilor.” The guard pressed the jagged chunk of stone into Sylvan’s hand.
Sylvan gripped it hard and advanced on Ur, thrusting it towards his face. “Hold him,” he said grimly to the other males surrounding the demon. “Hold him fast while I—”
Suddenly Ur/Terex threw back his head and gave a long, unearthly howl. Then the Chancellor’s body went limp, slumping heavily in the arms of the ones holding it.
Sylvan lunged forward and pressed the chunk of black soul stone to the creature’s cheek but there was no response. The body stayed limp, the eyes rolled up in its sockets, the breathing shallow but regular.
“What happened?” asked Six in a low voice. “Did you capture the thing in the rock?”
“I don’t know.” Sylvan frowned. Still keeping hold of the soul stone, he used his other hand to examine Terex’s body. Lifting an eyelid, he stared at the ice blue eye revealed and saw no trace of red. Then the pupil contracted and Terex’s chest expanded in a ragged gasp. His body jerked in the hands of those who held it.
“Sylvan?” he muttered hoarsely. “Where am I? I had the most horrible dream…”
“Terex?” Sylvan asked uncertainly. “Is that you?”
“Of course it’s me—who else would it be?” Terex tried to straighten up and almost fell. “Why are you all holding me? Who won the battle? Did we drive the demons out?”
“Yes.” Sylvan frowned, still troubled. “We did. For the most part.”
“Is it really Terex?” Councilor Niros asked hopefully. “Has he truly been released from the demon’s hold?”
“Be careful,” Councilor Sarr said flatly. “It could be a trap. He could—”
“Look! Look at the viewscreen!” Mei-Li’s voice was high and panicked. “Look at Two!”
All eyes turned towards the viewscreen and what Sylvan saw there made him instantly anxious. The tall, thin emissary of the Dark Kindred was twisting and contorting as though he was fighting some kind of internal struggle. Then, as they watched, he stood straight again and smiled. He looked exactly the same to Sylvan…except for the fact that his exposed left eye—the one not covered by the metal scope—was now glowing a hot crimson.
“Two?” Six asked hoarsely.
“You may call me that,” Two said. “Or you may call me Ur,” he continued in a different, deeper voice. “I have agreed to host our mutual friend,” he went on in the first voice. “It should be a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
Six shook his head. “Two, you willingly let a demon into your body? Have you lost all reason?”
“Well, I already have the Collective in here.” Two tapped the side of his head where the sensors were. “So it’s not as if I’m used to much privacy. Besides, our friend Ur appears to have all manner of knowledge that I find most useful. Such as the password to disable your shields, strategic weaknesses of the Mother Ship…that kind of thing.”
Sylvan felt sick. “If you dare attack the Mother Ship, you will find a much harder fight than you bargained for.”
“We shall leave the Mother Ship alone…for now,” Ur’s voice snarled. “As long as you do not interfere with our conquest of Earth.” He grinned evilly. “I will find it amusing to watch your pain as the people you love are captured and enslaved.”
“You bastard!” Sylvan growled. “Leave Earth alone!”
His only answer was low, demonic laughter which pulsed through the viewscreen and filled the room with almost palpable evil. Then it went blank and the image of their enemy was gone.
Chapter Thirty-nine
“This is all my fault. I can’t believe I thought it was just a dream. I can’t believe I didn’t get to Commander Sylvan in time to warn him.” Mei-Li buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
“It’s not your fault,” Kat protested. She and Sophie and Liv and Lauren as well as another girl called Becca were all sitting around Kat’s living area trying to comfort Mei-Li.
In the food prep area—what the Kindred called the kitchen—Six and Sylvan and Kat’s two husbands, Deep and Lock, were speaking in hushed tones.
After the meeting had ended in such a horrible way, they had called an immediate council of war. Passwords had been changed and so had everything that Ur/Terex had had a hand in—as much as possible, anyway. Mei-Li had reached out to her father, trying to warn him of the coming attack by the Dark Kindred. But his only response was to insist she had Stockholm syndrome and demand she come home at once.
It upset Mei-Li that she hadn’t been able to make him see that the Kindred of the Mother Ship were not the threat the Earth needed to be worried about. Even more upsetting was the thought of Claudia and everyone else she cared about down on Earth being at risk for death and enslavement. But she hadn’t been able to get her best friend on the viewscreen to warn her—most of the communications systems between Earth and the Mother Ship were being jammed. Even the Think-Me devices the Kindred used to communicate with distant loved ones were useless because they couldn't establish a complete connection.
“They’re all going to die. Die or lose their emotions which is even worse,” she whispered brokenly. “And it’s all my fault! I should have found Commander Sylvan and warned him sooner! I should have done it last night. Instead when Six woke up, he and I just went back to…well, you know.” She could feel her cheeks getting red as the other girls looked at each other knowingly.
“Listen, doll, nobody expects you to up and leave in the middle of bonding sex,” Kat said reasonably. “It’s just not done.”
“Well, I should have done it,” Mei-Li said stubbornly. “After all, we’d already bonded by then. We were just kind of still…”
“Still wanting each other?” Sophie finished for her. “That’s not unusual, hon. The Kindred sex drive is legendary.”
“Still—” Mei-Li began.
“Look, the Dark Kindred were already on their way, right?” Liv asked practically. “I mean Ur had invited them a long time before he went into Two. In fact, he called them up and offered them Earth on a platter when he was still in Terex. Right?”
Mei-Li sniffed and nodded. “Yes. But if Ur hadn’t gone into him…I mean, now he knows so much about the ship and all the weak spots—”
“I don’t think the Mother Ship has that many weak spots,” Sophie said stoutly. “Sylvan has told me before it’s nearly impregnable. It’s built to be. So don’t worry about what that horrible Ur thing said—he’s bluffing.”
Mei-Li wiped her eyes. “I hope you’re right but I’m still worried about the people on Earth. My father wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to warn him about the Dark Kindred. They’re sitting ducks down there! My best friend Claudia and all the kids on my workload…” She shook her head. “I’m just so scared for them.”
“We’re scared too, hon, but we have faith,” Lauren said quietly. “The Goddess wouldn’t have given you a problem with no solution.”
“Lauren’s right.” Kat, who was holding one of her new babies, leaned forward. He had a shock of silvery blond hair and dark silver eyes. The other two were sleeping quietly in baby carriers beside the couch. “What exactly did she say?” she asked. “Do you remember it all?”
“She said Six would remember something important,” Mei-Li said frowning.
“And has he?” Becca asked.
Mei-Li shook her head. “No but he’s supposed to. I think it has to do with some kind of prophesy but I only heard part of it back when I was on Z4.”
“A prophesy?” Liv, Kat, Sophie and Lauren all exchanged glances.
“Yes, is that bad?” Mei-Li asked, looking at them doubtfully.
“Well, in our experience it’s not exactly good,” Lauren said delicately.
“But it migh
t not be so bad,” Sophie said quickly. “Tell us what you heard.”
“Okay, well I think it’s about the liberation of Zeaga 4. There are lots of Kindred there who don’t want to lose their feelings but they’re scared of the Collective—the ruling body of sentient machines that run the place.”
“Sounds awful,” Liv said.
Mei-Li nodded. “It really is. Anyway, I met an old man—an old Kindred, I guess I should say—named Malak. And this is what he told me before…” She swallowed. “Before Two killed him.”
“From the look on your face we don’t want to know the details,” Kat said grimly. “So just go on with the prophesy.”
“Okay. He got all excited when he saw me because there are no females on Z4. So the prophesy goes something like this: ‘And one shall come—a female of …of…” Mei-Li frowned. “Damn it—I should have written it down. Let me try and remember. I think it was—”
“A female of surpassing loveliness,” a deep, familiar voice said.
Mei-Li looked up with a little gasp. “Six?”
He was standing in the doorway between the living area and the kitchen and there was a strange look on his face that she’d never seen before.
“A female of surpassing loveliness,” he repeated. “Small in stature but large in spirit. When you see her you shall know…for she marks the beginning of the end.”
“How do you know that?” Mei-Li asked, staring at him. “Are you all right?”
“I have a headache.” He frowned and rubbed his temples with both hands. “I…I do not know where those words came from. I heard you speak them and I had to finish.”
“Six?” Yipper was suddenly beside the big Kindred, looking up at him with concern.
“Yipper, what’s wrong with him?” Mei-Li got up and went to her man, who was still holding his head. “What’s going on?”
“I believe more memories are coming forward. Yes they are, yes they are. Let’s get him sitting down.”
Between them they led Six to the overstuffed armchair Mei-Li had just been sitting in. He sank down into it and buried his head in his hands.