Choice of the Gallant - Paradox Equation I

  ****

  "Hensk. I can feel him. He's teamed up with the bel-Nathans. Nasty combo. Those people don't stand a chance. Wonder why he's so interested... Telepaths! A whole race of telepaths! I've got to help them. I'll get you somewhere safe, Athena."

  "Gallant, you're not going into battle without me to watch your back."

  "Athena, I don't want you in danger!! I want you safe!!"

  "Yell at me some more. I love it. Hey, I love you. Don't expect to keep you, but intend to have more than so far. Much more. Hensk is the last one, Gallant. And he scares you. Bad. He's got you... programmed. How many times have you met up with him?"

  "Seven."

  "And?"

  "He got away."

  "And you got hurt."

  "That too."

  It happened the same way again, but it took nearly seven years. Seven years of running, fighting, running... The telepaths helped. So did the augmented horses Athena and Gallant gave them for transport. They all fell in love with the people, especially their leader Chervan.

  Communication wasn't difficult. The telepaths, some of them, learned to vocalize, in English. Gallant taught 'finger speech' to the others. He was uncomfortable communicating telepathically.

  The concussion he sustained, when Hensk blew out a mountainside trying to kill him, kept Gallant from going into trance. Athena never left his side the twelve weeks it took him to heal. She'd never let go of his hand the two weeks he lay unconscious. He spent four more months with her.

  "The dreams."

  "Yes, Athena, the dreams. She's come back."

  "You're going alone, aren't you, Gallant?"

  "Athena... "

  "I've always known the time would come."

  "Do you want to go home?"

  "This is home. There's nothing on Earth for me. Mick and Elaine feel the same. Our skills are needed here. Besides, Chervan and I together are an unbeatable combo. We'll get this world out of the stone age and on the road back to tech civ in nothing flat. Gallant, I want... Before you go... "

  "Tell me, Athena."

  "I want all of you. I want the whole thing that I got just a taste of the first time we kissed. Drop your barriers with me just once. It's the one memory I want I don't have."

  She recoiled in shock when he opened his mind to her. He dropped his arms to his sides and turned away. He should have known better.

  "No, Gallant! Stop! Again. Slowly this time. It was just too much all at once. You carry so much loneliness and pain. It hurts me to feel it. Show me the love and joy too. I want to know all of you. Love all of you."

  He stood with his back to her, desperately trying to rebuild his barriers.

  "No, Athena. Even I don't want to know all of it. I put it all away and forget as much as I can. I surprised myself too. Chervan is scolding me. It seems I knocked half the paths on the planet to their knees. She's not really angry, just upset I didn't give them enough warning to get their barriers up."

  "Warn them now. Don't argue, Gallant. I won't listen and I won't let you win."

  "I don't really want to win. I want this memory too."