Chapter 22
So when we arrive at the shuttle I look him over. Considering what has happened to the other people he is in a quite good state.
“From what I can tell, apart from the small cuts and bruises he seems healthy. He is unconscious because of a bang to the back of the head, by the look of it. But that is partly me guessing,” I tell them.
“Such a clever mate.” Phe is the one nuzzling my neck this time, but Lenime is still hugging my side. Yes, I am walking again, well, I have to, to look at the man.
They have placed the man on a stretcher which is bolted to the wall and has a special blanket which not only keeps him warm, but also somehow keeps him fixed to the cot during take off.
“What were you doing whilst I was gone?” Phe asks me.
“Amber was singing too me,” Lenime chimes happily.
“Oh, she was? Was it good?” Phe asks smiling. He and Lenime are sat either side of me.
“It was divine. I wish she would sing to us more.” He is adorable.
Whilst the others were gone I was forced to eat and drink, even though I wasn’t very hungry. They shared some with me.
“We can eat something properly when we get back,” Phe tells us.
**
A short time later the other guys return with electronics from the crashed shuttle.
“We found several other people all together but they were all dead. This is the data device from the shuttle. We thought we might be able to find some info of where they came from, to contact his people. But by the looks of it they are the same species as you Amber, but we will do an in-depth genetic scan when we get back.”
Bern flew the shuttle back to the main ship, which I now can see is the size of a large city.
I share some of the food which is left. It is quite amusing they are like rabid animals.
“I think it would be a good idea to take Amber to the mess hall for something to eat and whilst you are there I will make the announcement,” Kiy suggests.
My mates agree and once we arrive back at the ship Reck, Lein and Bern take the man to Ren, whilst me, my mates, Ty and Kiy go to the Mess hall.
I wanted to go with the man to find out what happened but they reassured me the moment he wakes up we will go to speak to him.
The mess hall is huge with dozens of tables and even more people. I am not going to lie, I am scared as hell. I have never been good with large groups of people. Let alone aliens. But the bad thing is that I actually preferred to be in the company of these strangers, than most of the humans I knew before, not including my family.
There is a lot of eyes on my back, but not glaring or anything like many Humans would be under the circumstances. No, they are just curious.
The five of us meet Koya there and together we eat so much I feel sick.
“Open up,” Lenime says trying to feed me more.
“No more. I already feel like if you touch my stomach I will bring all of it back up.”
He looks at me apologetically, “Sorry, Amber. Should I take you to mother?”
I smile and kiss his cheek, not noticing the people still watch me curiously. “It’s alright, Darling.” He grins at the nickname, he knows from watching movies what it means.
“I’ll be fine. Just no more food for a while,” I reassure him.
“You’ll have to eat too instead then,” Lenime says with a mischievous grin. He picks me up and sits me on his lap, before trying to feed Phe.
“Leave me be,” Phe says waving the hand away.
“I am practicing. Now eat,” Lenime tells him.
“Practice on someone else.”
“Phe,” He whines.
“Practice on yourself.”
“How about I feed you and we stop the complaints?” I suggest and he quickly agrees.
As I feed him, I soon notice the looks Phe is giving me and so with another spoonful of food and instead of giving it to Lenime, I give it to Phe who quickly accepts it.
Lenime pouts and the others laugh about how soft Phe is with me.
Alternating between the two, we are soon done and Kiy made the announcement to the whole room.
Everyone isn’t here, but many are. The ones that aren’t will find out through talk or through an radio announcement Kiy will make later.
The people aren’t surprised about me being one of the men’s mate, but what they are surprised about is I have two mates.
Many have questions, but Kiy tells them the same as he told the rest of his family, that he needs to research to find out why.
Only moments later we get a call to say the man from earlier has awoken up before Ren had a chance to give him the translator Nanite injection. He iz freaking out and refusing to cooperate.
She thankfully has already confirmed he is Human, although his DNA is slightly different to mine, because of the chemical I received. It seems he has it too, but in much smaller amounts. I will ask him about that later. Right now we are all heading to the medi-bay together, all six of us. Mainly because Koya wants to be nosy, but the others to protect me just in case.
Upon reaching our location and entering the room, we are all greeted by one angry man backed into a corner.
“I don’t know what or who you are, but I demand you return me to my vessel!” The man shouts at the three large men who are blocking him in the corner to stop him for hurting Ren or anyone else. The man is black, attractive, with a shaved head, wearing a green boiler-suit type thing and standing around about six foot in height.
“They don’t want to hurt you.” Wow, having my mates by my sides has made me brave. “They just want to give you an injection which will make you understand what they are saying. It’s perfectly safe. I had the same thing,” I tell the man, who only then noticed my presence.
His glaze moves to me and looking at me intently, he seems to calm down slightly.
“You aren’t like them?”
“No, I’m human, like you,” I tell him moving closer, neither of my mates leaving my sides.
“But these are the Poyun. They are kind people and very trustworthy,” I reassure him best I can.
Trusting me he holds out his arm. The men step out of the way to let Ren through.
“Thank you for your help, Amber,” She says before giving him the shot.
“What is your name?” I asks the man noticing his eyes aren’t leaving me.
“I am Dax Obama, of Marshall Providence, Sector Green.”
“Alright, that means nothing to me,” I say honestly. “Is it a city or something?”
“Marshall Providence is a planet and Sector Green is a city. Are you sure you don’t know? You seem very familiar,” He says thoughtfully.
“The only Marshall I have ever known was Adair Marshall and is long dead,” I say remembering my old boss.
“Everyone knows Adair Marshall. He is the one who started the change.”
“Change?”
He looks at me unsure. “How can you not know about the change? Even the people of Reese Providence know of it. You are from Reese Providence, right?”
I shake my head. “I am from Earth.”
His eyes show shock, but then changes to suspicion.
“That can’t be true. Everyone left Earth over seven hundred and fifty years ago. After Adair released the untested enzyme into the public. Many died and others changed, they became immune to disease. The masses of deaths caused a war, the unaffected islands used nuclear warheads on others. It made the planet unliveable and all of the remaining people took ships to different planets. The unchanged to one, the Reese Providence and the changed to another, the Marshall Providence,” He explains, filling in a lot of gaps.
Lenime and Phe rubs my back to comfort me.
“No one was left…” He stop mid sentence.
“Was what?” I ask.
I had almost forgot the others are there, they are so quiet.
As though sensing my need to be touched, my mates stroke the small patch of bare skin on the back of my neck.
We aren’t holding hands but their hands are always on my back.
“Our Emperor of The Marshall Providence, Emperor Dallas had people reviewing records and recordings which had recently been found.
“They turned out to belong to one of the greats, we thought them long gone, but they were only hidden.” The whole room listen intently.
I barely notice my mates guiding me to a chair. At least until they move me to sit in it. They stay either side of me.
The man’s eyes never moves from me. It is a little uncomfortable.
“Emperor Dallas found out from the group that many of the recordings made mention to a woman. The great’s sister. To cut a long story short. The sister was the first changed, in an accident. Except unlike everyone else she was infected with the pure form, where as everyone else had a watered down form of the enzyme. She was put in stasis to stop infection and because they didn’t know how the pure form would effect her.
“Before the war he had her capsule sealed in a nuclear proof bunker.
When the planet was abandoned he was forced to leave her behind. He tried many of times to return, but was always stopped because of the planets toxic state. He made recordings for his descendant asking them to go, but they the records were stolen and lost. Only to be found a few months ago.”
Aaron’s name came to mind. My eyes fill with tears, but don’t spill.
“The Emperor contacted me and along with several other people, who I am guessing are dead?” I nod and he looks down for a moment, depressed.
“We all knew the risks. The Emperor asked us to return to Earth and find this woman. But he only sent people who were willing which is everyone he asked.
“After all who wouldn’t want to meet one of the greats. Even if it was a unknown until recent, great. He warned us that many or all might not return, not knowing how hostile the planet was now. So you see, we honestly expected to die.” He looks back at me with an unreadable expression.
“Aaron?” I question.
His eyes widen slightly, but he quickly hides it. He nods his head.
“Did Aaron live a good life? He didn’t die alone?” I begin crying, I didn’t realize how much I miss him until now.
“The change had unforeseen affects. Including living longer and having certain people that you can connect to – mates. Most people only get one, but some get two.
“Although they were still capable of going with other people, most people choose their mates. The great Aaron, who was the second to the first Emperor – Emperor Adair Marshall, who is the planet was named after. Aaron mated with man and woman, who at the time were already mated and married to each other and despite being gay before the mating together they had five children. He died happily and loved with his mates at the age of one hundred and thirty years. When one mate dies the others follow. His only regret not rescuing his sister. But the Emperor, who is a distant descendant of Aaron Vanderveer sent us to fix that.”
