Hara's Legacy Read online

  “Is that why you came?” Justin asked.

  “That is a primary reason. I do not know what to expect from a Breed child and thought you might have some of the answers, but I also remember our conversation and how you wanted to experience this pregnancy if at all possible. So here I am, seeking answers and fulfilling my obligation.”

  Justin nearly winced. This woman truly had no emotion in her body.

  “My brother, Mick, can probably help you with your questions. He’s our doctor and is familiar with pregnant women.” Justin paused, not sure how much to tell her. “He’s also a very strong telepath. If our boy is trying to communicate, chances are it’s some form of telepathy, since I have a bit of that ability myself.”

  “Indeed?” Mara looked intrigued, a seemingly permanent state for the scientist. Just once Justin would like to see some other emotion on her face, something to indicate his son wouldn’t grow up with a woman who only saw him as some kind of interesting lab rat.

  “You should also speak with Jane.”

  Caleb’s voice surprised the brothers. Justin hadn’t been sure whether or not to divulge Jane’s presence or keep her hidden, but Caleb was their leader and he’d undoubtedly seen things they would never fully understand. The brothers followed his lead, always.

  “Jane is your wife?” Mara asked, apparently remembering the description of the family Justin had given her.

  Caleb nodded. “She’s also pregnant with Justin’s child, and about as far along as you are, I think.”

  Mara’s head tilted and a frown of concentration creased her light eyes.

  “Justin’s child?”

  Caleb nodded again, though the Justin shifted his feet, uncomfortable.

  “Yes. I had an illness as a child that resulted in low sperm count as an adult. Jane’s always wanted a child and I wanted that for her, so my brother, Justin, did the honors. It’s not conventional and it’s not the way things would have been done in the old world, before your people came, but we’ve come to terms with our new world as much as we can.”

  “Very sensible.” Mara accepted his statement, not recognizing the emotional depth of their words or actions.

  “Would you like to come inside and meet Jane?” Caleb asked politely, indicating the house in the distance. Mara nodded and ordered most of the warriors to stay near the ship, taking only the one who’d spoken.

  “The leader of our guard will come as well. He is Grady Prime,” Mara introduced the warrior succinctly.

  “Highest ranked Grady onplanet?” Caleb asked with a wink that was totally lost on the aliens, though Mara did seem impressed with his logic. The soldier bowed his head briefly in acknowledgement as they all began walking toward the house. “Are all Gradys soldiers?”

  Grady nodded affirmative though he remained vigilant and protective of the two scientists. “The Grady bloodline is warrior stock. Most end up in traditional warrior occupations.”

  “And you’re the best of them. Impressive.” Caleb shot his brothers a look that spoke volumes. They’d tread lightly around the big man.

  Grady made Justin’s neck itch, but he recognized the huge man’s duty to the two scientists. Once upon a time Justin had been a soldier, perhaps not too much unlike the giant following so silently in their steps as they neared the house. His eyes shifted constantly, taking in all the particulars of the ranch and its inhabitants, assessing possible threats and routes of escape, should that prove necessary.

  Justin was secretly glad his days in the U.S. Army Special Ops units were over, though he would never regret the skills he’d learned and the vigilance that was ever with him. It had always helped him before, and he hoped his training and experience would help him keep his family safe for years to come. Justin nodded to the seven foot tall soldier as he passed him, a nod of respect among warriors the alien man returned with not a little surprise.

  Jane was nervous but only the humans could tell as she greeted the other woman, acting the gracious hostess in her large kitchen. She invited them to sit and was discomfited when the alien scientists sat next to her. Mara took the chair on her right and Prime seated himself on Mara’s left around the large kitchen table. Justin stood behind them, resting against the countertop, ever vigilant, near the alien warrior who had taken up his post by the door. Caleb sat on Jane’s left and Mick took the seat next to Prime, ready to help answer their questions and learn what they could.

  “You carry Justin’s child?” Mara asked bluntly.

  Jane nodded, her hand reaching out under the table to grasp Caleb’s. He was her strength. She would face these aliens with courage.

  “Mick did some tests.” She firmed her voice as the aliens’ attention diverted to Mick. “He found out why Caleb and I hadn’t succeeded in having a baby before, though we’ve been trying for a long time. We all decided together that Justin should give me a baby.”

  The aliens asked Mick the particulars of the tests he’d run and the technical reasons Caleb had difficulty impregnating his wife. The aliens seemed impressed by Mick’s medical knowledge and spent several minutes talking with him in technical terms Jane had trouble following.

  “This is very good news,” Mara said, finally coming back to Jane and her baby. “We can compare the progress of your pregnancy with my own. The data will be quite interesting since both embryos have the same father.”

  “I’ve been keeping records of her pregnancy,” Mick said quietly. “I’d be glad to make copies for you.”

  The aliens seemed pleased by the offer and made arrangements to do their own examination before they left the ranch. Mick also managed to get them to agree to let him examine Mara at the same time. Jane knew this was a coup and Mick would be certain to use his powerful telepathic gift to learn what he could of the half-alien boy in Mara’s womb.

  Both babies started kicking, and Mara grimaced at the twinge while Jane laughed. She saw the pain on the other woman’s face and reached out as she would to anyone, her empathic gift making it difficult to see anyone in pain.

  “I find it helps if you rub in a circular motion.” Jane moved as if to touch Mara’s swollen belly, but she stopped short to meet the other woman’s eyes. “May I show you?”

  Mara nodded, her lips twisted in pain as her baby continued to batter away at her insides. Jane touched lightly, rubbing in circles as she tentatively sent her emotions to the baby, wondering if she could reach him, young as he was.

  She was shocked by the awareness that met her gentle empathic touch and the strength of the child. She could tell he was self-aware and aware of his mother and the doctors who touched her from time to time, but he was also frightened. No one he sensed had given him the hope of love and comfort he needed, so Jane sent waves of love to the child, easing him. He kicked a bit more forcefully at first against Jane’s hand as she continued to rub Mara’s tummy. He subsided, though, as she fed him all the love and reassurance she could, telling him without words it would probably be a while before she could touch him again, but promising she would always be there for him. That she would always love him, and so would his father and uncles.

  She tried to reassure him as best she could that, though he might be alone for a while, the O’Haras would always love him and be there for him. They would be working to be with him, to touch his thoughts and love him as one of their own. She felt his fear subside, to be replaced by wonder at the world of love she promised him. And a beautiful sense of hope. She fought hard against the tears that threatened, but Mara didn’t have a clue what the look on Jane’s face meant. Mara only smiled in thanks when the pain of her baby’s kicks subsided.

  “I will remember that trick,” Mara said. “Thank you, Jane.”

  Jane was forced to remove her hand, but she sent one last wave of love to the child, rocked to her core by the startling level of awareness she sensed from him. She knew her own baby wasn’t nearly as self-aware, though each day the child under her heart developed a little more. Mara’s baby was special in a way Jane had
never experienced. She squeezed Caleb’s hand under the table, telling him without words that something profound had happened.

  They talked a few minutes more, then the aliens decided to look over Mick’s medical office. As they all shuffled out the door and down to the small building that housed his medical equipment, Jane managed to pull Mick aside and tell him about her startling discovery. She knew Mick could telepathically send her message to Justin and Caleb, though she herself had very little telepathic ability.

  When they reached his office, Mick gave the aliens a quick tour, then settled Jane on his oversized examining table. He watched carefully as Prime and Mara used small devices to record her vital signs and take something like an ultrasound image of her womb. He asked questions at each step, seeking assurance their technology would do no harm to the fetus or to Jane.

  When it came Mara’s turn, Mick explained the methods human doctors had traditionally used to track the progress of a pregnancy. He explained each as he used his own toolsblood pressure cuff, stethoscope, heart rate monitor, etcto do a cursory examination of Mara’s distended stomach. While he explained to them on one level, on another he was communicating with the baby. He was amazed by what he found when he sent out his first tentative thought to the child in Mara’s womb.

  “I’ve shown you the basic human medical tests I can do here,” he said quietly. “But there’s something further we can do that regular humans, in the old days, could not.” Standing back, Mick motioned Justin forward. The aliens were intrigued enough to let him continue. “You already realize your child may have some of Justin’s extrasensory abilities. Justin is strongly telekinetic, but also somewhat telepathic.” He turned to Justin. “You should be the first to really communicate with him, Justin. He’s your son.”

  “You mean to say the fetus can communicate already?” Prime asked, clearly intrigued.

  Mick nodded as Justin moved forward to put his hand on Mara’s belly. Mick kept the scientists occupied with an explanation of human gestation and growth, giving Justin a moment to commune with his child.

  Justin sent out his first tentative thoughts to the baby, shocked to his core when the child sent back a barrage of thought images. The boy had no real understanding of the wider world around him, but he knew sensations and feelings and he could communicate them using his already strong telepathy.

  Tears formed behind Justin’s eyes as he realized just how special his boy was. He sent the thought to him, trying to let the baby know how much he was loved by his father and that he could always come to his father for help and understanding.

  “Is he speaking to you?” Mara’s lilting voice interrupted, her hand moving to cover Justin’s on her tummy.

  Justin nodded. “He’s communicating, though not quite in words. It’s amazing.”

  “I take it this is not the usual course of events. Can you communicate with Jane’s baby as well?”

  Mick stepped up to answer Mara while Justin concentrated on the stolen moments with his son. “Jane’s baby isn’t very self-aware just yet. I’ve tried once or twice to see if I could communicate, but never received the kind of response we’re getting from your child. Of course, that might also just mean Jane’s child will not be as strongly telepathic as yours. It could be that Jane’s baby has different gifts.”

  “My baby communicates with me empathically,” Jane said quietly, coming forward. “It gets stronger each day, but it only started a few weeks ago.”

  Mara tilted her head. “This baby has been sending me dream images for much longer. I think the first one I made note of was only three weeks into the pregnancy.”

  “So early?” Mick asked. “Have they gotten stronger over time?”

  “Yes, and I believe my ability to interpret his images has gotten better as well.”

  “He’s telling me about a cold place,” Justin said, concentrating on the images in his mind. “He doesn’t like the cold, damp feeling, and he wishes you wouldn’t stay there so long.”

  Mara laughed and the room was filled with the tinkling alien notes. “There are caves below the city where I go to visit some of our test subjects. It is rather cold and damp. I will endeavor not to visit quite so long for the baby’s comfort.”

  “I’ll tell him.” Justin smiled, sending the thought to the boy. “He’s grateful,” Justin said after a moment, “and he seems to want to spend more time in a place where there’s a lot of rainbow light and a very comforting, vibrating hum.”

  “The resonance chamber,” Prime said quickly, nodding. “That must be what he means.”

  Mara nodded. “I enjoy the sound of the place as well and will do as he asks. It’s very soothing there.”

  “He agrees. He likes the vibrations. They make him feel warm.” After that he spent a few more minutes communicating back and forth, but when Mara asked what some of the dreams the baby had been sending her meant, Justin asked Mick to step in to try to decipher them with his stronger telepathy.

  Mick spent some time helping Mara learn what the baby had meant with the dreams he’d sent, then saw an opportunity to advance the family’s plan. They’d all discussed ways they could get this child under their protection, to raise him within their family, show him love, and teach him about the legacy of his humanity.

  One of the dreams the baby had sent made them all laugh. The baby wanted her to eat more of a certain kind of vegetable because the way it rumbled in her digestive tract made him happy. It was hard to figure that one out, but Mick’s medical training and strong telepathy allowed him to come up with the right words to explain what the baby sent. The other dreams were of a similar nature, and Mick tried to send back to the child how his mother didn’t really understand all his messages, though she was trying. The baby seemed reassured by the thoughts Mick sent him and rested content in his mother’s womb. When the last dream was explained to Mara’s satisfaction, Mick struck up the conversation he’d been rehearsing in one corner of his mind.

  “You know, we could help you with this kind of thing as he grows.” His gaze sought and held Mara’s, but he knew his brothers and Jane were holding their breath, waiting to see how the alien woman would respond. “If you’d bring him back here every so often, or let him stay with us once in a while, we could teach him about his extrasensory gifts and help him learn to both control and use them responsibly.”

  Mara seemed to consider. “Your suggestion has some merit. I will think more about this.”

  Mick sighed. He didn’t want to push the woman. He didn’t want to seem too eager and make her suspicious. He’d planted the seed and would wait to argue the case, if needed, when he had her decision.

  As the conversation drifted, Mara looked at each of the brothers in turn. “You, Caleb, have the leadership qualities of Hara, and Mick, the inquisitive mind. But what of you, Justin? What did you do before my people came?”

  Justin sighed heavily. He knew he had to tell the truth, though as a rule, he liked to keep his past private.

  “Before the cataclysm I was a soldier. I was selected and trained as a special operative. If Caleb hadn’t called me home, I would have stayed in the military, probably for the next twenty years or so, but I came home when my family needed me.”

  “You were a warrior. As was your ancestor, Hara.” Mara seemed pleased, though it was hard to tell when she had so little emotion. “Hara was a great leader, a warrior educated in science and possessed of a daring that few of my kind still have. I see parts of him in all three of you.”

  “I’d like to read about him, if you have any historical records that could be translated into English you’re willing to share.” Mick’s request seemed to surprise the aliens, but Mara smiled with something that approached pleasure as she thought about it.

  “It would be fitting that the descendants of Hara make a study of his life and accomplishments.” She seemed to be almost thinking out loud. “I will take your request under consideration. It is a reasonable and respectful one.”

  “You seem
surprised,” Justin said, a little insulted by her tone of astonishment that heathen Breeds could be either reasonable or respectful.

  Mara tilted her head, his emotional tone completely lost on her.

  “You have continually surprised me since the moment we met, Justin O Hara. You are not at all what I expected of Breeds. Especially males of your species.”

  Caleb stepped forward. “We’re not all savages driven half mad by loss, lack of female companionship and rough living. I know a lot of the men living in the Waste are a bit odd, even among humans, but you shouldn’t expect they’re representative of all of humanity. We were a civilized, technologically growing and caring people before the cataclysm. We’ve tried to stay as close to the old ways as we could given the circumstances of our new world.” Caleb’s tone was patient as he tried to educate the alien woman who just couldn’t comprehend the emotional toll the cataclysm had taken on the few survivors of humanity.

  “Forgive my assumptions. We had reports of a much more primitive indigenous species when my predecessors formulated our plans for colonization of this planet.”

  “Well, your reports were dead wrong,” Justin said, his anger showing in his words, but totally lost on Mara.

  She turned her attention to him, her flat, unemotional eyes giving him chills.

  “I am beginning to revise my opinion on that matter as well, but I must gather further data to draw reasonable conclusions. Regardless, what’s done is done and we all must live with it. My people have no choice but to proceed with colonization of this planet. There is nowhere else for us to go.”

  “Why not? Surely there are other planets like this one in the galaxy,” Mick asked, ever the scientist.

  Mara nodded. “Yes, we found several with untuned crystal deposits sufficient to sustain us and dispatched other colony ships to each likely candidate. Our homestar went supernova and we had to relocate the populations of several planets. We are the survivors of Alvia Prime, the first homeworld. The inhabitants of Secundus and Tierti and so on were sent to other worlds, spread far across this and other galaxies. We do not expect to hear from them for many centuries. We can only hope they found their worlds to be as acceptable as we have so far found this one.”