Chapter Two

H arwin finally had an entrance and exit to guard. She helped them bring extra lights to the building the next morning and opened the door that had closed at night. She started scanning herself and found she was giving up about fifteen millilitres of blood per opening.

She watched the sky and the sand, occasionally finding a glint in the distance that shouldn’t be there. The glint disappeared, but she remembered the position. She ate her meals in the doorway, watching out for more of those small bright signs.

Sossos called out, “Harwin, come on. It’s time for lunch.”

She gave the sky one more look and turned inside, touching the door closure. The professor said, “What are you doing?”

“Keeping us safe while I turn my back to the door. There is someone in the sky, and as I was forbidden from bringing weapons, I am using what we have. Fourteen-foot doors are going to take the hit.”

The team got nervous. Kliotten asked, “What do you mean?”

“There is a ship coming this way. Directly this way. It will be here within the hour, so find places to hide.”

The team stared at her while she munched on her ration bar and sipped her water.

“You might want to eat. Something is coming.” She put packs into her cargo pants and stood to look around. “I am going to find a more secure room. It won’t do for them to come through the doors and find us all here. Grab what you need; you have one hour to get somewhere safe.”

Kliotten said, “You are our security.”

“I am. I will remain here. You go and hide.” She finished the ration bar and folded the pack, tucking it away. “Just don’t touch any artifacts. Just look. I will call you when it’s clear.”

The team looked at her until she put her hands on her hips. “Now!”

The archaeologists scattered and took off into the depths of the hall and through doorways.

She stood at rest and faced the door from twenty feet away. Her mind got ready for what was coming, and at the last minute, she whirled and ran back ten feet before watching the door crack as she shoved back with every bit of her strange new power.

The nose of the ship came toward her, and she held it back with everything in her. The nose cone of the pointed vessel hit her chest, and she felt a crack, but she kept pushing back.

She heard the engine powering down and stepped back. Whatever was coming out of that ship wasn’t going to be pleasant. Her instincts were freaking out.

There was a hum, and she stood ready. Weirdly, she had not been expecting the new arrival to come out firing.

Her personal deflection protocol lasted for three blasts, but then, energy struck her over and over. Harwin fell.

In Thravkian, he muttered, “ I have been waiting for this to open. Only one defender? Huh.”

She identified the species, closed her eyes, and imagined sensitive points. She sat up with her last energy and started blasting away with small pulses the size of bullets. She watched the invader’s joints explode in bright blue blood as she fired with precision. When he was down and a soft gurgling sound was coming from him, she lay back and opened her com to the others. “He’s down. It’s safe. No other life signs detected. Giant ship in the middle of the entryway, and yes, Kliotten, I can hear you bemoaning that from here. I am going to move the ship a little, and then, you guys are good to go.”

She took a deep, painful breath and rolled to her stomach, pushing up to her knees before she lined up with the ship’s nose and began to push it backward. She made enough room for the team to get in and out, coughed some blood on the ship, and grinned. Kliotten promised to use her name on the reports of this dig, so her family name would still echo in history, even if it weren’t on Earth.

She kept pushing until she got the ship fully into the sun and out of the doorway and then collapsed. Her mind had kept her moving, but her body was broken in so many places, and the base didn’t have the equipment to deal with her. She was dying in the great pyramid and wasn’t upset about it, but she suspected that she wasn’t even going to be a footnote to the team. Promise or not.

She coughed up some more blood and stared at the sun, imaging that she was back on that trip in Egypt with the city in sight of the pyramids if she turned her head. She breathed slowly and let the heat warm her skin.

* * * *

R a walked through the entryway and summoned the repair bots to replace the stone. The creature on the floor was the first thing to go. His bots tore it apart and went to store the components for later use.

He snorted at the blood splatter and watched until his floor gleamed. The ship had been removed from the structure, so it was easy. He looked at the streak of red and frowned. That was a familiar colour of blood, and it was leading out of the structure and into daylight.

He flexed his wings and walked into the light of his world. The vessel was clear of the doors and down the entry path. A creature in baggy clothing was lying next to the ship with its face turned toward the sun.

He shrugged. The bots would get to it soon enough. He returned to his home and snorted at the small beings that were staring at him with fascination. “Why have you invaded my home?”

One of them stuttered and walked forward. “We are an archaeological team sent by the system government. We are here to investigate your ruined temple, Ancient Overseer.”

He pondered that. “How long has it been?”

“This world has been silent for nearly six thousand cycles.”

Surprising but not unexpected. “How did you enter? Only my handmaids can open those doors.”

One of the others, a younger male by all estimates, pointed toward the door. “She told us that the intruder had been dealt with and we could come out of hiding, so we did. Where is she?”

“The creature in the dark clothing? It appears to be dead. Wait, she was my handmaid?”

The elder said, “I don’t know about that, but she read the signs and opened the door.”

Ra frowned and turned back toward the disappearing red blood on the floor. The bots were consuming it with energy. “Analyze. What species is that?”

“House of Geb.”

He stared and then moved swiftly to the body laying in the sun. There was a slow trickle of tears from the eyes, and as he stared, another laboured breath sawed into her lungs, causing a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. He crouched, examined her face, caught the familiar scent, and lifted her in his arms. She was broken in many places, but his bots could heal that as long as she was still alive. She was warm, so he needed to get her into stasis until he found the settings that her people required.

Ra returned to his home and passed the folk who tried to speak to him. Her sent was that of a female of the House of Geb, but she was pale and very large. Perhaps she was a mutation. He needed her healthy so he could question her.

He took her to his lab and settled her in the stasis chamber he had just left. He waited until it confirmed her weight and biology before sealing it to stop her descent to death. She exhaled with a rattling sound, the chamber kicked in, and she quieted.

Ra stared at her for a moment, including the clothing around her legs. It was unseemly for one of his handmaids to be dressed in such away. He could correct that when she was repaired, but he needed to know more.

The scanners began their work as he brought up the security display from the incursion. “Huh. Little warrior, you knew he was coming. What? Ah, you have mind skills.” He watched her move away from the door and stop where the ship would suddenly halt as she raised her hands and seemed to be pushing against it. The shield she generated was visible as the energy strikes hit it, but then, it failed, and she was struck over and over.

That was when she began coughing blood. She sat up and raised her hands, and invisible projectiles shredded the attacker. That explained the mess on the floor.

After the other was dead, she spoke to her team and then got up and pushed the ship out of his home. How thoughtful.

He switched displays and saw how she tilted her face to the sun as she lay dying.

The machine announced that it had completed blood and DNA analysis, and it was surprising. She had the same species signature as the people he had visited so long ago. Evolution must have taken a turn, or she was from a colder region.

With that identified, he noticed the broken limbs, dislocations, and the pierced lung. They were relatively simple repairs and would be completed in a few days.

He activated the repair unit inside the stasis chamber. When her ribs and lung were repaired, he would allow it to activate a breathing protocol to help the lung heal.

He took her measurements, transferred them to the manufacturing unit, and started getting appropriate clothing prepared for her.

Once that was done, he locked the folk below out of his private spaces.

To his astonishment, there was an incoming message. It was an eventful day.

He went to his office and opened the com. To his surprise, a familiar face was looking at him. “Kethen?”

“ Elder Ra. It is good to know you are up and moving again. ”

“How did you know?”

“ The Terran grapevine. My mate has a friend who has another friend who has another friend, and there is a seer who described you. So, welcome back to the living worlds. ”

“Thank you. What is that sound?”

Kethen chuckled. “ A moment .”

He disappeared and came back with a tiny being with Kethen’s mark on his chest. “That’s a baby.”

“ Yes. My mate produced him after nearly a year of development. He looks just like me and has little wing buds that are growing as he gets closer to walking. ” Kethen smiled. “ He’s adorable, and I am waiting until I can ask Janessa for another .”

“What? You are breeding? No one is a match for the elders.”

“ You know, that is what I thought until I caught her scent. You spent enough time with your handmaids. Didn’t you ever bring forth the next generation? ”

“No. I tried, but it wasn’t in my destiny.”

“ Well, keep an eye out for a Terran or Urther or human. They are soft, sweet, and can punch like a Cavor .”

A female voice sang out, “ Kethen, are you talking about me? ”

“ Yes, pet. I am very proud. ” Kethen’s bluntly carved face showed his delight. “ One of the other elders has woken. Would you like to see him?”

A woman with golden braids tied into her hair slid in front of the camera, checked on her daughter, and looked at Ra. “ Whoa. Are you sure you are from the same factory? He is awfully skinny. ”

Ra blinked. The creature looked exactly like the handmaid. “Your species. What is it?”

“ Human, Terran, Urther, from the Sol system. Third planet from a yellow sun. ” The woman smiled.

“What is the history of your people and Hmrain?”

“ Oh, with a bit of slow adjustment, it works just fine. Once your nanites activate, they... make room for you, I guess? I mean, it’s still a tight fit, but it works. ”

He watched as Kethen’s eyes flared gold with obsession and carefully cuddled his mate and child. They both fit easily in his embrace.

The woman glanced at the screen and kissed Kethen’s cheek. “ Give me the baby, dumbass. It looks like your brother has something he wants to talk about.”

He sighed. “ Fine, but we are going to reenact this later .”

The child started fussing, and his eyes got darker gold.

Janessa snorted. “ We will be behind the camera, perv. ” She collected the baby and went to the side of the room.

Ra frowned.

Kethen’s eyes grew soft and adoring. “ Seriously, brother. You need to find one of these. They are massively enjoyable and are excellent companions. The nanites also make them taller, stronger, and with more durability. Their world is also dead, so they are eager to create a place in the stars. They need new homes. ”

“She is companion class?”

“ For a standard Hmrain? No. For me, definitely. She also tastes amazing. I can drink what I need, and there is no issue. So, what has woken you, brother? ”

“It was time. A handmaid opened the doors, and the systems all came online again. She is being repaired.”

Kethen frowned. “ What happened to her? ”

“A raider shot her. Her limbs are very broken from the strikes, and she has lost blood.”

“ Do you know her name? ”

“No.”

There was a soft sound from behind the camera, and Kethen said, “ How did the raider shoot her? ”

He described the scene. “Are they all psychic-powered?”

Kethen’s mate called out, “ It’s Harwin. There are only two psychic-powered Terrans, and she is the one who can push and lift.”

“Harwin. Hm. Not a feminine name.”

The woman called out, “ Ask her about it. ”

Ra nodded and asked Kethen, “How did you get enough nanites into your mate?”

Kethen explained the situation that they had been in and that Janessa had been sent to him as food. Ra chuckled at the mechanism with which Kethen had gotten the nanites into his companion and blinked at the means.

“ I didn’t have a lot to work with, so I had to improvise.”

The mate snorted from off-camera. “ If I had known, I might not have cooperated .”

Kethen smirked. “ But you didn’t, and now, we have a little one who is a bred Hmrain with wings. She’s gorgeous, and regular scans indicate that the wings are growing. ”

“Congratulations. Do you have any more information that would help?”

The mate said something, and Kethen nodded. “ Does she have a crystal? It is about the length of half your central finger and has a small decoder with it. ”

“What is it?”

“ The archive of her world. Whatever could be saved data-wise is on that crystal. You can learn about their societies and technology. She received one from us when we intersected with a merchant vessel returning stolen property. ” He extended an arm and beckoned to his mate.

The mate came back with the child still nursing. She was pulled against Kethen’s side, and he looked so blissfully happy with her against him.

Ra felt a pang of jealousy at the expression on his brother’s face.

The mate looked at him and said, “ Don’t think that this is that sweet. He is just hoping that the baby won’t take everything again. He’s into the leftovers, and I get tired of punching him in the head to get him off. ”

Ra paused and then started laughing. “I will be in touch, Kethen. You have an interesting mate and a lovely child.”

“ Thank you, big brother. I hope to hear from you soon and hope your handmaid is a suitable mate. ”

“What if she isn’t?” Ra frowned.

“ Then, ask her if she knows anyone. All surviving humans are out here. She might be able to help you look. ”

“Interesting. I will look for the crystal and see if they are the same people I knew. They look very different.”

Kethen’s mate smiled. “ It is a combination of early nutrition and torture in my case and a medical mishap in the case of Harwin and Kris. I will leave it to Harwin to share the details. Oh, and I got taller after Kethen and I mated. ”

Kethen chuckled. “ She did. Well, brother, enjoy the new world you have woken to. Call with any questions.”

Ra nodded. “Thank you.”

The screen went blank, and he returned to the machine that was slowly bonding the woman back together. It seemed that he had to wait and see what kind of creature emerged from the unit when the repair was complete. He went to the textile machine and entered her measurements. She would need clothing when she emerged, and her blood marked her as a handmaid whether she liked it or not.