Dominated By Desire (15 page)

“You don’t seem to be upset about it,” commented Storm’s mother.

“Because I have heard it before.” She walked up to the screen. “May I?” When the doctor nodded she touched several things at once, bringing them to the forefront. “Understand that very few doctors have made it this far, but I studied science and have a knack for it. I took the research those doctors had and went a step further.” She pulled the chemicals up so everyone could see them. “These two are the ones that make us humanoid. And why some races can mix with others and produce children. But then there are these five compounds that no one understands. If they were combined there would be no problem. I’d be human. If these two combined...” She pulled the two compounds she spoke of forward. “Then I’d fit these races.” The screen brought up a series of races that had that combination. “If these two were to combine, then it would be another set of races. There are a lot of variables. But when someone tries to get them to combine nothing happens.

The five compounds just sit there floating along, totally ignoring each other.

That’s where I hit a wall. I kept hoping for a breakthrough.” She sat down.

“Been waiting a long time.”

“Doctor?” Storm’s mother looked at him for confirmation.

“She’s right. They’re not combining. But I’m wondering if it is still some type of safety mechanism. That device was put in her to make her read as a race she didn’t belong to. Perhaps the catalyst to activate everything hasn’t happened yet.”

“What sort of catalyst?”

“That’s what I’m working on now. I don’t want to do any damage to what is happening to her.” He turned the screen off and faced them. “There is one thing. The last time we put her through our scanner Heather drained all the power out of it and it took several hours for us to get it up and running again.”

“You talking about the arch?” Heather pointed to the contraption. “I felt a little funny after walking through it but it passed in seconds.” He nodded. “It’s possible you just needed an energy boost then and took it from a strong source. It could have been a safety mechanism again. Since I don’t know what caused it I would like to try something a little different.” He held out a necklace. “This has a monitoring device. And will transmit your readings to me. It has its own power source. One you shouldn’t be able to drain.”

She took it from him and turned it over in her hands.

“Have you ever worn anything like this and not have it work?”

“Have to say this is a first.” She looked up at him. “You sure this will work?”

“No. Since we’re not sure what is happening. Your body might be shutting down anything that is trying to figure out what is going on to protect itself. I’m hoping this will bypass any safety feature your system has and will allow us to monitor you.”

Heather wrapped it around her neck. “Okay. Guess you’ll know pretty quickly, won’t you.”

He nodded.

Storm’s mom touched her on the arm. “Toki has been sent on an assignment as well so I thought it would be good training for you to work with me when we get to Vespia.”

“Keep me out of trouble?”

“Teach you your duties as Storm’s mate.”

****

Heather sat in the grand hall listening to the two farmers arguing about how one guy’s livestock was eating the crops of the other farmer. She tried to act interested but after realizing they were totally ignoring her, she decided to find something else to occupy her mind. Her mind continued with the conversation while she studied the architecture.

The walls and pillars in the place were beautifully carved with images and words. Some spoke of old times and how the race first struggled to survive but then it went into stories of great heroes. She found it fascinating.

A hand touched her arm, bringing her back to the arguing farmers. And she found everyone staring at her. Great. What did she miss?

“They wish for you to make the decision.”

And if she made a mistake the whole planet would hear about it. If she backed away they wouldn’t believe she had the spine to be part of this society. Military training kept her features calm and serene. Inside she wanted to scream. She needed to think.

What was the real problem? The animal wandering onto the neighbor’s land and eating the crops or was it more of a jealous jab because one was considered better than the other? She touched her mother-in-law’s arm.

“Anseri, may I ask a few questions first?”

“Of course.” She smiled at Heather.

She looked at the two men, not missing how she had everyone’s attention now. She spoke to the crop farmer first. “Can I assume you have access to technology that will keep animals away from your crops?”

“Yes, but it will also keep the bugs needed for pollination so I can’t really use them.”

“And you?” She looked at the second farmer. “You have access to technology that would keep your animals from wandering?” He nodded. “But it can harm the meat and bring down the price.”

“Brothers?” She had noticed they had a family resemblance.

The two men looked at each other.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She looked at one of the pillars and smiled. The answer was right there in front of her. “I find it interesting that we’re here in the great hall covered with the rich history of the Vespian race. Your most basic laws are etched here for all to see.”

That had her mother-in-law turn in her seat.

That couldn’t be good. What did she do wrong now? Heather feared she was burying herself but it was too late to stop. The brothers had dropped their gaze from her.

“You know what I’m about to say.” She adjusted herself in her seat.

They nodded.

That caught her off guard. “Then why would you come here? The problem isn’t your animals eating his crops or his animals wandering onto your farm. You two are jealous of the other. One thinks the other has it easy.

You think your brother doesn’t have to work as hard as you do because of what he raises. I know each of you work as hard as the other. But who am I?” she paused for a moment. “Sometimes it takes an outside source to see the real problem. Personally, I think you two should switch places for a season. See what the other does. Learn from firsthand experience what each other must do day to day and you’ll learn to appreciate the work each of you do.”

They seemed to be happy with what she said and were soon ushered out of the hall.

“That was very good.” With the nod of her head, Storm’s mom had the hall cleared. “We have a little time before the next session starts.”

“Huh uh. You looked at me when I said something about the writing on these pillars. And now you want to question me to death about what I see.”

“I was a little curious about your comment.” She stood and gestured for Heather to walk with her. “Did Storm teach you how to read some of our language?”

That was Vespian language on the pillars? No wonder she got such a weird look. It looked like English to her. “When we were together he had other things on his mind but when I had time I studied a little. Wanted to at least be able to read a menu.”

“And what does this particular section say?” she brought them in front of one of the arches.

Heather looked at the area she pointed to. “This one is part of a storyline about the planet explorers. Here they are showing a landing on one of the shores where they meet indigenous natives.”

“Interesting.” She remained quiet for a moment. “I’d like for you to try something for me.”

Once again she was under the microscope. Why did she do this to herself? What was her next challenge?

“The university is in session and we have a class I’d like you to see.” She ushered her out the door into the warm afternoon.

“Okay. It has something to do with this language here, doesn’t it? Is it secret? Something you don’t share with all your people?”

“Oh, no. We don’t keep things like that from them.” She walked her across a park to a tall spirally building. “It’s just not everyone can read it.”

“Oh.” She found that a bit odd. “So you taking me to some expert who will prove once and for all that I’m either faking it or telling the truth?”

“Yes.”

“Anyway I can save us a trip and just say it was a fluke and I promise to never do that again?”

The doors were opened for them and they passed into a much cooler interior. “Sorry. It’s little too late. I just want to see to what extent you can read it.”

“Fine.” She followed her to a large room filled with students. The teacher stood upfront speaking in a very boring tone, all the while showing a section of wall filled with the writing. Not one she had seen but she recognized the language and could read it easily.

“To translate, you look to the third picture for your subject.” Heather crossed her arms. If you did that half the sentences would be translated wrong.

“Like here. How would you translate this?” He looked up and noticed the elder leader standing at the back. “My lady.” He gave her a formal bow which caused the students to turn. They all stood and repeated his gesture.

“You cause quite a stir.” Heather said it softly.

“So do you, my dear.”

Heather had nothing to say to that. When people realized she was the Earther she got strange looks and heard the whispers. She knew Storm’s mother heard it as well.

“What brings you to our class today?” The teacher puffed up his chest with the knowledge of having the supreme ruler in his classroom.

“I have a guest here who wants to try her hand at translating some of the text.” She gestured to Heather.

“Of course.” He looked at Heather.

She could see his questioning look. He didn’t know who she was but that wouldn’t last very long. Everyone else did.

“Go ahead and translate then.” He pointed to the image.

“Why don’t you go ahead and do this one since you have already been working with your students on this and let her read the next one?”

“Of course, my lady.” He turned back to the image on the screen and started to translate. “So what we have here is the subject.” He pointed to the third figure, “Which is we or us.”

“Our.” Heather said it under her breath. She couldn’t understand how he didn’t see how the translation really worked.

“This,” he pointed to another image, “means land.” She rubbed her hand across her forehead. That was wrong too. “But in this text it means planet.”

“You believe you can translate this better than I can?” He had been watching her muttering to herself and his body language showed his disgust with her behavior.

Obviously he had never had anyone question his translations before.

She didn’t mean to be overheard or be so rude, but when it came to things like this she had trouble keeping her opinions to herself. “Sorry.

Please continue.”

“Please. I would like to hear your interpretation.” Heather looked at her mother-in-law who nodded. Everyone wanted to see what she could do. “Okay, but you’re asking for it.”

“Where are you from?”

“Earth.” She watched as his face went from confusion to that look she had seen so many times. Disgust that the Earther thought she knew more than the man trained in the language.

“Please translate.”

“Our planet is precious. Treat it with respect.”

“And how about this?” He brought up another phrase. This time no images were involved so she had to translate the words themselves.

“Life is ever changing. Fill yours with love and laughter.” He gave her an unbelieving look. “And this?”

“Your name.” She was getting annoyed. If she was by herself this man would be on the ground right now with her foot at his throat.

“Come.” Storm’s mom ushered her out of the room. “We need to be getting back to the hall.”

“Happy, Anseri?”

“I see you have found a name for me. Do you know what it means?”

“Yes.” Heather walked beside her as they headed back to the hall. “It means great one, leader, mother of all.”

“Very good. Did your translator give that information to you?”

“No. I just knew it.” Heather watched as people stopped to bow to Storm’s mother. There was something about the question. “Anseri is an ancient word, isn’t it?”

“Very good.” She strode into the building and led Heather to a set of doors to their left.

Heather knew this wasn’t over yet. “So who’s next?”

“What makes you think I want to you to see someone else?” two guards opened the door for them to enter.

“Oh, my goodness, it seems to be your thing.” She knew better than to believe her innocent comment for a moment. “Heather, I have a doctor I need you to speak to. Heather, I have a teacher I’d like you to meet. Heather, I have a linguist expert I think you could learn from.” Storm’s mom laughed. “Okay so I am that way. We still have the afternoon session but I would like you to have dinner with some people.”

“Experts?”

“Yes.”

“Of course.”

The rest of the day was pretty quiet. She kept her mouth shut and worked hard on keeping her attention on what was going on around her. No one else asked for her opinion which made her happy.

They made it back to the house without any incident.

“I am sorry I keep getting myself into these situations.”

“Heather, please understand you are doing nothing wrong. You did surprise me, but there is no crime for anyone being able to speak ancient.”

“Ancient? Really?” She had suspected as much as she started to pace.

“Couldn’t have been the normal Vespian language? I have to make it worse by speaking a dead language? How many people can speak it?”

“Three.”

“And once I’m confirmed I’ll make four.”

“Yes. Drink?” Anseri gestured to a small table where a servant stood.

“As strong as you got.”

“It will be fine.”

“Sure it will. Can’t even prove I belong to one particular race but I can speak the language. Of course I’m sure this will thin the list down a little.

How many races have even heard of ancient?” She took the glass from the servant and looked at the doors that had opened. “Holy cow.” Two people she didn’t recognize were ushered into the room along with the one she called the strange little man.