Finding Jess (First Wave) (4 page)

“That is Gibly. He is a Sibiox from
Valendra. The Sibiox are highly intelligent creatures and because of your gift
to him; he can now speak.” Amun told her, reminding her of using her gift last
night. 

“He’s beautiful. His fur is so
soft, and he has such pretty eyes.” Jess said absently as she stroked the cat’s
fur and listened to him purr.

“Gibly like Jess too.” Gibly rubbed
his nose against her arm and tickled her.

The sound of her soft laughter
seemed to startle even her when it came out, causing her to blush again. Amun
looked on sadly, wondering how long it had been since she’d laughed; or had a
reason to laugh.

“How did my gift help him to speak?”

“Honestly, we don’t know anything
about your gift or how it works. I would like to learn though, if you’d let me.
I’ve learned from Cari that when she uses her gift, she activates a previously
dormant part of her brain. It remains dormant until something activates it
causing the gift to work. I still haven’t figured out what causes it to
activate. We’ve never seen anything like it before, and I’m assuming yours
probably works in the same way.”

Amun noticed that she had been
steering the conversation away from her condition. He knew that she had to have
noticed the lack of pain and discomfort in certain areas of her body and
figured she was too embarrassed to ask about it.

“Where do you relieve yourself
here?” Jess asked blushing furiously.

“I’m so sorry; please forgive my
thoughtlessness.” Amun jumped up quickly and held his hand out to her. After a
few minutes when she didn’t take it, he gave her a questioning look.

Jess looked strangely at his hand.
He didn’t expect her to use his hand or something did he? Why was he holding it
out? She flushed with embarrassment at her own ignorance of what was expected
of her around real people. She hadn’t been around real people since her father
was killed. She’d been far too young to remember anything about what the real
world was like.

Her life had been a series of
crudely set up camps in the middle of forests, abandoned properties and the
Relian favorite was abandoned mines. The only time she’d ever learned anything
about the world outside of the camps had been when they had captured another
girl like her. She had always gotten them out of there before she could learn
too much about things she knew she’d never see.

She really didn’t belong here; she
thought with sadness. As miserable as her life had been she at least knew what
to expect and what was expected from her. She knew nothing about the planet
she’d been on, and here she was even farther out of her comprehension on a
space ship. She shouldn’t have come here.

Sadness overwhelmed her as she
realized she’d never be able to fit in here; she'd be as useless as a child to
these people. At least in the Relian camp she’d been able to save the other
girls they’d captured. She had a use there.

“You upset her! You go! Go NOW! I help
her!” Jess flinched slightly when the little panther jumped up and stood on the
edge of the bed facing Amun with his teeth bared and his dangerously sharp
claws digging holes into the mattress.

The beautiful cat did not look so
fierce until now. Jess had assumed the cat was a docile creature and was
fascinated at how quickly he had turned into such a ferocious looking animal.
It took a few seconds for her to realize he was trying to protect her! Her
heart melted at the sweet gesture. The tears that had been threatening to spill
over from her embarrassment, and sadness couldn’t be held back.

“Thank you.” Was all she managed to
say before she grabbed the cat into a crushing hug and began to sob so hard her
body shook violently.

Amun was at a complete loss as to
what just happened. One minute he was offering Jess his hand to help her up,
and the next Gibly was violent. Now she’s choking the cat and shaking so hard
he was afraid she was going to damage her internal organs even more before the
new ones were fully grown. What the hell just happened?

A quick check of her body scans and
he grabbed a relaxer and injected it into her arm. Gibly hissed when he’d come
near her, but he wasn’t afraid of the cat at the moment since he wasn’t going
anywhere.

If he wasn’t so concerned for Jess,
he’d be laughing loudly at Gibly’s predicament. Jess had both arms wrapped
tightly around him; one held the lower half of his body trapped between her
thighs forcing his back legs to be suspended in the air uselessly. Her other arm
was around his chest holding his head awkwardly against her chest; his head
turned so only one bulging eye was visible. His front legs were trapped
somewhere in the blanket and the sleeping gown he had put on her after the
first round of her surgeries last night. The poor cat didn’t look quite so
fierce right now.

Although every instinct in him
wanted nothing more than to go and hold her until she calmed down, he knew he
would only make the situation worse. Instead, he forced himself to walk to the
comm and called Cari. After explaining what he could to her, he unlocked the
codes for the door and stood near it waiting for her to arrive.

He watched carefully as the relaxer
began to work, and Jess slowly calmed down. As she did, her muscles relaxed and
Gibly was able to breathe properly again and extricate himself from her arms,
but he didn’t go far. He stood proudly in between her legs and turned to shoot
a glare at Amun.

“It alright. Stupid man didn’t mean
to hurt you. I new here too. I help you. You help me.” Gibly told her as he
rubbed his face against her cheek. Jess just sniffed and started stroking his
back gently.

Amun could have smacked himself. He
was an idiot. She didn't know to take his hand. He almost snorted in disgust
when he thought about how many times a Relian probably offered to help her up.
None. He should have known, instead he’d embarrassed and hurt her.

He was more relieved than he wanted
to admit when Cari and Scaden came flying through the door. Scaden stayed back
by the door with him while Cari went straight to Jess.

“Cari?” Jess asked.

“Oh Jess!”

Both men watched in fascination as
the two women hugged and cried and spoke in a sobbing speak they didn’t think
anyone could translate and wondered how they could possibly understand each
other.

Occasionally, they would see Gibly
peek out from the bodies of the two women looking like he was going to faint
from lack of oxygen. Amun couldn’t be happier at his discomfort; still a little
peeved that he got so violent with him.

If he were honest with himself
though, he’d admit that he was grateful that the animal had figured out what
he’d done wrong. And he is the perfect companion for her right now. He was
right; he was just as new to all of this as she was. They could learn together.

“What did you screw up?” Scaden
asked with a knowing smirk on his face. Amun sighed heavily.

“I treated her as if she should
have walked out of life-long captivity knowing everything about where she is
and how she’s supposed to act around people and not animals.”

“From what I can tell I’ve
embarrassed her deeply, damaged her more emotionally, ruined any possible
friendship with Gibly in the process and have probably damaged any potential
relationship I could have with her.”

“Wow, that’s a lot to accomplish in
a few hours. No wonder you look so tired,” Scaden teased.

“Really not in the mood for this
right now, my friend.”

“It’s the perfect time for it. You
saw what Cari, and I went through to be together. Do you really think if you
are meant to be with her that this is going to make a dent in it happening?”
Scaden asked his friend seriously. He knew in his heart, that if the All Father
had deemed them mates that it would happen. He couldn’t help but be a believer
as he looked lovingly at his beautiful mate and mother of his miraculous twin
daughters.

“Cari wasn’t held captive by those
animals her whole life! She wasn’t tortured in ways that I can’t even think of
without wanting to kill something! The range of damage she’s suffered
psychologically is so broad the computer is still trying to calculate a
treatment plan that doesn’t include a mind wipe! Don’t stand there and tell me
I can’t fuck this up with something as simple as this one mistake.” Amun
whispered angrily before striding out the door.

Scaden thought about what he said
as he watched the two women together. Cari helped Jess stand and walked with
her to the other side of the room to the bathroom.

It slowly dawned on him the
challenge Jess was facing now that she’d been freed, and it wasn’t just the
overcoming of her physical injuries.

He watched through the open
bathroom door as Cari explained to Jess how to use the sink, toilet and shower.
The play of emotions across the girl's face ranged from fear to excitement. The
only thing he could compare it to was watching his own young daughters learn
about the world and how things worked.

He was shocked at his own thoughts
when he wondered if they had truly done the girl any favors by saving her; and
vowed to himself to help Amun and Jess anyway he could. Leaving the women to
themselves, he went to go find Amun and talk to him.

*****

Cari had finished showing her how
to use the bathroom and where she could find clean clothes after a shower, and Jess
couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed and amazed. Everything was so pretty and
soft and clean.

And the clothes were the nicest
thing she’d ever had in her life. Cari had discovered that Amun had already had
the computer make clothes for her, and they were stored in the closet. There
were even pants, which would help her hide her legs! She had blushed when Cari
had told her what the panties and bra were for.

Everything he’d had the computer
make was in the prettiest light colors she’d ever seen and so soft she was
almost afraid to touch them with her rough hands. Rubbing her fingers against
her palms, she realized her hands didn’t catch one of the rough breaks in her
skin as they normally did. She brought her hands up to look more closely at
them and was shocked mute for long moments.

“What happened to me?”

“What do you mean honey?” Cari
asked curiously, watching Jess look intently at her hands.

“My hands aren’t rough anymore.
They feel so soft.” Jess grabbed one of Cari’s hands in her own and rubbed her palm
against hers.

“Like yours. How is that possible?”

“Amun. He’s been working all night
to heal your injuries. I know you understand that some injuries are going to be
easier and quicker for him to fix than others. Right?” Cari asked gently.

Jess just looked blankly at Cari
for a moment, rubbing her hands together, before Cari continued.

“Jess, the injuries you suffer from
are very… bad. Some will kill you if not fixed soon. Amun is working to fix
everything… even your legs.” Cari let that sink into the stunned girl before
trying to hit her with anything more shocking.

With Amun out of the room, Jess
seemed to be able to think more clearly now and feel a lot less emotional. She
understood that there were major differences with the world she was in and the
one she came from. Just learning how to work the bathroom was a huge indication
of that.

However, she was easily adaptable
and a fast learner. She’d spent her whole life moving from camp to camp and
learning the area well enough to cook three meals a day for them all and keep
their clothes clean with almost nothing around to do it with. She could do
this. Even better if her hero could fix her legs too.

She straightened her shoulders and
began pulling herself together. Julou had always said she was the strongest
person he’d ever known. She needed to stop looking at everything in a childish
amazement and start acting like the strong woman she was. She had to pull this
off the way she and Julou had planned all those nights when they lay together
while he tried to keep her warm.

“I may not understand all the
amazing things around me, but I’m not stupid. I’m a fast learner, but you’ll
have to try to forgive me when it takes me a minute sometimes to comprehend
that some things are possible. I could never have imagined my legs could be
fixed.” Jess said with a smile, feeling more like herself.

“Honey, no one and I mean no one,
thinks you are stupid. We’re going to make a lot of mistakes trying to help
you, and we’re all going to feel silly before it’s all over with. But no one
will ever mean to hurt you in any way. We care about you very much and want to
help you get well.”

“Thank you. It means a lot to me to
know you’re here for me.” Jess said giving Cari a tight hug.

“Me too!” Gibly chimed in as he
rubbed himself against Jess’s leg.

“And you to my friend.” Jess
agreed, ignoring the mist of tears in her eyes as, she bent at the waist to pet
him.

“Before we start fixing me and all
this, I really need to talk to whoever is in command. I have information that
they may need to know about.” Jess said straightening up and kicking herself
for not remembering sooner.