Kniam: A Terraneu Novel (5 page)

Kneus and Kniam did that silent thing, then Kneus shrugged, “"I need
to download the original histories and do some research to be able to answer
you. I will be in the technology dome across the hall." He did a silent
talk with Kniam again, "I would like it if you could tell Kniam anything
important that you think might help us figure out this...situation."

With a low bow Kneus left the room and she was left alone with Kniam,
which she really didn’t mind. There was something about him that drew her in.
Something in those purple velvet eyes that she couldn’t quite place.

"What did he mean by situation?" She asked
into the silence after Kneus left.

Kniam sighed, "It is a long story, but at the center of the problem
is our ability to survive. We require additional cloning eggs to continue to
have successful reproduction cycles. Even with an influx of new cloning eggs
some in the council question if what we are doing is really
living,
that
perhaps we have gone off course
.
There are seven on the council, four
you have met. Kneus, Knollig, Ailech and myself. Three others are Knaleg,
Asteen and Thian”

“We are at a crossroads, my people. Any way I turn there will be
revolution or discord, which is something I don't want. This is why your
presence adds many problems, to an already volatile situation. As the leader of
my people, I have to look at what is best for us as a whole." He shrugged.

Amber sighed, “I know how it feels to be out of control of something, and
feel helpless.” At his snort, she rolled her yes, “Ok, with your size maybe
helpless was the wrong word, but frustrated...?” She tucked her legs under her
on the bed since it seemed they were going to be here awhile. “Look at the
situation I am in. Your people consider me some kind of “it” or “pet” but I’m
not any of those things. I’m a person. I have feelings and thoughts and
dreams.”

“You are no longer considered a specimen. I know Kneus is studying the
matter, but when you were put in the medical unit it changed things.” Kniam’s
smoky eyes locked to hers across the medical bay. ”We are able to understand
you, and that makes you sentient. There will be much more to discuss, but no
harm will come to you Amber. This I can promise.”

His words caused a thrill to run down her spine, “That is a relief, I
would like to be helpful, like Kneus asked but I’m not sure what I could tell
you, and there are questions I would like answered.” She looked at him
expectantly.

“You may ask anything you would like, I will answer if possible.”

First things first, she was a prime example of what they could do
medically, and they talked about cloning like it was child’s play. She had to
know, “Just how old do your people get?”

He lay back on his medical bed and got comfortable, “To answer I would
need to know how your people tracked time.”

Amber thought for a second then broke it down for him as best she could.
Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, years…etc. He calculated for a second
then “We track time in a similar way, with a few differences due to this
planets two suns. However, by your time we live to be around eight hundred to a
thousand years old. I am what you would consider, twenty-six. Our leadership
just went through a cloning cycle, so all council members are my age. The next
cloning cycle for general population is scheduled for fifty years from now.”

So he was twenty-six. She had been bracing for him to say something much
older. It would be just her luck that she was lusting after a geriatric
patient! Instead it was the opposite. He was a younger man! She was a
cougar!
 
“How can you be the leader and
be so young?” When one eyebrow shot up at being called “young”…Amber laughed,
“Again maybe not the right word…relatively speaking, you must be a lot younger
than some of your people.”

He rolled onto his side and propped himself on an elbow, placing his head
in his hand. This brought her eyes straight to his bulging bicep, and she had
to swallow hard and force her eyes back to his. They were smoldering purple. He
had caught her staring at his body again, she really had to work on maintaining
eye contact!

“I am ruler because my genetic line has always been so. It is hard to
explain, but the history tells us that the first years were very chaotic. There
are creatures on this planet that are dangerous, and men were lost to them.
There was disease and in fighting and men were lost to that. My genetic line
was more…
aggressive
you might say. It was
decided
that my line
would rule. My brothers and I are “descendents” of the strongest among the
military arm of the survivors. They were allowed to do the mission together,
because as I said they were more aggressive and would not take no for an
answer.” He shifted again, “You have met Kneus and Knollig. Knaleg is forever
away exploring the land around Terraneu, and was just returning for the council
meeting.”

Kniam continued, “Before you ask, the council was formed to provide
checks and balances. It has been such since the original fathers time.” He
paused as if in thought, his brow furrowed for a second then cleared, “Kneus
wants to know if Earth humans are all covered in that disgust…” Kniam stopped
and cleared his throat, “I mean fur. That strange fur.”

“What?” Amber was confused for a second and then laughed, “My clothes?
The covering you thought was fur is called clothing on Earth. The temperature
where I was visiting was really cold, so I put on an additional layer of
clothing to protect my skin. Like you wear those vests, pants and boots…on
Earth we have additional clothing we wear depending on the climate.”

”I need to know everything about you and where you come from, little
Amber.”

He had stressed the words “aggressive” and “decided”
and she thought back to when he had called for silence. The others had bowed to
him in…respect? Submission? Just how aggressive was Kniam? She swallowed hard,
maybe instead of excited by him, she should be a little worried and cautious.

She fought for control of her thoughts, “Everything? That is a lot to
cover. There isn’t much to say about me…but the planet I come from has a long
history. Or at least I used to think so.” He raised an eyebrow, so she sighed,
laying on her side facing Kniam, she just started talking, “My favorite color
is purple, I am a Sagittarius and I love long walks on the beach and
chocolate…” At his questioning look she sighed, “It was an attempt at humor. I
guess I start at the beginning…”

She talked…shifted to get more comfortable, and talked. Sat up to stretch
her back, and talked. She told him everything from every history, science and
life lesson she could remember. When she got to the part about reproduction,
females and babies he asked a million questions, and she answered them as best
she could. It felt like she had talked for hours, and from how scratchy her
throat felt it probably had been.

“May I please have some water or something? My mouth is really getting
dry.” She paused in some story she had been telling, and gestured with a hand
against her throat. Kniam jumped gracefully from the table and was walking
around his bed when the doors suddenly opened.

She swung her gaze to Kneus, “I think we have enough for now Kniam. I
have looked at all the medical records, and the information available in the
archives.” He gestured behind him and I could see Knollig and Ailech. “You can
take her, R5-SW3 should suffice to hold her.” They started toward her, then
froze. Kniam had the concentrated look on his face and was glaring at Kneus and
the other men. There was a lot of arm waving and finally Kneus said, “Fine.
Take her to R1-NW5”.
 
Since she had been
too busy watching the silent argument, she didn’t get her off the bed and away
from them fast enough.

“Where are you going to take me? What the hell is R1-NW5?” she cried out
desperately as Knollig got a hold of one arm, and Ailech the other. Without a
word of answer they started toward the open doorway.

“Kniam…” her gaze sought out his, “Wait…you said…” she stopped when she
noticed that he still had that distant look on his face. He was talking, but it
wasn’t something she was getting to listen to. The holds on her arms eased up,
but the two men helping her out of the room didn’t stop. She gave one last
tearful glance toward Kniam, before she was out of sight.

She hadn’t been paying attention to the room she was in, but when Knollig
and Ailech had walked through the door to get outside, she had to take notice.
The thing she saw right away was some kind of wall directly in front of her,
about ten feet away. It rose up it the sky, behind her there were four domed
buildings. The wall ran around the four in a square. A quick glance to her
right showed the same wall, and to the left and a bit ahead was a gate. This is
where Knollig and Ailech were escorting her. They passed through the main gate,
and after about twenty feet on the pathway turned left onto a smaller walkway.
As she walked forward she got to see that the area in front of her, matched
exactly the area behind her. There were five domes in front of her, in an L
shape. What wasn’t covered in the path material was landscaped with some type
of green grass. Beyond the five domes in front of her, she could see others
around her, spread out in a perfect cookie-cutter pattern. Before she knew
it…Knollig and Ailech had stepped off the path to get to the first dome, or was
it the fifth? Isn’t that what Kneus had said, something with a five in it.

 
It was then that she snapped out
of it enough to start struggling again. Was this a prison? Or maybe a torture
chamber. Or maybe some kind of…death dome! She squeezed her eyes shut, “Please,
don’t…p-p-please” with a gentle push she was inside whatever horror room they
had locked her in. She knew they had locked her in because Ailech had put his
hand on the door to get them open, and then she heard the click when the doors
closed. She couldn’t leave her eyes closed forever! Slowly she crept one open
and looked around, then she gasped in relief. It was just a suite of rooms,
some kind of living space? Silent tears ran down her checks, as relief swamped
through her! She hadn’t realized she was crying until she felt the wetness.

“Damn alien assholes!” She yelled and swung around and pounded on the
door. Pounding and yelling some choice words for a few moments helped her feel
a little better. In the grand scheme of things, she really wasn’t that mad,
scared yes…but angry, only a little. She was just grateful that she wasn’t in a
cage. Kniam had said that she wasn’t a pet, and she was just going to have to
trust him. Thinking of Kniam made her brow furrow. So much for “Good-bye,
thanks for the help. It was nice talking with you, how about dinner sometime?”
She had a feeling she would die holding her breath waiting for the men on this
planet to get a clue about women!

 
Her gaze swept around and found
it was actually very nice. She could see some type of chaise couch that could
use some pillows, some chairs with end tables and through some curtains there
seemed to be another room.
 
Carefully
walking through the diaphanous material into the attached space, she gasped in
surprise…what a bedroom! There was a bigger than king sized, four-post bed. It
wasn't on a raised platform, but whatever type mattress they had on it was very
tall. She was going to struggle to get up on that bed. On either side were
tables, and shelves. Along one wall was some type of door, and a quick tap of
her hand on the console, she knew it was locked. Walking toward the bed, she
saw to her left another sheer curtain. Going into that space was a small room
and on the left was where she found heaven! A bathroom!

She walked around in amazement. Even in her limited experience with
luxury, this bathroom was it! The flooring felt like spongy grass on her bare
feet. There was one whole corner taken up with an indoor tropical oasis. That
was the best way to describe it! Take a tropical waterfall with pool, add some
exotic flora, then shrink it to fit a corner space…and there it was. In the
bathroom! The tub part was about three feet deep made out of the same material
the flooring was, but was empty so she wasn't sure if it held water or not. The
fresh air and just “earthy” smell coming off the plants was relaxing, and
provided a splash of color. Around to the left from the tub was a bidet looking
thing, and she hoped it was where she was supposed to relieve herself…because
she was going to put it to good use.

She felt much better after her visit to the bathroom. Running her hands
along a certain spot along the wall she got what she was hoping was water,
because she had drank her fill of it. At another location she found drawers
with thick, fluffy towels. She had used the bidet looking thing to relieve
herself, and hoped it wasn’t some kind of drinking fountain. Now it was time to
figure out how to get into that big bed and sleep for a few years! Dragging a
chair looking thing from the side of the room, she finally made her way onto
the bed, and after plumping pillows, and digging around in the coverings
exhaustion took her into a deep, oblivious sleep.

Kniam was trying to keep order in the meeting. He had explained how
things had reached this point, but the council members were already frustrated
over being delayed for the few hours he had been with the little female.

“Silence!” Kniam shouted. Every council member suddenly fell quiet. “I am
only going to show this once, so you better take your seats! For those of you
not already aware of what happened, I will play back what has transpired so
far.” He waited until everyone had complied with his request, then he
continued. With a look of concentration Kniam went through all that had
happened like a movie.

 
He had been off-world on
Antilles when he went through camp and saw this weeks catch. The were the usual
creatures in their cages, Sacaths, Trizzles, Sea Eoluths and then his eyes had
fallen on something new. This primate might be the answer to what his people
desperately needed. It screeched in its cage, jumping around and waving its
strange arms. He had been amused by it, and let the leader of the Antilles know
to send it along with the others to the port pad.

Upon arriving at the caging dome, he had talked
with Knollig, then tried to get the specimen out of the cage to get a DNA
sample started. The creature had kneed him
, at
this point in the showing all the council members saw, and felt what happened
.
 
It had run out of the cage, and he had
followed. When he grabbed it and tossed it over his shoulder, it had gone limp
and he thought he had killed it when it didn’t revive. He then took the remains
to be tested by the medical unit. When the machine wouldn’t work to do the
autopsy he had set it to auto-processing.

He flashed past Knollig and Ailech leaving. He did
show the ‘female” wearing the medical gown.
He
DID NOT show the part where she tried to gain her seat on the medical table.
There were some things that he was going to
keep private, because no one was going to see her perfect, bouncing…

"Serves you right for staring! You could lend me a hand and help
me up!" He had stalked over and she was afraid, he could sense it. She
thought he meant her harm? She had held her breath as he gently reached his
hands around her waist.
All the council members tried to clench their hands
as if holding her waist themselves.
His fingers almost met on either side!
This little female was so small, and fragile. He had held her gently, his
fingers this close to the underside of the mounds on her chest and tugged her
into him.
He cut to the part where
…he abruptly set her on the table.

 
Frustration was humming in the
air between them, and he was confused.
 
Suddenly the female started to make that same husky sound she called
“laughter.” His insides responded and his ab muscles clenched. Kneus had
requested he put on a medical robe, which he had finally complied. After
pushing down his pants and bending over to take off his boots, some noise had
come from the female. Had she been looking at him undress?
He hurried to
flash through the rest, the retelling was having an effect on him.
It was
decided I would try to get her to tell me anything she could about herself and
the planet she is from.
Her name is Amber, she is a human female. She
comes from a planet they called Earth.
She has pale hands that are softer
than kliss.
He wanted to memorize the feel it.

She told me everything. As to the cause of my “erection” as the little
female calls it, in her world, human males and females have sexual contact,
they touch each other on purpose!
Any council member not paying attention
before, was interested now.
A human male can have a sexual release two or
three times a WEEK, or more…they don’t just have the release alone either. The
human females do things to them that can cause it. A human male can desire a
human female, and this causes the wish for sexual contact. There is so much
more, but the desire I felt for my little Amber wasn’t caused by disease.
With
those words, said to the council in a manner that no one dare dispute…his
little females fate was sealed. He wasn’t sure what hurdles he faced in getting
the councils co-operation, or hers for that matter, but he would face them all.
He was claiming Amber for his own and no one was going to get in his way. If
what Amber had told him was true, and the medical unit confirmed she did not
have a disease. She would be the answer to everything, but more importantly she
was going to be HIS!

With that final statement he released the memory hold, and let the chaos
erupt. He got immediate acceptance from Kneus, Knaleg, Knollig and Ailech. The
other three members of the council he would find a way to convince.