Void's Psionics (40 page)

Renee awoke to his change of sleep, being
sensitive after a full night of making love and it was predawn. She
sat up and willed on another flimsy style of clothes, rubbing out
her gritty eyes. “Morning.”

He kissed her and opened the lid to hop out
and vigorously rub Nova’s large head. “And good morning to you all
as well.” The big cat purred loud and deep. “I take it you all had
a lot of fun and scared quite a few Drakes while you were at
it.”

“
They did what?” Renee
climbed out as he went to another who butted his chest with her
head. “Tell me that didn’t hurt anyone.”

“
No no. They are blindingly
fast and can cover a great deal of ground. They were bound to be
spotted. These three happened upon a nesting school were new Drakes
go to learn to fly.” He roughly pushed and they pushed back even
harder. “The council warned not to attack if they spotted my Pride.
And they did good. They asked me before showing themselves before
you and I turned in.”

“
Stars, Lad, you got some
big pets!” Jake Dorgen happened to appear then and his loud,
gravelly voice had the Ligers turn and growl.

“
Easy. This is Renee’s
father. His voice is just a little louder than normal. Yes, Nova,
humans don’t naturally grow to be so large.” Oliver
said.

One of the males padded over to sniff Jake’s
hand and got a welcome pat. The giant Scotsman didn’t seem at all
overwhelmed to the Ligers’ sizes like Oliver and he was much taller
than most anyway. “Good, Lad. Don’t get all territorial on me. Be
nice to me or you’ll get yer balls clipped off to make you more
compliant.”

Apparently they were reading his intent and
the three mates suddenly all nine females jumped upon Jake, teeth
bared. Jake was not one to be underestimated and his eyes burned
dark green to lift himself up after seeing they didn’t go for the
kill. “Ye can’t take a joke eh.” To prove it they barred their
teeth and yowled.

“
Papa, just stop trying.
Think of them like old Marines. They don’t play around on some
things, especially when you threaten their mate. They don’t know
you. To them you are a threat. Insinuating neutering isn’t a good
first impression when those gals want more kids.”

“
Intelligent buggers.” He
muttered. “Sorry, Lasses. Sometimes me jokes aren’t well taken.”
They accepted the apology with a grunt, but was watched
closely.

“
So Papa, is Andrea still
going strong?” Renee smirked and flew up to give him a hug and kiss
on the cheek.

Jake chuckled deeply. “She curled up about
two hours ago after finding writing on the Queen’s child diary. She
was a fertile one that. Me bride-to-be finally ran out of steam. I
warned ye not to try and be her shadow. It’s still trying to catch
up.”

“
A child’s
diary?”

“
Aye, Lass. She found it
after scouring every nook and cranny in the bedchambers. It was a
paper book of some kind that doesn’t look old at all. Well, more a
tome to be accurate. Andrea says from what she read, the Queen’s
spawn were well loved and cherished.”

Renee’s mental gears whirled in overdrive. “I
want that book before I have that baby.” And dove down the
tunnel.

“
Yes, keep her out of
trouble.” Oliver suddenly said and two Ligers jumped down after
their mistress, sliding on the winged form of their
need.

“
Lad, what just happened?
Why does Renee seem so…” He was at a loss for words.

“
Renee and I are planning on
finally making a family. After we check out Zerika we are going to
spend a few months away.”

“
Good fer ye, Lad. I’ve been
still wanting a grandchild. Especially with me new son growing in
his mother’s womb. I’ll try to make this find be as short as
humanly possible. Once all is recorded we’ll continue on to Zerika
and I’ll do the research during FTL so we don’t need to spend
months here. I’ve already got a preliminary accurate city scan that
it’s already twenty three percent complete down to the tiniest
detail. Roughly three days and we can continue on.”

“
Do be in a hurry on my
account.” Oliver said as he leaned against Nova and threw an arm
over his soft furry back.

“
Lad, in the thousand years
I’ve lived, I don’t need as much time as I did back when I figured
out the Geo Record. I can recreate anything and everything and take
it with me. Besides, that Vladamin is obnoxious and stuffy. He
isn’t as kind as that Alleia lass. I’ve spent all night probing,
but like ye told me to expect, he wasn’t a conversationalist. Lad,
I am sorry about ye being last of yer kind. Must be
hard.”

“
It is. No one can answer my
questions of why. But my woman did help me to focus on what
I
do
have. I have
her, you and everyone aboard. That’s enough.”

“
Regardless, Lad, don’t ye
hesitate to come to me if ye need to get something off yer chest. A
captain always listens to his crew. So tell me about yer fine
looking companions.”

“
Well, this here is Nova,
the king of this Pride. The others don’t have names nor seem to
need one. As you already saw, they are fast and telepathic to a
sense. They can’t form words like Sparky or Creelin, but they have
their own way to get their minds across…”

On and on Jake listened and laughed as Oliver
launched his shield and the Ligers literally played fetch.

As he talked and played he watched and
listened through the minds of the two that followed. From them he
saw Renee flying right inside the Pyramid, greet Sparky and Rose
affectionately and sped up the stairs in search of one spritely
individual.

Renee found Andrea huddled up against the far
wall of the Queen’s chambers, out on a balcony that overlooked the
city, but she was sitting, her back against the stone wall. Open on
the floor was the thickest paper book Renee had ever seen and she
had seen some from Stephanie’s rare archeology collection. But
between Andrea and the tome lit up a holo-screen running a
translation program. Hearing footsteps, Andrea looked up from what
she was reading and had a natural reaction.

She tried to backpedal at the sight of two
behemoth great cats silently padding closer. Only she had nowhere
to go. She had backed herself into a place with no way out.

To break the fear Renee snatched up the book
and sat down beside Andrea who shook. “Relax, they won’t hurt you.”
To prove it the felines laid down on a freshly swept floor and
seemed completely serene. They even began giving themselves a
tongue bath.

Andrea slowly came out of it and looked over
to find Renee reading without technology’s aid, eyes unfocused. She
took many deep cleansing breaths before trying to change the
subject. “This wind Queen was quite a slut. I already like
her.”

“
Me too.” Renee winked at
the older caramel colored woman in a revealing blue and gray flight
suit. “But your translator pales to how her words form detailed
images in my head. Look.” Renee chipped into Andrea’s
tablet-crystal and from her mind appeared the beautiful Queen Fru
making passionate love to her one true Match and father to near
uncountable children. “Apparently she was a great artist to make
the act of intercourse into a dreamy ideal. She writes wistfully
and so dramatically.”

“
Wish my translator could do
it like your brain.”

“
Limitations of Tech. Unless
you break the AI ban, this is what you get.”

“
So why are you here so
early? I’ve only napped two hours. So I know what time it
is.”

“
I’m learning what to look
forward to and watch out for when I drop a kid from my uterus.”
Renee stated casually, turning the page. “Oh, this chick was very
kinky. No wonder she embodied the wind. Hmm… didn’t know that… more
sex… more sex… first birth… okay, she made the marsupial pouch too.
Hunger increase expected… killed a handmaiden she thought of as a
sister for touching her Match and regretted it greatly after the
heat cooled… Oh.. so she can drop a litter of rugrats after the
first was weaned. Six births in one delivery. No wonder our wombs
can drop more than one egg at a time. Fast ability to repopulate
and they had population restrictions too. I damn sure am not
dropping that many in one batch. One to start with will be
fine.”

“
You you are planning to
have a baby too? Make my little David an uncle before he greets the
world for the first time?”

“
Better believe it. I’m glad
you talked Papa from calling him Shamus.”

“
And I’m glad you and
Jessica reminded me. When I was his and Isabelle’s mate, he told me
what he wanted his son to be called. I didn’t like it then, I
certainly don’t like it now.”

“
So how did you finally
change my stubborn father’s mind.”

“
I reminded him that I alone
am creating a miniature human. All he did was spill his fluids. I’m
the one making lungs, bones and everything else. If I have to
suffer ten months and lose my perfect figure for this next year, he
has no say in his son’s name if I didn’t like it. Besides,
withholding sex from that Scotsman is his poison. Keeping his mate
happy is the antidote for me allowing to keep him alive. Besides,
men still believe a hormonal pregnant woman isn’t an act. We girls
need to keep them on a leash in event they learn the
truth.”

“
I’m starting to like you
more and more.” Renee cackled along with the older youthful woman.
“Just go easy. You might not need to worry about miscarriages much
anymore, but it is still a possibility.”

“
Until I balloon out and my
ankles swell up, I’ve got a lot to research. My dreams are finally
happening after three long centuries. I found a hidden city that
hasn’t been seen even before human history was even close to
recording. We were hunter-gatherers before this place was abandoned
and I’ve got work to do and little to do it in. I’ve never been so
excited in all my life and no one is going to stop me from living
my dream. You just tell me about the book later. I’ve got thousands
of homes to search and see how they lived… but… um… is it safe for
me to leave? They won’t eat me will they?”

“
Not anymore with my idiot
in control.”

“
Are you
sure
?” Andrea repeated
carefully.

“
Just leave before I punch
you in the boob.” Renee absently commented, back to reading
again.

Having a well earned documented reputation
towards physical abuse, Andrea believed her. Taking a chance, she
moved with fear in her heart thundering as she tiptoed around the
grooming felines and ran away when she felt the coast was
clear.

Meanwhile Renee was too engrossed learning
from an experienced mother, learning tricks of the trade, tricks
she realize she desperately needed to know before taking that extra
step. The tome was invaluable and instructional. Renee sent a
mental thanks to the long dead woman who left this journal
behind.

Up top Oliver and Jake spent most of the day
throwing the shield under the severe windy conditions. And for a
few hours Oliver ran with the Pride, holding nothing back and that
was a spectacular sight to behold. They had dreamed to run with a
master longer than he could understand. Their yearning was again
happily granted.

Chapter 10

In the following four days before entering
FTL aboard the Dorgenox, the full planetary council of Drake Elders
unanimously promised the pirate king of the entire Andromeda galaxy
not to breathe a word of the city’s discovery till all the facts
were uncovered. They agreed on the premise of Oliver’s heritage
needing to be kept secret for a little while longer. Since the
empty city was well away from any Drake nesting area and no one
could get close to the vortex, it would likely be too dangerous to
be around anyway and would be easily overlooked. Their promise was
good enough to keep it as untouched as possible, but with Oliver’s
granted permission, they started on cleaning the city to make it
beautiful once more. Removing moss, dirt, dust, trim overgrowth and
give the abandoned pyramid city a new look on being lived in again.
Any homes that were completely barren would soon be occupied by
Drake warriors and their families since the houses were prime for
their use and size. A security detail would remain at all times,
but be so carefully done, no one would suspect that the Drake
civilization would be hiding anything.

It was rather hilarious when the Ligers
filled the River Skipper along with Rose and Sparky who didn’t like
how cramped the cargo area had become. There would be no breathing
room had Nova decided not to fly with his master. Renee was
giggling the whole way into space as Sparky grumbled without end.
It would have been more cramped had Oliver not adjusted her shuttle
to widen out a bit more. In the days of growth, it had widened a
whole meter. Even the Flare had grown double in size, enough for
Nova to lay comfortably on his side. More room that even helped out
Oliver who was not small to begin with.

An interesting introduction was an
understatement when the Ligers were lined up like soldiers for
inspection in meeting with the entire Dorgenox crew. They were
still as statues till little eleven year old Chloe ran right up to
the Pride, lifted her tiny hand up for them to sniff and grabbed a
handful of fur before climbing up one of the females. Chloe liked
rides on Sparky, and flew at every chance, but she was surprised
how smooth the feline moved. The female in question was in love
with the youth and missed children climbing over her as the Queen’s
children often did as they grew up and taken on their own Pride if
they took the Warrior’s Oath and earned rank through great an
honorable deeds. Not all warriors earned a Pride, but it didn’t
stop her from loving Chloe and her fit of giggles.