Chocolate Rewards: The Sweetness of Two Worlds Colliding Together (20 page)

“
What
are you going to name the baby,” Emily asked. She wasn't worried
about anything. She just wanted to be able to hold the baby.

“
I
don't know. What would you suggest, Rokai?” Amber figured that the
baby would need a name recognized by his people. An earth name
wouldn't fit.

“
I
think he should be named like his mother, after a stone.”

Kulani
nodded. “That would be a nice tradition.”

“
We
could look up some names on the net. But I'm thinking Jasper or
Garnet are the most manly.” Emily told them.

“
I like
both of them. Which do you prefer?” Amber looked at her husband. He
had moved heaven and earth to give her what she wanted. He should
decide.

Rokai
thought about it for a moment. “I like Garnet.”

“
Me
too. If we ever have another son we can name him Jasper.” Amber
said.

“
No. No
more children. That scared me. You were in too much pain. No one can
ask that from someone else. We have one child. That's enough. He can
take over the chocolate making when we have grown too old.”

“
Oh,”
Amber gave a disappointed sigh. “I would have liked to have a
daughter, too. That way I could have dressed her up in cute little
dresses.”

“
Are
you serious?” Rokai asked her. “Have you already forgotten the
terrible pain that you were in?” He certainly hadn't.

Amber
thought before she answered. “Yes. I'm fine now. It was really over
quickly.”

“
Women
are crazy,” Rokai sighed.

Kulani
nodded along as he parked the car in the garage.

Kulani
and Emily stood outside of the spacecraft. Emily was holding Garnet,
kissing his forehead often.

“
Don't
cry, Emily.” Kulani also had tears in his eyes.

“
I hate
goodbyes. It wouldn't be so bad if I could call them,” Emily told
him.

“
I
know,” he agreed.

“
We
will be back in six months, mom. I'll bring him along. He'll be
sitting up by then.” Amber reached for her baby.

Both of
her parents hugged him and kissed him several more times before they
let him go.

Kulani
hugged Rokai for a second. “You be good to them.”

“
I will
be.” Rokai took his son in his arms and brought him into the ship
so Amber could say goodbye.

Emily
wrapped her arms around her daughter. She cried into her shoulder.
“Six months is a long time, baby.”

“
I
know, mom, but now you know that I am safe. The Red Barbarian is
taking good care of me.”

Both of
her parents laughed for a moment, but this moment was too difficult
to endure. A light joke couldn't take the pain away of watching a
child leave them.

Kulani
hugged his little angel, too. “I love you. Take care of yourself
and of my grandson. Eat right, get plenty of rest and don't forget
us. Aloha, baby.”

“
Aloha,
mom and dad.” Amber turned, knowing that Rokai would be there to
take her into his arms.

She was
right. He supported her and brought her into the spacecraft. The
doors closed and Amber appeared at the window. She waved goodbye to
her parents.

A second
later they were gone, too small to see. Then the earth disappeared.

Amber
turned away from the window and went to her husband's lap. She cried
there, knowing that his heartbeat would calm her down.

“
What
does the word Aloha mean? The computer wasn't certain. It seemed to
mean more than goodbye.”

“
It
does mean more. It means may friendship and love be between us. My
father is worried that I will forget them. How could I?”

“
He is
a father. I know that they like to worry. I got up five times in the
night to make sure Garnet was covered up. And just to make sure that
he was still breathing,” Rokai admitted.

“
I do
that constantly, too.”

“
We're
parents now.”

Earth,
Hilo, Hawaii

Emily
stood in the living room. Her eyes were on the TV. She wasn't
blinking. “Kulani,” she cried out. She needed him to look at the
TV and say that he saw the same thing that she thought she saw.

“
What's
wrong?” he asked running into the room.

“
Look.”
She pointed at the TV.

“
We
have lost contact with our correspondent in Los Angeles. But before
the connection was lost he told us he saw huge spaceships were
dropping large objects into the ocean. Here we have the footage that
we received before we lost contact. Let's look at this once.”

The
footage showed five spaceships holding up what looked like a crater
and then it falling and them the screen went blank.

“
This
just in. In Tokyo they were reporting the same occurrence.”

Emily and
Kulani watched TV all night. All around the world aliens were
attacking the Earth. Nothing anyone did could stop them. At first
they were causing tsunamis and then they were killing people from the
air.

________

Planet
Lokiun

Rokai
woke up and looked at Emil, who had woken him. “Yes?”

“
Come
quickly, master. I have important news.”

Rokai
stood and replaced the covers over his wife and son.

Emil gave
him his clothes and started to walk out of the house. “The Bougais
are attaching the planet Earth. They are destroying it, killing
everyone. King Aideyoung is sending fleets to rescue survivors but
they won't be able to save everyone. They are only going to the big
cities. Amber's parents won't be saved.”

“
I'll
get them. Don't tell her where I am. Think of a lie. I don't want her
to lose the baby.” Rokai ran for the spacecraft and immediately
took off.

Two years
had past since Rokai had claimed Amber. Garnet was almost two and
Amber was expecting their second child soon. The doctor figured that
the baby would be born within the week.

Earth
Hilo, Hawaii

Kulani
and Emily stood outside of their house watching the bombs dropping.
They had heard about what was going on on the mainland, but now the
fight had moved in right in front of their house. They clung to each
other, holding a picture of Amber, Rokai and one-year-old Garnet in
their arms between them.

Both of
them watched a large bomb was being dropped into the ocean. It
exploded in the water, pushing water towards the shore. A tsunami was
coming there way.

Emily
closed her eyes and buried her head in Kulani's chest. “Thank you
for being my husband and loving me all of these years. I never
regretted marrying you.”

Rokai
landed in his in-law's front yard and called out for them. He found
them and several others in the backyard. “We have to hurry. Come
now.”

“
Rokai?
Is Amber safe?” Kulani couldn't believe his eyes. This was the
worst moment to visit

“
She's
at home. Let me take you to her. Get on board now, everyone.”

Some of
the people were afraid to go with him, but Kulani and Emily followed
him. Taking their example, several others also followed them into the
spacecraft.

Rokai
landed further inland and got more people to come on board.

He got
eighty people to come with him. He darted between the ships and few
off to the safety of outer space.

When the
people were able to understand what was happening they started to
demand answers.

“
Kulani,
I need my whole body to operate the ship. Calm them down, tell them
they are safe now.”

“
I
think we just got kidnapped by an alien. I want out of here,” one
woman called out.

Others
started to agree with her but Kulani stepped forward. “This young
man left his safe home, his wife and his child to help us. We should
be thanking him and not demanding this of him. He is bringing us to
safety. We need to give him room so he can do that.”

“
But he
is one of the aliens,” someone called out.

“
There
are many kinds of aliens. He is one of the good ones. I would know.
He is my son-in-law. The father of my grandchild.”

“
Grandchildren,”
Rokai corrected. “Amber is due any day.”

Emily's
hands moved to her heart. “Are you taking us to Amber?”

“
Yes,
she will need to see you to believe that you survived.”

His
Majesty, King Aideyoung and Queen Melissa's Ship

Several
hours later their craft docked onto the King's ship. Thousands of
humans were everywhere. People were trying to direct them which way
to go. Rokai took hold of Kulani and Emily, taking one in each of his
hands. He dragged them over to the doctor, who was giving people
their translators.

“
Could
you do my in-laws next? I need to get back to Amber.” Rokai slipped
him a large box of chocolates.

“
Sure,
Rokai,” the doctor eagerly took the bribe. He quickly gave them
their translators.

“
Can
you take my voice translator out, too? I hate those things.”

Emily and
Kulani were shocked to see what Rokai had had to have in his throat
whenever they visited, which they did often.

Rokai
pulled them along again. He stopped at the King's throne room. Again
he slipped a box of chocolates into the eager hands of a waiting man.
The man nodded and motioned that they follow him.

“
Our
son-in-law is a very important man.”

“
I just
became the universe's only milk chocolate manufacturer. It seems to
be more popular than dark chocolate.”

“
I like
it better, too.” Emily smiled at Kulani, in a mischievous way. She
was excited to be able to see her daughter and grandson. They had
been wondering what things were like for Amber. Soon they would have
another grandchild. The relief of having lived through all of that
after she had seen death right in front of her was making her giddy.

“
I will
of course help you in any way I can. I'm a good worker Rokai. You
won't be sorry.”

Rokai
could hear that his father-in-law was very thankful. “You will be
my right hand man. We have many workers. You will not have to do any
hard work.”

They
stepped to the head of the line. The King and Queen smiled at him.
“Rokai, I heard that you saved eighty people. You are a hero.”

“
Thank
you, Your Majesty. I would like to present Amber's mother and father,
Emily and Kulani. They will be living with us.”

“
I am
very pleased to meet both of you. You must be very proud of Rokai.”

Queen
Melissa smiled at them. “Tell them to give Amber my best wishes.”

Rokai
bowed down low as the King repeated his wife's words. “It will be
an honor to give her the queen's greetings.” He pulled his in-laws
away.