Kaitlyn O'Connor (33 page)

Loren was torn between uneasiness and excitement as she spied the first sign of the village Khan had told them about and was leading them to. She
‟
d had her doubts when they
‟
d set out and she hadn
‟
t been particularly happy about the trek through the jungle itself or the two nights they
‟
d spent camping along the way, but she hadn
‟
t wanted to be left behind.

Karen had flatly refused to leave the ship. Kael had agreed that it was wise of her and generous to give up the trip in order to guard the ship. She thought it had been mostly for the sake of the men, who
‟
d been disappointed, but Karen had decided to consider it a compliment and had talked Shara in staying, as well.

Kael had drawn the line then. Six men would stay to guard, the rest would accompany them.

That ultimatum had made Loren a little uneasy, made her wonder if he really trusted Khan and his men after all, but it hadn
‟
t taken long to realize that he had demanded the escort for the return trip—which they would making without Khan and his men.

She
‟
d cautioned herself not to expect too much. The world was a primitive one and, from what she
‟
d learned, the Hirachi had been enslaved here and left pretty much to their own devices after the slave masters had been defeated. They were smart and they were strong, but there was only so much one could do without tools.

She was still eager to see what they
‟
d accomplished. They all looked well and well fed, and that said a lot for their resourcefulness.

The fields stunned her. She hadn
‟
t even realized they
‟
d left the jungle behind at first. It wasn
‟
t until she saw the even rows that told her the plants were cultivated that she realized the abundant growth was due entirely to Khan
‟
s clan. The men of her own group were clearly as impressed as she was. They immediately began discussing the crops, she supposed.

They were all speaking Hirachi—even the Deisen.

She sighed. It was her own fault. It should have occurred to her long since that she needed to learn their language. They
‟
d spent weeks in space with very little to do beyond think about the one meal they could expect.

Of course, she
‟
d spent most of that time puking her guts out
because
of the hideous food!

She should still have made the attempt to learn at least a little, though, she thought irritably.

She was drawn from her thoughts by a sound she hadn
‟
t heard in what seemed like forever—the giggling laughter and shrieks of excitement of children. Her heart leapt at the sound and she lifted her head to search for a sign of them.

She finally spied the children—playing in a vast open field before an edifice that looked like something some early civilization on Earth might have built—except it didn
‟
t look like anything she
‟
d ever seen in her life, in pictures or otherwise. It explained the strange looking spire she
‟
d glimpsed as they left the jungle, though.She saw several more from the front that she hadn
‟
t noticed when she
‟
d glimpsed it through the trees.

155

Several women were seated in the shade of the trees, watching the children play while they worked at something in the baskets on their laps. They looked up when they saw the group approaching and scattered their baskets in every direction as they leapt to their feet and raced toward them in greeting. The woman in the lead flung herself into Khan
‟
s waiting arms, laughing and babbling questions—in English!

Loren didn
‟
t think she
‟
d ever heard a sweeter sound. It brought an unexpected knot of emotion to her throat. She looked up at Kael and smiled when he settled an arm across her shoulders and then Balen when he moved closer and caught her hand in his.

Khan disentangled himself after a moment and turned to them. “We
‟
re brought new friends back,” he murmured to his woman.

Her eyes widened as they settled on Loren. “Oh my god! You
‟
re from Earth?”

Loren nodded. “My name
‟
s Loren. Loren Hess…and these are my men, Kael, Balen and Dakaar.”

The other women who
‟
d rushed to greet their returning warriors surged around her excitedly, pelting her with questions about „back home
‟
.

Loren was stunned. Khan had told her that his woman was from Earth. She hadn
‟
t expected to see so many!

They spent three days with Khan
‟
s clan. As impressed as Loren was with the „pod
‟
they were given to stay in as guests in paled in comparison when she got the full tour of the „village
‟

the following day. She was far more inclined to think of the place as „rustic
‟
than primitive after that. There were none of the electronic gadgets that she was accustomed to seeing, but it didn
‟
t lack comfort.

One of Miranda
‟
s men, Teron, was a physician. He examined her and the baby and told her that he would be there to assist if she felt the need when her time came. It relieved a little knot of fear she hadn
‟
t wanted to think about let alone acknowledge, and then she was shown the

„birthing pool
‟
where all the children she
‟
d seen scampering around the village had been born.

She was somewhat dubious about that, but Miranda informed her that it was the best way to birth a child.

Karen and Shara were mightily put out when they returned to the ship with all the news about everything they
‟
d seen and immediately wanted to make the trip themselves. Kael wasn
‟
t inclined to approve but finally relented—with the provision that they make it a trip to trade for things they needed.

The day before they were to leave, a large group of men arrived from the village with the offer to help them build their own pods if they had decided to stay. An offer was also extended to the women to live in their village until they gave birth.

Loren was eager to go until she realized that the men would be staying to work. She decided to stay until she was closer to her time. Neither Karen nor Shara seemed particularly happy with her decision since they felt like they should stay if Loren did and Karen tried her best to talk Loren into going.

“It
‟
s three days walk to the village!” Loren finally snapped. “The men will be here working.

If I went there
‟
s no telling how often I
‟
d see them! I
‟
m not going so you can stop pestering me!”

“That
‟
s going to be a long damned walk to get to the doctor if you go into labor here!”

Karen said tightly.

156

Fear immediately assailed Loren since Karen had pinpointed the one thing she was most frightened about. “I
‟
ll go when I
‟
m closer,” she said stubbornly. “I won
‟
t need a doctor until then. I
‟
m nearly a third of the way through now and I haven
‟
t seen a doctor before. I think I
‟
ll be fine.”

“You
‟
re closer to half,” Karen pointed out. “You told me you
‟
d felt the baby move.”

“So half! I
‟
ve still got months to go and I
‟
m not going to be sitting over there with my men
here
, damn it!”

Karen decided to go anyway, explaining that she was concerned about the baby. Her men, naturally enough, were so unsettled by that that they were all too willing to cart her to the village.

They left her there and returned to work on the foundations in progress. Two weeks later, Karen returned, escorted by Teron and three other Hirachi men. Karen didn
‟
t look particularly happy. The men who
‟
d escorted her looked far more happy once they
‟
d handed her over to her men.

She was exhausted from the trek. Loren shook her head at her. “I could
‟
ve told you you weren
‟
t going to be happy in the village with your men here.”

Karen pouted. “I thought I could convince them to stay with me, but they have a fire up their asses to build
us
a village!”

Loren struggled to suppress the urge to smile. “Of course they do! You
‟
re having their baby.

They want to have a place for their family!”

That seemed to appease her somewhat. “Really, it isn
‟
t any more comfortable than the ship.”

“It is nice, though. I
‟
ll be so excited when they get the foundation done and start on the walls! They are the most
amazing
engineers! I never dreamed they were so talented! Of course, I already thought they were amazing anyway.”

Karen studied her assessingly. “You said you were an engineer.”

“I am—mechanical and aeronautical. I got the mechanical degree first and then decided I wanted to get into aeronautics. This isn
‟
t my area.”

“Yes…but…mechanical means you design machines, right?”

“Yes,” Loren said cautiously.

“So maybe you can take some of those mechanical monsters apart and make us…like a go cart or something?”

Loren frowned, turning the suggestion over in her mind.

“It
‟
s really not that far to the village,” Karen said coaxingly. “It just takes a long time to walk that far and we
‟
re pregnant. It
‟
s going to be a lot harder if we say here till our last month before we make that trip.”

Loren considered that a little doubtfully. “So you
‟
re actually talking about something that could transport a lot of people.”

“Or stuff. We
‟
ll be trading with the other village.”

“I guess that would be pretty useful. I
‟
ll give it some thought.” She grimaced. “I
‟
d have to figure out the electronics.”

* * * *

157

“What do?”

Loren dragged her attention from her project plans and glanced at the owner of the voice and then did a double take when she discovered it was Daeman. She stared at him for a long moment and then smiled abruptly. “That was English!”

He smiled back a little sheepishly and crouched down next to her. “Try learn. Know Hirachi.”

Loren grimaced. “Well! You
‟
re doing better than I am. I didn
‟
t even learn Unduleze. The lizard-man put it in my head.” She studied his face. “You have your eye on one of the pod ladies from Earth?” she asked teasingly.

He hesitated. “Yes. Give heart to one.”

Loren felt her chest tighten uncomfortably, but she ignored it. “You don
‟
t even know her yet! She must be beautiful.”

“Is. Most beautiful ting I ever see.”

Loren dragged in a difficult breath and forced a smile. “I
‟
m happy for you, Daeman. I know you
‟
ve been unhappy.”

His face darkened. “Understand now. Always will be unhappy widout her.” He frowned.

“Hard, but I learn de Hirachi way.”

Loren frowned at him in confusion. “I
‟
m sorry. I didn
‟
t understand that. Why would you want to learn the Hirachi way? You
‟
re…a wonderful man, Daeman, just the way you are. If you think she won
‟
t accept that, then she just doesn
‟
t deserve you.” She hesitated. “Kael said there were Deisen women among the pod people. Don
‟
t you think you
‟
d be happier with a woman who understands your ways?”

His face tightened. She saw frustration flicker in his eyes. “Already gave heart, Lau-ren.

Gave to you. Asking you take me as lover.”

Loren was too stunned to think of a reply.

He lifted a hand and touched her face. “See love in your eyes for udders. Know already give heart.” He paused and she heard him swallow. “Love you, Lau-ren. I make dis enough. No fight wid Kael and Dakaar and Balen. Swear on honor. Dey first in heart, I know.”

Loren felt her eyes fill with tears. “That doesn
‟
t mean I can
‟
t love you, too.” Shifting up onto her knees, she slipped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her face against his.

“There
‟
s a very special place in my heart that I saved just for you.”