Theron's Hope (Brides of Theron) (27 page)

“Zane, I have never kept anything from Michael.  It is so hard to do it now.  Michael and Emily know absolutely everything about me.  I am telling no lies, this is a fact.  One or both of them have been by my side more than 80% of my life.  This is extremely hard for me.”   She put her head to his chest, crying even harder now.  “I am supposed to be bringing him coffee.  I don’t want him to see me like this.”  She let go of him and blew her nose into a napkin.  She washed her hands.  The coffee was almost done brewing.  She grabbed a clean mug and made her cousin a fresh cup. “Do you want one?”  She asked and when he nodded she made him one too.

“I have an idea. You just finished working out so why don’t you go get a shower?  I can bring this coffee to him.”  He looked at her. She was clearly distraught over this.  He didn’t know what he could do to make this better for her, but he had to try.  Maybe he could give Michael enough information to take some of the pressure off of Grace.  He needed Zeb’s permission to do what he was thinking though.  He picked up his transmitter.  “This is Dr. Zane.  I need to speak with Zeb and Brylon.” 

Zeb and Brylon were immediately found in the command center.   “Zeb I need a favor and Brylon’s help to pull it off.”

Zeb was curious, “What can we help you with?”

“I need your permission to have Brylon move me from one side of the room to the other.  I may need to do it twice.  I will stand in a place where I have at least 4 feet of clearance in every direction and I want you to move me two to three feet over in the same room.  Would you be able to do this Brylon?”  Zane asked.

“Sure, but I would need Zeb’s approval.”  There was a pause.  Zeb must have been thinking about it.

“I will give you permission if you tell me what you are up to,” Zeb said.

“Gracie’s cousin Michael is visibly upset and this makes Grace very unhappy.  I have no other way to tell him what I am without him thinking I am crazy.  Grace feels that we can trust him, and I believe we can too.  He is doing everything that she has asked from him.  He deserves to know the truth.  I am about to go and see him now.  Is it possible to lock onto my transmitter and when I give the order move me two to three feet in any direction with the possible option of a repeat if he believes he is imagining what he sees in front of him?”  Zane was getting excited with the prospect of being honest with one of the people that Grace trusted most. It would also open the door for her to talk openly with Emily and Michael as well.

“Sure.  It will take me three minutes to get to engineering.  I will let you know when I am ready.  Is it alright with you Zeb?  We did as much for Avery.” Brylon added for good measure.  He wanted to see Zane get what he wanted from Zeb.  It was the least he could do.

“Go ahead and do what you need to do.  We need his support in this matter.  I agree that it is best if he is fully aware of what is going on,” Zeb said. 

Brylon sounded excited at the prospect of using his skills to do what Zane needed.  “I am on my way now.  I will contact you when I am ready to proceed.”

“Great!” Zane said, “Thank you Brylon and Zeb. This will mean the world to Gracie.”  He picked up the mugs and said to aloud, “Well, here goes nothing.”  He eased the door open with his forearm and walked into the study placing the extra mug on the desk.  “Gracie is taking a shower.  She asked me to bring this to you.  She made them up before she left the kitchen a minute ago.”

“Well, it looks like you and I have a minute alone then.  Why don’t you take a seat?  I have a few questions for you.”  Zane put his mug on the desk and started to move the chairs to along the side of the wall giving his self four feet of clearance in every direction.  Michael looked at him like he was crazy, “What the hell do you think you are doing?”

“I am about to answer all your questions, Michael.  Grace would love to have told you everything, but she can’t.  She doesn’t have the authority that I do.  I have asked my commander to give me permission to disclose to you that I am from another galaxy, X-Tran to be exact.  We came to your planet to find mates to sustain our race.  You see, we are going extinct.  The Drylon’s, our enemies, have killed or imprisoned most of the female population on our planet.  We are no longer at war at present but it is detrimental that we find women to bear our children or there will be no more Theron Warriors.”

Michael knew he was crazy now.  His first assumption was right.  This guy was a loser, possibly a psychopath that manipulated his cousin.  “So you are telling me that you are an alien and that you have convinced Grace to give all her money away so that you can take her back to your planet?”  He paused for effect and gave him a virulent look, “Zane, you do understand why I don’t believe you, don’t you?”

His transmitter came to life.  “I am ready Zane.  Are you clear and in position?”  Brylon said.

Zane pushed the button on the transmitter and said, “I am clear to go.  Please proceed with the electronportation.”  A few seconds later he became transparent and disappeared all together, coming together two feet to the left of his original position.  Michael’s jaw dropped. 

Michael couldn’t believe his eyes.  What kind of magic trick was this?  “What the hell was that?”  Michael asked quietly, dumbfounded.  He shook his head and smelled the contents of his mug thinking that maybe someone slipped a mickey into his coffee.  What the hell?

“Do you believe me now Michael?”  Zane asked.

“What did you put in my coffee?  Did you put drugs in it?  Is that what you did to Gracie?  Is that how you got her to believe you?”  Michael was trying any logical explanation to figure out what caused what he just saw.

Zane looked at Michael and determined that his moving from one end of the room to the other would not be enough to change Michael’s opinion of him.  He said, “Change of plan Brylon.  Do you think that if I can move him next to me and you could beam us both up to the ship and directly back down?”

“That is a bit out of the realm of what was previously approved by Zeb.  However, there is no one here in engineering.  I think that I could swing it.  It wouldn’t be the first time I did not follow orders this week.  Get him ready.”  Brylon said and Zane could hear him punching on the keys of the computer to ready the machine.

“Michael, I am a doctor and I can assure you that the only drug in that coffee is caffeine.  I can prove to you without a doubt that what I tell you is true.  Would you be willing to step from behind that desk and join me in the center of this room?”  Zane was expecting him to not be so willing but Michael had to see for himself what was going on.  He probably still would not believe what had happened, but it was worth a try.

Before he closed in on Zane he had to ask, “This will not change me in anyway, right?  I will do just what you did and I will not be touched or hurt in any way?  I will come back in one piece, all my pieces, in the right place, right?”   He was a bit frightened but willing to go the distance to uncover the truth in Zane’s outrageous fairy-tale.

“We are ready Brylon.”  The two men became transparent and disappeared from Grace’s study and reappeared on the engineering deck of the Theron Mother Ship.  “Do you believe me now?  We are on the Theron Mother Ship at this moment.”  Michael looked like he was about to faint.  Zane stepped forward to catch him.  Brylon rushed over to him as well.  Michael saw a man with copper colored eyes and they didn’t look human.  He always suspected Zane’s eyes.  Although, an aqua color like Zane’s was plausible on his planet, the gold flecks in them were not.  The other man had copper colored eyes with gold flecks in them.  It could not be a coincidence. 

Michael was starting to realize that he was not on Earth anymore.  “Is there a window nearby so I can see where I am?”  Michael asked as he was coming to his senses. Zane and Brylon lead him to a window next to the work station.  He looked out into the deep reaches of space and marveled at what he was seeing.  He caught a glimpse of the planet earth behind a sliver of the moon.  “How does no one know you are here?  I thought we had satellites for this.”

Brylon answered his question, “You do have satellites for this.  We contacted NASA to get permission and in exchange for technology we received permission to obtain females from your planet that met certain guidelines.  Our cloaking device is pretty good though.  They would have never known we were here if we would have tried to prevent them from finding us.  That is what is keeping all the other countries on earth in the dark.” 

Zane looked at his friend, impressed. “You are getting really good at speaking this language.  I guess you are really trying for Emma.  Way to go, Brylon.”  He patted his friend on the back. “We must return immediately.  We are already breaking enough rules and I don’t want Brylon to get into any trouble.  Michael, are you ready to go back?”  Zane looked at Gracie’s cousin with concern but could see that he was starting to believe his story.

“Y-y-yes, I think I am,” Michael stuttered out.  Zane looked at Brylon and told him to beam them back with just a look.  They became transparent and disappeared from engineering deck and became solid in Grace’s study.  Grace was there when they returned. 

“Zane, what do you think you are doing?”  She looked at Michael clearly out of sorts and returned her unyielding gaze to Zane.  “What did you do?”  Zane put Michael in the nearest chair and when Michael was safe from falling, he went to Grace. 

“My love, I knew how distressed you were to not be able to talk freely with Michael.  I talked to Zeb and he gave me permission to tell Michael about the Theron Warriors.  However, you know full well that Michael would have never believed me without conclusive evidence.  So, after he accused me of putting drugs in his coffee, I had Brylon beam him aboard the ship.”  He looked to see how she took that bit of information and then added, “Zeb can never know that Michael was on the ship, but I feel that it was the only way to get through to Michael.  It was the only way that he would believe our story.”

Grace kneeled before the chair Michael was sitting in taking his hands into hers.  “Michael, I want you to be clear on this.  What I do is my choice.  I choose to go with Zane to his planet.  My role there is very important.  Just think of what I will accomplish or even see.  It will be the biggest adventure of my life and I will get to go on it with my soul mate.”  She looked over to Zane briefly and returned her gaze to Michael. “Do you see why I have been so secretive?  If I told you this before now, I wouldn’t have had any way to prove it to you.  You are in a field where evidence and proof trump any explanation.  I hope you can understand my situation now and we can work past this and prepare for the future.”

“I believe you and I understand Grace.  As I have promised you all your life, I am in your corner.  It is getting late.  I have to go.”  He still looked off, out of sorts even.  He looked to Zane and asked him, “Can Emily know about this or is this to remain between us in this room.”

“You can tell Emily.  Grace trusts the both of you with her life and her secrets.  You must both promise to never tell a soul.  It could cause us a great amount of difficulty if you do,” Zane said extending his hand as Emily had done to him the night before.  Michael took it and gave it a good solid shake. 

“Like anyone would believe this if I did.  Thank you, Zane for trusting me with this.  I know why you did this tonight.  It was obviously for Grace’s sake.  You really do love her and I can see that you make her happy.  I know that I said you two would have my support this morning, but it was not absolutely sincere.  Now, I can honestly say that not only am I in Gracie’s corner, I’m in your corner as well.”  He let go of Zane’s hand and started to walk out the study, his head heavy on his shoulders.  “I am going to go home to my family.  Good night to you both.”

One question was weighing heavy on him as he was about to quit the room.  He turned to Grace, “Grace, I have had this overwhelming feeling since you came home that I was never going to see you again.”  She could see the moisture accumulating in his eyes as he said this.  “I have to know.  Will I ever see you again?”  He asked as a tear started rolling down his cheek.