Chapter 10

"But Sir, the investigation isn't over. I think we should bring the two women in and question them some more. They were obviously hiding something and they refused to show identification. That flimsy excuse about a fire was insulting," Agent Cross told the Director, shifting in his seat and letting the disgust show clearly on his face.

"Well, I believe the investigation is over. It's been two weeks since the ship crashed, and all you've come up with is a couple of young women with an unfortunate lack of identification. The pilot could be anywhere in the world by now, or dead. For all we know, the tracks you found were left by some card-carrying member of the Polar Bear Club earlier in the day, and the pilot was incinerated on impact," Jonaran replied.

"Maybe, but we should at least follow up on the missing IDs. If they can produce them, then we can be sure they are who they say they are," Agent Barlow tried to persuade the Director, while Agent Harrison nodded his head in agreement.

"No. From what I've read in your reports, there is nothing to indicate that either of them are lying. You also mentioned that Ms. Taylor said she would be talking to her lawyer and that is the last thing we need during an investigation of this type. Besides, I have several much more important cases for each of you to start working on and they need your immediate attention."

"But, Sir..." Agent Cross began.

"The files are on your desks. If you have any questions, direct them to the appropriate department. That will be all. Good day, gentlemen," Jonaran formally dismissed the trio of men.

As the three agents filed out of the office, Cross stopped them just outside the closed door.

"I don't like it."

"What's there to like?" Harrison asked.

"I don't get it. That Woodrow woman seemed like a good lead to me," Barlow replied.

"I say we keep watching them. See what they do," Cross suggested quietly.

"Uh, the Director just reassigned us. If we don't drop the case, we'll be in violation of..." Harrison began.

"Fuck the codes!" Cross hissed. He quickly looked around to make sure no one else had paid any attention to his little outburst and then leaned in closer to the other two men. "We're talking about national security. Now, are you with me or am I doing this alone?"

Harrison and Barlow looked at each other and then back at Cross. They both nodded their heads.

"All right. Let's go see what those cases are that the Director thinks are so damn important, and then we'll figure out how to keep an eye on those two bitches."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Jess settled into her breathing and Jason tried to follow her example. It was hard, though. His legs kept cramping up from the inverse pretzel position he was in and his mind wanted to be doing anything other than not thinking.

J-s-n.

Jason opened his eyes and looked at his mother. She didn't move, didn't even twitch, so he closed his eyes again and tried to focus on his breathing.

Ja-on.

Mom?

Jason, can y-u hear m-? Jess thought to her son.

Yeah, Mom.

Good. I w-nt -- se- if you -an...

Jess's thoughts faded in and out until all that Jason could hear were disjointed sounds that made no sense. He opened his eyes again and shook his head.

"Mom, I'm barely getting half of that," Jason spoke out loud in frustration.

Use you- mi-d, Jess admonished him. We have t- pr--tice or we're n-- going to make -t arou-d the others like Kaylee.

Jason took a deep breath and sighed. It was really hard work trying to hear Jess's thoughts. He knew his mothers seemed to be able to talk as well telepathically as they did verbally, but Kaylee was full dokäré. Plus, his mothers were bonded, which almost made their communication unconscious. However, Jason was only half dokäré and Jess was fully human, so that put all the work on him.

D-n't you bet on -t, Jason heard his mother respond to his thoughts. It t-kes a whole lot o- discipl-ne on my part to get th-se thoughts clear e-ough and loud enough for y-- to pick up on them, so don't even try --at argument with me.

Jason cringed a little. His mother had really been practicing a lot and she was better at controlling her mind and listening for others than he was so far, though Kaylee had told him he would soon surpass her once he got the hang of his own abilities. A spark of competition lit inside him and he redoubled his efforts to clear his thoughts and listen.

Several minutes went by with nothing from his mother, so he opened his eyes to find her staring at him.

"What?" Jason asked uncertainly.

"You haven't heard any of my thoughts, have you?" Jess stated more than asked.

Jason shook his head and then fell back on the carpet, releasing his poor pretzelized legs to stretch out in front of him, as he let out a loud sigh.

"I don't get it. Sometimes I can do it, and then sometimes it's like there's this wall and I just can't push through it," Jason said exasperated.

"We just need to find out what works for you," Jess reassured him, as she mentally sought out her bondmate.

Kaylee, you need to come help your son.

Oh, he's my son when he's being uncooperative?

Exactly.

Jess felt the amusement flow through her chest and out into her limbs. It was warm and made her smile.

"What?" Jason asked.

"Huh?"

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because she thinks she's funny," Kaylee said from the doorway behind him.

Jason craned his neck to look upside down at his mother. She had a smirk on her face, as she came into the den to sit down between them in front of the fireplace. She rested a clipboard on her lap that had paper with strange writing on it, as she turned her attention to Jason.

"So, you're having problems?" Kaylee asked.

"Yeah. I get it and then I don't. I don't know what's wrong with me," Jason said petulantly.

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with you. Some of that is just your age and the changes going on inside you as your abilities become more dominant. But I think most of it is confusion and misunderstanding."

"Huh?" Jason echoed his mother.

"Exactly," Kaylee replied. "You don't know how you're doing it when you do it, do you?"

Jason shook his head.

"You have to take concentration to a new level. That's why these techniques that your mother is using are so helpful. But maybe we need to try something else with you. Can you think about what it feels like when you're really concentrating on something? How nothing else seems to exist?"

"Yeah. I get like that when I'm reading sometimes. Or like when I'm learning a new math formula."

"Okay, that's a start. Maybe that's what you have to think about for now to get into that frame of mind that will let you stay in control of your thoughts."

"What do you mean?"

"What's the first math concept you learned?"

"Addition."

"Good. Now what's the simplest equation in addition?"

"Well, one plus one, I guess."

"Excellent. I think a little cumulative addition might be perfect for you. Close your eyes, Jason."

Jason started to pull his legs back into their previous contortions, but Kaylee stopped him.

"Just relax and do as I say."

Jason nodded and closed his eyes.

Repeat these thoughts in your mind, Jason. One plus one equals two. Two plus two equals four. Four plus four equals eight. Eight plus eight equals sixteen. Sixteen plus sixteen equals thirty-two...

Jason followed the mathematical progression and continued it as Kaylee backed off and let him work it out on his own. It wasn't long before Jason had to really concentrate to hold on to the numbers clearly in his mind in order to solve the equations. By the time he'd reached 1,073,741,824, he was really sweating and nothing else existed in the world around him.

Jason. Stay where you are. Don't lose your concentration, Kaylee thought quietly to him so as not to startle him.

Jason stopped adding, but didn't try to open his eyes or become aware of the world again. He was in a comfortable place in his mind and didn't feel like moving.

Can you hear me, Jason? Jess asked her son.

Yeah. Loud and clear.

Keep talking, Jess, Kaylee encouraged. I'm going to send to you and I want you to relay my thoughts to Jason. It'll be good practice for both of you.

Okay.

Kaylee resituated her clipboard and went back to composing a message to her fleet, as she mentally recited a very oversimplified version of dokäré history. Her mind easily separated the two tasks, and her hand moved smoothly over the paper, while her thoughts flowed directly to Jess.

One hundred millennia ago, the dokäré were savages, many tribes scattered throughout the lands and waters of our home world. We lived where rocks would protect us. We lived where trees would shelter us. Then we learned to devise our own sanctuary and we thanked the rocks and the trees for their guidance.

We ate when the animals gave us their bodies. We ate when the trees gave us their fruits and the ground gave us its roots. Then we learned to create our own nourishment and we thanked the animals and the trees and the ground for their guidance.

As the many tribes of our people grew, land became scarce and we quarreled. We looked to the animals and the plants again for guidance and they unwittingly showed us the way to destroy each other. We thanked them for their guidance once again, but the lessons were costly.

Many clans were decimated. Others were lost completely. But then our people looked once again to our teachers and we left our anger behind. We found respect and joy in our many differences and began to learn from one another, just as we learned from our natural guides who had already taught us so much.

Fifty millennia ago, the dokäré were no longer savages, but a great race that joined the stars in the universe. We met no one and thought ourselves alone with the stars and the dust. We made new homes on new worlds and the many tribes of the dokäré flourished. There was a world for every clan and peace was everywhere.

Then war came again. All the clans fought against all the others and there was no peace. We were savages once again. Communication was lost and many of the tribes forgot themselves. The dokäré were no more.

Forty millennia ago, a great visitor came. Her name was Melora. She spoke to all with one voice and with one ear we heard her. In one great moment, the dokäré were reunited and peace was once again among us. She taught us her ways and they became the ways of the dokäré.

Thirty millennia ago, the dokäré spoke with one voice and listened with one ear. There would be no more war. The clans would be united forever. Acceptance and diversity would be our creed. Love and honor would be our way. Let all come and we would be their friend.

Ten millennia ago, the Zaru came. We tried to accept them. They refused us. We tried to show them the greatness of difference. They threatened us. We tried to love them. They hated us. We tried to honor them. They betrayed us. We tried to be their friend. They became our enemy.

For ten millennia, we have lived in slavery. We have met other races. We have seen their evil and their goodness. We have seen their bravery and their cowardice. We have watched them live and die. The time has come to stand up. We were not born slaves and we will not die slaves.

It is time to fight.

Jess opened her eyes. There were tears in them that she couldn't hold back. They were a mixture of sadness for what Kaylee's people had been through, wonder at what they had accomplished, and hope that they would somehow again be the great race they had been before the Zaru had come.

Jason was just as speechless. The wars on his own world, which he'd read about and even watched on TV, had always seemed so pointless to him. But maybe that was because he'd never had a vested interest in which side won. Now, though, he understood how much was at stake, and it strengthened his determination to help in any way he could.

Kaylee wiped at her own tears and tried to smile. It had been a while since she'd recited that historical speech, which had been written by her father before she'd been born. He had become a great scholar due to his occupation as a slave at one of the premier Zaru educational institutions. Only the elite of the Zaru people ended up there, but her father had held access to everything because of his position as head janitor.

The one flaw that Kaylee knew would be the Zaru's downfall was their underestimation of dokäré intelligence. The reason their underground had been able to remain hidden for so long, practically the entire length of their slavery, was because the Zaru had never looked for it. They had decimated her people and assumed that fear and hopelessness would keep them from uprising, and, on the surface, it had.

But within months of their defeat, the surviving dokäré elders had begun planning their people's eventual uprising. They'd known it would take centuries before they were ready, but the dokäré had always been a farseeing species. This had been no different.

But now the time had come. Not necessarily because they were ready for it, but Kaylee planned to rectify that problem soon. She'd been taught strategy and tactics, psychology and behaviorism, genetics and physics, and a whole host of other disciplines almost from the moment she'd drawn her first breath. Though the true intention of the elders had been for one of Kaylee's descendents to lead the uprising, circumstances had changed their plans and they'd been very glad they'd trained Kaylee for this possible scenario when the rebellion had begun.

Kaylee wiped at her eyes and noticed Jess and Jason were staring at her patiently.

"Um, so how did that feel? Did you hear your mother clearly?" Kaylee asked Jason.

"Yeah. That technique worked really well. I feel really good too. Like I took a nap or something."

"That's what I've been trying to explain to you about meditation," Jess said. "I'm glad we've finally found something that works for you."

"Well, I need to finish this up," Kaylee said, as she gestured to the clipboard and then stood up. "Keep practicing."

Kaylee walked quietly out of the room and Jess heard the footsteps retreating upstairs.

"Uh, Jason..."

"I know, Mom. Go talk to her. I think I'll take a break and do some homework in the kitchen. I've still got a little bit left. Then I'll watch TV or play Nintendo, if that's cool?"

Jess smiled at her son. He was being very polite in letting her know that he was going to do his best to not "listen" to them.

"Yeah, but only after you finish your homework."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kaylee sat down on the bed and looked at what she'd written so far. It detailed the crash, her loss of memory, meeting and bonding with Jess, finding Jonaran and his relationship to Jason, and her plans for the next month at the factory.

There was still a lot she needed to include in the message, but she set the clipboard on the nightstand and lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. There were too many questions and what ifs rolling around in her mind for her to be able to concentrate.

I'm here.

Kaylee nestled into the emotional embrace of the woman she loved. She felt the bed move a little and was soon wrapped in real arms that held her. She turned her body into the one next to hers and nuzzled her face into softness.

"I love you, Kayleeya," Jess whispered and squeezed tighter.

Kaylee didn't speak, but she returned the feelings in a way that was impossible for Jess to misinterpret. Kaylee rolled them over, so that she was lying on top of Jess, and Jess felt Kaylee's mood subtly shift from sadness to arousal. She was a little surprised at the change, but after Kaylee spoke, it all made sense.

"I want to live, Jess. I want to be free and I want my people to be free, too."

Jess remembered reading somewhere that birthrates tended to go up during times of war because there seemed to be an understanding at the biological level that the species needed to replenish itself. Apparently, it didn't matter if the sexual act couldn't produce children.

Kaylee lifted Jess's shirt over her head and quickly unclasped her bra as well. As soon as Jess's breasts were free, Kaylee ducked her head and latched on to one of them. Jess moaned immediately at the wet mouth on her nipple and she fell back on the bed as her hands came up to hold Kaylee's head in place.

With that kind of encouragement, Kaylee sucked even harder and sent the pleasure she was feeling from feasting on Jess straight to the woman's libido. Jess would have been hard put to explain the sensation of knowing how her hard nipple felt in Kaylee's mouth while she sucked on it. It was almost like getting off on herself, but not quite. It was knowing how much pleasure Kaylee took in her body that was having the intense effect on Jess.

When the phone rang, Jess almost knocked it off the nightstand in order to shut it up. But Kaylee beat her to it and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Kayleeya?"

"Oh, hello, Jonaran. How are you?"

Jess rolled over and pushed her face into the pillow to muffle her groan; the man had the worst timing. Kaylee smirked at her lover's theatrics, but then redirected her attention to the voice in her ear.

"I'm doing well. Did you get my package?" Jonaran inquired.

"Yes. It arrived this morning. You're sure the papers will fool your agents?"

"Yes, since they're not fakes. But I've reassigned my men and closed the case, so you shouldn't be bothered by them again."

"Good. Are you ready to leave yet?" Kaylee asked.

"My flight is tonight. And you?"

"Tomorrow evening."

"Excellent. I should be settled in by the time you arrive," Jonaran estimated.

"Good. We've already wasted too much time as it is. We need to get everything ready as soon as possible," Kaylee said.

Kaylee suddenly felt a wave of hurt roll over her and she turned her head to look at Jess. Jess's outward expression hadn't changed, but Kaylee found herself locked out of Jess's mind.

"I, uh, I need to go. I'll see you at the factory," Kaylee said.

"Of course. Take care, Kayleeya," Jonaran said before hanging up the phone.

Kaylee replaced the phone in its cradle and turned to face Jess.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Kaylee asked hesitantly, as she moved closer to her bondmate.

Jess shook her head and sat up.

"Nothing. I should go check on Jason and get dinner started," she said, as she stood up from the bed.

Kaylee was on her feet in an instant and moved to stand in Jess's way.

"No, there's something wrong. Why won't you tell me what it is?" Kaylee asked, as she became more upset.

Jess looked at the floor.

"You've wasted your time?" Jess repeated Kaylee's earlier statement to Jonaran.

Kaylee's forehead scrunched up in confusion.

"We don't have any time to spare. My people are being destroyed..." and then Kaylee realized what Jess meant. "Wait, no. I didn't mean my time with you was a waste. Jess, you have to know that's not what I meant," Kaylee tried to feel into Jess, but she was still being shut out. "Please, Jess, I love you. My time with you is never a waste. If I didn't have to lead this attack, I'd never want to leave you or this planet. I love it here. I love working with you, with the animals. And watching Jason grow and learn. My whole life, I've never been happier than I've been here with you. I couldn't... If you asked me to stay, I couldn't refuse. We've bonded, Jess. There's nothing more important to me than you. Nothing," Kaylee finished in a rush.

Kaylee felt around Jess, as she saw tears in the taller woman's eyes, and was overwhelmed with a sense of relief at being allowed back into her heart and mind. She quickly embraced Jess and Jess hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me. That just really hurt," Jess mumbled.

"I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have said that. I just... I know we don't have much time and I'm afraid that week without my memories really cost my people."

Jess could hear the tremors of fear and guilt in Kaylee's voice and she hugged the small woman tighter. Somehow, they would get through this. They just had to have faith.