Ryee let our clones who went with Ni’olmai know we were ready to take their place and we ported to a yard in Northeast Georgia near Commerce. They came back to our ship in case Ry’nao needed something.
They were already in the house and Ni’olmai called Ket to them! Suma’s mother was on the couch and Ket scared Suma. In that instant, we took our clones’ place outside. Ket has the Diplomatic Link so Ryee knew from it that Ket planned to port with the lady.
Neal held out his hand. “Please, Suma, come with me.”
“No! I have to go back to Atlanta!” She ran out to where we stood. Pulled that key out of the lock and ran for the car. Dropped her purse.
“Please, Suma! Wait! Pirad might heal your mother. She will not die.”
“She’s still an alcoholic, diabetic, and does drugs!” With her back to him, she trembled.
“We have a cure for addiction. Ket is giving it to her, now.” He had tears in his eyes.
“Are you the people SETI is talking to?” Suma turned around and saw that Ni’olmai’s eyes were black. Fear contorted her face! Too scared. He’s not doing anything scary. They helped Mama. They cleaned the house! If he was going to hurt me, wouldn’t he do it, already?
The car’s only 15 feet away. But, who would I tell?
She fell but Ni’olmai caught her. “Are you ill? Should I bring a healer for you, Suma? Or, should I call you Miss Cliatt?”
She hugged him. Got the blank stare of those who see futures.
Ni’olmai looked at us. “What should I do?” He trembled.
Ryee touched his shoulder and sent healing. “My friend, she sees her future now.”
Then he had the blank stare as well. We waited. Did I look like that, when I saw memories?
Ea, Love, you did.
I looked up at the moon and Ryee recited a poem from Persennon.
Love’s Garden
A walk in the garden with my love
And time stops, and beauty grows with her smiles
The touch of our hands makes flowers quake
But our laughter announces our well.
One more walk in our garden’s sand brief,
Too brief, but memories are long now.
As my ship takes me far, as my ship takes me far
These memories sweet will color my
Sleep, will color my sleep, ‘til I land.
Suma gave a half-scream, then looked at Ni’olmai. That’s him. But, blond curls, a large man. And, tri-toed feet but human hands. Huh? He’s not thin, or sick. I got him out. I took him up the hill to Mom’s house, today! Memories kept coming. My memories. How I felt. He was big and blond-curled like my big brother. And, I was 24. I’m 24 now.
That necklace appeared in his hand. The large blue stone on it glowed. And, a creature like an asymmetrical white walrus, in front of us!
I wailed at it, a song in its language. him
Suma ran! I feared she would hurt herself, but Ni’olmai ran after her.
Our conversation was not long, but I felt weak.
Rentappenen I will not fight him alone
Ryee pulled me against him and hummed.
Suma and Ni’olmai appeared next us.
Ni’olmai shook all over. She reached for him.
“Are you all right?” Her brown eyes, huge, studied him.
“I am all right. Scared. The Imwa are not of this level. He — saw all of my memories. I feared — Adia, he is still listening to me?” Tears fell from his eyes, which were black. “Will he make me blind, or weak?” They did, in that other future! Suma trembled. It was today. Mama died. I stayed to make arrangements. Came down here and found Neal. Took him to the house. His father sent energy to his ship and we left, but Neal was very sick. Thin. They tried to heal him but didn’t know what they were doing, that he should be symmetrical. Then they healed him but left him blind. He became a healer--
“No! I asked him not to change Ni’olmai, and he agreed. They will listen because they are curious. They have hive minds like Zbbat or Esteerrians.” They do? Ryee hummed and I felt Pas’ healing for all of us.
She looked at the blue crystal on the necklace. “What’s this?” Gasped. When she spoke, it glowed in rhythm. Just like it did in those memories.
“I should have spoken before they sent it to you, Suma. Our genetics are connected now. Oh, I am sorry! If we do not stay near one another, both of us will die!” He went limp. Ryee held him up. Feared to send healing! He touched Ket’s mind.
Suma grabbed his arm. “No, no, no! Neal! I wasn’t close enough? How close do we have to be? I—I’ll go with you!” She pulled his arm closer. I saw a faint yellow glow.
Slowly, his head lifted. “You will?” His eyes turned very light.
“I will. I don’t want to be alone! Where are we going?”
He put weight over his feet. “Show me your house, what you need to take.”
“You’re still shaking. Can you make it?”
Neal chuckled. “Oh, a diplomat can work.” He held out an arm, and she put her hand on it.
“A diplomat? I’m just a school psychologist.”
“You will help a lot of people in Rainbow Unwell Colony. It will rescue many slaves and they will need you.” I smiled at her. Suma trembled also. Ryee moved to support Ni’olmai, but both looked scared.
“What do they need with a school psychologist? I just test kids, and get very frustrated that the school doesn’t give me much time to talk with ‘em, except about schedules or changing classes, since I have students in 3 schools.” Suma shook her head, and her long, brown hair waved. Then she recognized us from these new memories. Brown eyes opened wide.
“You will have all the time you wish to speak with them, and you will be a great healer beside your husband.” I smiled as we ported to her mother’s front doorstep. Small, with a door that didn’t quite meet the threshold.
There’s light? Power’s off. “You’ll have to be careful. There are rats.” Poor Suma shuddered.
But Ni’olmai ran hygiene on the house, with a white flash. “I hear them. I can port them away.” He waved up progs to port them. All pests in the house, rats, mice, cockroaches, and even ants and wasps all ported. In January? It is cold! The door creaked open. He put a green cube in her hand.
Suma looked in, trembling. Neal put an arm around her and she hugged it. “A-Are you sure they’re all gone?”
He laughed. “It is not hard! I moved the alives to our ship, in stasis. We may trade them and give the bal to you, Suma.”
She shuddered. “Who would want —” Suma paled.
Neal touched her forehead and color came back to her face. “Oh, thanks. But you should sit down. You’re shaking harder.”
“I am all right.” He shivered.
Ryee waved a hot blanket on him.
“My friend, I do not need —” He blinked, and his eyes turned lighter. “Let us go in and pack.”
Suma had a display up. “I can do it now. Sweet! Now, what do I do? I’m happy I don’t have to go back in there!” Tiny holos of everything. I can keep all Daddy’s stuff! I left the rest for Mama. But holos of all Daddy’s things stayed. Later. I wonder if any of her’s left, after Jesse. He got her addicted. He was just her drinking buddy until he got her on other things, then she was eager to marry him. Why? Her thoughts were loud.
“You have alt storage. Your things are accessible but do not have to have a place, a physical place.” Ni’olmai showed her with his telepathy. Put a green cube in her hand.
Suma rubbed his arm. Pulled the hot blanket over it. “Do you feel like going to my apartment? I’ll be fast. Then we can go to your place.”This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Ni’olmai laughed. “Suma, I am — oh, I’m rude! I’m using your shortname but didn’t give you mine! I am Ni’olmai, but for you, dear, I am Ni. Or Neal. That sounds more Earthan. You may all call me Neal.” We ported and stood in a pink hall. The door said 314. And, it opened.
“It was unlocked?” Suma peered in.
“Habis maif! No, I unlocked it. I am very sorry, Suma! I did not mean —”
She pulled him in and I tried not to smirk. “Please, sit here. I’m worried about you, and so is your friend.” Ryee helped him walk to her sofa, a soft blue one. He sank onto the arm of it.
“I’m all —” His eyes closed.
“Neal?” Ryee felt his head. “You need healing! Ket!”
A man in white ported to us. “What happened, Ryonne~? He should not be gray!”
Suma moved, and Neal sweated!
Ket pulled her to the sofa. Waved his hand between them. “Habis maif, you are linked! Sit here, so I can help him! How could this happen, to an Elshar?”
Ryee and I shared memories with him and he paled. His hands trembled as he spread them across Neal’s forehead. He groaned. “Do not try to speak. Rest, while I see you.”
Suma worked on holos while she rubbed his arm. Everything but the sofa vanished. Tears kept coming. I’ll have to leave Earth. Is that bad? I liked living on Ye~ with him until the slavers came.
Finally, Ket smoothed his wavy blond hair. “He must rest today. How shall I call you?”
“Suma. Is he okay?”
Ket sighed. “I do not know what to do for him. Imwa! Tomorrow I shall see him again. I wrote a prog for several herbs to treat injury —”
“He is hurt?” Suma cried.
“Esta, but I think I saw him in time to prevent permanent damage. Pirad can help him, if he will not scare you. Let us go to the ship.” Ket had blond hair with dark streaks at his temples. He waved.
The green left us in a room with her furniture. “Will this please you, Suma? I will put a bed for him, but you must share it, or he will fare worse.” A Zheien bed appeared against the opposite wall.
Suma paled! Neal groaned. “Oh, it’s okay, Neal. You have to —”
His eyes snapped open. “Ket, you can’t—”
Ket held his head. “You are linked. She must touch you. I only saw Zheien in this situation! If she leaves you, both of you will die! You must marry, today.”
He cried. “I can’t force a maiden —”
“See my memories? You are half Ishah, so maybe that is a factor.”
He shuddered, and yellow sparkled on his arm. “Imwa.”
Ket touched the yellow and studied it. “Sleep. If you keep waking, you will be too ill for me to save you!”
“Suma needs —”
“She needs you alive. I can’t give any more herbs. Sleep now.” He slid his arms under Neal and made sure Suma came to the bed also. Ryee helped her get on the bed so she laid beside him on the leiwege. Then he bent it to hold his head up and his arms out. He sighed and relaxed.
Suma tried to put her head very lightly on his arm. Ket pushed it down. “Rest. You will not harm him. Does your head hurt?”
“I got a migraine. All those rats! There’s mold.”
Ket waved and an aandat appeared in a clear box, white gel that undulated. “Did they explain aandats to you?"
“Adia showed me. I’m ready.” I’ll never have a cold or COVID again! Or need a bathroom! A living swimsuit.
Another wave and the clear box vanished. The aandat flowed up Suma’s ankle. Ket’s eyes turned light. “Good. It didn’t move fast. You should get telepathy in one to three days. And this should help your headache.” He waved so she saw. An Elshar herb.
Her body relaxed. “Oh, that’s better!”
“You can sleep. I’ll be sleeping up here at your heads, in case either of you need me.”
“Thanks, Ket. I won’t be scared with you here.”
He chuckled. “That is what healers do. I am happy Ni found you. He is a lonely man, Suma. When you wake, I will be happy to help him marry you.” He tucked three leaves of yllis between Neal’s lips and hummed. They slept, and Ket planned to give them first vek ea, then yllis. But that yellow glow brightened.
Neal surprised Ket by sitting up. Looked at my husband. “Could you try to separate us? Your telepathy is legendary!” His anguish came to me.
Suma startled and pushed him against the leiwege! “No! I don’t want to be separated! I want to marry you, right now!”
Neal giggled. Waved an Elshar Marriage Petition. The Elshar Heizghan version had flowery language. Some Areonian Elshars did that. “Oh, just write your signature, like you would on any legal document.” He waved up a web site with beautiful wedding dresses.
“This isn’t just any legal document! We’re getting married!” Suma sighed. She’d always dreamed of a big church wedding, but she didn’t even have a church in Atlanta. This was her first job, with Atlanta Schools. Her car was an older model with high repair bills. We heard echoes of her thoughts, though she tried to control them. Without telepathy, it is impossible.
Neal assured her he would work hard to pay them all, but Ryee showed him how to use the ship’s credit card. Earthans in Rainbow always worried about their debt, so M’Naga planned ways to make Earthan money, to pay any person’s debt so they could leave Earth if needed.
Ryee moved her car into her alt storage. Asked a diplomat to help Suma with her bills, so she could rest.
But we dressed in our formals and Neal now wore a white version of his diplomat’s uniform. “I am sorry I could not arrange a church wedding—”
“Who would we invite? All my friends—my fosters died of COVID so I just lived in the dorms at GSU. This is fine, Love.” Her eyes filled.
Ryee touched her arm, but she flinched. “We are your friends, Suma. You helped us much, in Rainbow. Molly is already on our ship, but she will leave for school soon.”
“I don’t see how I could help anybody! I’m an alien.” She rolled her eyes. Looked down.
“I do not see you as that.” Neal pulled her chin up. “You are my beautiful wife. Sign, so you may rest. Later, we will speak to your landlord.”
Our diplomat smiled. “I sent them an email and a payment for the rest of your lease. They will be happy, for their waiting list is very long. I also paid all your utilities and paid off your car. Your school loan is paid in full. There are 144 boxes of dark European chocolates in your alt storage also.”
Suma giggled. “Wedding present? Neal, want one?” A wave, and she held a box. “Wow! This must’ve cost a mint!” Her happy smile vanished. Ket pushed his finger from a lumpy chocolate to a smoother one.
Ryee caught her attention. “Ne concern. We recycled garbage in Atlanta and told officials of our plan to use the funds. They approved.”
“I’m surprised!” She shook her head. Took a chocolate. Her favorite brand.
“Atlanta is grateful we have solutions for the poor. They will meet today in their City Council to discuss this. But we are free to pay bills for anyone.” He smiled.
“Thank you! I feel guilty, with so many homeless people.” She looked down.
“See our efforts! Many diplomats wish to practice English. Here is a large homeless camp in Atlanta.”
Suma stared into the holo. This area was a sea of tents. People stood in lines at tables. One served meals. Another gave clothing. A large mobile clinic accepted patients. Other tables had signs telling of programs to provide housing. “Oh, that’s wonderful! Can you help kids at my schools?”
“Give me their names, and I will send diplomats to them now.”
She started to name them but records from her work computer came up. Diplomats ported to each family.
Neal pulled her wrist to the holo, still up. “Suma, dear, please marry me. I promise, when we go to Rainbow, we will have a church wedding.”
love
surebig
marry
“shaking
“shaking
Nothing pleases me! I—he’ll want a divorce! And, he—but I remembered all the times I cried and couldn’t keep it from him. Neal loves me. He loved me there. He loves me now. Websites with beautiful wedding gowns. So expensive. Why waste so much money
“
lookknow
“thattoo
“beautiful
“didfeel
now
“
e left.
Ryee looked at me. “Shall we share our wedding pastries? O, Moris An made a holo of Kate as he waited in a doughnut shop for her! She is about to leave her work.”
To my shock, she was slim, not very overweight as she was! “Well, hi, Adia! Want me to give out yer pastries?” If she agrees to recloning, he can make her so.
We nodded and she went from person to person with the basket, but near Suma and Neal’s room. I saw futures for several people as we ate pastries.
Apparently, Neal and Suma woke, because she ran in there with a basket of Heizghan ones! A very realistic holo.
Tan took Molly and Binneas with his parents and ported. Poor Molly! “Ne concern, Tan will ne let her parents keep her.”
I felt uneasy. An Elshar Zheien trader passed by me and I took his arm. He saw memories. Oh, this is Asha who married Ray! He startled and ported to find her.
“Berto’s diplomats to Si Ka Ne Lai and her husband had success! They agreed to take a plane to Atlanta. They will stay with them. Is a long journey from Scotland!”
But I saw them arriving safely this evening at 8:15 in Atlanta Airport. They will be on a ship to Alb. It is 11:10 am there now.