Passionate Desire (26 page)

She found the memories easier to sort through too. There were several with interactions between the elders and Ialog which Heather skimmed over. Her mind seemed to know what was important and wasn’t. He lived amongst them for quite a while, never asking for anything and helping whenever they needed it. They started to trust him with everything. He even came up with a special injection when one of the elders became ill and gave it to all of them, explaining it was designed for their unique blood type and would help keep them healthy.

Only a few months later the first ruling family became pregnant. Within a year or two Anseri turned up pregnant. Heather knew there had to be a link between the pregnancy and the shots they were receiving.

Anseri had questioned it too. She spoke to her brother about it, and asked him to see what he could find out.

Memory after memory filed through, the information her brother gathered and told Anseri. He found Ialog working on some sort of scientific experiment he had done years ago. The excuse Hynna got from Ialog didn’t sit right with him. Then some of their people were able to translate more of the words around the area where they found Ialog. Evidence started to mount against him.

They found out he was using them as guinea pigs, trying different things on them to see what would help him recreate the race he wanted to design before. The ancients had destroyed all of his research, so if he was accidently reawakened, he would have to start from scratch, and the elders had allowed him to have free reign to do just that.

The elders worked on a way to stop what he was doing, and Heather found their plan ingenious. Hynna befriended Ialog. His job was to find a way to get the material he was using to create this race and destroy it. He had access to the computer, and with his knowledge as religious leader, he knew more about the ancients and how to stop him than anyone else. Once they destroyed the material, Streya would command the computer to erase all data and block Ialog from being able to use this computer ever again.

Heather worked her way through the files and found Anseri didn’t have the knowledge she really needed. Hynna kept her in the dark on what he did so she would remain innocent on all of it. Heather also learned it wasn’t Ialog who blocked the memory from Anseri’s mind, but Hynna, who did it as a protection to keep it from surfacing accidently. Heather resealed the file, making sure she put it back the way she found it. After sending her healing waves of love and support, she eased herself out of Anseri’s mind. She continued to hold her hand and waited for Anseri to rejoin them, not sure if what she did would bring her back.

Anseri blinked and looked around. “Where am I?”

“You’re back in the ancient compound,” said Heather. “How are you feeling?”

She smiled. “Refreshed.”

“Good.”

“Did you get what you needed?”

“Yes.” Heather was happy to see her back to normal. She was afraid she had done some real damage when she first started this. She looked at her mate. His mother should go lie down. He nodded and escorted her out of the area.

Once they left, she stood and walked to where Storm had been. “Computer, can you fill in the gaps with this information?”

“Of course.” The information she learned started to stream across the screen. Then the system loaded the visual aspects with sound so they could see and hear everything that happened.

Storm came back as quickly as he could.

First the system caught Storm and his uncle up to what Heather had learned about Ialog through Anseri’s memories.

“I don’t remember any of this,” commented Hynna.

“Not surprised. He has this ability to make you forget you ever met him,” said Storm.

“It’s possible Hynna blocked this himself. He was the one who buried the memory in your mother,” Heather said softly.

Storm looked at Heather with concern. “You think he has done it to others?” He kept his voice low.

“I’m sure it was used because of the circumstances,” she murmured. “If you wish I can check you later.”

He nodded.

The image on the screen centered around Ialog. It showed him in a room in the complex, working diligently on something. Hynna walked into the room.

“What are you working on?”

Ialog looked up from what he was doing and turned the system off. “Did they ask you to come down here and check up on me?”

“I am religious leader.” Hynna shrugged. “I had a vision about knowing your research and they suggested I come down and learn from you.”

“You don’t have to do everything they say.” He turned the system back on and went back to work.

“They mean no harm.” Hynna walked around. He studied the screen when he could without being caught. If Ialog looked at him, he pretended he was looking at some of the gadgets on the different tables. “I’ve only been in the position for ten years. There is still a lot I need to learn.”

“That sounds like something you have been fed.” He pressed a few buttons. “Ten years is a long time in one position, I would think you’d know it all by now.”

“It’s taking the learned info and converting into the practical. I feel like I’m still very new at this.” He grinned. “But it is only fifty years of my life. Only forty more to go.

“You could have told them no.”

“It’s what I was trained to do.” He leaned against the counter Ialog worked at. “Look at what my sister had to give up to become leader. Thank goodness that worked out for her.”

“She does seem to care for her mate.” He looked up.

“She does, now and with the twins on the way they’ve never seemed happier.” Hynna smiled, the proud uncle shining through.

“I need to check her to make sure they are all doing fine.”

“I’ll let her know.” He hesitated, wondering what the man was really doing to her. “Do I need to do that now?”

“No, but it should be soon. Maybe the next time you come down here you should bring her.”

Hynna nodded. He looked around the compound. “Guess I should leave you since you’re working. Didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

“You didn’t.” He sat up. “It’s just this part is a little tricky.”

“Is that an embryo?”

“Close. It’s hard being the only ancient so I’m hoping to create a companion. This is the beginning of what I hope to be a womb.”

“You plan on growing someone in there?”

“One day I hope to.”

Hynna nodded, keeping his features masked.

“That bothers you.” Ialog said it matter-of-factly.

“Wouldn’t it bother you?” Hynna had to be honest. It was part of his nature. “You’re playing around with things the ancients have told us not to.”

“That’s because they hadn’t perfected this the way I have.” He studied Hynna. “I promise I’m not trying to create a massive army that will take over the world, just a companion for me to grow old with.”

Heather wondered if he suspected anything. He had already been stopped once.

“Why not create an android.”

“They don’t age and they don’t have real emotions.” He turned to face Hynna. “You know how you feel about this leadership position you must now fill? You don’t relish the idea of going without companionship for so long, do you?”

Hynna shook his head.

“Imagine how I feel. I am the only one of my kind.”

The image changed at that point. This time it showed Anseri and two toddlers in her rooms. “You seemed distressed, Hynna.”

“I’m just not sure about this. He has done a lot for us. Look at your children. I don’t think you could have had them without his help.”

“I know.” She ruffled the hair on her son’s head. He looked up at her with a big smile.

Heather felt that smile all the way to her toes. “You’ve had that heart stopping smile all your life? No wonder you are the way you are.”

He shushed her as he wrapped an arm around her.

“But he needs to be stopped. He now wants to give the injections to the entire population and as much as that would end our lack of children, I’m afraid it would cause adverse effects.” Anseri looked up at him. “Storm is a lot more aggressive than any other child his age. Thank goodness he has the mind to temper it. He’s already reading and learning to write. Other children his age are just learning to control basic body functions and have a limited vocabulary.”

“We were advanced, too, you know.”

“I know.” She sighed. “Guess I’m just frightened over all of this, and seeing these signs in my precious ones just breaks my heart.”

“They are fine healthy children and you have nothing to fear.” He picked up his niece, who promptly started to chew on his hand. He laughed. “I see someone is now teething.”

“And she chews on everything.” She held out her hands for her daughter, and put her in a small enclosure to keep her out of the way. Storm sat at their feet calm and quiet, so she left him be. “Have you figured out when he’s going to create this being of his?”

“He keeps saying soon. Ialog does seem to have everything he needs now to finish his experiment.” He touched his sister’s arm. “He is growing this woman. It will be nothing more than a fetus when we remove it.”

“You want to give it to someone? Are you sure that is safe?”

“No, but if it is brought up in a loving, nurturing environment, won’t that make a difference?” he asked.

Storm tightened his hold. They were discussing her future, and they could have easily ended her life before it even started.

“Let me speak to the elders and see what they wish us to do.”

The image changed again and brought them back to the lab where Ialog had been working. He had a stream of information loading on the screen in front of him. Happy with what he saw, he took the two specimens he had in the two units on his table and merged them.

“Now all I can do is wait and see what happens.” He walked away from the computer then.

Heather stared at the screen. Did she just watch her creation? The whole thing made her feel cold inside. Knowing she had been created was one thing but to actually see it happening had a bone chilling effect on her.

The computer focused on three different events then. One was the creation of life in the lab. It followed Ialog to the elders’ chamber, and Hynna. He had waited until Ialog left for the chamber before he entered the lab. He walked up to the small cylinder that held the possible life force and checked the readings. He looked once more before walking away from the container and heading to the elders chambers as well.

Ialog stood in front of all of the elders. “Why did you call me here? My experiment is almost ready and I need to get back.”

Anseri spoke for them all. “We’re not sure if allowing you this creation is right.”

“Now? You have second thoughts now, when I’m so close? After all I have done for you?” His anger radiated through the screen. “I don’t need your permission to do this.”

“You used our DNA to create this being of yours. The DNA of my children.”

“What makes you say that?”

“The fact that all three elder families have either had children or are carrying one. That has never happened before. We know you manipulated us to get what you needed to create this thing. We’re the ones with the most of the ancient blood in us, and you needed that to make your creation.”

“How are you going to stop me? Your weapons don’t work on me. You don’t have the mental power to stop me the way the others did, and if you think I’m going to walk back into that chamber and be refrozen, you’re crazy.”

Storm’s uncle came into the room holding an ancient manuscript. Quietly, he started to read from it. The words filled the chamber, making Ialog react violently.

“What are you doing?”

“We found this in our records. It’s supposed to bind you and banish you from our planet.”

“It won’t keep me away forever.” He struggled against the words, his energy failing him.

“It might not, but it should keep you away long enough.”

He fell to the floor. Hynna continued to read from the book, completing the binding. Once he finished with that, he started another to erase the memory of where Ialog had come from, and why he had been there.

“I don’t know how long that will work on him, but we will have enough time to destroy his work, maybe for good.” Hynna went down to the lab then with Streya. Strom’s uncle programmed the computer to destroy all the research Ialog had done. He nodded to Streya, who gave the command to wipe the system completely in ancient.

A light flashed on the control panel as something flashed on the screen. “I think it wants an access code.”

Hynna repeated the code Ialog had used in his presence and watched as the data disappeared from the screen. He went to the container and picked it up. It slipped from his fingers as he stared blindly ahead. He stood, frozen, as a vision flashed through his mind. Streya caught the container before it hit the floor.

“Hynna?”

He blinked and looked at Streya. “We can’t destroy her.”

“I thought I dreamed that,” Hynna murmured.

“What?” asked Storm.

“My first vision of you two. I saw flashes of your life together. The joy you will bring to each other. I knew Heather needed to be protected then. I knew it the moment I touched that cylinder.”

“It looks like your suppressed memories made sure you didn’t forget that,” commented Storm.

“Hynna asked me not to suppress that memory when the time came, he knew it was an important one,” said the computer. “That was when he knew he had to save her.”

“But how did we insert the baby into Heather’s birth mother? I don’t have that kind of medical knowledge.”

“You knew the danger of having that knowledge so requested that I take care of that while you blocked the memories of the ruling council. I never saw you after that, until today.”

Heather had been very quiet. Her mind was having trouble coming to terms with everything that had happened.

Storm hadn’t let go of her. “Uncle, do you think you could give us a few minutes? I need to help my mate right now.”

“Of course.” He touched Storm on the arm before he headed out of the compound.

Storm turned to Heather. She seemed to be lost in her thoughts. “My heart?”

She looked up at him, sadness etched on her face.