Chapter 9
Tasha slowly surfaced from her vision, feeling incredibly sad. Tears streamed down her face watched by a distraught Teril, as he held her tightly on his lap keeping her safe from the cold, stone floor.
“Are you alright my love, what did you see?” Teril was clearly worried that her vision had been too much for her. He lifted his strong finger and gently wiped away her tears, petting her and whispering words of love and consolation.
“I know what happened now Teril, it was terrible. My ancestor’s name was Trandar and he was desperately in love with Natasha’s daughter; her name was Elena. Natasha died just before they left Russia, I knew about that, but, seeing Elena’s story really brought it home. Jandra was life-mate to her cousin, Larissa.” Tasha swallowed a sob as she continued.
“Oh Teril, it was so sad. The men sacrificed their lives to save Elena’s father, and then hid the transporter in the ocean to protect its technology. They didn’t trust the people of Earth with its secrets, not that I blame them,’ she muttered. “They were poisoned with mustard gas when they rescued M. Krouglova.”
Tasha wriggled out of his lap and got to her feet while she was talking so she missed Teril’s stunned look. “I’ll fill you in on the whole vision from start to finish; I just need a minute to get my thoughts together.” Turning to look at him she was confused when she saw him banging his open hand against his forehead and muttering in what sounded amazingly like disgust to her.
“What’s your problem?”
“I’ll tell you what my problem is—I’m a dummy. A first class, shouldn’t have even one degree dummy. I ignored the first rule of science—check your facts and then check and check them again. I blithely assumed that you were related to Jandra, as his DNA matched Jenna’s. I didn’t consider that two separate bondings took place and that there would be two genetic lines to follow; idiot that I am.” His disgust with himself was almost comical.
“Not the actions of the top geneticist on Teeron eh?” she smiled sympathetically into his eyes.
“Not even close,” he smiled ruefully.”OK, now I’m going to get back on track with your help. First, we need to beam-up to the transporter where I’ll run DNA tests on you and double check your story, this time I’ll do things right.” He grinned as he took her arm and led her out the door. “You’re about to be abducted by aliens and have tests run on you. Does this scenario sound familiar?”
“I’ll never live down such a cheesy story line.” she laughed happily, finally able to banish the sad story from her mind.
Tasha was intrigued and not the slightest bit frightened by her abduction. Having so recently seen a similar transporter in her vision it all seemed very familiar. The fittings inside were more streamlined and smaller, however the basic interior was amazingly similar, considering that nearly a hundred years had passed since the last transporter had been built.
The one thing she wasn’t prepared for was Teril’s gorgeous team partner Triena. Tasha was helped off the winch line by six foot of model perfect female. How Teril could have looked past Triena to herself would forever be a mystery to her. The Teeron woman was slim, curvy, with glossy, blue-black wavy hair, tied into a simple low ponytail at her neck. Her features were delicate, with a soft look of natural kindness. Whew! Talk about standards to live up to.
Teril sat her at a work station and got busy, setting up the items he would need to draw blood and do the saliva test.
“I promise this won’t hurt—only a slight sting and then it will be over.”
“I’ve heard that before; every time I’ve given blood, and I have to tell you that it damn well does hurt. I always end up with a humungous bruise.’
“Not this time my love, I’m in charge this time so you won’t even know when I’ve finished.”
“Want to bet?”
Teril held up a vial of blood with a smug grin. “All done.”
“Wow, you should be working in a Red Cross blood donor centre.”
Teril got working on her vision next, getting her to record everything she could remember into a com-pad. After seating her in one of the luxurious recliner stations, arranged in an open circle in the middle of the room, he went back to work checking her DNA.
Tasha was so involved in remembering everything in her vision that she failed to notice the other two sit down near her. In fact not until she came to the end of her story did she notice that they were listening. Triena had tears in her eyes and Teril wore a sober, sad look on his face.
“I’m sorry you had to see those images sweetheart, I would have spared you the sight if I could. However, it has helped our mission enormously. We’re heading for Bordeaux now, tracing the lost transporter’s flight path.”
Teril gave her a quick hug before moving to a control panel set into the base of a huge screen and quickly tapping out commands. Tasha felt a slight vibration and realised that they were moving; the lost transporter and all aboard were finally being tracked.
A few minutes later Teril waved his hand towards a small round window, set in the gleaming metal walls, “Take a look outside my love, Bordeaux is coming up on the left, you might want to see what your ancestors saw when they got here.”
Tasha jumped up and moved over to the window. Bordeaux glided by underneath her feet, the view incredibly clear. “Wonderful view, is it always this easy to see the countryside?”
“Mostly,” answered Teril. “The cloaking device causes some kind of clear air phenomenon as we move through the atmosphere, it makes spotting landmarks interesting.”
Tasha watched as the city below gave way to countryside and then they were over the Atlantic Ocean. Triena worked with undivided attention at her controls, totally absorbed in her task. Tasha watched as, suddenly the beautiful Teeronite stared intently at her screen, an intense look crossing her face. She beckoned urgently with her hand.
“I think we’ve found our lost team.”
Teril quickly crossed to her side, staring intently at the readings on display. “You’re right, that’s an old transporter distress signal you’ve picked up. Good work.”
Teril turned to Tasha and with a jubilant shout, picked her up and spun her around, finishing off with a blistering kiss that left her with a happy, soppy grin on her face.
“We’ve found them Tasha; at long last our men can be taken home to Teeron and buried with the honour due them. Added to that, we’ve discovered who Jenna’s Earth ancestor is, so now she can find the rest of her heritage, she’s going to love you.” He laughed happily as he thought of all the answers that Tasha had provided in just a few hours. Months of work, maybe years had just been saved.
For the next twenty minutes Teril stood with his arm around Tasha, holding her close as they gazed at the screen and watched the blower and tractor beam work together, to move tons of sand on the sea floor. Slowly, inch by inch the ancient transporter was revealed. Finally, the lost were found. Tasha felt another part of her heritage slot quietly, but firmly, into place. The genetic tests would have to be completed of course but, Tasha had no doubts that her ancestor’s remains were on that ship.
“Triena, please contact Pod Six and give them the good news. The pod will want to to raise the transporter and take it onboard immediately. Tell them we’ll stand by and keep the area under guard until they arrive.”
With a soul deep sigh, Teril took Tasha into his arms and just held her tight. “Soon now, my love, our mission will be over and your courting can start.” He smiled in satisfaction at the thought. “I’m going to do my best to make up to you for all the sadness you’ve had to see while you helped me.”
Tasha couldn’t believe that this clever, strong, well educated man could be so blind as to not see that she was already head over heels in love with him. Talk about dense. Laughing inside she managed to keep a straight face as, she cuddled into his warm, sexy body, while wondering what he had in store for her. She would enjoy every minute of her courting ritual before revealing her feelings. One thing still con
fused her though---who had told him that Earthlings had to have a courting ritual?
In the following hours, while they waited for Pod Six to arrive, Teril and Triena worked at readying the transporter for retrieval, while Tasha passed the time educating herself about life on Teeron. By watching videos, Tasha was able to learn a lot about Teeron and see Jenna, this woman who was a distant relative of hers, if she was to believe her vision. She looked forward to meeting her. She also learned that Teeron already had a small beach colony of mixed, Earth, Teeron marriages.
Excited cheering, coming over the link with the pod, announced the success of the mission. It was loud enough to drag Tasha’s attention away from the screen and back into the present. The lost were found; finally the fallen hero’s could return to Teeron.
In the early hours of the morning, Teril helped Tasha unhook from the winch in a dark corner of the Tuileries Garden. He had decided that the risk of discovery was minimal at that hour, added to the starless night and short exposure time. Tasha was starting to droop with fatigue and that made the final decision easy for him.
With hands firmly clasped, they made short work of the walk back to their hotel and into a new day.