Chosen Mate Ch. 08

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HarryHill
HarryHill
98 Followers

--Harry you may report to Sword for embarkation; do you need anything else? Daniel asked.

--A jug of something wet would be welcome... and a bush if we're over long starting this. He waved an arm around the silent mayhem standing around him. Draining his cup, he turned with Gerry as if to go.

--Will you take a weapon? Sandra asked hopefully.

"God no!" Harry exclaimed as the qustion made him forget to think his answer. Looking closely into her eyes that were melted with the intense emotions there. He drew near and kissed her softly.

--Where's Ma'am? Donna spoke up quickly as she moved to touch Gerry before he left with Harry.

--Maddie is shopping for the honeymoon trip. She has not been to Memphis for a long time and is very excited. She is closely attended, brother. Harry looked at her while Daniel spoke.

--Good, I have no further amendments. Sandra, Donna, and Margay will remain with the council as events unfold. Gerry will take command of Sword.

Gerry took Harry arm, hurrying him away from the hectic activity in the hall, and moved to where a passage led away arrow straight into the distance. Mira followed behind.

--Follow this to the end; the warehouse is there; there are no turnings yet. I must get my armor. Then he flew away down the hall. Harry looked into the distance of the passage and began running.

Harry decided he liked running in the shining suit; it was effortless. The legs of it compensated for his maimed limbs and made them feel as natural as they did before. He was well down the passage when Gerry caught up with him. He had a grin on his face that slipped back and forth from a tooth-bared smile.

--Mira run ahead and go to where the Cedars end, and the road continues through the wood. Wait there beside the fence and make sure we are alone except for the creatures that live there. She zoomed forward while Harry pumped along beside Gerry, who matched his stride with ease. Harry saw the entrance to the warehouse approaching. They jogged across it to the center where Gerry stopped. Some twenty 'suits waited there. Harry looked up into the dim ceiling above him. Gerry chuckled.

--Close your eyes and try to 'see' yourself standing in the shop in your thoughts, Harry; then, open them when see it.

***

--Sword Actual reports, on station. Dreamer is beginning to embark. Mira confirms visual. Dreamer is in the bush, said Wayne with a scantily disguised smile. Sandra strode about the table, while Daniel ate his delayed lunch and watched the board. He looked to Wayne who gave thumbs up and a grin.

--Say situation. Sandra requested.

--Hawk standing by. Area is clear. Badger standing by. Area is clear. Snake is patrolling the creek bottoms south of target area. Minimal traffic. No threats. Mira reports beginning assent with Dreamer. Dreamer is singing. A chuckle of laughter ran around the table. Wayne updated the 'map' table.

--She will be upset she had no code name. Sandra said absently, as she waited for further reports. Daniel glanced at her questioning, then saw her intent.

--Assign code name Guardian. He said with a smile. Sandra's distracted smile played briefly on her lips.

--Guardian reports affirmative. Dreamer is holding for her recon. Five minutes. It seemed like five hours to Sandra.

***

Mira moved up the hill, silently, extending her senses and finding nothing amiss, but kept double-checking, as she moved up to the old stump of a large tree. She hovered over it, scanning the ground far below it that surrounded a small lake nestled in a declivity of the hills. She felt nothing alien in the place and saw only the swift random movement of birds. She descended to Harry's impatient thoughts.

Oldman was distracting Harry's singing as they waited for Mira to return from her inspection of the ground ahead. He had no intention of running into anyone in the silvered suit by accident. At last, he gave up his singing and listened half-heartedly while Oldman talked of the environment of balance. His impatience gave very gradually to the droning repetitive words in his mind and began to examine them.

Mira returned with the report that all was clear of foreign and disruptive influences and they proceeded upward to the large stump that was a childhood hunting place.

***

Guardian reports Dreamer is moving to next hold point. Advises that this will be indeterminate. Area clear. Guardian is ascending to target area. Snake is returning from the south, Traffic normal. Sandra looked at the updated map, anxious to have this torturous waiting ended. Oldman would not answer her inquiries though she knew he heard her, and Harry most likely didn't even hear Oldman in his own mind if he was distracted.

--It's all about your environment. Oldman continued in his lecturing thought. Harry settled back against the four-meter stump of the old oak that he had hunted squirrel from in his youth. He glanced at the jug beside him and thirsted for a drink of the long consumed days of younger years. He sighed and made himself comfortable as Oldman words blanketed him in the drowsy warmth of extended lecture.

--I'm sorry I shot the squirrels. I didn't need the food. He said suddenly, ashamed. Oldman looked at the dusty images of those memories.

--I know you are Harry. Youth is like that in all races. Rest and listen; forgive your youth. Now where was I? He paused, waiting for Harry to focus his thoughts once more and answer.

--Environment. Harry replied at length. ...Go ahead.

--There are many types that far outstrip the usual meaning of the word as relates to the relationship of nature. Physical, mental, global, political, regional, spatial. Oldman rattled on as Harry's thoughts wandered near the boundary of the Shining Paths.

Harry drifted under the mantra of words that appeared in his mind. He realized that there were many he had not been aware of, and felt as if he were adrift in their ocean of implications, floating over the surface.

--Guardian reports target area clear. Returning previous hold point. Wayne's eyebrows lifted high as his face turned to Sandra, Daniel, Donna, and Margay; ...Dreamer is unresponsive. Guardian requests instructions. He waited for a command, looking only to Sandra who was very calm as she reached out carefully along the golden thread that joined her to Harry and Oldman, peeking into their thoughts then withdrew before she disturbed them.

--He searches among his dreams. Sandra said quietly. ...Send to Guardian; standoff, hold, and observe passively. Sandra settled into Harry's vacated chair and picked up his empty cup, turning it absently in her hands as the long afternoon neared twilight.

***

Oldman stopped his repetitive litany of the categories of environmental relations as he felt Harry begin to slip deep into the blanket of his thoughts. Watching, as the vision in them expanded outward in a wave of awareness that moved away from them as if it were a sound or a touch, some disturbance that seemed as natural as the calls of the birds that were settling for the night.

Mira slipped next to them; her wide-eyed thoughts considered Harry's catatonic body. A moment later Oldman felt Sandra's inquisitive glance that retreated even as his mental eye flickered toward it. Mira held very still for a moment, then moved away down slope but not far.

Oldman returned to Harry's thoughts, beholding the incrementally outward expanding mental picture of the hill, the life on it, Maddie, Max, and the cats, all at the house. Then further, he moved across field, stream, county, state. He saw the bright sparks of the people and of his children scattered along creeks, tributaries, and rivers. There was Quick far away with his siblings that had survived the journey to the swamps and bayous near New Orleans. He imagined he heard the microwave 'ding' that he had mimicked on the night of his birth.

His vision expanded like the turning of a ring of binoculars that increased sight. Life moved like a single organism over the continent. It split, flew, multiplied and spread to other continents in a tangled web of vehicle and media. His thoughts turned around the world watching it while it revolved. Vast moving lights of the life in the oceans swirled and eddied around great dead patches of water. He thought of the dead squirrels and the image fell in on itself rapidly. He came back to his body with a gasp of intaken breath.

"Environmental awarenesssssssssssssss" Harry exhaled into the night. Oldman felt the sound fade into a faint hiss like the sound that old analog T.V.s made with no input and the volume turned low; shivers ran over his mind as their connection was broken. He looked about and considered the hill, ghostly under the moonlight, and wondered where the day had gone; he peered into Harry's thoughts again, cautiously.

Harry extended his awareness, his floating mental image drifted up the final slope to the cathedral like floor under the trees and floated below the summit. He swam toward the notch in the hill where the entrance to the chamber of trees looked into the long extending area of the ridge under the hilltop. He floated in the waters of his mind again on the surface of the ocean of implications searching for the place he had first blundered into the Green Warrior. He magnified his awareness, but in micro instead of macro adjustment.

Oldman began began to move Harry's body toward the notch, stroking through the underbrush in the silvered suit that reflected moon and foliage in strange wavering shapes across its surface. Its rustling passage to where Harry's conscious hovered over the stone from his first blunder into the green man was eerie.

--Guardian reports, Dreamer is moving. Wayne began.

--At last, Sandra exclaimed, turning to him. ...What is he doing? Wayne appeared mystified and apprehensive as he answered her.

--He appears to be crawling up the hill to the target area. Sandra took several hesitating steps toward the arch of the Great Hall. Daniel stood hurriedly before she could bolt down the corridor and enfolded her to his breast. He held on squeezing her; speaking in her ear that twitched in his soft breath as he reassured her with soothing words. Donna's heart leapt in her as she remembered the calming conversations, between frustrated periods of vile temper, as he struggled to provide a safer and profitable existence for their people.

"He's fine. You knew he was a strange man when you mated him. He may think he should sneak up on the target."

--Say status, he called with his thoughts, looking to the table.

--All call signs report normal. Guardian reports, Dreamer is curled on the ground at target.

--Oldman says nothing? He asked, glancing at Margay and Donna holding hands close together, then to Wayne who shook his head in negation, and bent again over the red dot of Harry's location.

--Oldman is mad, but he's wrong too. Sandra said from his arms. ...He won't talk to me. Harry has gone so deep this time. Oldman should move his body if he stays over long. Sandra whispered into her Fathers chest.

--Guardian reports, Dreamer is moving. Wayne straightened then stopped with a surprised look and added. ...Dreamer Actual is not moving, its Oldman. Dreamer Actual does not appear to be in the target area unless he is masking his thoughts very tightly, Errrr. ...Dreamer two is breaking a branch into lengths, returning to target area. Striking earth. He sat up, an inquisitive look on his face.

--Guardian reports, Dreamer and Oldman are gone. She says they walked away into ...nothing. Guardian requests instructions. His head bent slightly as he received a thought. He rose surprised. ...Dreamer is back. His head bobbed suddenly. ...He's not alone. Guardian is moving to target. He stopped talking and sat back in his chair and drank deeply from his cup.

Daniel released Sandra and turned to Wayne.

--Well? What is happening now? Say status he said irritability. Wayne looked at him.

--They are all gone. He drank from his cup again, eyes turned about the table. ...Guardian is gone. Dreamer is gone, again. The Green Warrior is gone. Hawk reports, clear; Badger, clear. Snake parked on south road, no contacts. Sword reports, standing by ready for action. His eyes searched the depths of the cup, then he spoke again.

--Guardian sent one last message before she ...left. She spoke it.

Margay interrupted, standing to her feet. Her eyes were wild and incredulous.

--You said there was a Green Warrior? Her hand gripped Donna's tightly, clinging to the safe point of her daughters presence.

--What was the message? Sandra asked, holding onto the back of a chair as if not able to hold herself up. Wayne's face moved, trembling in eye crinkling anticipation, as a mad smile played at his lips.

"Momentous steps" he said into the stilled room. Sandra fainted against the chair and tumbled to the ground. Donna and Margay rushed to her, cradling her head in their laps.

Daniel turned slowly, standing as he did so, and followed his feet, head bowed at first, then slowly raising and turning about the Great Hall; he looked at those who waited there with him. They were greatly concerned. He smiled widely at them and commanded in booming voice and mind.

"Drink for everyone." ...This is wonderful news. All call signs, stand down, eight hour shifts. Cancel Intruder; send for Sword Actual. The council looked about themselves, then at Wayne's smile of triumph and thoughts of the toasting at the riotous end of the party last night as he relayed Daniels command. His smile was infectious, and mirth soon spread on their faces as they accepted fresh drink and stood. Daniel was looking to Sandra with some concern as she began to move, sitting up with head pillowed on Margay's breast. A puzzled look warred with the grin on his face as he asked.

--What is wrong with her? He asked. Sandra smiled weakly and regained her feet, supported by mother and sister, calling for water.

--I'm pregnant father. It seemed he would faint also as he was steadied by Gerry's arriving hand.

--How long? He asked looking to Margay and receiving an answer. ...Of course, he said.

--What is happening? Gerry asked. His eyes narrowed then widened as Donna told him; he looked to Sandra who held the cup of water looking into it as if she might see an answer there.

Daniel raised his cup high and turned to the hall full of his people who raised theirs with him and roared a war cry of triumph.

"Momentous steps!" The answering voices of the people, seldom used, hurled the cry back in thundering reply.

HarryHill
HarryHill
98 Followers
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4 Comments
cj1958cj1958over 10 years ago
Chapter 9

Bring on chapter 9 . This is very good reading.

HarryHillHarryHillover 10 years agoAuthor
for hateit

Read the preceding 7 chapters; hard to start a story in the middle. 9 was submitted today. thanks for the comment and interest.

HateItHateItover 10 years ago
huh?

WTF? You lost me. I don't know what this story is about.

Iread2relaxIread2relaxover 10 years ago
Will Harry and Sandra ever have an HEA?

I actually had to reread the previous chapters to catch refresh my memories, but this one was captivating as always. Anxiously awaiting ch. 9. #1FanIR2R

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