Well, here is the conclusion! Tell me what you think!
Of course, Crusade, Galen, technomages, etc., were created by JMS. All others are my creation, including the plot of this story. If anything is not technically correct, please bear with me. I don't know everything about technomages, telepaths, their ships, space, etc. LONG LIVE CRUSADE!
A Technomage and a Telepath
By JeanDream
Chapter 7 "Good Bye"
She swam up through the depths of unconsciousness to find herself lying on a bed, alone in the technomage's ship.
At first she couldn't remember what had happened, but then the images of a tense space battle played through her mind like a motion picture, and she sat upright abruptly. She felt incredibly weak, and quickly discovered that a great deal of that weakness had leaked to her mind from the wounded consciousness of the Living Ship.
Feeling light-headed, Cara McDowell staggered through the technomage Galen's ship, clinging to bulkheads for support along the way. When she reached the outside and the light of day, she nearly fell to the ground at the sight that she saw.
Retha, Kethiran—Living Ship, her normally green skin now a mottled brown with several large burns upon her body, lay prone in the meadow. Pain radiated from her, and the telepath staggered towards her.
"I'm coming, Retha," Cara reassured mentally. "We will heal together…"
The Kethiran could only respond in a most basic mental gratefulness.
"Cara!"
The Living Ship's pain had totally blinded the telepath to the technomage's presence. She turned to him. For a moment, they simply gazed upon each other. Then Galen crossed the distance in a few great strides. They faced each other, both studying the other's face intently. Finally Galen reached out and enfolded both of Cara's hands in his.
"I didn't know if you would ever regain consciousness," he said softly, his light blue eyes locked on her green ones. "You were quite injured………"
Cara smiled weakly up at him. "I guess my guardian angel was watching out for me."
"Yes," Galen mused thoughtfully. He tenderly massaged her satiny hands, still held in his strong, rough ones. After a short silence, he asked, "Are you going with Retha now?"
The telepath studied the technomage's handsome, aristocratic face and for the first time she remembered, saw a keen vulnerability there. Suddenly, the boundaries between them blurred in Cara's mind and they were no longer technomage and telepath, but man and woman.
Her love for him bubbled to the surface of her consciousness, and tears gathered in her eyes. "Yes," she finally choked out an answer to his question. "She needs me, more than ………." A few tears escaped and wound their way down Cara's cheek.
Galen reached up to her face with one hand and brushed away the tears gently. Suddenly, he gathered her into his strong arms. "Cara, I understand why you have to go," he whispered, his face inches from hers, "but you must know before we part ways, that despite my best efforts not to……..I do love you, Cara."
She looked up at him intently, a passionate light in her ocean green eyes. "Then open your mind to mine," she whispered fiercely.
The technomage didn't answer, but instead pressed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss. Cara felt the gates on his mind fall, and without hesitation, plunged in.
His aura was like bathing in a warm lagoon, with a smoky incense in the air. She did not pry into his secrets, but just skimmed the surface, delving into the place where his emotions lived. Galen's mind was like no one else she had ever scanned. Infinitely complex, yet remarkable straightforward…..her mind mingled with his in the middle of the kiss, and their passion intensified until it seemed they would both burst into flames.
Finally, Cara pulled back, withdrawing her mental fingers from his mind, and her lips from his. Her body tingled all over, and she longed to feel that embrace again, but something told her that if she did, if would be impossible for her to leave him-ever.
Galen's mouth and gone dry as cotton, and he watched Cara with intense longing. He had never imagined that her telepathic touch would feel like that…..she had swept into his mind like a feather, her presence was soft, and sweetly scented. They had danced together in a mental embrace; the feeling had been like nothing he had ever felt. The technomage had never felt closer to anyone, not even Isabel, than at that moment.
Cara reached out and pulled him to her, burying her face in his chest and savoring the feel of his embrace. "We should not do that again," she murmured.
"No," Galen replied huskily. "That would not be wise." Though that was exactly what he longed for at the moment.
She looked up at his face, her green eyes soft. "I will never love another, Galen, like I love you."
He looked down at her tenderly. "I will not forget you, Cara." He lowered his face to hers and their lips met in another kiss, this one more gentle and restrained. He held her for a few moments longer, storing her features and the feel of her body pressed against his in his mind. Finally, he pulled away from her.
"You should go now," his voice was dry, "while you still can."
The telepath studied Galen's face for a few moments, then turned away from him and walked slowly to the Living Ship. Before going inside, she turned back toward the technomage.
"We will meet again," she called, the words coming to her from somewhere in her soul. "This is not the end, Galen, but only a beginning."
Their eyes locked for a few seconds more, then Cara plunged through Retha's skin-hull.
It had taken just a few hours of telepathic union, for Retha to heal enough to be able to break through the planet's atmosphere and into space. She had just enough energy left to generate a jump point and enter hyperspace. Then, the telepathic ship and her rider, the human telepath Cara, would commence the long healing and growing process that would make the Kethiran an adult.
Before their entry into hyperspace, Cara watched Galen's ship out Retha's forward opaque hull. His ship was headed the opposite direction from them, to a life and adventures Cara could not imagine.
"Good-bye, my love," she whispered, feeling an overwhelming sense of loss. A swell of reassurance and warmth streamed into her mind from Retha and the sharp edge of her pain dulled slightly.
"It is time to look ahead, my friend," Retha's telepathic voice soothed. "Galen has learned what I had hoped he would learn, and you have as well. True love will stand the test of time, you will see."
The jump point opened before them, and without hesitation, Retha plunged in.
One story has ended. A new one begins.
Author's note: There will be a sequel to "A Technomage and a Telepath"! Keep posted! I may also be editing this story……… I tend to start out very well, then after awhile, I simply want to finish the story (I don't want to forget what I envisioned in my mind!) so it gets more brief and less detailed. I would like to fill it out more. So stay tuned!
I would also like to pay homage to my favorite author, Kathy Tyers. She has written a remarkable Christian science fiction trilogy called The Firebird Trilogy. It includes the three novels: Firebird, Fusion Fire, and Crown of Fire. I urge you to find these books and read them! Her writing has been my inspiration and I thank her for her contributions to the science fiction genre. She has also written two Star Wars novels (The Truce at Bakura and Balance Point)! I urge you to read all of her books! You can find them all on Amazon.com and the Firebird Trilogy should be in Christian book stores!