Another chapter up! This chapter is still a bit short, but it holds some important information. Sorry the italics are kind of hard to distinguish. It looked better on my computer.
Thanks again to my reviewers. You are greatly appreciated.
Explanation (of a Sort)
On the other side of the gate, everything was just the same as she had left it. Nick had expected to feel glad to be back. But she didn't. Something was off. She looked down and saw the gun in her hands. It didn't feel right. This was her home world. For a moment she wanted to turn and throw the weapon back through the gate, but as she turned the gate closed and she was alone. She turned back and surveyed her surroundings once more. The woods were quiet. Too quiet. They had been that way for some time now, but there was something else... something her gut knew somehow. Nick was immediately on her guard. Lifting the gun, she slowly slid her finger around the trigger, ready to raise the weapon and fire at a second's notice. Then she set off for the complex, keeping her eyes and ears wide open.
- - -
She reached the complex with no incident. But she didn't let her guard down, not even for a second. She could tell that there were no humans or wraith in the area, but that didn't mean much. She knew full well that there were other species in the Pegasus galaxy. And there was no reason at all why she should be able to sense them too.
Still on guard, she walked up to the porch and slowly opened the door. No one. The lack of birds still worried her, but the sight of the familiar room was enough to make her put down the gun and lean it against the door. She had spent her whole life here. No one was going to hurt her. This was her home, after all.
Setting down the bag, she walked slowly through the compound to her room. For a moment she just stood there in the doorway, taking in everything. She wanted to run forward and throw herself on the bed, but something held her back. Something had changed inside of her. She wasn't a child anymore. But neither was she a woman. To be honest, she didn't really know who she was.
She felt her determination harden as she remembered why she had come. To discover who she was. What she was. And why.
It was time to find out.
- - -
Back in the main room, she stepped over to the bookcase. Her mother had written all kinds of books about the Ancestors, the wraith, Larrin's people, and about the planet they called home. On the top shelf, however, were a set of red books. Her journals. As a child they had been too high for Nick to reach, and when she was finally tall enough she had been occupied by other things. Training, drawing, exploring her world, reading the other books her mother wrote. It wasn't that the red books had ever been off limits exactly, but her mother had stressed on several occasions the importance of privacy, and had tried fairly hard to convince her daughter of their unimportance.
"Not this time," Nick said, reaching for the shelf. For an instant she hesitated, her hand hovering before the red books. Then she remembered the marks on her hand, and her mind made itself up. She grabbed a small stack of the red books and set them on the floor. Then, sitting down with her back against the wall, she picked up the first one and opened it.
The neat, tidy rows of looping letters running across the once-blank pages had obviously been done by a hand she had known all her life. Her eyes burned and she took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. In control once more, at least for the time being, she began to read.
This is it, our first day alone in our new home. Aron's brother found it for us. We should be safe here, since the planet is supposedly unpopulated. Plus the Ancestors shielded parts of the complex, so we can hide if necessary. My brother-in-law had stayed for a few days to make sure we were settled, and just left this morning. We have enough supplies to last us a while, and Mikkah will be back with more before they have a chance to run out. I thought it would be lonely, and it is a bit. But after the wraith prisons, anywhere safe is just fine. I still have nightmares. Oh, the things we had to go through! And then Aron...
I wanted to die when I lost him. Our people came to rescue us, and Mikkah made me keep living. Now I have little Nichelle. We hid my pregnancy as best we could, knowing the experiments had changed her somehow. I was almost afraid to have her. But the moment I held her and saw her face, I didn't care what her tiny hand looked like. Mikkah made gloves for her. We had to tie them on because she keeps trying to get them off. She's sleeping right now. She's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. She looks a lot like me, but there's also a bit of Aron in her. His eyes were that same green... There's no way of knowing now what else the experiments did to her, but I know I'll love her just the same no matter what.
"Thanks," Nick said softly.
She flipped through the pages, skimming over every entry. Most of them were just different things about discoveries her mother had made about their new world, or various things that Nick had done. Her first step was recorded, along with her first word and a good many other things. Some made her laugh, and others made her very quiet
One in particular caught her eye. It had been written when she was about four.
Nick took her gloves off today for the first time. She's always so good about it. But today she took them off. I grabbed her and scolded her, telling her to put them back on immediately. She did, of course. She's a good child. But then she looked at me and asked,
"Why do I have to wear them? Larrin and Uncle Mikkah don't wear gloves."
"Because of your birthmark," I told her. The same half-lie I always tell her.
"Why can't people see it?" she asked, her big green eyes so full of innocence. "Why do I have to hide it?"
"Because," I said. "People wouldn't understand.
I didn't have the heart to tell her the truth.
Nick stared at the page. Her mother had tried so hard to protect her, to keep her safe. From the wraith, and from herself. And it had cost her life.
She kept reading. Several pages later there was an entry that caught her attention.
Mikkah came again today. I was glad to see him. Larrin came too. She's growing into a beautiful young woman. She and Nick have never had much to say to each other. This time, however, Larrin seemed especially awkward around Nick. Mikkah said he told her our story. As a future leader of our people, she has a right to know.
Before they left, Mikkah spent some time with Nick. He reminds me so much of Aron. Nick doesn't know who he really is, of course. We haven't told her. I think it would just make things even more awkward between her and Larrin if Nick learned they were cousins.
Cousins?! Nick stared at the word, her head spinning. Larrin was her cousin? That made Mikkah her uncle. She was one of Larrin's people. That had been one of the options Sam had given her. Surely if she found them they would let her stay. Wouldn't they?
As she stared at the pages, a new thought formed in her mind. Why had her mother never told her? She had always been told that their people had been attacked and she and her mother had escaped. Mikkah had been explained away as a friend from off-world who had agreed to help them. Nick had always believed the story. But now...
"Why did you lie to me?" she whispered. She received no answer from the pages, but she hadn't really been expecting one.
"Why didn't you tell me what I am?"
- - -
Larrin came yesterday with the news that Mikkah died a week ago, killed in a wraith attack. Nick took the news surprisingly well, but I know she misses him.
She sensed Larrin coming, as usual. That was one result of the experiment. She can sense both humans and wraith. I haven't told her it isn't normal, although she does know that I can't do it. She's twelve now, and I think it is fairly safe to say that I have found every effect the experiments had on her. She heals much faster than humans, though not quite as fast as the wraith. She is both faster and stronger than a normal human, and there is also her hand. The wraith have been here twice since we arrived, looking for food. Nick wanted to go out and fight them, but I wouldn't let her. I don't think they know yet that we are here, or their search would have been much more vigorous than it was.
I hope they never find out.
"But they did," Nick said softly. "And now you're gone." Her throat tightened.
"I'm sorry."
So there's some backstory on Nick. I know I haven't answered a lot of the questions about the wraith experiment, but there really hasn't been a good time. Next chapter the action will begin. But rather than sitting here twiddling your thumbs, why not write a review? (Hint, hint.)
