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Chapter Seven

Calling the council was a chore I never enjoyed. They were much older than me, which meant that they often thought they knew more than more and wanted to push me around. Of course, I did have to take their opinions into consideration, as they were my elders. Even though I was the commander.

I clicked the call button and sat in my chair. A moment later, a hologram imagine of the council members appeared, sitting in their lavish chairs.

"Edward," Aro's sing-song voice chirped, as he smiled. "It is so good to hear from you."

"It is nice to see you." I said. "I hope all is well."

"All is well here," Caius said. "We, however, are just interested in the production of mother planet. We are concerned."

"Concerned about?"

"We've heard that you've stopped all construction." Marcus said.

I sighed. "Yes, it was a cause for emergency."

"Is someone hurt?" Aro asked.

"No, but…" I began rubbing the tip of my tail, a subconscious thing I did when I was stressed.

"Edward, I can see you are nervous," Aro said. "Your boyhood tick is showing. Perhaps you and I should talk, as uncle and nephew."

"No, it's alright." I said, roughly forcing my tail to stay onto the ground. "I apologize for my hesitation. This situation is just very strange. One that none of us were prepared for."

"And what situation is that?" Caius asked.

"We've found a human on the planet. A living, breathing human."

There was a pregnant pause among the three of them as they stared at me with wide eyes.

"What do you mean?"

I sighed. "Exactly what I said. Day one into production we found a human. A young female. She is alive and functioning. Just a little primitive. Limited verbal and motor skills."

"Edward this finding is—,"

"Why has this slowed down production?" Caius asked in a near snarl. "Why has everyone stopped working? This is no excuse."

I growled. "I cannot, in good conscious continue construction when there is the possibility of our ancestors still living on this planet."

"We have entire colonies on course to our mother planet with the expectation of a base city ready for their arrival." Caius growled, slamming his hand against his chair. "We cannot have any delays! This is unacceptable!"

I jumped out of my seat. "We cannot destroy the beings who inhabit our mother planet without dire consequences! They are our ancestors!"

"We have to think of our people now!"

"Enough!" Aro snapped. "Both of you, that is enough."

"Edward has a point," Marcus argued softly. "We cannot trudge forward into the future without respecting our past. The human species is a vital part of our development."

"Exactly." I smiled. "Thank you, Marcus. I could not have said it better myself."

"What about our people in route? Are we to turn the ships around?" Caius said.

"No," I said. "Just… slow the ships down. Pause them. Whatever you have to do to give us more time to thoroughly examine this planet."

The three of them were quiet for a moment before Aro spoke.

"I think perhaps… putting a slight delay on the ships is not a bad idea." He sighed. "How much of a delay though? We can only do so much."

"Give us two weeks." I begged. "I am taking a group of men out now with cruisers and we're going to survey the land."

"Before we come to a complete halt on everything, we need proof that you've actually found a human." Caius said. "As of right now, we are simply going on your word."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"Not a liar, but I know the pressures of being a new commander under a strict time limit."

I rolled my eyes. "The time constraints are not causing me to hallucinate, if that's what you're implying."

"Then show us the human."

"She is a female, between the ages of sixteen and twenty. She is extremely primitive, and our technology frightens her."

Caius's eyes narrowed. "And have you begun the mating dance with her then, boy?"

"Edward has not mated with the human, Caius. There is no way that the two of them could be compatible." Aro said.

I looked down at my feet, "I… it is very hard to explain."

"Oh Edward." Marcus said in soft surprise.

"It's true then?" Aro asked.

"Yes." I sighed. "It is true. I don't know how, but it's very true."

"This complicates things then." Aro said. "If you have… mated with the human then…" he let off in a sigh. "I don't know what to say Edward. I am speechless."

"There's a first." Scoffed Caius, "Regardless of this, we must continue construction. The builders will be there in two months' time."

Aro put his hand up, stopping Caius. "I believe Edward is right. We must stop everything. We cannot continue stripping the land if there are humans inhabiting it. We must do a complete survey of the planet."

"A complete survey!" Caius blew up, jumping out of his chair. "That will put everything six months behind! Our people cannot be in hyper-sleep that long!"

"Edward, as the commander, you will make this call." Marcus said.

"Edward is a boy! He cannot possibly understand the implications of this!" Caius argued.

"What is your decision Edward?" Edward asked.

"Turn the family ships around. Explain to our people the halt. They will understand. Since the builders are so close, let them stay on course. I can explain to them the stop in construction when they awaken. I know this will set everything back by several months, but it's the best thing. And if there are humans who need our help, then it is our duty, as their future, to give them that help."

The three of them were quiet as they took this information in. A few moments passed before Aro spoke.

"Who is tending to the female now?"

"Alice and my father."

"You must go and survey the planet. Do a thorough scan of everything. It's the right thing to do." Aro said. "But in the meantime, we want all reports on this female. And we want to see this female. I don't care how primitive she is, we need to see what we are dealing with."

I nodded. "Of course. Soon. I swear. I just don't want to overwhelm her; she is a full human. They have certain medical proclivities that we don't."

"Understood," Aro said. "We will give you time to prepare for our arrival."

"Your arrival?" I asked in confusion.

"Yes. We will be leaving in pods." Caius said. "After our people get back. I think it's best we're there to monitor."

I growled. "I do not need overseers, this is just a small bump in the road—,"

"Regardless," Caius said. "We feel it is best we're there to make sure there are no more bumps in the road. This conversation is over."

He must've pressed the end button because they disappeared. I growled and banged my fist onto the control panel.

"Are you okay?" A soft voice asked.

I looked over to see Alice standing in the doorway. I hadn't even heard it open.

"Yes. I'm fine." I snapped. "What are you doing in here? Where is Bella?"

"She's awake. And she's freaking out. She wants you."

"I'm coming." I said as I stood and walked out of the room.

"Was that the council?" Alice asked as she kept pace beside me.

"Yes."

"I'm assuming it went poorly, then?"

"Yes."

"What did they say about Bella?"

"Alice!" I snapped. "Enough! It was a poor conversation! They will be here soon in their pods if you want to ask them so much!"

She jumped slightly at my tone. I felt badly for frightening her, but I was not in the mood for all of these questions. I would have to apologize to her later.

"Why did she wake up? I thought she would sleep for a while."

"Well we did to, but you know we're still trying to figure her out. She might have an immunity to narcotics. It would make sense, considering the amount of toxicity that is on this planet."

I growled. "I don't know how I'm going to lead a search party then. If she's going to continue freaking out when I'm not around."

I walked into the infirmary to see my father trying to restrain Bella. She was continually running into his outstretched arms, snarling, and spitting. Once she saw me, she let out a long whine.

My father looked over his shoulder then stepped aside, letting her run to me. Bella collided with me. I wrapped my arms around her and purred.

"Bella," I whispered gently. "Why are you not sleeping?"

"Edward." She mumbled, rubbing her face into my chest. "Edward."

"I'm here Bella," I said as I gently stroked her back. "You should be sleeping now. You need to rest."

"She was sleeping then all of a sudden she just started panicking in her sleep. She became very aggressive. She was mostly reacting in her sleep, but then she woke up."

"Huh," I said, as I stroked her hair. "I know we haven't completed our mating dance, but do you think she can feel my emotions now?"

Alice and dad looked at one another.

"That is an interesting theory." Dad finally said. "I've been giving you the blockers, but perhaps, I need to inject her with blockers as well."

"Would that hurt her? I mean, she's already so… well, unhealthy. Would that hurt her even more?"

"Unfortunately, we don't know." Dad sighed.

"But it's not like we've known that with anything we've done for her at this point," Alice said. "I mean, we could be poisoning her with everything we've been doing for her. Who knows what's right and wrong. But if you're going to lead and expedition then we have to find a way to make her calm while you're gone."

"Gone? Edward go? Where go Edward?" Bella asked, looking up at me with wide eyes. "Edward stay Bella."

Alice gasped. "Oh my goddess! She associated gone with go! How incredible! She's making such incredible progress in such short amount of time. Amazing."

"I want to stay with you Bella, but I have to see if there are any more humans out there. We have to help them."

She cocked her head to the side, analyzing my words. It was clear she was confused.

"Edward go find others like Bella." I said slowly as I pointed to the center of her chest.

"Oh Edward no," Bella said just as slowly, shaking her head. "No find James. Bad."