Page 46 of Guardian's Soul (Space Guardian's Mate #2)
HANNAH
That evening, Vraax and Sloane took off on his ship. We said our goodbyes, and I was sad to see Sloane go. Even though I had only known her for a little while, she felt like a sister to me, just like Zoe, Nova, and Luph. It was a weird sensation, deeply unsettling, just like so many other secrets we had yet to figure out about the Darlams and Ohrurs.
Afterward, we sat in the break room, going over the names of the Space Guardians we now had, thanks to Possedion decrypting them. It was too bad Sloane hadn't been able to ask him about the headaches, too, but we still had a long journey ahead of us and time to interrogate the Ohrur further.
"That is more than a thousand Space Guardians." I looked through the rows and rows of names, ages, how long they had been doing duty, their mission, and an entire list of credits they had made for the Ohrurs. "This is all very confusing. Some of their ages are listed at twenty-eight years old, but their time of duty says in training, whereas there are others who are twenty and have been on duty for two years." I looked questioningly at Thrax. "Is this one of those weird time things? "
He shook his head and pulled the cube with the information I was referring to over to him. While he scrutinized it, his forehead creased. "I don't think so. It is baffling, though."
"What is?" Nock interjected as he entered the room, chewing on a handful of Oreos.
He sat down, pulled the cube over, and studied it just like Thrax had done. "Hmm, interesting."
"What do you think?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know. Just one of the many mysteries." He reached for a cup and poured himself water. "So I heard you're going to contact these Space Guardians and try to win them over?"
I nodded, reaching for the cube and studying the names again. "I think I'll start with Xyrek Daalor since he was assigned to rescue humans as well."
"Good luck with that," Zaarek said, entering, followed by Raasla.
"Yeah, he's an especially moody asshole," Raasla added.
"You know him? I thought you guys didn't have any contact with each other." I looked at Thrax, who moved his shoulders up to his ears, shaking his head.
"We don't and Xyrek is a good example of why," Raasla said, taking the bowl of cookies from Nock and putting two in his mouth. "That male goes out of his way to make enemies."
"The Reks have always been a contentious bunch," Thrax added, reaching for a cookie, but his hand froze midway just as we all stared at him.
"I have no idea where that came from," he said, looking confused from one of us to the other, but nobody had any answers. I didn't even know what he meant.
"The Reks." Zaarek looked thoughtful before his face scrunched up in pain. "Damn, these frygging headaches."
"Yeah," Thrax agreed, rubbing his temple .
Nock and I exchanged a glance. Neither one of us had any clue what had just happened. But judging by the pain the guys seemed to be in, it was time to change the topic.
"I'll contact him tomorrow. Any tips?" I smiled, but it was forced.
"If he gets angry, let me know and I'll deal with him," Thrax offered.
"I've dealt with angry before." I soothed. "It'll be all right."
I had dealt with clients who had been angry at the world for having had a heart attack or stroke at an early age, mostly because of their life choices. Those were the hardest to deal with. They hated that their entire life had been turned upside down, they hated that they had to do things they had avoided all their lives, and by extension, they hated me for making them. It hadn't been easy, but each one of them had left happy after they finished their programs. Some even came by to visit or refresh some of their exercises.
"Who is next on your list?" Zaarek still looked pained, but it seemed to be getting better.
"The ones with the longest serving record. They should be the most susceptible."
"Good plan," Nock agreed, reaching for the bowl of cookies, but Zaarek held it away from him.
"Zaarek," I called him out. He grinned at me. "Don't be a bully," I scolded.
With a sigh, he handed the bowl to Nock.
"It's empty," the holo streamer complained, glaring at Zaarek, who grinned. I supposed he was feeling better. I shook my head at him, but he just grinned like he had won a battle.
Shortly after that, Nova and Luph called Nock away because they needed him for something. Curiously, we watched the three walking down the hallway, deep in discussion.
"Wonder what they're up to." Thrax rubbed his chin .
We found out the next morning after the two women and Nock spent all night deciphering the markings. Nock seemed smaller and shorter when he declared he was going to bed. Zaarek said something about Kreds needing sleep, and we watched the little man slowly shuffle to his room.
"All right, you guys are probably anxious to know what we found out," Nova said, opening a cube and projecting the screen against the wall like Nock had done yesterday.
"All these swirls are a language," Nova explained, using her orange pointer to move along the swivels. "It was deeply buried inside the Ohrur database, and it contains very old data. I don't think anybody has looked at it since the Ohrurs attacked Darlam. But these symbols tell a story.
"More than thirty thousand GTU years ago, before the Ohrurs came to Darlam, a spaceship landed on the planet." As Nova spoke, her pointer moved along the symbols and swirls, and as much as I tried, I couldn't figure out how anybody could see anything other than pretty ornamental swirls in it.
"The Darlams and later the Ohrurs believed that said ship belonged to a species whose name has been long forgotten. Legend had it that they were the ones who populated the universe and brought life to planets."
"We're not sure if that is true or not because nobody has ever seen this species or has had contact with them, but since all of us bear the Archegene the Ohrurs were looking for, we assume that we are talking about the same species." Luph took over. "It's confusing because the timeline doesn't make any sense, like your planet, Earth, is millions of years old, and your Archegene is much more deteriorated than that of the Darlams. Same with my species."
"Didn't it say that the Ohrurs were looking for the closest match?" I remembered.
"Yes, which is probably the Darlams. Still, even if we went back a hundred thousand years, many species would have existed before. Spacefaring, intelligent species like the Pandraxians. Still, there is no mention of them," Luph continued.
"All right, let's get back to the symbols. What else does it say?" Noodar pushed.
"This species, let's call them Archie because we have to call them something, right?" Nova winked. "They landed on Darlam, then unloaded a bunch of their children and some adults before they left. The children grew up with the Darlams, and, as nature does, couples mated, the Archies and the Darlams interbred?—"
"Can we please not call them Archies?" I interrupted, not liking the name at all. It sat wrong with me, stirred up my stomach in a strange way, and made me shudder.
"Fine, what do you want to call them?" Nova asked, a little exasperated, and I got it. Still, I couldn't explain why I felt so strongly about it.
"I… don't…" I was going to say I didn't know, but a bright white light flashed through my mind. Pain. I took a gulping breath as if I had been underwater for too long.
"Hannah?" Thrax's worried voice seemed to come from far, far away, or as if someone had stuffed cotton balls down my ear—it was so muffled.
My lips opened, and my throat worked as the pressure in my brain increased, making me feel like if I didn't get the word out, it would rip out of my skull. "Arkhevari."
Strong arms encircled me, held me as I swayed on my feet, and I leaned against Thrax's chest, feeling exhausted and spent.
"What was that?" Zoe asked, a little high-pitched as my hearing returned to normal.
"Arkhevari," Nova repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.
"What the frygg is happening?" Zaarek shouted.
"I have no clue," Thrax said, looking at me. "Are you okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah, it's just… this name… doesn't it mean anything to you? "
Thrax was about to shake his head, but a funny expression crossed his features. Luph and Zoe both moved their heads from side to side, but Nova's eyes caught mine and a look of recognition passed between us.
"That can't be," she said, shaking her head in denial.
"What?" Zaarek nearly shouted. "Will someone please explain?—"
"Arkhevari," Raasla intoned, holding his head.
"Okay, I'm not the only one freaked out here, right?" Nock piped up, never stopping to film.
"I think I might be able to explain," Luph said, "but you'll have to bear with me, okay?"
"No." Thrax took my face into his hands. "Do you need to go lie down?"
"I'm fine," I assured him. And I was. I could feel the color returning to my face. "Really," I added as he raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"All right, keep going." Noodar waved at Luph.
"Well." Luph did that weird thing in the back of her throat that could be called throat clearing but sounded wet, more like she was washing the back of it, before she continued, "This is where the difference in the symbols comes in."
Luph stopped and looked at Nova, who nodded encouragingly at her. "So the different symbols we deciphered are names. At least the boys' names. For us girls, they don't make any sense." Luph apologized.
"What do you mean?" Thrax wanted to know, still looking concerned at me but also caught up in the news Luph and Nova were sharing.
"Well, they spell the guys' names like a nametag," Nova explained without explaining anything as she jumped back into the discussion.
"Okay, what about us?" Zoe asked.
"It's gibberish," Nova said .
A dark, foreboding feeling rose inside my stomach. I didn't want to ask. I really didn't. All I wanted was to take Thrax to our room and make love to him. My hands encircled his arm, clinging to it before I called up my courage. "What does mine say?"
Nova sighed impatiently. "Suahaana."