Teks' Dream Read online

  Deciding that he had more pressing matters to attend to than arguing with the stubborn technology, he instructed SIS to maintain their current course and left the command deck. He could trust her to do that, at least.

  He wanted to seek out his brother but knew that the male would be deeply distracted by his new mate right now, along with the Corr, Torq, Xandr and the twins, Jepa and Hecto. All of them had found their mates among the five females that Torq had abducted the night the volunteers had been picked up. Teks had been so angry at the Slayer Chaer when he had discovered their presence, but no longer. The females had given his males hope. Hope that they too might find the one female out there meant for them. Teks held no hope for himself though.

  Entering the medibay, Teks found Doc at his console, scrolling through screens of data. Judging by the footage of the twins and their shared mate, Hannah, locked together in passion, the male was still obsessing over Hecto’s reversal of madness, a state that threated all males that failed to find their mate.

  “Any luck?” he asked.

  The male jumped, obviously having not heard his approach.

  “None.” Shutting the files, Doc turned to face Teks. “What’s wrong? You look about ready to hit something.”

  “I need your assistance. We have a stowaway and SIS is refusing to help.”

  Brow raised. “Refusing?”

  “She said something along the lines of, ‘what fun would that be.’ I don’t know, I think there might be something wrong with her programming, but I don’t have time to start running through her coding now. I need to find this damn stowaway and get rid of them before they cause us any more trouble.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Log into the medibay life scan system and use it to search for unregistered lifeforms.” Every male on board, including the human volunteers and the five abducted females, were registered on the system. If someone was on board that was not, the system should pick them up within seconds with the protocol to do so.

  Doc did as asked, his fingers flying away over the console. As the seconds passed, Doc’s calm face filled with tension, then the cursing started. “Why? Why the fuck is she being so uncooperative?”

  “She’s stopping you too?” Teks had half expected her to, but he had hoped otherwise.

  “She’s blocking me from the entire system. Doesn’t she realise how dangerous that is? What if someone needed medical assistance?”

  “Then I would allow you access, of course.” SIS appeared on Doc’s console screen. “But there is no medical emergency and I have already told Teks that it is up to him to find this individual.”

  “That is exactly what I am trying to do!”

  That was it. He had had enough. How the fuck was he meant to find this stowaway if SIS took away all his ways of searching?

  Chapter 4

  Temple’s head was pounding and nothing seemed to be able to shake it. She had tried everything, even going so far as to sneaking into the medibay and stealing pain inhibitors. They hadn’t worked. And if a headache wasn’t bad enough, she was also suffering from dizzy spells and a fever, along with other physical problems that, luckily, she was so far able to keep hidden. A good job too as it seemed she had visitors.

  “Can you believe them?” Jessie raged. “Its been a week and nothing has happened. No one has been attacked. What makes them think this stowaway is even dangerous?”

  “It’s probably down to the fact that two women were killed,” Alice imputed.

  “Yes, but by Joel the creep, not the stowaway. I think they’re just pissed that they haven’t found them yet. I mean, with all the advanced technology they have, how is that even possible?”

  Temple just sat there, keeping her eyes diverted, keeping silent. She had been sat in the large lounge on deck seven for an hour before the females had been escorted in, bored out of her mind. The place was beginning to feel more like a prison these days without Rebecca to keep her company. It seemed the females felt the same way.

  A large smile spreading over her face, Katie laughed. “It’s because SIS is refusing to help.”

  “SIS?”

  “The interface program that helps run the ship. I was there when the guys rebooted her just after we left Earth. She point-blank refused to tell them the location of the stowaway. Teks seems to think she’s defective.”

  “Maybe they should shut her down then,” Alice said. “She could be dangerous.”

  “I DON’T THINK SO!”

  Oh hell, that was all Temple needed. An irate hologram materialising in the middle of the group.

  The group sat with mouths agape. All except Temple and Katie. Temple was busy trying to make herself as small as possible so as to not attract attention. The last thing she needed was for SIS to open her big mouth and give her secret away.

  It had been a week since SIS had informed her that she was safe and that she was going to help her, and so far, she had kept her word. Numerous times SIS’s holographic image had suddenly appeared before her and ordered her to vacate the area. When Temple had returned to deck seven a few hours later it was to be told that the commander and Xandr, Jessie’s mate, had made a visit and searched the deck. Still, Temple didn’t entirely trust the intelligence. She still didn’t know the reason SIS was helping her hideout, and until she did, it was best to not take any risks.

  Katie, on the other hand, appeared to have a few things she wanted to say.

  “Since when have you been able to appear in holographic form? Hex was talking about it being his next big project… After he finishes all his other next big projects, that is.”

  “A while.” At the look of shock on everyone’s faces, SIS continued. “Hex and the commander are not the only ones to have worked on my programming. Totch worked day and night to get my holographic programming repaired after the crash. It’s not my fault he never got around to telling the others.”

  Totch?

  Temple’s heart was beating wildly in her chest at hearing that name. That was her father’s name. It had been decades since her mother had told her about him, about the man that came from the stars, but she never forgot the story.

  Temple’s mother had been working the fields when she had been kidnapped by a big, bulging alien. He had told her that his name was Totch and that she was his mate. She had thought him crazy but couldn’t deny the attraction she felt towards him. They had cemented their relationship, bonding as mates soon after before he left to inform his people of their mating. His wrist unit had developed a fault and he hadn’t been able to contact them for some time. He’d wanted her mother to go with him but her family farm was failing and it was harvest time. They needed her there. So he had left, promising to return within days… but he never did.

  Her mother had always been adamant that something must have happened, said she felt it deep in her bones, but Temple didn’t believe that. He had abandoned them. It was as simple as that.

  “Are you going to tell them?” Katie asked, mischief in her eyes.

  “I think they can wait a little longer to find out, don’t you?”

  “Who’s Totch?” Temple found herself asking, drawing unwanted attention to herself. She really should have waited till she was alone to ask SIS that question, but after hearing her father’s name she just couldn’t hold herself back.

  “Yeah, I don’t believe I’ve heard of or met him. Is he some form of recluse Chaetdorian that hides within the bawls of the ship,” Katie joked.

  “Totch was one of our highest ranking Technos. He was the commander’s second in command.”

  “Was?”

  “He died.”

  “How?” Temple croaked, emotion welling in her throat. There had always been a part of her that had wanted to meet her father, have a relationship with him, even though she had believed all her life that the male had abandoned her and her mother.

  “Freak accident with his transport shuttle. He had been out of touch for a while, off travelling. The commander grew worri
ed and sent Xandr to find him as he couldn’t be located through his wrist unit. The warrior tracker found his body amongst the debris.”

  Tears began to fall down Temple’s face, which she did her best to hide with her long hair. He hadn’t abandoned her. He hadn’t left her mother behind to face the disappointment of her family or the abuse of the local people. He’d never made it back to the ship. Her mother had been right.

  “Why couldn’t they track him through his wrist unit? Corr has been threatening to make me wear one so he can always know where I am.” Nora laughed. “Not that he doesn’t already as he keeps locking me in here every time he has to go off somewhere.”

  “Torq has said the same to me,” Alice giggled.

  “His wrist unit was never found. All we can guess is that he lost it somehow.”

  It was never found because he had left it behind with her mother, and what remained of it now resided in Temple’s back pocket.

  Chapter 5

  Two weeks! Two fucking weeks and still Teks had not found even one hint of evidence as to where the stowaway could be. It was insane. Even Xandr, their best tracker, could not find them. Though, every time he had managed to seek Xandr’s help - SIS’s protests still ringing in his ears – they’d ended up back on deck seven. There was no physical evidence that the stowaway was there, but… Xandr said it was just a feeling he had. And to tell the truth, Teks felt it too.

  Deck seven was home to the human volunteers that had agreed to join them on their journey, and, in exchange for food and board and the chance to be the first humans to travel the universe, they freely and willingly gave the Chaetdorians their blood. Not that they would need it for too much longer.

  The majority of Teks’ males were no longer dependant on human blood, their bodies now completely weaned off it. There was still the odd male that needed a feeding every once in a while, but at the rate things were going, it wouldn’t be too much longer until the humans were not needed. That just left the question of what they would do with them then? After Joel, Teks was far from happy keeping the humans on board any longer than needed.

  A beep from the control console before him pulled Teks’ attention back to the job at hand. There was a meteor shower in process that they would hit if they continued on their currently plotted course. Flicking through the star charts before him, he quickly set out a new course. It meant that it would take them longer to reach their intended location, but it was better than not reaching it at all or his ship being damaged again. It would also give him more time to find that damn stowaway.

  Hearing the door disengage behind him, Teks asked, “What is it?” He wasn’t sure who he expected to answer, his brother maybe, but it had certainly not been Doc. That male hardly ever left the medibay.

  “My systems are showing me that there is a seriously ill, unregistered, being on board ship.”

  “Unregistered? Then that means…”

  “The stowaway. We need to find them, Teks. From the limited data I am able to gain - thanks to SIS’s interference in the matter, though it seems she failed to block the systems that would inform me of serious ill health – organ failure is almost a given. If the body hasn’t already started to shut down, it soon will. And then we’ll be searching for a dead body instead of a live one.”

  This did not sound good. What if whatever the stowaway had was contagious? Then all his males and the humans on board were in danger. They needed to find this individual and quickly. Surely, in light of this news, SIS would tell them where the stowaway was. It was obvious to all that the interface system had been helping them escape all attempts to find them so far. It was the only logical reason he had not located them yet. He had searched every inch of the ship, twice, locking down each area as he went.

  “SIS, we have a problem,” he called out.

  “And what problem is that?” SIS asked, her image appearing on the console screen before him. Every time he saw her face his mind was instantly taken back to the dreams that had plagued him all those centuries ago and the face of the impossible Chaetdorian female that had inspired SIS’s image. Hell, since they brought her back online he had been plagued by the dreams all over again.

  Stepping forward, Doc filled SIS in on the data he had collected. “If we don’t move quickly they will die.”

  She was quiet for a moment, her eyes glowing brightly as they always did when she was searching through mass amounts of data from the ship's systems. When she finally focused back on them, all she said was, “I’ll be right back,” before she vanished.

  “Think she’ll tell us where they are now?” Doc asked.

  “I’m not sure.” It was obvious that whoever the stowaway was, they had gained SIS’s affections. Teks could not decide if that was a good thing or not. Who was this being and how had they turned his creation against him? It was a question he had asked himself many times over the past two weeks, and one he was going to ask when he finally got his hands on the bastard that had been stupid enough to sneak onto his ship.

  Chapter 6

  Things were bad, very bad. Every movement hurt, every breath. Over the last hour, the rash that had started out on her torso had quickly spread, turning into a puss weeping infection. And the pain in Temple’s fangs was so excruciating she was surprised she was still conscious. She hadn’t taken in any human blood now in over two weeks. She could have taken a bite from one of the humans on deck seven but she couldn't risk being found out... not that that mattered now, she was dying anyway.

  Stumbling from the small bathroom to the bed, Temple knew that she needed to get help. Still, she was reluctant. How could she even begin to explain to anyone what was wrong with her without revealing her secret? She needed blood, fresh blood if it wasn’t too late to reverse the damage.

  With little or no choice left, she grabbed a hoodie from her clothing compartment and pulled it painfully over her head. Leaving the room, she slowly made her way to the main door. She ignored all the stares that came her way, ignored the gasps of surprise when they witnessed her opening the door in a matter of seconds. She would deal with them later. She was just lucky that the human volunteers had never actually met each other before the pickup back on Earth, otherwise, there would have been questions asked way before now about her.

  Wandering aimlessly, Temple attempted to use her handheld to locate one of the human females she had befriended over the last few weeks. She hadn’t seen any of them since the last time they had visited deck seven when she had found out about her dad, but she felt if she could trust anyone to keep her secret, it would be one of them.

  It took a few tries to activate the correct program, her hands shaking too much to work the technology efficiently.

  Just as she finally activated it, SIS appeared in a flash of light before her. “Oh dear. You look like crap.”

  “Feel it too.” Looking at the data, she sighed. She couldn’t read it, couldn’t focus her eyes enough to see the writing on the screen. There was no way she could do this on her own. Time to put SIS to the test. It wasn’t as if Temple had much to lose anymore.

  “Listen, I can’t vanish anymore, I’m too weak. I need you to guide me to one of the females, one that is not with her mate.”

  “Like that is even possible. Those damn pairs are all at it like rabbits as the humans say. You’ll not find one of them alone or without a male for hours, if not days.”

  Fuck. Temple needed help now.

  “Then help me get blood without getting caught.”

  “I think we are way past the time for blood. Temple, you’re…”

  “We have to try,” she argued though she knew SIS was right. There was no blood in the universe that could reverse this. She had left it too long, been too stubborn, too scared to seek help.

  Hearing a noise, Temple quickly scarpered through the nearest door as SIS did a sudden disappearing act and was relieved to find the room she had entered vacant. As she stood there waiting for whoever it was to pass, she began to find it more difficult
to keep her eyes open and when they were her vision was too fuzzy to make out anything. Not good.

  Suddenly she became out of breath. Her legs were no longer able to hold her up.

  Was this it? Was this the end?

  With those last thoughts on her mind, she did the only thing she could think of. She called out to SIS for help. As the words left her lips there was a flash of bright light, then everything went black and she slumped to the floor.

  Chapter 7

  “Deck six. Storage cabin B,” SIS said, her holographic form appearing only an inch away from Teks’ face, completely taking him by surprise. But it wasn’t her proximity that surprised him. Well, it did a little, to be honest. But no, it was the fact that until that moment Teks had had no idea that she could appear in that form.

  “What the fuck?” he growled.

  “Yes, I have a holographic form. Yes, I didn’t tell you about it. And yes, I will explain the hows and whys at some point, but right now you need to get your arse down to deck six, storage cabin B. She’s dying, Teks. Help her.”

  The stowaway was a her?

  Wanting to ask more questions but knowing that time was of the essence, Teks and Doc raced from the command deck. They reached deck six in a little over a minute, some strange force pulling him towards their destination, making him move that little bit faster. It was strange, it was as if his life depended on getting there as quickly as possible.

  Entering the access code into the panel the door vanished. The first thing they saw was SIS standing before an unconscious mound of clothing upon the floor.

  “What took you so long?” she snapped.

  “We can’t all just vanish into thin air and reappear wherever we want,” Teks argued back.