Chapter 1

“Hethemtima...” Sibilius whispered, awakening with a strange smile on his face. “She lives in Hethemtima...”

“Yes, Father,” Elaine replied, sitting up on the bed where she’d been lying prone with him. “But like you, her mind has been crippled – her happiest memories ripped from her so that she could survive on the primitive world in which she was abandoned.

“But,” she continued, “the Praetor tells me that her work is complete, as is yours. Béla need not be deprived of the knowledge of her true self any longer. But she has commanded that she remain that way she is until you can once again be at her side.”

“I can only be at her side in death, my child,” Sibilius told her sadly.

“If that be your decision, she will join you there,” Eliannai told him, “perhaps sooner that you would prefer. It would not take much to push her beyond any desire to live, as she has lost much, and her world is coming apart. If she loses you, she will have lost everything, and she will die. This, I have foreseen, although I sought not this knowledge.”

“What would you have me do, my daughter?” Sibilius asked, unwilling for his life-mate, if indeed that was who she was, to suffer needlessly.

“University is preparing a male hybrid for you to inhabit,” she replied. “When you are ready, the Praetor can help you transfer from your present form to your new one. There will be some memory loss – that I cannot prevent. But your memories of Alana are strong and you cherish them much. Those longings you will carry with you for the rest of your existence, no matter where you go or what you decide. Eons after you have forgotten her very name or even what she looked like, you will still long for her.”

“How can you promise that Alana will even know me?” Sibilius cried softly. “I did not recognize her in her new existence. Why should she recognize me?”

“But you did recognize her, Father,” Elaine said. “She is ever your favorite, beloved before any other. Her very presence soothes your aching soul. Before she died, Alana ordered the Praetor to make certain your mind did not connect the two of you until her tasks were complete.”

“How do you know all this, Child?” Sibilius asked, half convinced, now.

Elaine smiled. “You gave me my memories back, Father, when you showed me who I really was in your dream on that mountain. At that time, I recognized Alana in my sister, Béla. After that, I mind-linked with the Praetor and demanded that I be completely restored. You two belong together. My only desire in this is to see you and my sister fulfilled and content.”

“So be it, Child,” Sibilius relented. “When it is my time, I will have the Praetor restore me to life in your hybrid.”

“Thank you, Father,” Elaine replied, hugging her father gratefully.

‘Do you have your instructions, Praetor?’ Eliannai thought into the air around her as she left Sibilius’ bedchamber behind her.

‘My instructions are clear, ‘ the Praetor replied. ‘What you desire had already been commanded to me by the ‘Carte Blanche’, eons ago. I will hold the Regent in storage along with the ‘Carte Blanche’, until new hybrids are ready for them.’

“What?” Elaine asked, her attention completely on what the Praetor just told her. “What are you talking about? Why would Béla need a new body?”

‘A new hybrid must be prepared for the ‘Carte Blanche’, as well, as she has destroyed her current one.’

“Oh, no!” Elaine whispered. Squeezing her eyes closed, she cried out, “Béla! Where are you?”

An image of the brightly lit inner surface. Warehouses glowing in the heat from the crystal sun. Ashes and bone lying on the pavement. A Skull still staring upward at the last thing she ever saw. A thin webwork barely recognizable as a wing tossing like a tumbleweed in the light breeze.

“No...” Elaine cried out, dropping to her knees. “It wasn’t supposed to happen yet! I didn’t see her dying before Father! Why didn’t I see this truly?”

‘But you did, Seeker, ‘ the Praetor informed her. ‘Your sister cannot be both Alana, the lover and Béla, the daughter. She chose to lose her identity as Béla and has come to me willingly. I return her memories even as I embrace her within me. Even now, she dreams ... and remembers.’

“Will she remember me?” Elaine needed to know. “Will she remember her life on Earth? Her sisters? What about Jake?”

‘There is another for Jake, ‘ the Praetor told her. ‘While it is true he will grieve, Annalisa is there to heal his soul. And unlike the ‘Carte Blanche’, Annalisa is a true match for Jake. As his life-mate, she can provide his soul’s deepest desires.’

“How do you know that?” Elaine demanded angrily. “How can you possibly know that it is Annalisa that Jake was meant for after all the pain and grief that Béla and Jake went through for each other? To be together?”

‘There are truths in the past of which you are not yet aware, Seeker, ‘ the Praetor told her. ‘Even Annalisa and Jake do not remember. But their souls were matched thousands of years ago. Do you not remember Harkon? The Chief Engineer’s assistant?’

“I remember,” Elaine replied, thinking back. “But he was already old when I was young. He must have died, by now.”

‘Yes, Seeker, he died over a thousand years ago. And like many lost crewmembers, his soul journeyed to Earth... ‘

“Are you trying to tell me Harkon is Jake?” Elaine asked, completely shaken by this knowledge. “And how are Harkon and Annalisa...”