Chapter 8

Now that I had the verbal go-ahead from Grandfather to pursue my plan, or at least to explore the possibility of a plan, I was totally stuck for any ideas about how to start. I mean, how do you approach someone about something as strange as this? And Gilleena was right about one thing, we didn’t have a hell of a lot of time to get it organized. For those who’d be going with us, their lives would be uprooted, they’d be leaving behind everything and everyone they ever knew. You don’t just voluntarily disappear from the face of the Earth at the drop of a hat.

And I was going to have to be very careful this project didn’t in any way interfere with my responsibilities to the clan. They had to always remain my highest priority. If I was going to enlist the aid of one of the clan members, who should it be? Actually, if I involved any one of them, I’d be involving all of them because there were no secrets among them. My first inclination was to start with Ninnith because she seemed to know so much about pretty much everything.

I headed back outside to finish my work in the flower garden. Maybe working up a sweat would kickstart my brain.

When it began turning dark, I put my tools away and went inside to take a quick shower and see if Ellana needed any help with dinner. She put me to work making a salad from greens, tomatoes and green onions fresh from Chiam’s garden. For a little extra flavor, I cut some bread into cubes and sautéd them in butter, garlic and chopped basil.

As I poured the croutons out on a flat pan to cool, Ellana asked, “Any ideas yet about who you’re going to approach about coming along on our great escape?”

That didn’t take long!

“I don’t have a clue how to even start. What would you suggest?”

She thought about it as she deboned two boiled chickens to cook with the homemade noodles drying on the counter. “I suppose I’d start by sitting down with someone to decide exactly the kind of people we wanted. Equally important is to decide exactly the kind of people we don’t want; for instance, the kind of people who’d easily buy into the tale you’re going to have to spin may not be who you want living next door to you, if you get my meaning.”

I laughed, “Yeah, I get your meaning and I totally agree. I thought I’d go to Ninnith and see if she has any ideas. If I’m going to do this thing, I need to get started before too long, but at the same time, I don’t dare do anything rash or stupid.”

“Why don’t you bring it up at dinner? Fifteen minds are better than one.”

“That’s a thought. Thanks, I’ll do that.”

We dug into the huge pot of chicken and noodles with gusto, compliments to the chef offered by all. When the level of general conversation died down to a dull roar, I asked if I could have their attention for a moment. I didn’t doubt they all knew what I had in mind as their eyes fixed on me.

“Um, I guess by now you all know what Grandfather and I discussed this morning. It’s obviously a delicate matter, since it involves your welfare. You know I want to ask a hundred men and women, non-Ennahai, to come with us to the new world, and I have to do that without exposing our own plans. That isn’t going to be easy. I guess what I’m saying is, I’d sure be interested in hearing any ideas from any of you. And if you think it’s a bad idea to start with, I’d like to hear that too. I want you to know up front that I won’t do anything to jeopardize your plans, or even any knowledge of your existence. I guess that’s all I have to say.”

Grandfather Jakoby added, “I want to hear your opinions as well. As far as I’m concerned, we need to be in complete agreement about this before we take steps to make it happen. There’s some time for debate, but not a lot. If we do it, we’ll want as much preparation time as we can muster. Any comments on that?”

Jellico spoke up, “I think we all knew when we enlisted Samuel’s aid, and subsequently Jesse’s, that this issue would arise at some point. Personally, I’m happy it came up sooner rather than later. Another year and we might have had to squash it for lack of preparation time. As it happens, I’m very much in favor of including men and women of Jesse’s kind in our company. There’s no reason they should be saddled with a universal guilt for what has been our plight for centuries, so there’s no reason they shouldn’t have the same chance for survival. Jesse, I’ll be happy to work with you in any way I can to make this happen.”

Arrena asked, “Are there any dissenting votes? We may as well start there.”

Errol raised his hand. I felt my heart drop, fearing he would kill the whole idea. But he looked at me and smiled. “Jesse, I’m not against the inclusion of those people in our plans, but I wonder how we maintain any security once they know about how it’s all going to take place.”

I was glad he asked the question. “Well see, that’s my biggest problem. Right now, I don’t see any way of doing it without telling some lies. If I just broadcast the news that I know some aliens who might be willing to take us away from it all, I’m sure I’d get thousands of takers, mostly nut cases we wouldn’t invite to a backyard bar-b-q. I’m thinking I have to create some sort of story that will get the folks we want hooked, then keep them in the dark about our final objective until the last possible moment.”

Jellico said, “I don’t much like the idea of deceiving people like that, but I don’t really have a better idea at the moment. Let us play with it for a couple of days and we’ll see what we can come up with.”

“Yeah, I’m for that. But one other thing I need to ask; I’d like to have one of you working closely with me on this. Kind of like a partner. Any volunteers?”

Gilleena jumped in immediately, “Jesse, I’d very much like to help you with this project if you think I could add anything constructive.”

I couldn’t have been happier. “Gilleena,” I said, “With your special gifts and insights, anything you offer is bound to be constructive. Thank you so much for offering.”

As I was getting ready for bed, Gilleena came to my room for the second night in a row. That’s the first time that had happened. I tried not to greet her with too lascivious a grin on my face.

After a nice soak in the spa, we were relaxing on the bed, just talking. We hadn’t made love yet. She was lying face down and I was kneeling beside her, stroking the strip of black fur down her back and enjoying the silken feel of her butt on the palms of my hands. Just the sight of that long, deep olive-skinned body did something to me. It’s hard to explain, but I guess it’s like the feeling you might get looking at a great masterpiece at the Louvre. I might not recognize a masterpiece if I saw one, but I sure as hell know true beauty when I see it.

Since Grandfather said he thought she was ‘smitten’ with me, I was feeling a little more confident about getting into subjects that, only that morning, I felt might be crossing an invisible line. Even so, my first probe was tentative, maybe a little shy.

“Gilleena?”

She turned her head to look at me, then closed her eyes. “Hmm? That feels nice, what you’re doing.”

“Feels good to me, too. Um, I was wondering, have you given any thought to who you want to bond with on the new world? Assuming you want to marry, that is.”

She rolled over onto her back, took my hand and placed it on her breast. “Before I answer that, you have to tell me why you’re asking. I’m pretty sure I know, since subtlety isn’t really one of your strong points, but I want to hear you say it.”

I blushed at being so obvious and leaned over to kiss her nose. “OK, I can see you’re on to me. But my question is a serious one. I’m not trying to be coy. I think you know by now how I feel about you, don’t you? You know I love you more than anything in the world.”

She lifted my hand to her lips and kissed my palm. “I do know that, Jesse. And I think you know I love you too. So, ask me what you want to ask me.”

A deep breath, then, “Gilleena, when we get to the new world, will you marry me? Or bond with me, or whatever you call it? Could we have children together?”

She reached around my neck, pulled me down onto her body and kissed me. “I think I’d like that, Jesse. Yes, when we’re on our new world, I’d be very happy to make a permanent bond with you; or marry you, or whatever you call it. I’m sure you already know we’ll have Grandfather’s blessing.”

“Yeah, he told me as much.” My elation was about to boil over. “Wow, Gilleena, I’m so happy right now I can hardly stand it!”

She slid her hand between our bodies to take hold of my half-erect dick and squeezed. “Why don’t you show me how happy you are?”

So I did. And I showed her twice more before she left my room the next morning.

I took off in the Tundra the next morning to do a full day of shopping. I had a few items to pick up at the hardware store for Errol, a hundred pounds of whole grain flour, some quinoa and bulgur wheat for Ellana, and six cases of selected wines from the wholesale liquor’s. I was also dropping off two lutes and an amazing-looking Irish harp from Katia’s and Mallya’s shop. If I was any kind of salesman, I should easily get six or seven thousand dollars for three such beautiful instruments.

What the clan didn’t know was that I was also going to pick up a whole buffalo carcass at a small meatpacking company in Springdale. I bought it online from a ranch in Wyoming and had it shipped to the meatpackers to be butchered and wrapped. It didn’t seem like such a good idea to have them butcher, package and ship it directly to the house, risking questions about why a single guy like me would need four hundred and fifty pounds of meat. Not that the delivery person would really care, but it would be foolish to draw any attention to myself. Of course, owning all that meat necessitated the purchase of a fourteen cubic foot chest freezer from Sears. That would go in the garage.

Together, those two items were going to run a little over twenty-five hundred bucks, but hey! I had nothing better to spend my money on. Anyhow, it was free money, wasn’t it? The meat and the freezer were my gift to the clan. I guess Gilleena’s willingness to bond with me had me feeling pretty damned generous, among other things.

The meatpacker was my last stop of the day. The back end of the truck was loaded down and I was almost home when flashing blue lights appeared in my rearview mirror. Shit! What’s this about? I looked down at the speedometer and saw I was only going about five MPH over the speed limit. Was this guy gonna be a hard ass?

I pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. I followed the common-sense rules and kept both hands on the steering wheel as the officer approached the driver’s side door.

When I lowered the window, he said, “Good afternoon, Mr. Davies.”

It was the same sheriff’s deputy I’d met twice before. “Afternoon, Deputy. Have I done something bad?”

He laughed. “No, not really. Well, you were a little over the limit, but not enough to warrant a ticket. I really should apologize for pulling you over, but I recognized you as you drove by me about a mile back and thought I should take the opportunity to tell you I was sorry about that thing with the game warden. Old Eddie gets a wild hair up his butt about something and he can’t let go of it. Of course, he’s right about there being a fair amount of poaching in the area, but like you pointed out, you don’t look like you need to poach any animals to feed yourself. Anyhow, I just wanted to say I was sorry for the trouble.”