Chapter 5: Oh Crap, Here we go again

It was dinnertime that Maxi finally piped up with something surprising. "Maxi is still detecting seed. From the way it is moving it is on board this train."

"Do you recognize the seed? Is that possible? How close is it?" I snapped out a few questions.

"No, no and close." she answered.

"OK, were going to go for a walk and see if we can pinpoint who has it. Is there any way to deal with it, or will it just be a dangerous threat?" I asked.

"Maxi has two choices, forcibly assimilate the seed again to make it harmless, and even then there is a possibility of counter assimilation."

"What's that?" I paused to look at scenery.

"Instead of Maxi assimilating the seed, the reverse happens. It's unlikely, but still a possibility. Solomon dies probably."

"And the other choice?" I hoped for something better.

"Maxi forces the seed to integrate with another carrier and make it symbiotic, like Solomon and Maxi."

I began strolling again in the direction of the seed. "Lets see what we can see when we see it, OK?"

"I see." she responded with humor.

We walked just about to the end of the train before Maxi had us stop at some sort of storage room door. This car was obviously cargo or something. I leaned against the wall next to it and made like I was watching the world go by.

"Maxi is sure that this seed is familiar. A seed belongs to Helaena, her sister has a larger seed. This is small so I believe Helaena is here."

I slid the door open as quietly as possible and stepped into a narrow area with boxes and bags. I crouched down quickly behind a stack of boxes, food, and strained my ears. I could hear murmurs coming from near the ratting wide door at the side. I guessed that to be where they loaded the cargo from.

"Maxi knows it is Helaena but she's not alone, there is another live there. Sam?"

I stood and stepped around the boxes to face them. Helaena didn't look too good, she was sweating and looked feverish and rambled. She was scrunched up in a ball, while Sam looked like she was trying to comfort her. Wiping her face with a cloth, I knelt down beside Helaena, surprising Sam, and checked her pulse and breathing. She was quite fevered but breathing OK. Her pulse was running higher than normal but steady. I laid my hand on her forehead to judge her temperature, and she seemed to calm down significantly.

I received a black look from Sam, "You walked out, and before you got to the end of the block she started getting the shakes like an addict. By the time you got to the train, thankfully you're predictable enough, she was like this. I guessed the train by the direction you went and carried her here. Did you feed her something? I've seen people act like this during withdrawal."

"Like I said Sam, I've been out of it almost the whole time I've been around her. She was fine when she went to grab me some clothing, and that was more distant than the motel to train." I said.

"She didn't go downtown to get the clothing. You're the same size as my brother was, so she just grabbed them from my place." Sam was wiping sweat from Helaena's face when her eyes came open and she looked up at me. The look of relief was almost shocking, and she grabbed me and held on, burying her head in my chest. I automatically wrapped my arms around her and looked at Sam with surprise. "I don't understand why!"

Sam stood and put her fist through the nearest box. "Fuck! I've lost her." she shouted.

"Sam! This is wrong!" I yelled.

"Solomon, Maxi made a mistake!" I heard whispered urgently.

"Not now, Maxi, I'm trying to figure this out before Sam loses it."

Sam was beating the same box again and again yelling 'Fuck' in a constant stream.

"Maxi made a mistake and that is why Helaena is acting this way!"

Sam's shouting and thrashing was getting disruptive by then, so I yelled "Sam! Sit! Down! I gotta think this through. Gotta solve this problem. Not good."

"Maxi used a technique to heal Solomon that is used by another live. One that is similar enough in makeup to be comparable. I did not think of the additional consequences of the technique used, though. The live that use the cocoon, uses it to transition into their next phase, where they mate then transcend."

"What has that got to do with us?" I almost said out loud.

Maxi was starting to sound a bit strained, "The mating process they use involves attaching a gene based hook on their mates to ensure fidelity and cooperation within the mating group. They are genetically bonded with their mate until they die. Maxi did not realize the component of transference would also apply to Solomon's species."

"What the hell?!" I yelled, surprising both ladies.

"The component of transference is transmitted through either physical contact or through a short range aerosol action."

"Sam, did you visit Helaena when I was there?" I demanded.

She looked at me suspiciously, but shook her head negatively.

"Helaena, when I was in the cocoon, did you or anyone else come in contact with it?"

"Yes, and Shakti did also. We spent a lot of time in the room looking after you while you were there." she answered, looking up at me.

"Maxi has done a terrible thing, Solomon, in making this mistake, Helaena is permanently bonded with you on a genetic level using the component of transference, a genetic virus. This is a bond that can only be broken by rewriting Helaena's entire genetic code to exclude this. Maxi would have to do the same thing that was done to Solomon, it cannot be done as Maxi is not part of Helaena."

I explained to Helaena and Sam what had been done to her, then had to explain about Maxi a bit, without giving too much away. They didn't believe me at first, until I looked at them and asked, "Cocoon?"

Sam looked disgusted with the whole situation and stormed off to the other side of the room. Helaena looked up at me from her hug and then a frightened look came over her, "Shakti!" she said with worry.

The revelation knocked me back on my ass, Shakti was in a worse way as she was forcibly detained by her mother.

Helaena scrambled over to where Sam was venting her hostilities and rapidly spoke with her. Sam fumbled for a second and handed her cellphone over. A quick call was made and she spoke with someone briefly, and then hung up with an almost frightened look on her face. Sam and her spoke once again, when she handed the phone back Sam and her walked over to me, "I just spoke with my sister's head butler. Nice guy and friendly to our needs. Shakti's been at the hospital since she was forcibly taken home. I convinced Edward that he needs to get Shakti to a special clinic in Calgary by tomorrow or she'll die, then gave him the address to a clinic I own there. I know he'll do it for Shakti, so we need to be there without fail."