Page 55 of Serpents of the Night

Flicking a confused look to the two males who had accompanied the medic, Lori slowly crept forward and dropped into a chair to join her at the table.

“You look like you are preparing for my funeral,” she commented in a bad attempt at a joke, but her friend’s lips just twisted faintly in a grimace that brought the mood down even further. “Is there something I should know? You are not asking to sacrifice my firstborn or anything, right?”

“It’s not that...” Sara began before looking to her mate for help.

Yuneril didn’t have a chance to recover on behalf of his mate, however, because Therxian interceded, his large bulk moving between Lori and the couple so that she was all that he saw.

“Sara explained your request,” he rumbled, “but it is not so easy as letting you have it or denying it. There are very specific conditions that have to be in place for the welfare of everyone, and Sara is worried that it will upset you.”

Lori frowned, slapping a hand protectively over her womb. “I was joking about giving one of my nestling away, so you can take that off the table right now and come up with a different condition.”

He blinked, startled at her outburst but he shook his head with a quiet roll of laughter. “No, not that. Your nestling is entirely safe with you,” he assured her. He hesitated as he considered his words. “I am certain that you are aware that your comms are registered with your individual colonies?”

Lori nodded. “Of course. It is how they are able to keep track of us if someone gets lost or tries to create trouble—they can simply be brought back in.”

He inclined his head, his gavo fluttering. “That is the problem exactly. Sara explained to me that the comm does not send up an activity signal when it is simply passively receiving communications, but it will when it intercepts a link broadcasted between comms.”

“So, what’s the catch?” she asked slowly. “How will I be able to use it?”

The corner of his mouth hitched. “The catch, as you call it, is that there is a very narrow window of time that you can have the comm open before you draw their attention.”

“You will have only minutes to establish a link and get a short message through before you will have to revert immediately to powering on the tracking device while the incoming link channel is deactivated,” Sara explained as Therxian withdrew so that Lori could see the small button on the side of the comm. “Colony Alpha will be much slower to pick up on the tracker, so you have a larger window of hours for your mates to home in on it.”

“And if they don’t make it on time?” Lori whispered.

Sara grimaced. “That is the bad news. The tracker will also be deactivated, and it won’t be coming back on.”

Lori swallowed nervously as an uncomfortable cold settled through her. “You are saying that this is my only shot?”

Sara nodded. “I’m sorry but this is the way it has to be. Just using a comm once will draw attention to its activity status, however short it is. After that, we have to deactivate for no less time than a year. By that time the colony systems will update and will no longer be programmed to actively search for it. This is something programmed into the system so that if there is a death or someone becomes lost and cannot be recovered, the systems aren’t wasting cycles searching endlessly.”

“I see,” Lori whispered, her fingertips skimming the comm before drumming restlessly on the wood of the table. “Is there any way I can try to meet them halfway to make it easier?”

Therxian frowned, his head cocking as he considered her. “You wish to fly out of the mountains with a tracking device on you? Slengral would not be pleased with how closely that could potentially put you in danger.” He sighed and scraped a hand over his gavo. “I can fly down with it,” he muttered. “I am not interested in doing my brother any favors in this matter, but I do not wish to bring you down when your life was nearly lost on the sand before we plucked you from it.”

She wanted to protest that she wanted to be there in person to greet her mates, but she couldn’t deny that Therxian had a point. Sighing, she nodded and Therxian hummed in approval as he turned expectantly to Sara. The medic glanced over at her mate, a tight smile pulling faintly at her lips before she took the comm between her hands and began to turn it on. Lori watched the screen light up, her lips parting as excitement flooded through her veins. The comm was turned toward her and her hands moved of their volition, snatching the comm up and dragging it close. She moved her fingers along the buttons, putting in the uplink channel for Slengral’s comm. She had no idea what state Daskh’s comm was in after his fall as it had not been a concern of hers at the time, and Kehtal often forgot to wear his if Lori didn’t remind him first whenever he was heading out.

If anyone had a comm available, it would be Slengral!

Lights danced over the comm screen as it worked to make the uplink and Lori leaned over it anxiously as it worked for what felt like an eternity without establishing the link. Still, she didn’t turn it off, though she nodded when Sara gestured how much longer she had. She didn’t have to give up yet. She still had time. They still had time. They would answer. They had to. Please answer. Please!

The comm crackled and suddenly the holographic display projected upward as Slengral’s image filled it, his snarl of annoyance fading abruptly into shock as he stared at her with wide eyes.

“Lori?” he rasped. “Is that really you?”

“Lori? Is it her?” male voices rejoined as her other two mates pushed in, looks of awe, shock, and joy shifting over their beautiful faces.

Hashal’s little head bobbed up, blocking the others out as he squinted at her. “Is mother a gorshiga?” he queried, his head swiveling around, presumably to demand an answer from Kehtal.

A sob shook Lori, and she shook her head and laughed through the tears streaming down her face. “No, I’m not a gorshiga... I’m here. I’m alive. We are alive,” she clarified, her hand going to her belly though she knew that her mates would not be able to see it in the current hologram setting.

A squealing trill erupted from Hashal before he was pulled away, drawing a round of soft laughter from the two males occupying the room with her. Lori looked up Sara and her friend grinned at her, tears wetting her own face that she hastily wiped away as she quickly motioned with her fingers.

Lori blinked and nodded quickly before refocusing on the comm. She was running out of time. “Listen, Slengral... can you hear me okay?”

Slengral’s face shifted forward and filled the hologram. “I am here. I hear you ashlava,” he rasped. “What do you need?”

“I don’t have much time, but I need you to listen and trust me, okay?”

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