Page 50 of Ragoru

He glanced down at Vale, his brows rising. “A friend of yours?”

“Not even a little,” she retorted.

The corner of his mouth curved slightly. “Ah. I must say that it’s a pleasure to meet you, Evelyn Willocks,” he murmured, the soft lilt of his voice carrying effortlessly across the distance between them.

Her eyes narrowed on him warily. “How do you know my name, and what do you want?”

He blinked as if taken aback by her slightly hostile tone. But a gentle, understanding smile graced his face and he nodded. “As I said, you have nothing to fear from me. I have spoken to your Dr. Farris and he has apprised me of your research. Naturally, I’m delighted to learn you’ve mated with some of our escaped males.” He hummed to himself. “We’ve been searching for your mates for a while. Discovering that they had found and bonded with a human female on their own has been particularly exciting for me. Naturally, when I learned that they were separated from you, I had to assist.”

Some of her tension eased as hope rushed to the fore as a sense of giddy relief swept through her. “They aren’t dead? Thank the Mother! Do you know where they are? Are they okay? Where are they?” She glanced around, her pulse speeding with excitement as she sought them out, expecting them to enter the area hot on the heels of the Feriknikal.

His soft laugh was strikingly similar to the rustling sound of leaves, and he shook his head with clear amusement. “So many questions. They are well. They come this way now, in fact. But I wished to speak with you before they arrived.” A look of regret crossed his face. “I fear we mishandled the situation with the Ragoru. Keeping them confined as we did in the hope of introducing their species slowly to yours has bred mistrust in us. It was only desperation that brought your males to us, seeking our aid. They will not like me speaking to you, so I must share what you must know quickly.”

She frowned. “If this is information they wouldn’t trust, why should I? As much as I appreciate the fact that you obviously saved my ass, what reason do I have at all to trust you?”

He shrugged delicately, appearing altogether unconcerned whether she trusted what he had to say or not.

“Our crew was entrusted to share this information with your people, but we are not confident that your government will make proper use of it. Since you are a female of study and science, and are now bonded to the Ragoru we have brought here, we offer it to your safekeeping as well. As well as a plea for assistance that your Dr. Farris seemed to believe you capable and most suited to providing for us. Or for the Ragoru more specifically.”

Her lips pinched. Caution warred with curiosity. As was so often the case, the latter won, but she wasn’t just going to blindly trust anything he had to say. She would hear it. That was as much as she would do. She gave a jerky nod of her head, and he smiled again.

“Excellent. One, you will notice that the Ragoru are highly territorial. Your triad will need to be motivated to get them working together with others of their species to form some kind of loose clans. Depending on each other will increase their survival in this part of your world. It is imperative that you convince your mates in this. We suspect that not all Ragoru will conform to this, and those who spread out through the rest of this continent and others where our sister ships have placed them will struggle to survive, especially if they come into conflict with your people. The High Council is weak, and we do not trust this Order of Huntsmen that has control. We did not bring them to this world for them to simply die.”

That made a reasonable amount of sense. She nodded again to demonstrate that she heard and understood.

“Two, your technology is failing. We could extend its life, but we will not. Whatever repairs we do to your satellite would only be temporary, and we are afraid that it can be used against the Ragoru and other species gaining a second chance at life on your planet.”

Evie startled. “There are others?”

His smile turned serene. “Of course. This planet is large, and you do not even occupy a fraction of it the way your citadels are so far-flung across the continents. Your communication systems and roads give you the illusion of interconnectedness but don’t let it deceive you. The distance occupied by unbroken wilderness is vast.”

“What if a ship from Earth returns?”

Avareth’s smile fell, and his expression saddened. “They will not. Earth died long ago. They had the technology and opportunity to get their people out and instead hid the truth of their colonies from their populace. The colonies they established with stolen people and trusted, trained officials went unknown by the general public, and the goods that were brought to Earth fueled the wealthy. We observed this from afar, hoping that they would alert everyone and send all of their nations to habitable planets. But they did not. They erroneously believed that if they simply stored enough for those selected to survive and kept their people ignorant of the technology they possessed, technology of space travel thatwe gave them, that the Earth would correct itself.” His sigh was soft and hollow in its airy sound. “They were survived by only a few generations after losing contact. Those who couldn’t leave or weren’t stolen died there with their planet.”

She swallowed thickly, sickened by the truth. Their colony’s population was made up of stolen people?

“We are the last then?”

His head cocked. “No. Earth is gone, but humans are spread far through many sectors. Earth seeded several colonies on its own before it fell. And humans have been carried away by aliens who discovered the remnants of the surviving generations on your homeworld. Humanity continues, though its complexity changes and adds to the universe now. Share this information with those you trust to spread it as we do not trust the High Council to share what we’ve revealed to them and the necessity of your species to unite to successfully adapt to this world. It is of utmost importance that you do. Already your population sickens. Your genome is being affected even if you have not isolated the problem. You have seen that fewer males are being born.”

The weight of the knowledge was crushing, but she nodded.

“The Ragoru were affected similarly on their own world before it died, but in the opposite manner. Their females were affected. This will not change for either of your species unless you can hybridize.”

She stared at him in disbelief. “Is that even possible?”

He laughed again. “We only interfere with the best possible candidates for breeding. The universe is complex and diverse, but not as much as you think. And with your own mutations that evolved over generations on your respective colonies, it has made each planet delightful to pair. We have already matched an aquatic race, the Sirein, to a new home world on another world inhabited by your species. Their world is on the verge of collapse, but we hope that they’ll arrive, though we know it will take them several generations to get there.”

His lips tipped in amusement at that. “Likewise, we’ve brought those here that needed a home and will breed successfully with yours, though none need you or you them like the Ragoru. Which brings me to my second point, one that we’ve already arranged an agreement with your High Council to commit to—for now—as they’ve delivered the first selection of women from their leading families so this sacrifice will not be borne by the stolen ones. Mating and reproduction are essential for your species to survive long-term on this world.”

Evie let out a slow breath, overwhelmed by the information overload as her hand crept over her belly. “Am I… pregnant?”

His expression softened as his regarded her. “Possibly. We would not know unless we took you back to our ship to run a scan, but I do not think your mates will allow that.”

No, she didn’t think they would either. They had escaped from the Shining Ones. They would not willingly walk into their ship or confinement area or allow her anywhere near it.

“Anything else?” she whispered.

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