Sacrifice

Chapter Four

Oh, John!  Why did you do this without talking to me first?  Her knees felt weak and she looked down at the cup she was still holding.  Her hand was trembling and some of the coffee had sloshed out.  Quickly, silently, she went back to the galley and left the cup on the counter.  Then she went into their cabin and buried her face in the pillow, trying to think, trying to see this from John’s point of view. 

Instead, she just cried.  The images of her and John together started flashing through her mind.  Then she saw images of Judy, Penny and Will, the loving sanctification of their devotion for one another.  How am I going to live with a vampire?  The anguished question came unbidden.  She saw the images continue to parade through her mind.  The children growing up.  His deep love for all of them, despite the demands of his profession.  He is so distant and cold.  In her mind, Maureen remembered him on his knees dancing with Judy at a Daddy/Daughter ball when she was in first grade.  Judy’s happy laughter mingled with John’s.  Then there was Penny’s first pet, a little orange kitten that John picked up at the animal shelter.  When he walked in the front door it had a tiny yellow collar with a bell and a somewhat shredded large pink ribbon around its neck.  John had scratches all up and down his hands. 

But he’s so moody and angry.  She remembered when they drove to Houston after Alpha Control had hired him.  He was so happy he even sang the Barney song with Will.  Maureen smiled at the image.  Will was so young, he lisped the words, but so smart, he had picked up them up in just one listening.  The rest of them, particularly Judy kept begging him to stop.  He and Will just laughed like crazy, enjoying their joke immensely.  How much will John change?  She saw the celebration the day his space probe project, Deep Thrust first sent back pictures of the Alpha Centauri system.  The cake he had picked up at the grocery store on the spur of the moment had a Buzz Lightyear motif, and in his hurry to get home, had a speeding ticket stuck on top by the time he had reached the house.  Does becoming a vampire mean losing the ability to love?   

She remembered the beautiful dream she had last night.  She and John were on a beach, with the warm sun caressing them and the soothing sound of the waves floating around them.  It had been so vivid.  John was kissing her passionately; holding her in a tight embrace, nibbling on her ear lobe, kissing her neck.  Sudden revelation hit her.  John was being affectionate last night!  She remembered his words to Don.  ‘I almost did do something to Maureen.’  He wasn’t cold and distant because his emotions had changed.  It was because he was afraid, so terribly afraid of hurting her that he was staying away from her.  Only his physiology had changed, but Maureen saw clearly now how very much the change was affecting his state of mind.   He had made the only decision he felt he could make to get the kids back and he had made it alone, because of the horrifying consequences.  Because he knew she would have begged him not to do it, to find another alternative, even to taking a chance on slowly working their way down the tunnel. 

She gasped at the implications of her last thought.  Would I rather he take the high risk of being killed trying to get the children, as opposed to a horrific solution that would almost ensure total success?  She cried some more.  John knew her well.  Her initial response would be sending that very message; that she would rather he be a dead human than a ‘live’ vampire.  Maureen sat remorseful, pondering, then the irony of that last thought hit her and she jerked up in bemusement, wondering what she could do. She heard stealthy footsteps near her door, and knew from experience that it was Dr. Smith.  Irritated, she sat quietly.  She would not acknowledge him unless he said something.  Finally the footsteps went away.

Her thoughts returned to the present situation.  There were so many things that made sense now; so many of John’s behaviors that had explanations.  He had made the decision; he had gone through the initial phase of this change alone.  He didn’t want her to know.   He wanted to spare her the same kind of pain he was now experiencing….   But she wanted to share his pain; help him ease it.  It wasn’t right for him to tough it out alone.   Maureen sighed.   She was grateful to Don for forcing John to confide.  That had to ease the burden somewhat.   But there had to be some way she could let him know her feelings, some way she could tell him she still loved him despite any physical changes. Maureen could also see that his psyche was so fragile right now that she couldn’t just march up to him and say ‘I know.’  She had to be patient, loving, as empathetic as she could be and wait for the opportunity to let him know gently that she knew and still felt the same about him.  That she still loved him and supported him, and would stick by him forever….  

She looked at the clock near the door.  In a few more hours, it would be dark.  Then he would be going after the children.  Splashing water on her face, she sighed again and went into the galley to prepare dinner.  She checked the replicator and saw the program that John had entered the night before.

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“I am picking up another transmission, Leader,” the pale skinned, shrouded griforis said.   

Leader just jerked his shoulders in a gesture of nonchalance.  “Do not worry about it.  If it is the children’s parents, their pleas are of no consequence.  If it is the Lorent, that, too, is of no consequence.”

“One of the transmissions is coming from a Vandir ship.  I picked up the origin code when it communicated with the interloper’s ship,”

“Vandir?” the Leader said in a hissing voice.  As he repeated the hated name, he felt dread vying with anticipation.  Let them come, he thought.  Let them see how well they could take his people this time.  Then he remembered; it is most likely that they couldn’t come.  They hadn’t been invited.  That was the beauty of these caves. 

“Should I send a mobilization call, Leader?”

“No, just activate the counter defensive system.  If for some reason the Vandir raiders are able to come down into the caves, they will be destroyed.  And if there are any who make it here, they will learn that we are not the griforis they knew on our homeworld.  Take no other measures; none will be needed.  Our ancestors planned for every contingency.”

“Perhaps, Leader, it would be wise to let a few reach their companions on the surface if they are able to make it this far.  They will tell the tale that the people they ravaged and forced into Vandir slavery several centuries ago cannot be conquered or used for blood lust any more,” the technician suggested.

The Leader pulled at the edge of his shroud for a few minutes.  The only sound in the chamber was the clicking of computers and the slight hissing of air flowing into and out of the room.  “Very wise council, Frolis.  Very wise.  Keep the worst of the defenses de-activated.  There will be enough to deter some, but not enough to keep them all out,” Leader pronounced as he walked through the doorway and into the corridor, a pleased smile on his face. 

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“John, can I assume that as you adjust to this change, you will return to your normal, pleasant self?” Don ventured after his last statement was met with silence.

“Well, if not, then you can start sharpening the stake,” John retorted sardonically. 

Don blinked in surprise.  “You’re just being funny, right?”  He gazed at his friend and decided that although he was smiling at his own joke, there was still a serious glint in John’s eyes.  “Um, then that part of the lore is true?”

“Dreel didn’t come right out and tell me, if that’s what you’re getting at, but what little I have learned, it certainly would seem that way.  The heart lies dormant most of the time, but it is needed to pump the hemoglobin to various points of the body.  A stake through the heart would preclude that.”

“Oh,” Don said simply.  “John, maybe you’d better tell me exactly what happened on Dreel’s ship.  There’s all kinds of folklore about vampires on Earth, but if you’re any indication, most of it must be so much horse crap.”

John shrugged. “All right, but I need to work on the guidance system if you don’t mind.” As he worked under the console, he told what happened on the nur-Vandir ship.  Occasionally John asked for a tool and Don handed it to him.  The pilot stopped him at various points and asked questions. 

Finally, after the fifth such interruption, John asked testily, “Are you going to shut up and let me finish?”  Telling about his metamorphosis was almost as distasteful as the actual change had been.  Working on the machinery helped him to keep his mind at least partially off the memories of the previous night.  He tried to make his explanation as clinical as he could, leaving the emotional impact out of it. 

He reached up with the crescent wrench to tighten down the bolt on the frame holding the guidance computer.  The tool slipped and his hand skinned across a sharp edge of the frame.  A five-inch cut appeared along his thumb and down to his wrist, and a small amount of dark blood welled quickly to the surface.  “Get the first aid kit, Don,” he said as he pulled himself out from under the console. 

Don turned quickly and grabbed a little box.  He pulled out gauze and antiseptic spray, and quickly wiped the blood from John’s hand.  Then he pulled away and stared in shock.  Where just a minute ago there was a gash almost deep enough to require stitches, now there was a pink line, as though a week or more of healing had taken place.  Glancing up, Don saw the same look of astonishment on John’s face that he assumed was on his own. 

“I guess that’s another reason why it takes a stake to do in a vampire,” John breathed, in awe of his new recuperative powers.

“Hmm, well, that’s one advantage to immortality,” Don quipped.

“Yeah, one,” John murmured. “It would also go along with what Dreel said about the cave protection devices not being able to harm us.”  John finished the job in silence, while Don sat and pondered. 

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Judy sat at the computer console and stared at the figures on the screen, her nose wrinkling in distaste.  The shrouded griforis next to her misinterpreted her expression.  “Are you having trouble understanding what these figures mean?”

“No, I just am not used to working in a waste disposal plant,” Judy answered tersely.  “I’m also not used to being kidnapped from my family.”

“We are your family now.  Your parents relinquished their rights to you by trespassing on our lands,” the griforis told her.  

“You aren’t even using the surface.  What difference would it make if we landed there for a brief time?  Our ship needed repairs; we had to land.  And our parents have not ‘relinquished’ their rights to us.  Mom and Dad love us and will never give up getting us back!” Judy said hotly.

“They have no rights to you anymore and if they persist in trying to take you from us, they will be destroyed.”

In horror, Judy turned to the griforis.  The alien, under her shroud, appeared to be somewhat young, unlike most of the griforis she had met.  This one seemed to be only a few years older than she was.  “What do you mean, they will be destroyed?  If you are talking about the cave defenses, Dad and Don can figure those out.”  

“That is too bad, Judy, because if they do, they will be killed by our forces here in the caves,” came the reply.

“What forces?” Judy snorted.  “Your leader told us himself that you needed us to keep your civilization running.  Let’s face it; you are a dying race.  You have to steal children so that you can keep your sewer clean and your air pure.”

The griforis bowed her head and a sigh emanated from under the shroud.  “That is so, Judy.  We are dying race, but we are determined to keep our enemies out, to protect what we have left.  We will not allow ourselves to be invaded, to be conquered again.”  The voice was impassioned and when her companion raised her head again, Judy saw intense and fervent passion and determination. 

“You mean you’re living in these caves to escape someone who conquered you?” Judy asked, moved by the griforis’ demeanor.   

“Yes, almost four hundred years ago, we lived on Griforis.  From what I have been told, it was a beautiful and productive world, with deep blue skies and dark green fields.” 

To Judy’s ear, it seemed that her companion spoke as one who didn’t really know what skies or fields were like.  She sensed that the griforis next to her had never been out of the cave system in her life.  “My home world is like that,” was all she could think to say.

“We were a happy and peaceful people, living off the land, living to please Hiloro above, enjoying what each of us could contribute to the other….”

“What happened?” Judy coaxed when the other paused.

“We were invaded by a race called the Vandir.  They had, through scientific means, developed immortality, but that gift had a terrible price.  In order to stay immortal, the Vandir had to feed off the body fluids of others.  They invaded other planets to harvest their nourishment, sometimes leaving only the barest minimum of survivors, those who were able to hide long enough for the Vandir to tire of looking for them.  Then they would move on.  In the deepest night, they invaded Griforis and during a storm-filled night they left, leaving a broken people.  Only a few had the will to desire freedom from further invasions.  My ancestors used our own technology as well as some stolen from the invaders to build space ships.  In them we traveled here and built our underground city.  No one knew of our existence except the Lorent, and even they have forgotten our origins.”

End Chapter 4