The Human Bearer
29.
"Someone is here to see you," Kyle announced, making him raise his eyes.
He was busy reading everything he could get his hands on about Xeno deliveries, using Kyle's screen, so the interruption wasn't welcome. It was strange to get any visits to begin with. The other bearers kept their distance, and Xenos didn't think much of him, either. He was the proverbial black sheep, but he was okay with it. Had to. Story of his life, yada-yada-yada.
"Come on, Kyle, the suspense is killing me," he said dryly. "Who is it?"
"I have just received the message. Cario Hamen, Drato Menor's bearer, asks if you could see him now."
Riordan pushed himself up and smoothed his robe in an effort to make himself look presentable. His hair was probably still a mess from all the action he had seen earlier in Xana's arms. Lately, it looked like his snakeman really loved ruffling his hair, pulling at it, and running his fingers through until he made it all stick up like a porcupine's back. Because he had coarse hair, a lot of brushing was necessary to make it look proper, and now Cario Hamen was at the door.
Before falling in love with Xana, he couldn't have cared less if he got judged by an empty-headed doll of a bearer, but now, he wanted to make his owner proud of him. Surely enough, he kept that to himself since he didn't want all that to get to that Xeno's pretty head, but he didn't want this guy visiting him to think that Counselor Xana Lei's bearer was a total slob.
"How do I look?" he asked his partner in crime.
"Master Xana would say that you look ravishing, Master Rio."
"Okay. What about the rest of the world? Give me the truth and nothing else."
"Your appearance would most likely suggest that you have just been engaged in coitus until earlier."
"Thanks for your confirmation. Now put your arm at work and give me a brushing."
Kyle executed the order, making him grunt and ground his teeth, but in less than two minutes, he had a feel that he looked somewhat decent.
"Do I look any better?"
"Yes, Master Rio, definitely better. Now, there would only be a slight suspicion regarding your earlier activities."
"Good enough. Now, let's not keep that guy waiting. Tell him that he can come in."
Kyle did whatever he had to do to communicate to the other bearer's bot, and the doors opened to allow Cario Hamen to step inside, followed dutifully by his companion. Riordan did a double take as he saw who else was visiting at the same time. The bearer had his arms full of a small Xenolite, his head already covered in blond hair that fell over his shoulders. He appeared to be deep in sleep and one of his tiny fists clasped on Cario's robe, while his slender tail was wrapped around his parent's forearm, in an endearing act of possession.
Riordan quickly found his words. "Hi and welcome to... our humble abode."
"Riordan Lei, thank you so much for having me," Cario said with a pleasant smile. "Your master informed my master that you would like to talk to someone who has been through the process of delivery."
"Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to read as much as I can on the topic, but I guess nothing beats talking to someone who's been through it." Riordan debated whether to tell Cario he had practically witnessed his giving birth to the Xenolite in his arms or not. The wall separating them at that time must have been a one-way mirror kind of thing. Still, he didn't want to start what could be a friendship of sorts on the wrong foot. When he recalled that event, he thought of Tasha, and that only served to remind him how great a friend the redhead had been to him. "I watched you, you know?" he added in a low voice.
Cario nodded. "Yes, I know." Then, he laughed. "I suppose that you might feel tempted to say that you saw the worst of me at the time. But it was the best of me, just so you know."
Riordan's eyes grew wide. "Dude, your ass got like--" He stopped and threw an unsure look at the Xenolite. "Dario, right?"
Cario caressed his baby's head and kissed it. "Yes. Don't worry. He needs his sleep and, when he's like this, nothing can wake him up. And I mean it. He practically slept through an entire war."
"Yeah, you were there," Riordan murmured. "Anyways, I need to keep my big mouth shut. I've heard from Xana that they send their kids to school once they're one year old."
"They do grow fast," Cario admitted. "Dario is only three month old. But he can already talk... well, it's a way of saying, but he knows how to send the right message to my brain to tell me that he either needs to feed or sleep."
"They're fascinating creatures when they're young, aren't they?" Riordan moved closer.
Cario moved his arm so that he could show his son better. "Drato... my master keeps saying that he has my eyes. I like to think so, too."
"Does your Xeno insist that you should call him master all the time?"
Cario shook his head. "No, nothing like that. But old habits die hard, and most people on this ship, just like on the planet we left, will frown upon lack of proper ettiquette. I went to a special school for educating those who wanted to secure a place as a bearer on Xeno. That happened when I was still on Earth."
"Wow, people did that? I landed on Xeno by..." He wanted to say 'accident', but that wasn't true. It had been a last effort to ditch his old life and get away from people who wanted his skin. Getting as far as possible from Earth's orbit had sounded like a great idea, one with few chances of succeeding. But there he was. No point in dwelling on the past.
"It doesn't matter." Cario placed a warm hand on his arm and looked at him with his large beautiful eyes. Now that was a bearer who fit the bill on all accounts -- insanely good looking, the face of an angel, and, above all, an education on how to be the perfect egg pouch for a Xeno. This guy was worlds apart from him, but Riordan felt touched by his nice manners nonetheless.
"Yeah, I guess," he said, pretending that it was easy to shrug off the immense difference between them. "I mean, we're on a ship that heads who knows where, and Xeno is... the planet, I mean--"
"No more. The planet, as we know it, is no more," Cario said. "That puts us in the race, of course."
"A race, what race?" Riordan was all ears.
Cario didn't say a thing for a moment and just pursed his lips. "You haven't heard it from me. But, as I was there, with them, while they were fighting the others, they couldn't keep it from me, not everything."
"Can you also hear their thoughts?"
"Not very well. It is either a gift or an acquired skill, and I'm not very good at acquiring it. But their guards couldn't communicate with them the way they do, so I picked up a few things here and there. This planet where we're heading, Tanez, that is their Gaia. And those terrorists," Cario took a deep breath as if to control himself, "chose to destroy Xeno so that they could have Tanez for themselves. Their plan was to doom all of us with it. It didn't work."
"Those motherfuckers," Riordan mumbled under his breath. "Sorry." He put his hands over the Xenolite's ears for a moment. His hair was so soft. "This mommy-to-be is just scared shitless."
"You have every right to be, Riordan. But we are strong. And we're on the winning team."
"Thanks for the pep talk. I suppose we do need to believe in something."
"It's more than just that. You see, these Xenos," Cario began explaining, "they have searched for the perfect compatible species to carry their eggs for millennia."
"And we're that perfect species? I mean, I want the bragging rights, but how can we be sure?"
"His Royal Chancellor is. He's the only one that can give you a clear answer if you have such questions. The point is, the conservative forces on Xeno opposed the notion right away, splitting their society in half. His Royal Chancellor wanted to convince everyone. He wanted to help increase the population first and then embark it all on ships heading for Tanez. That was the plan, apparently a very old plan."
"So, are these other guys in a race for Tanez, too? But they don't have bearers, do they?"
"They are a rather peculiar group," Cario explained. "Again, all I know is made up of tiny pieces of information. Rumor has it that they found a way to live forever... only if they reach Tanez. And, if they live forever--"
"They don't need bearers or any kind of offspring at all," Riordan completed Cario's thought. "Damn."
That particular thought was rubbing him the wrong way. "So, they just wanted to kill everyone and hop on their ships to find the fountain of eternal youth on Tanez?"
"That would be the gist of it, the way I see it. But I came here to help you with something a lot more important."
"Right," Riordan said, but his thoughts were already a mess. So Tanez could grant eternal life? Xana had been adamant that his species didn't believe in myths. That had to mean that the part about what the terrorists, as Cario called them, believed was also true.
Cario took his hand. "Would you like to hold Dario for a bit? To see what is going to feel like?"
"Yes, please," he replied and opened his arms.
