“Then we can start looking again?”
“Yes, love. We will,”he promised.
Ajha hugged Calan with a silent ‘I love you.’ He returned the emotion as he hugged her back.
Going into the red-light district and the fighting venues was risky. As powerful a psion as Calan was, he was still only human. Should his attention falter even a few seconds in the wrong crowd, he could be killed. Or Ajha could be taken or killed. He just wasn’t willing to risk it by going out there fatigued from lack of sleep.
By the time they opened the doors, the crowd in front of the main entrance had grown to over two hundred. The ratio of men had increased to about a third of the second group. Calan sensed some had been working for overlords but thought the Refuge would be a better opportunity for their families. As long as they didn’t cause trouble, they were welcome.
Calan used a portable sound amplifier to address the group and explain the purpose of the Refuge and plans to build a community surrounding the former industrial complex. He just gave them the basics, because he didn’t want to delay them getting food and medical care.
They were okay with the fact that they wouldn’t have private accommodations right away. Most were seeking the safety within the walls and the promise of food for their children.
Three women volunteered to check in the new residents with their new tablets. They seemed pleased to help after being accepted into the community. Several other residents organized the new arrivals into two lines in front of the double entrance door. Inside, they were directed into three lines, to be registered.
Rax came to mark off areas for each family to occupy until more modules arrived. He seemed to like being around people and his social skills were improving. Calan sensed Rax was disappointed that among all the women who had come there had been no female for him.
Many had looked at the cyborg with interest as he was tall blond and ripped. None had stirred his interest beyond casual interaction.
“Don’t worry,” Calan told him. “You’ve only been out of stasis for a couple weeks. Your female could still be out there someplace. It just might take a while to find her.”
“It didn’t take that long for you to find yours,” Rax lamented.
“I knew she was here before I came. Sort of like I knew you were here in stasis when I got here.” Calan said. “Patience, my friend. More females are coming. If she doesn’t get here by the time we get this place up and running, you can go out and find her.”
Rax smiled, at that.
“We’ll talk later, it looks like there was a line forming at the flat I commandeered temporarily for a clinic.”
Rax inclined his head in acknowledgment and went back to work plotting spaces for the influx.
Most of the medical problems were as simple as malnutrition or cuts and scrapes. A couple had severe birth defects that Calan could treat psionically or gene therapy. Psionic healing would be quicker, but it could sap his energy for days in the more complicated cases. He just could not afford to render himself that vulnerable for cases that were not a matter of imminent death or life.
The changes he was bringing to Farringay would soon make some powerful enemies. Vulnerability was a risk he couldn’t afford. It could get both Ajha and him killed. She needed time for her abilities to dawn fully and more time to gain control of them.
Calan could use the medical science. He had plenty of medication to ease their pain while the scientific treatment worked. He could help them without risking his life unnecessarily. Even a physician wouldn’t be expected to treat a patient at the risk of his life.
On the other hand, just because he was a physician didn’t mean he would not defend people like Holly from thugs. Even his father had killed in war, and this was as much of a war as Hankura had faced.
Calan understood that some people were just irredeemable. He couldn’t let himself feel guilty for what he’d done to those thugs. He knew he had almost killed at least one of them. The three of them were on their way to killing Holly, Calan had to stop them. Holly’s fear had gripped him. His anger at their ruthless brutality had made him use more force than necessary to stop them.
Nothing angered him more than thugs like those three hurting people who could barely fight back for personal gain. In Holly’s case, it was a scare tactic to discourage the other hookers from escaping.
It stood to reason that if Holly wanted out, there were others who wanted a different life as well. Most of them were doing it to survive not because they enjoyed it. If they tried to quit, they’d probably get the same treatment as Holly. Others probably didn’t think of leaving because they had no place to live and no way to get food.
Except now they did, and he was going to see that they knew it. When he started luring the prostitutes from the brothels, the thugs would come for him. He would have no choice but to defend himself then. The question was how he would do that.
Calan could quickly kill them, but they weren’t the same as the Tregans his father had killed. He could literally change their minds. He’d let his emotions override his intellect when he slammed that thug against the brick wall. Still, he didn’t feel guilty; he was only human.
But he also had the principles he’d held from the dawning of his abilities. He should use them to convince people to do the right thing for the greater good. There were still more women than men in the community because of the violence. If he could salvage some of these males into civilized society, he should do it.
If he committed violence against the overlord’s henchmen, he would be no different than they were. He needed to change their minds the way Jamerin had changed the minds of the Normals on Aledus. Jamerin did that by making them feel the oppression and despair that the psions felt at the way they were treated.
As the line in front of the clinic grew longer, Calan gave himself a mental shake back to the present. He headed for the next flat where he held clinic and gave a genuinely friendly smile to the children who caught his eye as he passed. They were the ones he was doing all this for---, so they could grow up in the kind of world he did.
Chapter Ten
“Do you even think we will find her alive?”Ajha asked without speaking as they undressed for bed.“It’s been weeks, and it seems like we’ve been to every brothel and fight club there is.”
