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  Wings

  Amaryllis

  by

  Tricia McGill

  A Wings ePress, Inc.

  Science Fiction Romance

  Wings ePress, Inc.

  Edited by: Pat Casey

  Copy Edited by: Gail Simmons

  Senior Editor: Pat Casey

  Managing Editor: Elizabeth Struble

  Executive Editor: Lorraine Stephens

  Cover Artist: Chrissie Poe

  All rights reserved

  Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Wings ePress Books

  http://www.wings-press.com

  Copyright © 2001 by Tricia McGill

  ISBN 1-59088-019-6

  Published In the United States Of America

  November 2001

  Wings ePress Inc.

  P. O. Box 726

  Lusk, WY. 82225

  DEDICATION

  To my sisters, Vi and Doris,

  who thought me mad to keep going through the pain of rejections,

  but were so proud of me when my tenacity eventually paid off.

  Thanks for your love and support.

  What They Are Saying About

  Amaryllis

  If you’re looking for a story full of excitement, intrigue and love then AMARYLLIS is the book for you. Tricia McGill has cleverly woven a story of two worlds of different cultures and beliefs¾ alien and separate, except for one thing¾ the undeniable love of an Amaryllisan man for an earth woman. AMARYLLIS is a must read from beginning to its final, shattering and most satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend this book.

  ¾ Elizabeth Forsyth

  Writing for Heartline Books. UK.

  http://www.heartlinebooks.com

  One

  Alone! Alone! Alone!

  Like a bizarre chant the one word reverberated around in Melanie’s brain.

  Sorrow, like a great weight, pressed down on her, and made her heart feel as if it was being crushed.

  "I can’t say how sorry I am." Pete Marchant took her arm as together they walked along the stark corridor of the morgue--their footsteps echoing off the walls.

  Melanie shuddered, almost tripping, as another wave of sickness overtook her and he tightened his hold on her. Shaking her head, she stared mutely up at the man at her side. Pete had been Chris’s partner for the last three years.

  This wasn’t happening to her? It had to be a terrible nightmare. She would wake at any moment to find her life as it had been just a few hours ago. Comfortable, if not exciting.

  But she had just seen her dead husband, so she wasn’t in the midst of a dreadful dream.

  "I… I have to sit down." Her legs threatened to give way and she wavered. Pete led her to a wooden bench. "Wh--what am I going to d--do?" she wailed, running her shaking fingers through her hair--hair she guessed was unkempt.

  "I’ll help all I can, Melanie. Chris was my best friend as well as my partner. You know that." Pete squeezed her hand. Melanie barely felt it. She was so benumbed.

  "Yes, I know." Melanie tried for a smile, but her face felt like a piece of cardboard. She doubted she’d ever smile again.

  "H…how did it happen? The Chief said he was fished out of the bay." Choking back another sob, she bit hard on her lower lip. It was as numb as the rest of her body. Except for her heart. That organ felt as if it was being cut in two. "My God!"

  Although they’d done a good job of cleaning him up, Chris’s handsome face had been a mess. Those bastards must have done him over well, before they dumped him.

  "How will I sleep nights thinking how he must have suffered before he died?" Barely aware of Pete’s arm about her shoulders, Melanie buried her face in her hands. "I can’t believe this." She moaned on another shuddering sob.

  "I know how you feel." His voice was threaded with bitterness. "They won’t get away with it. You can depend on that."

  From tear-heavy eyes Melanie lifted her face to stare at him. "Do you have any idea who it was?" She spoke in a whisper.

  "Oh yes." His normally soft eyes took on a flinty coldness and his jaw was clenched so tight she could almost hear his teeth grinding. "We’d been working undercover for months on this case. I’ll carry on though. Don’t worry. We’ll catch the monsters." He squeezed her hand again. "Chris won’t have died in vain. Have no fear."

  Fear in her heart Melanie stared at him. "Please be careful," she pleaded with trembling lips. She gripped his arm. "You have Lucy and the kids to think of. I don’t want them to have to go through what I’m going through right now."

  "I will." Pete glanced about as he made a face. "Look, I hate to leave you like this, but I have to go. Will you be all right now? One of the boys will give you a lift home. Ah, there’s Jackson. He’ll look after you." Pete signaled to the blank-faced policeman who stood just inside the double glass doors at the end of the corridor. "Make sure Mrs. Ross gets home safe and sound, won’t you," he called. The policeman nodded.

  "I’ll come and see you tomorrow, all right? Try and get some sleep." Pete gave her a look packed with sorrow before handing her into Jackson’s care.

  ~ * ~

  Muttering weakly, Irena put a hand to her head. She must move. But her limbs felt as if they had turned to the soft mud found on the shoreline at the foot of the mountains Tolus and Tepiri back on her home world of Amaryllis.

  Moisture covered her body and she found it hard to draw breath--every intake of air sending pain through her upper body. This fever was slowly taking away her powers. Never in her life had she felt so weak. Every muscle was being pulled to its limits, and the pain in her head was unbearable. Nausea, strong and debilitating, racked her. The illness had attacked her so suddenly. One moment in fascination she had been studying Earth people, the next she had been struck down.

  Touching her wristband, she tapped in the necessary code for recuperation; soon all would be well and she could go on with her investigative tasks.

  But the minuscule screen flashed a negative response. How could it be? Growing frantic, she reset the code and tried again.

  Negative again. This time it beeped a warning. By the great Bodka, what was happening here?

  "Come in, ship zero five," a voice came clearly over her inter-com unit. Frowning, with her finger trembling so much she had trouble keeping it on the button, Irena pressed the message return pad.

  "Zero five responding," she answered. Her voice shook uncontrollably, along with her hands, as she waited for the Squadron leader to answer.

  "Prepare for take-off, Irena. Instantly! This is my last order. We must leave immediately. I repeat, immediately. This virus that is virulent on Earth will annihilate you if you stay longer." His order brooked no argument.

  Irena pressed a hand to her aching temple. Dizziness made her feel faint. "I fear I have already succumbed to this virus strain they call influenza, Shan. I have not the strength to recuperate." Her voice was thin.

  "Fool of a woman!" He bit out his favorite curse, sighed deeply and then used a few more strong oaths to tell her succinctly what he thought of her stupidity. "I told you not to dally on Earth a moment longer than necessary. We must leave now. Farewell. You know what your duty is."

  "Yes, I know, Shan." Irena’s voice quivered, and much as she tried to remain stoic,
her mouth began to tremble. She was more than a fool. "Farewell." His voice was abrupt.

  Silence followed the disconnection. With a sob of despair Irena sank back onto her couch. Of course Reve had sensed disaster would befall her on this mission. With his powers of insight he’d known. Why had she foolishly disregarded his forecast? He’d wanted her to withdraw her application to be part of this expedition, and as commander in control of the Starship Victus, circling the home planet of Amaryllis, he possessed the right to prohibit her from going. But they had both known he would not assert his prerogative. Had both known she was far too obstinate to forego the chance to fulfill her dream.

  Although he was her superior officer and more importantly, her mate, she would have not, for him, or all the stars in the universe, given up this chance.

  She’d made her thoughts clear. "It’s simply a reconnaissance of this young planet Earth. I want to go. I have worked long and hard for the chance to go to the far planets, and nothing will stop me now I have this chance," she had told him.

  "But I have this uneasy feeling," Reve had argued.

  Irena was far too strong-willed and ambitious. Certainly she had made no secret of her yearnings to be part of the discovery team. A yearning superseding all others, it had been with her since she’d graduated from training school.

  "You are known for your uneasy feelings, Reve." With a toss of her head, she had proclaimed her disdain for his premonitions.

  "Yes, and usually they prove well founded." Not usually, but definitely. Even this knowledge would not divert her from her path. A path leading to destruction.

  "Perhaps. But, what can go wrong?" Her shoulders lifted in an indolent shrug. "We have explored far planets for many hundreds of megnums now. This is merely a routine trip."

  Reve had sighed. Of course he'd known, hadn't he? That he stood little chance of directing her along another path than the one she’d chosen.

  Now Irena felt a great sadness overcome the pain as she recalled his parting words.

  "Be careful, my sweet one. That’s all I ask. If you won’t heed my warning, then go with my blessing." What thoughts had gone through his mind as he watched the squadron of fifty vessels taking off on this, one of the many missions undertaken to collect data from the far planets?

  It was imperative they find a planet suitable for their habitation within the next twenty megnums. The water level rose on Amaryllis each year and soon the planet would be entirely beneath the oceans. The two mountains, Tolus and Tepiri, were the only land remaining above water. Soon they too would be below the seas. It was becoming a mammoth task to build and maintain retaining walls around the shafts to keep giving access to the mines beneath the mountains. Mines containing kota, the precious substance required for manufacturing the fuel to drive their air ships.

  Even knowing Reve’s premonitions were to be relied on, short of incarcerating her, he’d had little choice but to go along with her wishes. And now all he had dreaded had come to pass.

  This strange planet of Earth had intrigued her so much. These people were so primitive with odd means of communication. Their many modes of transport were noisy, cumbersome, and all smelled vile. The thing that beguiled her more than anything was the endless stretches of land. Vast continents of such variety. What little ocean there was lapped against golden or rocky shores or crashed violently onto jutting headlands and cliffs. Earth’s seas would surely not encroach any further on the landmasses for many megnums.

  The cities were spread out over vast areas. Some houses clustered together in large blocks but most set out with natural gardens surrounding them. There were huge constructions that seemed to reach the sky. These had so many windows they appeared to be made of the transparent substance they called glass.

  And the animal life! So many species, more than one could count in a life span. Creatures called giraffes, elephants and rhinoceros proved the most intriguing. And the small furry creatures that had been domesticated were even allowed into sleeping chambers by some Earth dwellers.

  So many things drew her attention. Endless bizarre pastimes and occupations went on here. Tennis, bowling and a seemingly useless game called football, where an orb was kicked from one end of a field to the other, had baffled her. The watching crowds seemed to go into a kind of frenzy over these pastimes.

  Using the power enabling her to conceal herself, she was able to look in on the lives of these alien people, some who labored each day over desks and workbenches, instead of leaving the heavy work to robots.

  She was certain life here wouldn’t suit her forever. There was little doubt she would miss the culture and strict discipline of Amaryllis. But, oh how she had desired to linger just a while longer.

  This had been her downfall.

  Her craft must be made ready for its return to Amaryllis. It must go without her. She could not carry the virus back to her planet--would not risk the lives of her people. Striving to pull her wits about her, she struggled up from her couch and stared out of the vision shield at the Earth below her--so colorful, so varied. How she had enjoyed this, her first and last mission to a far planet.

  She sighed. At least her life-long vision had been accomplished. Of that she could be very proud. At three megnums she was young to be allowed to join such a squadron. Most did not gain such an honor until perhaps their fourth or fifth megnum.

  No sense in wallowing in self-pity. She’d vied for the place and won. Now she was about to lose. With eyes shut she sank onto her reclining seat again. Desolation filled her. She must begin the process of making the ship ready for its long voyage, but her strength was dissipating with every breath.

  Her mind, already losing some of its faculties, began to hallucinate and formulate an idea. What if she found someone to take her place? What if she sought an Earth woman to send back home? It would be easy enough to find a replacement. The difficulty would be finding a suitable one in the time available. At least by this action she might redeem herself in Reve's mind. To have an Earth specimen to study, as well as the data gathered, would perhaps compensate in some way for her stupidity.

  Delving to the back of her failing mind, Irena recalled a story one of her group mothers had told her about a male brought from a far planet megnums ago, who had been successfully reprogrammed.

  Whomever she sent back would be able to give her people much information about Earth.

  Her mind made up, Irena found renewed strength. She pushed herself up and prepared to de-visualize herself for the transportation back down to Earth.

  ~ * ~

  Irena hovered above the structure where the Earth people laid out their dead. Her sensory powers had brought her to this place, Sydney, on the land mass called Australia. The woman she had chosen was quite plain by Amaryllis’ standards; with a roundness to her figure Irena found endearing, though strange. No woman on her planet had any excess of fat on their bodies.

  The Earth woman was short, with bright hair the same shade as the sand washing up on most of the shores of this planet. The woman was now alone in the world. Irena’s telepathic powers had ascertained this fact easily.

  A perfect specimen. With her partner now dead and no close kin to worry about, the woman would have nothing to keep her in this place. All Irena had to do now was convince her she would have everything to gain by returning to Amaryllis in Irena’s place.

  Another wave of sickness racked her and with a hand to her stomach she breathed in deeply as it passed over her in a deadly surge. She must make haste.

  Two

  Melanie let herself into her apartment and closed the door. With a stifled sob of despair, she leaned her head against the cool wood and looked about. The apartment seemed desolate and empty. Although she’d spent many hours here alone in the past without feeling lonely, now she felt as if she was the last survivor after a holocaust.

  Pushing herself away from the door, she tossed her keys on the small table by the door and wandered listlessly over to the television. After she switched it
on, a stiff-faced announcer told everybody about the death of a detective working undercover, one Christopher Ross, who had died in the course of performing his duty.

  That was it. No explanations, no details, not a word about the awful job he had and why he’d met an untimely end. No word of his horrific injuries. They showed a black and white photo that made him look like an escapee from Alcatraz. Chris and she had laughed together over the stupid photograph when he’d taken it in as his identification picture.

  He’d looked ghastly laid out beneath the sheet in that awful place and she shook anew with her grief and horror.

  With an angry curse she switched the TV off and, kicking off her shoes, sank onto the sofa. She ran her hand over its soft upholstery. The previous night, he’d come in late, as usual, and she’d made him an omelet when he’d professed to not being very hungry. Then they’d made love right here before Chris had picked her up in his strong arms and carried her sleepy body to bed.

  "Oh Chris!" she sobbed, picking the cushion up, burying her face in it and fancying she could smell the scent of his body on the fabric. How would she live without him?

  She’d been alone in the world until she’d met Chris. An orphan, who had been on her own since she’d turned sixteen, after running away from the last of a string of foster homes. The father, a gross man who’d always smelt of onions, had taken too much of an interest in her budding figure. The last straw had come when he’d cornered her in the laundry. Bile still rose in her throat years later when she recalled the feel of his great sweaty palms on her body.

  At twenty two Melanie now had to get used to being on her own again. The thought filled her with dread and fear.

  The shrill ring of the phone made her jump. She could leave it unanswered. Who could be phoning her at this time of night? The officer in charge of the case had assured her she wouldn’t be called on. Pete was the only one likely to be calling so late. Perhaps he wanted to make sure she had arrived home all right.