Children of Krina

Chapter Eleven

Kota's POV

I could not believe it; we would be living in an underground bunker. It was no wonder Uncle had been sure we would be safe. I was beginning to think Uncle had some weird friends that Luke and North knew nothing about. First, there was his informant; then the three Krinar from two days ago, and now a prepper, what next? I mean, how many people actually knew someone who owns an underground bunker?

This was not one of the bunkers made by the military. I would say it belonged to some rich person, like Victor's father. Who else would have a gym, a swimming pool, a theater, and a Jacuzzi? Not that I was complaining; it had all the space we needed and more. When Doc suggested we bring more families in, Uncle reminded us all that we were just guests here and it was not our place to bring more people in. When Doc had started to protest, Dr. Roberts stepped in. He pointed out to us that we could not save everyone, especially from themselves. The Krinar were not acting aggressively towards humans, only defending themselves when we attacked them. We had not come here to hide from aliens, but from our own people. His message hit home when we gathered to watch Uncle's home destroyed by the criminals we had fled. They had arrived around the time uncle thought they would, their leader had been furious to find our crops and us gone. The most upsetting part of it, the three nurses was with them, hanging all over the leader and his right-hand man.

Dr. Roberts and uncle's point was that we did not know whom we could trust. We already had to leave one base of operations because we trusted the wrong people, did we want to repeat our mistakes? A friend of Uncle's was kind enough to let us stay in their personal bomb shelter, including twenty-nine people unknown to them. We would not be just endangering ourselves; we would jeopardize this place and others.

Unloading the bus had been hard work, thankfully there was several hand lift carts that we could use to move the crates. Everyone, except the three little kids, helped with the produce we had raised. After unloading it, we had to preserve it. That meant canning, freezing, or drying it. Thankfully, the kitchen was like that of a large restaurant; it had multiple stoves, ovens, sinks and large pots. The non-cooks had other duties to attend. They deposited everyone's belongings to different sleeping chambers, some of us having to share. They explored the entire underground compound, checked out the equipment, and checked the supplies that had been here when we arrived. Maybe this was extreme, but no one else was offering us a safe haven and remaining at Uncle's would have just caused us to be injured or worse.

We were able to remain in contact with the outside world; we had internet, satellite television, phone service, two ham radios and walkie-talkies that worked even if one of us was outside the shelter. There were cameras inside and out, a combination control and safe room. There was a gunroom where all the weapons and ammunition was stored, only Uncle, Dr. Roberts and Raven had access to it. We, the idiots that we are, had rushed in, pulling the guns off the wall, and aiming them at each other, even though we knew better. The parents had hit the roof and Raven had chewed us out for not treating the guns with respect. Several members of the Toma team had been just as guilty, so we were all receiving gun safety lessons for the second time. Surprisingly, my mother and Jessica were taking the classes with us. They were also having Nathan give them defense lessons; mom claimed that she and Jess needed to be able to defend themselves. The young Mrs. Roberts and Mindy joined in with their lessons.

Once we were all settled in, Uncle and those assisting with the cooking, created a feast for us to celebrate the harvest. We had spinach lasagna, salad, garlic bread and peach cobbler for desert. We were becoming used to the no meat rule; by how flavorful some foods were without its overpowering taste amazed us.

Victor's POV

While it had been good to see my brothers again, it hurt that they had not recognized me. Surely, I had not changed that much in appearance, a bit taller and broader, maybe. Okay, make that a lot taller. I did go from five foot six to six foot one, my hair had become naturally streaked and I gained some more muscle. Most boys our age would hit a growth spurt; they would shoot up in height, their shoulders would become broader and they would look like the young men that they were over a period of time, why was I so different? Because Krinar children went through some, type of metamorphous, where several of our growth spurts decide to hit at once. We sleep a full twenty-four hours or more and wake up starving, looking different. I had thought Ellet was telling me tall tales, boy was I wrong. Krinar females went through the same process around the same age, so Sang would be experiencing her own change soon.

Once we left the VR chamber, Lahur took us to meet with the other elders so we could learn to use our mental abilities. Very few Krinar had such abilities, to many genetic alterations removed it from most bloodlines and it was not something you could add. Sang and I inherited them from our parents who gained them as they grew older and Krina evolved around them. As direct descendents of the four oldest elders, it would have been a bigger surprise if we had not inherited their abilities. We had not just received the DNA from one parent, but both, so we were stronger than expected. What we did at Uncle's was channel earth, the plants, trees are part of earth, and that was why we were able to control them. It seemed like it would be witchcraft, but I had actually felt as if I was part of the earth and each plant was a separate limb I could control.

I have been accepting some hard truths since we helped my friends. Returning to Earth did not mean I could return to my family. I cannot share everything with them; the mandate and the humans own point of development prevented them from learning all about us. As the son of two of the elders, Krinars would be outraged if I rejoined my team and obeyed orders given by a human. My parents have shared the knowledge they have gained in their nine millions years with me; it would insult them if I chose to follow a human that is a babe compared to a Krinar lifespan. There was the fact that Sang and I will speak for the elders once we return, act in their stead with the Council and the humans. If the Academy continues to operate, most of their missions would likely concern the Krinar in some way. I cannot go against my people unless they are committing a crime and then I would take a team of Guardians with me. Though it pained me to say it, humans were no match for a cornered Krinar. I knew that I was not even ready to go against one of my own kind. We descended from a savage race, we still had blood feuds and we killed each other in the arena. Human weapons did not harm us; we did not hesitate to kill when threatened. No, my brothers and the Academy needed to stay far away from the Krinar.

The nine of us had been overly arrogant; we felt we had the right to pry into anyone's business we wanted. We may have gotten away with it before, but we would have been signing our own death warrants if we had tried it with the Krinar. Our sense of entitlement had been overblown. We had broken laws regularly; we were Academy and thought ourselves above the law. The thing was we acted no better than the bad people we were trying to catch; we hacked into computers, we broke into houses and safes, we took cars, we wired people and put cameras in their houses to spy on them. In many ways the Academy was a vigilante force, we had no legal status, we were not law enforcement or government agents. We were just a group of people who took the law into our own hands and sought our own form of justice. We tell ourselves that we are keeping people safe, but how many innocent people have we unknowingly hurt along the way?

Was I being too harsh in judging us? I did not know. I just knew that I could no longer be a part of it because of my birth and abilities. My people came here in peace; I could not break the truce by sticking my nose into human concerns. I would leave it in my brothers' hands, as they were human.