Finding Michelle - An excerpt from THE ALEDAN: A Psionic Love Story

     He sensed Michelle reaching out to him, and he felt as though her soul were trying to meld with his own. Without ever having seen her, he felt physically aroused. He ached with the overwhelming need to join her body to his. He had felt the need many times before in the erotic dreams they had shared, but never with this intensity. He understood that this mating instinct was being triggered by the psi-bonding. At the moment, it threatened to overwhelm his other reasons for coming to find Michelle. He had never wanted anyone so much.

     Hankura sensed that he had been a cherished imaginary friend, sometimes more real to her than others. He kept her company when she was alone and afraid, and he shared her fears in his dreams.

Michelle didn't really understand any of it, though. Even when the voices came to her in the months before Jerry was killed, Hankura had seen that she didn't realize the power of thought she could control. She was a latent psion, wild and uneducated. She was everything Aledan society shunned in the people of the motherworld. The prospect of taking her there worried him because they would quickly see how different she was. He and Michelle would have to deal with that.

    Hankura felt her essence taking possession of him, and he didn't fight it. The bond was too strong. After fifteen minutes, Hankura knew he couldn't rest. He got up and assembled a pack for his journey, then changed from the metallic coverall he was wearing to a loose fitting shirt and trousers. On his belt, he hung a laser/stunner just in case . . .

    Although he was a physician by trade and didn't know if he could kill, he didn't dare venture out into this strange world unarmed.

    At sunrise, he left the ship to check the hull. It was marred by scraping branches but undamaged just as the computer indicated. Hankura paused to stare up at the trees towering over him. His rough landing had opened a gaping hole in the greenery that would expose his ship air crafts passing overhead.

    He couldn't risk having anyone find the ship--his only way off this miserable planet. So he used his laser and sheared off some of the surrounding brush to camouflage it.

Mother of Life, what am I doing here? He cursed silently as he tossed leafy branches on the pile that was beginning to cover his ship. Why didn't I just take a freighter?

    But it was not a valid question. He knew full well he had loved piloting the Mrans from the first time he'd sat behind the controls in space with the freedom of the stars in his grasp.

He'd sacrificed companionship for his freedom, however, on this journey back to Aledus. He'd hoped the solitude would help him sort out his life. Only now he was more alone than he ever thought he would be--except for her.

    Twittering sparrows startled him out of his thoughts as the birds rustled the branches overhead. He finished covering the ship and set out to find Michelle. As he moved through the trees and brush leafy branches and thorny vines to reach out and slapped him in the face. Brittle twigs snapped, and dry dead leaves rustled on the ground. His noisy tramping through the woods sent numerous frightened animals scurrying away. Although he saw few, there were living creatures all around him, and he sensed their fear of him.

    He could have reassured them, but his obsession with finding Michelle kept him moving. Only that obsession could have made him struggle so relentlessly through the thick brush of the mountain forest. He'd lost track time altogether when he finally saw an opening ahead that renewed the strength of his determination. Two tracks were etched in the dirt, a strip of green grew between them. This open path was less direct than his route through the forest, but it stretched out before him invitingly. He sensed that it twisted eventually toward the big clearing where Michelle lived. And taking the path was a lot easier.

                                                                               

    Hankura! As Michelle awoke, she felt his very real presence in her mind; more real than she had ever felt him before. He was coming to find her just as he'd promised all those years ago.

So many times Jerry had tried to convince her that Hankura was only a product of her imagination! She had started to believe her brother, but Jerry was wrong . . . Hankura was real, and no one would ever convince her other wise again. He was real and she had to find him.

    Following the tree-sheltered path deep into the woods, Michelle felt his presence long before she caught sight of him. It was a strange feeling--a kind of magnetism that made it impossible for her to turn back. It frightened her a little.

    Then images of places she had seen in their shared dreams started to unfold in her mind as the strange-familiar presence grew stronger. She saw the endless blackness of space and felt his loneliness on the journey to Earth. She didn't know how to shut out his memories.

Michelle stopped at the edge of a small clearing. The sudden urge to turn and run almost overwhelmed her. He--Hankura was coming nearer. She wanted him to come, but now that he was actually here she was afraid.

    They saw each other almost at the same time and stood staring in awe for several moments before either moved toward the other. Hankura felt her fear and awe entwine with his own, mixed with a compulsion to reach out and touch her . . .mind and body.

He was all she had expected physically--tall and well muscled with umber hair and emerald green eyes that seemed to look right through her.

    Michelle felt beautiful in his eyes in spite of the ragged overalls that clad her slim figure. She felt his sexual attraction as well, and it awakened feelings that she had suppressed for a very long time. A vision of them entwined in a sexual embrace accompanied that yearning.

    Her face flushed, and Michelle felt shaken as she realized her vision of them together touched his mind, too. His eyes were warm and he grinned, moving toward her with his hand extended. It was clear he meant to fulfill her sexual longings.

    "Nooo!" She backed away in unreasoning panic. She wanted him but she was afraid to give herself into his possession despite the bond of their minds. She was afraid of the way he made her feel. He moved closer, and she turned and ran...