They watched Ann soar into the air in pursuit of Ben and Aayla. Paris wondered if Ben would attack Jason. Klara wondered how upset Ben would be.
He hadn't any right to be, Klara thought, because other men had been part of the genetic scheme from the beginning -- just like him sleeping with her and Myra and Aayla. And yet there was his peculiar bond with Myra. Maybe he'd felt closer to her because she was more ordinary - literally down to earth.
And he didn't even know about the child.
Klara was also curious about this bond that Jason and her sister now shared. Had Aayla told Ben about it? Told him....
***
Ben had been flying in with the bikini and the heat lamp when he noticed a commotion on the hilltop. Concentrating, he zoomed his vision and saw the Diaboli, Jason, naked in the arms of a similarly naked Myra while Paris looked on.
He froze in mid-air. There was some sort of argument going on among Klara and Ann and Aayla -- then Aayla soared into the air towards him. She paused only long enough to send thoughts at him.
<<Your precious Myra's found a new toy,>> she said. <<She doesn't need you any more -- or your children. >>
She flew on pursued now by Ann, but not before flashing images to Ben. Images of Jason and Myra. Images that left nothing about their relationship in doubt.
"Don't believe anything she says," Ann cried as she caught up, but would not wait for an answer. She flew on, still in pursuit of Aayla.
But it didn't matter what anyone said. He had seen with his own eyes, with his own mind.
He hung there in the air, helplessly, almost forgetting how to fly. He'd never been that good at it, anyway. He'd been the goofy one, in powers as well as in looks. It was only in Myra's love that he had found redemption. Her sisters had never understood that.
And now....
It had been shock at first, when Aayla taunted him, when she had shown him the evidence. But shock was now turning to rage.
***
Damn! It was now clear to Klara from watching Ben's body language that he was upset. More than upset.
In fact, she thought, zooming in on his face with her superior eyesight, it would be accurate to say he was wrathful.
He was just hanging there in the air, staring down at them, as if he couldn't take it all in. Aayla must have told him something, maybe told him everything. But surely he knew about Jason.
So the first order of business would be safeguarding him from Ben's wrath. She moved to pick the dazed man up. Paris saw this and moved to help her sister place Jason securely over her shoulders.
"Should we get Myra away too? You know him better than I; will he strike at Myra in his jealousy?"
"I don't think so but better safe than sorry. Bring her along and at the least not having her in front of him should make it easier for Mom to calm him down."
"Yeah," said Paris hoisting Myra onto her shoulders, "as long as dear sister Aayla keeps her mouth shut and what are the chances of that happening?"
"Slim and none." Klara said grimacing at the thought of how callous and manipulative her sister had grown. "This will help though. C'mon I know a good place to stash them until they are all the way with us again."
Klara took off and Paris followed, taking a long detour around Ben, who seemed to be floundering in mid-air. Each soared effortlessly through the clear sky, experiencing no trouble carrying her burden aloft.
Paris congratulated herself on staying out of the whole crazy genetic scheme. Mom grew up in a lab and And'ril on a battlefield, she told herself. So it's no wonder they have strange ideas of family. Not to mention the fact that mom was raised by a single male geneticist.
She noticed they were heading towards a large lake.
"You have a place here?" Paris asked Klara.
"Yes. It's secluded, peaceful and nobody knows about it. They'll be safe here 'til I can get back to Ben and convince him to be reasonable."
Paris nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm still worried about those kidnappers who set a trap for her but I think she'll be fine once she adjusts. She's more than Supremis now. Those guys are in for a nasty shock the next time they meet her. She might be safer than we are."
Klara giggled, "Well we are more than Supremis ourselves Paris so I doubt we need to worry but I agree about them and we do still need to find out where such low rent thugs got such high tech guns."
"Yeah." Paris nodded.
They flew in silence for a while; then Klara pointed, "There! That's my hideaway. I built it myself and stocked it from several different towns."
Paris saw an on an island in the middle of the lake a stone castle made of blocks carved from a nearby cliff by her sister's powerful hands and mortared with local concrete. "You built yourself a castle?"
"Yeah. If you want to live in a surf shack that's fine for you but I love my castle."
"Fair enough. Let's get them inside so you can go back and lend Mom a hand."
They landed by the front doors and Klara led her sister in to her Sanctum Sanctorum. They tucked Myra and Jason into the same bed and then tiptoed away. In the library Paris poured herself a brandy and selected a book.
"You go help Mom with Ben and I'll stay here and watch over them."
"Are you sure you don't mind?"
"Not as long as you don't mind me helping myself."
Klara smiled at her sister. "Not at all. Thanks millions for your help. See you soon. I hope all this will be over by then." Klara took off and Paris shook her head as she made her way back to the bedroom with her book and her drink.
This genetic scheme might fly with Velorians, although even they would have trouble with it, but from what I've seen of Terrans convincing them will be nothing but trouble. She sat down in an armchair near the bed and sipped the brandy. Still I imagine Klara can convince Ben, she's good at that and eventually he'll either be ok with it or leave. She grinned, or maybe he'll convince her monogamy is a good thing. I doubt that but we'll see. She put down the brandy and settled in to read while waiting for Myra and Jason to snap out of it.