Chapter Eight
1564 Words
The pungent aroma of earth’s finest coffee filled Edgar’s nostrils as he stared at the blank square telecommunications screen before him. It would take a while before his call would be connected on Leesah.
Edgar’s fingers played a staccato on his desk, and he occasionally reached for the large thermal mug to his right.
There were many things he liked about Earth; its coffee was one of those things. Unlike humans, he could drink the stuff all the time and was never bored with it. Well, he liked the flavour, but he also enjoyed the effect it had on him whenever his emotions became too much, and meditation alone would not help.
If he was having a cup now, it was because his emotions were unsettling him. Since Regina had run into his life, he had been bombarded with a tsunami of emotions that were threatening to burst the emotional dam he had created for the last forty years.
The screen before him flickered, then cleared. He sat up straight and waited as a human dressed in a dark blue business suit came onto the screen.
“Wolfblood, you’re well?”
Edgar swallowed the coffee he had in his mouth and placed his mug next to his hand.
“As well as to be expected, Corbin.”
Lionel Corbin seemed to have aged since the last time they had spoken face to face, and he wondered if the strain of Corbin’s true job was getting too much for him. “Corbin, you look…pale” He could not help saying. “Much paler than my kind.”
Corbin shook his head. “Don’t say it old friend. This election business is taking it out of me.”
Lionel Corbin was running for earth’s presidential election. Though he was already earth’s representative to the Intergalactic High Council and held the position as director of the Intergalactic Investigation Bureau. If Edgar had not known him, he would think the human was greedy. However, this was as far from the truth as possible. Edgar had never met anyone more driven to see his people cement their position amongst the elite of the allied planets in their solar system.
Edgar leaned forward, placing his elbows on his desk. “You knew it would not be easy…”
“Still… it has been more difficult than I have anticipated,” Corbin claimed, rubbing his forehead with hands that were veiny and ashen.
“Do you want to give up?” Edgar asked a note of concern in his voice.
Corbin lifted his head and smiled at him. “No old friend. This is my calling. If I stop now, how will I face my wife in the afterlife?”
Edgar grimaced, relaxing back on his chair, he took another sip of his drink.
Like him, Corbin’s spouse was deceased. He knew Violetta Corbin too, she had been a lovely, warm woman. His scanned Corbin’s face, did his friend suffer the same way a Karan did when they lost their Kindred Soul?
Corbin rubbed his temple again. “I received your message. Regina Wilde is on board your ship?”
“She is,” he nods. “Although she is not what I had expected, with such a reputation.”
Corbin’s mouth gave a slight twist. “She is attractive?”
His mouth compressed into a hard line as he recalled Reyes’s words about her possibly being his mate. “Yes…” he inclined his alabaster head.
“Even so, do not forget the reason we want her.”
Edgar could not forget this. There was a lot of things at stake, especially now she was with him. He knew that Samuel Beur would try to harm her again. Luckily, he had got her away from the mercenaries, he felt certain the Allarians would try getting her again.
“Has the girl told you anything?” Corbin was saying, his eyes observing him intensely.
“She has been surprisingly tight-lipped,” he answered. His index finger stroked the edge of the mug. “This female does not want to tell me what she knows, she wants to meet you.”
A thoughtful frown creased the human’s brows. “Did you offer her some incentives?”
“Of course, I did.”
“Then… what is the issue?”
“She says that my assurances are weaker than water. Regina Wilde will not give us on gigabyte of data unless she is sufficiently reassured that she is not going to prison for Alex’s murder.”
Corbin narrowed his eyes at him as if he were the one being difficult. “And what do you think will convince her to help us?”
“We are on our way to see you on Leesah, I do not believe she will be happy speaking to you onscreen…and you know how important it is getting what she has.”
The man held his hand up. “You don’t have to convince me that I need to do some smooth negotiating. I will await your arrival.”
Edgar scanned Corbin’s face. “There’s a possibility she will not help us,” he said.
“What will you do if she refuses to help?”
Corbin mulled over his words. “From my reports, she was in a relationship with O’Hannon. She will help us, once she knows we’re working towards the same goal.”
He took another swig of his mug, then placed it carefully down. “I still don’t see what she would know about all this.”
“This is why we must find out,” Corbin affirmed. His voice was fervent and filled with passion. “I have also learned new information about Gird.”
Edgar clenched his jaw. “Tell me, what did you learn?”
Corbin grimaced and tapped on the screen before him. “I have sent you some files.”
A new message popped up on his screen, alerting him.
He stared at the icon with the note. His breath shook as he stared at the screen then back at Corbin’s face. He knew it was not possible that his mother was still alive after all these years, but he wanted to know. Edgar had promised his father. He had never thought that the ship with Newahans had reached as far as Gird. Only days before he had been on the planet.
I shall check it thoroughly once we end this call.” His hands wrapped around the handle of the mug until he felt it buckle beneath his fingers.
Corbin was silent, but Edgar felt his gaze. “The ship, did you find any trace of it?”
“No… I’m sorry,” His voice was low as if he found it difficult to tell him the news.
Edgar had known it was futile to ask the obvious, but he had to. Slowly, his fist uncurled, and he met the man’s eyes.
“When you read through the information I have sent, we can come up with a strategy,” Corbin said with a long sigh as if the world was on his shoulders.
The coffee in Edgar’s gut turned sour. Unconsciously, he rubbed his stomach with a closed hand.
“Edgar, we must convince Regina Wilde to help us.”
Edgar inclined his head. “I will attempt to be patient,” he promised. In the back of his mind, he thought of Regina and how he could convince her to help them.
“I will sign off for now. You can read the files,” Corbin was telling him. “Another thing, have you considered my proposal to head the new investigation bureau?”
Immediately, Edgar shook his head. “I have not thought of it.”
He could think of nothing but his mother these days, added to this, there was the troublesome Regina Wilde. Where was he to find the time to dedicate to a new cause.
“You should think on it more,” Corbin advised. “This will be a great opportunity for you to use your extensive knowledge of the Intergalactic Space Corp.”
Edgar heard the hope in his friend’s voice, but he was reluctant to give him hope. “Can we speak upon this topic another time?”
Corbin fixed him with a silent stare. “I will hold you to this.”
He wanted to tell the human outright that this was not for him, but he held his tongue and bobbed his head a few times.
“Then I will wait for you at my ranch on Leesah.”
Seconds later the screen went blank, except for the little icon which blinked incessantly like a signalling light.
If he clicked on it, would he learn the truth about his family? He did not want to.
His gut churned.
Edgar was certain meditation was not going to work.
Reaching out a hand, he tapped the icon. A file popped up on the screen, bracing himself he began to read.
- Writer
