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Authors: Tracy St. John
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many a service, washed over Katherine as the door opened to admit her.
The softly lit environs were hushed until Katherine entered the chapel. She was instantly greeted with shouts from the younger girls, who dashed down the middle aisle between the blanket and pillow-covered pews. They threw themselves at her. The two smallest, Marci and Darci Soames clung to her fiercely, hugging and crying and laughing all at once.
“Sister Katherine! Sister Katherine!”
Katherine knelt to wrap her arms around them, tears stinging her eyes. They were all right. Her girls were okay. She buried her face in first Marci’s and then Darci’s cotton-candy foams of black hair, kissing their soft cheeks. There was fourteen-year-old Brenda to embrace, her round face streaming with tears. Blond Ashley kissed Katherine back almost as ardently as a lover in her relief to see her. And more, over forty more girls, mostly teenagers, exclaiming and crying and jostling to get close.
Nine-year-old Marci refused to let any of the older aspirants push her aside. She clung to Katherine like a burr, her thin brown arms locked about the nun’s waist in an uncompromising grip. Katherine made no attempt to brush her youngest off, keeping one hand on the girl’s shoulder as she greeted the others, seeking to calm their fears. They cast frightened glances at the Nobek guards. The Kalquorian sentries stood around the perimeter of the stained glass lit panels on the walls. The three men who had walked in with Katherine received their share of terrified glances as well.
Katherine hated to see the fear. “It’s all right, my girls. It’s all right,” she reassured them.
She was aware of the elder sisters standing nearby, but for now she concentrated on the youngsters. Sixteen-year-old Ashley was one of the more mature and capable of the aspirants, and Katherine directed her questions to her. “Is anyone hurt?”
“We’re okay, Sister.” The fresh-faced teen darted a glance at the Kalquorians. “The aliens say they’ll leave soon and we’ll stay here.”
Brenda clasped her arms around her thick waist, hugging herself for comfort. “Is that true?”
Katherine gave her a confident smile she didn’t feel. “That’s what I’ve been told. They don’t intend to hurt you. They have no reason to harm young girls.”
“You know this for a fact? You trust the words of Earth’s greatest enemy?”
Katherine started at Mother Superior’s voice. The lined face of the eldest nun stared at her, having quietly made her way through the crowd of aspirants. Whether by accident or design, the holy icon of the Church that hung over the chapel’s altar seemed to float over Mother Superior’s head.
The great metal cross with the Star of David at its center and crescent moon at the top gleamed in the chapel’s soft light. It seemed to cast its reflected beams all around Mother Superior, bathing her in sacred illumination.
Even wearing only a nightgown that billowed about her stark frame, her tangled gray hair loose to her shoulders, and eyes black-hollowed with strain, an aura of absolute command remained with Mother Superior. Katherine dipped her head in respect before slowly rising to her feet. Marci’s continued clinging made her ascent somewhat clumsy, but Katherine made no attempt to pry the child’s hold loose. In fact, she clutched her tiniest closer to her side.
Katherine darted a glance at the quietly waiting Simdow, who stood with his equally silent clanmates a few feet back. Her tone carefully nonchalant for the sake of the girls, she told Mother Superior, “They have no use for anyone who has been sequestered in the chapel. You are all to remain at the convent.”
Mother Superior’s dark eyes narrowed. “They have a use for you though, don’t they? Then again, it is what you wanted, isn’t it, Sister? To be among these alien men? To minister to their
The softly lit environs were hushed until Katherine entered the chapel. She was instantly greeted with shouts from the younger girls, who dashed down the middle aisle between the blanket and pillow-covered pews. They threw themselves at her. The two smallest, Marci and Darci Soames clung to her fiercely, hugging and crying and laughing all at once.
“Sister Katherine! Sister Katherine!”
Katherine knelt to wrap her arms around them, tears stinging her eyes. They were all right. Her girls were okay. She buried her face in first Marci’s and then Darci’s cotton-candy foams of black hair, kissing their soft cheeks. There was fourteen-year-old Brenda to embrace, her round face streaming with tears. Blond Ashley kissed Katherine back almost as ardently as a lover in her relief to see her. And more, over forty more girls, mostly teenagers, exclaiming and crying and jostling to get close.
Nine-year-old Marci refused to let any of the older aspirants push her aside. She clung to Katherine like a burr, her thin brown arms locked about the nun’s waist in an uncompromising grip. Katherine made no attempt to brush her youngest off, keeping one hand on the girl’s shoulder as she greeted the others, seeking to calm their fears. They cast frightened glances at the Nobek guards. The Kalquorian sentries stood around the perimeter of the stained glass lit panels on the walls. The three men who had walked in with Katherine received their share of terrified glances as well.
Katherine hated to see the fear. “It’s all right, my girls. It’s all right,” she reassured them.
She was aware of the elder sisters standing nearby, but for now she concentrated on the youngsters. Sixteen-year-old Ashley was one of the more mature and capable of the aspirants, and Katherine directed her questions to her. “Is anyone hurt?”
“We’re okay, Sister.” The fresh-faced teen darted a glance at the Kalquorians. “The aliens say they’ll leave soon and we’ll stay here.”
Brenda clasped her arms around her thick waist, hugging herself for comfort. “Is that true?”
Katherine gave her a confident smile she didn’t feel. “That’s what I’ve been told. They don’t intend to hurt you. They have no reason to harm young girls.”
“You know this for a fact? You trust the words of Earth’s greatest enemy?”
Katherine started at Mother Superior’s voice. The lined face of the eldest nun stared at her, having quietly made her way through the crowd of aspirants. Whether by accident or design, the holy icon of the Church that hung over the chapel’s altar seemed to float over Mother Superior’s head.
The great metal cross with the Star of David at its center and crescent moon at the top gleamed in the chapel’s soft light. It seemed to cast its reflected beams all around Mother Superior, bathing her in sacred illumination.
Even wearing only a nightgown that billowed about her stark frame, her tangled gray hair loose to her shoulders, and eyes black-hollowed with strain, an aura of absolute command remained with Mother Superior. Katherine dipped her head in respect before slowly rising to her feet. Marci’s continued clinging made her ascent somewhat clumsy, but Katherine made no attempt to pry the child’s hold loose. In fact, she clutched her tiniest closer to her side.
Katherine darted a glance at the quietly waiting Simdow, who stood with his equally silent clanmates a few feet back. Her tone carefully nonchalant for the sake of the girls, she told Mother Superior, “They have no use for anyone who has been sequestered in the chapel. You are all to remain at the convent.”
Mother Superior’s dark eyes narrowed. “They have a use for you though, don’t they? Then again, it is what you wanted, isn’t it, Sister? To be among these alien men? To minister to their
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