Read Allies (Warriors of Karal Book 5) for Free Online Page B

information we need to match females with a suitable Karalian. It also gives us information on the health of each individual. In addition, it will tell us when Petra becomes pregnant.”
    “I didn’t realise it did all that.” Petra put her hand to the back of her neck. A flash of anxiety swept across her face. “Is there anything else you use it for?”
    “Like what?” Darl asked. He had an instrument in his hand which he was placing on Petra’s arm; it had a trigger and looked almost like a weapon. Darl squeezed the trigger and her blood began to fill up a vial that was attached to it. Petra hardly seemed to notice.
    “I don’t know. What about if you are trying to make some kind of weapon? You know, by using our DNA.” Petra watched what Darl was doing, but seemed more relaxed now.
    “Don’t worry, Petra. I would not allow that to happen.” Then he looked up at her, and his face had streaks of black across it, as if poison seeped through his veins. Niko was about to step forward when the doctor spoke again. “But you are right to be concerned, you are as astute as your mother. The tags were already in use by your President when we arrived. Only now that your mother has taken power do we have access to the records. Only now are we uncovering what he intended to use them for.”
    “What do you mean? They were originally used to track the number of people on Earth. And for identification purposes.”
    “Originally, yes, but when the President came to power, he started to investigate ways of using them in a far more sinister way. But the people he had working for him, refused to carry on once they realised the true purpose of the tags. And then, when we arrived, the experiment was shelved.” Darl looked up at her with sadness in his eyes. “Your species had a lucky escape. If the tags had been altered ... well, let us say that the human race wouldn’t have a population problem right now.”
    Petra’s face went pale, and Niko took two steps towards her, wanting to comfort her.”
    But she held up her hand as if pushing him away. “I’m fine.”
    “We have a lot to thank your mother for,” Darl said as he finished taking Petra’s temperature. “And now you’re here, you can join the last mission into deep space, and I sincerely hope that we find a planet for your people, Petra.”
    “And does it look likely that the missions will succeed?” Petra asked.
    “The first of the missions have not returned yet. They are due back any day; we can hope that at least one of the missions will be successful.” Darl smiled at her. “All done. You can go now.”
    Petra still sat there, looking at the doctor, and Niko could see that she had more questions she wanted to ask, but she hesitated, maybe because she didn’t want to hear the answers. “And if they don’t find a planet?” she eventually asked.
    Darl shook his head. Then he said, “There is no point thinking about that now. There is plenty of time for us to come up with a solution to the population problem on Earth.”
    “But that will never include activating the tags?” she asked. “My mother would never agree to something like that.”
    Darl smiled at her, his expression a little warmer this time, and said, “I can promise you, Petra, that I will never be a part of something that would cause the population of Earth to be wiped out. Even if the Hier Ruler ordered it.”
    Niko studied Darl. His loyalty was always to the Hier Ruler and the Hier Council, the same as all of the warriors, but he questioned what would happen if no planet was ever found, and the fate of the Earth rested on the reduction of numbers in Earth’s population.
    Once the Karal had taken all the females they needed, it would be nothing to do with his species, surely. But still as he left Darl’s office, with a visibly shaken Petra, he hoped that they would find a new planet, and the question that Petra asked would never need to be answered.
     
     
     

Chapter Nine –