The Angel

By Linda Jones

Set in the future when Earth has become heavily over-populated, advances in space travel led to the discovery of Eden, an earth-like planet. Colonisation is progressing but the majority of the settlers are men and the need for more women has become urgent. Some willing women are persuaded to move to Eden to redress the balance.
Beth is one such woman who has elected to live with four brothers. Each brother is uniquely different. The eldest, Luke, has emotional scars and maintains a discreet distance, which only draws Beth closer.
The Eden natives are feline in appearance, affectionate and fun-loving. They have no discernable language or technology and are regarded merely as highly developed animals. They are particularly drawn to Beth and with their aid, she manages to solve the riddle Luke represents.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Mar 27, 2007
• ISBN: 9781467011044

Linda Jones

Born in London during the second world war, Linda was saved from their bomb-damaged house during an air-raid by her quick thinking aunt. Possibly from the shracknel scatches, she developed a rare blood disorder which led to her spending parts of her childhood in hospital. Being restricted to genteel activities allowed her to indulge in her passion for literature and develop great skills with handicrafts. At the age of 17, Linda met Derek, a handsome young policeman, the intended blind date for her best friend. Her friend was unwell on that evening and the relationship between Linda and Derek blossomed. They married a couple of years later and had two daughters. Derek left the police force and they jointly embarked on careers in the care profession. After seventeen years as a care home manager and with their children grown up, Linda was able to devote more time to the activities that she enjoyed; this included enroling on a writers' course which unleashed her literary skill. Having several short stories and articles published inspired Linda to write The Angel. Linda is now retired and lives in Gloucester with Derek, her still very handsome husband. She remains very active within the community and is assistant District Commisioner for the Brownie Guides.

Book preview

Chapter One

Matt prowled up and down the veranda like a caged tiger. At each turn, he paused to listen for the sound of the returning hovertruck. Patience had never been his strong point and his nerves jangled with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension. A slight frown marred his handsome features as he wondered, yet again, what she would be like, this woman who had crossed the vastness of space to live with four strange men. He knew she was a beauty. Even the inadequate computer picture could not disguise the fine features and slim figure. But what else?

The dossier they had received gave only bare facts about her background. Elizabeth Lincoln was white, English speaking and aged twenty-six. Her academic achievements included a degree in anthropology and she had spent four years in space with an Inter-Planetary Commission survey team. The blue-stocking image was balanced by her recreational preferences - sport, reading and cookery. All family details were withheld. She would tell them personally as much, or as little, as she wished them to know. None of which gave any idea of her personality.

At last, above the soft murmur of the forest, he caught the throb of a motor. With unusual nervousness, he straightened his broad shoulders and descended the steps. One hand went instinctively to smooth his thick chestnut hair. He was not overly vain, but the desire to make a good first impression was suddenly important.

Absorbed in his thoughts, Matt crossed the compound to open the gates. Two slim furry creatures appeared silently at his side. He stroked them absently. These natives of Eden were known at Cats. Their delicate bone structure, smooth cream fur and long tails were definitely feline, but they walked upright and had almost human hands and feet. Thick, straight, chocolate brown head fur grew in a club-cut fashion, framing faces that would have passed for geisha girls. This oriental cast to their appearance had earned the Masons’ Cats the names of Lychee and Hopsing.

The hovertruck broke from the cover of the forest and slowed to swing through the gates. Matt glimpsed his youngest brother, Mark, at the controls. Behind him sat Luke and John supporting between them a sleeping dream. The picture had definitely not done justice to the pale girl with a cloud of golden hair spilling across Luke’s broad shoulder.

Hastily closing the gates, Matt sprinted back to the house as Mark drew up close to the steps. John climbed from the cab and turned, offering to lift out the sleeping girl. Luke refused to release her.

Elbowing his younger, but much larger brother aside, Matt reached up to help Luke descend the step. The girl stirred but her eyes remained closed as she turned her face into Luke’s shoulder.

She’s had a rough trip, Luke’s gruff voice informed him. She needs to get straight to bed.

Yeah …. and she’s sound asleep, said John with a sparkle in his eyes, earning himself glares from the other men.

The eldest Mason entered the house with his burden. The Cats got under his feet and he ordered them out of the way. Confused that, for the first time ever, Luke had come home without petting them, they whimpered and called after him.

The little procession made its way to the new room which had been built on to the side of the house. Much thought and effort had gone into making the room look feminine. Luke, with his flair for carpentry had fashioned the furniture. Matt’s chemistry skill had gone into the smooth plastics of the walls and ceiling; the shell-shaped vanity sink was a work of art with all the muted colours of Mother of Pearl. The thick fur rugs on the floor and bed were tokens of John’s active, outdoor personality, but the books and, by now rather wilted bouquet of leaves and ferns, spoke for quiet, sensitive Mark.

They gazed in awe at the sleeping girl Luke had settled gently on the bed.

She even sounds like an Angel, whispered Mark.

Oh, she has spoken then? Matt was irritated by the anti-climax. It was bad enough that he had drawn the short straw compelling him to stay behind while his brothers went to meet the new arrival. Now his speech of welcome, so well-rehearsed, must remain unsaid.

The Cats had followed them in again and tried to gain Luke’s attention. Let’s get out of here before we wake her up, he said, at last becoming aware of the agitated creatures pressed against his side.

Sleeping Beauty, murmured Matt looking back from the doorway.

Which Prince gets to wake her up? whispered John in his ear.

Luke pushed both brothers roughly from the room and frowned hard at John. We don’t all have one track minds. Try to remember she’s a person in her own right and not just an object for you to pounce on whenever you feel like it.

Which is all the time, interrupted Mark.

Just you wait, young fella. Once you get the hang of it, there’ll be no stopping you either.

Cut it out, snapped Luke as Mark turned bright red and hurried away in the direction of the kitchen.

Big mouth, added Matt. Try thinking before you speak sometimes.

The Cats deserted Luke to follow the boy. In the kitchen they moved close to him, sharing his distress and offering comfort.

Being the youngest brother was not always easy. Luke was old enough to be his father and, as head of the family, sometimes acted it. Matt, at thirty-five, also had an air of authority, but it was John’s swift and thoughtless comments which most often made him feel young and at a loss. John never meant to hurt, it just came out that way.

Mark’s first visit to the girls at the Recreation Centre had been John’s present for his sixteenth birthday. It had turned out to be a humiliating failure. Two subsequent visits with equally dismal results had convinced him he was impotent. To be seventeen and denied proof of manhood was a bitter emotion. John’s comments only made it worse.

The advice of his elder brothers that time would cure his problem gave him no reassurance at all. They were both obviously worried and embarrassed by it. Neither Luke nor Matt were frequent visitors at the Centre but the inviting looks of the girls informed him that they were both desirable clients. John was there every chance he got. So, what was wrong with him?

Buttoning down his misery, Mark began to assemble the ingredients for sandwiches. Hopsing sliced the bread and Lychee made the coffee.

The Cats worked at many jobs for the settlers. They learned quickly any manual task which could be demonstrated. Problems arose when you told them to do something new. They could be taught to recite quite complicated words but their comprehension was practically nil as they had no native language of their own to relate to. It made life difficult at times, showing them every single thing you wanted done. They were useful, but totally unreliable.

Fortunately for the Cats, it was almost impossible to exploit them. So finely attuned were they to the emotions of men, they simply withdrew themselves if they sensed anger or disapproval. They could not be bribed or threatened and, at any attempt to confine them, they simply rolled into a ball and died of misery. Literally, the only thing they wanted of men was approval. They only worked for people willing to take time to love and pet them. In consequence, the Masons had more Cats than they could supervise. The gates to the compound were kept closed to stop the place being over-run by affection seeking Cats.

When Mark started to fill the sandwiches with cold meat, Hopsing withdrew. The Cats avoided death in any form. They would not touch meat or stay in the room when it was being eaten. They even swept carefully around the numerous fur rugs on the floors now they had been made to understand that they were not to be pushed outside and buried.

The smell of brewing coffee drew the rest of the family to the kitchen table. As in most places where men live alone, domestic refinements were few, priority being given to space and moderate comfort. The room was large, clean and airy but cluttered. This was the centre for most of their indoor activities. Cooking was confined to one end while several chairs stood grouped around a radio and computer console at the other. Apart from the computer, there were few signs of advanced technology. The furniture was of wood or plastic and mostly home-made. Eden was only just beginning to produce its own metal-wares and high-tech gadgetry was treated with great care as replacements were hard to come by. Their sap-weed plantation was expanding and future profits looked hopeful, but any form of machinery or equipment was expensive.

Seated around the table, the four men were very quiet. It had been a big decision to commit so large a part of their capital to importing an Angel. The woman sleeping in the new room could either be worth her weight in gold or good money thrown away. They each had different reasons for wanting her to come, but now she was actually here, they were all scared silly.

Women were scarce on Eden. Comparatively few exhibited the pioneer spirit needed to leave familiar, overcrowded Earth to settle on a new planet. Technology had removed nearly all the humdrum aspects of keeping house and most women were free to follow their own interests. Population control meant that child-bearing took very little time woman’s career and the children could be handed over to professional minders at an early age. Very few women were prepared to give up this freedom for a life of near drudgery.

As in previous eras, the pattern of males go first, women follow, had not changed much. The difference now was in the degree of Government control. It was no longer a case of simply hitching a ride on a passing wagon to reach the new frontier.

In an attempt to solve the women shortage, the Inter-Planetary Commission adopted and modified ideas from history. By advertising for female companions for established settlers the I.P.C. were able to recruit a steady trickle of immigrants – but never enough to meet the demand.

Overall, the system worked well. Domestic companions, or Angels as the settlers called them, were computer matched to their hosts both mentally and physically. Unfortunately, given the perversity of human nature, no computer could guarantee that any particular combination would gel. To protect both parties, they had a month’s trial period before money changed hands and contracts were signed. Hard working settlers were not expected to pay on delivery only to have the girl run off with the first passing stranger to take her fancy. And the Angels knew they were not compelled to stay with people they really did not like. The girls had no risk of being stranded as there were hundreds of men eagerly waiting for a chance to make them happy.

Many of the women disliked the idea of being tied down to persons unknown, but welcomed the opportunity of starting a new life. Eden offered them an alternative. As recreational assistants, they undertook to pay their fares by serving three years in a public centre. Their jobs ranged from singers to sports coaches, interior designers, administrators and cookery experts. Anything that added a feminine dimension to the overwhelmingly male atmosphere. Sexual relations were not obligatory but generous facilities were made available to any girls willing to offer their favours. Any gifts they received in return were strictly between themselves and their ‘friends’.

Few, if any, of them waited the full three years before forming personal attachments. Every month on Eden reduced the outstanding balance of their transportation fees, allowing the less affluent settlers a chance of clearing the debts and securing themselves a mate. Meanwhile, the girls were pampered and respected as the future mothers of the colony.

The biggest drawback was always money. Eden was on the way to becoming a divided planet with only the financially secure able to form family units. Not a bad thing in some ways, but it did not make for a happy nation.

Chapter Two

The aroma of coffee drifted to the far bedroom and Beth Lincoln’s delicate nostrils twitched. She was awake but resisted opening her eyes. The long journey had been a nightmare. At times, she had thought she was losing her mind. If she lay completely still, everything would be alright.

Like most immigrants, she had travelled in an hypnotic trance, enclosed in a capsule and monitored by an alert medical crew. Hypnosis had been found to be less damaging than drug induced coma for long space flights, but, in Beth’s case, this had not been totally successful. Although her body remained passive, her mind had escaped the trance. She had been awake, but without feeling any sensation. The medics had been forced to resort to sedatives to help her endure the journey. But she had been very, very frightened.

At a touch on her arm, her eyes flew open of their own accord and she looked into the pale, slant eyed face of a beautiful Chinese girl. She snapped her eyes shut again and lay rigid. Oh God – now I am hallucinating!

Another face superimposed itself on her mind’s eye. A strong, lived-in face topped with thick brown hair, prematurely grey at the temples. The dark, compassionate eyes were reassuring and Beth clung to the mental picture.

As her body relaxed, she felt a soft hand stroking her brow, and a gentle voice calling Yes, yes….. come.

Hallucinations do not talk decided Beth and slowly forced her eyes open. The face was still there but not a girl. Common sense overcame fear and facts marshalled themselves in her mind. Eden? Then this had to be a Cat! The very act of thinking clearly gave her the strength to venture a glance around the room. Sunlight flooded through the window on her left, low and suggestive of late afternoon. On the chest under the window Mark’s bouquet drooped sadly and the sight of it filled her with an indescribable emotion. Someone had been very thoughtful to offer that small welcome.

Hopsing sensed the change of mood and gently pulled at Beth’s arm. Come, she urged. Slowly, Beth eased herself up on the pillows. She felt rather light-headed but it was good to be truly awake at last and in command of her body again. Encouraged by Hopsing, she rose from the bed. At first, she was glad of the Cat’s support. Her legs felt like jelly and the floor had a tendency to move under her feet.

She could not see any of her luggage, but knowing she would have to meet her hosts very soon, she made her way to the basin to wash her face. There was no mirror so she fluffed out her hair with her fingers and hoped for the best. Hopsing joined in this operation, reaching up to stroke the golden curls. Standing 5’ 6" in bare feet, Beth was a good head taller than the Cat and, although usually considered slender, she was well proportioned and much heavier than her delicate companion.

Well, she had to meet them some time. Taking her courage in both hands, Beth left the bedroom and was gently towed in the direction of the kitchen by an excited Hopsing.

From the doorway, she looked in silence at the four brothers seated round the table. Luke she recognised as the face she thought she had dreamed. The young blonde giant was also vaguely familiar. The man at the end of the table could only be seen in profile, but she knew she had never met him before. A face that handsome would not be easily forgotten.

The boy was the only one directly facing the door and was the first to see her. He stood suddenly and his chair crashed to the floor. After one look at his face the others turned towards Beth – and just sat there, staring.

The silence promised to last forever until Beth took a deep breath and entered the room. I smelt coffee and this gorgeous creature seemed to know where to bring me.

Like a film suddenly re-started, the brothers came to life. Beth was settled in a chair with a large mug in front of her. The men hovering at either side unable to take their eyes off her. No-one had spoken and their movements were jerky with nervousness. She sympathised, her nerves felt like stretched wires. With a shaky smile she asked them to sit down and introduce themselves.

Characteristically, John was the first to recover his poise in the presence of a woman. I’m a bit hurt you don’t remember me, he said. I’m John. I spoke to you at the spaceport before you fell asleep again.

I’m sorry. Everything is so vague. But I remember you, she smiled at Luke, you carried me.

My pleasure muttered Luke. Disliking the limelight, he drew Matt forward. This is Matt. He had to stay home and mind the shop.

Matt leant forward and planted a firm kiss just below her ear. Welcome home, Sleeping Beauty, he murmured before straightening up. One hand stayed lightly on her shoulder in an almost possessive gesture.

Greatly relieved that the threatened touch taboo had been broken, Beth was able to reach out a hand to the silent boy on her other side.

So you must be Mark? She pulled him gently towards her with face raised. Hesitantly, Mark bent and placed the expected kiss on her cheek before he drew back in confusion.

Not willing to be left out now things were getting interesting, John lifted Beth from her chair into a bear hug, her toes hardly touching the floor. His kiss was well positioned, lingering and very thorough. Beth’s feet descended to a floor which seemed far from solid and she kept a grip on his shirt front until her breath and balance returned.

Well… hello again. I certainly won’t forget meeting you this time! She laughed, releasing the tension all round.

In the general conversation that followed no one mentioned that Luke had offered no kiss of welcome. He joined in the questions and answers. His eyes rarely left her face. But his position by her side having been usurped by John, he made no attempt to regain it. If anything, when he sat down, his chair was just a little further away than it had been.

Mark on the other hand, denied a place beside her by the imposing bulk of his next two brothers, leaned eagerly across the table as he demanded details of her survey work. On safe, impersonal topics, he out-voiced the other three put together.

The Cats sat on the floor at Luke’s feet. Although they accepted his casual stroking, their eyes were focussed on Beth, watching her every move. After a while they suddenly got up and started to lay the table and wash the used mugs.

You don’t need clocks in this house, Luke informed the newcomer. The Cats know when it’s time to start dinner even if we’ve forgotten about food.

Beth’s stomach had been rumbling quietly for several minutes. She rose from her chair and offered to help prepare the meal. A chorus of male refusal broke out through which she heard Luke’s quiet but authoritative voice, Don’t rush it. Take a day or two to get over your flight before you think of working.

The Cats do most of the cooking if you keep an eye on them, Mark added as he moved to take a plate of huge steaks from the refrigerator. We just shove a roast in the oven or grill steaks.

Beth eyed the thick slices of meat with distaste. Please, not for me. I don’t eat meat although I have no strong feelings about preparing it for other people.

The concern on the men’s faces was comic. They fired questions about what she did eat. Laughingly, she told them she did not expect to starve and they were all to stop worrying so much.

What I really need right now is a quick shower and change of clothes. Is my luggage somewhere?

Matt and John started through to the front of the house where the truck was still parked. Beth followed and stood on the top step to gaze around her. The sun had set but, in