“Bye, Tess.” Becca waved at her. “When you get back, we need to get together again. If you can’t come to the Mother Ship, I’ll come down to Earth to see you.”
Tess smiled. “That sounds great. I’m, uh, not sure where I’ll be though. Probably not in Tampa until the situation with my ex gets resolved.”
“You’ll have to tell me all about it. In the mean time, take care of yourself.” She pointed at Garron. “And you take care of Tess. I like her.”
Garron nodded shortly. “I will protect her with my life. Not a drop of her blood shall spill unless all of mine has first been shed.”
“Wow…” Tess looked at him uncertainly. “Is that…”
“It’s a Kindred oath,” Becca assured her. “But you can be sure he means every word of it—Kindred don’t take such things lightly.” She winked at Tess. “I know—it’s a lot to take in, isn’t it? Call me if you have any questions—seriously, any time of the day or night. Okay?”
“Sure. Thank you,” Tess said but she was still looking at Garron.
The big Kindred faced straight ahead as the viewscreen went dark, his face lit by the faint glow of the instruments.
“Garron—” she began.
“Hold tight,” he murmured. “We’re about to enter the rift. When we come out the other side, you will be further than you have ever been from your home world.”
“But I’ll be with you,” Tess said softly. “So I’ll be all right.”
“Yes.” He gave her a quick sideward glance. “I swore to protect you and I will.”
“I know,” Tess whispered. “I know.” And then they entered the red gash in space and she closed her eyes.
* * * * *
Garron watched anxiously for the appearance of the silver-black planet that was Zeaga Four in the viewscreen. Though he had never been there, he had heard that it was a completely industrialized planet ruled by sentient machines though how it had become that way, remained a mystery.
It came into view soon enough, spinning slowly in space. Its metallic surface reflected back the light of its sun—a bloated red giant in the first stages of its inevitable collapse. A million years from now, the inhabitants of Zeaga Four would have to find a new home. But in the meantime, it appeared to be business as usual. Machinery glittered in the pale red sunlight and the many white and red medical barges that orbited the silvery-black world were busy with smaller ships constantly landing and departing from their vast docking bays.
Garron chose the largest barge he saw and headed for the bay. Opening a frequency, he called in the Kindred universal tongue to ask for permission to land.
“What language is that?” Tess asked, after he was granted permission and began their descent to the barge. “It sounded almost like German but more guttural.”
“It’s the Kindred’s original language—the one my people spoke on First World,” he said. “Here…” He put the ship on auto for a moment and stood. After rummaging in several of the secured cabinets, he found what he was looking for near the first aid kit. “Take this,” he said, handing Tess a pill.
“Um, what’s this?” she asked, examining the pill in her palm.
“Universal translator bacteria—an oral dose.” Garron sat back down and resumed piloting. “I was told they were standard with all long range vessels now—it’s a good thing too. Otherwise you wouldn’t know what anyone was saying.”
“Is it safe for humans?” Tess still looked doubtful.
“It was developed especially for them—for human brides who visit their Kindred mates’ home planets,” Garron assured her. “You don’t have to take it if you don’t want to but—”
“No, I’ll take it.” She swallowed it dry, with some difficulty. “Okay, so now I’ll be able to understand you when you speak another language?”
“It should take effect almost immediately,” Garron assured her. The ship was entering the vast, pulsating, translucent atmosphere bubble that protected the docking bay from losing air. “All right—we’re docking now. Just stay close to me and you’ll be fine.”
“Of course.” She nodded quickly. “All that talk about this being such a dangerous place though…”
“Zeaga Four—the planet itself—is very unsafe. Deadly, even, for the unenhanced,” Garron said. “But the medical barges are quite safe. They exist to service anyone who needs medical attention, supposedly free of charge.”
“Wow—aliens who offer free health care.” Tess sounded impressed. “That’s great.”
“I said supposedly,” Garron said darkly. “Nothing is ever completely free. Stay close to me and don’t accept anything from anyone. All right?”
“Yes, all right.” She nodded and Garron killed the engines.
“Here we go.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
“Wow, this is huge—even bigger than the Mother Ship.” Tess looked around in awe at the vast, bright white room they were standing in. It was bigger than a football field—bigger than several football fields, in fact. Despite its daunting size, everything was completely spotless even with the many, many strange spacecraft she saw parked for what seemed like miles in all directions. Above, the glittering, translucent bubble they had passed through to get into the medical barge was the blackness of space.
But the scenery wasn’t the only strange thing to be seen. As Tess watched, a huge creature with gray skin and a horn for a nose climbed out of the ship beside theirs. It was draped in a long purple robe and it looked a little bit like a rhinoceros standing on its hind legs. It was eating something—when Tess looked closer it appeared to be some kind of bread or muffin—at least it was muffin shaped. That was where the similarity ended, though, because it was twice as large as her head with green flecks speckling its grainy surface.
The rhino-thing took a large, messy bite of the giant muffin, spraying crumbs everywhere across the pristine white floor as it chewed. It paid no attention to the mess it had caused but someone noticed—or rather, something.
To Tess’s surprise, a tiny creature smaller than the palm of her hand suddenly whizzed into view. It moved in a quick, herky-jerky way that reminded her of a toy remote controlled car but it had purple and green fur that stuck up in whorls and swirls, almost like a guinea pig’s.
Its long purple whiskers twitched when it detected the crumbs on the floor and it began to eat them at once. But it wasn’t nibbling so much as sucking them up—almost like a tiny vacuum cleaner. Soon it was joined by other creatures similar to itself but with different colored fur. Tess watched in amazement as the vacuum guineas made short work of the stray crumbs. In a moment, every single crumb was gone and the little creatures scattered, leaving the floor as spotlessly white as it had been before.
“Did you see that?” she asked, turning to Garron, who had been securing their ship. “Those little things? Those—”
“They’re just cleaner-bots, oh my yes. A type of furskin, so they are, so they are. The barges are infested with them but at least that type provides a valuable service.”
Tess whirled around to see another strange creature staring at her. It was staring up, for she was about twice as tall as it was. Tess was quite glad of this fact when she had a moment to examine it. She felt certain if she had turned around and seen something that looked like it did which was much larger than her, she would have screamed.
The creature had a body like a chimpanzee, hunched over and covered in patchy, light gray fur. It also had a long, mournful face with long, drooping ears. Large, intelligent eyes were looking up into hers. If Tess had been tempted to think that the creature was some kind of non-sentient animal, the look in those large, brown eyes would have decided her otherwise.
“Hello?” she said to it uncertainly. “Are you…?”
“I’m Yipper, so I am, so I am.” It nodded at her gravely. “I am a Tolleg. And yourself?”
“I’m Tess—I’m human,” Tess said. “And this is Garron.”
“Of Kindred stock, so you are, so you a
re?” Yipper sounded hopeful as he looked at Garron.
The big Kindred nodded shortly. “I am.”
“That is good, very good.” Yipper bobbed his head up and down eagerly and rubbed long, clever-looking, hairy gray fingers together. “Fresh Kindred DNA is always useful. And what kind of enhancements will you be needing today? I’m to be your own personal technician so whatever you need, I’ll provide. So I will, so I will.”
“At least take us out of the docking bay before we talk business,” Garron growled.
“Of course, of course! To the lounge we go. Mayhap your female would like a refreshing libation? So she might, so she might?”
“Maybe,” Garron said noncommittally. “But let’s get out of this damned docking bay first.”
“Naturally, naturally!” Yipper led the way with a strange, loping gait that was somehow simian, but as far as Tess could see, they could walk for hours in any direction and not reach the end of the vast white room. She was just beginning to wonder why there weren’t any kind of trams or scooters to shorten the journey when they came to a thick yellow and black striped pole that extended about seven feet up from the floor.
“What’s this?” she asked as Yipper beckoned them forward.
“The way to the lounge, I assume,” Garron muttered.
Tess had no idea how the yellow and black pole could take them anywhere but when Yipper motioned for them both to stand close and touch it, she did.
“What now?” she asked, looking at Yipper who had also placed his clever looking little hand against the yellow and black striped side of the pole.
“Now we go, now we go.” He nodded quickly and they dropped suddenly down through the floor.
Tess gave a short, sharp scream and then Garron grabbed her and dragged her close, wrapping one massive, muscular arm around her. Looking down, Tess saw that a circular section of the white floor they had been standing on had detached itself and was taking them downward, into the bowels of the medical barge.
They were in some kind of a clear glass tube and she saw glimpses of other areas as they whizzed down past the levels of the ship. Some looked like medical areas—the theme of pure, blinding white was repeated and she saw some patients strapped to upright boards while others were lying face down on floating beds or gurneys. Each of them had a creature like Yipper performing a procedure on them though from what she could see, the Tollegs—Tess thought that was what he had called himself—didn’t appear to be using any instruments. She wanted to see exactly what they were doing but the circular section of floor they were standing on moved too fast.
Soon they were passing other levels which appeared to be devoted to recreation. In one, a vast pool filled with pale pink water seemed to extend in all directions. Tiny translucent fish with glowing red eyes were swimming in the water and all kinds of alien creatures were floating and playing in it as well. On another level, there was what looked to Tess like some kind of a squash court. But the players were using a living creature as a ball. At least, it looked alive—it fluttered around like a bird and landed on one of the player’s heads.
There were about a million questions she wanted to ask but before she could, the circular disk they were standing on came to an abrupt halt and the glass tube they had been traveling in melted away completely. They were left standing in the middle of a dim room that appeared to be lit by little balls of blue flame which floated in midair around the perimeter. There were tables and chairs of various heights as well as a long, curving bar at one end of the room. A creature with multiple eyes and several long, many-jointed arms was standing behind it serving drinks. Tess shuttered—Looks like a cross between a spider and an octopus! Ugh!
“Come and sit, come and sit,” Yipper invited, motioning them to come to a table by the side of the bar. It was extremely tall with chairs to match so of course, it fit Garron perfectly. Tess managed to get seated but her legs dangled as though she was a little girl sitting at the adult’s table.
“Sorry,” Garron said, seeing her plight. “This furniture must be made for Kindred.”
“So it is, so it is,” Yipper agreed. “Let me get you a libation. What will you have?”
“Nothing that will impair my judgment,” Garron growled. It was clear he didn’t exactly trust the hairy little Tolleg.
“I know just the thing, just the thing.” Yipper disappeared, giving Tess a chance to look around the dim lounge.
There were many strange patrons around them, some standing at the bar and others sitting at the various tables. To her right, Tess saw some with long pink necks and slender heads with black, beak-like mouths. They would have looked like flamingos except for their large purple and green eyes and the green suits they wore on their skinny, elongated bodies. There were other even stranger people in the lounge but the ones that drew Tess’s eyes the most were a pair of Kindred-looking men who walked up to the bar to the right of them. Or at least, they would have looked Kindred if they hadn’t had so many weird accessories on their faces.
Both of them were wearing black metal, full-body suits of armor which made their huge forms even huger and more imposing. One of them had black goggles where his eyes should have been and a bald head with wires sticking out of it. He had metallic cones that swiveled in different directions where his ears should have been and one of his arms moved with odd, robotic precision as he tilted his drink to his mouth.
The other man at least had hair. It was dark brown and combed straight back to reveal a high forehead and sharp cheekbones. He had stern features that made it look like he was constantly frowning but when Tess looked closer she saw that was just the set of his face—his expression was actually completely devoid of emotion.
One of his eyes had some kind of device screwed into it which turned it into a red, glowing light. Tess wondered what he could see with it—more detail? Or maybe it let him see things farther away. Whatever its merits, it made him look like some kind of a cyborg—half human and half robot. The effect gave her the creeps. Somehow that one mechanical eye in his otherwise normal-looking face made him look more alien and intimidating than any of the other weird creatures she saw drinking at the bar including his companion.
“I see you are admiring the enhancements on display, so you are, so you are,” Yipper said at her elbow.
Tess gasped and nearly jumped out of her chair. She had been studying the two cyborg-looking Kindred so intently she hadn’t even noticed the little Tolleg had come back from the bar.
“Who are they?” she asked in a low voice, still looking at the men.
“Some of the Enhanced Ones, so they are, so they are. That one is Six—quite high in the rankings and close to the Collective.” He nodded at the Kindred with the dark hair. “Do you see the ocular device? That is my work, so it is, so it is.”
“Impressive,” Garron muttered.
“Right, impressive.” Tess tried to smile. “Was it difficult to uh, install?”
“Tricky,” Yipper admitted. “Eyes are always tricky, so they are, so they are. But Six let me build on his existing structure instead of replacing it completely. That made it easier, so it did, so it did.”
“Oh…” Tess snuck another look at the Kindred with the one mechanical eye. Suddenly he turned to stare back at her, the red light flashing like a search beam. There was no expression on his face but she felt a sense of menace coming from him—as though her curiosity in him had been noticed and was most certainly not welcome. Tess gasped and looked away quickly.
Garron seemed to notice her concern because he covered her hand with his and glared at the Enhanced Kindred Yipper had called Six. A low growl rose in his throat as they locked stares.
“Garron…” Tess squeezed his hand, worried that the brewing conflict would erupt in violence which might bring out his dr’gin. But after a moment, Six shrugged and turned away, as if they weren’t worth his time. He knocked back his drink and motioned to the octo-spider bartender for another.
“Let us discuss enhanceme
nts,” Yipper said, as though nothing had happened. “But talking is thirsty work. Here you are, here you are…” The little Tolleg was holding two long, thin metal flutes filled with green, frothing liquid. He handed them each a flute before scrambling nimbly up onto the tall chair across from Garron.
“Um…” Tess held the strange looking concoction at arm’s length. “Unless this is an alien version of an apple-tini, I don’t think I want it.”
“It’s a Berthon fizzing mellow,” Garron said. To her surprise, he took a swallow of his own drink and licked his lips. “A pretty good one, actually.”
“Oh, uh…okay.” Tess still looked at the green, bubbling mixture uncertainly. Anything different had come to mean danger to her. Any break in routine, anything out of the ordinary had been cause for a ‘punishment’ while she was with Pierce.
Come on, don’t be so boring! whispered the voice of Tess BP in her head. You’re literally over a million miles away from that jerk and he’s your ex! Live a little.
The voice made Tess feel brave.
Well, why not? Garron drank it so it’s obviously safe. Can’t hurt to give it a try. Aware that the big Kindred and Yipper were both watching her, she took a careful sip of the foaming mixture.
To her surprise, it was absolutely delicious. Subtle flavors that reminded her of pear, pineapple and cinnamon swirled in her mouth. There was another flavor too—something that had a hint of cool, minty creaminess but she couldn’t think what it was like. She only knew it was wonderful.
Tess had only meant to take a sip or two but before she knew it, she had drained the glass and was asking for more.
“Of course, of course!” Yipper motioned to the octo-spider bartender who simply reached out one long, jointed-tentacle arm and deposited two more metal flutes filled with foaming green mixture on their tabletop. “And now,” he said as Tess began to sip again. “Down to business. Let us discuss your enhancements. So we should, so we should.”
Garron sighed. “Fine. I need an emotion dampener. As soon as possible.”
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