by Zara Zenia
“I don’t understand.”
“From our first days, we had difficulties getting visas. Applications went missing for no reason, and it made no sense considering we applied to different countries. Each of us had difficulties in buying land and encountered difficulties in establishing ourselves in different communities. At first, we thought it was just the usual Earth nonsense. But add in the failure of the genetic scanner and there is a consistent pattern to these problems.”
“Wait, what genetic scanner?”
“We have not made that information public, but there is only two percent of Earth’s population with who we are genetically compatible. One of my associates created the scanner to locate those of your people with whom we can mate.”
“So, you’re telling me there is a Trilyn smarter than you?”
“That’s amusing, Cat. No. It’s just this project fell within her competencies.”
“Her?” Her eyes and mouth tightened. “A lover of yours?”
“Why, yes, Cat. Bella and I had an intimate relationship at one time. But she’s not my type.”
“I thought ‘female’ was your type.”
“I did too. But I’ve discovered there is a type of woman that appeals to me very much.”
She blushed again. “And that would be?”
“I think you know, Cat. But our time together grows short. So regrettably, I must get back to business.”
“So, your scanner technology failed.”
“Yes.”
“Did you consider that this Bella person sabotaged them?”
“I did, but that makes no sense. First, Bella stands to gain nothing by such an action.”
“She might think she’d gain you.”
“I clarified our intimate relationship is over. And Bella wouldn’t sacrifice her titles, land, and money for a single male anyway. She is what you would call ‘a player’.”
“We apply that term to men.”
“Thank you for the English lesson, Cat. What do you call women who do the same thing?”
“We, um,” she stuttered as her face blushed. “Never mind.”
As adorable as she is, I must wrap this up.
“Cat, someone is blocking us each time we attempt to forge peaceful links with your planet and people.”
She pursed her lips as she considered my words.
“It makes more sense than you stealing something you don’t need.”
“Thank you, Cat, for recognizing that.”
“Which makes you staying on the run a bad idea. It tells people you are guilty.”
“In protecting myself I prove my guilt?” I don’t understand this concept.
“An innocent man has nothing to hide.”
I smiled because this assertion was so earnest and innocent it charmed me.
“I think you know that isn’t true. The innocent are the first to suffer exploitation.”
“Something tells me you aren’t easy to exploit,” she said.
I shrugged. “I am trying to look after the interests of my people. You do not know this, Cat, but on Trilyn we only arrest a man when we are certain of his guilt. So, to arrest me will signal to my people that I am guilty, even if your court clears me. There are enough people on Trilyn who think my father’s plan is foolish and seek to damage him politically. This arrest will play into their hands.”
Cat blinked as she took in this information and her face tightened.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But it’s my job to take you in.”
The AI on my wrist flashed again. The SFPD has lost patience and crept toward us.
“I understand that, Cat, and regretfully our time is now over. Investigate what I said, and I will seek you out again.” I stood up from the table and drew her into my arms, kissing her deeply.
Feeling like my world was rocked, I shouldered my bag and pulled out the molecular compiler.
“Cover your eyes, darling. I do not want to injure those gorgeous peepers of yours.”
I smiled ruefully as I pressed the button, and the world spun away as the STS threw me far away from the love of my life.
Chapter 8
Cat
“Peri, please move the profiles of the six other alien princes to my left, separating them from the data on Akrawn, which we’ll keep to my right.”
“Will do, Cat,” Peri said.
I liked the new female voice Akrawn had skinned onto Peri, so I seriously thought about keeping it. Peri “felt” feminine to me and maybe she did to Akrawn too. But something made my mouth twitch as well. Akrawn made changes that did something to my AI’s personality file, which resulted in Peri calling me by my nickname, and I didn’t like it.
I zipped around on my rolling office chair looking at David’s and my notes represented as holograms in 3D space. The Chief assigned a holo-room in the 3-D labs to David and me where we could work in peace apart from the general bustle of the squad room. And this work should have kept my mind off that last hot kiss Akrawn left me with before he disappeared to avoid David, again.
It didn’t.
A life-sized Akrawn projected in one corner wasn’t helping.
David pointed to the holo. “Do we need to keep that thing turned on?”
I huffed, “If we have to apprehend the Prince, we need to absorb as much about him as possible. We should be able to identify him no matter his clothes or posture or location.”
“What do you mean ‘if’?” David’s mustache twitched. I noted his tense shoulders and the stubborn set of his jaw.
“Something bothering you, David,” I said crisply.
He turned his head back to his computer screen.
“No,” he said.
And I have a diamond tiara in my jewelry box. David could be gruff, especially when we weren’t following “the rules.” But the captain gave me carte blanche to play this my way, and at day’s end, David was a liaison between the department and the ILE. If he wanted to play tall, dark, and silent, there was nothing I could do about it.
“Well, much of what he told me in the coffee shop has checked out. There are a few more leads I want to follow up, but if Akrawn’s correct and someone is sabotaging the prince's affairs, then we have to consider he didn’t steal the wesekh collar.”
“It’s not our job. The ILE is handling that investigation.” David’s voice was gruff and hard.
He was a by-the-book kind of guy, but injustice triggered me. So I pressed further, “Look, all the research I’ve done will add to Akrawn’s profile and make apprehending him easier.” I mentally added ‘if we have to,’ took a deep breath, and continued, “David, I know you think the alien has overturned my reasoning, but if I’m to be bait for Akrawn, to get comfortable in the role and not lose clarity, I require information which includes that holo-Akrawn.”
David replied, “You did just fine in the night-club and the coffee shop.”
“I need to keep my thoughts straight, David, and not succumb to whatever Akrawn’s doing that unsettles me so much.”
“Unsettles is one word for it.”
“Don’t you gripe at me for playing a role that both you and the Chief have asked me to play. All I’m saying is that when Akrawn’s around, I need to stay sharp so my detective mind stays alert while I play at being seduced. If I stare at Akrawn’s hologram, that should help immunize me from his attraction.”
“What if it's pheromonal?”
“Good point, I’ll research it. Now, get gone to the ILE and go swap info while I finish corroborating Akrawn’s story.”
David shut the door and left me to the low hums of the holos.
I leaned back in my chair and stretched. Now I was free to investigate Trilyn mate-pairing, without being accused of being involved. I flicked a glance at the holo-Akrawn, then wiped away the inane smile that had blossomed inside me.
Damn Akrawn! Why has he got so deep under my skin?
An hour later, I concluded the Trilyn shared only what they deemed necessary to assure Earthling
s they would not coerce any woman against her will. And no one had discussed the possibility of Trilyn pheromones making a rational woman like me crazy with desire.
“Cat,” said Peri, “incoming call from Prince Rawklix.”
“I’ll take it here, but please move all my holo notes and images to somewhere the prince won’t be able to spot them. And keep him on the hard screen. I don’t want his holo turning around and seeing our research.”
“Done.”
“Cat O’Shea,” said a lively voice a moment before the face of the prince flickered on my desktop. Rawklix was muscular like all the princes, but more slender and immature in his physique compared to Akrawn. Shoulder-length, white-blond hair framed bright blue eyes and a dark olive visage.
Gorgeous but nowhere near as mouth-watering as my Akrawn, with his bright gold eyes set in alabaster skin and midnight hair.
Where did that thought come from? Focus Cat. Get your thoughts out of your panties and back up into your brain where they belong. You do not even have the excuse of mystery Trilyn pheromones affecting you.
“Thanks for returning my call, your Highness.” I’d been waiting all morning for at least one prince to respond to my request for an interview regarding their brother. Was Rawklix the only one who cared about Akrawn? Something caught at my heartstrings. Resolutely, I ignored the twang and continued with my prepared speech, “Would you mind answering a few questions about—”
Rawklix interjected, “You’re the woman my brother is liaising with regarding his problem?” I nodded. “Delectable! I think I might even steal a necklace myself.”
“Prince Rawklix! Your brother is in serious trouble. I am—”
“With you on his case, he’ll be a lost cause. And that’s super. He’s been way too reclusive and self-absorbed since arriving on Earth. Take him to a nightclub. He’ll be putty in your hands. For you, I’m betting he’ll slay dragons or anything you want.” Rawklix let his tone drip with innuendo.
Normally I’d slap down a guy who was being this familiar with a blunt reprimand, but he was a prince, though an alien one. I had to keep this conversation within diplomatic boundaries.
“Rawklix, I mean, my apologies, Prince Rawklix, your Highness, please focus. It’s my job to track Akrawn down and apprehend him. I’m attempting to get his side of the story. What I want to talk to you about is Akrawn claims all of you princes have suffered from sabotage attempts and that framing him for the theft of the wesekh collar is just the most recent in a series.”
“News to me, but Akrawn’s right. Always is. Too clever for his own good if you ask me. What he needs, Cat, I can call you that, right? He needs a night with someone as beautiful as you.”
I subverted my outrage at the young prince’s suggestion with a cough and decided not to get side-tracked by Rawklix. “Fair enough, your Highness. Regardless, Akrawn claims he is innocent, and I have been corroborating his version of events with research of my own. Please, may I confirm some things with you?”
“I am at your disposal. I could catch a flight to you and meet you in person for dinner tonight. You are a feast for the eyes.”
Once more, I altered my automatic body response into a cough. Then I said, “Prince Rawklix, is it correct that Prince Gardax is the only one of you princes to date to gain a wife or permanent girlfriend?”
“Yes, more or less. Cat, with that cough, are you sure you should be at work? I can send a plane for you to escape the fog and smog of San Fran, and you can enjoy Paris with me?”
“Thank you for your kind offer, your Highness, but my captain is unlikely to look favorably on me meeting a brother of my suspect out of our jurisdiction. To continue, is it true that your oldest brother Gardax married his Earth wife before most of you Trilyn arrived? Why do you think after five years, only one of you seven has married?”
“First, yes. And, second,” Rawklix smirked at me, “are you thinking of shopping around before committing to Akrawn? I’m available for sex without ties.”
I nearly hit my head with my hand. Instead, I dug my fingers into my palms. Converting to a cough seemed a bad idea. “Let me outline the problems Akrawn has mentioned. If you can confirm or deny them, it would help my investigation.”
“Happy to.”
“There are lots of engineering problems with the genetic scanners, and they usually require a technician to oversee their functioning?”
“Yeah, but most of us don’t worry too much about them. It’s only my father, who is so obsessed by the scanners. He and Gardax, who has a wife anyway, think the scanners are the moons’ gift to us Trilyn.”
“Would you say there have been considerable irregularities in the results?”
“I don’t worry. But I might be particularly virile.” Rawklix laughed. “If you want a super child, I’m available. Odds are you'll conceive.”
“Again, I thank you, your Highness, for your kind offer, but at the moment my career is my primary focus. So I gather you infer the scanners show far fewer woman are compatible than is the case.”
“Could be, though I’d prefer to think—”
“Thanks, your Highness, for being so forthcoming. You have helped my investigation.”
“Is that all you want to know about, Cat? The genetic scanners?”
Heat flushed through my cheeks. I hadn’t considered how this line of questioning might sound.
“Well, Akrawn, Prince Akrawn, told me about the difficulties you all had in getting visas and the missing government papers and the difficulties in buying land and establishing yourselves as part of the various communities you have each chosen. However, all of those details I confirmed via my government and media sources. Getting confirmation of the difficulties you have had with gaining brides required me to ask someone in your family.”
“I’m happy to spend time with you, Cat. Call me, especially if things don’t work out with Akrawn. But for his sake, I hope you’re his mate. I can’t take any more of his heartsick moping.”
“Is Akrawn sick?”
“Yeah, being grumpy, distractible, reclusive, and forgetful are all signs a Trilyn is heartsick.”
Heartsick? I guessed Rawklix meant homesick, and asked for clarification, “He misses his home planet?”
“Yeah, and he's an absolute bore about it. He claims our verdant wildernesses, magnificent fiery sunsets, and the triple moons riding the ink purple sky at night are superior’s to Earth’s, but I like it fine here. Your entertainment is superb.”
And for just a moment, my heart skipped with longing as I imagined being on another planet standing beside Akrawn. Then I remembered the pheromones and decided I might slip the question in here without being too obvious.
“Prince Rawklix, as Prince Akrawn has few Trilyn aids, do you think he might miss Trilyn company? I mean, do you Trilyn exude pheromones in each other’s presence? Could your brother be heartsick for lack of these pheromones?”
Oh, dear Lord. I did not say that. I hope Rawklix does not take offense.
“Oh, you mean, might Akrawn seduce you with his odor?”
I smiled and hoped he’d continue without me saying anything.
“Now there’s an idea.” Rawklix waggled his eyebrows at me. “I hope so. But, ask Akrawn. He’s our brain trust.”
I thanked the prince and rang off. My mind was abuzz with what I’d learned. Someone was undermining the princes’ mission here on Earth. Did the ILE know or suspect, or even care? How could I convince David that Akrawn was a victim here?
“Cat,” said Peri breaking into my speculations, “are you going to stop staring at Akrawn’s hologram soon, and continue with our work? You realize that we should not blindly accept Prince Rawklix’s observations. And it is my opinion you are being manipulated by Akrawn through these pheromones.”
I huffed, “Thank you for your opinion, Peri. For your information, I was contemplating what my next line of investigation should be.” Akrawn had improved my AI in ways I did not approve of. Sure, the damn thing could a
ccess hidden websites and data, which had previously proven impossible, but Peri seemed more self-determined. I doubted Akrawn would approve the upgrades if he knew how Peri had become obsessed with locating him and ensuring his capture.
“And, what is your decision?”
“Peri, could you get the profile app David generated on Akrawn, add the new data Rawklix volunteered and then input Akrawn stealing the necklace as a variable. Let’s look at how that affects his profile?”
Usually, generating behavioral probability diagnoses takes my AI at least an hour. “Peri, I’ll go get a sandwich, while you run the app. How long—”
“Done.”
“What?”
“That alien might be a devious devil, but his updates are almost worth having his hands tampering with my insides.”
Wow! I’m not sure I agree with Peri. Are the updates worth Peri giving a good impression of a volatile teenager?
“Scroll through the results, please.”
“Was just about to do that.”
My stomach roiled as a horrible idea ran riot through my mind. The profile showed a significant inconsistency between not stealing the wesekh and stealing it. If Akrawn took the thing, then Peri’s results surmised Akrawn suffered mental instability or illness. What if this heartsickness that Rawklix mentioned is dangerous for Trilyns and destabilizes them? Can I trust Akrawn?
“Cat,” said David walking into the room behind me and causing me to jump, “what does the evidence you’ve dug up support? Is Akrawn victim or perp?”
“Peri, organize/reorganize the data to place it where it was before Prince Rawklix’s call.”
“You forgot the please!”
“Please Peri,” I said as I raised my eyebrows and shrugged at David.
“What did you ask Prince Rawklix?” Under his craggy brows, David’s perpetual frown deepened and his mustache twitched overtime. “I hope you were careful. The last thing we need is to add to the current diplomatic disaster.”
“Did you know that the princes face continual difficulties in getting wives? The bargain Earth struck with the Trilyn is all our way. We have their technology, but only one prince married. Look, I’m not sure what information the ILE has and is not sharing with us—”