by Selena Kitt
She had been Boone’s prisoner for almost two weeks and they were within hours of a shallow orbit around Minotaur when she gave him her take on The Jungle Book.
“It’s about a boy who is raised by animals—wolves,” she said, while sitting in Boone’s lap during their mid-morning time-out.
“Go on,” Boone urged, intrigued as always to hear her views on classic literature. “So he’s raised by wolves—anybody would know that just from reading the synopsis.”
“It’s more than that,” K said thoughtfully. “The boy—Mowgli—he actually thinks of himself as one of the wolves. He knows he’s different but he doesn’t really internalize it until the wolves reject him. That’s when he realizes that he doesn’t belong with the pack anymore.”
“What happens then?” Boone had read the book as a boy but it had been years since he’d picked it up.
“Well, the book is broken up into several different adventures but after he realizes he can’t stay with the wolves, he leaves the pack behind and tries to go back to his own kind.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t work though—he has too much of the jungle in his blood. So he goes back—but on his own terms. He—”
“Boone if you’re not too busy cuddling with Princess Paladin I have a mechanic on the viewscreen for you,” Loki’s nasal voice came over the com, interrupting K’s report.
“Do they have the part we need?” Boone asked.
“The mechanic says they might... for the right price.”
Boone cursed under his breath. “I don’t know how much more credit I can pull this far from Colossus. I guess I can try, but—”
“I don’t think that’s the kind of payment the mechanic has in mind. Look, you’d better come talk about it in person. If you can tear yourself away from the lovely K for a moment that is.” Loki’s voice dripped sarcasm, making Boone grit his teeth.
“Yeah, I’m coming,” he growled. “And can the nasty remarks, Loki. I’ve had about enough of your lip.”
“You say the sweetest things.” Loki signed off with a loud, smacking kiss and the com went silent.
Boone sighed. “I guess I’d better get out there and see what’s going on.”
“What will you do if you can’t pay the mechanic’s price?” K asked, getting off his lap and rearranging her clothing. Today she was wearing another one of his dress shirts, this one dark blue with a red tie cinched around her narrow waist. Boone reminded himself that no matter what else they did on Minotaur, they had to get her some more clothes.
“I’ll find a way to pay it,” he said, snagging the red short sleeved shirt he’d been wearing before their time-out and pulling it over his head. “I have to. If it takes a little longer—”
“You’ll have that much more time to convince me to help you,” K finished for him.
Boone gave her a searching look. This was an area of conversation he had strictly avoided, deciding it was better not to push. After all, he couldn’t force K to help him get past the security field at Midas and rescue Shayla. He could only hope she would see it his way by the time they got where they were going. “I suppose so,” he said at last.
“You do still have my suit,” K pointed out. “I suppose it’s your only bargaining chip. That and my life. But since I’m going to purge myself anyway, it’s not much.”
“Do you really still want to kill yourself so badly?” Boone asked quietly.
A look of uncertainty flitted across her face. “I should want to,” she murmured. “It is my duty to die since I have been contaminated. You’ve been touching me so much and so long that nothing but the deep blackness of Purity can cleanse me now.”
“Death before dishonor, huh?” Boone frowned at her. “Well I don’t buy it, darlin’—where there’s life there’s hope. What would killing yourself get you anyway?”
“Nothing.”
“Exactly.” Boone nodded.
“No, you don’t understand. Purity is pure, unadulterated nothingness. When it takes you in, you become nothing too.”
“Sounds lonely.”
She frowned. “How can you be lonely if you are nothing?”
“How can you want to give up everything to become nothing in the first place?”
“It’s what I’ve trained for all my life.” K frowned. “It’s... expected of me.”
Boone gave her a long look. “I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to kill yourself—maybe it’s time you made some expectations of your own. Come on, I have to go talk to this guy before he gets tired of waiting and breaks the connection. Or else doubles his price.”
He led the way to the main viewscreen which was located, unfortunately, in Loki’s domain—flight control. K trailed after him silently and he hoped she was thinking about what he’d said. They would have to revisit this conversation later—if he was ever going to get Shayla back he needed her to be on board one hundred percent.
Loki was lounging in the flight chair wearing a tight fitting green leather vest and some loose harem-style silver trousers. The ship’s controls were arranged on a semi-circular panel in front of him in a complicated array. Even to Boone’s untrained eyes they looked clunky and inefficient—like most of the ship. But Loki flew it with the ease of long practice, though Boone knew he would much rather be aboard his own custom-built ship, still in dry dock on Eros.
“I’m here,” he said when Loki failed to look up from the apparently engrossing task of filing his nails with a mini-sander. “Where’s the mechanic?” he asked, nodding at the darkened viewscreen.
“I put the image on hold while I waited for you.” Loki’s gold-ringed eyes flicked over Boone and K standing behind him. “You sure you want Miss Purity to hear what you have to say?”
Boone frowned. “K knows what’s going on. It won’t hurt to let her hear the call.”
Loki shrugged laconically. “Suit yourself.” He flicked a switch and the large rectangular screen buzzed to life showing a most surprising sight.
He’d been expecting the mechanic to be your garden variety grease monkey with black grime under his nails, probably wearing coveralls with his name stitched on the pocket. It was a stereotype, sure, but often a reality as well in Boone’s experience. Instead, the screen showed and image of a stunningly beautiful woman with full breasts and long blonde hair. She was wearing an immaculate crimson blouse that showed a fair amount of cleavage and a thick gold choker around her slender neck. In fact, the only thing that kept her from being perfectly vid-star gorgeous was her whiskers.
Boone tried not to stare at them but he couldn’t help it. The long, silky hairs protruded from either corner of her lush mouth, making her look extremely cat-like. Large, tilted eyes so green they made Loki’s look dull in comparison added to the feline illusion, as did her vertical pupils.
“Doctor Richard Boone I presume?” Her voice had a soft, purring quality that made Boone wonder if she had a tail swishing out of sight of the viewscreen. He cleared his throat, trying not to let his surprise show on his face.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“The Richard Boone? The famous geneticist? Winner of the Double Helix grant and author of What Lies Within, Genetic Manipulation and its Consequences?” she pressed.
“Uh... I suppose.” Her emphasis on his other profession was surprising and a little worrisome. “May I ask why you want to know? I thought you were a mechanic.”
Her whiskers twitched in apparent amusement. “Oh, I am, Doctor Boone. But I’m also a fan. My father talks about you constantly and we follow all your work. Just imagine, actually getting to meet you like this. It’s very exciting.”
“Uh, well, Miss...”
“Illlessssca.” The name came out in a throaty purr. “Please, call me Ilesca.” She smiled charmingly, her whiskers twitching.
“Miss Ilesca,” Boone said. “Thank you for your interest in my work but right now I’m afraid I’m more interested in yours. Do you have the part we need to fix our hyperdrive in stock?”
“I beli
eve we do.” She nodded, her large eyes half closed in satisfaction. “But there is the little matter of payment.”
Boone cleared his throat. “Ah yes. Of course.”
“You’d think such an avid fan would offer a discount,” Loki muttered, too low for the viewscreen to pick up. “So much for your celebrity status, doctor.”
“I heard that.” Ilesca’s eyes narrowed as she studied Loki. “Of course Doctor Boone’s credit is no good here. But we have a unique problem that only he may be able to solve.”
Boone frowned. “And what might that be?”
“I can’t discuss it on an open link.” Her large green eyes flicked rapidly from side to side, as though looking for eavesdroppers. “You’ll have to come down to the surface anyway so I can have a look at your ship. We can talk then and, of course, my father will want to meet you.”
“Who is your father if you don’t mind me asking?” Boone said.
Ilesca smiled again, showing sharp white teeth. “Why John James Abrahams, of course. Don’t you see the family resemblance?”
Before Boone could answer the viewscreen blinked and went black—Ilesca was gone.
“What in the seven hells was that all about? And who is John James Abrahams?” Loki demanded, sitting up straighter in his chair.
“John Abrahams is a cautionary tale.” Boone frowned, more troubled than ever. “We studied him in med school—in Ethics of Advanced Genetic Manipulation.”
“Ethics, huh?” Loki sniffed. “There’s nothing ethical about cloning in the first place. It’s an abomination against the Goddess to copy one of her creatures instead of procreating in order to make more beings the way she intended. And don’t start in on how disgusting and vile sexual procreation is, missy.” He pointed a finger at K. “What’s truly repulsive is pumping five hundred identical babies, all with the same fucked-up DNA, out of an artificial womb.”
“I said nothing.” K glared at him. “But since you opened the subject, I find your ways of reproduction repugnant and wrong.”
“Okay, kids—break it up.” Boone held out a hand to each of them. “Getting back to the subject, the guidelines for cloning—which most worlds in the Prometheus System follow—were laid down at the Covran Convention of 2299. Basically it states that you can mix DNA however you want, as long as everything you’re mixing is human. Unfortunately, Abrahams had other ideas.”
“He used animal DNA.” Loki nodded at the now dark viewscreen. “Miss Meow there is only a whisker away from purring for a bowl of cream—literally.”
Boone sighed. “Yeah, it looks like that.”
“I don’t like her,” K said abruptly.
“Well, of course you don’t, sweetie,” Loki snapped. “You’re a Purist—you don’t like anybody.”
“I don’t like the way she talks. Or the way she was looking at you,” K said to Boone, ignoring Loki’s jibe. “She looked predatory... hungry.”
“Well not many folks make the trip all the way out to Minotaur,” Loki said, raising an eyebrow. “If this Abrahams character is so interested in genetic manipulation maybe they’re looking for fresh breeding stock. Wouldn’t it be interesting if that was the price for getting the hyperdrive fixed? What do you think, Boone—would she ask you to scratch her behind the ears... or lower?”
“That’s enough of your filthy talk,” K flared before Boone could answer. “Boone wouldn’t participate in any such exchange.”
“On the contrary, sweetheart, I happen to know that Boone would do just about anything to get his little sister back, including kidnapping your boney, frigid ass and hauling you halfway across the solar system.”
“Loki, that is enough.” Boone made his voice a muted roar and had the satisfaction of seeing the pilot jump.
“Excuse me, Mr. Sensitive,” Loki muttered. “I was only stating the obvious.”
“Well, don’t. Just take us down and try to make it through the damned landing sequence without saying anything insulting or inflammatory.”
“Yes, sir. Whatever you say, boss.” Loki sketched an overly elaborate salute before turning back to the ship’s controls. “If you two wouldn’t mind leaving, I’d like to concentrate. It’s hard to fly when the entire flight control stinks of Purity.”
“Fine. Come on.” Boone grabbed K’s arm and steered her away before she could say something in retaliation—or maybe go for Loki’s throat which seemed more likely given the murderous gleam in her black-on-black eyes.
They went back to his quarters in silence but when they got there, K turned to face him. “You wouldn’t really do that, would you?” she demanded as Boone sorted through his locker, looking for any remaining dress shirts that hadn’t been turned into makeshift dresses. He had a few that he knew of that were miniaturized but he hated to go to the trouble of resizing them.
“Do what?” He was distracted, wondering if he could wear the dark red shirt with his black tie—what had K done with his black tie anyway?
“Do what Loki said. Have... have sexual intercourse with that... that cat mechanic thing.”
Boone stopped rummaging and looked up, studying her. It was obvious she was trying to be calm and collected but he could see the tension leaking through her poorly constructed façade. “Why? Would it bother you if I did?”
“Of course it would.” K’s hands were clenched into fists at her sides. “I couldn’t bear to have you touch her.”
“You couldn’t, hmm?” Boone raised an eyebrow at her, now completely intrigued. “Feeling a little jealous there, K?”
Her cheeks went pink. “Of course not. Envy and jealousy are not emotions I would ever allow myself to indulge in.”
“Oh, of course not.” Boone went back to digging through his clothes. “So if you’re not jealous, it shouldn’t bother you if Ilesca wants to get a DNA sample from me the old fashioned way.”
“It does bother me though.”
“And why is that?”
“I... you...” She seemed to be groping for the right words. “Just think of all the contagion you might get from her. And then you would pass it on to me when you touched me again.” K’s cheeks went even pinker. “I couldn’t bear it—the idea of your hands all over her like that.”
“Oh you couldn’t, huh?” Boone frowned. “Well I hate to tell you, K, but what Loki said back there is pretty much right. I would do just about anything to get my sister back. Not that having sex with a woman that has longer whiskers than mine gets my engine revving but if I had to...” He shrugged.
K looked as upset as he had ever seen her. “I can’t believe this. Can’t believe you’d be willing to debase yourself in such a way.”
“Look, darlin’, I’m sorry but I just don’t see sexual contact as the horrible, iniquitous crime you seem to think it is. Anyway...” He clapped her on the shoulder. “It’s probably a moot point. Given Ilesca’s interest in my credentials, I’d say she’s more interested in my PhD than my penis.”
K still looked upset. “I don’t like this at all. Why can’t we just skip this planet and continue straight on to Eros?”
“Because without a fully functioning hyperdrive we wouldn’t get there in time for Loki to find another touch-partner. And since Mom is celibate, you’re Miss Touch-Me-Not when it comes to sex, and I sure as hell am not gay, we have to find him someone, preferably another Erian, to complete his cycle with.”
“Who cares about his cycle?” K demanded.
Boone raised an eyebrow. “Well, you should for one. Your Erian DNA ensures that you’re going to be going through the same thing he is sooner or later.”
She looked suddenly pale. “You mean you think I’ll have to... have to... No.” She shook her head. “I refuse to believe that.”
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to face it sooner or later, K. I’ve studied your DNA and it’s even more Erian than Loki’s. Which means that eventually you’re going to have the urges all Erians do.”
“I won’t.” Her voice trembled. “I’ll never do..
. do that. No matter what.”
“Well, not for a while, we hope anyway.” Boone sighed. He was going to have to resize something to wear planetside after all. He popped open the tiny storage compartment to one side of the locker and began picking through the tiny, doll sized clothes. Loki had thought buying a miniturizer was an unnecessary expense but it had allowed him to pack much more in the limited area of the Erian ship, as well as bring some equipment he might otherwise have had to leave back on Colossus. Of course, he didn’t have room on board ship to resize all of it but in a pinch he could probably work something out.
“I still say we should just go on to Eros,” K said stubbornly, breaking his train of thought.
Boone frowned. “So you’d rather go to Eros than face ‘Miss Meow’ as Loki called her? I thought the entire planet was decadent and depraved.”