by Selena Kitt
“You’re the one who’s being irrational.” Boone frowned and his vox’s eyes flared reddish-orange. “Here,” he said to Abrahams. “I’ll take that one too.”
Abrahams smiled and nodded, rubbing his hands together. “If you’re sure you don’t mind...”
“Not at all. Bring ‘em on.” Boone held out his hand for the second little animal and Abrahams scooped it up and gave it to him. It turned toward K and yipped appealingly but Boone shook his head. “Sorry little guy. She doesn’t want you. Here, you get the other shoulder.” He placed the vox on his other shoulder where it curled up reluctantly, though it continued to stare longingly at K.
“Now that’s settled, if you’ll follow me.” Abrahams swept out of the glass enclosed room leaving them alone for a moment.
Boone started to follow him but K grabbed his shirt. “Stop.”
“What?” He turned back, frowning.
“I think you should put those things back. I don’t trust them.”
“You don’t trust anyone, K—that’s part of your problem. Like denying you have feelings all the time. ‘I am a Paladin. I fear nothing, I feel nothing,’” he mimicked softly.
“I have admitted to having some emotions since you took away my suit,” K said tightly. “Though not nearly enough to feed one of those things.”
“That’s a lie and you know it,” Boone said. “The only reason you don’t want one is because they tell on you—they know what you’re feeling even when you don’t want to feel anything at all.”
“Emotions are messy and irrational. Of course I don’t wish to have them and it’s your fault I do!” K flared. The vox on Boone’s right shoulder—the one that had originally been hers—sat up and howled softly, its eyes turning bright red.
“Look at that—he’s still attuned to you.” Boone watched the animal with great interest. “He misses you, K.” He scratched the vox under its pointed chin with one finger. “Sorry, little buddy, she’s not interested.”
“This is ridiculous,” K said tightly. “I will not be made to feel guilty for refusing to accept a strange animal into my life.”
Boone shrugged, a smile quirking up one side of his full mouth. “Oh no? I guess we’ll see. What color do you think guilt is anyway?” He walked out of the glassed in area laughing.
K followed him, fuming. The vox on his right shoulder turned its head to look at her, its eyes whirling a muddy brownish-gray.
Chapter Ten
“Well, as I’m sure Ilesca told you, we have a rather unique problem that I hope you may be able to help us with, Doctor Boone.” Abrahams nodded genially as they settled into the deep leather chairs in the sitting area.
The leather was thick with an almost pebbled texture that struck Boone as odd. Still, it was quite comfortable and at least the seat was large enough and strong enough to accommodate him. He’d been away from Colossus for so long, conforming to the smaller scale of the littles, that he sometimes forgot how pleasant it could be to simply be able to sit on a chair and not worry that he might break it.
“I’m certainly willing to listen, Doctor Abrahams,” he said, nodding. “Though I don’t know what I can do.”
“You can help save our lives, I hope,” Abrahams said seriously.
“And what have you done to endanger them in the first place?” K demanded. She was still fuming although Boone was sure she wouldn’t admit it. Her tone was cold and calculating but her vox’s eyes were glowing a deep red with what he assumed must be anger and/or frustration. This little critter is going to come in handy. Especially when it came to decoding his cold, withdrawn Paladin.
“Come on now, K,” he said, trying to soothe her. “You can’t just assume that whatever problem Doctor Abrahams has is his own fault.”
“Oh but I’m very much afraid that it is.” The doctor plucked the strange brass and crystal goggles off his head and began adjusting them nervously. “You’ve seen my creations—the mixtures I’ve made and I am very proud of each and every one of them. In fact, they went so well with nary a glitch that about a cycle ago I decided to experiment with the native fauna.”
“What?” Boone demanded. “But the native fauna on Minotaur consists of mindless, meat-eating carnivorous saurians.”
“What are these saurians like?” K asked. “The Purists don’t have much intel on Minotaur though I know it isn’t considered inhabitable.”
“Have you ever seen pictures of the dinosaurs that used to inhabit Earth-that-was?” Boone asked her. She nodded. “Okay then, imagine something like that only ten times uglier, nastier, and hungrier. It’s a wonder humans can live on Minotaur at all.”
“Indeed, establishing ourselves here in the first place was not easy.” Abrahams sounded grim. “Especially once the saurians got a taste for human flesh.”
Boone thought he saw K shiver, though her face remained cool and collected. A quick look at her vox, however, showed glowing eyes that cycled between burnt umber and dull olive green. Fear or worry? Maybe disgust? He would have to make note of the colors and try to decode them later to be sure.
“So the saurians... you decided to experiment on them?” K raised an inquiring eyebrow at Abrahams who nodded.
“Unfortunately yes. I thought if I could give at least one of them some human intelligence I could reason with it, teach it to coexist with us peacefully.”
“So you gave human intelligence to one of the fiercest predators in the known galaxy?” Boone still couldn’t believe it. “I’m sorry, Abrahams, but that sounds like a bad idea to me.”
Abrahams sighed. “As it turns out, it was, though it didn’t seem that way at the time. The female I mixed seemed so docile at first—we called her Sweetie.
“Sweetie?” Boone raised an eyebrow.
Abrahams shrugged. “At the time, the name fit her perfectly. Ilesca and my son used to play with her. She grew and learned at an amazing rate—I was even able to teach her to read Standard.”
“But then...” Boone prompted.
“But then she went through some kind of change. Hormonal, I think. I used Erian DNA in her mixture to make her more docile, more touch-dependent.”
“So you could use her needs to control her.” K shot Boone a glance and her vox’s eyes went reddish-purple.
“Yes, of course.” Abrahams nodded, clearly missing her anger. “It seemed the easiest way. But I used too much. The touch-dependency worked well but then Sweetie entered a mating cycle.”
Beside him, Boone could see K was listening intently. “This... mating cycle. What did it do to her? What do you know about it?”
“Not enough, apparently.” Abrahams shook his head. “Only that the hormonal changes she experienced made her completely reckless and unreasonable. If I had known what would happen I would have created a male for her. As it was, there were no others of her kind to mate with. I didn’t want to let her mate with a wild saurian—I feared for her, feared that it might savage and attack her.”
“You thought an unenhanced male might sense the difference in her?” Boone asked.
“No mentally, no. But the changes in her physiology, her chemistry—I feared they would make her a target. The pheromones she was emitting were far beyond what was normal for her kind—they made her completely irresistible.” He looked embarrassed. “They, er, even affected those of us who worked with her—so I knew they would drive a male saurian completely mad.”
“What happened?” K wanted to know. Boone had an idea her interest was more than just academic.
“I tried everything. Muscle relaxants, mood recalibraters, psychotropic drugs—nothing worked.” Abrahams shook his head. “Finally, though, I developed a collar I thought might work. Something she could wear all the time that would inject her continuously with calming drugs—much like your skinsuit, my dear,” he said, turning to K.
She stiffened. “My suit—”
“Is damaged at the moment,” Boone interrupted smoothly. Clearly K still wasn’t willing to admit to the suit’s
true properties. “So did the collar work?” he asked Abrahams.
“I never got to find out.” Abrahams sighed. “The morning I went to try it on her, I found that Sweetie had escaped.”
“Escaped?” K demanded. “You let a huge sentient predator with the ability to think and reason like a human get away from you?”
“Believe me, I have paid for my mistake many times over.” Abrahams looked grim. “Sweetie has mounted several attacks on our settlement and claimed many victims. My...” He cleared his throat. “My son was one of them.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Boone said somberly. “But I don’t really see how we can help.”
“Unless you want us to target Sweetie and blast her from orbit,” K added.
“Oh heavens no!” Abrahams looked shocked and upset at the idea. “No, Sweetie might be out of control at the moment but everything she’s done is not her fault—it’s mine.”
“It’s good of you to take responsibility for your actions,” Boone said. “But what good will it do if you just let her keep rampaging around, killing people?”
“That’s where you come in.” Abrahams cleared his throat. “You see, I had a special stunner built—one with enough power to stop even a charging saurian.”
“So why haven’t you used it?” K demanded, leaning forward and glaring at the doctor. “Why ask Boone to do your dirty work?”
“Because in order to give the weapon enough power to stun Sweetie, I had to make it disproportionately large,” Abrahams explained earnestly. “No man in our settlement can even lift it. The power cells alone are outrageously heavy. But Doctor Boone here, being from Colossus, should be able to handle it with ease.”
“I still don’t see why you don’t mount it on some kind of vehicle and use it that way,” K said.
Abrahams looked thoughtful. “A most intriguing concept. I admit I hadn’t considered that before. Clearly your Paladin’s mind is attuned to the nuances of weaponry in the way mine is not. However, I’m afraid that still wouldn’t work.”
“Why not?” Boone asked.
“Because. Ahem...” Abrahams cleared his throat delicately. “Unfortunately, Sweetie knows all of us by scent. She has incredibly sharp senses—the best I could give her. And she knows that everyone in the settlement is armed now. But if she smells something—someone new, she’s much more likely to assume that the new person is unarmed and—”
“Bait! You want to use Boone for bait.” K jumped up from her chair and her vox sat up on Boone’s shoulder and yipped angrily, its eyes flashing reddish-orange with her rage.
“Well, in a manner of speaking, yes,” Abrahams said mildly. “But he would be in no real danger. Sweetie is a loner and she’s carved out a territory for herself close to the compound so he wouldn’t have to worry about other saurians. Plus, he’ll be armed with the stunner which, as I said before, is extremely powerful. All he really has to do is wait for her to approach, stun her, and fit her with the control collar. Simple.”
“Simple?” K was pacing now, obviously furious. “You want to send him out armed with nothing but a stun gun against a seven-ton predator that has teeth as long as my arm and you call it simple?”
“My dear Paladin, please calm yourself. He doesn’t have to do it.” Abrahams shrugged laconically. “Of course, we don’t have to fix his ship, either. Everyone here has free choice.”
“Free choice? How dare you?” K looked like she was actually on the verge of grabbing Abrahams by the throat. Boone intervened quickly.
“Take it easy, darlin’,” he murmured. “Let’s just talk this through.”
“Talk it through?” K’s eyes widened. “There’s nothing to talk about, Boone. Just say no and let’s get the hell out of here.”
“I can’t do that and you know it, K,” he said quietly. “I have to get to my little sister and in order to do that, I need the hyperdrive fixed.” He looked at Abrahams. “I just want to know one thing—you told me Sweetie has attacked your settlement and killed your people. Hell, she even killed your own son.”
Abrahams winced. “That’s true.”
“So why don’t you want her dead?” Boone demanded. “Why not just kill her? I realize she’s a sentient being but at this point, it sounds like you’re into eye-for-an-eye territory.”
“Because.” Abrahams pinched the bridge of his long, bony nose and sighed. “Because like so many other of my creations, Sweetie is not simply a genetic mutation gone wrong, she is also my daughter. Some of my DNA resides inside her along with all the other strands I used. I cannot kill my children, no matter how wrong or misguided they may be.”
“Misguided?” K raised her eyebrows and gave him a disbelieving look. “Misguided?”
“Yes, misguided,” Abrahams said firmly. “Her brain chemistry and hormones are in a constant state of flux. But once she’s fitted with the control collar, it will take care of all that.”
“And you think she’ll be happy like that?” Boone asked. “Feeling nothing?” He saw K’s eyes flash but she didn’t speak. The vox on his shoulder growled softly, however, its eyes glowing red.
“I think she’ll be content, yes,” Abrahams said, rising. “Here, let me get you the collar and you can see for yourself.” He disappeared for a moment, presumably to fetch the control collar from his lab.
“I can’t believe you.” K turned on him. “You’re not actually considering this, are you?”
Boone sighed. “As a matter of fact, I am.”
“You can’t be!” K’s eyes went wide and her mouth trembled. “What if something happens to you? What if you get... get killed?”
Boone nodded, seeing the source of her worry. “Oh, yeah. And then what would happen to you, right? With no one to touch you.”
She shook her head. “I... I didn’t mean... If you died I couldn’t... I...”
“Yes?” Boone looked at her with interest. Could it be that she had some genuine feeling for him? Some reason other than self-preservation to care about his safety?
K lifted her chin and made an obvious effort to reign in her emotions. “I mean, what would happen to me in the event of your death?”
Boone raised an eyebrow. “For a minute there I almost though you cared, darlin’. Tell you what, I’ll let Mom in on the location of your suit. So if something happens and I wind up as a saurian hors d’oeuvre, she can give it back to you and you’re free to go.”
“But Boone, it’s so dangerous,” she protested and he thought he saw her mouth tremble again. Goddess, the rest of her might be as flat and sexless as a child but her lips were all woman—lush and full and ripe. He found himself wishing he could kiss those lips before he left on this crazy mission but then he pushed the irrational urge away. Not only was it stupid and sentimental, but K would no doubt be horrified at the level of “contamination” involved in pressing their mouths together.
“It’s necessary,” he corrected her gently. “And I’m going to do it, K.”
“Fine.” She took a deep breath. “Then I’m going with you.”
“Oh no you’re not.” Boone frowned. “I know you’re a trained killer but you have no weapons and a full grown saurian isn’t going to be vulnerable to a leg sweep or a jab in the eyes.”
“So you’re going alone?” K demanded.
“No, I’ll be watching his back.” Loki stepped into the office area and gave K a glare. “Don’t worry, Princess Paladin—I’ll take good care of your man.”
“He’s not my man,” she said furiously. “And I doubt you can take care of yourself, let alone anyone else.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Loki demanded.
“It means you’re sloppy, lazy, and insubordinate,” K shot back. “Not to mention vain, preening, and more concerned with your appearance than in taking care of business. I wouldn’t trust you to guard a blind verbot’s back.”
“Why you little Purist bitch.” Loki took a step toward her and Boone jumped up to get between them. He was certain the al
tercation would have ended in bloodshed, no matter how he tried to stop it, if Abrahams hadn’t come back at just that second.
“Well now, here we are.” He smiled happily as he handed the collar to Boone. “I control it with this.” He held up a small remote.
“Wow,” Boone said flatly as he unfolded the long piece of black leather. It was wider than his palm and would have wrapped around his waist three times with ease. “That’s... a big collar.”
“It’s quite an ingenious design, if I do say so myself. The collar appears to be soft leather but when it encounters her skin—”