They were well trained, Kyler gave them that. Three times the Gorvas hunters nearly had him. By now they had to know he wasn’t the woman.
He’d made the right decision. Sirn’s men would have picked Sabralia up, though she was a wily little thing. His brother Kaistril had chosen well. Too bad she had a contract marriage with Sirn, a Gorvas warlord. But that would be dissolved soon enough. All ready there were reports of his death by the hands of his own officers
Kyler zoomed behind a small floating plaza, then zipped along at the same pace as a group transport, careful to crouch low so he couldn’t be viewed through the windows. Since he’d removed Sabralia’s id chip from his arm, the hunters only had visual records to find him. He dropped the bright blue cape Sabralia had worn at the next plaza eatery he passed, tossing it onto an empty chair. Now he was dressed in a plain black spacer’s suit, like a dozen of other men in the hub. He hitched a ride on another open transport.
The transport flew under a glide path. He powered on the float vest and leaped from the transport to a thick strut, then climbed down it to a utility area behind an eatery on a midsized plaza. He spotted the military transport at the same time he saw an open access to the lower level of the plaza. He leaped and landed with a hard thud in the utility tunnel, his head spinning with the impact, and he needed to catch his breath. Those soldiers were well trained and persistent, but their transport was not that easy to maneuver around struts and traffic and they were looking for the blue cloak. Kyler peered out the doorway and could not see the transport. He carefully closed the access panel. They hadn’t seen him.
Star Goddess, he was tired. He hadn’t had a workout like that since he was an ensign. Kyler grimaced at the sore spots all over his body. He’d sat at a com console too long for this type of action.
Then he grinned. It was fun, though, eluding Sirn’s top hunters. He was always the commander of the ship, taking reports and barking out information and orders. He’d forgotten how much he enjoyed actual field work.
This utility level ran underneath the plaza. He should be able to travel underneath and come out in another area undetected. Then he would work on a disguise and food and shelter. That would give his brothers time to get Sabralia to the ship and head for home, undetected.
These access tubes weren’t built for comfort, he had to walk hunched over and crawl now and then. As he turned a tight corner a savory smell wafted toward him. Was he below a restaurant? That would be excellent. He hadn’t eaten since early in the day, upon waking. He could hear voices, so he must be coming to a storage area.
He turned again and came into an opening. Small children sat against the wall, slurping from hot tubes. A Star Woman cloaked in the long white robes of her order filled tubes from a keg and handed them to more children.
“Look, Sister Skyleen. A man is lost in the U.” A small child’s voice piped up loud and clear over the chatter, catching the attention of the other children, who hushed.
Sister Skyleen whirled around with a swish of fabric from her loose robes.
They stared at each other in open-mouthed shock. Kyler was stunned at the shiny, black curls that peeped under her hood, at the large, warm brown eyes framed in curly black lashes.
Weren’t Star Women older? Hard and worn from devoting their lives to the Unfortunate? This woman was…delicious. Skin the color of a spice cake, deep rose red lips.
He heard the movement behind him too late to counter it. A sharp rap on his skull, stunned pain, and all went black.
***
“I can’t believe you did that Tylerius. And you, Chipchip Nur! Violence has no place in the Sanctuary.”
“We’re in the tubes, not a temple,” protested a male adolescent voice.
“Sanctuary is where we make it.” The woman’s voice was sharp. “And you Chipchip Nur! There was no call for biting. He was already on the floor.”
Kyler forced his heavy eyes open. The lighting was dim, which helped. The woman, Sister Skyleen —odd how he remembered her name —was frowning at two teen aged boys. His head and hand throbbed with pain.
“I thought he was a slaver.” The shorter boy spoke.
“Hmpf. Slavers roost around the docks. They don’t crawl the tubes.” Sister Skyleen narrowed her eyes at the boy. “And you certainly don’t bite them! You drew blood. Think of the illnesses he might carry in his blood!”
Kyler pressed his hands onto the floor to raise up to a sitting position. “No need to worry about disease, Sister. I am healthy and have genetics that prevent most infections from taking hold.”
He examined his wrist. The boy had bitten down hard.
“Got a rejuv?” he asked.
Sister Skyleen came closer. “I’m sorry. We have none. But these boys will go get one.” She gave the boys a narrowed eyed look. “I need to go get a credit stick. You two make your apologies.”
She swept away in a rustle of fabric and a lingering sweet scent. The two boys turned to Kyler and he had to keep the shock from his face. The taller boy was PureGen, but his perfect blond features were marred by a long deep scar down one cheek. The other boy was small, but had a sprinkling of whiskers on his upper lip. Older than he looks, Kyler thought.
The boys walked the few steps toward him. Then Kyler saw that the taller boy’s eye, scared like his face, was blind. Something unheard of on a PureGen world, since the boy could have the injuries completely regenerated.
“I apologize for biting you.” The smaller boy spoke stiffly. “I thought you were a slaver after the little ones. After the girls.”
“I apologize also,” the PureGen boy said.
Sister Skyleen returned. “Off you go. No dawdling.” The boys took off in a flash of float boots.
“Can you stand? I will a take you somewhere more comfortable than this hallway.”
He had nowhere to be anytime soon. He just needed to hide out until Sirn’s officers gave up the hunt. Kyler rose as she whirled around and strode away. Her actions puzzled him, but as he followed her down a narrow tube, the realization came to him. He was used to women fawning on him, Commander Kyler, Son of Judith, the Protectorate of New Prague. Though it wasn't a given outcome, he would probably be the next ruler after his mother, as long as she continued to get the confidence vote of the people. There were plenty of women who found that made him very attractive, though it had the opposite effect on his view of them. He preferred women who were doing something for the betterment of New Prague, not spoiled idle daughters.
They entered a room with a higher ceiling and sleep bunks built into the metal walls. Probably the original housing for the crew who built this space hub. The lower bunks held a few small children, already asleep. To his surprise there were a few gray heads tucked into the lower bunks, too. In one dimly lit area, older children and a few elderly men watched a hub program on a tiny vid.
“This is the official sanctuary. We eat our last meal close to the entrance to make it simpler for parents who pick up their children at the end of the first work detail. This sleep area is for those who may need assistance during the night. Sister Rosleen will attend to them tonight.”
A middle aged star woman nodded at him. She was more the type he expected, middle aged with kindness written into her plain face.
“So this is an official Starwoman Sanctuary?” The sanctuaries he’d seen were star shaped temples made of gleaming stone.
Sister Skyleen shrugged. “Things are different on the hubs. There are no official laws to protect the young and the elderly or ill who find themselves without caregivers or credits. Temples would draw slavers and other predators to the area. So we make Sanctuary in the plaza lower levels. We are not obvious and I can lock the doors securely at night. The local businesses watch out for us because we educate and care for their children while they work.”. “Would you like a cup of Spice? Or some food?”
“I am hungry.”
“Follow me.” She walked through a doorway to an old fashioned galley.
Skylee
n fixed several hot tubes and a plateful of crusty rolls and carried them out to the sitting room. Two children left a sagging chair so he could sit. “I must see to the children now. Please ask any of our elderly if you need anything. The men’s hygenie is through that access.” She left him and spoke with one of the old men, rounded up the children and sent them to another room through an access.
Kyler drank the savory soup from hot tubes, and enjoyed the entire plate of rolls. He would have to be sure and transfer a few credits to Skyleen for the large amount of food he consumed.
He had never given a thought to the care and education of children on a space hub, or what would happen to the unfortunate. Children’s concerns were not part of his world as a Commander of twenty-five Tiers. Though he took for granted that his crew members had their child care needs met.
The boys returned with a Rejuv unit and helped him fix it to the bite on his hand. “This won’t take long,” ChipchipNur said. “We bought a premium unit.”
There was no reason for him to stay in this odd place, but for some reason, Kyler didn’t want to leave. He wanted to speak with Skyleen again. He needed to reimburse her funds, too.
“That is some armcom you have.” Tylerius looked at his com with avid interest. Neither boy wore one, though they were both old enough for the implant. “That’s what I’m saving for,” the boy continued. “I want a really fine com.”
Chipchip Nur nodded. “Except we would scratch ours up and make them look old to fool the thieves.” He turned to the scarred boy. “We’d better get to work.” With a wave the boys took off through another access tube.
Sister Skyleen finally finished her duties. She deftly removed the rejuv unit from his hand and explored his wounded area with a gentle touch that sent a thrill straight through his body.
“It looks fine. How does it feel?”
“Very good. It will not scar so there is no need to put it on again. You can probably use that rejuv unit for another injury.”
“Thank you.” She slipped it somewhere in her voluminous robe.
He wondered where the robe left and the woman began.
“You are PureGen, right?” Skyleen asked.
“Yes. I’ve had worse wounds and did not scar. But the rejuv unit certainty made me more comfortable.” He paused. “I am quite tired. Would it be possible to sleep here in the Sanctuary tonight? My lodgings are across the sphere.”
“Of course. You head must still hurt.”
It didn’t, but he nodded in agreement.
“Come with me and I'll get you settled for the night.” He followed her down a narrow tube that opened into a small circular room. Half a dozen bunks were built into the walls. Two old men rested on their beds while watching a vid show. A younger man was sound asleep on an upper bunk. “Davo, Rand. This is Kyler. He is going to stay the night.”
“You can have any of the other high bunks, young man.”
***
Skyleen left the newcomer with the old spacers and checked on Sister Roseleen before retiring to her bunk in the Little’s room They had eight children under the age of seven, and any given night one or more would wake with nightmares or other issues, so she slept with them. Most of them needed to know someone was watching out for them since all had some type of trauma that brought them to the Sanctuary.
Her elderly spacers hardly slept through a night, they stayed up until shift change, when Chipchip Nur and Tylerius returned from their restaurant jobs. Several of old men were sharp as could be and were armed with stunners, mostly to deal with the occasional intoxicated idiot who stumbled into the Sanctuary.
The businesses on the Plaza did a pretty fine job of watching the Sanctuary entrances and keeping trouble away so such occurrences were rare. Most of them depended on the Sanctuary for child care and schooling. The hub had no school system. Wealthy business owners and officials sent their children to planetary systems for education. But the many workers who were saving their earnings for an immigration packet to the world of their dreams sent their children to Sanctuary. Currently they care for well over a hundred children, the children of cooks and transport pilots, beauticians and shop owners.
If the stranger, Kyler, got up or did anything suspicious, they'd stun him and slip him onto a transport across the hub.
Still, Skyleen couldn't get to sleep. She got up twice, peeped at Rosleen, and used the lav. She crawled back onto her cot and stared at the bottom of the bunk overhead.
It was having a man in the Sanctuary. Not just man, there were men and boys here. A young, attractive man. Her skin felt hot, she wanted to slip off her sleep robe and be nude, feel the cool air on her overheated skin.
Her breasts felt heavy and ultra sensitive. Maybe she should pay for a water spray shower to relax. Normally she just used the hygenie, often doing body and garments at the same time. Every day was so busy.
She tried to take her mind off her restless body, but finally got up and went to the shower. She took off her sleep robe and slipped inside the small space, and tapped a hot spray. The needle sharp water hit her, stinging her already sensitive nipples before she whirled around and presented her back to the spray. The hot pound of the shower relaxed her tense shoulders. Not as good as the large hard hands of a man would feel.
Large hands that glided over her breasts...She showered for a long time, spending three credits from her personal account. When she slipped back into bed she felt bone tired.
It was time for her to leave the Sanctuary. Few women remained Starwomen all their lives. Many left to raise their own families, perhaps to return when their marriages were over and children were grown.
Skyleen had been at the Hub for eight years. Not easy years. She was proud of the service they provided, the children and lost ones they saved from homelessness or worse, slavers. But more and more she wanted other things. The touch of a man. An infant at her breast. The changes in her emotions and body were interfering with her work. The infant Roseleen was caring for through the night—Skyleen was afraid if she cared for the little one all the time she wouldn't want to give it to the loving parents they were seeking for it. The idea of finding some of the little one’s families, sending them away, wrenched her heart too much. And perhaps that inner desire to keep them with her was discoloring the search for loving homes.
Her Evaluation time came in just a few months. She would leave the Sanctuary and seek the things she now needed. Her Sanctuary sisters would guide her to other women on the outside who had recently left. They would help each other build a different life.
The man Kyler. He was beautiful as PureGen always were. Often the perfection of a lab created face seemed cold to her, perhaps because she wasn't PureGen and knew many of them looked at Naturals with disdain. His face though...the grooves of dimples in his face indicated he smiled and laughed a lot, and his eyes were a startling color, silver gray. Exotic Not just any lab, but one for wealthy patrons. His clothing and arm com were fine quality. A man of wealth.
His expression of shock turned to compassion when he'd seen Tylerius' facial deformity. He wasn't used to imperfection. Probably came from a PureGen world where Naturals couldn't even get citizenship.
But that did not mean he was hard and cruel and to be feared. Perhaps he could be persuaded to take Tylerius to his world, where lab tests could determine the boy’s world and lineage, where medical procedures could restore his sight and beauty.
She would bring it up to Kyler tomorrow.
#
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
TEASER
: STARWOMAN'S SANCTUARY
Alien Blood (Diaspora Worlds) Page 15