by Lara LaRue
I’m here. I just woke up. Hope I didn’t leave you waiting.
I didn’t know how long he had lived with the Golden Strain in his system. Over a year? Several months? He had hidden its presence from everyone, including wearing undetectable realistic-colored contacts to hide irises that the symbiont always stained a metallic gold. The Lyrans, particularly Neyilla, called him Tabirus. Apparently, he was well known among some on the planet, and not just as the human representative of two years. I had no idea Stirling had “gone native.” No one had. It was a mystery to me that, given his newfound close connection to the planet, he hadn’t chosen to stay here. Instead, he had taken the job of chief science officer and returned to base, leaving the task of approaching the planetary leaders to a subordinate: me.
No, no. I pretty much just woke up myself. I wanted to check in with you. I know the adjustment period can be somewhat disorienting.
I could feel the almost paternal warmth of his feelings for me transmit down the communication and smiled. I could still remember having such a terrible crush on him and knew now he had known of it the whole time. He did care for me, but his feelings were such that desire would have been . . . somehow inappropriate.
I washed and oiled my waist-length, relaxed hair as we “talked.” My dreams are wild. Unfortunately, I haven’t been getting enough sleep to remember them. Other than that, well, I would probably be having more problems if I were back at Highfort. I only really get disoriented in crowds.
That makes sense. Your abilities seem to be telepathic and empathic in nature. On the one hand, you’ll never be able to fly or lift more than your weight. On the other hand, telepathic and empathic abilities can come in very handy. Just as they are doing now.
I could sense his amusement as he communicated with me. Emotions were very easy for me to sort out now. Besides doing it through telepathic contact, I could sense people’s feelings from as far away as two floors above or below me. It made it very easy for me to determine whether someone was lying or trying to hide his or her true feelings. The downside was if someone was having an argument with her lover, which had happened a few times so far, or if they were having sex, I would feel all of it. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride, because I never quite knew what was causing the sudden surge of emotions. At least now, after three days of adjusting, I could pick out when the emotions in question were someone else’s instead of mine.
He went on. I am taking the liberty of fabricating some communications between the two of us in order to satisfy our superiors that you are still in contact. They aren’t aware that your communicator was confiscated after the assassination attempt on the high chieftain.
I heaved a small sigh of relief. I had no doubt I would get my communicator back as soon as the Lyran leaders were satisfied I had done all I could to rectify the situation. Meanwhile, though, I didn’t want anyone showing up by dropship to check in on me. Thank you.
It’s no problem at all. You would be surprised just how easy it is to recycle an old report, doctor it a bit, and pass it off as yours. The flash of amusement he sent reminded me of a mental chuckle.
Have you had any luck finding out who is responsible for the drone that poisoned the high chieftain?
I reached for the small bottle of scented oil the healer had gifted me with yesterday. I seemed to be the only person on the planet who naturally had tightly curled hair, and in the constant humidity, I had been looking for something that would keep it from frizzing. Neyilla had put together the combination of nut oils for me, and ever since I had tried it last night, my hair was suddenly manageable again. It made the synthetic stuff I used at home feel and smell about as pleasant as rancid bacon grease.
Dorin is finally recovering, thanks to that formula you recommended, and may even be leaving in a few days. But I’m pretty worried that whoever is responsible will try again.
That’s completely understandable. Whoever it is, they don’t exactly have anyone’s best interest in mind here. I will continue to search for them. Just suffice it to say that whoever they are, they’re going to have significant difficulty slipping any major plans by me. His mental voice radiated confidence and reassurance. I couldn’t keep the doubt out of my own thoughts, however. Neither one of us had expected the poisoning attempt, after all.
So no suspects yet? I sat down on the little stool in the shower pod, working the oil through my hair with my fingers.
I have my suspicions. I do know, however, the commander himself is not responsible. He’s hard to read when he’s drunk . . . but none of the drone operators have received any orders signed off by him for months. What that means is either the order came from above him or below him.
What about Lieutenant Norcross? I winced even thinking of the name. Damon Norcross was my actual immediate superior, and he had done a great deal to cause me problems already. He had intervened in my training, sexually harassed me, and made sure my trip to Lyra was as bumpy and unpleasant as possible by giving my dropship computer poorly calculated landing instructions. He was petty, he was power crazy, and he had no real grasp of the gravity and importance of creating an alliance with the Lyrans. It was one of the reasons I always went to Dr. Stirling first. Between the two, the doctor was the one who always came up with good answers and advice. Norcross, on the other hand, could mostly be relied on to do whatever he considered to be in his best interest.
The problem is Damon Norcross’s mind is unreadable. Certain mental and physical conditions can make minds impossible for me to reach. For one thing, his emotional states tend to be extremely shallow, and he has no emotional attachments to anyone outside of himself. There’s very little for me to latch onto, unless he is angry about something.
My eyes widened slightly as I sat there letting the oil do its work. Shallow emotional states? No emotional attachments? It set off an alarm bell in my head. What kind of mental disorders make someone unreadable?
Certain forms of extreme psychosis will do it. Extreme autism can as well. Essentially, the mind is shielded. But the commonest sort of person that remains unreadable by us is the sociopath. Especially if he is also a narcissist, which we both can tell is true with the lieutenant. Across the gulf of space between where I sat on Lyra and the doctor’s room up on the moon base, I could feel his concern deepening. I had not considered him to be effective enough to pose much of a threat outside of his petty acts of revenge. But he does have some power, and for all we know, he has friends on the base that I had not considered.
Damon Norcross, friends? Unless he’s providing them with very good drugs, or paying them, I can’t imagine anyone keeping company with him voluntarily.
He sent back a brief flash of amusement. Well, not everyone has taste, and some are more easily manipulated than others.
I guess that’s fair enough. So where does that leave us?
Well, your first priority right now will continue to be completing your adjustment period and your subsequent training with Neyilla. I may need you to take her some messages. Other than that, well, there is always your new lover. His mental tone was gently teasing, and I blushed. He simply went on excitedly. The prospect of interspecies mating is unprecedented. I will be very happy to see what comes of it. Then he sobered. Be careful, Grace. Once you’ve adjusted and trained, and once you and Dekkir have settled in together, we still have an enemy among us. I don’t imagine he’ll be able to slip anything else past me, but I know I’m not perfect. Keep an eye out. I will keep in touch.
I’ll do that. Thank you. We broke mental contact, and I turned the water back on to rinse the residual oil out of my hair.
Dekkir stirred and opened an eye as I stepped out of the shower pod. Seeing me approach wrapped in a towel, he smiled widely and sat up. “What did I miss?” The universal translator embedded in my neck just below my ear interpreted his native Lyran into English fluently.
“No news is good news, I guess.” I came to perch on his lap, sitting sideways across his massive thighs. Dekkir was a big g
uy, even by Lyran standards. The size difference between us was sometimes a little alarming, but I was learning to enjoy it a great deal. “Tabirus will check in with us when he has some real information.”
He wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled my drying hair. “I suppose I should be disappointed, but I’m glad there are no new developments yet. I’d prefer to be spending my time and attention on you.”
His hand slipped under the towel and caressed my lower back, then slid down the curve of my ass familiarly. I shivered and then smiled up at him. “Well, I really can’t argue with that.”
CHAPTER 10 / DEKKIR
In the last three days, I had discovered there were very few things as satisfying as waking up to see my mate walking toward me across the room, wearing only a towel. The rough, white cloth against her smooth, dark skin, the way the dampness made her gleam and turned her hair into a wavy ink spill, those bottomless dark eyes, and that shy little smile she always wore when she saw what the look of her did to me. She was so small and soft and warm that embracing her felt like a luxury. And whatever struggle was now behind us, or still lay ahead, the best part of all was she was now mine.
Cuddling her on my lap, I breathed in the scent of that perfumed oil the healer had given her for her hair and smiled, feeling my desire stirring. “How much longer do we have before you go for your next lesson, my love?”
“I’m supposed to meet Neyilla two hours after dawn today.” She shivered and turned her face up to me invitingly as I gently pulled the towel away from her and dropped it to the floor. I could feel her sleepiness and mild worry giving way to affection and arousal as I nuzzled her neck and ran my hands over her.
“Well. Good. Because once I’m done with you, I’m afraid you’ll have to take time out for another shower.” I started kissing her neck and the side of her jaw and then bent her back so I could get at her breasts. Her skin was so sensitive. All I had to do was lay a few kisses around her nipple to have her trembling constantly, her breath starting to come in sharp pants.
I ran my hands over her rump and up her back, through her damp and scented hair. We kissed, and I scooped her up and pulled her against me, supporting her in my arms as I drew her nipple into my mouth. She whimpered and wrapped her thighs around me, cupping the back of my head encouragingly and squirming as I suckled her. So easy now to know what she liked when I could feel the faint echo of her pleasure in my own body. The only problem was holding back against both my own urgency and hers as things heated up.
Her low moans rose and fell as I held her up to my mouth, moving from breast to breast until both her nipples stood out in points. I heard her breath catch and shiver, and the way her hands and thighs clutched at me . . . and faintly, the hungry ache I had woken in her loins. Grinning, I shifted her position in my hands and then arched against her as I lowered her onto my equally aching erection.
Sinking into her hot, clinging softness nearly undid me right there. I groaned, setting my teeth in her shoulder as I pressed up against her until our hips touched. She started to rock, rolling her hips as she clung to me, and I gasped and held her, raising my hips to each down stroke. Each soft engulfment drove me toward the inevitable edge; I slid a hand between us to caress her and take her along with me.
I felt the warmth between us dry the last of the water from her skin as we rode together. The pressure built within us, between us, pleasure running through us, echoing back and forth between us and driving each of us to greater and greater frenzy. I heard both our voices spiral up in louder and louder cries as we thrust against each other. Then her body clenched around me; she sobbed, arching and trembling as electric jolts of ecstasy ran from her body to mine. I threw my head back, shouting with joy at the ceiling as my seed rushed out of me and deep into her body.
We caught our breath in each other’s arms, lying on our sides with our legs still tangled up. I pushed the tendrils of hair from her face and kissed her forehead, and she smiled up at me drowsily.
“We’re going at it so much that people are going to think we’re trying for a kid,” she teased me softly as I settled in beside her.
I chuckled, my eyelids feeling heavy. It was still at least a good hour before dawn. And a good thing, too, for I had exhausted myself with her so many times in the night that I was actually starting to feel sore. “Would that be such a terrible thing?”
“I don’t know. All of this is happening so fast that I haven’t even thought about that yet. Is it even possible?”
I looked down at her thoughtfully. “We should ask the healer. She’s the only one in a position to know.”
“If she does know. This seems to be pretty unexplored territory for your people and mine.” She stifled a yawn behind her hand. “But I agree. We should definitely ask.”
I sensed the conflict inside her and looked at her curiously. “Is everything all right?”
“I’m just thinking if we ended up having a child of our two races, I’m not sure I would want Earth Command to know. I would have to find a way to hide it from them.”
“Are you . . . expected back anytime soon?” I squashed a surge of apprehension. It was the one thing I had not gotten around to asking her. I had only assumed, since we were now together, that she would be staying on Lyra. Especially since, right now, she had no idea who among her own race she could actually trust. At least, aside from Tabirus.
“I was supposed to be here for two years straight, same as my predecessor, but I don’t know what will happen if some kind of active conflict breaks out. They might recall me. And then, I can either defy orders or end up . . .” She hesitated. “I don’t know. I know there’s no way I’m going to work for whatever crazy bastard is trying to engineer a war between us. I know I don’t want us to be separated. And besides, if they found out I have the symbiont in my system, I’d probably end up a lab experiment. But . . . that’s the thing. If I fall into their hands and I’m pregnant, our child could become a lab experiment, too.”
A jolt of adrenaline went through me, and my eyes flew open. I held her close, stroking her hair back from her face. “Then you must stay with me. If you face that sort of insanity otherwise, just from having the Golden Strain within you, then the answer is obvious. Stay with me. Stay here. Let Lyra be your home from now on.”
She licked her full lips thoughtfully. “I want to. As much as I miss my family, I can’t even think about returning to Earth Command until I know this . . . madness . . . of an interplanetary war isn’t going to come to pass. Whoever is doing this to us, he has to be caught and stopped. Until then, there’s no point in even discussing my going back. I simply can’t do it.”
“Well, then let’s not discuss it. Let us focus instead on what is immediately ahead of us, until Tabirus gives us something to go on.” I kissed her forehead, and she tucked her head under my chin and let out a sigh as her body relaxed.
“That sounds like a plan.”
We were drifting off, my eyelids growing heavy and her breathing going soft and even, when suddenly her whole body tensed against me. She gasped aloud and leaned back, her eyes flying open. “Airships!” she cried out.
I looked down at her. The Strain had left bronze threads in her irises, which seemed to grow more numerous with each day that dawned. Now I saw them sparkle and gleam. I had seen that look before. “Are you having a vision?”
“I think so.” Her eyes were very wide now and focused on something I could not see. It had happened to her off and on during her adjustment: visions, insights, and flashes of intuition. Fortunately, I was around enough that I managed to catch her the few times when the distraction of a vision made her stumble on her feet.
“Tell me what you are seeing.” I watched her face intently. Her emotions had gone ragged and spiky, adrenaline running through her as her eyes tracked around, watching nothing.
“They’re not Earth airships. The design’s wrong. I’ve never seen anything like them. They don’t make any noise as they fly around. I don’t know what t
hey’re using for propulsion, but it’s nothing like dropship fuel.” She blinked several times. “They’re having a battle over some kind of . . . It looks like the place they’re fighting over got hit with a volcanic eruption. There’s no vegetation. The ground’s black . . . I wouldn’t even think it’s on Lyra, but I can see the moons.”
“I’ve seen places near the Boiling Sea that look a little bit like that. Is it on an island?”
“No. It looks more like a plain somewhere. I can see a dry riverbed running through it.” She squinted into the darkness. “The sky looks strange. It’s got a yellowish tinge. It almost looks polluted. But the air on Lyra is so clean.”
I wet my lips. “It was not always so. There is much you do not know about our world. I believe you are seeing a vision from its distant past.”
The gleam in her eyes faded, and she peered up at me curiously. “What do you mean?”
“The Lyra you have come to know was not always thus.” I stroked her hair absently as I spoke. “Two thousand years ago, our world much more closely resembled what you have told me of your own. There were too many people, too many machines. Our chroniclers have carried the memory of those times forward for us across many generations.”
“What was it like then?” She watched me intently, her brown-bronze eyes full of curiosity.
“War was constant. Famines, epidemics, overcrowding in every fort. The air was difficult to breathe, and the poisons in land and water made many of our offspring born . . . wrong.” I rubbed my face, the uncomfortable subject dispelling the sweet lassitude that had lain over me before.