“So what do you think?” Kat asked. “Come on out here and give us a fashion show.”
Lauren had gone back to her bakery and Sophie had left to do something with her kids but Liv and Kat clapped and whistled when Vicky came out and twirled around in the new gown.
“You look gorgeous,” Liv assured her. “And now I have to go as soon as I give you some translation bacteria.” She held up a syringe.
Vicky frowned as she held out her arm for the shot. “What’s that?”
“It helps you understand alien languages,” Kat told her. “You’re going to love it since you’re a language teacher. What do you teach, anyway?”
“Spanish and French,” Vicky told her. “And I coach the Drama Club since they cut the budget at our school and we can’t afford a full-time Drama teacher.”
Liv frowned. “Those bastards, always cutting the budget for education! You ought to come teach up here on the Mother Ship. The Kindred prioritize education—teachers are paid as much here as the head of the Kindred High Council—which happens to be Sylvan, my brother-in-law.”
“That sounds amazing,” Vicky said honestly. “I’d love to live someplace where all my hard work and the extra time I put in every single day is actually valued.”
“Teachers aren’t paid nearly enough on Earth—at least not in our country,” Kat said soberly. “They have such a hard job! They ought to be getting the big bucks.”
“Well, Chain said he’s going to see if he can get me paid for this, uh, mission to Priima Bella,” Vicky said. “It’ll be nice to have a little extra since I kind of spent all my savings on a designer dress that got ripped to shreds by the alien bad guys who were after Chain when he met me.”
“Oh, sounds like you’ve already had some adventures with your handsome Kindred,” Liv said, grinning. “And now you get to go to a safe planet and just kick back and sight-see while he makes the deal for the other half of the T’lix-Kruthe.”
“What is the T’lix-Kruthe, anyway?” Vicky asked curiously. “I mean, I held onto it for him for a while, but to me it just looked like a shiny, light-up golden golf ball with a divot carved out of one end.”
“Honestly, it’s so ancient and it’s been so long since the Kindred had it all together in one piece, nobody is quite sure what it is,” Kat told her. “But Sylvan has been praying for guidance about a very important decision he has to make and one of the priestesses in the Sacred Grove had a vision about it. She told us we had to get it back in order to know what to do.”
“But how will it tell him? What does it do? Or, I guess you don’t really know that, huh?” Vicky asked.
Liv shook her head. “All we know is that it’s supposed to provide the wisdom of the Goddess herself—the Mother of All Life. That’s what Sylvan is hoping anyway.”
“I guess it would be nosy of me to ask what decision he’s trying to make.”
“Yes, it absolutely would—I knew I liked you for some reason,” Kat said, grinning at her. “Actually, it’s not a secret. The Mother Ship’s population has reached the place where we could actually spare enough warriors to staff a second ship.”
“The Mother Ship Two,” Liv said musingly. “It would take a long time to build and it would require a complicated operation in order to split the green star that powers our own Mother Ship in order to give it a power source—but it’s doable. And some people are saying, necessary.”
“Why?” Vicky asked, mystified. “Are you getting overpopulated here?”
“No, but we will be in another generation or two,” Kat said. “The Kindred believe in planning ahead—far ahead. And the second Mother Ship wouldn’t hang around here, either. It would start folding space until it found another Earth-like planet where there were enough females for the Kindred males to call brides from it.”
“It’s a journey that might take them to the other end of the universe,” Liv murmured. “And anybody who joined it might never be seen or heard from again by our own Mother Ship. Space is vast.” She dashed tears from her eyes. “Sorry—I was just thinking, what if my little boy decided to go?”
“Or any of mine,” Kat said grimly. “Part of me hates the idea. But another part thinks it needs to be done. I’m just torn about it.”
“So is Sylvan,” Liv said. “That’s why he needs the T’lix-Kruthe to help him make the decision.” She gave Vicky a rather watery smile. “I’m glad you and your Kindred are going to go get it for us. This is definitely a tough call.”
Vicky smiled back. “Well, as you said, I’ll be mostly there to sight-see and provide legitimacy for Chain while he does the deal. But I swear we’ll do our best to bring back the artifact.”
“You’ll do it,” Kat said briskly. “Nobody gets things done like a teacher! Now, come on, doll—I have to fix your hair and make-up too.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Well, we’re off.” Chain threw her that charming, crooked grin of his as he piloted his little spacecraft out of the vast Docking Bay of the Mother Ship. “On our way to Priima Belle. Are you excited to go to an alien planet for the first time?”
“Excited and nervous both,” Vicky admitted. “I just don’t want to mess up your mission.”
“Don’t worry, beautiful Victoria.” He reached out and grabbed her hand for a brief squeeze. “With your dramatic skills and your flair for languages, you’re going to be fine. And you’ll be happy to know that the Priima Bellans are willing to sell us the other half of the T’lix-Kruthe, which should make this trip a lot more, shall we say boring than my trip to the Varian home world.”
Vicky shivered.
“I’m glad we’re not going someplace filled with lizard people. Wait—are we?” She turned towards him anxiously. “I never asked but what do the Priima Bellans look like?”
“Never fear, they’re humanoid,” Chain assured her. “Though my understanding is that the women wear very elaborate make-up—which I see you must already know,” he added, nodding at the thick, curving lines of kohl that Kat had drawn around her eyes.
“Yes, in this dress and make-up I feel like Cleopatra,” Vicky said, laughing.
“Who?” Chain asked, frowning.
“Oh—an ancient queen from Earth’s past,” Vicky explained. “She ruled Egypt, which was a major world power in her time. And she did it in a male-dominated society, so she was pretty bad-ass, all things considered.”
His frown deepened.
“’Bad-ass?’ What was wrong with her behind?” He shot Vicky a grin. “I’m sure if it looked half as good as yours does in that gown, it was perfect.”
Vicky slapped at his muscular arm.
“Stop. I know I look kind of weird in this outfit—it’s like I’m dressed up for Halloween or for a part in a play.”
“That’s exactly what it’s like,” Chain said earnestly. “We’re going to be playing our parts. You’re a renowned scholar from Earth and I’m a humble student accompanying you and coming to Priima Belle to learn. Those are the identities the Lady Kat set up for us when she made the arrangements.”
“But what am I a scholar of?” Vicky protested. “I mean, I teach French and Spanish back on Earth but it won’t be like anyone on Priima Belle will know anything about those languages.”
“But don’t you see, that’s perfect!” Chain exclaimed. “You can be a professor of lost languages that no one else knows. In academia, the more obscure your subject, the more respected you are. The Priima Bellans are going to love you.”
“Well, I certainly hope you’re right.” Vicky gave him a nervous smile. “Otherwise I got all dressed up for nothing.”
“Not for nothing.” Chain’s eyes went half-lidded as he looked at her. “It gives me a chance to admire your beautiful body, which I assure you, Victoria, I very much enjoy.”
Vicky felt herself blushing again. She might have felt offended or harassed if they didn’t already have such a strong mutual attraction to each other. But honestly, the big Kindred’s teasing, flattering comments mad
e her feel good—sexy and attractive in a way she hadn’t felt in years. Still she couldn’t completely let it pass.
“You’re sweet and I’m sure when this is all over and we go our separate ways you’re going to make some nice girl your own age very happy,” she told Chain.
He frowned.
“That would be assuming I wanted a female my own age or that she would want me in return. And anyway, why would I choose to be with someone based solely on age?”
“Well, not solely on age,” Vicky said. “But you can’t be more than thirty-one or two. You ought to be with someone my daughters’ ages—they’re in their twenties,” she added for clarification.
“I’m sure they’re lovely girls but they’re not you, Victoria and you’re the female I want to be with now,” Chain said firmly. He flashed her a grin. “And I’m thirty cycles exactly—which is plenty old enough to know what—and who—I want.”
Only thirty years old. He’s practically a baby! whispered a little voice in Vicky’s head. You’re way too old for him, Vicky. They have names for women your age who go after much younger guys—they call them cougars. You’re a cougar.
She winced at the thought but just then, Chain announced that they would be folding space. Before she knew it, the little spaceship was flying through a red gash in the fabric of space-time and then they found themselves in orbit around Priima Belle.
Chapter Fourteen
Priima Belle was a small, pearly gray and moss green planet—about half the size of Earth. Its habitable zone has a temperate climate all year long thanks to the nearly-non-existent tilt of its axis and its perfect distance from the blue giant star it orbited. Above the zone—which was a broad band just north of the equator, about two hundred miles wide—it was all frozen tundra. And below the habitable zone was a hellish desert. But the zone itself was perfect—balmy and mild—exactly suited for the clothing they had to wear.
For Chain had an outfit for his “character” too. As soon as they were in orbit, he excused himself and went to the back of the ship. When he came back, he looked like a cross between a Roman gladiator and a Greek god, Vicky thought.
The bottom part of the outfit was a kind of short leather kilt, made of many different strips of brown and black leather stitched together. There was a slit on one side that went all the way up to the waist, showing the big Kindred’s muscular thigh. The top part consisted of a pair of leather shoulder pads sculpted into the snarling faces of fierce beasts.
The pads made Chain’s already broad shoulders look positively massive and were held in place by two thick leather straps which crisscrossed over his bare, muscular chest.
The look was completed by his knee-high black boots and leather vambraces that strapped to the backs of his forearms. He was also wearing his red scatterlight cloak fastened at the neck and it went nicely with the rest of the outfit.
The big Kindred looked positively mouthwatering, Vicky couldn’t help thinking as she stared at him. In those clothes and with his wild, dark hair and piercing midnight-blue eyes he reminded her of a celebrity filming an epic about ancient Rome or Greece.
“Well? What do you think—will I pass for a scholar?” he asked, twirling slowly in front of Vicky so she could get the full effect.
“Not in any school I ever attended or taught at,” she said dryly. “But there’s no denying you look spectacular. I didn’t know you had an outfit to wear too, though. I wonder why Kat didn’t tell me?”
“She said I should keep it a surprise and show you before we went down to the planet’s surface,” Chain said. “And she also said to tell you, ‘you’re welcome’ whatever that means.” He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling with the gesture.
Vicky knew well enough what it meant. She had only just met Kat but it appeared that the other woman had a sense of humor. She had probably known good and well what effect seeing her Kindred dressed like this would have on Vicky.
But he’s not my Kindred, she reminded herself sharply. We’re only here to play a part and get the T’lix-Kruthe—that’s all.
Still, she couldn’t help feeling proud to be on Chain’s arm when they got permission to land and stepped out onto the surface of Priima Belle for the first time.
Chapter Fifteen
“Oh my dear—here you are. I’ve been expecting you!”
The voice surprised Vicky and she looked up to see a woman who looked to be in her mid-forties coming towards them, over the interlocking gray stones of the neatly paved landing and parking area.
The place they found themselves in looked very like a university campus to Vicky. There were broad expanses of rolling pearly gray-green lawns, neatly manicured and clipped short and dotted with slim, willowy trees that had silvery-purple flowers instead of leaves. These were interspersed with tall, distinguished looking gray buildings which might have been lecture halls from any old and eminent college back on Earth.
The woman who was calling to her had on the same kind of fluttery “goddess gown” Vicky was wearing herself, only hers was in shades of blue and silver. Her hair was in an elaborate up-do and her eyes were heavily made-up with kohl, just as Vicky’s were.
Vicky was pleased to see that Kat had been absolutely right about the fashion here. Although, she noticed, that the woman who was greeting her didn’t have any way to close the “teaching slits” in her gown. From time to time her small breasts flashed through the openings in the fabric, though she didn’t seem to think anything of it.
Kat had hit the nail on the head with Chain’s outfit too—though he certainly filled out the leather kilt and shoulder pads look much better than the rather scrawny young man who looked to be in his early twenties scrambling along behind the woman who had come to greet them.
“I’m Professor Lornah from the Cake and Dish University,” she said, coming up to Vicky and grasping her hand with a smile. “And you must be Professor Victoria from the Mother Ship.” She kissed Vicky warmly on both cheeks.
Vicky felt a little strange about being called “professor,” but she reminded herself she was playing a part and decided to just go with it.
“Oh yes, I am. It’s so nice to meet you—thank you for coming to greet us,” she said, smiling and kissing Professor Lornah back. At least the people here seemed friendly so far.
“We’re so pleased to have an instructor from such a far-distant place,” Professor Lornah told her. “This is Lorn, my student.” She nodded to the scrawny young man who bobbed his head respectfully at Vicky. “And this person must be your student?” Professor Lornah asked her, nodding at Chain.
“Oh, uh, yes. He’s a student, anyway. This is Chainor,” Vicky said, indicating Chain, who smiled and nodded in a friendly way.
However, his response didn’t appear to satisfy Professor Lornah.
“So…you don’t name your students after their professors on the Mother Ship?” she asked doubtfully. “Or is this, er, Chainor not properly your student? For I’m afraid you won’t be welcome in any of the lecture halls without a proper student.”
“Oh, he is my student—of course he is,” Vicky said quickly. “And no, we don’t name our students after us on the Mother Ship. We believe they deserve to have their own academic autonomy,” she added, hoping that sounded snobbish enough to satisfy the other woman.
“Well…” Professor Lornah gave Chain another once over and then sniffed. Leaning closer to Vicky, she murmured, “He’s a handsome specimen, no doubt of that, my dear. But, well, don’t you think he’s a bit old for you?”
“I’m sorry?” Vicky wasn’t certain she’d heard her correctly. “Did you ask if Chain was too old for me?”
“Well, yes!” Professor Lornah exclaimed. “Why, he must be past his second decade my dear. How do you expect to train a student properly when you take one on so late in life?”
“Late in life? You mean Chain’s life?” Vicky said blankly. “But I’m sixteen years older than him. I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“Well, ma
ybe it’s a cultural difference.” Professor Lornah sniffed again. “It’s just that here on Priima Belle, we believe a student ought to be taken and trained in the second decade of life. Only then can the professor achieve satisfactory results.”
Vicky wanted to ask what results she was talking about. Did these people believe that you couldn’t learn something new once you got into your thirties? That was a strange idea. She looked at Chain who shrugged.
“Well, I find my results with Chain to be very satisfactory,” she said firmly. “He’s an excellent student.”
“Oh, well—as you say, then. I hope you’re right because I’m afraid you’ll be expected to prove it before anyone will deal with you.” Professor Lornah said.
“Prove it? How?” Vicky was bewildered.
“You know—in the usual way, of course.” The other woman fluttered her hands expressively, though she didn’t give any further explanation, much to Vicky’s irritation. “We must go—they’ll be expecting you at the Lecture Hall in the Insect and Arachnid University—that’s where the meet and greet for new professors is always held, you know.”
Vicky wondered if it was a university dedicated to the study of insects and arachnids…or run by then. Was she going to be meeting huge anthropomorphic alien bugs? The thought made her shudder. But even if she was, what could she do about it? She would just have to play along.
“That sounds fine,” she said as Professor Lornah and her student led them across a rolling lawn of neatly clipped silvery-green grass. “But I’m actually here not only to study but to buy an ancient artifact that’s here on your planet. It’s called the T’lix-Kruthe—have you heard of it?”
“Oh, an ancient artifact, is it? That will be held in one of the antiquities collections. Professor Torella of the Vessels of Antiquity University will be the one to speak to about that.” She frowned. “But I’m afraid she won’t deal with you until you’ve proven your worth as a professor.”
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