“I…” Mei-Li’s cheeks were suddenly hot with embarrassment. Oh God, she hadn’t even known him that long and here she was engaged in what amounted to a heavy petting session. Not only that, but he knew exactly how much he was affecting her—he could feel the way her pussy was getting all hot and swollen. What was wrong with her letting him do this?
“I…we should…” she began.
“Attention, Six,” came a sharp, mechanical voice from somewhere.
“What?” Mei-Li jumped back guiltily, looking around for whoever had seen them. But there was no one in the room.
“Six,” came the voice again and this time she realized that it was coming from Six himself—from a watch-type thing he had strapped to the wrist of his metal hand.
“Ter?” Six cleared his throat and looked down at his watch—or maybe it was some kind of communicator?
“It is good you are back in range,” the sharp, tinny voice said. “I have a message for you from One. He wants to know why you have not yet brought the female you went to claim to the surface. He came to your domicile expecting to find you only to hear that you were still aboard the Med Barge. Explain.”
“There was a…complication in getting my female an enhancement.” Six cleared his throat. “She was…unwell and surgery could not be performed last night when I brought her in.”
“See that the enhancement is performed soon,” the voice ordered. “One expects you at his domicile shortly.”
“All right, send my acknowledgement, Ter.”
“Very good,” the voice said and fell silent.
“Who was that?” Mei-Li asked, looked at his watch-communicator-thing. She was feeling a little calmer now—or at least her heart no longer felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. “Your boss?”
“Hardly. That is Ter—my domicile’s communications and informations system. It keeps me informed of messages and other things. It…”
“It what?” Mei-Li prompted.
“Ter…it…” He cleared his throat and his eyes flickered downward briefly. “Forgive me but you appear to be exposed.”
“Oh!” Mei-Li looked down and saw that the white nightgown had slipped down, probably when he was stretching it in order to touch her, and her bare breasts were on display. “Oh, no!” She pulled it back up hastily. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he murmured. “The sight was not…unwelcome. In fact, I would have looked more closely if you hadn’t told me such behavior wasn’t permitted in your culture.”
“Um…” Mei-Li could feel her cheeks getting hot. “Are you trying to say you like the way I look nak…I mean, without my clothes?”
“I like a great many things about you,” Six said softly. “The feel of your skin…the taste of your lips…the way your body fits against my own…You were correct, kissing is a very sensory experience.” He looked into her eyes. “I liked kissing you. I liked touching you even more.”
Mei-Li felt her stomach flutter strangely and she scooted back a little. “But…but you don’t have any emotions,” she protested. “I thought…thought you couldn’t like things like…like what we just did.”
“You are correct, of course.” Six straightened up and the warm, almost open look that had been on his face turned suddenly to a frown. “I do not have emotions—I should not have…enjoyed our encounter.” He got abruptly off the bed and stood, his arms crossed over his broad chest. “It was perhaps a mistake for us to participate in activities that are meant for the Claiming Period only.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Mei-Li was seriously shaken up by what had just happened between them. She’d expected that kissing and touching Six would be like kissing a statue. Instead, he’d responded in a way that made her feel warm and weak all over. And that’s the key word, she told herself. Weak. You’re never going to get through this if you let yourself be weak.
Six was busy straightening his black shirt which had gotten somewhat wrinkled in the course of their encounter. Probably from you grabbing all over him while he was practically fingering you, whispered a critical little voice in the back of her head.
“We need to go soon,” he said, not meeting Mei-Li’s eyes. “Are you ready to get your enhancement now?”
“Yes, I…I guess so,” she said faintly. She still didn’t like the idea but there didn’t seem to be much choice. At least now she knew she didn’t have to lose a limb—that was some comfort, anyway.
“I am glad you feel ready. I need to speak to Yipper but I will return for you momentarily. I synthesized some other clothing for you as well—an outfit that will serve you well on Z4. Put it on and do not leave the room until I return.”
Then, still not looking at her, he turned and left.
* * * * *
Six paced quickly down the long metal corridor, heading for the vertical lift which was the fastest way to the Enhancement Area. He needed to get there soon. He increased his speed until he was almost running. But no matter how fast he went, he couldn’t outrun his thoughts. What had just happened back there? When Mei-Li had…kissed him? And especially later when he had touched her?
He closed his eyes briefly, remembering the scent of her skin…the warmth of her small, soft body pressed against him…the sweet taste of her mouth when she’d touched it to his. Not to mention the sweet press of her breast against his palm and the soft little gasps she’d made as he slid his fingers into her pussy through the thin, white garment.
All of these physical sensations had affected him somehow. His heart had started thundering in his chest and his shaft, which usually lay dormant between his thighs, had become suddenly and painfully erect. It was still hard, even now—he could feel it throbbing with every step.
But why?
Is my implant failing at last? Yipper had never expected it to work when he first put it in. The little Tolleg had tried to talk Six out of getting it. “A life without emotion is so sad. Yes it is, yes it is,” he had said. “Especially for a Kindred—you need to bond!” But Six had been eager to escape his emotions at that time. Eager to suppress the memories that rose to torture him every time he closed his eyes to sleep.
What memories? I shouldn’t be thinking about this…”Kill me, Jax, please! It hurts so bad…”
No!
He pushed the troublesome thought away just as he came to the lift. Taking a deep breath, he composed himself. All of this was probably nothing—just another symptom of his Kindred DNA manifesting—the DNA and the characteristic traits that came with it. He would have Yipper check his implant and make sure it was in perfect working order. Then he would take Mei-Li for her enhancement, escort her to the planet’s surface, and serve the rest of the Claiming Period without incident. Afterwards he would take her back to Earth and forget any of this had ever happened.
Everything was going to be fine…
“Everything appears to be just fine. Yes it does, yes it does,” Yipper announced after studying the implant. “I can see no fault with the mechanism.”
“Good.” Six heaved a deep breath. If he’d had emotions he would have thought the light, easy feeling in his midsection was relief. But of course, it was probably just the garn he’d eaten earlier, while Mei-Li was in the fresher, finally settling in his stomach.
“May I ask, why the concern?” Yipper asked.
For some reason, Six was reluctant to say what had happened.
“No reason,” he said, frowning. “I just wanted my implant checked.”
Yipper’s furry brow furrowed. “Six, clearly something is wrong or you would not have come to me. You should tell me why you thought your implant might be failing. Yes you should, yes you should.”
“I didn’t think it was failing exactly…” Six frowned. “I was just concerned about my…reaction to Mei-Li.”
“And what reaction was that?” The Tolleg turned his head to one side and stared at Six sharply.
Six shifted uneasily. For some reason he did not wish to discuss his recent physical arousal w
ith Yipper. It was most…embarrassing would be the word he might use if he was capable of being embarrassed. But of course that was ridiculous.
“Six,” the little Tolleg said softly. “I cannot help you unless you tell me your symptoms. No I can’t, no I can’t.”
“We were talking about the Claiming Contract and the rules of the Claiming Period and she…kissed me. Purely for teaching purposes, of course, because I did not know the meaning of the term,” Six explained rapidly. There was no need to tell what else they had done, he told himself.
“And…?” Yipper raised one extremely hairy eyebrow.
“And I became…” Six cleared his throat. “I became aroused. Also my heart rate and breathing accelerated. And I found myself wishing to…to do more than kiss her.” Even now he could almost feel her soft, sweet body pressed against him, could feel the warm wetness of her pussy in the palm of his hand. Gods, what was the matter with him? Surely something was going terribly wrong.
But Yipper only nodded calmly. “A normal reaction.”
“For a male with emotions, perhaps,” Six said sharply. “But you know I have none—you saw to it yourself when you put in my implant.”
“I did. Yes, I did.” Yipper nodded sadly. “Though I still think you would have been happier had you chosen to forgo the implant.”
“That goes without saying,” Six said dryly. “I would also have been sadder and guiltier and every other negative emotion it is possible for a male to experience. But you still have not answered my question—how is it possible for the reaction I had to Mei-Li to be normal? How can it be unless my implant is failing?”
“Your implant is not failing, at least not that I can see,” Yipper assured him. “And just because you are having physical symptoms of arousal, it doesn’t mean that you are having emotional attachment.”
Six frowned. “Explain. You mean to say that the two can be separate?”
“Oh, quite separate in males, yes they can, yes they can.” The Tolleg nodded vigorously. “Now in females it is a different story—they can have difficulty in separating the physical symptoms of physical arousal with the emotional feelings of romantic attachment. That is to say, it is difficult for a female to give her body without giving her heart—or so we Tollegs say amongst ourselves, yes we do, yes we do.”
“I…see.” Six nodded slowly. “So the fact that my body becomes aroused when I am near her means nothing?”
Yipper nodded. “It is simply a physical symptom of your body’s readiness to breed and to bond with her. That is the ultimate purpose of a Kindred claiming, after all.”
“But…I cannot bond with her, can I?”
“Not as long as your implant remains intact,” Yipper assured him. “It would have to be completely removed for bonding sex to occur.”
“Then…after the Claiming Period is complete I will have no choice but to send her back.” Why did he get such a strange sensation of reluctance when he spoke those words?
“I am afraid that is true. Yes it is, yes it is,” Yipper said gently. “You cannot keep an unbonded female with you.”
Not that I would want to keep her, Six told himself. After all, she is a Feeler—living on Z4 permanently would be impossible for her. And she would not want to bond with me anyway—I am nothing like the Earth males I saw while claiming her. I am certainly not her ideal mate. No, it will be better for us to part ways and move on when this is over. In fact, it would be better for them to part ways sooner rather than later. Squaring his shoulders, he did his best to push the reluctance away and continue.
“All right,” he said. “So the other…physical symptoms are nothing to worry about.”
“Exactly. You should be fine. Yes you should, yes you should. Unless you’re having other symptoms you aren’t telling me about? Suppressed memories coming to the surface and the like.”
Six got a strange, heavy feeling in his midsection again. “Suppressed memories?”
“Yes, we put them neatly away when we placed your implant. At your request as you may remember,” Yipper said. “You still have them in the memory cache in your domicile, do you not, do you not?”
“Yes,” Six said heavily. “I never review them. They are…better shut away.”
“Very good, very good.” Yipper nodded. “Then the memory cache is the proper place for them. But if they begin to recur, coming back to you in dreams or—”
“Dreams? No.” Six felt lighter again. “I have had no troubling dreams…well, other than the ones I was sharing with Mei-Li. But those seem to have stopped now that I have claimed her. At least…I had none last night,” he added uneasily, thinking of how he had held her small, fragile form against him all night long. Why had he done that?
“You should be fine, then,” Yipper assured him. “And if you have any other concerns, you can call me. Or you can come to the medical barge. Yes you can, yes you can.”
“I will.” Six nodded. “Thank you, Yipper. And now I must go and get Mei-Li for her enhancement.” He frowned. “It would be best if she would take an emotion damper but I doubt she will be willing to relinquish her feelings, troublesome though they may be. I think she is leaning towards ocular implants instead.”
“Excellent.” Yipper rubbed his furry fingers together eagerly. “I greatly enjoy working on new species. Yes I do, yes I do! I will get out the full range of implants for her to choose from.”
Six shook his head. “I wouldn’t get anything too…elaborate. I think the more subtle and unnoticeable, the better.”
“Very well. I can do subtle. Yes I can, yes I can.” The Tolleg nodded.
“And Yipper?” Six said.
“Yes?” The little Tolleg looked up at him.
Six cleared his throat. “I would appreciate if we could keep this conversation between the two of us. There is no need for Mei-Li to know that she…affects me so strongly.”
“Of course, of course. Discretion is my watchword. Yes it is, yes it is.” Yipper nodded vigorously.
“Thank you.” Six felt that lightness again which was not quite relief.
“You are most welcome, yes you are, yes you are. I am glad to have allayed your concerns.” Yipper turned his head to one side. “You know, when you first came in, I thought you were agitated because Two is aboard the medical barge. I know the two of you are not as…compatible as you might be. No you aren’t, no you aren’t.”
“Two is here?” Six felt an uneasiness in his gut. Perhaps the garn was disagreeing with him after all.
Yipper nodded. “He wanted a new oral-nasal enhancement. Yes he did, yes he did. I thought you must have seen him—he is staying along the same wing of guest chambers you are. Yes he is, yes he is.”
Six had a troubling thought. “Does he have sniffers with him?”
“No indeed, no indeed. They are not allowed aboard the med barges—you know that, Six—they would tear all us Feelers to pieces. But the enhancement I gave him may render them unnecessary. If it works properly, Two should be able to scent the pheromones associated with emotion as well as his pets can. In fact…” Yipper frowned. “When he left he said he was going to go ‘sniffing around’ to see how well it was working.”
For some reason, Six began to perspire and his stomach gave an uneasy lurch.
“And you say he is staying in the same corridor we are in?”
Yipper nodded. “Just a few doors down from you, in fact I believe. Yes, I do, yes I—”
But the little Tolleg was speaking to empty air. Six was already racing to the lift.
Chapter Fourteen
Mei-Li was only half dressed when she heard a knocking on the door.
Crap, who can that be? Maid service maybe? Except she doubted the Dark Kindred medical barge had a lady coming around with fresh sheets and towels like the local Holiday Inn back on Earth. Still, it might be important so she didn’t feel like she could ignore it.
“Just a moment!” she called, struggling with the tight-fitting white top Six had synthesized for her
. It was very plain—almost like a long sleeved T-shirt—but it was made of some slick, silky stuff that felt strange against her skin. Unfortunately, it was thin enough to show the outlines of her white lace bra but there was no help for that. And anyway, it wasn’t like she was spilling out of it or anything.
The pants were made of the same white material which clung closely to her body, making her feel like she’d been shrink-wrapped when she got them on. At least the shoes were normal—well, if you called white motorcycle-looking boots normal. But they fit without squeezing her toes so that was something. They looked a lot like Six’s boots, actually—only pure white and about ten times smaller.
The whole outfit was if not masculine, at least extremely androgynous. Mei-Li, who liked pretty clothes—the girlier the better—didn’t care for it much. But it was better than putting back on her ripped and stained court suit.
At last she got the tight white shirt over her head and forced her arms through the shrink-wrap arm holes. Okay, it’s not the latest in haute couture but at least now I’m decent, she thought, heading for the door just as the knocking sounded again.
“Coming—I’m coming,” she called, combing her fingers through her hair. It might just be the maid on the other side of the door but then again, it might be someone important and she wanted to make a good impression.
It took a moment of fumbling for the door latch before she realized that, like the shower, the door was motion activated. A wave of her hand in front of the red, glowing light beside it made the silver panel slide silently to one side.
“Sorry,” she said as it slid open. “I’m new here so I…”
The words died on her lips when she saw the person standing on the other side of the door.
It was a tall, skeletal man with a skull-like face and boney, prominent eye sockets around his deep-set eyes. He had a knife blade of a nose and thin, almost non-existent lips that were the unpleasant color of fresh liver.
At least, that was what the left side of his face looked like. The entire right side was some kind of rigid metal mask with an unblinking purple light for an eye. Mei-Li thought it must be some kind of an enhancement but it was much more prominent than Six’s.