CHAPTER 20
I woke to a strange sensation the next morning, and it took a second for me to realize the pressure on my bottom lip was, in fact, due to my own personal dragon bird. He was right in my face, gripping my lip in one small talon for balance.
While I blinked in surprise, he trilled a happy greeting, and then glanced over his shoulder at the sound of a chuckle.
“He likes you.”
I rolled my eyes toward Thor and spit out the tiny foot. “Ya think?” Reaching up, I dislodged my new alarm clock, depositing him beside me on the sleeping platform. “Have they ever shown any interest in the Buri?”
“Not to this degree, although they are curious. There’s always a flock around watching, as if they don’t understand what we’re doing, and want to figure it out.” He tilted his head toward the foot of the sleeping platform.
I looked in the same direction as two more of the small creatures, apparently inspired by mine’s bravery, strutted across the bed, chittering quietly to each other as they eyed Thor. One of them, a brilliant scarlet lady, was feeling quite possessive toward him.
“I suspect they’re fairly intelligent, in a dragon bird kind of way,” I told him. “At least, I can pick up elementary emotions from my guy and some of the others.”
From outside on the terrace, a loud squawk sounded, and all the dragon birds in the room took to the air in a whirring rush of wings and feathers. A second later, they all swooped through the open doorway and were gone.
They had barely disappeared when the reason for all the excitement stalked into view. After a quick glance into the room to assure himself I was there, Crigo commenced pacing the length of the terrace, an occasional rumble issuing from deep in his chest.
I frowned as I watched him. The big cat was feeling distinctly uneasy about something, and seemed almost hyper-alert. His tufted ears were erect, swiveling constantly to catch any unusual sound.
With a flick of my wrist, I tossed aside the light covering and rose to look outside.
“Is something wrong?” Thor questioned, joining me.
“I don’t know.” Quickly I scanned the village, but nothing looked out of place. Two of the Buri were bathing in the pool near the waterfall, and across the clearing Poe sat, sharpening his spear, Junior beside him, watching and offering the occasional comment. From down the hall, I could hear giggles as Lurran and Churka tried to design clothing Claudia could live with, and the scents of breakfast cooking drifted in on the air from the communal kitchen.
All in all, it looked like a typical peaceful morning in the village. And yet…
“Something’s made Crigo nervous, and I trust his instincts. Let’s get dressed and check the village, just to be on the safe side.”
We dressed in record time, and I finished off my braid as we went down the hall. Pausing at Claudia’s door, I stuck my head inside and surveyed the chaos of material littering the sleeping platform. The two Buri females had Claudia decked out in a lemon-yellow kechic that did wonders for her skin tone, and a matching strip of cloth, fastened in front with one of the wooden clasps.
“How do I look?” She held her arms up for my inspection.
“Great. But it would look better with your blaster.”
“My blaster?” A startled expression crossed her face.
“Yes. Do me a favor and keep it close.”
“Sure, if you say so.”
Good enough. I trotted on down the hall to catch up with Thor. Crigo was inspecting the edge of the jungle as we stepped outside, and both Thor and I stopped to look around. It was still peaceful, but by now I’d caught the cat’s nerves and it felt like ants were crawling over my skin.
“You go that way, and I’ll go this way,” I gestured to Thor.
“We’ll meet at the kitchen. And don’t forget to check back into the trees.”
He reached back inside the building and picked up the spear he’d leaned against the wall. “Be careful.”
“You too.” I started a slow walk in my chosen direction.
“Max?”
“Yes, Kiera?”
“Is there anything going on at the Dynatec camp?”
“Not really. Most of them went out with the survey team early this morning. There are only a few crew members left in camp, and they appear to be playing cards.”
A sudden chill crawled over my skin. “Dorn and Frisk?”
“They went with the survey team.”
That was so out of character that my alarm increased to a new all-time high. “Can you see the survey team?”
He hesitated a split second before answering. “Not really. The satellites that usually cover that area are the ones I’m having problems with.”
“You haven’t had any luck fixing them?”
“No. I need to go up and replace them as soon as possible.”
Abruptly, I had a quandary. I really, really needed to know exactly where that survey team was located. But that meant sending Max into space to replace his eyes, and he was our best defense. I wanted him close enough to help if it became necessary.
“How long will it take you?”
“A few minutes to get there, a few more to place the new satellites in the correct orbit, and then a few to get back. Maybe ten minutes total.”
I had to make a decision, and I had to make it fast. “Okay, go, but do it as quickly as you can. Something’s up, Max.”
“I’ll leave now.”
The words were still echoing in my ears when I saw a streak of gray flash across the blue sky above the treetops. I watched until he was out of sight, and then continued checking the perimeter of the village. So far, so good.
Thor, have you seen anything?
No. Everything is quiet. Almost too quiet. Even the dragon birds are silent.
He was right, I thought, glancing around the village. Normally, flocks of the small creatures darted in and out of the waterfall at all hours of the day, not to mention the bunch that stayed near me. Now, there wasn’t a jeweled form to be seen.
Two doors down, Redfield stepped out of his quarters, one hand clutching his head, eyes so red it looked like they were bleeding. He was wearing his blaster. Unlike Claudia, he was a GEP, trained to never let his weapon out of his sight.
“Who won?” he asked when I got close enough.
“Brownie—”
A strange crackling noise erupted from the implant behind my ear and my entire body went tense. “Max?”
His reply almost deafened me. “Pirates! Under attack! Mayday, may—”
The words were cut off mid-broadcast, and my blaster was in my hand so fast there wasn’t even a blur. Mentally, I grabbed every strand of life force that wasn’t connected to a Buri in deep sleep, and gave them a hard yank. From all over the village they spilled into the open, and I spotted Thor charging out from the trees.
“Into the caves! Get them into the caves! We’re under attack!”
Roaring orders, Thor sent the Buri scrambling toward the jungle edging the sheer bluff wall, but it was already too late. From above, the air groaned with the high-pitched whistle of a laser cannon.
Going into overdrive, I grabbed Redfield, took five running steps, and threw us both to the ground, covering his body with mine. I’d barely completed the maneuver when the house he’d just exited exploded. Dust and debris shot everywhere, and I felt a hot stinging in my shoulder. I ignored it, knowing any wound would heal faster than I could check for damage, but I dropped back to normal speed in order to conserve energy. Then I was up and moving again.
Claudia. Damn. She was nowhere to be seen, so I swerved toward the stone building, screaming her name at the top of my lungs.
She came out at a run, blaster in hand, and I pointed toward the fleeing Buri as another building, this one on the far side of the village, disintegrated. “Go!”
By now, the first Buri had reached the trees, but there seemed to be some confusion. Those in the back were milling but going nowhere, and I saw Brownie’s mate looking frantically for her child, her face etched with fear as she screamed his name.
The blue of a crew uniform caught my attention and I looked around in time to see one of Dorn’s men step from the protection of the trees. A blaster was in his hand, and it was aimed right at Brownie’s little boy while the child stood frozen in fear.
I wasn’t the only one who’d seen them. Both Brownie and his mate were charging in their direction, but they were too far away. There was no way they could reach him in time.
Anger mixed with fear went through me like a nuclear flash fire, and before the emotion could settle, I was in overdrive, passing Brownie as though he were standing still. I could literally see the man’s finger tightening on the firing mechanism; see the hazy beam of energy erupt from the end of the blaster. And I knew there was only one thing I could do.
With an unprecedented burst of speed, I put myself between the child and the blast, felt it sear my side right above my hip. Then I was on the man, my fist hammering into his unprotected throat. The flesh gave, then the bones beneath as I crushed his windpipe.
I came out of overdrive as he collapsed to the ground, hands clutching his throat as he gasped for air and died, wondering why I wasn’t on the verge of shock from so much expended energy. And then realized the Limantti was feeding me a steady stream of power.
Grateful in spite of my previous reservations concerning the massive crystal, I turned and scooped up the child, ignoring the trickle of blood staining my jumpsuit crimson. I wasn’t dead, so I knew it was only a matter of time before the wound closed.
That didn’t stop it from burning like hell, though, and the soothing noises I made were almost as much for my own benefit as they were for the child, who clung to me so desperately.
All my protective instincts on high alert, I held him tightly until Brownie arrived, then winced as I handed the child to his father and pressed the heel of my hand to my side. Clutching his child forcefully to his chest, Brownie’s eyes widened as he took in the blood on my clothes. His head dipped in a bow, and even over the din of battle I heard his murmured “Shushanna.”
Didn’t look like Brownie would be giving me any more trouble, assuming we all lived through this attack.
I was turning to help the others when, out of the blue, Crigo streaked by us, gave a mighty push with his powerful hind legs, and went airborne. When he came down inside the jungle, I heard a man scream. I knew that voice. Crigo had finally taken his revenge on Frisk.
The sound of the man’s death broke off as quickly as it had started, but it told me what I needed to know. The survey team was blocking the Buri’s exit, keeping them pinned in the village so the pirates could finish the job for them. There was no other choice. We had to fight.
Thor had reached the same conclusion. Over the melee, I heard him shouting directions, and suddenly it seemed as if all the Buri were holding spears or swords.
Well, almost all. A man wearing the Dynatec uniform staggered from the trees and fell, an arrow embedded in his chest.
A blaster beam flickered from behind a tree, and the Buri holding the bow screamed.
Again, I reacted instinctively. My blaster was aimed at the tree before the Buri’s mouth opened, and I pulled the trigger. The laser drilled straight through the bole and nailed the man behind it.
All around me the fight degenerated into small islands of chaos as the Buri engaged the crew members one on one. Why the hell hadn’t Dynatec stayed in the trees and picked the Buri off one at a time? I paused to break the neck of a man about to plunge a knife into Junior’s back, then kept going, doing what I could for the Buri, who were weakening.
It had to be because they weren’t expecting the Buri to charge into the jungle so quickly. And they wouldn’t have, if not for Max’s warning.
Grief, hollow and black had welled inside me since the ship’s abrupt silence, but there was no time to mourn. I had to protect the Buri, if possible get between them and the crew members still taking cover in the jungle. They were the ones capable of doing the most damage with their blasters.
I fought my way closer and closer to the trees, noting both Redfield and Claudia were making good use of their weapons. Claudia was using hers to disable; Redfield was gleefully shooting to kill. Crigo was doing his part too, picking his targets and then pouncing before they knew he was there.
But the Dynatec crew members weren’t the only ones dying. I’d already felt two life force strands wink out, and others were weakening rapidly.
Dropping the woman in front of me with a well placed blow, I dove into the jungle. Where the hell was Thor? His strand was intact, but I realized I hadn’t heard or seen him in a while now.
Stay back. His voice echoed in my head. It is a trap. The Dorn female is waiting for you. There are three males with her.
Yeah, like that would slow me down.
Tell me exactly where they are in relation to you. I’d already pinpointed his approximate location from his life-force strand, and began to move stealthily in his direction.
The Dorn is behind me with a weapon pointed at my back. She is as fast as you, wife.
That’s impossible. She’d have to be my kind of GEP to move like—
A buzzing filled my head. Sweet Goddess. She wasn’t merely a clone, she was a GEP.
As I crept closer, circling to get behind them, I did the math. Zander Dorn had ordered her cloned through the black market. If there were enough money involved, Gertz would have jumped at the job. And there had undoubtedly been an obscene amount of money offered.
Add that to the file she kept on him, and I’d bet dollars to donuts Gertz had created her. And he wouldn’t have stopped at making her a GEP. The man was constitutionally unable to leave well enough alone. He would have tinkered with her DNA, just as he had mine.
This meant I had no idea what she was capable of doing. She was at least ten cycles older than me, though, so I could only hope Gertz was still perfecting his technique when he made her.
Where are the men? I asked Thor.
Hiding in the jungle around us. He sent me a mental image of their approximate locations.
Piece of cake, I decided. As soon as I was in range, I stopped to listen. It only took a few seconds for my extra-sensitive ears to detect the slight noises each man made.
Taking a deep breath, I replaced my blaster in its holster and began to move. Before I could take another breath, I was in overdrive. To any Natural watching, it would have looked like all three men just spontaneously died.
But Dorn wasn’t a Natural, and I realized the trap too late.
“Impressive. I suggest you stop now, or your mate won’t last another second.”
When I halted, she was staring right at me. Her blaster was pressed against Thor’s spine at an upward angle. If she pulled the trigger, he was dead. And if she could move even a fraction as fast as me, I wouldn’t be in time to keep it from happening.
“Nothing to say?” She smiled. “Don’t you think it was clever of me to post those men nearby so their deaths would warn me of your arrival?”
“Let him go, Dorn.”
“And lose my advantage? I don’t think so.”
“It’s all over anyway. Your Chapter Twenty is being denied. The news would have been delivered this afternoon.”
Her smile turned feral. “Well, golly gee. Isn’t it too bad you and the Buri won’t be around to celebrate? And with all of you gone, the planet will be up for grabs again.”
Thor was watching me intently and I read his intention to act, to die so that I could take her out. Panic roared through me.
No! I sent him a mental shout. Don’t do it. Give me time. I’ll find a way out.
His expression remained calm, but he gave the slightest nod of agreement and I turned my attention back to Dorn.
“If you kill us, Alien Affairs will lock you up and throw away the key.”
“Me? Now, why would I kill you? Au contraire, most of my crew died trying to save you from those nasty pirates.” The weapon never wavered in her hand. “And unfortunately, our ship is too old and out of date to be of any help.”
Realization hit me too late. “You had this planned from the beginning, didn’t you? That’s why you used an outdated ship, why Max’s satellites kept going out. You used a disrupter on them to give the pirates a chance to hide behind the moon without him seeing them.” Inside I was praying harder than I’d ever prayed before. I needed something, anything to distract her. Just for a split second. “How are you going to explain the bodies with blaster wounds?”
“What bodies?” She gave one of those shrugs she’d mastered so well. “They were all destroyed by the pirates’ laser cannons.”
The horrifying thing was, it could have worked. If not for the Limantti. And the Buri ship. And the thousands of Buri currently in deep sleep, all of which Alien Affairs knew about, but Dorn didn’t.
As it was, we were all going to die for nothing unless I came up with a plan.
From the over-canopy, I heard a faint rustle and caught a glimpse of jeweled feathers in my peripheral vision, but I didn’t dare look away from Dorn. One second of inattention and she could shoot me, then finish Thor off at her leisure.
I had to keep her talking.
“So what happens now? If you shoot Thor, I’ll kill you. If you take the blaster off him long enough to shoot me, I’ll kill you. You may be a GEP, but I’m still willing to bet I’m faster than you.”
“Oh, you finally figured that out, did you?” She snorted, a most unladylike sound coming from her. “Took you long enough. Yes, I was one of dear Dr. Gertz’s first experiments, although certainly not his last. Gave my ‘father’ a rather nasty surprise when he discovered he’d gotten more than he paid for. Of course, by then it was too late for him. He died screaming. As for what I’m going to do, one of my crew will be along soon. Then I’ll take great pleasure in having you killed. I believe it takes a head shot, correct?”
My hand hovered over my blaster, muscles tense and ready. From the limb above Dorn’s head, my dragon bird peered down at her, his eyes flashing the blood red of fury. And he wasn’t alone. Every tree branch held one of the glittering creatures.
Silently, they were creeping ever closer.
Frantically, I searched for a topic that would keep her attention on me. “What do you mean, you weren’t the last?”
One of her perfectly shaped brows arched. “You didn’t really think you were the only one Gertz toyed with, did you?” She studied me, and then smiled. “Yes, I can see you did. The truth is, there are hundreds of his creations running loose. And I imagine he’s still at it.”
“Gertz is dead,” I told her. “He killed himself when he realized my boss was onto him.”
She laughed. She actually laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. A man with an ego the size of Gertz’s does not kill himself. He simply killed one of his own clones and made it look like suicide.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’ve been in contact with him. He’s the one who gave me copies of your records. After all, what good is being a genius if you can’t brag about it, and he was very proud of you.”
Another rustle sounded, this time from behind me, and Dorn heard it.
“Here come my men. Sorry, Smith. I really have nothing personal against you.”
There must have been some signal I missed, because suddenly the air was full of shrieking, diving dragon birds, all bent on ripping Dorn to pieces with their sharp little talons.
With a scream of surprise, she threw her hands in the air, instinctively trying to protect her face. It was all I needed. She was dead before she knew I’d moved. But her finger must have been tight on the trigger.
In a blast of heated air, Thor collapsed, blood welling from a gaping hole in his bronze skin.
“Thor!” His name was ripped out of me as I dropped to my knees beside him, pulled him into my arms. Already, the bond that linked us was growing thinner, dimming as blood pumped from the wound in his back. I pressed my hand against it hard in a futile effort to stop the flow. “Don’t you dare die on me, damn it!”
Tears spilled down my cheeks as I stared into the face I’d come to love. “You can’t die,” I pleaded. “You’re the only one who’s ever loved me. Please don’t leave me all alone, Thor. I don’t want to live without you.”
His lips curved, just the tiniest bit, and his voice came to me faintly through what remained of the bond.
You will survive, mate. You are the strongest person I know. Promise me you will care for my people, make sure they are safe. His eyes closed, and his breathing slowed to a gurgling rasp. Never forget I loved you and part of me will always be with you.
“No!” The word ripped from my very soul. Gently, I laid him down and rose to my knees. His people? Right now I didn’t give a gergian’s ass about his people. He was dying and there was only one way I could prevent it.
Above me the dragon birds swooped and circled, chittering wildly as I slowly lifted my hand, palm out. Thor’s blood covered the black outline of the stone, but I ignored it. Teeth tightly clenched, my voice was more growl than words.
“Of my own free will, I accept you. Take me.”
Instantly, blue-black light exploded inside my head, flowed throughout my body, and my mind spun away, flung through space. Galaxies turned, stars were born and died. But this time, I didn’t just go with it. This time I fought for control, and I could feel the Limantti urging me on, showing me what to do. But I needed time, more time than I had before Thor was lost to me.
The thought was barely formed when the movement around me slowed and stopped. The wildly swooping dragon birds hung suspended in midair, and the leaves moving in a gentle breeze froze. Even the sun halted in its orbit.
With all my strength, I focused on one star system, and abruptly I was there, hanging in the darkness above it. I backed off and tried it again, and this time it was easier.
I needed something that would take more delicacy before I tried to help Thor, something that would require more from me than just strength. And I knew just the thing.
In a split second, I was hovering over Alpha Centauri, the home of the Galactic Federation and Alien Affairs. I formed a picture of the boss in my mind, and there he was, in a small courtroom, a judge signing the stack of documents the boss had given him.
I studied him in great detail, and noted his back was bothering him from staying so long at his desk the night before. With only a flicker of thought, I fixed it.
His hand went to his back and he straightened, looking around the room as though he sensed my presence, and I wondered if I could do more.
Pirates hired by Dynatec have attacked the Buri, I sent him. Max was hit. People are dying.
He stood so fast his chair tipped over and hit the floor with a crash. Then he rushed from the room without a word to the surprised judge.
Okay, if I could do that, I could concentrate on the problems closer to home. With minimal effort now, I was back in the Orpheus system, looking down on the pirate ship. Its cannons were still firing, but the beams were frozen in space, and I was a bit shocked to realize how little time had gone by since the first beam had hit the village. To me, it felt like hours, but in reality it had only been minutes.
As tempted as I was to grab the ship and toss it into the sun, I couldn’t. The pirates would be needed as witnesses before they were sent to Inferno.
Drawing on the power of the Limantti, I shut down all their equipment except life support. The cannons went dead and the ship hung dark and still above the planet. And then I disabled the blasters of what remained of the Dynatec crew members.
Now for the most important task of all.
I don’t know when I’d closed my eyes, but I opened them and looked at Thor, concentrated all my attention on scanning him right down to the cellular level. There. Rapidly I repaired damaged cells and grew new ones to replace those already dead. With a single thought, I knit vessels together, closed the hole in his lungs, strengthened his heart and poured energy into him.
He would live.
Joy sang through me. Not only did I accept what I’d become, I embraced it. I wasn’t just a genetically created freak. I was Kiera Smith, Agent for Alien Affairs, GEP, mate of Thor, and Shushanna to the Buri.
I was doing exactly what I’d been designed to do, even though Gertz hadn’t known the extent of what he’d created. In spite of his machinations, I was human where it counted the most. In my heart. It had just taken Thor and the Buri to teach me that. It had taken Dynatec, too, and Crigo and Redfield and Claudia. It had taken Max—
Max!
I paused in my cavorting long enough to seal the breach in his hull and repair his fried circuits. He came online in mid-bellow.
“—day! Mayday!”
Abruptly he went silent, and a second later queried me in a confused tone. “Kiera? What happened? Where are you?”
“I’ll explain later, Max. But it’s all over and you’re fine. You can come back now.”
“What about the pirates?”
“Take my word for it, they aren’t going anywhere.”
A soft touch on my cheek yanked me back into the here and now, and I opened my eyes to see Thor kneeling in front of me, a look of such love in his eyes that I wanted to weep again.
“You joined with the Limantti,” he said quietly. “For me.”
“Yes.”
“Do you regret it?”
I gave him a luminous smile. “Not for a second. The stone is part of me now. Just like you’re a part of me.”
He stood and offered me his hand. The blood still streaking his skin was the only sign he’d ever been wounded. “Come. Our people wait. It’s time to go home.”
Home. Damn, that sounded good. I took his hand and together, we walked back to the village.