Purity (Pure and Tainted) (10 page)

K looked away, anger and helplessness written all over her face.
Boone wondered if she had any idea what an open book she was. As someone who
had never had much in the way of emotions before, she had never had to learn
how to hide them either. Now whatever she felt was plain to see.

“K?” he prompted gently.

“What was I supposed to do?” She struggled to sit up in his arms
and Boone let her.

“What do you
mean,
what were you supposed
to do? You were supposed to let me know you needed to be touched. That’s the
whole point of you sticking close to me in the first place,” he said with a
touch of exasperation.

“You don’t understand. I’ve spent my entire life avoiding contact
with other human beings. And now you want me to
ask
you to contaminate me?”

Boone swallowed down his frustration. “I want you to ask me to
touch
you. When you need it,” he said,
trying to keep his voice low. “I don’t want you to be sick or feel bad, K.”

“Even though I and my squad killed
two of your crew?”

“Even though,” Boone agreed. “You need me, you tell me. Or just
come up to me.”

She looked disconcerted. “Are you suggesting that
I
should contaminate
you?
”

“Sure,” Boone said, grinning. “I promise I won’t mind as long as
you touch me with your hand and not the business end of a pulse pistol.”

“I have given you my word not to kill you until I get my suit back,”
she said stiffly.

“I know that.” He chucked her lightly under the chin. “It’s a
joke
, darlin’. It’s supposed to be
funny. You know—humorous?”

“I don’t understand the concept. Nor do I want to.” She struggled
again. “Could you please put me down?”

“I will for now,” Boone said gravely. “But I warn you, if I see
you starting to shake and seize again, I’m gonna pick you up and hold you until
it stops. And since you’re too stubborn to come tell me when you need to be
touched, I’ll probably err on the side of caution and hold you more than I
really need to.”

“What?” K looked aghast. “Why would you do that?”

“To keep you healthy, darlin’.
Or you could just
tell
me when you need to be held.”

“I’ll…consider it.” She frowned. “Now will you
please
put me down?”

“Sure.” He set her on her feet. K wobbled for a moment but then
stood upright with his dress shirt clutched around her like a cape. “You know,”
Boone remarked, still sitting in the rocking chair. “You’ve been through a lot
today. You’d probably feel better if you had a shower.”

Her eyes widened and a look of almost fear came into them—the same
way she’d looked when he’d suggested a shower that morning. “No, I
really
don’t want a shower. I…I am still
not feeling as strong as I would like.” She seemed to have a hard time getting
the words out—
no wonder since the Purists didn’t believe in
admitting weakness
.

“Oh?” Boone said, wondering what that had to do with a shower.

“Yes.” K nodded, her long braid bobbing behind her. “And I…I do
not know if I could endure a shower right now.”

“Uh, okay. You do know what I mean when I say a
shower
, right? Water comes down—”

“I understand,” she snapped. “I ought to—I’ve been through enough
of them.”

“Okay then. Since you’re so against the idea, why don’t you just
rest a while?” Boone nodded at the low bed.

She frowned. “Lie down in the middle of the work period?”

“If you don’t feel good, sure—why
not?”

“Because it’s weak and lazy.”
K frowned. “I would much rather
work if you have anything that needs to be done.”

“Well the hyperdrive’s transconducer is shot all to hell but—”

“That’s perfect,” K said eagerly. “I have training in ship
mechanics as well as in combat. In fact, it’s my second area of expertise.”

For a moment Boone was tempted. If they could get the hyperdrive
fixed they could bypass Minotaur—a real armpit of a planet—and go straight to Eros.
Then, reluctantly, he pushed the hope aside. “I’m afraid not, K. If Loki caught
you poking around in the engine he would completely lose it and then I’d have a
real
mutiny on my hands.”

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Why should it matter what he
thinks? You outrank him, do you not?”

“I’m the one financing the trip because it’s my sister we’re going
to get. But other than that, we’re all equal,” Boone corrected her. “Besides, I
need Loki’s help to fly this damn tub—I have no idea how to pilot.”

“I am trained in that as well, though I have never tried to fly an
Erian vessel.”

Boone shook his head. “Sorry, darlin’, not a chance.”

She stiffened. “You don’t trust me.”

“I
do
trust you,” Boone
said.
“To a
point
.
I trust you to wander around the ship unrestrained as long as I’m with you but
I
don’t
trust you enough to let you
fiddle with the ship’s engines or fly it where I want it to go.”

“Then your trust in me is incomplete.”

“Can you blame me? You stood right here in this very room and told
me, and I quote, ‘You
will
die by my
hand,’ this morning while we were getting dressed.”

“But I gave you my word that I wouldn’t kill you until I got my
suit back.” She seemed very serious. “Do you really think I would break it even
if given the opportunity to do so?”

Boone stared at her thoughtfully. “You know, I don’t think you
would. But Loki wouldn’t see it that way and I don’t think there’s any way I
could convince him otherwise.”

K frowned. “It always comes back to
him
.”

“Because he’s my friend,” Boone said gently. “And I know you don’t
like him, K, but he’s got a pretty good reason to hate you, too. Your squad
killed his touch-partner.”

“What is that? I don’t understand.”

Boone frowned, wondering how to explain. “Well, it was kind of
like his spouse—but more than that.”

“Spouse?”

“Oh, I guess that’s a concept you’ve never heard of either, huh?
Let me see…well, when two humans get together and decide they love each other—”

“Love?”
K interrupted him.

Boone ran a hand over his face. Great, they were going to have to
start at the very beginning. K might speak Standard but she was completely
ignorant when it came to emotions.

“Okay,” he said carefully. “When you love someone, you want to be
with them all the time, touch them, hug them,
kiss
them—”

“The way you touch me?”

“Well, not exactly.” Boone got out of the rocker and started
pacing. “I touch
you
because if I
don’t, you’ll get sick.”

“So you touch me but you don’t love me.”

“No, absolutely not.”
Boone tried to laugh but it came
out as a cough instead. He thought of saying,
I’m getting sort of fond of you in a weird kind of way
. But then he
would have to explain the concept of fondness and love was already proving
difficult enough. And besides, he shouldn’t allow himself to feel anything at
all for K. She was still the enemy and she had sworn to kill him. He would do
well to remember that. “No,” he said again firmly. “No, I don’t love you.”

“All right.”
She nodded. “So loving is when you
want
to contaminate—I mean
touch
someone. Is that correct?”

“It is but only partly. Physical affection—touching—is only one
part of love,” Boone explained. “Loving someone means putting their needs ahead
of your own.
Thinking of them first.
Caring about what
they want and need, listening to their hopes and dreams.
Helping
them if they get sick or hurt.”

K looked confused. “But you helped me when my stomach went wrong.”

“Yes, but I was just doing what any decent guy would do—helping
someone in need. Wouldn’t you do the same thing?”

“If I saw an enemy that was incapacitated I would exploit his
weakness—that is how Paladins are trained,” K said thoughtfully. “However I
might
react differently if it was you.
Since I have sworn not to kill you yet.”

“Gee, that’s so sweet. Thanks, darlin’,” Boone said dryly. “But I
think we’re getting off the subject. The point is
,
you
killed someone very dear to Loki. Erians
need
someone to touch so the bond they have with their partner or spouse or whatever
you want to call
it,
is very strong. He cared a great
deal for the man your squad shot down and he’s holding you personally
responsible.”

“You and your crew killed
all
of my squad,” K pointed out.

“Yes, we did.” Boone thought of telling her that the pilot had
gotten away and decided not to. No point in giving her false hope of escape.

“Yet I am not angry with you. In a combat situation some
casualties are always to be expected.” She shrugged, obviously unconcerned.

Boone felt cold. “You really felt so little for them?”

K gave him a level look. “Why does that bother you? I felt almost
nothing at all until you took my suit. Now I can’t seem to
stop
feeling.”

He shook his head. “That damn suit really did a number on you,
darlin’. Just think about it—you flew with your squad for how long?”

“Three solar years.
I
do
miss their companionship.” K sounded thoughtful. “They were a
good crew—even Six, though he had too many inappropriate feelings.”

Boone arched an eyebrow at her.
“A Paladin with
feelings?
How so?”

“Even Paladins have emotions but we’re trained to crush them and
release them to Purity. When our eyes are completely black then our emotions
are completely purged.”

“So this
Six
guy, he couldn’t, uh,
crush
his emotions?”

“He seemed to struggle with it. He felt for
me
, I believe.” K frowned. “He actually tried to
touch
me before we came aboard your
ship.” She looked up at Boone. “I still don’t understand how you managed to
overcome us and get away. Your ship should have been completely
incapacitated—we made a huge hole in it with out pneumodrill.”

“False hull,” Boone explained. “We filled the space between the
fake and the real with stun gas capsules. The idea was to put you out and just
take one of you. We didn’t count on you getting over the gas so fast.”

“The suit filters and diminishes any and all air born poisons and
pathogens,” K explained. “But stun gas…at least that explains why I can’t
remember any of what happened.”

“You fought like a tiger,” Boone assured her. “If you hadn’t
gotten that nick in your femoral artery and lost consciousness we probably
would have had to kill you too.” He smiled. “But I’m glad we didn’t.”

K looked away. “It would have been much better for me if you had.”

“Well we didn’t.” Boone spoke as lightly as he could. “So it looks
like you’re stuck here for awhile.
Which brings us back to
the question of what you can do since you don’t want to sleep anymore.
”

“What do
you
do?” K looked
at him curiously.

“Research, mainly. I’m a physician but I’ve also got a degree in
genetics. Right now I’m working on a project to map all the different genomes
of the various species of humans in the Prometheus system. We’ve all been
changed, you know—by the planets we chose to colonize. That’s what I
was
doing, until my little sister got
taken.” Grief and guilt overwhelmed him for a moment but he forced himself to
push them away. “Anyway, I can’t do much out here—the equipment I was able to
bring is all pretty rudimentary. But I try to keep up with my notes and add
anything new I can find.”

“Could I help you with that?” K asked gravely.

Boone smiled. “Thanks for the offer but no, it’s a little too
technical, I’m afraid.
Unless your third area of expertise is
xeno-genetics.”

She frowned. “I am afraid not.”

“You
could
give me a
sample though,” Boone said. “Athena is the one planet I haven’t been able to
get genetic specimens from. It’s a closed world.”

“We prefer to keep to ourselves to preserve our Purity,” K said
stiffly. “What exactly would
giving
you a sample
entail?”

Boone shrugged. “A few drops of blood and a swab of the inside of
your cheek. Epithelial cells tell a lot.”

“Well, if that’s all I don’t mind.”

“Great.” Boone went across the room to his makeshift desk and
grabbed some equipment. K didn’t flinch when he pricked her finger and she
opened her mouth obligingly for the sani-swab. “This is good,” Boone told her
as he finished up. “I’ll be able to give you a little more information about
your own DNA too. We can find out if you’re all Erian or if the Purists mixed
something else into the baby batter too.”