Purity (Pure and Tainted) (41 page)

The Empress seemed to gather herself. She took a deep breath. “All
right, it’s all right,” Boone heard her mutter as her advisor fanned her
rapidly. “Stop that,” she said sharply to the advisor who stepped hurriedly
away. She looked at K. “We’ll take you back to Eros, Krissana. We’ll get the
top doctors involved and get this process reversed—”

“I’m afraid there’s no reversing the process now,” Boone said,
speaking up. “Speaking as one of the ‘top doctors’ in genetics, K’s DNA is
permanently bonded to mine as mine is to hers. We can’t do anything about it.”

“Even if we wanted to—which we don’t,” K said. “Mother, listen to
me—I
love
Boone. And I don’t ever
want to be without him again. Now I don’t have to. Can’t you at least
try
to feel some joy for me?”

Boone’s heart swelled and he couldn’t help the emotion that
flooded him. To hear K say that she loved him…it was the best feeling he’d ever
had. He pulled her even closer, wishing he could take her somewhere and show
her exactly how he felt. At the moment, though, the Empress was still glaring
at both of them.

“But…but who will rule after me?” she demanded in agitation. “Who
will take on the sacred burden of telling the people of Eros what to do and how
to live their lives?”

K shook her head. “I don’t know. I only know it can’t be me. I’m
sorry, Mother.”

“Have another child,” Boone suggested gently. “You look young
enough yet. Or better yet, consider a democracy—the kind we have on Colossus.
Nobody should have so much power over so many people—it’s the whole reason K
got kidnapped in the first place.”

“He’s right,” K said, frowning at her mother. “Your political system
is deeply flawed. You should use this opportunity to fix it.”

The Empress’s expression went from deep despair to pure rage in an
instant.

“Why you insolent…I
will
bring you home with me and we
will
find
a solution to this!” She took a step forward but Captain Hesler was suddenly
between her and K. “Get out of my way you Tainted bastard!” she demanded.

Hesler didn’t move an inch. “Sorry, Ma’am but that’s as far as I
can let you go. Commander K obviously has no interest in going back to Eros
with you,” he said evenly.

“And since her DNA is changed beyond repair, I think you should
just let her go,” Boone said quietly. “You lost her twice before, your Majesty.
Maybe if you leave peacefully, the two of you might come to some kind of relationship
in time.
As long as that relationship doesn’t have anything
to do with K ruling after you.”

The Empress’s eyes blazed. She held herself regally erect, staring
K down. Or rather, staring up at her—K had definitely grown a few inches—she
was much taller than her mother now. K stared back, unmoving.

“And this is your final decision?” the Empress demanded. “You
truly don’t wish to claim your birthright and rule after me as is your right
and royal destiny?”

K stepped forward and reached for the Empress’s hand. She seemed
to hesitate for a moment but then she took it, surprising Boone by her
willingness to touch anyone but him.

“Try to understand,” she said. “My destiny was changed the moment
the High Sentinel stole me away when I was only five cycles old. It changed
again when Boone captured me—changed for the better and for good. I’m sorry,
Mother, but I spent most of my life leading others as a commander in the Purist
army and, well…I’m tired of it. I’d just like to be in charge of my own life
for awhile.”

The Empress studied her daughter’s new blue-green eyes and then,
finally, she nodded.

“Very well.
If that is how it must be…”

“There’s no other way for me.” K squeezed her hand once and then
relinquished it. “I’m going to stay with Boone.”

The Empress looked up at him and then shook her head. “I suppose
there is nothing more to do or to say.”

Boone put an arm around K and pulled her close to him. “Nothing
except to assure you that I’ll take good care of your daughter,
your
Majesty.”

“Oh, you’ve taken care of her all right. You’ve
ruined
her.” The Empress gave him a withering
look. “I will not forgive this, giant. Give me one reason I shouldn’t leave
here and blast the lot of you out of the sky.”

“I can give you at least five,” Captain Hesler growled. “That’s
the number of blast cannons we have aimed at your ship, your Majesty. If you
shoot at Commander K’s vessel, we will return fire in kind.” He spread his
hands. “If, however, you choose to leave peacefully, well, that’s a different
matter. We can all go our separate ways and forget this unpleasantness ever
happened.”

The Empress’s eyes flashed. “I
never
forget. And I will never forgive.” She glared at all of them. “None of you are
ever welcome in my domain again. If I find any of you anywhere
near
Eros, you will be summarily
executed.” She looked at Captain Hesler. “And that includes the Tainted. I will
not forget that you came between me and my daughter, Captain. You may rely upon
that.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”
Hesler nodded stonily. “I’ll keep
that in mind.”

“Goodbye,” Boone said stonily. “Have a safe journey back to Eros.”

“Goodbye…Mother,” K echoed.

The Empress did not deign to answer. Turning on her heel, she
marched back to the airlock, head held high and two bright, angry spots of
color high on her regal cheekbones. “Come,” she told her people. “We are going
home.
Without
the
princess.
And if anyone so much as breathes a word of this, I’ll have his
head mounted on my wall before he draws his next breath.”

There was a long silence when she left but when the airlock
finally cycled
shut,
Boone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Whew, glad
that’s
over.”

“It’s not,” K said, frowning.

Hesler nodded. “The commander is right.” He looked at Boone. “I
advise you to go back to Colossus and stay there, giant. The Empress is not the
forgiving kind—she just handed all of us a death sentence if we stray too far
into her territory.”

“Well, then we won’t go there,” Boone said lightly.

“Easy for you to say,” Loki grumbled. “You didn’t just get
banished from your home planet on pain of death like Rolf and I did.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart.” Rolf rubbed his shoulders. “We’ll be
together in exile—it won’t be so bad.”

“Yes, it will.” Loki crossed his arms over his chest, clearly
pouting. “What about friends and family? What about the bathhouses? No place in
the universe has such hot bathhouses as Eros filled with so many hot men…”

Boone felt bad for his friend. “I’m sorry about that, Loki. I
never meant for you to get banished too.”

“Oh please,” Mom said in an uncharacteristic display if
irritation. “It’s not like he ever gets home above once every few years. We’re
always out flying missions. He’ll live.”

“Only if I don’t go back to my
own home planet!”
Loki stormed out and Rolf followed
him, trying to calm him down.

“Wow.” Boone shook his head. “I’m never going to hear the end of
that.”

“Yes you will,” Mom said. “Just let him loose in the red light
district on Colossus. He’ll be happy as a clam.”

“I don’t know how Rolf would feel about sharing,” Boone murmured.
“He strikes me as the monogamous type.”

“Like us.” K smiled up at him and squeezed his hand.

Boone kissed her cheek. “You know you’ve smiled more in the past
few hours than in all the other time I’ve known you. Hell, you’ve even
laughed.
You’re all bright and shiny all
of a sudden.”

“I know. I just feel…good.” Her smile widened and she shrugged.
“Strange, huh?”

“Not really. It’s because you’ve finally broke the suit’s
conditioning and gotten over your need for it that you’re able to show and feel
real emotion.” Hesler sounded almost wistful.

“But K was out of the suit before—when I first captured her,”
Boone pointed out.

“Yes, but she hadn’t broken the conditioning so the drugs lingered
in her system. Until you reach that breaking point on your own, you’re not
fully free of the suit’s influence. Now K is free to be who she really is—who
she was always meant to be.”

“What about you?” Boone asked him. “Did you break your suit’s conditioning?”

“I did. My breaking point came when that old bastard, the High
Sentinel, ordered me to purge myself and I decided I’d rather live than die. It
was damn hard, but worth it to be in control of the suit instead of the other
way around.”

“True.” K nodded.

“I’m envious of you, Commander K.” Hesler gave her a level look.
“You’ve found what you were looking for and you no longer need the suit as a
crutch.”

“Boone’s solution could work for you, too,” K suggested.
“If you want to get away from the suit.”

“Only if I found someone I wanted to swap DNA with,” Hesler said
dryly. “Finding your one true love isn’t easy when you’re on
emo-supressors—even modified amounts like I am.”

“Why not come off them?” Boone asked.

Hesler shook his head. “As I told Commander K, I tried that once.
Took off the suit and let my Erian nature exert itself. Even went though a
cycle.”

“And?”

“Things…didn’t go well.” Hesler sighed. “Besides, I like the
emotional distance the suit gives me. It keeps things from getting messy.”

Boone nodded. “I understand. But take it from me,
Captain—sometimes messy can be good.” He smiled down at K who smiled up at him.

“And speaking of cycles…” She shifted from foot to foot restlessly.
“Could I see you alone for a minute?”

Boone got the hint.
“Of course, darlin’.”
He looked at Hesler. “We’d all be blasted to space dust without your help,
Captain. What can I do to thank you?”

“Well…” Hesler cleared his throat. “If you have some time after
you…take care of the matter at hand…” He nodded at K. “Then there
is
something you can help us with. A
crew member who needs a medical
consult
if you
wouldn’t mind.”

Boone was intrigued. “But I thought the skinsuit took care of all
your medical needs.”

“The skinsuit is part of the problem,” Hesler said grimly.

“Boone…” K’s tugging at his hand was more insistent now, more
urgent and Boone felt his body responding to her need.

“Can I come to your ship in a few hours?” he asked Hesler.

“Of course.”
Hesler nodded. “Take all the time
you need.” He gave K a small salute. “I wish you luck, Commander K.”

“Thank you.” K returned his salute with a smile. “But it’s just K
now. Not Paladin or Princess or Commander.
Just K.”
She tugged at Boone’s hand, leading him away. “And that’s the way I like it.

The End

***Read on for Chapter One of Tainted, the sequel to Purity,
coming in late 2013 or early 2014 from Evangeline Anderson***

Tainted

Chapter One

“Yup, that’s Necrotizing fasciitis all right.” The giant shook his
head as he examined
Neely
. “I’ve only ever seen it in
a few old textbooks that survived from Earth-that-was.
Never
thought I’d see a case of it in this lifetime.”

Hesler looked down at his best friend’s arm, trying to be
controlled and detached. The grayish-purple rot had spread since the last time
he’d seen
Neely’s
arm without the suit. Spread
a lot.

“It’s up to your elbow now,” he heard himself say. “Last time we
looked it was barely to the wrist.”

“Doesn’t feel much different.”
Neely’s face was stony and Hesler
bet himself the other man had his emo-dampers turned up on high. Who could
blame him, considering the state of his arm?

The skin was sloughing away revealing pitted craters the color of
a fresh bruise. Hesler could even see some bone and tendon poking out along the
back of his friend’s hand—that had to be painful, although the suit was
probably controlling it as best it could, deadening the pain receptors.

“What exactly is Necrot…whatever the hell it was you said?” he
asked, turning to Boone.

The giant frowned. “And infection of the deeper layers of the skin
and subcutaneous tissue, spread across the fascial plane—”

“In Standard please, doc,” Hesler said. “I wasn’t trained as a
medic.”

Boone frowned. “I thought none of you were. K told me you have all
your medical work done by mechanoids—right?”

Hesler nodded—a short, sharp jerk of his head.
“Right.
Because Purity forbid we should touch each other. Or anyone for that matter.”
He sounded bitter, even in his own ears. “Mostly the suit can take care of any
illness. But in this case…”

“We think the suit caused it,” Neely said.

Boone looked startled. “What?
How?”

“Neely and I were the first Paladins to defect—we formed the
Tainted ten years ago,” Hesler said. “We were also the first to modify our
suits. We’ve fine tuned the process now for new recruits. But back in the beginning…”

“We didn’t exactly know what the hell we were doing,” Neely
finished for him. “And my suit…didn’t react well to being tinkered with.”

“Or maybe it’s just the long term exposure to a modified suit,”
Hesler said. It was a discussion they’d had over and over.
“Wearing
it all the time.
Never taking it off.”

“Because you had such a fucking fantastic time when
you
took a vacation from yours,” Neely
said dryly. “Riiiight, Hesler.”

Hesler frowned. “You and I both know that cycle I went through was
a season in Hell. But taking a break from the suit might be what kept it from
eating me alive—the way yours is eating you.”

“You don’t know that,” Neely argued. “Besides, the suit is the
only thing that’s controlling it.”

“It’s not controlling it nearly as well as it was,” Hesler pointed
out. “If it was, the rot wouldn’t be halfway up your arm by now.”

Neely frowned.
“I’m telling you, taking off the
suit is
not
the answer.”

“Well if it’s not then we better damn well
find
the fucking answer before—” Hesler stopped abruptly. Taking a
deep breath, he sent a quick mental command to his suit, adjusting his own
emo-damper control, turning them up to maximum. The sharp bite of his suit’s
needles in each forearm helped calm him—even better was the cooling rush of
chemicals that sluiced through his system, turning everything to ice. All the
pain and fear and worry he felt for his best friend was suddenly washed away,
replaced by calm detachment.

Better. It’s better this way. Now I
can think without emotion getting in the way. Now I don’t have to feel. Don’t
have to hurt.

Neely clearly knew what he was doing. “Better?” he asked, raising
an eyebrow.

Hesler nodded shortly. “Yes. Look, I’m just saying we need to do
something soon. Clearly this stuff—whatever it is—is getting worse.”

“Basically, Necrotizing fasciitis is a flesh eating bacteria,”
Boone said, crossing his arms over his chest. “And you’re right, Captain
Hesler—it looks like
it’s
spreading.”

“Right.
What can you do about it?” Hesler
asked.

Boone frowned. “Well, I could take the arm—”

“No.” Neely shook his head. “No, I need my arm. And before you
start,” he said, turning to Hesler, “You and I both know replacement parts
grown in the flesh tanks are never the same. The loss of control and fine motor
coordination—I’d be useless in a combat situation.”

Hesler frowned. “Damn it, Neely, I’m not worried about
combat—we’re talking about saving your life.”

“Don’t want to live as half a man,” Neely said stubbornly.

Hesler took a deep breath, glad for his emo-dampers. Without them,
he would have been ranting at his best friend by now, demanding that he see
reason.

“Fine,” he said shortly. “Other options, then.” He turned to
Boone. “Isn’t there some kind of medicine you can give him?
Some
kind of drug that will cure this…this
thing?”

“There
was
a kind of
drug that could cure it, if I remember my medical history right.” Boone
frowned. “A whole class of drugs, actually, that they used on Earth-that-was.
Antibiotics.
Between nanos and gene therapy and other modern
innovations, we haven’t needed them for millennia. But back before mankind left
the mother world, they were the first line of defense against infections like
this.”

“Antibiotics, right!” Hesler felt a spark of hope, even through
the haze of emo-dampers. “Good, so where can we get some?”

“You can’t,” Boone said mildly.
“Unless you’ve
got access to a working time machine.
Those drugs haven’t been used
since the early twenty-first century. I couldn’t even simulate any in the lab—their
chemical composition is a complete mystery.” He shrugged. “Just one of the
things we lost in the Great Purge, right before mankind left for the stars.”

“Shit,” Neely said flatly. “Well then, looks like I’m screwed.” He
started to pull the black webbing back over his rotting fingers and hand. A
gobbet of flesh fell on the floor with a wet
plop.
“Whoopse.”
He gave Hesler a sickly
grin. “Well, looks like I won’t be giving anyone the finger anymore, huh?”

Even with the emo-dampers washing through his system, Hesler still
felt sick for his friend. He cleared his throat.

“Maybe not.
You said we needed a time
machine?” he asked Boone.

The giant frowned. “Well, yes. But obviously I was being
facetious. There’s no such thing—”

“Oh, yes there is. Or something like it,” Hesler said.

Neely frowned.
“Hesler, tell me you’re not
thinking about what I think you’re thinking about.”

“I am.” Hesler crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s a perfectly
viable option and you know it.”

“I don’t know any such thing. The damn thing was too unstable. You
can’t possibly—”

“Excuse me,” Boone interrupted. “But are you actually saying you
have access to a time machine?
Because I’d
really
like to see that.
Considering that it’s supposed to be impossible. I mean, not theoretically
but—”

“There’s nothing theoretical about it,” Hesler said. “It’s real
but it’s not a machine—it’s a passage.
A time passage that
leads back to the twenty-first century on Earth-that-was.”

“But you don’t know
where
you’ll
come out,” Neely objected.
“Only
when
.”

“Stamos said you could control that,” Hesler said.

“Only to a certain
extent
.
It’s too damn dangerous!”

“What’s the alternative? You’ll lose your arm or die? No, I’m not
letting that happen.”

“Hang on.” Boone held up one massive hand. “Could you explain,
please? Where
is
this ‘time passage?
’”

Hesler ran a hand through his hair. “It’s on Minotaur’s second
moon.”

“Minotaur has moons?” Boone frowned. “We were there not too long
ago and I didn’t notice anything orbiting that saurian filled hell hole. Of
course, I was fairly distracted at the time…”

“Well, they’re more like glorified asteroids,” Hesler admitted.
“But Crete, the smaller one, actually has a
breathable atmosphere. Pracket Stamos is the sole inhabitant—he won the
interstellar lottery and bought the damn place.”

“Hmm.
The modern equivalent of buying
your own private island,” Boone rumbled. “Go on. Is he some kind of scientist?”

Hesler shook his head.
“No, just a prospector.
He bought Crete for its pshalite deposits. They
aren’t nearly as extensive as the ones on Midas but they’re enough to keep him
comfortable. While he was prospecting he found what seemed to be a corridor
carved into the side of an old mine.”

“There were markings all around it—symbols nobody could
interpret,” Neely said. “Stamos thinks he’s not the first one to go digging
there.”

“Then who—?”

“Remember all those old stories from Earth-that-was—people
thinking they’d been abducted by extraterrestrials and probed?” Hesler raised
an eyebrow. “It looks like they might not have been just stories. Some of the
other things Stamos found…well, it’s probably better not to go into details.”

“Let’s just say whoever carved that passage was looking for a
whole lot more than pshalite,” Neely deadpanned. “And it wasn’t the only
passage
they were interested in.”

“Very funny,” Hesler said sourly. “The point is, the passage leads
back to the time you’re talking about—to Earth-that-was in the twenty-first
century. Stamos tried it out.”

“And nearly died,” Neely pointed out.

Hesler lifted his chin.
“Only because he wasn’t
prepared.”

“How could he be?”
Neely demanded.
“You
can’t take anything through the passage—nothing non-living anyway. So you can’t
take tools or instruments or food…”

Hesler shrugged. “So? I don’t need any of those things.”

“You can’t take your suit either,” Neely said quietly. “You’d have
to take it off, Hesler.”

Boone frowned. “But the suit’s a semi-sentient organism. It’s
alive—should be able to go through.”

Hesler shook his head. “It doesn’t have higher brain function,
which seems to be what the passage requires.” He looked at
Neely
.
“Which means you can’t come with me.”

“Why?
You saying I don’t have higher brain
function?”
Neely arched an eyebrow at him.

“You know that’s not what I’m saying. The suit might be what
caused your problem in the first place but it’s also the only thing holding you
together—you can’t take it off. Besides, going through the passage would
probably strip away all the dead tissue.”

“You can’t do this,” Neely argued. “Without your suit you’d be
without your emo-dampers and blockers. Hell, it might even start your damn sex cycle
again.”

Even the emo-dampers coursing through his system couldn’t help
Hesler suppress a surge of dread but he kept his face completely impassive as
he stared at his best friend.

“I can manage. For a few days, I can manage.”

“Not if your cycle starts up. Then you’ll need a hell of a lot
more than food or instruments to see you through—you’re going to need a
female—a touch partner. Or you’ll
die
.
And you know how that worked out for you last time.”

“Shut up,
Neely
,” Hesler growled. “I’m
going and that’s final.”

His best friend opened his mouth to protest again but Hesler
wasn’t listening. He was already calculating how long he could go without his
skinsuit—and trying not to think about what would happen once he took off the
black second skin he’d worn from the age of nine cycles. He had a love-hate
relationship with the damn
thing, that
was for
certain. He didn’t want to need it and yet he couldn’t do without it.

Except he was going to have to—at least for as long as it took to
get Neely his medicine.

I can make it,
he told himself grimly.
I fucking have to if
Neely’s
going to live.
He didn’t need Boone to tell him that the rot that was
traveling up the other man’s arm would eventually reach his heart. And
then…lights out.

Not if I can help it,
Hesler swore to himself. How many
times had
Neely
saved his ass?
Hell,
Neely was the one who’d convinced him not to purge himself after his initial
contamination, when the High Sentinel demanded his death. They’d been through
Hell together and Hesler was damned if he was going to sit back and watch his
best friend die.