Close Encounters (22 page)

He gave me one of “those” looks, like he was trying to decide whether or not to answer. “My sire and his mate.”

“Where are your parents now?” A curl of excitement unfolded inside me. This was one of the things I needed desperately to find out. If a disease had killed the older Buri, it could also have done something to affect the reproduction cycle of those remaining.

His voice was hard when he answered. “Dead.”

“What about the rest of your people? Are their parents all dead too?”

“Yes.”

We had almost reached the clearing where my hut stood when I stopped and touched his arm. “How? Why did they die?”

He gazed down at me stoically. “By their own choice.”

My jaw dropped. Of all the scenarios I’d come up with, this was one I’d never so much as considered. “Are you telling me they committed mass suicide? Why in the thirteen hells would they do that?”

“The reasons were their own. And it did not happen all at once as you are thinking. At first, there were only a few. The numbers increased until the end, when many died every day.”

“You just let them do it? Why didn’t anyone stop them?”

“It was their right to choose.”

“But what about Auntie Em and Elder? They’re much older than the rest of you and they didn’t die.”

“Their knowledge was needed. They chose to live.”

Lifting both hands, I rubbed my face. Why did it seem as if the more I found out, the more confused the issues became? At this rate, I was going to need another vacation. Soon. I turned and pushed through the brush at the edge of the clearing.

“What is ‘honeymoon’?” Thor asked.

“It’s a period of time newly mated couples spend alone so they can get to know each other.” I squinted at him. “Where did you hear the word?”

“You were thinking it.”

“I most certainly was not!” I spun around, hands on my hips as I glared at him. “And even if I were—which I wasn’t—and even if I accept that we’re…mated—which I don’t—a honeymoon never crossed my mind. I’ve got a job to do. I don’t have time to run off and play games with you.”

“Why are you upset?” He truly looked confused. Not that I blamed him. I was pretty confused myself. Had I really been thinking about honeymoons? How else would he know the word?

All the zip went out of me. “I’m not upset, damn it. It’s just that…never mind. I don’t think I can explain it.”

“You will try.”

“Okay. You asked for it.” I inhaled sharply and then let the air out in a slow, calming exhale. “People should get married because they love each other and want to spend their lives together. Not because some damn rock decides it can attune their brain waves.”

His gaze met mine, and I went all gooey at the warmth reflected in their ebony depths. “You crave love very much, mate. But it is like a seed that must first be sown and nurtured before the plant can bloom. Between us, a seed was sown when first we met. Already it has sprouted. With time and attention, it will come to full flower. This I swear to you.”

I blinked away the pesky moisture that clouded my vision and raised my chin. “What? Are you channeling Yoda now?”

He frowned. “What is a ‘yoda’?”

“A short, green, very wise little person. I can see I need to introduce you to holovids. Maybe have Max fix some popcorn so you can enjoy the full experience.”

His frown deepened, and he lifted a hand to cup my cheek. “It is not necessary to distract me when your feelings make you uncomfortable. I will not allow us to be separated, mate. Even though this is what you seek, it is not what you really want. You are safe with me. The pain you fear will not come to pass.”

For a brief instant, I allowed my eyes to close, let myself lean into his warm, strong palm. And I wished with all my heart that it could be as easy as he made it sound. But it wasn’t, and I couldn’t seem to make him understand that I had no choice. When this job was done, I would be assigned another, far away from Orpheus Two and the Buri regardless of how I might want it to be otherwise.

Forcing a smile, I opened my eyes and reached up to clasp his hand in mine. “Come on. Max is waiting for us.”

Luscious smells drifted from Max’s open hatch as we climbed the stairs, and I heard the soft
plop
of dishes sliding into the pickup tray just as we reached the cabin. You certainly couldn’t fault the ship’s timing.

“How long do we have to eat?” I asked Max aloud.

“Dr. Daniels is scheduled to begin transmission in twenty minutes and forty-five seconds.”

“Good.” I pulled the steaming dishes out and placed them on the small table in front of the food-prep unit before motioning Thor to have a seat across from me. Looked like Max had gone all out, no doubt showing off for Thor. It wasn’t often we had a real live guest join us on board for meals.

“Where’s Crigo?” I asked, slicing into the grilled chicken covered in mushroom gravy. Thor, hesitant about the strange foods in front of him, took a tiny nibble of a tuber lightly roasted with garlic, then dug in like he hadn’t eaten in a week.

“Watching the Dynatec camp from the edge of the jungle.”

“Should I be worried?” I could feel the curiosity coming from Thor as I talked to Max, and he kept looking around the cabin as if trying to identify where the voice was coming from.

“I don’t believe so. He spends a lot of time watching, but so far, he’s only entered the camp once.”

I detected an odd note in Max’s voice and paused before I could put the chicken in my mouth. “Why did he enter the camp?”

“The Dorn woman left her boots outside on the porch of her hut.”

“And?” I waved my fork for him to continue.

“Well, uh…Crigo—”

“Spit it out, Max. Crigo what?”

“He urinated on her boots.”

I dropped my forehead to the table and rapped it gently on the laminate surface three times. “Please tell me no one saw him.”

“No one saw him.”

“You’re sure?” I sat up hopefully.

“No.”

I glowered. “You just said no one saw him.”

“You told me to say that. But if anyone did see him, they neglected to mention his actions to Dorn. She was rather surprised at the condition of her footgear, and ended up tossing them in the recycler near the door. And she never so much as glanced in Crigo’s direction.”

A breath of relief escaped me. “Let me know if he so much as looks like he’s going to enter the camp again. While I might agree with his sentiments, I don’t want them taking potshots at him.”

“You are speaking of your animal?” Thor flashed me an image of Crigo, and I blinked. How the heck did he do that so easily?

“He’d probably object to you calling him mine, but yes. His name is Crigo.”

“He does not belong to you?”

“No, he’s more like a friend.” I reached for my glass, then paused, frowning at the water filling it. “Max, why does Thor have wine and I don’t?”

“Because alcohol might skew the results of the physical.”

“What physical?” I asked ominously.

“The one Dr. Daniels ordered performed while he’s here.”

“Damn it, Max! You told him there was something wrong with me, didn’t you?” Appetite gone, I dropped my fork and pushed my plate back.

There was a flicker of movement from my right, and abruptly Thor was standing, muscles tensed and ready as he reached for his knife.

Max, the coward, had initiated the call to Dr. Daniels ten minutes early.

“Don’t blame Max, my dear. You know one of his imperatives is to keep you healthy.” The boss wiped dirt from his hands as he stood. Around him, plants grew in lush recklessness, and I realized Max had caught him at work in his garden. “He was worried about you. Now why don’t you introduce me to your young man before he tries to attack my image and hurts himself?”

I sighed in defeat, knowing he was right. Protection of their partners was the most important imperative programmed into an AI. They would self-destruct before violating the rule.

Giving up on that front, I waved a hand. “Dr. Daniels, this is Thor, leader of the Buri. Thor, Dr. Jordan Daniels, my boss.”

To my surprise, the boss gave a slight bow and growled a short phrase in Buri. Thor hesitated, then dipped his head in a regal nod, his gaze still locked on the image.

“Since when do you speak Buri?” I asked the boss.

His grin was smug, white teeth flashing. “Max has been recording conversations and running language probability programs. I’m afraid I just exhausted my Buri vocabulary, though.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I waved a hand at Thor. “He understands everything we say. We’ve got this mind-bond thing going on.”

“Yes, Max told me.” He put his hands in his pockets. “I find it very intriguing. You actually read each other’s minds?”

I glanced at Thor. He gave his head a slight shake. “
Only when we make love, or when you broadcast
.”

Hurriedly, I turned back to the boss, hoping my face wasn’t red. “Not exactly. It’s more like talking, only on a mental level rather than aloud.”

“That should come in handy.” He leaned forward slightly to get a better look at me. “And this came about through the exchange of the earring during the marriage ceremony?”

“About that ceremony…”

“Later.” He gave me his best gimlet-eyed stare and I knew we’d be having a private conversation before this call was over. “First, I have some information for you. My investigators have uncovered a few very interesting details about Ms. Dorn.”

“Such as?” I sat up straighter, my curiosity running rampant.

The boss removed one hand from his pocket, plucked a flower from the bush next to him and twirled it idly between his fingers. “Max, put up the first image I sent you.”

A hologram appeared in the air above the table and I studied it for a second. “Yeah, that’s Quilla, all right.”

“Actually, it’s not.” The boss’s lips quirked. “That’s Laura Dorn, Zander Dorn’s wife. Max, put Ms. Dorn’s image next to it.”

Another holo appeared, and I swung my gaze between the two. Other than clothing, there was no discernible difference. “They look like identical twins,” I murmured.

“The resemblance is even more striking than that. Our facial recognition system insists they are the same woman. Retinal scans confirm it.”

Thor remained silent, but I knew he was listening intently. “So, you’re saying Quilla is really Laura Dorn?”

“No. Laura Dorn is dead.” He paused. “She died three cycles before Quilla was born.”

“A clone?” I leaned back in shock. “But cloning is illegal.”

“So is creating a GEP without a government license, but we both know that with enough money, black-market geneticists will do it. Zander Dorn was an extremely wealthy man, and from all reports, he was devastated by his wife’s death.”

“So he had her recreated and passed her off as his daughter? That’s sick.”

“Very sick. When Quilla was thirteen cycles, she killed Zander Dorn. According to the police reports, it was self-defense. Dorn was molesting her.”

A shudder of revulsion ran over me, and Thor reached out to cover my hand with his. The boss’s expression turned to one of interest at the gesture, and I spoke quickly before he got any ideas. “What happened to her?”

“The court appointed her a guardian. She was, after all, a rich young lady. There’s very little information on her after that.”

“If she’s so rich, why is she working for Dynatec?” While Thor was busy staring at a bird that had landed behind the boss, I slipped my hand out from under his, trying to make the movement look casual.

“She doesn’t.” He moved to a pastel pink bench on one side of the white crushed shell path and sat down. “We can’t prove it yet, but there’s reason to believe she owns the company. The information Max uncovered at your request leads us to think she bought Dynatec approximately ten cycles ago, as you suspected.”

“Right after the exploration team returned with the crystals.”

“Exactly.” He smiled. “And right after several members of that team met with an early demise.”

“So, if we’ve got this right, Quilla somehow found out about the crystals, probably from the exploration team themselves. Then, before Dynatec could discover what they had, she wiped out the original team and bought the company.”

“That’s the theory we’re going on. I’ll let you know if we find any proof. Now, why don’t we get this physical out of the way so Max can stop fretting?”

My stomach roiled at the very thought, but I knew the boss wasn’t going to let me off the hook. “Fine. I’ll meet you in sick bay.”

Thor touched my arm as I stood, his dark eyes filled with concern. “There is danger in this thing you do not wish to do?”

“No, no danger.” I grimaced. “I just don’t particularly like seeing images of my insides floating in the air.”

It was the truth, but there was more to it than that. Every physical I took just pointed out the differences between me and Naturals, or even other GEPs. Natural humans use very little of their brain, GEPs use a bit more. I, on the other hand, use almost half. It’s bad enough knowing I’m different, I don’t need the additional proof of my otherness by looking it in the face, so to speak.

Until now, the 50 percent of my gray matter not in use seemed to have no more function than it did in any human. Call me a pessimist, but I had a sneaking suspicion that had changed during my night in the cave.

The boss’s call had been transferred to sick bay by the time I stepped through the door, Thor hard on my heels. Wiping suddenly damp palms on my thighs, I sat in the diagnostic chair, sucked in a lungful of air, and nodded. “Okay, Max. Let’s get this over with.”

There was a soft hum as medical equipment sprang to life. An image of my brain appeared in the air, and the boss stood, moving closer for a better look.

“This is the base image taken a cycle ago,” Max said. Another image sprang to life beside the first. “And this is now.”

The difference in the two images was stark. In the base image, the ridges of the surface tissue were a flat gray. Only a slightly above average number of sparks indicated my enhanced neural activity. The image Max was taking now looked like a fireworks display on Virgo Nine during their annual mating celebrations. Sparks were shooting everywhere, and even as we watched, the level of activity increased.