Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) (18 page)

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 with 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.

Instead
of armor or what Six had called his “exoskeleton” her visitor had on a long,
black leather coat that reminded Mei-Li of something you might see a Nazi
wearing in an old movie. It buttoned at his boney chin and fell straight down
to his black boots.

“Um,
hello?” she said at last since he just stood there. “Is there something I can
do for you?”

“Oh,
I think not, my dear. I heard that my dear friend Six was here with his bride
and I just stopped by to pay my respects.”

“Oh,
uh…” Mei-Li said uncertainly. “I mean, we’re not actually
married
or
anything. He just came to…to claim me, that’s all.”

“And
who could blame him for wanting to lay claim to such an enchanting creature as
yourself?” He grinned widely, exposing a vast array of gleaming steel teeth.
The teeth turned what might have been a charming expression into a grotesque
one.

“Um,
thank you.” Mei-Li took a step back involuntarily. To her dismay, this prompted
the tall, skeletal man with the metal teeth to take a step forward so that he
was now in the room with her.

“I
see you’re admiring my new dental work,” he said, grinning wider than ever.

With
a start, Mei-Li realized she’d been staring rudely at his mouth. Quickly, she
dragged her gaze away.

“It’s
very…striking,” she said weakly.

“All
part of my new oral-nasal enhancement,” the man proclaimed. Or was he a
Kindred? He was certainly tall enough but he lacked the well developed muscles
Mei-Li had always assumed were a feature of every Kindred warrior. He was thin
almost to the point of emaciation with narrow shoulders and pale skin stretched
tightly over his sharp cheekbones.

“That’s
nice,” she said, trying to smile. “But I don’t think I caught your name?”

“Because
I didn’t tell you yet. How very
rude
of me.” He grinned again,
alarmingly. “I am known as the Eyes of the Collective. Although perhaps I
should be known as its
nose.
” He tapped the metal side of his knife
blade nose significantly. “Especially after my latest enhancement. Has Six
never mentioned me?”

“He…no,
I’m afraid he didn’t.” Mei-Li took another step back and once again, he
followed her. “But we haven’t known each other very long.”
Not that your
short acquaintance stopped you from sucking face with him,
whispered a
critical little voice in the back of her head. Mei-Li pushed the thought away.
Right now she had to be concerned with Mr. Scary Teeth—he looked like a
freaking Bond villain and he kept on getting closer and closer. How could she
get rid of him?

“Well,
I’m pleased to make your acquaintance…?” He paused significantly and Mei-Li
said quickly,

“Mei-Li
Hastings. Nice to meet you.” Automatically, she held out her hand…then wished
she hadn’t. She
really
didn’t want to touch those long, boney fingers
she saw sticking out from under his black leather coat. Still, her hand was out
now and she didn’t think she could retract it without looking rude.

For
a moment, her boney visitor simply stared at her outstretched hand, then his
face broke into that horrible metal grin again.

“Oh,
I see—your people must touch each other in greeting. How
quaint.”

Slowly,
he extended his own hand. It was long and narrow with prominent blue veins.
White skin as thin as parchment paper was stretched over the knuckles. Mei-Li
tried not to shiver when their fingers touched—his hand was so cold and dry it
was like shaking hands with a corpse. Thankfully, the handshake was brief.

“A
charming custom, no doubt from your home world,” he said. “I understand you
call it Earth?”

“Well,
yes…we do.” Mei-Li felt uneasy though she didn’t know why. It seemed wrong to
hear her planet’s name come from those thin, liver-colored lips.

“A
lovely little world, I’m told. Rich in natural resources?”

“I
don’t know. I guess so.” Mei-Li frowned. “What does that have to do with
anything?”

“It
doesn’t, my dear. Just making small talk. Just trying to put you
at ease.
”
He grinned again, so widely Mei-Li was sure she would be able to count all his
teeth—even the back ones—if she tried. Despite his stated intention, she
thought she had never seen a facial expression
less
likely to put her
“at ease.”

“Well,
it was nice to meet you,” she said, hoping to end the strange conversation and
get rid of him. “But I really should go now. Six is going to be here literally
any second. He has to take me up to see Yipper before we can go down to the
planet.”

“Ah,
Yipper.” The man’s thin upper lip curled contemptuously. “Indeed.”

The
way he said it made Mei-Li wonder if something was wrong.

“Don’t
you like Yipper?” she asked. “I mean, is he a good surgeon?”

“I
have no feelings about him one way or another.” He shrugged his narrow, boney
shoulders. “Like the others of my kind, I am without emotion.”

“Oh,
of course, I’m sorry. I just thought…the look on your…your face. Well, the left
side of it anyway…” She trailed off, hoping she hadn’t offended him.

“One
can show the outward signs of emotion without actually
feeling
anything.”
He winked at her with his one normal eye. “You might do well to remember that
yourself during your
Claiming Period.”

Mei-Li
frowned. “You can? I mean, of course you
can
but why would you bother? Showing
emotion you don’t feel?”

“Why,
to set you at ease, my dear, of course! It has often been noted by myself and
my colleagues that Feelers—those with emotions—are made…uncomfortable by those
like myself who have none. The polite thing in such a situation is to feign
emotion, even if one does not feel it. That is only aboard the medical barges
of course, though. Down on the planet’s surface we have…other ways of dealing
with Feelers.”

“I
see.” Mei-Li wondered if Six had been pretending earlier. Had he just been
acting
like he enjoyed their kiss? Was he actually just a soulless, unfeeling robot as
he had claimed to be or was there something more to him? Was he—

So…”
The man with the steel teeth cleared his throat, interrupting her train of
thought. “You must be going to get your enhancement.”

“Yes,
I am.” Mei-Li nodded.

“And
have you decided what you’ll have yet? Other than the emotion damper, of
course.”

“Emotion
damper?” Mei-Li frowned.

“At
the back of your neck. Like this one, my dear.” He turned briefly and showed
her a small silver and black button embedded at the nape of his boney neck. He
was almost completely bald with just a fringe of closely shaved hair around his
ears so it was easy to see. “You will be getting one, of course? Since Feelers
are
not
allowed on Z4. As I told you, we have
ways
of dealing
with them.”

Mei-Li
felt cold all over. “I…I was told I’d be given a special dispensation. I don’t
want
to lose my emotions.”

“Of
course
you don’t.” His deep-set left eye gleamed. “Feelers
never
do. That is why we have to
sniff
them out.” He made a show of lifting
his skull-like head and inhaling deeply through his nose. “Speaking of which, I
can tell that a great deal of feeling has gone on in here recently. The air is
just
thick
with it.”

“I…um…”
Mei-Li put a hand to her throat, feeling guilty. Could he actually smell how
hot and bothered kissing Six had made her?
Oh God, I hope not!
“How can
you possibly know that?” she asked. “How can you smell when people are…are
feeling? Having emotions?”

“Pheromones,
my dear. Every living thing puts them out and they change subtly when strong
emotions are in play.”

“Oh,
I see.” She wondered again if he could tell exactly
what
emotions she
had been having but she wasn’t brave enough to ask. She pressed her thighs together
as casually as she could.

“I
don’t think you do see, but you will, my dear. Your own pheromones, for
instance, are
very
distinctive.” He inhaled deeply again. “Now that I’ve
scented them I dare say I could find you anywhere just by sniffing around a
little.”

He
gave a humorless laugh but Mei-Li didn’t smile back. She didn’t like the idea
at all. A very unpleasant mental image formed in her head—one of herself hiding
in a dark room, barely daring to breathe while Mr. Steel Teeth raised his
skull-like head and sniffed the air, searching for her.
Ugh!
She tried
to push the thought away.

“That’s…interesting,”
she said as neutrally as she could. “Um, I think Six should be here soon.”

To
her intense relief, her unexpected visitor finally seemed to take the hint. He
stepped out of the room and nodded courteously at her. “I must go now but I’m
sure I’ll see you on Z4.”

“I’m
sure,” Mei-Li said, nodding though privately she was hoping just the opposite.
Please,
God, if I never seen this weird metal-teeth guy again it’ll be too soon.

“It
was a pleasure meeting you.” He nodded his head once more and then turned to
go. Just as she was breathing a sigh of relief, though, he turned back. “Oh,
and Mei-Li, my dear?”

“Yes?”
She tried to smile politely and couldn’t quite manage it.

“That
special dispensation of yours—the one that allows you to keep your precious
emotions?”

“Yes,”
she said again, her hand going to her throat.

“See
that you don't let it elapse.” He grinned at her again—that shark-like baring of
too many metal teeth—and then finally, mercifully, he went.

Mei-Li
waited until he was a little way down the corridor before she waved the door
shut. Then she just stood there with her back to the wall and tried to breathe.
There was something about that man—something she didn’t like at all. It wasn’t
just his horror sci-fi appearance either. Six had a pretty scary eye and hand
and
that
didn’t bother her. No, what bothered her about her visitor was
the way he had looked at her. That cold, deep-set eye had gazed at her in an
almost predatory way.