Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) (38 page)

“I am glad you think so,” he murmured,
dropping a soft kiss on the top of her head. “And I was honored to share
pleasure with you.”

“I was honored too.” Mei-Li smiled up at
him and snuggled closer. His hard chest made an amazingly comfortable pillow
and she felt completely surrounded by his big, muscular body.

We belong together—we
were meant to be with each other.

It was a silly, sentimental thought and
yet it felt true inside her head. From the moment she had first seen the big
Kindred in her dreams, she had been afraid of him. Afraid and yet drawn to him
too. And now that he had admitted he felt for her as she felt for him, Mei-Li
knew they could somehow make this work.

She had no idea how, though. Six would
have to come back to Earth with her, she supposed and they would have to find
him some kind of a job. What could he be? A bodyguard? A professional wrestler?
Or maybe he would be a good engineer? She wasn’t sure exactly what he did at
work but it sounded technical.

Also, Six would need
tons
of
therapy to deal with his past. He might never remember all of it but as long as
he was at least facing it, that was okay with her. As for this whole bonding
thing, who needed it? It was probably just some Kindred religious mumbo-jumbo.
She and Six were perfectly happy just as they were. They didn’t need to “soul
bond” to make things better. Everything was going to be just fine…

“Excuse me, Six. I am sorry if I am
interrupting your sleep, yes I am, yes I am,” said a voice from the viewscreen
mounted on the far wall.

Looking up, Mei-Li saw a long, familiar
hound-dog face staring at them from the screen.

“Yipper?” she gasped.

“Yes indeed, yes indeed.” The little
Tolleg nodded vigorously, making his ears flop. Then he frowned. “May I ask,
Six, why you and Mei-Li are lying half-unclothed on the floor instead of
resting on the
sousa?”

Mei-Li suddenly became aware that her
nightdress was hiked up to her waist and Six’s trousers were still open.

“Oh my goodness!’ she gasped, sitting up
and smoothing down the white lace gown quickly. “We, uh, didn’t expect to see
you until the morning, Yipper.”

“I was told your need was urgent. I am
finished with my surgery and ready to do your consultation now. Yes I am, yes I
am.” He looked at Six. “If this is about your implant, I have a new emotion
blocker I have just developed that is guaranteed to be absolutely foolproof.
Yes it is, yes it is.”

“Oh, well, um…” Mei-Li wasn’t sure what to
say.

Beside her, Six sat up.

“We will come at once,” he said. “We will
meet you in your Enhancement Area.”

“Very well. I will see you soon. Yes I
will, yes I will.” The little Tolleg nodded and the viewscreen went blank.

Mei-Li felt her heart sink. “So you’ve
changed your mind again? Now that you admitted how you feel you’ve decided you
want a new implant after all?”

“No, of course not.” Six was tucking
himself back into his trousers but he stopped to frown at her. “Why would you
say that?”

“Maybe because the last time you let
yourself get, uh,
emotional
you kind of freaked out and decided to take
me home and never see me again.”

“I was still having difficulties in
accepting the fact that I was having emotions at all,” he pointed out. “For so
many years I have considered feeling a crime. Not only that but a weakness. It
was…hard to believe.”

Mei-Li put a hand on her hip. “So the way
you feel for me is a
weakness?”

He frowned. “It is hard to see it any
other way. But as I said, weak or not, I do not want to stop.”

“You don’t? You’re
sure?”
Mei-Li asked.
“What about the reason you’re feeling in the first place—your implant going
bad? Won’t that mean you’ll continue to have bad dreams if you continue to have
emotions?”

Six took her by the shoulders and looked
her in the eye.

“I do not care how bad the dreams I have
become. I will endure them. I do not want to lose these…feelings that I have
for you.”

“All right, well…I don’t want you to lose
them either. I just hope in time you’ll see that emotions aren’t a weakness. It
takes a very strong person to admit how they’re feeling.” She put her hand over
his. “It was very brave, what you did tonight.”

“It was one of the hardest things I have
ever done,” Six admitted in a low voice. “I told myself I would take you home
and forget you—that I would bury your memory in the memory cache and never look
at it again.”

“Why didn’t you? What changed your mind?”
she asked softly.

He shook his head. “I do not know.
Something about the dream…I cannot remember it but I
do
recall a sense
of…loss that accompanied it. The feeling that something precious which could
never be restored had been ruined or shattered. I did not want that feeling to
be associated with you, too. I…I could not bear the thought of losing you.”

“Oh, Six…” Her heart ached for him. The
naked pain on his face was almost too much to bear and yet she couldn’t look
away. The fact that he was willing to go on having the nightmares just to be
with her was touching and she supposed that she couldn’t expect him to get over
his prejudice against feeling all at once. Stepping closer, she stood on tiptoe
and put her arms around his neck.

“Mei-Li,” he murmured.
“Lasai.”

She pulled back a little, frowning.
“Lah-what? What does that mean?”

A look of confusion spread over his face.

“
Lasai
. I am not sure what it
means. It is simply a word that came to me. It has…a good feeling about it.”

“Maybe it’s a word from your past. An
endearment—like sweetheart or honey,” Mei-Li said.

He frowned. “That explanation makes sense
but why would I wish to say that your heart is sweet? I have never tasted
it—how would I know its flavor?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s just a
nickname—a sweet little nickname to call the person you care about.”

“I find your
pussy
very sweet and
delicious to taste,” Six said thoughtfully. “Would you like me to call you
“sweetpussy”?”

“Uh, no.” Mei-Li had to stifle a laugh.
“Let’s stick to
Lasai
. That sounds nice. I bet it means something really
beautiful in your old language—whatever it might have been.” Of course she must
have heard it when she watched his memories but though her translation bacteria
allowed her to understand the words spoken, she had no idea what the language
actually was.

“All right.
Lasai
—I like it. It
seems to fit you, somehow.” Six nodded. “Now that we have established a
‘nickname’ for you, let us finish getting dressed and go meet with Yipper.”

“I don’t understand, though,” Mei-Li said
as she pulled on the red wrap dress she’d made for herself back on Z4. “If
you’ve decided you don’t want another implant, why are we seeing Yipper at
all?”

“Because I believe he can help us. We will
need a third party if we are to get away and stay away without incident. If I
am to go to your planet and live with you there…” He paused uncertainly. “You
do
want me to come with you, do you not?”

“Oh, of
course
I do,” Mei-Li said
quickly. “That was exactly what I was thinking about before Yipper called.
But…do you think you can trust him to keep our secret?”

“I would trust Yipper with my life,” Six
said firmly. “He was against me getting the emotion blocker implant in the
first place. He will not be sorry to hear that I am feeling again.”

“I think you’re right. Yipper’s a good
guy.” Mei-Li smiled as she finished tying her dress on the side. “Okay, I’m
ready. Let’s go.”

Chapter
Twenty-seven

“It is good to see you again, Six…Mei-Li.
Yes it is, yes it is.” Yipper nodded eagerly as they walked into the large
white room filled with implants and mechanical prostheses. “But what has
happened to your ocular scanner? Well, never mind, I can fix it. Yes I can, yes
I can.”

“Yipper,” Six began.

“No, no—” The little Tolleg held up one
hairy hand. “Before you say a word, I must apologize. Yes, I must, yes I must.
You were so concerned about your implant that after you left I began to do some
investigating into the happenings down on Zeaga 4. What I found both amazed and
greatly distressed me.” He leaned forward, hunching his hairy little shoulders.
“Some of the other Dark Kindred organics, especially those with pure Kindred
DNA like yours, their implants—”

“Are failing. And have been for quite some
time now,” Mei-Li finished for him.

Yipper’s big brown eyes got even wider in
apparent shock.

“Well, yes. But how did you know, how did
you know?”

Mei-Li explained briefly about her
encounter with the old warrior, Malak.

“He said that he and a lot of the older
Kindred warriors had their implants fail years ago but they were afraid if they
went up to the medical barges, they would be forced to get new ones,” she said.

Yipper frowned. “I would never force
anyone who didn’t want one to have an implant. No I wouldn’t, no I wouldn’t. I
hope you know that now, Mei-Li, despite our misunderstanding when you first
came.”

“Yes, I know, Yipper,” she said gently.
“But maybe the Collective might
force
you to give them new implants.”

“It is possible. Yes it is, yes it is.”
The little Tolleg looked troubled. “On their orders I have been working on a
new emotion damper—an injection that permanently blocks the emotion receptors
in the brain. Yes I have, yes I have.” He held up a large clear syringe filled
with thick blue fluid. It had a large, wickedly sharp looking needle which made
Mei-Li shudder.

“Wow,” she said flatly. “So that stuff is
a permanent fix? No more emotions
ever
after you get injected with it?”

“Exactly. Much more reliable than an
implant—practically foolproof. But I thought I was developing it for those who
wanted
it. I had no idea the warriors would wish to keep feeling once they started
having emotions. No I didn’t, no I didn’t.”

“It is…a difficult thing to give up.
Especially if you have someone to feel
for,”
Six said quietly. He
reached for Mei-Li’s hand and entwined their fingers.

Yipper’s eyes grew wide.

“So it is true, your implant
is
failing?
But I was so certain you were fine, yes I was, yes I was.”

“I tried to convince myself of the same
thing,” Six said. “But I am glad I was wrong.”

“So you…you feel for Mei-Li?” Yipper’s
eyes flew between the two of them.

Six nodded. “Can we trust you to keep our
secret? Our very lives would be in danger if it was known.”

“Of course they would! And of course I
will keep your secret. Yes I will, yes I will!” Yipper’s big brown eyes were
shining. “Six, I cannot tell you how happy I am for you. I never wanted you to
give up your feelings in the first place. No I didn’t, no I didn’t.”

“We knew we could trust you, Yipper.”
Mei-Li gave the little Tolleg a spontaneous hug which made him squirm with
pleased embarrassment.

“Of course, of course,” he murmured.

“We were hoping you could help us,” Six
said seriously. “I intend to take Mei-Li back to her home planet of Earth and
then stay there with her. But first I will fake my own death—blow up my shuttle
to make it appear that I was on my way home and had an equipment malfunction.”

“A wise idea.” Yipper nodded. “How can I
help, how can I help?”

“Simply by saying that you did in fact
replace my implant before I left,” Six said. “There must be no question of my
loyalty to the Collective or they will send warriors to seek me out. They must
believe that I left to take Mei-Li home in a completely emotionless state.”

“Of course, of course.” The little Tolleg
nodded again emphatically. “A wise plan.”

“Thanks, Yipper.” Mei-Li looked up at Six
in awe. She’d had no idea that his plan to get away was so elaborate.
The
Collective must be like the Mob or something—no way out except in a pine box.
The
thought made another shiver run down her back. “Are you sure you’ll be all
right?” she asked the little Tolleg. “I mean, maybe you should come with us.
This might not be a safe place to be much longer.”

“I can take care of myself—I have been
doing so for over four hundred cycles. Yes I have, yes I have,” Yipper said
gently. “Though I appreciate your concern. Yes I do, yes I do.”

“No, but seriously—what if Z4 is in a
downward spiral?” Mei-Li persisted. “The old man I told you about—Malak—he got
very excited because he said I was the harbinger of some old prophesy—something
about the beginning of the end of the Collective. Do you know anything about
that?”

Yipper shook his head. “No I don’t, no I
don’t.”

“Small in stature, big in heart, one will
come…” Six murmured.

“What?” Mei-Li turned to him. “What did
you say?”

Six had a look of deep concentration on his
face for a moment. Then he shook his head.

“I don’t know. Something that came to me
suddenly. The same way your nickname,
Lasai
did.”

“Lasai
means ‘dear one’ or ‘darling one’ in Tergish—the language
of the Terga traders,” Yipper said. “But oh dear, oh dear!” He looked at Six,
clearly upset. “If you are remembering little snippets of your past then your
implant must be in dreadful shape. Yes it must, yes it must. Have the dreams
started yet?”

“He had an awful one earlier tonight,”
Mei-Li said quickly. “But he couldn’t remember it when he woke up.”

“Nor will he unless I completely remove
the implant,” Yipper said. “But I cannot recommend that. No I can’t, no I
can’t.”

“You can’t?” Mei-Li asked.

“No indeed, no indeed. With the implant
still in, Six will be able to experience emotions without the memories of his
past coming back completely. The dreams will continue—that is unavoidable. Yes
it is, yes it is. The dreams are simply the memories trying to come forward.
But the implant will block them, even if it is malfunctioning.”

“So the memories must be…pretty bad then,
huh?” Mei-Li didn’t want to ask for details because she knew how strongly Six
felt about not having to remember.

“It is not simply the bad memories of his
past that Six would have to face,” Yipper said earnestly. “He would also have
what I call the ‘three-fold effect.’ Which means that the emotions he was
having at the time I put in his implant and trapped his memories in the cache
would come back three times as strong. Yes they would, yes they would.”

“Oh my…” Mei-Li bit her lip. She vaguely
remembered Malak saying something similar to her but the implications simply
hadn’t sunk in at the time. Now she understood. Whatever horrible trauma Six
had gone through and whatever emotional pain he had been experiencing because
of it would come back to him times three if the implant came out.
No wonder
he doesn’t want it taken out! I wouldn’t either in his place.

“So you see,” Yipper said. “Removing the
implant completely is a bad idea. Yes it is, yes it is.”

“Yes.” Mei-Li nodded and looked up at Six.
“As a trained social worker, I’m supposed to be all about facing your past and
your feelings. But in this case, I don’t blame you. Keep the implant in and
we’ll find some way to deal with the dreams. Maybe some kind of sleep
medication or something.”

He shook his head. “I will endure them as
they are. They are a small price to pay to be with you forever.”

“Oh, Six…” Mei-Li hugged him hard and he
wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back, squeezing so tightly that for
a moment she could barely breathe. She didn’t mind. She whispered in his ear,
“I love you.”

He released her. “I feel for you, too,
Lasai
but I am not exactly sure what love is. Is it the falling feeling we talked
about earlier?”

“That’s part of it,” she assured him. “But
there’s also the feeling of warmth and comfort and safety when the person you
love wraps their arms around you and holds on tight. And the good feeling you
get when you know they’ll stand by you no matter what.”

“That I can promise,” he rumbled. “No
matter what may come, I will be by your side.”

She smiled. “In that case, I’d better go
pack for the trip home.”

He nodded. “I will come with you.”

“No you won’t, no you won’t,” Yipper
protested. “I want to do a complete exam on you before you go, Six. I cannot
understand how I could have missed your implant malfunction before. There must
be some fundamental flaw in the implant itself.”

“Very well if you can make it quick,” Six
said. “We need to be gone soon.”

“Of course, of course. Just an exam.” The
little Tolleg pushed the rolling metal tray which held the syringe filled with
emotion blocker away. “I suppose I will not be needing this.”

“No you won’t.” Mei-Li said. “But there’s
one thing I don’t understand—why are you using a syringe instead of injecting
it with your tongue, like you do everything else?”

“Why because, I do not wish to lose my
own
emotions. No I don’t, no I don’t!” The little Tolleg shook his head
emphatically, making his long ears flap. “It takes a little longer to work if
it is ingested orally rather than injected but either way, the emotion blocker
is completely permanent and irreversible.”

“Ugh!” Mei-Li shivered. “Well I’m glad you
didn’t have it before or Six and I would never have gotten together.”

“Very true, very true,” Yipper said
soberly. “And in light of all I have learned recently, I am beginning to
believe I should destroy it and never make another batch.”

“That might be a good idea,” Mei-Li told him.
She turned to Six. “Look, you stay here and let Yipper examine you. I can get
to the room and back again by myself with no problem. It won’t take me long to
pack.”

“Just be careful.”

“I’ll be fine.” She stood on tiptoes and
gave him a quick peck on the lips. “See you in a minute or two.”

With a little wave to Yipper, she left his
enhancement area, stepping past the sliding silver door and out into the
corridor. She noticed as she went that for some reason the door was standing
open.

Huh, that’s weird. Thought
those things were automatic.
Mei-Li gave it a
passing glance as she walked down the long winding corridor towards their room.
Better tell Yipper to get that fixed. He probably—

“Well, hello my dear.” The cold voice was
horribly familiar.

Mei-Li looked up and saw Two standing
there, dressed as always in the long black leather coat that seemed to cling
like bat wings to his skeletal frame. Flanking him were two silver robotic
sniffers, their metallic jaws wrinkling into silent snarls.

“Two…” She started to back away but one
boney hand reached out as fast as a snake snatching its prey. Almost before she
knew it, he had her by the arm.

“Let me go!” She tried yanking away but
though he was thin, Two was incredibly strong. His long, skinny fingers were
like steel pincers wrapped around her upper arm.

“I think not.” He smiled his horrible
grin, bearing stainless steel teeth. “I think that this time I’ll have a little
fun with you.”

“Leave me alone! Six is with me—he’ll tear
you apart! You and your freaky robot dogs too!” Though she knew it was useless,
Mei-Li couldn’t help tugging against his grip. The feel of his hand on her skin
was loathsome—like having a cold, dead fish touching her. It filled her with
equal parts panic and revulsion.

“Oh, will he?” Suddenly a cold metal
muzzle was pressed against the side of her neck. “Will he
really
, even
when I tell him I’m perfectly prepared to purge you right in front of him? To
blow your lovely little head off?”

“Please…” Mei-Li swallowed hard. Her heart
was pounding and her palms were suddenly damp with sweat. “Please, don’t!”

“I won’t…not right away, anyway.” Two
grinned again. “Not until I can see the look on Six’s face while I do it. Come
on.” He yanked her forward, back to Yipper’s lab. “Let’s go see him together,
shall we?”