Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) (39 page)

Chapter
Twenty-eight

“I can find nothing outwardly wrong,”
Yipper said and Six could almost hear the frown of concentration in the
Tolleg’s voice.

“Mei-Li said that the old male who spoke
to her told her the implants remained outwardly fine even while malfunctioning
inwardly for quite a long time—many cycles in some cases.” Six shifted
restlessly on the exam table. He was face down so that Yipper could examine the
back of his neck—a position which made him feel uncomfortably vulnerable. “I do
not think—”

“Well, hello there, Six. How very nice to
see you here,” a cold voice interrupted him.

Six sat up at once, a feeling like ice in
the pit of his stomach.
Mei-Li—is she…?

His frantic question was almost
immediately answered. Two was holding her by the arm with the muzzle of a
vaporizer jammed under her slight jaw.

“So,” he said smiling at Six. “Isn’t this
a nice reunion? I was hoping I might see you again before you left.”

“Let her go.” Six’s voice sounded hoarse
and strange in his own ears. “Don’t hurt her or I swear to the Goddess I’ll—”

“You’ll what—go running to tell One on me
again?” Two made a face. “Be my guest, Six. Only I doubt he’ll have much to say
about the matter—I used this on
him
first.” He jammed the vaporizer hard
under Mei-Li’s chin and she let out a small hurt cry that made Six’s stomach
knot.

“You killed One?”

“Let’s just say I moved up in the
Collective’s rubric.” Two tapped the side of his skull and now Six saw that
part of it had been removed. The old sensor lights that had been One’s direct
line of communication to the overlords of Z4 were now blinking and buzzing in
Two’s pale gray brain matter. “I was able to remove the circuits One used to
communicate with the Collective. Unfortunately the rest of his huge head was
blown to red mist but that is neither here nor there.” Two laughed coldly.

Six felt a tightness in his chest. Though
he had never admitted it before, he now knew that he had emotions about One as
well. The older male had been a mentor—a paternal figure who had guided Six
after he joined the Dark Kindred. To think that he was gone and Six would never
see him again made him ache inside—but even worse was the sharp anxiety he felt
for Mei-Li.

“You might as well let Mei-Li go and drop this
pretense. The Collective will kill you,” he said. “As soon as they find out
what you did to One.”

“My dear Six, they’re
machines.
They
don’t have any sentimental attachment to organics like ourselves. As long as
someone is there to carry out their orders, they don’t care who it is.”

“So now that you’re the top of the rubric,
you think you can do whatever you want—purge whoever you want?” Six demanded.

“Well essentially,
yes.”
Two
grinned, showing off his metal teeth.

“That’s fine.” Six took a deep breath.
“Then purge me and let Mei-Li go home.”

“What?
No!”
Mei-Li struggled
against Two but his grip on her arm never loosened a bit.

“Best be still, my dear,” he purred. “It
really would be
dreadful
if my finger should slip. Think how messy it
would be—a sudden explosion of blood and brain matter all over this lovely
white room… Why I dare say our friend Yipper would spend the better part of a
cycle picking up splinters of your skull and trying to clean up all that wet…
red…
mess.”

Mei-Li went suddenly very still.

“Please,” she said softly. “You don’t have
to do this—to either of us. We’re going to leave and you’ll never have to see
us again.
Please.”

“Ah yes, I heard all your little plan as I
stood in the corridor.” Two smiled. “And I know your secret, Six. Strangely
enough, it is my secret as well.”

“What do you mean?” Six’s mouth was
suddenly dry.

“I mean, my dear Six, that I am
feeling
.
I have been for ages now. It is quite exhilarating, is it not?
Much
too
exciting to give up.”

“Your implant has failed too? Yes it has,
yes it has?” Yipper, who had been standing quietly in the corner, stared at him
with wide eyes.

“So it would seem,” Two said. “But don’t
worry—with a bit of rewiring it’s been simple enough to keep my little
feelings
to myself. There’s no need the Collective ever has to find out.” He tapped
the side of his head again, indicating the sensors. “Of course, I also had to
tamper a bit with my pets, the sniffers.”

“That
was why you wanted
to take charge of them,” Six accused him. “To keep them from outing your
Feel-crime.”

“Well,
maybe,”
Two purred. “Or it
could just be that I’m an animal lover.” He laughed.

Yipper was still staring at him, his brown
eyes wide.

“But I thought only those with pure
Kindred DNA were having problems,” the little Tolleg said. “You are mostly
Scorparian and Depax. I oversaw your DNA mixture myself. Yes I did, yes I did.”

“Well you thought wrong, my dear Tolleg.
It turns out that it isn’t just the DNA but the way the implant reacts with
it,” Two snapped. “At any rate, don’t worry—I’m not
angry
at you. I
don’t get angry, as far as I can tell. And I am not made happy by the things
which seem to make other Feel-criminals happy either.”

“I know what makes you happy,” Six said
hoarsely. “Killing. I always wondered why you didn’t relinquish your place on
the Purge Squad when you rose high enough in the rubric to quit it.”

“I’m afraid you have found me out.” Two
smirked. “But then, I have found you out too. You and your plans to abandon
glorious Zeaga 4 and blow up your ship to make it appear you’d had a little
accident
on the way home. Don’t worry though—I’m going to save you some time. I’m going
to see that the ‘accident’ happens right here and now.”

His finger tightened on the trigger.

“No!” Six lunged forward, unable to sit
passively and watch any longer. But Two dodged nimbly backwards, dragging
Mei-Li with him and put the metal rolling cart with the emotion blocker syringe
between them.

“Ah-ah-ah, I think not, Six,” he purred,
smiling wide enough to show every metal tooth in his head.

“Don’t hurt her,” Six begged. His fingers
itched to yank Mei-Li out of harm’s way but he couldn’t reach her before Two
pulled the trigger.
Oh Gods, I can’t reach her…can’t help her…
A feeling
of helplessness spread over him—an awful feeling that was somehow familiar.

Two looked at him speculatively.

“You really care for this little Earth
female, don’t you? Personally I don’t understand the appeal. She is too small
and weak to be useful in any way. But I suppose you have your reasons.”

“Just let her go,” Six growled. “Let her
go and we will journey to her planet so that you will never have to see us
again.”

“An interesting proposition,” Two said
musingly. “But I think I might be coming to pay that little planet a visit rather
soon.” He grinned evilly. “And I might bring just a few guests if you don’t
mind. Like a battalion of war ships. They do tend to make a conquest
so
much easier.”

“What?” Mei-Li and Six said at the same
time.

“I didn’t know Earth was the planet slated
for conquest,” Six growled.

“No, One didn’t tell you because he
suspected you were beginning to have feelings for this little female.” Two
nodded at Mei-Li. “It turns out he was right. But yes, Earth has been slated
for conquest for ages now.”

“But why pick such an out of the way
place?” Six demanded. “It’s not even in our galaxy.”

“It never would have come to our attention
without your help my dear Six. A Kindred in the leadership of the Mother Ship
became aware that you were Dream Sharing with your little female and he struck
a bargain with One—help in conquering the Earth in return for all its natural
resources and organic inhabitants. Rather a good deal, don’t you think?”

“The Earth doesn’t belong to anyone on the
Mother Ship—they can’t make a deal like that!” Mei-Li said indignantly.
“Besides, I know some of the people in charge—especially Commander Sylvan. He
would never—”

“Well he
did
—or someone in
authority did. I haven’t had time to go through all of One’s memory cache yet
but I intend to do that on the way to Earth.” Two grinned. “Tell me, Six, why
do you think you were sent to claim your ‘bride’ in the first place?”

“Why?” Six demanded.

“To sow unrest between the people of Earth
and the only ones who could possibly protect them—the Kindred of the Mother
Ship.” Two laughed delightedly. “Don’t tell me you couldn’t figure that out for
yourselves? No?” He looked back and forth between them and then shrugged.
“Well, well, I suppose that Earth saying about love being blind must be
correct. Such a
strange
emotion—another one I have never experienced.
Frankly, I rather doubt I ever will.”

“I don’t understand,” Mei-Li said. “Why
would the Kindred of the Mother Ship want to declare war on Earth?”

“No, no, my dear—they wanted the Earth to
declare war on
them.
If Earth strikes first, the rank and file warriors
will be much more inclined to welcome our ‘help’ when we Dark Kindred show up
on the scene. Do you see?”

“I see that you’re a complete
bastard
.
You leave my planet alone.” Mei-Li’s voice trembled. “We
like
our
emotions—we want to keep them.”

“Of course you do—haven’t I just said I’m
a big fan of feeling myself? Unfortunately the Collective can’t allow it. Just
as I can’t allow you and Six to keep
feeling
for each other.”

Two put down his weapon and picked up the
syringe filled with dark blue liquid so quickly his hand was only a blur. He
motioned to Six. “You’ve been a very naughty warrior, Six. Letting yourself
have all kinds of
emotions
and
feelings
for this little female.
Maybe it’s time to remedy that right now.”

Six felt a sick churning in the pit of his
stomach.

“Very well,” he said in a low voice. “If
you want to punish someone, punish me. Use the injection on me—only let Mei-Li
go.”

“My,
such
self-sacrifice.” Two
clicked his long, thin tongue against his metal teeth. “It almost makes me feel
bad for what I’m about to do.
Almost.”

“Just let her go.” Six held out one arm in
supplication, ready for the needle. “Go on, do it.”

“Please,” Mei-Li whispered. There were
tears running down her pale cheeks that twisted his heart. “Please don’t. Six—I
don’t want you to lose your feelings again. I don’t want you to forget that you
care!”

“You know what, my dear?” Two said,
smiling at her. “Neither do I. Which is why I will
not
be injecting your
paramour with this lovely emotion blocker our good friend Yipper has
concocted.”

“You won’t?” Mei-Li sounded hopeful but
Six knew better than to hope. “You promise?”

“I promise,” Two purred.

Before Six could reach her, he flipped the
long, sharp needle around and stabbed it into her neck.

“NO!” Six roared, rushing forward. But Two
had already pushed the dark blue liquid into her blood stream.

Mei-Li gagged and fell to her knees, the
hypodermic still protruding from her neck. Her back arched and she clawed at
the air—then she collapsed.

Six rushed to her and yanked the needle
out but she was limp in his arms. Panic flooded him. “Help me, Yipper!”

The little Tolleg came forward at once and
began patting Mei-Li’s cheeks.

“Will she be all right?” Six demanded.

“I don’t know, I don’t know. She’s gotten
a dose large enough for a warrior—for someone three times more massive than she
is. Help me get her to the exam table, Six—I’ll do what I can for her.”

Six lifted her small body which felt as
light as a leaf in his arms. Mei-Li seemed to be barely breathing and her eyes
were rolled up in her head, unseeing. He laid her gently on the exam table and
then turned to Two.

At the sight of the other male standing
there smirking and obviously enjoying the pain and distress he had caused, rage
filled Six, white-hot and molten.

“You bastard,” he said thickly, reaching
for Two. All he wanted to do was wrap his fingers around that scrawny neck and
choke until the other male was dead.

“Ah-ah-ah…” Two waved the vaporizer at him
and then pointed it at Mei-Li. “She
might
still live…or I can blow her
to wet, red mist right now if you like.”

“I’ll kill you,” Six promised. “And I’ll
do it very…fucking…
slowly.”

Two laughed delightedly. “Excellent! Just
look how
angry
you are. And think how
devastated
you’ll be if she
dies! Oh, yes—this was an excellent choice. Much better than simply purging
either one of you.”