Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) (42 page)

Suddenly he knew what he had to do.

“Yipper,” he said, looking at the anxious
little Tolleg. “I want you to take out my implant. Take it out
right now.”

Chapter
Thirty

Mei-Li could not understand all the
excitement and agitation going on around her. Six was arguing with Yipper about
something passionately—something he insisted the Tolleg do. Only Yipper didn’t
want to do it for some reason.

“I tell you, Six, I do not think your mind
could bear the stress without breaking,” he argued in his shrill little voice.
“It has been too long and the pain is too great. You will experience three
times the agony you were having when I first put the implant in. I know you do
not remember it now but you were in a desperate situation. If you had not been,
I never would have agreed to put in the implant in the first place. No I
wouldn’t, no I wouldn’t.”

“I don’t care. I don’t care about any of
that,” Six insisted. “I only care about Mei-Li. You said I need stronger
emotions than what I have now to break through the barrier between us—to break
through the block that has grown in her brain. I know of no stronger emotions
than these—I can feel them just under the surface of my mind but I cannot
access them—not until you remove this Goddess damned implant.”

“But Six, you know you won’t just feel the
emotions, you’ll remember all the memories that go with them. Yes you will, yes
you will.”

Mei-Li thought Six looked pale but he only
nodded.

“Yes, I know.”

“Here is something you do
not
know,
Six: because of the length of time you’ve had the implant, when the memories
come back they will be akin to a whole body experience. In other words, you
won’t just remember them—you’ll
relive
them,” Yipper emphasized. “You
will be going through everything that happened to you all over again. And you
will be unable to stop the experience until you come to the end.”

“I…I must relive the memories?” Six’s deep
voice was hoarse and uncertain.

Solemnly, Yipper nodded. “Do you see now
why I do not wish to remove the implant? I truly do not think your mind could
bear the stress without breaking. You would have to go through everything bad
in your past again and the agony you would endure would be three times as great
as it was the first time. Stronger males than you would snap under the strain,
Six. Please do not ask me to do this—I consider you a friend and I do not wish
to drive you insane.”

“I’m already driven halfway mad by the way
I feel for her.” Six nodded down at Mei-Li and she looked up at him, still not
quite comprehending why he was so upset. “I cannot bear this—having these
feelings for her and knowing she has none for me.”

“But Six, in time…”

“No.” With a sudden movement, Six was
holding an evil-looking snub-nosed weapon in his hand. He pointed it at the
little Tolleg who jumped back.

“Six,
please!”

“Now wait a minute, Six,” Commander Sylvan
said in a reasonable tone.

“No,” Six said again. “I am through
waiting. Every moment we delay the block in Mei-Li’s mind is getting more and
more solid. Yipper, either take the implant out now or make a batch of the
emotion blocker serum for me.”

“Neither option is a good one. No it
isn’t, no it isn’t,” Yipper protested unhappily. “Please, Six, there
must
be another way.”

“There is.” Six reversed the weapon and
pointed it at his own temple. “I cannot live like this. Make your choice but do
it quickly. I will give you to the count of five to decide. One…two…”

Mei-Li looked up wonderingly as he
counted. Was he really threatening to end his own existence because of her?
Because of the way she felt nothing? But…why? She knew that she had once
thought emotions were very important, but they seemed like nothing to her now.
Still, Six seemed very disturbed about them. In fact, the wild, grimly
determined look on his face caused a very small, strange sensation somewhere in
the vicinity of her heart. For some reason it began beating harder.

Six?
whispered a small voice in her brain.
Six, why are you
doing this? Don’t…please don’t.

“Four…five,” Six finished. Mei-Li felt his
muscles tensing as his finger tightened on the trigger. “Very well, you have
made your choice and now I will make mine,” he told Yipper.

“Wait!” the Tolleg shouted. “Wait, Six
please—I will do it, yes I will, yes I will! I will remove the implant!”

“Do you swear it?” Six still hadn’t
lowered the weapon.

“I swear it. I do, I do!” Yipper
chattered. “Though I am sure I will regret it, I cannot watch you take your own
life.”

“Good.” At last Six lowered the weapon.
“Then get to it.”

“All right, all right…” The little Tolleg
was already pawing through his pouch of instruments and supplies. “I’ll just
need to get a few things to ease the transition…”

“No,” Six said flatly. “Don’t worry about
numbing the area or anything like that. Just take it out.
Now.”

“Is this advisable?” Mei-Li heard Sylvan
murmured to Yipper.

“No.” The Tolleg sounded miserable. “But
if you are asking if Six will be a danger to anyone, the answer is no he won’t,
no he won’t. Not to anyone but himself.”

“Then proceed,” Sylvan said gravely. “If
he is willing to give everything for the female he loves, he ought to be
allowed to take the risk. The Goddess respects such acts of extreme
self-sacrifice—it may be she will bless his efforts.”

“It may also be that he will be driven
mad. Yes he will, yes he will,” Yipper said sharply. “But it seems I have no
choice. No I don’t, no I don’t.”

He was behind the two of them now,
balancing precariously on the back of the headboard and bending over Six’s
neck. The big Kindred bent his head obligingly, to give the Tolleg better
access.

Mei-Li craned her neck around, the better
to see what was happening. She saw Yipper looking closely at the silver and
black button embedded at the base of Six’s neck, just below his hairline.

“I am sorry, Six—this will hurt,” he said
softly. “Yes it will, yes it will.”

“I don’t give a Goddess damn if it hurts,”
Six growled. “Just do i—”

His words were cut off suddenly as, in a move
that was only a blur to Mei-Li’s eyes, Yipper’s long tongue yanked out the
black and silver button and the long, thin tube attached to it.

Six’s growl became a grunt of pain. Then
his arm tightened around her shoulders and she felt him take in a deep,
shuttering breath. Then, suddenly, the room around her melted away and she was
someplace else entirely.

Chapter
Thirty-one

Mei-Li looked around herself uncertainly.
Hadn’t she just been sitting in a hospital bed a moment ago with Six’s arm
wrapped around her shoulders? If so, how had she gotten here? Someplace in time
and space that seemed vaguely familiar though she somehow knew she had never
actually been here before.

She was in some kind of a spaceship, that
much was clear from the view of stars she saw out one of the thick windows. In
another window she could see a vast metal shape.
Space station,
a voice
whispered in her head.
Ligex Station.
How she knew that or the name of
the station, Mei-Li couldn’t understand. It seemed like something from her past.
But not
her
past exactly, someone else’s…

“All right, now Jax, remember what we
said—look but don’t touch anything in the station.”

The voice belonged to a tall woman with
long, dark hair and gray eyes very much like Six’s.

Isla,
whispered the same voice in Mei-Li’s head.
Six’s…mother?

That felt right—like the truth. She looked
around to find Six and ask him if it was but she didn’t see him. Or not the way
she remembered him, anyway. Instead she saw a boy of about thirteen or
fourteen—tall and good looking thought he clearly hadn’t reached his full
growth yet. Beside him was a little girl of nine or ten with long blondish hair
and green eyes.

Kaylee,
the voice whispered.
That’s Kaylee…
And with that,
Mei-Li finally remembered where she had seen these people before.
Six’s
Memory Cache—the one on the emulator. This is what he got so angry with me for
watching.
And yet, she somehow sensed that he
knew
she was watching
this time—and that he was watching
with
her.

I should leave. He’ll
be angry.
She didn’t care about
or experience emotions anymore but she had no wish to be shouted at—it
was…unpleasant. And she had a sensation of unease when she realized she was
watching something forbidden. It was a sensation she might once have called
guilt, though it wasn’t strong enough to really label now.

Mei-Li closed her eyes and concentrated,
trying to extricate herself from the memory. But when she opened them, she was
still in the spaceship with the people that had once been Six’s family.

Why can’t I leave?
I’m stuck!
The thought brought a
strange quickening of her heart—an unpleasant sensation she seemed powerless to
stop.

Then she became aware that while Six knew
she was watching, he wasn’t saying anything about it. Why didn’t he yell at her
again? Why didn’t he shout and grow cold as he had before?

Because he can’t,
whispered the little voice.
He’s as stuck in this
memory as much you are—more so. He isn’t just watching—he’s reliving it. That’s
why you don’t see him here—he’s in the boy. He
is
the boy.

The thought felt right but Mei-Li didn’t
understand one thing—why was she able to see Six along with the other family
members instead of looking out of his eyes and riding along in his head as she
had while she was viewing his memory cache? She didn’t know. Maybe it was some
kind of mental distortion that allowed her to watch but for whatever the
reason, she was glad to be apart from the actual action. Something told her
that this happy family scene wasn’t going to remain happy for long…

It did, though. The family walked through
the airlock and into
Ligex
Station which looked like a giant floating
tin can to Mei-Li. There were various metal corridors curving in all different
directions with signs pointing every which way.
Temp cloning shed,
read
one.
Pickled Spinker meat! Exotic L’boon wines,
read another.
Extra
teeth, grown while you wait! Tusks extra,
proclaimed a third.
Bots
serviced, inspected and upgraded…Homemade fungus jam…A.I. reprogramming—fast
service!…
And there were too many more to count, all advertising different
services and products.

“We’ll split up here,” the father, a big
Kindred warrior said. “Touch nothing and especially don’t eat anything. If you
find something you want, we’ll come back to it and scan it for pathogens before
deciding if it’s a good buy or not.”

“Yes Pere,” Jax—or rather, the young
Six—and his sister chorused.

“Have you got your microbe light?” their
mother asked.

In answer, the young Six pulled out a
small device that looked like a white wand. Holding it by the silver metal
handle, he flipped the switch and the white tube suddenly glowed a fierce,
brilliant yellow. He ran it over one hand and then the other. “See?”

“Good.” His father nodded approvingly.
“See that you use it if you need to. Public stations like Ligex are crawling
with germs but the light should kill just about anything that might be out
here.”

“Yes Pere.” The young Six nodded gravely.

“Good. Have fun you two! We’ll meet you
back here at the ship in two solar hours.”

Then they split up, with the kids going
down one corridor while their parents set off down another. Mei-Li found
herself following along behind Six and his sister, who were looking with big
eyes at everything around them.

There was plenty to see.
Ligex
Station
was a large, crowded, noisy maze of twisting corridors that led off to smaller
stalls and rooms along the way and every spare inch seemed to be packed with
colorful merchandize and shouting vendors. It reminded Mei-Li of the Wagon
Wheel—a flea market she sometimes visited on the weekends with Claudia back
home. Except the Wagon Wheel didn’t have any vendors who advertised
while-you-wait cloning services.

“Fresh
pods, get your
fresh
pino pods here!”

“Lapberry strundel! Fresh made and
flakey!”

“Never be lonely or overworked again—get
cloned in a day! Have half the work and twice the leisure. A bargain at twice
the price!”

Six and his sister wandered through the
crowds, their eyes wide. Six had his sister’s hand clasped firmly in his and he
made sure she stayed close, keeping a watchful eye on her like a good big
brother should. Mei-Li could see the necessity of this because Kaylee seemed to
have problems with impulse control. Despite the stern warning of her parents,
she kept tugging Six from one booth to the next, eager to examine what everyone
was selling.

“Oh look, Jax—a
phoodle
!” she
cried, running to a cage filled with pink and purple creatures with wildly
curly corkscrew hair. They were long and thin, rather like a ferret in shape,
with pink twitching noses and long curly whiskers. They had big, glowing eyes
and they hummed gently when the children got near their cage.

“Would you care to hold one, my dear?”
asked the old man standing over the cage. “Make lovely pets, they do. And
they’re tasty enough to fill your stewpot in a pinch—though most can’t bear to
eat them once they’ve had them a little while. Get real attached to them, they
do.”

“Thank you, but our parents told us not to
touch anything,” Six said firmly, grabbing his sister’s free hand just as she
was about to stick it through the bars of the cage.

“Well, that’s wise, that is.” The old man
nodded sagely. “Heard tell there’s been a new outbreak of some kind of plague a
few systems over. But you’ll find my animals are clean. Have your parents come
check them out themselves if they like.”

“Thanks, maybe we will.” Six nodded and
smiled politely as they moved on.

“C’mon, Jax,” Kaylee begged. “They were so
cute!
And the man
said
they were clean!”

“People will say anything to sell. Mere
says that and you know it’s true,” Six said.

“Well I want a
phoodle
for a pet!
Why don’t you ask Mere and Pere to check them out so we can get one?”

The young Six smiled. “We’re supposed to
be here shopping for
my
nameday present, remember? You don’t even turn
nine cycles until six solar months from now.”

Mei-Li, who was still watching invisibly,
frowned. She had thought the girl must be nine or ten but maybe she was just
tall for her age. That might explain some of the impulse control issues she
seemed to have going on. And she
certainly
had them—already she was pulling Six in another direction, babbling about a toy
she wanted. He followed her indulgently and once again kept her from touching
the display of brightly colored objects that were somehow floating in mid air
in front of the vendor’s stall.

Trailing them through the teeming space
station, Mei-Li began to wonder what could have possibly happened to Six’s
family. So far everything seemed routine. Then Six finally saw something that
interested him.

“Look at that—an interactive adventure
helmet!” He motioned to a small stall crammed with electronic looking devices.
It was right against another that seemed to be some kind of bakery, judging
from the delicious smells wafting from inside. But Six wasn’t interested in the
mouthwatering aromas or the kindly old lady who ran the baked goods stall. He
only had eyes for the steel gray helmet which appeared made to cover the entire
head, rather like a metal fishbowl with wires coming out of it.

“Awww, that’s
boring,”
Kaylee
whined. “I don’t want to look at
that.”

“Just give me a minute to ask the vendor
the specs,” Six said patiently. “If they’re good and the price is right, I may
want to bring Pere back here to see it later.”

They were at the stall now and he had his
eyes on the helmet as he talked.

“Okay but can we have a
hi-ni
bread
after you ask?” Kaylee’s eyes were wide as she stared at a steaming tray of
small turquoise nuggets the old lady at the baked goods shop had just put on
display. “Please? Just one?”

“Only if Mere and Pere check it out
first,” he answered distractedly. “Swear to the Goddess, Kaylee, just settle
down for one minute so I can ask a few questions. Then we’ll go.”

Kaylee whined something else but Six was
already asking the man who ran the stall about the helmet. He was reeling off a
list of technical sounding questions when Mei-Li saw the old lady at the bakery
motion for Kaylee.

“I heard you say you liked
hi-ni
breads, sweetie,” she said, smiling. “Would you like a sample? These are kind
of hot but you won’t burn your fingers if you eat it fast.”

She leaned forward, holding out a warm
turquoise nuggets in one wrinkled hand and Mei-Li saw something strange. The
old lady’s eyes were a soft, faded blue but the left one had a thin scarlet
ring around the outside of the iris.

Mei-Li frowned. The red ring reminded her
of Six’s left eye—the one he’d kept covered with the scanner implant for so
long. He had a scarlet ring around his iris too. Was there some significance?
For some reason the sight made her shiver and a sensation of unease began to
creep up from the pit of her stomach. It was an odd feeling, something she
might once have called…dread? She wasn’t even sure, she just knew it was
uncomfortable.

Don’t,
she thought as Kaylee reached for the baked confection that
looked a little like a turquoise donut hole.
Don’t do it—don’t touch it!

Just as the little girl was about to pop
the hot little bread into her mouth, Six turned and saw what she was doing.

“Kaylee, no!” he grabbed her wrist and snatched
the bread neatly from her hand. “I’m sorry,” he said, turning to give it back
to the old lady. “But we’re not allowed to eat anything my parents haven’t
screened first.”

“That’s all right, sweetie.” The old lady
accepted the small nugget of turquoise bread from him and Mei-Li noticed that
his fingertips brushed her palm briefly as she did. “It’s better to be safe.”

“But I wanted a
hi-ni
bread!”
Kaylee looked on the verge of tears.

“We’ll come back,” Six promised her. “I
definitely want Pere to look at the helmet I found. Just be patient,
Kaylee—we’ll come straight back here as soon as we meet up with Mere and Pere.”

“That’s all right—listen to your brother
and I’ll see you later,” the old lady said soothingly. She peered at Six. “Say,
do your parents hail from Terga? You look so familiar somehow.”

“My Mere’s family is from there,” Six said
politely. “My father is Kindred. Do you have kinfolk there as well?”

The old lady looked sad. “I used to, long
ago. But that’s been years and years back. You’re too young to have heard of
them. Then again, the Tergish are such wanderers…hardly ever on the home
world.”

“
Every
world is a home world to
us,” Six said, smiling and the lady laughed, the wrinkles around her faded blue
eyes crinkling.

“My goodness—I haven’t heard that in
years! But it’s still true,” she said nodding. “Every world is a home world.”

Clearly it was some kind of saying their
people had, Mei-Li thought.