Found (18 page)

Forgive me, Lauren,
he thought,
breathing in her altered but still lovely scent once more.
Forgive me for branding you as mine when I am not fit to claim
you.

Well, there was nothing he could do about it
now. He would have to go on with his plan. They had to see Slk once
more to be certain the DNA alteration was stable and then he would
take her back through the wormhole to her own solar system and
Earth.

And after he dropped her off? Xairn didn’t
know. He only knew that he had to leave her and never see her
again. The knowledge was like a stone tied in his chest but there
was nothing he could do about it. If he truly loved Lauren—if his
twisted heart was capable of such emotion—he would leave her and
never look back.

No matter how much it hurt.

“Ah, hmmm. Yes, satisfactory. Most
satisfactory.” Slk paced—or slithered might be a better word since
he had tentacles for legs—around the two of them, nodding in
obvious approval. “The alteration was a complete success.”

Lauren thought he sounded awfully pleased
with himself. “Are you sure?” she asked. “I mean, it’s clear that
it worked on him.” She gestured to her left where the new and
improved eye-candy-Xairn stood. “I mean, he looks completely
different. But what about me? I can’t find a single thing that’s
changed.” Well, except for her pinky finger but she was certain
that was nothing—just that stupid nightmare she’d had still
lingering in the back of her subconscious.

“Never fear, my dear Lauren—you are changed.
Subtly but substantially. You should now be able to travel safely
back to your own world with no one the wiser.” He squinted at them
with all three eyes. “But neither of your faces reveal the standard
signs of joy. In fact you seem somewhat depressed. Are you not
pleased at the successful alteration and the prospect of returning
home?”

“We’re pleased,” Xairn said gruffly. “We
thank you, Slk, for a job well done. And now we’ll take our
leave.”

“Ah, hmmm, not so hasty, my friend.” Slk
slithered over to peer into Xairn’s face. “Before I let you go, I
must warn you of something.”

“Make it fast,” Xairn growled. “We need to
go.”

“It is only this—any time you alter DNA there
is always the possibility of it returning to its original state.
This should not be a problem for Lauren—the change in her was
extremely subtle and slight. But for you, Xairn, your Scourge DNA
is very strong and persistent. It resists being altered in any way.
You should beware of any sudden, dramatic emotional upheaval. It
could undo the work I have done on you and allow your Scourge DNA
to dominate once again.”

Xairn frowned. “I’ll keep it in mind but I
don’t believe it will be a problem. Not after—” He stopped abruptly
but Lauren knew what he had been about to say.
Not after he gets
rid of me. Because I’m the one who causes him to have too many
emotions, who makes him feel things he’d rather burry and remember
things he’d rather forget.
She tried not to be bitter about it
but it still stung, the idea that he would leave her rather than
even give what might have grown between them a try.

“I feel I have to give you warning because
any reversal of the process would be permanent.” Slk gestured with
all eight hands. “I would not be able to alter your DNA again. So
have a care, my friend.”

“I will.” Xairn nodded shortly and then they
all stood there, not saying anything.

“Well, I see you need to be going,” Slk said
at last, filling the awkward silence. “I wish you safe journey to
your destination’s end.”

“Thank you, Slk,” Lauren said politely. “And,
uh, I’m sorry if I left the bathroom in kind of a mess. I’m afraid
the bathtub is filled with some weird pink oatmeal stuff.”

Slk waved all eight of his hands
dismissively. “Not to worry, my dear. I’ll have one of my servants
clean it up. And now, I have work to do.”

“Good bye.” Xairn nodded at the alien
geneticist and jerked his head at Lauren. “Come.” Then he was off,
striding down the long hallway they’d come in by the night before,
his boot heels clicking on the purple-brown stone floor. Lauren had
to almost run to keep up with him.

Come. Just as if I was his dog,
she
thought, fuming. “I’m coming,” she said in her coldest voice as she
caught up to him. “I know you can’t wait to get rid of me.”

“You know that isn’t how I feel.” They
reached the blank stone wall and he pressed his hand to it,
muttering something in an alien language under his breath. The
crack opened and they stepped through into the parking area filled
with large stalls.

“How do you feel then?” Lauren demanded.

“I have told you how I feel. There is no need
to repeat it.” He was staring straight ahead as he walked
purposefully down the broad corridor between stalls. Lauren wanted
to make him stop and look at her, make him answer her question
truthfully.

“If you really feel for me then stop running
from me,” she said.

“I am not running,” he said, walking faster
than ever.

“Bullshit!” she exclaimed, loosing her
patience. They were passing a stall with no ship in it and her
voice echoed in the empty space. “At least look at me! At
least—”

Someone slapped a hand over her mouth and
pulled her backward into the dark, empty stall.

Lauren began struggling at once but arms like
iron bands were wrapped around her and the hand over her mouth was
gripping her jaw so tightly she couldn’t even open her lips to
scream or bite. She was concealed in the shadows, just around the
corner, and she could see Xairn walking away from her, getting
further and further down the row of parking stalls, but she knew he
wouldn’t be able to see her.

“At least what?” he asked, still walking.
When there was no answer, he turned, frowning to look where she had
been. “Lauren?” His eyes widened. “Where are you?”

Here,
she thought frantically,
struggling against her unseen assailant to make some kind of noise.
Even a moan or a gasp would do but there was another hand now,
locked around her throat. It was all she could do to breath in a
trickle of air, let alone make any sounds.

“Lauren?” Xairn was looking around, obviously
beginning to panic. “Where are you?”

He’ll find me in a minute. He won’t leave
without me—I know he won’t. No matter how much he dislikes having
feelings for me, he would never leave without—

“Here I am, Master Xairn.”

To Lauren’s horror, a girl who looked just
like her suddenly emerged from the stall directly in front of them
and walked toward Xairn. She was even wearing the exact same
silvery-blue, too-big muumuu Lauren had on.

Xairn frowned at her. “Since when am I your
‘master?’”

“As you wish, Master Xairn.” The Lauren clone
nodded and smiled at him. “Shall we go?”

His eyes narrowed. “And where exactly are we
going?”

“Where ever you wish, of course, Master
Xairn.” She nodded and smiled vacantly. “Shall we go?”

“I’m not going anywhere until I find
Lauren.”

“I am Lauren.” The Lauren clone tried to put
her arms around his neck but he pushed her away.

“No, you’re not. Where is she?”

Thank God!
Lauren felt weak with
relief but it was short-lived.

“Well, well, your lover is sharp for a
Scourge, I’ll give him that,” a familiar voice hissed in her
ear.

Blix? Is that Blix?

There was a low, nasty laugh in her ear and
she remembered he could read her mind. “Of course it’s Blix, my
dear. You didn’t think I’d give up on such a rare exotic as
yourself so easily, did you? But your paramour doesn’t seem content
to give up either. Let’s see how he deals with more than one
decoy.”

From another empty stall, a second Lauren
look-alike appeared. And then another and another. All of them were
dressed alike in silvery blue muumuus. And all of them looked
exactly like her. Lauren counted at least twenty. Were these the
seed clones Slk had been talking about the night before?

“Xairn? Master Xairn?” They all spoke at
once, all of them reaching for Xairn, converging on him like a
flock of flightless birds.

“Stop it!” Xairn roared. “Get away from me,
all of you.” He turned in a circle, his blue-green eyes scanning
the empty stalls filled with shadows. “Show yourself Spider! I know
you have to be the one behind this. Give Lauren back right now and
I might let you live.”

“Ah, here we go. Showtime!” Blix murmured in
her ear.

There was a strange twitching sensation
behind her and a very faint popping noise. Suddenly another Blix
was standing to her right while the original continued to hold her
tight and keep a hand clamped over her mouth. Lauren watched,
wide-eyed, as this second Blix strolled casually out to meet Xairn
with a smile on his face.

“Spider!” Xairn reached for him but he ducked
lightly out of the way.

“Ah-ah-ah my dear Scourge,” he tisked. “Hands
off, if you please. It’s true that I have your lady-love but I have
a perfect right to her.”

“You have nothing.” Xairn glared at him, his
big hands curling into fists. “We gave back the clothing you
bartered and let you keep the
grieza
food cubes.”

“Alas, the cubes were defective and wouldn’t
rehydrate properly.” Blix made a sorrowful face. “And
unfortunately, your sweet Lauren neglected to return the lovely
slippers I gave her. Worth a fortune, I assure you—much more than
the cubes even if they were in top condition—which, as I said, they
were not.”

“You’re a fucking liar!” Xairn grabbed for
him again and this time the second Blix wasn’t fast enough to evade
the enraged Scourge. He struggled as Xairn gripped him by the
throat and squeezed. “Bring me Lauren
now!”
It was a
deafening, full throated roar that echoed through the stone walled
parking area. Watching, Lauren saw his eyes flash briefly from
blue-green to the familiar red-on-black she knew so well. God, was
his Scourge DNA reasserting itself already? Slk had warned that an
extreme emotional reaction might trigger the change. Was he—?

Suddenly Blix shivered in Xairn’s big hand
and then divided neatly in two. The second—or actually the
third
Blix, Lauren supposed—stepped to one side and shook
his head. “Now, now, Xairn—there’s no need to resort to violence.
We should settle this sensibly.”

“I believe you should settle it
legally.”
There was a sudden commotion among the milling
clones and then Slk came into view, his tentacles whispering over
the stone floor. “I thought you might be up to something unsavory
when you contacted me so quickly to buy Lauren’s blood.”

Xairn turned on the alien geneticist. “You
bastard! You knew about this?”

All three of Slk’s vertical eyes blinked
slowly. “I suspected. Which is why I brought an arbitrator to
judge.” He nodded behind him and Lauren watched in amazement as the
huge, purple tree-like being which she had seen in the
O’ah
marketplace came gliding up.

“I am the Judge of the Market where this
transaction first took place.” Its voice was like the creaking of
an old oak in the wind and its eyes and mouth looked like the knots
in the bark of an ancient tree. “Present the facts to me.”

At last Blix began to look worried. “Oh,
great Judge of the Market,” he began, licking his lips nervously.
“We are so honored by your presence among us today. If you will be
pleased to listen—”

“I will be pleased to listen to nothing but
the truth!” The Judge’s voice crackled with anger and above its
head, the bare purple branches suddenly burst into pale blue
flames.

Lauren would have gasped if she could have
gotten enough breath to do so. The flickering pale blue light
illuminated the dark parking area and cast an eerie glow over
everything. She tried to remember what Xairn had told her about the
purple tree being.
He is a Quinlow—they carry the power of life
and death in their hands.
As she thought it, the tree-being
raised its stumpy, branch-like arms which ended in two
long-fingered hands. The fingers looked like twigs that had been
set on fire—they two glowed with the deadly, pale blue flames.

Blix gasped and jumped back. “Your Eminence!
I—”

“Your pardon, Judge of the Market,” Xairn
interrupted him, bowing briefly. “The facts of the matter are this:
While I was away bargaining with Slk for a DNA alteration, this
thought thief tricked his way aboard my ship and deceived my female
into dealing with him. His intention was to take her for a splice
whore. He gave her expensive clothing which he claimed was a gift
in return for what he believed to be worthless food cubes.”

“But they
were
worthless!” the Blix
whose throat he wasn’t squeezing protested. “They were
defective!”

Xairn glared at him. “Prove it.”

Blix shrugged uneasily. “I cannot. I threw
them away, of course—I don’t keep useless things around. What would
be the point?”

“The point is that food cubes containing
grieza
worms are more than equal to the cost of the clothes
you gave Lauren. Which we gave back,” Xairn said.

“But she did
not
return the slippers I
traded to her,” Blix remarked triumphantly. “And those were worth a
fortune—more than your ship at least.”

“But not more than Lauren’s life,” Xairn
growled. “She is priceless—nothing you can do or say or offer will
convince me to give her up.” He looked at the tree-being. “I appeal
to you to rectify this injustice, oh Judge. The Spider has captured
my female and is holding her somewhere near. He thought to confuse
me with seed clones but none of these are the real Lauren.” He
gestured to the milling clones who were standing around in groups
of two and three watching the proceedings vacantly.