Corvin looked down at the figures on his holoreader. “So am I.”
He dropped his stylus on the reader and stretched slowly against the back of his chair, closing his eyes when he felt several vertebras pop back into place. He twisted gently from side to side before relaxing again. Picking up several items he began to clean his desk in preparation of leaving his office for the evening.
He paused as his attention was caught by the information being displayed on his holoreader. Apparently he had accessed a hidden file when he had dropped his stylus. Picking it up, he read several programming notations. Each notation seemed to cause the cerebcom to react to images, thought patterns or questions asked of the victim. Should one of the parameters be activated it could cause the cerebcom to vibrate against the bone it rested against. The result would cause heat to generate and nausea from the vibrations so close to the inner ear.
He quickly dug out another holoreader and requested the reports on human physiology.eHe xloHhhhhhHqqqqqhhhh Hmm ... The heat would cause the seizures. Now ... Can we reverse it? I should be able to reprogram the com ... He scribbled notes on yet another holoreader.
* * * * *
Thea looked down at her snoring husband. She poked him in the side. He snorted and rolled over, making soft smacking sounds with his mouth. His nose nuzzled her stomach.
She grinned at Sya’tia, who grinned back.
A moment later he started drooling.
* * * * *
Corvin smiled smugly as he leaned back in his chair. “This will work.” He sent several commands to the women’s cerebcoms. As far as he could tell from his calculations this new set of commands should counter the programming previously entered. As an added precaution he added a little trap in case someone should try to reset the programming.
That completed he set instructions to have every other humans cerebcoms tested for the hidden commands. He cracked his knuckles. If the program worked the way he hoped it would a list of all the other women who had been targeted would be downloaded into his holoreader.
He made a few more notes indicating that the list of women that should be revealed would be used as evidence when the attacker was apprehended. He had been researching some of the laws in the United States, where most of the women on their ship had been taken from, and found several mentions of something called “stalking.” Perhaps that information should be given to the asana. They might want to use it in the trial, since it was clearly something that was happening here and it was not something that the Ta’e’sha had ever dealt with before.
* * * * *
Thea poked Daeshen in the side.
He grunted and swatted at her hand.
She grinned and scraped her fingernails down his spine.
He shivered and rolled onto his stomach, wiggling his mouth into the juncture of her thighs.
She blushed when Sya’tia giggled softly.
Sya’tia smirked as she watched Daeshen’s hand creep toward Thea’s side.
Thea suddenly screamed and bucked as Daeshen’s nimble fingers flew up and down her side. Her hands swatted franticly as she tried to push him off her lap and catch his tickling fingers at the same time. Elbows flew, making Kyrin and Sya’tia duck and dive out of the way.
Kyrin laughed and dove back in, attacking Daeshen from behind. He grabbed his husband’s foot and scraped his nails along the sole.
Daeshen screeched and bucked on Thea.
Thea’s breath left her in a whoosh as Daeshen’s head banged into her stomach as he flipped over onto his side. She glared at Sya’tia, who was sitting clear of the flailing limbs and laughing like a loon. Wiggling, she managed to get out from under Daeshen and pounced on her friend and pulled her into the fray as well.
Sya’tia laughed and held Daeshen down so that Thea and Kyrin could tickle him without a shred of mercy.
Several minutes later the Triumphant Trio crowed happily as they eyed their vanquished foe. He lay curled in a fetal position, laughing till tears leaked out his eyes.
Kyrin levered himself up and grinned down at the red juice soaking the front of his clothes. “Who spilled the drink?”
Sya’tia grinned and slung her arm around Thea’s shoulders. “I think it was an unnamed foot.” She snickered. “I might be able to identify it in a line up, though. But a proper application of fingernails would be needed to make a positive identification.”
Both men scooted away hurriedly.
Daeshen leaned back and grinned at the two lovely ladies curled together on the dry side of the bowl. “Thea, would you like to go with me to the pool tomorrow? I’m meeting my team there so we can go over the lists the Lithen gave us.”
“Okay, sounds fun.”
Kyrin disappeared into the other room to get a towel to clean up the spilled juice. “We might also need your help, love. We want to set up a few spaces for shops and restaurants, and we thought we would use some of the human styles,” he called back.
Thea looked at Daeshen. He shrugged.
“We thought the ladies would like some familiar surroundings.”
She smiled slowly. “That’s a good idea. You should ask Shana to help you with the restaurants. A beauty salon would be nice, too. I’d like to check out some of the shops here on the ship soon, too.”
Sya’tia eyed her curiously. “Tell me about beauty salons.”
Thea slipped her arm around her waist and the women began discussing the merits of a beauty salon.
Chapter Twelve
Barik took a deep drink from the glass in front of him and watched the human females laugh and talk to his people. His upper lip twitched slightly. Filthy things. Ugly. Inferior. Disgusting. How can my people think they are our hope? How can men mate with them? Touch them? And like it. His skin crawled. He did what he had to do, not because he actually liked having to touch those disgusting creatures.
A faint smirk pulled the corners of his lips as he thought about the last female, he couldn’t even think of them as women, he had punished. By the time he had finished with her he had degraded her to the point that she was the grunting, whining animal he knew her to be. He’d laughed and taunted her, as she lay tied to the bed, and helpless in the empty cabin he liked to use.
Then he spent several minutes slowly plucking strands of fur from her mound. Finishing that, he had rubbed his semen into her skin “You’ll never be rid of me. I will permeate your skin forever,” he’d murmured against her ear.
His thoughts turned to his sister. Darling, beloved, child sister. Balai had been the only daughter born of his five parents. His branch of the clan had never been one to bear many daughters, and so Balai was to join the clan council when she came of age. Her first husband would have joined her on the council, helping her make decisions for them all. Sweet tempered and joyful, she had been loved by the whole family and much of the small town their parents called home.
The royal clans of the Ta’e’sha were matriarchal. The power to rule was passed from daughter to daughter, assuring that the bloodline continued, since there had been no way to prove who fathered the children centuries ago.
His fingers tightened around the glass in his hand, threatening to crush it. She had barely survived the virus, only to find that she could not bear children. She loved children. She always spent her free time in the nurseries.
In the end she could not bear it. A few sips of poisoned wine and she was gone.
Only afterwards did he discover that the women already on the council had preserved their own eggs. As a precaution against the loss of their line through assassination or illness. His mother was past childbearing age and since Balai had not taken her seat on the council her eggs had not been harvested. His sister could have used one of their mother’s remaining eggs to have children, but she killed herself before she knew that it was a possibility.
Then those bastards decided to replace our women. “Oh, we are distraught! The tragedy of it all. Gee, guess we’ll just find someone else to breed on. Go find some ani
mals while we impregnate ourselves with our own eggs.” Yes, they were so sympathetic ... As if our beautiful women were nothing to them. After all, their own lines were secure. He ground his teeth as he watched the little red haired woman who he would punish next. Intelligent animals, barbarians. Ungrateful beasts ... Whining about being taken, as if their dirt grubbing lives were so much better before. But those who are happy ... Oh, they know. That makes them even worse. I’m sure they secretly laugh at our childless women. Feeling so superior as our men rut on them.
He was distracted from his thoughts by Daeshen coming in with his arm wrapped around his tiny mate. She confused him. She seemed to accept her mates and everyone else, but at the same time she seemed distant from it all. It was as if she were watching from the other side of a window. It made him uneasy. Those eyes of hers watching him, as if she could see his soul.
As he watched, Theadora hugged one of the security officers taking her lunch. A slight shimmer on her cheeks drew his eye. He set down his glass and moved to a position for a better view. What is that? Her hands waved as she talked animatedly with the other woman. Light blue-green markings covered the backs of her hands and wrists. Are those ... ? No, they can’t be ...
They were.
He felt his blood burn in his veins. His vision blurred and darkened. Barik looked down quickly, forcing himself to calm so that his hunting lenses receded. He drew in several slow deep breaths. Even the Gods forsake our women. He looked back up and watched her. I’ll take her ... And let it be spit in Their faces. How dare They abandon us as well?
Chapter Thirteen
“Wow.” Thea stared upwards at the blazing artificial sun. The Ta’e’sha had recreated a forest and lake from their home, complete with a perfectly detailed sky. She looked around, mouth open. Trees grew straight and tall on gently rolling hills. Yellow-green grass was lush and thick under her feet. Wildly colored flowers sprouted in beautiful, random bunches. “It’s beautiful.” And it was at least the size of a football field.
Daeshen grinned and tugged her toward the lake in the center of the room. It sat there gleaming like a blue jewel. Several small islands rose from the center, covered with a thick layer of black-green moss and small, smooth barked saplings
Several people swam and sunned themselves on the bank. It was like a scene from a faerie tale. Scales and fins flashed and sparkled everywhere she looked.
“Uh, Daeshen? Are those two doing what I think they are?”
He looked in the direction Thea was and smiled. He took her hand and towed her to the edge of the lake and began taking his clothes off. “Yup, they are. Want to watch?”
Her cheeks burned with sudden color. “No!” She snuck another quick glance at the couple making passionate love in the water.
He quickly stripped and slid into the water. A moment later his legs joined, forming a deep blue tail the color of his eyes.
Thea sat down on the edge and tried to ignore the naked people strolling around. Several people swam toward them, calling out to Daeshen.
He greeted them and introduced Thea. They were members of his science team. The conversation quickly turned technical. The group had originally planned to discuss the flora and fauna on the lists, but were sidetracked by some new data they had heard about from one of the other teams. Apparently, a man had eaten a slice of key lime pie his mate had made and it had an uplifting effect on him that had taken hours to subside. The other team had decided to run a few tests ...
Thea’s eyes crossed as she listened to the group discuss the chemical reaction that caused it, although, she thought Daeshen was cute when he geeked out. Losing interest, she looked around curiously, absently listening to the gabble. A short, pink haired woman approached the water a few feet away from them and, without a shred of modesty, whipped off her robe and dove into the water.
A moment later she surfaced and lolled onto her back, floating lazily in the water. She turned her head and noticed Thea watching her. She smiled and waved. When Thea waved back she rolled over and made her way to where Thea was sitting with strong movements of her tail.
Reaching the side she levered herself out of the water and sat beside Thea. Her deep pink tail dangled in the water. “Hi, I’m Kati. Who are you? I’ve never seen you here before. Have you been on the ship long? What’s it like having hair? Are you pregnant? Who’s your mate?” She paused for a breath and beamed at Thea.
Thea blinked.
“Uhh ... I’m Thea, I haven’t been here long,” she paused trying to remember the rest of that string of questions. “Hair can be fun, but pain to style sometimes. Umm ... I don’t know if I’m pregnant and Kyrin and Daeshen are my mates. Did I miss anything?” Thea tried to ignore the small breasts waving in her face. This is disconcerting.
Daeshen turned to see whom she was talking to. “Hello, Kati, how are your parents?” He smiled at the exuberant young woman.
“They’re great! My dads aren’t really happy about me swimming in the adult pool now, but I’m old enough so they just glower a lot.” She grinned mischievously. “I didn’t know you were mated! Mom said the captain had, but she didn’t say anything about you!” She turned to Thea and said earnestly, “Kyrin and Daeshen are really nice.”
Daeshen winked and tweaked the girl’s nose before returning to his conversation.
Kati fidgeted a little. “Wanna swim with me? Can you swim? Oh, wow, there’s Soren ...” The endless string of questions trailed off as she gazed behind Thea longingly. “He’s so handsome ...”
Thea grinned and turned. Soren was bouncing around in his usual energetic way. Seeing her he waved and promptly tripped. She hid a laugh and motioned him to her when he picked himself up.
He hurried over. Spotting Kati he came to a dead stop, blushed deep red and mumbled a hello.
Good Lord, they’re like a couple of lovesick teenagers. She watched them stare at each other, conversation and Thea forgotten. She cleared her throat, making them both jump. “So ... Soren, I was hoping to see you at the temple tomorrow.”
He sat down, sneaking little glances at Kati, who was suddenly fascinated with the grass she was sitting on. “Oh, um, yeah, sure, I’ll be there, Thea. How have you been Kati? Have you finished your classes yet?” He turned to Thea. “Kati is an acid painter, a really good one!”
Kati blushed and stammered a denial.
“What’s an acid painter?” Thea asked Kati, tilting her head curiously.
“Umm ... Crystals from the crystalshrooms are dropped in acid and then we use a metal stylus to apply the mixture to glass. The acids etch the glass and the crystal that is used in it creates color. You have to be very careful when you do it, the acid is very strong,” came the soft reply.
Soren beamed proudly. “She’s one of the best! As soon as her classes are finished Kyrin wants to give her a shop to display her wares on the ship.” His face fell. “That is, if you stay ... Now that you’re an adult you can return to Ta’e.”
Kati picked at some grass. “I’m staying on the ship. It’s home now and there are so many things to see.” She peeked up at him. “And there are a few other reasons I want to stay ...”
He blushed again. “That’s good, I’d miss you if you were gone.”
Kati bit her lip. “I’m supposed to move into my own quarters at the end of the week, Soren. Could you help me? I’ll make you dinner. You too, Thea,” she added hastily.
“I would be happy to help,” she replied and listened to the two of them stumble and work their way toward their first date. Wow, clumsy dating is universal. It made her feel good and as if she had more in common with the Ta’e’sha than before. A tall man with the same pink hair as Kati strode toward them with a determined expression on his face. Looks like overprotective daddies are universal, too. She stood quickly and brushed off her skirt.
She held out her hand as he reached them and rushed to greet him as his mouth opened. “Hi, I’m Theadora Auralel, you must be Kati’s father. I can see where she gets her good
looks! Soren and Kati were just telling me about acid painting, would you care to join us? They have both been very welcoming to me, and it’s been such a pleasure getting to know them.”
The thundercloud expression on his face faded to confusion as he stared down at her. He stared at her hand for a moment before tentatively grasping it. He squeezed gently for a moment before releasing. “Hello, Theadora, a pleasure to meet you.” He gazed at the markings on her face in confusion. “You are Chosen of our Gods?”
Thea touched her cheek self-consciously. “Sorta, I don’t worship them, but they asked to use my voice and when I woke up these were here. I’m more worried my Lord and Lady will be offended. The marks are pretty, though.” She was starting to get used to seeing them on her skin. The first few days they had caught her eye every time she moved.
He blinked and stepped back, a look of awe on his face. “I see.”
Kati tugged on his arm. “Deema, father, Soren and Thea are going to help me move to my new quarters! Isn’t that sweet of them?”
He smiled down at his daughter. “That’s very nice, dear heart. Be sure you don’t make a nuisance of yourself to Mistress Theadora, though.”
Thea sat down and smiled up at him, patting the space beside her in invitation. “Oh, she could never be a nuisance! I’ve been quite enjoying the warmth; it’s nice to be around someone so open and friendly. And please call me Thea.”
He settled beside her. “I am called Paeten.” He nodded at Soren in greeting, who smiled nervously in response. “What line of work are you in, Thea? I work in the science department, with your mate Daeshen.” He smiled wryly. “But not in the key lime pie division.”
“I’m a weaver.” She looked to check where her husband was, catching the smile he sent to her. “Mostly cloth, but I also weave tapestries.”
The Ta'e'sha Chronicles: Daughters of Terra Page 14
