He didn’t want to hear this. He didn’t want to think about it.
Maria wasn’t finished. “I am fine if you and Zoe decide to go exclusive. I think Celestine won’t mind, either—she’s hopelessly romantic and already thinks the way you and Zoe have been circling each other is cute. But Barb isn’t going to take it well. Zoe’s a gentle little thing. I wouldn’t want anything to happen if Barb goes after her.” She pointed at him. “So you have to take care of Zoe.”
He certainly did, but he wasn’t going to discuss the situation. “Your concerns are noted,” he told Maria.
She wasn’t buying into his attempt at neutrality. She pushed up her sleeve and held her wrist toward his mouth. He was struck by the scent and warmth of the blood running beneath her skin. But it didn’t overwhelm him—or even tempt him.
“This abstinence is not good for you, my friend, but I didn’t think you’d be interested,” she said after a long time. She shook her head and pushed her sleeve back down. “Be careful, Doc. With her, yourself, and all of us,” she added before she finally turned around and walked out of the office.
His strength deserted him as soon as he was alone. Doc sat down hard and dropped his head into his hands. He’d been trying so hard not to think about how much he wanted Zoe—then Maria had to pull this on him!
Now his fangs throbbed and his body ached and the need made him hard even as he fought off the urge to do something about it.
It didn’t matter how Zoe’s blood called to him; life-giving and precious as it was, it wasn’t for him. Never mind that his soul screamed that Zoe was his, she’d been right when she said they couldn’t be together again. No matter what it cost him.
I’ll get over it, he told himself. I have to. She hasn’t tasted me. She’ll be fine. He let out a deep groan. She has to be fine.
A knock brought his attention back to everyday matters. He sat up straight and hid all his hunger. “Come.”
Everard came in and stood at attention before Doc’s desk. “Reporting as ordered, sir.”
Doc looked the man over carefully. Everard was even scruffier than most of the prisoners, but there was a strain of military discipline beneath the attitude. He judged Everard as tough, cunning, and ruthless.
Everard was also enamored of Zoe Pappas.
Doc fought off Primal jealousy. This mortal was the one who would do what Doc needed.
Doc stood. “I have an assignment for you, Chief Everard.”
The man stood even straighter as he was reminded of his rank, and eagerness replaced the boredom that weighed him down. “Sir?”
“I want you to organize a guard detail. At least two people per shift. They report to you, and you report only to me.”
“Yes, sir. What are we guarding?”
“I want an unobtrusive, surreptitious watch on Lieutenant Pappas at all times.”
Everard opened his mouth, then closed it. Curiosity radiated from him but he didn’t question his orders.
Doc nodded in satisfaction. “I’m not forbidding Pappas to continue associating with the Asi, but I want that contact limited. Keep her in the human sector as much as possible. If she must deal with any aliens, make sure your people are with her.”
“I’m going to protect Lieutenant Pappas from aliens twenty-four/seven. Yes, sir.”
“Aliens. Humans. Spiders. Shadows. Her own clumsiness. Not a pretty blue hair on her head is to be ruffled by a passing breeze. Complete cycle watch, without her knowing anything about it. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. And—no, sir.”
“Info is ‘need to know’ on this one, Chief, and you don’t need to know.”
Everard gave a sharp nod. “I’ll guard her like she’s the Purple Princess herself, sir.”
“That’s exactly how I want Pappas protected.” This drew an assessing look from Everard. “Dismissed. Assemble a list for your team, then check back with me for approval.”
“Yes, sir. Uh—one question, sir?”
“Yes?”
“Is it all right if I keep hitting on the lieutenant while I’m guarding her?”
Jealous anger shot through Raven. He just barely managed not to jump over the desk and throttle Everard. He did snarl.
Everard took his meaning. “The lieutenant’s off-limits. Understood, General Raven, sir!” Everard said. He left the office as hastily as humanly possible.
28
Zoe entered the plaza and her gaze immediately went to the infirmary entrance. She could think of no valid reason to go there, but that was where she wanted to be. Lieutenant Pappas couldn’t just barge in and ask, “How’s the plague coming along? Got anything you want me to do? Can we be together for a while ’cause I really, really miss you?”
No approaching Raven unless ordered to. She’d promised herself she’d stay away for his own good, never mind how missing him tore at her. “Be strong for the empire”—wasn’t that how the stupid family saying went?
She had no news on the Asi to report. Wanting to be with Raven wasn’t enough of an excuse.
Lots of people want to be with Raven, she reminded herself, and hated the bitter jealousy that gnawed in her gut. lots of people are with Raven. I’m not going to be one of them. One fling. That’s it.
“Damn.”
That’s what I get for giving in to impulse.
She almost wished she was still confined to her quarters. Alone in the dark she’d had too much time to think. Even worse, she’d had too much time to feel. She’d come face-to-face with how lonely and empty she’d been before she met Raven. Once free to roam the camp after lockdown was lifted the day before, she had to fight the constant longing to be with him. Which was worse?
“I’ll just have to keep busy, I guess.”
“You’re talking to yourself,” Everard said, coming up to her from out of the shadows under the ramp wall. She almost jumped at the sight of him. One of the marines, Usef Rumi, was with Everard. Rumi’s skin was almost blue-black, so dark it was impossible to see him in the deeper shadows. She’d heard jokes and complaints from people about running into Rumi the Ghost.
“Hello, Everard,” she said, “Hi, Ghost.”
“Hi, Zoe. You have to be careful about talking to yourself; it’s one of the bad habits we’re supposed to watch out for,” Rumi said. “You’re not going stir-crazy are you, Lieutenant?”
“That’s an excellent question,” Zoe answered. “I better watch my tongue from now on.” She was surprised when no crude comment followed from Everard.
The pair of men flanked her as she began to cross the plaza. She resented the usual overabundance of male attention but it was useless to protest. If not them, it would be some other male company hoping for attention. This place made people needy. She kept her attention on what was going on around them.
As usual the plaza was full of activity and noise. People lounged and cuddled against the walls, the choir was rehearsing near the center of the space, marines were drilling, and a group was gathering under the pale light of the central shaft for one of Professor Cauley’s lectures. She and her escorts headed that way.
“Did you get the Alien Itch?” Everard asked as they walked along.
“No, I was spared the rash, but I wish Maria hadn’t taken my chocolate away,” Zoe answered. “I’m pretty impervious to most bugs.”
“That’s because you deal with alien species all the time, right?” Everard asked. “You’ve had all sorts of special inoculations and med treatments?”
This was absolutely true, but not the sort of curiosity she expected from Everard. She nodded. “How about you two?”
“I had a mild case,” Rumi said. “We were lucky the Itch wasn’t anything serious. What if the next alien bug that gets in here is fatal to humans? Do you think the Hajim would send in help or let us die?”
A chill ran through her. “Good question.” As they reached the group around Cauley she spotted her quarry. “Excuse me,” she said to her escorts and eased out from between the men.
<
br /> Rumi followed her as she approached Mischa and Siler, but she noticed Everard pushing his way through the group to talk to the scientist.
“Hey, oh, great geeks,” she greeted the techs. They turned to her with eager grins. “Can I ask a favor from you?”
“Do we get a date out of it?” Siler answered. Mischa laughed. They both looked hopeful.
“I’m offering you a technical challenge and you want sex?” she teased.
“If we can get it,” Siler said.
“What sort of technical challenge?” Mischa asked.
Zoe took the tiny implant Jazoan had carried from her pocket and held it toward them on her palm. Both young men bent close to peer at it. Rumi looked over her shoulder.
“What is it?” Rumi asked.
“Where’d you get this?” Mischa asked.
“What do you want us to do with it?” Siler asked.
“I’d like it fixed,” Zoe answered.
“But—” Mischa began.
“Okay.” Siler scooped the implant out of her hand and grabbed his partner’s arm. “Let’s see what we can do with this baby,” he said as he dragged Mischa away.
Zoe smiled hopefully after them. Maybe it was risky to hand over such classified equipment to unauthorized personnel but sometimes you had to take chances. Siler’s eagerness worried her a little. She hoped it was just a reaction at an opportunity to be useful. Maybe they could even get the beacon working.
“One errand done,” she said. “Now I can visit the Asi section.”
“You talking to yourself again, Lieutenant?” Rumi questioned.
“I’m afraid so.”
“Maybe you should go see Doc Raven about it.”
She’d like that. “It’d be better for me to work than take a happy pill.”
When she turned to go Rumi said, “Don’t you want to listen to Professor Cauley?” He looked around. “Hey, Everard, weren’t you, me, and Zoe all going to listen to the prof?”
Everard came over to them. “We can’t listen to the professor.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “The prof lost a bet with me; now he has to stay silent for a whole cycle.”
Zoe looked at the people waiting for Cauley to begin his lecture. Cauley smiled at her, pointed to his mouth, and shook his head. She was confused when he gestured for her to join him.
“Couldn’t he start this vow of silence next cycle?” Zoe asked. “I’d hate to see these folks disappointed.”
Everard grinned broadly at her. “That’s why the prof and I came up with a plan. We can’t remember you taking a turn on the lecture circuit yet, so you can take Cauley’s place entertaining the troops today.”
“Good idea,” Adams called out from the group seated nearby. “Everybody ought to take a turn.”
“But—what about the Asi?” Zoe asked.
“Let ’em entertain themselves,” Everard said. He nudged her toward the front of the crowd. “You can entertain us humans right now.”
“Humans first!” Ensign Morgan chimed in.
She gave him a reproving look but he smiled back irrepressibly. Bigoted or not, it was nice to see that he was feeling better.
All right, fine, I’ll give a talk, she thought.
The way opened for her, about thirty people scooting and stepping aside as she went to the front. Cauley bowed elegantly to her and sat down with everyone else.
“What do you want to hear about?” she asked the watching crowd.
“I know you like history,” Everard said. “Teach us some history.”
“You’ll be bored, Everard.”
“Yeah, but anybody that shows up for one of Cauley’s talks is bound to like any old boring stuff. I’ll nap while you’re lecturing.”
“History is interesting,” Morgan said. “Wars and stuff, anyway.”
“I for one would like to hear a Terran native’s version of Imperial history,” Adams said.
“So you can argue with me about it?” she asked.
“I promise not to argue,” he said. “I’ll just treat your misguided version of the acts of reivers, marauders, and pirates like a stand-up comedy routine.”
She put her hands on her hips. “The history of our ancient heroes is not comedy. You have to promise not to heckle.”
“Aww—”
“He promises,” Rumi said, coming to loom at Adams’s side.
“He certainly does,” Everard said, taking a seat at Adams’s other side. He put an arm around Adams’s shoulders. “Right, friend?”
Adams ducked away from Everard, but he nodded to her.
“All right. One history lecture coming up,” Zoe said.
She motioned and the remainder of the crowd took seats on the plaza floor in front of her. Cauley sat directly in front of her, watching her closely with his arms folded. His scrutiny might have bothered Zoe if she hadn’t spent her life being watched. She still got the uneasy feeling that the scientist was looking for something from her.
Zoe ignored him and thought for a moment, then began, “This is a history of the beginning of the Byzant Empire.”
She spared a slight smile for Adams. His intent expression told her he really was interested in her Earth-centric version.
“Once upon a time the human inhabitants of the planet Terra, also known as Earth, settled colonies within their home star system, Sol. There were human settlements on Terra’s moon, on the planet Mars, in the asteroid belt between Mars and the gas giant world Jupiter. There were colonies on the moons of several other gas giant planets.
“It was fortunate for the human species that a large population pool was spread throughout the home star system because, sometime in the first century before the founding of the Empire, a wave of radiation from an energy pulse, caused by a collapsed neutron star, shot through the solar system. Terra’s protective atmosphere was nearly destroyed by the pulse. All of the surface settlements on Terra’s moon were fried, though there were some survivors in the underground settlements. The Martian, Jovian, and asteroid colonies were damaged but they fared better than Terra, where the atmosphere was contaminated by the pulse radiation. We call the death and horror that followed the pulse the Bottleneck because the entire human genome was cut down to only a few thousand individuals. Our species nearly went extinct but at least there were survivors spread out across the solar system—pockets of hope that eventually found each other again and started rebuilding. And reproducing.
“At first the survivors on the outer worlds had their own problems to deal with. Nobody could even think about getting back to Terra to check on the home planet for several years. It took a lot of work and a certain amount of conflict, but the outer worlds managed to get organized into a single government headed by the owners of one of the asteroid mining companies.”
A Greek family named Pappas, but she didn’t mention that. And only academic specialists paid attention to the minutiae of such historic detail.
Adams squirmed between his two new friends, but he kept his promise about keeping his mouth shut. For now.
Zoe rewarded him by saying, “Mr. Adams would like you to believe that these space miners were a bunch of power-crazed, evil, cutthroat despots. They called themselves the Lords of New Byzantium. He may well be correct in that they weren’t the paragons of altruistic virtue portrayed in the history holos. They certainly had large egos and big balls. They had to be ruthless to pull the remnants of humanity together and keep the species alive. I would also say that being ruled by the Byzant Lords was preferable to being left to the mercy of the pirates that emerged from the remains of the moon colony.”
“The Pirate Wars really happened like in the holos?” Morgan spoke up. “I love Pirate Wars games and holos.”
Zoe nodded. “The Pirate Wars are real history. Even the battles for the Ark took place.”
“What battles?” someone asked.
“What ark?” Rumi asked.
“The Ark was a legend in the Sol System during the days of the Bottleneck. The hunt f
or the Ark was a quest that gave survivors something to live and fight for.”
“But what was this Ark?” Everard asked.
Zoe sighed. “On Terra we learn about this in grade school, but for those of you who are not raised on Imperial history, among the survivors of our mother system it was said that Terran scientists had stored samples of every scrap of Earth’s genetic material in a vault under the planet’s south pole at least a hundred years before the energy pulse hit. Ancient religions were built around belief in the Ark.”
Sergeant Corwin put up his hand. “The folks who settled my world were Arkists.”
“Mine were Children of the Second Genesis,” Maddie March spoke up. “My grandparents still thought it was a big deal.”
“But what happened with this Ark back on Earth?” Everard wanted to know.
“Well, back on Earth the Selene Pirates League and the Byzant Lords got into a war in the search for this legendary Ark,” Zoe answered. “This war lasted for at least a generation. Eventually, Michael I, the first official emperor of Byzant, and his suprahuman general, Gabriel Foxe, defeated the last pirate fleet—”
“The fleet of the evil Phoenix Lord!” Morgan exclaimed. “He was a vampire.”
“So was Foxe,” Barb said.
“That’s right, both hero and villain were vampires,” Zoe said. “Suprahuman technology and people were critical to all human survival back then, and there were suprahumans on all sides of that conflict. After the war the Byzant winners went down to Terra to see if they could find the Ark.”
“And Michael found it,” Morgan said, his face glowing. “Along with the Great Library that gave context to all our ethnic types. So began the Second Genesis.”
Zoe nodded. She felt as reverent about the rebirth of life and culture as Morgan. “Yes. It turned out that this treasure was real and worth all the turmoil to find it.
“By this time it had been many decades since the energy burst swept over Terra. The planet was still a wreck, but the atmosphere was starting to return to normal. There were human survivors living on the planet in Stone Age conditions—so it turns out that all humans living today can trace their DNA to the solar system colonists—the Byzants, to Terran survivors—the Remnant, or to the Second Genesis Children, although most of us are a mix of all those bloodlines.”
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