He hadn't even meant to stun her—only convince her of the seriousness of the situation. But something about the way she defied, no dared him to stop her, had made him react with force rather than thought. He could hardly remember the last time he had allowed that to happen.
Yanking off his eye patch, he scanned Cherry Cochran from head to toe, as if the explanation for his error would make itself clear if he used both eyes. Her costume kept him from judging her perfectly but there was nothing about what he could see that might have made him forget himself.
Even as he picked her up in his arms to take her to his ship, his instincts were sending warning notices that he should leave her there. He couldn't afford to be around someone who was capable of triggering a spontaneous aggressive response from him so easily. Not only his mission but his life depended on his keeping secret the fact that his ice-cold demeanor went no further than the image.
For the countless time, he cursed the fates that forced him to live a lie.
Despite the uneasiness he felt, he decided she could do him no harm in the short time it would take to discover what the Weebort had said to her.
Out of habit, he was about to replace the eye patch when he realized he would need both eyes to do what had to be done. In order to carry an unconscious female aboard his ship without answering any questions, he was going to have to perform a little magic. Because it was another of his necessary secrets, he only used his special ability in extreme circumstances and, much to his frustration, this was turning out to be one of those times.
* * *
The solid kick in the ribs jolted Romulus out of a deep sleep. "Drek! That one hurt." He rolled toward Aster and massaged the spot on her taut, swollen abdomen where their baby had called attention to itself. Whether it was his large, warm hand or the calming thoughts he was sending, the fetus soon settled back down.
Aster placed her hand over her mate's. "I'm sorry, love. That one was a surprise. I didn't have a chance to block it from you."
"And I told you to stop trying to spare me. You've got enough to do just dealing with your own discomfort. Roll onto your other side and let me rub your back." As she happily obliged, he chuckled to himself. When they had joined ten years ago, they were not only bound physically but spiritually and mentally as well. Aster's pregnancy was the first time since then that he was less than pleased by the results.
Although Innerworld's medical achievements were far beyond anything she had known in Outerworld, carrying a child for nine months wasn't much easier. The first bouts of morning sickness before Aster was treated for it left Rom weak as a baby himself. Later in her pregnancy, Aster prevented him from feeling most of her aches and pains and did her best not to relay her cravings and mood swings, but even the little she had not blocked was enough to let him know how uncomfortable she was. However, it would all be worth it in the end.
Attempts had once been made to fully develop the fetus outside the mother's womb but the babies' minds and bodies were never quite as healthy as when it grew inside its mother. As Rom kneaded away the tension in her lower back, he felt his own muscles relax. At least they would not have to tolerate the kind of pain a woman in her world would during their daughter's birth.
Their daughter. The first child born of a mixed joining between a Noronian and a Terran. She wasn't even born yet and her responsibilities were already overwhelming. He stopped himself from thinking along those lines. There would be time enough for that later.
Though her gender was known, her physical characteristics were not. Genetic control had been limited to defects several centuries ago after a series of experiments went awry. He couldn't help but wonder what she would look like.
She'll be beautiful, of course, Aster thought back to him. Rom was six foot three, she was five foot ten and they both had imposing physiques. Their child would undoubtedly grow to be a statuesque woman. She would probably inherit dark hair as well, but there was no way to tell if hers would prematurely turn silver in her twenties as Aster's hair had.
The baby's eye color was the only real unknown. Aster's eyes were an unusual midnight blue and Rom's were a green-brown shade of hazel... most of the time. Like many Noronians, his eye color changed with his emotions—a characteristic Aster had learned to use to her advantage shortly after they'd met.
It had been years since she gave more than a passing thought to the circumstances that brought her to Innerworld and Romulus. They were of two different worlds and a joining between their races was forbidden by law. Yet the Noronian mating fever struck them both, proving they were soulmates, destined to be together for eternity.
Unfortunately, the same prejudice that had existed when Aster first arrived in Innerworld still simmered in some corners of the colony. Only the support of the Ruling Tribunal of Norona prevented the bigots from speaking out too loudly.
Aster prayed that their daughter would be strong enough to withstand whatever trials lay ahead for her.
Rom stopped rubbing her back and snuggled up behind her. With a soft kiss on her cheek he assured her everything would be fine. "In another month the worst will be over."
Aster laughed. "Ha! That shows how little you know about babies. But then I don't have much more experience than you. Being an only child didn't exactly prepare me for this role. Thank heavens we'll have Cherry to help. She never talks much about her childhood but she had nine brothers and sisters, so she had to have picked up some practical knowledge about babies."
Rom blocked his next thoughts from Aster. He liked Cherry and was glad Aster had been with her best friend when they arrived in Innerworld but Cherry's high energy level and unleashed spontaneity always made him feel like he was caught up in a tornado. The expression opposites attract was certainly true in the case of Cherry and Aster. Imagining the little dervish under his roof for extended periods of time did not fill him with the same sense of gratitude Aster felt.
Just before Aster fell asleep, she reminded Rom that Cherry promised to come by for lunch tomorrow. As always, she looked forward to hearing what her friend had done for excitement this week. He was her soulmate but Cherry held an equally important position in her life.
Long before the disaster landed them in Innerworld, Cherry had appointed herself Aster's savior from workaholism. Cherry was her alter ego, surrogate sister and the closest friend she'd ever had. Cherry had not only shared the most traumatic events in Aster's life, she always forced Aster to see the bright side of everything.
If anything, her bond with Cherry had strengthened over the years because of their being removed from the world they once called home. Despite the fact that Aster and Rom shared thoughts, Cherry was the only person in Innerworld who could truly understand her feeling of alienation that never went away.
And the fears she harbored for her unborn child's future in a society where prejudice against Terrans still fermented.
Thankfully, Cherry was around to keep her fears from overriding the joy.
* * *
Cherry felt the softness beneath her and tried to orient herself before opening her eyes. A sense of danger swept through her, instantly followed by the memory of a wicked-looking stranger. At least she hadn't been incinerated like the Weebort.
Cautiously, she opened her eyes and surveyed her dimly lit surroundings. She was in a gray-walled room on a large bunk that took up most of the limited space. That devil must have brought her here... wherever here was. After a moment, she recalled his insisting she accompany him to his ship.
Panic assailed her as she leapt off the bed and pressed her palm to a square metal panel on the wall beside the door. The door slid open with a soft whoosh and relief that she had not been locked in quickly replaced the momentary fear. Years of improvising on stage had conditioned her to instantly adjust to whatever situation she found herself in. She usually relished an unexpected turn of events but this one made her furious.
Stepping into a narrow corridor, she noted it ended a few feet to her right at one door and
two more doors were across from her. About fifteen feet to her left, light streamed into the corridor. She headed toward that light fully prepared for a heated confrontation.
The angry words on the tip of her tongue were suspended by shock as Cherry reached the doorway and her worst suspicions were confirmed. Although she had never traveled out of Innerworld, she had no doubt she was on a ship. Her gaze quickly scanned what had to be a bridge, with no visible walls, ceiling, or floor. She would have examined the unusually clear glass beneath her feet but the darkness beyond, accented by distant dots of light, brought the panic back in a surge.
She was in space!
Two people were in the center of the bridge behind a control panel. Long black hair with two white stripes identified the man seated in the only chair. At his side, a tall female stood facing Cherry, wearing a body-hugging, olive green jumpsuit and a very amused smile. Tight coils of chartreuse hair sprung out from her head, making Cherry think of the Statue of Liberty's crown. The woman seemed to be patiently waiting for her to stop gawking.
"Greetings," the woman finally said in a deep contralto voice. "Are you well?"
The instant the woman spoke, the man started to swivel his chair around but stopped abruptly and donned the black eye patch before turning the rest of the way to face her. That seemed odd to Cherry but she had too many other concerns to question it. As he rose, she thought his expression looked somewhat contrite... until he opened his mouth.
"It's about time," he said abruptly then turned to the woman at his side. "Well? What are you waiting for?"
"An introduction," she answered calmly in her husky voice. "I believe two people who are about to become intimately acquainted should at least know one another's name."
"Now hold it right there!" Cherry exclaimed, taking a step backward. "I draw the line at—"
"Calm down," the man interrupted with a wave of his hand. "No one's—"
"Calm down?" Cherry asked with disbelief. "I haven't begun to get upset. I had better hear some satisfactory explanations in the next ten seconds or... or I won't be responsible for my actions."
"She sounds dangerous, Captain. Should I restrain her?" the woman asked in a serious tone, but the sparkle in her emerald eyes let Cherry know she probably wouldn't do such a thing even if he ordered her to.
"Eight seconds, Captain," Cherry warned, planting her fists on her hips.
He scowled back at her and crossed his arms. "I don't respond well to threats, particularly from someone half my size."
Cherry marched forward, poked him in his chest with the index finger of her robotic right hand and sent him sprawling backward into his chair. "And I don't respond well to being abducted. Now you have three seconds left before you find out what all five of my fingers can do."
Rubbing his chest, he rose with a grimace. "I suppose an explanation is in order. I am Gallant Voyager—"
Cherry snorted. "Come on, you can do better than that. How about Luke Skywalker? I've always been kind of partial to that one. Or maybe Judge Dredd would suit you better."
Gallant straightened himself to his full height, which was a good foot taller than Cherry's. His tone of voice revealed that he was a bit touchy on the subject. "I assure you, that is my name. Gallant Voyager is a direct translation of my birthname, which is extremely difficult to pronounce."
"Okay, so you have a name. How about the explanation?"
"First, allow me to introduce you to my navigator. Cherry Cochran, this is Mar-Dot."
"Actually," the woman said with a grin, "I am Dot." She turned around, as if to present her back, but what Cherry saw was another front.
"And I am Mar."
Cherry gaped at the man in front of her. The hair, eyes, nose and voice were the same as the woman's but his lower face was covered by a kinky, close-trimmed, chartreuse beard. The snug bodysuit that had clearly displayed a woman's figure a moment ago, now showed that of a man... and a very well-endowed man at that.
Never one to let her curiosity go unsatisfied, Cherry circled Mar-Dot, her eyes filled with fascination. The creature had one body with two legs, but the booted feet extended in both directions, like pedestals. The male half and the female half each had its own pair of arms and hands and Cherry thought she could have identified the gender of each pair even if Dot's fingernails weren't an inch long and painted lime green.
"Pardon me for staring," Cherry said as she came back around to Mar. "But I've never seen anything, pardon me, anyone, like you."
"Not many people have," he told her with a smile. "For all we know, we may be the only he-she in existence."
In the blink of an eye, the he-she turned and Cherry was facing Dot. "I tell this story better than he does. We were sold to a traveling circus as a baby. Unfortunately, no questions were asked at the time, so no one was ever able to tell us where we had come from. If it was not for the captain—"
"I believe you asked me for an explanation, Cherry," Gallant said, effectively cutting off Dot's story.
The fact that he didn't want her to hear whatever Dot was going to say automatically made Cherry more curious. But first there was the matter of her abduction. "I'm all ears. Why don't you start by telling me what the hell gives you the right to knock me out and kidnap me? Then work your way up to how you got me on this ship and out of Innerworld without a travel visa."
"I'm an agent for hire, currently on assignment for the Consociation of Planets, of which Norona is a primary member. My mission grants me... certain privileges."
Cherry narrowed her eyes at him. She still couldn't decide if he was the good guy or the bad guy in this scenario and she was determined not to let his swashbuckling appearance influence her one way or the other. "I've lived among Noronians for ten years and there is no way they would condone what you've done to me for any reason. When Aster and Romulus hear about this, they'll cart you off for reprogramming so fast you won't know what hit you."
"I've already sent them a message. Romulus knew of my presence in Innerworld and by now he knows I've taken you into my protective custody."
Chapter 2
"Your what?" Cherry demanded, taking a threatening step toward him again.
Gallant stood his ground, but looked prepared to move out of her way in a heartbeat. "Protective custody. That's when—"
"I know what it means. I also know the only thing I've needed protection from lately is you."
"Wrong," he answered. "The moment the Weebort spoke to you, he put your life in danger."
"That's ridiculous. I don't even know what he said."
Gallant shook his head. "Irrelevant. If Frezlo got wind of it, he'd be back for you. And believe me, he wouldn't settle for tuning into your subconscious—which is all I asked of you—he'd simply incinerate you on sight. His goal was to make sure the Weebort didn't pass on something he knew, not to find out what that was."
Cherry frowned, trying to come up with a way to debate what he was telling her. "But you were the only one who saw the Weebort say anything to me."
Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Would you be willing to risk your life on that?"
"All right, let's say there's a slim possibility my life could be in danger. There are plenty of ways I could have been protected in Innerworld. I could have hired a tracker to watch over me." Immediately Cherry thought of her friend, Falcon, the empathic man whose unusual psychic abilities had helped Aster and Romulus out of several crises in the past. Although Falcon now lived in Outerworld, she was certain another similarly talented detective could be found in Innerworld to help her.
Before Gallant could refute her logic, she pushed further. "And another thing, if you were so anxious to tap into my subconscious, why didn't you just do it yourself then take off?"
"I don't have any telepathic ability. Mar-Dot does. I told you I couldn't afford to waste the time. It was imperative I pick up Frezlo's trail before it dissipated. If you had cooperated with me to begin with, none of this would have been necessary. I would have left you in In
nerworld after I found out what the Weebort said, if that had been your wish, but Mar-Dot had a problem with your untrained Terran mind." He shot them a glance that suggested he held them accountable.
Dot raised her chin defensively. "If you had not stunned the poor woman into oblivion, there would not have been a problem."
The he-she revolved a quick half-circle and Mar countered, "Your action was entirely justified, Captain."
"At any rate," Gallant continued, without responding to either comment. "Mar-Dot couldn't find out what I needed to know without your conscious participation. There was no way of telling how long it would take for you to come around, so we had to take off with you still on board."
"And just how long ago was that?" Cherry asked warily.
When Gallant didn't answer right away, Dot did. "About twenty-four hours. The paralyzer was set—"
"A whole day? Holy stars!" Cherry walked quickly back and forth in the confined area, her hands gesturing wildly as she spoke. "This is even worse than I thought. You've got to understand. Aster's having her first baby and she'll be frantic with worry about me. A message from you about protective custody is only going to make her more nervous."
She stopped her pacing and took a deep breath. Nothing she'd been told so far changed the fact that she had been kidnapped and couldn't get home without Captain Voyager's assistance. "Let me see if I've got this straight. You need my conscious participation to get the information you want, which I assume means I have to agree to let Mar-Dot touch my mind. Right?"
Gallant nodded slowly.
"Fine. You take me back to Innerworld and I'll let them have a free tour through my feeble Terran brain."
"Not good enough. You could refuse again once I got you there and, in the meantime, I would have lost Frezlo also. He's the only lead I have left now. I'm not at liberty to give you details of my mission but it is of universal importance. I had been on the Weebort's trail for months before I found him in Innerworld. The information he had was vital. Unfortunately, Frezlo was on to him also."
GALLANT (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 3) Page 2
