"It would seem so." He didn't force her to lie down again but neither did he meet her gaze. The meadow faded, leaving the facility chamber looking as it normally did.
"But how? You said Illusia had a barrier around it that no one could penetrate."
"That's what everyone thinks. But if I am of Illusian descent and I was found on Norona, how did I get there? Am I a throwback from a mating that occurred four centuries ago or did someone manage to remove me from Illusia when I was a baby? And why only me? Considering my mission, my presence on Norona could be a vital clue. If I was smuggled out then the document could have been also, meaning it is legitimate and important. Unfortunately, I can't share my knowledge with anyone."
"I don't understand."
"My foster parents and the doctor agreed that if anyone found out about my existence, I would be exiled without being given a chance to prove that I could behave in a civilized manner. The patch prevented me from accidentally revealing my secret ability. My parents dyed the white streaks in my hair and trained me to control my emotions in public. But I could never forget what I was hiding. The hatred and fear of Illusians is very widespread. I could still be exiled today simply because of my genetic makeup. Mar-Dot, and now you, are the only others who know the truth."
"Holy stars. That's why you're so worried about hurting me. You actually believe all those things you were told about the Illusians are true about yourself."
He turned his unsmiling face to hers. "I believe it because all those things are true." His voice was charged with hostility. "You have no idea what I'm capable of. I am constantly at war with this primitive nature of mine. But I had been doing a formidable job of keeping my secret... until I ran up against you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that, in spite of all my training and good intentions, you make me act like a barbarian. For whatever reason, you bring out the worst in me."
Not able to lie still another second, she pulled them both up into sitting positions and held his hands tightly as she spoke. "Isn't it possible that I bring out the best in you instead? Holding in all your emotions is unhealthy. Maybe you were fated to meet me before you burst at the seams. Tell me this. Have you held yourself back in any way when we've had sex?"
"No, but—"
"No buts. I realize there are women who prefer lukewarm men, just like there are people who prefer vanilla ice cream. Maybe that's the only kind of woman you've encountered but I've never been with a man who excited me more or satisfied me better than you do. You have definitely not hurt me. And I don't believe for one second that you really could, not physically anyway. Of course, there's always the possibility that I'm a barbarian too. That might explain a lot of things."
Gallant laughed out loud. "I've said it before and I'll probably say it again. You are the most exasperating female I have ever known. I've been agonizing over your figuring out what I am for days. Then here I was, fully prepared for you to be repulsed by my confession and what do you do? You compliment me on my performance as a barbarian."
"It's called being truthful. Are you convinced that I'm not disgusted by your genetic heritage or afraid of you—either in or out of bed?"
His slow grin said it all.
"Good. Please note how well being honest works and use that method of communicating in the future... at least with me. I assure you we'll do a lot less fighting that way."
He pulled her back down to the floor and rolled her beneath him. "Well, there's fighting... and there's fighting."
She stopped him just before their lips met. "Wait a minute. I just remembered something. What happened to your appointment?"
He lifted himself partially away from her and frowned. "Actually, it was very odd. Before I went looking for you, I made a quick call to Josep, my contact at the Consociation, to tell him I'd be delayed. I was told he had left Norona this morning on an emergency. I can't figure out why he didn't send me a message in time to save me the trip."
"Maybe the emergency was such a big deal that he forgot about your appointment."
"Maybe. The last few times I've spoken to him, he's forgotten something."
"How old is he?"
"I don't know. He looks ancient. Why?"
"When Terrans age, they sometimes lose their memories."
"That can't be it. Josep is from the planet Gilliad. They are a gentle people known for the fact that their intelligence increases throughout their lives, which might be as long as a thousand years. In fact, there are Gilliad representatives to the Consociation who personally recall the Illusian invasion. Josep is the only one among them that wants to see a change in the current policy. From what I've heard though, he's slowly bringing them around to his way of thinking."
"Good for him."
"You really mean that, don't you?"
"Yep. I told you before that I thought it was totally unfair to judge the Illusians purely on past history. Now that I know one personally, I'm even more convinced that their reputations are probably much worse than they are for real."
He gave her a quick kiss. "I'm beginning to think you're a hopeless optimist."
"An optimist—yes. Hopeless—never. In fact, I'm hoping something right now."
His hand clamped onto her hip and pulled her to him. "I think I can accommodate."
"Close, but no cigar." She laughed at his dumbfounded expression. "Although I admit my body was hoping for a rematch, my mind was actually hoping for something along a different line."
"Oh?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Now that we've worked out your problem, I was hoping we could work out mine." His expression grew ominous but she ignored the warning. "I accept the fact that you can't afford the time it would take to return me to Earth but at least you could take me back to Norona."
Chapter 12
Gallant tensed. His confession may not have repulsed her as he had expected it would, but she was still anxious to get away from him. As before, while he held her quietly in his arms, his imagination had run straight to thoughts of forever. Those thoughts had started to crystallize when she seemed to understand. But her request to be returned swiftly brought everything back into a realistic perspective.
"Gallant? Are you afraid I'd tell someone about you? I swear I wouldn't."
He rolled away from her and sat up. "There are those who could discover what you know without your telling them. Besides, you're still in need of my protection, whether you want it or not."
Cherry slowly rose to her knees. "Protection? Or captivity? You said the condition to my getting an honest explanation was that I stay in your arms. You didn't warn me that hearing that explanation would strip me of my freedom."
"It's only temporary," he said with a frown. "Until I can discover the truth about the Illusians."
"And what if you never do?" Her voice rose a few decibels. "You can't keep me chained to you forever."
The truth of her words forced him to turn away from her.
"I see." Cherry reached for her jumpsuit and pulled it on. "How silly of me to think we'd made some progress. You just can't deal honestly no matter what."
One glance at her face let him know that endless days of gnawing tension and unsatisfied desires loomed ahead. He watched her walk to the door before he knew what he had to say. "Wait. Please." She turned to him and crossed her arms. "At least hear me out before you condemn me."
She walked over to the chair where his black outfit lay in a heap. Tossing his clothes to him, she sat down and said, "Put these on and I'll listen."
The awareness that his body could disturb her, in spite of her annoyance with him, made him feel somewhat better about his own mixed feelings.
As soon as he was dressed, she motioned for him to take the other chair. "Shoot."
"It wouldn't do any good to take you back to Norona. I couldn't get you on a ship without the proper authority and I know if I try to explain the situation to anyone to get that authority, you stand a good chance of being incar
cerated there. At least as long as I keep you with me, I know you're safe. No matter what you think of me, I will not ignore the fact that I am responsible for your safety."
"For the rest of my life?"
He almost said yes before his common sense kicked in. "Of course not. I'll return you to Terra as soon as I can."
"But not in time for me to audition for Theodophilus. And maybe not even in time to be with Aster for her daughter's birth."
He shook his head. "I'm sorry."
"Just not sorry enough to do anything about it."
"That's not true." Rubbing his chin, an idea occurred to him. "I can't change the child's birth date, but I should be able to do something to make up for your missing the audition."
Cherry's eyes widened and she leaned forward. "Go on."
"Certain privileges come with my employment. I'm sure it would be possible to convince Theodophilus to hold a private audition for you after my assignment is completed. Wherever in the galaxy he is at the time, I give you my word, I'll take you there."
She cocked her head at him. "You're not just saying that to make life with me more peaceful?"
Leaning back and stretching his long legs out in front of him, he gave her a dismayed look. "I'm trying to play by your rules but I don't see the point in being honest if you're going to question everything I say."
Cherry bounced up from the chair and walked the width of the chamber several times before coming back to stand over him. "Okay, let me get this straight. You're going to be truthful with me from now on, and whenever this mission of yours is over, you'll help me get an audition with Theodophilus."
He nodded. "What about the fact that I know your secret?"
He shrugged. "Taking risks is part of my life. If I give you what you want though, you won't have any reason to betray me. Besides, if I can prove the Illusians have changed, it will no longer be necessary for me to hide what I am."
"I almost hate to admit it but you're making sense."
"Truce?"
She started to offer her hand then withdrew it. "I have one more condition before I agree to peaceful coexistence."
He didn't think it would be very diplomatic of him to remind her that she was in no position to negotiate, so he simply raised an eyebrow at her.
"I can't just sit around on this ship, twiddling my thumbs, while you go off in search of the truth. Let me work with you, like on Zoenid—only better informed."
"Cherry—"
"Don't say no. I need to keep busy, but I also want to be involved. Please?"
He shook his head with a sigh. "I have no idea what kind of situation we're heading into. Lore is supposed to be uninhabited because of the poisonous mist that surrounds it. But from what Frezlo said, something must be there. I had a good reason for taking you with me to Zoenid and I had believed I could adequately protect you then. Of course," he added with a grin, "I had no idea someone was going to take my cheats out of my vest."
Cherry sat on the edge of the low table in front of him. "I promise I won't do anything like that again. In fact, I'll even give them back to you right now." She paused a moment before making her final offer. "I'll let you put the collar back on me and I'll behave however you want me to... in front of others." He rolled his eyes in disbelief.
"Well? Can I go?"
"We'll see."
She accepted that as a positive answer. "When do we get there?"
"About three days."
Cherry smiled as she glided from the table onto his lap. "That should be long enough."
Although he looked at her suspiciously, his hands and body welcomed her back. "Are you trying to influence my decision with sexual favors?"
Nuzzling his neck, she said, "Why, Captain, that would make me as devious as you are. But, just for the record, would it work?"
Uttering a low-pitched growl, his hand cupped her breast and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'll let you know in three days."
* * *
Rom interrupted his telecommunication with the chief of Outerworld Monitor Control and called Aster to join him in their living room. "OMC is going to transmit a recording of an American newscast that was televised a short while ago. She suggested we view it immediately." He turned on the monitor and sat on the sofa next to his mate as the program began.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is Betsy Arnett with news from around the world. The top story today has everyone trying to remember when the last time was that they said their prayers. There has been another supernatural sighting at a religious shrine—this time, however, it was caught by one of our cameramen. For the story, here's our man in Japan, Ray Valez."
The picture switched to a close-up of a balding man. "At twelve noon in Kamakura, Japan, approximately five hundred people were milling around this huge bronze statue of the Great Buddha." The camera panned to the statue then showed the stunned faces of various people in the crowd behind the reporter.
"I was told by several eyewitnesses that four bolts of lightning suddenly streaked out of the sky and hit the statue, all at the same time, accompanied by crashing thunder. With the last bolt, a man appeared, looking very much like the statue behind me. He stood on the Great Buddha's thumbs and spoke to the crowd in Japanese, in a voice almost as loud as the thunder. He greeted them as, my children, and warned them that Judgment Day is coming. Our cameraman caught the end of the appearance."
The scene cut to the video. The messenger did indeed look like the statue, and his words were being translated into English across the bottom of the screen.
"The Supreme Being of all the universe is coming to Earth. As the wicked nonbelievers and the greedy will be punished, so shall the obedient believers and the generous be rewarded. Prepare yourselves to meet your Maker and obey Him in all things. Now look upon His image and remember it."
Over the face of the Great Buddha statue another face was superimposed for a few seconds, but the features were slightly blurred, as though the transmission had weakened. Then with another flashy display of lightning and thunder, both the Buddha look-alike and the blurry face vanished.
The program was turned back over to the anchor-woman, who went on to review the other sightings that had recently occurred around the world. "Our most recent poll shows that in the United States eighteen percent of the people believe the sightings are true messages from God, thirty-three percent are convinced they are hoaxes and forty-nine percent are still undecided.
"It is interesting to note that in the countries where the sightings occurred, the percentage of believers is considerably higher. Perhaps, we Americans are just waiting for a more personal message."
The recording ended and the serious face of the OMC chief reappeared. "As you requested, we had assigned several emissaries to keep watch at all religious shrines in the northeastern quartersphere on the surface. Coincidentally, P68, who had been near the sighting in India, was at the statue referred to in this newscast. His report has just come in.
"Again he states that he picked up a surge of mental energy, only at close range it was much stronger than what he had sensed before. However, the surge did not last long enough for him to narrow down its origin. He reports that a one-thousand-meter square around the statue has already been searched, and no evidence of electronic or photographic equipment has been found. The search area is now being expanded, but based on what he sensed, he doubts that anything physical will be found."
Rom asked the chief to stand by for a minute while he and Aster discussed what they had seen.
Aster rubbed her abdomen in an attempt to calm her daughter. "Interesting."
Rom smiled. "Still don't believe it?"
"I suppose we should allow for the remote possibility that the sightings are legitimate warnings. Some of the governments of Outerworld have made strides toward peace and improved living conditions since I was out there but not enough to make any vast difference in the future of the planet. Perhaps the fear of a global Judgment Day is just what is needed to put individua
ls on the right track then the governments would naturally follow. God could be behind this."
"Or someone bent on total world power," Rom countered. "In which case, we can't afford to let that person get away with it. I think it's important that the messages all contain the warning that nonbelievers will be punished and the obedient will be rewarded."
Recalling the near disaster they helped Earth avoid ten years ago, Aster angled her head at him. "You think we might have to interfere again?"
"At least we have to be prepared for the worst. The face that Buddha showed is the only clue we have, but I could barely see it." He asked the chief to replay that segment and have the computer enhance the image.
The blurred face was frozen on the monitor then, in a matter of seconds, it was clarified.
Aster gasped and reached for Rom's hand. "Dear Lord. Is that who I think it is?"
The man staring out from the screen was not wearing an eye patch, but the two white streaks in his long black hair helped identify him positively for Rom. "Unless he has an identical twin, it looks like the forthcoming Supreme Being is Gallant Voyager."
* * *
Bessima smiled at the three young men she had lured to her table in the San Francisco hotel's cocktail lounge. It didn't matter that they thought she was their favorite entertainer. She was in violent need and would use any illusionary trick it took to drive these males into a frenzy of animal lust. She had already discovered that Terrans did not normally get aroused to the point of oblivion as Illusian males did. They had to be teased into it, and she could see her efforts were beginning to pay off with her present companions.
When she had first arrived on Terra, her illusionary talent had yet to be tested in a practical situation. As she successfully accomplished larger and more complex illusions, her confidence grew. It took very little to convince a Terran that the paper in their hand was currency or tickets for transportation or that the little booklet was the required passport for travel between countries.
The Princess had equipped Bessima with a translating device that Chief Advisor Josep had given her, claiming that many Noronians wore them to aid communication. It allowed her to speak and understand thousands of Terran languages, but until she saw with her own eyes that the people were deceived, she hadn't believed it would work.
GALLANT (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 3) Page 16
