“Force fields,” Wiley urged the drunk girl. “What's this about force fields and cells?”
“Oh, that,” Lina waved her hand disparagingly at him, but just managed to throw herself off-balance. Londo straightened her. “I talked to them, told them not to be afraid any more. It was just me. Lon's always telling me to relax. Well, that time I told them to relax.” For some reason she felt like laughing, so she did, just a little.
Now ignoring her, the men talked with Jae letting out an occasional exclamation of surprise, like when he said, “How many times?!”
Londo just gave an embarrassed grin while Lina could feel the hidden boast inside him. “Maybe a little more often than that. I didn't keep track. Much. We didn't know how long we had before my powers came back. We thought each time would be the last.”
Jae slapped the side of his thigh. “I'm adding that to your official listing of powers,” he laughed.
“You do and you're dead!” Londo glared at him.
Lina was just extremely glad she was too drunk to be embarrassed. She didn't even blush when Wiley looked her up and down and then grinned. “A healer. Of course.” She just made a face at him and spun on her stool, curling her toes to reduce wind resistance. She was nothing if not efficient.
They only asked her a couple of questions, for she had a tendency to giggle or stick her tongue out and lose track of what she'd been saying. At one point Wilder took her hand and she drew back. He nudged Jae, and Jae took her hand; she snatched it away. Londo took her hand, and she snuggled to him.
Wiley shook his head and made a time notation on his screen. “A phobia for touching. I can remember her doing that now. I'd put it down to cultural differences or injury.”
“Eh bien, none of this gets out, right?” Londo said occasionally, just to make sure.
Lina could understand Wiley being there for intellectual curiosity, but she couldn't Jae's presence.
**Jae's practically a brother,** Lon explained. **T'inquiète pas. Anything you say to him he'll keep under wraps.**
“Oh,” Lina said. “Say, is that an affectation or what?”
“What?”
“Eh bien. D'accord. Voyons. I had a French teacher who used to spout off small talk for five minutes at a stretch when he was pissed at us. Which we got him a lot. So is it real?” She turned to Jae. “Does he do that in Lingua, too?”
“Eh bien,” Jae replied with a straight face and Lina could hear the French through the translator version, “he certainly does.”
Lina nodded. “AffecTAtion then. A very cute affwect… affwect… thing.” She pecked Lon on the cheek.
Wilder was searching through a drawer in another cabinet. Now he turned around with what looked like a slender ice pick in his hand.
“What's that?” Lon asked.
“Nothing for you to be worried about,” Wiley assured him. He held the pick in front of him like his tricorder, point out. “Take her hand, will you?”
Londo squinted at him, trying to figure out what he was up to. He kept his arm around Lina's waist and took her hand with his free hand.
“No, just hold her hand,” Wilder instructed. “One hand.”
Lon let go of her except for one hand while Jae hovered behind the wobbly woman to make sure she didn't fall off the stool. She cocked her head at Wilder, then at Londo. When Jae reached out to steady her, she said, “Watch it,” but didn't make any other comments when he quickly retreated.
“It's okay, chérie,” Lon assured Lina. “We're just keeping you—hey!!”
Wilder looked pleased as he measured the distance between where he'd poked Londo with the pick and where Lina's skin first touched Lon. “Did it really hurt, or are you just complaining?” Wiley asked.
“It really hurt,” Lon sneered, reaching for the pick. “Here, I'll show you how much.”
Wiley easily dodged out of Lon's way.
“Sorry about this,” Jae said from behind him and stomped on Londo's booted foot.
“OW! HEY! Jaeson Rheoboth Rallene—!” Londo lunged up suddenly, facing down Jae. Lina wobbled back in her chair. Jae caught her and used her as a shield.
“I see some problems with this,” he told Londo.
“Leggo!” Lina protested, slapping at Jae. “Leggo leggo!!”
“Very interesting,” Wiley noted on his padd as Londo hurriedly collected Lina from Jae. “Problems. Yes.”
“Hell,” Lon muttered. After the moment that his invulnerability had snapped back on, his foot felt fine. He looked at Lina. “Remind me not to carry you through a crowd of people shooting at me,” he said.
“I'm a stupid drunk, Lonnie-Wonnie,” she replied blithely. “I didn't know that before.”
“I'll remind you. And don’t call me ‘Lonnie.’”
“Here,” Wiley told Lon and handed him the dumbbell from before. “Hang on to that. One hand on Lina.”
“One hand, check.” Lon held the dumbbell in his right hand as Wiley increased its weight. Fifty kilos, one hundred… Lon groaned at two hundred kilos and flexed his arm and fingers after setting the instrument back down, Wiley having brought the weight back to one kilogram.
“Hurt?” Jae asked.
“I'd like to see you do that. Jeez,” Lon muttered as he read readings over Wiley's shoulder. “Only two hundred? Felt like…” He rubbed his right arm. “A lot more.”
“Once more. Ring off. Arm around her.” They repeated the experiment but this time Lon floated up into the air a foot, supporting Lina and holding the weight as Wiley took it up to three hundred kilos before Londo's feet involuntarily touched the ground.
“Control check,” Wiley announced, and this time Lina was left on the ground as Londo floated in the lab with the barbell. One ton, two tons…
“Without her you're within expected parameters of your recuperation. I just don't understand,” Wiley said as Lon handed the instrument back to him. “Jae, what do you make of it?”
Instead, Lina broke out into song. She performed the “I want adventure” portion of “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast as if she were on a Broadway stage performing to the back of the audience.
Londo cheered and threw her an imaginary rose, which she caught and “smelled” before clasping it to her chest. Even so, he said, “Maybe you ought to lie down.”
“It's his fault, not mine,” Lina accused Wilder, using what must have been a rather floppy rose to point with. “He knew he was giving me too much. Don't they have the Hippy-cratic Oath out here? 'First, do no harm.' Or are we all too cibilized for ethics?”
“She brings up an interesting point, Wiley,” Lon said. Wilder just gave a little harumph. “I sense major demerits in your future.”
The room spun a couple degrees around Lina before it stopped. “Dooo—Do we want to trade ethics? I'm a priest and a telepath and a psychic. Triple whammy.” She hummed some ominous theme. “I know things about people. Know things about you.”
She pointed wobbily at Wilder. “Wiley Coyote, every now and then I hear what you're thinking about while you're pretending to check test results. Now, if I didn't have any ethics…”
“Yeah?” Lon asked. “What did you hear?”
Wiley grimaced. “Perhaps she does need some of that painkiller neutralized.” He reached around to get another ampoule ready.
“Damn straight. I'm not anyone's guinea pig. Oh god, I'm a vegetarian now.”
Jae seemed to be enjoying the show. “You don't want to be?” he asked as Wiley administered the shot.
“Wuff. That's getting better. No, I wanted to be a vegetabubble… begetarian. I only had one meat left to give up. Poor ol' mad cows. And I sneak bacon, too.” She splayed her fingers across her face and then snuck a peek to see Lon's judgment.
“Bacon?” he asked.
She nodded sadly. “Babe Bacon. Poor piggy Babe!”
“I see your point. I liked Babe.”
“Babe?” Jae asked.
“But I eat bacon, too,” Londo assured her.
“Arnold the Pig. He was smart as a dog,” Lina added before she grabbed Londo by his arm and joggled it. “You'd never eat a dog, would you?”
“Absolutely not! Never.”
“Good. I will bacon no more forever.”
Lon stroked her braided hair while she quieted down as if the drugs were wearing off. Instead she began to mumble to herself. “One minute I ate meat, the next—bam. Begetarian. I didn't even get a chance to have my last hamburger. Everything's happened so quickly in these past few days. It's like…” She knocked her head against Londo's chest. “I'm just paranoid. Stupid ol' Muttbutt.”
Londo took her by her shoulders and turned her to face him. Her eyes were still half-closed; her lower lip sagged. He gave her a soft shake so she'd pay attention. “Don't call yourself that,” he ordered. “I don't want to hear you say that name again, comprends-tu?”
He brushed a lock of hair out of her face. How did she really feel about him, about all that had happened? Did she really think this rushed? He couldn't blame her. “So things have happened a little quick. It's like what?”
“Like pulling the Chariot card from the Tarot. The universe is rolling, the road is rough, and you can only hang on for dear life.”
“Sometimes that's just the way it is,” Jae said. Was there an echo of regret in his voice?
“And sometimes you end up being run over,” Lina said darkly.
“Have you been run over?”
“You may have noticed us yesterday, hm?”
“But you got back up.”
Lina blinked and frowned at herself as something kicked in inside her. The world looked a little clearer, but it was still difficult to concentrate. “And we're okay now. I'll keep that in mind. But the ride's not over yet.” She looked at the floor. “Hey, Sarastor, Earth told me better and worse things ahead. Are they over, or still on the event horizon?”
She heard the world laughing at her. **You still have too much in your system. Yes, Speaker to Worlds, they are still on the move. Better things, worse things. Follow your heart and you'll choose the correct path.**
“Follow my heart, huh?” Lina closed her tired eyes. This alien world still spun around her. “Planets have no real perception of human life, you know that?”
“You talked to this world?” Wiley asked.
“What did she say?” Lon wanted to know.
Lina wanted to crawl into her own little corner to catch her breath. Maybe it would be nice to be in that corner with Londo, just so she could feel safe and sleep. Well, maybe not sleep if Londo was there. Touching him made everything inside her rev up in a very satisfying way. Woof.
“Lina? What did Sarastor say?” Londo repeated.
She gazed at him with a hungry, crooked smile. “Mainly that I'm still drugged too much. That things aren't over yet. 'Speaker to Worlds,' she called me; that's new. Earth usually says something like 'Little One' or 'Child.' Guess that's the difference between Earth and Sarastor, huh?”
“What was that about following your heart?”
“'Follow your heart and you'll choose the correct path.' Unquoth the raven.”
Lon turned to the doctor. “Dammit, Wilder, sober her up! I need to speak to her in private. With her mind absolutely clear.”
Jae turned away—probably laughing at them, Lina thought.
Wiley checked the remaining level in his hypo. “Oh, all right,” he grumbled, and gave Lina another shot.
She blinked and took a breath. And another. The world focused. The roller coaster was sliding in to dock. “Thank you. In the future, Doctor Mem-Bazer,” she said evenly as she drew herself up straight, “I would appreciate it if you did not treat me like a child who can not control herself. I am not an animal or a mentally incompetent human being, and I don't appreciate being treated like one.”
“I didn't—”
“Yes you did. You didn't believe that I was mature enough to assess the situation and act accordingly. And you used me as a tool against Londo.”
Wilder paused for a beat. “I did. I apologize. I won't do it again.”
She smiled at him. “Thank you. Apology accepted.”
Lon put his arms around her. “So are you sober now?”
“Quite, and quite thoroughly pain-free, too.”
“Good. We need to talk.” He turned to Wiley. “Can we go to my room now, doctor?”
“I repeat, no sex.” Wiley heaved a sigh of surrender. “For a while yet.”
“D'accord. Lina?”
“We aren't being gracious. Does anyone else want to get out of here? I can provide the transportation.”
Jae considered. He seemed calm enough, but Lina knew he was upset about something. He'd been through so much in his life, it was no wonder that he had these moods. At least he'd found a socially acceptable mask to wear when he was upset, this emotionless face with the sharp eyes peering out from behind.
“When you two arrived yesterday,” he said, “I was helping Wiley with some compound experiments. I'll finish up so I can resume my duties when quarantine is over.”
“Good enough,” Wiley said. “And after we're done, if we can get done tonight, I need to finish analyzing all the data I've gathered in the last day.”
Lon nodded. “Bon. Lina, I can get some clothes shipped into my quarters.”
“Then what are we waiting for? I'm tired of running around half-naked. Can you picture your room in your mind?” She gave a little laugh. “What, you only have one piece of furniture?”
“No sex,” Wiley warned again.
“That's better,” Lina said as Lon took her hand and pictured another room. For two minutes she concentrated on the both of them, on their destination, and then they were gone.
“Anyone taking any bets?” Jae asked.
Chapter 19
Lon's room was suddenly there around them. Lina sucked in her breath.
“Computer,” Londo barked at Systems. “This is not an emergency, but utilize emergency air lock procedure for these quarters. Also begin biocleaning at the same levels as in Laboratory 1-A.”
Two beeps of acknowledgement sounded.
“Lon, this isn't a dorm room, it's an apartment!”
Londo hadn't realized just how eager he'd been to get her into a place that was his, all his. Having Lina in his life had knocked him completely off-balance. She held such great power over his thoughts and body. Now the tables were turned, perhaps. Here he was in command—even if she held all the cards.
But he had other games he could play. As she turned to take in his place, he twisted her farther around to enfold her in his arms. Her eyes widened when she looked up to him, but she parted her lips as he bent to her.
Automatically their thoughts twined as they had days before. Her unfinished questions he met with bold suggestions. She might call them demands. Damn but it was good to have her back like this. They had to get naked. Now. He'd been too long without her.
When he pulled at her robe's belt, she pushed away. “No sex, remember? We can keep this just to this level, can't we?”
Lina always tried to deny what she felt. She needed a little encouragement now and then. The belt fell to the floor and he explored under her robe with his hands and mouth.
Her throat vibrated beneath his lips as she whispered, “Londo, no. Love, we can't…do this.”
But her eyes were black with the same desire that fired him. He pulled her to the floor—gently, gently!—and clicked his belt buckle open.
Lina used the slight freedom to frame his head in her hands. She kissed him soundly on the mouth.
“Dearest Londo, no. I mean it. I can't think when you do this. Someone's got to keep their sense now. Getting you healthy is more important than sex.”
She wasn't serious.
“I am,” she said, and he saw her jaw set, her shoulders straighten. Maybe she was.
“You are a killjoy.”
“No, Wiley is. Let's blame him for this.”
“He said for a while. Define 'a wh
ile.' I say that 'a while' has passed. C'mon, chérie.”
“You're still hurt.”
“Am not. C'mon, baby.”
“Are so. Look me in the face and tell me you don't feel bad.”
Lon gave her his silly, crooked smile. “I'm a Legionnaire. I can rise above the pain. I feel myself rising right now.”
“You are such a walking hormone.”
“Yes, darling Lina.”
Her responding smile made her blistered face crack. She winced.
Lon grimaced in sympathy—and guilt. He ran his fingers down her cheeks as if he could heal her. “I am so sorry, kitten,” he said. At her questioning expression he added, “The healing time is for you, too. I should have never gotten us into that mess.”
“You've already apolo—”
“I can't beg your forgiveness enough. I was stupid. Beyond idiot. Your safety is everything to me. Your health is as well.”
With that he put his arms more sedately around her and rose into the air, shifting her so she was cradled against him.
Talk was actually a better tactic, he reasoned. Talk and talk some more. She liked talk. Then some sex. She liked that, too. Then he could accomplish tonight's mission, no sweat.
They glided an arm-length or two above the floor across the room. Lina held on tightly. She feared Lon would overtax himself. Still, it was thrilling. Flying! In Londo's arms!
Here out of the entryway, the living room stretched even farther than it had seemed before. “Ohmigosh, look at this place,” she said. “It belongs in Architectural Digest.”
“I may have gotten some ideas from there,” Lon said. He swung them vertically and set her down on the floor. “We will take a tour,” he announced.
Lina gave him a suspicious look.
He countered it with a Sunday school face. “It'll put a better spin on the 'a while' definition,” he said.
That made sense, so Lina tucked her robe back into place. She pulled her thick braid out from the collar and flipped it behind her but Londo caught it. He used it as a rein to guide her around. “Living room,” he began.
This room alone was bigger than Lina's entire house. Furniture was very masculine with crisp corners and tight upholstery, no patterns except a stripe or two. Occasional live plants thrived blurrily behind blue glows she supposed were force fields.
Touch of Danger (Three Worlds) Page 47
