Matchmaker Abduction: Aliens In Kilts, Abduction 1

by Donna McDonald

  “It’s not you. It’s him. Nate doesn’t trust his own fucking judgment,” Sheena said bitterly, drinking the water. “I don’t know how in hell he runs an airship.”

  “You need to cut Nate some slack on this one. I sort of gave him a reason not to trust me this time. When I came to ask to be let in, Nate said no at first. He told me to call you and ask you to retrieve me. I fought a few of his guard dogs until he had no choice except to lock me up. My instincts were screaming this was where I needed to be.”

  She snorted when Sheena’s water bottle lowered slowly to her lap. Once again she’d managed to shock her sibling.

  “Don’t pretend you don’t know I’m like that, Sheena. I’ve been staying in the cells below deck. Darcone has been babysitting. The new versions of Mom and Dad came…”

  “Do not call them that,” Sheena chastised.

  Bri glared and went on. “Hush. This is my story. Then the new versions of Mom and Dad came, and after talking to them, I decided getting to know them was better than hiding out in a cell.”

  Sheena huffed. “They are not new versions. They are not even real clones. Some gene hacker helped Nate create them, but I’m sure they’re not viable for the long term. They could die any day so whatever the hell you do, don’t get too emotionally attached to them, Brianna.”

  Bri shrugged. “Too fucking late for that. I like them both… a lot.”

  “Brianna…”

  “Shut up, Sheena. You’re intelligent, but you do not know everything there is to know. I’m telling you it’s like Mom and Dad put them here. They readily admit they aren’t them. They seem to know things they shouldn’t know as clones. If they’ve been replicated, whoever programmed their memories did a damn good job. Their story is that they are our ancestors.”

  Sheena snorted. “Genetically impossible. They’d be more like our children.”

  Bri held her hands wide. “That’s what I told them. They just laughed at me.”

  “For all we know, Nate and his gene hackers used some of our fucking DNA to make them. The Guardians do a lot of things they outlaw for the rest of us.”

  Bri shrugged. “You look like her… or Erin looks like you. Take your pick. You really should meet them and see for yourself. Whatever they are, they’re amazing.”

  “What I’d really like to do is test their DNA,” Sheena said, deciding that was the only way to put her mind at rest on the matter. She told herself it was necessary in order to protect her sister. “If you stay, some alien is going to abscond with you and turn you into his fucking baby maker. I can’t live with that, Bri. How the hell can you?”

  Bri’s eyes went wide and then she laughed. “Well the fucking part sounds pretty good if you want the truth. I haven’t had time for a relationship of any sort in about a decade. I slept with a target once, but don’t worry, I let someone else take him out. I’m not that cold yet.”

  “Bri… must you be so callous?” Sheena demanded.

  “Your disgust is kind of ironic for a woman who only dates married men.”

  “They all have open marriages. I check before I sleep with them,” Sheena declared.

  Bri chuckled. “I don’t see how sleeping with a target who’s going to die is any worse. It’s not like I’ve ever found anything close to a happy ever after. At least you had one of those for a while.”

  Sheena sighed and hung her head.

  Bri set her cup on the table and sighed. “Shit. I’m sorry, Sheena. That was too mean… even for me.”

  Sheena waved the apology off. “No. It’s okay. Seeing Nate brought the whole thing up again for me anyway. He was always married way more to this blasted airship than he ever was to me. I couldn’t help being jealous of the fact. Once he got permanently attached to this floating can, I was no longer important to him at all. Neither was our twenty three years together, so I’m not sure my relationship to him counts as anything close to a happily ever after scenario.”

  Bri nodded and then shrugged. “Then how much worse off am I going to be with an alien. At least they value the women they get. That’s more than I’ve gotten from any New Earth man. Sheena…” Bri leaned forward until her sister met her eyes. “Coming here was a mature decision for me. Even if your nanos remove the bionetic traces, I’m tired of doing other people’s dirty work. No one is going to let me move to the mountains and start weaving baskets. I’d be dead in a year if I left what I was doing. We both know that.”

  “Bri,” Sheena said, reaching out her hand. When her sister took it, she closed her eyes. “You’re all I have left in this world that I care about other than Carleton and Elsa.”

  Bri tightened her grip. “Then help the new matchmakers change the rules before I have to choose my mate. The new Angus and Erin are stirring shit up and getting by with it. I don’t know why Nate is afraid of them, but he is. And Sheena… they’re honest, good people. They’re a lot like Mom and Dad, except they don’t get along as well.”

  Sheena snickered. “You mean they weren’t programmed to be legendary lovers?”

  Bri snorted. “No. They bicker over everything, but it seems to be healthy conflict. I think something must have gone wrong in vitro though. Their speech has reverted to accents that haven’t been heard on this planet in over a thousand years. I find it charming, but strange because speech patterns are a learned behavior. I suppose they could simply be imitating something in their subconscious wiring, but by hearing what? I have a trained ear and their voices sound completely authentic—like they’ve been speaking that way all their lives.”

  “Well, that’s a short period considering Mom died not too long ago.” Sheena blew out a breath. “Fine. You’re right. I should meet them. If they’ve got you so confused, then I see no other choice.”

  Bri smiled and leaned back in her chair. “If you want to test their DNA, just ask. They’ll probably go along with it just to put you at ease. But expect a lot of questions. They’re rather innocent about the world at the moment. Guess that was something else that didn’t get done correctly when they were cooking.”

  Sheena rolled her eyes. “Cooking? That’s what Nate said earlier. You know I hate that analogy. Sometimes you’re just as naïve as you look, Bri. How did you ever survive as an agent?”

  Bri shook her head. “I ask myself that all the time. Being on the run kept me busy enough not to think about the fact that we were losing Mom and Dad every day.”

  Sheena nodded. “I know. I’ve often wished they’d had us when they were younger. I never understood why they waited until the end of their lives. Mom would never really discuss the matter with me.”

  “Me neither.”

  Sheena sighed long. “All this trauma has made me tired. I think I need a nap before I meet anyone new.”

  Bri found the bottom of her mug. She did feel better. “Okay. What are we supposed to do with your walking vibrators?” She inclined her head until it pointed at the wall.

  Sheena laughed and closed her eyes. “I can’t believe I forgot about my special boys.”

  “Are they really robots? They seem pretty lifelike.”

  “Not robots… androids,” Sheena said softly. “They’re far more intelligent than robots. And they’ll be fine standing there. They can take turns shutting down and recharging while I nap.”

  Bri nodded. “Okay. I’m going to head back to Erin. Angus is with the aliens. We’ll be back in a few hours.”

  She smiled when her sister nodded and gathered her bags. She waited to leave until her sister had gone into the spare bedroom. Now she’d be able to torment Darcone into telling her why he’d kissed her. She opened the door and her face fell.

  “Berg is here.”

  Damn the cowardly alien for running away. It was all Bri could do to be nice to the pleasant guard.

  “Hi Berg. I need to go back to Erin.”

  Nodding, the giant alien walked silently beside her.

  Chapter Two

  Since Brianna’s quarters had limited space, Sheena sent t
he SDDs to the docking bay for the night. Even with the four giant male protection units now gone, the space was still too small for the four rather large people currently attempting to share it.

  Sheena put a hand to her knotted up stomach and rubbed. Bri had predicted her reaction correctly. Seeing the copies of their parents unnerved her. If this was a nightmare, she wished she could wake up from it. She inwardly cringed when Brianna pointed to her for the introduction.

  “This is my sister, Dr. Sheena McNamara.”

  “Hello,” Sheena said formally, trying not to stare at them. Brianna had been right about their appearance. They were a perfect match for the picture her mother had put on the shelf in her sitting room at the castle.

  “Goddess, I’m being rude, but I can’t help staring at ya.” Erin walked closer to the woman Brianna had brought to meet them. She held up a hand when she halted. “It’s just that ya look so much like me. It’s a bit more than my brain can handle believing, even though my eyes know it for truth.”

  Angus walked up closer too. He looked at Sheena, then at Erin. His gaze went back and forth several times. “I can still tell the difference. It’s not all that hard. Ya could definitely pass for sisters though.”

  “Or mother and daughter,” Erin said, revealing the twist her mind had taken. If she and Angus had a child together, the girl might look just like Sheena McNamara.

  Angus smacked her arm lightly and brought her back to reality. “Told ya Bri was a real McNamara. Looks like Sheena is an O’Shea. I knew the girls weren’t adopted. Nate’s lost his fecking mind.”

  Erin snorted. “Go on with ya. This is not a fecking joke, Angus. These women came from our other selves. Doesn’t it make yer head spin?”

  Sheena turned to look at Brianna who wickedly grinned and mouthed “See?” as she lifted a hand. Finally, she turned her gaze back to Angus and Erin. She needed to take control of this strange situation.

  “Uh… could we talk about something?” Sheena asked.

  “Sure, lass. Let’s all sit,” Angus suggested.

  She was a bit alarmed when they immediately headed to the sofa to sit next to each other. As Brianna had said, it was like looking at a younger version of their parents—a version neither of them had known except through pictures.

  Sheena exchanged a glance with her sister. Long ago, their parents had asked them to keep their birth stories private. When she’d met and married Nate in medical school, she’d told him the story her parents had insisted she tell everyone about her being a normal surrogate birth. Bri’s creation had allowed her to be part of the intricate process, at least in the sense of studying it at the time. The story they told about their births was the truth from a certain perspective, but she and Bri had always felt like they were more biologically McNamaras than the world might ever know.

  Sheena cleared her throat. “First, I will just ask my burning question. Are you two clones of my parents?”

  “No,” Angus said, frowning. “We aren’t clones… at least not from what we read about clones in the tablet Toorg gave Erin. Isn’t the making of clones illegal?”

  Sheena nodded. “Yes. But it’s still done. Can I test you to make sure you’re not clones?”

  “Will it hurt?” Erin asked.

  Sheena shook her head. “No. I can do it with a mouth swab.”

  At their blank looks, her gaze went to Bri who was looking concerned over their discomfort. She looked back at the couple.

  “A mouth swab is where I brush the inside of your jaw with a wad of cotton on a stick. The saliva and other material on the cotton will provide me with enough of a DNA sample to check if you’re clones.”

  “And this test is important to you?” Angus asked.

  Sheena paused and then nodded. “Yes. If Nate has cloned our parents, Bri and I have a right to know.”

  Angus looked down when Erin reached over and put a hand on his knee. He finally brought his gaze to Erin’s face. “What do ya think about doing this?”

  Erin gave a half shrug. “Sheena is a scientist. I suppose it’s in her nature to be looking for such answers.”

  Angus nodded. “Okay. But I still think it’s a waste of time.”

  “Why do you say that?” Sheena asked.

  Angus shrugged. “What does yer gut tell ya about us, Sheena?”

  “My gut?”

  “He means your instincts, Sheena… your feelings,” Bri explained with a grin.

  Sheena shook her head. “I don’t trust those any more, but I trust my mind. It says I need to test you so I can figure out what you are.”

  When Angus sighed, he sounded so much like her father that Sheena found herself staring again. She swallowed hard as she waited for his answer.

  “Yer test won’t tell ya the important stuff, but do what ya must,” Angus said.

  Sheena disappeared into her room and moments later returned with her medical satchel. She dug around in the bag until she pulled out two swabbing kits. She had to give them credit for voluntarily going along with her.

  Dropping each swab stick into a separate processing solution, she gave them both her full polite attention again. In fifteen minutes, she would have enough to know if they were clones. Give her two weeks and some blood and she could know everything about them.

  “Thank you,” Sheena said. “Bri tells me you’re continuing the work our parents were doing.”

  “If you mean the fecking alien matchmaking, yes that’s what we’re doing,” Erin said tightly. She nodded towards Brianna. “Yer sister is the next woman on our list.”

  Sheena turned to glare. “You didn’t tell me that. Why did you come up so soon? How long have you been here?”

  Bri crossed her arms. “Not long. Someone is obviously pushing me through the channels faster. And I’m here because this is my decision… which I did tell you, Sheena.”

  Erin waved a hand between the sisters. “Are ya saying Bri has other options?”

  Sheena turned back to Erin. “Yes,” she said tightly. “Bri has other options. She’s just too hard-headed to consider them.”

  Angus chuckled and rose. “Before the three of ya gang up on me and start taking the McNamara name in vain, I’m getting us all some ale. Perhaps it will help lighten the mood.”

  Sheena watched Angus leave. The resemblance to her father was uncanny. No clone could possibly have been created with so many subtle personality quirks.

  “Told you,” Bri said, watching Sheena’s face as Angus disappeared into the kitchen.

  Sheena turned back and made a growling sound under her breath. Beside her Erin snickered. When she turned in the woman’s direction, Erin waved a hand at the two vials on the table.

  “Ya can test whatever ya want, Dr. McNamara, but yer still going to come up as family… no matter how bad ya might be wishing not to be. Your sister spouts some theory that gives her peace about it.”

  “High Science,” Bri interjected, grinning at Sheena who was frowning at Erin. “Familial DNA. You remember, Sheena… from medical school. I know it’s been a while.” The glare her sister gave her had her grin widening across her entire face.

  Erin nodded. “Yes. That’s the one. It’s sounds so educated and science-y. Explain it to yer sister so she can stop glaring at us. Bri.”

  “I’m not glaring at you,” Sheena denied.

  “Yes, ya are,” Bri argued, mocking Angus and Erin’s accent, and earning a giggle from Erin.

  Angus came back to find two gigglers and Sheena frowning hard. He handed her a glass of ale first. “Don’t let them mess with ya, lass. I’m still in shock too, but there’s so fecking much strange shit here that Erin and I are starting to become immune.”

  Sheena lifted the glass, sniffed it, and took a swallow. “Alien ale,” she said on a sigh. “I’d forgotten how good it tasted. What do they put in it?”

  “Best ya don’t ask,” Angus said. He lifted his glass. “Just enjoy. Let’s drink to…”

  “I know… Familial DNA,” Bri said brightly
.

  Angus laughed. “I was going to say getting to know each other better, but if ya must drink to those words, so be it.” He lifted his glass and took a swallow. “Now that’s refreshing.”

  Sheena chuckled and they all looked at her. “What? Can’t I laugh too?” Her gaze went to the table. “Look at that. Either my results are off… or you’re not any kind of clone my test can identify.”

  “Or you could just simply be wrong, Dr. McNamara. Don’t forget that option,” Bri said, hiding her smile behind her hand.

  “Shut up, Brianna. I did not make a mistake.” Sheena started to drink and saw her glass was empty. She looked at Angus. “Did you fill my glass as full as the others?”

  Erin covered her mouth to stifle a laugh as Angus fought to keep a straight face.

  He sipped his ale slowly, eyeing Sheena over his glass. “Are ya accusing me of something… or just asking for another in a less than charming way? I can’t tell.”

  Sheena listened to her sister laughing at her rudeness. When she looked at Bri, really looked at her, she was startled to see her sister looking so relaxed and happy. Her troubled, and always in trouble, sister hadn’t been happy since she’d been twenty for real.

  Whatever these two people were, they somehow made Bri happy. How could she begrudge her sister such a reprieve? She was tired of feeling like shit herself… tired of all the disappointments of her life. Tomorrow she’d get to the bottom of this clone mystery, but tonight watching Bri be happy seemed like the best idea all around.

  Deciding to be a good sport, Sheena held out her glass. “I’m sorry, Angus. I must have been thirstier than I thought. Can I have another, please?”

  Angus rose. “Of course, Sheena my love. I’ll fetch it for ya right away.”

  Erin and Bri’s giggling wrangled a reluctant laugh out of her. “You can both shut the hell up. It’s not that funny,” Sheena exclaimed. “I was thirsty… and I like ale. Okay? You got me to admit it. There it is. I like alien ale. Are you happy now?”

  Angus grinned over the laughing as he slid a full to the brim glass into Sheena’s hand. “Don’t worry, lass. They’ll remember none of their mischief in the morning. These two get like this after a couple sips.”