Chapter Thirteen

Sarden

 

I left Zoe in her room and went to make certain the Assimilation artifacts hadn’t been damaged by my hurried rush through the hold to get her out of the tank. I knew she was upset that I’d confined her to her room but it was for her own safety. She needed to stay far away from this area—especially now that the damn sensu-pods had gotten a taste of her. Who knew if they might want more?

They aren’t the only ones that got a taste of her, whispered a little voice in my head. What were you thinking, offering to heal her orally? What are you trying to do—form some kind of bond with her?

Right. As if I could bond her to me, even if I wanted to. It wasn’t possible and I knew it.

She was in pain, I argued with the little voice. What was I supposed to do—just let her suffer?

She’ll suffer even more if you let her form an emotional attachment to you, even if it isn’t a bond, and then you trade her to Tazaxx and never see her again, the voice pointed out implacably. And she won’t be the only one suffering.

Shut up! I pushed the voice away as well as I could. It was true that only bonded mates usually healed each other orally and I never should have offered it to Zoe. But I was just trying to keep her healthy enough to trade, I told myself. After all, Tazaxx didn’t take damaged goods. So there was nothing else I could have done.

Soon enough I was in the hold and calling for lights. A few of the medical artifacts had been pushed aside to make a path to the tank but none of them looked that much worse for the wear. Even the tank itself wasn’t damaged although much of the yellowish slime inside it had slopped over the edge when I’d dragged Zoe out. The many-tentacled sensu-pods were sulking in one corner. I tapped the glass but they barely stirred. No doubt they were angry at being deprived of their meal.

“Master, Count Doloroso is asking for admittance to the ship,” Al told me.

“Let him in,” I said. “Then send a household droid to clean up this slime—it’s damn slippery.”

“At once,” Al said and buzzed off. No doubt responding to his order, a rectangular door opened in the far wall and one of the small, silver household droids which are usually kept dormant within the interior of the ship came whirring out. A pink mop attachment which looked a lot like a tongue shot out and began lapping up the slime from the floor. Good, at least now no one would slip in the mess.

The door at the far end of the hold slid open, revealing Doloroso’s angular form, framed in the bluish light from the spaceport.

“Sarden,” he said, waving at me. “So good to see you again. I’ve come to transfer the credit to your account and take possession of my new collection. I hope you don’t mind—I brought some moving droids to do the heavy lifting.”

“That’s fine.” I picked my way over to him through the medical equipment. “But don’t you want to examine everything first?”

“I’ll take a look, of course. But the chip-drill and sensitivity tank are the two items I’m most interested in.” He stepped inside, followed by several lumbering moving droids, each with a shell on their backs capable of lifting and holding items weighing up to three metric tons. He would need them—the hold really was crammed full of the Assimilation equipment.

“So…the tank?” He raised his eyebrows inquiringly. “Or would you like to show me the chip-drill first?”

“The chip drill is this way.” I wanted to give the household droid a little more time to clean up the slime. We made our way around the perimeter of the room with Doloroso commenting delightedly from time to time over the “priceless collection” and “wonderfully preserved artifacts.”

I was glad he liked what he saw—I wanted him to pay and get the hell out as soon as possible. My feeling from The Suck Hole had only grown stronger—though he was paying an exorbitant amount for the medical equipment and had been nothing but courteous, I didn’t like him. Not one damn bit.

“All right, now where did I put it?” I looked on the shelf where I’d last seen the chip-drill but it wasn’t there.

“Is there a problem?” Doloroso looked concerned.

“No. It’s here somewhere, I know it is. I must have misplaced the damn thing.”

Exasperated, I looked around—where in the Frozen Hells could the chip-drill be?

“Ah-ha!” Doloroso said from behind me. “Here we are—it must have fallen and rolled—the bottom part is round, you know.”

I turned to see the round blue bottom and twisting curved metal end of the drill at his feet. He was just bending over to pick it up when a familiar voice cried,

“Stop!”

“Well, well and who have we here?” Doloroso murmured, picking up the chip-drill by its round, bulbous blue end anyway.

I turned to see Zoe standing in the doorway to the hold. She was wearing another one of my formal shirts with the sleeves rolled up and the black material made her pale, lovely face glow like a distant star. Her long curly hair was a wild mass of ruby red around her shoulders and her bare legs were both shapely and tempting.

All in all she looked fucking gorgeous. I felt a surge of possessiveness fill my chest—I didn’t want Doloroso seeing her like this. Or at all, for that matter. Zoe, however, seemed oblivious to the way he was looking at her.

“Really, get rid of that thing—you don’t want to touch it,” she said, gesturing to the chip-drill in Doloroso’s hand as she came forward. “It’s extremely dangerous. Look—see what it did to me?” She pointed to a long scratch across her cheekbone which I hadn’t noticed earlier. I would have to heal it for her later—if I didn’t kill her for disobeying orders first, that was.

“I see. So this is your blood, my dear?” Doloroso asked, examining the end of the drill.

“I’m lucky it wasn’t my eye,” she said. “Another inch to the side and it would have been. Just don’t get it too close to your face—it stabs out with no warning.”

“Zoe,” I growled, feeling another surge of possessiveness fill me. “What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay in your room.”

“Well, I got hungry,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest which caused her creamy cleavage to become more prominent in the v-neck of the shirt. “So I was going to make something in the food-sim but just as I was passing by the hold—”

“The food prep area isn’t anywhere near the hold,” I pointed out.

“As I was passing by,” she went on, ignoring me pointedly. “I saw your, uh, friend here about to pick up that extremely dangerous stabby-stabby corkscrew thing. I was just trying to warn him—you don’t want him to lose an eye, do you?”

“I assure you, my dear, I am quite safe. I collect antiquities and oddities like this for a living.” Doloroso gave her a greasy smile I didn’t like a bit and set the chip-drill down on the shelf to hold out his hand. “Might I know your name and planet of origin? It isn’t every day I meet such an enchanting creature.”

“Oh, well…” Zoe gave him her hand—the one with the inhibitor on it—and I saw Doloroso look at it sharply though he made no remark about it. Instead, he bent over the back of her hand and kissed it wetly, as though he was a Gods-damned courier from the Court of the Divine Empress on Femme 1.

“Charmed, I’m sure,” he murmured, looking up to smile at her as he licked his lips, almost as though he was tasting her skin.

“Uh, thank you.” Zoe smiled uncertainly and took her hand back as soon as she could. I saw her surreptitiously wiping it on the side of my shirt when she was certain he wasn’t looking.

“And you are from which world in our fair galaxy?” Doloroso asked.

“From—”

“Salex Prime,” I said quickly, before she could finish. “Not many people know it—it’s on a far arm on the other side of Femme 1.”

“Ah—close to the court of the Empress. That would explain why you look so radiantly divine,” Count Doloroso said smoothly. “And tell me, how do you like life on Salex Prime?”

“It’s, uh, nice,” Zoe said, frowning at me.

“Very nice,” I said. “And now, if you’d like to see the tank, Count Doloroso…”

“What?” Zoe interjected. “You’re going to let him get close to that thing? I nearly drowned in there!”

“You were in the sensitivity tank today?” Doloroso gave her a sharp look. “Were you being tested?”

“An incomplete test only,” I assured him. “And an accidental one at that. Zoe wandered out here to the hold—where she doesn’t belong…” I glared at her and she glared back. “And the sensu-pods apparently grabbed her and dragged her into the tank.”

“Where they nearly drowned me,” she repeated stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest again. “So be really careful around it. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t even go near it.”

“Oh, don’t worry my dear—it won’t hurt me.” Doloroso gave an irritating, tittering laugh. “But I would be most eager to hear what happened during your little, ah, attack.”

I felt a jolt of possessive rage surge through me and had to fight to keep my features calm.

“You know damn well what happens during sensitivity testing,” I growled. “There’s no need to ask her to rehash it for you.”

“Ah—forgive me. I misspoke.” The Count made an elaborate bow of apology in Zoe’s direction. “What I meant to say was, I’d like to know the events that preceded the attack. The sensu-pods, you see, don’t normally reach out of the tank and take a subject of their own volition.”

“Well, this time they did,” Zoe said, frowning. “One of them kissed me on the cheek—well, that was what it felt like anyway—my cut cheek, here…” She pointed to her wounded cheek again. “And then the next thing I knew, they were dragging me into their tank. Ugh!” She shivered.

“So first the chip-drill stabbed out at you and cut your cheek and then the sensu-pods tasted you and liked you so much they pulled you in?”

Doloroso’s eyes were bright for some reason and I really didn’t like the way he was looking at Zoe. There was a hungry, avid light in his shiny eyes that made my protective instincts kick into high gear.

Mine, an angry voice whispered inside my head. He can’t look at her like that—she’s fucking mine.

“Yes, I guess so. That’s pretty much what happened.” Zoe nodded.

“But my dear, do you have any idea how extraordinary that is? What a unique specimen you must be for both the drill and the sensu-pods to react as they did to you?”

He took a step towards her but I put myself between them. I was damned if I’d let him touch her again.

“Hey, Sarden! We were talking,” she protested, trying to get around me. I blocked her with one arm.

“Zoe, go to the food-prep area and make me that cakecheese concoction you made last night,” I ordered her. “I’m hungry and I’ll want to eat as soon as Count Doloroso and I conclude our business here.”

“What?” She poked her head around my arm and glared up at me. “Did you just do the alien equivalent of telling me to get to the kitchen and make you a sandwich?”

“Whatever you call it, go make it,” I growled. “Please.”

“Fine.” Zoe stormed off—I could hear her little bare feet slapping against the metal floor as she went and knew she as angry. But I couldn’t stand to have Doloroso lusting over her. I didn’t like the way he looked at her—not one fucking bit.

“But Master, I thought once this deal was concluded we were going to try and find a mechanic?”

It was Al again, this time in his shipboard form. I had to have a talk with him about interrupting. Lately he was showing up at the most inopportune time possible, damn it.

“Al—” I began but Doloroso interrupted.

“If you’re looking for a mechanic who deals with unattached males, I’m afraid I have bad news for you—you won’t find one on Gallana. Such services are strictly monitored by the Majorans and they refuse to deal with any male without a female. Luckily…” He smiled at Zoe’s retreating back. “You have a lovely female to accompany you and make the deal for whatever repairs you need. And I happen to know of a fine and reputable shop who will give you an excellent discount if you mention my name.”

I ground my teeth at the idea of taking Zoe into Gallana. In the spaceport proper and wearing traditional Majoran garb, she would stand out with her pale skin and vivid hair. Her beauty would shine like a star and I was afraid it would attract all the wrong kinds of attention.

Then again, I didn’t know if I had a choice.

I sighed. She’d probably be thrilled to see the port and as long as I kept a good eye on her, no harm would come to her.

I’d see to that myself.

 

 

Zoe

 

Of course there was no way in hell I was staying put in my room. Especially after I heard strange voices down the long hallway. I’d meant to just creep quietly over and peep into the doorway to see who it was. But when I saw the tall man with blue hair bending over to pick up the stabby-stabby corkscrew, I had to say something. Strangely though, it didn’t try anything with him. Maybe it was all stabbed out and I had been its last victim.

I hadn’t loved the weird way the new guy—who I guessed was there to buy all the strange medical equipment, which looked more like torture devices—had looked at me. The way he kissed my hand and then licked his lips was kind of creepy too. But at least he was polite, damn it! Which was a hell of a lot more than I could say for Sarden, the big red jerk!

And here for a little while I’d actually begun to think he had some kind of feelings for me. I mean, after the way he was so patient and kind—the way he held me in the purple bathtub tank and soothed me when I started to panic because of my bad memories.

And don’t forget the way he healed you, whispered a little voice in the back of my head. My brain tried to show me an image of the big alien kneeling before me, licking my nipples and then moving lower…what if Al hadn’t come in at just that minute? I would have come for sure. Come all over his face, just like he wanted me to…

Stop it! I ordered myself sternly, pushing the naughty images out of my head. He was probably just healing me because Tazaxx doesn’t take damaged goods.

Sarden wasn’t a nice guy at all, I told myself. He was a big, sexist alien jerk who’d ordered me to go to the kitchen and make him a damn sandwich!

“Asshole,” I muttered to myself as I stomped back to the food-prep area and slapped one of the sticky pads from the food-sim against my temple. “He wants a sandwich, let’s make him one.”

I tried to think of the worst combinations I could and since the food-sim was still messed up, it didn’t take much work on my part. I had managed to make a crème brulee with the flavor of pepperoni pizza, a plate of spaghetti and meatballs that tasted like pistachio ice cream, and a ham sandwich which tasted like a nasty-ass batch of oatmeal raisin cookies—(I hate raisins)—when Sarden finally came sauntering in.

“Zoe?” he said cautiously, approaching me as though I might bite. Well I felt like biting, damn it! But I plastered a smile on my face and turned to face him instead.

“Hello dear, you’re just in time for supper. Here’s that sandwich you ordered,” I said sweetly, handing him the plate with the ham sandwich on it.

“Hmmm.” He took it, sniffed it, and took a wary bite.

To my disappointment, he didn’t immediately spit it on the floor and wash his mouth out. Instead, he chewed meditatively before taking another bite.

“It’s good,” he said, nodding. “Thank you. I was afraid you’d try to make something disgusting because you were mad at me.”

“It is disgusting,” I said, completely exasperated. Honestly, couldn’t the man tell when he’d been fed a sandwich that was all kinds of nasty? “And I am mad at you! There was no need for you to be so rude to me in front of your friend.”

“Count Doloroso is not my friend,” he growled, putting the sandwich down. “He was a business deal and that’s all.”

“Well why did you send me to the kitchen then?” I flared. “Were you afraid I was going to mess up your deal by warning him that the stuff he was buying could put his eye out or drown him or both? I mean, caveat emptor and all that but you have to at least warn someone when you’re selling them something that could kill or maim them.”

“Doloroso knows exactly how dangerous the Assimilation equipment is—he collects it,” he said, frowning. “So your oh-so-generous warning was of no consequence to him.”

“Then why did you kick me out if you weren’t afraid I’d mess up the deal?” I demanded.

Sarden’s face grew dark. “Because I didn’t like the way he was looking at you, all right? You look too damn tempting running around like that.” He made a gesture which took in my appearance.

“What? But I’m just wearing your shirt,” I protested. “What’s so special about that?”

“It’s not the shirt that’s special,” he said, sounding exasperated. “It’s you Zoe. You’re fucking gorgeous—didn’t you see the way he was looking at you?”

It’s hard to stay mad at someone who thinks you’re so fabulously beautiful they picked you over a Victoria’s Secret model to kidnap. But then I reminded myself why Sarden had picked me—to trade me to some scummy alien on the other side of the galaxy—and I managed to stay mad anyway.

“The way he was looking at me? Are you hearing yourself?” I asked. “You sound just like my friend Leah’s jealous, controlling fiancée. He doesn’t even want her going to the grocery store to buy milk alone because he’s afraid other men will look at her.”

“Well if she’s as beautiful as you, I don’t blame him for being wary of other males,” Sarden said, frowning.

“You’re missing the point,” I glared at him.

“And the point is?” He raised an eyebrow.

“The point is, I’m a person, not a possession,” I said, thoroughly exasperated now. “You don’t own me, you know.”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” he pointed out, taking another bite of the nasty oatmeal raisin-tasting ham sandwich. “I bought you, remember?”

“Alien asshole,” I muttered. “Fine. You own me. But that doesn’t mean I’ll do everything you say like a good little puppet. I’m still a person with feelings and thoughts of my own.”

I turned back to the food-sim, preparing to make something even worse for him to eat. I wondered if I could get it to make me a chocolate pudding that tasted like dog crap or something horrible like that. Maybe a cupcake that tasted like earthworms? Or apple strudel that tasted like mashed up spiders. Then again, he’d probably eat it all and ask for more. He had liked the pie that tasted like sauerkraut…

“Since you have all these feelings, how would you feel about going out to see the spaceport this afternoon?” Sarden asked quietly.

His words caught me completely by surprise. I turned back to him slowly, peeling the sticky thought pad from my temple.

“Are you serious?”

“Completely.” He took another bite of sandwich, finishing it off. “You get to come with me and see the spaceport. He frowned and pointed a finger at me. “But only if you promise to stay at my side at all times.”

“What? You afraid I’m going to try and escape so I can hitch a ride home?” I said carelessly. It was, of course, exactly what I planned to do.

“Zoe, listen to me.” He took me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes. “I’m telling you to stay by me because it isn’t safe for you to wander off alone. And because anyone you asked to take you back to Earth would probably be happy to agree and take you aboard their ship.”

“Then why shouldn’t I ask?” I demanded.

“Because.” His voice dropped and his eyes narrowed. “Once they had you aboard, they could do anything to you—anything at all. And I wouldn’t be there to stop them.” He shook his head, his eyes serious. “I…I couldn’t stand that.”

“Right,” I said. “I’m supposed to believe you care about me? When you’ve told me over and over you’re determined to trade me away?”

“That’s different,” he growled. “I do care about you, Gods damn it, although I don’t know why, exactly. And the male I’m trading you to won’t molest or harm you. He won’t chop you up into bite sized pieces for cloning, either.”

“What?” My stomach did a weird little flip and I was glad I hadn’t eaten too much of the mixed up food. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re beautiful and unique and Gallana has a black market for clones second only to Tiberium 3,” he said. “When I told you they could do anything they wanted, did you think I only meant whoever took you could rape you? Believe me, it can be much, much worse.”

His words made my stomach do that weird flip again and I took a step back.

“If it’s that dangerous, why are you letting me go at all?”

“Because, well…” He ground his teeth, looking irritated. “Because I need you to get the hydrogen scoop’s panel fixed,” he admitted at last.

“What? Why would you need me to get your ship fixed?”

He took a deep breath. “Remember I told you that the Majorans are in ascendancy and their Empress rules the galaxy?”

“Yeah. So?” The idea of the galaxy having an Empress was still weird to me but so many strange things had happened in my life in the past forty-eight hours, it didn’t seem quite so shocking anymore.

“So…” He ran a hand through his hair. “So the Majorans are a matrilineal society and Gallana is a strictly Majoran port.”

“Oh…” I was beginning to get it. “So it’s all about girl power, huh? Females rule the roost and the men are at their beck and call?”

“Not exactly. It isn’t as if the females own the males as slaves—nothing that extreme. It’s that Majoran males worship their females as goddesses.”

“Wow!” I was beginning to like the idea of Majoran society—a lot. “That sounds pretty extreme to me,” I told Sarden. “They really worship their wives?”

He nodded. “They believe in each female resides a small bit of divinity from the Goddess of Mercy and so they treat them like goddesses and refuse to do business without them. Also, they refuse to do business with a male who does not have his own personal goddess with him.”

“Your own personal goddess,” I mused. It sounded like a song from the 80s. I put a hand on my hip and looked up at him. “And why should I agree to act as your goddess? What’s in it for me? I mean, you get that panel fixed and then it’s off to Giedi Prime to trade me to that Tazaxx guy. Why should I help you?”

“Because it’s not just for me I’m doing this.” He ran both hands through his hair this time. “I’m doing it for my little sister. She’s been sold to Tazaxx and I have a limited time to get her back. That’s why I bought you—to trade for her.”

“What?” Sold by who? How?” I was intensely interested and couldn’t quite hide it. I had been able to tell by his reaction to me touching his crystal picture cube how important his sister was to him. But to hear that all this was about her, that he hadn’t just kidnapped me to sell or trade for profit, put a whole new perspective on things.

“I don’t like to talk about it,” Sarden growled.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Well that’s too bad. You’d better talk if you need my help. And begin at the beginning.”

“All right—I’ll tell you. Briefly.” He sighed. “You know that I am a half-breed—both Vorn and Eloim. My mother was the daughter of the Rae and Ria of Eloim—the rulers of the planet. She was kidnapped by a high ranking Vorn and taken back to Vorn 6. There she became pregnant with me. Then her parents—my grandparents, the Rae and Ria—paid her ransom and she was returned home to Eloim.”

“Wow.” I nodded. “Okay. Go on.”

He started pacing the kitchen. “In due time, I was born. My mother hid her pregnancy until it was too late to abort me although that was what my grandfather, the Rae, wanted when he finally found out. But she wouldn’t allow it, even though I was a half-breed and a product of rape she…” He shook his head. “She was always protective of me.”

“Oh, Sarden…” I whispered but he shook his head and continued, his face stony.

“My grandparents married my mother to a respectable Eloim male for a considerable sum of credit so that he would overlook the fact that she was ‘used goods.’ About seven cycles later, my sister, Sellah was born and my mother died shortly after from complications of childbirth.”

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I lost my mom too. I know how awful it is.”

He shook his head, his face dark. “It was a long time ago. I do remember the last time I saw her though—she was holding Sellah in her arms. She introduced me to my little sister and made me promise to always take care of her and protect her.”

“Oh…” His words caused a stabbing pain in my heart. I had to sink down into a chair because my knees suddenly felt wobbly.

“You’re the oldest one—the one in charge,” I heard my mother’s voice whisper in my memory. “You have to look out for Angie. Sisters look after each other. The oldest looks after the youngest, remember that Zoe. Take care of your sister!”

“It’s a promise I was unable to keep.” Sarden had his back to me so he couldn’t see my reaction—I was glad.

“How…what happened?” I asked, my voice coming out hoarse and whispery.

He sighed. “Normally the oldest male child of the Rae and Ria will grow up to become the Rae in his own right. His mate will be the Ria so that the planet is balanced. However, if he has no mate, he can choose a female relative to help him rule. Because I was a half-breed, I was…discouraged from claiming my birthright. And so the honor of being the next Rae fell to my cousin, Hurxx. He had no mate so he chose my little sister, Sellah as his Ria.”

I remembered all the talk about her coronation on the crystal cube. So that was what it had been about. Sarden wasn’t just some common smuggler—he was the rightful heir to a whole freaking planet. Or would have been if he hadn’t been half Vorn. Also, his sister was a queen. Wow.

“So what happened? Was there some kind of political coup?”

“You could say that,” he remarked grimly. “Not three solar days after her coronation, Sellah was walking in the palace gardens when a band of pirates somehow got past security and took her.” He ran his hands through his hair again in a distracted, anxious way. “I traced them for months—so afraid of what might be happening to her. Then finally I found out she was with a male I already know.”

“Tazaxx?” I asked.

He nodded. “Tazaxx. He is a collector of rare and beautiful females which is why I bought you—there is no rarer female than one from a closed planet. Especially a La-ti-zal like yourself.” He looked at me and there was desperation on his strong features. “You’re so fucking gorgeous and unique, Zoe. I knew if I could get you to him in time, he wouldn’t be able to resist a trade—you for Sellah.” He lifted his hands, palm up. “And now you know why I need your help.”

“Wow…” I didn’t know what else to say.

“Of course,” Sarden went on. “I realize that my troubles are my own. Why should you care about helping to save my sister? Especially when her freedom means your own imprisonment? But there is something else I can promise you, Zoe—”

“I’ll do it,” I said quietly.

“I can go back to Earth when this is over and buy the contracts on your two best friends,” he went on. “That way no male searching for a mate can pick them from the AMI and take them away as I took you. It will guarantee their safety forever. It—”

“I said, I’ll do it,” I said, louder this time.

“It will—what?” Sarden looked at me uncertainly. “What did you say?”

“I said I’ll do it. I’ll help you.” I looked up at him, letting him see the sincerity in my eyes.

“You will? But…why?” He shook his head, puzzled.

“Because family is important. And I know…” I cleared my throat. “I know about feeling responsible for them.”

He bowed his head and looked down for a moment. When he looked back up, his golden eyes were suspiciously bright.

“Thank you,” he said in a low, hoarse voice. “I…thank you.”

“You did say that this Tazaxx guy just wants me to put me in some kind of display case?” I asked uneasily. “I assume I’ll still be alive, right? Not stuffed like some taxidermied gator hung up on a poacher’s wall?”

“You’ll be alive and well, living in a place as close to your home as possible,” he promised me. “He’ll consult you about your home planet and build you a beautiful habitat which resembles it in every way.”

“Huh. Like an exhibit at the zoo,” I said, thinking of how zoo designers always tried to make the animals feel at home by crafting them a place as close to native environment as possible.

Sarden nodded. “Exactly.”

I decided right then and there that I was going to have Tazaxx build me a private movie theater and see if he could catch the signal from Earth to get some chick flick and scifi movies imported. And also, a Godiva chocolate shop and maybe a Krispy Kreme as well. After all, if I was going to be an exhibit at a zoo with no dating scene to worry about, I might dump the 80-20 rule of eating and go something more like 60-40 or maybe even 70-30. What the hell, right?

“You’ll be perfectly safe and secure and comfortable,” Sarden promised again. “And I will keep my promise about your friends too—I’ll buy their contracts so no other male can choose them from the Alien Mate Index.”

“That’s good—that’s important to me,” I said, nodding. “But how much danger do you think they’re really in? Will the Commercians start importing five hundred thousand women a day or something? Because honestly, something like that is going to cause people to notice and wonder what in the hell is going on.”

“No—they won’t want to attract undue attention. Not at first, anyway,” he said grimly. “But I’m afraid your friends will be at more risk than most because of their proximity to and relationship with you.”

“What? But we’re not related or anything. Even if I am this Lata thingy whatever it is you keep calling me, it’s not like Leah or Charlotte could have inherited it or anything.”

“I don’t think you understand at all how the gifts of a La-ti-zal work at all,” he remarked. “Or how they are formed. The Ancient Ones sowed seeds of greatness all over your planet, but only in certain females do they sprout and take root.”

“Well, what causes them to do that?” I demanded.

“Sometimes a traumatic event in their past causes it,” he said. “Sometimes it has to do with the proximity of another La-ti-zal. How much time did you spend with your friends?”

“All the time,” I whispered. “Every weekend, practically. Plus we got together at least two or three times during the week. We…we were inseparable.”

Thinking of Leah and Charlotte put a lump in my throat but I swallowed hard and tried not to think about never seeing them again. Could I really do this? Could I really give up any chance of going back to Earth? “Take care of your sister,” I heard my mother whisper and I knew that I would do it.

“And when you spent time with your friends, did you eat from the same utensils and drink from the same vessels?” he wanted to know.

“Well, I mean sure,” I said thinking of all the times we’d split dessert to avoid scarfing down too many calories. “So…you’re saying they could have caught this, uh, specialness from me?”

“They may or they may not have. But the Commercians have them in their sights now,” he said seriously. “And they’re probably already refining their process so they can pick out latent La-ti-zals and sell them at a higher price.”

“All right,” I said, lifting my chin. “I’ll do it. If it will help you get your sister back and keep my friends safe from what I’m going through right now, it’s worth it.”

“I’m sorry,” Sarden said in a low, rough voice and looked away.

I couldn’t exactly say “it’s all right.” Because it wasn’t—no matter how good and noble the reasons were, I was going to be sold into a kind of slavery. A nice, cushy slavery if what Sarden was saying was true, but slavery nonetheless. And I would never see Earth again. Would never see Leah or Charlotte or…

Okay, if I let myself keep thinking this way, I was seriously going to bawl. I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath. If I was going to spend the rest of my life behind glass being a zoo exhibit, I’d better have as much fun as I could before we got to Giedi Prime. And that meant exploring the spaceport—well, as much as Sarden would allow me to.

“Hadn’t we better get going?” I asked him. “I mean, if we’re going to find a mechanic before it gets too late?”

“Yes.” He straightened up and nodded. “But first you have to get dressed. What you’re wearing now won’t do for Gallana, unfortunately.”

I opened my eyes wide, as though shocked.

“Really? Walking around in a man’s shirt ten times too big for me with no panties or bra underneath isn’t considered Goddess couture? Imagine that.”

He made a face. “Your humor knows no bounds, Zoe. Just go to your room and I’ll have Al synthesize you something that’s more in keeping with Majoran fashion.”

“Wait—you said he can synthesize clothes? The same way you make food in the food-sim?” I asked, frowning.

Sarden nodded. “Of course.”

“Well in that case, how come you didn’t give me something else to wear before now?” I demanded. “Why in the world do you have me running around the damn ship in your shirts with no underwear?”

His eyes suddenly went half-lidded. “Maybe because I like you that way. You look good in my clothes…and nothing else.”

His voice was a soft growl I swore I could feel right through my entire body, even though we weren’t touching.

My heart did a little jump and started to pound. I could feel my cheeks getting hot at the way he was looking at me.

“Big red pervert,” I muttered.

“Perhaps.” He gave me a lazy grin. “Don’t worry, Zoe—you’ll have some new clothes soon. Just wait in your room and I’ll bring them shortly.”

“Fine,” I said, turning to leave and hoping my blush wasn’t too evident. “But before you go, try the pizza-flavored crème brulee—you’ll probably like it.”

Then I left, trying not to feel his eyes on my backside as I walked away.

Aliens can be so annoying.