The next morning Will was pale but hale and healthy.

“I could think only of losing you,” he gave Radhya as his excuse.

“You think I would be better off losing you, than you losing me?” she queried.

“I don’t think any of us needs to be lost,” Max finished the argument. “But where in the creator’s ideas did you think to vault over that beast?”

“It was something I once read about the Minotaur, like a half man and half bull creature. I think that was how they defeated him. I don’t exactly remember it now. It’s very vague.”

“Well, it worked. Although I thought my heart would stop when I saw you running towards it,” Padr said. “I thought you were going to bulldog it or something.”

“I would never have made it without your help. Thank you for that. But I’m late to talk to Geo now.”

She left the men together reliving the event, and made her way to the office. The holophone was barely on when Geo’s angry face appeared.

“How dare you take chances like that. Do you know how important you are? You can’t go around jumping over wildlife young lady.”

“But Geo, if I hadn’t jumped I would be dead now, and so would Will. If Max and Padr hadn’t given me their strength, I wouldn’t have made it either. I wasn’t doing it for fun.”

“No, I suppose not, and I apologize, but I was so frightened when I heard what happened. Is Will all right?”

“Yes. I had to use ‘the Geo process’ on him, but he’s perfectly fine, just a little weak from blood loss.”

“You performed the surgery?”

“Yes, I had to. There was no one else. It’s funny, like he was helping me himself, putting skill into my hands. I don’t know. It’s hard to describe.”

“Well done, my dear, well done. How would you like another half planet?”

“What?”

“Lady Kemmira is having a plague on her planet. She’s willing to offer you either half of her land or half of her income for ten years to fix it.”

“Will I have time? I still planned on the Animal Island complex. I have that to do with Padr before the review committee visits.”

“Why don’t you leave Padr here? He could be in charge of it. It’s only the architecture and landscaping; all the animals are already there.”

“I guess it would help my chances to stay away from Barone if I had another half-world. It should increase my status quite a bit although I think maybe the income might be better. Check and see which is greater then set up the contracts. I’ll be home as soon as Will feels able to travel.”

Radhya signed off. Will was dressed and on his feet when she returned to the infirmary. Throwing his arms around her neck, he drew her close, his lips descending and kissing her slowly. Violet shimmering light enveloped her, an upwelling of respect, gratitude, and love. Max and Padr joined in the emotions, but Radhya pulled away embarrassed.

“I needed to thank you,” Will explained.

Radhya laughed. “Embarrassing me to death is a great thank you. You know I don’t like hands on me.”

“Tit for tat,” he responded. “You had your hands inside me yesterday.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that. You are forgiven. Now look, we have work to do.”

“Oh no more rhinos, please. They give me a pain,” moaned Will, doubled over in mock pain.

“Ha ha. Padr, how would you feel about staying behind and overseeing the Animal Island complex? I have been offered half a planet to stop a problem and get an economy functioning again.

A pang shivered down the emerald strand in her mind.

“If I have to, I suppose I can,” he replied, “However, I don’t feel right about being that far apart from you and the others.”

Radhya thought for a moment. Leaving Padr behind created uneasiness situated somewhere in the vicinity of her stomach, but she dismissed it.

“So the rest of you get packed. We’re going to Kemmira’s World.”

Radhya, Max and Will took a heliplane to the spaceport, meeting Rory and Stane at the Arrow. Brief preparations over, they were off planet and headed for the stars. A restless discomfort bloomed in them. Will and Max grew uneasy while Radhya developed a splitting headache, the first since the bonding.

“Radhya, we have to go back,” begged Max. “This isn’t right; we have to go back for Padr.”

Radhya looked at him in too much pain to think, the echoing drumbeat of agony drowned out her friend’s words, destroying her ability to understand. It increased with every kilometer. Will lapsed into unconsciousness. Radhya crumpled into her seat in pain.

“Rory,” yelled Max at the intercom, “turn around and go back.”

“What does milady say?” came the voice on the intercom.

Radhya writhed in her seat making little-grunting noises in the back of her throat.

“Rory go back to Pleasant right now,” Max commanded in a tone that brooked no opposition.

“Yes,” Rory answered.

Rory spun the Arrow around on its trajectory and retraced their way to the planet. Radhya’s pain leaked from her body the closer they drew to Pleasant. Waking, Will rose and cursed his blood loss as the problem.

Padr, pale and disheveled, with Kung, was waiting with his luggage as they landed. His hands were shaking, and his legs didn’t work especially well.

“I’ve decided I can plan the Animal Island complex just as well with the three of you as I can alone at home. This way I can use Max’s expertise, and I can make it just like you want Radhya,” he said with an unconvincing smile.

“Why not just admit, Padr, that we are going to have to stick together from now on. We can be a planetary diameter apart, but no further.”

Perplexed, Padr struggled for something to say. Radhya pulled him down to her, resting her forehead on his. The bond flowed, blue and green joining to made a turquoise fountain. The relief at being in each other’s mind washed back and forth. Max and Will joined in the consolation that flowed between them like a brilliant rainbow.

“I’m relieved we are back together,” she told him.

Trying again, the Arrow traveled to Kemmira’s World without further incident. The starport was fancy. Radhya departed with her usual trio and Kung, leaving Stane and Rory to guard the ship. An escort with a horse-drawn conveyance waited at the gates of the port to bring them to the palace. Radhya exchanged glances with Padr. He nodded at her. The carriage took them down elegant tree-lined streets, broken at regular intervals by soaring gothic arches. It was a large city.

“I’m not particularly well traveled, is this usual?” she whispered to Padr seated opposite her.

He smiled back at her. “Yes, this is quite the usual for aristocratic visitors. Don’t forget her income depends on pleasing enough of the royals with clothing and baubles that they keep coming back. I’ve been here myself a time or two.”

They rolled the rest of the way in silence, marveling at the architecture by sending their feeling back and forth through the bond. Numerous other carriages bearing guests shared the road making Kung restless on the way, fidgeting his considerable weight from Padr to Radhya to the floor and around again. After a few klicks, they turned into an enormous circular driveway paved with cobblestones. The horses’ hooves rang hollow echoing back from the high, bordering hedges that obscured their view until they rounded the curve. A complete reproduction of the Palace of Versailles was revealed.

The conveyance halted before a flagstone walkway. Two men in blue, white and gold livery opened the door and placed a footstool for them. One held out his hand to her. Gesturing to Max, Radhya took his hand when he preceded her down the steps and held his hand toward her. The others followed. Falling into their usual formation, Will on the right, Max on the left and Padr behind, Kung padded behind Padr and Radhya was just slightly in the lead. The two footmen led the way. Inside, the vaulted ceiling drew their eyes upward. Making a conscious effort to keep her eyes focused ahead, Radhya was led through gracious halls and spacious rooms filled with light, airy furniture. The footmen left them in what Radhya took to be a library or study for the walls were lined with old-fashioned antique books from floor to ceiling on two walls. The third wall had floor to ceiling windows divided into many tiny panes behind a large, real oak desk and five red, leather chairs. Radhya seated herself in the middle chair, and the men stood in a semicircle around her.

The door opened, and a woman entered. She was small, although still six centimeters taller than Radhya, impeccably groomed with gold fingernails and perfect makeup. Her hair was done pulled to the top of her head and tumbled down in streaks of gold, platinum, and bronze. She wore a red and gold dress of elegant styling and a female bodyguard in-house livery followed her.

“Lady Kirbyson?” she inquired in a soprano voice, feminine and clear.

Radhya rose and faced her.

“Please do sit down again. I am surprised. Most visitors are far too intimidated to be seated, especially on their first visit.” Lady Kemmira smile was cold and somehow feral.

Moving behind the large desk, she seated herself. She looked straight at Radhya.

“I suppose they do not call you Lady Death for nothing.”

Saying nothing in reply to the jibe, Radhya bowed her head. Lady Kemmira’s eyes roved over her bodyguards.

“My Lord Kent, I didn’t invite you, did I?” she spoke in surprise.

“No, Lady Kemmira you did not,” answered Padr for himself, “I am no longer Lord Kent. I’m merely Padr, slave, and bodyguard to Lady Kirbyson.”

“No!” The blonde exclaimed in shock. “I’ve been trying to get a contract with you for the past two years. It was almost concluded just before your parents died, but your brother has put me off ever since. Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

“I don’t know Lady Kemmira.”

“Lady Kirbyson, you must sell him to me, at once,” Kemmira demanded. “It is unthinkable a man like Lord Kent be a bodyguard to Lady Death.”

“I’m sorry,” Radhya replied coldly, with sparks flashing in her eyes, “my bodyguard is not for sale.”

“Oh, but you must. I insist. I’ll meet any price.”

“Padr is not for sale.” The men recognized the warning tones in Radhya’s voice.

“I’ll get you one way or another Lord Kent,” Lady Kemmira promised him.

“No Lady Kemmira. If I were free, I would not contract with you, and I am now more than happy in the position that I hold with Lady Kirbyson,” Padr told her plainly.

“Kent, you couldn’t be,” she contradicted wringing her hands in distress.

“But I am, please, leave me alone.”

“If you only lured me here to buy my slave, then I’ll be leaving,” snarled Radhya rising to her feet.

“No, please, sit back down. I’ve just grown so used to thinking of Lord Kent as my spouse, that the shock got to me. If he is happier as your slave than my concubine, so be it. I asked you here on the recommendation of Lord Kirbyson. He said he could help me, but it would take, probably, five years. I’ll be out of business by then. My problem, you see, is this insect that came out of nowhere and has ravaged both my silk crops in its adult form and my shocotton, in its larval form. And the eggs, that are laid in sticky cells in their wool, plague the sheep. Without high-quality material, it is impossible to have a fashion industry. We are working from the warehouse now; we have been for two years, but this year’s failure is really going to hurt.”

“Do you have a lab and samples of the pest?” Radhya queried.

“Yes, my scientists have been working, but neither insecticides nor organic spray will repel them or kill them.”

“Okay,” smiled Radhya, “if you can keep your hands off my bodyguard, let’s get to work.”

Lady Kemmira led them down a long hallway and then a lift took them to a deep basement compound. Kung complained mightily on the lift. Radhya was shown a series of well-equipped labs with workers busy with their labors.

“I want an X10 comp and a lab of my own, fully equipped. I want at least two or three hundred specimens of this insect in its various stages. I want a room nearby, for my slaves, Kung and I. I need a litter box and two kilos of meat every day for my lynxcat. I need an exercise room, well equipped next to my sleeping quarters. I won’t work with your scientists, my techniques are private, and I work with my own. I also want good meals brought to us. The men get the same food as I do.”

Lady Kemmira nodded. “I’ll get my staff to make the arrangements.”

The Lady left, and Radhya got right to work. As in her usual pattern, she worked late, rose early and worked; forgetting to eat half the time. Kung was their guardian, making sure no one spied on them and warning them of visitors. Will, Padr, and Max worked alongside, doing the mindless tasks or repetition so necessary for progress. Because they were a well-oiled team, a week later she had a servant call Lady Kemmira.

The Lady of the Palace appeared dressed in gold and silver, looking flustered and annoyed.

“Is there something you need? You could have just asked one of the servants,” she said with irritation.

“I have finished. I have two products for you,” replied Radhya triumphantly.

“You couldn’t possibly be finished. Lord Kirbyson said five years!” Kemmira exclaimed.

“Well, Steph has always been a little slow at getting things done. Besides I thought he recommended me because he said I was faster?”

“Do you mean to tell me I am giving up half my planet’s income for ten years for a week’s worth of work?” she replied indignantly.

“Lady Kemmira,” Radhya sighed, “Isn’t it the quality of the work that counts, not the time taken to produce it? If you don’t want these things, I’ll take them home with me along with all the evidence that you’ve been sabotaged.”

“What?” exclaimed Lady Kemmira.

“I found evidence that these bugs were genetically created from earwigs and tailored especially to ruin your crops,” Radhya called a genetic print to the screen. “See this here and here; those squiggles mean these things were altered from another insect form.”

“You did it. You did it so I would hire you and give you all my money.”

Radhya threw her hands in the air.

“Why in all the creator’s wisdom would I tell you about the sabotage if I had done it?” she snapped.

“Nobody else could have, and that‘s why you could cure it so fast!” stated Lady Kemmira emphatically.

“Call the proctors and make complaint. I dare you. At least two other people could have done it. One is my brother Stephan, and the other is the one who obviously did, my outlaw sister Petra. She has already made herself a slave.”

“How do you know it was her?”

“One, she works for Lord Barone. He is administering her estate right now. It’s a matter of record. Two, a similar, but not exact pest infected her world ten years ago, and I eradicated it for her. Three, you are in competition with her in the fabric and fashion industries, and Petra hates competition. Four, how can you tell a painting is by a certain artist without his signature? You tell by his composition and even his brush strokes. Believe me; these things have Petra written all over them. Now do you want the solution or not? It does come with a guarantee. No success, no payment.”

Lady Kemmira nodded numbly in shock.

“First, I have five hundred thousand sterile males to be released.”

“What! You’re not going to spread more of those pests?”

“Yes, you are. These males are improved to give out hundred times more powerful pheromones. That will attract the females to mate with them alone. They will lay no eggs. Racial suicide. The second is a spray for your silkworms’ food. It is totally harmless to them, but it creates a biological reaction which makes the cocoons smell very repugnant to the insects so the adults will avoid the silkworms. This year’s crop will be saved.”

“Will the silk smell bad to us as well?”

Radhya held a cocoon out to Lady Kemmira.

“Sniff,” she commanded.

Lady Kemmira drew in a deep breath. “That’s heavenly, how beautiful.”

She sniffed again and again.

“Will it wash out?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to experiment with that.”

“I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Just pay the bill.”

Radhya packed up her tools and followed by her men and Kung, trailed after the Lady to the part of the palace exposed to the world.

“Why don’t you stay tonight? I’m having a small dinner party, and I want you for my guest of honor. I had planned already to ask the servants to tender you an invitation.”

Radhya replied, “I thank you, but I brought only working clothes.”

Kemmira laughed. “This is the fashion capital of the Commonwealth. I think I can give you something. Consider it a bonus for such speedy work.”

Unsure, Radhya nodded her head. Lady Kemmira showed them to a large sumptuous bedroom with a dark walnut, four poster bed in the middle of the floor, matching the chests and bureaus around the perimeter of the room. The hangings, curtains, and bedspread were white lace in addition to the white lace topping the four easy chairs scattered around the room. Kung sniffed and prowled around the premises.

Max opened the door when a tap sounded at it and it a large woman slave with an armful of clothing entered. A man stood behind her.

“Lady Kemmira requests that your slave Padr be your escort tonight and balance the party,” the man requested.

Radhya exchanged glances with him.

“Care to play dress up Padr?” she asked

He grinned and replied, “It might be fun, for old time’s sake.”

“Very well, tell Lady Kemmira that Lord Kent will escort me.”

The man bowed and left. The woman held out black, male evening wear to Padr, high collared with a bow tie that would completely hide his slave collar.

“Max can be my slave and Will can be yours,” Radhya suggested.

They grinned. The woman slave hauled Radhya off to one of the washrooms. Two torturous hours later she was ready. Kemmira had dressed her in pale grey silk, the color of her eyes. Stones of shell pink circled her throat and fell between her breasts in the low cut, floor length gown. Radhya looked belligerently at the men. Makeup made her radiant even in her pique.

“Outstanding!” said Max.

“As usual she cleans up well,” commented Will.

Radhya stared at Padr as if she had never seen him before, looking almost frightened. Padr returned the look, and they gazed into each other’s eyes a long moment.

“If only she would just smile, she would outshine anyone there,” quipped Padr holding out his arm to her as he felt her uncertainty.

The slave led them through the elegantly appointed hallways to a banquet room almost as large as the one at Radhya’s visitor’s center. A hundred or more people lined the room setting Radhya’s alarm bells off immediately. She sent ‘warning’ down the bond. The men sent back ‘relax and enjoy’. Radhya sent ‘danger’ again.

Noticing Padr and herself were the only ones without color, she remarked that everyone was brilliantly dressed in a rainbow of colors. The women were looking at the pair of them and tittering behind their hands, while the men, who were fashion plates of sartorial splendor, observed them superciliously. Radhya overheard a comment about last year’s fashion. Lady Kemmira came sparkling up in a dress that appeared to be diamonds. The refracted light was eye-achingly bright.

Lady Kemmira grasped Padr by the arm and led him to a seat beside herself. Will followed to stand behind his chair. Radhya was seated by one of Kemmira’s slaves on the opposite side of the table from Padr, more than halfway down. About twenty-five people were between them.

The meal was long and boring as only those functions could be, without anything that Radhya cared to eat. The elderly aristocrat on Radhya’s right kept falling asleep, and the young one on her left was interested only in the young lady on the other side of the table. Radhya spent two and half-hours in splendid isolation. Without the bond with her friends, she would have run screaming from the room.

The interminable dinner drew to a close as slaves began clearing the cutlery. Lady Kemmira rose to her feet and tapped on a crystal glass. The delicate chime rang throughout the room halting conversation.

“Thank you all for coming. It is good to celebrate again. Now my material problems will soon be solved thanks to Lady Kirbyson,” polite applause greeted her remark, “I also want to take the opportunity to announce my agreement to contract with Lord Kent.”

She pulled Padr to his feet amid much more vigorous applause. She snuggled to his side. Radhya leapt to her feet.

“I beg your pardon?” she snapped.

“Lord Kent and I are contracting tomorrow. This is our engagement party.”

“The former Lord Kent is a slave, stripped of status, and wealth and owned by me. It is not legal for you to contract to him.”

“I can get the King to pardon him. He promised me anything I wanted as a reward for the last special outfit I created for him. So I plan to ask him for this.”

Radhya sat down. If Padr could be set free, she had no right to hold him to her. She clamped firmly down on the bond so he could not sense her sense of betrayal, confusion, and pain.

Padr pushed Lady Kemmira away from him. Disgust was written large on his face as the petite blonde hung on to his arm.

“I will not contract with you, not for my freedom, nor all the money in the Commonwealth. I would rather be Radhya’s slave than your free mate. I despise your trickery and deceit. You told us this banquet was to honor Radhya for her exceptional work on your behalf. She is a woman of honor, she saved your planet and your income; and you try to trick her and steal me from her. You are totally despicable.”

He tore his arm away from Lady Kemmira and marched to Radhya’s seat. He offered Lady Kirbyson his arm as Lady Kemmira fled the room in tears. As Radhya and her men left the banquet room, a slave appeared to escort them back to their room.

A riled Radhya was still pacing in fury an hour later, disturbing the slaves who were trying to pack, when a timid tap came at the door. Ignoring safety, Radhya whipped it open. Lady Kemmira stood there, alone.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize Lord Kent was in love with you. I’ve always been told you didn’t have those sorts of feelings for men. I certainly didn’t expect either of you to deny me in front of the aristocracy. That just isn’t done. Now I will be the laughing stock of the royalty for years. I don’t know what to do anymore. Lady Kirbyson, Radhya, help me please.” She held out an imploring hand.

Radhya snapped back, “I did help you, and you helped yourself, to my bodyguard.”

“I’m sorry. I am just so desperate. I need an heir. A legal heir. I knew about Padr becoming a slave, everyone does, but I thought, for his freedom...I’m thirty-seven. I’ll never have a child without a mate, and I can’t get one of those. Please help me. Do you think your brother?”

“Ask anyone but me to help you there. Try if you want, but he’s as selfish as the sun is hot. Come in.”

Radhya closed the door, Kung prowling restlessly, growling at the newcomer. She pulled a tiny comp from her packed luggage. Typing a few commands, patterns began to flow across the screen stopping five minutes later.

“Your two best matches for children are already contracted. The third is Lord Sutherland. If you and he had children the odds are in the ninetieth percentile that they would be defect free and relatively intelligent.”

“Lord Sutherland is terribly old and grey. Where is Padr in relation to me? ”

“Nine hundred and seventy-five. A very poor match for you indeed.”

“Oh, I guess we weren’t meant for each other.”

“No,” interrupted Padr, “Radhya and I are a perfect match. In more ways than just genetically too.”

“Lord Jambawe is also a good match for you,” continued Radhya. “Eighty-seven percent probability of excellent offspring.”

“Well, he at least is young, if a long way from my status. Oh, what’s the use? I probably can’t even get pregnant now.”

“I can help you with that, for a price. But your infertility problems are very common in the aristocracy and growing with every generation. We are really getting into trouble. Birth rates have fallen drastically. Our women are unable to conceive. Our men are unable to impregnate. More and more the children that are born have defects, mental or physical. Our little boys are born with small penises. Do you know the average royal’s penis is only one quarter the size of a freedman’s? That is always the first indicator of trouble in any population. And there are more heart and kidney defects in our children every year.”

“Do you know why?”

“Yes of course. It’s hundreds of years of inbreeding. Everyone wants to keep their status, so they only contract with those nearest them in status. The best are dropped out the bottom. Like Lord Kent, sold as slaves and the gene pool gets narrower and narrower. We’ve got to smarten up. We are destroying ourselves as a group of people.”

“So if I contract with Lord Jambawe and have trouble, you can help me to conceive?”

“Yes. Contact my majordomo, Geo. He’ll make all the arrangements.”

“Thank you, and I’m sorry,” Lady Kemmira said softly. “And I do envy your perfect match.”

She left.

“Is all that you told her true?” questioned Padr.

“Yes. It’s another reason we have to free the slaves.”

“But am I really your best match?”

Radhya tapped the comp again. The charts came up.

“I told you before I was made for you, look, and the top is mine. Yours is next, then Will’s, then Max’s. Do you see the correspondences? Padr and I are ninety-nine point nine percentile, Will and I are ninety-eight point nine percentile and Max, and I are ninety-eight point eight percentile.”

“So I’m your worst match?” asked Max stricken.

Radhya laughed, “Max, most matches are in the thirtieth percentile. You would be an excellent father for any children I may have. Anything over seventy-five is very good. So, you can see how good you really all are. But grandpa made me to go with Padr.”

“You knew all this when you bought us, didn’t you?” asked Will.

“Absolutely. My grandfather ran experiments. We are the result of his attempt to manipulate human genes inside the parent’s bodies. There were just nine of us altogether. I can’t tell you who the last one is, but there were four others he manipulated in vitro. They are all dead,” she answered.

“So do you know who our fathers are?” asked Max.

“I don’t need grandpa’s notes for that. I know. You were raised by a stepfather but your mother got you from an important, high-status Lord, Max.”

”Can you tell me his name?”

“Do you really want to know?”

Padr looked at Radhya, nostrils flared, eyes wide. He looked at Will and back at Radhya.

“Yes Padr, the genes show don’t they. I am surprised no one ever guessed before. Max is also the picture of his genetic father.”

“Lord Grant?” asked Padr aghast.

“Got it in one,” replied Radhya.

“Lord Grant is my father?” queried Max.

Radhya nodded her head.

“He is rather elderly now, but he was a good friend of my grandfather.”

“Who is Will’s father?” Max continued.

“I don’t want to know!” exclaimed Will. “He abandoned my mother to raise me alone. He’s never even seen me. I don’t want to even know who he is. My mother died alone in agony, and no one came to care for her except me, so he means nothing to me.”

“Fair enough,” said Radhya, “We are your family now, and you never have to be alone again.”

Love and support poured down the bond to Will easing his distress.

Radhya finally settled to sleep in the big bed with Kung at her back while the men distributed themselves on the floor. Early in the morning, they left for home.