“Now these are the clothes I made on the replicator,” Kat said as a large pink cube was loaded into the sleek silver, long-range shuttle Commander Sazar was going to fly them to Alquon Ultrea in. “Of course, I only had a few vids to go on,” she told Sarah apologetically. “And they were almost all just a bunch of old guys talking so Commander Sazar’s clothes might be slightly more authentic than yours.”
“I’m sure it will be fine,” Sarah said warmly. “Thank you so much for taking the trouble! And I’m sure Commander Sazar will be thankful that you made some for him too.”
“Well, I did my best. And this is my friend Liv—she’s a nurse. She’s also the twin sister of Sophie, who you met yesterday,” Kat said.
“Oh, hello.” Sarah held out her hand to the pretty blonde girl with silvery gray eyes. She looked so much like Sophie in the face it was clear to see they were twins, although identical or fraternal it was impossible to tell. “It’s nice of you to come and see me off,” she said smiling.
Liv smiled back.
“Oh, I didn’t just come for the fun of it—I have something for you.”
“More clothes?” Sarah asked. “But Kat already packed me more than I’ll ever be able to wear!” She wished she could have had a look into the large pink cube Kat had packed the clothes in but there was no time—Commander Sazar had told her sternly that they needed to get going as soon as possible
“Not clothes—something that’s going to help you deal with your new boss.” Liv nodded at Sazar, who was speaking to a tall, blond Kindred he had called Commander Sylvan. Kat had informed her that this was Sophie’s husband and he was also a Blood Kindred, although apparently a different kind than Sazar.
“Really? What is it?” Sarah dropped her voice uncertainly. What in the world could Liv have for her?
“It’s something Commander Sylvan developed—he’s also a doctor in addition to being the head of the Kindred High Council,” Liv told her. “Here.”
She handed Sarah a small packet filled with blood red capsules.
“Um, thank you,” Sarah said, frowning. “But I don’t know how Commander Sazar would feel about taking medicine without going to see a doctor first.”
“Oh, it’s not for him, hon!” Liv exclaimed, laughing. “It’s for you.”
“For me? But…what are they?” Sarah frowned at the baggie of blood red capsules. “What’s in them?”
“They’re a compound Sylvan developed especially for the prospective mates of Pitch-Blood Kindred,” Liv explained. “They’re blood replenishers—the chemicals in each pill will encourage your body to make more red blood cells and more blood in general. This way Commander Sazar can bite you and feed from you as often as he needs to.” She made a face. “I mean, if you want him to. Sylvan did tell me that a Pitch-Blood Kindred’s bite can be much more painful than the bite of a regular Blood Kindred because they’re biting to feed so they’re not injecting their essence.”
Sarah thought of the intense first pain of the big Kindred’s fangs sinking into her arm…and the deep, pulling pleasure that had followed and spread throughout her body.
“It’s…not so bad,” she said in a low voice. “It hurts at first but then it gets better. But…” She cleared her throat. “I don’t really think I’ll need these. Commander Sazar took a very, uh, deep drink last night and he doesn’t anticipate needing any more for quite some time.”
“Take them anyway, just in case,” Liv said, pressing the baggie with the pills back into her hand when Sarah would have given it back. “In fact, why don’t you take one now? You’re pale as paper.”
“She’s right, doll,” Kat said. “You look like you’re about a quart low.”
“Well…all right.” It was true, Sarah told herself—she did still feel quite weak, despite eating a good breakfast and lunch and drinking even more orange juice to replenish herself. She popped one of the capsules in her mouth and dry swallowed it. “There—now I should be all ready to go.”
“Almost.” Liv smiled and produced yet another pill—this one bright pink and considerably larger.
“What is that—to help me make more white cells or something?” Sarah asked frowning.
“Nope—translation bacteria. Take this and they’ll make sure you can understand every word spoken on the new planet you’re going to.” She shrugged. “Sorry it’s so big—I think you’ll need some water to swallow this one down.”
“Here, have some of my mango smoothie.” Kat held out a plastic cup filled with bright orange liquid and Sarah took it, along with the big pink pill.
“Just for me?” she asked, after she’d swallowed it with some difficulty. “Doesn’t Commander Sazar need one too? I don’t think he’s ever been to Alquon Ultrea before, although he told me he had been studying some of their videos and culture.”
“If he’s been studying their vids, that’s all he needs,” Liv said confidently. “Kindred are incredibly quick at learning new languages—it’s part of being genetic traders. They have to be able to communicate almost instantly with any new people that they meet.”
“Oh….all right. Well thank you.” Sarah took one more sip of the tart, sweet smoothie and handed the glass back to Kat. “Mmm, that’s really good.”
“You better keep it, doll.” Kat gave it back to her. “You never know what you’re going to end up eating on a strange new planet. This might be the last yummy thing you taste for a while.”
“But for how long?” Liv wanted to know. “Do you know if you guys will be back in time for Christmas? Sophie wanted to me to ask—she wants to have Commander Sazar’s son, Tsandor, over to her place for Christmas if not.”
“What, so he can go bobbing for tan-tans in the living slime?” Kat asked, making a face.
“What?” Sarah frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Liv laughed. “Oh, it’s a Kindred thing. See, they don’t have Christmas where they come from—I mean, obviously not, that’s an Earth thing. But they do have a Winter Solstice holiday. And some of their, er, traditions have kind of gotten mixed up with our own. It makes for a really unique holiday experience.”
“We usually have a big multi-family get together on Christmas Day in the afternoon,” Kat added. “If you do come back on time, you and Commander Sazar are totally invited. And Tsandor too of course.”
“But if you’re going to be stuck on your mission, please just see if Tsandor can at least spend Christmas morning with Sophie,” Liv said. “She’s already gotten him presents and everything.”
“I don’t know.” Sarah bit her lip. “I don’t think Commander Sazar would mind, but I don’t know if now is the time to ask him. He seems really busy.” She nodded at her new boss, who was in an apparently private and intense conversation with Commander Sylvan.
“That’s okay—you can ask him while you’re on your mission,” Kat said brightly. “That’ll give you time to soften him up. And if he’s okay with it and it looks like you guys will be spending Christmas on Alquon Ultrea, you can send a message back letting us know.”
“I’ll do my best to convince him,” Sarah promised. The idea of sweet little Tsandor spending Christmas in the constant care house without his father or any other family made a lump form in her throat.
I’ll make his Christmas special if I get back here on time, she vowed to herself.
“You’re going to do great.” Kat smiled at her. “Be sure you let me know how you like the clothes I made for you on my clothing pattern replicator.”
“I will. Thank you for everything.” Overcome by the kindness she’d been shown, Sarah reached for Kat and gave her a big hug. “You’re so kind to me,” she whispered in the other girl’s ear. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t said hello to me and helped me in the tram station.”
“We like to help the new girls out.” Kat squeezed her back affectionately. “The new brides, right, Liv?”
“But I’m not a bride—I’m just a glorified secretary,” Sarah protested.
“Really? We’ll see.” Liv gave her a mysterious smile. “You better get going—your, uh, boss is waving at you.”
“Oh!” Sarah looked up to see that indeed, Commander Sazar was beckoning her over to the sleek, silver long-range shuttle. “Okay—I’d better go.”
“Have a good time, hon,” Liv told her.
“And don’t forget to call us.” Kat smiled and blew her a kiss.
“See you later—hopefully before Christmas,” Sarah told them. With a wave, she headed for the shuttle. But she couldn’t help wondering how she would broach the subject of where Tsandor would spend the holiday when Commander Sazar’s son was obviously such a sensitive topic.
* * * * *
“So tell me about Alquon Ultrea,” Sarah said after the shuttle cleared the fold in space and entered the Triangulum Galaxy. “What do I need to know? And what should I do to fit in once we get there?”
Sazar cast her a glance. His assistant was dressed in her new black suit with a spotless white blouse and her hair was up in a bun at the back of her neck, just as it had been during their interview. Despite the fact that her glasses were gone, she somehow managed to convey the impression that she was still wearing them. She looked studious and professional—all business today—as though their interlude of the night before had never happened.
Of course, he was acting extremely businesslike himself—it was only proper. But he couldn’t help remembering the soft cries he’d heard through the wall the night before or the way she’d moaned his name…
Sazar…do you really want to bite me there?
Stop it, he told himself sternly. This is an important mission—there is absolutely no place for inappropriate thoughts or feelings here.
So then why couldn’t he stop having them?
“I’ll tell you what I can,” he said, endeavoring to push back the memory of holding her curvy body close and tasting her sweet blood the night before. “But the Alquons are an intensely private, formal, and easily offended people, from what I’ve been able to gather by speaking to their representative and studying the transmissions he sent me. Look.”
He reached forward and pressed a button on the console. The viewscreen lit up, showing one of the vids the Alquon Minister of Cultural Studies, who was his contact on that world, had sent him.
It was a somber affair—a group of Alquon males standing in a circle and speaking in deep, sonorous voices that were almost musical. They had pale green skin tones, mottled with blue or purple spots and their hair reminded Sazar of the kelp which floated in the Earth’s oceans.
The males wore long loose trousers and flowing robes which draped over the shoulders and were open at the front. Some were bare-chested beneath the robes and others had tight shirts which seemed to cling to them, as though they were wet. Dark green ridges almost like fins protruded from their elbows and ran down the length of their forearms. Gill slits creased the sides of their necks and their fingers were webbed.
“Huh,” Sarah remarked, staring at the viewscreen. “They look almost like…mermaids or something. If they had fish tails it would be perfect.”
“Excuse me?” Sazar frowned. “I have been speaking English for over a year now but I don’t understand the term ‘mermaids.’”
“Oh, it’s an Earth legend.” Sarah waved a hand in an embarrassed way. “About people who are half human and half fish. Homesick sailors used to imagine beautiful mermaids singing to them in the ocean—that kind of thing.”
“Well, ‘that kind of thing’ is exactly what the Alquons are—so the idea of them being mermaids is an extremely astute observation.” Sazar was pleased with her quickness.
“What? They’re half fish?” Sarah frowned.
“Not exactly but they live on a planet which is completely submerged in water—an endless ocean with no dry land at all.”
“Really?” Sarah had turned suddenly pale. “Because I have to tell you, Commander Sazar—I haven’t been swimming in years. They wouldn’t let us at the Compound—it was called mixed bathing and The Prophet, I mean Father Caleb, forbid it.”
“The Prophet?” Sazar frowned. “Who—”
“Never mind.” Sarah seemed to think she had given too much information. “I shouldn’t have said all that. It’s just…the idea of being thrown in a big endless ocean…well, it makes me nervous.”
She looked so pale Sazar wished he could gather her into his arms and comfort her but he suppressed the unprofessional impulse sternly.
“I would never put you in danger,” he told her quietly. “And please don’t worry about your lack of swimming ability. We will be staying in the Alquon’s indoor facilities—they know we are not adapted to both ocean and land as they are.”
“Oh, good.” Sarah looked immensely relieved. She frowned. “But…why do they have indoor facilities at all if they’re able to live in the ocean? I mean…” She gestured at the long, boring vid which was still playing. “They seem to have some kind of gills on the sides of their necks and their hands are webbed. If their whole world is ocean, why would they ever come indoors?”
“From what I am able to gather, their world wasn’t always as it is now,” Sazar said gravely. “Many millennia ago, it had the same composition of your own Earth—with huge polar icecaps which locked much of the water away and only two thirds of the planet covered in ocean.”
“Really?” Sarah’s eyes widened. “What happened?”
“They grew too quickly and used resources which harmed their environment,” Sazar told her. “Those in power were warned but they were greedy and willfully ignorant. They refused to take heed until it was too late. Eventually their world reached a point of no return—their ice caps melted and the entire planet was submerged.”
“So…they evolved to live in the water? Wouldn’t that take time?” Sarah frowned again.
“This was not a natural evolution.” Sazar gestured at the males on the vid. “Their scientists developed a gene therapy which allowed them to draw oxygen from the water much in the same way fish do. They were able to survive in their new environment both on land and in the sea.”
“Wow, amazing.” Sarah’s lovely hazel eyes shone with excitement. “You know, I used to go to the library and read books about different cultures and exotic people but I never thought I’d get to meet anyone outside my own little circle in the—.” She stopped abruptly.
“In the Compound?” Sazar raised an eyebrow at her. Little by little she was letting tidbits about her past drop. It sounded extremely restrictive—who ever heard of a religion where swimming was forbidden? He wondered if she’d had to sneak away to the library—it didn’t sound like this Compound place where she’d been would allow or encourage the seeking of knowledge.
Sarah flushed, her pale cheeks getting pink.
“Well, yes. So do the Alquons live underwater most of the time?” she asked quickly. “Or do they spend more time in their indoor dry areas and just go out into the ocean occasionally?”
“As to that, I’m not entirely certain. I only know that the Alquon Minister of Cultural Studies has promised me that we will be given dry facilities to stay in.”
“Okay, that’s good enough for me.” Sarah nodded. “So where are the women—the females?” she asked, nodding at the vid. “Do they look like mermaids too?”
Sazar shook his head. “I’m not sure what they look like. The only vids I was sent are all like these. They appear to be prominent males discussing Alquon culture and laws.”
Sarah remembered that Kat had also complained the only vids she could get of Alquon fashion were all males and no females.
“Discussing it for hours on end, huh?” she murmured. “Not exactly must-see TV is it?”
“It’s not very exciting,” Sazar admitted. “But I couldn’t exactly ask for their most salacious entertainment—I had to take what was given.”
“Oh no—it’s fine,” Sarah said quickly. “I just wish we could see their version of a soap opera or a drama with both men and women. It would be nice to know what I’m supposed to act like once we get there.”
“You’ll act as though you were my mate or my pair partner as they are called on Alquon Ultrea,” Sazar told her. “The Minister specified that they do not allow singles to visit their communities—obviously this is something I hope to change their mind about if we are to make a genetic trade with them. A single Kindred male cannot call a female from a society where he is forbidden to come alone to see her.”
“That would seem to pose a problem,” Sarah mused. “So is that the only reason we’re going—so the Kindred can, uh, do a trade with them?”
“No—I’m also hoping to see if they have any technology or weapons we can copy to use against the Hive. Have you heard of them?”
“Kat told me a little.” Sarah’s face was pale. “Giant insects who want to abduct Earth girls and do awful things to them, right?”
“Essentially,” Sazar said grimly. “Any new weapon we can find to use against them will help.”
“Then we have to make sure we don’t blow our cover,” Sarah said firmly. “And for now we’re pretending we’re a, uh, a couple, right?”
Sazar nodded. “On Alquon, almost everyone is paired off at a very young age. It is imperative that they believe you are my partner.”
Sarah’s cheeks got pink again but she nodded.
“Yes, Commander.”
Sazar frowned. “You’ll have to stop calling me by my title, I’m afraid. You will call me simply ‘Sazar’ and I will call you ‘Sarah.’ Is that acceptable?”
“It’s…” She got even pinker. “It’s just fine. It’ll feel kind of funny to call my boss by his first name but I can manage…Sazar.”
Hearing her name on his lips did something strange inside his chest. No one had called him by his first name without ‘Commander’ in front of it in so long…so very long. It felt right to hear Sarah speak his name. It was…intimate.
Sazar wished he could take her hand or pull her into his lap again as he had the night before but she wasn’t dizzy so he had no excuse to hold her.
He contented himself with reaching over and brushing a strand of her long brown hair which had escaped from her bun out of her eyes. Her cheek was hot against his fingertips and he couldn’t miss the way her breathing suddenly quickened but she didn’t pull away. In fact, for just a moment, she nuzzled against him and her big eyes turned up to his.
Gods… Sazar found he couldn’t stop looking at her—their eyes were locked and he was aching to taste her sweet lips again. He knew Sarah felt the same—he could tell it by the way the warm, feminine scent of her desire suddenly filled the small cabin of the shuttle.
She feels it too. Last night wasn’t just a fluke. She desires me as I desire her.
He had to shift in his seat as his shaft hardened in his flight leathers.
“Commander…I mean, Sazar,” she whispered, nibbling her lush lower lip indecisively. “I…I’m supposed to ask you something but I don’t know how to do it.”
“You are?” he murmured, picking up on her uncertainty. “What is it, Sarah? Just ask.”
“It…it has to do with another Earth legend. Like the mermaids?”
The idea of the half human-half fish people she’d talked about turned his attention back to the Alquons and the mission they were supposed to be on. The one which didn’t allow for personal feelings or inappropriate contact with his subordinate.
Sazar had been leaning over, cupping Sarah’s cheek. Now he straightened up and cleared his throat.
“You do seem to have a lot of legends. Which one is this?” he asked, trying to sound more businesslike again.
“It’s…about Christmas,” she said hesitantly. “Do you think we’ll be back in time to celebrate it on the Mother Ship?”
“Christmas?” Sazar shook his head. “I’m not sure, to be honest. That’s your festival of giving, correct? Somewhat analogous to the Kindred Winter Solstice celebration?”
“It’s more than that,” Sarah said earnestly. “It’s a religious holiday that celebrates the birth of Christ. But there are also many legends and traditions associated with it. Like Santa Clause.”
“Santa Clause? What is that?” Sazar shook his head. “I moved to the Mother Ship just after the Christmas festival concluded last cycle so I’m afraid I’m not well acquainted with your holiday customs.”
“Not what—who. Santa Clause is this fat, jolly old man who dresses up in a red and white fur suit. He comes around on Christmas Eve, goes down the chimney, and leaves presents for all the good girls and boys of the world as they sleep. When they wake up on Christmas morning, they come downstairs and rip into the packages he leaves to see what they got.”
“Hmm…” To Sazar it sounded bizarre and not remotely logical. “How can one elderly overweight male get to every house in the world to leave presents in a single night?” he demanded. “Also, if he is overweight, how does he fit down the chimneys of the respective houses? And what about the domiciles which have no chimneys?
“He flies through the sky in a sleigh pulled by eight tiny flying reindeer,” Sarah said, with a completely straight face. “And don’t worry about the chimney thing—he manages.”
“This legend gets stranger and more implausible all the time,” Sazar complained. “How are the deer able to fly? Are they somehow genetically modified to take flight? Or is there some kind of motor in the sleigh?”
“No, no—it’s magic.” Sarah was laughing now and Sazar found that the corners of his own mouth were twitching though he didn’t really understand why.
“Magic? There is no such thing,” he said, trying not to laugh.
“There is at Christmas. Look—I know it sounds crazy but it’s all part of our legend and traditions.”
“And everyone on Earth believes in this ‘Christmas magic?’” Sazar demanded.
“Well, almost every country has some version of Christmas and their own way of celebrating but I’m telling you about what I grew up with. There’s so much that goes into it—trimming a Christmas tree…stuffing stockings…drinking eggnog… baking Christmas cookies, and oh…so many other things.”
Her eyes lit up at what Sazar thought must be memories of Christmases past and he couldn’t help thinking again how devastatingly lovely she was. She was made all the more beautiful by the fact that she clearly didn’t understand her own appeal.
“It sounds…enjoyable, if somewhat strange,” he admitted. “So I take it you do not wish to miss this celebration and you’re hoping our mission will end in time for us to get back to the Mother Ship so you can celebrate there?”
“Well, not exactly…” She bit her lower lip again. “I don’t mind being away for Christmas—I haven’t had a really good one since I was a kid before my parents entered The Brotherhood and we went to live at the Compound but—”
“Wait.” Sazar held up a hand to stop her. “You told me you worked for The Brotherhood of Peace from the age of eighteen, correct?”
“Yes.” She looked away. “But my parents actually joined The Brotherhood when I was twelve. My best memories of Christmas are before that.” She smiled. “My dad used to dress up like Santa and let me ‘catch’ him leaving presents out on Christmas Eve. And Mom and I always had to make double chocolate chip cookies to leave out for Santa because those were my dad’s favorite.”
Sazar sensed that yet again she was changing the subject but he decided to let her…for now.
He frowned. “I thought Santa was a mythical person. Why did your father dress up like him?”
“Because Christmas is for kids,” Sarah said earnestly. “And that’s what I really wanted to ask you about. See…” She cleared her throat but just then a voice from the viewscreen interrupted her.
“Commander Sazar of the Kindred, this is Alquon Ultrea Landing Control. We have your ship within tracking distance of our planet.”
“Yes, of course.” Sazar quickly turned off the Alquon vid which had been playing all this time, allowing the speaker to be seen on the viewscreen instead. A male—younger than the ones they had been watching—was speaking to them. He had vivid aquamarine eyes which almost seemed to glow.
“You are cleared for landing. A platform is being raised for your ship on the southeast quadrant of the planet,” the male said. “Minister Obglod will meet you and escort you to your quarters.”
“We will be there momentarily,” Sazar promised.
“Understood.” The male’s glowing eyes flickered from Sazar to Sarah and a slight frown creased his pale green features. “Forgive me for asking, but are these the clothing you and your pair partner intend to wear?”
“Well…we do have Alquon clothing with us,” Sarah said, answering since the male on the viewscreen was looking at her. “We can change before we go out to meet the Minister.”
“I recommend you do so. Proper attire is of the utmost importance—especially if you are to meet our ruler, The Lord Magnate. And I do believe you might have that honor.”
“Duly noted. Thank you for taking the time to tell us. Under no circumstances do we wish to give offense,” Sazar said.
The male nodded shortly.
“Alquon Ultrea welcomes you.”
Then the screen went abruptly blank.
“All right.” Sarah took a deep breath. “I guess it’s time to see what Kat packed us. If it looks anything like what those guys were wearing on the video you showed me, you’re going to look spectacular and I’ll look like a bundle of old clothes.”
“I very much doubt that,” Sazar murmured. Though her interview outfit of the day before hadn’t been very becoming, he now believed that no clothing, no matter how unsuitable, could hide her beauty. He still wondered how he could have missed it before…and he wished he could stop thinking about it now.
Keep your mind on the mission, he told himself. That’s what matters now. Do your job and forget about this inappropriate attraction.
He just hoped he could take his own advice.