A Touch of Lilly (23 page)

* Reigis Alpha *

Earth-like planet inhabited by
the largest colony of humans.

* Seraphelium (pronounce
Sara-feel-e-um) *

A race of females whose touch can
control a man’s libido by raising his endorphin levels.

* Treljon Laser*

A handheld weapon capable of
shooting a beam of energy up to 150 yards. Operators can choose
different levels of energy depending on how deadly they want the
impact.

* Xerick *

Two headed aliens with royal blue
skin and eyes to match. Excellent spies as they have large eyes and
eight ear holes on the sides of their heads. They are asexual, having
no distinguishing gender characteristics.

* Znedu (pronounced Nee-do) *

Long and lanky aliens with hooved
feet for existence on desert planets. Hairless with large head and
eyes. Genders can be distinguished only by height and size of breast
ledge.

Also Available

by Nina Pierce

Please Enjoy this
excerpt from

Healer’s
Garden

Chapter One

May, 2267

Jahara
Hriznek’s life was over. The evidence weighed heavy in her
hands. In the time it had taken to do the retinal scan, her future
had been stolen from her.

As
she stood at the tall bank of windows, staring at the distant
mountains, Jahara knew nothing could change this new course of her
life. She felt the hollow reality as obviously as the barren expanse
of desert stretching between her and the horizon. There was nothing
to break up the monotony of the landscape. Nothing to take her mind
off the inevitability of the days to come. Nothing to bring back the
future she’d thought lay before her when she woke this morning.

No
helo-vehicles were out this time of day. It was still much too hot
for people to leave the climate-controlled confines of the buildings
in the city on the other side of the mountains. It would be a few
more hours still before the sun sat low enough to make the commute
across the blistering sands a safe one. Then the nearly empty
roadway, three stories below, would bustle with solar powered
helo-vehicles and buses.

She
wouldn’t be among the commuters winding their way from the
Eastern Territory’s capital city of Lexington into her little
village. Jahara had taken a much-needed day of rest from the healing
facility.

The
city’s new government expansion had brought with it careless
male workers whose stupidity forced them to the hospital in droves
for emergency services. Those healers not completely repulsed by the
men’s presence were forced to work overtime to treat the
injuries. Jahara had been fielding complaints and filling in for
overworked healers for weeks.

For
one day she’d wanted to think about nothing more taxing than
what music selection she would pull from her computer files. She’d
planned on using some of her monthly water allotment and soaking in a
hot bath rather than her daily chemical wash. Jahara had even
considered calling Merenith and convincing her to take the day off
from the animal clinic and lounge around with her. She had no doubt
her current lover and she could find ways to entertain each other.

But
none of that had happened.

The
messenger service had shown up at her door early this morning,
delivering the wretched news. Had she known they were making their
way to her, Jahara definitely would have worked at the hospital today
and long hours into the night. Using her hands to heal males was
preferable to holding this retched projection disk.

Now,
as Jahara glared at the palm-sized disk, fear burned the back of her
throat and trembled along her chin. Hot tears of anger welled in her
eyes. She shouldn’t be so upset. It wasn’t as if she
hadn’t known this was coming. Her twenty-eighth birthday was
next month. It was law. Her birth-mother, the Dame of her family, had
held off the inevitable as long as possible. Jahara’s position
as medical director had, up until this day, kept her from fulfilling
the horrid obligation. But no woman, no matter how prestigious her
position, ever ran from it. The thought soured in her stomach.

She’d
known what the packet contained the moment she’d opened the
door to find the government currier standing in the hall. Jahara had
wanted to flee, to shut the door and hide from the responsibility,
but instead she calmly leaned forward and let the android do the eye
scan that proved the disk had found its way into her hands. She
stared down at the official government seal over her Dame’s
image on the disk. Even offspring of the chief administrator of the
Eastern Territory weren’t exempt from this law enacted by
Congress nearly a century and a half earlier.

Throwing
the disk at the wall, she let out a feral sound of frustration.

As
if chastising her, the bells chimed at her door. The normally soft
chirp sounded loud in the silent womb of her living abode where she’d
closed herself away. Jahara didn’t want to answer it. Didn’t
want to know there was more to fulfilling her obligation. When it
rang again, the sound almost persistent, she reluctantly skirted
around the couch and slammed her hand on the touchpad, retracting the
pneumatic door.

“
Having
temper tantrums, I hear.” Merenith leaned in for a quick kiss.
“I heard you all the way down the hall.” The short crop
of blonde swished about her chin as her lover shook her head in
disbelief. Her pouty lips were pulled tight between her teeth to
mask—humor? Concern? Jahara couldn’t be sure.

“
You
have no idea what kind of a day I’ve had.” Jahara stepped
back and invited the willowy beauty through the door. “The
worst day of my life, as a matter of fact.” As she passed,
Jahara marveled as always at the beauty of Merenith’s body. A
descendent of the Olakuma clan, Merenith’s ancestors had long
ago lost any semblance of body hair. It was unnecessary in their life
in the desert heat. Merenith’s skin was all tawny satin, save
for the velvety blonde eyebrows and thick lashes that once protected
her people from the harsh sand thrown up in the hot winds.

The
woman stared at her, arching one of those elegant brows, the
skeptical expression marring the flawless contours of her face.
“Worst? I think you’re exaggerating just a bit.”
Merenith bent to brush the dust of the desert from her heavy work
boots.

“
You
have no idea.”

Straightening,
Merenith tenderly pressed her lips to Jahara’s and wrapped her
in her arms. The comforting scent of jasmine, hay and the animals
Merenith tended filled Jahara’s nose. She pulled Merenith in
tighter, wishing they could stay this way forever and ignore the
projection disk.

Merenith
might be four years her junior, but Jahara wanted to believe that
what they shared was the stuff made of fairytales. At her age, Jahara
was desperate to find the woman who would complement her in every
sense of the word—a woman who could be the sun to her moon, the
color on her drab canvas, the shadow that moved in synchronized
harmony with her—a woman who would satisfy every part of her.
She had hoped Merenith would become that person. But their
relationship was still so new. There was no doubt fulfilling her
obligation would have some affect on her career, but
that
she
could rectify. Jahara just wasn’t sure she would survive if it
stole from her the one thing she wanted most—true love.

“
Jahara,
there’s no need to be so upset.” Merenith cupped her
chin, coaxing Jahara from the soft cushion of her breasts. Her gaze
seductively swept over her face. “Things really aren’t as
bad as they seem.”

“
You
don’t know what I threw across the room.”

“
It’s
the invitation you’ve been denying would come.”

As
if her words had burned, Jahara pushed out of Merenith’s arms.

“
Oh,
don’t be so defensive,” Merenith said. “Your Dame
called me.”

“
M’Dame
called you?”

“
Since
her office sent them out, she knew you’d get the disk today and
be upset by the news. Why do you think I came over tonight?”
With a shrug, Merenith brushed past her and around the overstuffed
furniture of the great room. She bent to straighten the imitation
animal rug in front of the fireplace. “You mind if I help
myself to some wine? I think you could probably use some.” The
humor glinted deep in Merenith’s blueberry eyes as she shot a
glance over her shoulder before walking around the bar separating the
living space from the cooking area.

“
You
think this whole thing’s funny?” Jahara could no longer
hold back the tears that had threatened only moments ago. “Just
because you’ve already fulfilled your obligation, you find the
fact that now it’s my turn rather amusing? Well, let me tell
you. The whole thing is disgusting and if my Dame wasn’t
administrator, I’d petition to get out of this thing once and
for all. It’s a stupid law anyway.”

Merenith
came out of the kitchen nook. Setting the wine bottle down with two
glasses, one side of her mouth curved in a melancholy smile. “No,
I don’t find this humorous at all. But you’ve said it
yourself. You’ve used your position at the hospital and your
Dame’s place in the government to put this off since you were
twenty. Now the time has come. No one gets around this law.”

“
Have
you read the document?” Jahara shook her finger at the small
piece of metal on the floor. “I have only two weeks to put
things in order at the hospital. Two weeks!” Her voice echoed
on the high ceiling where a fan churned the cooled air. “How do
they think the medical director of a major healing facility can get
things in order before being whisked away for two years?”
Jahara couldn’t bring herself to think how this would affect
their relationship. She had wanted so much to develop something
permanent with Merenith. But pushing the doubts past the hot lump in
her throat was impossible.

“
Jahara.”
Merenith came to her, gently kissing the tears from her face. “Don’t
think about it. If you’re worried about us…don’t
be. I can visit you. They allow that.” Holding her cheeks,
Merenith pushed the black tendrils of hair from Jahara’s face.
It still amazed her how Merenith seemed to understand what she was
thinking without her having to explain.

“
Let’s
not talk anymore about it. Tonight, let it be about us.”
Merenith brushed her lips featherlight across Jahara’s mouth.
“Let me show you how much I care about you. Let me help you
forget.”

Merenith’s
silken tongue swept seductively into her mouth. Jahara needed to lose
herself in this woman and believe that what they shared would be
enough to carry her through this ordeal. But even as Merenith’s
skillful hands danced over her skin, Jahara felt the familiar
emptiness settle itself deep in the pit of her stomach. The cold
hollow had nothing to do with the proclamation on the disk and
everything to do with a hole in Jahara’s heart that it seemed
no one could fill.

* * * * *

The
night hung heavy in the desert, like the unsettled feelings
surrounding them. Sitting in the light of the holographic fire, their
shadows danced on the walls of her living abode. Even Merenith’s
presence wasn’t a comfort. Jahara held the disk in one hand, a
glass of wine in the other. They’d already eaten a simple meal
of soy protein and vegetables. They’d taken time to walk in the
park across from the living complex, feeling the heat of the day
relinquish itself to the cool desert winds of evening. They’d
talked about their days, skirting any mention of the projection disk
or the impact it would have on their future. But like an elephant
standing between them, the pronouncement on the disk could no longer
be ignored.

“
Merenith,
how did you survive this … this place?” Jahara shook the
piece of metal in her hand.

“
What,
the Garden of Serenity?” Merenith asked, staring at the
flickering light.

“
Of
course, the Garden. All the stories I’ve heard, it sounds so
awful. One of my birth-sisters swears copulating with a man is the
most animalistic ritual she ever had to endure. The other gave up her
government position to raise both her birth child and that of her
partner’s. But neither sister talks about actually birthing the
babies, only about the mating and the pregnancy. I can’t
imagine being a human incubator for nine months!” A shudder of
disgust shook her body. “Not one child—but two! And at my
age. What are they thinking?”

Merenith
was uncharacteristically silent.

Pressing
a small button, the disjointed head of her Dame appeared and Jahara
listened again to the words she hoped never to hear. “Jahara
Hriznek, we are pleased to inform you—” Jahara looked up
at Merenith. “They’re kidding me, right? They think I’m
happy about this?”

Merenith
poured more wine into her empty glass, but didn’t meet Jahara’s
probing gaze.

“—
that
you have been chosen to report to the Garden of Serenity, located in
the southern section of the Eastern Territory, no later than 1400 on
June the first, 2267. It is so ordered by decree of Congress, written
on the Fourth day of July, 2112: In order to reestablish the human
population and create a more heterogeneous gene pool, we mandate
every woman before the age of thirty must birth, if physically able,
two healthy infants—”