Feral Series IV: Feral Fallout (5 page)

Forming a mate bond with her against her will would be the ultimate sacrilege. Dare I have a hand in the madness? I unfurled my blue fingers and stared at my blue palm.

An empty hand.

What had I brought to the table for almost three-hundred years while the rightful King lived under lock and key, imprisoned? Second in line to end the bickering and bring peace back to the most sacred place in the universe through finding a way to defeat the microbe, my actions must remain exemplary.

Theone must have a choice.

Alas, in that same empty hand dwelled the answer.

My Handler abilities.

But a Handler detecting energy from every atom among the stars risked dark temptation. Craved control. Through the ability to sway who loves him with the slightest touch of his skin. Through manipulation of elementals. Manipulation, an abhorrent choice in the realm of social interaction for a being wielding my powers. But I could force her to bend to Prall's needs and help me in my people's salvation.

If I dared touch her with my flesh. Weave a spell she couldn't refuse. Bind her heart and soul to mine. She'd willingly assist in liberating Solvun from his cell afterward.

But my touch would set the countdown for her complete submission. Her heart. Her body. Her soul would yearn to meld with mine. Die without my touch. Fade away until there was nothing left but a motionless heart and her cold body without my touch to save her life.

Unforgiveable.

Damning.

Sacrilege.

My touch, far more addictive than any alcohol or drug. How would I be any different from the !Dakos in their repugnant methods to perpetuate their species? I curled my fingertips until my nails bit into the meat of my palm and stared at my faint reflection lost among space's dense blackness and piercing points of starlight beyond the viewport's glass.

Neither my people, my heart, nor my soul were worth such wasted power. Not when I stood as an example of what my warrior brethren should strive to achieve. Honor.

Everything circled back to honor.

Simply sensing her agony was enough to make an honorable man feel as if he'd breached a confidence. Or simple boundaries. Like mindreading without permission. And that broke free-thinking law.

Never.

Bringing peace to Prall meant teaching everyone how to live in peace. And doing so by manipulating a female would do little to reiterate my point. We must live free. We must seek harmony. Or we will never find the means to eradicate the microbe and give birth to live female offspring on Prall again.

A mind pushed out to mine, requesting permission to mindspeak.

Theone's lesser-evolved mind wasn't evolved enough for telepathy. The visitor must be the commander. “
Yes
."

"
Don't worry about the captain
.” Goro said. “
You have two days to convince her of your planet's peril. She's not the type to leave anyone aloft when lives are in jeopardy
."

So she had the heart of a warrior. She'd need a strong sense of being to survive where we were going. But I'd offer her options. A choice. “
Perhaps she and I can come to some agreement
."

"
Explain your planet's history. She will understand the importance of her place in restoring your brother as rightful King of Prall
."

"
Thank you for your insight, commander. Prall appreciates everything you've done to assist us in our transition back to a self-sufficient society
.” Even though he orders a woman to give what I cannot take.

"
Your praise is humbly accepted. I will disembark in two hours, standard Earth time
.
After which, you have command over Theone. Do not hesitate to do what necessitates liberation of Solvun
.” Goro's presence vanished.

Force the captain? No. There always lurks a way that works in everyone's favor. Yet to be discovered. I will find that resolution. I must. Because the Pralls as a cyborg force with minimal augmentation, taking on another heavily altered culture like the !Dakos is going to require backing from the rest of the universe. We need The Order of the Marshals assistance to regain our peaceful existence. At least, what we can reclaim of what we once had so very long ago. And the rest of the universe needs to fear the !Dakos.

The commander had left me to pilot the Crellon ship without so much as a proverb or logical quote to tie me over
. Theone sighed. Left me with the mysterious blue alien I'd only met two hours ago. Left me subordinate to the
blue guy
.
M'yote
was in charge. Although my ass was always on the line with my type of secret-agent work, my life in the hands of some blue alien didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

The gentle squeak of leather creaked as boot soles ground against the metal sheeting on the floor.

M'yote. What was he up to? I caught his approaching reflection in the viewport's mirror-like surface and tried to act as if his presence didn't bother me.

His arms were tucked behind his back beneath his cloak the way Goro always tucked his arms behind his leather knee-length coat.

The way the alien wore his long almost-white pale-blue hair in many small fine braids was almost magical. The style obviously required some assistance to maintain. Did he have an assistant hidden aboard? How would I know? I'm not in charge.

Damn, he kept stepping closer and closer. Talking again. Why couldn't he stop the endless recitation of his world's history? Goro's sudden departure was obviously to avoid the lecture. Not to mention, I was alone with a strange male. Who I usually tried to kill if he thought he could just do whatever.

M'yote stepped to the navigator's chair and stilled. “Do you mind if we talk, Theone?"

What would that matter? And, it's captain. Damn. It's like Goro already signed the marriage license. I shot M'yote a quick glance and went back to pretending I had a spacecraft to fly. One that shimmied through space like a frisbee on autopilot. And do I have to hear the gods-damned history from Hell again? “Of course.” I didn't throw in
commander
. I'd choke on that until I felt better about this mess.

He descended into the chair and eyed my profile. “This situation is as difficult for me as it is for you."

Right. I faced his unnerving blue eyes head on. Trying not to notice his long yet attractive sleek facial features. “Oh? I don't recall you not getting your way.” Did it really matter if I ticked him off?

M'yote smiled with a snort and a nod. “I understand.” He threw up his blue palms in a small almost surrendering gesture. “I would not wish you to mate with a male you do not want, Theo. Mating is the most sacred act on my planet.” His mask grew very serious. “On my world, there are no females."

The alien was kidding. How does a civilization continue without females? “I don't understand how you can't have females—daughters. You aren't making any sense."

"Prall wives live on one of our moons where they are protected from a deadly microorganism. But they are not females born to Prall. They are women from other worlds who have fallen in love with Prall warriors and chosen to embrace our way of life. As humble as it is.” He nodded, humbly.

Although, he might be playing me. I don't care for being someone's fool.

M'yote's blue gaze locked back on me. “My brother is held captive by the beings who annihilated all females on our planet and made it impossible for our warriors’ extraterrestrial mates to give birth to live female offspring. We are at the mercy of those who would take pity on the few humble warriors who remain.” He bowed his head, beautiful braids sliding, and must have said a silent prayer for the amount of time he sat in that position.

"Uh, M'yote, if you're waiting on me to do something so you can rise, you'll have to tell me what it is, because I know nothing about your culture."

He turned a humored gaze back to mine. “You think like a politician."

If he only knew what I had to do to survive missions back home. “If I didn't, I would have been eaten alive a long time ago."

"I can answer any of your questions. Anything about my home world and the war. But first I want to tell you what we can do to give you your blood mate."

Okay. My heart's not thrashing to leap into space. Good sign. Yes, let's discuss Wrank. “What?"

"On my home world, brothers share a mate—a female.” His gaze begged I watch him.

Begged I listen. But my mind was debating between thinking
shit, run
and
damn, Goro, the bastard for leaving me to this madness with a stranger
. Not to mention M'yote's brother was blue too. “And?"

"My brother and I are the only two siblings left from my father. So you would have two mates on Prall."

Uh, what about Wrank? Did I want to think anymore?

"But, what about three?” M'yote asked.

No. I so don't want two. “You said you only have one brother."

M'yote nodded very slowly twice. “Yes, but your Wrank could be the third. I agree for my brother to accept him as a favor to you for your assistance in liberating the king."

Why didn't my brain care he was talking? Why didn't my brain produce any rational or freaked-out thought? And why was M'yote still talking? “Excuse me,” I interrupted.

His mask metamorphosed into one of encouragement with arched pale-blue eyebrows. “Yes?"

"Okay, first of all, women on my planet have one mate. As far as I know. But don't expect me to alter my perspective if someone comes up with an example of women who have multiple husbands.” God, did I sound like an idiot? “Anyway, why do I have to have three mates? Why can't you and your brother find a different woman? Why me?"

"It was ultimately your commander's choice. Orders. If you and I survive, I can treat you to this one luxury without your refusal of orders. Goro doesn't need to know until we've dealt with bringing Wrank into the clan."

If he thought for one minute that I'd just roll over and sleep because he told me to, he was wrong. I'd play dead instead. When all was said and done, I'd return to Luvk and take Wrank as my blood mate per M'yote's promise. And then M'yote could go home with his brother. Without me. “Sounds like a plan."

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Cybernetics... “a way of thinking about ways of thinking.” Larry Richards

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I spent the better part of both days en route to planet Treusch where the !Dakos detained political prisoners with M'yote inundating me in details pertaining to both Prall and !Dakos cultures as we sat staring out the helm's viewport toward the never-ending blackness of space broken only with pinpricks of light.

Nothing altered my goals from planning to mate solely with Wrank though. Little did M'yote realize. So, I just scrutinized my extraterrestrial guide and leader, who I now refer to as Cap'n Bluebeard, with the interest of a person facing death in prison. A person who intended to survive walking Bluebeard's plank. But his history lessons evolved into deep-felt fear churning in my gut. The stories, his history, only reasserted we rushed toward the most horribly imaginable hell.

We'd arrive shortly.

Which meant I had to be certain I understood exactly what to expect. “The !Dakos are androids?"

M'yote scanned the control console as if searching for an answer in the small computer's vid screen, buttons, and switches. “No."

Something unnerving in those eyes shook me.

Was it the fact we'd almost reached the planet and a war that couldn't be stopped?

Or that I slowly began to understand M'yote's plight? How the last Prall warriors were forced to turn to nanites to preserve their species. How each Prall warrior survived their species’ evolutionary bottleneck when it came to the strongest surviving—!Dakos warriors appearing to be the strongest—only for the Prall warriors to become cyborgs themselves to survive. Were M'yote's people any better resorting to the use of microscopic robots to repair their bodies? M'yote's four-hundred year old body was proof of the bizarre feat.

"What you encounter, Theone, when you meet your first !Dakos warrior is a being of beauty and supreme power. Something that can think for itself. Process and analyze... choose based on what the !Dakos warrior desires. !Dakos use robotics to survive and evolve. But they are not robots."

My gut knotted with cold intuition.

It's like the !Dakos got sucked into a whirlpool of greed beneath the proverbial plank. Probably became the sharks. But the theme where humanoids altered their bodies to survive because something had gone terribly wrong with crops they had bio-engineered a thousand years ago was one of those freaky sci-fi movie themes. And the same kind of stupid-ass jacking with plant genes happened back home on Earth, right now, as I glided straight toward Hell. Would I even be around to see the outcome of foolish experimentation back on the mother world? Would earthlings become something like the !Dakos?

Or even the Pralls’ slightly augmented species one day?

"When you meet the !Dakos,” M'yote's voice drew me back from my reflections, “know they've enhanced their appearance through altering their genetics to appeal to females. They replaced their skeletal systems with metal structures early on in their history of augmentation., forcing their males’ bodies to grow larger because of the extra musculature heavier bodies require to move. And only their sons are born living, augmented by the age of one with an inorganic metal skeletal system capable of growing with the needs of each body. Even we Pralls do not understand this organic-inorganic technology."

A metal skeleton? “It grows?” That's just too damned weird.

He nodded, slowly, his signature contemplative reaction to my questions. “Attractive to females of all species, Theone. Large mates provide protection and are better in the hunt or scavenging on other worlds. Remember that. !Dakos warriors are much larger than I am. Stronger. And you will be tempted to bend to their will."

Well, that depended upon their true form. “Don't worry. I can do my job. There's an old saying on my home world,
beauty is in the eye of the beholder
. Perhaps your idea of seductive male cyborgs isn't the same as mine. Hell, you're a cyborg too."