Purity (Pure and Tainted) (16 page)

“They are, aren’t they?” Abrahams smiled fondly. “I’ve been
breeding them smaller and smaller with each succeeding generation. These will
pretty much stay the size they are now. Would you like to hold one?”

“Well sure.” Boone smiled. “I’d love to.”

“Excellent.” Abrahams seemed inordinately pleased.

“Wait.” K frowned. “Do they bite?”

“Naturally not.
All aggression has been bred
completely out of them. This batch has the mildest nature yet.” He opened the
door of the cage and snapped his fingers. “Here, little ones. Who wants a
treat?” Several of the little animals ran to his outstretched hand, almost
falling over themselves in their eagerness.

“
It’s
okay, darlin’,” Boone said in a low
voice as Abrahams crouched down to pick up one of the creatures. “I know you’re
trying to protect me but I think I can handle something this size.”

“You don’t know what it might do to you.” K frowned stubbornly.
“He said they could alter emotions and since you have so
many
of them, you might be altered considerably.”

Boone’s eyes flashed. “So I should try to be cold and emotionless
like you—is that what you’re saying?”

K lifted her chin. “In this case it might be wise.”

Abrahams had clearly heard their whispered discussion. “Now, now,
my dear—I never said they
alter
emotions.
They simply feed off them.” He straightened up and held out one of the little
creatures to Boone who accepted it carefully. It was so tiny and he was so
large it fit neatly into the palm of his hand. When it showed no fear, he
lifted it to his face and looked at it more closely.

“What do you call these little guys, anyway?”

“A vox.”
Abrahams shrugged, smiling.
“Ilesca coined the name and it just stuck.”

The vox leaned forward eagerly, sniffing at Boone’s face. Its
eyes, which had been crystalline and clear a moment before, were now a deep
bluish-green, not that different from the color of Boone’s own eyes, K saw.
Suddenly it shot out a long pink tongue and licked his cheek.

Boone laughed in surprise. “Friendly little guys, aren’t they?”

“They feed on positive emotions as well.” Abrahams nodded at the
vox. “In fact, it’s possible to tell what the person holding the vox is
feeling, simply by reading their eye color. This little one senses your
happiness to hold him and your interest in him.”

“Really?
You can tell all that by its eye
color?” K was interested despite herself. “Do they live only on emotions or do
you feed them other food as well?”

“They get a daily ration of nutrition feed, of course, though they
can fast for up to a solar week with no ill effects. However, without a
sentient being to hold and touch them every day, they will become weak and ill
almost at once. I think you can conjecture which type of ‘food’ is more
important to them.”

“Is that right?” Boone murmured. “I don’t suppose the trace amount
of human DNA you used in them was Erian?”

“As a matter of fact, it was.” Abrahams nodded.
“Excellent
deduction, Doctor Boone.”
He looked at K. “I should have asked you
earlier—would
you
like to hold one,
my dear?”

“You mean…touch it?” K bit her lip uncertainly. The idea should
have filled her with revulsion but somehow it didn’t. The animals were so small
and sleek and furry with their big eyes and funny little pointed faces. What
had Boone called them?
Cute.
They were
cute
.

Boone was watching her with a slight frown on his face. “You don’t
have to if you don’t want to, darlin’. Though I think you can see they’re
pretty harmless.”

“No,” K said, surprising herself and, from the look on his face,
Boone as well. “I’ll hold one.
For a moment.”

“Excellent.” Abrahams bent down and scooped up another of the
little voxes to put in her hands. “They make wonderful pets, you know,” he said
as K accepted the little creature from him, being careful not to make
skin-to-skin contact during the transfer. “Most everyone in our settlement has
one now. They eat so little and give so much affection. All they really ask is
a little attention and access to your emotions. Would you like one?”

K held the soft, furry vox carefully. “You’re very generous but if
you know as much about my kind as you claim, I’m sure you’ll see that would be
a bad idea. We are taught from an early age to purge our emotions—to feel
nothing. I fear I would starve such a creature to death. I cannot give it what
I do not have.”

“On the contrary, my dear.”
Abrahams motioned to the vox.
“Look at its eyes.”

K glanced down to the little pointed face that was upturned
towards hers and had to repress a gasp. The vox’s eyes were swirling with a
blend of colors, changing so rapidly it was hard to keep track. Red…black…gray…orange…dark,
stormy purple—each shade came and went in an instant.

“My, my, my.”
Abrahams shook his head. “Anger,
fear, worry, distrust, desire…you are a maelstrom of negative feelings, my
dear. A veritable emotional vortex—this little one will be full for a week at
least.”

“I…that can’t be right.”
K stared at the little creature
who
was looking back at her intently. She looked up at Boone
who was studying her quietly. “It’s somewhat more difficult to control what I
feel without the suit but I never thought… Here.” She thrust the vox back at
Abrahams. “Take it back.”

“Are you sure?” He took the little creature from her. “If you hold
him just a little while longer you may be relieved of some of your pain and
doubt.”

“I have no pain and doubt.” K crossed her arms over her chest
protectively.

“Very well, my dear.
If you say so.”
Abrahams put the vox back, ruffling its fur gently. He looked at Boone. “What
about you? Would you like to keep yours?”

“Well…” Boone looked indecisive until the little animal leaned
forward eagerly and licked his cheek again. “Hey,” he said, laughing. “That’s cheating.”

“He’s quite taken with you. He must like the taste of your
emotions.” Abrahams smiled. “You can give him back at the end of your stay if
you like but in the mean time if you wouldn’t mind it would help me out
immensely if you let him stay with you. It gets quite tiring holding each one
enough every day to give it sufficient nourishment. Not that I don’t enjoy it
but it takes time away from my work.”

“Poor little guy, just looking for three squares a day, huh?”
Boone scratched the vox between its pointed ears. It closed its eyes and made a
soft humming sound. “Aww…okay, then,” Boone murmured. “I’m sold. I’ll help you
out with this one—at least while we’re here.” He lifted the vox up to his
shoulder and it curled up beneath his ear with a contented sigh, its long tail
wrapped around the back of his neck.

“Excellent. I thank you, truly I do.” Abrahams nodded earnestly.
“Well, then, now that you’ve seen my work shall we adjourn to the other room
where I can fully explain our problem?”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Boone nodded, looking relaxed.

“Good. This way if you ple
— ”
Abrahams
was interrupted by a shrill
yip-yip-yip
coming
from the vox cage. The animal K had held was standing on its tiny hind legs and
begging. How she could tell them apart and know it was hers, K didn’t know but
it seemed obvious somehow.

“What…what does it want?” she asked. It was an effort to speak
since her throat was suddenly dry.

“Hmm.”
Abrahams bent down again. “I do
believe it wants
you,
my dear
Paladin.” He shook his head.
“Most unusual for them to form a
bond so quickly.
Would you like to take it back and keep it for me while
your ship is being fixed?”

K shook her head quickly. “I can’t. I told you, it would starve to
death with me.”

“Come on now, darlin’, we both know that isn’t true.” Boone spoke
quietly and his vox’s eyes went deep blue. K wondered wildly what the color
meant—
sadness?
Was Boone feeling sorry for her for
some reason?

“It
is
true,” she
insisted. “And I don’t think you should have been so quick to accept a strange
animal as a pet, Boone. How do you know what its long term effects on you might
be? It’s dangerous and you’re being irrational.”

“
You’re
the one who’s
being irrational.” Boone frowned and his vox’s eyes flared reddish-orange.
“Here,” he said to Abrahams. “I’ll take that one too.”

Abrahams smiled and nodded, rubbing his hands together. “If you’re
sure you don’t mind…”

“Not at all.
Bring ‘em on.” Boone held out his
hand for the second little animal and Abrahams scooped it up and gave it to
him. It turned toward K and yipped appealingly but Boone shook his head. “Sorry
little guy. She doesn’t want you. Here, you get the other shoulder.” He placed
the vox on his other shoulder where it curled up reluctantly, though it
continued to stare longingly at K.

“Now that’s settled, if you’ll follow me.” Abrahams swept out of
the glass enclosed room leaving them alone for a moment.

Boone started to follow him but K grabbed his shirt.
“Stop.”

“What?” He turned back, frowning.

“I think you should put those things back. I don’t trust them.”

“You don’t trust anyone, K—that’s part of your problem. Like
denying you have feelings all the time. ‘I am a Paladin. I fear nothing, I feel
nothing,’” he mimicked softly.

“I have admitted to having
some
emotions since you took away my suit,” K said tightly.
“Though
not nearly enough to feed one of those
things
.”

“That’s a lie and you know it,” Boone said. “The only reason you
don’t want one is because they tell on you—they know what you’re feeling even
when you don’t want to feel anything at all.”

“Emotions are messy and irrational. Of
course
I don’t wish to have them and it’s
your
fault I do!” K flared. The vox on Boone’s right shoulder—the
one that had originally been hers—sat up and howled softly, its eyes turning
bright red.

“Look at that—he’s still attuned to you.” Boone watched the animal
with great interest. “He misses you, K.” He scratched the vox under its pointed
chin with one finger. “Sorry, little buddy, she’s not interested.”

“This is ridiculous,” K said tightly. “I will
not
be made to feel guilty for refusing to accept a strange animal
into my life.”

Boone
shrugged,
a smile quirking up one
side of his full mouth.
“Oh no?
I guess we’ll see.
What color do you think guilt is anyway?” He walked out of the glassed in area
laughing.

K followed him, fuming. The vox on his right shoulder turned its
head to look at her, its eyes whirling a muddy brownish-gray.

Chapter Ten

“Well, as I’m sure Ilesca told you, we have a rather unique
problem that I hope you may be able to help us with, Doctor Boone.” Abrahams
nodded genially as they settled into the deep leather chairs in the sitting
area.

The leather was thick with an almost pebbled texture that struck
Boone as odd. Still, it was quite comfortable and at least the seat was large
enough and strong enough to accommodate him. He’d been away from Colossus for
so long, conforming to the smaller scale of the littles, that he sometimes
forgot how pleasant it could be to simply be able to sit on a chair and not
worry that he might break it.

“I’m certainly willing to listen, Doctor Abrahams,” he said,
nodding. “Though I don’t know what I can do.”

“You can help save our lives, I hope,” Abrahams said seriously.

“And what have you done to endanger them in the first place?” K demanded.
She was still fuming although Boone was sure she wouldn’t admit it. Her tone
was cold and calculating but her vox’s eyes were glowing a deep red with what
he assumed must be anger and/or frustration.
This little critter is going to come in handy.
Especially
when it came to decoding his cold, withdrawn Paladin.

“Come on now, K,” he said, trying to soothe her. “You can’t just
assume that whatever problem Doctor Abrahams has is his own fault.”

“Oh but I’m very much afraid that it
is
.” The doctor plucked the strange brass and crystal goggles off
his head and began adjusting them nervously. “You’ve seen my creations—the
mixtures I’ve made and I am very proud of each and every one of them. In fact,
they went so well with nary a glitch that about a cycle ago I decided to experiment
with the native fauna.”

“What?” Boone demanded. “But the native fauna on Minotaur consists
of mindless, meat-eating carnivorous saurians.”

“What are these saurians like?” K asked. “The Purists don’t have
much
intel
on Minotaur though I know it isn’t
considered inhabitable.”

“Have you ever seen pictures of the dinosaurs that used to inhabit
Earth-that-was?” Boone asked her. She nodded. “Okay then, imagine something
like that only ten times uglier, nastier, and hungrier. It’s a wonder humans
can live on Minotaur at all.”

“Indeed, establishing ourselves here in the first place was not
easy.” Abrahams sounded grim. “Especially once the saurians got a taste for
human flesh.”

Boone thought he saw K shiver, though her face remained cool and
collected. A quick look at her vox, however, showed glowing eyes that cycled
between burnt umber and dull olive green.
Fear
or worry?
Maybe disgust?
He would have to make
note of the colors and try to decode them later to be sure.

“So the saurians…you decided to experiment on them?” K raised an
inquiring eyebrow at Abrahams who nodded.

“Unfortunately yes.
I thought if I could give at least
one of them some human intelligence I could reason with it, teach it to coexist
with us peacefully.”

“So you gave human intelligence to one of the fiercest predators
in the known galaxy?” Boone still couldn’t believe it. “I’m sorry, Abrahams,
but that sounds like a bad idea to me.”

Abrahams sighed. “As it turns out, it
was
, though it didn’t seem that way at the time. The female I mixed
seemed so docile at first—we called her Sweetie.

“Sweetie?”
Boone raised an
eyebrow.

Abrahams shrugged. “At the time, the name fit her perfectly. Ilesca
and my son used to play with her. She grew and learned at an amazing rate—I was
even able to teach her to read Standard.”

“But then…” Boone prompted.

“But then she went through some kind of change. Hormonal, I think.
I used Erian DNA in her mixture to make her more docile, more touch-dependent.”

“So you could use her needs to control her.” K shot Boone a glance
and her vox’s eyes went reddish-purple.

“Yes, of course.” Abrahams nodded, clearly missing her anger. “It
seemed the easiest way. But I used too much. The touch-dependency worked well
but then Sweetie entered a mating cycle.”

Beside him, Boone could see K was listening intently.
“This…mating cycle.
What did it do to her? What do you know
about it?”

“Not enough, apparently.”
Abrahams shook his head. “Only
that the hormonal changes she experienced made her completely reckless and
unreasonable. If I had known what would happen I would have created a male for
her. As it was, there were no others of her kind to mate with. I didn’t want to
let her mate with a wild saurian—I feared for her, feared that it might savage
and attack her.”

“You thought an unenhanced male might sense the difference in
her?” Boone asked.

“No mentally, no. But the changes in her physiology, her
chemistry—I feared they would make her a target. The pheromones she was
emitting were far beyond what was normal for her kind—they made her completely
irresistible.” He looked embarrassed. “They, er, even affected those of us who
worked with her—so I knew they would drive a male saurian completely mad.”

“What happened?” K wanted to know. Boone had an idea her interest
was more than just academic.

“I tried everything. Muscle relaxants, mood recalibraters, psychotropic
drugs—nothing worked.” Abrahams shook his head. “Finally, though, I developed a
collar I thought might work. Something she could wear all the time that would
inject her continuously with calming drugs—much like your skinsuit, my dear,”
he said, turning to K.

She stiffened. “My suit—”

“Is damaged at the moment,” Boone interrupted smoothly. Clearly K still
wasn’t willing to admit to the suit’s true properties. “So did the collar
work?” he asked Abrahams.

“I never got to find out.” Abrahams sighed. “The morning I went to
try it on her, I found that Sweetie had escaped.”

“Escaped?” K demanded. “You let a huge sentient predator with the
ability to think and
reason like a human get
away from
you?”

“Believe
me,
I have paid for my mistake
many times over.” Abrahams looked grim. “Sweetie has mounted several attacks on
our settlement and claimed many victims. My…” He cleared his throat. “My son
was one of them.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Boone said somberly. “But I don’t
really see how we can help.”

“Unless you want us to target Sweetie and blast her from orbit,” K
added.

“Oh heavens no!”
Abrahams looked shocked and upset
at the idea. “No, Sweetie might be out of control at the moment but everything
she’s done is not her fault—it’s
mine.”

“It’s good of you to take responsibility for your actions,” Boone
said. “But what good will it
do
if you just let her
keep rampaging around, killing people?”

“That’s where
you
come
in.” Abrahams cleared his throat. “You see, I had a special stunner built—one
with enough power to stop even a charging saurian.”

“So why haven’t you used it?” K demanded, leaning forward and
glaring at the doctor. “Why ask Boone to do your dirty work?”

“Because in order to give the weapon enough power to stun Sweetie,
I had to make it disproportionately large,” Abrahams explained earnestly. “No
man in our settlement can even lift it. The power cells alone are outrageously
heavy. But Doctor Boone here, being from Colossus, should be able to handle it
with ease.”

“I still don’t see why you don’t mount it on some kind of vehicle
and use it that way,” K said.

Abrahams looked thoughtful.
“A most intriguing
concept.
I admit I hadn’t considered that before. Clearly your Paladin’s
mind is attuned to the nuances of weaponry in the way mine is not. However, I’m
afraid that still wouldn’t work.”

“Why not?”
Boone asked.

“Because.
Ahem…” Abrahams cleared his throat
delicately. “Unfortunately, Sweetie knows all of us by scent. She has
incredibly sharp senses—the best I could give her. And she knows that everyone
in the settlement is armed now. But if she smells something—some
one
new, she’s much more likely to
assume that the new person is unarmed and—”

“Bait!
You want to use Boone for
bait.”
K
jumped up from her chair and her vox sat up on Boone’s shoulder
and yipped angrily, its eyes flashing reddish-orange with her rage.

“Well, in a manner of speaking, yes,” Abrahams said mildly. “But
he would be in no real danger. Sweetie is a loner and she’s carved out a
territory for herself close to the compound so he wouldn’t have to worry about
other saurians. Plus he’ll be armed with the stunner which, as I said before,
is extremely powerful. All he really has to do is
wait
for her to approach, stun her, and fit her with the control collar. Simple.”

“Simple?” K was pacing now, obviously furious. “You want to send
him out armed with nothing but a stun gun against a seven ton predator that has
teeth as long as my arm and you call it
simple?”

“My dear Paladin, please calm
yourself
.
He doesn’t
have
to do it.” Abrahams
shrugged laconically. “Of course, we don’t
have
to fix his ship, either. Everyone here has free choice.”

“Free choice? How dare you?” K looked like she was actually on the
verge of grabbing Abrahams by the throat. Boone intervened quickly.

“
Take
it easy, darlin’,” he murmured.
“Let’s just talk this through.”

“Talk it through?” K’s eyes widened. “There’s nothing to talk
about, Boone. Just say no and let’s get the hell out of here.”

“I can’t do that and you know it, K,” he said quietly. “I have to
get to my little sister and in order to do that, I need the hyperdrive fixed.”
He looked at Abrahams. “I just want to know one thing—you told me Sweetie has
attacked your settlement and killed your people. Hell, she even killed your own
son
.”

Abrahams winced. “That’s true.”

“So why don’t you want her dead?” Boone demanded. “Why not just
kill her? I realize she’s a sentient being but at this point, it sounds like
you’re into eye-for-an-eye territory.”

“Because.”
Abrahams pinched the bridge of his
long, bony nose and sighed.
“Because like so many other of my creations, Sweetie is not simply a genetic
mutation gone wrong, she is also my
daughter
.
Some of my DNA resides inside her along with all the other strands I used. I cannot
kill my children, no matter how wrong or misguided they may be.”

“Misguided?” K raised her eyebrows and gave him a disbelieving
look.
“Misguided?”

“Yes, misguided,” Abrahams said firmly. “Her brain chemistry and
hormones are in a constant state of flux. But once she’s fitted with the
control collar, it will take care of all that.”

“And you think she’ll be happy like that?” Boone asked. “Feeling
nothing?” He saw K’s eyes flash but she didn’t speak. The vox on his shoulder
growled softly, however, its eyes glowing red.

“I think she’ll be content, yes,” Abrahams said, rising. “Here,
let me get you the collar and you can see for yourself.” He disappeared for a
moment, presumably to fetch the control collar from his lab.

“I can’t believe you.” K turned on him. “You’re not actually
considering this, are you?”

Boone sighed. “As a matter of fact, I am.”

“You
can’t
be!” K’s eyes
went wide and her mouth trembled. “What if something happens to you? What if
you get…get killed?”

Boone nodded, seeing the source of her worry.
“Oh,
yeah.
And then what would happen to you, right?
With
no one to touch you.”

She shook her head. “I…I didn’t mean…If you died I couldn’t…I…”

“Yes?” Boone looked at her with interest. Could it be that she had
some genuine feeling for him?
Some reason other than self
preservation to care about his safety?

K lifted her chin and made an obvious effort to reign in her
emotions. “I mean, what
would
happen
to me in the event of your death?”

Boone raised an eyebrow. “For a minute there I almost though you
cared, darlin’. Tell you
what,
I’ll let Mom in on the
location of your suit. So if something happens and I wind up as a saurian hors
d’oeuvre, she can give it back to you and you’re free to go.”

“But Boone, it’s so dangerous,” she protested and he thought he
saw her mouth tremble again. Goddess, the rest of her might be as flat and
sexless as a child but her lips were all woman—lush and full and ripe. He found
himself wishing he could kiss those lips before he left on this crazy mission
but then he pushed the irrational urge away. Not only was it stupid and
sentimental, but K would no doubt be horrified at the level of “contamination”
involved in pressing their mouths together.