Sister Katherine (17 page)

“Right here.”  She pointed just below her navel, where her stomach protruded the tiniest bit.

Degorsk nodded and tapped on his handheld a little more.  “All right.  I want you to come over here and stand on this platform.”

He led her and Miv to one of the machines on the right side of the room.  It was one of the less intimidating devices, only a metal square on the floor with a thin metal beam and control panel in front of it.  Katherine thought it resembled a smaller version of the 3D scanners on Earth.

“Up here?”  She eyed the platform.

“Please.”  Incredibly, he winked at her.  “Don’t worry, you can’t break it.  It holds monster Nobeks of over 300 pounds.  You’re so small, I might have to argue with it before it’s convinced you’re standing on it.”

He sounded like he was joking with her.  Katherine offered a tremulous smile and stepped onto the large raised square with Miv’s guidance.

Degorsk snapped his handheld back onto his belt and tapped on the control panel.  A vid image abruptly appeared between her and the doctor. 

He confirmed her suspicions.  “I’m doing a deep scan so I can check your internal organs first.  Just stand as still as you can.  It will only take a few seconds.”

Katherine stared as a three-dimensional picture took shape.  Glistening pink things packed into a small space made her swallow.  “That’s what it looks like inside me?” 

“Yes it is.  Aren’t you pretty?”  Degorsk grinned.  His handsome face grew even more so with the bright expression.

Katherine had to laugh.  Pretty?  Not even close.  Her guts were downright gross, in her opinion.  Beauty really was only skin deep, she decided.

Wrinkling her nose at the view of what was inside her, she asked, “What is all that stuff?”

“You’ve never had an anatomy lesson?”  He seemed surprised, but not judgmental at her lack of knowledge.

“I’ve seen pictures of some organs like the heart and lungs.  Is that my stomach?”  Katherine pointed uncertainly at the one familiar looking thing floating before her.

“That’s it.”  Degorsk pointed out other organs.  “There are your liver, your kidneys, and this long rope-looking thing is your intestines.  And I do believe I see the culprit that is making it hurt to eat.”

He turned to Miv.  “I need to touch her.  Don’t tear my arm off and beat me with it.”

Miv grimaced but nodded.  Degorsk stepped closer to Katherine and reached through the vid.  Seeing hands coming at her through the floating entrails was a little disconcerting. Katherine remained still however, until the doctor pressed the spot below her navel.  She shied at the tender soreness his touch brought to life.

Degorsk’s voice turned quiet and reassuring.  “I know, that hurts a little doesn’t it?  It’s all right, Matara.  You have a little bulge right here.  Have you noticed it?”

She nodded.  “Yes.”

He withdrew.  “You have a little bit of your insides poking through a hole in your abdominal wall.  That’s called a hernia.”

Katherine blinked.  “Oh.  I’ve heard of those, but I didn’t know what they were.”  A hole that her insides were coming out of?

Degorsk’s smile was comforting despite how bad the diagnosis sounded.  “I need to fix that.  It’s going to make your life a whole lot better when I do.”

Miv’s brow knotted with worry.  “It’s not serious, is it?”

Degorsk shook his head.  “It will require all of twenty minutes of surgery.  Prepping will take longer than the actual procedure.”

Katherine bit her lip.  “Surgery?”

Degorsk remained reassuring.  “Sounds scary, doesn’t it?  Use it to get your Dramok to buy you expensive dresses and jewelry.  He doesn’t have to know you didn’t feel a thing.  In fact, you’ll be able to walk out of here on your own two feet in just a little more than an hour.”  Degorsk moved his gaze to Miv.  “You can tell Commander Simdow how you had to help me save her through an emergency procedure.  Maybe in his gratitude he’ll buy you a shiny new knife to attack your enemies with.”

Miv gave him a pained attempt at a smile.  Katherine had to laugh, however.  The doctor was funny.  “So it’s not that bad?”

Degorsk switched off the vid and indicated she could leave the platform.  “Not one bit, Matara.  Come with me, and we’ll get you fixed as good as new.  Ensign, I will have to ask you to stay out of the operating theater.”

Miv nodded.  “Yes, Doctor.”  He smiled at Katherine.  “I’ll be with you as soon as it’s allowed, my Matara.”

As the Nobek leaned against one of the examination tables in the front of the room, settling in to wait, Degorsk escorted Katherine into a small, private room in the back.  It too had table. 

The doctor said, “I realize this will be uncomfortable for you, Matara, but you’ll have to remove your gown so I can perform the procedure.  I will wait until you are on the table and covered properly before I bring in a nurse to assist me, however.”

“All right.”  She had thought surgery would demand nudity and appreciated Degorsk’s understanding.  He turned his back to her, fussing with a computer that was embedded in the wall. 

With him looking away, Katherine found it easier to pull her gown off.  She was left in her underpants, and she clambered up on the table.  The room seemed cold, making her shiver.  She crossed her arms over her breasts, hiding as much of her nudity as possible.

Degorsk left the computer to come to her table.  He kept his eyes averted, giving her as much dignity as the situation allowed as he worked with something beneath the table.

Abruptly, long panels slid from beneath the surface Katherine laid on.  They curved up and around, the pieces covering her torso without touching her.  Only after the panels hid her nakedness from his sight did Degorsk look at her.

“A bit cold in here, isn’t it?  Let’s see if this helps.”  He tapped on one of the concealing panels.

Warm spread over Katherine like a weightless blanket.  Her trembling ceased as it drove back the chill. 

“Better?  I can make it warmer if you wish.”

“No, that’s perfect.  Thank you.”

Degorsk smiled at her.  He seemed so nice, so intent on making her feel as little threatened as possible.  His gentle regard gave Katherine encouragement to ask the embarrassing questions that had been bothering her.  If she could avoid coming back in here for another complaint, she’d prefer that no matter how kind the Kalquorian doctor was.

She said, “Doctor, I’ve had some other strange symptoms since I was captured.  Maybe it’s only stress or the hernia, but they’ve never happened before.”

He stopped tapping commands into the panels and gave her his full attention.  “Tell me about them.”

“Sometimes I feel all funny in my stomach.  Hot and kind of twisty and – I don’t know – ticklish?  It’s hard to describe.  It’s kind of like the nausea I mentioned, but not quite.  Somehow, it’s different.”  She swallowed and felt her face warm in humiliation.  “And I’ve um, I’ve been sort of wetting myself.  But it’s not urine, I don’t think.”

Degorsk’s eyes widened a bit.  His face flushed, and he seemed to struggle for a moment before speaking.  “Well.  These symptoms, you said they started after you were captured?”

“Yes.”

“Did they occur during your capture or after?”

“After.”

“Alone or around your clan?  Perhaps when they were close?”

Katherine thought about that.  “I think so.  Yes, it happened around them.  No other time.”

Degorsk’s smile was as gentle as ever.  “What’s happening is completely natural, Katherine.  Your body is simply responding with attraction to your clanmates.”

Katherine stared.  Shock filled her senses.  “You mean—?” 

He nodded and looked away.  His fingers tapped on the panel once more.  “You’re sexually aroused.”

Horror crept over Katherine, mixing sickly with her embarrassment.  “I can’t be.  I mean, it’s not – it’s a–” 

“Sin.”  Degorsk looked at her again, his expression sad.  “Yes, I’ve heard all about that.  What you were taught and what nature insists on are two different things.  Your instincts have recognized your clanmates as likely candidates for giving you children, so your biology is sending you signals to do so.  It’s not always something within conscious control, especially if you find the men physically attractive.”

Katherine lay there stunned as Degorsk went back to his work.  She wanted to refute what he’d told her, but hadn’t she wondered about the similarities to her wetness and Simdow’s?  Hadn’t she thought her body might be readying for the act of procreation? 

When Miv had kissed her with such abandon earlier, her entire body had felt as if it melted.  Indeed, the wetness had gushed from between her legs in a warm flood.

However, to say it was because she found Simdow and his clanmates physically attractive – well yes, she’d appreciated their honed bodies, much as she might a statue or fine artwork, though those pieces depicted only clothed men.  But appealing as in wanting sex?

A voice from three years ago spoke in her head: 
“No matter how innocent your wish to share our beliefs with the Kalquorians, Sister, it is highly inappropriate for a woman, particularly a woman in your position, to actively pursue contact with them.  One wonders about your true motives.”

Degorsk interrupted her thoughts.  “I’m going to give you a general anesthetic and then I’ll call in a nurse to assist me with the procedure.  Are you ready?”

“Yes, Doctor.”  Katherine’s voice seemed far away.

As drowsiness sent her drifting, she tried to refute that she would actually wish to lie in sin with a man.  Sleeping with the Kalquorians and having their nude bodies touching hers had been fraught with anxiety.  But what of how she’d gotten carried away with touching them this morning?  What of her satisfaction at having brought them all to pleasurable climax?  It had been fascinating in an intellectual sense, and freeing to know they didn’t have to force themselves on her simply because she excited them.  But to actually want to have sex with the men?  Alien men?

That simply wasn’t possible when she lived in terror of that very act – was it?

Chapter 9

Katherine woke from her surgery feeling perfectly fine and pronounced healed.  Even the evidence of her last scourging had been erased.  To her amusement, Dr. Degorsk announced a list of things Miv could present him in worshipful thanks, a list that included the tusks of a Tragoom chieftain strung as a necklace on the jewel-encrusted hair of Empress Jessica. 

Miv managed a smile and escorted Katherine back to their quarters.

The Nobek insisted Katherine lie down to recuperate even though Degorsk had assured her she could run the length of the ship by the afternoon hours if she so desired.  Miv turned as fussy as a mother hen however, constantly checking on her comfort, bringing her water, protein drinks, alien fruits, and sweet treats that seemed to be a cross between cookie and pastry.  He constantly adjusted the temperature in the room, one moment proclaiming it too warm for her heavy gown, the next worrying she’d take a chill. 

Katherine found his solicitude touching.  Miv acted flustered, desperate to do something for her but unable to discern exactly what that something should be.  At last she patted the bed next to her.

“Miv, sit down.  I’m perfectly fine.  You’ll wear yourself out fretting over me.”

He scowled for an instant, but he sat.  He looked at her with those disconcerting purple eyes and blew out a breath.

“I’m no Imdiko, used to taking care of someone.  I’m made to protect, not nurture.  I’m sorry I’m not better at this, Katherine.”

She had to smile.  “You’re extremely good at making me feel cared for.  It’s just Dr. Degorsk said I would be fine after this.  You don’t need to fuss.”

He frowned.  “But look at you.  You’re so tiny.  So helpless.  How can I not worry over you when you’ve been ill?”

She arched an eyebrow at him.  “I assure you, I am not helpless.  I have lived my life perfectly fine for many years without a Nobek to wait on me hand and foot.”

One side of Miv’s mouth twisted upward.  “Do I detect a challenge there?”

Katherine crossed her arms over her chest and pretended to glare at him.  “Do not let a quiet facade fool you, Kalquorian.  It’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for.”

His grin came out full force.  “I’ll keep that in mind, my lovely.”

Katherine swallowed.  His smile, bright in his dark face, made her heart pick up speed.  His people had attacked hers, had taken them prisoner.  Yet she felt so much goodness coming from the fierce warrior. 

Miv blinked at her, his brow creasing with concern as she stared at him.  “What are you thinking, Katherine?”

“That I wish we would have met under other circumstances.  I wonder how different it would have been if coming together under the hope of compromise had been possible, rather than meeting as enemies.”

He looked at her.  Really looked at her, as if thinking hard on her words.  After nearly a minute of considering, Miv said, “I still would have seen a beautiful woman who deserves my strength before her, keeping all who would harm her at bay.”

Katherine gasped.  “Miv, that was lovely.  You’re a poet as well as a warrior.”

His face reddened a little.  “Nobeks are often seen as brutes, especially by your people.  It is true we live for the fight, hoping to die in glorious battle with dignity and honor.  Our blood screams for danger and the opportunity to turn it back.  But we feel, Katherine.  We don’t often speak of it, but we feel.”

She could see the truth of his words in his eyes.  The intensity of his emotions lay bare before her, raw and urgent.  Unable to help herself, Katherine leaned forward and stroked his cheek.  She had to touch this courageous and sensitive man, needed to be in contact with this amazing creature of deep emotion that he dared not display for any but a few.

Miv moved into her touch, coming closer.  His face filled Katherine’s vision.  She saw only him, and yet it was as if she saw all of creation in him.  All the wonder.  All the joy.  All the heartache.  All the danger.  And all the splendor.

His fierce visage softened.  His breath warmed her face as he drifted closer.  When their lips touched, Katherine felt a simultaneous jolt of electricity and a gentle melting through her being.  The steel of Miv’s arms surrounded her, and she sank into the security of his protection.