Instead of armor or what Six had called his “exoskeleton” her visitor had on a long, black leather coat that reminded Mei-Li of something you might see a Nazi wearing in an old movie. It buttoned at his boney chin and fell straight down to his black boots.
“Um, hello?” she said at last since he just stood there. “Is there something I can do for you?”
“Oh, I think not, my dear. I heard that my dear friend Six was here with his bride and I just stopped by to pay my respects.”
“Oh, uh…” Mei-Li said uncertainly. “I mean, we’re not actually married or anything. He just came to…to claim me, that’s all.”
“And who could blame him for wanting to lay claim to such an enchanting creature as yourself?” He grinned widely, exposing a vast array of gleaming steel teeth. The teeth turned what might have been a charming expression into a grotesque one.
“Um, thank you.” Mei-Li took a step back involuntarily. To her dismay, this prompted the tall, skeletal man with the metal teeth to take a step forward so that he was now in the room with her.
“I see you’re admiring my new dental work,” he said, grinning wider than ever.
With a start, Mei-Li realized she’d been staring rudely at his mouth. Quickly, she dragged her gaze away.
“It’s very…striking,” she said weakly.
“All part of my new oral-nasal enhancement,” the man proclaimed. Or was he a Kindred? He was certainly tall enough but he lacked the well developed muscles Mei-Li had always assumed were a feature of every Kindred warrior. He was thin almost to the point of emaciation with narrow shoulders and pale skin stretched tightly over his sharp cheekbones.
“That’s nice,” she said, trying to smile. “But I don’t think I caught your name?”
“Because I didn’t tell you yet. How very rude of me.” He grinned again, alarmingly. “I am known as the Eyes of the Collective. Although perhaps I should be known as its nose.” He tapped the metal side of his knife blade nose significantly. “Especially after my latest enhancement. Has Six never mentioned me?”
“He…no, I’m afraid he didn’t.” Mei-Li took another step back and once again, he followed her. “But we haven’t known each other very long.” Not that your short acquaintance stopped you from sucking face with him, whispered a critical little voice in the back of her head. Mei-Li pushed the thought away. Right now she had to be concerned with Mr. Scary Teeth—he looked like a freaking Bond villain and he kept on getting closer and closer. How could she get rid of him?
“Well, I’m pleased to make your acquaintance…?” He paused significantly and Mei-Li said quickly,
“Mei-Li Hastings. Nice to meet you.” Automatically, she held out her hand…then wished she hadn’t. She really didn’t want to touch those long, boney fingers she saw sticking out from under his black leather coat. Still, her hand was out now and she didn’t think she could retract it without looking rude.
For a moment, her boney visitor simply stared at her outstretched hand, then his face broke into that horrible metal grin again.
“Oh, I see—your people must touch each other in greeting. How quaint.”
Slowly, he extended his own hand. It was long and narrow with prominent blue veins. White skin as thin as parchment paper was stretched over the knuckles. Mei-Li tried not to shiver when their fingers touched—his hand was so cold and dry it was like shaking hands with a corpse. Thankfully, the handshake was brief.
“A charming custom, no doubt from your home world,” he said. “I understand you call it Earth?”
“Well, yes…we do.” Mei-Li felt uneasy though she didn’t know why. It seemed wrong to hear her planet’s name come from those thin, liver-colored lips.
“A lovely little world, I’m told. Rich in natural resources?”
“I don’t know. I guess so.” Mei-Li frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“It doesn’t, my dear. Just making small talk. Just trying to put you at ease.” He grinned again, so widely Mei-Li was sure she would be able to count all his teeth—even the back ones—if she tried. Despite his stated intention, she thought she had never seen a facial expression less likely to put her “at ease.”
“Well, it was nice to meet you,” she said, hoping to end the strange conversation and get rid of him. “But I really should go now. Six is going to be here literally any second. He has to take me up to see Yipper before we can go down to the planet.”
“Ah, Yipper.” The man’s thin upper lip curled contemptuously. “Indeed.”
The way he said it made Mei-Li wonder if something was wrong.
“Don’t you like Yipper?” she asked. “I mean, is he a good surgeon?”
“I have no feelings about him one way or another.” He shrugged his narrow, boney shoulders. “Like the others of my kind, I am without emotion.”
“Oh, of course, I’m sorry. I just thought…the look on your…your face. Well, the left side of it anyway…” She trailed off, hoping she hadn’t offended him.
“One can show the outward signs of emotion without actually feeling anything.” He winked at her with his one normal eye. “You might do well to remember that yourself during your Claiming Period.”
Mei-Li frowned. “You can? I mean, of course you can but why would you bother? Showing emotion you don’t feel?”
“Why, to set you at ease, my dear, of course! It has often been noted by myself and my colleagues that Feelers—those with emotions—are made…uncomfortable by those like myself who have none. The polite thing in such a situation is to feign emotion, even if one does not feel it. That is only aboard the medical barges of course, though. Down on the planet’s surface we have…other ways of dealing with Feelers.”
“I see.” Mei-Li wondered if Six had been pretending earlier. Had he just been acting like he enjoyed their kiss? Was he actually just a soulless, unfeeling robot as he had claimed to be or was there something more to him? Was he—
So…” The man with the steel teeth cleared his throat, interrupting her train of thought. “You must be going to get your enhancement.”
“Yes, I am.” Mei-Li nodded.
“And have you decided what you’ll have yet? Other than the emotion damper, of course.”
“Emotion damper?” Mei-Li frowned.
“At the back of your neck. Like this one, my dear.” He turned briefly and showed her a small silver and black button embedded at the nape of his boney neck. He was almost completely bald with just a fringe of closely shaved hair around his ears so it was easy to see. “You will be getting one, of course? Since Feelers are not allowed on Z4. As I told you, we have ways of dealing with them.”
Mei-Li felt cold all over. “I…I was told I’d be given a special dispensation. I don’t want to lose my emotions.”
“Of course you don’t.” His deep-set left eye gleamed. “Feelers never do. That is why we have to sniff them out.” He made a show of lifting his skull-like head and inhaling deeply through his nose. “Speaking of which, I can tell that a great deal of feeling has gone on in here recently. The air is just thick with it.”
“I…um…” Mei-Li put a hand to her throat, feeling guilty. Could he actually smell how hot and bothered kissing Six had made her? Oh God, I hope not! “How can you possibly know that?” she asked. “How can you smell when people are…are feeling? Having emotions?”
“Pheromones, my dear. Every living thing puts them out and they change subtly when strong emotions are in play.”
“Oh, I see.” She wondered again if he could tell exactly what emotions she had been having but she wasn’t brave enough to ask. She pressed her thighs together as casually as she could.
“I don’t think you do see, but you will, my dear. Your own pheromones, for instance, are very distinctive.” He inhaled deeply again. “Now that I’ve scented them I dare say I could find you anywhere just by sniffing around a little.”
He gave a humorless laugh but Mei-Li didn’t smile back. She didn’t like the idea at all.
A very unpleasant mental image formed in her head—one of herself hiding in a dark room, barely daring to breathe while Mr. Steel Teeth raised his skull-like head and sniffed the air, searching for her. Ugh! She tried to push the thought away.
“That’s…interesting,” she said as neutrally as she could. “Um, I think Six should be here soon.”
To her intense relief, her unexpected visitor finally seemed to take the hint. He stepped out of the room and nodded courteously at her. “I must go now but I’m sure I’ll see you on Z4.”
“I’m sure,” Mei-Li said, nodding though privately she was hoping just the opposite. Please, God, if I never seen this weird metal-teeth guy again it’ll be too soon.
“It was a pleasure meeting you.” He nodded his head once more and then turned to go. Just as she was breathing a sigh of relief, though, he turned back. “Oh, and Mei-Li, my dear?”
“Yes?” She tried to smile politely and couldn’t quite manage it.
“That special dispensation of yours—the one that allows you to keep your precious emotions?”
“Yes,” she said again, her hand going to her throat.
“See that you don't let it elapse.” He grinned at her again—that shark-like baring of too many metal teeth—and then finally, mercifully, he went.
Mei-Li waited until he was a little way down the corridor before she waved the door shut. Then she just stood there with her back to the wall and tried to breathe. There was something about that man—something she didn’t like at all. It wasn’t just his horror sci-fi appearance either. Six had a pretty scary eye and hand and that didn’t bother her. No, what bothered her about her visitor was the way he had looked at her. That cold, deep-set eye had gazed at her in an almost predatory way.
And she didn’t mean predatory as in sexual or lascivious. No—the man with the steel teeth looked at her as though he was a hunter and she was fresh meat. And the things he had said…it was almost as though he was telling her they had a truce up here on the medical barge but once they met again on Z4, the hunt would be on.
Don’t be silly, she told herself uneasily. It was nothing. He was just trying to be charming. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t manage it with all those metal teeth.
No, whispered a little voice inside her brain. No, that was a threat. You need to stay away from him, whoever he is.
That thought made her realize she had never really gotten his name. He had said his title was…was what? Something about the Collective—the nose of the Collective? But that couldn’t be right, that was just weird. Then again, the whole encounter had been weird and unsettling. Mei-Li wondered how many other people like Six’s strange colleague she was going to meet once she got down to Zeaga Four.
Trying to push it out of her mind, she sat carefully down on the edge of the beanbag-like sousa and picked up the thin plastic sheet to study the contract she had unwittingly signed. She really needed to know what was expected of her during this Claiming Period—she didn’t want to be caught by surprise again as she had been with this whole enhancement business.
Still, though she tried to concentrate on the contract, she couldn’t get the image of the tall, skeletal man out of her mind. And she couldn’t quite forget the feel of those icy, corpse-like fingers enfolding her own…
* * * * *
Six was relieved to see no sign of Two when he got to their room. There was a faint sourness in the air, as though the male might have passed that way, but that was all. Then again, Two never left much of a scent for some reason. Six was just glad he wasn’t here. All the way back from Yipper’s Enhancement Area the tightness in his midsection had been growing until it was nearly unbearable. Not that he thought Two would hurt Mei-Li—not aboard the med barge, anyway. But he couldn’t be absolutely sure about that.
As well as running the sniffers, Two was on the Purge Squad—a role he could rightfully have relinquished after rising in the Collective. Instead, he chose to retain it. Six had watched him work—every time he personally purged an individual who had been convicted of Feel-crime, he had that strange, unpleasant grin on his face. Six was aware that Two had no more emotions than he had but at times, it almost seemed as though he relished purging offenders.
No, the male was not to be trusted. Especially around his female.
Six didn’t stop to think that he had considered Mei-Li in a possessive sense. The thought felt right in his head and he didn’t question it. For as long as she was with him, the little female was under his protection. And he intended to keep her as far from Two as possible. He didn’t even want Two to lay eyes on her and he especially didn’t want her scent in the other male’s nostrils. It was better that way. Safer.
He opened the door to find her fully dressed and sitting gingerly on the edge of the sousa, perusing the Claiming Contract. Good—she needed to get over her fear of the sleeping platform since it was the same kind he had in his own domicile. Not that he used it much—mostly he slept in his recharging station but during the Claiming Period he might have to change his habits.
“Oh, hi.” She looked up at him. “I was just studying this contract—we really need to talk about this when we have time. The way it spells out exactly what you’re allowed to do to me and the things we’ve already, um…” She broke off, her cheeks growing pink.
Six cleared his throat. “Of course…we can talk about it once we reach my domicile on Z4. That is, after all, when our Claiming Period officially begins.”
“Oh, uh…right.” She nodded.
Six thought he perceived a lingering awkwardness between them, perhaps because of the physical encounter they had shared. Had Mei-Li been affected by it in the same way he had been? Her scent had been warm and ready and her pussy had grown wet with need but that was just a physical symptom of arousal. Had she also experienced other, more emotional symptoms? Did she…feel for him? Do you want her to feel for you? whispered a voice in his head. But that was foolish—the obvious answer was that he had no feelings about it one way or another.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “I know earlier was kind of weird. We probably shouldn’t have, um…”
“I am well,” Six said quickly. “It was…not problematic for me. I only left quickly because I just had to speak to Yipper about…a few matters.” He cleared his throat. “And speaking of Yipper, he is waiting for you now—are you ready to go?”
“Yup. Ready to go when you are—see?” She stood, showing that she was dressed completely in the white clothing and boots he had synthesized for her.
Six tried to keep his gaze from moving to her chest since she had told him it was off-limits but he couldn’t help noting the lacy outline of her undergarment beneath the thin white fabric. It made him think of her small, perfectly formed breasts with their sensitive nipples…Gods how he wanted to touch those tight little points with nothing between them…
No. He cut the thought off abruptly. It was just a physical symptom of his Kindred DNA, nothing else, he told himself firmly.
“Ah, yes. I see,” he said, keeping his eyes firmly on her face. “Good, then we’ll go. Yipper is ready to see you and he promised to have an array of ocular enhancements for you to choose from. Subtle enhancements,” He added when her gaze flicked to his own ocular scanner.
“Good.” She smiled. “Not that I don’t like yours, but I’ll still need to be able to fit in when I go back to Earth.”
“Of course. When you…when you go back.” The words stuck in his throat for some reason. He looked away. “Come—we shouldn’t keep Yipper waiting.”
“Lead the way.” She motioned for him to precede her. “I don’t really know which way we’re going. I was kind of out of my mind when you brought me here last night.”
“You were upset because I didn’t explain the requirements of the enhancement properly.” He raised an eyebrow. “I hope you are more at ease now?”
“Yes, of course. I still don’t like it but as long as I can get something subtle and I don’t have to lose a limb, I sho
uld be okay. And uh…I don’t have to get an emotion damper, right?”
Six frowned as they walked down the corridor together to the lift. “No, it is not a requirement. As an official visitor to Z4 you will be getting an emotional dispensation, as I explained.”
“Huh.” Mei-Li frowned skeptically. “The way you say it, it sounds like I’m getting a pass for being mentally ill or something. Like a card I can hand people that explains I do crazy things sometimes because I’m not right in the head.”
“Well, it isn’t actually a card but we do consider Feelers to be less mentally competent than ourselves.”
“What?” Mei-Li stopped and put a hand on her hip. “Are you trying to say you think I’m crazy? Or just stupid? Because either way it’s pretty insulting.”
Six frowned. “I’m simply saying that emotions cloud judgment. Have you never done something in the…what is the English expression? In the fire of the minute—have you never done something in the fire of the minute and regretted it afterwards?”
“I think the phrase you’re looking for is ‘heat of the moment,’” Mei-Li said dryly as they resumed walking. “And yes, I have on occasion done something I regretted. But that’s part of being human. Or I should say, being a thinking, feeling person.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Six said. “You can live your life without such mistakes if you relinquish the irrational impulses that drive them.”
Mei-Li raised an eyebrow at him. “So you’re telling me you’ve lived a life completely free of regrets?”
Kill me, Jax…
Six looked away. “Not…entirely. But tell me why you asked about the emotion damper in the first place. Is it because I have one?” He reached up to touch the small silver and black button at the back of his neck.
“No.” She shook her head. “I was just worried…I met a man while you were gone and he said—”
“You met a male?” It was Six’s turn to freeze in mid-stride. He looked at her sharply. “Who?”