Deep Penetration; Alien Breeders I (37 page)

“
I didn’t need to hear
that.”

“
You brought it
up.”

“
What do you think she
meant?”

Tariq frowned. “I don’t know. She
always was a little … unpredictable.”

“
You and her were
lovers?”

“
That was a while
back.”

“
She was still old as
hell.”

Tariq let out an irritated breath.
“She was lonely. I was horny. I figured what the hell?”

“
So what happened between
you two? She seems to still be fond of you.”

“
She nearly fucked me to
death and I had to work up an escape plan. That’s when I got
transferred to Pater for a while—It cost me a bundle to bribe my
senior officer for transfer orders, by the way. By the time I got
back, she’d taken a new lover. I’ve managed to evade recapture ever
since and maintain a friendship, but I have to watch myself around
her.”

Koryn shuddered.

Tariq sent him an annoyed look. “She
isn’t that bad. She looks good … for her age. She was a beauty when
she was young.”

“
Yes, but you weren’t with
her then.”

Tariq grinned abruptly. “No, but my
cock was lonely. She was easy enough on the eyes and a lot of
fun—easy to get along with. I would’ve stayed longer if not for the
fact that she’s insatiable. And actually I was pretty happy about
that—at first.” He glanced Koryn speculatively. “Don’t tell me
you’ve never been with an older woman.”

Koryn looked uncomfortable. “Not that
much older.”

“
She wasn’t even middle
aged at the time,” Tariq said irritably.

“
This
time around.”

“
I didn’t know it was
fourth time until later,” Tariq said testily.

“
I was with a second timer
for a while.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes, really. I thought
she was my age. It pissed me off when I discovered it was her
second time around.”

“
Why the hell would it
piss you off? What difference does it make?”

Koryn reddened. “I was a virgin at the
time.”

“
Somebody
has to have some experience,” Tariq pointed out
dryly. “It isn’t a hell of a lot of fun when neither one of you
know what the fuck you’re doing.”

“
I take it from that that
you were with a virgin the first time.”

Tariq merely grunted. “If we’re doing
true confessions here, it’s your turn.”

“
I’m a scientist,” Koryn
said dryly. “I have led a very boring life. Even
I
think I’ve had a
boring life.”

“
Up till now.”

“
This isn’t the kind of
excitement I always yearned for I can tell you!” Koryn said
testily.

“
You’ve never been in
imprisoned before?”

“
Thankfully, no. I came
close a couple of times back in my college days, but I always
managed to slip through the net when the civil patrol showed
up.”

“
Your college must have
been a lot more fun that the military academy was.”

“
That wouldn’t be hard.
Why did you go there? I’ve heard it’s hell.”

“
My father—your
confessions.”

“
Like I said—boring. I
spent more time in college than out of it. I’ve got a dozen degrees
in the sciences—which you already know—and not much else. I’ve had
a grand total of six lovers and none of the relationships lasted
more than a handful of years. I’d look up from the microscope one
day and they’d be gone. Not even a note to say ‘kiss my
ass!’”

Tariq chuckled. “It can’t have been
that bad!”

Koryn shrugged. “It wasn’t
really. I’ve been content enough. I just haven’t had many
highlights and the most excitement has been
almost
discovering
something.”

“
You’re one of the top
scientists in your field,” Tariq pointed out.

“
If some the old bastards
would die, I’d be at the top,” he said jokingly, then swallowed a
little sickly. “They take samples every year. The top people don’t
have a choice. They’ll bring me back.”

Tariq was relieved that he didn’t have
to think of a response. The guard returned and this time he had
Aeon with him. Tariq surged toward the door. “Give me a few minutes
with him.”

The guard frowned. “Tell me where to
find my tip and you can have as much time as you want.”

Tariq studied the man a moment.
“There’s a lion at the gates of my father’s old estate. You’ll find
another box like the one you have in its throat.”

Nodding, the guard hurried off. Tariq
met Aeon’s gaze. “I’ve got a better offer for you than the one I
made before, but it’ll also be harder. You interested?”

Aeon studied him for a moment and
finally nodded.

“
Mylor took my woman. I
spoke to Lady Seana about getting her out of there, but I don’t
trust her to do it for me or that she’d take care of Emerald even
if she did. I know you can get in there. No one ever pays attention
to the androids. Get her out for me and take her to the old woman
named Cleme in Old Town and I’ll tell you where to find a box of
gold.”

Aeon studied him for a long moment.
“She won’t be safe there,” he said finally. “Lord Mylor considers
her a great prize. He’ll take the city apart searching for
her.”

Tariq stared at him in consternation
for several moments and glanced at Koryn. Koryn got up and joined
them.

“
Do you think you could
get her on the next transport back to Earth?”

Aeon looked startled.
“Perhaps.”

“
I hired a crew to take
Emerald to one of the human colonies. They have the coordinates. If
you can get her back to Earth, the six of you can take her to the
colony and …. No one will know you’re androids. You can take a
woman for yourself if you can find one and live among the humans as
a free man,” Tariq said urgently.

For the first time Aeon’s face showed
real emotion—disbelief. “We would still be what we are. We can’t
change that.”

“
No, but you don’t need to
to live as men among men, to have the life of a man.”

Still, Aeon hesitated. “Mylor
destroyed your child. She is weak. It will be difficult to move
her.”

Tariq had feared as much and it was
still a crushing blow to hear it. He couldn’t catch his breath for
several moments, let alone speak.

“
Get her out of there!”
Koryn growled. “Just get her on the transport.”

Aeon bowed. “I will do my best. What
android will I seek?”

“
Terril,” Tariq managed.
“Find Terril.”

Chapter Sixteen

Tariq exploded with rage when Aeon had
left. He was still cursing and pacing the cell and slamming his
fists into the walls when Koryn finished throwing up. Weaving a
path to the bed, Koryn sprawled out weakly on it and watched Tariq
pace back and forth until he was dizzy, his own anger and
frustration mounting as the nausea passed.

He couldn’t think of
anything to say—because there
was
nothing to be said. They couldn’t kill the
bastard. He would’ve liked the chance to get his hands on him as
much as Tariq did but it wasn’t going to happen and both of them
knew it.

The baby was gone. They couldn’t do
anything about that either.

He pushed it from his mind. It only
frustrated him and angered him more and he didn’t know any other
way to deal with it. He felt like pacing and cursing and pounding
the walls. He felt like he was angry enough to tear the wall down,
but it hadn’t worked for Tariq yet and he doubted it would for him
either.

It made him sicker wondering if they
would ever know if Aeon succeeded in rescuing her.

He wanted to know that at least before
he died.

“
He’ll get her out,” he
said finally, more to reassure himself than Tariq.

Tariq paused, panting for breath, and
turned to stare at him. After a moment, he moved to his cot and
dropped down on the edge, holding his head in his hands. “I told
her I’d protect her.”

“
You tried.”

“
That isn’t good enough!”
Tariq bellowed. “I should’ve done something as soon as you
suggested it. I should’ve thought of it myself. She would’ve been
safe then, but I was too fucking selfish. I couldn’t give her
up.”

Koryn sat up and held his own
throbbing head. “I couldn’t either. That’s why I offered to take
her.”

Tariq tilted his head up to look at
Koryn and swallowed sickly. “I knew he’d abort the baby. I kept
telling myself he wouldn’t notice, that I’d get her out somehow
before he found out, but he knew I was breeding her. He probably
had her checked as soon as he got her onboard.”

“
There was nothing you
could do about it! I’d love to blame you for it, but I got the shit
kicked out of me for trying to protect her and you see how fucking
effective that was!”

“
I could’ve
not
bred
her.”

“
Hindsight is always
perfect. I didn’t think about it either. All I could think about
was that as soon as you did I could have her. You think I don’t
feel like shit about it, too?”

Exhausted from their anger and
frustration, heartsick, they both lay back on their cots after a
while, staring up at the ceiling.

“
Do you think there’s any
chance one of them might get her out before they execute us?” Koryn
asked after a while. “I’d just like to know.”

“
I don’t know,” Tariq
responded. “Aeon knew a lot more than I’d expected. Of course
servants always talk. If she’s … weak from it, though, it might
make it easier for him to locate her.” He was silent for several
minutes. “Seana will let us know. If she succeeds, she’ll want
credit and if she doesn’t she’ll complain that she tried and she
was gone.”

“
You think?” Koryn asked
hopefully.

“
If she holds true to form
and I expect she will.”

Koryn had almost managed to drift off
to sleep when he heard a sound just outside their cell. He frowned,
listening, and finally turned his head toward the door when he
realized the sound was coming from that direction. He discovered
when he did, that Tariq was already halfway across the room. Moving
against the wall like a shadow, he flattened his back against the
wall next to the door.

“
Lord Tariq?” said a male
voice barely above a whisper.

Tariq hesitated.

The door opened. “Lady Sean
….”

Tariq had already jumped the man and
had him in a headlock, cutting him off.

“
Lady Seana sent me,” the
man grunted.

Tariq held him a moment more and
released him.

Shrugging his shoulders, the man
turned toward the door again. “Hurry.”

Koryn bounded off his bunk and joined
Tariq at the door. Wondering if they walking into some kind of
trap, he followed Tariq and the unknown man stealthily down the
corridor. There was a guard at the end sprawled face down on the
floor. They stepped over the dead man and kept going. After the
second turn, Koryn realized they weren’t going out the way he’d
come in and his uneasiness increased, particularly when they
reached an old stair and descended. They went down four flights and
ended up in a tunnel-like corridor that was pitch black. Even with
his acute vision, it was all he could do to see where he was
going.

“
What is this place?”
Tariq asked after a few minutes.

“
Sewer now.”

No wonder it smelled so fragrant,
Koryn thought ruefully!

It seemed to him that they followed it
for miles, wading knee deep in water part of the time and sometimes
through waist high water. After what seemed several hours, Koryn
noticed a lighter patch in front of them. He discovered when they
finally reached it that it was the opening where the sewer water
spilled down into the canyon below the prison.

They paused in the opening. Tariq
leaned out far enough to look down and then searched the walls on
either side.

“
They’re coming,” the
stranger said.

“
Who’s coming?” Tariq
asked sharply after casting a quick look behind them.

“
The crew flying Lady
Seana’s ship.”

Koryn gripped the man’s arm. “Did she
get Emerald? The breeder?”

The man shook his head.

Koryn felt his heart sink.

“
I don’t know. This was my
part of the mission.”

Koryn had begun to wonder if the
damned ship was coming after all when he saw movement along the
canyon. His heart slammed into his chest wall, doubt warring with
hope while he tried to decide whether it was the ship they were
waiting for or a patrol. Tariq stepped back and plastered himself
against the wall as the ship came even with them. It stopped,
hovering, and then began to move sideways toward them. When it was
little more than a couple of yards away, an opening appeared in the
side and the gangplank extended toward them like a
tongue.