Deep Penetration; Alien Breeders I (44 page)

Emerald glanced at the androids a
little unhappily.

“
I would not care,” Aeon
said. “It would be enough to know that I’d sired a child. But I
will never do so.”

Tariq turned to look at him
uncomfortably and flicked a glance at the other androids.
“Fortunately, Koryn’s one of the best geneticists we have,” he said
pointedly.

Koryn glared at him, but
once he’d glanced at the other androids, he relented. “It’s not
impossible. You were engineered
not
to have that capability, but I might be able to
do something about that—I emphasize
might
! I’ll just have to see if it’s
doable.”

“
It would be far more
likely that we might find a woman who would have us if that was
possible. No woman will want us if we cannot give them a child,”
Aeon said.

“
Oh! That’s not true!”
Emerald objected. “Even if Koryn can’t fix the problem—and I’d be
willing to bet he can—you have a lot to offer, besides being very
handsome!”

That pleased Aeon, but both Koryn and
Tariq narrowed their eyes at her and then looked Aeon over with
hostility.

“
Let’s eat!” Emerald said
abruptly. “Whatever that is smells wonderful and I’m
starving!”

* * * *

There were days when Emerald actually
thought they were making a lot progress in learning to function
together as a family unit and days when she despaired that they
would ever find a comfortable alliance. She made the mistake of
deciding to join the men one day when they’d all gone into the hold
to spar. It not only inspired both Koryn and Tariq to dispense with
friendly rivalry and try to kill each other, but the androids
showed an inclination to be more violently aggressive, as
well.

She’d fled as soon as she realized
that her presence was all it took to inspire all of them to try to
‘show off’ their killing skills, but even the androids looked the
worse for it for days and Tariq and Koryn were too banged up to
feel much interest in sex for a couple of days. The respite was
nice. It was exhausting trying to appease both men and she didn’t
dare beg off when they were just looking for excuses to tear into
one another.

In point of fact, she began to suspect
they were going to fuck her to death trying to outdo each other.
After the second week of their journey, she finally told both of
them that she was going to expire if she didn’t get a little rest
and she damned well didn’t believe their needs were that damned
frequent. They were going to have to stop fucking her as if the
pussy was going to dry up or vanish.

They’d been indignant, of course, but
to do them justice, it at least brought their attention to the fact
that she really was exhausted—either that or they were both
exhausted and decided it was a good enough excuse to preserve their
‘manliness’ and give her a little breathing room. She didn’t care
as long as she could have a full night’s rest from time to
time.

They were fortunate enough that they
escaped without incident beyond the nightmare of the escape itself.
Although they kept a keen eye on their wake the first week, there
was no sign of pursuit and Tariq decided it was safe enough to
alter course for the star system that was their ultimate
goal.

They reached the outer rim after four
weeks and Emerald didn’t think she was alone in considering it a
very good thing that it hadn’t taken longer. The fresh foods hadn’t
lasted much past half the trip and they’d switched to space
rations, which were tolerable enough except when compared to the
fresh foods they’d had before. Beyond that, although the ship had
seemed really spacious when they’d begun, by the fourth week the
walls had begun to close in on everyone.

Emerald viewed their arrival at the
Omega star system with a mixture of hope, relief, and fear, the
first two of which waned after a few days while the other grew when
they weren’t hailed and saw no sign of any other crafts. It wasn’t
until they’d settled into orbit around Centaurian that their
attempts to make contact were successful.

All of them were gathered on the
bridge waiting anxiously as Mikail, one of the androids, tried to
illicit a response from the ground. Emerald felt weak all over when
a call was finally met with a crackle of static and they could hear
a weak transmission from the planet. “Identify
yourselves!”

Emerald surged forward before Mikail
could respond. “Tell them we’re refugees seeking
asylum.”

When Mikail glanced at Tariq for
confirmation, Emerald looked at him questioningly. He was frowning,
clearly considering the advisability of it. “It would be admitting
we have a price on our head,” he said grimly. “If others find their
way here, they might consider it in their best interests to simply
hand us over.”

Emerald hadn’t thought of that. “But
they won’t know about Centaurian. You said ….”

“
We are at war with the
Dinjin. There is no saying they won’t manage to get the information
from them or some of the slaves they free. I don’t think we can
afford to take the chance.”

“
They’re going to know you
aren’t human,” Emerald said uncomfortably. “If it was only one of
you, they might just think you were really big—but
all
of you?”

“
Tell them we’re lost,”
Koryn suggested. “Tell them we had to divert from a radiation storm
and it damaged our systems.”

“
We’ll have to
fucking
damage
the systems!” Tariq growled.

“
Maybe we should have
considered this a little earlier?” Emerald said uneasily. “I
honestly hadn’t thought about it being a problem, though, until we
didn’t get hailed before. But they either didn’t have anything
strong enough to pick up the signals, or, and this is the part that
worries me, they think we might be a threat.”

“
If they thought that,
they would’ve already launched a ship to intercept!” Tariq pointed
out.

“
They have launched two,”
Aeon offered helpfully.

“
Shit!” Tariq
snarled.

“
Gods damn it!” Koryn
seconded him.

“
Tell them we’re lost and
seeking asylum,” Tariq said abruptly. “We’ll think of an excuse to
cover it before we land—or damage the fucking ship to cover the lie
if we have to.” He glared at Koryn. “Take Emerald back to the
lounge and see what the two of you can come up with that won’t
involve fucking up what might be our only backup plan.”

Chastened, Emerald retreated with
Koryn.

“
If he hadn’t been so gods
damned preoccupied with fucking he might have considered it
before!” Koryn said loudly.

“
And you weren’t
preoccupied with fucking?” Tariq bellowed after them.

“
It isn’t my job
…!”

Emerald caught Koryn’s arm
and tugged until he followed her to the lounge. “You’ve been saying
for weeks that he wasn’t a lord anymore and he wasn’t in charge!”
she reminded him irritably. “It isn’t going to help if you two
start arguing again. The problem is
all
of ours!”

Koryn flushed, but he began pacing the
lounge, his brow furrowed in thought. Abruptly, he halted and
turned to look at her. “I’ve got it! We’re from a different
universe and we got sucked through a black hole and ended up here
and we can’t go back!”

Emerald frowned. “Is it possible to go
through a black hole without getting crushed?”

Koryn stared at her. “Some of
them—theoretically. If they’re small enough and the ship is well
enough protected. Do you think they’ll know that?”

Emerald considered it. “If they don’t
know the theory, they’ll just think it’s a lie.” She thought about
options. “They’ll know I’m human. I think we need to focus on a
story that will cover that.”

“
We picked you up on Earth
and decided to take you to your people!”

Emerald sent him a look. “Supposing
they swallowed that, how are you going to explain a petition to
become a colonist?”

He frowned at her. “I was never any
good at lying.”

She smiled at him. “I know. I love
that about you.”

He crossed the lounge and dragged
close for a kiss. Unfortunately, Tariq arrived at the lounge about
that time. “Can you get your mind off of fucking long enough to
focus?”

“
What did they say?”
Emerald asked breathlessly when she’d pulled away from
Koryn.

“
They’re going to let us
land,” Tariq said tightly. “But that’s only because they could see
the ship is a yacht and not armed—nothing visible anyway. I don’t
think they bought the story about us being lost. It’s gods damned
hard to navigate a ship without a computer and nothing else would
explain ‘lost’.”

“
You should’ve just told
them we were seeking asylum and that would’ve given us time to
think of something before we landed!” Koryn said tightly. “Now
we’re stuck with the ‘lost’ story!”

Tariq glared at him.

“
You
were the one that suggested it!” Emerald said
irritably.

“
We have agreed that we
will claim that we rebelled and took you three captive,” Aeon said,
joining them.

“
No!” Emerald said
immediately. “They might decide to imprison all of you for being
rebels. It’s too dangerous. After all you’ve already done, we can’t
ask you to do that!”

“
And they might
decide
we’re
the
bad guys and throw
us
in prison!” Koryn added indignantly. “I don’t think I want to
end up in another prison.”

Tariq studied all of them and finally
shook his head. “I think we’re going to have to go with the truth
and hope for the best.”

“
I can’t help but notice
you don’t look very hopeful,” Koryn said dryly.

Tariq shrugged. “They’re bound to
think, whatever we say, that we brought trouble. We might have an
advantage if they decide to imprison us until our pursuit catches
up with us, though. They won’t know half of our group is androids
and, hopefully, the prison won’t be strong enough to hold them.
We’ll just have to play it as it unfolds. I don’t see any
option—now.” He moved to Emerald and pulled her close. “Truthfully,
I don’t think we could’ve come up with anything that wouldn’t be
questioned. As Emerald pointed out, we’ll stand out as aliens among
them and they’ll know by now that this is an alien
craft.”

* * * *

Emerald was too anxious to appreciate
her first view of the colony of Centaurian—not that there was much
of a view from the back of a military transport. There was no
longer any doubt in her mind, unfortunately, that the Centaurians
viewed them as a threat—the Anunnaki, anyway. She’d grown
accustomed to their size. She rarely thought about it anymore
except when something happened to draw her attention to
it.

The guards that had met them at the
foot of the gangplank as they disembarked brought it sharply to
mind, however. She wasn’t certain they’d even noticed her. They’d
taken one look at Tariq and Koryn and visibly recoiled, holding
their weapons far more threateningly. She didn’t think they’d felt
any less threatened by the androids. Although they were noticeably
shorter than the Anunnaki, they were still nearly a head taller
than any of the soldiers that had met them.

She remembered thinking the first time
she’d seen them that they had to be a race of giants. No doubt that
was what was running through the minds of the soldiers and they
weren’t happy about the possibility of having them as
enemies.

They were taken to holding cells and
told that they would be informed when the council was ready to
review their ‘story’. Neither Tariq nor Koryn had said anything up
until they were escorted to separate cells, but both balked at
that. “She stays with us,” Tariq said implacably.

Emerald sent him a pleading look.
“It’s alright, Tariq. I’ll be fine.”

“
She’s breeding,” Koryn
said tightly. “If you harm her ….”

The soldier in charge glanced from one
to the other and finally studied Emerald. “She’s human.”

“
I am,” Emerald said. “I
was a soldier of the federation. We’re here because of me … because
they wanted to protect me.”

The soldier looked at Tariq and Koryn
skeptically. “You can explain everything to council. In the
meantime, you’ll occupy separate cells.” He unbent slightly,
however. “You won’t come to any harm. I’ll see to it.”

She glanced at Tariq and Koryn again.
“I’ll be alright.”

She could tell they still wanted to
argue, but Tariq, at least, seemed to realize that it was pointless
and might create problems for them when cooperation might not. He
nodded stiffly at the soldier and watched them as she was escorted
to a cell and locked in. To her relief, Tariq and the others
allowed themselves to be imprisoned without argument.

As soon as the majority of the
soldiers had filed out, leaving a half a dozen within view to guard
them, Tariq spoke to Koryn in their language—which she,
unfortunately, didn’t understand any better than the
guards.