Don't Label Me! (19 page)

“
Oh... I suppose.” He shrugged his
shoulders. “They find out pretty soon enough anyway. Especially the
older ones, when their gray hairs start falling out. I usually tell
them as we need to plan a special nutrition regime for them, to
help them transition.”

“
You need to let the young ones know
too.”

“
Why? It is their birthright, their
normal condition. Or at least it would have been if the Din hadn’t
messed with them.”

“
Even so. They need to plan their
lives. Most humans don’t live just in the moment. They look back
fondly at their childhood and plan ahead to make the most of their
very very short lives.”

“
A pleasant surprise then, I would
have thought.”

Arion let out an even more frustrated sigh.
“Meta would not be amused.”

That brought a frown from the scientist.
“Oh. Yes you’re probably right. I guess its not much different from
when Kit changed those two girls in Sydney. He wasn’t exactly
amused about that.”

“
Exactly. Not only the lack of
knowledge about what was really happening to them in that case but
also the fact that we left one of them unchaperoned. The danger of
the Din noticing she was different and picking her up for at best
questioning and at worst laboratory examination doesn’t beggar
considering.”

“
I see. Yes that would be bad. So
informed consent.” The scientist grinned sheepishly.

“
Yes. At least explain to them about
its action on the cell telomeres, its consequences for them. They
should also know to contact us if they start experiencing voices in
the head or inadvertent traveling to destinations in the blink of
an eye. They need to know to expect those things as normal and to
come to us about those and any other new abilities. We don’t want
them getting committed to an insane asylum or becoming lab rats,
especially not for the Din who at the moment don’t know about our
little cure.” Sheesh, he really didn’t like having to tell Tyra’s
dad all this. The guy was smart. He didn’t want to insult him but
all-spirit he should have worked this out for himself.

Jnarn patted him affectionately on the
shoulder. “Yes, you’re right. I should have been more careful. I
get so caught up in what I’m doing at times I forget those little
things. Don’t feel guilty for reminding me. Just don’t tell Meta
okay.”

“
You really think he doesn’t already
know?”

“
Hmm, you’re probably
right.”

The appearance of a certain shapeshifting
cat at the door startled them both. A stern miaow let them know in
no uncertain terms its thoughts on the matter.

“
I’ll be more careful.
Okay?”

The cat flattened its ears back and then
stormed off.

“
Well that went better than it could
of.”

“
You don’t say!” A relieved Jnarn
bunkered down, going back to peering down his
microscope.

It had taken a bit of convincing to get Orea
to leave those she had long protected and visit Boswell. In the end
it had been the chance of meeting her old teammates from Thex’s
spaceship that won her over. Doc had returned to find his mate Kit
had just come back from aiding their best friend Hideo. Melissa and
Rob had gone to pick up their son from Sally. George had opted to
show Orea around town, finishing with a couple of stubbies of some
of Jeff’s own locally brewed low alcohol, sulfate-free, cider at
the pub.

George put a possessive arm around Orea’s
shoulder causing her to smirk at him for his audacity. “What do you
think you’re doing lover boy?”

“
I was wondering if I could entice you
into coming back to my place?”

Orea leaned back casually in her pub chair,
eying him. “Entice away.”

That stumped George. He could improvise a
slow striptease he guessed, not that he had any performance skills
in that department, nor did he think the pub was the right place
for it. “How about I offer you my body?”

Orea merely shrugged her shoulders, “Not
enough.”

George’s eyes widen in surprise. “My mind
then.”

“
Nice, but I want more.”

“
How much more?”

“
All of you.”

“
You have it.”

Orea stood, rising to her full glorious
height. Standing toe to toe with him. She scruffed the back of his
neck and with a force beyond his reckoning brought him to his
knees. “Not yet but I will. I haven’t told you about the mating
rituals of my people have I?” Her tongue wet her lips just
considering it.

George watched her adoringly. Whatever she
wanted he would give her. “Come home with me Orea. Make me
yours.”

“
We are equal partners but you are
mine to command in the bedroom.” It wasn’t a question.

George swallowed hard but he’d hold nothing
back from her, his own personal goddess. “I am yours.”

“
Then I accept.” She offered her arm.
“Lead the way.”

George wondered quietly if that was the last
thing he’d be leading for a while but she had said they’d be equal
partners. He shrugged his shoulders. So she thought she could tame
him. Well she could give it her best shot he supposed. It didn’t
mean he’d necessarily roll over and play puppy for her. He smiled
to himself, the warmth of rising desire slowly burning him up.
Never in his wildest dreams had he ever imagined going after
someone like Orea, a woman so commanding, so vivacious, so feisty.
But maybe, just maybe she might be be exactly what he craved. He
guessed he was about to find out.

...

Hideo opened the door of his house to his
guests, having already dropped Sheila off at a room at the pub.
“Come in. It’s not much but it’s clean. The school gave this to me
to live in when I started teaching here. There’s three bedrooms.
One with an ensuite bathroom and there’s another bathroom down the
hall.”

Roger dropped his pack near the sofa and
flopped down into it, sighing. “Nice pad Hid.”

Hideo raised an eyebrow. How come the Aussie
felt the need to shorten his name any more than it was, it wasn’t
that unwieldy a mouthful. He shook his head briefly, dismissing his
bemusement. “So, I was thinking. Maybe you and Lewis could share
the bigger bedroom if that’s okay with you both. Sathi could have
the one to the right of the hall and I’ll move my stuff into the
other.” Honestly he wasn’t sure what arrangements would work here
but they had to start somewhere while they all worked out what they
were to Sathi and to each other.

Lewis patted him reassuringly on the
shoulder. “We’re not kicking you out of your room Hid. I can sleep
on the couch for now if that’s alright. Roger tends to toss and
turn too much to even share the main bed. Plus he’d dominate me if
I was in the bedroom.” His mouth twitched as Roger knowingly
smirked back at him.

“
Well okay then.” Hideo yawned
meaningfully. “I’m hitting the sack then. Breakfast when we all
wake up. I’ll take you guys over to Jnarn after that so you can get
the retrovirus I told you about. I don’t know how soon the affects
will kick in. It varies from person to person. Doc and Sally will
help you with any detox effects.”

Roger winced “If it’s going to mess with our
bodies why are we even doing it?”

“
Because it will heal the genetic
defect the enemy infected the human DNA with. Healing that will
give you regenerative powers you’ve never imagined. You won’t age.
You’ll develop innate skills that have been blocked until now, like
telepathy and teleportation. Telepathy is an important one as it
gives you a greater sense of connection with other people. Most of
the mess of in the world today is not caused directly by the Din
but by our individual feelings of separation from each
other.”

Hideo’s explanation made sense to Lewis.
“It’s hard to compete against or exploit another if you feel their
pain or see them as an extension of yourself.”

Roger nodded. “Okay, I can see the sense in
that. While we wait for our new cool powers to come online do you
think this place has much of a use for us? I can’t speak for Lewis
but I don’t want to exactly stand around doing nothing. Restless is
my middle name.”

“
Well Restless”, Sathi joked from the
background, returning from the kitchen with a much needed cup of
tea, her fix. “I expect we could set up a BDSM club. Tyra did say
they needed fun and entertainment here. Do you think Jeff and Rache
would come at that?”

Hideo chuckled, trying to imagine backwoods
Boswell with a contemporary nightclub for kinksters. Hell, why not.
“Yeah it might just work. There’s a few around here more than a
little into the kinkier side of sex. It might also be a way to
entice some of your Sydney members to settle here, that is if they
could adapt to the lifestyle.” He did wonder how urbanites likes
Lewis would fit in. He glanced in his direction. “We could do with
a good lawyer you know. Especially since we’ll be trying for
treaties with the Australian government and the other species who
are our allies.”

Lewis idly rubbed his chin, musing. “Hmm,
I’ll take that under consideration.”

Roger laughed abruptly. “Which is Lewis
speak for he loves the idea and will be cornering Tyra tomorrow to
put his name forward to the Assembly to do just that.”

Lewis irreverently stuck his tongue out at
Roger. “Bloody hell Rog, don’t give all my secrets away yet. We’ll
be in each other’s minds soon enough if this retrovirus does its
job.”

Sathi quietly sipped her tea enjoying the
play between her guys. Uh! Her guys? She tried to shoosh that
thought before Hideo picked it up but he already had.

His eyes sparkled and, more than that, he
actually smiled. If Restless was Roger’s middle name then
Inscrutable was Hideo’s. “So what’s Lewis’s middle name then?”

Sathi knew his real middle name but there
was one that came more readily to mind. “‘Kinked’ perhaps or more
likely a whole phrase like ‘try anything’.”

“
Omnia experiri cupiens”. Lewis
muttered to himself. “Hmm, a bit long I think.”

Hideo’s breakfast was a bit novel for the
others. The steamed rice was easy enough. Lewis struggled a bit
with the miso soup until Hideo took pity on him and informed him he
wouldn’t be offended if he left it. The side dishes of dried nori
seaweed strips with soy sauce dipping sauce and the array of
pickles fascinated Sathi and Roger who gladly sampled a bit of
each.

Lewis groaned. “You guys must have
multicultural stomachs or something. How about I just go and make
another pot of tea for everyone? What was it, genmai cha? That
didn’t taste too bad.”

Hideo watched, bemused as Lewis made a
strategic retreat to the kitchen. “I don’t think Shojin Ryori is to
his taste. I’ll stop at the co-op later and get some fresh baked
gluten free bread and some Boswell muesli for him. You know him
best Roger. Do you think that sounds like something he’d like?”

“
I think if you threw in some homemade
strawberry jam as well, for the toast, you’d have a friend for
life. Even better if you got him some coffee.”

“
I think they stock a fair trade
organic decaf.”

“
Just don’t tell him it’s decaf. It’ll
take a day or so for the withdrawal effects to kick in. He’s going
to be a grump when it does though.” Roger thought he might have to
come up with a distraction or two by the time that
happened.

“
There’s a fair amount of caffeine in
the green tea. If we can get enough of that into him he mightn’t
notice.”

Lewis returned with the tray of tea. “What
are you lot scheming?”

“
Just how to transition you to the
local diet.”

“
It’s alright for you Roger, you’ve
got a stomach of cast iron. You’ll eat just about
anything.”

“
Nah, not quite, never did got used to
eating some of those gourmet insects the locals in South East Asia
prize. The locusts weren’t bad though.”

Lewis went a shade of green. “Thanks Rog, I
really needed to know that.”

“
Glad to help.”

By the time they got to Jnarn’s lab Lewis
had recovered his from his pallor. Hideo introduced him and Roger
to the scientist who seemed intent on handing them each a double
sided page of information.

“
You want me to read all of this?”
Roger queried, pretending to give it the once over.

Jnarn grinned but looked a little sheepish.
“Just making sure I let you guys know what I’m doing here and what
might happen to you as a result.”

Roger hated paperwork. “Couldn’t you just
tell us?”

“
I might get distracted by something
and gloss over some important detail. This is me making sure I’ve
covered off everything. Just sign the back page if you’re
happy.”

Lewis had already done a speed read of the
document. “Informed consent. You covering your ass?”

“
Only as far as making sure you have
free will in this. I don’t want to breach any cosmic laws”, more
than he already had, “and that one’s a biggie.”

Hideo, who read the akashic field for the
events leading up to this, smiled inscrutably. “So what he’s saying
is what we’ve already discussed. This antivirus repairs some
archaic damage to your DNA, re-activating great chunks.”

Roger nodded in understanding. “And that
gives us the anti-aging and cool powers.”

Jnarn was determined to make sure they
explicitly understood and he sensed Roger hadn’t actually read the
document. “It makes you as good as immortal but the downside is
your body might go through a bit of a detox. It’s not too bad for
guys as young as you though.”