Authors: Nina Croft
Shock flashed across his face as the paralysis took effect. Followed by a flare of fury that changed his eyes to pure, molten gold. Then he toppled over. The cot was behind him, and he landed quite safely, still locked in position, legs spread, arms folded. He didn't look quite so superior horizontal, and Mel couldn't suppress her grin. God, she liked those cuffs.
She moved to stand over him. "Just to let you know, that time, I did it on purpose."
He emitted a low growl, sounding pure animal. "Let me go," he ground out.
"Hmm," she pondered. "What to do? I tell you what, I'll let you go if you promise to sit over there and be a good kitty. I'll even give you five minutes of my valuable time to tell me what it is that's so important."
She watched as he fought to get his anger under control. She had to admit, he did a much better job than she would have done under similar circumstances. Finally, he nodded, and almost reluctantly, Mel pressed the red button.
His eyes still promised retribution if ever their positions were reversed, but he sat up and leaned against the wall behind him. "You'll listen?"
Mel nodded. "That's what I said, isn't it?"
"Pieter Sanderson needs to be stopped."
"Stopped from what?"
"He's going to challenge the Intergalactic Agency."
"So? Why should I even care? What's the Agency ever done for me? Fuck all. That's what."
"The Agency is all that keeps the universe from chaos."
"I like chaos. More pickings for the likes of me."
"There'll be no pickings for the likes of you if the space liners stop running. No planet hopping, no long distance travel, whole worlds will be cut off, isolated."
That did sound bad, but she couldn't see how Sanderson could do it, or even why he would want to. She said as much.
"He's breeding telepaths," Zach said.
A ripple of shock ran through her. "What? What have telepaths got to do with anything?"
"You do know how the space liners work?"
"Not really," she admitted.
He shook his head as if he couldn't quite believe anyone could be so ignorant. Why was it, she wondered, that the man couldn't seem to go five minutes without irritating her with his superior attitude. Didn't he realize he was in big trouble here? Didn't he realize that a little humility was sensible for someone in his position?
"Well, the space liners are piloted by genetically modified telepaths, specially bred by the Agency. They literally think their way through space."
Mel was getting a bad feeling about this. Something prodded at the back of her mind.
"Without these telepaths the liners don't move, and we're stranded," Zach continued. "The breeding of telepaths is carefully controlled by the Agency and off limits to everyone else."
"Why?" She was pretty sure she wasn't going to like the answer.
"Because they can interfere with the piloting of the liners and cause the pilots to crash. And you know what that's like. You've been on one space liner that crashed."
Oh yes, she'd been on a space liner that crashed. So had Leila, who also happened to be a telepath. The vague feeling of unease that had been prodding her, suddenly crystallized into a hard lump that couldn't be ignored. She really hoped she was wrong about this, she'd know, once she spoke to Leila.
"I've got to go," she said.
"What? Haven't you been listening to a word I've said? We need to stop Sanderson."
He got to his feet. Mel took a step back, pulled the activator from her pocket, and waved it at him. He stopped mid-stride. His hands were clenched at his side, his teeth gritted, his eyes spitting sparks, but he stayed where he was.
Mel felt behind her for the door panel. She didn't take her eyes off him as she pressed her palm to the controls. The door slid open and she backed out, releasing her breath as it closed behind her.
****
She found Leila in her cabin, working on something at the table, her hands protected by rubber gloves.
"What are you doing?" Mel asked.
Leila glanced up. "Mixing poison."
"Hmm, nice hobby."
"Yeah, it's great. You know, this stuff is sooo powerful. You're dead if it so much as touches your skin. Now all I have to do is think of a way to get it on the subject without killing myself at the same time."
"I suppose that would be a bit of a disadvantage."
"What I really need is someone to practice on."
Mel decided not to answer that. Instead, she came into the room, shutting the door behind her. She wasn't quite sure how to broach her subject; Leila was such a private person. She decided on the direct approach. "Leila?"
"Yes?"
"Do you come from Talmare?"
Leila put down her poison and peeled off her rubber gloves before answering. "Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't think it mattered. We said 'no past' remember, 'only the future'."
"But when we got involved with Sanderson, didn't you think it was relevant?"
Leila shrugged. "Not really, I've never even seen Governor Sanderson. We didn't exactly move in the same circles."
Sinking down on the bed, Mel examined Leila. She seemed unperturbed by the questions. But then Mel had never found anything that affected the girl. Well, apart from killing, that always seemed to cheer her up. "Leila, what happened to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"How did you end up in the space brothel?"
Leila frowned. "What's going on?"
"I just need to get something straightened out in my head. Something Zach said."
"Zach? Since when have you been on first name terms with the Tiger?"
"Please, Leila. Just tell me."
Annoyance flickered in Leila's eyes then it was gone. "I grew up in a camp on Talmare." Her voice was completely devoid of emotion, as though she were telling a story about someone else. "There were about twenty women altogether. I don't know where they all came from. Some were off-worlders. Some, like my mother, came from Talmare. Anyway, many of the children showed signs of telepathy, normally at puberty. They were taken away. I had a brother, Darren, he was a year older than me. They took him when he was thirteen, and we never saw him again. So when I started showing signs, my mother told me to hide it, to pretend I was normal. It worked for a couple of years, but something must have happened. The whole camp was taken apart. My mother was killed. I saw her die. I guess I was supposed to die as well, but the guys in charge must have seen a way of making some extra cash and sold me on to the brothel."
She fell silent. Mel got up and crossed the room, then wrapped Leila in a tight hug. "I'm sorry."
"You know, I still wonder if Darren's alive somewhere."
Mel released her and took a step back. She stood thinking over the story, trying to tie it into what Zach had told her. "Leila, you remember when we were on the space liner?"
"Yes."
"Did you do anything?"
"What do you mean 'anything'?"
"Did you have any mind contact with anyone?"
Leila nodded. "Just before we crashed."
"You mean you read someone?"
"Not really. It was different. They were reading me as much as anything. I sent out a probe, but we crashed soon after. And when I came to after the crash, they were gone. What's this all about, Mel?"
Could Leila really have been responsible for the crash of an entire Intergalactic space liner? It seemed inconceivable, and Mel really didn't want to lay that on her until she was absolutely convinced she was right. "I'm not sure. I have to go back, talk to Zach."
"Do you want me to come and read him?"
"Not just yet. Let me talk to him first. I don't believe a word of what he says, but there's something funny going on with Sanderson. Zach says he's dangerous, and maybe he's right."
"It won't make a difference, though. You're still going to hand him over, right?"
"Of course I am. I just need to be prepared in case we run into any trouble at the rendezvous."
Zach was deep in a daydream, and as daydreams went, it was pretty damn good. The "plan" was going perfectly. He was right in the middle of the seducing part, and Mel had that soft, sweet mouth wrapped around his cock.
She was sucking him hard, while her hands were stroking his balls, nice and gentle. He groaned. That woman might not know it, but she was hot. Hot, ready, and eager to give him everything he wanted. He rolled onto his front, and his hand slipped down inside his pants, just to check everything was okay. It was fine, coming along nicely.
The door opened behind him, and he went still, his hand still gripping his hardening cock.
He slowly let himself go, pulled his hand out of his pants, and rolled onto his back.
She was staring at him, a frown on her face. "What are you doing?"
Zach glanced down; his erection was subsiding but still obvious. "What does it look like I'm doing?" he growled. "I'm passing the time. Any problem with that?"
Mel frowned at his vehemence. She appeared distracted, and it occurred to Zach that she might not have noticed what he was doing. Which meant he had another chance to get the plan back on track. It hadn't gone too well so far, but things were about to improve. He was sure she liked him, underneath. Well, maybe a long way underneath, he admitted, studying her tense figure in the doorway.
Her mouth was held in a tight line, her hands thrust into the pockets of her pants where he could see the telltale bulge of the activator. His body flinched at the memory. He decided he wasn't getting up this time. If she was going to zap him with that thing again, he was better off where he was. "Come on in," he said.
She frowned again but took a step into the room. "We need to talk about Sanderson."
It was Zach's turn to frown. "Isn't that my line?"
"Tell me about these telepaths he's breeding."
Zach forced his attention away from his cock. He needed to be convincing here. This was important. He sat up. "Pieter runs breeding camps on Talmare. He takes women with known psychic abilities and has them impregnated. There's also some sort of genetic modification program, but I'm not sure what."
"What happens to the camps, to the people?"
"As far as I can tell, they're destroyed, and everyone in them. Except for the telepaths, they're taken somewhere else. I couldn't find where. The people I was supposed to have killed, my 'massacre', that was one of the camps. Pieter was just being efficient, he managed to destroy the camp and blame me at the same time."