Deviation (19 page)

All the women wanted, he thought with a frown, was a revolution. And Reesa Zimms could give them that with just one name, or so they thought. He listened and he waited, patiently watching the way her mouth moved, aware of every gesture she made.

Three glasses of wine later, he ordered the food to be taken away. She'd eaten relatively little, he noticed, but he determined her lack of appetite could be explained by nerves. He wasn't certain how long she'd been infected, but he imagined if she were too far along that other signs would have begun to show.

God, he hoped his brother could find a cure in time.

Reesa told him about her adventures through the wormhole and Hedric's reactions to the book. While he didn't like that she had been so roughly handled, Matt was at least grateful that she'd been abandoned instead of killed. Hedric Prosser wasn't known for mercy.

The thought of Hedric reminded him of the danger she was in. Matthew wasn't certain how or why she had been tossed into his life, but he had an overwhelming urge to protect her.

"I have a proposition for you, Miss Zimms."

Reesa leaned forward to put her glass on the table again. She seemed utterly unaware of how elegant the move was; how her hair fell over one shoulder and stood out like gold against the dark brown of her robes. She sent him a tentative smile and waited for him to continue. Distracted, Matthew cleared his throat and looked away from her.

"The way I see it, there is only one way to keep you protected from both the Makeem and the Novo Femina," he said after a moment. "You have to marry."

She sucked in a surprised breath.

"Only marriage to a politically powerful man will insure that neither religious faction can touch you. They will be forced to attempt physical violence or abduction, both of which you would be protected from ... with the right husband."

He looked back to find her biting her lower lip. Her face was scrunched up in thought and he opted to remain silent, allowing her to weigh the options for herself.

"And ... who would be the right husband?" She asked.

Matt gestured at her wine glass and the empty dining room. "Well, given that you've already spent an indecent amount of time in my private company, Miss Zimms, we both know that whatever reputation you might have had before coming on board the Balor is already sullied."

Her eyes narrowed into icy blue slits. "I am not a business contract, Matthew Borden. Hedging me into a marriage via blackmail isn't going to work."

"Blackmail?" He said and grinned. "You certainly know how to flatter a man."

"I call it how I see it," Reesa said.

"Then you do see what your alternative would be?" Matt leaned back in his chair to watch her. "Given the length of time we've been in here, with no monitors running, the Makeem would have all they need to see you put into a Correctional Facility."

"If they didn't just kill me out right, you mean."

"Yes, there is the problem of assassination. I don't know how the two factions go about their spying, but I know they like to do it. They are undoubtedly aware of your presence. There's no telling what else they might know about you, but the Makeem are well known for a 'shoot first, ask later' mentality."

"And you would protect me from that?"

Matthew inclined his head, trying to seem noble.

"Why?" She asked. "What good will I do you?"

She doesn't know she's dying, he thought. His heart twisted at that. What a tragically beautiful woman she was, the last trace of a dead species, and she was infected and she didn't know it. He debated telling her then, but chose not to. She had to suspect that she was, but he would keep the confirmation from her for as long as possible. It was the least he could do.

"Aside from being a remarkably beautiful woman, Miss Zimms," he said, "you have the unique quality of being the only female human I've ever met. What better wife for the single richest bachelor in the Galaxy?"

"Your vanity is a charade and I know it, Matthew Borden."

"Then I would be marrying you for a charade." Matt shrugged. "Wouldn't you be doing the same? Marrying me in an attempt to remain safe is hardly flattering, you know."

She frowned and looked into her wine glass again. For a moment he was afraid she might actually reject him, but then she squared her shoulders and faced him again. "I will do it under one condition."

"Name it."

"You have to save Kate."

Damn, he thought. She would ask for the impossible.

Strumming the table top with his fingers, Matthew battled with her request. Kate was on the Lothogy. He needed the Lothogy destroyed. Destroying the ship was five times easier than a rescue mission, and if Hedric had headed toward the Novo Femina Temple on Mars it would make things even more difficult. Still, Matt took a deep breath and reached for his glass. He lifted his wine in toast to her and waited for her to do the same, watching the cautious frown she gave him as she did so.

"We have an agreement, Miss Zimms."

"
The Community announced the support of the Organization of the Novo Femina. The small band of women has been known for their works of charity worldwide. Though the Makeem have voiced strong opposition to an all-female organization, the Community has stated that it sees no harm in the organization as a whole as long as it remains non-profit and continues to conform to current religious and societal laws.
" - A.P. August 3, 2265

"I do apologize for the way my son has treated you, Miss Woodson." The Priestess led Kate deeper into the Temple.

There was a chaotic blend of marble archways and steel bracings everywhere, but the further they travelled into the structure, the more the practical came into view. Kate was distracted for a moment as they walked across an open balcony. The Lothogy was just below, settled on an alabaster colored landing pad that beamed in the sunlight. All around it was rich brown and vivid purple, so deep and beautiful that they looked alien. And in truth, they were alien, because she was still on Mars, but the sight startled her just the same.

Was this how Reesa dreamt?

The balcony led from the front of the Temple and straight into the mountainside it was built on, and Kate was suddenly pitched from humid sunlight to halogens and musky, cool air. Her little space suite regulated her temperature for the most part, but she felt the change on her face. Shaking her head, she realized that the Priestess was waiting for her to say something, even though the woman hadn't bothered to stop walking.

"Mrs." Kate corrected her. "Mrs. Katherine Woodson. And I would like to get back to my husband and son."

"I am sure you would." The woman sent her a sympathetic smile that Kate immediately distrusted. For a moment Kate's attention caught on the metal pinching into the Priestess's neck. It looked more than uncomfortable; it dug inside, rubbing the skin raw where it was attached. And then the priestess spoke again; "There is nothing quite like motherhood. Children are a part of us, no matter how far away they might be."

"Then you understand why I need to get home."

"I understand why you feel you need to get home, Mrs. Woodson."

Kate frowned, barely noticing that they had passed through something that was likely the dining facility. There was a faint smell of onion to the air and she'd spotted several long benches and tables, but her mind was intent on the Priestess. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Wants versus needs, Mrs. Woodson. You want to be with your son to a degree that it feels necessary to your survival. However, you can and will survive without him, so he is not truly a need, merely a want." Celeocia continued to walk, casual and almost leisurely and were it not for the cold, robotic voice, Kate might have missed the threat before her. "I, on the other hand, find it necessary to keep you."

"Keep me? What for?"

"Did Miss Zimmerman ever share her writing with you? Did she show you her works as they were progressing?"

"Every now and then, yes but ... "

"Did she ever talk about Patient Zero?"

Kate grimaced. She thought of the boat and the incriminating 3x5 card and all the crazy Lothogy fans and shook her head. "Only in passing and never in detail."

"I was afraid of that." Celeocia sighed, but the sound came out just as metallic as her voice and Kate had to suppress a shudder.

At the far end of a long hall, the Priestess stopped and pulled back a long bit of drapery. Kate stepped through at the woman's inviting gesture, but the little alcove was so dark that she had to blink and get her vision to focus. Celeocia stepped in behind her, letting the drapery fall, shrouding them in black.

"This is a place of prayer, Mrs. Woodson." The Priestess' voice was hushed and reverent, and Kate had the sense that the woman was watching her somehow, even in the dark. "Please kneel."

"I'm sorry?" She preferred to be on her feet so that she could run if she had to.

"Trust me."

Not on your life, Kate thought, but she cautiously lowered herself. Her knees sunk three inches into soft, comfortable cushion. Blindly, she found some sort of altar just in front of her and awkwardly positioned her hands. She went to a Presbyterian church every Easter and Christmas, always promising herself that she'd attend more in the coming year but always falling down on that promise. There were times she felt guilty for that, but then there were times she thought God could understand the daily hassles of family life. She hadn't answered an altar call since she was nine, back when her brother had been in a car accident and she'd nearly lost him.

Kate believed in God, she really did, but even she knew that her knowledge of the Bible was rudimentary and her faith was only of surface value. Oddly enough, she could still hear Ms. Mason, her Sunday school teacher, telling her the importance of the Ten Commandments.

Kneeling as she was, that very first commandment came clear enough; Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Arranging her hands in what she thought was the appropriate manner, Kate closed her eyes and promised God that whatever idol might be in this little prayer alcove, it wasn't her god. And while she was at it, she pleaded for a way home.

Her elbows fit into an odd depression in the carpeted altar; a depression that suddenly dipped down, filling the little space with a low, vibrating hum. Then the floor moved and they were in a stomach-dropping descent. Grabbing hold of the altar, Kate swallowed a scream just as the lights flicked on. Still moving but now in the semi-open, Kate could see that they were in a small elevator surrounded by glass. Beyond the glass, stretching into a shadowed distance was a massive, sprawling subterranean chamber.

There was movement everywhere; women building the frame of what could only be a ship in one section, a group of women training on red floor mats in another section, still another group collected around a series of consoles. It was an army, there was no denying it. The Novo Femina were training for war, and Kate had a sinking suspicion that it was a war she was about to be drug into.

"Oh, God." Kate whispered, her mind flipping through the abduction, Hedric's confusion, even the crazy fan that had shot Jake. "It was you. All along it was you. You did this. You planned all of it."

"Everything I have done has been for the betterment of the female race. Please try to understand, Kate. Even now the Makeem are attempting to pass a law prohibiting women from learning to read." The elevator stopped and the glass wall lifted away. "Every freedom has been stripped from us, right down to what we are allowed to wear. As a Twenty-First Century woman, you must be able to sympathize with my fight."

"So you ... you had Reesa abducted? Why?" Kate slowly got to her feet.

"The original plan wasn't to have Miss Zimmerman abducted. I merely wanted the name of Patient Zero." Celeocia regarded her for a moment.

"But what does Patient Zero give you?"

"Come with me," the woman pivoted on her heel. The movement sent her grand robes swirling in a wide circle that trailed behind her as she walked. Kate frowned and followed, trying her damndest to ignore the feeling of being swallowed whole by the chamber. As seemed her custom, the Priestess continued to speak as she walked, as though she had no time to merely be still. "Understand, if you will, that no one had ever heard of the faction known as the Makeem until the fall of woman. As the death toll increased, the Makeem became the leading advocates for male freedom from women's sin. Because no man could catch the Mavirus, their claims were generally accepted."

"But even those women the Makeem deemed innocent were killed by the virus," Kate kept pace with the woman, impressed with herself for remembering that tidbit.

"That merely made their cries more sensational, stating that God would have nothing to do with any woman, the Almighty was so grievously offended by our vanity and shame." Celeocia stopped in front of a cluster of consoles hanging from the cavernous roof. It looked to Kate like an awkward bit of broccoli, gray and black and steel instead of leafy and green. "The Makeem had been trying to get a foothold into politics from the moment the Mavirus had started, but it wasn't until they came up with the genetically altering vaccine that they were really listened to."

"So you think the Makeem did something?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not. The only person who can answer that question is Reesa Zimms." After several light taps against the milky computer screen, Celeocia drew up an image.

In spite of everything, it took Kate a moment to recognize the cover of Reesa's first book; The Fight for Mars, a Tale of the Lothogy I. "You found a copy of Reesa's book."

"Not a full copy. We could only locate snippets of it." Celeocia waved her hand and the screen flipped to the next page. Only the next page was actually page thirty-seven and Kate began to understand. "We pieced it together as well as we could. Along with all four of her other books, trying to make certain that we had the timeline correct."

Gooseflesh pimpled over Kate's neck and arms as she stared at the screen.

"Reesa Zimms might have thought she was a mere novelist, but in truth, she is the greatest prophet ever to have lived. She foretold everything that has happened. From the technological advances, to the death of the female race, even my son's life." The Priestess faced her now. "And now we have you. Admittedly, I would prefer to have Reesa Zimms here to tell me what comes next, but I think you will have to do. It has become apparent that I cannot depend on my son."