Divided: Brides of the Kindred 10 (19 page)

“I thought the crimson shade would work
really well with your skin tones.” Kat held it up to Becca’s chin and nodded
approvingly. “And look at that—I was right, as usual.”

Becca smiled. “I’m not going to disagree.
Not after you made me a fabulous new wardrobe in fifteen minutes.”

Kat grinned back. “Now, I have some other
things here too but—” She stopped for a minute, her head cocked to one side in
a listening posture. “Uh-oh—that was Deep. He says to tell you that Sylvan says
you need to meet Truth and Far in the docking bay in twenty minutes.”

Becca’s eyes widened. “Oh no, I haven’t
packed
anything.”

“I’ll loan you a cube for these,” Kat said
quickly. “And don’t worry about shampoo or anything like that—if they’re
sending you out in a long range shuttle, it should have things like that in the
bathroom.”

They got busy packing—well, mostly Kat
supervised and Becca packed because it was too hard for her pregnant friend to
bend over. In no time just about everything Becca needed was shrunk down by
another piece of handy Kindred tech and pushed into a one foot by one foot purple
cube.

“There.” Kat said, dusting her hands
together. “That’s done. All you have to do is pick what you want and add a drop
of the regrowth serum. It’s in this bottle here.” She handed Becca a small vial
of blue liquid.

“Amazing.” Becca looked at the tiny cube
which held an entire winter wardrobe as well as some sexy underwear Kat had
insisted on replicating for her. “This is almost as good as the replicator.
Kindred technology really is wonderful. How do they come up with all this
stuff?”

“Well, they’ve been genetic traders,
always on the go, for thousands of years,” Kat said. “So it stands to reason
that they’d pursue high-tech packing and storage methods, right?”

“I guess so.” Becca lifted the cube.
“Well, I guess I’d better go…”

“No, wait—I have one more thing I
have
to
give you.” Kat left the room and headed for the food prep area of the suite.
Becca heard her rummaging around in the cabinets and when she came back, she
was holding a small blue bottle with an elaborate glass stopper shaped like a flower.
“Here.” She held it out to Becca who took it and examined it curiously.

“What’s this?”

“Bonding fruit juice,” Kat said.
“Distilled and concentrated so it’ll work fast but
be careful
with it.
Don’t take more than a sip or two right before you…you know.”

“What? No way!” Becca tried to hand it
back. “Not after what happened when I ate your wedding cake!”

“Okay, I can understand your reluctance
but bonding fruit can be a wonderful thing if you use it
wisely.
Especially
when you have two guys to…
ahem…
accommodate at once.”

“But I’m not going to do that—so I’m not
going to need this,” Becca protested, trying to give it back. “Even if Truth
and Far were getting along and wanted to bond with each other and me, I don’t
think I could…go that far.”

“Just keep it,” Kat said firmly. She
crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to take the bottle back. “You never
can tell what might happen.”

“I can tell what’s
not
going to
happen,” Becca said. “And I’m
not
going to form a permanent bond with
Truth and Far.”

“You say that now, doll but let’s face
it—you’re already halfway there.”

“What do you mean?” Becca asked nervously.

“The way you and Far were able to pull
Truth back from that demon. There’s no way you could have done that if you
didn’t at least have the
start
of a bond between the three of you.”

“Commander Sylvan said something like
that. But Truth denied it.”

“Of course he did—he’s like the poster boy
for conflicted sexual urges right now.” Kat frowned. “Not that you’re far
behind yourself, doll.”

“I know.” Becca looked down at the bottle.
“But I still don’t think—”

“Just keep it,” Kat said. “Even if you
don’t use it, I’ll feel better knowing you have it.”

“Well…” There didn’t seem to be any way to
change her friend’s mind. “All right,” Becca said at last. “I’ll return it to
you unopened when we get back.”

“We’ll see,” Kat murmured. She put a hand
on Becca’s shoulder. “But I still think you should let go of your guilt and see
where this thing with Truth and Far leads you.”

“Right now it’s leading to a big, fat dead
end.”

“That may change. Just be open to the
possibilities, Becca. I know it sounds crazy—it did to me at first too—but
getting together with my two guys has been the best thing in my life. I never
knew I could love two men at once so completely but when it works, when it
really
clicks—
it’s like nothing else you’ve ever experienced. It’s
just…beautiful.”

Becca thought of the warm, delicious
feeling that had washed over her when she opened herself to both Truth and Far
at the same time the night before. Mother of God, it had felt so
good.
It
was only afterwards that she had felt guilty. But during their sharing, she had
felt only love and warmth and contentment…and more sexual pleasure than she’d
ever had in her entire life.

Was it really so wrong to give in to that
feeling? To try and bring Far and Truth together, using herself as a bridge?
After all, the two of them needed each other even if Truth wouldn’t acknowledge
it.

Maybe I could bring them together and then
let them go once their bond is strong. They could find another girl, one who
didn’t have so much guilt and fear…

Except the thought of
her
two men
with another girl made Becca so upset she couldn’t bear to imagine it.

“You’re awfully quiet all of a sudden.”
Kat raised an eyebrow at her. “Everything okay?”

“Just thinking,” Becca said quietly. “I’ll
consider what you said, Kat. I really will. And thank you for this.” She held
up the little bottle of bonding fruit juice. “Even if I don’t intend to use
it.”

“Just keep it close by in case.” Kat gave
her a quick hug and pulled back, frowning. “But if you’re going to use it, go
all the way with it and don’t hold back. Otherwise you might risk forming a
partial bond and believe me, that is
no fun.”

“A
partial
bond?” Becca shook her
head. “I’ve never heard of such a thing—is it even possible?”

“It is but it only happened to me because
Deep and Lock are Seeker/Finders and they were using me as a focus and—” Kat
made a shooing motion. “Never mind. Your guys are different so I’m sure it
couldn’t happen to you.”

“Oh, well…okay,” Becca said doubtfully.

“And now you’d better go. Do you want a
brownie to take with you? Lauren just gave me a fresh batch.” Kat patted her
rounded belly. “The twins have to have their chocolate fix every day or they
kick me half to death.”

Becca smiled. “I shouldn’t or I won’t fit
into those new clothes you just made me.”

“Come on now,
one
little brownie
won’t hurt—in fact, it’ll probably help. Twin Kindred like their women plus sized.”
She eyed Becca’s full hips. “I bet Truth and Far have been lusting after that
behind of yours from day one.”

Becca’s cheeks got hot when she remembered
the comments both twins had made about being glad she wasn’t too skinny or
bony.

“They, uh,
do
seem to like my
shape,” she admitted.

“Of course they do, you’re gorgeous.” Kat
smiled. “So now, how about that brownie? Don’t you know it’s bad luck to start
a trip without eating chocolate first?”

Becca burst out laughing. “It is
not
—you
just made that up.”

“Maybe.” Kat shrugged. “But it
sounds
right,
don’t you think?” She hooked her arm through Becca’s and led her into the food
prep area. “I’ll wrap it up and you can take it for the road. After all, I
can’t send you off to a rogue planet with nothing but a bottle of bonding fruit
juice and a fur bikini. Right?”

Chapter
Twenty

“This is it. The edge of my solar system.
Here—I’ll increase the magnification so you can see it.”

Far sat up and took notice when his brother
spoke. Though Truth was piloting the small shuttle, he hadn’t said a word to
either Far or Becca from the moment they had all stepped aboard. As they flew
through the rift—the fold in space generated by the power of the Kindred Mother
Ship’s artificial green sun—Far had wondered if his twin intended to spend the
entire trip mute. Did he really hate them so much he would freeze the both of
them out entirely?

I never should have let him know I spoke
to his second mother,
Far
thought ruefully.
If only I had kept my mouth shut we might be several steps
closer to bonding now instead of light years away.

“It’s beautiful,” Becca said, answering
the dark twin’s comment about his solar system. At the angle they were
approaching, several large gas giant planets as well as two smaller planets
were visible. Far wondered which one was Pax. Not that he would ever go there.
Truth would probably be obliged to commit some form of ritual suicide if it
became known he had a brother who wanted to share a female and bond with him.

“There—that’s Pax,” Truth said, pointing
to the smaller of the two rocky planets. “It’s just on the edge of the
habitable zone so it’s fairly cold by your standards. My people—the Rai’ku—live
along the equator. The rest of the planet is frozen.”

“How many light years from Earth did you
say it was?” Becca asked, leaning on the back of the pilot’s chair. Far admired
the way she was drawing his twin out, keeping him talking.

“About eighty million, give or take,”
Truth said, making an adjustment to the instruments.

“Eighty
million?”
Becca gave a
long, low whistle. “Wow, amazing. I’ve never been to another solar system
before let alone one eighty million light years away. Tell me more—how cold
does Pax get?”

“Not nearly as cold as the place we’re
going.” Truth turned the nose of the shuttle so that a large, gray planet
loomed on the viewscreen. “That’s Void. I suppose it’s not
technically
a
rogue planet anymore since it found a new orbit around our sun but it’s a new
addition to our system. Rai’ku astronomers calculate that Void has only been in
its new orbit for about two thousand years, give or take. So—”

Suddenly the entire ship shook and the
lights on the control panel flickered alarmingly.

“Mother of God!” Becca grabbed for
something to hold on to and Far put out an arm to catch her instinctively.

“What
was
that?” he asked Truth in
a low voice.

The dark twin frowned but didn’t look
terribly concerned.

“According to the instruments it was a
brief power surge.”

“A power surge? From
where?”
Becca
looked at the gray side of Orthanx looming in the viewscreen. “From there?”

“Of course not.” Truth waved a hand
dismissively. “I’m not picking up much of anything from Void. As far as our
instruments read, it’s a dead world.”

“Well, it had to come from
somewhere,”
Far
said, frowning. “Should we be concerned?”

“I don’t think so.” Truth studied the
controls some more. “No—everything reads as normal. Must be just a glitch in
the wiring. We’ll be fine.” He nodded at the viewscreen. “Right now what we
need to worry about is right there.”

“Orthanx,” Becca breathed. “It's so far
from your sun—how cold does it get there?”

Truth frowned and consulted his
instruments.

“About as cold as it gets on that little
planetoid on the far edges of your own solar system. What’s the name of it?
Plutarn? Pluness?”

“Pluto,” Far said quietly, joining the
conversation for the first time.

“Right.” Truth glared at him. “Pluto.”

Becca frowned. “So how cold is that?
Sorry, I don’t know the temperature on all the planets of my solar system off
the top of my head.”

“You don’t?” Truth seemed surprised. “Very
well, let me see if I can convert it into Earth temperatures. Ah, all
right—it’s forty-four degrees Kelvin.”

“Um, sorry. I was going to be a nun, not a
scientist. That doesn’t mean much to me,” Becca said.

“Let me try again—negative two hundred and
twenty-nine degrees Celsius?”

Becca shook her head. “Most of the planet
uses Celsius but we’re still stuck in Fahrenheit in my country.”

“Very well.” Truth squinted at the
instruments again. “That would be…negative three hundred and eighty degrees
Fahrenheit. And that’s on the side facing our sun.” He gestured at the far
distant speck on the far side of the viewscreen which was barely brighter than
the other stars in the sky. “Not that it can get much light all the way out
here.”

“Wow.” Becca looked awed. “That’s…I can’t
even imagine how cold that is. Something tells me the warm weather clothes Kat
made me won’t be worth much in temperatures like that.”

“I would tend to agree,” Truth said. “Which
is why we’ll all be wearing protective suits and head gear.”

“Far said they might have something like
an atmosphere dome,” Becca said, scanning the looming side of the planet. “But
I don’t see anything.”

“That’s because there isn’t anything—on
the surface anyway. The coordinates Vashtar sent us are for a point located
underground.”

Becca’s face suddenly went pale.
“Under…under ground?” she asked in a low, breathless voice.

Far was instantly alert. “What’s wrong,
Becca?” he asked stepping forward.

“Yes, are you well?” Truth turned from the
glowing controls to look at her as well. Despite his statement that he wanted
nothing more to do with her or Far, the light twin couldn’t help noticing the
worried look on his brother’s face.

“I…I’m fine.” Becca put a hand to her
throat and swallowed hard. “It’s just…I’m claustrophobic.
Really
claustrophobic.
The idea of being underground…I don’t like it. At all.”

“I will be with you. And Truth, as well
whether he likes it or not.” Far promised. He looked at Truth. “Isn’t that so,
Brother?”

Truth frowned. “You have nothing to fear,”
he told Becca shortly.

“I know it’s not rational but I can’t help
it. I got locked in this tiny little dark broom closet when I was a kid playing
hide and seek.” Becca’s voice was still high and uncertain. “I couldn’t get out
and nobody found me for…for hours.” She shook her head. “Ever since then I
don’t like to feel anything surrounding me like that.”

“The only thing surrounding you will be
us,
mi’now
,” Far said firmly. “We’ll keep you safe no matter what.” He
threw a glance at Truth to see if his twin would object but though there was a
conflicted look on his face, Truth said nothing.

“All right.” Becca took a deep breath.
“Sorry to get all girly on you. I’ll suck it up.”

“Maybe you should stay aboard while Far
and I explore,” Truth suggested.

Becca shook her head. “No, Vashtar was
very clear. The three of us have to go together. I’ll be fine—we all will.”

“Of course,” Far murmured. He hoped she
was right.

* * * * *

Truth sat the ship down gently on the
dead, gray world, settling as close to the coordinates Vashtar had given them
as possible, which wasn’t as close as Becca would have liked. There was a vast
collection of tall, thin hills laid out in a strangely orderly pattern in the
way. They landed on the edge of these, intending to find the underground
entrance on foot.

They got into protective gear—shiny silver
suits which fit skin-tight to the body. there was also a neck piece that
produced an atmosphere bubble around the head automatically when the suit
sensed the absence of breathable air. At least, that was what Far told Becca as
he helped her into the new outfit.

Truth said nothing—clearly though he was
willing to talk at least a little about the planet and the mission, he still
had nothing to say to either her or his twin personally. Becca wished he would
get over being angry. His dark, brooding silence wasn’t making the prospect of
going underground in this dead, foreboding world any easier. She wanted desperately
to bring the brothers back together but she couldn’t think how to do it.
At
least they aren’t actively fighting
, a little voice in her head pointed
out.
Things could be worse—a lot worse.

“Everyone ready? I am about to open the
airlock,” Truth said, his hand hovering over the button to one side of the
shuttle door.

“I guess…” Becca hesitated.

“Problems,
min’ow?”
Far asked,
looking at her.

“No, I just…you said it’s crazy cold out
there but this suit…” Becca ran one gloved hand over the shiny, tight-fitting
lycra-like outfit. “Doesn’t feel all that warm. Or protective.
”

She’d had to strip down to her bra and
underwear to get the damn thing on and she felt like she was wearing a full
body leotard.
All I need is a freaking tu-tu and I’ll be ready for the ballet,
she thought dismally.
But how is this going to keep me warm?

“It’s all right, Becca,” Far explained
patiently. “I know it doesn’t feel like it, but the suit will conserve your
body heat and keep your core temperature stable in weather twice as cold as
what we’re about to go out in.”

“Actually, the term ‘weather’ isn’t
accurate,” Truth put in. “Since this planet has no atmosphere, we shouldn’t
experience any kind of weather at all.”

Becca took a deep breath. “Okay. I just
keep thinking about the time I visited my aunt in Minnesota. We were just there
for Thanksgiving but the weather went crazy and it dropped to like, eighteen
degrees. But with the wind chill factor it felt more like zero.”

“Again—there should be no wind,” Truth
said. “It should be calm, quiet, and dark.”

“And dead.” Becca shivered. “How do you
think the people on this world are even still alive?”

“I don’t know. I suppose we will find
out.” Truth pushed the button and the airlock cycled open, letting them into
the small antechamber the shuttle formed when atmospheric conditions were
hostile. For a moment, they were all huddled together and then the outer door
cycled open revealing a bleak landscape lit only by starlight.

Becca got a quick impression of intense,
breathless cold but it was cut off immediately as the protective collar around
her neck hummed into life and a clear protective bubble made of pure energy
surrounded her head. It reminded Becca of the shield-barrier around the Unmated
Males area on the Mother Ship, which in turn reminded her that they needed to
get moving.

“Okay,” she said taking a deep breath.
“Let’s go.”

The three of them walked down the ship’s
ramp and onto a hard, flat, level surface.

“It’s like a road,” Becca said, scuffing
the silver boot that came with her outfit experimentally.

“It
is
a road—look.” Far’s deep
voice crackled from her suit’s voice receiver mic as he pointed ahead of them.
“It winds between the hills that kept us from landing closer.”

“So it does.” Truth frowned. “A very
strange pattern indeed.”

“Well, I guess we should follow it?” Becca
looked at both of them. “It’s not exactly made of yellow brick but who knows—we
might find the Emerald City at the end of it. Or what passes for it here on
Orthanx.”

“What?” Truth frowned at her. “Yellow brick?
Emerald City? What are you talking about?”

“A reference to an Earth vid about a young
girl who goes on a magical journey,” Far murmured. “She follows a road made of
yellow paving material and finds—”

“Enough,” Truth snapped. “I’m well aware
that you know all about Becca’s culture—
and
mine. If you wanted you
could probably recite the Curse of the Talob or tell me the tale of the Three
Little Grundigs and their pet perri-slug or any other Rai’ku legend I could
name.”

Far shot his brother an angry look. “I
have always been interested in other cultures—I’m Kindred—it’s in my blood. And
the fact that I chose to look into yours does
not
make me some
unredeemable villain. I simply wanted to know you better.”

“While I regret knowing
you
at
all,” Truth growled.

“Stop it right now, the both of you!”
Rebecca snapped before Far could reply. “The cold silence is bad enough but I
will
not
go back to the bickering.”

“But—”

“He—”

“No!” Becca held up her hands to stop
them. “I’m going to remind you of what my mom told me—if you can’t say anything
nice, don’t say anything at all. Starting
now.”

Her words were met by silence so Becca
assumed that neither had a single nice thing to say to the other.

“All right,” she said, taking a deep
breath. “That’s more like it. Now let’s get going so we can find Vashtar, get
the cure, and get out of here. This place gives me the creeps—the sooner we get
back to the ship the better.”