Eland and Jeanne (Tales of the Shareem) (15 page)

The Shareem were ordered to report to medics every six months to be rechecked and given another dose of disease-eliminating and sterility drugs. Oh, and they weren’t allowed to leave the planet. Bor Narga wanted to maintain full control of them.

Otherwise, Shareem were free to do as they pleased—within reason. They could take low-wage jobs and live in small apartments, as long as doing so didn’t take away a job or a place to stay from a full citizen.

Any sign of Shareem openly having sex or even discussing it in public would be grounds for arrest. In short, they needed to watch every word they said, every step they took.

Each Shareem was issued an ident card and a credit strip with 100 credits on it to get them started. After that, they were on their own.

Judith’s bar filled with Shareem the night after they were finally released. Rees, watching from outside the open doorway, had a full heart. It was a start.

Women were there too, come to see the enticing Shareem. Rees figured that the Shareem would not have to worry about making a living. Openly paying for sex was forbidden on Bor Narga, but Shareem would find ways around that.

Gifts,
they’d insist
. Gifts from grateful ladies …

Rees’s friends were all there tonight, each celebrating in his own way.

Aiden and Ky—

“Hey, now we can afford to move out of that crappy storage shed into a real apartment,” Aiden said to Ky as they drank at a table in the middle of the room. “Maybe we can have actual beds. And separate bedrooms. You snore like a freighter engine.”

Ky had his hands locked around his glass of ale as though he were in love with it, but he glanced up at Aiden’s words.

“We?”
he demanded. “Why would
we
be sharing an apartment?”

Aiden looked surprised. “Why not? I’m used to you now. Besides, ladies already think we come as a team.”

Ky looked thoughtfully at his ale again, his face unreadable. Then he shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Like you said, we’re a team …”

Braden and Calder—

They sat in the corner, well into the shadows, away from the celebrating Shareem.

“You can take those off now,” Braden said to Calder.

Calder had sun-blocking cloths wound around the lower half of his face. His eyes glittered over them at Braden. “No, I can’t.”

“Why not? We’re semi-free. No more DNAmo. No more prison cells. Want to go in on an apartment with me?”

Calder shook his head. “I have my eye on a warehouse. Rooms in the back. Just enough space for me.”

Braden stared at him. “An entire warehouse? ‘Just enough space’? What the hell?”

“I didn’t say the warehouse was
only
for me. It’s for … entertainment.”

Braden’s expression cleared, and he laughed. “I like the way you think. Oh well, I’ll find my own place. But really, you have to take those sun-blocking cloths off, or no lady is going to come to your entertaining warehouse.”

“No, they won’t come if I
do
take them off.”

Braden’s laughter died. Rees knew what had happened to Calder, and apparently Braden did too. “Sorry, big guy. Is it that bad?”

For answer, Calder unwound a fold of the cloth. The shadows hid him well, but Rees saw the ruin of one half of his face, scars that trickled down his neck under his thick tunic.

Plasma fire. Calder had been burned almost to death, saved by the genius of a woman scientist named Dr. Laas.

Braden put his hand on Calder’s shoulder, and Calder growled. He didn’t like sympathy.

“They’ll come to me,” Calder said cynically. He indicated the women, including Judith, who were already looking at him in curiosity and interest. “They’ll want to spend time with the Beast …”

Rio—

“Hey.” Rio came up behind Rees as Rees watched and listened. “You going in?”

“Not yet,” Rees answered. “I have an errand.”

“Well, hurry it up,” Rio said. “Judith is waiting for me, but she says she wants a threesome with us. She won’t wait all night.”

Rees shrugged. “Go keep her warm. I won’t be long.”

Rio gave him a high five in passing and walked into the bar, calling a greeting to all present.

Kieran—

Rees turned and slipped into the night. He avoided patrollers and made his way to the entrance to the tunnels where he and Eland had hidden out. Eland wasn’t there anymore, but another Shareem was.

The large Shareem was asleep on a pallet, his arm over his eyes. He hadn’t seen daylight in almost a year, so Rees had recommended he stay below until dark, to let himself gradually readjust. It was going to take Kieran a while to get used to being outside at all.

Rees had found Kieran after hacking into DNAmo’s seized records. Kieran had been taken to the house of a lady who lived just below the Serestine Quarter. That neighborhood was for those who considered themselves too lofty for the Vistara but didn’t have the old, old family ties to get them into the Serestine.

Rees had found Kieran in the lady’s cellar. Kieran had been locked into a ten by ten by ten crate large enough to contain only a mattress on its floor. He’d been chained to the wall.

Kieran had blinked in confusion when Rees had opened the door and shone his light on him. “Hey,” Kieran had said. “She buy you too?”

“Nope,” Rees used a laser knife to cut through the bolts that held the chain. “I’m here to rescue you.”

Kieran blinked some more as the chains fell. “Good,” he said. He swung off the bed and to his feet, trying to stretch his huge body in the small space. “Let’s go.”

Kieran had been so cramped in the tiny space that it took a few minutes for him to be able to walk. But Kieran had Shareem metabolism that recovered quickly, and soon he kept stride with Rees.

Rees sneaked him through the streets, made harder because Kieran wanted to
look
at everything. Pas City at night was colorful and active, especially the markets. However, a large Shareem in nothing but a dirty tunic attracted too much attention, so Rees got him underground quickly.

Rees had fetched Kieran clean clothes and food, and advised him to stay in the tunnels for a while.

Kieran, whose brain had been overly fucked up by DNAmo, thought the request reasonable, and obeyed. Rees knew damn well that if Kieran had decided he really should go out and wander the streets, he would have.

He hadn’t. Rees found him now, right where he’d left him. He was lying on a mattress similar to the one in the crate where he’d been kept, but he was clean, shaved, and unchained.

Kieran grumbled as he came awake. “What?”

“Shareem are free to do what they want,” Rees said. “Thought you’d like to know. You have to follow some seriously restricting rules, though.”

Kieran sat up, looking better now that he’d eaten and slept regularly for a week or so. “Great. I want to see
everything
. I’ve never been outside DNAmo, or that house’s cellar. They knocked me out when they took me up there, so I never even got to look out the window.”

“How about seeing the other side of the planet?” Rees suggested. “Rylan—remember him? He’s heading for the mountains. Going to work on harvesting crystals and making singing spheres. Want to help him out?”

Kieran gave him a narrow look. “Yeah? Why do you want me out of Pas City?”

“Because DNAmo did a number on you,” Rees said. “On me too, but I wasn’t kept a prisoner for a year. I think you should ease back into life.”

“Because I, the dumb as a brick Shareem, might screw up these new rules and get us all in trouble.” Kieran could be amazingly shrewd when he wanted to be. “I get it. You’re probably right. And hey, I’ve never seen mountains before.”

“They have trees there too,” Rees said. “Even rivers with water in them.”

“Hot damn.” Kieran grinned at him, never down for long. “Let me pack. Oh, wait, I don’t have anything to pack. All right then, let’s go.”

***

The one Shareem not given amnesty was the one that was still missing. R294E8S.

He was a prototype and dangerous
.
When found, he was to be arrested and terminated on the spot.

No one had seen him, though. The other Shareem had been thoroughly questioned about R294E8S, and none of them knew where he was—most weren’t even aware he existed.

R294E8S walked from the hovertrain station in Pas City back to Judith’s bar. He strolled alone in the night, enjoying the intoxicating sights and sounds of the markets.

No one noticed him much. He kept to the darkest streets and moved in silence.

A patroller lounged at the corner near Judith’s bar. As R294E8S neared, she turned her head in the opposite direction, her attention caught by something down the street. R294E8S moved quietly behind her, unseen, and slipped in the front door.

The Shareem inside were too busy celebrating to notice him. R294E8S didn’t mind. He took a table in the shadows and was quiet.

Judith came out from the door that led to the stairs, smoothing her hair. She saw R294E8S sitting alone, and acknowledged him with a nod. She went to the bar, poured him an ale, and brought it to him.

“Rio didn’t want to wait for you,” she said. “Sorry.”

R294E8S took the ale. “You don’t look sorry.”

Judith flushed. “I know. But you know … Rio.”

“Yeah.” R294E8S slanted her an exasperated look. “I know Rio.”

Judith relaxed into a smile and gestured at the ale. “On the house.”

“Thanks.” R294E8S smiled back at her, and Judith leaned down and kissed his cheek.

“Anytime, Rees,” Judith said, and walked away.

***

Jeanne left the celebration at Judith’s bar early, because Eland hadn’t come. Rio told her Eland had walked away from them after they’d been released but wouldn’t say where he was going.

Jeanne went home slowly, her footsteps loud in the emptier streets near her apartment. Now that he was free, Eland could do what he wanted—find a new place to live, find a transport to take him off Bor Narga completely.

Though it had been decreed that the Shareem must stay on the planet, Jeanne knew that the Shareem were smart enough to find a way around that. Jeanne couldn’t begrudge Eland leaving. He’d only have a half-life if he stayed on Bor Narga.

Jeanne went through the motions of showering, getting into bed, turning out the light. She lay down, but of course couldn’t sleep. After hours of tossing and turning, she got up, took a light sedative, and climbed back into bed. Finally her body loosened enough to plunge her into sleep.

She jumped awake many hours later, and opened her eyes.

She saw nothing but darkness, but realized a few heartbeats later, that it was because she had a blindfold over her eyes. Her hands were bound, drawn overhead and fastened to the bed.

But she was facedown, not face-up. A cool brush of leather touched her bare backside, and then she felt the abrupt, stinging slap of a lash.

Chapter Fifteen

Eland touched Jeanne’s naked ass with one hand, soothing the slap he’d just given her. Her softness nearly undid him.

He moved his hand and applied the lash five more times, then smoothed her skin again. “You’ve been very, very bad, my Jeanne.”

“No, I’ve been waiting for you.” Jeanne squirmed under his touch, her words breathless. “Only you.”

Eland swatted her again. “I didn’t mean fucking other Shareem. I meant charging up to the hill, speaking out at the council, putting yourself in a shitload of danger—for
what
?”

“For you.” Jeanne tried to turn and look at him, her beautiful eyes covered with the strip of black satin. “So they wouldn’t terminate you. So you’d be free.” She shot him a cocky grin. “It worked.”

“That’s not the point!” Eland heard himself roar. “Damn it, Jeanne, you could have been arrested, imprisoned, transported—for a dickhead like me. What the hell were you thinking?”

She yelled back just as loudly. “I was thinking that I loved you, and didn’t want to watch you die!”

Eland’s world stopped.
Loved you …

Not her jonesing for sex. Not her wanting him to exhibit her to his friends. Not,
thanks for teaching me; I’ll find my own way now.

I was thinking that I loved you.

“I don’t want you to love me,” Eland said woodenly.

Jeanne’s face was still raised to his, and he felt her glaring at him behind the blindfold. “Why the hell not?”

“That’s not what I’m made for.” He repeated the words he’d learned so long ago.

Jeanne ripped at her bonds, which she wouldn’t be able to break until he decided.

“I don’t give a shit,” she said vehemently. “Get over it! I love you, Eland. If you’re ready to move on to another woman now that you’re free, fine. I can’t make you love me back. But that doesn’t mean I won’t keep caring about you. I did what I did—I’d do it again! So live with it!”