Jaci's Experiment (2 page)

In fact, the room that housed the two cousins was right next to Ruth’s and was Jaci’s next stop on her rounds in the semi-private section of the pen complex. The test subjects housed here were granted more freedom than the others, earned by good behavior or other special circumstances. Each cell had solid, opaque walls for improved privacy, but the entrance was an energized archway that was open to the hall.

The temptation to talk to the man next door was enormous, but she didn’t know what good David could do for her.

“Yes, David. And Michael too. But David especially might be of some use to you.”

“Why?”

“In the old world, David was a psychiatrist. We talk sometimes, late at night when I can’t sleep, through the wall. He’s helped me a lot, and I know he likes you. Both of them do.”

“What is a psychiatrist? What does that mean?” Jaci was confused and suddenly feeling a bit jealous of the other woman’s late night conversations with the man she admired. It was unsettling to say the least.

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“It means that he had to go through a lot of schooling, first to attain his medical degree, then his specialty in psychiatry. He’s a very smart man and I like to think he’s a good friend.”

“He’s a doctor?” Why did she suddenly feel sad that he’d never told her about his past?

Ruth nodded, compassion clear her eyes. “Go talk to him,” she urged. “I know you’ve done something to the cameras in here. Do the same in their cell and talk it out. They can help you and they will. They like you, Jaci. They wouldn’t give the time of day to most of your kind, but you’ve been kind when you could, even though you didn’t understand our emotions. Now I think, they’ll have pity on you and help you through your rough patch. Trust them, and know that I won’t tell a soul what you’ve told me. I don’t want you hurt. I like you and consider you a friend.”

Tears traced down Jaci’s face, much to her astonishment, and she wiped them away, looking at her wet hand with confusion. She didn’t know how to describe all the different things she was feeling. Ruth was so good, such a kind person, and so forgiving of her earlier unfeeling treatment. Jaci didn’t feel worthy of being called friend by this noble woman and it touched her deeply. She bowed her head.

“I am honored by your friendship, Ruth, and I thank you. I’ll try to do as you suggest, but I don’t know if I’m brave enough.”

But Ruth just smiled. “I think you’ll find that you’re brave enough for just about anything, Jaci. All you have to do is try.”

Jaci restored the monitors and moved on to the cell next door in her normal rounds. She was eager now to try as Ruth suggested, but fearful as well. What if the men she’d come to think of so fondly rejected her. It would crush her.

Having emotions was a tough thing to deal with. Suddenly she had new respect for these Breeds and the upheaval her kind had put them through. Most of them were truly remarkable, and now she understood a little better the ones who had been driven insane or close to it by her people.

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She couldn’t wait to talk to David and Michael. She moved straight to the monitor when she entered the room. Normally she would mask her maintenance of it with her other tasks so the subjects would have no idea there was any sort of equipment in the room at all. This time, she didn’t care about protocol. She needed to talk to these men without the monitors and she would do so now, before she lost her nerve.

She disabled the system and turned to face them with her hands behind her back and her breath caught in rather desperate apprehension. Both of them were watching her carefully, inquisitive looks on their handsome faces. The moment of truth had indeed arrived.

“What’s wrong?”

David’s concern brought another of those amazing tears to her eyes. She wiped it away, noting their stunned expressions and sank onto the edge of the table behind her, resting wearily against it as she explained her tale of woe.

She told them all about how she’d exposed herself to the agent and it was tall, muscular Michael who came over to gather her into his strong arms, not David as she would have expected. David, instead, watched her in a way that was unnerving. He watched her as if she was some kind of experiment, and she suddenly understood how and why these Breeds resented their captivity and the constant monitoring.

“I’m so sorry.” She sobbed, turning her head into Michael’s strong chest.

“For what, Jaci? You’ve never done anything to harm either of us. You’ve been as close to a friend as one of your kind could be given your lack of emotion. We liked you regardless.”

She cried a bit more, waves of emotion hitting her that she didn’t know how to deal with. Michael seemed content to let her ride the storm out in his arms and she didn’t want to move. He felt so good. So powerful and protective. She wanted to stay in his embrace, safe, for as long as she could.

Of the two, Michael was the larger and physically stronger. David was more cerebral and handsome in a way that made her stomach clench. He had a cunning smile that hinted at deviltry and close-cropped hair that she’d wanted to touch for a long time, just to see if 17

it was as soft and fuzzy as it looked. His sharp features and intelligent, dark blue eyes were aphrodisiacs of a sort different from that of his more muscular cousin.

Because of his almost frighteningly strong masculine form, Jaci would have thought Michael would be less likely to offer her comfort. He had a rough demeanor and more athletically defined physique. He spent a lot of his spare time doing push-ups and other kinds of physical exercise that kept his body at a peak of conditioning unmatched by any of her other charges. She’d been surprised when he’d been the one to gather her close to all that amazingly warm muscle and brawn, but she loved the feel of him against her. With such a man holding her, Jaci felt like nothing could ever harm her.

Mike looked from the sobbing woman in his arms to his watching cousin. Dave was taking it all in, but he hadn’t yet made a move to help the confused young woman, and Mike was surprised. He knew Dave liked the look of Jaci. They’d had enough conversations about her since she’d become their jailer to know that for a fact. She was easy on the eyes and had a graceful manner, plus she never used her position of power to intentionally harm any of her charges. She was thoughtful and kind?or as kind as person without any understanding of emotion could hope to be.

“Why won’t you help her?”Both men were reasonably strong telepaths and had other gifts as well.

“She needs to cry,”Dave said firmly in his cousin’s mind.
“When she’s got this out of her system, we
can begin to work on integrating the emotions.
”

“This could be the break we’ve been looking for.”Mike was excited by the possibilities.
“If the aliens
are experimenting with reintroducing emotions into their people, it could help us all. I bet the
O’Haras had something to do with this development.”

The rumor mill among the Breeds was fast and furious. With so many telepaths among their number, even the separation into cells couldn’t keep many of them from communicating with each other. Word had spread quickly about the O’Hara brothers when an old O’Mara woman and her husband and daughter had been captured. She’d

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stood right up to the aliens and told them what the eldest O’Hara had told her to say and surprisingly, it had worked. She’d mentioned her maiden name and suddenly the family had been whisked out of the general population. They had friends down in the pens and they’d kept up the communication, telling them what had occurred.

Mike knew there were free humans working to better conditions for them all and the O’Haras were at the forefront of the fight. He’d even heard tell of the half-alien boy one of the brothers had fathered and his work to help his human kin. Harry, they called him, but the aliens called him Hara in almost reverent tones. Mike had watched and listened carefully, compiling information and looking for his own way out of the cells.

Whether that meant a breakout or cutting some kind of deal, he’d had enough of captivity. It was slowly driving him mad. Only his cousin’s calming influence had helped him through the worst of it. Of the two, Dave was the thinker and Mike was the doer. It had been that way since they’d been kids. They’d worked together to build their business. Dave had written the books and Mike had marketed them.

Together they’d made millions, but it was all gone now, and Dave was putting his education and talents to use, simply helping those few people he came into contact with stay sane?or as sane as they could given the circumstances.

“From what we’ve heard, the O’Haras have influenced the aliens more than anyone could have guessed.

Maybe you’re right,”Dave mused silently to his cousin as he moved nearer the sobbing girl.
“Maybe
after studying humans for more than a decade, the aliens are finally coming to realize their own
lack of emotion and what it’s cost their people as a whole. We’ve heard the rumors about the
throwback crystallographer, right? He’s teaching humans now, so maybe they’ve found some link
between emotion and their prized crystal gift.”

“We’ve speculated about that before, Dave. We have no evidence to support that theory, but now that we know they’re experimenting on themselves to this radical an extent, it makes sense to think something’s spurring them on.”

Mike stroked her hair as his mind raced. Dave drew nearer and reached out his hand. Mike knew his cousin had a healing touch and he could feel Jaci’s tears winding down.

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“Give her to me.”

Mike relinquished her without a word, knowing Dave would work his magic on her. He was glad of his cousin’s gift. He liked Jaci and didn’t like to see her suffer, even if she was an alien. After this he figured, if she survived her unintentional experimentation, she’d be less like the aliens and more like them. Maybe they could truly be friends now. Or more.

After all, she was a beautiful woman. Tall, lithe and pale, she was prettier than most human women he’d been with, and he’d been with a lot of human women before the cataclysm. Opportunities were rarer now that most human women were gone, but since their capture two years before, the aliens had given him and Dave chances to fuck other captives, which they only did if the woman they were thrown in with wanted it. Of course, with Dave’s extraordinary ability to heal the mind as well as the body, most women wanted to fuck them in thanks after he’d laid his healing hands on them.

But Mike didn’t love any of those women. Hell, he barely even knew them. He’d always needed at least to be friends with the woman beneath him in bed. He believed it made the sex better, and he knew Dave needed emotional attachment as well, due to his rather unique gifts. It had been hard for the cousins and though they’d never even considered enjoying a ménage before the cataclysm, the rarity of women had brought them to realize they enjoyed sharing the few women they’d found who wanted the pleasure they could bring.

Mike watched Jaci shift into Dave’s arms with speculation. They’d never fucked an alien woman but they’d heard about it from another captive who’d been asked to do it. Their body temperature was hotter and their pussies tight, or so the man had claimed. Mike licked his lips, thinking he’d really like to find out the truth of it for himself, and he knew just the woman he’d like to discover it with.

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Dave took her into his arms. She didn’t weigh much for such a tall woman. He was more than a few inches over six feet and she only came up to his chin. He was amazed by the turn of events that brought her into his arms in need of his healing touch, but he’d learned that things generally happened for a reason. As his cousin had said, this could be a chance for them to regain their freedom. He didn’t quite know how yet, but such an odd occurrence had to be significant in some way.

“David,” she sobbed, her tears starting to ease as he stroked her hair.

“I’m here, Jaci. Just relax. Listen to my voice and relax, okay? I’ll try to help you.”

“How?” She hiccupped and he had to smile. She was cute when she was upset.

“I’m a healer.” He’d never admitted his real talent to any of his captors before, preferring to let them think he was just a mild telepath. He didn’t want to cooperate with them any further than he had to.

“Ruth told me you were a doctor before.”

So she’d been talking to Ruth. He took in the information, realizing he should not have been too surprised. Ruth often spoke to the cousins about the things Jaci had told her about the outside each day.

Little things, like whether it was raining or sunny, what the temperature was doing or what small furry creature she’d just discovered in the park area the aliens had set aside for walking. Jaci had tried to be kind in her way, and had succeeded even before her emotions had been released. He thought that was significant.

“I was a medical doctor and a psychiatrist, but what I really meant is that I can heal with my touch.” He let a small pulse of his energy tingle along her skin and she jumped, making him smile.

“But I am not physically injured.” Her voice was muffled against his chest and he found he liked the feel of her slight weight resting against him. He stooped his head to 21

speak into her ear, his breath teasing her sensitive skin, raising goose bumps, he was pleased to note.

“I can heal physical injuries, it’s true, but I also have a special gift, Jaci. I can heal the mind.”

She drew back from him, wonder in her wide eyes.

“Truly?”

He nodded slowly, holding her gaze.

“But you never told Mara—”

“I’m a prisoner here against my will. I have no desire to cooperate with Mara or any of your people. I told them only what I wanted them to know.”

She thought hard for a moment, he could tell, then her eyes brightened. A few new tears leaked out.

“That’s how you’ve been helping Ruth and the others. I thought I noticed some of them were better after talking to you, but I never put it in the logs. I wasn’t sure enough to record the observation. I’m not a real scientist after all, just a tech. Jacis practically never rise higher than tech level.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit. There are countless tales in human history about people overcoming humble beginnings to become great leaders and innovators. You’re more than your genetic code, contrary to your people’s beliefs. We all have greatness within us. We need only tap into it.”

She tilted her head, considering his words. “I’m feeling something odd. I’ve never felt it before, but it feels light and bubbly and…yearning. I think it’s hope.” Her eyes dilated with pleasure as he watched.

“You’re on the road, Jaci. Mike and I can help you, but you need to walk part of the way to meet us.

Do you think you’re up to it?”

She didn’t understand what he meant, but she felt this…hope…bubble and swell within her. She felt like these men cared for her—even if they had no real reason to—and that they would help her.

“Did you heal me just now?” She couldn’t be quite sure.

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He shook his head. “I’ll touch you, if you consent, but from what you said, your emotions seem to be manifesting gradually. You’re going to have to deal with them as they come to you. Since it’s a natural process there’s not much I can do except ease your confusion. You have to integrate the emotions into your being, but I have no doubt you can. Just come to me if you start to feel overwhelmed, okay, Jaci?

I’ll do what I can to help you.”

She nodded, moving back from him as he positioned his hands on either side of her face. He held her gaze as he let his gift delve deep, stroking and easing her suffering as best he could. Really, it was mostly reassurance he sent her that made her feel better. She was feeling overwhelmed and panicky, but he realized his and his cousin’s presence and understanding helped calm her.

Maybe she would be theirs after all. God knows he’d fantasized about her often enough, jerking off at night when the pressure got too great. He leaned forward, unable to stop himself from depositing a soft kiss on her warm lips.

She gasped and pulled back.

“Feel better, sweetheart?” He knew she was calmer after receiving his healing energy, but he wanted her to acknowledge it.

She smiled faintly and his hands fell back to his sides.

“Why did you kiss me?”

He shrugged, a roguish smile on his lips. “I couldn’t help myself. I’ve dreamed about you, you know.”

“Don’t rush her, idiot!”Mike’s scowling voice sounded through his brain.
“We can’t afford to scare
her off.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

She tilted her head and smiled up at him, slightly embarrassed at his admission.

“I’m glad, though I don’t deserve your attention. I’ve been so callous to you both. I don’t understand how you can be so kind to me now.”

“Join in anytime here, Mike. She needs to see us as a pair. If we’re going to get her help getting out of here, she has to realize from the start that we travel as a set.”

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Mike came over to stand beside his cousin, facing her.

“You were always as fair with us as you could be given your lack of understanding of our emotions. We like you, Jaci.” Mike dared to stroke her cheek and move in closer.

“Kiss her, Mike.”

Mike needed no further urging from his manipulative cousin. He pulled her into his arms and bent slightly to take her lips more fully than Dave had, sending his tongue to stroke her hot lips and slide intimately within. She squirmed closer, her temperature rising appreciably as he delved deep into her mouth.

“That’s enough. We don’t want to scare her off, I believe you just said?”Dave’s voice was disapproving as he watched them with narrowed eyes. Mike winked at him over her shoulder as he lifted away from her all too tempting lips.

“You kiss like a dream, Jaci.” He liked the look of her flushed face, the sparkle in her eyes. “I’ll dream of you tonight.” He kissed her eyes, eliciting a soft moan from deep in her throat.

Dave came up behind her, sandwiching her warm body between the two cousins, surrounding her in their heat. They both could feel her increased heart rate as Dave leaned in to nip at the tender skin where her shoulder met her neck.

“My people don’t dream much, but since the accident, I’ve been waking in the night with strange images in my head.”

“Did your ancestors dream before they started tinkering with your genetic code?” Dave kept his tone gentle.

She nodded, leaning back against him. “There are stories of dreams so violent that warriors would wake with their weapons in their hands and kill the first person they saw. My ancestors were even more violent than your human predecessors.”

“Well, I want you to dream only of us, Jaci. Happy dreams. Dreams of pleasure and understanding.”

Mike breathed in her ear as Dave laid his healing hands on her once more, reinforcing the thought.

“Dream of us tonight, sweetheart, and know that you are not alone.” Dave whispered into her other ear as his energy zinged through her once more, calming and reassuring.

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“Someone’s coming to check on Jaci.”

The message came unbidden into their minds, a forceful voice neither of them had heard before. They drew away from her with a final caress and pushed her toward the monitor in the corner.

“Someone’s coming. Can you say there was trouble with the equipment?” Mike walked with her to the place where he knew the monitor resided then moved past her to sit nonchalantly on the cot against the far wall.

She shook herself as if to gather her cool. “Telepathy, right? That’s how you know someone’s coming.”

“I always knew you were smart.” Mike smiled at her.

She grinned back at him, her smile full of pleasure. He felt as if he’d just praised his puppy and received a full-body tail wag in reward. She was just that cute and so freshly innocent on her journey of emotional discovery.

“Get to work, sweetheart,” Dave reminded her in a low voice from the other side of the room, “and wipe that killer smile off your face. It’s most un-Alvian looking.”

His conspiratorial wink softened the chastising words as he pretended int
erest in the viewer the cousins
had earned for good behavior. They were slowly learning the Alvian language and were permitted to read certain histories and other entertainment texts to keep their minds occupied. That had been a new development instituted by the Maras. Apparently they’d learned from their studies that captive Breeds fared better when there was sufficient activity for their rather advanced brains.

Jaci schooled her thoughts and her expression in preparation for the arrival of one of her people. She realized in that moment, she truly did feel better. Ruth had been right. David and Michael both had helped her acclimate some of the overwhelming emotion into her being. She felt better than she had since the accident and she knew she would come back to this cell to be with these men as often as she could in the coming days. She needed them if she was to survive this transformation and more than that, she liked them and wanted to get to know them on a more personal level than just as jailor and inmate.

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“Jaci 192, is everything all right? I was sent to check on your progress.”

Jaci sighed with relief as she recognized the new voice at the energized arch that was the only opening into the cell. She turned to her subordinate with a calm expression on her face.

“I am well, Lita 498. I am also pleased to see that your injury is healed. How does it feel?” She made small talk as she moved toward the arch, indicating with a small nod they would discuss the matter of the monitor outside the range of the Breeds, as was only prudent.

She left the monitors off as she lowered the energy field and left the room with the other girl. She reenergized the arch, but had left the monitors off inside the cell. To switch them on so quickly after Lita’s arrival would only raise suspicion. She turned to Lita 498, explaining the supposed monitor malfunction to the other woman. The lower-graded tech took Jaci’s explanation at face value. After all, the monitors were not entirely infallible and failures were more common than the Maras wanted to admit. Lita left to report back to their superiors and Jaci calculated in her mind a reasonable time for fixing the malfunction she’d claimed.

It gave her just a few minutes with the cousins to explain before she’d have to turn the monitor back on.

It would have to be enough. She reentered the room calmly, then broke into a grin as she reenergized the arch behind her.

“I only have a few minutes.” She moved to the area by the monitor so she’d be ready when the time came to turn it back on. “I turn this off every day when I come in for routine maintenance. Once each week, I also run a self-diagnostic program that takes approximately ten minutes. It is offline during the diagnostic, so we can talk freely. Every once in a while, perhaps once a month or sometimes twice, the device will jam. That’s what I told them happened today. Such problems can be cleared up usually in about twenty minutes.” Her orderly mind wanted to give them all the facts.

“So you’re saying you won’t be able to spend this much time with us very often.” Mike nodded. “We’ll work with that, now that we know what to expect.”

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She sighed with relief. “Thank you.” Her eyes sought each of them. “Thank you both. I honestly don’t think I could face this without your support. I was so frightened.”

Dave moved forward and hugged her close, bending to place a fierce kiss on her lips. He was making up for the kiss Mike had given her, wanting his share and cementing his claim. The message was clear.

The cousins wanted her. Both of them. Equally.

“Dream of us.”

He sent one last tingling jolt of his healing power through her in reassurance, then drew back. She knew the time had come to switch on the monitor and go back to her emotionless existence. Emotionless on the outside at least. Inside she was dealing with amazing changes she was only just beginning to understand.

Jaci slept well for the first time since accidentally exposing herself, and dreamed of four strong arms holding her close within a tight circle of security. She dreamed of the kisses she’d shared with the two cousins and more that she could only imagine.

She’d had sex with several different partners as part of her duties, but she’d never made love. That last encounter with Grady Prime was perhaps as close as she’d ever come. In the rare free moments since her exposure, she’d begun to review the databases of human writings and even some from her culture’s long-distant past. She knew intellectually there was supposed to be a difference between having sex and making love, but she’d never experienced it. Maybe with the cousins, she could find the exchange of emotion that would elevate the sexual act to that sublime level of which the poets in both their cultures wrote.