Purity (Pure and Tainted) (8 page)

“So you like it?” he asked, giving her another piece of pancake,
this time dipped in simulated maple syrup.

“I do. It’s strange but I really do.” She looked thoughtful. “In
fact—”

“What the hell is
she
doing here?”

They both looked up to see Loki standing in the doorway. He was
dressed in his usual flamboyant attire with a gold laminate cross-cut shirt and
tight blue flack pants tucked into his gold and white boots. Fancy clothes
aside, it was the
scowl on his face
that worried
Boone.

“K’s helping me make breakfast,” he said mildly, hoping to defuse
the situation.

“You’re letting her touch the
food
?
Great, just great.”
Loki threw up his hands. “Why not
just hand her a plasma rifle and draw a target on all our heads while you’re at
it, Boone? Or better yet, hand her a bottle of poison in case she didn’t bring
enough of her own.”

“She’s not poisoning your damn breakfast, Loki. She didn’t even
understand the concept of food until about half an hour ago. All her life she’s
lived on nutrient drinks and protein paste.”

Loki’s gold ringed eyes widened. “You expect me to
believe
that?”

“It’s true.” K stepped forward, her eyes flashing. “I have never
tasted solid food until Boone gave me some just now. And
if
I were going to kill you, I would not choose such a cowardly
method as poison. There is no honor in such treachery.”

“There’s no honor in attacking an unarmed ship, either, but you
did that,” Loki shot back. “Chall is dead because of your
honorable
methods.”

To Boone’s surprise K actually looked slightly ashamed of herself.
He wondered if she realized she was showing more and more emotion as time
passed without her suit.

“I did not wish to kill those aboard your vessel,” she said
quietly. “I wanted to take the lot of you to the pshalite mines. But my commanding
officer ordered that you must all die. He believes Erians are so depraved they
cannot even make good slaves.”

“And now you find out you’re one yourself. Ha!” Loki gave her a
bitter grin. “That must really burn your hide—Princess Purist a
filthy Erian
.”

K took a step forward, her black-on-black eyes narrowing
dangerously. “I am
not
like you.”

“No, you’re not.
I’m
not
a soulless killing machine.”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough. Break it up.” Boone stepped between
them and put a hand on each of their shoulders. Loki was stiff with anger but
what really worried Boone was the tension he could feel coursing through K’s
slender frame. Loki could handle himself in a fight but K was a trained killer
and Boone was betting she could be lethal, even without her suit.

“I don’t like this,” Loki said, speaking to Boone but still
glaring at K who returned his look with an unwavering stare of her own. “I
don’t like her being out here with us. She ought to be locked up.”

“And just how will that help?” Boone demanded. He let go of K and
backed Loki away so he could lean down and talk to the man privately. “Look,
Loki, you said yourself she’s still in full Paladin mode and as long as she
stays that way the chance of her helping me get Shayla out of those mines is
slim to none.”

Loki raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow. “And you think letting
her run loose is the answer?”

Boone sighed in frustration. “I think she needs a chance to
realize we’re not the enemy. All she knows about us is what she’s been taught
by her superiors which is why she thinks the entire rest of the solar system is
inhabited by sex-crazed infidels. If I keep her locked up in my quarters her
opinion of us is
never
going to
change.”

“I still don’t like it.” Loki glanced around Boone’s shoulder to glare
at K who was standing beside the table, still tense for a fight. “Don’t like it
one damn bit.”

“You don’t have to
like
it. But I need you to deal with it.
For me.
For
Shayla.
”
Boone
searched the other man’s eyes. “Try to understand. I need K’s help if I’m ever
going to see my sister again.”

At last Loki looked away.
“All right.
But
I don’t trust her and you shouldn’t either.”

“I’ll keep your advice in mind, as always,” Boone said evenly. He
raised his voice. “Now let’s eat before everything gets cold.”

Mom joined them shortly and simmed herself
a cup
of caffeine brew
before sitting down beside Loki. She smiled at everyone
and helped herself to the food, remarking that K was a good cook when Boone
explained that she’d helped make the meal. Boone was beyond grateful for the
graciousness of his navigator. He had never known Mom to get ruffled about
anything. No matter how tense the situation was, she had a smile for everyone.
He just wished everyone at the table could have such a peaceful attitude.
Unfortunately that was not to be—Loki and K were headed for a showdown.

Loki started it innocently enough by addressing K. “So you’ve
never eaten anything before?”

“No.” She didn’t elaborate as she had for Boone.

“That’s a shame. And here I thought that protein paste crap was
stuff the Purists only gave to their prisoners.”

Boone frowned at him. “You’ve had it?”

“What do you think they fed me in their genetics lab, caviar and
shoalin
lobster?” Loki made a face. “That
paste is awful stuff—so
bland
.” He
looked at K. “Of course the rest of the solar system has access to spices. Like
this.” He pulled a small shaker out of the pocket of his gold shirt and began
liberally applying it to his eggs.

K frowned. “What is that?”

“
Helikat
—an Erian spice.
It’s a little hot but it certainly peps up these bland eggs you and Boone
made.”

“Watch it, Loki,” Boone growled. “
I
seasoned those.”

“And I bet you did it with Princess Paladin in mind too, didn’t
you? You didn’t want to burn her delicate little mouth with too much flavor.”

“It
did
occur to me that
if she’d never eaten food before it would be better to start slow,” Boone
admitted. “You wouldn’t feed a newborn baby
kansiki
peppers.”

“I am
not
an infant,” K objected.
“Eating may be new to me but I am not afraid to try new flavors. Give it to me.”
She held out her hand to Loki.

“Darlin’, I don’t think—” Boone began but Loki was already passing
the shaker over.

“I’d be careful with that if I were you,” he said blandly. “Too
much can burn a hole in your esophagus and put pits in your stomach.”

“K, he’s telling the truth,” Boone said, still trying to stop her.
“I tried that stuff once and my mouth burned for a week. Don’t—”

But K had already tapped a generous portion of the bright green
helikat
over her eggs and taken a huge
bite. Boone watched anxiously, expecting her to spit it out. She choked at
first and her face turned red but after a moment she swallowed and speared
another bite somewhat awkwardly with her fork. It was obvious she had never
used utensils before but as with everything else, she was picking it up
quickly.

“You don’t have to do that,” Boone told her but she only glared at
Loki and ate what was on her fork. Then she went for more.

Loki was watching her, a mocking grin on his puckish features. “I
hope you’re enjoying that, Princess.
A little taste of your
home planet—your
true
home planet.”

“I would rather die than be from your filthy
Impure
world.” K took another bite of eggs and swallowed grimly. She was beginning to
sweat now, Boone saw with some concern, but she was still eating. Loki was
enjoying baiting her and she wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. This
little contest wasn’t going to end unless he saw to it himself.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Standing, he whisked K’s plate away from
her and dumped the contents down the waste chute. Then he poured her some milk
and sat it in front of her.

“What’s this?” K eyed the white liquid mistrustfully even though
her cheeks were damp with sweat and tears of pain were standing in her eyes.

“Milk.
Drink it—it helps.”

She gave him a single glance and then grabbed the glass and drank
in long, thirsty gulps. When she finished the glass she looked up at Boone. “
More,
please.”

“Can’t handle the heat, hmm?” Loki gave her a nasty smile.

Boone stuck a finger in the pilot’s face.
“Enough,
Loki.
This ends
now
, I mean
it.”

“Ooo, well as long as you
mean
it then…” But at least Loki shut up and didn’t comment as K finished her
second and then a third glass of milk. Boone was worried about her but she
didn’t voice any complaints, just kept drinking until the last of the milk was
gone. Then she sat back and gave Loki a small, satisfied smile.

“If that’s all your planet can offer I can’t say I’m impressed.”

Loki glowered at her. “I’ll show you what we can
offer
.”

K raised an eyebrow.
“Anytime.
Anywhere.”

“I’ll take you up on that…oh, no wait—you’re still a slave to your
touch-cravings. It wouldn’t be fair to kick your narrow little Paladin ass when
you’d just have to go crying to Boone afterwards.”

“I am not a slave to
anything
,”
K snarled.

“That’s what
you
think.
You think your touch-cravings are bad
now?
Just wait.” Loki smirked at her. “I know what’s down the road for you,
Princess—I’ve been there and lived it. And believe me, it’s
not
pretty.”

“You don’t know anything about me.” K’s voice was low and dangerous.

“I know everything I need to know. You have Erian DNA which means
you’re going to burn, Princess. Burn like your mouth is burning now after
eating all that
helikat.
Just imagine
that sensation throughout your entire body.”

K went pale. “What exactly do you mean?”

“Yeah, Loki, what the hell are you talking about?” Boone frowned
at him.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Loki gave him an arch look.

“Yes, I would.” Boone was tired of playing this game. “K is my
responsibility so I need to know how to take care of her. You need to tell
me—tell both of us—what to expect.”

“Sorry, Boone, it’s forbidden to reveal too much of the Erian
cycle to an outsider.” Loki flicked an imaginary piece of dust off his
immaculate sleeve. “I shouldn’t even have told you what I did last night.”

“Well K isn’t an outsider—she’s Erian,” Boone pointed out.

“No, she’s not—not really. She’s a genetic mutation—a freak made
in the Purist labs and I do
not
recognize
her as one of my people. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He stood up from the table
and gave Boone an overly elaborate salute. “I need to go check our course and
make sure we’re approaching Minotaur at the right trajectory.”

“You said we wouldn’t get there for two damn weeks,” Boone
growled.

“That’s just more time for me to make sure we’re on course. More
time to think over what I
know.
” He
gave K a nasty smile and sauntered off toward the flight deck, leaving Boone to
grind his teeth in frustration.

“Oh dear.”
Mom looked distressed. “I take it
he’s still upset over Chall.”

Boone sighed. “Well, Chall
was
his touch-partner. And you know Loki—if there’s anything he does better
than dressing up it’s holding a grudge.” He looked down at K who was sitting
silently at the table, her face blank. What was she thinking behind those
strange alien eyes? “K, darlin’, come help me clean up,” he murmured, putting a
hand on her shoulder.

She shrugged it off and stood up, making sure to keep her distance
from him. “I can manage myself. You do not have a responsibility to
take care
of me.”

“Yes, I do,” Boone said evenly. “You’re here because I wanted you
here—because I need your help. Therefore I have to make sure you’re taken care
of.”

“You’re doing a
fine
job
of it so far.” She walked over to the sink where Boone had stacked the dirty
pots they’d used. “How do I do this?”

“Don’t you worry about it, K
honey.
” Mom
was suddenly there beside her. “I’ll do these. You and Boone go work things
out. And don’t worry about Loki, he likes to pretend he has a secret—makes him
feel important. He probably doesn’t know any more than you do about what’s
going on with you.”

“Thank you.” There was genuine gratitude on K’s face as she looked
down at the shorter woman.

“Yeah, thanks Mom. I’ll do the dishes next time it’s your turn to
cook,” Boone said.

She made a shooing motion at him. “Go on and get out of here.
Both of you.”

“All right.”
Boone jerked his head at K, careful
not to touch her. It was clear that even the most casual contact still set her
on edge, even though she needed it. “Come on, K.”