Rystani Warrior 02 - The Dare (4 page)

He should speak up and tell them about his sudden, strong, and vivid sexual fixations before some poor other unsuspecting soul strode under another cone of golden light. If he’d known for certain that the alien beam, not the knock on his head and the fall, had caused his sudden cravings and inexplicable fantasy about Dora, he’d have spoken up—embarrassing subject or not—but if the effect was short-term, in time, he could ascertain that for himself. While the suit hid his condition, he remained uncomfortable, and he fully intended to see Xentos at the first opportunity.

ZICAL LEFT HIS portable computer unit and Dora behind, stepped off the street into a private retreat, and prayed that Dora’s spy-in-the-sky satellite sensors hadn’t picked him out from the hundreds of other pedestrians on foot who were out for a good time. Of all the cities on Mystique, this was the oldest and the capital—a busy spaceport, a business center where anything could be bought, for a price. Mystique’s wealth had filtered down from the planet’s owners to create a wealthy middle class. Storefronts with luxury items, restaurants with gourmet foods, and entertainment centers were plentiful amid towering apartments, wide boulevards planted with flowering shrubs, colorful butterflies and exotic birds that emitted a pleasant thrilling hum.

The first time Zical had sought out a holographic simulation, the establishment’s owner had assured Zical that the holosims at the hotel didn’t tie into planetary systems—not so much to ensure the customers’ privacy as to keep out the authorities and overly inquisitive spouses, family, and friends. So if his luck held, Dora would have no idea where he was.

“Good evening, sir.” A gorgeous holosim greeted Zical from behind the front desk. “What’s your pleasure?” She gestured to a monitor.

Zical ignored the machine and removed a credit chit from his suit. He’d make his choices upstairs. Since charges began when he unlocked a door to his private room and ended when he exited, most customers apparently wanted their companion preferences decided beforehand to maximize the time in their room. He’d gladly spend the extra credits in return for privacy. As impatient as he was for release, once he reached his room, Zical still put thought into what kind of holosim suited him. Tall—his chin height. Slender but curvy. Big breasts. Funny, he’d always chosen women of medium-sized proportions until Dora had put the suggestion of large breasts into in his head. Cinnamon hair. Amethyst eyes. He moved on to the personality traits.

Eager?

Of course—a man would have to be a savage Endekian to enjoy forcing a woman.

Self-confident?

Absolutely. Zical didn’t want anyone who reminded him of Summar—his child bride, one so terrified of sex that after she’d conceived when they consummated the marriage, they’d never had marital relations again.

Adventurous?

Hmm. Not today. He was too on edge to bother being inventive. He simply needed to take care of business.

Talkative?

He marked one notch above the minimum. He didn’t require conversation. But dead silence seemed so … unnatural.

Aggressive?

Another time. With his nerves raw, he fully needed to be the one in command.

Clothing?

None. What was the point? He was here to satisfy his lust.

Skill level?

Expert. No hesitation there. He preferred a partner who knew exactly what she was doing. Teaching wasn’t for him, and he moved on swiftly choosing music, something with a beat.

Scent?

Orangeflower.

Wall color?

Golden. No. He needed no reminder of the golden cone of light that had caused his arousing condition. Scarlet. Yes. To match his passion.

Lighting?

Bright starlight with an ebbing moon across a black velvet sky.

He chose humidity and temperature. Although furniture was totally unnecessary, since the null-grav in his suit could float him, he liked the ambiance of a large bed. Finally, he punched in his final decision and let the sophisticated machine do its work. If he’d preferred, he could save his choices in the system for his next visit. But each time he came here he vowed it would be the last. He should find a real woman. But he never had time … Besides as a man who’d become accustomed to guarding his privacy from a certain inquisitive computer, he didn’t like leaving clues to his activities behind.

He helped himself to a shot of rare Maldebaran whiskey. Tossing back the expensive liquor only whetted his appetite to release his tension. Hoping physical satisfaction would banish the fantasies he couldn’t expel from his mind, with one psi thought he altered his suit to transparent, removed the artificial shield on his
tavis
, and immediately rose to full arousal. Muscles strung taut, he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, tried not to recall Dora’s sexy tone. And waited.

The subtle scent of orangeflower struck first, letting him know Xentos had arrived. He opened his eyes to the sight of bronze skin glistening in starlight, her features flawless, her breasts larger than his last visit and making her slender waist seem more narrow. If her perfection spoiled him for other women, he cared not. If she wasn’t real, he cared not. If she was nothing like impertinent, saucy, sassy Dora, all the better.

Xentos looked real, felt real, smelled real. Her skin was as warm as molasses on just-baked bread. So what if she had no personality? She welcomed him with no hesitation, no judgment, no awkwardness.

She wasn’t real.

But Zical didn’t want real. He wanted release, plain and simple, with no complications.

He’d already had one unsatisfying relationship with Summar and he wasn’t about to start into another with the wrong woman. Next time, his wife would be of his choosing, not a prearranged marriage. Next time, his wife would be a partner, a woman who measured up emotionally, a woman who matched his passion with her own. So a night with Xentos might not be as intellectually stimulating as talking to a real woman or a sentient computer like Dora, and nowhere near as emotionally satisfying as the true bond Kahn shared with his life mate.

He closed his mouth over her welcoming lips. Lips that parted and applied the exact amount of pressure to satisfy, compel, tease. Mmm.

“Kiss me, again,” she murmured and he needed no urging. Her arms around him were so close to the real thing that he could lose himself in her sensuality. While he found it ironic that he was using a machine to sate the desire that another machine had initiated, the situation only made him more determined to return to normal.

As Xentos’ breasts brushed against his bare chest, Zical thought of Dora. Her personality placed in a body was a scary, intriguing, fascinating idea. Dregan hell, she’d be a handful for some lucky man. Zical wished he’d asked more questions, wondered how far along she was in the process.

As his hands closed over Xentos’ delicious breasts, he realized Dora was correct. He liked breasts that overflowed his hands. With a happy sigh, he dipped his head for a taste and fantasized that he heard Dora’s voice cooing a response, felt Dora’s nipple’s hardening beneath his lips, held Dora’s body in his arms.

The golden cone of light might have encouraged his fantasy. Or perhaps the idea of Dora’s experiment to merge with a body was suggestively responsible. Zical only knew the combination of Xentos’ skill and his erotic visions of Dora were more than enough to set him on fire.

In his mind, the holosim’s body and Dora’s personality merged into one, a definite turn-on. It was Dora’s cheek he cradled in his palm. Dora’s body he swept weightless into his arms. Dora’s full curves molding to his hard muscles. Dora who buried her face into his throat, who nipped his neck, who slowly and seductively welcomed him into her willing
synthari
.

DORA WORKED AT full capacity. Zical’s find had her circuitry busy examining, identifying, cataloguing, and comparing the images she’d scanned with data on every ancient race. She also carried on her normal subroutines, routing communications, monitoring satellites, and collecting details on everything from trade routes, to economic conditions on Zenon, to a new volcano forming on Mystique’s primary moon.

In addition, she oversaw the growth of her body, reminded Miri to give Kirek his vitamins, and transferred Tessa’s growing credits to yet another bank, following standard orders to diversify. Meanwhile she continued to seek out new high-growth opportunities where Tessa could invest the family’s wealth.

She spared a tiny iota of her faculties for personal use. It was so like Zical to omit sharing the important data about how the golden light beam had sexually aroused him. However, humans tended to be irrational about their sexuality. Although she respected human feelings, Dora had never really understood the human concept of privacy, shyness, or embarrassment when it came to mating. When Zical had chosen to keep his erection a private matter, she’d remained silent, practicing discretion.

She’d learned time and again that while the urge for humans to mate was almost as basic as breathing and eating, her friends tended to be touchy about their sexual requirements. Although Dora thought it perfectly normal for an unconscious Zical to lose control of his psi, his suit, and his body’s natural urges, he’d clearly wanted to keep the information to himself.

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have devoted another nanosecond of thought to the matter, except after Zical regained consciousness, he’d seemed on edge, quietly determined with a maddening edge of secrecy about him. When he’d left his portable unit behind, he’d aroused her curiosity.

Without much difficulty, Dora tracked him from his apartment as he flew a skimmer into the city. Once on foot, she caught him on security monitors until he turned down a street that had none. Her inquisitiveness peaked, she aimed a satellite scanner on him, but once he entered a building, she lost him.

She tried to tap an outside communication line, but there were none. Most commercial establishments took a thumb print and debited a bank account after people made purchases. But again, she found no outside connections. Interesting.

What was Zical up to? What kind of establishment had he entered? Dora checked her city maps against the licensing board and came up with nothing. Odd. She checked the owner of the property and found out the land was part of the public domain, like a road. Stranger still.

Most likely illegal activities went on there.

Patiently, Dora kept searching for a link to go in. But whoever had built the place had taken great care to keep her out. If she hadn’t been following Zical’s progress, she would never have noticed the establishment. Dora could be patient, and her persistence paid off. Finally, she found a man who walked into the building with his portable unit turned off. Threading her way past the lock, Dora overrode his switch, but kept the warning light darkened. If she’d been human, her activity would have been suspect, but the law allowed Dora some latitude. If she was concerned about human life, she could override a portable unit’s functions.

She was very concerned about Zical. He’d talked Kahn into putting off the physical and psych evaluation until tomorrow. His face had been so taut, his muscles so tense, that she was certain he had something to hide.

Since Dora didn’t believe that the golden alien light could rattle a starship pilot renowned for his bravery, she wanted to know why Zical had broken his routine. Normally, he spent his planetside evenings eating a light dinner with the family, but not tonight, even though Miri, who was an artist in the kitchen, was preparing Zical’s favorite roast in its own salt juices, terrines of potatoes in flaky pastry, fresh beans in ginger and sweet almonds, with spiced cheese and a fruit wine for dessert. Nor would Zical normally miss after-dinner strategy discussions with Kahn about how soon the Endekians might regroup and attack Mystique—especially tonight when they would be contemplating how to explore the Perceptive Ones’ machines within Mount Shachauri.

However, he’d said nothing to Kahn, Tessa, Miri or Etru about his plans. Of course he was a grown man and no longer needed to explain his whereabouts, but it was common courtesy to let people who cared about him know where he was, and Zical was always most courteous, and she liked that about him. Etru and Kahn would be disappointed if he didn’t arrive for dinner. Shaloma had planned to show him a sketch she’d done, and Kirek looked forward to sitting on Zical’s lap and hearing a story. The man had the right to disappear without a word, but they would worry, probably ask her his location.

Dora needed to make sure he was all right, didn’t she?

When the man whose portable unit she’d infiltrated strode into the building, Dora secretly entered with him. Within moments she understood. Men and women came here to have sex with holosims, computer-generated companions. Zical had sneaked here to release pent up physical desire, but why did he feel he must sneak when he had no wife, no woman he was promised to?

His activity was not illegal; although Rystani society frowned upon using holosims, most cultures did not. Terrans tended to have different values, their single people seeing nothing wrong with premarital sex. So free to enjoy one another, Terrans didn’t often frequent this kind of establishment. On the other hand, Rystani were expected to wed early. Family values were encouraged, but the war had altered their way of life. Single Rystani people had the same needs as those who were wed—and no outlets.

Dora restrained a sigh. Zical could have saved her one hell of a lot of trouble if he’d simply informed her of his intentions. But no, the man had to keep his secrets.

Now that she knew what he was up to, she couldn’t suppress her envy of the holosim. Although she did not yet have her body, Dora wanted Zical to come to her to slake his passions. She wanted Zical to put his arms around her, kiss her, make love to her. His warmth and creativity were wasted on a holosim, who wouldn’t exist after he left the room. However, Dora would be able to remember every moment … and thinking about what he was doing right now increased her anticipation, escalated her determination to become fully human.