Hybrid's Love (7 page)

“That is where we are going now. The medical
center here has one and I have friends who work there who will help
us... They will also get a message to Lexian. Our shuttle is fast,
but not fast enough or powerful enough to get away from the
entirety of F9’s forces.”

Thoughts of Lexian prompted vivid
recollections of their earlier conversation and she shivered. “Do
you love him?”

“That is a difficult question. He and I have
been together for many years, trained together, fought together.
But my feelings for him are very different from my feelings for
you.”

“But you are attracted to him.”

Kyr let out a heavy sigh as they entered
their chamber. “These questions are why I did not wish you to know.
On Earth, did ancient warriors not engage in sex with one another?
The Spartans and the Greeks?”

“Well, yes... but that was because they often
spent months at a time away from women.”

He met her gaze levelly then, “We have never
had women, Wren. Our entire lives have been spent in the company of
men, all of us wondering what it would feel like, what it would be
like to finally know the touch of our mates.... Genetically, we are
more in every way. They created us with more testosterone and
higher sex drives because it would also make us stronger, more
aggressive and better fighters.”

“I’m jealous,” she admitted. “I didn’t think
I would be, but I am.”

“Lexian and I fulfilled one another’s base
needs... but we were both waiting for the day that we would find
our true mates. What we discussed earlier, it does not have to
happen. It would only make things worse.”

Wren shook her head, “No. I’m being silly
about all of this. I’m still coming to terms with things, Kyr, but
I feel it when you touch me, when you look at me. I can feel the
connection between us. There isn’t any doubt in my mind that we do
belong together... and regardless of anything else that happens, we
will stay together.”

He smiled then, pulling her against his
chest. “I wish that I could stay in this room with you... that I
could sink into the softness and heat of your lush body.”

“We have to do this. If the others are going
through even a tenth of what I experienced... It was horrible to
always feel alone and different, to wonder if I really was crazy.
Sometimes I still wonder.”

“You are not alone now. You will never be
alone again.”

“Let’s get this done and get the hell out of
here.”

“When we leave here, Wren, he will know.
We’ll be fugitives and he will search every corner of the galaxy
for us,” Kyr warned her.

“Does that mean I don’t get to go hang out at
the Sentinel barracks and see all the hot guy on guy action?” she
asked teasingly.

Kyr smiled. “No... but if Lexian can get here
with another ship, we will provide all of the action you
desire.”

They left quietly, nodding to the guards in
the hallway as they exited the relative luxury of the Commander’s
apartment. Once again they used the transporter. Wren didn’t think
she would ever be accustomed to that. After reaching the street,
Kyr headed away from the bay where their shuttle was docked and
continued down busy corridors.

“Where has everyone come from?”

Kyr smiled, “Many come from other stations,
other planets, even other galaxies. When planets trade with one
another, the deals are generally made here.”

Wren shuddered lightly. “Many of these deals
include trading women?”

Kyr nodded. “Yes. For most, it is a contract
to establish a brothel on a particular planet or station. For
others, they contract for mates... what would have been termed mail
order brides on Earth. These females are not slaves, Wren. Most
choose to enter these arrangements willingly and are healthily
compensated for it, others choose to do so as a way of settling a
family’s debts or because they come from planets that lack other
resources. Slavery is not permitted by the Core 7 Alliance.”

It didn’t make it sound much better to her,
but at least she didn’t worry that women were being forced into
slavery. Rather than focusing on things she had no control over,
she asked, “So where are we going to now?”

“The plan, once we lose the guards that are
trailing us, is to double back to Medical Bay and access the
scanner.... Do you see that crowded entrance ahead? We will turn in
there. It’s a market, always crowded, and we can lose the guards in
there with ease, without making it apparent we were trying to.”

Wren nodded and they moved in that direction.
The crowd was thick and raucous. People were trading, haggling and
bartering. There were strange animals in cages that looked like
nothing she had ever seen before. Other stalls were selling food
items and yet other were selling jewelry and clothing. It was loud
and chaotic. She stuck close to Kyr as they wove in and out of the
crowd, before ducking into a small alley between two structures.
They waited there in the shadows as the Commander’s guards walked
past.

Kyr led Wren from the small alley and the
exited the market quickly, heading back toward the Medical Bay and
the bay where their shuttle was docked. They reached it without
incident and Wren breathed a deep sigh of relief. Kyr identified
himself to the guard on duty and asked for a doctor by name. The
guard assured them that the physician was on duty and then ushered
them inside.

Wren felt ill. It didn’t matter where in the
universe you were, hospitals apparently all looked and smelled the
same. Her skin felt too tight and her lungs simply refused to
cooperate and draw breath. She clutched at Kyr’s hand, “I can’t do
this. I was wrong.”

At that moment an older man stepped into the
hallway. He had long white hair that was tied back in a braid and
he wore a simple uniform of a dark pants and a white tunic. He
bowed to Kyr and Wren. “Welcome, Kyr. Welcome. I am so happy you
have arrived.”

“Thank you, Amri,” he said. To Wren, he
added, “Amri is a respected physician and an old family friend. He
and my father served together.”

Struggling to pull herself together, Wren
said, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Amri.”

“Amri, this is Wren Marlowe. My mate.”

Amri clapped his hands together in front of
his face and bowed his head before raising his hands skywards. “The
heavens be praised! Welcome, my dear child! Welcome. But why have
you come to this place and not to my home, Kyr? Nura will be most
displeased that you did not visit with her!”

“We are not really here to visit, Amri. We
need access to an HC Scanner. Wren’s memories of the night the
girls were taken has been tampered with. We must access those
memories to learn who was responsible, and hopefully track the
others.”

Amri’s smile faded. “I will help you do this,
but it is very dangerous, Kyr. Things here are not as they would
seem.”

Kyr nodded, “I am beginning to understand
that. Thank you, Amri.”

Amri reached for Wren’s hand. “You will come
with me, child. It does not hurt, but it is very noisy,” he
explained.

“Kyr?”

“I will stay with you,” he said, walking
behind her.

They entered a small room at the end of the
hall. In the middle was a white chair. Eyeing the wrist and ankle
restraints on the chair, Wren balked. “No, no,” Amri said. “Those
are not for you. We will not need them, so long as you can hold
still.”

Wren nodded and allowed him to help her into
the chair. Her hands clenched the arms of the chair brutally, her
knuckles showing white. While Amri placed the tiny electrodes on
her forehead and behind her ears, Kyr sat down at a desk in the far
corner of the room and began to type on a holographic screen that
appeared in front of him. He spoke quietly, but she knew that he
was contacting Lexian to ask for help. When Amri had finished and
began to walk away, panic hit her full force. Memories of the
treatments she had undergone as a child assailed her.

Suddenly, Kyr’s hands covered hers as he
crouched beside her. “Nothing and no one will harm you,” he
said.

“I know. I just want this over with.”

“Now,” Amri said, moving a large hoop into
place around her head. “This will move around very quickly.... you
must not move or it could injure you. It will be very loud. Try not
to jump.”

Wren agreed and he stepped over to a desk
where he pressed a series of buttons. The loop around her head
began to circulate, growing faster and faster. The whirring sound
was deafening and the site of the loop moving at the dizzying pace
before her eyes nearly made her ill.

“Close your eyes,” Kyr said. “I will be
here.”

Wren did as he suggested and the roaring of
the loop began to fade away. Instead, she was in a room with other
girls. It was at one of the many hospitals she had been in as a
teenager. Memories began to crowd together in her skull, pushing
their way forward, jumbling over top of one another. Suddenly, she
was a child again and was being walked through the woods by the
Aldacyian. His hands were rough as he jerked her along behind him.
The memories shifted further back and again she was in a room with
several girls, but they were all very small children. Suddenly, the
Aldacyians appeared. But they were not alone. The Commander was
with them and another man. The events swirled by so quickly, even
faster than the loop that spun around her.

Eventually she became aware of the slight
whirring sound of the loop again, and the change of rhythm as it
slowed and eventually stopped. Opening her eyes, she found that Kyr
was still beside her and that Amri was there to remove all the
electrodes from her. “I remember everything,” she said.

“I know, my dear,” Amri said. “I have copied
all the recovered images onto a VID file for you. You must take it
with you when you leave here and get it to the proper authorities.
Now, you must leave quickly. It is too dangerous for you to stay
here. F9 is called a neutral zone, but it is not, truly. Many
people disappear from here, and I do not wish to count you amongst
them.”

Wren rose to her feet. She was slightly
dizzy, but otherwise felt fine. “I don’t know how that thing
worked, and I’m not sure I want to.”

Amri chuckled, “It is a simple process
really. Mild electrical currents are targeted to activate specific
areas of the brain, in this case, the hippocampus, which is the
memory center. It is not harmful, and the current is mild enough
that I doubt you even felt it.”

She hadn’t, and she knew enough about
electric shock to be glad of it. Wren accepted the small object
that he handed her. It looked similar to a computer flash drive
though the shape was slightly different. A noise in the corridor
set her heart to pounding. “That is not good.”

Amri ushered them to a small panel at the far
side of the room, “This takes you out through the air ducts. If you
follow it all the way to the end, there will be an access panel
that leads out to the main corridor near the shuttle dock.”

“Come with us,” Kyr said. “We will get Nura
and take you both with us.”

Amri shook his head, “Nura is not well, Kyr.
We are both very old and very ready to leave here and take our
place in the heavens. But you and your mate are just beginning your
lives... I look forward to guarding your children from the skies.
Go, my friend.”

They ducked into the access panel and
listened as Amri fastened it behind them. They had gone only a few
yards when they heard the sound of shouts, followed by the
unmistakable sound of weapons being fired.

“Oh, god! We have to go back,” Wren said.

“We can’t, Wren. I don’t think they will kill
Amri. As a doctor he is too valuable, but they will try to frighten
him, and us. If we go back and place ourselves in their grasp, it
will all be for naught.”

“But we can’t just leave him.”

“If they’ve shot him, it’s already too late.
If they imprison him, which I suspect they will, getting ourselves
caught will not help him at all. Getting this information to the
Council and seeing the Commander removed from power is our best
chance at helping him.”

Wren knew that he was right, but her heart
was heavy as they made their way through the air ducts. When the
tunnel dead ended, Kyr opened the panel and climbed out into the
corridor. He held his hand out for her, and helped her to climb out
as well. They moved silently towards the shuttle dock.

“We cannot afford to look suspicious. Stare
straight ahead. Do not duck your head or try to hide your face. It
will only make others curious. Act as if you have every right to be
strolling out here with others,” he admonished.

Wren didn’t tell him that she knew that.
She’d walked out of a mental hospital that way. At sixteen, her
parents had committed her for the last time. At seventeen, she had
left and never looked back. Her thoughts must have transmitted to
him in some way, because his hold on her hand tightened for a split
second. Pushing away thoughts of her parents and the misery of
everything she’d gone through, she allowed Kyr to lead her into the
throng of traffic that was the main thoroughfare for the station.
Once again, she simply tried not to make eye contact with anyone or
anything.

They had nearly reached the small bay where
Kyr’s shuttle was docked when loud, screeching alarms began to
sound. Kyr grabbed her roughly and pulled her with him into a dark,
narrow alcove. They waited there as a cadre of guards rushed past.
When the street in front of them was quiet again, Wren expelled a
ragged sigh. Her heart was still pounding furiously and her palms
were slick with sweat.

“It will be fine,” Kyr said. “They will begin
their search at the Medical Bay and work backwards.”

“There will be guards around the shuttle,”
Wren protested.

“But only a few and I can handle them. I’m
trained to fight multiple opponents, Wren.”