The Chalice (14 page)

Mordaq snorted. “Conceding is to accept loss. You were not losing.”

“We’d have battled to a standstill and neither would win. I’m  saving my

strength for other things.”

“Could it be a small Chalice with hair the color of the suns of Gren’Alt?”

Mordaq was far too observant. He pursed his lips, searching for a glib answer,

one belying his unreserved interest in the human female.

“I’ve m any concerns these days, some of which deal with the females.”

“None so im portant as she who was to be your Chalice.”

Disputing the issue would only add power to Mordaq’s com m ent, and thebodyguard knew him  too well to risk a lie, even one so small. Avoiding his friend’sintense perusal, he reached for a drying cloth, burying his face in the soft folds. The small one’s delicate im age erupted in his thoughts, her form  slim  yetdeliciously rounded. His conscious defenses slipped. Heat pooled at the juncture ofhis thighs, blood pounded in his loins. He wanted this female—wanted her withevery fiber of his being.

Mordaq coughed, jolting him  back to reality.

“Do you require privacy? I’ve no wish to hinder your pleasure or watch.”

Tempered laughter rang in the bodyguard’s voice.

The cloth dropped, covering his lower parts. Eyes closed, he took a deep

breath, counting as his heartbeat slowed.

“Perhaps a cold cleansing would ease your problem .”

His eyes popped open. His head lowered. “Perhaps a good thrashing would cure

your insolence.”

“Rolling around with a rutting male, even if it were you, wouldn’t be to my

liking.”

Adm itting defeat, Tegan stalked into the cleansing chamber and pressed thevalve, ducking his head as the cool mist saturated the area. Aware Mordaq hadfollowed, he surreptitiously lowered the tem perature, smirking as the bodyguardshouted and then cursed a colorful string of epithets.

“Perhaps we both need to cool down.”

****

Charged with frenetic energy, Branos raced onto the bridge. The animatedmale pushed his way through the sm all group crowded around the main console,dropped a bundle of wadded cloth and then flipped open a hand reader.

“I’ve found the perfect gift,” he panted.

Images flashed in a blur, flipping by so fast it was hard to discern what each

depicted.

“Slow it down,” Tegan barked. “I can’t see what you’re trying to show me.”

“Um…um . Hold on.” The im ages decelerated, paused by a flick of Branos’ finger at regular intervals. “I researched everything and found nothing specific that might tem pt the fem ales, but then…” He glanced up, grinning in trium ph. “I cam e up with an idea.”

He grabbed the bundle and shook it out. They all stared, confused. It lookedlike two plain lengths of cloth hooked together at the top edges— no gilding, noadornments, nothing to elicit a pleasurable response.

“I fail to see why that…that thing would appeal to the Chalices,” Vaux

grum bled, fingering the fabric. “It’s just material.”

“Look at the im ages,” Branos urged, glowing with self-im portance. “Notice their

drapes.”

Tegan leaned in for a closer inspection. The im ages took shape, sliding acrossthe viewing space. Bright colors and foreign designs assaulted his visual senses. Too many to assimilate! W hatever Branos was trying to demonstrate, it wasn’t

computing.

“I don’t understand,” Mordaq com plained. “What are we supposed to see?”

“Their mode of dress,” Branos exclaimed, jigging with im patience. “They all

wear so m uch more than our females ever did. Look at these,” he flashed more

images. “Notice how different each is?”

Ranging from  almost com plete coverage including headgear to little more thanwhat the form er Chiagan-Se Chalices sported, the hum an females’ bodies werecloaked in strange and uncomfortable-looking wearing apparel. For the most part,their form s were disguised, hidden from  view. Why would they cover themselvesso? Their shapes were pleasing, if different.

Tegan took another look at the cloth object, trying to understand. “But this

looks nothing like any of those.”

“I’m  not a seam stress,” Branos scowled. “I was just trying to make an

exam ple.”

“An exam ple of what?” Mordaq’s perplexed expression substantiated his

continuing confusion. “What are we looking at?”

Branos sighed, shoulders drooping in frustration. “If you’d have paid attention,you’d have noticed the females were using the Chiagan-Se loin drapes to covertheir nourishment glands and doubling up on their…lower areas.” He blushed,stammering. “A great num ber of them  were using their hands and arms ascoverings. I could sense they were uncomfortable.”

“Uncomfortable   about   what?”   Shagal   exclaimed.   “The   loin   drapes   are extrem ely   comfortable.   Those   things   the   images   are   wearing   look   most uncomfortable.”

“No,” Tegan began slowly, considering. “Branos is right.”

The young tech beam ed, chest puffed out.

“I think the human Chalices require more. These images are from  the before time— before they were delivered to us. It would appear their civilization decries the unclothed form .”

“That ridiculous,” Mordaq snapped. “The Chalices’ bodies are things of beauty

and grace— even these females.”

“In our culture, yes. We have no idea how the hum ans view themselves. Perhaps they’ve been taught to abhor nudity. We met others with sim ilar social reserves.”

“Prim itive cultures for the most part.” Vaux added in, never at a loss for a

sarcastic remark. “But then, these females are prim itive at best.”

Tegan studied the shapeless drape, imagining it covering his Chalice. The softfabric would mold itself to her lithesom e curves, delineating each perfect featureas though caressed by a lover’s em brace. If such a small matter pleased thefemales, so be it.

“As my counselor, Shagal, do you think you have the skills required to create

such finery for the females?”

Shagal’s eyes gleamed, sparkling with silver blue highlights. “I’m  an Artisan. Icreate beauty. It’s what I do.” He hugged the drape to his chest. “I’ll search thestorage com partments for crafting item s. If nothing else, we can use these.” Hefingered the wrap at his shoulder. “I’m  sure the other Artisans will help if theneed arises.”

“You have your duties. See to them .”

****

Kara plopped down on the bench beside Leah, propping her chin on her fist. Adrinking vessel and a plate littered with food scraps sat on the table. The woman’dbeen busy concentrating on the computer program  for hours. It was time for abreak.

The language expert slid her hand across the control panel and a file poppedopen.   Kormak’s   image   m aterialized   and   began   speaking.   He   spoke   anunintelligible word and then slowly and laboriously pronounced the Englishversion, repeating the process over and over again. After several m inutes, heduplicated the lengthy procedure on the next verbalization.

“ So what do we have?”

“I’ve managed to isolate the linguistic part of the program . Rudimentary but workable.” She adjusted the volume and Kormak’s voice grew louder. “Listen to this. We’re going to have some problems with articulation but it’s to be expected. Could be the breeders’ vocal cords are just a tad bit different.” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, brows knitted in thought. “It’s unlike any I’ve dealt with before—and I’ve dabbled in quite a few.”

“But can we learn to com municate?”

Leah frowned, scratching her cheek. “It’d be a whole lot easier if I hadsomething to write with. I could jot down Kormak’s phonetic pronunciations andmake some sort of language prim er. But all we can do right now is sit and listen—unless somebody can come up with something I can use.”

“I had a pen and a notepad in my purse,” Kara m used. She snagged a purple something from  Leah’s plate and popped it in her mouth, grimacing at the bland taste. “But that didn’t make it here as far as I can tell.”

Only a batch of slime-covered women flushed from  a row of pseudo-toilets. That’s all that m ade it through. Not even a single stitch of clothing between thelot of them  to call their own. No…wait! They did have a stitch of clothing. Thethongs qualified as a stitch— but then the women didn’t own them .

“I had a lot of stuff in my bag,” Leah grouched. “I’d just bought a beautiful and expensive dress for a m ajor upscale party. Cost me a m onth of wages.” Her chest expanded in a huge intake of breath. Pensive, she exhaled. “It would’ve been so perfect.”

“Yeah. But look what it got you,” Kara quipped. “A naked body on an alien ship

in God knows what part of the universe. How many wom en can say that?”

“That is so not funny,” Leah growled, though her laughing gray eyes belied the

terse rem ark. “I would’ve wowed every m ale in the place.”

“You can still do that. Just without the cool outfit.”

“W hat’re the weirdoes doing now?” an excited fem inine voice yelled.

Kara’s gaze was drawn to the overhead viewing screen. In the cafeteria room,a line of breeders were placing large parcels of cloth objects at the base of thedoor to the women’s quarters, looking up and again sm iling like village idiots. Thepiles grew in numbers. When the last had been set down, one of the shorter guysknocked at the door and stepped back, a look of expectancy on his dead whiteface. Her lips quivered. He looked kinda cute poised there waiting for a response.

“Probably like those dam n Trojans and their wooden horse,” Dread called out.

“Open the door and—zap—they’ve nailed us.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Anne stepped to the entryway. “They could’ve zapped us at any time. They’re offering gifts.” Her slender hand lifted to the door’s control panel. “I say we check out what they’ve brought.”

“I ain’t going out there.” Arm s akim bo, muscular legs splayed, Dread glared at the screen. “Just another frickin’ gam e the vam ps are playing to lull us into submission.”

“They aren’t vamps.” Kara smoothed her hair, wishing she had som e lip gloss or perfume— or something! Anything to give me some m uch needed courage. A woman needed her stuff. Especially if the big guy was out there. He made her nervous. Excited. Nervous and excited.

“Don’t blame me if this turns into a pile of shit,” Dread huffed. “I can’t wait to

say I told you so.”

“Bite my ass, or better yet, bite yours.” Disgusted, Kara stomped to the door, secretly relieved to be pissed off. At least it beat being scared. W hatever happened out there, it [would happen /what?] whether they hid in here or not.

Bolstered by a throng of women clustered behind, she held her breath, thevoice of pending doom  clanging in her brain cells. With a subtle whoosh, the graypanel slid open. She stiffened, heart racing in her too tight chest. The surprisedfaces of the breeders swept into view. Com plete silence reigned. No one moved. For several minutes, the two groups regarded each other, one suspicious andwary, the other open and hopeful.

“You ready for this?” Anne took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Flanking her, Kara moved into position. “About as ready as I’ll ever be.”

Her peripheral vision glimpsed Ume on the right and Hanna on the left. W ithan exaggerated hiss, Dread pushed in next to her, muttering obscenities. Nothinglike having my own personal bodyguards. Courage bloomed in tiny baby steps.

Appearing nonchalant, Anne bent down and picked up a length of pale blue

material so silky, it flowed through her hands with the unrestrained movem ent of a mountain stream . She held it up, turning it this way and that, exam ining it from every angle. Turning to Kara, she slipped it over her head and let it drop. The delicate fabric fluttered like the gossam er wings of a butterfly and fell to just below her knees. Open at the sides, unadorned, it was a sim ple creation, but elegant in its very sim plicity.

“W hy are you dressing m e?” Kara mouthed, focused on the males.

Anne continued fussing, lifting her hair from  the garment and arranging itbehind her shoulders. “Because you’re our leader. If they adhere to a sovereigntysociety, which I suspect they do, they’d demand no less,” she whispered. With afinal pat, she was done.

Appreciative oooohs and aaaahhhs cam e from  both sides. The breeders noddedtheir heads, brilliant eyes sparkling with heady adm iration. Kara felt like ateenager undergoing final inspection just before her prom  date arrived.

The breeders parted, opening a wide pathway. The prom  date’d arrived.

****

Tegan strode forward drinking in the sight of his Chalice. Exquisite andenchanting, she took his breath away. Catching Shagal’s satisfied look, he winked,rendering his complete approval. His friend had done well.

He closed the space between the fem ales and himself, noting the close-knitpositioning of the handmaidens. That they offered what protection they couldpleased him . Surrounded by her underlings, his Chalice bore herself with regalfortitude. Chin up, she regarded him  curiously, her warm  gaze both assessing andinterested.