“If he’s brainwashed into believing all this, then it probably upsets him, but that’s your fault, not mine. If he’s just a really good actor playing his part, then I’ll allow he might be frustrated that he’s not convincing enough. But if you people would just figure out already that I’m never going to be convinced that you’ve brought me to another world in another star system, then he and I can both stop suffering with feelings we don’t need to be feeling.”
A big sigh. “Do you really want to be taken home and never see him again? Not that he’d allow it, but is that how you see this ending?”
“Why does that have to separate us? You admit the truth, I hopefully agree it’s a necessary project for some greater good, and he and I can still be together—can’t we?”
“The females in this society live with the males, not the other way around. For you to have him, you have to live here, in his world.”
“Oh, I get it. Nothing else has worked, so now you’re going to try using him specifically? The emotional angle? If I don’t fall in line I lose him?”
“Your blood pressure is rising, kiddo.”
“I have normal blood pressure!”
“Amazing how you humanoids can work yourselves into a snit without even half trying, and all on your lonesome. It makes my heart bleed, watching the way you struggle with so many conflicting emotions.”
“According to you, you don’t have a heart to bleed.”
“Sector burn then, same thing.”
Brittany made a sound of disgust and turned away from the door Dalden had left through. She didn’t know why she continued to talk, or rather argue, with Martha, a faceless voice. The woman put new meaning into single-mindedness. Either that, or she was the head honcho in charge of the whole project, and everyone else was just window dressing.
Come to think of it, Dalden had never really tried to convince her. He was just there, to comfort and soothe, to distract, to keep her mind off chaotic thoughts, to give her some peace. And if that was going to change now, she imagined she would go nuts within a month.
She finally noticed that the “prehistoric monster” was still in the room. God, it wastoohuge, as big as a horse. But she knew that genetic engineering could double the size of a creature. Could it be done again? And again? Until the result was something monstrous like this? Yet it was beautiful, sleek, well-proportioned, and probably graceful if it didn’t have slippery floors to deal with.
Ironically, she really liked cats. She’d had several as pets when she was a child, and had one in the apartment when she first moved in, until it escaped out the door one day and never returned. That Jan turned out to be allergic to them was the only reason she hadn’t gotten another yet. But she had planned to get a whole menagerie of them when she built her own home and had more room. But this one wasn’t natural: it was a freak of experiments—or nature. And those fangs…
“Now you’re being silly,” Martha said, monitoring Brittany’s edging backward away from the cat. “If that animal was the least bit dangerous to you, Dalden wouldn’t have left you alone with it.”
That was likely very true. He did seem to put great importance in protecting her. She decided she could safely ignore the beast. However it was created, it probablywasa pet like they claimed.
But then Martha added, “There are more than just this one roaming the castle. Tedra and Challen both keep them as pets as well, so you’ll come across more of them. Try not to run the other way when you see one coming.”
“Why?” Brittany asked in new alarm. “Will that make it attack?”
Martha chuckled. “No, you just strike me as someone who doesn’t want it to become common knowledge what a coward you are.”
Brittany became very still. “Are we resorting to insults now?”
“Well, aren’t you?” Martha persisted. “You’re terrified to face the truth, which is pretty silly in my book. This is a nice world. Barbaric, yes, but it’s got its upside to compensate for that.”
Brittany relaxed. It was typical of Martha to toss out an eye-opener like an insult just to lead into what she wanted to discuss. She should be used to it by now.
“Name one—and don’t mention the air again, when clean air can be found in most mountainous regions like this.”
“How about a temperate climate planetwide? There are no seasons like you have. The climate remains the same year-round in each country, a bit hotter up north, a bit cooler down south, but nothing extreme.”
“Like there aren’t temperate zones at home,” Brittany snorted.
“Disease is unknown here. Must be that clean air you didn’t want me to mention,” Martha said dryly.
She would be amazed—if it were actually true. “Is it the air?”
“I don’t know,” Martha admitted. “It’s never been analyzed. It could just as easily be the Sha-Ka’ani constitution. But there’s no need for you to worry. There’s a meditech in the castle in case you catch something you shouldn’t.”
“I know damn well that thing isn’t real. It’s too bad I haven’t caught a cold or the flu, to disprove your so-called meditech once and for all.”
“I could probably order a virus for you. It might take a few weeks to get here, though.”
