Page 109 of Tamed By Her Touch

Sendar nodded.

“I thought you might appreciate it.”

The glowing platform carried them downward for several levels before depositing them on a wide crystalline walkway. As soon as they stepped off, hundreds of floating spheres moved aside, and a doorway formed in the wall.

“This way.” Sendar nodded and led Kaelus to a laboratory that was unlike anything he had ever worked in.

There were no conventional analyzers or specimen trays. Instead, the entire room appeared to be one massive piece of translucent crystal with work surfaces grown directly out of the floor. When Sendar waved a hand over one of them, the crystalline surface softened and flowed upward into the shape of two chairs and a broad table. Holographic displays blossomed above it, surrounded by rotating molecular diagrams.

Kaelus couldn’t help being impressed but it was time to get down to work.

“I would like to begin with current male samples,” he said. “Adult males known to carry the Love Virus without behavioral symptoms.”

“That would include nearly every adult male on Titus Four,” Sendar said blandly.

Kaelus nodded.

“Good. Then we have a considerable sample size.”

Sendar laughed softly.

“You are certainly direct.”

Kaelus frowned at him.

“Women are dying. We do not have time to waste.”

The other male nodded.

“Of course. For above all, female life must be preserved.”

Kaelus gave him a look—he couldn’t tell if the other male was being sarcastic or not. It had been his observation that the males of Titus Four felt the same way about women as the Kindred—that was, that they were to be cherished and protected. But there was something in Sendar’s tone that made him wonder how the other male really felt.

“Yes, female life is sacred,” he said, his frown deepening. “For, as we Kindred believe, every woman has a little piece of the Goddess in her.”

“I’m certain they do,” Sendar said blandly. He placed two fingers against the crystalline table. “Archive, retrieve twenty-five adult male profiles between thirty and sixty cycles of age. Confirmed Love Virus positive. No significant chronic illness. No current medication.”

The room hummed. A moment later, twenty-five small crystalline spheres drifted through the wall and arranged themselves in a circle above the work surface. Kaelus leaned forward.

“May I access the biochemical profiles directly?”

Sendar made a sweeping gesture with one hand.

“Certainly. Please be my guest.”

He touched the first sphere lightly. Instantly an enormous display appeared in front of him—genetic data, hormone levels, immune markers, neurotransmitter profiles, viral counts, blood chemistry, and thousands of other measurements.

Kaelus began working. Within minutes, the rest of the room disappeared from his awareness. This was familiar territory—molecules and biochemistry made sense. Unlike a certain lab partner who called him “sugar-booger” and made him want to abandon every sensible decision he had ever made, chemical compounds behaved according to recognizable laws.

He pulled up the viral counts from the first male. Then the second. Then the fifth. His frown deepened as he compared them.

“This cannot be right.”

Sendar looked over his shoulder.

“What?”

Kaelus enlarged the viral measurements and pointed.