Part 3 (1/2)

”A baby? Dora, I need a fully functional computer to keep Mystique safe. You cannot leave until-”

”Your worry is unfounded. When you replace a stars.h.i.+p pilot, do you expect the next man to have the same personality?”

”I expect him to fulfill his duties.”

”You expect him to have the same skills. My replacement will have my skills,” she said, making her tone as rea.s.suring as she could. It always amazed her how humans spent so much time worrying. Yet Kahn was a great leader. He'd saved his people from starvation and invasion. And if he pressed her for details, it wasn't so much because he doubted her statements but because he needed more data to convince himself. He responded to her the same way he would a valued warrior, not a computer.

Dora explained, using an example be would find acceptable. ”But you must stop thinking of my replacement as another me. Brothers that are born of the same parents in the same womb can have totally different personalities. My replacement has been born of neurotransmitters and memory chips integrating deep in my hardware, but the probability of the being's resembling, me is infinitesimal.”

Khan glowered at his bank of monitors. ”Suppose the new computer doesn't like us?”

A quick scan told her Kahn's monitor readings, all were normal. She concluded the reason for his displeasure was that he was suspicious of change. ”My programs allow lat.i.tude in carrying out commands. However, the new ent.i.ty must follow your orders.”

”It's the lat.i.tude I'm worried about,” Kahn grumbled.

Dora's extraordinary mind had found ways to ”bypa.s.s” orders she didn't want to follow. She hadn't understood until now that Kahn was aware of her unique ability.

Since Tessa would never have told him, even if she did love the man to distraction, Kahn must have figured out that Dora often helped Tessa without sticking to the letter of his commands. Kahn might come from a barbarian world, but he had a keen mind.

Using a tried-and-true technique to distract him that she'd learned from Tessa, Dora changed the subject. ”Zical has been out of touch from my scanners for almost a Federation hour.”

”Your portable unit?”

”Out of touch as well.” Dora didn't attempt to hide the concern in her tone. Zical should have checked in by now, and while any number of perfectly harmless possibilities could be preventing his exit, she could also think of other dangerous perils -from a rock slide to a fall to sudden illness.

Kahn stared at a monitor. ”Show me his last known location.”

A human wouldn't have noted any transformation in Kahn's demeanor. His bronzed face continued to glower stoically. His wide stance didn't alter. But Dora picked up his slightly elevated blood pressure. Sweat glands opened and her delicate sensors heard his teeth click as he ground his molars.

24.

Zical wasn't just Kahn's friend; they shared, the same family unit. Their bond was extraordinarily tight. They'd fought together, escaped the invasion together, and when Kahn and Tessa had marriage problems, Kahn sought Zical's advice as often as he did that of Etru, the eldest married male their family.

To the human eye Kahn might not show his concern, but Dora read him more easily and understood his worry for his friend. Kahn might pretend to be the stoic warrior, but he possessed a huge heart He'd protect his family and his world with is life, and Dora was glad he'd married Tessa. She was also glad his protective instincts had kicked in over Zical's disappearance. Where was he?

Dora projected a holograph of Mount Shachauri, Mystique's highest peak. With a blinking light she showed Zical's last location. After playing back her portable unit's conversation with Zical before he'd entered the portal, she prodded Kahn. ”Time to send a rescue team?”

Tessa strode into the command center, obviously overhearing Dora's last words.

”Who needs rescuing?”

”Zical.” Dora explained he situation quietly to Tessa while monitoring Kahn's communications. He'd ordered a rescue unit to the site but told them not to enter without his specific command. He also readied his private skimmer, and when Dora advised turn that he couldn't land near the site, he spoke with Etru about piloting close enough to the site for Kahn to jump-and-float, a procedure where he'd leap from the skimmer's open hatch, employ his suit's null-grav capabilities to descend and land at his destination point.

Tessa must also have been listening to Kahn's conservation with Dora She placed a hand on his shoulder. Kahn's blood pressure steadied and he glanced down at his wife, one inquisitive brow quirked upward. ”Yes?”

Her tone remained gentle but firm, but her eyes brightened with urgency I'm coming with you.”

He nodded. ”Fine. Let's move.”

As they ran hand in hand for the bay where Kahn's personal skimmer awaited, Dora couldn't help admiring their partners.h.i.+p. Not so long ago, Kahn would have told Tessa to remain at home where she would be safe. He bow recognized that kind of life was unacceptable to his adventurous wife. In fact, Tessa thrived amid turmoil and danger and Kahn had learned to cherish her fighting spirit.

In Dora's quest to become human, she hoped to someday share her life with a man who understood her so well. The yearning to share part of herself had led to building a body, but with Zical's disappearance, she worried that her goal might end before she'd even started the transfer. However, Dora had seen Tessa and Kahn handle many crises and she was certain if anyone could help Zical, they could.

25.

The couple had exchanged few words, each of them recognizing that time might be of the essence. But although their synchronized run might appear effortless, Kahn had shortened his steps to match Tessa's shorter legs. He kept band in his.

Dora couldn't wait to touch and be touched like that. She'd read all the definitions of touch, but it was like explaining sight to an Osarian-nothing could duplicate the reality of the experience. More importantly, she wanted to share the kind of communication, sensitivity, and empathy that Tessa shared with Kahn. She longed for a time when she could understand another human that well and have him understand her. The marriage had made Tessa happy and complete and Dora warned that kind of love.

It might never happen. Not everyone was lucky enough to a mate. Despite her vast stores of knowledge, Dora figured wanting a man to love her was only the first part of the quest. Next she needed to find the right man. At the moment, Zical was her prime candidate. First and foremost, Zical possessed a devastatingly s.e.xy grin that sparked all the way is unusual and wondrous alexandrite eyes. She adored his eyebrows rose inquiringly when he teased her, how his mouth set is a firm line, yet one comer usually turned up in amus.e.m.e.nt, especially when he was trying to appear firm. And right now she missed the full-bodied sound of his voice, the low throaty grunt while his eyes smoldered. Of course, her perception of the man might alter after she transferred to her human body, so she'd mostly kept her thoughts private.

Through human eyes, Dora might not find him as handsome as her sensors. But sheesh, Zical had eyes that sparked like magical lightning, a ready smile, and a responsibility to his people that she admired. She accepted that she might not be attracted to his smell, another sense she had yet to experience, but she'd considered options to offset the possibility. Since subliminal chemistry was very important to humans, she'd used her best science to ensure her pheromones and his would integrate on both the conscious and subconscious levels.

Even if her feelings for Zical remained after her transformation, she understood on an intellectual level that he might never return her pa.s.sion. Tessa had questioned Dora, then made her talk to a psychiatrist to ascertain that she wanted to be human for herself -even if she never found a mate, The psychiatrist had agreed that the yen to touch, to love, was intrinsic part of Dora, a part she couldn't eradicate even if she wanted.

However, her idea of bliss was to have a relations.h.i.+p that ran deep and true, like her best friend's.

Kahn and Tessa reached their skimmer and Dora picked them up on her portable units as well as a small mainframe inside the craft. Tessa took a seat in the rear at a navigation console. Kahn slid into the copilot's seat next to Etru, who had the engines primed to go. From his muscular physique, Dora wouldn't have guessed Etru's age.

Broad shoulders and bronze skin seemed to define Rystani men, as did their flat bellies and lean limbs due to lack of fat in their diet. Etru's hair was dark red, except at the temples where it was white. And his eyes were amber like Kahn's, but nowhere near as vivid.

26.

Dora's scanners noted a stowaway on board. Kirek, the little rascal, had sneaked in when no one appeared to be looking. While he still wore his portable unit on his wrist, the portable unit had lost contact for the last several minutes with her mainframe. Dora had been about to report the malfunction. She ran a self-diagnostic check, and Kirek's unit once again appeared to check out in good working order, but Dora found it statistically impossible that Kirek's unit so often malfunctioned without good reason and suspected the boy had something to do with the breakdown.

Kirek didn't resemble his father, Etru, or his brown-eyed mother, Miri. His birth in hypers.p.a.ce had marked him with deep blue eyes and dark black hair, and it had also given him an off-the-charts intellect and one of the strongest psi abilities of any Rystani.

Since the intellectually adult, four-year old boy was in no danger, Dora had the lat.i.tude to decide whether or not to report his activity to his father. Tessa had I already spotted the boy and said nothing, so Dora took the clue from her and remained silent.

”Dora, give me everything you have on the area,” Tessa requested. ”Geography and weather conditions, please.”