Children of Zanar 1: The Zanari Inheritance Read online

  ‘Then why did you order it?’ Kaya asked. ‘We were doing okay on beer.’ Actually, Kaya was starting to feel a little lightheaded, or maybe a lot lightheaded. Pari’s butt had looked really good in those slacks.

  ‘You’ve had enough. We’ll head back to the ship once we’ve checked in with Jay. Two women walking into a place like this would order wine and chat up the waiter. Or waitress. They’ll all be for hire.’

  ‘We’re not actually going to hire–’

  ‘We’ll be gone before it gets to that part.’ It had just fallen dark outside, so it was still fairly early, but it was also after midnight on the ship’s clock. ‘I hope. If it comes to having to wait too long for Jay, I’ll take care of Pari. You can watch.’

  Kaya made a vaguely strangled noise and barely noticed that Thea was smirking. ‘That’s not funny,’ Kaya muttered.

  ‘Well, if you’d prefer to join in, I’m sure–’

  ‘That is not what I meant and you know it.’

  ‘I know. Sorry. Anyway, Jay’s contact just left so I don’t think it’ll be a problem.’

  Even after the contact had gone, Pari had returned with the drinks, flirted with Thea, and then walked away before Jay ambled over to their table and sat down. His eyes flicked across Kaya once and then fixed on Thea. ‘Heard anything interesting?’

  ‘There are more than a few non-Kraggan mercs around town,’ Thea replied. ‘More than I’d expect unless Monteagle is recruiting.’

  Jay nodded. ‘I heard the same thing. I heard he got a big contract at the start of the year which was executed by mid-sexagoy. He’s ploughed some of the money into bringing in new people and equipment. His people who came back from that job got some big bonus pay too. They were splashing it around, but none of them would say why the pay-out was so big.’

  ‘I think we saw a few of them in that third bar,’ Kaya said. She glanced at Thea. ‘Those two men with the blonde woman who were laughing so much and buying a lot of drinks?’

  ‘Yes, I saw a Kraggan tattoo on the woman’s shoulder.’

  Kaya flashed a grimace. ‘That ugly-looking cat-bear-thing?’

  ‘We did say they were named after a carrion eater.’ Thea looked back to Jay. ‘Do you know where Monteagle is?’

  ‘Not yet. He moves between planet and orbit fairly often and no one here knows where he’s located right now. I have some more people to try though.’

  ‘We were just about to head back to the ship.’

  Jay flicked a glance at Kaya, his expression unreadable. ‘Probably for the best, but I’ll stay. There are a few people I know who don’t get out in daylight much. I’ll contact Cassandra when I’ve got something or I can’t do more.’

  Thea nodded and got to her feet, tossing a couple of printed credit notes onto the table. ‘Pari will be disappointed,’ she said and started for the door.

  Kaya rushed to follow her, giving Jay a quick glance before putting her mask on. Jay was not looking her way.

  Oracle of Zanar.

  ‘Your mind is not focused, Kaya,’ Sienna said. Her voice was soft, not reproachful, more concerned.

  ‘It’s full of Geogracus’s biology lessons,’ Kaya said, though that was not it at all. Jay had got back from Teladish Prime and gone straight to bed without so much as a hello. The man was confusing. He had kissed her and he had seemed to want more, and then he had backed out and now he was definitely avoiding her. And it was affecting Kaya’s focus. Maybe if she tried something a little different… ‘You know, Geogracus gave me this lecture on ethics when I started with him. I’m sort of surprised you’ve never said anything.’

  Sienna seemed to take the shift in conversation in stride. ‘I judge you to be a woman of exemplary ethics and you’ve yet to learn something which is not, essentially, defensive. However, since you brought the subject up, there are some very… sticky ethical aspects to telepathy.’

  ‘Invasion of privacy.’

  ‘Obviously. You will, I have no doubt, learn to read the minds of others. You could, if you choose to do so, learn their deepest secrets, digging deep into their minds. We avoid that without good reason. Even reading surface thoughts is avoided, though that is also a matter of self-defence. It’s often better not to know what a lover is thinking, for example. People have all sorts of stray thoughts all the time and we’re better off not knowing about them.’

  Kaya grinned. ‘I can imagine it could be embarrassing.’

  ‘Yes. Beyond that… I’ve never chosen to learn to directly control the minds of others, but I can make suggestions. I can persuade someone to do something and they will generally think they’ve thought of it themselves. It’s an ability which can be easily abused, but generally not to the extremes that full control can. I’m happier knowing that it is unlikely that I could persuade someone to kill themselves, for example. Still, one must consider carefully what one does with such abilities. However, there is an ability I’ve cultivated which has even graver ethical considerations.’

  ‘Oh?’ Kaya frowned, trying to think of something worse than forcing someone to kill themselves.

  ‘The ability is meant to be used… No, that’s not right. The ability should only be used for treating mental conditions. It’s possible to alter a mind, to remove a memory of some event which gave rise to a phobia, edit out the basis of psychosis, return a mind to a sound state. Even that is fraught with difficulty, but it can be done, and done successfully. Where Geogracus treats the body, I can treat the mind. Equally, however, I can cut out any memory I wish. The memory of a lover, the memory of a friend or family, anything. I can make someone insane instead of curing them. I could, with sufficient effort, turn someone into a slave, a willing slave. They would not even know they had ever been anything different. Or I could leave them fully aware of being free, but unable to resist performing any request I gave them.’

  ‘That’s… Okay, yes, that’s horrible.’

  ‘It is,’ Sienna agreed, ‘but I have erased memories in the past out of… convenience. It’s not something I’m comfortable with, but I’ve done it when the alternative was someone’s death.’

  ‘Does that happen a lot?’

  Sienna gave Kaya a bleak smile. ‘We zanari are a hunted people. We need to remain a myth. When someone uncovers the truth and cannot be trusted, we need to make a decision. Sometimes it is made easy and, usually, Thea handles the situation in the manner she does best. Sometimes we have a true choice and we decide to let them live.’

  ‘Well, surely that’s better than killing them.’

  ‘Often, Kaya, yes. But sometimes it’s worse. Now, let’s see whether your mind is back in mazes, shall we?’

  Kaya nodded and closed her eyes to begin building a new labyrinth in her head, but she did have to wonder how death could be better than just losing memories…

  ~~~

  Jay was in the communal lounge when Kaya returned from her session with Sienna. That was good, but she needed a little time to think about what she wanted to say to him, and he had been ignoring her, so she went straight past him to her cabin.

  Once inside, she started second-guessing herself immediately. Why had she not spoken to him? Why had she decided she needed time? Why had she not just demanded to know what he was up to? How could he ignore her? Why had he not bent her over the sofa and–

  Kaya cut her own train of thought off in mid-stream and decided to think through this logically. Jay was clearly interested, but he felt he should not be pursuing her romantically. Well, she was not that bothered about romance right now, but he was attractive, sexy, strong, and she wanted him to finish what he had started. Okay, so she needed to persuade him that she did want him to go there, but she also needed to be careful about it. She did not want to scare him off. She laughed at that thought: she was trying not to scare him.

  A light went on somewhere in Kaya’s head. Geogracus had spent most of his lesson doing biological process theory. There had been no subject to scan and the big man seemed averse to having Kaya
look at him, but he had also said, right at the start, that Kaya should try to get Jay to act as her subject. Jay was a human, not a zanari. It was perfect, but…

  Rushing to her bedroom, Kaya opened the wardrobe built into one wall. She now had a small selection of clothes, but she generally stuck to a T-shirt and some form of jeans or slacks because it was comfortable and she was not wearing shorts or her more stringy tops around Geogracus any time soon. Not after last time, even if he had stopped before it got too embarrassing. But the closet had other available options. Someone, probably Cassandra, had fabricated one of the zanari outfits Kaya had seen all the women wearing except Jinny. That was sexy, but Kaya still doubted she could wear it without blushing, and it might fall into the ‘too scary’ category. No, she would go with the old standbys.

  Fifteen minutes later, Kaya had showered and changed into denim shorts, a string-strapped top, and a pair of high-heeled pumps which would bring her closer to Jay’s height, but might go relatively unnoticed given how much cleavage she had on display. It was what she had worn when they had first arrived on the ship, aside from the shoes. It was casual, but also sexy. It was a little weird that she had never really thought of it as sexy until now. She had thought about make-up, but had decided that that was probably too much of a giveaway since, as far as she could remember, Jay had never seen her wearing any.

  Kaya checked herself in the mirror in her bedroom. Critical self-appraisal had never been one of her strong points. Was this subtle enough, yet shlooka enough? ‘Stop wasting time, girl,’ she said to her reflection. ‘If you wait much longer, he’s not going to be there.’ Of course, her reflection was not going to have to do anything.

  Jay was still in the lounge when she opened the door of her cabin and looked out. She paused and leant as casually as she could manage against the door frame. Now or never…

  ‘Jay, I don’t suppose you could help me for a few minutes?’

  He looked up from whatever he was reading and across at her. ‘Uh, I guess. What was it you wanted?’

  ‘A test subject,’ she said as though it was nothing.

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘For a biokinetic scan. I’ve done Jinny and Sienna, but Geogracus said I should try it on, well, non-zanari. I guess I should try to do Fay at some point. That would be interesting. But you’re here and I need to practise. We did theory this morning, but he said I should practise so I can get better and faster.’

  ‘A scan? Just… sit there and let you scan me?’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  Jay gave a shrug and got up. ‘Fair enough. I can do that.’

  Of course, if he had thought about it, she could have done it in the lounge where he already was, but he followed her into her cabin and sat down on the sofa when she directed him to, and waited while she stared at him for a minute, not actually trying to scan him.

  ‘Hmm,’ she said. ‘Uh, this isn’t working as well as I’d hoped. Would it be okay if I touched you?’

  Jay raised an eyebrow. ‘I guess…’

  ‘Great. It helps a lot. Just take your shirt off, would you?’

  ‘My… shirt.’

  Kaya focused hard on making her voice sound casual. This was the bit where he might bolt if he was so inclined. ‘Yes. The more skin contact I can make, the better. I just need to touch skin and if I can put my fingers on your chest, I can get a better picture.’ It was even true! Extended skin contact did give better results.

  ‘Okay…’ He sounded a little suspicious, but he reached down and pulled his tank top off over his head. Maybe he did know what she was doing. Maybe he did not care.

  ‘Now, just keep quite still,’ Kaya said and, stepping closer, she placed her fingers on his temples and closed her eyes, pretending to focus on his body. Actually, her full attention was on his body, but not that way. Instead, she concentrated on the feel of his skin under her fingertips as she slid them down, over his cheeks, along his jawline, and then back to slide down his neck to his shoulders.

  By the time her fingers were working over his chest and she could feel the brush of short hairs against her fingertips, his breathing had quickened. She flattened her palms against his chest, fanning her fingers and sliding down over his taut stomach. His abdominal muscles fluttered as her fingers brushed past them and she parted her eyelids a little to take a peek. His eyes were hooded, his lips parted, and she closed her eyes again before he noticed. Then her hands caught against his belt and she stopped.

  ‘Kaya,’ he breathed, ‘I’m not sure this–’

  She stopped him by shifting her left hand down to fold around the bulge which had formed in his slacks. She opened her eyes and looked into his. ‘I’m sure,’ she said and squeezed the bulge gently. ‘I’m absolutely sure.’

  And then things were happening faster than she had imagined. He moved, reaching out and pulling her shirt off over her head. He pulled her to him, spreading his knees and pushing back on the sofa so that her knee could rest there as his mouth closed around her left nipple. The sensation was like nothing she had ever experienced before: a bolt of pleasure lanced out from the point where he had joined them, flashing up into her brain and down into her groin, and she moaned as he suckled on her. His hands were working at her shorts now and he paused only to rid her of shorts and panties together. Her shoes had already fallen away and she was naked before him and moving as he wanted, however he wanted. The pretence of seduction was gone and she wanted him to take charge.

  He laid her on the edge of the sofa at one end, her feet on the floor, her arms stretched up over her head, and her back arched. Somehow he had got out of his slacks. When had that happened? And then he was over her, his thighs spreading hers. His hands gripped her forearms, keeping them high, keeping her under his control, but she was out of control, writhing, wordlessly begging for him. She felt him brush her labia and then, all at once, he was inside her.

  She had heard that the first time could be painful, but there was no pain. There was the length of him filling her, his girth stretching her. And then, as soon as he was inside her, he was gone again and she felt suddenly hollow, emptied, but only for a second. Her face and chest felt hot, burning. He pushed in, slid out, in… Her world narrowed to the amazing feeling of his body moving within hers. Her eyes rolled back; her jaw strained as she tried to make sounds and failed. Her vision narrowed as her attention focused on the singularity of pleasure forming between her legs, and then her world exploded.

  Kaya looked up into Jay’s grinning face. She tried to grin back, but her body was not behaving itself. His head lowered. ‘I absolutely love your breasts,’ he said and his teeth nipped at one of her nipples.

  Kaya let out a yelp and she heard Jay chuckle, but the shock had reset her brain. ‘That… That was wonderful,’ she said.

  His face appeared above her again. ‘Oh… We’ve only just started. I’m going to make you feel like that, but better.’

  Kaya was quite convinced that there was no way he could possibly make her feel better than he had just then, right until his tongue found her clitoris.

  Portishead.

  Jay walked into the Great Horn and looked carefully around the room. Benni was there, near the back and waiting for him, as she had said she would be. She was still his best chance. She had said she could get what he needed and the fact that she was there, on time, suggested she had managed it.

  As he approached her, however, she nodded toward the back of the bar, and then set off at an easy pace, hips swinging seductively. Jay followed. He had expected to handle this transaction in private. He followed her through a door marked as employees only and down a corridor past the changing rooms the hostesses used to an office door near the back.

  Pushing the door open, she waved for Jay to precede her into the room and he did, grinding to a halt as he came face-to-face with two men in Kraggan combat armour, both of them holding heavy pistols at their sides. ‘Your problem now,’ Benni said, and she pulled the door closed.

  ‘We understand
,’ one of the mercs said, ‘that you’ve been making some enquiries regarding Kraggan business. Care to explain why?’

  Jay looked between them. They were both as tall as him, both more heavily muscled, both in armour his shotgun could not breach, even assuming he could get a shot off before they killed him. It was a pretty untenable situation.

  Jay smiled…

  Oracle of Zanar.

  Kaya woke up and stretched out on her sofa feeling wonderful. Lazily, she stretched her arms up over her head and arched her back, and various dried substances pulled against her skin in various places.

  ‘Shower,’ she muttered, and she got to her feet. Various muscles complained and walking was a little painful, but it was, as far as she was concerned, a good kind of soreness and she was sure the shower would fix her right up.

  There was no sign of Jay, which was a shame because her thoughts turned to sex as soon as she was under the water. Mostly it was thinking about all the things Jay had done to her. She had gone in a virgin and come out a sex goddess! She giggled: that was silly. On the other hand, she had definitely ‘become a woman’ in the hour or so before she passed out. She was not even sure what the time was. How long had she been asleep?

  The answer turned out to be about four hours. She retrieved her clothes from the cabin floor and walked out into the communal lounge. No sign of Jay and the status indicator beside his door said he was out, but Thea was sitting there on one of the sofas, waiting while not appearing to be waiting.

  ‘Jay went down to the planet,’ Thea said, even though Kaya had not asked. ‘One of his contacts said they might have something today.’

  ‘Oh, okay.’

  ‘He said you’d decided to take a nap. We decided not to disturb you.’

  ‘Oh.’ Kaya felt her cheeks heating. She was sure Thea, and probably Cassandra, and maybe everyone else, knew exactly what she had been getting up to to need a nap.

  ‘You know, if the lessons are that tiring, we should consider spacing them out more.’

  Maybe they did not know… ‘No, I’m getting better at it. I’m just not used to it and slowing down would probably make it harder to adjust.’