Chapter Eighteen: Blood Pact Diplomacy — Part 4

“Hello sir.” Susan said, smiling, exposing all her childlike teeth. “Do you have any questions for us?”

“Yes, I’ll start with my own.” The medic sat down with his back to the metal wall. “Was this genetic modification a willing decision of your High Council, or was it a result of some unwarranted experimentation?”

“Neither, actually. It’s a result of a symbiotic relationship between ourselves and an otherwise common microorganism on our world.”

“And how is this symbiont transmitted?” The Medic asked nervously.

“The Antansi symbiont is an air and water born contagion. If you were on Antans, it would be impossible not to get infected. But on another world, none of us could give it to you unless you chose to have sex with one of us. Much research went into this.”

“I see.” The Medic had lost his nervousness, and to Susan he smelled almost terrified. “How did you get here so fast?”

Devon answered the question with feigned humility. “We used a tachionic stabilization drive system. Don’t sweat it, we’ll run that one by your engineers.”

What is it? He asked. Susan’s eyes seemed to burn his neck.

Watch what you say. They’re desperate enough to kill us for the Kindred, especially if they know she’s the only one of her kind at this time. Susan warned. She smiled kindly at the man. “So, when are you going to run the tests?”

“My apologies for not doing my job.” The man took a vile of Susan’s blood first, and he stared at it through his testing apparatus, a computer enhanced microscope that he held between two fingers. His eyes widened, and he nearly dropped the glass to the ground. “Sorry, but are you sure you aren’t contagious?”

“Positive. We confirmed it before we left our home. Otherwise we would never have come in person.” Seva said.

Now we turn up the heat a little. Susan said.

“I see.” The man answered uneasily.

“You say that a lot.” Vertigo said, leaning over his shoulder to look at the blood sample through his microscope. “You must be quite visually oriented.”

His eyes landed on her small, firm breasts, and he turned to see Vertigo floating next to his shoulder, her head level with his own, her toes two feet off the ground.

“How are you doing that?” He nearly stammered.

“Doing what?” Vertigo asked innocently. “Oh, my nipples harden every time somebody looks at them. That’s a perfectly normal biological response to stimulating visual attention. I would think, you being so visual in nature, would understand.”

“I was asking about your floating in the air like that.” The medic, who had not yet given his name, shivered with fear.

Vertigo seemed almost embarrassed; as if she was caught doing something socially unacceptable. “What are those wavy lines I saw in the microscope? It sure didn’t look like magnified blood samples to me?”

“Genetic Codes. Your body carries thousands of microorganisms not present on Vodia.”

Vertigo looked more closely at the spectral analyzer’s readout. “Funny, they look like human genetic codes to me. Of course, genetics research is really only ever a hobby of mine, so I could be completely mistaken.”

The medic held a hand over his ear. “You have clearance to leave your ship.” He said, the ever present stammer almost subsided.

Susan had heard the speaker in his ear, but she didn’t let on. “All right then. Let’s get moving.”

Everybody quickly dressed for travel, armor and weapons in place. The medic walked very quickly once he was clear of the door, trying not to look too nervous. Trying not to look like he wanted to bolt and run as far from them as was possible.

“Kindred, secure stations, full defensive until we return.” Susan said aloud, and the computer for the Kindred, a highly complex AI, began locking down various hatches and activating security systems all through its hull.

Susan pressed a series of keys on a small keypad set into the door’s metal panel, and the ship sealed solid, then began to spark and sizzle as a high frequency charge burst across its outer hull. The ship was locked tight in a docking bay, but that was nothing in comparison to the security locks of the Kindred. It would take hours for people with Antansi technology to make a safe route into the ship, and in those hours, many people would most probably be killed in the attempt. Susan had little worry that the local folks could get past the ship’s defenses and glean a decent amount of its secrets without a decade of diligent effort. Susan turned from the security station to face a stiff looking man. She had to look up; he loomed about two feet over Charles – the tallest in her group. He managed to look down his nose at Susan, and for the first time she got a basic concept of at least one representative of the local ruling class.

He worked hard to conceal an emotion that Susan could only identify as mild contempt. The man had a long, sharply defined nose, and his body seemed a merging of jagged and well-defined edges and shades. His hair was black as an Antansi night, and his eyes the golden amber of heated honey. His motions were precise and preordained, and his manner controlled and predictable. Muscular and lithe, his skin seemed almost polished under a layer of lotion and carefully applied cosmetics. His eyes were sharp and observant. He immediately determined Susan was the leader. When he spoke, his voice was one of reserved quiet.

The timber of it, however, betrayed not only nervousness, but distrust. “I welcome you and your crew to Vodia. I trust your journey was without complication.”

“Yes. Please, my dear sir, be more polite than your medic and tell me your name.” Susan said courteously, trying not to sound as old as she actually was.

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