Jaci's Experiment Page 15

  It was a tight fit with them both, but in the dream, it was perfect. Michael broke the kiss as he started to thrust and David resumed in a counter-rhythm to his cousin.

  “You’d better move this along, Dave,” Michael said. “I don’t know how long I can hold the dream. We need to make her come.”

  “I hear you, cuz.”

  David bit down on her earlobe, licking her neck and sucking there as Michael watched. She loved them both so much. Her temperature rose once more as she neared total meltdown. Having them both with her—inside her—on the dreamplane was something she never could have imagined. It felt so good. So right.

  She came with a blistering wave of heat that flooded her womb and flushed her skin as she shook with pleasure. “I love you!” The words were dragged from her lips as her eyes shut and passion took her in wave after wave of climax.

  She felt David come not long after, then Michael before she floated away on a sea of bliss into a deep, peaceful sleep.

  Chapter Ten

  “Good morning, Grady Prime.”

  “Good morning, Jaci 192, it is good to see you again.”

  The big man strolled into the room and sat on the chair provided. It was Jaci’s duty to go over the placement of the skinpatches that would administer the mutagenic agent for the big experiment. She was scheduled to meet with the ten participants in the study one by one all day long. As a result her normal duties were being taken over by another tech for the day, which was just as well because she hated going into Michael and David’s cell and finding other people there. She missed them too badly.

  She sat at the table across from Grady Prime and went over the proper procedures for placing the skinpatch and what precautions he should take before doing so. She would actually be putting the patches on all the other participants in the study, but Grady Prime’s military position made it easier for him to begin his treatment as soon as he got off duty. Since the effects of this treatment were unpredictableat least to the scientists who hadn’t been through what she’d been throughthey wanted the participants to have at least the first day free to absorb the agent away from the stresses of their usual jobs.

  Whether or not they would remain in their current jobs was up in the air. It all depended on what the treatment did to them. Part of the study in fact, was to see how these subjects coped with the day-to-day stresses of their jobs during this treatment. That’s why participants had been chosen from a broad spectrum of the population.

  “What kinds of symptoms can I expect?” Grady asked quietly, holding the wrapped skinpatch between his calloused fingers.

  Jaci considered for a moment what to tell him. She actually liked this man and wanted to help him if she could, without giving herself away. It would be a fine line she had to walk, but for his sake, she would do it.

  “At first you will probably feel no real change. It’s expected that after the first twenty-four hours, feelings may begin to manifest. Faint at first, they will grow stronger and more amplified. Although my supervisors have not said this, I would recommend you spend some time at that point, analyzing your responses. It may also be of some benefit to consult the data banks for our ancient historical records and, forgive me if this sounds farfetched,” she paused slightly, “but you might wish to observe some of the Breeds. I think you may find that you understand them better, once you have undergone some changes yourself.”

  Grady’s eyes narrowed and he looked closely at her. “You seem to have given this some thought.”

  She knew she’d almost said too much, but she wanted to help him.

  “I’m just a tech, but I was assigned this task quite some time ago. I have given much thought to the consequences of this experiment since I first learned of it, and you probably know I have close daily contact with the humans.” She cringed, knowing she’d just misspoken. Only the humans called themselves that. Alvians called them Breeds. For her to call them by that name, meant that she had been spending a great deal of time among themperhaps too much. But there was no way to call back her words now. Best to forge ahead, she thought.

  “Part of my duty is to observe their reactions and I’ve tried to understand the emotional component that drives their behavior, as much as I can. It’s quite difficult. Perhaps after administering the agent, you will gain a better understanding of what motivates them. That’s all I’m suggesting.”

  Grady still looked suspicious, but he seemed willing to let it go for now.

  “Mara 12, I believe there is something you should see.” Mara’s assistant entered her office with a small data crystal in hand.

  “You’ve completed your assignment then?” Mara 12 put aside her data pad and looked up expectantly.

  “Yes. It is as you suspected. Jaci 192 has been compromised.”

  “Did she do it intentionally?”

  “No. From the visual record it appears as if a skinpatch adhered to her arm while she was preparing them.”

  “Sloppy work,” Mara 12 commented.

  “Yes. Though why she has not yet reported the incident not clearly understood.”

  “She’s well aware of the consequences of her mistake,” Mara 12 said, reaching for the data crystal. “Have her brought to me at once. Ask Grady Prime to assist.”

  “You think she will resist?”

  “I believe it is a possibility. She is, as you say, compromised. I have no reliable data yet on how she will react. We must assume the worst.”

  “Jaci 192,” Harry said with a jovial smile as he stopped her in the hall, “how are you?” On another level, she heard his voice echo through her mind, though she’d never experienced telepathy before. “Jaci, my mother sent Grady Prime to take you into custody. Do not go back to your quarters, unless you wish to become a prisoner. And don’t react to my telepathy. They’re monitoring everything, though it’ll take Grady some time to get here. I’ve set up some roadblocks.”

  “I am well, Hara. Thank you for asking. And yourself?” She nearly stuttered in fear, but knew she had to keep up the pretense of a normal, casual conversation between two acquaintances.

  “I’m quite well, Jaci 192. I meant to ask you how your work progresses. Is all well there? If you want to get out of here, there’s a small atmospheric shuttle in Bay 12 with the access codes taped to the door. Head south for the engineering facility. Davin will see to it you’re well hidden and safe.”

  Harry’s words in her mind were rushed, but she was relieved to learn he had a plan. She knew how to pilot a shuttle and she most definitely did not want to be caught, questioned, imprisoned and probably executed for her one mistake. She nodded almost imperceptibly at Harry. She understood and would do as he suggested.

  “My work is very satisfying,” she said as they resumed walking. They were heading in the general direction of the shuttles as it happened. “Thank you for asking.”

  They spoke a few more pleasantries until Harry left her at a branching corridor. With little hesitation, she took the branch that would lead her to the shuttle bays. Harry had also managed to let her know he would be delaying any pursuit long enough, hopefully, so she could get to Davin. Just how he would do that, she had no idea, but Harry had talents she could only guess at, so she had to have faith that he could do as he promised.

  She made a beeline for the shuttle, popped the hatch and punched in the access codes that were so conveniently taped to the hull for her. Within moments, heart racing, she turned off the comm so she didn’t have to listen to them threaten her anymore. She’d had enough of the threat of imprisonment and termination. What she really wanted was to be free.

  It was either that, or die trying.

  She was heading south and suddenly a huge grin split her face. Her mates were in Davin’s custody and soon she would be too. They were waiting for her and for the first time in her life, she felt like she was heading home.

  But it wasn’t meant to be. She headed south, but she could see military ships sent to intercept her on the short range scanners. She had
to veer off, uncertain of where to go, hoping they hadn’t seen her.

  Jaci had hammered the beacon soon after leaving Bay 12 so her people could not track her by it, and since then had not touched anything but propulsion controls, leaving the comsys powered down. Although they might guess she would head for the southern facility where her human friends had been transferred, they would not be able to find her easily in the dense jungle surrounding the facility.

  Communications from the military craft came in a minute later, negating her hope. They’d not only seen her, they were on a course to intercept. Jaci was an adequate pilot, but her meager skill and this small civilian ship were no match for military patrol craft.

  Where could she go?

  Suddenly a thought came to her. She could try to lose the patrol in the mountains. She had a general idea of where the O’Haras lived and it wasn’t too far. From her interactions with Harry and Caleb, she thought she might have a chance of getting help from the rest of the O’Hara clan. If she could just make it there.

  The fire that erupted from her console burned her fingers, but that was the least of Jaci’s worries as her small craft plummeted toward the trees. She’d managed to dodge the patrol ship and it had spun on a vector over the ridgeline, thankfully out of sight at the moment, but they’d gotten off a few shots in their mad scramble and more than one had hit Jaci’s ship. It was going down. There was nothing she could do but to try to steer it to a more controlled crash, but she was definitely going to crash.

  Jaci said a quick goodbye to her men in the privacy of her mind as the first tree branches buffeted the sides of her vessel, eliciting metallic pings, bangs and shrieks as she hurtled toward the earth below. She was thrown from side to side, the harness digging into her shoulders and thighs, but keeping her from hitting anything vital on the crunching shards of metal that were cascading all around.

  She screamed as a thin sheet of jagged hull imploded and sliced into her upper arm. She screamed again as the craft bounced off a giant tree trunk and careened into another on its way down to the ground. She knew the crashing rebounds slowed her descent, but each bone-jarring thud sent her careening off into dizzying spins that threatened to pull her right out of the safety harness.

  The noise was deafening. So much so that she could no longer hear her own screams, though she was certain she still pled for mercy from the horrific twists and turns of the crumpling metal.

  When the clash of the hull made a swift and final boom on the pine needle-strewn floor of the forest, the very last thing Jaci noted was the blessed silence.

  “Sweetheart, where are you?” Michael’s voice came to her out of the mists of her unconscious.

  “I’m here,” she whispered into the darkness.

  Moments later there was light and warmth as Michael’s arms cradled her against his chest. David was there too, his hands on her head and his warmth at her back. She felt the worry in both of them, but was powerless to reassure them. Her head was swimming and even in the dreamstate, she felt pain radiating up her leg.

  “This is a dream, right?” She asked just to be sure. Everything was fuzzy. “You’re not really here?”

  “I wish we were,” David said next to her ear. “I would give anything to touch you. To heal you. What happened, Jaci? You’re in pain. We can tell.”

  “Ship crashed.”

  “What ship?” Michael asked, cupping her cheeks as David soothed her with gentle hands sliding over her head, neck and back.

  “Mara 12 found out about me. Hara warned me and gave me the codes to a transport. I was…” She gritted her teeth against the pain. “I was going to try to reach you, but a patrol spotted me. Shot at me. I got him back, though, before the crash.”

  “Where are you? Where did you crash, love?” Michael’s voice was urgent, but the dream wavered.

  “Tried to find the ranch. Thought the O’Haras could help.”

  “God! Jaci, stay with me. You’re in the mountains by the O’Hara ranch? Is that right?”

  She nodded, feeling David’s dream hands slip away as she started toward wakefulness. She would rather have stayed with her mates, but the pain was pulling her away, back toward the daylight and the broken ship in which she lay.

  “I love you,” she whispered, but she wasn’t sure if they could still hear her.

  “Did you see where it landed?” Bill asked Sam as they sped through the woods near their campsite.

  “Crashed would be a more accurate term,” Sam said as he followed right behind. He was strong for a human, silent in the woods and skilled. All in all, Bill didn’t mind having him for company now that they were hiding out together in his aerie.

  “It didn’t look like a patrol ship. More like a civilian transport.”

  “Either way, we can’t let them find our camp.” Sam’s tone was grim. Bill knew they might have to kill whoever they found, if they weren’t dead already. He hated it, but knew it for the truth. Still, he’d look for any other alternative before he added one more soul to the long list of those who haunted him.

  They came upon the wreckage a moment later, approaching cautiously. The hull was still smoking, but it didn’t look like fire was imminent. Bill could make out only one occupant, still strapped into the pilot’s chair of the small craft. A female. And she looked familiar.

  He approached cautiously, motioning Sam to stay back.

  Terrified, water-filled eyes looked up at him when Bill stepped up to the destroyed ship. He’d never seen such emotion in an Alvian face before and it gave him pause.

  “Sinclair Prime.” His old name was a gasp of surprise and dread from the female he’d known briefly in that other life. He saw her thoughts reflected in her eyes. She knew him. Knew what he’d been. Knew there would be no mercy from the man who had been the Council’s top assassin. “Please…” she whispered. “Teaverda.”

  “What’s that mean?” Sam stepped up behind him, jumping in where fools fear to tread, as usual. Any hope of keeping the woman in ignorance of Bill’s new life evaporated in that moment.

  Bill sighed. “She begs for a final request before I kill her.”

  Sam seemed surprised, which made Bill feel somewhat mollified. “But we can’t kill her. She’s frightened.”

  That one observation changed everything. Bill looked back at the crying girl, realizing the truth of his friend’s words. The Alvian woman was displaying very un-Alvian emotions. Perhaps Bill had been associating with humans too long. It had taken his brain longer to process the obvious clues that something wasn’t quite right with the lab tech he’d known as Jaci.

  “What is your teaverda, Jaci?” He stepped closer, noting the straps that held her immobile and the odd angle of her right leg. It was most likely broken.

  “My…mates.” Her voice trembled. “Please let them know what became of me. Let them know I…love them.”

  Bill stooped low to look directly into her eyes. “You feel love?”

  Tears fell freely from her eyes as pain slashed over her features. “I do. I feel…so much, Sinclair Prime. I only wish you could understand.”

  He watched her reaction for a long moment. He knew what he had to do. Decision made, he reached for his knife, compressing his lips in a grim line as she gasped in fright, but he went on, cutting the restraints from her bruised body as gently and quickly as he could.

  “You’re running, aren’t you?” he asked as he lifted her from the pilot’s chair. Her arms automatically went around his shoulders, though her gaze was filled with confusion.

  “Yes. The patrol is after me. I damaged their craft and it spun out over the next ridge, but I believe they will regain my trail soon.”

  “Then we’d better get the hell out of Dodge,” Sam said from behind them.

  “Anything in the ship to give away your identity or location?” Bill asked her as he carried her clear of the wreck.

  “No. I smashed the beacon before I left the city limits. The ship is not mine and I had no luggage.”

/>   “Good girl,” Bill said in approval. He jerked his head toward Sam. “Clear our tracks, friend, and we’ll see about patching her up.”

  Bill was rewarded with a huge grin from his friend. Sam had a soft heart and something he called chivalry where females were concerned. They’d discussed women a lot while they sat around the campfire—one in particular. The angel-faced woman who haunted Bill’s dreams and who Sam knew to be the love of his life. A fragile human prisoner named Ruth.

  They reached a hidden cave only minutes later. Jaci was shocked to see supplies and bedding that made her conclude the men lived here. Her leg was throbbing so bad she almost lost consciousness several times. In fact, she did pass out when Sinclair Prime jerked her leg to straighten the broken bone.

  When she woke, her leg was wrapped and splinted, still throbbing, but manageable. She was propped up on a soft pile of blankets and furs while the men ate. Something was very different here.

  The Sinclair Prime she’d known as a young lab tech was not the same man she observed now, consorting with a human and living in secret in the woods. The men spoke in low tones, but she could hear soft laughter from time to time and see Sinclair Prime smile and even look wistful at different points in the conversation. This was not the Alvian Prime she had known. He didn’t even look the same. His hair was long and wild, his face showing emotion the proper Prime had never known.

  Sinclair looked over and saw that she was awake. He stood and came to her, his human companion not far behind.

  “How are you?” he asked.

  “My leg hurts and I feel bruised. It’s what I expected.”

  “But I’m guessing I’m not at all what you expected, eh?” Sinclair Prime chuckled, making her gape at his humor. She’d known him for years and never had she seen him smile or laugh. “Things have changed for me, Jaci, as I’d be willing to bet, they have for you.”