Hitting the Target Read online

  “I’ll take your word on that.” Trey sighed and ran a hand through his long, golden-brown hair. “It’s been good chatting with you, Brother, but my break is almost up and I’m scheduled to perform a surgery at one.”

  “You must go then.” Sylvan nodded. “It was good chatting with you too, old friend. And as always, please let me know if you need any help. Millions of light years might separate us, but we are only a fold in space away and my warriors can be there any time you need them.”

  “I appreciate the offer,” Trey said gratefully. “But we’re hoping to integrate with the Ormyulians peacefully.”

  “We’re here to help you with that too,” Sylvan said. “I know you have no priestesses among you. The Sacred Grove aboard the Mother Ship stands ready to help if your warriors need guidance or if you want to schedule any Joining Ceremonies.”

  “We’ll take you up on that, I’m sure,” Trey said, smiling. “I have several warriors already who are anxious to Claim their brides.”

  “Just have them place a call to the Mother Ship and schedule a time for their ceremonies in the Sacred Grove,” Sylvan said. “We’ll be happy to fold space for you any time.”

  “Thank you.” Trey smiled again. “I’ll do that. And now I must go—kiss your lovely bride and your little ones for me. I’ll speak to you later.”

  “Go with the Goddess,” Sylvan said formally and gave a final wave before signing off.

  Trey watched as the viewscreen in his office at the Care Center went dark and sighed deeply to himself. It was good to hear from his old friend again, but his mind kept returning to the girl he’d been dreaming of. Was he really Dream Sharing or was she literally just a dream—a figment his imagination had come up with to ease his loneliness?

  The first time he had Dream Shared with a female had been so long ago, but he could still remember her face. They had arranged to meet…and then he’d gotten word that she was dead, carried away by the terrible female-killing plague. Would he lose this new girl too? Was that why he was afraid to admit he really was Dream Sharing—because he feared to lose her as he had lost the first female he had loved?

  “Goddess,” he said softly, staring at the darkened viewscreen. “I don’t know if this female is real or not. But if she is, you’ll have to bring her to me. There’s no way I can get to her.”

  There was no immediate answer to his soft prayer but then a strange feeling came over him—a mixture of peace and anticipation. It was almost as though the Mother of All Life, which all Kindred worship, was whispering in his ear.

  “Wait,” she seemed to say. “Just wait…”

  And then there was a sharp rap at the door of his office and the face of Lydiah, the head healer’s aid, popped in. She had dark hair pulled back into a tight bun and a practical, no-nonsense air about her.

  “Healer Treygar, your patient is prepped and ready and your instruments are sterilized. Would you like to scrub in now?” she inquired briskly.

  Trey realized he’d overstayed his break.

  “Oh yes, of course. Thank you for coming to get me, Lydiah,” he said, rising from the chair, which was a little too small for his muscular frame.

  The Ormyulians were considerably smaller than the Kindred, which made all their furnishings a bit too small. Thank goodness he had brought his own surgical instruments with him, Trey thought. He didn’t relish the idea of performing surgery with the tiny tools supplied by his newly adopted people.

  “No, problem, Healer Treygar.” Lydiah smiled up at him and nodded her head in a friendly way. She was strict but fair with the healers’ aides under her charge and respectful, though not overly deferential to the healers themselves.

  Trey liked her and her mate, a female named Teela, immensely. They had even invited him to Last Meal or supper as they called it here—at their domicile several times. Teela had been one of those rare and fortunate souls who had lived in the North but had managed to get past the Great Barrier to the South where she had met and mated with Lydiah. It was a daring escape but one she didn’t speak of often—her eyes were shadowed when she did, and Trey was afraid to ask why. Maybe not all of her party had made it across.

  He wondered if his own little female—the lovely girl with the pearly blue eyes and creamy brown skin—might be standing by the Great Barrier now, waiting for a flicker, hoping it would be long enough to get through, praying that the guards wouldn’t see as she dashed across…

  The thought made his blood run cold and the beast inside him rumbled uneasily. Neither of them wanted the little female to risk herself that way. And yet…how else was he ever going to meet her?

  Sylvan was right, he decided. The Goddess herself would have to take a hand or he would never see her anywhere outside his dreams.

  Chapter Five

  Mia stood by herself in the busy transport station and clutched her bag to her chest. Maybe there were more people in this Southern city where The EYE agent had taken her or maybe this was just a busy time of day, but she had never been surrounded by so many people at once and it was disorientating.

  With one hand she yanked on the hem of her new Bountiful-style dress, wishing she could make it longer somehow. When the Commandant had presented her with the new clothing, she had been aghast.

  “I…I can’t wear that!” she’d protested, looking at the skimpy garments he held out to her.

  But he’d shaken his head and looked at her disapprovingly.

  “There’s no way you’ll appeal to the Kindred in those shapeless clothes,” he’d declared. “You must dress in the Southern fashion or he won’t even look at you twice and all the time and expense I’ve poured into this project will be wasted.”

  He’d forced Mia to change while he watched—an operation which made her skin crawl. Though she turned her back to him, she could still feel those sharp black eyes sliding all over her exposed skin like seeking fingers, trying to pry into places they didn’t belong.

  At last she had finished and turned reluctantly to face him. The Commandant’s eyes had grown wide and then narrowed in a mixture of lust and greed. He circled Mia like a predator examining its prey, looking her over from every angle.

  “Well, well—I chose better than I knew,” he murmured, at last coming to a stop directly behind her. “You may not be the Republic’s ideal, but you’ll do, my dear—you’ll do.”

  “I will?” Mia could feel his hot breath on her neck and a smell like stale caffeine brew and nico-sticks reached her nose, making her stomach clench.

  “You most certainly will. In fact, maybe I’d better break you in a bit before that big Kindred gets to you. I’m beginning to feel a bit needy now that I see you in that sweet little dress.”

  He had run his hand over Mia’s mostly bare shoulder and then reached around to cup her right breast.

  “No, please!” Mia had stiffened, wanting to get away from him, wanting to run. But all the training she’d had in the Republic-run school told her she had to stay put. The Commandant had said he felt needy—as a woman, it was her duty to meet those needs. But she didn’t want to—oh God, she really didn’t want to!

  “I’d be doing you a favor, my dear,” the Commandant had breathed in her ear. “It’s said that the Kindred are absolutely huge in the cock department. Wouldn’t you like me to stretch you out a bit before he gets to you? Otherwise he’ll rip you in two trying to get his shaft inside you.”

  “You…you said you picked me for this assignment because I was a virgin,” Mia had reminded him desperately. “You said my innocence would attract him. I…I need to stay a virgin!”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” The Commandant had purred. “He might like you better if he doesn’t have to endure your first-time tears and jitters. Yes, the more I consider it, the more I think I’d better break you in, my dear. That will be best for the mission—I’m certain of it.”

  As he spoke, his clammy hand had been massaging her right breast and twisting her nipple painfully through the thin material
of her new dress. Then, to Mia’s horror, he reached down and began pulling up the short hem, baring her new, indecent underthings.

  “No,” she whispered, fighting back tears as he pushed her over the shiny, real wood desk. “Please, please no.”

  “Oh yes, my dear.” His breathing had quickened—he was almost panting now. “Oh yes, I think you’ll find it’s for the best. Just hold still so I can meet my needs with you—it won’t take long.”

  As she heard the low, purring sound of his zipper coming down, Mia had wanted to struggle but she felt frozen to the spot—unable to stop him as he started pulling the red lace panties down around her ankles.

  Oh please, she thought, feeling her stomach clench like a slick fist. Why can’t I move? Why can’t I run? Do I really have to do this? Oh please, someone make him stop!

  She was saved at that moment by a brisk rapping at the door and a voice calling out, “Commandant, the guide is ready to take the parcel over the boarder.”

  The Commandant had made an irritated sound through pursed lips.

  “In a moment,” he called. “I’m busy right now.”

  “The General stated explicitly that the parcel must go at once,” the voice replied. “There is a controlled flicker scheduled for thirteen o’clock and the parcel must cross at that time.”

  The Commandant had cursed under his breath, but like a canis with a bone, he was still reluctant to let Mia go. Though he raised her from her prone position over the desk, he still had a hand between her thighs.

  “A pity, my dear,” he breathed thickly in her ear. “I would have stretched you out so nicely.”

  Mia felt as though her skin was going to crawl right off her body in fear and revulsion. Her stomach heaved and she gagged, feeling like she might be sick.

  Nothing came up because she’d been too nervous to eat any breakfast but the choked, gagging noise she made at last had the effect of getting the Commandant’s hands off her.

  “Get dressed!” he snapped, sounding disgusted. “And if you puke on my carpet, you’ll be sorry.”

  Quickly Mia had pulled up her panties and straightened her dress with hands that shook. Even though he hadn’t finished meeting his needs with her, she still felt sick and shaky—violated to the core and horribly shamed.

  Why hadn’t she been able to run away or fight him? Why had she stayed there, frozen, while he did whatever he liked with her? Was it because she’d been told all her life that she must let a male who had needs do what he wanted with her? But she’d never imagined it would make her feel so dirty inside…so used and shamed and ugly…

  She had no time to consider these questions. Before she knew it, another agent of The EYE had taken her by the arm and was leading her down the lift to a big, black armored vehicle which steamed and rumbled and belched foul black smoke into the chilly air.

  “Remember,” the Commandant had said, “Get close to him—and send back as much surveillance as possible. There’s a recording device in your new bag and you have your Mercy Star pin as a backup for video images.”

  “Yes.” Mia had nodded numbly. “Yes, I know.”

  “Now, my dear.” The silky, purring quality had returned to his voice as he cupped her face in his clammy palms and forced her chin up, so she had to meet his eyes. “Do a good job and your dear sweet Neemah will be just fine. But if you botch this, well…” He shook his head and made a tsking sound. “In that case, I’m afraid I can’t promise she’ll be able to stay in that snug little flat the two of you share. It would be a great pity if she got evicted and wound up out on the street one of these cold nights.”

  At last Mia had found the strength to jerk away from him.

  “I know what you want—I’ll do what I’m supposed to do,” she snapped, glaring up at him. “But when can I come home? I told my grandmother I’d be gone for a while interviewing for a new job at a different Care Center. She’s going to be worried if I’m gone too long.”

  “Then you’d better do a good job and give that big Kindred what he wants so he’ll give you what you need—information about his intentions towards our planet and the People’s Republic.” The Commandant had smiled at her, showing his long yellow teeth. “As for when you can come home, your assignment will be done when I say it is. And don’t worry—I’m aware that we have unfinished business. We’ll finish it when I see you again.”

  His words made Mia’s skin crawl. She knew exactly what he was talking about—he intended to finish what he’d started back in his office and force her to meet his needs whether she wanted to or not. He would do what he wanted with her when he saw her next and there would be no one to stop him.

  “I…I should go,” she said, her throat dry as dust.

  “Of course—we have a schedule to keep after all. I’ll be watching you, Mia my dear. The EYE is always watching.”

  And with that, he’d shoved her into the back of the black armored vehicle and before she knew it, she was standing before the Great Barrier, preparing to cross.

  It had been terrifying, seeing the vast crackling blue wall of magneto-electric energy rising a hundred feet above her head. Up close, the sound of it was like the static on a communications box, turned as high as it could go—like the static on a thousand boxes, really, Mia thought. And even standing a hundred yards away, the waves of energy coming from it made her so dizzy and lightheaded she wasn’t sure she could stand up—let alone run across the broad No Man’s Land when the Barrier disappeared.

  “We’ll be going in just a minute. Remember your story when we get you to the other side,” the agent of The EYE told her. “You paid a Wall Jumper to take you across. You were with a group of people, but the flicker didn’t last long enough and all the rest of them got fried. You’re the only survivor. Got it?”

  “I…I think I’ve got it,” Mia had said. “But what about—”

  “Here we go!” The agent’s fingers had tightened painfully on her arm and then the vast wall of blue, crackling energy flickered and suddenly it wasn’t there anymore.

  For a minute, Mia had just gaped. It was disconcerting to see something so huge and dangerous and solid-seeming suddenly just disappear, as though an invisible hand had wiped it away with a single stroke. But she didn’t have long to marvel.

  “Come on!” The agent had started running, dragging her after him. He was dressed like a regular citizen and it occurred to Mia that she hadn’t seen him talk to any of the guards they’d seen as they entered the area. They were all looking away at the moment but what if they turned back and saw the agent dragging her across the No Man’s Land? Did they even know she and the agent were acting under orders from The EYE? Or would they think they were just two regular citizens trying to make a break for the South? Would they shoot if they saw them?

  Her worst fears were realized when a voice shouted, “Hey!” behind them and then the coughing sound of a pulse-pistol firing rang out. Mia was already so frightened her legs felt like rubber. She stumbled along, feeling sick and numb with fright.

  But just as she thought she was going to collapse and be shot down like a canis in the road, they had cleared the No Man’s Land and the Barrier abruptly burst into life behind them, a sizzling wall of crackling blue energy a hundred feet tall and close enough to make her teeth ache and her head feel light.

  “All clear!” the agent had shouted in her ear, still dragging her along. “All right—here we go. The closest city isn’t far. Come on.”

  * * *

  And that was how she came to be standing on the broad platform of the busy transport station, clutching her bag with its state-of-the-art recording device imbedded in the decorative flower sewn on the front, and wearing the strange, revealing Southern clothes as the high-speed transports went flashing past her on either side.

  Mia tried again to smooth down her short hem, which kept getting blown up by the wind of the rushing transports. All her life she’d been wearing thick padded slacks and shapeless, long-sleeved smocks that covered her mo
destly and kept her warm in the chilly North. And now, here she was in the sunny South, wearing nothing but a short-sleeved, low-cut dress with a red-flower pattern on it which barely went down to the middle of her thighs. Also, the underwear that went with the outfit was obscene—a barely-there cami-top and panties made of red lace.

  The memory of the Commandant pulling the panties down to her ankles rose in her mind and made her feel sick. She already hated these clothes—hated the way they attracted the wrong kind of attention from men like the Commandant. Yet that was exactly the kind of attention they were supposed to attract. Would the big Kindred be as interested in her new dress as the Commandant had been? Would he push her down and raise her skirt, breathing his filthy, hot breath all over the back of her neck while his big hands pawed her roughly?

  The thought made her want to die but she knew she would have to get over the feeling. She’d been ordered to get close to the Kindred—to seduce him. And since both the recording device and her Mercy Star pin were even now beaming every action she made and every word she said straight back to The EYE headquarters, she had no choice but to comply.

  Mia tried to swallow the lump in her throat. After taking The Oath, she’d thought to be a virgin all her life and now she was going to have to sacrifice herself sexually in the most disgusting way imaginable. She was—

  Her thoughts were cut off abruptly when someone yanked her new bag right out of her hands.

  “Hey!” Mia looked up and saw a scruffy looking young man pushing through the crowd in front of her. He had her bag in his hand. The red flower which concealed the hidden recording device seemed to wink back at her as he ran.

  On instinct, she ran after him. She might not be the fastest person here, but she was determined and anyway it was impossible to go too fast in the milling crowds that filled the station.

  “Stop him!” she shouted breathlessly. “Stop him—he took my bag!”