“What does
morinial
mean?” His tone was conversational, but his curiosity was definitely evident.
“Administrator Hyak didn’t explain it to you?”
“I doubt he knows what it means. It is a uniquely Keroan word.” Venin had his hands on the controls as they sailed toward the stars.
She smiled and noted a tiny speck on the displays. “Is that where we are going?”
“Yes, it’s a jump ship. It is going to get us closer to Thiiril. Now, what is morinial about?”
“A long time ago on Keroa, there was a crash landing of a strange species. They called themselves the Morin and the entire ship contained twelve males.”
“Did these men blend with your species?”
She snickered. “They seduced every woman they could find and their genes were firmly sown into the population within a month. They had a series of psychic talents that they used to charm their way into the bed of every eligible and several married women. Their touch induced a hypnotic state and the existing population was no match for their peculiar skills.”
“What happened to them?”
“The population rose up in revolt and the men surrounded them, forcing them to take shelter in a cave. Keroa-Malu locked them in the caverns and for all we know, they are still there.”
Venin had a surprised expression. “The planet locked them up?”
“He did. They were assumed to be dead after ten years, but no one has ever gone looking.”
“I am guessing that the men were pretty pissed, but I am surprised that the Avatar participated.”
Iris chuckled. “The Avatar was new to his position and two of the women chosen by the Morin were his sisters. He was not pleased by the stigma that fell on them for having children out of wedlock.”
He nodded. “That would explain it. If an alien landed on my world and seduced one of my sisters, I would not be very charitable to them.”
“From what Keroa-Uli has told me, there is every chance that they are in stasis within the cavern to this day. Keroa was not quite on board with having men screaming to death in his caverns.”
“So, morinial means?”
“Someone who has an active talent and the capability of mastering the Morin’s seductive touch. It is a polite word for freak on Keroa.”
“And you are fine with that?”
“It isn’t a big deal at home. I know what I am. Several others at home are out as morinial, so it is not like I am alone.”
Iris watched the image on the screen as they grew closer to the small dot.
“You are seriously fine being called a freak?” He seemed shocked.
“Of course. I wear it proudly. The genes have been in circulation for over sixteen hundred years. I also have several other races in my system, as do most of the Keroans. After the Morin event, the population basically would screw anything and weddings were a lot more casual. The crossbreeds were a shock to the colonists, but they managed to adapt within three generations.”
“That is quite the stride.”
She snickered. “If you are Azon, then you go into rut. You know that your ancestors have never been on the fussy side of species interactions.”
“Azon’s breed true for the most part. We don’t worry about diluting our lines. The new genes make us stronger, not weaker.” He seemed a little defensive.
“Same with the Keroa. We started as a mix of races and have morphed into a fairly homogenous species now.”
“I see. That does explain your rather striking hair. The colour appears to be common on your world.”
“It is. My mother has this white hair and you have seen the deep red that my father wears.”
“I have. He was rather keen on getting you in touch with us. It seemed to inspire him, but he mentioned something about you being out of touch for a day or two.”
Iris smiled and leaned back in her seat. “There was a missing teen that I had to locate. She had run off to join her fiancé only to find him in the arms of another woman. Well, arms are a euphemism. I am fairly sure that he was lodged somewhat lower.”
“Ouch. What did she do?”
“She ran into the forest and hid, but she was found by a predator just as I came along. Fortunately, I managed to find her just in time.”
“What did you do?”
“I knocked out the beltharo and led her back to the rhesh where we rode our way back to her family.”
He nodded with a slightly impressed expression. “Do you do that sort of thing often?”
“Often enough. Usually, I travel with the hunts to obtain meat and watch for predators. It’s sort of fun when you get used to it. They all have different habits and behaviours. Learning them quickly or dying is an excellent training tool.”
“It sounds stressful.”
She snickered again. “No more stressful than jumping into a strange man’s shuttle and zipping across the sector just because I was curious.”
“Curious?”
She shrugged. “Sure, why would an Azon like you need a lit’l ol’ Keroan like me?”
He gave her another grin. “Ah, now, why wouldn’t a guy like me want to be alone with a smart, elegant, intelligent and graceful creature with hunting instincts like yours? You are the best hunter in this sector and rumours of your skills have spilled far and wide.”
“They have?”
He laughed, “How else do you think a man like me could have found a woman like you on a world like that?”
She looked out at the stars and watched the constellations shift and change as she stared out at the darkness. He had come looking for her through that very same inky black and he had found her. “Which one of us is supposed to be the hunter?”
His laughter was deep and rich, spilling into the shuttle and running through her soul. “You are the hunter, Iris. And soon you will have to prove it.”
Chapter Five
The jump had been a little disorienting, but as soon as Iris was able to look at the star charts again, her unease settled. It suddenly came to her that her entire peace of mind sprang from knowing where she was at any given time.
“Now that we are out of the jump, you are welcome to have a nap. We won’t reach Thiiril for seven hours.”
She unsnapped her harness and stood, stretching a little. “Thank you. I am not used to staying in one spot for so long.”
The bunk folded out of the wall and she rolled into it with a skill gained from sleeping in hammocks.
Iris felt darkness roll through her and when she slept, she dreamed.
She woke with a jolt, her heart pounding and her skin clammy. This was not going to be a fun trip.
She worked out the dispenser and grabbed a bottle of water for herself and for Venin. Walking slowly to the cockpit, she cleared her throat. “I have some water for you.”
“Thank you. Did you sleep?”
“I dreamed. Not the same thing at all.” She shuddered as she replayed the images of heavy jungle and vicious predators. As a side effect of her talent, foreseeing her environment was one of Iris’s favourites.
“Are you all right?”
“I am fine. Did you need to rest?”
“Sure. I will put it on autopilot and catch an hour’s sleep. Don’t touch the controls, but you are welcome to use the data-retrieval systems to learn more about Thiiril if you like.”
“I would. Set me up and then get going and nap. I will be fine.”
He quickly set up the data-retrieval system and she waved him off. “I am perfectly literate. Shoo.”
Venin left her and she began to research the history of Thiiril for a whole half hour before she switched the query to look up the Citadel in general and Venin in particular.
Venin Nulin vi Akerol was classified as a traveler by the Citadel. His function was to find lost objects in esoteric locations and bring them back to secure locations suitable to the object in question. His talent lay in finding the links between lost objects and their most likely locations.
He had a secondary talent, but it was not listed as relevant for his assignments and it sparked Iris’s curiosity.
She resumed her investigation of Thiiril and she was on the destruction of the population centres when Venin returned.
The shuttle’s monitors were flaring bright with colour though there was nothing to worry about. They still had over an hour before they needed to prepare for entry into the atmosphere.
She shivered as he took his place in the pilot’s seat and sipped at the water that she still had at her hand.
“How often do you do this, Venin?”
“Every time I can rummage through the archives of a world to find hidden objects that can be used to enhance psychic powers or hinder them. There are a few worlds out there that want nothing to do with any sort of psychic interference. They request restraint measures from the Citadel.”
That surprised her. “They actually do that?”
“If it suits a world to deny their psychic talents, it is better that they use a damper than to kill off their psychics. The Citadel puts in maintenance of the dampers as one of their requirements and they send their seekers in to check for talents once every few years.”
Iris chuckled. “So, they give them the means to make everyone look and act normal and then shut down that mechanism in order to spot the talents. Very smart.”
Venin grinned. “The Citadel thinks so. They have a fairly active recruitment going on with the Citadel opening more bases near the Sector Guard stations.”
“Interesting, I hadn’t heard anything about that, but then, we don’t get a lot of traffic through the Citadel base on Keroa.” She chuckled softly.
“Administrator Hyak has mentioned that the base there is very quiet. Apparently, the locals have a tendency to take care of most things themselves.”
Iris smiled. “It is one of our species characteristics. We tend to do what we can for ourselves before asking another to step in.”
Venin smiled and started to flip switches on the console. “Well, thank you for stepping in here. I am not sure what we are going into but having someone with your experience at my side will be a tremendous help.”
Iris tried to keep a pleasant expression on her features, but she knew what they were flying into and it was not going to be fun.
Thiiril was not a silent world. It was green and alive from north to the south pole. It was so overgrown that it took all of Venin’s skill to put their shuttle down, but the moment that they were settled and he powered it down, Iris was out of her seat and making for her saddle bags.
“What do you have in there?”
She looked at him as he pulled his own supplies and gear out of the cabinets. “Just a few things that I need to keep with me so that we can live to find this item.”
She carefully strapped on her weapon belt, sliding supply pouches into place with the ease of long practice. There were enough food and water purifiers now resting on her hips to last her for two weeks. If she was able to find plants and animals that were edible, she could stretch her supplies to last for months, even with her companion.
She checked and cleaned her knives before strapping her bush knife to her back. The strap that held its sheath rested snugly between her breasts and she twisted slowly to make sure that it was comfortable.
Iris put a band of leather across her forehead and twisted it around her hair to keep it back and out of her way while allowing it to cover her ears. She hated bugs getting in her ears.
Venin peeled out of his robes, exposing a fitted bodysuit beneath that made her mouth water.
The robes had concealed a pair of wide, muscular shoulders, narrow hips, powerful thighs and a body that was designed for physical exertion. Iris sighed as she imagined herself with him and having him exert himself over and over again. Shaking her head, she brought her attention to the now.
Now, she was preparing to set foot on a strange world and look for something that she was unfamiliar with.
“Venin, do you know which way we need to go?”
He nodded and started shifting into his own pack. “We need to head for the volcano and when we reach the foothills, we turn right toward the rising sun. It should be a day’s walk in and a day’s walk out. How long we will take to find it, I have no idea.”
“Do you have the image of the item?”
He held out his hand with a flat disk in it and a hologram lit up and showed a crystal that was about one fifth of her body size.
Venin smiled, “The image was taken and filed with the archives eons ago. I found it in the Alliance Archive while on one of my artefact hunts.”
She laughed. “Well, if that is what I am hunting, we will find it.”
He raised a brow. “Or you are not morinial?”
She waited for him to open the door. “I have a shameful ancestry to live up to. Let’s get going.”
With a flourish, he opened the door and they stepped onto the first strange world that she had ever touched with hand or foot. Thiiril greeted her with a thousand scents and sounds.
It was not going to be easy to lead him through the jungle, but it was going to be fascinating. As she looked at the dark suit that outlined his impressive physique, she had to buckle her instincts down. She was also going to be hunting through the jungle with the biggest distraction she had ever met.
This was going to be a challenge to her instincts and her training and she had always loved a challenge.
Chapter Six
Her first steps into the jungle gave her the heavy scent of rotting plant matter as well as water. None of the telltale signs of predators were in the area, but Iris trusted her dream. There were deadly creatures in that green expanse and nothing would keep them from coming after fresh meat.
“Ready, Venin?”
“You lead and I will follow, Iris. I have a directional indicator.”
She straightened, sniffed and found the telltale sulphur of the volcano. “I will let you know if I need it, but feel free to check in on our location. I don’t mind if you let me know that I am heading the wrong way.”
He chuckled. “Then lead on. I will let you know if I need to stop.”
She checked him quickly. “You have water?”
“I do.” His nostrils flared as he lifted his head. He scowled. “I don’t know how you are going to find your way in all of that.”
“I will follow the volcano. It is easier than dealing with the jungle.” She didn’t mention that she had already seen their path through the jungle. Coming to grips with the dreams showing her the path to her prey had been part of her growing up.