The Syn-En Solution (12 page)

The citizen folded her arms across her chest and watched his engineer leave the cargo bay. “Are you guys even listening to me?”

“No,” Bei answered.

“Fine.” The force of her sigh blew her blonde bangs out of her eyes. “I’ll just suffer in silence.”

“You have yet to be silent.” Bei prodded her, half expecting a lecture on citizen communication rights.

Instead, she clicked her teeth together and glared at him.

Doc scanned her with his MedPak.
I don’t think she can stop talking. Her anxiety levels are extremely high
.

The woman held her silence for all of five seconds. “How did you get Burkina to stop firing? You never said another word or left the room or… Oh. You used the wireless array.”

Ignoring the picture of a probe uploading inside his head, Bei focused on the citizen. So much for her being from the past. The WA had been created only sixty years ago. “What do you know about the WA?”

“I know it is a means to communicate between two computers like wireless network, WIFI or Bluetooth, except you all can do it with your cerebral interface kinda like telepathy.” The citizen smirked, obviously proud of herself.

“Then you know the Syn-En are prohibited by law from using the WA except in emergency situations.” Bei returned to the
Jane’s
article. According to the entry, this probe had been sent through the wormhole to Terra Dos. While orbiting the planet, it had sent back pictures of the lush, Earth-like planet.

Then it had self-destructed and its pieces had rained down into Terra Dos’s oceans.

The hair at the base of Bei’s skull stood on end. How could the debris have gotten from a planet’s ocean back to the wormhole and in the cargo bay of his ship? Could another probe have been sent? Although he’d only heard of two being launched, he repeated the search but received the same results.

Fury slammed into Bei. Earth had lied. The second probe had never reached an alien world. It had collided with the closed end of the wormhole. The United Earth Nation’s Council must have known about the collapse.

The Syn-En had been sent to die.

Bei clenched his hands. There had been rumblings about the growing power of the Syn-En. The purity movement had demanded reforms and this citizen was completely organic.

“Leave,” Bei spoke to Doc.

The citizen frowned at Bei. “Where am I to go?”

“Aye, Admiral.” Doc quickly strode to the door.
She’s fragile, Admiral. It won’t take much to get to the truth.

The citizen strummed her lower lip between her teeth and watched his men leave. “Oh, you meant them.”

Bei could almost taste her fear. Despite the ease with which he could read her expression, he trusted only his tech when dealing with citizens. He placed his hand on her chest, his fingers splayed over the swell of her breasts.

Her heart raced almost as fast a hummingbird’s wings beat the air. She glanced down at his hand on her then frowned. “Guess I should have introduced myself before. I’m Nell. Nell Stafford. Ring any bells? The Save Our World Foundation should have told you I was coming.”

Nell. Not citizen Nell. Just her name. Contacting CIC through the WA, Bei initiated a search for the foundation and her government file. “Just answer my questions.”

“And no one gets hurt, right?” Perspiration beaded her upper lip and a nervous laugh escaped in a series of gasps. “I’ll try.”

Bei grimaced. Nell was close to hyperventilating. If her breathing didn’t stabilize soon, she’d pass out. He resisted the urge to release a low dose of serotonin to calm her. Any drug could potentially help her lies come out as truth yet he didn’t want to hurt her. Hell, at the moment, he believed his cerebral implant would fry his brain if he tried to. Yet if Earth had sent the Syn-En to die, why would they send a citizen to save them? For all he knew, she might be a victim too. “State your mission.”

“To help.” Nell raised her chin and looked him in the eyes. Her heart slowed and her breathing became more regular.

She believed what she said. CIC returned no results on the Save Our World Foundation, nor was there any record of a Nell Stafford being born, growing up or working anywhere in the last one hundred years. The Doc’s words replayed in Bei’s mind. Could she be from an earlier time? Impossible, even current stasis technology wouldn’t stop her from aging. “Who have you come to help?”

“You. Humanity.” Nell shrugged. “One person can make a difference.”

Humanity? The men and women on his ship were Syn-En and Civilians, they had few rights in the eyes of the citizens. And absolutely no sympathy among the purists. Something else was going on. He couldn’t fathom that an organization large enough to send someone into space could elude the government. But the government might conceal the truth from him, much as it had the real purpose of his mission.

“Who sent you?” The Syn-En had been told to hurry to Terra Dos with undue haste. If the ships hadn’t encountered so many problems, not even the
Oppenheims
detonations would have been enough to stop them from splattering against the wormhole’s dead end.

“I volunteered,” Nell whispered. “I want to help.”

Again, he detected only honestly from her. What did her presence mean? And what remained for the thousand Syn-Ens Bei had left behind on Earth? Should he lead the fleet on a rescue mission? Or should he encourage the Syn-En to desert?

If Earth truly had sent them into the wormhole to die, he owed Earth’s citizens no loyalty. The Syn-En had paid for their freedom in blood.

But first, he needed answers.

And Citizen Nell Stafford would provide them one way or another.

We have given you the best body technology can provide.

Use it to protect us from disasters and strife, but remember

underneath it all, you are still subject to human failings.

Syn-En
Vade Mecum

Chapter Six

“Are you going to hurt me?” It was a dumb question, Nell knew, but she couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out or echoing around the cargo bay. The admiral had already ordered her killed, why would torture bother him? Fear lodged in her throat, stopping the verbal torrent of moments ago.

“Will I need to?” He turned the question back on her. While his open hand rested below her neck, his thumb stroked her collar bone. Souvenirs of death and destruction swirled around the cargo bay, cocooning them. His gray almondine eyes pinned her, just as his body trapped her between himself and the sarcophagus cutting across her spine.

His touch was not punishing or bruising. Somehow it made the knowledge that he could hurt her all the worse. Would hurt her.

“I’ve been honest with you.” Her heart beat so fast Nell knew he could feel it. The cold sarcophagus pressed against her lower body, leached the warmth from her and made the heat radiating off him seem like an open flame. Her breasts tightened in awareness of his strong thighs against hers. Good God, what was wrong with her? Thinking of sex at a time like this, what had that contraption done to her? Turned her into a man?

The admiral leaned closer, his rugged face a mask of planes and angles in the eerie white light oozing through the cluttered space. Her emergency blanket sarong crinkled under his weight. When her erect nipples rubbed his broad chest through her thin covering and his uniform, his light eyes darkened to the color of storm clouds. “But not completely honest.”

Nell’s tongue stuck to the roof of her dry mouth. She could taste her fear and arousal. Tension coiled low in her belly, but she couldn’t figure out which emotion had caused it. Wrapping her hands around the lip of the coffin behind her, she raised her chin. “Is anyone completely honest?”

Nell bit her tongue. If only she could recall the words as easily. Her mother always said her mouth would get her into trouble. Nell seriously doubted her mother could ever have imagined this in her wildest dreams. Good Lord. How had she gotten here? And what was she supposed to do now?

“No,” the Admiral conceded. His thumb settled in the hollow of her throat. “But I will have my answers.”

“I’ll tell you what I know.” And she would, but she doubted he’d believe her. The fact added to her terror. Telling the truth wouldn’t save her from whatever he had in mind. “Every word will be the truth. Even if you want to know my real weight and age.”

His lips quirked before settling once more into a firm line. His expression blanked, flesh smoothed over his high forehead and wide cheekbones. No laugh lines or crow’s feet marred his tan complexion. “Have you been sent to bring us home?”

A fissure of unease egged on her fear. Nell had seen carved marble with more compassion. “I—”

“You should be warned that I can detect when you’re lying. The slightest rise in temperature, the hitch in your breath and the change in rhythm of your heart.” The hand splayed across her chest shifted slightly allowing his thumb to settle against the groove of her sternum, teasing her cleavage.

The sexuality behind the movement sowed tingles across her skin. A burning sensation began at the base of her skull and engulfed her head, shrinking her skin as it spread. Great, the battle between fear and desire had given her a migraine. “I don’t know.”

Relax
. Her mother’s voice whispered from deep inside her head.
He won’t hurt you
.

Obviously, her mother/conscience had vastly different definitions of hurt. The man had already killed her once. Add to the fact her own outlandish explanation of events and…

Nell swallowed the lump festering in her throat. Her heart galloped like a Kentucky Derby winner fresh out of the gate. And yet… One look into his shark gray eyes calmed her. He was a soldier. He had rules… Sure they allowed for killing, but not torture. That was if he followed the Geneva Convention.

“You speak the truth.” His finger followed the curve of her collar bone. Gray eyes flashed silver as they focused on her lips. “Are there Citizen vessels waiting outside the event horizon of the wormhole?”

“Wormhole? What wormhole?” Something stirred deep in her subconscious. She tried to grasp the thought, but it eluded her attempts. A jagged panel of metal twirled by on an air current. It spun lower as if to scalp her. Nell flinched and leaned to the right.

The admiral raised his free arm and the scrap spun away into the debris floating around them.

See
. Nell’s conscious gasped, with a
Eureka
kind of satisfaction.
He’s protecting you
.

“Ahh, you know something about the wormhole.” Setting his free hand near hers on the sarcophagus, he crowded ever closer into her space. His nose brushed hers and his warm breath cascaded down her uncovered skin.

Nell inhaled as he exhaled, tasted the peppermint of his breath. She shivered. His body heat warmed her and his exotic scent of citrus and new car infused her senses. Attraction burrowed under her skin. What was happening to her? Wracking her brain, she tried to make sense of her arousal. Was the stasis to blame for it? Or maybe some space parasite had wormed its way into her brain and seized control of her body, overriding her sense of survival with an imperative to mate and produce children. She’d seen it in dozens of Sci-Fi movies.

Space parasite
? Her mother/conscience sneered.
Reproduction is not alien to humanity
.

Maybe so, but Nell had never felt the urge this strongly. Sure, his exotic good looks appealed to her because she had a pulse, but she’d never been the kind to fall for a handsome face or a man in uniform. Then she felt it, a hard ridge pressing against her belly. If it was a space parasite, he had been infected, too.

The admiral lifted his free hand to her throat, caressing the vulnerable tissue. “What do you know?”

“I don’t know.” Nell’s breaths came in rapid bursts. If he tightened his grip, he’d choke the life out of her. But he wouldn’t. Time passed. Her heart beat once. Twice. Ten times. With each passing moment, her skin tingled more.

“Are you quite certain?”

“Yes.” She closed her eyes, lost herself in the thought of him, his gentleness and strength. Instinct shouted that this attraction was off, but the heat blazing through her burned it away. “I don’t know.”

“Hmmm.” He brushed his cheek against hers. The stubble rasped against her taut nerve endings, sending a pulse of desire through her.

In a moment of weakness, her head lolled to the side, exposing her neck to him in a universal sign of sensual surrender.

Softly, he whispered his doubts into her ear. “You know something and I will know it too before we’re finished.”

He uttered the words like a lover, promising unimaginable pleasure.

Nell set her hand on the admiral’s shoulder. Strength hummed under her hand. “Please.”

The word was raw and begging. She wanted him. Here. Now. If she didn’t…

The admiral pulled back, his gaze searching her face. Something flickered in the depth of his eyes. “Tell me what you know.”

Finally, her survival instinct made inroads into her aching desire. Her lungs worked like bellows to dispel the lust rampaging inside her. Her bizarre reaction must be a byproduct of dying, or the shot the doctor had given her. Nell ran her tongue over dry lips and almost groaned as he visually followed the movement. “You’re not going to believe me.”

He said nothing, but shifted his weight to the right. His erection throbbed against her hip. After a moment, he inhaled deeply and no longer looked ready to lift her up and impale her on him.

“I was born March fourth, nineteen seventy-two.” Nell waited a heartbeat. When his brow creased, fear awoke within her. So she was correct and somehow she made it into the future. The far future. “How old does that make me?”

“One hundred sixty-six.”

Nell tried to calculate the current year, but her brain tripped over the numbers. She’d always hated math. “That’s old for a human, even in your time, isn’t it?”

The admiral nodded, a shadow playing tag with his expression. “A Syn-En could theoretically live that long, but not a Citizen.”