Purity Read online

  Stop being ridiculous. The cat-woman is the one to keep an eye on. K kept her gaze fixed firmly on Ilesca’s rounded hips as they passed through the wide doorway and into the well lit interior.

  Inside the large space they found themselves in, everything seemed to be made of dull, battered metal. The area was sparsely furnished with benches that looked as though they could withstand a great deal of mistreatment and almost nothing else. The floor was made of some reddish-brown stone and highly polished, enough that K could look down and see a dim reflection of herself as they walked.

  “I’ll take you directly to Father’s lab,” Ilesca was saying to Boone—she seemed content to ignore Loki and K completely and focus on him. “He has it right in the same building as the port so he can get supplies more quickly. And of course, it’s a good thing to be close to an escape vehicle at all times.”

  “Oh? And why is that?” Boone wanted to know.

  Ilesca batted her long eyelashes at him and twitched her whiskers. “In case of a saurian attack, of course. The new electro-shock perimeter we’ve set up recently helps deter them, as do the scent repellants, but we do still have one or two get through now and then. They can be most…persistent.” She stopped in front of a bronze door banded with iron and turned to face them again. “Which is why Father’s lab is underground.”

  Boone raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t being located by the landing port protection enough? Can’t you just take off in your ship if a saurian breaks into your compound?”

  “Escape from the planet’s surface is a last resort. But even if we do have to leave, Father can’t have a deranged beast running amok in his delicate equipment.” She pressed a series of buttons to one side of the door and there was a soft clicking sound as the auto-lock disengaged. “After you, Doctor Boone,” she purred.

  Boone eyed the narrow dark passageway that was revealed when the door slid to one side with what K thought looked like trepidation. It truly was a small space, especially for someone as large as him. He would have to bend almost double to even get down the stairs.

  “Our most abject apologies for the size of the corridor,” Ilesca murmured. “I promise that once down the stairs, the space opens up.”

  Boone shrugged. “Not a problem. It’s a good thing I’m not claustrophobic though.” He ducked to go through the doorway but K stopped him with a tug on the back of his shirt.

  “Wait. Let me go first.”

  “Why?” He turned, frowning at her and she knew he was thinking that she wasn’t even armed.

  “I’m smaller—I can maneuver more easily.” K gave him a level stare. “Let me go first, Boone.”

  Ilesca appeared to notice her for the first time. “How charming. Is this creature your bodyguard? She doesn’t appear to be armed—how does she defend you?”

  “Who are you calling a creature?” K gave the cat-woman a cold look. She was taller than Ilesca which helped.

  Ilesca stared back just as coolly, apparently unfazed by their height difference. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”

  “I am a fourth level Paladin which means that armed or not, I am perfectly able to protect Boone, especially if you’re leading him into a trap.”

  “Ladies, please.” Boone put out a hand to stop them. “There’s no need for hostility.”

  “Not yet anyway.” K kept her eyes on Ilesca. “Lead the way and we’ll follow.”

  “As you wish, bodyguard.” The cat-woman’s full lips twisted into a superior smile that K wanted to wipe off her face with a fist. Then she nodded and led the way down the narrow stone steps.

  “Why’d you stop them?” K heard Loki whisper as they made their way down. “For a minute I thought we were going to get to see a cat fight—literally.”

  “Shut up, Loki,” Boone growled. K could feel his breath at the back of her neck—he really was too large for such a small passage. The sensation was oddly comforting but she took care not to let it relax her too much. She needed to keep alert in case there really was a trap at the bottom of the stairs. Despite the fact that they were simply on Minotaur to get the ship fixed, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong here—very wrong.

  Ilesca had at least been telling the truth about the space underground, K saw as they finished their long descent. The narrow staircase opened out into a huge area—clearly it was a natural cavern that had been molded into a living quarters. In contrast with the wide, empty room above it was lavishly furnished with a thick purple carpet and fixtures and furniture made of shiny brass and glass. The ceiling was so high it was difficult to make out what the lighting fixtures were made of but they cast a warm golden glow over everything that seemed to make the large space more cozy somehow. K distrusted it at once.

  “This is some lab you’ve got here. Where’s the equipment?” Boone said scanning the huge room.

  “This way.” Ilesca led them through what appeared to be some kind of a sitting area with comfortable brass-studded leather furniture and tall bookcases filled with old fashioned paper volumes. After that they came to a dining area much like the one on the ship although the furniture was considerably more elegant and less battered. A food prep area followed and then they came to a large shiny brass wall with a narrow hallway down the middle and a door on either side.

  “We have no natural partitions here so we’ve had to build some.” Ilesca nodded at the wall. “We use a lot of brass because the metals to make it are most common on Minotaur. The door to the left leads to our guest sleeping quarters. And this leads to Father’s lab.” She pressed a series of buttons on the shiny wall beside it and the door on the right slid open with a soft whoosh. “Please come in.”

  K went before Boone without asking. She assumed Loki was bringing up the rear but she didn’t really care. Her interest was in what danger might lie ahead, behind the tall, polished brass wall.

  Inside the space was partitioned into rooms of varying sizes. Ilesca led them past several doorways and down to the very end where it opened into a much larger area. K looked suspiciously for any signs of a trap but all she could see were several large pieces of expensive looking computer equipment as well as some counters and stools, all made of brass. There was a glass partition at the end of the room which seemed to contain cages, though what kind of animals were inside, K couldn’t tell.

  “Well, well, well—Doctor Boone. Such a pleasure!” A tall cadaverously thin man with a shock of thick white hair came through a side door that appeared to lead to a small, inner office and held out a hand to Boone.

  “Doctor Abrahams.” Boone took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

  “None of it good, I’m sure.” Abrahams cackled in delight at his bad reputation. He was wearing strange brass and crystal goggles that shielded his eyes from view and he stared up at Boone myopically. “My, they do grow them tall on Colossus, don’t they?”

  “I’m on the big side even by Colossian standards.” Boone grinned charmingly. “My mom always joked that dad must have put quick-grow in her caffeine brew when she was carrying me.”

  “I can certainly see why.” Abrahams cackled again. “And who are these two—your assistants?”

  “This is Loki, our pilot. And this is K—she’s a fourth level Paladin.”

  “She’s his bodyguard,” Ilesca put in nastily, her whiskers twitching.

  Doctor Abrahams appeared to remember that he was wearing the brass and crystal goggles because he slipped them up to sit on the top of his head in order to study K more closely. “Indeed? You have a fourth level Purist Paladin as a bodyguard? I must say, Doctor Boone, I am most impressed.”

  “She’s not actually—” Loki began.

  “Still a Purist,” K finished for him smoothly. There was no way she was going to let Ilesca and her father see any division between herself and the others in her group—it wasn’t tactically sound. “That is to say, I still adhere to the precepts of Purity but I have been contaminated and so cannot