Awakened by the Giant: Brides of the Kindred Read online

  “All right, Calden,” the AI said at last, breaking his train of thought. “Clearly you wish only to study this female and not to breed with her. You are granted permission to grow a clone of your new specimen in the nutrient tanks—provided that she is implanted with a self-termination unit as are all live specimens.”

  “Oh, but I don't really think—” Calden started to protest.

  “A self-termination unit is necessary,” FATHER’s soft voice repeated implacably. “This new specimen must not be treated any differently than any of the others, even if she is sentient. Also, knowing that she has a limited lifespan may discourage any untoward emotion between you.”

  “If you are implying that I get emotionally attached to my work, FATHER I must protest,” Calden said, frowning.

  “You did resist allowing the brantha specimens you were studying to terminate,” the AI reminded him softly.

  Calden shifted again. “They were…small. And harmless. Also very affectionate. It would not have been a problem to allow them to continue living.”

  “Calden, you know the station has limited resources.” FATHER’s soft voice was reasonable. “If every specimen that you started to have emotions for was allowed to live—”

  “I don’t have emotions for my specimens,” Calden denied quickly. “I simply dislike waste. It seemed…unnecessary for the branthas to terminate.”

  “Nevertheless, you know the rules, Calden. All specimens must have a self-termination unit implanted. Otherwise the station would be overrun with creatures we cannot accommodate.”

  “Understood,” Calden said stiffly. “Thank you for permission to continue this new study, FATHER.”

  “You are most welcome, Calden. You know that we find you a valuable addition to the scientific study here aboard our station,” FATHER said. “Keep up the excellent progress. And remember, all knowledge is valuable.”

  “All knowledge is valuable,” Calden repeated, rising to go.

  As he left the scanning booth, the lights flickered again and then resumed their cool, soothing blue tone. FATHER was quiescent once more, waiting for the next supplicant in need of help or guidance.

  Calden tried to hold back a grimace of irritation. He knew the station was lucky to have such a benevolent overseer but sometimes he could not help chafing under the AI’s strict rule. Still, he had agreed to obey FATHER and to be held accountable by the AI for all his actions and emotions when he first came to live and work at the Mentat station, so it was only fair that he keep his end of the agreement.

  At least FATHER agreed to let me grow the new specimen. I’ll learn so much from her!

  The hum of excitement in his veins wasn’t the Mentat way but as long as Calden kept the emotion hidden, what harm could it do? He strode back down the long, winding metal corridor of the circular station towards his own quarters with a spring in his step. Exploring and learning about this new find the recovery droids had brought in could be the work of a lifetime!

  A very short lifetime—for the female, at least, whispered a little voice in his brain.

  Calden frowned as he placed his palm to the privacy pad and the metal door to his room slid silently open. Well, that was true. He would just have to make the most of the time he had with her and not think about her ultimate end.

  And after all, he argued with himself, it wasn’t like the self-termination switch was a painful way to end existence. It was lodged in the brainstem, where all autonomic functions were located in most species. When the specimen’s time was done, the switch simply stopped the nervous impulses from the brain to the heart and lungs. The heart stopped beating and the lungs stopped drawing breath. Termination was almost instantaneous and entirely painless—or so Calden had been assured by the Mentats.

  It will be fine, he told himself as he walked to his work station and logged in. He seated himself and began to work at the hand-board. Above it hovered the 3-D monitor cube which showed his research notes and findings from every angle. To his right, growing in a little pot beside the hand-board, was a small, green bush—a bonding fruit plant.

  Calden still didn’t know why he had planted the seed and grown it in the first place. Maybe to remind him of his home world and the Kindred Brothers he had left behind. Though he found his work here fulfilling, he still missed Ren and Bram and the rest of his friends aboard the Jor’gen Kindred Mother Ship. He wondered if they had ever found a new race of females to bond with. Had they also planted bonding fruit seeds in the hope of finding new mates?

  “Well if they did, I hope their seeds worked better than mine,” Calden muttered to himself as he studied the holo-cube of the 3-D monitor which glowed softly in the air in front of him. The seed he had planted had resulted in a sickly, stunted piece of vegetation which had never borne a single piece of fruit. It was almost as though the plant knew it wasn’t needed, so why bother to grow properly?

  Which was a silly thought, Calden told himself. You couldn’t go around anthropomorphizing plants or getting attached to specimens like the tiny, fluffy branthas with their big eyes and their affectionate way of rubbing their heads against your hand as though begging to be petted and stroked. His heart fisted in his chest as he remembered the way the last of the little specimens—his favorite if he was being honest—had collapsed in his hands as he held it and stroked its lithe body, waiting for the inevitable end. His throat got tight at the memory and his eyes seemed to burn.

  But that was emotion he was feeling—unnecessary emotion. He tried to push it away and concentrate on the task at hand.

  Calling up the controls to the nutrient tank where he had already planted the DNA for his new specimen, he gave it the command to start the growth sequence. Luckily, the subject’s brain had been preserved, though the body had been frozen solid and mangled by some heavy machinery aboard the ship. She must have died of shock and been instantly frozen the moment her ship was torn in two and the vacuum of space found her.

  Not a pleasant way to die but it was lucky for Calden. Her body was of no use since he intended to grow a new one anyway. But an undamaged brain meant that the clone he would grow in the nutrient tanks would have all of the original owner’s knowledge and the personality should be intact. It might take a little while for the memories to come back but that was just as well—it wouldn’t do to have her wake up in the tanks remembering the moment of her death. Such traumatic recollections could be emotionally scarring and were best left for later in the acclimation process.

  She’s going to be perfect, Calden thought as he entered the command to begin accelerated clone growth. Perfect inside and out and I’m going to learn so much from her…

  He had no idea how right he was…or how painful that knowledge would be.

  Chapter Two

  Madeline Harris woke up covered in warm green goo.

  It was everywhere—coating her arms and legs, sliding between her fingers and toes, under her breasts, in her long, auburn hair—even inside her. As she sat up with a gasp, she could feel a cold finger of slime sliding into her sex. Ugh, what was this stuff and how could she get it off—and out—of her?

  “Ah, you have awakened,” a strange, burbling voice said in her ear.

  Madeline looked up for the source of the voice—and shrieked aloud when she saw it. A strangely elongated face with wide black eyes that held no white at all was staring at her. There were slits for nostrils and a thin, lipless mouth. Worse if all, when the creature reached for her, it did so with four, strangely-jointed arms, all of which had seven fingers and two thumbs apiece. Its skin was grayish-green and pebbled like a lizard’s hide. In short, there was nothing remotely human about it.

  “Oh my God, what are you? Don’t—don’t touch me!”

  She scrambled upright in the strange glass tank she found herself in and nearly slipped in the green slime. Crowding to the far end of the tank, she tried to cover herself and stay away from the weird, alien-looking creature at the same time. What was happening here? How had she gotten in