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  He tried to tell himself that it was simply Kindred instinct surfacing—a female’s pleasure always came first and a male’s need to make her come was part of that. But somehow, though he tried, Six couldn’t quite shake the sensation of unease that lingered around his head like a dark cloud, even after he rose on shaky legs and cleaned himself up.

  The fact was that Mei-Li affected him…deeply. Despite Yipper’s promise that all was well with his emotion damper, something was happening.

  Something that Six feared would have far lasting consequences…

  Trying to shake the idea, he gathered himself and took a deep breath. It was foolish to stay here in the fresher, avoiding her because of some ridiculous concern that would ultimately amount to nothing. Squaring his shoulders, he went to find her.

  * * * * *

  “Hey, are you okay?” Mei-Li looked at Six anxiously when he stepped into the kitchen. He had left the bedroom in such a hurry she wasn’t sure what was going on with him.

  “I am well.” The big Kindred looked much more composed and also much more clothed—though he was still bare chested, he was wearing his black leather flight trousers that clung lovingly to his muscular legs. That was good, if he had walked out naked, she didn’t think she could have kept her composure nearly so well. Even now she could feel her cheeks getting hot when she considered what they had just done together—or rather, what she had allowed Six to do to her.

  Hit it and quit it, she reminded herself sternly. Don’t get emotionally involved. Just be cool, calm, and collected—like Six is.

  Or was he? The last time she’d seen him, he was in a state of extreme arousal. Mei-Li snatched what she hoped was an unobtrusive glance at his crotch and noticed that he had apparently taken care of his problem himself. Well, that was a little insulting, but maybe he had his reasons.

  Looking back up at his face, she noticed that he was taking in her own choice of clothing.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” she said, nodding down to his thin black undershirt which she was wearing as a kind of a nightdress. She’d had to roll up the sleeves and it fell to mid-thigh on her but it was preferable to the tight, white shrink-wrap clothes he’d simulated for her. She wished for the white lace nightgown he’d given her but she must have left it behind on the med barge. “I wanted something comfortable to lounge around the, uh, domicile in.”

  “No, I do not mind.” Six’s voice sounded slightly strangled. “You can help yourself to anything you find here. What is mine, is yours.”

  “Thank you, I was hoping you would feel that way.” She smiled at him. “Right now I’m helping myself to some food—or trying to anyway. I don’t really see much of anything to eat around here.”

  She looked around the sterile kitchen area which appeared to consist of empty countertops and one cabinet which was bare except for a blue, plastic bag of fine, white sand. At least Mei-Li assumed it was sand—it certainly didn’t taste like salt or sugar when she’d dared to take a pinch of it to try.

  The whole room was so bare she wouldn’t have even known this area was supposed to be his kitchen if there hadn’t been appliance in it. One looked very much like a large microwave with wires sticking out of it the other appeared to be a small refrigerator built into the wall. Both were very clean and very empty.

  “There is plenty of sustenance to be had here,” Six rumbled, saying the exact opposite of what she’d been thinking. “Enough to feed the two of us for an entire solar year.”

  “Oh yeah? Where?” Mei-Li looked around skeptically. “Unless the bag of sand in the cabinet is edible, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “That isn’t sand—it’s tresh—raw material for the synthesizer.” He got out the blue plastic bag and set it on the counter. “Watch.”

  He reached into a small drawer which had several of the weird spoon-straws in it and withdrew a small metal flask. It was long and thin with measurement lines marked in black on its side and a pour spout at one end. Dipping it into the bag, he filled it about half full. Then he crossed to the microwave looking appliance and opened a tiny hatch in its top that Mei-Li hadn’t noticed before. He poured the fine, white tresh in and closed the hatch.

  “Wait—so you pour the sand, I mean tresh, in the top and food comes out?” Mei-Li asked.

  Six nodded as though it were obvious.

  “Of course. The tresh is a dehydrated and compact form of nutrients as well as other raw materials. It is converted into comestibles or other goods which appear in the delivery slot.” He nodded at the interior of the simulator.

  “But…how does it know what kind of food to make?” Mei-Li asked. “Or does it only make garn?” Please say it can make something else! She really didn’t want to eat stewed white paper-tasting gloop for breakfast, lunch, and dinner her entire stay on Z4, even if it was only for nine days.

  “The simulator can make whatever you desire. You simply tell it what you wish to eat.”

  “How do you tell it?” Mei-Li asked, still mystified.

  “Watch.” Six lifted one of the wires hanging off the back of the microwave and pressed the flat pad at the end of it to one of his temples. “Tell me what you desire.”

  “Oh, I’m not exactly sure I could describe it.” Mei-Li frowned, thinking of the large French fries and chocolate shake she had never gotten to finish from lunch the other day. “Maybe you should let me do it.”

  “I am afraid the simulator is not yet attuned to your brain patterns. Though I will instruct Ter to work on it, it may take some time to reprogram.”

  “Working now. Approximate time to reprogram, eight solar hours,” the voice of Ter came over the speaker, making Mei-Li jump.

  “Oh,” she gasped, putting a hand to her chest. “I almost forgot about him! But look, you don’t have to make anything special for me. I mean, I don’t want to impose.”

  Six frowned. “It is part of my duty to cook you meals that meet with your approval. I will be pleased to make you anything you desire.”

  “But I really don’t think I could explain what I like well enough for you to make it,” she protested.

  “What about the comestibles I saw you give away to the young one on the day I claimed you?” Six asked.

  “You saw that? You were watching me?” Mei-Li felt suddenly uncomfortable. What else had he seen her do? How long had he been watching her that day before he claimed her?

  He nodded. “I told myself that I wanted to be certain you were not in danger. But I think now that I was…” He looked suddenly troubled.

  “You were what?” she asked softly.

  “I think I was curious about you. I wanted to see how you lived…who you spoke to…what you were like outside of my dreams,” he admitted in a low voice.

  “Oh…” Mei-Li wasn’t sure what to say. “Well, that’s…” She cleared her throat. “I mean, I guess I wondered about you, too.” For a moment she had the impulse to go over and hug him, or at least touch his broad, bare chest. She restrained herself with an effort. “Anyway…yes. The things you saw me eating the day you came to get me would be just fine. They’re called French fries and a chocolate shake.”

  Six shook his head. “The names are irrelevant. I will simply picture them in my mind and remember how they smelled.”

  “Don’t you actually need to know how they tasted?” she asked.

  He shrugged, as though it wasn’t important. “The sight and smell should be sufficient for the simulator to make a reasonably close facsimile.”

  “Okay, well…if you say so.” Mei-Li shrugged. “But…you were close enough to me to smell my lunch?”

  “I have very sharp senses.” His nostrils flared slightly. “Though mostly I was searching for your personal scent.”

  She frowned. “What? You mean like perfume? I don’t think I was wearing any that day.”

  “Not an artificial fragrance—I mean the scent of your skin, of your hair.” He reached out and stroked a strand of it out of her eyes, tucking it g