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  Six had answered her questions, bemused by her contradictions. More and more he found the tiny Earth girl he had claimed fascinating and enigmatic, which only made him want to know more about her. And then, of course, there was her behavior the night before.

  After they had gone to bed—Six sleeping with her on the sousa instead of in his recharging station for the first time in more years than he could count—she had rolled over close to him. Six had been eager to take her in his arms but she had refused to kiss him. Instead, she had reached for his shaft and taken it in her soft, cool little hand.

  “My turn,” she whispered in his ear and then proceeded to stroke and caress him until he could not contain himself and came, groaning her name.

  It was a novel experience for Six—not just being with a female but being so completely out of control of his own body. If anyone had told him he would not only welcome such a thing but also wish to repeat it, he would have thought something was wrong with their logic circuits. But that seemed to be the case. He found himself wanting to be near Mei-Li, wishing to touch her, eager to hear her unique opinions and engaging thoughts. She seemed to bring a whole new perspective to everything in his existence. It was as though his entire life had been lived in black and white and she had suddenly brought color into his world.

  It was a sensation he was coming to crave and only two things marred the experience. One was the fact that though she snuggled close to his side and allowed her to hold him, Mei-Li still refused to repeat the deliciously addictive kiss which she had first introduced him to aboard the med barge. “I can do the friends with benefits thing,” she had said, mystifying Six with her Earth colloquialisms. “But only if we keep a little distance.”

  The problem was, Six found he didn’t want to keep distance between them. He wanted her close where he could protect and caress her. And he wanted, more than he liked to admit, even to himself, to taste her soft lips again. No matter how often he told himself that she was right to keep part of herself back in order to avoid forming an emotional attachment, he couldn’t stop wanting that.

  Part of him whispered that it was illogical to want her in this way, that it was dangerously close to feeling. But Six pushed such thoughts away, refusing to entertain them. For now, he was content simply to be with Mei-Li and watch her wonder at seeing everything in his world, often using her new enhanced lenses to examine things more closely.

  The other thing that concerned him was the dream that had woken him in the middle of the night. At least, Six assumed it was a dream—he couldn’t really remember it. All he knew was that he had jolted suddenly awake, his forehead bathed in cold sweat, his heart pounding like a joist-hammer in his chest, unable to catch his breath. Mei-Li had half wakened as well, asking him drowsily what was wrong.

  “Nothing. I am…well,” Six had said, telling a deliberate untruth though he normally distained dishonesty. But he told himself he didn’t want to worry her—Feelers were so sensitive, it would be wrong to stir negative emotions of concern for him in her.

  He had lain back down and Mei-Li had curled against his side like a small, contented animal. Stroking her hair and hearing her light, even breathing, Six had felt his heart slowing its frantic pace. After a time, he was able to go back to sleep and he had no more disturbances for the rest of the night.

  Now, as he surveyed the Serlix market and watched Mei-Li weave through traffic, he told himself that the night before had been an anomaly. Certainly it was a one time occurrence that would never happen again. In the meantime, it was time to stop thinking of the past and look to the present. Mei-Li wanted something to spice up her garn and he wanted to get it for her. More and more he found that it gave him a sensation of satisfaction to give her things she longed for and watch the expression of delight and excitement spread across her lovely face.

  If he had not been at her side to protect her, Six would have been concerned about her habit of emoting so obviously. But as he was near and the yellow glowing numbers of her dispensation were so clearly marked, he didn’t reprimand her even when she exclaimed with delight or hugged him with excitement when she found a particularly good “souvenir” as she called the small trinkets she was gathering to distribute to her friends and coworkers when she went back to Earth.

  Back to Earth…He pushed away the hollow sensation he felt at the idea of letting her go. They still had plenty of time. It was only their second week together. In the meantime, he could enjoy her company. Looking ahead, he saw that she was already standing in front of one of the stalls in the market where an older organic male with graying hair and a broken ocular scanner was shouting his wares.

  “Spices! Spice for sale!” he was calling and Mei-Li was trying to get his attention. “Yes, yes, what can I do for you my good…” The words died on the old male’s lips. “My…lady?” he said softly, staring at Mei-Li.

  “Yes, I’m a woman. Probably the only one on this whole planet,” she replied, smiling.

  “But what…how…?” The older male organic looked at her, his faded blue eye wide with wonder.

  Six frowned as he picked up the male’s quickened heart rate and breathing as well as the expression on his face—all clear signs of Feel-crime. But he was not here as a member of the Purge Squad, as he had been so many times in the years before he rose high in the rubric of the Collective. So he let the male’s crime pass and simply watched his reaction to Mei-Li.

  “I’m interested in your spices,” she told him. “Anything that would add some flavor. I can pay—see?” She held out the cred-chip Six had given her which was tied to his account. She had been concerned and asked if she could pay him back for the purchases she made at first but Six told her not to worry about any of it. He had plenty of credit since he never spent any on indulgences for himself and it gave him a warm sensation to watch Mei-Li find and purchase little items she liked.

  But right now she wasn’t having much luck in purchasing any of the spices for sale because the older organic was too overcome.

  “My lady!” he exclaimed, falling to his knees before her. “The prophesy—it is coming true at last!”

  “The prophesy? What prophesy?” Mei-Li looked confused.

  “And one shall come—a female of surpassing loveliness. Small in stature but large in spirit. When you see her you shall know…for she marks the beginning of the end.” The old male sounded like he was quoting something—Six had no idea what. Except the words he had spoken seemed somehow familiar… Jax, please…

  Six pushed the memories aside and concentrated instead on what was happening to his female.

  The older male took Mei-Li’s hand in his and, ignoring the cred-chip she was holding, began to kiss her fingers reverently. “It has come to pass—and in my lifetime! To think I should live to see it. You are so beautiful—so exquisitely lovely, my lady! You light up our dull and dreary world like the sun!”

  “Well, thank you.” Mei-Li smiled at him uncertainly, looking as though she wished she could extract her hand from his grasp. “I came because—”

  “She came because I claimed her and brought her here,” Six growled, coming up to them at last.

  He didn’t like the sight of the old male touching his female and he especially disliked the way he was kissing Mei-Li’s fingers. No one ought to be kissing or touching any part of her but him and he would be damned to the Seven Hells if he stood by and allowed this effusive display of emotion directed at his female to continue.

  “High Executor Twelve?” The old male looked up at him, fear blooming suddenly on his face like a poison flower.

  “I am Six, now. Others have been dispatched and I have grown closer to the Collective,” Six told him. “I am no longer on the Purge Squad but I will not allow you to molest my female.”

  “Molest? Oh, no—certainly not!” The older male organic dropped Mei-Li’s hand as though it was burning hot and stood up straight. His face, so full of fear just a moment before, was suddenly blank. “Apologies, Executor, for the