Twisted: Brides of the Kindred 23 Read online

  “Oh my God,” she whispered and squeezed Malik’s hand even tighter.

  “Are you all right?” He looked down at her and Nikki could hear the concern in his deep voice, though her eyes were still glued to the Knower. It really did look like a Malibu Ken doll with those generically handsome features and the weird flattened place between its legs.

  “I…I’m fine.” Nikki straightened up and tried to get hold of herself. “We’re coming,” she told the Knower. “You can, uh, turn your head back around now.”

  “Of course.” The head swiveled smoothly to face front again and it continued its descent down the broad metal stairs. Feeling like her heart was beating in her throat, Nikki followed, still clutching tightly to the big Kindred’s hand. She was so glad she wasn’t alone here in this freaky, empty place. Well, empty except for the glowing blue ghost of the Knower.

  Except it wasn’t empty after all—as they found out after descending what felt like about a thousand stairs.

  We’re going to have fun getting back to the ship—I’ll definitely be getting my steps in, Nikki was thinking when the stairs abruptly ended in a large, arching entryway.

  “This way,” the Knower said, doing the creepy swivel-trick with its head again as it floated through the archway.

  Nikki and Malik followed it but as they came into the lighted area under the arch, a new person was suddenly there, standing in front of them.

  “Greetings.” It was a pleasant looking young woman, probably about twenty-five, with long blonde hair and blue eyes that looked strangely empty.

  Doll’s eyes, Nikki thought and indeed, the woman looked a little like the Barbie doll she’d had as a kid. Except, Nikki saw, that she was anatomically correct. This was easy to see because—like the Knower—this person was completely naked. But at least she wasn’t a ghostly hologram—she looked solid enough—maybe too solid, Nikki thought. When she moved, her breasts didn’t sway a bit but remained fixed in place.

  “This is Chandra, one of my Simulated Organic Replicants,” the Knower said, introducing them. “She and several of her kind will be serving you tonight.”

  As it spoke, another naked Replicant appeared, this one a male. He, too, was naked with the same generic good looks as the Knower and the girl called Chandra. But unlike the Knower, he didn’t just have a flat space between his legs.

  Wow, Nicole couldn’t help thinking as she eyed the extremely impressive package this new Replicant was packing. If she hadn’t seen Malik’s equipment, she would have been in awe. As it was, the male Replicant was a close second in the size department. Both he and the female Replicant were completely lacking any kind of body hair, which meant his package looked even bigger.

  “Greetings,” he said pleasantly, just as Chandra had. “I am Chad. I will be one of your servers for tonight.”

  “Oh, uh—okay.” Nikki nodded, thinking that it would be like being waited on by life-sized Barbie and Ken dolls.

  “Please enjoy your stay at the facilities and let me know how you found the accommodations in the morning,” the Knower said, smiling at her. “These Replicants are programmed to meet your every need. And if there is a need they do not understand, simply show them. They are able to learn through mimicry and pass the information on to others of their kind. In this way, you can teach them anything you need.”

  “That sounds…nice,” Nikki said, trying to sound like she meant it, when in fact the idea of being waited on by giant living, learning dolls was extremely creepy.

  “I hope you will find your stay here enjoyable,” the Knower said and then it simply blinked out of existence and was gone.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “Come this way,” Chandra gestured stiffly to them and then she and Chad turned to go into the lighted area. At least her head didn’t turn around backwards like the Knower’s had, Nikki thought as she and Malik followed the male and female Replicants.

  The lighted archway led into an open plan living area furnished with a couch and chairs as well as a large, lighted screen which looked a little like a flat-screen TV to Nikki. However, it was playing nothing but colorful static.

  “Welcome to your accommodations, Organics,” Chad said, giving them a pleasant, empty smile. “Please, make yourselves at home and let Chandra and I know if there is anything you require.” Then he and the female Replicant went to stand on either end of the large couch, like sentries on duty.

  Naked sentries, Nikki couldn’t help thinking. It was weird. But then, this whole situation was bizarre.

  “Um, thanks,” she murmured.

  Malik was silently, simply staring at the Replicants. Nikki wondered if he was thinking about these strange artificial creatures the Knower had used to replace his people. He hadn’t said anything about them yet but she could see the anger in his silver eyes. Why would the Knower kill every living person on the planet and then make such poor substitutes to take their places?

  With a sigh, she looked around the room some more. There was a bookshelf in the corner but the books in it had an odd look to them—they were all the exact same size and shape—though their colors varied.

  Curious, Nikki walked over to check them out. She had always been an avid reader, though with three kids to raise and a full-time job and house to take care of, she never really had as much time as she wanted to read. But when she pulled one of the books out of the shelf and opened it, she saw nothing but strange black scribbles on the white pages.

  “Hmm…that’s weird.” Frowning, she tried to decipher the scribbles. Were these written in Malik’s native language? But if so, why couldn’t she read them? The E’lo stone, which she still wore in a small pouch around her neck, had allowed her to read and understand other alien languages. Why not this one?

  “What is it?” Malik had come over to see what she was looking at.

  “This book—I can’t read it.” Nikki showed it to him. “Is this your native language here?”

  He frowned and took the book from her. Flipping through the pages which featured identical scribbles, he shook his head.

  “No—this is nothing. It’s not even letters or words. It just looks like someone scribbled across the page with a black marks-all.”

  Nikki tried another book and another and another. All of them were the same—white pages with identical black scribbles.

  “This is weird,” she said, re-shelving them. “It’s like something from a doll house—a toy bookshelf with fake books or something.”

  “It is very strange,” Malik agreed. “I don’t understand what the Knower is trying to achieve here. It’s almost like it is trying to recreate an organic, humanoid society but it doesn’t have enough knowledge of real people to do a very good job of it.”

  “Just don’t let it hear you say that,” Nikki murmured, getting closer so that she could use their privacy bubble. “Do you think it’s listening in and watching us?”

  “I would not be at all surprised,” Malik said in a low voice. “Come on—let’s look at the rest of this domicile.”

  They left the large living area and went into the adjoining kitchen. As they did, Nikki couldn’t help noticing that the lights went out automatically behind them. This left the two naked Replicants standing alone in the darkness, lit only by the colored static on the TV screen. This didn’t seem to bother them at all, however—they just stood there with their arms by their sides and blank looks on their faces.

  It creeped her out, staring at them, so she turned hurriedly away to study the kitchen. It looked large and luxurious but when Nikki tried to open one of the cabinets over the marble countertop, she found it wouldn’t budge.

  “Hey,” she said, tugging again with no effect. “It won’t open.”

  “That’s because it’s not real. See—no hinges or cracks around the exterior,” Malik said, demonstrating on another one of the cabinets. “It’s a solid piece, only molded to look like a cabinet.”

  Once again, Nikki was reminded of a doll house. She remembered how