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  “All right. Lasai—I like it. It seems to fit you, somehow.” Six nodded. “Now that we have established a ‘nickname’ for you, let us finish getting dressed and go meet with Yipper.”

  “I don’t understand, though,” Mei-Li said as she pulled on the red wrap dress she’d made for herself back on Z4. “If you’ve decided you don’t want another implant, why are we seeing Yipper at all?”

  “Because I believe he can help us. We will need a third party if we are to get away and stay away without incident. If I am to go to your planet and live with you there…” He paused uncertainly. “You do want me to come with you, do you not?”

  “Oh, of course I do,” Mei-Li said quickly. “That was exactly what I was thinking about before Yipper called. But…do you think you can trust him to keep our secret?”

  “I would trust Yipper with my life,” Six said firmly. “He was against me getting the emotion blocker implant in the first place. He will not be sorry to hear that I am feeling again.”

  “I think you’re right. Yipper’s a good guy.” Mei-Li smiled as she finished tying her dress on the side. “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  “It is good to see you again, Six…Mei-Li. Yes it is, yes it is.” Yipper nodded eagerly as they walked into the large white room filled with implants and mechanical prostheses. “But what has happened to your ocular scanner? Well, never mind, I can fix it. Yes I can, yes I can.”

  “Yipper,” Six began.

  “No, no—” The little Tolleg held up one hairy hand. “Before you say a word, I must apologize. Yes, I must, yes I must. You were so concerned about your implant that after you left I began to do some investigating into the happenings down on Zeaga 4. What I found both amazed and greatly distressed me.” He leaned forward, hunching his hairy little shoulders. “Some of the other Dark Kindred organics, especially those with pure Kindred DNA like yours, their implants—”

  “Are failing. And have been for quite some time now,” Mei-Li finished for him.

  Yipper’s big brown eyes got even wider in apparent shock.

  “Well, yes. But how did you know, how did you know?”

  Mei-Li explained briefly about her encounter with the old warrior, Malak.

  “He said that he and a lot of the older Kindred warriors had their implants fail years ago but they were afraid if they went up to the medical barges, they would be forced to get new ones,” she said.

  Yipper frowned. “I would never force anyone who didn’t want one to have an implant. No I wouldn’t, no I wouldn’t. I hope you know that now, Mei-Li, despite our misunderstanding when you first came.”

  “Yes, I know, Yipper,” she said gently. “But maybe the Collective might force you to give them new implants.”

  “It is possible. Yes it is, yes it is.” The little Tolleg looked troubled. “On their orders I have been working on a new emotion damper—an injection that permanently blocks the emotion receptors in the brain. Yes I have, yes I have.” He held up a large clear syringe filled with thick blue fluid. It had a large, wickedly sharp looking needle which made Mei-Li shudder.

  “Wow,” she said flatly. “So that stuff is a permanent fix? No more emotions ever after you get injected with it?”

  “Exactly. Much more reliable than an implant—practically foolproof. But I thought I was developing it for those who wanted it. I had no idea the warriors would wish to keep feeling once they started having emotions. No I didn’t, no I didn’t.”

  “It is…a difficult thing to give up. Especially if you have someone to feel for,” Six said quietly. He reached for Mei-Li’s hand and entwined their fingers.

  Yipper’s eyes grew wide.

  “So it is true, your implant is failing? But I was so certain you were fine, yes I was, yes I was.”

  “I tried to convince myself of the same thing,” Six said. “But I am glad I was wrong.”

  “So you…you feel for Mei-Li?” Yipper’s eyes flew between the two of them.

  Six nodded. “Can we trust you to keep our secret? Our very lives would be in danger if it was known.”

  “Of course they would! And of course I will keep your secret. Yes I will, yes I will!” Yipper’s big brown eyes were shining. “Six, I cannot tell you how happy I am for you. I never wanted you to give up your feelings in the first place. No I didn’t, no I didn’t.”

  “We knew we could trust you, Yipper.” Mei-Li gave the little Tolleg a spontaneous hug which made him squirm with pleased embarrassment.

  “Of course, of course,” he murmured.

  “We were hoping you could help us,” Six said seriously. “I intend to take Mei-Li back to her home planet of Earth and then stay there with her. But first I will fake my own death—blow up my shuttle to make it appear that I was on my way home and had an equipment malfunction.”

  “A wise idea.” Yipper nodded. “How can I help, how can I help?”

  “Simply by saying that you did in fact replace my implant before I left,” Six said. “There must be no question of my loyalty to the Collective or they will send warriors to seek me out. They must believe that I left to take Mei-Li home in a completely emotionless state.”

  “Of course, of course.” The little Tolleg nodded again emphatically. “A wise plan.”

  “Thanks, Yipper.” Mei-Li looked up at Six in awe. She’d had no idea that his plan to get away was so elaborate. The Collective must be like the Mob or something—no way out except in a pine box. The thought made another shiver run down her back. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?” she asked the little Tolleg. “I mean, maybe you should come with us. This might not be a safe place to be much longer.”

  “I can take care of myself—I have been doing so for over four hundred cycles. Yes I have, yes I have,” Yipper said gently. “Though I appreciate your concern. Yes I do, yes I do.”

  “No, but seriously—what if Z4 is in a downward spiral?” Mei-Li persisted. “The old man I told you about—Malak—he got very excited because he said I was the harbinger of some old prophesy—something about the beginning of the end of the Collective. Do you know anything about that?”

  Yipper shook his head. “No I don’t, no I don’t.”

  “Small in stature, big in heart, one will come…” Six murmured.

  “What?” Mei-Li turned to him. “What did you say?”

  Six had a look of deep concentration on his face for a moment. Then he shook his head.

  “I don’t know. Something that came to me suddenly. The same way your nickname, Lasai did.”

  “Lasai means ‘dear one’ or ‘darling one’ in Tergish—the language of the Terga traders,” Yipper said. “But oh dear, oh dear!” He looked at Six, clearly upset. “If you are remembering little snippets of your past then your implant must be in dreadful shape. Yes it must, yes it must. Have the dreams started yet?”

  “He had an awful one earlier tonight,” Mei-Li said quickly. “But he couldn’t remember it when he woke up.”

  “Nor will he unless I completely remove the implant,” Yipper said. “But I cannot recommend that. No I can’t, no I can’t.”

  “You can’t?” Mei-Li asked.

  “No indeed, no indeed. With the implant still in, Six will be able to experience emotions without the memories of his past coming back completely. The dreams will continue—that is unavoidable. Yes it is, yes it is. The dreams are simply the memories trying to come forward. But the implant will block them, even if it is malfunctioning.”

  “So the memories must be…pretty bad then, huh?” Mei-Li didn’t want to ask for details because she knew how strongly Six felt about not having to remember.

  “It is not simply the bad memories of his past that Six would have to face,” Yipper said earnestly. “He would also have what I call the ‘three-fold effect.’ Which means that the emotions he was having at the time I put in his implant and trapped his memories in the cache would come back three times as strong. Yes they would, yes they would.”