Deceived Read online

  He nodded. “I’ve heard of it. They mine aclamite—the metal used in a lot of interstellar communications systems.”

  Anna nodded. “Exactly. It’s located on this huge asteroid that’s almost as big as a small moon way out in the Centauri system. Anyway, there aren’t a lot of people there. There are a few Kindred—mostly all married miners. And there are the Kanjis—a race of humanoids that are really small and petite. They’re wonderful people—I had a lot of girl friends there to hang out with.” She sighed wistfully, remembering them all. Ninji and Tija and Gilki…where were they now? And did they wonder what had happened to her?

  “It sounds like a good life,” Dark remarked.

  “It was. But it was lonely. I mean, despite having lots of friends, I couldn’t exactly date anybody there, you know? As I said, all the Kindred were married and the Kanji men are all really short and none of them is into big, plus-sized Earth girls.”

  Dark frowned. “Plus-sized? I’m sorry—I haven’t heard that term before. What does it mean?”

  “The same thing as ‘pleasingly plump.’ You know—fluffy? More to love?”

  When he still looked confused she decided to stop beating around the bush.

  “Basically it’s a nice way to say fat,” she said flatly. “The cute little Kanji men weren’t into girls that were a head and a half taller than them and who outweighed them by fifty pounds or more.”

  Dark’s face cleared. “Oh—you mean an Elite.”

  It was Anna’s turn to be confused. “A what?”

  “An Elite is a female the Goddess has blessed with extra-generous curves,” he explained. “Didn’t you hear that term on the Mother Ship?”

  Anna shook her head.

  “No, but we were only there for a few days. Just long enough to get outfitted and get a shot of translation bacteria.”

  “An Elite is an especially beautiful female,” Dark told her. “Especially prized by Twin Kindred but to be honest, most Kindred prefer them, I think.”

  “Really?” Anna had a hard time believing that. “Well, I wish I would have known—maybe I could have gone back to the Mother Ship and found somebody who felt that way. But on Aka’ja, I just kind of stuck out like a sore thumb, especially when I hung out with my friends. They were all so tiny and cute and delicate and I was…not.” She sighed. “Anyway, even after I got older and moved out of my mom and stepdad’s house, I still felt that way. I didn’t want to leave my mom—we’re really close—so I hung around and did college courses by remote. And I got a job at The Ale-Pail—it’s a kind of bar or pub there,” she explained.

  Dark nodded. “Did you enjoy working there?”

  “It was okay—it was something to do and a way to be independent and earn my own keep. But like I said, I was really lonely. And then one night in the middle of my shift, he walked in. Lazlo.”

  Just saying the name out loud gave her a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach and she had to pause for a moment and concentrate on the colorful fish swimming by in the stream before she could go on.

  “Was this Lazlo the one you thought you loved?” Dark asked.

  Anna nodded. “Or maybe I should say he was the one I thought loved me. Right away, he zeroed in on me. Came and sat at my table and started flirting. He, uh…” She cleared her throat. “He made me feel pretty, you know? And he wasn’t a Kanji—he was Trebban. They’re pretty skinny but also really tall—almost as tall as you,” she added, looking up at him. “Do you have any idea how great it is to finally be able to look up at a man you’re interested in after being taller than every man in the room for the past eight years?”

  “It’s not an experience I’ve had, though I suppose I can imagine it,” Dark said dryly. “Feeling smaller than a male makes you feel beautiful then?”

  “I used to think so,” Anna said bitterly. “Beautiful, desirable feminine… Now it just makes me feel vulnerable and weak.” She thought of looking up at Gorn, knowing her captor could overpower her at any time, and felt her stomach churn.

  “I’m sorry,” Dark said softly.

  She shook her head and looked at him.

  “You really are a great listener, you know? Whoever programmed you did a wonderful job.”

  He smiled. “I’m glad you think so. So what happened with Lazlo?”

  “Oh, I guess I got kind of off-track, huh?” Anna sighed. “Well, he made me feel beautiful and special like I hadn’t felt…well, ever, I guess. I mean, not from a guy. I knew my mom loved me and thought I was pretty, but it’s not exactly the same thing, you know?”

  He nodded. “Go on. What did he—this Lazlo—do to you once he had gained your trust?”

  Anna thought that for a robot he was certainly very perceptive.

  “Well, first he took me out a few times. He even came to dinner to meet my parents. My mom was a little iffy about him but my stepdad, Brex, absolutely hated him. He took me aside after dinner and told me I needed to break it off immediately. When I asked why, he said it was because Lazlo smelled untrustworthy.” She gave an unhappy laugh that tasted bitter in her mouth. “At the time, of course, I thought he was crazy.”

  “Kindred have very sharp senses,” Dark remarked. “It’s possible that this Lazlo had bad intentions towards you from the beginning and his body was putting out pheromones that telegraphed his true emotions.”

  “Well, I guess that’s possible.” Anna nodded. “Anyway, I found out the hard way that my stepfather was right.”

  “I take it you didn’t listen to his warning?” Dark asked quietly.

  She shook her head. “No—it made me mad because Lazlo was the only guy who had ever paid attention to me. I wanted to believe he really loved me—loved me for myself, you know? And he was always such a perfect gentleman, even when we were alone. He never even wanted to have sex.” She looked down at her hands. “I wanted to have sex, of course. I was freaking twenty-four and still a virgin, you know? Of course I wanted to have sex.”

  She didn’t know why she was telling the big Replicant all this—it definitely wasn’t something she would admit if he was a real guy. If he had been real, he would have been much too attractive to talk to so freely. He would be miles out of her league—she would have felt beneath his notice.

  But since she knew he wasn’t real, no matter how real he seemed, she felt free to say things she’d never admitted to anyone before. It was cathartic somehow—freeing. And there was no judgment on the big Replicant’s face—he was still just listening quietly as she spoke.

  “Anyway, later on I found out why he wouldn’t have sex with me,” she continued, looking down at her hands. “He wasn’t dating me—he was scouting me—to sell as a breeder on the Trollox breeding market. Apparently they’re always looking for humanoid females who have a big enough frame to carry their babies to term and virginity is considered a plus.”

  She closed her eyes, remembering how pleased Gorn had been when he forced the first spreader into her and she had bled. He’d said something about getting his money’s worth—Anna couldn’t remember exactly. She’d been in too much pain and terror to really register the whole experience and she’d been trying to forget it ever since.

  “I didn’t know there was such a thing as a Trollox breeding market,” Dark said, drawing her out of the awful memory. Anna looked up and saw he was frowning, his black eyebrows drawn down low over those startling bronze eyes. “That is shameful—it should be stopped.”

  “It’s basically human trafficking—well, humanoid trafficking. They don’t only take human girls—they’ll take any that are big enough to accommodate a Trollox male’s, uh, equipment and carry their baby.”

  Anna felt herself blushing, her cheeks heating with shame and she looked down at her hands.

  “Anna…” Dark’s voice was serious, tense. “Is he doing that to you? Is Gorn taking you against your will?” His big hands were clenched into fists and his eyes were narrowed with tension.

  She shook her head. “Not…that way. Not yet