Purity Read online

  “Spouse?”

  “Oh, I guess that’s a concept you’ve never heard of either, huh? Let me see…well, when two humans get together and decide they love each other—”

  “Love?” K interrupted him.

  Boone ran a hand over his face. Great, they were going to have to start at the very beginning. K might speak Standard but she was completely ignorant when it came to emotions.

  “Okay,” he said carefully. “When you love someone, you want to be with them all the time, touch them, hug them, kiss them—”

  “The way you touch me?”

  “Well, not exactly.” Boone got out of the rocker and started pacing. “I touch you because if I don’t, you’ll get sick.”

  “So you touch me but you don’t love me.”

  “No, absolutely not.” Boone tried to laugh but it came out as a cough instead. He thought of saying, I’m getting sort of fond of you in a weird kind of way. But then he would have to explain the concept of fondness and love was already proving difficult enough. And besides, he shouldn’t allow himself to feel anything at all for K. She was still the enemy and she had sworn to kill him. He would do well to remember that. “No,” he said again firmly. “No, I don’t love you.”

  “All right.” She nodded. “So loving is when you want to contaminate—I mean touch someone. Is that correct?”

  “It is but only partly. Physical affection—touching—is only one part of love,” Boone explained. “Loving someone means putting their needs ahead of your own. Thinking of them first. Caring about what they want and need, listening to their hopes and dreams. Helping them if they get sick or hurt.”

  K looked confused. “But you helped me when my stomach went wrong.”

  “Yes, but I was just doing what any decent guy would do—helping someone in need. Wouldn’t you do the same thing?”

  “If I saw an enemy that was incapacitated I would exploit his weakness—that is how Paladins are trained,” K said thoughtfully. “However I might react differently if it was you. Since I have sworn not to kill you yet.”

  “Gee, that’s so sweet. Thanks, darlin’,” Boone said dryly. “But I think we’re getting off the subject. The point is, you killed someone very dear to Loki. Erians need someone to touch so the bond they have with their partner or spouse or whatever you want to call it, is very strong. He cared a great deal for the man your squad shot down and he’s holding you personally responsible.”

  “You and your crew killed all of my squad,” K pointed out.

  “Yes, we did.” Boone thought of telling her that the pilot had gotten away and decided not to. No point in giving her false hope of escape.

  “Yet I am not angry with you. In a combat situation some casualties are always to be expected.” She shrugged, obviously unconcerned.

  Boone felt cold. “You really felt so little for them?”

  K gave him a level look. “Why does that bother you? I felt almost nothing at all until you took my suit. Now I can’t seem to stop feeling.”

  He shook his head. “That damn suit really did a number on you, darlin’. Just think about it—you flew with your squad for how long?”

  “Three solar years. I do miss their companionship.” K sounded thoughtful. “They were a good crew—even Six, though he had too many inappropriate feelings.”

  Boone arched an eyebrow at her. “A Paladin with feelings? How so?”

  “Even Paladins have emotions but we’re trained to crush them and release them to Purity. When our eyes are completely black then our emotions are completely purged.”

  “So this Six guy, he couldn’t, uh, crush his emotions?”

  “He seemed to struggle with it. He felt for me, I believe.” K frowned. “He actually tried to touch me before we came aboard your ship.” She looked up at Boone. “I still don’t understand how you managed to overcome us and get away. Your ship should have been completely incapacitated—we made a huge hole in it with out pneumodrill.”

  “False hull,” Boone explained. “We filled the space between the fake and the real with stun gas capsules. The idea was to put you out and just take one of you. We didn’t count on you getting over the gas so fast.”

  “The suit filters and diminishes any and all air born poisons and pathogens,” K explained. “But stun gas…at least that explains why I can’t remember any of what happened.”

  “You fought like a tiger,” Boone assured her. “If you hadn’t gotten that nick in your femoral artery and lost consciousness we probably would have had to kill you too.” He smiled. “But I’m glad we didn’t.”

  K looked away. “It would have been much better for me if you had.”

  “Well we didn’t.” Boone spoke as lightly as he could. “So it looks like you’re stuck here for awhile. Which brings us back to the question of what you can do since you don’t want to sleep anymore.”

  “What do you do?” K looked at him curiously.

  “Research, mainly. I’m a physician but I’ve also got a degree in genetics. Right now I’m working on a project to map all the different genomes of the various species of humans in the Prometheus system. We’ve all been changed, you know—by the planets we chose to colonize. That’s what I was doing, until my little sister got taken.” Grief and guilt overwhelmed him for a moment but he forced himself to push them away. “Anyway, I can’t do much out here—the equipment I was able to bring is all pretty rudimentary. But I try to keep up with my notes and add anything new I can find.”

  “Could I help you with that?” K asked gravely.

  Boone smiled. “Thanks for the offer but no, it’s a little too technical, I’m afraid. Unless your third area of expertise is xeno-genetics.”

  She frowned. “I am afraid not.”

  “You could give me a sample though,” Boone said. “Athena is the one planet I haven’t been able to get genetic specimens from. It’s a closed world.”

  “We prefer to keep to ourselves to preserve our Purity,” K said stiffly. “What exactly would giving you a sample entail?”

  Boone shrugged. “A few drops of blood and a swab of the inside of your cheek. Epithelial cells tell a lot.”

  “Well, if that’s all I don’t mind.”

  “Great.” Boone went across the room to his makeshift desk and grabbed some equipment. K didn’t flinch when he pricked her finger and she opened her mouth obligingly for the sani-swab. “This is good,” Boone told her as he finished up. “I’ll be able to give you a little more information about your own DNA too. We can find out if you’re all Erian or if the Purists mixed something else into the baby batter too.”

  K frowned. “Baby batter? No, never mind,” she said as Boone was opening his mouth to explain. “Why didn’t you simply take your samples when I was incapacitated—before I first woke up?”

  “It didn’t occur to me then. I was trying too hard to save your life.” He grinned at her. “You know how long it’s been since I had to do any kind of emergency surgery? It took me back to my resident days.”

  K raised an eyebrow. “And now that you’ve saved my life you plan on killing me with boredom?”

  “Oh right, what to do with you…” Boone’s eyes traveled around the room looking for inspiration. Suddenly they lit on something and he had an idea. “Here,” he said, going back to his desk and grabbing a small square box that fit easily into his palm.

  “What’s that?” K looked doubtfully at the cube in his hands.

  “My little sister’s old reader.” Boone pressed a button on one side and a holographic screen sprang to life from inside the cube. “It’s kind of old fashioned,” he said apologetically. “It only holds about five thousand books and most of these are classics from Earth-that-was.” He felt a lump in his throat and swallowed it. “She…it was what Shayla was getting her degree in. Old Earth literature.”

  “I can see that you feel for your sister,” K said neutrally. “But do you really expect me to read to pass the time?”

  “Sure, why not? You can read