2. Phoebe

2

PHOEBE

T his could be my last chance! Phoebe thought as she cast a sidelong look at her mentor. Their eyes met and she looked away quickly, blushing. My last chance to let Sir know how I feel…to finally become more than just mentor and mentee or just two Agents working separately in the field.

As she listened to the details of their first and only mission together, she couldn't help casting her mind back to the beginning of their relationship—back to when she'd first met Commander Sirex, the man she was desperately in love with…

It had been a rough start. Phoebe had been fifteen minutes late to their first meeting, because she'd gotten turned around at the tram station that ran the length and breadth of the Mother Ship.

Because the Kindred ship was huge—about a fourth the size of the Moon, which it orbited—taking the wrong tram meant she went in the opposite direction and then had to double back to get to the meeting place. By the time she reached the Twin Moons café, breathing hard from having run all the way from the tram station, Phoebe was sure she was going to be in big trouble.

The artificial green sun that powered the Mother Ship was shining brightly and she could clearly see the other cadets—mostly female—sitting at the sunny outdoor café tables. Most were talking to their new mentors, the senior agents who had been assigned to train them. They were all wearing the same uniform she was—a scarlet button-down blouse tucked into plain black slacks with comfortable black flats.

Only one table was empty and at first Phoebe was sure that her own mentor, Commander Sirex, had given up on her and left when she hadn't shown up on time. Then a figure stepped out of the shadows cast by the awning at the back of the café and Phoebe's eyes grew wide.

Her new mentor was huge.

Most Kindred were around seven feet tall but she was sure that Commander Sirex was even taller than that. Phoebe was five feet eleven inches tall herself—well over the normal height for a woman—but he made her feel positively petite as he strolled forward to meet her. His shoulders were fully twice as wide as her own and his physical presence made him seem even bigger.

Phoebe had been wondering what kind of Kindred her mentor was before this meeting—no one had told her and she supposed she would know when she first met him. After all, the different branches of the Kindred family tree were fairly easy to distinguish. Beast Kindred had golden eyes and black hair while Blood Kindred usually had blonde hair and fangs. Twin Kindred were the easiest to tell because they always came in pairs—a Light Twin and a Dark Twin.

But Commander Sirex didn't look like any kind of Kindred Phoebe had ever seen. His black hair was cut short and his olive skin had a pearly gray sheen to it that almost made it shimmer. And his eyes…it was his eyes that caught her attention and made her bite back a gasp.

Her new mentor had the red-on-black eyes of the deadly enemy that had attacked the Earth over ten years ago—he had the same eyes as the Scourge! The whites of his eyes were pure, obsidian black and the irises were a blazing, blood red.

She stared up at him uncertainly as he came to stand in front of her, his muscular arms crossed over his broad chest. He wasn't wearing a standard issue Kindred uniform. Instead he wore battle leathers—a black leather vest and tight black trousers tucked into high black boots. He had a blaster clipped to one side of his belt and a long, curving knife clipped to the other. Phoebe could see scars all over his massive body, as though he had been in many, many fights and his red eyes blazed into hers as he stared down at her.

Was this imposing figure who looked more like a sleep paralysis demon than a Kindred warrior really her mentor? Apparently so because when she asked in a trembling voice, "Commander Sirex?" he nodded.

"I'm Cadet Phoebe Jenkins," Phoebe said, trying to introduce herself. She held out a hand, but the massive warrior in front of her ignored it.

He spoke only two words.

"You're late."

Phoebe's heart, already racing from her run from the tram station, began absolutely pounding in her chest.

"I know I am, Commander, and I'm so sorry," she babbled. "You see, I haven't been on the Mother Ship long and I took the wrong tram, so I had to?—"

"Stop." He held up one massive hand, cutting her off.

"But I—" Phoebe began.

"When you make a mistake of any kind, I don't want to hear excuses," he rumbled. His voice was deep and surprisingly quiet—it reminded her of boulders rubbing together at the bottom of a river bed. "All I want to hear is, ‘I'll fix it and I won't do it again.'"

"Yes, Commander Sirex." Phoebe nodded her head at once. "I won't be late again."

"No, I don't believe you will." He gave her a searching look from those burning red eyes. "But you were this time. So drop and give me fifty."

"What?" Phoebe stared up at him in surprise. "Here?" She looked around the tables filled with cadets and mentors, feeling an immediate sense of humiliation that they would all see her being punished.

But under the humiliation, was there something else? Some other emotion she couldn't admit, even to herself? Maybe a desire to submit, even though the request was embarrassing? Phoebe thought there was. Still, she couldn't believe that her new mentor would do this to her.

"Yes, here."

His voice remained quiet but it was also stern and commanding. Not a voice you could easily disobey, Phoebe thought. And strangely, she didn't want to disobey—she wanted to do as he said, even if it was going to be awkward in front of all her fellow cadets.

She expected him to say something else—maybe along the lines of "if you can't follow directions, this mentorship is over now!" But Sirex said nothing—he just stood there with his arms crossed over his massive chest, waiting patiently for her to do as he said.

And Phoebe found herself doing it.

She went to her hands and knees in the grass beside the cafe, gritting her teeth in embarrassment, as she began to do the pushups her new mentor had ordered. She could feel all the eyes at the other tables directed at her, but she tried not to notice. She just wanted to get this punishment done quickly so they could hopefully have a normal conversation the way the other mentors and mentees were.

Phoebe expected the giant warrior to stand over her, looking down like a god from on high punishing an ant. Instead, he crouched beside her, elbows resting on his knees. When she dared to snatch a glance in his direction, she saw that those burning red eyes were following her every move, watching critically as she pushed herself up again and again.

His scrutiny made the situation even harder to bear but somehow she kept going, even though it wasn't easy. She was a thick girl but she was also in reasonably good shape—she'd graduated from the Police Academy just six months before—but fifty pushups felt like a lot. Especially after running as fast as she could for a half mile to make it from the tram station to the café.

Long before she was done with the required pushups, she could feel her arms trembling and wanting to give way but she clenched her jaw and kept going, counting in her head. Forty-seven…forty eight…forty nine…fifty.

When she did the last push-up, she started to scramble up but was surprised to feel a big hand in the center of her back holding her down.

"Stay there for a moment—catch your breath," Commander Sirex rumbled.

So Phoebe had no choice but to stay where she was, flat on her stomach with the short purple and green grass tickling the side of her face as she panted for breath.

"Your upper body strength isn't what it should be," her new mentor observed. "You were fighting to get those last few pushups done. We'll work on that."

Phoebe wanted to protest that she was in good shape and that the pushups wouldn't have been so hard if she hadn't already been running to get there on time…but she remembered his words about not wanting to hear excuses.

"I'll get better," she said, looking up at him.

"Yes. You will." He nodded and withdrew his big hand. Even after it was gone, Phoebe could still feel his heat, like a brand in the middle of her back.

Without asking if she needed help, he took her by the arm and brought her smoothly to her feet. Then he looked her up and down once more as Phoebe brushed the stray strands of grass off her uniform and tried to hide how hot her cheeks were getting. What was it about that burning red gaze that made her feel like a thousand butterflies were flapping their wings inside her stomach?

"Are we going to have breakfast and talk now?" she asked at last, since he hadn't said anything but was only standing there, scrutinizing her. "I mean, like everyone else." She nodded at the tables filled with cadets. Her good friend Jillian was sitting at one of the closest ones with two Twin Kindred warriors and the three of them were talking earnestly.

But Commander Sirex shook his head.

"No, not now. We have something important to do first."

"What's that?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Come with me," he said, not answering her question, and began striding in the direction of the tram station.

"Wait—where are we going, Commander?" Phoebe asked. His strides were so long she was nearly running to keep up with him and stay by his side.

"You don't have to call me ‘Commander,'" he rumbled. "Just Sirex will do. Or you can call me ‘Sir' for short. I know you humans like giving others second names or ‘nicknames' as you call them."

"Yes, Sir," Phoebe said automatically. The name came naturally to her lips but it was more of a title when she said it. It felt right in her mouth though, and she was glad to have something to call the imposing warrior who was now her mentor. If she could keep up with him, that was!

Sir took her back to the tram station and the two of them studied the holographic display which showed all the trams stops and lines. After giving her plenty of time to look the map over, Sir instructed her to turn around and quizzed her on it.

Luckily, Phoebe had an excellent memory. She was able to rattle off the various stops without a single mistake. When she was finished, Sir nodded.

"Good girl—that was excellent," he rumbled approvingly and Phoebe felt a little thrill shoot through her.

I did it right! He's proud of me!

She tried to push the thoughts and feelings away. Of course she wanted to earn her mentor's approval, but it shouldn't give her such a thrill just to complete a simple task he had given her. She was acting like one of the silly girls in the ridiculous romance books she read for fun, but never took seriously.

But she couldn't stop the feeling—it just seemed to come over her when she heard the praise, delivered in his deep, quiet, commanding voice. She didn't have long to savor the sensation, however, because the next thing she knew they were boarding the tram.

"Er, where are we going, Sir?" Phoebe asked as her mentor settled in the very back of the tram in the next to last empty seat.

"To the end of the line. Sit." He nodded at the seat beside him and Phoebe settled on it gingerly, trying not to take up too much room.

Sirex frowned down at her.

"Why are you sitting like that?"

"Like what?" Phoebe asked defensively.

"With your arms and legs drawn in close to your body, all wrapped up in a tight little package." He gestured with one big hand and Phoebe felt her cheeks getting hot with embarrassment.

"Well…because. It's a crowded tram and I don't want to take up too much space," she murmured.

"Straighten up and sit naturally," he ordered. "You deserve to have room to be comfortable. Don't be rude about it but if someone is encroaching on your space, ask them to move."

"All right. Well, the guy beside me is man-spreading pretty wide here," Phoebe murmured, nodding at the way the Beast Kindred warrior beside her had his thighs spread out, taking up part of her leg room as well.

"Ask him to move then," Sirex rumbled, looking down at her.

Phoebe couldn't help thinking that she probably wouldn't have asked such a large, imposing and downright scary-looking guy to move if she was by herself. But since her mentor had ordered her to do it, she tapped the Beast Kindred on the shoulder and said,

"Excuse me—could you please move your leg? You're in my space."

The warrior half turned to face her, a scowl on his face. But then Phoebe saw his eyes flick over to Sir, who was sitting there glaring at him.

"Er, sure. Fine," he muttered and drew his left leg in so that Phoebe had her leg space to herself again.

"Thank you," she murmured to Sirex, who gave her a slight nod of approval. "I probably wouldn't have done that if you weren't with me."

"You'll learn. You have a right to take up space," was his rather enigmatic reply. Then he added, "I suppose you have questions about me. Now is the time to ask. Once we get off the tram, we'll be busy."

"Oh, uh." Phoebe licked her lips nervously. "Are…are you a…a Scourge?" she managed to get out at last.

She was afraid her new mentor might take offense—after all, the Scourge weren't just the enemy of the Earth, they were also the Kindred's number one nemesis. Or they had been, before the Kindred had mostly wiped them out.

But he only nodded and said,

"Half Scourge. My mother was a Blood Kindred. See?" And he bared his teeth, showing long white fangs that Phoebe somehow hadn't noticed before.

"Oh," she said faintly, trying not to stare at the long, curving fangs. "Er…how long have you been an Agent in the Elite Espionage Corps?"

"Ten years," Sirex rumbled. He nodded down at himself. "I got most of these scars during that time. It's not an easy job—or a safe one."

Phoebe lifted her chin.

"That's fine. I'm not looking for easy or safe."

"What are you looking for then?" He asked like he really wanted an answer—as though he was genuinely curious about what she wanted out of life.

"I'm looking for a fair shake," Phoebe replied firmly. "Back on Earth, police work is an extremely male oriented field. I graduated from the Police Academy at the top of my class but I still had trouble getting a place in the department in my home town. Then once I finally did, they had me doing scut work like cleaning the bathrooms. And okay, I understand that everyone has to start at the bottom," she added. "But it was clear I was never going anywhere in that place—there were women who had been working there ten years and were still doing the menial jobs, not actual police work."

"So that's why you decided to apply for a place in the Elite Academy?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because the males on your home planet treated you as an inferior?"

"Yes—I've heard the Kindred don't do sexism," Phoebe said. "Or racism, for that matter. I'm mixed—my mom is white and my dad was black. It can be hard when you don't feel like you fit in anywhere because you're different from everyone around you," she added.

"Yes, it can," Sir agreed, nodding thoughtfully and Phoebe thought he probably knew from personal experience. It couldn't have been easy for him growing up in the Kindred world when he looked so much like their worst enemy.

The tram came to the end of the line before she could ask him any more questions and they got out with the rest of the crowd. Without a word, Sirex started walking.

"Where are we going?" Phoebe hurried to keep up with his long strides.

"To the Garden Levels—the farming platforms where the Mother Ship grows most of her food," he returned. "I have something to teach you."

Phoebe wondered what kind of lesson could be learned on a farming platform, but she followed him anyway because what else could she do?

After walking a long way, they came to a vast open area of the ship that was bigger than an airline hangar. Phoebe's eyes got wide as she looked up…and up and up. There was a thick central column as big around as a building in the middle of the room. From it sprouted many long, curving "arms," each one supporting a vast tract of land where different crops grew.

"Come," Sir said and led her to the center of the enormous silver column.

Once they got there, Phoebe saw there were industrial sized elevators located all around the column, each with broad silver doors. Sir pressed the button for one of them and it opened at once with a silent whoosh of air.

"Top platform. Unglix crop," he said. The doors closed and they rushed upwards so fast Phoebe felt like she'd left her stomach behind on the ground below.

When the door slid open, she saw a vast area about as big as a football field, covered in short, dense, purple vegetation.

Sir stepped out of the elevator at once but Phoebe hesitated. The field was surrounded by a waist-high barrier but that didn't keep her from seeing how high in the air they were.

We must be twenty stories up—maybe more! she thought, feeling dizzy at the very thought.

"Is something wrong?" Sirex asked, frowning as he turned to look at her hesitating in the doorway.

"Er…I'm not great with heights," Phoebe admitted. "They make me dizzy."

She felt like a fool, but Sirex didn't jeer or make fun of her. He only nodded.

"Good. You admit your fear. Now you have to face it. Come out." He held out a hand to her.

Hesitantly, Phoebe took it. She was surprised when her mentor interlaced their fingers and tugged her gently out onto the vast field. He didn't let go once she came out of the elevator either. He kept holding her hand as they walked along the narrow white walkway that ran down the center of the field. His hand was large and warm and Phoebe's heart pounded at the intimate contact with the big warrior she hardly knew.

"Sir, why are we here?" she finally dared to ask as they reached the very end of the field. She was trying not to look over the waist-high barrier to the metal floor, many stories below.

"This is the first of many training exercises we're going to be doing," Sir explained. "But before I can train you adequately, you need to trust me."

Phoebe's heart started pounding.

"Uh, you're not going to ask me to walk along the edge of the barrier or anything are you?" she demanded. "Because I have two answers for that—no and hell no!"

To her surprise a soft rumble of laughter came from her stern mentor.

"No, I won't ask you to trust me that much—not yet, anyway. Though I hope in time we'll reach that level of trust. Right now I need you to listen and obey me."

"Obey you how?" Phoebe asked, frowning. It occurred to her that the two of them were all alone in a secluded area with no one else around. If she had been with a human man, she would have been afraid for her safety right now but she had followed her new mentor here without a single question because he was at least half Kindred and she knew the Kindred didn't hurt women.

But he's half Scourge too and you know what they say about how savage they are—especially when it comes to sex! whispered a panicked little voice in her head. What if he tries something? What if he brought you up here to rape you or kill you? What if ? —?

"What's wrong? Why are you suddenly so intensely fearful?" Sir asked, frowning at her.

"What?" Phoebe jumped and pulled her hand out of his. "What…what are you talking about?" she stammered. "I'm not afraid of you!"

His frown deepened.

"I didn't say it was me you were fearful of. But I think we both know that's true—the question is why?"

"How can you even tell if I'm afraid? Which I'm not," Phoebe said, taking another step back from him. She was edging towards the barrier at the end of the field, but she barely noticed the scary drop below—suddenly her new mentor seemed much scarier.

"Your scent—it changed." He took a step towards her and inhaled, as though breathing her in. "You've been fine all this time we've spent together—why do you fear me now?"

"Because you took me up here all alone and like a fool, I followed you because you're half Kindred," she blurted. "But there's nobody else up here and you could do anything you wanted to me!"

His face, formerly open, grew suddenly closed and hard.

"You came with me because I'm half Kindred but now you're afraid of me because I'm half Scourge—is that it?" he demanded.

"I never said that!" Phoebe denied quickly.

"You didn't have to say it. I can see it on your face—smell it in your scent. You're like a prey animal suddenly fearful of a predator." He took another step towards her and held out a hand. "Now come here and stop being foolish—you're getting too close to the barrier."

"No." She stepped back again, trying to make space between them but her heel slipped on something—some loose gravel that was on the walkway, maybe.

Her feet flew out from under her and with a gasp, Phoebe found herself falling. The metal barrier hit her lower back but did nothing to stop her from toppling backwards. With a breathless scream, she started to fall?—

Only to be yanked forward when Sirex's big hand fisted in her uniform blouse and pulled her back to safety. There was a ripping sound as some of the buttons and fabric parted ways and for a moment she thought the shirt would simply tear all the way through and she would fall anyway.

But then Sirex's muscular arm wrapped around her waist and he scooped her up and cradled her to his broad chest like a baby.

"Oh! Oh my God!" Phoebe panted, clutching at him. Somehow she found her arms were around his neck and she was clinging to her huge mentor even though she'd been trying to get away from him a moment ago.

"Are you all right?" he rumbled and she could feel his deep voice vibrating through her entire body because she was pressed against him.

"I…I think so." She looked up at him uncertainly. Was she safe in his arms? He'd saved her from a fatal twenty story fall, but could she trust him? Phoebe still wasn't sure. She began to struggle. "Let me down!"

"No." He gave her a stern look. "We're going to stand here like this for a while and talk—just talk. I want you to breathe in my scent—it will help you trust me."

"What if I don't want to trust you? Or obey you?" Phoebe demanded angrily.

"Then this mentorship is doomed to fail," he said simply. "Because I can't train you properly if you don't do as I say. If you really can't trust me because I'm half Scourge, then I'll have to ask Commander Sylvan to reassign you."

"I never said it was because you're half Scourge!" she protested.

Sir gave her a level look.

"Be honest with me and with yourself. You've heard the frightening stories about the Scourge sexual practices, haven't you? How they tie their females down and take them roughly? How they demand complete and total erotic submission?"

"I…um…" Suddenly her heart was pounding for an entirely different reason as the latest of those silly romance books that she didn't take seriously popped into her head.

It was a BDSM romance—her favorite kind—and the MMC or male main character had been the Dominant while the FMC—female main character—was his submissive. Phoebe found herself remembering one of the sex scenes where the MMC tied the FMC down and teased and tormented her sexually for hours before finally taking her when she begged him to.

That's not what I want—not what I've ever wanted! Not in real life, anyway, she told herself. But there was no denying that it was her favorite kind of romance—reading about a Dominant/submissive sexual relationship made her pussy wet and her nipples tight. Hell, just thinking about D/s was getting her motor going, but how could that be when she'd been in fear for her life just a moment ago?

Maybe it's his scent—like he said, she thought. Sir did smell amazing—like some dark, exotic spice that was somehow utterly masculine, though she couldn't have said why. It seemed to invade her senses every time she inhaled and somehow she found she didn't mind being held in his arms anymore.

Sirex looked down at her and frowned. He inhaled deeply and his frown deepened.

"Your scent has changed again. Why?"

"Oh, uh…"

Phoebe cleared her throat uncomfortably. Her huge mentor was able to smell when she was frightened—could he also smell when she was aroused? Surely not, she told herself uneasily. And anyway, she wasn't turned on—not even a little bit. Was she?

"Don't you want to put me down?" she asked, trying to change the subject. "I promise I won't run away and I must be getting heavy. I'm not exactly skinny, you know," she added with a self-deprecating laugh.

Not exactly skinny was an understatement—she was a big girl and always had been, as she got reminded all the time whenever she went to see her family. Especially if her stepsister, Kylie was there—that girl could eat all day and not gain an ounce, unlike Phoebe who could gain weight just looking at food.

But Sir only shook his head.

"You're not heavy—you're an Elite. I want to hold you a moment longer and explain something."

"Um, okay…" Phoebe nodded helplessly—she couldn't get away from him without a lot of awkwardness and they were still really close to the barrier, so she decided to hold still. She looked out over the field of dense, purple vegetation, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"Look at me while I talk to you, Phoebe."

His voice was quiet but firm. It surprised her into looking up into his red-on-black eyes. For a moment, she got lost in his gaze and couldn't help thinking that the strange combination was oddly beautiful. Then the prolonged eye-contact got to her and she blushed and dropped her gaze.

"No, look at me again. I want you to see the truth of what I say in my eyes," Sir insisted.

Biting her lip, Phoebe forced herself to look up and meet his eyes again.

"Yes?" she asked, wishing her voice wouldn't come out sounding so breathy. "What…what do you want to say?"

"I want to assure you that I do not act on the urges of my Scourge half," he said firmly. "I won't deny that I feel them, but I would never allow myself to give in to them. That would make me a Broken One and I would rightfully be excluded from Kindred society."

"A Broken One?" She shook her head. "What does that even mean?"

"A Broken One is a male who derives pleasure from hurting females," he explained. "I am not such a male."

He spoke the words so fiercely that Phoebe wondered for a moment who he was trying to convince—her or himself.

"Okay, so you're promising not to…not to hurt me? Not to rape me?" she asked hesitantly.

He closed his eyes for a moment and she saw a look of pain pass over his strong features, but it was there and gone so quickly she almost wondered if she'd imagined it.

"I am," he said at last. "I wouldn't have to give you my word like this if I didn't look so strongly like my Scourge father. But I was raised on Tranq Prime by a Kindred mother and a Kindred family. The Scourge sexual practices are unthinkable to me."

Phoebe began to feel bad for misjudging him.

"Hey, look—I'm sorry," she said hesitantly. "It's just, I've had to be really careful on Earth. I mean, I'm not as much at risk as some girls—I'm big enough to take care of myself." (Though to be honest, being held in her mentor's arms made her feel extremely small and vulnerable in a way she never had before.) "But human guys can still get really problematic."

He nodded.

"Yes, I have heard that many human men are abusive and have no control over their sexual urges."

"You heard right," Phoebe said dryly. She sighed. "Look, it was wrong of me to assume things about you just because of how you look. I guess I'm as bad as the assholes back at the PD where I was working that treated me different because I'm a woman."

"Thank you." He nodded. "And I'm sorry I frightened you, bringing you up here all alone. But I do have a lesson planned."

"Um, okay." Phoebe nodded. "You can put me down and teach me then—if you still want to."

"Yes, I think you're ready now. You seem much calmer and your scent has settled somewhat." He set her carefully on her feet and crossed his arms over his chest. "I want you to walk into the field of Unglix plants," he said, nodding at the dense purple vegetation that covered the field.

"What? But why?" Phoebe frowned in confusion.

"I'll tell you when it's time to ask questions," Sirex rumbled, frowning. "But for now, I want you to learn to obey my orders."

Phoebe wanted to ask more questions but she sensed she wouldn't get any answers. Her mentor was in teaching mode now so she had better get into learning mode.

"Okay," she said and took a step out into the field.

Nothing happened so she took another step and another. She had her foot lifted and was in the act of taking the fourth step when Sirex called,

"Freeze!"

Phoebe tried to do as he said, but she was already in motion. Her foot came down anyway and a puff of bright pink dust sprayed up into the air and directly into her face.

"Ugh!" she gasped, sputtering and coughing as she wiped the pink dust off her face. "What is this stuff?"

"That's Unglix pollen and it's completely harmless," Sirex answered. He was frowning, she saw. "But if we'd been out in the field on a mission, trying to cross a stretch of land laced with mines or destroyers, you'd be dead instead of just coated in pollen."

Phoebe was beginning to get the point of this lesson.

"Okay, but how can you know where I should step or not?" she demanded. "This whole field looks exactly the same." She waved a hand over the vast, uninterrupted landscape of dark purple plants, none of them higher than her calf.

"Maybe it looks the same to you—but I can see the heat signatures of the pollen bulbs hidden under the leaves," Sirex rumbled.

"Wait—you can see in infrared?" she exclaimed.

"When I wish to. My eyes can see all wavelengths of light," he said. "Now start walking again and listen for my commands. Pretend that every pollen bulb is a landmine."

They practiced for another hour that way and when they were done, Phoebe was coated in the pink Unglix pollen. She had only stepped on two more "mines" but one of them had been what Sirex called "a gusher" which sent a spout of pollen fifteen feet into the air. It then rained down on her, getting in her hair and dusting her all over with the tiny, bright pink particles.

"Ugh—how hard is it to get this stuff off?" she asked, brushing at herself when Sirex finally called a halt to the exercise. "Does it stain fabric?" She looked down at her torn uniform shirt which was showing more cleavage than was strictly professional. Well, that was a lost cause anyway—she would have to go ask for a new shirt to replace it, she decided.

"It doesn't stain fabric but I'm afraid you'll have to shower thoroughly to get it out of your hair," Sirex said, giving her a critical look.

"Damn it!" Phoebe muttered. "I was afraid of that."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a problem? Taking a shower?"

"No, of course not. It's more the hair washing part. I just washed my hair last night and it takes forever . Between the washing, the conditioning, the leave in conditioner, and the detangler…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "Never mind—you don't want to know all that. It's just a pain in the butt, that's all."

"I would ask why you don't simply cut it, but I can see why you like to keep it long," he remarked, eyeing her long, curly hair which was pulled back in a ponytail. "It's quite beautiful."

"Oh, er…thank you, Sir." Phoebe found that her cheeks were getting hot and she wondered if he could tell that she was blushing. Probably so, since he could see in infrared, she decided and then blushed even harder.

"Now you're embarrassed. Would you prefer it if I don't compliment you when we work together?" he asked seriously.

"No, Sir," she said quickly, without thinking. "That is, I find compliments very, er, motivating," she added, trying to explain. "Much more so than criticism."

"I'll keep that in mind," he murmured thoughtfully. "You must be hungry by now so let's go get something for Mid Meal."

"Er…could I stop by my suite and change and try to get some of this out of my hair first?" Phoebe asked hopefully. "I could meet you at the café or wherever you want to go afterwards."

But Sirex shook his head.

"If you really had stepped on a landmine or a destroyer, you would be living with the consequences for the rest of your life— if you lived at all, that is. "You can live with the Unglix pollen until the end of the day."

"But my uniform shirt! It's torn and I don't look professional at all!" Phoebe protested, nodding down at her exposed cleavage.

Her mentor's burning red eyes dipped down and lingered for a moment on her breasts, then he looked away.

"Very well—this time only I'll allow you to change," he told her. "But you'll have to make it quick and meet me back at the Twin Moons café at noon exactly."

"I can do that," Phoebe promised. "If we hurry!" She was already heading towards the elevator as she spoke, looking back over her shoulder at him.

"Good. Then let's go—the next tram will be at the station soon."