Chapter Three

K ris scanned the food and wasn’t able to eat anything, so she sipped at the water, which was the only safe thing to consume. She was glad Theera had brought the food earlier.

“What does the ring look for?”

“Allergens. Things my body reacts to in a violent manner. I thought space would have less of them, but unless I keep myself vigilant, I am always one strange meal from disaster.” She smiled. “The best food for me was on Yasku’s world. There was only a small amount of food that would set me off.”

“How many Hmrain have you met?”

Yorness spoke up. “Four in my service. All had human consorts, or I would not have brought Harwin and Kris with me.”

Essan asked, “Why not?”

“I know a compatible being when I meet it. Harwin and Kris were both Hmrain compatible.”

“There was another one?”

Yorness chuckled. “Yes, she is off on an archaeological dig on Aten, and Kris and I negotiated a private contract for her to continue as my bodyguard. We get along well.”

Kris sipped at her water. “In our way.”

Yorness hissed in amusement.

Essan looked at Kris. “You are going to tour this world?”

“I am going to start locally. Merchant Yorness believes it would be handy or, at least, educational.”

“Many of the things she has put on your agenda would involve extensive travel.”

Kris smiled. “It is the best part of this job.”

“You are comfortable roaming a world alone?”

“No, but I will manage it.” Kris shrugged. “I am sure it will be interesting.”

Yorness snorted. “I am going to send her off with my nephews. Perhaps she will find one of them appealing.”

Kris paused and looked at her. “You are matchmaking?”

“Well, child. You are powerful and alone in the universe. I really want you safe and happy. I also have gotten used to having you close. It gives me comfort in my old age.”

“Um, interesting, but I still want to see Harwin one day. That will involve travel, and your people don’t travel.”

Yorness sighed. “It is unlikely that you are going to get authorization to set foot on Aten.”

“I will contact Harwin directly. We know how to get around customs if we have to.”

“How will you get there?”

Kris smirked. “A chain of six different transports and a drop shift if I have to.”

Essan blinked slowly. “She is a relative?”

“Chosen sister. We were crushed together, we were mutated together, and we recovered together.” She shrugged. “We were even designated as a work pair.”

She looked at Yorness. “Our lives and deaths were together. Her mind took the change and did one thing, and mine called fire.”

Essan filled her cup again. “How did that happen?”

“Wrong setting for wrong species on a repair unit. The same tech set both units. It was to be set for the Terran glyph. It wasn’t. We were told it was a near name, but that species doesn’t have these skills. I think they just wanted to find out what it would do.”

She took a sip and blinked. “That isn’t right.” She scanned the liquid, and it didn’t alert.

Yorness blinked. “It is evening wine. Made from natural syrups. You aren’t allergic?”

“Um. No. Alcohol tends to filter things. It removes some of the compounds that set me off.”

Her boss nodded. “That’s why you get drunk so easily.”

Kris grimaced. “Some places, it is all I can consume, and it has extra calories if nothing else.”

Yorness hissed in amusement. “It brings out her dance skills.”

Kris muttered, “It lowers inhibitions. Which is not really a good thing.”

Her boss hissed again. “It is wonderful to watch.”

Kris looked at her. “It is dangerous.”

Her boss shrugged, her green scales gleaming. “It is lovely. Oh, Overseer, I have a gift for you. Well, this one wasn’t delivered to the palace.”

Kris looked at the impish look in the old woman’s eyes. A servant walked in with a two-foot box.

Kris hissed, “Where did you hide that?”

“I bribed the crew, dear. It is my move, as you say.”

The box was handed to Essan, and he set it on his knees and opened the latches. He swung the doors open, and light illuminated the statuette inside.

Kris hissed. “You had the box illuminated?”

“The engineer was bored. He had fun with it and said it deserved the best packaging.” Yorness was amused.

Essan looked into the box and tilted his head. “You posed for this?”

“No! There was an artisan with drones in the area, and he decided that I matched his aesthetic.”

Essan looked from the statuette to her and back again. “This was you?”

“Yeah, you can tell by the lack of scales and spikes.”

He smiled. “You use ribbons of fire.”

“Uh, I can.”

“He captured it perfectly.”

Yorness smiled. “He wanted to mass produce them as a new dancing goddess, but Kris melted them. All but this one.”

“He withdrew the statuette?” Essan chuckled. “I wouldn’t have. It is stunning. Grace, threat, and ecstasy all in one small figure.”

Kris grimaced. “You are missing the two litres of alcohol that was in that dance. It wasn’t visible but very important.”

Yorness hissed in amusement.

Essan nodded and closed the box. “It will go into my private collection. Thank you, Yorness.”

Kris looked at the box, and heat filled her palm. Essan looked at her. “Do not even think about it.”

She blinked and let the flame in her palm dissipate. “Fine. Overlord.”

He snorted. “How did you know?”

“That you were an elder? Your eyes flared every time we mentioned Aten. So, I am guessing there is an elder there.”

“Our prototype. He was sent out to see if we would be welcomed. Due to his beauty, we were.” He smiled. “After that came Kethen, myself, and a few others.”

“Kethen has his marks carved into him.”

Essan held the case carefully. “I have mine as well, but I have gold rubbed into them for festivals and the arrival of other Hmrain.”

“That’s what his harem is for,” Yorness spoke softly.

Kris chuckled, and heads turned toward her. “Sorry. My chuckle is rough. My laugh is worse.”

Essan arched his brows. “You find the idea of my harem funny?”

“No. It is common enough in your kind. Group energy is better than no energy.”

He frowned. “Just so. I also have power from my family. That is a passive draw of energy.”

“Interesting. I hadn’t considered that. The Hmrain I have met don’t have extensive families.”

“I have two hundred descendants. They alternate having males and females so the populations don’t cross.” He smiled. “Yorness has only females. Her cousin Avengy has only males. Strict records are kept.”

“Good.” She sipped at her watered wine or wined water. “So, I am guessing the original bloodlines stem from your original children?”

The family was looking at them with cautious smiles.

Essan nodded. “There were four. Yorness is off the Kavenesh’s line. There were Miscaleth, Remiara, and Helbornen lines as well. They were all my children and lived to be five hundred. The next generation four hundred, three hundred, and now, Yorness is two hundred, and I hope she will see decades more.”

Yorness said softly, “My family keeps me young.”

Kris made an intuitive leap as she stared at her boss. Yorness looked determined. “Oh, wow. You want me here to protect them.”

Yorness quirked her lips. “I thought you would have figured that out earlier today.”

Kris shrugged. “It took me a while to recover from the shot I needed after the reception meal.”

“I thought we had gotten everything.”

“Nope. My immune system and allergen sensitivities are no joke. I am frankly amazed I have survived this long.” She smiled. “While I would love to remain here and take care of your family, I am fairly sure I would be dead within six months. I can be killed with the wrong salad.” She snorted. “I am not sturdy enough for Kifessan. Maybe something with a containment suit.”

Yorness looked upset. “No! I want you here. You need to be here!”

Kris was concerned, and she touched her friend’s scaled hand. “Hey, I am here now. I am meeting your world.” It was one of the only flares of elderly panic that Kris remembered in her own grandmother.

Yorness took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Right. You are here. Maybe our physicians can help you.”

“You have doctors? I thought everyone here was all artsy-fartsy.” The words didn’t translate, but the wiggling fingers seemed to get the description across.

Yorness snorted, and Essan sighed. “She can see the physicians at the palace. They are good with alien physiology.”

“Great. I am busy tomorrow and think we will be done by evening. So, the next day?”

Essan got to his feet, tucked the statue under one arm, and pulled her to him with the other. “What about now?”

He lifted her off her feet, spread his wings, and launched skyward.

It was a precarious grip, but the lights of the city were gorgeous. She tried to focus on the positive. The palace was glowing with light, and he slowly descended and landed. Servants came from all directions, and he handed the box to a male in armour. “That is to go into my personal gallery.”

He began to walk, and the crowd parted. “We are heading to the physician’s office.”

A slim male nodded and sprinted down the halls.

“He’s going to warn them?” Kris muttered.

“He’s going to make sure the exam room is empty for you.” Essan walked casually through his home.

She had one hand braced on his shoulder, and he just carried her down the hall like a vase. His wide-legged loose trousers flared with every step, and she caught the occasional glimpse of his feet.

Kris asked, “So, Overlord, why did you focus on art?”

“I find it relaxing, and the species I brought in enjoyed it, so first, they were settled, then they were productive, and now, they are artistic. Science is already getting its own time, and I believe that your issues can be analyzed and corrected.”

“There is a complication.”

He hissed softly. “Don’t ruin the surprise.”

There was a heavily guarded gateway, and he walked through it with nods to the guards. On the other side was another archway that led to a seriously decked-out med centre. “Wow, you weren’t kidding.”

He chuckled with no trace of a hiss in it. “It has been a while since I have been able to actually act as a host without a gaggle of servants doing the work.”

He set her next to one of the analyzers and smiled. “You need to shuck out of that suit. The armour will interfere with the readings.”

She shrugged and opened the shoulder closure, peeling it down and off. When it was off, she made sure it was turned out correctly before she set it on a chair.

She pointed at the analyzer while Essan covered his smile with his fingers. He lifted his chin. “Yes, that one.”

She moved and settled into the machine, pulling it closed and gripping the handrails. Analysis hurt.

“Deep breaths, and stay as still as you can.”

She said, “Yup. Start it up.”

The pain was immediate. Tissue, bone, and skin samples were taken immediately. There was a numbing injection, but her body didn’t like it, so she had to breathe shallowly until it was over.

When a needle entered her ear, she tried to scream, but only a choking sound came out, and then the pain was over. Brain tissue. This was a thorough exam. Just as she was thinking that she was invaded from below, and tears seeped from her eyes as the ovarian sample was withdrawn via a needle through her vagina. Tears were flowing freely when the unit released her from hell a minute later. It had taken everything.

Essan wasn’t looking at her. He was facing the display. “That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”

She moved slowly and didn’t answer. There was a stack of what looked like medical wraps that she headed toward. Essan hadn’t turned to look at her but chuckled. “Look, you are resistant to painkillers. Oh.”

As he looked at her, she was pulling on a robe with shaking hands, bent over as her abdomen cramped wildly. “No shit.”

Tears were still falling, and he said, “Get into the repair unit.”

She tied the sash and said, “I can’t. I can’t lie flat. My body is going to be cramped up for the next half hour, minimum.”

“What is causing the problem?”

“It took a sample of my ovary. That involved a very long needle, some aspiration, and puncturing a lot of soft tissue. Well, they have everything except my teeth, and if they try getting those, I am going to fight.”

He frowned. “The analgesic gas and numbing agent should have taken care of it.”

“Don’t work on me. Whatever they mixed me with has a lot of resistance.”

“You should have said.”

“I didn’t know what kind of analyzer it was. By the time I figured it out, pain was firmly in control.”

“You should have called out.”

“I couldn’t.” She waddled over to the chair where her suit was and slowly got herself onto the seat. She let out a low groan and sighed as her body stopped clenching when her legs weren’t in use.

“This isn’t a situation that I have been in, and I have been in the world for quite some time.”

“Yay, you.” She closed her eyes as a wave of pain went through her. The cramps were lessening, but they made her so happy that she had gotten an implant to stop her periods. They had been brutal.

He crouched in front of her. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Does Kifessan have laws against hitting a Hmrain?”

He smirked. “It does.”

“What about lighting one on fire?”

“That comes under the bodily harm laws. Sorry.”

“Then, you are useless right now.”

He paused, nodded, then got up, and went into some kind of cubicle. He came back with a hypo gun and walked up to her. He pressed it against the back of her neck, and the heat in the injection startled her.

“What was that?”

“It will help you heal.”

“But what was it? If I am allergic to it, things are going to get ugly.”

He pressed a warm hand on her back, and her muscles stopped twitching. She grabbed his free hand and pressed it below her navel. The heat helped, and she groaned. “That’s better. Hey, there was something you could do after all.”

He crouched next to her. “You are cold.”

“Pain brings shock; shock brings cold.” She swallowed. “Okay, I can make it to the repair unit.”

“Give it a minute more. We are not in a rush, and I don’t sleep much.”

She nodded, and his head was very close to hers. She cleared her throat. “So, you have a lot of descendants.”

“Yes, but only the females can reproduce. If the males did, the entire planet would be awash with them.”

Kris smiled slightly. “Yeah, they can get more than one female pregnant per year.”

“With a Hmrain sex drive, if their partners were receptive, they could get one an hour.”

“Right. Okay. That makes weird sense. How do the guys react when they find out that their contributions to society are limited?”

“Hmrain are attractive to any number of species. They generally find someone to commiserate with.” He chuckled.

“Why does your species have hair?”

His smile was wicked. “So my partners can hang on while my tongue slithers inside them.”

She frowned. “Are you attempting to flirt with me?”

“Yes. How is it working?”

“I have to ride something with Yorness’s family tomorrow, and it isn’t going to be you.”

He laughed softly. “I will help you into the repair unit.”

She nodded. “I will let you do the heavy lifting so I don’t trigger a spasm again.”

Essan nodded, and together, they got her into the repair unit without any additional issues.

She lay back, and the radiation selected for her fused physiology began to play over her. She closed her eyes, and the aches and pains slowly melted away.

* * * *

E ssan smiled at the slight nasal wheeze coming from the repair unit when it finished its work. She was asleep, but the unit did indicate a very active histamine response. He let the physicians into the lab area and softly explained what was going on. There wasn’t an allergist on sight, but that would be rectified by morning.

He looked at the readouts and shook his head. Her body had one defense against the incursion of alien factors, and it was using that to hurt her. The allergies that she spoke of were not unknown to his world, but they were rare.

She was witty. He had not expected her to be unafraid. Her pyrokinesis was enough to strengthen her confidence, but the source of it was not what she thought. He recognized the pathways that had been structured. He saw them in his own scans. It may have been a crewman who activated the machine that rewired her and her friend, but it was no accident. The coding was that of the designers. The same beings who randomly designed Hmrain and sent them into the universe had begun tinkering with survivors of Earth.

He doubted that Kris and her friend were the only ones, but they were the most obvious. What were the designers up to?