Angela Verdenius (9 page)

Squiggy nodded.

“The treasure?”

Squiggy nodded.

“The treasure the Narc Military seized?”

Squiggy nodded.

“The treasure we’ve been looking for?”

Squiggy nodded.

Cujo stared at Molly.  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means she’s the trea-”

“I know what that means.  What I want to know is, what does it
mean
?”

“I think both my brains are getting a headache.”

“No.  Listen.  You don’t understand.”  Scratching his head, Cujo dislodged the tie at his nape so that his hair spilled over his shoulders.  “How the hell can Molly be a treasure?”

“You just said she was Amirov’s treasure.”

“Yeah, and he’s going to rip both our balls off if he finds out we have her.”  Cujo shook his head in frustration.  “Wait.  Forget that for now-”

“I don’t know about forgetting me. All four of my balls are withdrawing already.”

“Forget your damned balls.  What we need to figure out is what kind of treasure Molly is.  What she means to the Narc Military.”

“Molly is an artefact.”

“That’s poor taste.  She’s not that old.”

“No, you fool,” Squiggy said in exasperation.  “Molly is a five thousand year old artefact from the Old Earth.”

Cujo laughed.

“Seriously.”  Squiggy folded his arms.  “Come on, Cujo.  You know I wouldn’t have dragged her into a cabin and taken her with us unless there was something about her you wanted.”

Cujo looked thoughtfully at the bountiful breasts pressing against the pale blue jacket.  There was something piquing his interest all right, but now wasn’t the time to think about it.  Give him another five minutes and he’d be thinking lustier thoughts, but first he had other concerns.  Namely Amirov, Molly, her presence here, and whatever the hell his partner was babbling on about.

Sighing, he leaned one shoulder against the wall at the foot of the bunk, folded his arms, angled one ankle across the other and looked at Squiggy.  “Okay, explain this to me from the beginning.”

“Metlar got in touch with me.  Told me he’d got a delayed antennae message that there was an archaeological find on Old Earth by The Universal Technology Anthropologic College.  Apparently the find was seized by the Narc Military.  He managed to tune in to the professor in charge of the excavation and probed his mind, got all the information and pictures and stored it here.”  Squiggy pointed above his head to where Metlar’s antennas would roughly be situated.  “While he was withdrawing, he heard people enter the professor’s rooms, a struggle, then everything went black.  But he picked up enough from the voices to know that the professor’s mind was going to be wiped clean of memories of the entire excavation and Molly. He withdrew completely so that his presence would not be felt, and when he tuned back later to do some polite probing there was no trace of any memory of Molly in anyone’s mind.”

“Really?”  Cujo flicked a glance back at Molly.  “No traces of anything?”

“Apparently Molly doesn’t exist to anyone now but the Narc Military, and even then I’d bet she only exists to those on the Narc Military Research Space Station.  There’s no mention of her anywhere, on any computer or anything.  Molly is a five thousand year old woman from Old Earth who, indeed, shouldn’t exist at all.”  Squiggy took a deep breath.  “That’s it.  She’s the treasure.”

Cujo scratched his head.  “She’s in fine shape for an ancient female.”

“There’s a reason for that.”  Squiggy crossed to the computer screen in the far wall and keyed instructions.  “Now these pictures are directly from Metlar’s antennas.  He got them directly from the professor’s memories and tuned them into our computers for us to see.”

Crossing to stand beside Squiggy, Cujo watched the scene unfolding before him.

Lights flared on in a dim cave.  Closer study showed it to be the ruins of a room, but not much was left standing.  Ice was on the walls, everything frozen.  Rock fall was everywhere, covering the floor and lying up against a tank of clear ice.  And in the ice was a figure, a breathing apparatus coming from the face. 

The picture changed, he found himself looking through the ice at a blurry face.  Dust still covered the ice, and it was a miracle that the glass tank had stayed intact.  Snippets of the professor’s excited thoughts sounded, disjointed but enough to allow him to piece things together.

The legends are true!  This is the woman upon whom an experiment was done.  Would’ve worked, too, except for that earthquake, according to the legends.  It brought down a whole city, and the survival of this place is a miracle.  According to our data, she lives still.  In hibernation.  Those of Old Earth would have had no idea that the earthquake had allowed the M26P8 gas to blast from the bottom of the shaft below.  They didn’t have any knowledge of the M26P8 gas, didn’t know of its existence or hibernating power.  It’s literally frozen the woman, held her in suspension while feeding nutrients to her body, keeping her alive but unconscious.  Now we just have to get her to the ship and-

The professor’s thoughts were interrupted, a sound of angry and surprised voices, and then Captain Amirov strode into the light.  And surprise surprise, he just took over, ordering everyone back, seizing the find in the name of the Narc Military.  The tank was surrounded by a Life Support Pod and taken away.  The professor was left empty-handed.  And the rest, as they said, was history, including any memory of the archaeological find of the century.  Molly was wiped from every mind that had had anything to do with her.

“So what do you think?” Squiggy asked proudly.

“That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen,” Cujo replied.  “Now what the hell do we do?”

“My thoughts exactly,” said a voice behind them.

Cujo and Squiggy whirled around to see Molly sitting on the side of the bunk.  Her face was pale and she looked ill.

Hurrying to her side, Cujo knelt down before her and took one cold hand in his.  “You’ll be all right in a minute.  Squiggy, get the tonic.”

Squiggy hurried out of the cabin.

“I feel really…sick.”  Molly rested her forehead in one palm.

“For a five thousand year old woman, you’re doing all right.” Cujo grinned.

Molly peeped between her fingers.  “What are you smiling about?”

“Well, you’re not the kind of treasure I had in mind.”

“No kidding?”  She winced.  “What treasure?”

“Well, I was sure the Narc Military was hiding treasure of some kind.  You weren’t it.”

“I doubt Amirov or that bunch of dickheads think I’m any kind of treasure.  A pain in their arses, a challenge to their protocol, but definitely not a treasure.”

Arriving with the glass of tonic, Squiggy handed it to Molly.  She took a sip and grimaced.

“Drink it all up,” Squiggy instructed.  “It’ll help you feel better.”

Molly took a deep breath, pinched her adorable, turned up nose, and chugged the lot down until the glass was empty.  “Hells bells,” she gasped.  “That’s nasty!”

“It’ll do the job,” he assured her.

Cujo patted her hand.  It was really soft and small.  He liked it. 

Warily, Molly looked at both of them.  “Neither of you seem disbelieving or freaked out over my…uh…age.”

“Trust me,” Cujo said, “we’ve seen stranger things than you.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“I mean,” he hastily amended, “it’s a big universe out there, and we’ve seen a lot of strange things.  We’ve also seen things that you probably wouldn’t think were possible.  You look great for your age, by the way.”

Molly grinned faintly, a little colour back in her apple cheeks.

He stroked her hand with his thumb.  “So.  You and the Narc Military.”

“Yeah.  Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?”

He gave a bark of pure amusement.

Molly studied him closely.  “You’re not like the others.”

“The others?”

“You know.  Calm, cool and collected.”

“You mean like Ironsides and his cronies?”

“Exactly.”

“There are many species living out there in space.  Many customs.  My mother’s side of the family are not as stiff-necked as the Major’s species.”

“You’re half of a different species?”  Molly didn’t look alarmed, in fact, her eyes sparkled with interest.

“Yep.  I’m from the lower end of the humanoid scale.”  Cujo grinned widely.  “I have some surprises that you don’t know about.  I could show you, sweet Molly.”  Leaning forward on one knee, he purred, “I could show you some things, all right.”

Squiggy cleared his throat.

“Go away and come back later,” Cujo began, his hand resting on Molly’s thigh.  “I’m going to educate sweet Molly here -
ow!
”  He stopped when his hand was slapped away.

“Back off.” Molly’s expression was annoyed.

“But, sweet Molly, you have no idea what you’re missing out on!”

“I’m sure I can wait.”  Standing up abruptly, she almost knocked him over.  Ignoring him, she turned her attention to Squiggy.  “You’re different to those I know so far.  Oddly enough, one of you is just like the jerks back home.”  She narrowed her gaze at Cujo before looking again at Squiggy.  “But you… I don’t mean to be rude, but what are you?”

Squiggy puffed himself up importantly.  “My name is Squigmaous Marcetek; I am from Cetek and I am Cujo’s trusty partner.”

“Squiggy’s mother is a whore, his father unknown, he’s half Cetek and half something else.”  Cujo dusted his hands off.  He looked at Squiggy, taking in the hairy arms, tipped ears, and long, thin snout. “And he’s my most trusted friend.”

Squiggy grinned.  “Cujo’s mother is a whore, the friend of my mother, incidentally, his father’s the stiff-necked Major, Cujo is the bad egg of the family, and my trusted friend.”

Cujo and Squiggy knocked elbows and grinned at each other.

“We grew up together,” Cujo informed Molly.  “Now we work together.”

“Oh.”  Molly said.  “Okay.”

Silence fell on the cabin as they all looked at each other.  Cujo suddenly thought how lonely Molly looked.  Uncertain.  But then she squared her shoulders and said, “Time for me to go.”

Cujo followed her from the cabin, his gaze watching her hips sway deliciously before he reluctantly dragged his attention back up.  Skipping in front of her, he turned to face her, stopping her in her tracks.  “There’s a little problem with that, sweet Molly.”

“I’m not staying here with you,” she returned tartly.

“Right now, there’s not much choice.  You see, sweet Molly, you boarded my ship, got stunned because your body pattern wasn’t in the security system, Squiggy put you in the spare cabin and we left the Narc Military Research Space Station.”

She looked blankly at him.

“We’re in space,” he explained.

“And?”

“In space,” he repeated.

“I’ve been in space since I was revived.”

“Not that kind of space.  You’re on my ship, we’ve left the Research Station and we’re in space.  In my ship.”

Awareness replaced the confusion on her pretty face.  “Oh.”

Grinning widely, he leaned against the wall and gazed down at her.  “So saying, there’s only the two of us.  All alone.”

“Three.”  Molly jerked her thumb at Squiggy.

“Well, yes.”

Squiggy rolled his eyes.

“But,” Cujo leaned forward, enjoying the widening of her big blue eyes, “he can take over flying while I…entertain…you.”  Oh yes, he could entertain this curvy cutie, all right.  He could eat her right up.  Eat being the lusty word.

“Your eyes are gleaming,” she stated, a trifle nervously.

“Sign of lust,” Squiggy informed her.  “Comes from his mother’s side.”

“Lovely.”  Placing one hand on Cujo’s chest, she pushed him back.  “Take me back to the Research Station.”

“Well, there’s a little issue.” Cujo’s gaze drifted over her hungrily. 

“Look, there’s no issue.  I didn’t mean to come aboard.  I was exploring a little, having a walk without the usual guards-”

“How did you escape your escorts?”

“Never mind.  I found myself on this deck full of ships, saw what I now know is your ship, and thought it was okay to have a peek.  I didn’t expect to get knocked out and dragged aboard.”

“Trust me, I didn’t expect it either.”  Cujo’s gaze lingered on those luscious lips.  “Have a little argument with your sweetie?”

“Sweetie?”

“Old Ironsides.”

Molly’s gaze shifted, a blush rising in her apple cheeks.  

Oh ho!
  “Ironsides
is
your sweetie?” Cujo studied her closely.

“I don’t know what the hell he is,” she returned a trifle tartly.  “And neither does he.”

Cujo looked blankly at Squiggy.  Squiggy shrugged, the tips of his ears sagging slightly as they always did when confused.

“So can you please take me back?” Molly queried. 

Cujo scratched his chin.  “I’m not supposed to go back to the Research Station.”

“Why not?  You on a mission for them?”

He laughed.  “No.  I was tossed off.”

“Didn’t meet the criteria, huh?”  That sad look was in her eyes again.

That sad look touched his rogue’s heart in the way nothing ever had before – well, apart from his pet teffiekat.  Cujo loved his teffiekat.  Right now his teffiekat was no doubt lying back on his cushion in Cujo’s house, being spoiled by Cujo’s housekeeper.

Molly didn’t look spoiled.  She looked like she had the weight of the universe on her shoulders. 

Coming up beside her, Cujo slid his arm around her shoulders.  “Had a tough time lately, huh?”

“I have no family alive.  No friends.  I’m not the ideal woman in this universe.  Amirov… I’m just an artefact that is a problem.”  Molly sighed.  “I should be grateful to be alive, I know.  But I’ve never been so lonely.”

Cujo felt like kicking Amirov’s iron arse.  “Did he tell you that?  That you’re not the ideal woman?”

“Not exactly.”

“Let me tell you, sweet Molly, there are places in this universe where you’d be considered the height of female perfection.”

She looked up at him.  “Really?”

“Definitely.”

Her eyes narrowed.  “Such as in your bed?”