Page 16 of Scales of Time

“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.

* * * *

Essan 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?

Chapter Four

Kris woke up in a comfortable bed and recognized the window and door layout. She was in the guesthouse. The light outside was pale, but morning was definitely on the way.

She sat up and saw an outfit laid out for her. A thicker bodysuit than the day before in a nice sedate green with a matching drape for the front and back with a sash for the waist. She took a quick solar shower and re-braided her hair. The stupid stuff grew ridiculously fast, and braiding it was the only way to keep it under control.

She checked herself out in the mirror before she headed out to the main house in search of breakfast. Her ring was ready for action.

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