Page 28 of Kidnapped from the Paradise Resort

Frowning, Kara opened the door and found herself face-to-face with Brother Feex.

Her personal attendant had a sullen scowl on his face and his shoulders were slumped forward. His hair—which had been braided the day before—was loose and hanging in his eyes today. He reminded Kara of an angry teenager who didn’t want to do what he was told.

“I was ordered to come up here and offer to show you the resort since you didn’t get to see it yesterday,” he muttered. “So come on.”

“No thank you,” Kara said. She had no wish to be alone with the sullen attendant. “If you could just tell me where the pool is, that will be enough for me. Oh, and maybe show me how the fireplace works?” she added.

“Sure, I guess I can do that,” he muttered grudgingly. “It’s not hard—you just have to push the button. Look.”

He pushed his way into her suite and stomped over to the fireplace. Reaching under the mantle, he found a hidden button that Kara had missed. When he pressed it, a crackling flame sprang to life in the empty fireplace.

“Oh, thank you!” Kara exclaimed. She really was happy to know how to turn on the fire—the suite was just a little bit chilly and besides, a fire was so nice, especially in the evening.

“You turn it off the same way. Need anything else?” Brother Feex demanded. “Want me to scrub you in the tub?” he added, giving her a look that was somewhat more interested.

Kara realized that her robe had come open, showing her body under the thin white nightgown she was wearing. Hastily, she snatched it closed again and shook her head.

“No, nothing else—just tell me where the pool is and you can go.”

“Yeah, okay. But are yousure?”Feex took a step towards her and Kara suddenly realized how much taller and bigger than her the attendant was. He was nowhere near J’orn’s size, but he was still considerably larger and no doubt much stronger than she was. “’Cause I don’t mind washing you if you want to get naked,” he added, his red eyes gleaming.

“No thank you!” Kara said more forcefully. “I’m absolutelynotinterested. Now please leave my suite!”

She pointed at the open door and glared at him, giving him the full force of her stare.

At first she didn’t think Feex would back down. He took another step towards her, his creepy red eyes narrowing with anger. Then, abruptly, he turned away.

“Fine, be that way,” she heard him mutter. Then he stomped out of the suite, slamming the door behind him.

Kara hurried to lock the door and then gave awhew!of relief. For a moment she’d been absolutely sure he was going to attack her! Maybe sheshouldask for a different attendant. But hadn’t Father Gobash said he was going on vacation? Who would she talk to?

With a sigh, she decided if she saw anyone in charge she would mention that she’d like to change attendants, but for now she was going to enjoy her vacation.

After a hot shower and a delicious breakfast of Eggs Benedict courtesy of the Thought-cooker, she decided to put on her swimsuit and find the pool herself, since Feex had never told her where it was. Wrapping a towel around herself, she headed out of the suite.

She ran into a few other women with their attendants but no one seemed to be in charge so she said nothing about Feex. Eventually she found the pool—it was outside the main building, though still within the tall pink walls of the resort.

Kara felt a happy thrill of excitement tingle through her as she surveyed the pool. It was a beautiful rectangle of pale, clear purple water surrounded by tall white pillars and ringed by cushioned reclining beach chairs. The perfect place to spend the afternoon—if she could find some sunblock.

She chose a recliner and put her towel down. Then she walked around to the self-service area which consisted of five different Thought-cookers all lined up on a marble bar. There was a single monk attendant in a green robe but he was staring idly into the distance.

“Excuse me?” Kara said to him. “Uh, do you have any sunblock here?” She knew she couldn’t stay out under the sun as she wanted to without some protection.

“Sun block?” The attendant frowned stupidly. It occurred to Kara that so far all the attendants she’d seen were either extremely inexperienced and naive like Brother Nono, or sullen like Feex, or not too bright like this one. What in the world were the hiring practices like here?

Of course, maybe she was being too hard on this particular attendant. The Paradisians had shiny golden skin—probably they just reflected the sunlight back and didn’t absorb any of it to cause sunburns.

“It’s a kind of lotion that has chemicals in it to protect your skin from sunlight,” she explained. The Paradise Prime sun was beaming down even as she spoke.

“Anything like that from your home world that we don’t have here, just use the Thought-maker,” the attendant told her. He nodded at the last machine on the marble bar and Kara saw that it was, in fact, slightly different from the other four, which were presumably Thought-cookers. This one was black instead of white and quite a bit larger than the others.

“Does it work like a Thought-cooker?” she asked the attendant.

He nodded.

“Yeah, but it makes non-food items. Anything you want—just picture it.”

Kara wasn’t sure if she could get a decent sunblock lotion that way or not. After all, she didn’t know the chemical composition of sunscreen—she could only picture what it felt and smelled and looked like. Still, it was better than swimming with no sun protection at all.

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