Breeding Ground Part 15

He frowned. She sighed.

"Peac.o.c.k, look-I don't know what's happening!" Alex ran ten agitated fingers through her long, golden hair. "Probably nothing."

He looked as unconvinced as she felt. "But...?"

"I keep having these weird dreams about some...man." Her forehead wrinkled. "At least I think they're dreams." And I think he's a man.

Lt. Williams was quiet for a protracted moment, and then, "You think they are dreams? What the h.e.l.l do you mean by that?"

Alex shook her head. "I don't know," she murmured. "They have to be dreams, but they are so vivid, so real."

"Lots of people have dreams that feel real, Al."

True. And that knowledge was the only barrier standing between downright panic and her current state of mere apprehension.

Alex blew out a breath. "You're right." She rolled her eyes and smiled. "I guess I'm just on edge because I'll be exploring Zala without you three tomorrow. And then there's that d.a.m.n 'noon repast' with Fija et al. After that-"

"Whoa! Back up. You plan to go looking around without us? What happened to your promise?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "Remember...safety in numbers."

Her eyes narrowed. "I'm not breaking our promise," she said firmly. "We are safe inside Zala, at least until after that luncheon. Don't ask me how I know that-I just do! Anyway, I think it'll be easier for me to poke my nose around the village without you three in tow. Given the way of life here, there are probably places males aren't allowed to enter, and it doesn't help our objective for me to run into complications like that. I want to find out as much as I can about this place before that d.a.m.n lunch tomorrow."

Peac.o.c.k grunted. "Okay fine. I still think we should go with you, but I see your point so I'll let that part go for now. But the other part...why do you think we might not be safe after that lunch?"

She shrugged, genuinely unable to answer that. "G.o.d only knows what will happen after these other warrior women get a look at me. They could accept me as one of them or..."

"...make you a sacrifice to one of their G.o.ds," Peac.o.c.k muttered, finis.h.i.+ng her sentence for her.

"Right."

Their gazes locked and held. "Peac.o.c.k," Alex intoned, "you are more than a second in command to me. h.e.l.l, you've been like family these past several years-the only family Robert, G.o.d rest his soul, and I had."

He nodded. "The feeling's mutual."

"I promise you I wouldn't even entertain the idea of looking around alone tomorrow unless I was one hundred and ten percent positive that nothing will happen to me or the three of you in the doing." She waved his concern away when he looked ready to retort. "What's got me worried is that lunch. And, more specifically, this whole Alexandria the Great business."

"The messiah you told us Fija spoke of?"

"Exactly. I want to make certain I don't say anything tomorrow that makes me look like a heretic. If I can find a library, or the Takuri equivalent thereof, then hopefully I can read up on their beloved Alexandria the Great...and on all the things not to say."

He frowned, but conceded the point with a drawn-out sigh.

"All of our livelihoods are at stake here," Alex said with gentle patience. In this moment, she wasn't Commander Frazier issuing an order. She was a woman who wanted her longtime friend and colleague to see the reasonableness and necessity of her plan. "Otherwise, I wouldn't bother poking around downtown Zala tomorrow morning without you guys."

Silence.

"All right," Peac.o.c.k slowly drawled, "but since you're going through the trouble, I think you should read up-if possible-on more than their savior."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I can't live like this." He released a slow, measured breath. "I just can't, Al. There has to be someplace else we can go."

Her smile was sad and full of understanding. She knew Peac.o.c.k would rather be dead than exist as little more than the equivalent of a slave. So would John and Vlad for that matter. They were men from a different era, a different world altogether. Men who had been important and influential once upon a time.

"I know," Alex murmured. "Don't worry. We'll leave here one day soon and begin again-with our own set of laws and moral codes. But before that can happen, you know I need to find out as much about our new environment as possible. If we leave here beforehand, it's just a matter of time before all of us become food to predators we didn't even know existed."

"Agreed. And that's why none of us have said anything about this little detour into h.e.l.l."

They trusted her, their leader, to find their way out of Zala and steer them toward a new life. Alex would be d.a.m.ned if she'd let them down. "And I appreciate that trust."

Peac.o.c.k glanced away, back toward the red-black sky. "I hope you find something tomorrow, something useful. I'm ready for the detour to end."

"Me too," she a.s.sured him. She sighed as she fell back onto the bed. "Me too."

Chapter Nine.

The next morning, Alex walked down the main street of Zala, her thoughts fully trained on the task at hand. She needed to find out as much about the Takuri-and their enemies-as possible. She had left Fija's dwelling at the crack of dawn with that agenda in mind in order to do what it was she did best-explore alien terrain.

The fortress nestled high into the metallic mountains was small, compact and looked to be well populated. The sector's perimeters, which were heavily flanked by jutting pikes and female guards, secured an area of terrain that was jam-packed with trading stalls, temples fas.h.i.+oned from silver and obsidian metallic ores, and homes for those who couldn't afford the more secured catacomb dwellings.

The red-tinted sky contrasted greatly against the gleaming dark structures, lending a brooding mysteriousness to an already eerie landscape. It was a sight she wouldn't have been surprised to see on any planet but Earth.

The sound of voices snagged her attention, so Alex c.o.c.ked her head to the right. A group of females, most likely teenagers, lazed around on the wide steps of a learning temple. They were sprawled out in a leisurely semicircle around an older woman who had to be their teacher. The females were all naked, indicative of the casualness and familiarity of the situation.

"Who should like to recite 'Scroll Three, Verse Seven' from the Book of the Dead Prophets? Go on. Raise your hands now."

"I know it, Milady! I know the answer!"

Alex watched and listened with interest as a teenage girl shot to her feet at the teacher's nod, her apple-sized b.r.e.a.s.t.s bobbing up and down as she stood. The girl looked more than eager to show her knowledge off to her fellow students. Alex noticed, of course, that no male students were in the learning temple. Fija had mentioned earlier this morning that it was against the Fifth Sacrament of Takuru for males to be formally educated.

"Behold the Mighty One," the girl began, her voice as clear and booming as her stance was proud, "for She is the Giver of Hope and the Voice of Freedom. Behold the Great One for She is the Deliverer of Justice and the Avenger of Tyranny. From the belly of the terrible xandor beast the G.o.ds did birth the Protector of the people. A mortal. A human. A warrior-queen."

"Excellent!" the teacher praised. "You shall do well on the morrow's quizzing session, Leaz. Now who should like to answer the next question?"

"I would! I would!"

The teacher nodded to a pretty dark-skinned girl who eagerly took to her feet. "Good then, Ma'qari. Here is the question I put to you. According to the Seventh Sacrament, what proof have we that the male of our species is biologically inferior to the female?"

Ma'qari smiled as her shoulders straightened, obviously pleased that she knew the answer without having to give it much thought. "That's easy, Milady. The answer, naturally, is because they do not bleed."

"Excellent, Ma'qari," the teacher praised. "Your mother should be proud."

Ma'qari inclined her head. "The bleeding cycle of the female is in time with the moon cycle which is in time with the very universe the G.o.ds created. The G.o.ds blessed the female with the ability to self-cleanse, a superior attribute that lower animals, namely the gentle-minded male, lack."

"Pitiful," another girl said on a snort. "And to think some of their breed lobby for equal rights under the Sacraments of Takuru. They should feel fortunate those superior to them wish to care for them at all. What they ask for is profanity to all that's holy! The G.o.ds have decreed us their betters and so it is."

Alex lifted an eyebrow, bemused by the conversation. Males, females-apparently it didn't matter who was in power. The ruling camp would always find a way to legitimize the belief in their superiority.