Dragon in the Dark (Kindred Tales)

EIGHTEEN

“Hi, doll, I’m Kat.” A full-figured woman with auburn hair grinned as she entered Rarev’s office and held out a hand. She was a bit shorter than Iyanna, but then most women were.

“Oh, hello.” Iyanna took her hand and returned the easy, open smile on Kat’s face. “Er, thank you for coming. I guess you’re going to help me decide what to wear on Lix’dor Prime?”

“Nope—I’m going to make you a whole new Lix’dorian wardrobe. With the help of this.” Kat held up a sleek silver briefcase, about the size of a portable sewing machine.

“Um, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you’re really fast, but I’m supposed to leave in two hours,” Iyanna told her. “I don’t think you’re going to have time to sew me a whole new wardrobe in that time. Maybe one new outfit, but not a whole wardrobe.”

“That’s true—I wouldn’t have time if I was sewing. But I won’t be sewing it,” Kat said cheerfully. “I’m going to plug my handy-dandy little machine here into the Outernet—it’s kind of an information superhighway used by the Kindred and other sentient species—and let it do to all the work for me. And it’s going to be done fast enough to get you where you’re going.” She turned to Commander Rarev. “Where can I set up, please? I need a private room with a connection to the Outernet.”

“There’s a room attached to my office where my mate, Emilia sometimes dresses that should give you all the privacy you need,” the Monstrum commander told her. “It has a 3-D viewer as well. And thank you again for coming. Commander Sylvan told me you’re an expert in these matters.”

“It’s my job to be an expert,” Kat said, smiling. “Come on, doll,” she added to Iyanna. “Let me get set up and get your measurements.”

Iyanna followed her, trying to walk normally. While she’d been sitting, the swelling pleasure/pain between her legs hadn’t been quite so bad. Now that she was standing and walking again, however, it was once more extremely uncomfortable. Wincing, she wished there was something she could do about the problem before she went on the mission. But it looked like she was just going to have to bear it.

The silver briefcase turned out to unfold into a machine that looked like a kind of 3-D printer to Iyanna. Once Kat had it hooked up, she took Iyanna’s measurements—not with a tape measure, though—she pointed a blunt nosed scanner at her and pulled the trigger. A bright beam of blue light shot out of it.

“Now just hold still,” Kat instructed. “We wouldn’t want to get your measurements wrong.”

Starting at the top of Iyanna’s head, she scanned her thoroughly all the way down to the soles of her feet. Then she sat on a chair in front of the silver machine and pulled out a pair of haptic gloves. She made a few gestures in the air, and a screen and keyboard—both made of light—appeared.

Iyanna watched, fascinated, as Kat typed rapidly and pictures and articles began to fly across the lighted screen.

“That’s amazing!” she murmured. “Is it all Kindred technology?”

“Yup and we recently got an update—the gloves and light screen and keyboard are new and I love them.” Kat smiled at her and went back to the screen. “Hmmm…” she murmured as she scanned the articles rapidly. “Okay, looks like you’re going someplace pretty tough, doll. Apparently on Lix’dor Prime, the only rights a woman has is the right to please her man.”

“That’s pretty much what Chief Commander Rarev told me,” Iyanna said. “Do you think I should be worried?”

“Well let me ask you this,” Kat said. “Is that big devil-looking guy with the horns I saw leaving Commander Rarev’s office going to be your partner?”

Iyanna nodded.

“Actually, he’s a Drake warrior. I don’t think he really wants to be my partner on this mission, but he’s the one Commander Rarev assigned to me. And he did offer me his, uh, oath of protection,” she added, remembering Dra’vik’s blazing yellow eyes as he knelt before her and swore to guard and defend her.

“Then no, I don’t think you have to worry a bit,” Kat said comfortingly. “Anybody who would mess with him has a death wish. And he might not want to go, but if he swore an oath to protect you, then you can bet he’ll keep his word. Kindred are extremely loyal.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” Iyanna murmured. She wished she could admit to Kat that she already knew the big Monstrum—well, in a manner of speaking—but that would no doubt lead to some very awkward questions and she didn’t want to explain the sexual history between herself and Dra’vik.

At least I know his name now, she thought, as she watched Kat work. The auburn-haired woman was already printing outfits for Iyanna to wear. All of them seemed to be made of the same kind of silky, filmy material and they were bright, jewel tones. Crimson red, eggplant purple, indigo blue, and emerald green outfits all came flying out of Kat’s sleek, silver machine which was so fast it almost seemed to be producing them out of thin air.