The Marine's Queen (11 page)

Not sure why he did it, Joe caught the sparkling droplet on his fingertip. A bolt of powerful energy shot through him. He staggered away from Callie, confused and stunned by the lightning pulsing along his nervous system.

“
Joe?” Callie reached a hand out toward him.

His penis rose with a painful, urgent arousal as every muscle in his body tensed. Joe lifted a trembling hand to ward her off.

“
Joe?” Callie repeated, but with a stern tone.

His chaotic thoughts settled a little. “What the fash happened?”

Callie smiled, a mixture of amusement and sadness that caused a funny twinge in Joe’s chest. “You’re just discovered the reason we crashed here.”

* * * *

Joe’s momentary lapse ended quickly. He hid his surprise behind the stoic mask he usually wore.

“
Sit with me, Joe.” Callie walked over to the half-finished wall of the newest barracks. It was too high for her to sit upon, especially when the recent shedding of a tear had left her legs weak.

She turned, planning to at least lean against the stones, but then Joe’s hands closed on each side of her waist. She yipped in surprise as he lifted her to the top of the wall. He hopped up easily beside her. Callie allowed herself a moment to admire his physical prowess.

Joe didn’t say anything, looking at her with a patient stillness that always made her feel a bit guilty.

Where to begin? How much did Joe know about the world outside his ordered military life? “Giroux, my home world, is a tiny insignificant planet with few people and limited natural resources. We have small amounts of valuable ore, but no mines full of precious gemstones.”

Callie looked away from Joe for a moment. She’s always accepted her rare gift as just that, but explaining it to someone who knew nothing of it made her wonder if it would appear … freakish.

“
Over a century ago, one of the few scientists who bothered to visit our unimportant settlement noticed how healthy our people were and their long life span.”

Joe looked down at his finger that had touched her tear, but still he didn’t speak.

“
My ancestors managed to hide their secret for a while, but eventually someone from the ‘outside’ found out.”

“
Your tears?”

“
They contain a chemical that heals, invigorates, sustains health and can even prevent illness.”

“
Your people were forced to…?” Joe gestured as he tried to form a question.

“
No. Only the women in the royal lineage produce the Giroux Elixir, sometimes called Space Dope.”

Recognition flashed in Joe’s eyes. “Space Dope is used to prevent space travel malady.”

“
You’ve used it?”

“
No. We’re not prone to that ailment, but I’ve traveled with Galactic ministers and commanders who take it.”

She should have guessed the genetically engineered marines would have the proper makeup to avoid such a crippling illness. The prohibitive cost of Space Dope might have prevented them from receiving it even if they needed it. “Giroux’s economy depends on the income we receive from the sale of the elixir.”

Joe stared at his finger again. “It hasn’t been reproduced synthetically in a laboratory yet?”

Callie wrapped her hand around his finger. He lifted his gaze to hers.

“
Sorry. You got a straight doze. We dilute it by nearly one hundred to one before we sell it.” She pulled his hand to her lap, finding comfort in the feel of his strong callused fingers interlocking with hers.

“
That makes you very valuable.”

“
Quite. The man I pick for my king will have access to a vast fortune.”

Joe expression darkened. “You must cry to produce the drug?”

“
Yes. The strongest concentration of the chemical is produced when my tears are caused by joy.”

“
Joy?” Joe leaned away from her, his gaze searching her face. “You cry when you’re happy? Do you make sport of me?”

“
They’re the best kind of tears. They come from the heart, from all this is good and wonderful about being alive. They come from love so tremendous, it overflows.”

Joe looked doubtful. “Still, you must cry.”

“
Yes.” She could almost see the wheels turning as he thought it over.

“
What makes you cry these tears besides … joy?”

“
The usual things anyone cries about.”

“
I’ve never cried.”

“
Not even as a child?”

“
It was a weakness.”

Callie didn’t press, not sure she wanted to know more. “I cry when I’m sad, sometimes when I’m in pain and even if I laugh too much.”

“
What is to stop someone from capturing you, torturing you, and collecting your tears?”

She shrugged. “Nothing protects me but the laws of the Galactic Constitution, my faithful friends and subjects, luck and a bit of craftiness.”

“
And why you crashed here?”

“
Since I’ve come of age, numerous attempts have been made to kidnap me. Making me a bride, no matter how reluctant, would probably protect my kidnapper from sanctioning.”

“
Someone was chasing your ship?”

“
We managed to lose them, but they’d fired on our ship. They wanted to disable us but caused only minor damage. Unfortunately, we couldn’t escape the meteor belt that sent us into the gravitational pull of this planet.”

“
They’ll search for you.”

“
I know.” Callie hopped off the wall and looked up at him. “But then again, they might never find us. I’m not going to put the lives of my friends on hold until they do.”

Joe jumped off the wall, giving her a questioning look.

“
Joe, we’re going to build the first colony of Giroux. Someday, someone will come to this world and they’re going to find a thriving civilization. It’s time we get started.”

* * * *

“
I can’t believe how much we’ve accomplished.” Callie lifted her braid off her neck and let the cool air flow across her skin.

“
You mean how much they’ve accomplished,” Yalo corrected. “They’re engineering geniuses.”

Callie agreed. The men had used various gadgets, mechanisms and other parts from the two useless space craft to create heating and cooling units for all the buildings.

“
Riba is moving into her place right now, and Grace should be able to do the same tomorrow,” Yalo continued.

“
And when will your place be completed?”

Yalo sighed. “I still think I should stay with you.”

“
You didn’t sleep in the same room with me at home. I’m as safe here as I was there, maybe even more so. You need your own place.”

“
I need to protect you.”

“
What does Vin need?” Callie smiled when Yalo’s face turned red. Did her friends think she was blind to the way they’d paired off with the marines?

“
I … I should explain.” Yalo stuttered.

“
Explain what? That the two of you have become close? That you finally found a man you respect?”

Yalo looked miserable. “You’re still my queen and my first responsibility.”

Callie laughed. “Your relationship with Vin is more than I could have hoped for. We’ll be here forever. We need to build a life, make families and produce children.”

Yalo’s color deepened.

Callie put her hand on her friend’s arm. “Just like we use the boarks for transportation and all these alien foodstuffs we’re living on, we have to use the resources available.”

“
I don’t think of Vin as a resource,” Yalo said after a short silence. “I’m not using him.”

“
You’re not?” Webb asked as he joined them on the bench beneath the air duct.

Callie didn’t appreciate the doctor sneaking up on their private conversation.

Yalo glared at him as she stood up. “What’s between us is none of your business.” She stomped away, slamming the door as she went out into the afternoon heat.

Callie turned her own glare on Webb. “It really isn’t your concern.”

“
But it is, Queen of Giroux.” Webb smiled at her. “Do you think I only dedicate my practice to the physical ailments of my charges? Not that I have much to worry about that lately with no battles to fight. And of course, we have a producer of Space Dope in our midst.”

“
Did Joe tell you about my gift?”

Webb laughed. “Joe? Tell me something? You mistake my relationship with our stoic commander if you think he shares information with me.”

“
But you’re part of his recon team. How else would you know?”

“
I know because I’m a doctor. I studied the chemistry and history of the Giroux Elixir and the queens who produce it as part of my medical training.”

“
I didn’t know that.” Callie didn’t like the idea that so many across the universe knew her family’s secret.

“
Now, about my relationship with the marines.” Webb’s normally jovial expression saddened. “I only wish I was part of their unit. I was assigned a tour of duty with them by the Galactic Military Council.”

“
Assigned?”

“
I certainly would never have asked for it,” Webb answered with a humorless smile. “Their previous two physicians had both died in the field. I’d angered someone on the council, and here I am.”

Webb’s eyes took on a faraway look. “I was quite frightened. The recon marines’ main job is to be the first to invade. I won’t go into details of what they do.”

“
Do all military units have their own doctor?”

“
These marines are very expensive creations,” Webb answered with a touch of irony. “Their physician is required to attend them on the battlefield, or bunker, or when boarding an enemy vessel. Very dangerous work.”

“
You survived.”

“
Only because I learned the cause of my predecessor’s demise. I almost didn’t make it through my first mission.”

“
You could duck better than the other doctors?”

Webb’s expression hardened at her attempt at humor. “No. I refused to obey my superior’s orders, therefore I survived.”

“
I don’t understand.”

“
These genetically manipulated men are valuable, as I said, but only if they can perform their function. If they can’t fight, they’re useless.”

“
But….”

Webb held up his hand, shaking his head. “Joe and the others were made from carefully selected genetic codes. In order to design a superior fighting organism, they needed more than physical endowments. Intelligence, creativity, self-confidence, leadership and all those things necessary to be a recon marine.”

The doctor rubbed his hand across his face as if wiping away a memory. A haunted look remained. “The marines were watched closely. Part of my job was to secretly report on them.”

“
Report what?” Callie asked softly when it seemed Webb wouldn’t continue.

The doctor made a helpless gesture with his hand. “Any signs of discontent. Any deviation from an assignment. The tiniest indication of thought beyond fighting and dying for the Galactic Council.”

“
And did you?”

“
There was nothing to report. At first. Then we landed on some little moon, I can’t remember its name, and encountered heavily armed pirates. The bandits had killed all the miners and their families. Joe’s men drove them out with little trouble except one of the marines was wounded.”