Sylvan shook his head. “I am sorry, Six but I don’t see how the High Council would feel that way. We know the history of the Dark Kindred—we’ve seen what you do to the planets you conquer. Though we are at war with Earth, we do not wish the inhabitants ill. And if your people were allowed to eradicate all emotion on the planet, it would become next to impossible for any of our warriors to form soul bonds with the Earth females.”
“That is exactly the problem we have here. Yes we have, yes we have,” Yipper interrupted. “Mei-Li was injected with a new emotion blocking serum I have been working on. We need your help to reverse its effects.”
“I will be happy to help if I can,” Sylvan said. “But though I am a trained physician, I have never had much experience with such things. How does it work?”
“It bonds more or less permanently with the emotion receptors in the brain and blocks them off. Yes it does, yes it does.” Yipper didn’t look happy about it, not that the word “happy” really meant much to Mei-Li anymore. “It makes the subject completely unable to experience emotion ever again.”
“I hate to say it but if it works as well as you say, there doesn’t seem to be much hope,” Sylvan said. “What do you want me to do?”
“I am hoping to show Mei-Li something that will somehow break through the blockage in her brain. Yes I am, yes I am,” Yipper said quickly. “She was only injected a few hours before. It’s possible the block hasn’t completely formed yet.”
“And if there’s any hope to break through it, it has to be now,” Six finished for him.
“What kinds of things do you wish to show her?”
“Those who are dear to her—loved ones, cherished friends. Anyone from her past that she has strong emotional ties to,” Yipper said.
Sylvan sighed. “Again what you’re asking is extremely difficult because of the war. All of Mei-Li’s people are down on Earth and there’s no way we can bring them up here.”
“What about communication over a viewscreen?” Six asked. “I know she has a father—she spoke about him. Also a good friend called Claudia. Can they be contacted?”
Commander Sylvan looked thoughtful.
“It’s possible. Mei-Li’s father is on the World Council—he might be willing to speak to us if we told him his daughter is back. And I’m sure he would have the political clout to get her friend to speak to her as well. Let me see what I can do.”
“Thank you, Commander. And please—hurry.” Six spoke so urgently that Sylvan raised one eyebrow.
“Forgive me for saying so, but I thought your kind was without emotion. Yet you seem very concerned with Mei-Li’s emotionless state. I would think that she would be the perfect match for you now.”
“She would be if I was still in an emotionless state myself,” Six said. “But I began to feel for her almost from the moment I saw her in the first dream we shared. I know that now. Or at least, I can finally admit it. The longer I was with her, the more I felt. And now she is everything to me. Everything.”
Sylvan nodded. “Spoken like a true Kindred. Of course I will do everything in my power to help you.”
“Thank you Commander.” Six nodded briefly. He took Mei-Li’s hand in his and looked into her eyes.
She looked back blankly.
“Please,” Six said again. “Hurry.”
* * * * *
Six supposed it was too much to hope that seeing her friends and family from the past would bring Mei-Li back to him. And yet he did hope, for it was the only hope he had—the only slim sliver of light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.
Gods, his emotions kept getting stronger and harder to deal with! He hadn’t wanted them to stop when he was falling in love with Mei-Li. Now he wished he could turn them off for a little while, at least until this crisis was over. If it ever was over. But that was not an option. He could either feel everything or nothing and right now, feeling everything was overwhelming.
He watched anxiously as the huge viewscreen they had mounted across from her bed in the med station flickered to life. On it was an older Earth male who was almost Kindred size with distinguished looking gray hair. This must be Mei-Li’s father. She looked nothing like him, of course, but that was not surprising as she was not really his biological daughter.
When he saw her lying quiet and still in the bed, the older male’s eyes widened.
“Mei-Li? Punkin', is that you? Are you really back safe?”
“I am back.” Mei-Li’s voice was flat and emotionless.
“Sweetie, are you okay?”
“I am physically well,” was the cold reply.
“Physically well? What does that mean? And why are you talking like that?” her father demanded. “Like…like some kind of a robot?”
Six cleared his throat. “Unfortunately, Mei-Li has been injected with a serum that blocks emotions. We were hoping that seeing you would help her to break through the block and recover her feelings.”
“What? You did what to my little girl, you bastard?” The older male’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Six. “You’re the one who took her, aren’t you? You’re the sonofabitch who kidnapped my Mei-Li in the first place.”
“Well, technically Six was within his right to claim Mei-Li and take her for a Claiming Period,” Commander Sylvan said, as diplomatically as he could. “But—”
“But nothing, Commander Sylvan. You see, this kind of thing is why we declared war on you alien bastards! You steal our daughters and then you hurt them!”
“Senator, please—Mei-Li has not been physically harmed and we are doing everything in our power to restore her emotions,” Sylvan said.
“I want her returned to me now. I don’t trust you bastards one bit!” Mei-Li’s father roared.
“I am afraid that will be impossible. Yes it will, yes it will.” Yipper, who had been standing out of view of the viewscreen came forward. “Mei-Li’s condition is very delicate right now and we have a limited window in which to reverse the effects of the serum. We need to keep working on her here in the Mother Ship.”
“What the hell are you?” the Senator snarled. “Are you the one who did this to my daughter you hairy little freak? Answer me!”
“Senator Hastings, please…” Six rose and approached the viewscreen. “Yipper is a Tolleg—one of the finest natural surgeons you will find anywhere in the universe. And he is not responsible for your daughter’s condition—I am. I was unable to save her from this fate. If you must blame someone, blame me—not Yipper or the Kindred of the Mother Ship.”
“You’d better believe I blame you,” Senator Hastings roared. “I’ll have you skinned alive the minute I get my hands on you, you big bastard. Hell, I’ll do it myself and the Geneva Convention be damned!”
“Senator, please,” Sylvan said. “This isn’t helping! I called you for two reasons—one of them was to have you speak to Mei-Li and try to evoke an emotional response from her.”
“Well that obviously isn’t happening. Look at the way she’s looking at me…” The Senator gestured and there was a catch in his voice. “She…she’s broken inside somehow. Look what you’ve done to her…to my sweet, beautiful little girl…”
“The second reason,” Sylvan went on doggedly. “Is to warn you. According to Six, here, there is a large battalion of ships coming from Zeaga 4, the Dark Kindred home world. They have Earth in their sights and—”
“So you decided to bring in reinforcements, did you?” Senator Hastings snarled. “Didn’t think you could handle us on your own, did you? Well that’s all right—no matter how many you bring the people of Earth will fight! You—”
Sylvan sighed and shook his head. “I’m afraid this is doing no good,” he said in an undertone to Six. “Perhaps we should try Mei-Li’s best friend—she is waiting on another channel.”
“Perhaps.” Six nodded with a heavy heart. He had been hoping so desperately that something Mei-Li’s father said would get through to her. But for all the older male’s shouting and emotion
, she had reacted not a bit.
“I’m sorry, Senator, but we appear to be losing our connection,” Sylvan said. “Please believe me when I say that we are doing everything we can to help your daughter and we will keep you updated on her condition.” He made a motion and the angry red face of Mei-Li’s father was suddenly replaced by a woman with creamy brown skin and high cheekbones. Six knew she must be Mei-Li’s best friend and supervisor at work, Claudia.
“Mei-mei?” she looked at Mei-Li with wide eyes. “What happened to you? Where are your glasses? Are you all right?”
“I had new lenses which correct and improve my vision implanted over my corneas at the Z4 medical barge,” Mei-Li said robotically. “And I am physically well, thank you for asking.”
Claudia frowned and then looked at Sylvan. “What’s going on? Why is she talking like that?”
Rapidly, Sylvan explained what had happened to Mei-Li and what they were trying to do. “So we need you to try and provoke an emotional response from her,” he ended. “Please do the best you can.”
Claudia took a deep breath. “All right, here goes. Mei-mei, do you remember Sylvan Jenkins? That little girl who came to the emergency room because…”
She spoke at length about happenings at work, other coworkers, and the children who were under Mei-Li’s care.
Six watched eagerly as she talked, trying to see even the faintest flicker of emotion from Mei-Li. But though she clearly understood everything her friend said, none of it made any kind of emotional impression. No matter what Claudia talked about or how heartbreaking or happy her news was, Mei-Li clearly felt nothing.
At last, after talking for a solid three quarters of an hour, Claudia stopped in the middle of a sentence.
“This isn’t helping, is it?” she asked flatly. “I can see it in her eyes—she’s not feeling anything.”
Six sighed. “I am afraid not.”
“I am sorry, Claudia,” Mei-Li said in her new, emotionless voice. “I remember you and all of the encounters we shared at work. I just…cannot feel anything about you or work or my clients or anything. I am…numb inside.”
“Does it hurt?” Claudia’s lovely brown eyes brimmed with tears. “Are you hurting, Mei-mei?”
Mei-Li shook her head. “No, I feel nothing. Please don’t concern yourself or let yourself get emotional about me—I am physically well.”
“But you’re not yourself anymore.” The tears slipped down Claudia’s cheeks now though she tried to blink them away. “You’re not you.”
Mei-Li shrugged her slim shoulders, apparently unmoved by her best friend’s tears. “I am fine. I have no concerns or complaints.”
“Well, I do.” Claudia looked at Six fiercely. “How could you let this happen to her? What’s wrong with you? You don’t have feeling so you didn’t want her to have any either?”
“Six is trying to cure Mei-Li of her emotionless state,” Sylvan said, stepping in.
“No, she is right.” Six ran a hand through his hair. “I take full responsibility for Mei-Li’s condition. It is all my fault but I…” He shook his head. “I cannot think of any way to fix it. To fix her.”
Mei-Li looked up at him. “Why should you wish to fix me? I am perfectly fine as I am. I have no complaints.”
Her responses were so like his own, before he’d started feeling, that Six had to look away from her.
I was like that for so many years—I felt nothing. Lived a colorless existence until she came into my life and taught me to care. And now I wish I could stop caring but I can’t…I can’t and it’s too late. Too late…
The haze of guilt and sorrow was so thick around him that Six could barely think. Dimly he was aware that Sylvan was thanking Claudia and promising to keep her informed of Mei-Li’s condition.
“We thank you for trying to help us,” he heard the other male say and then the viewscreen went dark.
Six risked a glance at Mei-Li and saw that the blank look was still on her face. He felt like he couldn’t look at her anymore, couldn’t stare at that cold, emotionless expression one more minute or his heart would explode.
“Yipper,” he said thickly. “I…cannot bear this. I want you to make another batch of the emotion blocker serum—for me.”
“No, no, Six!” protested the little Tolleg. “Losing your own emotions again is not the answer.”
“But I cannot stand this—seeing her this way and knowing I am to blame.” Six ran a hand through his hair distractedly. “I would much rather join her in the emotionless state than continue to feel this pain and know there is nothing I can do to stop it.”
“There may yet be something.” Yipper frowned and began rummaging in the huge pouch he had brought with him. “I have a device that might be modified…yes it might, yes it might… Commander Sylvan, if I may have a spot to work in?”
“Will this do?” Sylvan cleared several pieces of equipment off a rolling tray table and pushed it toward Yipper.
“Yes it will, yes it will. Thank you very much!” The little Tolleg set to work at once, his long hairy fingers moving nimbly. He appeared to be connecting two long, flexible metal tubes together with sensors and wires.
Sylvan watched with interest. “What are you making?”
“Originally these were consciousness sensors. Yes they were, yes they were.” Yipper spoke as he worked. “We used them to test the new tube-grown organic warriors before implanting their emotion dampers. Sometimes there is an error in the growth process which results in an incomplete cognitive development. Such errors must be caught and remedied. Yes they must, yes they must.”
“But how can a cognitive tester help Mei-Li?” Six demanded.
“I am modifying this one to show emotions as well as cognition. But not just to show—to share. Yes I am, yes I am.” Yipper’s long fingers flew faster and faster. “See these lights?” He pointed to two dark disks at either end of the flexible metal contraption. “When both are lit, it will indicate that two conscious states are joined as one. What one knows and feels, the other will know and feel.”
“So…you’re making a device that will enable two people to share thoughts and emotions?” Sylvan asked.
Yipper nodded, his long ears flopping. “Yes I am, yes I am. Though Mei-Li cannot feel her own emotions, if Six can share his with her, the block in her brain may be broken.”
“Do you really think it might work?” Six began to feel a small spark of hope.
“I hope it may, I hope it may,” Yipper said earnestly. “There…” He stepped back. “I am finished, yes I am, yes I am. But I am afraid there is no time to test it.”
“That is all right. Let’s just try it.” Six sat on the edge of Mei-Li’s bed. “How does it work?”
“Lie down beside her and get close, that should help,” Yipper directed.
Six did as he was told, lying down beside Mei-Li and curving an arm around her slim shoulders. She lay passively in his grip, as though it made no difference to her if he touched her or not.
Goddess, Six thought. Please let this work. Please… He didn’t know if he was actually praying or simply hoping but the words felt right in his troubled mind.
“All right, all right…” With Sylvan’s help, Yipper lifted the long, flexible tubing with its wires and lights and sensors and brought it carefully to the bed. When he had it about a foot from them, the two light disks illuminated and began to glow a soft blue.
“What’s happening?” Sylvan asked. “It hasn’t even touched them yet.”
“Well, when I bring it close enough, the lights show that there are two conscious beings in close proximity to each other. Yes they do, yes they do,” Yipper explained. “When they are joined, the lights will turn green, indicating shared thoughts and emotions.”
“What if there was only one person near it?” Sylvan asked.
“Then only one sensor light would illuminate. Do you see, do you see?” Yipper held the device up to Sylvan’s waist which was as far as he could reach on the tall Ki
ndred. When he did, only one of the blue sensor disks lit up.
“I see. You’re quite an inventor, Master Tolleg.” Sylvan nodded respectfully.
“Thank you, thank you.” Yipper nodded modestly. “Now let us see if this will help.”
He hopped nimbly up on the other side of Mei-Li’s bed and brought the device close to her and Six. Immediately both disks lit up with a soft blue glow.
“How does it fit? Do you need to implant some wires?” Six asked. He didn’t care about the pain himself but he didn’t want Mei-Li to be hurt. He drew her closer to his side, protectively.
“Don’t worry, Six. The device is non-invasive. Yes it is, yes it is. I simply need to curl one end of it around the back of your neck…like this…” The Tolleg curved one end of the flexible metal tube loosely around Six’s neck and shoulders as he spoke. “And the other around Mei-Li’s. Sit up, Mei-Li if you please, if you please.”
Mei-Li sat up passively and then relaxed back against Six’s arm when the device was in place. As soon as she did, the sensor disks changed color from blue to green.
“Now…” Yipper rubbed his hands together. “Your two minds should be connected. Yes they should, yes they should.”
“And…what do I do?” Six looked at the device wrapped around both himself and Mei-Li uncertainly.
“Just feel, Six! Let the emotions you have suppressed for so long come forward—let Mei-Li feel everything you do. The more intense the emotions, the more likely they are to have an effect on her.” The little Tolleg made a quick motion with both hands. “Go on, go on…”
“Very well.” Six took a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he tried to open himself completely to the feelings he had avoided for so many years.
Mei-Li, he thought, hoping she could hear him. Mei-Li, I feel for you…I feel for you so much.
Six? The mental voice was so soft that at first he wasn’t sure he was hearing it. Then it came again, a little louder. Six? Is that you?