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Helan positioned him so that he was facing Astra.
Thorden guessed what Helan was planning and gleefully grabbed one of his
own favourites, a generously rounded girl named Della, and pushed her in front
of Darv.
"Now, Darv and Astra," said Helan. "I want you to release your gowns."
Darv and Astra exchanged puzzled expressions but did as Helan --
requested. Their clothes slid to the cold stone floor. They stood naked before
the assembly, staring back unflinchingly at the circle of gaping faces.
"Dammit," Thorden choked. "They are child--'
"Do you mind being naked before all these people, Darv and Astra?" Helan
cut in.
Darv hesitated but Astra chipped in. "No why should we?"
"Quin," Helan commanded. "Drop your tunic."
The giant moved nearer to Astra and stood grinning down at her. The
buckle on the belt around his waist was level with Astra's eyes. His huge
fingers plucked at the buckle and his uniform fell to the floor. There was a
silence in the gallery; all eyes were upon the giant naked guard -- his supple
skin gleaming in the poor lighting. He leaned back -- proudly thrusting out
his pelvis until it was nearly touching Astra's face.
"Well, Astra?" inquired Helan.
"I don't think I've ever seen anything so ugly," said Astra truthfully.
"Are all the men like him?"
The guard looked faintly annoyed. Helan waved him aside and gave Della a
curt instruction. The girl complied. She released her gown. It slid to the
floor. She smiled encouragingly at Darv who was gazing in some bewilderment at
her full breasts and puckered nipples.
"What do you think of Della?" asked Helan.
Darv didn't know what to think. The girl and the sight of her body seemed
to awaken a yearning in him that troubled and puzzled him. He had seen Sharna
and Astra naked often enough but he had never before felt such a strange
emotion as he was now experiencing.
"Quin and Della are about the same age as you two," said Helan coldly.
Yet I am sure you will agree that there are significant differences between
you and them."
Astra and Darv remained silent, unable to think of anything to say that
would detract from the truth of Helan's statement.
"Do your companions on the Challenger look like you, or like Della and
Quin?" Helan pressed.
"Like us," said Darv' tearing his gaze away from the beautiful girl
standing before him. "Just because we don't look exactly the same as you
doesn't mean . . . I mean. . ." He groped for the right words. "We're all
different heights and different weights. It doesn't mean that we're not human
beings."
Helan gestured to Della and Quin to get dressed and leave the centre of
the circle. The guard gave Astra a parting scowl before returning to his
station near the entrance to the gallery.
Helan resumed her questioning. "Do you know what babies are, Astra?"
Astra nodded. "Of course. We have pictures of them and of ourselves. We
were all babies once."
"But how do you have them? How do they come about?"
Thorden was irritated by the way that Helan was running what was rightly
his show, but he remained silent. Although he was careful never to show it, he
was a little scared of his cold-blooded chief executive.
"No," said Astra after a long pause. "I don't know how babies happen.
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It's something I've always wanted to find out more than anything else, but so
much information is missing from the Challenger's library." She looked
hopefully at Helan. "Do you know? Will you tell me?"
Helan broke the silence that followed. "The mother ship owned by these .
. . creatures will be useful to us. It may contain clues as to the whereabouts
of this wondrous planet Earth and give us the means of reaching it."
"And conquering it," Thorden added.
Helan moved closer to Darv and Astra and stared at them, her eyes burning
with loathing. "As for its owners . . . They no longer understand their ship
for they cannot tell us where the Earth is. There can no longer be any doubt
that they are not human. They must be dealt with accordingly."
* * * *
Astra was crying. There was nothing Darv could say to comfort her. They
were sitting side by side on a wide bunk -- the only fitting in the small,
windowless cell apart from a television sensor and a ventilation grille.
"Perhaps we're not human after all." she sobbed.
"Don't be silly. Of course we are."
"We're some sort of creatures that the guardian angels made when the real
humans on the Challenger died."
Darv put his arm round Astra's shoulders and gently drew her to him.
"We're not creatures like that. We have blood. We can see, feel, walk, run."
He stroked her hair. "And even cry. . ."
His words had a slight effect for Astra gradually quietened. She was
trembling with cold and fear. She clung to Darv so that he had some difficulty
in pulling a blanket around them both.
"There's not one video or hologram in the library that shows people
without clothes." said Astra miserably. "The angels destroyed them. They knew
we were different and didn't want us to find out."
"I think I did once find a recording of a naked man and woman," said Darv
uncertainly.
Astra sat up and looked at him in surprise. "When?"
"I'm not sure. Sometimes it seems just like a dream, but I keep getting
this picture in my mind of a man and woman standing on a planet which had an
intense blue sky . . . And there were clouds . . . And rich green grass. I
can't remember the name of the planet but the woman was holding a baby and she
had growths on her chest just like that Della."
Astra pressed her temple against Darv's chest again and was silent for a
moment. She reached down and stroked his stomach. "There wasn't so much
difference between you and that guard as there was between me and Della.
You're growing hair all over your body now."
"Yes," said Darv quickly, embarrassed for no reason that he could think
of. "I had noticed."
"Maybe you're human and I'm not."
Darv held her tighter. "You say some silly things, my lovely."
Astra yawned. "Why do you call me that?"
"Because I like to. Do you mind or would you like me to call you
something else?" He laughed softly. "Something nice and insulting like the
names I used to call you when we were kids?"
There was no answer. He looked down and saw that Astra was asleep. Taking
great care not to wake her, he eased her into a comfortable lying position on
the bunk and stretched out beside her. He listened to Astra's steady breathing
for a while until exhaustion overcame him and he surrendered to a sleep filled
with dreams of blue skies, soft white clouds and rich green grass.
* * * *
"Dammit," Thorden muttered.
"What's the matter, Thorden?" inquired Helan, knowing perfectly what was
troubling the Grand Emperor.
Thorden nodded to the screen that showed Darv and Astra asleep on the
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cell bunk with their arms around each other. "They're just kids." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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