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Lately he had been studying her, going to places he knew she frequented to observe her and try to understand both her effect on him, and the strange sexual dreams he kept having about her. But all he had learned so far was that he liked watching her. As he had explained to her, he was capable of appreciating beauty. And Seline was certainly one of the most beautiful females he had ever seen—even if she did cause irritating and unexpected bodily responses in him at times.
Never mind, he told himself. You’ll be getting an emotion damper as soon as you finish this mission. That should take care of these responses.
“Affecting time and space…that’s just what the old legends say, but they could be just that—legends,” Commander Sylvan told Seline, drawing Nox’s attention back to the matter at hand. “We have half of it here—and I’ve been authorized by the High Council to send it with you in order to make certain the other half, which you’ll be bargaining for—is the real thing. You’ll know it is if they fit together.”
He reached under his desk and pulled out a small metal carrying case about the size of one of Nox’s fists. He opened it and slid it across the desk to Seline, who leaned forward again to study it.
“Oh, it looks like half a Rubix Cube!” she exclaimed. “Can I pick it up?”
“By all means.” Command Sylvan nodded approval. “It’s not fragile at all, despite its age. It’s made of several kinds of stone from First World—the Kindred home world where we started out,” he added.
Seline took the half-cube—for that was what it was—out of the velvet-lined metal box and examined it carefully. It looked to Nox like it was made up of many smaller cubes made of alternating white and black stones. It had been worn smooth with time and yet when Seline twisted it carefully, the cubes moved against each other and formed another configuration.
“Oh—it works like a Rubix Cube too!” she exclaimed.
“Excuse me,” Nox interjected. “But what is this ‘Rubix Cube’ you keep speaking of?”
“Oh, it’s an old puzzle game from a long time ago on Earth,” Kat explained, jumping into the conversation since Seline was apparently still fascinated with the Far Box. “It had a lot of little different colored squares and you twisted and turned it in all directions, trying to get all the same color, all together, on every side.”
“People used to have contests to see who could ‘solve’ it the fastest,” Seline said, looking up at last. “At least, that’s what I’ve heard,” she added.
“Fascinating,” Nox remarked. “I would very much like to see one of these cubes for myself.”
Seline laughed her low musical laugh that Nox found so compelling, though he had a vague idea he shouldn’t. He never laughed himself.
“I bet you’d be good at it,” she told him. “With your logical mind, you’d probably solve it in under a minute.”
“Can I see it?”
Nox held out his hand and Seline placed the Far Box carefully in his palm. Forcing himself to ignore the brush of her soft fingertips against his skin, he looked down at it, studying the artifact carefully. He looked, not at the stones that made up the half-cube, but at the center of it.
“There appears to be a joining mechanism here,” he remarked, touching the center of the cube lightly with his fingertip.
“Yes—that’s where it should fit with the other half—if it’s genuine,” Commander Sylvan emphasized. “Make certain it fits first, then start the bargaining,” he added, speaking to Seline.
“Of course.” She nodded. “I’ll be sure they’ve got the real deal before I put a single credit chip on the table.”
“Speaking of which, the High Council has agreed to pay up to ten million credits if the other half of the artifact is genuine,” Sylvan told them. “Though hopefully Mistress Lendrex will let you have it for less.”
“Which depends on if she likes you or not,” Kat interjected. It was her job to do detailed research into any alien culture a Kindred team was visiting. “She’s said to be a very strict and controlling woman, so you’ll have to do your best to please her.”
“Oh?” Seline asked, raising her eyebrows. “And how do we do that?”
“Well, basically you’re just going to have to fit into her society—life in The Tangle is interesting to say the least, doll,” Kat remarked.
“Interesting in what way?” Nox asked, frowning. “I thought that the Beselex Station is like Yonnie Six, in that it is owned and controlled by women. Won’t we simply have to act as we do when we go visit the Yonnites? Meaning that Seline will be my ‘Mistress’ and I will be her ‘bodyslave?’”
As a matter of fact, he was looking forwards to this—to kissing Seline’s undergarments again—though he knew he shouldn’t be. Being so close to her in such an intimate situation caused his body to react strongly—his shaft would be hard for hours afterwards if he didn’t take himself in hand—which was both annoying and inconvenient. But despite the irritating consequences, he couldn’t help the desire to be close to her again… a desire he tried unsuccessfully to push it out of his mind.
