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"I don't think so," Thompson said, "unless you can arrange for someone to be on hand to interrupt if things get touchy. They won't hurt me, or even try to; from what I've read and been told, they can't. But . . . Audra, I may need well, protection from myself. I . . . it's hard for me not to " King nodded understandingly. "They are tempting, aren't they?
Audra was the team's socio spec, and kept trying to get the rest as interested as she was. "But I'll be damned if I'll voluntarily do anything to take myself off this team, or out of the service." "If you're given the choice, no. But " King raised a cautionary hand "if the Count's as determined as you say, it may not be your choice.
Well, he knew where the guest dining room was, he told himself, and it was likely that Audra would be eating there; the rest were more likely to eat with the System Security troops in their chow hall. She wasn't there, so Thompson took a small table and began scanning the menu as soon as he'd punched for coffee.
"Cap . . . we could all use a leave, and this isn't half bad." Thompson chuckled, startled into real humor. "True, Audra. And we won't get too many chances at living in a System Palace; pass the word to take full advantage of it." "Will do, Cap. Anything we should do when her Ladyship starts setting Kins on you?"
In the meantime, until he got orders, he and his team were on leave, and as he'd told Audra, they might as well take advantage of their stay in a System Palace. For the rest of the day, they did just that. Their status as the Count's guests let them enjoy the prerogatives only local nobility or above usually got, and they took advantage of it in the ways their various interests dictated.
Thompson turned, to see Sergeant Gottfried his communications expert in the arms of a tall, equally Nordic-looking man, her expression almost ecstatic as the Kin's mouth worked at her throat. Nearby he saw Audra, pale but looking pleased, with a petite Polynesian-looking Kin being obviously solicitous of her. Thompson shook his head ruefully, then turned back to his group.
Thompson took a deep breath, coming back to reality as his team surrounded him. It seemed he'd been right when he told Audra he might need protection from himself. "Thanks, Corporal. And the rest of you." "No problem, sir. Sergeant King said this might happen." The Count smiled ruefully. "You have a very well trained team, Captain Thompson but they cannot be around you all the time.
So if you don't feed any Kins, or if you do and then don't get badly hurt or sick, you'll stay just the way you are." "Thank you." That was better; he could still lead this mission safely. He turned to his second-in-command. "Report." "We have quarters at the System Palace," Gunnery Sergeant Audra King said. "Count Nilssun was expecting us, and wants to see you at your earliest convenience.
And, though he was reluctant to admit it even to himself, he was more than a little tempted by the prospect of Resolutely, he blanked out the inviting image of Kin fangs, and went to knock on King's door. She had evidently been going through the library; when she let him in he saw tapes on the coffee table, and more in the delivery tray. "Research again, Audra?" "Uh-huh. What's up, Cap?"
Another thought struck him, and he looked sharply at his second-in-command. "Our hostess was a field agent, Audra. Were any of these tapes waiting for you?" King looked startled, then nodded. "Two of them, yes. And one answers your question they don't know how long the effects of the projective empathy last. Which may mean they won't use it to infect or change you for fear it'll backfire on them."
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