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system to settle.
He felt a rise in exhilaration himself. Whatever was down there, it still beat the
hell out of canned air and metal decking beneath his feet.
Sky overhead solid ground beneath his feet real gravity natural air & .
A view of bright blue sky suddenly filled the screen. Galen felt his stomach go
weightless at the sight.
A collective gasp of appreciation went up from the men.
Galen frowned. Before he could direct their minds to the somberness of the
situation, something flashed across the screen, too swiftly to actually identify the objects.
What in the fuck was that? Galen growled.
Ken-so turned a pale face toward him. Unknown, Sir! The droids are still
accumulating data.
The blue sky with its fluffy white clouds and the strange objects vanished.
Flashes of scrubby green and brown vegetation filled the screen that had small pink
globes hanging from them.
Vegetation, Ken-so announced unnecessarily. It would nice if we discovered
the fruit was edible. There seems to be quite a bit of it in the area.
Galen was just about to comment on the unlikelihood that the scout ship had
settled in the middle of edible, native vegetation when Ken-so exclaimed again.
A biological specimen! Sir! One of the constructs has captured a creature.
Let s hope it s edible, Galen growled instead of informing Ken-so that he didn t
need a fucking play by play. He could see the gods damned vid as well as Ken-so could.
I ve had about all the space rations I can handle.
Bringing it up now, Sir.
The pinkish white blob that filled the screen was out of focus due to the proximity
of it to the vid. Galen felt a jolt of shock run through him. Everyone on the bridge
CHAMELEON Angelique Anjou 55
reacted much as he had.
The vid lens adjusted, bringing the features into focus two eyes opened so wide
he could see white all the way around irises that were nearly the color of the vegetation
they d glimpsed. Thick black lashes on the upper and lower lid of the eyes. Short black
crescents of hair above that, forming eyebrows. The nose was a long, straight bridge in
the center of the face that formed flaring nostrils on either side of the rounded tip.
Pinkish-brown lips surrounding an o of a mouth that displayed a vibrating pink tongue,
white flat-edged teeth. Long, reddish brown hair, whipped around the face by the wind.
Tiny brownish marks dotted the skin across the high cheekbones and the narrow bridge
of its nose.
Galen finally found his voice. Tell the gods damned construct to pull back so we
can have a look at the rest of it, he said in a hoarse voice.
When the image zoomed out, they saw two flailing, hairless arms and two hands,
balled into fists. Mammary globes, tipped with dark pink points they could see through
the thin material that covered the body and when the vid panned down, two hairless,
completely bare legs also flailing.
It s a& it s a & it s a & female! Ken-so finally managed to get out.
A sense, almost of panic, swept over Galen when he heard the other men
mumbling. Possessiveness swelled behind it. It s mine, gods damn it! Galen growled.
That s what it is!
CHAMELEON Angelique Anjou 56
Chapter Two
But & but & but, Sir! Tale Ken-so exclaimed.
Galen bolted from his seat and strode closer to the vid, examining his prize with a
heady sense of exhilaration. I, Admiral Galen of the royal house of Drako hereby claim
this star system in the name of the Royal Confederation of Star Systems! And that
female as mine!
You think there s more? someone on the bridge murmured, sounding as
stunned as he was.
It penetrated the heated fog of Galen s mind, however. Of course there s more!
There are bound to be more but this one s mine. He returned his attention to the vid,
admiring the beauty of the creature. It looked almost like them!
He couldn t believe his luck! After all this time a living, breathing female-
being!
He frowned, trying to recall if the scouting ship had the facilities to examine the
specimen to discover just how compatible it was, physiologically, with their species or,
more importantly, him.
He couldn t seem to direct his mind into any sort of order. Ken-so! Are there
facilities on the scouting ship to analyze the being?
When Ken-so didn t answer immediately, he turned to look at him, glaring when
he saw his second in command was still white faced. His mouth was working, but he
couldn t seem to form words. Well? he barked.
You mean & dissect, Sir?
Galen gaped at him. Are you out of your fucking mind, man! What good is my
bride going to be to me in fucking pieces!
Ken-so gaped at him. Bride? he repeated as if he d never heard the word.
Galen sent him a look. We re colonists. Brides? We didn t bring any, if you ll
recall. As if any of them could forget that little detail!
Yes & but & It s alien, Sir! We don t even know if it is a female or warm
blooded!
It has mammary glands, dolt! Of course it s female and warm blooded! Not
that he was sure he d object if it wasn t warm-blooded. The pleasure droids certainly
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