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  A woman in jail finds her future lies on another world, and her price to travel is a pardon.

  In prison for common assault, Bryn is surprised to get a small alien visitor who offers her a life on a new world. She agrees on the condition that she gets a pardon.

  On the way to her new home, there is an attack, and Bryn finds out what she is made of. It scares the hell out of her.

  Surat knows that he is getting a warrior in the Lrrko Bride he is caring for. Until he is unable to help her, he has no idea that she is a born survivor. She returns to him damaged but alive.

  Now, she needs to deal with the aftereffects of her actions. No pardon is forthcoming.

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  Pardon

  Copyright © 2016 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-4874-0540-3

  Cover art by Martine Jardin

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books Inc or

  Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

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  www.eXtasybooks.com or www.devinedestinies.com

  Pardon

  Terran Times Second Wave

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Bryn McFarland sat and turned pages in her worn paperback. Everyone else was out for exercise in the yard, but she was too antsy to participate.

  She looked up at the sky and counted her time in her head once again. She had been in for assault causing bodily harm and trespass, and she had three months to go.

  After the initial break-in period, in which she had expressed herself with the bullies in the block, and they had accepted her reasoned explanations after some heated negotiations.

  Her knuckles had healed in a matter of days.

  The scent of dust reached her nostrils, along with gasoline and leather. An expensive vehicle had just arrived at the prison.

  Bryn nodded to herself and returned to her book, surrounded by silence.

  “McFarland! You have a visitor.” The grim-faced guard nodded her head and beckoned Bryn to leave the yard.

  Bryn walked to the cage where the guard was waiting, and she waited for the pat down before leading the way to the visitor’s centre.

  All but one of the tables and chairs were empty. She guessed that those were her visitors. She ignored the nudge from the guard and made her way to the table at her own pace. She took in the small, silvery being in the business suit and tried to figure out what the hell he could want with her. Whatever it was, she knew he wouldn’t meet her price.

  “Ms. McFarland. Please sit.”

  She sat, but her mind calculated the location of each guard in the room, including her visitor’s. When she knew how long it would take to take them out, she looked at the huge black almond-shaped eyes and raised her brows. “Do I know you?”

  He smiled, showing shark-like teeth. “No, you do not know me, but I am very interested in you. My name is Recruiter Norz. Your genome was recently added to the criminal database, and it has characteristics that caught the attention of the Volunteer Project.”

  “Good for my genome. I am glad that it is getting out and meeting new people. At least one of us is.” She smiled tightly.

  Her interviewer appeared flustered. “I have come to offer you an opportunity to leave here, leave Earth and take your place in the stars.”

  Bryn looked around and waved at the concrete walls. “This might not be apparent to you, but I am not here under my own volition. I was consigned here because I hit an asshole until he couldn’t get it up again. There is no easy leaving for me.”

  The fragile-looking alien raised his hand and snapped his fingers. “Let’s see. No less than six witnesses indicate that he had partially stripped a woman and was forcing himself on her unconscious body. You took action and did not cease to take that action until he was unable to move.”

  “It is called aggravated assault. He was a football player, so they brought the full force of the law down on me. He was never charged with the attempted rape.”

  “So, if I can obtain your release, you will go?”

  She shook her head. “No. I want two things. I want the bastard charged with the attempted rape, and I want a full pardon. If I can leave the Earth free and clear, I will go.”

  “A full pardon?”

  “Yes. A full pardon and wiped record will clear my name, and since that is all that is truly mine, I am protective of it. I might not be able to pursue a degree in engineering anymore, but I can and will have my name cleared.”

  “But you did hit him?”

  “Oh, yeah. And if I saw anyone else attacking someone who could not defend themselves, I would do it again.”

  “Unrepentant?”

  “I did not do anything to repent for. He did, yet I am here and he is out there, scoring for the team and hurting women in his time off.”

  Recruiter Norz gave her a considering look. “I will see what I can do.”

  “Good. If you can’t do it, I am content to stay here until I get released.”

  She got to her feet, and the guards guided her back to the yard. Bryn got in just in time to turn around and head back to her cell.

  Bryn had to give it to Recruiter Norz. He had managed to do in three days what she hadn’t been able to do in nine months.

  The release from the district attorney was simple. They were filing charges of attempted rape. Bryn would be asked to give a statement before she left, but her testimony would be included in the case.

  The document she had been waiting for was set in front of her. There it was—a formal pardon and a declaration to clear her criminal history. Sure, they would always be able to find out about her, but she wouldn’t be on Earth much longer.

  A deal was a deal.

  “Well, as you have held up your end, I am willing to head off as soon as I am released. It takes a few days to organize the paperwork.” Bryn had no illusion that she would be released just because Norz had brought in the paperwork.

  Norz nodded. “Of course. Here is the contract. Look it over.”

  Bryn glanced at the guards but took the tablet from him. She scanned it and paused. “Whoa. You didn’t mention that they were after my genetic material.”

  “I did mention that it was your genome that brought you to our attention.”

  She scowled. “What type of my genes are they after?”

  “I believe they take eggs. The Lrrko are not particularly forthcoming with their methods of reproduction, but you will have a Familiar as guard and companion to keep anyone from attempting anything with you.”

  “So, I get a bodyguard right out of the gate? That isn’t suspicious at all.”

  Norz cocked his head. “You do not agree?”

  She smiled. “I will let you know when I finish reading the rest of this.”

  She read about allowances, training,
languages, studies and citizen status. The gene thing suddenly made sense.

  “I am descended from something like them or from their species.”

  “Correct. Your ancestry carries their genes. They need the variety that the Terrans with their genetics can bring.”

  “How many of us?”

  “We have found five. A set of sisters and three others. You are one of the three.”

  Bryn glanced at him. “I will be subjected to medical experimentation?”

  “It is a genetic reset to strengthen the Lrrko characteristics. It is minimally invasive but vital to the process.”

  “Right. What is a tank?”

  “A column of oxygenated liquid that will hold you without stress to your body while the alteration occurs.”

  “Uh huh.” She glanced down.

  One of the guards called out, “Time.”

  “Damn it. Okay.” Bryn stood, signed with her finger and pressed her thumb to the pad. A bright flash struck her, and she staggered back.

  “Apologies. I thought it would occupy you for your next few days. See you soon, Ms. McFarland.”

  Bryn rubbed at her eyes while she was led back to her cell. She was getting out, getting free, and now, she had alien languages in her head. This was going to be an interesting few days.

  Chapter Two

  A week later, Bryn was naked and getting ready to be dropped into the tank. She was on a med bed and watching them prep her injections.

  “So, you are going to drop a tablet into my tank with me so I can continue my education?”

  The guy preparing her wiring nodded. “We will. When you wake, your tablet will be accessible and your Familiar should be waiting.”

  “Right. Should. Got it.”

  The doctor smiled. “Are you ready?”

  “I am ready.”

  “See you when you wake.”

  Bryn nodded and tried to relax. “I really hope so.”

  She heard a hiss and felt a cold spray against her neck, and the world disappeared in a wave of grey.

  * * * *

  Surat had her file in his display, but he found it hard to imagine this slight woman doing that kind of damage to a male fifty percent larger than she was.

  He settled in near her tank while her reflexes forced her to gasp in and breathe the heavy liquid. He watched the court proceedings and could understand the rage that had driven her.

  Her records displayed that she had a sister who was now deceased. Suicide was not common to the Lrrko, but as there were no details as to the motivation, he could not know if his charge was vulnerable to the same condition.

  Her hair floated out and around her in mimicry of wings.

  Surat zoomed one of his cameras in and identified the scars that were being removed. Arms, ribs, shoulders, she had obviously not been a stranger to violence.

  The techs had told him about her insistence on a tablet for when she woke, and he locked himself into place while he waited for her to wake.

  When her limbs started thrashing, he linked to her tablet and waited. The moment she calmed, he would make his introduction.

  * * * *

  Can’t breathe. Have to breathe. Can’t breathe. Bryn tried to brace herself or pull herself out of the tank, but the grill was in the water and there was no way to open air.

  She held her breath as long as she could, and then, her body sucked in the liquid. She gasped again, and fresh liquid rushed into her lungs.

  Bryn had obviously been breathing the stuff while she slept, but waking in it was something else entirely.

  When she calmed, she looked around at her world from the tank. It was all coloured with the pink filter of the fluid, but there were a few new things in her vision. The first thing was a tablet suspended in a clear wrap, so she could play with it, and the second thing was a hulking robot with four cameras for eyes running vertically down its faceplate.

  It was wearing a set of dark and very tight pants, as well as a sleeveless tunic in a royal blue. The body was that of a massive bodybuilder or a UFC fighter. It was odd to put that kind of detail into a robot.

  She pressed her hand to the inside of the tank, and she heard a voice whisper, “Hello, Ms. McFarland. I am Surat. I am your Familiar.”

  The sound was coming through the tablet.

  She looked at the screen and shrugged. If he could talk to her, maybe she could type to him.

  She typed in, “Hello, Surat. Call me Bryn.”

  “Bryn. Are you doing well?”

  Her fingers flashed on the tablet. “I have been better. Do you know how much longer I have to be in here?”

  “Two more days. You are taking to the alterations very well.”

  She made a face but answered. “Okay. Right. I can do two days.”

  He inclined his head. “I am sure that you can. I am here to help you through this process.”

  Bryn looked at him and smiled. “Thank you. It is nice to know I am not in this alone.”

  He took an at-ease stance and became totally motionless.

  Bryn shrugged and went to work on the tablet, pulling out details on how to build a spacecraft and, once built, how to rewire it. She had two days of uninterrupted studying ahead of her, no snack breaks required.

  Surat had briefed her on the procedure, and it was his hands that she lunged for when it was time to leave the tank.

  He pulled her out, onto the deck and held her while she coughed and vomited up all the liquid she had been breathing.

  Surat patted her back and induced another fit of coughing that did a good job of clearing her lungs. When she was limp and exhausted, he carried her down the steps and set her on the med bed.

  The doctors and techs swarmed around her, numbing her skin before they pulled out the wires and hoses that had kept her functioning in the tank.

  Her bloodwork came up fine, and her scans indicated that the latent extra ovaries that she possessed were now in full and flaring life. Bryn mentally winced. PMS had been hard enough to manage with only two functioning ovaries.

  When the docs finished their scans, Bryn sat up. “Am I good to go?”

  They shrugged and nodded.

  “Can I get some clothing?”

  Surat moved with surprising grace for a robot. He went to a supply cupboard, pulled out a square of fabric and unfurled it into a robe that she could wrap around her. Bryn didn’t waste any time.

  She slipped on the robe and swung her legs off the bed, dangling them a moment before hopping to the floor.

  She smiled at her Familiar. “Well, Surat. Where am I being put until we can be on our way?”

  He offered her his arm, so she put her hand on his cool, metal forearm as they walked through the halls at a slow pace. He was walking slowly because of her bare feet on the deck plates. She knew that without asking.

  He walked her to her new quarters, and he came in with her.

  “As you didn’t have a bag with you when you left Terra, this will not take long. You simply have to go in for a follow-up with medical tomorrow and we can be on our way. Here are your new uniforms.”

  “Uniform? You make it seem like the Lrrko are employing me.”

  “In a way, they are. You are providing a service by offering the natural fruits of your own body for the betterment of the Lrrko.”

  She took the first bodysuit off the pile and headed into the bathroom. She took a solar shower that removed the last of the fluid from her system. Her reflection in the mirror showed that she appeared tired but otherwise whole. Too whole. “Son of a bitch!”

  She was staring at her shoulder and ribs in the mirror when the door exploded.

  Surat came in. “What is it? You shouted.”

  “They took my scars. I used to have a ton of scars, front and back. They are gone.”

  Surat’s shoulders slumped. “It is part of the regeneration process. You are as you were designed to be by your genome.”

 
She looked at the door. “Sorry about that.”

  “I should not have let you lock it to begin with. It is against Familiar protocol. Once you are dressed, would you care to go and have a meal? You need to get used to Lrrko foods.”

  “I just spent ten minutes throwing up, but sure. I guess a snack is in order.” She glanced at the door. “Is that going to be fixed?”

  “While we are in the meal area, someone will come in to make the necessary repairs. Do you need my assistance to dress?”

  She looked down and shook her head. “Nope. I am fine.”

  “I will wait for you in the bedroom. There is a gift for you from Recruiter Norz.”

  He turned and walked out of the bathroom, kicking the shattered door pieces out of his way.

  Bryn watched the musculature of his back and buttocks as he left her space. He was well built; there was no doubt about that. Too bad, he insisted on walking beside her. Staring at his ripped back and backside would be very entertaining and definitely encourage her to walk a lot more.

  She sighed and walked into the bedroom to examine the present. She hopped on the bed on her knees. The box was fourteen inches high, eighteen inches long and twelve inches wide.

  The latch was set to her thumbprint, and the mechanical clicks as it opened were crisp and rang in the air.

  The centre seam opened, Bryn folded the sides out of the way. A note was inscribed to her indicating that the clothing inside had been kept for a special candidate, and as she was moving on without anything of her own, it was a gift from the Volunteer Project.

  The headphones and crystal in one of the side pockets contained all of the music of humanity that was currently in recorded format.

  The lightly reinforced unitard was a brilliant blue with black highlights. When she wrestled herself into it, it fit her like a second skin. The foot had a thick sole, but it simply looked like a stocking. As she stood and wiggled her toes, it felt like a shoe.