Deep Penetration; Alien Breeders I Read Free

space? Is that I how I got here? This is a ship, isn’t
it?”
    “ We’re on Earth. We found
you here.”
    Why couldn’t she remember being found
then? “You? You mean you and Koryn?”
    He seemed to hesitate. “The …
androids.”
    He’d meant to say something else. She
stared at him, trying to figure out what he’d almost said, but she
came up empty. “Why are you here … on Earth?” If that was actually
where they were and she found that they’d been elusive enough in
their answers that she didn’t trust either one. She didn’t feel as
threatened as she had at first. They didn’t seem to mean her any
harm, but that didn’t necessarily mean they didn’t.
    The men exchanged a look she found
impossible to interpret. “There are some things that it will be
better for you to take your time and remember on your own. We’ve no
desire to influence you, when the end result, perhaps, would be the
development of false memories due to suggestion,” Koryn answered
finally.
    It disturbed her that they knew she
had amnesia, but what he’d said seemed to suggest they weren’t
responsible. Could she trust that, though? “So you’re saying you
can’t, or won’t, tell me why you’re here?”
    “ You don’t mean to rest
until you have some answers, do you?” Tariq asked wryly, glancing
at Koryn. It wasn’t actually the sort of look that asked
permission, but it was something like that, as if he was consulting
Koryn.
    It occurred to her abruptly, that
Koryn must be something like a medic. Tariq seemed to defer to him
primarily when the answer to a question might upset her. What would
that make Tariq, then?
    “ She should have food,
anyway,” Koryn said decisively moving to a panel on one wall. When
he’d depressed the button, he spoke into it in a language that was
so clearly not Earthly in origins that it shot a fresh jolt of
adrenaline through Emerald’s system.
    “ We are of the Anunnaki,”
Tariq said. “Does that mean anything to you?”
    Emerald stared at him, blinking while
she tried to access a memory that seemed to tickle her mind, just
out of reach. She frowned, straining harder to grasp it and finally
gave up. “It almost seems … familiar somehow. Why is that? Are our
people … allies?”
    Tariq frowned. After a moment, he
crossed the small room and settled on the bunk Emerald had decided
to ignore. “It’s curious that you used that particular word. It
suggests a military alliance. Are you a politician? Or a
soldier?”
    Emerald felt the color leave her face
and return with a vengeance. She bit her lower lip in frustration.
There really didn’t seem much point in trying to support the
pretense that she had memories, though, when they clearly knew she
didn’t. “I don’t know.”
    Koryn settled in the other chair.
“It’s alright,” he said soothingly. “I think you’ll find it easier
if you don’t work too hard to remember.”
    “ I had a head injury,”
Emerald said abruptly.
    “ Did you?”
    There was enough curiosity in the
question that it undermined Emerald’s certainty that that was what
had happened to her. Wouldn’t they know if they’d treated her?
“What else would explain the fact that I can’t remember things?”
she asked, an edge to her voice that was more fear than anger. What
weren’t they telling her?
    Koryn sent a tightlipped look in
Tariq’s direction. Tariq shrugged, but she wasn’t certain if it was
a dismissal of Koryn’s concern or her question. His next statement
seemed to imply the latter. “There are other things that might
account for the lack.”
    “ Like what?”
    He smiled abruptly. Emerald felt her
belly quiver, but she didn’t have to search for the reason behind
it. His smile was as beautiful as he was, making it instantly,
abundantly clear why they seemed alien when they looked so human.
They were flawlessly perfect—both of them—and it wasn’t just the
perfectly white, perfectly straight teeth he displayed. His mouth
curled in