Minder by Viola Grace Page B

woman and my child. She will make a most suitable queen and I intend to reward her for her ingenuity.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
     
    “Ma’am, please explain to us why you are registering as two life forms when you were only one upon arrival.” The confusion in the insectoid face was hard to read, but a touch on its mind and she understood.
    “Please check my records, I have a breeding permit extended to me by the Alliance. I am required to produce an heir to my talents. The second life form is my heir.” Aleyn placed one hand over her belly and smiled.
    “Congratulations on the completion of your contract. Your ship is at gate Dehal on the third deck. Please enjoy your stay on the Hickom Station.” The security agent handed her documents back and Aleyn moved back into line with the rest of the passengers from the transport. The slow measured shuffle continued until they broke out of the hall and spread across the station.
    “I need something to eat.” She walked through the ubiquitous vendors that covered every mass transit facility in the universe. She patted her belly and smiled. She had gotten what she came for and no one was the wiser.
    Baileez had refused a breeding contract with her. The Alliance Representative on Hickom had tried and failed to get him to agree to meet with her.
    He didn’t want an heir, either for her body or his own.
    She had been shocked when they told her that because of his rank as King, he could keep from impregnating her simply by thinking about it.
    It was a mental skill that he had been taught to kill sperm production and it was a highly guarded skill only taught to the royal family. He was her perfect match genetically, and when she saw holograms of him at a variety of formal events, she had fallen hopelessly in love. Her second choice was an Avari who would require that she take up residence with him. So it was a man she wanted that didn’t want her who was her final choice.
    Typical. She could cross the galaxy and still make the same choices. Idiot.
    Aleyn smiled and homed in on a fruit pie with an odd gravy. She had found it years ago on assignment near Haldis and had been a fan of it ever since. “Two please.” She had an hour before her ship left so she was going to grab two for the road. She handed the credit slips over to him and wandered away, looking at kiosks full of crafts, formal weapons, gifts and utensils for use on board ship.
    She didn’t have any use for the gadgets and items on sale now. She was on her way home. A small cottage on an Azon colony world. No one to bother her and all the time in the world to relax and train her new child.
    When the humans had volunteered to leave the Earth to come to the Alliance as test models for their species, they had not expected to be paid so handsomely for talents that had made them freaks back on earth. It was the psychic adaptability that made them so popular. Aleyn’s ability to calm people who had experienced a trauma made her an ideal candidate for the Alliance. They had sent her to the Citadel where she was trained to use her talents to blur the fear of the memory and create a relatively balanced person in its wake. She worked with rape victims, persons who had been in crashes or natural disasters. People affected by fear to the point where they could not function. She helped them and was paid handsomely in return.
    Guilt had been her first reaction, but when she had been told how short her working life span would be, it had changed her outlook on the matter. Three years of training had led to five years of active work and now she was no longer allowed to work for the Alliance. She was officially retired. Even knowing it was coming, it was still a bit of a shock.
    She sighed heavily as she proceeded to the transport gate. She may as well get on board and get settled. Mooning around the space platform would just depress her. It was hard enough for her to keep moving away from Hickom, staying on the