Brent rose to his feet with a sigh.
“Yet.” It was one word but it carried so much meaning.
“What?” Both girls turned to him with surprise.
“You don’t have a symbiote, yet.” He emphasized the word carefully enunciating it. Biting down hard with a click of his teeth after the ‘tee’.
“But we can’t get one. It’s passed on to a child at birth. We are already born.” Angel was absolutely certain of this information.
“It is passed through the crystal heart matrix of the mother to the daughter upon the death of the mother. It doesn’t have to happen at birth, the symbiote has just been choosing to do that so that it can control more of the host.” Angel’s face fell with horror.
“You mean that if Mom dies it goes into one of us?” She reeled and then caught herself on the edge of the kitchen island she’d been leaning on. “Me because I’m oldest.”
“Yep.” Brent rubbed at the migraine that had begun throbbing behind the bridge of his nose. “You both have your crystal hearts intact. Anywhere in this universe, when your mother dies, the symbiote will jump into you and make you the next Allura. If you are dead it will jump into Haka.”
“What does it matter if our crystal hearts are intact?” Haka questioned. “You just said Mom’s grew back, twice.” Here, Brent smiled at his daughter.
“Ah. But neither you nor Angel have a symbiote in you. The matrix cannot regrow once removed because it is a creation of the symbiote.”
“Holy shit!” Angel breathed. Why didn’t my father tell me this? I’d have had it removed years ago.
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“Because your father serves the Alluran Empire. There has to be an Allura to lead it.” Tears pricked Angel’s eyes as she heard the words and she knew they were right.
“Duty before love. He’s always said it. I should have known.” She sat down under the weight of the betrayal. Then standing abruptly went to the coffee maker for another cup. It was the old-fashioned drip kind that brewed entire pots. Anachronistic like all the other appliances in this home. A kitchen of decades past.
Or more accurately, a human kitchen with human technology. None of the newer advancements from the Allurans.
“Coffee?” The was already grabbing fresh cups for Brent and her sister before either responded.
“Cocoa for your sister.” Brent amended automatically. Coffee has too much caffeine.
“Heck with that.” Haka interrupted. “If I’ve got an eventual killer date with a manipulative alien parasite, I want to try coffee.”
“It’s not actually that good.” Angel reminded her. “Not black at least.”
“Can we make foo-foo coffee like they sell at coffee shops?” She asked hopefully, her voice and uplifted eyebrows showing exactly how young she really was. “Like one of those caramel thingies that Mom always drinks?”
“Sure kid.” Her Dad walked over and ruffled her hair. “I think we’re going to need quite a bit of fortification for the rest of this conversation. It’s clear that no one has told either of you about the fact that Alluran women can store sperm and become pregnant at any time after having unprotected intercourse.” Angel, spewed hot black coffee from her fresh cup all over herself and the counter.
“What?”
“What?”
“What?”
“What?”
The third and fourth‘what’s’ had come from one of the pair of female bodyguards who’d been standing unobtrusively outside the kitchen. They were Alluran themselves and had not been made aware of that particular facet of their biology.
“Oh. Fuck me.” Brent muttered as sat down and look up at the ceiling as if to say ‘Why me, God? Why would you do this to me?’ “Pull up a chair and gather around boys and girls.”
Four security personnel crept hesitantly into the room as the girls sat down with Brent. Two of the guards had managed to keep their surprise to themselves. Nonetheless, they wanted to know and had been invited in.
“So. Alluran Reproductive Biology 101. Apparently not taught in school.”