Page 10 of Rule

The woman who had woken us returned to theroom. Sabrina studied my shoulder for a moment before turning to the woman.“Hey. Do you have any gallberry juice she can have?”

The woman scowled at her. “Of course not.Don’t be ridiculous.”

She seemed weirdly angry and impatient. Iswallowed down my apprehension as she yanked a very large syringe from the leftpocket of her lab jacket and walked over to Sabrina.

“Whoa,” Sabrina held up her hands, “what isthat for?”

“It’s your identification chip,” she saidimpatiently. “It has all of your details as well as the details of the Draaxmale you’re breeding with.”

“Not breeding,” Sabrina said in alarm,“nannying.”

“Yes, yes.” The woman gave her an irritablelook. “Lift your sleeve.”

Sabrina lifted her sleeve and the woman injectedher in the upper arm with the syringe. She wiped it with a cotton ball beforetaking another syringe from her right pocket and moving toward me.

“Arm please,” she said as the flag emblemon her lab jacket glowed brightly. “Oh for…”

She sighed and slapped her hand against it asI pushed up my sleeve. “Yes, what is it?”

A man appeared in a hologram behind me.“Are they ready for transporting? A storm is brewing on Draax, and we want to getthem there and drop them off before it gets too bad and we end up stranded.”

“I’m just chipping them now and then I needto put the translators in,” the woman said.

“Well get a move on it,” the man snapped.“We’re leaving in ten.”

“Shut up, Gary.” The woman slapped theemblem again. Gary disappeared, and she injected me with the syringe.

“There,” she said. “If you get lost, theycan scan you and know who you belong to.”

“Oh perfect,” Sabrina said, “we’ve beenmicrochipped like stray dogs.”

The woman scowled, and I gave Sabrina ahorrified look. She grinned at me as the woman in the lab coat said, “Youmight want to watch your mouth when you’re on Draax. They like the women theysleep with to be submissive and quiet.”

“Well it’s a good job I’m nannying and notfucking then,” Sabrina said.

My mouth dropped open as the woman made aloud snort of irritation. I couldn’t believe how bold Sabrina was being andfor a moment, I wished I could be like her. Or, at the very least, be herfriend and watch from the sidelines as she sassed everyone around her.

The woman was rummaging in the insidepocket of her lab coat, and she removed two small gun-like contraptions.

“What are those?” Sabrina asked.

“The translators. One is embedded in your skullhere,” she pointed to just behind my right ear, “it’ll translate the Draaxlanguage into English for you instantly when they speak to you. The other oneis injected here,” she touched the spot above the hollow of my throat, “and itwill translate your English to Draaxan when you speak.”

“Right,” Sabrina said.

“Is it going to hurt?” I asked.

“It’s not going to feel like kisses,sweetheart,” the woman said.

I flinched at the sharp bite of pain whenthe woman pulled the trigger on the gun.

“Lift your head,” the woman said as shereached for the second device. She quickly injected the second translator intomy throat. I could feel blood slipping down my throat and the woman held apiece of gauze against the entry point on my throat and behind my ear. “Applypressure for a few minutes.”

She walked back to Sabrina. As she readiedthe translator guns, she said, “So, don’t panic if these don’t work rightaway. Sometimes it can take a day or two for the chips to start working andtranslating properly.”

She pressed the gun behind Sabrina’s ear asthe curvy brunette said, “A day or two? Seriously? We’re going to be on astrange planet where we won’t speak or understand the language for likeforty-eight hours and you’re just mentioning it – ow! Fuck, that hurt!”

She rubbed at the spot behind her ear andglared at the woman.

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