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“Will you tell them about me?”

“That must wait.” He touched behind her ear. “Before we leave, we must give you a translator.”

“So I’ll understand all the languages in all the galaxies?” she asked eagerly.

“Not all. Just the main ones that most use.” He gestured toward the view screen. “Your Earth has more languages than all of the galaxies combined.”

“Will I be able to communicate silently with Rory?”

“Affirmative,”the computer responded at the same instance as Jo’Nay said, “Negative.”

He glared toward the front of the ship. “It is an unnecessary connection and adds risk to the procedure.”

“I want it,”Winn said at the same time asRory.

She grinned at him. “I think you’ve been overridden. Ithink it’ll be useful for me to be able to communicate silently with Rory. She can tell me things like she tells you. Remember how helpful she was when you were on Earth and she could explainthings in your head? She can do that with me when we visit different planets.”

“No.”

“That way I don’t make mistakes,” she wheedled. “You know how easy it is for an alien to make mistakes on an unfamiliar planet. You made a few on Earth and you have tons of experience visiting foreign places. Think how less experienced I am than you and all the seriously bad mistakes I could make without Rory’s help.”

He flashed his canines at her and not in an amused way. She could actually hear him grinding his teeth. “I do not want you connected to my computer because you have ruined her.”

“Her.At least you’re finally conceding that she’s a she.”

“It!”

She waved that aside. “Too late. You already said she.”

He glared down at her. “I do not frighten you at all, do I?”

“No.” She tilted her head to one side. “Should I be frightened?”

He leaned down until they were practically nose-to-nose. “I am the dread of the nine galaxies. You should be terrified when I flash my canines at you.”

She patted his arm and stood on her tiptoes to give him a swift kiss near one of those flashing canines. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find someone to terrify. Would that make you feel better?”

He simply growled.

Chapter 3

JO’NAY STEWEDfor an entire Earthhour.

Winn was not terrified when he showed his anger. It made no sense. Had the apples altered him in some fundamental way? Well, of course they had. His Final Flight was no more. Nor was he sterile any longer. Had they also changed him so others no longer saw him as a threat? Or had it altered him so he truly was not a threat?

“I am still a threat,” he announced.

“Yes, yes you are,” Winn responded promptly. “Do you want to be a threat to me?”

Zitz. “No.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Do you not see me as a threat because I was weak and dying when we met?”

“I didn’t see you as either weak or dying,” she offered. “You were very scary. Remember? Iwas definitely afraid of you.”

“Because I was an alien and you had never met an alien before.”

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