“You want us to pose as lab techs or something?” Cassie said blankly. “Look, Commander Sylvan, I’m really sorry, but I barely passed chemistry in college and I don’t think Stone is much of a scientist either.”
“Actually, you’d be wrong in that assumption,” Commander Sylvan said mildly. “Before he took the assignment to work on Earth, your partner worked here aboard the Mother Ship in one of our Xeno-microbiology Labs.”
“You did?” Cassie looked at Stone, who shrugged modestly. “So why did you decide to come to Earth and be a cop?” she demanded.
“I…dreamed of a different life. That’s all.”
But for some reason, Stone didn’t quite meet her eyes as he said it. It made sense though, Cassie thought. Her partner’s methodical, analytical way of solving crimes and his cool, logical demeanor should have given her a clue as to his scientific background.
“Well, you’re all right to work in a lab, I guess,” she said grudgingly. “But what about me? As I said, I’m no scientist.”
“My contact on Bachanalius informs me that there is also a position open as a personal guard for Gozeriam,” Commander Sylvan told her. He raised an eyebrow at her. “I assume you’d be more comfortable in that position?”
“Yeah, I can do guard duty.” Cassie nodded. “But what is Captain Perkins going to say?” she asked, turning towards Stone. “She expects us to come back to Earth and keep looking for The Beast.”
“Whom we now know has left Earth and is most probably on Bachanalius,” Stone growled. “So technically, we would simply be continuing our mission—to track down the killer we’ve been chasing.” He frowned. “The problem is, as an Imposter, he can look like anyone.”
“He does have that tattoo, though—that Live Ink,” Cassie pointed out.
She couldn’t help remembering how it had looked, flowing just under their perp’s skin on all of the vids they’d watched on Yarrow’s laptop. Sometimes it looked like a dragon, sometimes a bat, sometimes strange alien creatures she couldn’t identify at all, but it was always there, shifting colors and changing constantly as it moved from one part of The Beast’s big body to another.
“There is that,” Stone admitted. He looked at Commander Sylvan. “But I am still not sure what our human commander—Captain Perkins—will say about the two of us going off planet for an assignment.”
“I’ll speak to your Captain,” Sylvan promised. “I’m sure once she knows that you’re still looking for The Beast—as well as the ‘snuff film’ he made and the illegal drug he injected his victim with—she’ll be amenable to sharing your talents with us here on the Mother Ship.”
“Well…what do you think, Stone?” Cassie could feel the nervous knot of tension that had formed in her stomach. It was part excitement/part apprehension. Was she really going to do this? Go undercover on a whole different world? Part of her was scared to death but part of her couldn’t wait!
But Stone was frowning.
“The only part of this assignment I don’t like is the fact that Cassandra and I will be separated. I would prefer it if we were together so that we could ‘get each others’ backs’ as the humans put it.”
Cassie frowned back at him.
“Well, it can’t be helped, Stone. The only way we could be together is if we posed as porn stars instead, and I’m not about to go there.” She shook her head decisively. “No, I think a scientist and a bodyguard will be much better covers.”
“Well…” Stone seemed to be wavering.
“Please, Commander Stonev.” Sylvan’s voice was low and serious. “Your people need you. We cannot allow Xempi Gozeriam to tarnish our good name. And having Pain Fruit loose in the galaxy is extremely dangerous. Think of all the vulnerable females who might be injured or killed if they are injected with it or ingest it some way.”
“And don’t forget that we still want to nail that bastard, The Beast,” Cassie reminded her partner. “Remember what he did to Leela—and how he killed Brittany Harkins.”
Stone looked at her with apparent surprise.
“Do you really want to do this, Cassandra? You sound eager to go undercover.”
“I want to catch The Beast before he hurts anyone else,” Cassie said honestly. “And I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sound exciting. Going undercover off-planet? I never thought I’d have a chance to do something like that!”
“It’s going to be extremely dangerous, Detective Steel,” Sylvan said seriously. “I can’t lie to you about that. Xempi Gozeriam runs Bachanalius with an iron fist. If he finds out you’re not who you claim to be, you could be killed.”
Cassie lifted her chin.
“That’s not going to happen. Just get us in there and Stone and I will take care of the rest.”
“Are you sure about this?” Stone looked at her worriedly. “I don’t like the idea of not being able to protect you if things go wrong.”