She had to keep reminding herself of that fact—it was easy to forget because everything felt so real and talking to Vic felt so natural.
“I came to your world on behalf of a race called the Kindred,” Vic said to her. “They are a race of genetic traders. Due to an anomaly in Kindred DNA, they are also 95% male, which means they are constantly searching for new humanoid species to mate and bond with.”
“Wait a minute, you keep saying ‘they,’” Torri pointed out. “But aren’t you one of the Kindred too? At least, the, uh, non-robot part of you?”
“Actually, I am.” Vic frowned as though this hadn’t occurred to him before. “I guess I think of myself as different from them because, even though I have a mixture of several types of Kindred DNA in the organic parts of my body, I have a brain which is half positronic. And therefore, I lack the characteristic that defines one as a Kindred warrior.”
“And what characteristic is that?” Torri was fascinated. She accepted without question everything that he was telling her—it seemed to make perfect sense within the confines of her dream.
“I lack the ability to call and bond a bride to me,” Vic said and for a moment, she thought he looked sad. “Because I am not all organic,” he added and frowned. “You know, I have never been able to Dream Share with a female before this, either. I wonder if the Goddess is allowing it so that we can help each other.”
“What is ‘Dream Sharing’?” Torri asked curiously.
“Well this—what we are doing now.” He spread his large hands as though to indicate everything around them. “Invading each other’s dreams—as I am invading yours right now.”
“You’re not invading—you saved me!” Torri protested.
“I only helped you take yourself out of the bad part of your dream and enter a much better, safer place in your subconscious,” Vic said.
“Yes, but without your help, I never could have done it. Never could have got here—to Nana’s cabin.” She frowned. “You know, I’ve been having these night terrors for months. I don’t know why I could never remember I was dreaming before and just leave and go someplace else.”
“Cognitive dreaming isn’t easy for most people,” Vic said. “My understanding is that you have to practice for some time before you can control the trajectory of your dreams.”
“I’m going to try to remember from now on,” Torri said thoughtfully. “But please go on—you were telling me that you’re a Kindred, but not really a Kindred because you can’t, er, ‘call a bride?’ How can that be?”
“I am a scout,” Vic explained. “A Visitation Interactive Communicator.”
“Oh, V…I…C! I get it—your name is an acronym!” Torri exclaimed.
He nodded. “I have no real name because I am not a real person. I am called ‘VIC Unit’ by my commanding officer.”
“You seem real enough to me,” Torri said indignantly. “And anyway, why would these Kindred send you instead of coming themselves?”
“I am only woken from my slumber and sent out under very special circumstances,” Vic told her. “Normally I remain deactivated in a special stasis chamber aboard the Kindred Mother Ship until I am needed.”
“What special circumstances?” Torri asked, curiously.
“Usually I am woken only when the species the Kindred wish to make contact with is either hostile or primitive,” Vic admitted. “We had seen enough of your entertainment vids to know that humans are, unfortunately, both.”
“Hey—that’s not very nice!” Torri protested.
“But it is true, I’m afraid,” Vic said. “Many countries here on Earth have amassed nuclear arsenals big enough to blow up your planet many times over. And in some countries, the weapons of killing and death outnumber the residents of the country itself.”
“You must be talking about the US,” Torri said with a sigh. “You’re right—we definitely have a gun problem. But we’re not that primitive.”
“Compared with the Kindred, you are,” Vic said honestly. “Your technology is quite limited—you haven’t even developed interstellar flight yet.”
“We’ve been to the moon,” Torri pointed out.
“Which is about one light second from your planet,” Vic said gently. “It’s like a child saying, ‘I can walk’ when they have only taken a single step.”
“Well, if we’re so primitive and hostile, why would the Kindred want anything to do with us at all?” Torri demanded, putting a hand on her hip. “Why even bother with us?”
“We find your females unusually attractive,” Vic murmured, his eyes flicking up to hers for a long moment. “And it has been determined that you would be compatible with the Kindred genetically. As I told you, the Kindred race is 95% male, which means they are always looking for new brides.”
“So what—the Kindred want to trade something for human women?” Torri demanded. “That’s awful! Do you really think humanity is so depraved that we would just trade woman away like they were some kind of…of chattel?”
“Of course not!” Vic put up his hands in a “don’t shoot” gesture. “It isn’t like that at all, I promise you, Torri. The Kindred are only hoping to win the right to call brides for a Claiming Period. Which is a period of time when the Kindred warrior and his new bride get to know each other and find out if they are compatible. If not…” He spread his hands. “The bride is free to go back to her home and family.”
“Well…that does sound better than just trading them away,” Torri admitted grudgingly. “But what were the Kindred going to trade?”
“Technology, mostly,” Vic said, shrugging. “Our medical tech alone could cure many of your most deadly diseases. Surely that is worth the chance to call brides from your planet.”
Torri thought of how her Nana had died of cancer and nodded.
“Yes, that does seem fair, as long as you’re not forcing women to go up there to your, er, Mother Ship and keeping them against their will.”
“The Kindred would never do that!” Vic sounded truly horrified at the idea. “We believe in the sanctity of female life and their right to choose their own destiny. We even worship a female deity—the Goddess whom we call The Mother of All Life.”
“Wow, feminist aliens—go figure.” Torri laughed. “This dream just gets better and better.”
“Please don’t think that because we are Dream Sharing what I am telling you isn’t the truth,” Vic said earnestly. “The Kindred believe that every female has a little bit of the Goddess within herself—it is that spark of divinity that makes female life so precious.”
“Wow. Well, I wish more human guys felt that way,” Torri remarked. “Especially my husband,” she muttered to herself.
“Oh—are you mated?” Vic raised his eyebrows in apparent surprise.
“You could say that. We’ve been married about five years—I met him right after college. But now that I’m in here—in St. Elizabeth’s—he won’t take my calls half the time and he refuses to help me get out.” She looked down at her hands. “I…I don’t know when I’ll ever get to leave this place.”