Page 49 of Journey to the Forbidden Zone

Her fists were clenched at her sides, knuckles white. She stopped a few paces away, her gaze locked on Carmen, ignoring Mila completely for a terrifying second.

“None of it! The wanting? The need you feel? It’s not you! It’s her! She has goddamn pheromones!”

The word shattered Carmen’s focus. It obliterated all coherent thought.

Pheromones?

It echoed in the sudden, ringing silence of the bay. The hum of the ship’s systems, the faint whir of Zed’s processors, all receded, drowned out by the pounding of Carmen’s own heart.

Pheromones.

The constant distraction. The way Mila’s scent seemed to cling to her quarters, her clothes. The heat that flared whenever she was near. The inexplicable pull that had drawn her closer, made her touch linger …

It’s not real, Carmen!

The realization washed over her, cold and sickening. It wasn’t attraction. It wasn’t connection. It was contamination. A chemical trick played on her nervous system. The closeness she’d felt a heartbeat ago – the respect, the fascination, the dizzying rush of desire – curdled instantly into disgust, dark and vicious.

Her face drained of blood. The deck seemed to tilt under her boots. She braced a hand against the cold metal of the main console, the schematic of the successful reroute still glowing accusingly.

“What?” she whispered.

“Class-4 bio-contaminant,” Letitia spat, her voice trembling with rage. She pointed a shaking finger at Mila, who stood tall but utterly still, her expression unreadable. “That’s what the UPA calls it. Suppresses inhibitions. Amplifies attraction. Makes you want her, Carmen. Makes you obsessed. Makes you throw logic out the airlock for a sniff of her goddamn fur!”

The accusation hung in the air, thick with the very scent Letitia condemned. Carmen’s gaze snapped to Mila. The XenX woman met her look, those green eyes wide, pupils dilated. Was it fear? Guilt? Or just more chemical manipulation?

“Is this true?”

Carmen’s voice was low, dangerous, stripped of all warmth. The command tone was back, brittle as ice.

“Captain, I.…” She swallowed, the movement visible in the white fur of her throat. “My species … we do secrete certain compounds. Volatile organics. It is involuntary. A biological function.”

Her voice remained soft, level, but Carmen heard the tremor underneath.

“I thought … I assumed you knew. It is common knowledge among species who interact with XenX. The UPA restrictions …”

“Common knowledge?” Letitia roared. She laughed, a harsh, brittle sound. “You thought weknewyou were drugging us? Pumping the air full of sex chemicals? Making us want to jump you while you smile and play the innocent engineer?”

Mila flinched as if struck.

“That is not … I do notdruganyone!” For the first time, genuine heat entered her voice, cutting through the calm. “The compounds are simply present. Like human perspiration carries scent. I cannot control it any more than you can control the color of your eyes!”

Her gaze darted back to Carmen, pleading.

“Captain, please. I have offered nothing but my assistance. My skills are real. The repair was real.”

“But my reaction wasn’t,” Carmen said.

The cold fury building inside her was terrifying in its intensity. She’d been weak. She’d been played. She’d let this … thisthingcompromise her, cloud her judgment, make her risk her ship, her crew.

The memory of her hand on Mila’s arm, the overwhelming urge to lean in, to taste her, her lecherous gaze at the Xena’s exposed vagina – it all made her skin crawl! Had any of it beenher? Or just chemicals hijacking her brain?

She turned sharply to her chief engineer standing silently nearby.

“Zed, scan the atmospheric composition. Right now. Focus on organic volatiles. Cross-reference with UPA bio-contaminant databases, specifically XenX pheromone profiles. Full analysis.”

“Affirmative, Captain,” Zed’s calm voice was a jarring counterpoint to the human tension crackling in the bay. His telescopic arm extended, a sensor probe whirring as it sampled the air near Mila, then near Carmen, then near the ventilation intake. Lights flickered rapidly on his rectangular head. “Sampling complete. Analysis initiated.”

The seconds stretched, thick with the sound of Letitia’s ragged breathing and Mila’s silent, watchful tension. Carmen kept her gaze fixed on Zed, refusing to look at either woman. The control she prided herself on felt like shattered glass in her hands. She’d been manipulated. Intoxicated. Made a fool of in her own engine room. The shame of it burned hotter than any plasma flare.