Free Unobtainium 1: Kate on a Hot Tin Roof by Niall Teasdale Page A

pattern. Until it did we could not be certain.’
    ‘I’m going to be like this every forty-six days?’
    ‘It appears so, but now that you are, how do you feel? Describe the sensations to me?’
    Kate paused; the cooling effect of the gel was starting to ease the pain, numbing the skin, and she could focus more on her other senses. ‘I feel hot, flushed. And I want something, but I’m not sure what. Have you ever had an itch you can’t scratch and it drives you mad?’
    ‘I believe I am acquainted with the sensation. Tell me, does this itch tend to concentrate in your lower stomach?’
    Kate’s cheeks flushed. ‘It… is somewhere in that region that I feel it.’
    ‘A little lower, perhaps?’
    ‘Somewhat lower, yes.’
    Antonia nodded. ‘I know what is afflicting you, Kate, though how we are to explain it to your guardian I do not know.’
    ~~~
    ‘Are you familiar with the term “oestrus,” Charles?’ Antonia asked. She had decided to fall back on the language that her friend was most likely to comprehend, the scientific one.
    ‘Uh… from the Latin, a frenzy, or a gadfly. Originally from Greek, I believe.’
    ‘Are you familiar with the modern usage?’ She could tell from the way his cheeks were colouring that he was.
    ‘A phase in the menstrual cycle of many mammals, though none of the apes appear to exhibit it, nor do humans. The female of the species is receptive to mating at these times. It is vulgarly referred to as “in heat.”’
    ‘Indeed. Apparently, Kate is subject to these vagaries of biology. I took the liberty of consulting a colleague in the zoological gardens in London when I could not discover the information in your grandfather’s books. The leopard has a cycle which follows a forty-six-day pause and then six or seven days of oestrus.’
    Charles’s face darkened. ‘Part of her altered inheritance rearing its head. The cessation of her growth should have warned me that something like this was likely. I confess I had not considered something as divergent as this, but I should have realised that she had become a young woman rather than a girl.’
    ‘Your self-recrimination is as misdirected as it is expected, my dear Charles. Kate’s biology is entirely new, untrodden territory. There is no map to follow and we must chart our course by being watchful and adapting to circumstances as they present themselves.’
    ‘Practical as ever, Mrs Wooster. What of Kate? What can be done to ease her pain?’
    ‘She has confined herself to her room for now. I believe I may have a solution, but I believe you will require some persuasion to see the benefits.’
    Charles’s eyes narrowed. ‘Precisely what are you proposing, Mrs Wooster?’
    ~~~
    ‘Miss Felix excuses herself,’ Charles said as he sat down to dinner. ‘She is discommoded and will not be able to join us this evening.’
    ‘She’s acting funny again,’ Alicia sing-songed. Her father glowered at her from the end of the table while her mother gave a slight smile.
    ‘A lady,’ Lilian said, ‘does not find fault in others, and should she do so, she remains silent about it.’ Alicia shrank under the old woman’s icy glare.
    ‘If you must know,’ Charles said, ‘she received burns from the reactor yesterday. Her skin is sensitive and she does not wish to inconvenience us with her discomfort.’ Alicia shrank further.
    ‘This seems a time to make mention of my own news,’ Antonia said, before Alicia could dig a deeper hole for herself. ‘I am required to return to London early regarding a business matter. I am having to deal personally with so many matters Mister Wooster would have managed these days. It is my belief that Miss Felix would benefit from a change of scenery, and I propose to have her travel with me. We will leave early tomorrow.’
    ‘Oh, we will be most sorry to see you leave,’ Georgina said, just a little too eagerly.
    ‘Yes we will,’ Lilian said. ‘Nothing serious, I hope?’
    ‘Entirely mundane,