by Tammy Walsh
I cleared my throat.
“How, uh, did the mission go?” I said.
“The mission went well,” Maddy said. “But an innocent Yayora soldier died, pretending to be me. She was sacrificed so I might live.”
“The Yayora are at war. Sometimes tough decisions have to be made.”
“And you know something about tough decisions, don’t you?” she said.
The blood drained from my face. I glanced at the empty doorway. If I ran now, I could escape that question and the conversation it would lead to.
It wasn’t going to be much fun.
Stari had told her everything—everything she knew, at least.
“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” Maddy said. “You’ve played this gameshow of theirs many times, each time with a different partner. A different girl.”
Her eyes glinted with jealousy at the word “girl.”
“Yes,” I said. “But it’s not what you think.”
“Oh, I think I know exactly what it was like. Stari showed me the footage from your other… performances.”
“It was different with them. I didn’t love them—”
“I’m sure the sex was real torture.”
“No, it wasn’t torture—”
Maddy turned on me.
“Did you love any of them?” she said.
“No, of course not,” I said.
“You sure seemed to enjoy being with them.”
Her eyes burned like red-hot furnaces.
“I had to do it,” I said. “If I didn’t, they would have killed the girls. Maybe me too. The audience watched the show because the contestants care about each other. They want to see us fall in love. I had to make it look like we were in love. But we weren’t.”
“Maybe you weren’t,” Maddy said. “But they were.”
I turned away.
“Yes,” he said. “Sometimes their love might have been real.”
“There’s no ‘might’ about it!” Maddy said. “They loved you and you led them to their deaths!”
“We tried to escape. But we always failed.”
“The whole gameshow was fake.”
“The only real thing were the girls,” I said. “And the weapons and explosions.”
“Did you ever reach the shuttlecraft with them?” Maddy said.
“No. The closest I ever came was with you. I thought if we could reach it, if we could get away, we could finally be safe.”
Maddy’s eyes drifted between mine.
“You really don’t know, do you?” she said.
“Don’t know what?”
Her eyes scrubbed my face again, looking for something that wasn’t there.
“The shuttlecraft,” she said. “It wasn’t real. It was a prop, something for you to chase after but never reach. Even if you did—as other contestants with their partners managed to do, the Changelings blew it up and then later edited it so it looked like one of the trackers did it.”
“What?” I said. “No, that can’t be right.”
“It is. Stari showed me the footage. It hasn’t happened just once. It’s happened many times.”
The planet shifted beneath my feet and I almost lost my balance. I braced myself on the wall and let the full implications roll over me.
It was all fake.
I thought through every mission, every time I came into conflict with the trackers and struggled to survive.
Had there ever been any clue the shuttlecraft was nothing more than an empty prop packed with explosives?
No. But it sounded like something the Changelings would do. It was the kind of thing they were known for. They used sneaky underhand tactics to get the result they wanted. So why not lie about the shuttlecraft too?
For countless days and nights, I had dreamed about reaching that shuttlecraft. If only I could manage it with one of the female aliens I’d been partnered with, then we would be safe. I would protect her and help her back to her homeworld. But I would never stay with her. My love wasn’t real, even if hers was.
It turned out the hope I had attached to that shuttlecraft wasn’t real either.
“I thought, maybe, you knew,” Maddy said. “That you sacrificed those girls to save yourself. But I should have known better. You’re not like that.”
She pressed her body against me. My tense muscles eased as she relaxed into me. She was careful where she placed her hands, but no matter where she put them, it hurt.
“What I don’t understand is why you did it,” she said. “Why did you go along with it?”
“Because I had no choice,” I said.
It was the piece of information Stari didn’t know, the morsel Maddy couldn’t know either.
“You always have a choice,” she said. “You could have refused.”
“They would have found someone else to do it. Maybe someone who wouldn’t be kind to the girls. Maybe someone with a wife and kids back home.”
“Was anything you told me true?”
“Yes. Everything I said was the truth. I just… left out certain details.”
“Certain details?” Maddy said, nostrils flaring.
“You don’t know what it’s like to be forced to do something like that,” I said. “You don’t know what it’s like to keep a secret you know will lead to an innocent girl’s death if you don’t keep it.”
“I know what it’s like to have to be forced to do something. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? Why we’re all here.”
“I watched those girls die!” I yelled. “I had to make them fall in love with me so we could reach that shuttlecraft. And now it turns out even that wasn’t real! I failed them all. One by one. I thought if I kept going, if I kept trying, eventually I could be successful. I would step on a shuttlecraft and take her to safety.”
I shook my head. I felt sick to my stomach. It was worse than I could have possibly imagined.
“I did this because otherwise, the Changelings were going to hurt my family,” I said. “That farm I told you about? And the abduction? It’s real. They tried to take them. I don’t know how they would have used them, but I couldn’t let it happen. So, I rescued them and took their place. The Changelings threatened to kill them if I didn’t do as they said. So long as I played along in their games, they would be safe.”
I reached for Maddy’s hands. I hated that I wasn’t sure if she would refuse my touch. But she let me wrap my hands around hers.
“It was all a show until I met you,” I said.
“Did you ever really love me?” she said. “Or was it fake too? The same performance you played on everybody else?”
“No,” I said, kissing her hands. “None of it was fake. Never with you. I knew nothing about you when we met but as I got to know you, I fell head over heels in love with you. I’ve never felt like this with anyone. And I’ll never feel like this again. I didn’t want you to see me like this because I don’t want you to be disappointed. I couldn’t face it if you pitied me.”
She reached up and placed a hand to my scarred cheek. She gently rubbed it with her thumb.
“I could never look at you with anything but love,” she said.
Tears sprung into her eyes and shimmered. I found the same tears in my eyes. I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” Maddy said. “The Yayora know where the Control Room is. They’re going to destroy it. Then we’re going to escape from here. They’ll take us home.”
Wherever we went, it would be home so long as I was with her. My one true love. We were this close to leaving this damn place and I couldn’t be happier.
The Changeling siblings in the next cell were watching us. They’d given up trying to get our attention with wild dancing.
They leaned against the wall that partitioned our two cells.
Far too relaxed, I thought. Far too comfortable.
They murmured something between themselves. They weren’t watching our expressions or body language. They
were interested only in our faces.
They were watching our lips.
And each time we said something, they repeated it to each other. I couldn’t hear them as they’d been muted, but I could read their lips.
The same way they were reading ours.
A shiver traveled up my spine. I couldn’t ignore that sensation any longer. Now, with Maddy in my arms, I could communicate in a way they couldn’t understand.
Maddy noticed the faraway look in my eye.
“What’s wrong?” she said.
I gently tapped her on the back with my finger in tap code.
WAIT. I JUST SAW SOMETHING
WHAT, Maddy tapped back.
I watched the Changelings closely. Neither of them spoke. They weren’t even looking at my fingers. Only my lips. They didn’t know how to tap code, at least not with the English alphabet.
CHANGELINGS KNOW SOMETHING, I tapped.
KNOW WHAT, Maddy replied.
KEEP TALKING OR THEY WILL GET SUSPICIOUS
“How are the Changelings here?” Maddy asked.
“The Yayora grabbed them the moment we left the barn,” I said.
THEY ARE READING OUR LIPS, I tapped.
“Why?” Maddy asked.
“They’re sick of being victims, I guess,” I said. “I can understand that. They’ve been trying to extract the location of the Control Room from them.”
I DONT KNOW WHAT THEY KNOW BUT IT IS NOT GOOD, I tapped.
WHAT SHOULD WE DO, she tapped.
TELL STARI SOMETHING IS UP. TAKE THEM FROM THEIR CELL AND SEARCH THEM
THEY ALREADY TOOK THEIR TRACKING DEVICES
But still, that nagging sensation wouldn’t go away. Something was going on with these creatures.
GET STARI TO CHECK THEM AGAIN. IF I AM RIGHT WE ARE ALL IN BIG DANGER
By the light of the Creator, I hoped I was wrong…
Once again, I was alone in my room, pacing back and forth. If there was a carpet, I would have worn a hole in it long ago.
I was relieved Maddy had found it in her heart to forgive me. She hadn’t flown out and attacked me the way I deserved. She showed a lot of restraint and control, willing to listen to my side of the story before coming to a decision.
The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew I could never follow through with my plan to avoid her for the rest of my life—even if it was better for her not to see me ever again. She meant too much to me, and I could tell by the look in her eyes that she felt the same way about me.
We were joined, inseparable.
For now and all time.
Maddy left ten minutes ago and I had no idea if the Yayora would listen to her or not. It wasn’t like she had a lot to go on. All she had was my suspicions that the Changeling siblings were up to something. I’d dealt with Changelings often enough to know when they planned something underhanded.
There was no doubt in my mind they were expecting something to happen.
The only question was, what?
I glanced at them every few minutes. They returned to lounging in their cell as they had before and seemed completely unconcerned with how frantic I was while pacing.
I had a bad feeling and it wasn’t going away.
“Will you sit down?” Klang said. “You’re making me dizzy.”
He was talking to me. I ignored him and kept on pacing.
I was making him feel sick?
Trang paused from exercising and turned to me.
“Hey, asshole,” she said. “My brother’s talking to you.”
Existing in a cell next to these two was like living in hell. There was always something they were annoyed with—most often each other. Thirty minutes couldn’t pass before one picked a fight with the other.
I ignored Trang too.
“You know, that girl of yours sure is a looker,” Trang said. “Don’t you think, little brother?”
He got up and sensed the game afoot. He joined his sister at the cell wall closest to me. They leaned against it. They looked at me the way a pair of lion cubs spied a grub they would tease… until they grew bored and killed the unfortunate creature.
The trick was to not let them get under your skin.
It wasn’t always easy.
I continued my pacing. There was no good in confronting them. They wouldn’t stop. They considered any rise they got out of me as a victory. It encouraged them to keep on badgering me.
“I imagine she’ll look pretty good when she’s underneath me,” Klang said.
Okay, so that was getting a little too close to the bone. My eyes hardened and my muscles tensed.
“I think you’re onto something there,” Trang said. “I think that got a reaction out of him. I wonder if we can get a little more…”
“I’m not sure we can,” Klang said. “But I’m sure I can get more out of her than he ever could. I watched their late-night session. Pretty tame by my standards. When I get into a girl, I really get into her. I like to bring a knife to the bedroom.”
“To cut her clothes off?” Trang said. “That sounds hot.”
“And slice them up when they don’t do as they’re told,” Klang said. “Sometimes they can be so selfish. If you want something, you’ve got to make them do it.”
My jaw clenched as I made another turn to pace back across my cell. I couldn’t help but glare at them as I passed.
Don’t let them get to you, I told myself.
But how could I not when they were talking about my one and only soulmate?
“And when you’re done with her, give her to me,” Trang said. “I like to use what’s left before I slit their throats and toss them on the fire.”
Unable to bear it any longer, I turned and jabbed a finger at them. I didn’t know what I was going to say but I knew it would be cutting.
The siblings waited expectantly. They’d gone fishing and were about to catch a whale.
The door at the end swung open with a creak, cutting me off. All thoughts of what I was going to say died on my lips.
Stari marched into the room. A line of soldiers followed and formed two regimented lines.
The Changeling siblings lost interest in me and focused on this new distraction.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” Trang said.
“Looks like they’re about to perform a show to me,” Klang said.
Stari stepped forward armed with the security pass required to unlock their cell door.
The siblings stepped back and warmed up, preparing to have a showdown with the soldiers.
“Looks like we’re about to become part of the show too, dear sister,” Klang said.
They shared a grin and squared off against the soldiers, cracking their necks left and right to limber up.
Stari didn’t step forward. Instead, she nodded to the other soldiers. Two stepped forward from the back armed with large rifles.
“Hey now, wait a minute,” Trang said. “That’s not fair—”
The weapons ejected a round of invisible projectiles. Only a faint outline was visible as they arched and slammed into the floor at the siblings’ feet.
The shockwaves threw them against the hard surface of the tiled back wall. They struggled to their feet and wobbled unsteadily.
“Again,” Stari said.
The soldiers fired another volley. This time, they were knocked off their feet and lay unmoving on the floor.
Stari swiped the card across the control panel on the far wall.
“Computer,” she said, “unlock cell number seven.”
The door hissed open and the soldiers filed inside. They approached carefully and kept their rifles trained on them in case they needed to unload another shot. Drool seeped from their lips as the soldiers hefted them up and carried them out of the room.
The soldiers left, leaving me alone with Stari. She turned to me.
“What happens to them now?” I said.
“Now, we see if you’re right and these guys are hiding a secret as you said,” she
said.
That was good. There was no chance they would listen to me. As far as they were concerned, I was as bad as the Changelings.
A moment passed between us. Stari cocked her head to one side.
“She cares a lot for you,” she said. “I don’t know why. I mean, you’re attractive enough but I don’t get what the big draw is.”
“I care a lot for her too,” I said.
“I know that. Half the Yayora would give their right arm to be with her. For some reason, she chose you. You’d better treat her right.”
“I intend to.”
Stari looked me over and, apparently seeing something she liked, nodded.
“None of us knew or understood why you did what you did but Maddy believes your story. We assumed you were a Changeling in disguise or one of their pets.”
The thought alone sent a shiver up my back.
“We might not believe you but Maddy does,” Stari said, “and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. She has agreed to accept full responsibility for you. I’ll have someone release you from your cell but if you put one step wrong, if you give any of us reason to think you’re dangerous, you’ll be locked up again so fast it’ll make your head spin.”
“I understand,” I said.
Stari turned on her heel and marched out of the room.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding and fell back onto my cot. Maddy had done it. Not only did she make them investigate the Changeling siblings but she’d worked out a way to get me out of there.
I shook my head. What a woman.
Was there anything she couldn’t do?
My skin itched and I scratched it. Fast healing made your skin feel like it was on fire. But even a Titan’s ability couldn’t overcome scars. And not only the ones on the outside.
I would be left with light scars across my chin and cheek. We had some ointments and salves that could work wonders back on my home planet. I’d need to hunt them down when I returned.
When I returned.
I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I was going home. After all this time, I was going to see my family again.
My heart leaped in my chest. I was so excited I couldn’t stay sitting any longer. I hopped onto my feet and performed a little dance.
I would introduce Maddy to my family. They would get to learn about the woman I’d fallen head over heels in love with.