by Lula Monk
Samantha looked at Clea expectantly, as though she wanted confirmation that her half-assed plan was a good one.
“Is that it?” Clea asked.
Samantha nodded eagerly.
“Um… That is shit.”
“In what way? Strategically speaking, that is the best way to get everyone in the same place at the same time, without having to retrieve anyone and with no one having to travel farther than necessary. With the right number of guns and the defensive moves you will teach them, we have a fighting chance of getting out of here for good.”
“Yeah…” Clea said slowly, trying to think of the best way to break the news to Samantha that her plan was absolute trash. “But have you thought about food? Or medicines; a lot of us might be pregnant, right?” Clea asked, looking pointedly at Samantha’s burgeoning stomach.
Samantha gave her a dirty look, but it quickly faded into one of defeat. “I actually hadn’t considered food and medicine.”
“And you know it is unlikely that we will be able to get every single female onto the ships, right? Plus, even if we did someone manage to get everyone aboard the transport vessels – a feat that would be nothing short of a miracle – I still highly doubt that anyone would be able to fly them, aviation experience or not.
“But assuming that all of these things played out the way you expect them to,” continued Clea, “how would we get back to Earth?”
“Well, I’m not familiar with the particulars of space travel, Clea, but I imagine we would figure it out.”
“I meant directions, Samantha. Do you even know where we are?”
Samantha shook her head, her eyes wide.
“It wouldn’t really matter where we were. Not at this precise moment,” Samantha said, as if she was just putting some long-held piece of the puzzle into place in her mind. “The space station moves.”
“It what?”
Samantha gestured toward the transparent wall.
“It moves,” she said again, her tone low and thick, as though she might cry. “ Even if we could get intel on our approximate location, there would be no way for us to know where we would be when the time came to make a break for it. And as far as sending the Interstellar Council a message…”
“The what?” Clea asked.
“Interstellar Council. Dredge let it slip once that there is a council made up of representatives from every planet within the universe that has developed space travel. The Council issues ethical edicts that creatures are expected to follow. If they don’t follow them, Dredge said that species forfeits representation on the council, baring their planet from travel and trade.”
Clea shook her head, confused. “Why would you send them a message?”
“What Chief Officer Slep and his partners Valx and Arachne are doing… its illegal. Well, the Interstellar Council doesn’t have laws, per se, but what Galactic Continuity is doing by kidnapping and selling humans… it breaks an edict. Slep, Arachne, Valx… all the creatures who have ever bought a human female here at the Hub… all of them would have to answer to the Council.”
The meaning of Samantha’s words dawned on Clea, shining as brightly in her mind as Ignis’s flames.
“We wouldn’t just be saving the people on this ship…” she said slowly. “We would be preventing anyone from ever being taken from Earth again.”
Samantha smiled. “Exactly.”
Clea chewed over this new information for a moment. Knowing about the Council changed things. If there was even the remote possibility that they could stop Chief Officer Slep and the rest from ever taking and pimping out another human again, their efforts would be worth it. No matter how half-assed or dangerous.
Clea thought about how it must feel, for the people back on Earth whose loved ones have gone missing. She knew her family wouldn’t have noticed, even after so many days; they and Clea didn’t talk much anymore. But would Clea have noticed? If it had been her sister who suddenly disappeared…
But Kyesha can’t go missing, can she?
She blinked her eyes quickly, walking to stand in front of the transparent wall. Now was not a time to think about her kid sister. Not here, in a place like this.
With her fists curled tightly, Clea swiped at her eyes. When she was sure no tears would fall, she turned back to Samantha.
“You’re right,” she said, walking back to stand by the pregnant woman. She looked down at the remains of the chair Slep had broken, bitter at not having a seat of her own. She shrugged her shoulders and sat on the table. “We have to do this.”
“I know,” said Samantha. “I have seen so many women arrive the Hub. I can hardly bare to imagine how many came before us.”
Clea shuddered. She didn’t want to think about that either.
She clutched the edge of the tabletop, her knuckles turning pale. “With all due respect, though, your plan needs some tweaking.”
“I know,” said Samantha. “And I would be more than happy to hear any of your suggestions.”
Clea thought for a moment, tying her dreads into a knot on top of her head. Somehow, putting her hair up always helped her think better.
She glanced around the room, her eyes landing on the towel Ignis had worn when he opened the portal earlier. The one he had haphazardly discarded on the floor after their kiss, when he got dressed and stormed out of the room.
Thinking of Ignis’s rippling muscles and the sheer animal strength radiating off him like heat, an idea suddenly occurred to her.
“Are there more creatures here? Like Ignis?”
Samantha answered immediately, as if she didn’t even have to ponder the question. “Yes. The Adrasta Galaxy, where Ignis is from, has been in some bloody war for years. Apparently, it has gotten worse recently, and all sides involved have taken heavy loses to the point that Slep thought it prudent to offer them Galactic Continuity’s services.”
“Are they all warriors like him?”
Samantha nodded. “I believe so.”
“Great,” said Clea with a smile. “So, he has a temper. Obviously.”
“Yeah… So?” Samantha looked at Clea, her eyes squinted. “What are you thinking?”
“I would be willing to bet that Ignis is out there right now, causing a shit ton of damage. Chances are, the other warrior creatures are too.”
Samantha nodded again, though it was evident she hadn’t picked up on Clea’s train of thought yet.
“Do you think that insect guy, Slep, would be willing to give them a place to spar? Somewhere they can get all their pent-up energy and aggression out?”
The pregnant woman shrugged. “Maybe. But how will that help us?”
“I bet that a fighting space may already be present on the Hub. Those Ceph guards are beefy. Must be working out somewhere. Bet they sleep somewhere too.” She grinned at Samantha.
“And you’re thinking wherever the Cephs train and sleep is where the munitions hold might be?”
“Yep. Considering how we haven’t seen such a place anywhere accessible to the Rim, I bet it’s what those strange structures are under the core.”
Samantha’s eyes widened. “That is very, very possible.” She jumped to her feet and began to pace. “Holy shit! Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Focus,” Clea said. “As far as food…”
“That should be easy enough to handle, now that you have brought it to my attention. I am an idiot for not considering such a thing sooner, honestly. The orientation initiative has had me so distracted… juggling the management of all the women on the Hub, plus lying to Dredge and Slep and–”
“Wait,” Clea interjected, stunned. “He doesn’t know?”
Samantha froze, her entire body rigid. When she spoke, her voice was thick again. “He can’t know.”
“So… what are you going to do when we leave?” Clea sked, genuinely curious. “Are you just going to leave him behind? I mean, he’s the most human-looking creature on the Hub, but no one back home has silver skin. Someone is bound to notice.�
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“I... I’m going to have to lie to him. Betray him.” A single tear slid down from Samantha’s eyes shining like a crimson drop of blood.
“And you are okay with that?” Clea asked softly. “Are you sure that is what you want?”
Samantha swatted at her eyes angrily.
“I’ll have to be alright with it,” she said hotly. “Dredge wants to take our daughter back to Brillar. To breed.”
Clea sucked in a sharp breath. “His own kid?”
“Glimling,” Samantha said promptly. Then, “Sorry. But, yeah. The whole point of buying me was to save his species. Now that he knows we are having a girl, he wants to take her back as soon as possible. More females, more offspring. Faster regeneration of the Glims.”
I’m just gonna leave that alone…
“Okay,” Clea said, pulling focus back to the plan. Samantha had turned her back to Clea, but the pregnant woman’s shoulders shook lightly; it was obvious she was weeping. “We have a tentative idea about weapons, and food. But medicine…?”
Samantha turned back around, swiping her face hastily. She cleared her throat. “Well, I have checkups pretty frequently. It wouldn’t be outside the realm of reason to–“
The woman stopped speaking suddenly, her eyes going wide. She stared at the space over Clea’s shoulder.
Clea turned around to see what Samantha was staring at. What she saw made her jaw drop as well.
The portal to the room was open. The ten-foot-tall insectoid, Slep, stood in the corridor. At its side were two guards, each with a tentacle clamped on one of Ignis’s arms. Before her eyes, the Ardan’s flesh sloughed off in huge chunks, leaving meat exposed and blood dripping onto the stone floor.
Before she fully realized what she was doing, Clea jumped down from the table and ran to Ignis’s side.
“Let go of him,” she barked at the Ceph guards. She pushed past them, wrapping her arm around Ignis’s torso.
He was half-conscious, and at feeling her touch, he did his best to struggle to stand. He opened his ruined mouth, the skin of his lips blistered and bubbling, and tried to speak. But the sound that came out in no way resembled speech.
Clea peered up at his open mouth and then quickly looked away. His tongue had been ripped out by the root.
The Cephs still clung to Ignis’s arms.
“I said, LET HIM GO.”
Clea did not know why she was so concerned with Ignis’s current state. Maybe it was his gruesome appearance and what it reminded her of, or maybe it was the fact that she had promised Samantha she would try to find the warrior appealing. Either way, the only thing she knew was how intensely she wanted to protect him in that moment.
“Now!” she said, shifting her arm to bear more of Ignis’s weight. The Cephs weren’t doing shit to hold him up; they were just restraining him.
“Do as the Earth woman requests,” said the insectoid.
The Cephs complied. Their suction cups released, taking more strips of Ignis’s skin with them, great gooey strings stretching between her alien’s body and their tentacles.
Clea gagged.
“What happened?” she demanded, glaring up at Slep.
“The Ardan has learned his lesson.”
“What did you do?” Clea glared at the insectoid, her heart thrumming in her chest. Whatever Ignis did, Clea doubted he had deserved this particular ‘lesson.’
The alien’s body was ruined, air whistling from his mouth his sharp in struggling successions, one after the other after the other; he was struggling to breathe.
“And why did you bring him here instead of the medical bay? Are you fucking stupid?”
“Clea…” Samantha warned at her back.
Clea whirled her head at Samantha with enough force to knock the knot of hair atop her head loose. Her dreads cascaded down over her shoulders.
“What?” she asked. “Tell me bringing him here instead of to those four-armed things was the smartest choice.”
Samantha remained quiet, looking down at the gnawed nails of her hands.
“Well?” Clea asked, turning her attention back to Slep.
The insectoid trilled, lowering its segmented body lower and lower, inch by terrifyingly-slow inch, until its mandibles clanged together in front of Clea’s face. It breathed out, a scent so sweet it was almost obnoxious as it radiated out across her skin.
“The Ardan has learned one lesson. This is another.” He snapped his meaty claws on either side of Clea’s head. “Be mindful that you do not have to learn the same.”
With that, he turned suddenly, his barbed tail lashing out to fly over Clea and Ignis’s head, barely missing the warrior by the span on one hand’s breadth.
Everything in Clea wanted to shout out, to dare that scaly-backed dick to come back and say that to her again. But she knew it would be an empty threat. Besides, Ignis must be losing consciousness from the pain, because he was rapidly becoming heavier and heavier against her; she could scarcely hold the massive warrior up.
The Ceph guards stood in the corridor for a moment, staring in the direction Slep had skittered.
“Can you help me with him?” Clea asked Samantha. The Ceph guards would be much better able to assist her, but Clea wanted them nowhere near Ignis.
Samantha hesitated, gnawing at her bottom lip.
“Please,” Clea begged, sagging under the Ardan’s weight. “If he falls to the floor, I will never get him up again.”
As if lending truth to her words, Ignis leaned against her more heavily, a sick and strangled moan escaping his lips.
“Fine,” Samantha acquiesced. She rushed to Clea’s side, slinging her arm under Ignis’s opposite side.
Together, the women managed to half-carry, half-drag the giant man the short distance to the bed.
“I’ve got it from here,” Clea said, seeing the wild and erratic flashing of the light from Samantha’s stomach.
The red-eyed woman nodded gratefully, wheezing as she slid out from under Ignis’s arm. As she pulled away from the flame alien, parts of Ignis peeled away with her, clinging to her sundress.
Clea eased Ignis onto the bed, careful to touch him as little as possible. Not because she thought he was disgusting, even though he obviously was. She wanted to touch him the least amount required, though, because she imagined wounds like his were painful; poking and prodding them would be of little use or comfort.
Samantha gagged.
Clea’s eyes snapped up just in time to see the pregnant woman remove a long, large strip of Ignis’s flesh from her arm.
“Are you good?” Samantha asked, her face scrunching up with disgust. She tossed the scrap of ruined alien flesh to the floor.
“Umm hmm,” Clea said, adjusting the pillow under Ignis’s head. Seeing Ignis like this brought too many painful memories to her mind, memories that were hard to force back down. She was only listening to Samantha’s words with half her attention; the rest of her brain was too preoccupied with keeping her own shit together.
Youwillnotthinkabouther. Youwillnotthinkabouther. Youwillnotthinkabouther.
Clea vaguely became aware that other creatures were standing in the opening of the portal.
“Did you hear what I said, Clea?”
Clea blinked rapidly, staring up at the ceiling. When she was confident her tears were gone for the moment, she said, “No. What is it?”
“The Ardan will need medical attention,” she said, her eyes conveying what her mouth could not.
Clea sniffed, the tears threatening to come to the surface again. She looked at the yawning mouth of the portal and the insectoid who now stood at the entrance once more, blocking the light from the corridor.
“Will he be able to get that?” Clea asked Slep hotly. “Or are you just going to let one of your patrons die?”
Slep screeched so loud that Clea shook, the sound somewhere between the cawing of a crow and scream of an eagle.
How can he even make that sound? Clea thought to herself. Quickly fol
lowed by, who the hell cares?
“Well?” she asked again, standing from the bed. She did her hardest not to gag at the long strings of goo that connected her body to Ignis’s.
She stepped across the room, the strands that bound her to the Ardan snapping under the strain.
“Are you going to let someone tend to his medical needs?” she asked Slep again, this time more calmly.
Slep snapped his claws once more. “You are well-suited to the Commander. Persistent. Irreverent.” More snapping of the claws followed by a bang of the mandibles. “But I will not allow a patron to perish aboard my station.”
“Thank you,” Clea said begrudgingly. “So, when will you take him to the medical bay?”
Slep leaned low, his multi-faced eyes level with Clea’s. “I said I would not let a patron perish aboard my ship. The Commander could just as easily die on his own ship, in transit to Incenda.”
Clea shot Samantha a quick look. The pregnant woman met her gaze briefly and then darted her eyes away, but it was obvious they had both shared the same thought. Each creature had his own ship. Which meant every single breeder already had a knowledgeable expert on space travel at her disposal: her alien owner.
But how to get the aliens to convey that information?
Ignis moaned from the bed, and Clea made herself focus.
“Please,” she said, the word tasting bitter on her tongue. “At least let me tend to him.”
Slep stood upright, one giant claw drifting up to tap on his mandible.
“Very well,” he said at last. “I will have the necessary equipment sent. You will have a guard posted outside this portal until the supplies are delivered, with orders to obliterate you should you attempt to flee.”
Clea gulped. “Okay.”
“Come, Earth woman Samantha,” said Slep, beckoning for the red-eyed woman. “Bright One has inquired after your extended absence.”
Samantha tiptoed around Clea, following the insectoid out to the corridor. Just as she stepped from the room, she gave Clea a knowing look.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be so hard to get medical supplies, if Clea could find some way to convince the Quadra she needed a lot more than she actual did to save Ignis.