Captain's Captive

by C. F. Harris

  The tingle running through my body was overwhelming. I was filled with a heat that was greater than anything I'd felt with Melissa just moments ago.

  Women on this world could have children after they traveled in space. Sure they'd only been in orbit on this world, but it didn't matter. On every other world with every human splinter civilization we'd ever found just being in the upper atmosphere and touching the boundary of space was enough to make the Flaw manifest in some women, if not all.

  Part of the Fleet’s best practice for ethically testing for the origin was to make the women of a world aware of the Flaw and offer a trip to our world to act as ambassador and representative for their world. Considering how many worlds were more than a little patriarchal there were always women of childbearing years willing to jump at the opportunity to even the power balance on their world even if it meant no children. For some women it was a bonus.

  And it was different on this world. They’d already done the testing for us, with a positive result

  "This changes everything," I said.

  "What are you talking about?"

  "The Flaw isn’t a thing on this world. That means your planet is the Origin!"

  Melissa turned to me and cocked an eyebrow. "The Origin? The Flaw? What are you going on about?"

  I sighed. "I thought I already explained all of this to you? The Flaw is a genetic abnormality that hits women on human splinter worlds. They can reproduce on their world, but once they get into space they’re rendered barren."

  Melissa shrugged. "So? Just go back to your planet if you want to have kids."

  I chuckled and shook my head. Reached out to pat her leg. I had to remember that she was a resident of a planet that wasn't taken by the ravages of the Flaw, as incredible as that seemed.

  "You don't understand. Once they travel into space they’re rendered barren for the rest of their life."

  "Oh. Well that sucks."

  "It more than sucks," I said. "Don't you understand? If we can't have children on other worlds then there's no way to truly colonize another world. No way to create a civilization that truly spans the stars. All of the human splinter civilizations that have grown up and achieved interstellar travel since the fall are on borrowed time. Any one of our worlds being destroyed would be the end of our civilization."

  "What does that have to do with our world? This Origin you keep on talking about? Are we like the start of human civilization or something?"

  I paused. Tried to think about how best to explain this.

  "Not exactly. As far as we can tell something happened tens of thousands of years ago to cause humanity to fall. There was a civilization that spanned the galaxy. We’ve discovered worlds in almost every habitable star system that has the remains of humanity, if not a remnant still alive and well today, and it all collapsed. We think the Flaw is a leftover of a great war. Something to keep humanity from spreading across the galaxy again, though we haven’t found a trace of whatever wouldn’t want humanity spreading again."

  "Maybe if there was some war they got killed off? Seems we're a pretty good at killing anything we don't like."

  I grinned. "Exactly. I tend to be of the same opinion, though the archaeologists and anthropologists from our world tend to dismiss that line of thinking. They're dismissing the evidence clearly in front of them, though. Most of them haven't been to nearly as many worlds as I have."

  "So you were about to tell me what's so special about this planet?"

  "It's long been rumored that there would be a world that wasn't affected by the Flaw. A world that was the last holdout in that ancient conflict. A world that managed to hold off whatever caused the Flaw on the other worlds. On that world women would be able to travel between the stars and still be able to bear children."

  "And you think that's this world?"

  "I know it's this world. It's obvious. Women on this planet have traveled to space and are still able to have children. The Flaw doesn't affect you for whatever reason, and that puts this world in a very dangerous position if the wrong people figure that out."

  "You mean they want to take women? Like what those weird guys in the monkeysuits were doing?"

  "Exactly. Doing a smash and grab to steal local women is hardly something new. The Imperium has slaver ships that do that all the time. There are countless former colony worlds where primitive human civilizations still exist, but there aren't many semi-advanced worlds out there. There have been no worlds found so far where the women were able to travel to other planets and reproduce. At least not until now.”

  "So you're saying…"

  "I'm saying if it was discovered that this world didn't suffer from the Flaw then it would paint one hell of a target on your planet."

  A look of dawning horror came across her face. Oh yes. She was starting to understand some of the more unfortunate implications of what that would mean.

  "Looking for women? They’d come to this world to steal women?"

  "Wars would be fought over this world. Terrible wars between civilizations with weapons that make the worst you have to offer on this world look like nothing. This world needs a civilization that can protect it from the more dangerous branches of humanity lurking out there in the galaxy."

  "And you think your people are the ones to do that?"

  "Let me ask you this. Based on everything you've seen this evening, who would you rather open a dialog with your world? My people, or the Imperium? We’re the two closest splinters of humanity in the area. We’re the two that would be most likely to make first contact with your leaders."

  "Based on what I've seen you guys would definitely be my first choice," she said.

  "This means it's even more important that we get your friends back from those Imperium slavers. Even more important than it was back when I thought I was trying to prevent a simple smash and grab. This goes so far beyond preventing them from getting off world with women from this planet."

  "Because once they discover that women from our world can get pregnant after traveling in space…"

  "Exactly. That war will start. And the invasion force might arrive before my people can arrive to protect you."

  "Damn," Melissa breathed. "We need to get out there and stop them!"

  "Exactly. It's never been more important that we find a way to communicate with my ship!"

  Melissa opened her mouth as though she was going to say something more, but she was interrupted by a sound from outside. An explosion. And the distinct sound of energy weapons being used somewhere. I squeezed my eyes shut. Damn it. They'd somehow managed to find us again.

  I opened my eyes and looked at Melissa. She looked determined.

  "Let's get going," she said. "This isn't just about me and my friends anymore. This is about the world."

  I reached out and took her hand. "I'm glad to see you're so determined, but we should probably get dressed before we decide to go out and take on the forces of the Imperium arrayed against us."

  Melissa looked down and blushed. "Right." First clothes, then saving the world!"

  16

  Melissa

  I ducked down next to the bed and started pulling my clothes on. I'm not sure why I decided to use it as an impromptu bit of cover. Something told me that a cheap mattress that was more springs than cushion wasn't going to be much use against the disintegrator rays I’d seen used tonight.

  "I should've known something like this would happen," I muttered.

  "What are you talking about?" Flin asked.

  I looked up at him and grinned. "I just had a passionate tryst in a seedy motel with a dashing alien from another world who’s trying to protect me from the bad guys. If ‘80s action movies taught me anything, that's precisely the moment when those bad guys would make a dramatic entrance."

  Flin shook his head. "You're talking about more cultural stuff from your planet, aren't you?"

  "Of course I am. No time to explain, but if we manage to survive this then I'm going to give you one hell of
an education on my planet’s pop culture. I figure we’ll have plenty of time for that sort of thing while you're taking me to your leader."

  Flin grinned. "So you want me to take you to my leader?"

  "Somebody's going to have to speak for my world if what you say is true, right?"

  "I suppose you're right. Though what qualifications do you have?"

  I stopped and thought about that for a moment. Stuck my tongue out at him. "I have the best qualification of all. I've caught your eye, and you're the one who’d be giving me a ride back to your world."

  Flin shook his head and chuckled. "You're right. That is one hell of a compelling reason. It's a hell of a way to do interstellar diplomacy, but we'll have to make it work somehow."

  "First we have to survive," I said.

  "Right," Flin said. "Good point. So as much as I hate to encourage this, if you could hurry up and finish getting dressed?"

  "Yeah, yeah," I said. "I'm working as fast as I can here."

  I pulled on the rest of my clothes. The explosions were getting nearer and nearer. Uncomfortably so. Any moment now I imagined someone would blow open the door and then it would all be over. We were trapped like rats with no escape.

  "So how do we get out of here?" I asked.

  "I was thinking of waiting until they got right in front of our door and blasting it on them before they had a chance to blast it in on us."

  I tapped a finger against my lips. I couldn't think of anything better. We were on the back side of the motel, after all, and so blasting a hole in the wall would only be blasting a hole into a motel room on the other side were presumably they’d already have people waiting for us.

  So we played an uncomfortable game of hurry up and wait. I crouched down next to the bed while Flin positioned himself right in line with the door. He was playing a dangerous game. If they got trigger happy then he’d be the first one to get hit.

  The blasts got closer and closer. Yeah, it was pretty fucking obvious their strategy was to blast every door and then blast anyone inside if the screams that were suddenly silenced were anything to go by. They weren't taking any chances.

  "Is it like this on every world that you visit?" I asked.

  "Not really," I replied. "On the last world it was just Rethvar and a couple of his guys. They didn't have much in the way of a heavy weaponry. It sounds like they’re really going at it out there tonight, though. I think being on a tech world has made them a little bolder than they’d normally be."

  "A tech world?"

  "On the last planet where I tangled with them the highest level of weaponry was a spear."

  "Oh," I said. "That sounds a lot easier to deal with than what they’re sporting."

  "You have no idea," Flin said.

  There was another loud crash and explosion that sounded like it was right next door. I heard someone yelling at them and that confirmed it, though that yell was quickly cut off by the sound of energy weapons.

  I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't like to think about anyone dying because those assholes were out there searching for me, but I reminded myself that those assholes were the ones pulling the trigger, not me. I couldn't do anything about what they were doing.

  The shouting turned to screaming and then it ended abruptly. They’d done their work. I heard heavy boots moving over in front of our door. Flin turned to me and grinned. Amazing how he could keep his cool in situations like this, but then again it seemed like he did this sort of thing all the time.

  "Time to earn my pay," he said.

  He pointed his weapon at the door and fired off several short blasts in succession. There was a loud explosion just like with every other room the other guys had visited, but this time around they were the ones getting hit. I heard screaming that turned to a yell of horror as one of them was clipped by one of Flin's blasts. I had the satisfaction of watching one of the assholes in those weird monkey suits disintegrating and melting away.

  Good. It served him right for what they were doing to the poor people in this motel. For what they'd done to that guy at that pawnshop. Hell, for what they'd done to my friends.

  The pricks.

  "Come on," Flin shouted.

  I kept my head down and followed him. He ran out and fired a couple more times for good measure, though it seemed the entire team that had been sent after us was down for the count. At least for the moment. I paused in front of one of them.

  "What are you doing?" Flin asked, looking at me like I was crazy. Well I was crazy. Crazy like a fucking fox.

  "Hold on a second," I said.

  "In case you haven't noticed, there are a lot more of them crawling around here."

  I could hear boots crunching from the other side of the motel. It was easy to hear them in the relative silence. Everyone else had either gone to ground or, more likely, been disintegrated by the people searching the motel. Which meant the only sound was the assholes chasing us on the other side of the motel and the sounds of the city in the distance. It sounded like there was a road nearby on the other side of a small fence that butted up against the back end of the motel.

  I reached down and grabbed a weapon from one of the guys who was still twitching. I leaned down and gave him a kick for good measure. I wanted to make sure he knew that not only was I stealing his gun, but I also thought he was a first rate asshole.

  "What are you doing with that?" Flin asked.

  "You're not going to be the only one with a weapon if we’re going up against these guys."

  "Do you even know how to use that thing?"

  I held it up and had a look at it. It was basically your average gun. Except that it was shaped all weird. But it had a handle, a trigger, and an end that glowed which I presumed was the business end I was going to point at anyone I wanted to end.

  Down at the end of the motel some more of those guys who'd been chasing us all night came around the corner and ran for us shouting at the top of their lungs. I quickly took aim, squeezed the trigger, and several shots fired off.

  A moment later three of them were disintegrating, and the others were running back in the direction they came from. I held the barrel of the gun, though I guess it wouldn't be fair to call it a barrel since this was an energy weapon of some sort rather than something that fired good old fashioned bullets like what I was used to, up to my lips and blew on it.

  "Easy as can be," I said. "There's not even any recoil with these things. Neat!"

  "How did you…"

  "I've been shooting a few times. You can't grow up in the country and not know your way around a gun."

  I turned and smiled. Flin stared at me with a very goofy expression on his face.

  "What?"

  "Nothing. I just think I'm in love."

  A thrill ran through me at those words. I felt a tingle running up and down my body and stopping in between my legs. Only there wasn't time for that. Not right now. There was still the whole business of saving the world.

  "We can talk about that later," I said. "Right now we need to concentrate on getting the hell out of here."

  I turned and looked around. The fence beside us. The sounds of shouting on the other side of the motel. A dead end in the direction that didn’t contain groups of crazed space men with disintegrator weapons. A hill in the distance covered in blinking cell towers.

  “Damn it, how are we…”

  Something hit me. A hill. A hill that was dotted with cell towers that blinked red in the night from lights designed to keep planes away.

  "Flin, you said you needed something powerful to reach your ship, right?”

  “Yup. If I had time and I didn’t have to worry about the Imperium ship out there I could send out transmissions and hope they received it. Since we don’t have time and we will have an Imperium ship out there listening in we need something bit that’ll be heard the first time.”

  I pointed towards the hill. “Something big. Would those towers work?"

  Flin turned and followed where I was pointing.
And he smiled when he saw what I was pointing towards.

  "A big group of towers like that? I assume they’re used for transmitting signals on this world?"

  "Fuck if I know," I said. "I'm not a cell phone technician, but that should be able to transmit since that's what all the cell phones connect to."

  "That just might work," he said. "Do you know a way to get up there?"

  I stopped and listened. It sounded like the guys were getting ready for another run around the building, and I had a feeling they weren't going to be as easily surprised this time around. There was still the sound of traffic moving on the other side of that fence, though.

  "I think we're going to have to get a ride up there," I said.

  "This is your world. By all means lead the way."

  I pointed my newly acquired weapon at the fence and fired off a couple of blasts, hoping that it didn't go through and hit cars on the other side. We stepped through the hole and I heard Flin squeeze off a couple of shots behind us.

  "They're going to get brave and do something stupid here in a minute, so you should probably whatever you had planned," he said.

  "Give me a minute," I said.

  Sure enough there was a road on the other side. Not exactly busy, but there was some traffic going in both directions. I stepped out into the middle of the road and held my hand up.

  A car barreled towards me, but it didn't look like it was stopping. Damn it. I raised my weapon and squeezed off several shots that landed to the side of the car. It screeched to a halt right next to me.

  And I realized exactly what kind of car I’d just fired at. Black-and-white with lights on top, and two very pissed off looking cops inside. Damn it.

  One of them reached down for the radio and I stepped forward and tapped the glowing tip of my gun against the glass.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you," I said.

  I desperately hoped that everything Flin told me about being able to take me off of this world was right. Because otherwise I was going to be in for one hell of a long time in the slammer for firing on cops like this.