Shades of Werewolf

by T. S. Ryder

  At least the nausea had passed for the most part, and the tiredness. But that had all been manageable. What would come next would be even worse. I would only get bigger from here on out. My feet and ankles would swell, my back would ache. It would be hard to hide, but easier down here on the ground than it would have been on the ship.

  I wrapped myself up and stood in front of a glass cabinet where I could vaguely see my reflection. I zipped my jumpsuit back up and turned to the side, but still it was impossible to see that I was pregnant. Hopefully, I could hide it a little longer. Detro would come back for me. He had promised, and I had promised to wait for him. I needed to keep my end of the promise. I and this little thing inside me would wait for Detro. He would come.

  I moved slowly back to my tent. It was one of the few pleasant nights at the camp. The larger sun had gone down and a chill wind was pushing through the camp. I could almost detect the scent of something in the air. A spice or a sweetness I had never smelled before. I wondered what else was on this inhospitable little rock. We only lived here in this little section. In another life, this planet could have been teaming with civilization. But the Gosebs were only interested in what they could get from it, not what they could build on it.

  I found my way back to my tent, closing the flaps once I was inside. I didn’t bother lighting any lamps. There was nothing to light. Instead, I lay back on my bed and stared up at the shadows of my tent. They seemed to shift and change in front of my eyes. One was a tall tree with many branches, then the wind blew and the shapes rearranged and appeared again as a wolf with its teeth bared.

  I drifted off to sleep. If I had any dreams, I didn’t remember them. I was woken by a hand pressed against my face. I opened my eyes with a start, but in the darkness I could only see the shadow of a man standing above me. I struggled as the man’s face came down, but then I heard his voice.

  “It’s alright, it’s me.” My eyes adjusted to the darkness. He had a simple cloth wrapped around his face and I watched as he pulled it down, revealing his face.

  I grabbed at him and pulled at his clothes. His arms were around me, holding me up. Tears streamed down my face. At last. At last, he was here. He had come back. I tried to stop the tears. I had a thousand things I wanted to say to him. I wanted to kiss him.

  He put his hands on my chin and smiled down at me.

  “You’re back,” I said, my voice hitching with a sob.

  “I told you I would be,” he said, brushing my hair out of my face.

  “What happened?” I asked him.

  He shook his head. “I’ll tell you when we’re on the ship. Right now we have to go.”

  I nodded and stood up with him. Out of habit, I reached for my rucksack, but then I realized I didn’t need it anymore. I would never come back here. Tomorrow I would be missing, although whether I was dead or alive was still to be decided.

  “Are you alright?” he asked me. “Are you hurt? Did anyone hurt you?”

  I shook my head and he breathed a sigh of relief.

  “We’re going to have to run. Can you run?”

  I nodded and then he took my hand and pulled me out of the tent. We walked out into the darkened camp without a backward glance. Our shoes crunched on the rough stone ground of X29. We stayed out of the main pathways of the camp. Instead, we hugged the shadows of the tents themselves. Moving as silently as possible we made our zig-zag way through the camp towards the western wall.

  We stopped at the western edge of tents. Detro stopped suddenly and I kept close to him as we looked up and down the road. It was technically still night, but X29 had no real night, only the portion of the day when the more distant sun shone. We were open and exposed. If even one person saw us we would be doomed.

  Detro crouched down and pulled me with him. Not far to our left were the Goseb guards. They were leaning against the western wall and didn’t look like they would be leaving for a while.

  “My sensor!” I hissed, as the realization hit me. “It will signal an alarm if I cross the wall,” I said, putting my hand on the back of my neck.

  “Don’t worry. My ship is right on the other side of the wall. I still have some friends on the orbiting ship. They’ve been covering for me on the scanners, but we don’t have much more time.”

  He looked over at the guards and then to the right.

  “We need a distraction,” I said, and he nodded.

  “Wait here,” he said.

  “No, I don’t want to be separated from you.”

  “It’ll be fine,” he said.

  I nodded and watched as he slinked back behind the tent. I sat on my haunches, looking up and down the lane for any more guards. There were pins and needles all over my body. It felt like I had been waiting forever, but it couldn’t have been longer than a few minutes.

  A commotion to the left. The sound of something ripping. The guards stopped their talking and looked towards the sound. The commanding officer nodded his head and the others fell in line to investigate.

  It had worked! Detro’s distraction had worked. Now I just needed to wait for him to come back and then we could climb over the wall and be gone. I looked for Detro but didn’t see him coming. I took the chance and stood up, but still there was nothing.

  Then I saw something straight ahead. It was two guards and, to my horror, I saw that they held Detro between them. He was wrestling and fighting, but they had his arms pinned behind his back and then they furiously threw him against the wall.

  Panic flooded my veins. I was frozen. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream. I couldn’t do anything but watch. And then my entire body began to shake. From head to toe, uncontrollable shivers ran down my body and I thought for a moment I might be sick.

  The baby. I looked around. I had to do something. This was our one chance. There were two guards with Detro, but where was the third? I crouched down and ran between the tents until I saw him. A Goseb guard in his faceless mask, lying face down on the ground. I needed his gun. Where was his gun?

  Carefully, I moved to his body. The Goseb guards weren’t far away. If they turned around, they would see me. I could hear them still scuffling with Detro. He wasn’t done fighting yet.

  I knelt down by the body and felt up and down his armor for his gun. But it wasn’t here. Then I saw the way he was awkwardly laying. His right arm was crossed underneath his body. Taking a deep breath, I put both hands underneath the guard and then with a heave I hefted him over and saw his gun still clasped in his hand.

  I pried it free of his already stiffening fingers and shakily stood up.

  I didn’t shout a warning. I just fired the weapon right at the back of the guard who had Detro. The other guard turned around in shock, reaching for his weapon. But he was too slow. I pushed the trigger button and in an instant, he was dead. A shock of electricity strong enough to put down a beast twice his size had just been shot into his body.

  Detro looked at me, his mouth hanging open. “The keys,” he said. His hands were cuffed behind his back. I could see the keys laying where they fell in the dirt. I grabbed them and raced towards Detro. I unlocked the cuffs and without a word he grabbed my hand and we headed towards the wall.

  The wall was short, only four feet. The prisoners had the sensors in their necks, but that wasn’t the only deterrent. There was nothing out here. A human might run, but he would be dead within a few days.

  Detro gave me his hand and helped me over the wall. Once on the other side I could see the faint shimmer of his ship.

  “Open the bay door,” he commanded and, as if by magic, a door lifted and I could see the interior of the ship.

  He made sure I was inside first and then he ran in and closed the door behind him. It was just a small shuttle, barely more than two chairs and a console. But the chairs were supply level and the air in here was fresh and cool. I collapsed into a chair as Detro took off. I could see the camp below us. The small white tents grew smaller as we left X29 behind.

  Epilogue

&
nbsp; We docked with the main ship. It was a smaller ship, meant to transport only a few individuals. He and I were the only two people on board. We docked, and from the shuttle he charted our course out of the system.

  “I imagine you’ll be excited to sleep in a warm bed tonight,” he said, caressing my cheek.

  “I have to tell you something,” I said. I took his hand in mine and stood up. He looked up at me in confusion as I led his hand down my body, stopping at the swell of my stomach. He blinked slowly, his mouth open.

  “I didn’t know until you left,” I said. He nodded, put both of his hands on my belly and then looked up at me almost in awe.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, standing up and pulling me into a hug.

  “For what? Saving me?” I asked. He leaned down and kissed me. I had forgotten the taste of his lips and the feel of his tongue. I had thought of nothing but him for the last few months, but all of my dreams were nothing compared to the real thing.

  “I found it,” he whispered. “The Sanctuary. It’s real. I’ve been there.”

  “How?”

  “I didn't go to the tribunal,” he said, with a shrug. “I headed toward Earth system and told the rebellion I wanted to join them. I’ve spent all this time getting them to trust me. They thought I had been sent by the Gosebs to trick them. But I told them about you and what I had done here. They had heard of me. I offered them everything I knew about the Gosebs. The only thing I wanted in return was to come back here and get you and then go with you to the Sanctuary.”

  “Our baby will be free,” I said.

  “And safe,” he agreed. I looked up into his purple eyes.

  He led me onto the ship. I showered. I have no idea how long I was in there. I let the hot soapy water cover my body and remove every last particle of dust. I got out of the shower and into the ship's lone bedroom. There was a closet and I opened it and saw a wide variety of clothes for a human my size. Dresses, pants, t-shirts, sweaters were lined up in all different colors. I could wear anything I wanted. I didn't have to wear a jumpsuit. I didn’t have to be anywhere. I touched the back of my neck where I knew the sensor still rested. That thing would never again get to dictate where I was allowed to go.

  Detro came in and wrapped his arms around my towel-clad body.

  “I missed you every moment of every day,” he said.

  “I missed you more,” I whispered back, and I saw him smile.

  I put on a loose green dress. It was the softest thing I had ever worn. The fabric felt smooth and wonderful against my skin. I walked up to the cockpit and sat down next to Detro. The screen above us showed our progress through the systems. The stars were nothing more than white lines shooting past us.

  “We’ll come back for the people at the camp,” I said.

  He nodded. “I’ve seen the rebellion. They’re strong and smart and they’ve got a lot of soldiers. The Gosebs have no idea what they’re up against. We surprised your people in the last attack, but things have changed. The humans aren’t so naive anymore.”

  I reached across the space between us and took his hand and squeezed it. Everything would be alright. I was sure of it.

  *****

  THE END

  Abducted by the Alien Warrior

  Description

  A curvy smuggler on her next mission PLUS a dominant alien warlord who takes her captive PLUS an enemy on their heels!

  Andromeda Nus has been on her own since the age of fifteen. She’s a smuggler by trade and a good one at that. But smuggling is just a cover for her real business – aiding the human rebellion against the warrior race of aliens hell bent on conquering earth.

  The Dolcivs are humanoid and hyper-aware. They are smarter, faster and stronger than their earth-born cousins. They’ve been struggling to conquer Earth, but humanity isn’t going down without a fight and not all members of the Dolcivs agree with the war.

  Sent to a far distant system to pick up plans for the human rebellion, Andromeda is captured by the Dolcivs Lord, Historan Strath. But Strath is not part of the Regime conquering Earth. He is his own Lord and answers to no one.

  Being Strath’s prisoner is more tempting than terrifying. Strath is wealthy and powerful and enticed by Andromeda. Can Andromeda free herself from Strath? Will she be able to bring the plans to the rebellion? Or will she fall for him instead?

  Chapter One

  I couldn’t stop my leg from jiggling. This was a problem. I was wearing handcuffs and every time I nervously fidgeted, the chains around my wrists would rattle. It was an unnerving sound. The jangle echoed around my cell, a stark reminder that this would most likely be the last room I ever saw.

  The walls were made of a stainless steel that was colored dull gray, with a single raised bed and one sink. The room was dark, with only one bright light on overhead. The ship that picked me had looked massive. There could have easily been ten thousand souls on board. The guards had been efficient, my jail cell was inescapable. I didn't know who it was that snatched me, but I could tell that escape would not be easy.

  I forced myself to stop fidgeting. I needed to be calmer than this. Whoever had me was trying to psych me out. They were leaving me alone in this cell to slowly drive myself crazy. I had no idea how long it had been since I had been dumped in here. At least two days, maybe three, with nothing to do but stare at the bare walls around me. A few hours ago a guard had come and placed the cuffs on my wrists, but he hadn’t been back since.

  It had been a trap. I didn’t know if the trap was for me or someone else, but it had worked. I came out of hyperspace practically on top of a giant ship. In the few moments it took my computer to re-align I was vulnerable and in that moment the great ship swallowed my tiny one easily.

  The troops had taken a while to find me. I hid down in one of my smuggling compartments secreted away far in the bowels of my ship. But they knew someone was onboard. The guards tore her apart until they found me. I had been stripped of my weapons, my clothes, even my boots. Now I was in a simple jumpsuit – unflattering to my curvy figure - and a pair of socks, nothing else.

  I didn’t recognize the insignia on the uniform of the men who captured me. The decal was a series of dashes and dots. It wasn’t the insignia of the current rulers, the Dolcivs Regime. Their symbol was easy to recognize, a solid circle surrounded by a circle of dashes and another one of dots. Whoever had me wasn’t a recognized Lord in the Regime. He was a Lost Lord, and a powerful one by the look of it.

  I couldn’t take the waiting. It was driving me crazy. I stood up and began to pace back and forth. It took six and a half steps to walk the length of the cell. I began to march back and forth as my mind tried to figure out where I had gone wrong. I had been working as a smuggler for over eight years and I had never been caught before.

  The job had been from a reliable client, the information passed through my broker as is the norm. The unnamed client (who is always unnamed in my business) needed something picked up in a far off system that was out of the Regime’s control. Out of the way pick-up and delivery was my specialty. I had a fast ship and I knew how to fly her. Usually, I could get in and out without anyone even knowing I was there.

  I hadn’t been expecting an ambush. There was always the chance I might encounter someone on one of my jobs, but I never landed right on top of someone else.

  The chances were billions to one, it was near impossible that two ships would just happen to be in such close proximity. Space is big, really big. It’s rare to run into another ship. No, it had been a trap. Whoever had set up this job had specifically sent me here. They wanted me in particular.

  I had paced the length of the room ninety-seven times when the door swung open. I turned to see a Dolcivs guard standing waiting for me. Dolcivs were like humans, only bigger, stronger, and faster, their eyes were bright blue and they shined under the lights of my cage. I was already considered short, but curvy by human standards, so the eight foot tall Dolcivs warriors towered over me.

  The guard gr
abbed me by the upper arm and wrenched me out onto the platform. I hurried to keep up with him, practically running to meet his strides.

  “Where are we going?” I asked. But he didn’t say anything. Neither had any of the other guards. They were well-trained. The prison on the ship was half-empty. I passed a few cells, where sullen-looking Dolcivs and a few humans silently watched me pass.

  I was led to a lift that rose up and up through the massive ship. Finally, the guard swiped his palm across the electronic pad and the elevator door opened to reveal an opulent suite.

  This wasn’t what I expected. My feet sunk into plush red carpets. The walls were covered in video screens that showed the starry space outside. We were in the orbit of a large gas giant and reds, purples and yellows swam along the surface of the planet. There were comfortable-looking chairs interspersed in the room and a long bar along one wall.

  I only had a moment to take this all in before I was pulled into the next room. It was dark inside and I could barely see anything. The only light that entered the dim room came from the red planet below us.

  “Unchain her and leave us,” a strong voice commanded.

  The guard nodded once, unlocked my cuffs and then stepped out the door. I remained frozen in place. I stared into the darkness trying to discover who my captor was, but I couldn’t see anything other than a few vague shapes. There was what looked like a great bed in one corner and then past that, a sunken area with a couch facing the view of the planet.

  I didn’t move. I didn't know what was expected of me. It seemed like I waited a very long time, shifting from foot to foot.

  “Andromeda Nus,” the voice said.

  I didn’t answer.