Two Axsian’s popped into sight on the left and right of us. Their garb, white vests over matching tunic shirts with loose pants, suggested an official status. The figure blocking the door stepped closer as they continued to scold Kal in a rhythmic drone, which made me think they were quoting law. The words had a cadence of unoriginal speech.
Cassandra thought, “I don’t think we’re as welcome as Kal made it seem we would be. What do we do if they try and separate us from him?”
Much as it chafed to follow Kal’s barked directions—that would be the prudent thing to do. I thought back, “We watch, wait, and listen. If they try to split us up then we make it clear.”
Cassandra laughed. “Right, so we bluff. We don’t have enough juice to knock all these guys out, Sister. Not to mention what we use up we can’t replace very fast without Kara and James around.”
She was right, without our human batteries handy we were at a disadvantage but what options did we have at this late date. “Just one good hit should do it. Make sure we really put force behind it, way more than with Malcolm. We need to break bones.”
That settled, we tuned back into the here and now. Light moved around the Axsian who approached us like a wave of color-filled gnats and when our eyes could focus again we were surprised to see a female. The ‘woman’ stood about eight feet tall and her attire was all white with delicate coppery thread decorating the edges. Her long black hair was pulled back from her face in a tight braid that trailed in a tail over one shoulder. Dark alien eyes sat to either side of a proud nose—twin wells offering tar over water. Full lips curled across razor-tipped teeth as she continued to speak in a musical yet chiding tone. The rhythm of her words changed as her last sentence ended with an inquisitive lilt and our guardian’s name.
Kal’s eyes went unfocused as he stared off into nowhere but he answered the question, albeit in a dead, mechanical way. His expression was set and stubborn.
At a discreet hand motion from Her Highness, one of the guards flipped a metallic disk at our chest where it stuck with a thunk right on top of our still tender wound. Kal’s voice rang out in protest as his hand was ripped from our shoulder.
They were too fast.
The dim world we currently inhabited blurred and pixelated around the edges to be replaced by bright light so intense it almost made us forget to puke again. Then our stomach heaved and though blinded, we strained our senses as we lost more chocolate cake on what sounded like a hard floor.
Echoes danced around us as if we were in an empty cavern but the stunning illumination was still enveloping our body to the point that our eyelids might as well have been tissue paper. Cassandra covered our eyes with our hands and bowed our head which caused the sloppy bun our dark brown hair was in to flop forward. Our heart raced as she struggled to contain her fear.
I thought at her, “We’ve been through worse, Sister. It’s just light.”
My twin spat on the floor to get the bitter bite of partially digested chocolate out of our mouth then split her fingers on our left hand as if playing peek-a-boo when the brightness vanished. One eye cracked open and when our retinas weren’t singed, she withdrew our sweaty palms from our face.
We were indeed in another cavern but this one was made of pinkish gray granite with a polished surface. The shape of the space in which we stood made Cassandra think of a wheel of cheese, like a compressed circle. For me the shape and color brought to mind the inside of an organ, like a stomach minus the acidic juices.
Cassandra thought back sourly, “Gee, that’s a pleasant thought. Getting eaten alive is on my top five ways not to bite it list.”
I laughed out loud and my sister actually jumped. It wasn’t the echo that startled her but the ease with which I’d used our mouth to express mirth. Determination geysered forth as I thought to my sister, “Now more than ever we have to be versed in each other’s specialties. Let’s immerse ourselves in each other’s roles. I’ll teach you how to navigate the Web and access our parents’ memories and you let me pilot our body.”
Cassandra considered the request. “It’s not just your coordination or lack thereof I’m worried about. We’re not in the best of circumstances here. If a fast physical response is required will you be able to hand over the reins in time?”
It wasn’t a dig or a finger of blame, but the fact remained, I had prevented Cass from defending us physically from our attacker today. Time was a funny thing, creating distance from unpleasant things, so that grim interlude had a faraway feel, though just mere hours had passed.
I mulled over her question then shot back, “Okay, let’s practice switching while we wander around this place. By the way, I hope they have facilities in here because it feels like we need to pee, Cass.”
The skin around our nostrils tightened as my sister wrinkled our nose in distaste.
“I’m not ‘going’ in here, Silver. What if they’re watching us? Even in our Warp cell they didn’t have a camera in the bathroom. I don’t see anywhere to ‘go’ anyway…not even a hole in the floor.”
A pulling sensation on the front of our shirt made my sister look down. The metal disk we’d been hit with in the chest was dragging our collar lower with its weight. It was about the size of a poker chip but much thinner with a blue light around the edge. Some sort of clear adhesive stubbornly stuck it to the cotton. When Cassandra tried to pull the disk off a single electric zap zipped through our fingertips, making her yelp and wave the injured hand in the air. Message received—we were not to tamper with our little tag.
Instead she yanked the soft cotton over our head and threw it on the floor. Our undershirt was plenty of cover and it was warm, muggy even, in this place. If we had to guess, the device was what had enabled us to be teleported into this cavern without anyone touching us. Her Highness and her two flunkies could just come and get us. I agreed with that plan wholeheartedly.
We steered clear of the dark brown splash of our vomit and looked up in search of the source of light that had been so blindingly bright just moments ago. An oval skylight with vents let fresh air circulate but that wasn’t intense enough to be what we quested for. Our eyes roved on until we hit pay dirt. Tiny mushroom shaped bulbs about the size of golf balls were grouped on either side of the vent. Maybe they’d sanitized us? Conceivably Cassandra and I could be carrying some form of bacteria or virus that they weren’t immune to.
What dashes of sky we could see looked almost identical to Earth’s blue atmosphere. Faint chirps and squeals came from the area outside making us curious about what kind of wildlife might be the norm on Axsa.
I thought at my twin, “Let’s jump up and see if we can peek out.”
Cass turned our head, checking for windows, cameras, or a door but the only aperture appeared to be the one above our head. She slapped damp palms on the thighs of our jeans and answered, “So we jump together? It’s awfully high. You’re talking about ten feet, Silver.”
I argued, “Not exactly a ten foot jump. If you take into account our own five feet or so with our arms above our head, technically it’s about a four and a half foot leap at most. Are you game or not?”
My sister stood us up straight and stretched our arms one at a time over our head like we were limbering up before a marathon then crouched. “On three? One, two, three!”
This time we were paying attention and the surge of energy was concentrated in our legs but we were so distracted by the sensation we missed the black metal slat of the vent overhead by a fingertip, crashing down to the floor and landing hard on our tailbone. Cass rolled us onto our side with a groan.
I sent an encouragement. “We were almost there, dude! One more jump and if we don’t make it I promise we can quit trying.”
First our hands and then our knees met the floor as she propped us up, panting away the pain. To sweeten the pot I promised, “I’ll heal our bruised tailbone while you sleep tonight if you give it one more go!”
With a grunt and a reluctant push, our body regained its
feet. The room swayed a little as our stomach swam again. A hand rubbed our backside as my twin gazed back up at the hole in the ceiling; eyes squinted as she judged the distance.
She thought back sourly, “Leave our butt alone, Silver. It’s just a bruise and we need to conserve our energy. Last try on three. One, two, three!”
This time our legs felt like the coiled springs of a black mamba as our knees bent and the muscles in our thighs contracted launching us upward with the energy of our combined will. Our cheek almost smacked into the vent before our fingers got a good grip. The full weight of our body was yanked down by gravity causing our shoulders to burn as we struggled to hang on.
We weren’t particularly strong physically but what we lacked in muscle we made up for in determination. Cass turned our head to the side as she pulled us up and our vision blurred as it tried to decide whether to focus close up or far away. Some sort of clear barrier was on the other side. Since we could feel a breeze it had to be permeable but as our one eye watched a bug or a leaf fell onto it, burning up in seconds.
My sister grunted as our arms trembled but we weren’t done looking. Perspiration was collecting along our spine, making it tickle as it trickled down our skin. Just as we focused our gaze higher at the sky at something soaring like a kite with a pterodactyl-like head, a scent assailed our nostrils that brought to mind the odor of rain on dry earth or petrichor, possibly even ozone.
A deep male voice barked angrily at us in Axsian, before a hand gripped one of our dangling legs and tugged. Resenting the added strain on our already overextended upper body we brought up our free leg and kicked out, adding a little juice to make it hurt. We were rewarded with a grunt of pain as our heel struck something thick and meaty with the give of flesh. The grip on our captured leg released and we unlocked our cramping hands from around the metal slats to land on our feet this time, in a crouch.
Our unknown assailant towered over us, scowling with his hand to his right shoulder. His features were much the same as Kal’s and the other three Axsian’s we’d met. A proud nose, dark pools for eyes, and pointed teeth that brought to mind piranhas, graced the angry face hovering above us. The hue of his robe was a pale powder blue with a sash of a darker indigo.
Since we didn’t speak the native tongue, Cass patted our leg and then shook our index finger side to side in the universal, we hoped, signal for no. I added in a head shake for good measure, surprising my sister again. Our arms felt like Jell-O and if it came to further fighting we were toast, but Big Bad in front of us didn’t know that.
I thought at my twin, “Yeah, we’re so bluffing.”
Cass blew an escaped chunk of hair off the tip of our nose and straightened slowly, eyes locked on our uninvited guest the short trip up, then answered, “Big Bad is dressed differently. No all white wardrobe and vest? What do you think that means? I don’t see any weapons or discs but he’s got folds in his kaftan that could hide things.”
With a final rub on his injured shoulder Big Bad reached for the sash tied about his waist and withdrew a much smaller disc than the one that had adorned our discarded shirt to hold it out in our direction.
Cass shook our head and took a step back.
Big Bad frowned, looked down at our puke puddle then over at our balled up top. A light seemed to dawn in his eyes as he pointed to our shirt and motioned ‘no’ then pointed to his mouth and then his ear. He extended his palm again with a hopeful expression.
His voice was low and slow as if he were afraid to startle us as he said, “Hieran…geewedan?”
One graceful dark hand rose toward his temple as he pantomimed placing the disc there and made hand motions with the other at his mouth and ear again. Big Bad’s anime-round inky orbs shrank as his skin crinkled around the edges when he smiled encouragingly for us to take the tiny device.
I thought, “I think it’s a translator.”
She answered “So we trust it?”
I snickered. “The translating device or Big Bad?”
My sister reached out a cautious hand in answer to pluck the squished pea sized device from the depression in Big Bad’s open palm. His smile grew an inch wider in approval as he gestured helpfully to his temple again and then at us.
I felt the cold tackiness as Cass placed the tiny bit of metal out of sight by our left eye socket. There was a strange vertigo sensation and a metallic taste on the back of our tongue and then Big Bad started speaking. Halfway through his sentence his words suddenly made sense.
“Cunnan ge understand me now?”
My sister and I were intrigued. Did this mean when we answered him our mouth would form words in Axsian? How did this little doohickey on our head work?
Experimentally Cass said, “Yes.”
It sounded like English to us and our mouth didn’t move in any way different than it would normally. Perhaps the puzzlement was evident on our face because Big Bad chuckled.
“We are both speaking in our native tongues but we can now understand one another. I have a permanent device implanted under my skin. Axsa has frequent guests from the Galactic Alliance. It would take overlong to learn every dialect as there are thousands.”
We watched his lips closely and he was right. Though we understood the words it was like a badly dubbed foreign film when we concentrated too hard on his mouth so we ignored the visual cues and concentrated more on what we heard. Being of two minds may have had an effect but I could swear there was a whisper of the real words Big Bad was speaking if I strained.
He cleared his throat and sniffed at the sour smell our bodily waste had created when a breeze from our ‘skylight’ shifted the air currents in the holding cell. That was our final determination of what this pinkish gray cavern was—a place to stash uninvited or unwanted visitors until they could be properly dealt with.
I took over our mouth to say, “So is this how you treat all of your guests?”
Our eyebrows rippled in surprise as Cass reacted to the brief hijack of our body but Big Bad mistook the facial expression for querulous attitude on our part.
He tugged uncomfortably on his sash with what seemed like a nervous tick and answered haughtily, “Earth is not a member of the Galactic Alliance. You have no representation or standing with the governing body in this Universe. We acted in accordance with Axsian law. You have not been mistreated and will be sent home forthwith with your memory corrected.”
Cassandra stood straighter like a sun starved sapling reaching for light on a forest floor and snapped, “No, we will not be going home and no you may not tamper with our mind. My sister and I demand to see Kal.”
Big Bad gazed around the holding cell with an amused expression on his face. “I see no one accompanying you. Perhaps an introduction is in order. My name is Pez and I am a member of the Guild of Discovery. One of our tasks is to facilitate relations between planets in… difficult situations. There is no reason this has to be an unpleasant or lasting experience for you. What is your name?”
I could feel our lips slide across our parched teeth haltingly as Cassandra gave an incredulous smile. “Your name is Pez? Does your head flip back and eject square candy?”
It was Big Bad’s turn to look confused. Cassandra waved a hand as if to brush her comment away and straightened our face before saying, “My name is Cassandra and my twin sister’s name is Silver. We are chimera.”
My spirit soared at her open admission of my existence. I hadn’t picked up in her thoughts any hint of my sister’s words before they left our lips. Perhaps I wasn’t the only one learning new skills. Maybe we could forge a new path here and be ourselves? It was freeing.
I took over for just a second to wave a hand and chirp out in a lower pitch, “Hi!”
His nose wrinkled in between his eyes as he considered our introduction. It was apparent Pez from the Guild of Discovery had no idea what to make of us. He came to a decision and his tone suggested he was going to skip over what he didn’t understand and proceed according to procedure.
/> “Would you permit a medical examination?”
Cass cocked our head to the side before saying pugnaciously, “Depends.”
At the end of his patience but trying to fake tolerance, Big Bad settled back on his heels and clasped his hands together at his front before asking, “Your decision depends upon what, exactly? You do realize we do not have to be polite…we could just do whatever we like and then erase the memories.”
I laughed out loud at that and fired back, “Yeah right! Just try it, Pez. I don’t even know if your machinery’s ever encountered someone like us. We could break it.”
One of those curious premonitions or hunches was nagging at the back of my mind, nudging us toward the conclusion that whatever they tried wouldn’t work. I shared that feeling with my sister. A resolve hardened in our spine as if certainty had transformed our vertebrate into titanium. Cass pinched our lips together as she bit the inside of our cheek, waiting impatiently for Pez to respond to my taunt. A grim humor stole over his face as he looked us up and down.
It didn’t take very long.
When his night dark eyes came back up to ours Cass pursed our lips and cocked a hip. We were decidedly sassier on Axsa than we had been on Earth. Maybe it was the recent near death experience or the eight years of captivity ending in a torture session before we were rescued, but we were through with being afraid and it showed.
Pez, aka Big Bad, didn’t seem that frightening as he sighed in a disgruntled way before asking in a bored, exasperated tone, “Fine, what are your terms of cooperation?”
My sister held up our hand, ticking off our requirements with a finger pointing skyward for each, “No anal probes, no needles, no memory wipes, and we get to see Kal after.”
He dusted his hands off as if we had dirtied them with our uncooperative nature and said primly, “Done on the first three. What is it with you undeveloped planets and body cavities? Never mind…I do not really want to know. Kal may be out of my ability to deliver. I can promise to ask but that is all I can offer.”
Chimera (The Weaver Series Book 1) Page 28