Stardust And Shadows

by Janelle Taylor

  Ryker chuckled as he withdrew the squirming snake, without fear or any reaction to its attack. “He’s quick and mean, but these gloves are impenetrable. He produces a powerful venom used in medicines.”

  Jana saw him carry the thrashing creature to a table where he skillfully milked it of venom, a yellow liquid that eased down the beaker interior at a snailish pace. She heard it give off “Pssst” sounds before and after the handling, as if a person trying to gain another’s attention. After the alien labeled the vial and stored it, he approached another glass container with limbs covered in a furry moss. Large leeches crawled about, leaving trails of shiny slime. Many suckled on tiny dishes of red. “What are these for?” she asked.

  “They feast on the blood of certain animals with special enzymes. At a point, they’re transferred to another cage to suck off juices from certain plants. A chemical change takes place within their bodies by catalytic action during digestion. They’re killed and drained of the product they make. They act like a living test tube. I add the ingredients needed and they blend them for me. I discovered I could get the right substance only in this manner.”

  “How clever. Our scientists have never thought of doing it this way. I’m amazed and impressed, Ryker.”

  He smiled. “I always take one precaution with my work: all of my formulas have a certain chemical added that makes them break down their structures if any attempt is made to analyze them. It’s one I created myself so no one can find a way to copy it.”

  “Now I see why you’re so valuable here,” she said as he jotted down a few notes. “Can I help?” she offered, wanting a peep at what he wrote.

  “I wish you could, but I write in my language—Androasian. I know you were taught Maffeian during your voyage here and at Draco’s, but that won’t help you in my laboratories. I’ll have an android programmed to teach you Androasian. Soon, you’ll know all you need to work with me.”

  When he put down the device he marked upon, she glanced at it to find the language was unfamiliar. Did Varian know Androasian? Did he know this much about research, plants, and animals to act so natural in this setting? All she knew was that he was a starship commander, and Spacer pilot. But couldn’t Tris have taught him enough to dupe her and others?

  He observed her curiosity and explained, “It’s a portable notetaker. Whatever I record here is sent straight to my main input/acquisition data system. I’ll have to teach you how all that works, too. I’m sure you’re familiar with computers for analyzing data so it shouldn’t be difficult to learn. Of course there are certain areas that are protected from release of information, codes I can’t share with anyone, including you. I explained why earlier.”

  “Your technology and intelligence astound me. Your world is so far advanced above mine. I wish some information could be shared with my people. We have so many diseases and problems on Earth. Your world seems to have solved most of theirs.”

  “It’s against intergalactic treaties to share facts with planets not ready for such knowledge and power. Worlds must be allowed to advance at their own pace or chaos results, if they don’t destroy themselves first. From the reports I’ve seen on your world, it’s heading for self-destruction: overpopulation that creates shortages of food, living space, fights over territory, and diseases; deforestation of needed rain forests to supply the air you breathe; holes in your ozone and global warming; pollution, acid rain, and smog; wars, rebellions, strikes, and terrorism; racial and religious conflicts. Need I even continue? Oil spills, medical and chemical wastes, and garbage disposal; nuclear wastes and weapons; drugs and crime and health problems. Your world is destroying the necessary balance of nature required for its survival.”

  “But we’re trying to change, to repair damage, to prevent more. We have the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Soil Conservation, World Resources Institute, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, the Endangered Specie Act, and more.”

  “In your country and a few outside, but not many others comply; they continue to create and broaden problems. Everyone must work together, form an alliance as we have among our planets and among neighboring galaxies. Your people are greedy and primitive, Jana. They won’t do much until they’re scared. By then, it might be too late. Your people have little respect for the law and need tight controls to battle the severe problems. Those troubles were created by man and can only be solved by man. For the most part, we have peace in the TriGalaxy. Bringing another galaxy into our system before it’s ready can be lethal to ours.”

  “Like the vengeful alien scientist who created the plague that made charl raids necessary, according to the Maffeians?”

  “That’s why aliens are watched with mistrust and suspicion, why few are accepted and why few charls are ever freed to roam at will. Each woman taken captive is decontaminated to avoid bringing alien strains of diseases to our world. When the Maffeians were struck by the plague he created, only the women were damaged, made sterile. What better way to ensure race extinction than by nonreproduction? On the good side of the practice, women were trained and helped to fit into our society. Most accepted their fates and are happy.”

  “How can a woman be happy when she’s a captive, nothing more than a breeder like an animal, when she can’t select her own mate?”

  “The process is controlled carefully. Only buyers who are Maffeian, unmarried, and financially secure can bid on a charl. But the time has passed for the need of them. Female children born of the first captive mates are fertile; some are even grandmothers by now. From my observations, the balance of reproductive nature has been restored. With Martella Karsh and other powerful people involved in the lobbying to strike down the charl law, it should be accomplished within a year or so.”

  “What will happen to the charls? They aren’t wed to their owners.”

  “In our society, children belong to the father, except in certain cases. Owners will be allowed to decide if they wish to many their mates. I assume mates will be made citizens after they’re freed and will also be given the choice of marrying their past owners. I also assume most mothers will choose to remain with their children, whether they love their mates or not. But whatever happens won’t affect you, Jana. You’re already free and wed. And marriage is far more binding in our world than charl ownership. Divorces, as you call them, are hard to obtain and carry a dark stigma. A couple doesn’t or shouldn’t marry unless they are sure they want a lifetime relationship with each other.”

  “I suppose that means you’re stuck with me until death do us part.”

  “And you’re … stuck with me. What strange sayings you Earthlings have.” He chuckled. “My work is finished, so let’s eat and then you can rest. I don’t want to overtire you today.”

  “When can I begin my Androasian language lessons?”

  “Give yourself a few days to convalesce first.”

  “As you wish.”

  The man scowled and she shrugged, as the response was one of Varian’s that everyone in Maffei and other places had heard often.

  As Jana lay in bed that night, she was too aware of the man sleeping in the room close to hers with the slide screen open. Why, she wondered, had he taken her into the complex after telling her she couldn’t work there because of the possibility of exposing her to plants and animals that might carry viruses? What about the aforementioned immunity worries? Was it because he knew those specimens were safe from contamination and harm or because his explanation—excuse—was a lie? Such contradictions!

  Another thing troubled her. If only Shara hadn’t shown her that overlay picture of Varian and Ryker which vividly exposed their strong resemblance when their colorings were matched. If only Varian hadn’t been disguised as Ryker the last time she saw him on his ship. If those two episodes had really happened. Right now, she wasn’t sure because either the man nearby was Ryker or Varian was impersonating his half brother perfectly. She had watched for slips and spied none. He always seemed to have a logical and i
ndisputable explanation for anything she found suspicious. She couldn’t comprehend why she couldn’t persuade herself he wasn’t Varian. Even so, there was nothing she could do to stop this. charade. If only her doubts and suspicions would stop plaguing her. If something didn’t happen soon to end this drama, she would drive herself nuts. Wait and see, J. G.; that’s all you can do for the present. But was it? she asked herself. There was one way to discover the truth, if she dared take that bold risk.

  Jana began her fourth day on Darkar after regaining consciousness with the decision not to allow her captor to seduce her just to glean clues to his identity. Her only sexual experiences had been with Varian Saar, but, if he intentionally altered his techniques in bed, the action would accomplish nothing and would bring changes in their relationship that she wasn’t ready to deal with at this time. No, she couldn’t take that risk.

  She had read and heard a lot about sex but had not surrendered to her longtime boyfriend on Earth, a choice she did not regret. Yet, if she had been involved with Alex and hadn’t been a virgin, her abduction would not have taken place. Not that Alex hadn’t tried every trick in the book to get her into bed during their two years as a steady couple, but it had never seemed right between them. He had wooed, cajoled, nagged, pleaded, and enticed before resorting to verbal badgering, mind games, and other ruses. She hadn’t allowed him to pressure her into bed, not even with a proposal of marriage. True, he had desired her, but he had become angry and persistent and mildly threatening toward the end of their relationship shortly before she vanished from Earth. He had tried to make her feel obligated to surrender to him and told her she was responsible for his torment.

  With Varian, it had been different, so very different. She had desired him wildly. He had made her feel as no man ever had and might never do again. He had caused her emotions and desires to blossom like wildflowers across Texas during the spring. He had taken her to the pinnacle of pleasure every time she joined her body with his. But this cruel deception drew emotional blood, cut through her heart, body, and mind as a laser. He possessed fatal magic and potent allure. She had allowed and encouraged him to charm, disarm, and bind her to him. If the man with her now wasn’t Varian, she couldn’t allow him to do the same, to get a hold on her that would blind her to the truth before it was too late.

  She donned a fuschia romper with a surplice bodice. When the ties were secured behind her, she brushed her hair, sprayed on a mist of perfume, added a trace of cosmetics, and left the emotionally stifling room.

  She didn’t hear or see anyone in the house, not even the android housekeeper, Ine. She walked to the transascreen in the large living area and peeked outside, as it wasn’t sealed today. She saw “Ryker” playing forsha with a male android, a twin to Ine. As far as she knew, Varian didn’t play the alien equivalent of tennis, especially with his right hand …

  Jana walked into the kitchen and approached the servo to press a button for coffee. There had been a similar unit in her golden prison on Varian’s ship. There were four recessed spaces, of which three contained units with smoky-glass doors. Two of them resembled microwaves without controls: she knew now that one was for supplying hot foods and one for cold. To the left of the lower one was a small drawer which contained numerous metal objects the size and shape of a credit card. She knew the perforations on them were a computer code for ordering selections. Over the drawer was a narrow slit into which the cards were slipped. A disposal unit was to the right, which automatically separated dishes and garbage, washing and storing one and disposing of the other through disinte gration. A niche to one side was an apparatus for dispensing liquids. In a row beside it were buttons for instructions: types of beverage and desired temperature. The automatic food center was a wonder of this alien technology: no cooking, no washing dishes, no preparation, many appliances rolled into one machine. All one had to do was select cards, enter them, and wait for a meal to appear as if by magic. When finished, one placed the dishes inside the final unit to do clean-up chores.

  Jana frowned. They were marked in Androasian, and she did not know which word or symbol meant zim. She hated feeling helpless and dependent. She could press all buttons and wait for what she wanted to appear beneath the spout, but she hated being wasteful even in an alien world. The man holding her captive had promised her Androasian language lessons; it was clear she needed them, and soon. When the yellow-eyed female android entered, Jana asked the nonhuman to order her breakfast. Not that Jana was hungry, but she needed to do something to use up her frustration. She went to the dining dome and sat down. Why it felt so different and vexing to have a robot serve her over a human maid, she didn’t know. Perhaps because it pointed out her predicament.

  When Ine brought her meal, Jana gazed at it. Would she, she mused, ever become accustomed to such strange-looking food, not only in color but also in texture? It smelled appealing and she knew the flavor was excellent, but red eggs, blue meat, and orange bread was revolting to someone who loved simple food—not to mention the purple coffee!

  She decided she must eat to regain all her strength and to remain keen-witted and healthy. She had work to do, a culprit to unmask, and a puzzle to solve. Like the wildcatters who had worked for her father seeking black gold in Texas fields, she must search for her golden truth and happiness.

  The tawny-haired male arrived. His handsome face glistened with moisture and his hair was wet. The snug and damp outfit— similar to biking gear on Earth—left little, if anything, to the imagination. She had seen forshawear on the ship when captives played the game and knew the thin, stretchy material was designed for muscle protection against strains. As he mopped his sweat with a small towel, Jana eyed his physique, which matched Varian Saar’s to a T! She had seen Varian both clad and naked so many times and knew those lithe legs, virile body, and strong arms. Didn’t she? Even if Varian had any telltale scars or flaws, which he didn’t, Tris would have removed them for this cunning charade. If he was Ryker, how could his body match Varian’s perfectly in size, shape, and color?

  Jana returned his gaze when he looked at her. “It’s late, so I assumed you had already eaten,” she said. “Should I have waited for you?”

  “Certainly not, and I have already eaten, long ago.”

  She wished her trembling would halt and hoped he wouldn’t notice it. From his grin and sparkling eyes, he knew he was affecting her in a pleasing way. “I don’t usually stay in bed so long. I apologize for being lazy.”

  “You need your rest for a complete and swift recovery.”

  “I think I’ve made a rather fast one considering how ill I was, don’t you, Dr. Triloni? I take it you are the one who’s treating me?”

  “I was and I am. No one is better qualified in this case. I promise.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.” Jana fingered the garment she was wearing and said, “Thank you for the wardrobe. Your taste is excellent. It’s nothing like the ones I had on Varian’s ship or at Draco’s. I’m grateful.”

  “I would like to take credit for it, but it wasn’t my doing. You chose it yourself last week. I had a ship bring choices of everything you might need and you made your own selections. That’s why you like them so much.”

  His impenetrable gaze made her nervous, as did his close and alluring proximity. Cool down, J. G. “I don’t remember that.”

  “Doesn’t matter. How about joining me for a swim?”

  “It’s too soon to enter the water after eating, but I will join you at the pool.”

  Ryker assisted her from her chair and they walked the short distance.

  In a glass dome not far from the house, Jana observed with delight the tropical setting that surrounded a long and wide pool of pale-green water. Garden areas with fountains and waterfalls were located in three spots, complete with sitting arrangements nearby. Lush green vegetation greeted her vision from the ceiling and floor. Soft music and the singing of birds filled her ears. Sunlight sneaked through the reflective covering and danced on the
water. The setting gave off a sultry and exotic aura. “It’s breathtaking.” And much too romantic and seductive!

  “I’m happy you like it. Come here anytime you wish. With few exceptions, you have freedom to come and go as you please on Darkar. Behind those decorative screens is exercise equipment. A little work on the walkometer might help you recover your strength and muscle tone. Changing rooms are there,” he gestured. “I’ll return shortly.”

  He vanished into a small room to don his trunks. Jana removed her shoes, rolled up her pants’ legs, and dangled her feet in the water. Ryker returned and dove into the pool. She watched him swim back and forth with agile strokes. Wet flaxen hair clung to his head. Sleek golden shoulders broke the water’s surface with ease. He was such a splendid sight. Watching him caused her body to warm with desire. After a time, he swam to where she sat and halted to stand in chest-high water. He smiled, and she almost shyly returned the gesture. If he tried to get romantic, she didn’t know what she would do. She yearned to be held, kissed, caressed, and loved—but by Varian. Please, God, let this be my love and let there be a good reason for his deceit.

  “Feels wonderful, Jana. Ready to come in? I know you can swim.”

  “Not yet.” She remembered all too well what had happened the day she had swum with Draco at his home; he had become romantic, almost seductive. She had been on the point of surrendering to her “owner” in order to force an allegedly traitorous Varian from her heart to begin a new life with another man, a kind and gentle—but deceitful—one. She had wondered so many times during her stay on Karnak why Draco didn’t possess her. She finally got her answer when she learned he hadn’t purchased her; Varian had, and came to reclaim her when she and Draco seemed to be getting too close for his comfort. That time, he had convinced her successfully of his ruse of selling her. Was he duping her again? Why?