by Calista Skye
Emily yelped when the pilot grabbed her.
“I warn you, Ber'Ain. If you go through with this, I will hunt down both you and Duke Hyp, cousin or not.”
“I expect no less from you, Your Highness. And I'm prepared to face my destiny. I will do my best to make sure that this alien female is not harmed, but sent home to her own world. Meanwhile, sir, please give yourself a sleeping potion like I gave to Ev'Ax.”
“And if I don't?”
“Then I will burn an arm off this alien, who should never have been on this sacred world in the first place.”
The Prince trembled with outrage, but he suspected that the traitor wasn't bluffing. “Again I warn you, Ber'Ain. She had better not come to any harm, or you're a dead man. Drop your gun now, and I will make sure that you will receive fair treatment.”
“The future of the Empire, with a fully Atrexu royal family, far supersedes any concern I might have for my own safety, sir. Now I must insist that you administer the sleeping potion to yourself.”
The cabin of the ship lit up in a bright flash as the pilot shot the ray gun at the control panel, making the shuttle useless. He then turned the gun towards Emily, pushing the barrel into her side, making her gasp. “I'm not leaving until you do as I say. I need you to be unconscious for a few minutes while I escape with this alien, that's all.”
The prince looked at Emily. Her beautiful face was full of fear and concern, and it angered him that the treacherous pilot had made that wonderful woman feel those emotions. “Emily, you can see that this man is a traitor. He now intends to abduct you. But he has made a mistake: He has no support anywhere. Don't worry. I have huge resources and I will find you very soon. Use your warrior capabilities to defend yourself. Feel free to kill or injure this man or any of his associates at any opportunity. It will save them being killed by me. I will see you soon, my love.”
Then he took the injector with hypnotic drug and placed it against his own neck. It would put him to sleep, but he would only be out for a few minutes.
As he pressed the button that released the drug into his bloodstream, he realized that he had said 'my love' to her. Well, he thought, it those were his last words to her, it was a very suitable and sincere farewell. Then he had to let go and slipped into the darkness.
23
Everything happened so fast that Emily had trouble following, and the alien language they spoke sounded nice and melodic, but the gun and the tone they spoke in told her that the topic was deadly serious. And Ev'Ax slumped in his seat was all the indication she needed that something was going terribly wrong. When the pilot fired his gun, the calmness of his actions scared her more than anything else.
Then Ar'Ric put himself to sleep and she was alone with the enemy.
Ber'Ain hit a button with his palm, and the outer hatch opened with a hiss. He started dragging Emily towards the opening. He was very strong, and she had no choice. Dragged and led by the large, powerful alien, she tried to get into a position to at least kick him or make it harder for him to abduct her. But it was use. He was too big, and he made sure not to give her any opening.
On the outside, it was dark and warm. The air had a chemical smell, like burning, probably from the spaceship they were leaving. The large man dragged Emily over towards something that looked a lot like a sleek and very futuristic car without wheels. A door opened and another man came out of it. The two aliens spoke fast in their alien language, then pulled Emily inside. There was little else to see around the spaceship, and she gazed at the shuttle they had arrived in, hoping to see Ar'Ric come out of it and rescue her from the abductors.
Then she was strapped into a soft seat by strong arms, the doors of the vehicle slammed shut, engines keened and she could feel it taking off. She could see nothing out of the blacked out windows.
Suddenly she remembered something she had not been able to give any thought when it happened: Ar'Ric had called her 'my love'! And his English was good enough that she didn't think it was a mistake. Did he really love her? Or was it at least something he was thinking about?
The hover car flew through the alien night.
24
Ar'Ric woke up after a sleep that was cut short because he wanted it to be and because his mind was in turmoil underneath the artificial veil of sleep. He immediately remembered everything. Ber'Ain had abducted Emily, probably to take her to Duke Hyp, his cousin, who wanted to secure the Imperial throne for himself. He had to find her and rescue her, because Spirit almighty knew what the Duke would do to her.
The prince staggered over to the still sleeping Ev'Ax, who was already stirring and close to waking up. Ar'Ric shook him by the shoulder and got the young colonel to open his eyes. It only took him a second to look around the cabin and figure out the events.
“So,” he said, “he wanted the alien. I worried about what he had planned, but he moved too fast for me. I suppose we have to get her back.”
“We do,” the Prince agreed, packing up the equipment he had stored in the cabin. “And there's no time to lose. Duke Hyp is quite insane. There's no telling what he might do to her.”
25
“An alien, eh? And what an alien! She's quite... alluring, don't you find?”
The Duke of Hyp looked Emily up and down. He had opened the doors to his palace and allowed Ber'Ain and Emily to enter a giant hall, dark and strangely bare of all furniture or decorations. He had armed bodyguards surrounding him, even in his own home. Emily had her hands bound behind her.
“I suppose so, Your Grace,” Ber'Ain said. “What will you do with her?”
“Oh, I have some idea what I will do with her. By all means, we can't let the Imperial family become infested with aliens, no matter how... seductive they might look. You did the right thing alerting me from space and then bringing her here, Ber'Ain. When I'm the Emperor, you shall not be forgotten.”
“Thank you, Your Grace, but I only acted for the best of the Empire.”
“Mhm.” The duke walked closer, and Emily felt her skin crawl when he looked her up and down. This was a very different man than Ar'Ric or Ev'Ax or even Ber'Ain. He was small and thin, but still somehow had a huge paunch that made his ill-fitting pink uniform stretch like a balloon. He had an unhealthy grayish skin tone in his bloated face, and pale, bulging, watery eyes that never met Emily's gaze. She didn't understand the alien language, but it was plain that this man did not have good things in mind for her. She was restrained by plastic straps around her wrists and ankles, still in her baggy, shapeless overalls.
“So you think you'd be a princess, did you?” the duke said in remarkably clear English. “I fear your dreams will come to nothing. But you can be useful after all. I see you are surprised that I know your language! Ha ha. I suppose the quantum effects that can implement huge knowledge in a very short time is unknown to your little... hm... civilization. But fear not. After I become Emperor of Atrexu, I will, of course, annex your world into my empire. And they will be made aware of such marvels of technology. They may also be allowed to use them occasionally. No, don't say anything, it's not your place to do so,” he said as Emily drew breath to protest.
She was not in any mood to be commanded. “I will speak whenever I want, dude. You have kidnapped me and are keeping me here against my will. Let me go and take me back to Ar'Ric.”
The little man drew his hand back and leisurely slapped Emily across the face. “That's no way to talk to your betters, alien,” he said, very softly. “You have no idea how superior I am to you. I am a duke, unassailable. Everything I do is for the best of the Empire by definition. You are less than nothing. But still, you are in my way.”
Emily was astounded to discover that aliens could have bad breath. This guy didn't seem alien at all, just creepy. “Really? How can a nothing like me be in the way of such a noble... uh, being, as you?”
“How indeed. I know Crown Prince Ar'Ric's plans for you. I will make sure they come to nothing, but I will use you to get rid of him as well. You will n
ever be an Imperial Princess. Why, the very thought is repulsive, and every citizen of the Empire will agree. But first, I must show everyone that you are an alien. You look human, certainly, but I'm sure that once we uncover what lies underneath the surface, you will prove to be very alien indeed. I will then show you and your alien-ness to the Emperor, and he will disown Prince Ar'Ric and appoint me Heir Apparent in his stead. The Emperor hates aliens, and when he sees that his son has brought one to contaminate the royal line, his anger will know no bounds. But he must be shown just how repulsive and different you are. Your repulsive fatness is not sufficient, I think. The Emperor can be surprisingly hard to convince. I will have to... hmm... cut away your outer layers and show him your otherness. Then he will acquiesce to my request to be made his successor.”
Emily felt her jaw drop. “Ar'Ric is a Prince?!”
“Oh, he's more than that. He's the Heir Apparent! He would be Emperor when his father dies. But now, I will thwart that fanciful arrangement and make sure that the Empire will be ruled by a true royal: me.”
The little alien duke turned his back and gave some orders. Emily noticed that Ber'Ain looked even paler and more worried now. He asked the duke a question, and the tone of it seemed surprised and disbelieving. The duke answered something dismissively, and Ber'Ain stared at Emily as if in horror and abruptly left the room.
The duke's bodyguards dragged Emily out of the huge hall.
26
There was always a company of guards standing by at the Imperial Navy base in Gryd, and Prince Ar'Ric had alerted them and got them airborne, en route to the Duke of Hyp's palace. He knew the duke would be there because his cousin strongly disliked leaving his home and only ever did it to come to the Imperial court and further his own interests among the other nobles and royals.
He and Ev'Ax had commandeered a military vehicle, an armored hovercar that could fly them to the duke's palace as quickly as possible and could break through the gates when they arrived there.
The tall and imposing palace was not far away, and the prince could see it from a long distance.
The armored car raced towards it, just above the rooftops of the capital city.
As they approached, the could see flashes of light from just outside the gate. Ar'Ric's eyes were drawn to them because some part of his subconscious realized that they were flashing a code signal that only his closest associates knew, a secret battle code.
Land, the signal said. Vital information here.
“Do we land?” Ev'Ax asked.
“Yes. That's a trusted code. Someone knows something we should be aware of. And I think I know who it is.”
The prince guided the car to the ground in a break-neck move that very few pilots in the Imerial Navy would be able to duplicate, and the searchlights on the vehicle illuminated the lone soldier standing on the grounds right outside the Duke of Hyp's palace.
Ev'Ax hissed. “Is that...?”
“It's Ber'Ain,” the Prince confirmed, his voice tight. “He's not carrying any weapons. Sensors show no others nearby.”
“It could still be a trap,” Ev'Ax warned.
“It could. But it could also be that he has changed his mind and truly does have information we need. Treachery does not sit well with him. He's a good man underneath. Keep your eyes glued to the sensors. Any tiny little movement anywhere, any sign of an ambush, and we'll burn him off the surface of Atrexu once and for all.”
The prince brought the hovercar into land right beside Ber'Ain, who was raising his hands to show that he had no evil intentions. He dropped the little flashlight with which he had sent the coded light signal and walked fast towards the hovercar. The prince stepped out, pointing a large handgun at the treasonous pilot. He didn't speak.
“The duke isn't here,” Ber'Ain said loudly. “He took her to his palace outside town, his father's old stronghold in H'wer. You have to get there immediately. He intends to do a vivisection of her. He's entirely insane.”
The prince held his gun pointed straight at Ber'Ain's face. “Why should I believe you?”
“Because delivering a helpless female, no matter her species, over to an insane man so he can cut her up while she's still alive was not my plan. I have lost all honor and I have nothing to gain. My conscience can't live with my actions. Shoot me dead here and now. But don't waste any time. Go and get her before it's too late.”
The pilot was plainly in distress. The prince knew his fighting men and could tell that this was not an act. Whatever he was telling the prince, it was true as far as he knew it. Ar'Ric made a snap decision.
“Get in.” Ber'Ain scrambled to enter the hover car and sat in the back, hands together while Ev'Ax pointed a gun of his own at the former pilot.
The prince took off and set a course for the other, older palace. “Put these on,” he said, tossing plastic handcuffs into Ber'Ain's lap. “And consider yourself under arrest.”
The pilot locked the handcuffs around his own wrists. “The duke only has a ten-minute head start. He intends to display the Earthling's 'alien-ness' to the Emperor, thinking that his Majesty will then appoint Duke Hyp his successor and disown you after he sees a recording of the vivisection. It's an entirely insane idea.”
“It is indeed,” Ev'Ax agreed, still pointing his gun vaguely in Ber'Ain's direction. “The duke may be crazy, but the Emperor is not. He will be horrified at the very thought. We can only hope that we will not be too late.”
27
Emily found herself lying down, tied to a table. Her maintenance overalls had been cut from her, and she was only in her bra and panties. The room in the cellar of the Duke's palace was cold and barren, and the walls were made of a material that she had never seen before, but which looked hard and stony.
There was only one source of light in the room, and it was a huge light that hovered over the table she was strapped to. No more was necessary – the walls were white and the room seemed bright as an operating room.
And that, Emily realized, was what it was. Not like in a hospital, where kind doctors and nurses would do their very best to help you take care of a health-related problem, but as in a laboratory, where research was done on unwilling subjects.
The duke was standing by the end of the table. He had a metallic object in his hand. He held it up to his eyes and studied it.
“I have never done anything like this before,” he murmured, as if to himself. “But it is the most important thing I will ever do. Who can blame me?”
He turned his attention to Emily. “In a way, it's a great honor for you, this. You will be instrumental in placing me on the Imperial throne. You will be an historical figure. No one will know your name, of course, but you will be known for all eternity as the unclean and monstrous alien that Crown Prince Ar'Ric brought to Atrexu in order to poison the royal line with alien contamination. And I will be the heroic Emperor, who saved the Empire from that dishonor and showed the alien to be a horror from the stars. The Emperor will thank me. Do you think he will vacate the throne for me right away? Surely having a son as dishonorable as Prince Ar'Ric is reason enough to abdicate and leave the Empire to me?”
The duke was flushed and seemed feverish. His movements were jerky and abrupt as he walked around the table to look down on Emily's face. But still his gaze never sought her eyes, as if he considered her a simple, dead object with no soul.
“I think it's important that this be done with you fully conscious. Who knows which alien tricks you might use to mask the pain? If indeed you are able to feel pain. And certainly your own reaction to being cut and laid open alive will serve to further display your alien psychology and physiology. Yes, I am recording this, of course. The three-dee recorder is embedded in the ceiling and walls. It will be a legendary recording, showing how I, the Emperor, gradually laid bare the alien's horrendous otherness and so, in a more figurative sense, showed the deepness of the prince's betrayal.”
The insane alien held the thin knife up to let Emily look at it. It glinted
in the white light, showing an edge that looked very sharp. The alien surveyed her body from feet to head.
“Now, where to begin? Where is this monster the most different from a human? Where is its strangeness the most obvious? Ah, but of course.”
The depraved duke took a step to midway down the dissection table, along Emily's midriff. “Yes, here. The very center of the alien. Ah, see how it struggles!”
Emily used all her might to strain against the straps that bound her, but they were made from some exotic material that simply didn't budge at all. Her breath came rapidly and her face was wet with tears of fear. Her heartbeat was booming in her ears, very rapidly.
The insane duke adjusted his grip on the knife and placed the other hand on Emily's abdomen, using two cold fingers to stretch the skin slightly in preparation for the first incision. The edge of the knife hovered an inch above the skin, trembling slightly with the duke's hand.
“Let us now find out just how deep your monstrosity goes,” he creaked.
28
The prince flew the hovercar into a haphazard landing right outside the main entrance of Duke Hyp's secondary palace. There were no guards, and the whole place seemed deserted and dark.
The transport with the platoon of Imperial Guards landed beside the armored hovercar, and their lieutenant ran over to Prince Ar'Ric.
“Do you have any heavy weapons that can break down the doors and get us inside?” the prince inquired.
“We have explosives, sir. But using them will certainly alert the enemy to our presence.”
“That's the idea. We want to stop whatever is going on in there. Hyp must know that he has lost and that we're here to take him down. Blow up the door, and don't be stingy with the explosives.”