Materfamilias

by Wendie Nordgren

  “Try it. I’ll rip each one of your legs off, string you to the ceiling, and pretend you’re a piñata.”

  “Chitter! Chitter! Chitter!”

  A cold, distant feeling was at my command. I smiled as the hybrid soldier freed us of the netting. He offered me his hand, trying to hide an eagerness for me to take it. I imagined him as a poisonous fish, like the one Cedrenus had touched, and backed away. Izaac and Clark were slowly regaining consciousness. Two of the hybrids picked them up, flung them over their shoulders, and carried them into a lift.

  “Follow us and behave, Goldie. If you don’t, we’ll toss your pretty boys out of an airlock.”

  “One of those males is your brother,” I said as I slowly got to my feet. “You already abandoned your brothers once. Would you do so again?”

  “We didn’t abandon anyone.”

  “Yes, you did. You knew exactly what he was like, how he would treat them. You lived through his experimentation and his cruelty, but you left them there to suffer. Why didn’t you take them with you?”

  My answer was stony silence.

  The lift took us up a deck. Clark and Izaac were tossed into a confinement cell. I was pointed over to a worn couch. Thunderdrop gripped my shoulder, holding himself still. He knew me well enough to sense my mood. Sitting on the couch, I put my feet up and covered my stomach with my hands. “I’m cold.”

  A hybrid stepped over to a cabinet and pulled out a blanket. In the cabin, I saw a pilot and stars streaking by. There were only two of them. He covered me with the blanket. I could feel it as he tried to touch me with slippery, greasy emotions.

  “I want a cup of coffee.” I stared at him without emotion, waiting.

  Straightening, he walked toward the back of the vessel and to what I assumed would be a small habitation area with bunks, a kitchenette, and tiny bathroom. It was an older model ship. The hybrid returned with my cup and tried to hand it to me. Raising an eyebrow at him, I stared down at the table. He placed it there and sat on a chair across from me. I sipped quietly. When I sensed Izaac and Clark rousing, I asked, “How long will it be before we get to wherever it is we are going?”

  “Touch me, and I’ll tell you.”

  I ignored him. If I hadn’t been carrying the twins, I would have told him to go and touch himself in the bathroom, but I couldn’t risk his temper, even though I was certain that Thunderdrop and I could kick his ass. The hybrid smiled at me, spying on my thoughts. I imagined ripping the male’s arms and legs off and hanging him from the ceiling by his dick. I shared the image with Thunderdrop. I smiled, and the hybrid’s smile vanished.

  He said, “If he behaves, I won’t hurt him.”

  “Do you have Jazon?”

  “We have him, and he’s not all we have.”

  “Shut up!” the pilot ordered.

  I felt Izaac calming my emotions. He had heard. We would wait to strike until we found our clan brother.

  “There she is,” the pilot announced. “Open the transport bay.”

  Leaning to the side, panic sank its talons into my chest when I looked through the viewport. “Oh, stars. What have you done?” In the distance, I saw a ship, one I could never mistake for any other, Tora.

  “Well, Goldie, we weren’t certain our dear little brother would be enough of an incentive to lure you away should our plan fail. We always have a backup.”

  The hybrids were going to die, slowly and painfully. I forgave Quaid in that moment. What he had done to Cory now made perfect sense.

  The male said, “We knew you’d never allow harm to come to your precious Hiroshi Lee.”

  The pilot, a hybrid who looked like an older version of Jazon, flew the small ship inside of Tora’s transport bay. Then, he motioned for me to follow. Leaving the blanket on the couch, Thunderdrop and I made our way carefully from the vessel. The hybrid offered me his hand, and I refused it. I stood near the lift while Izaac and Clark exited the ship at the end of a blaster rifle. They didn’t look afraid. They looked pissed.

  Into our minds, Izaac said, “We heard your screams. Our father tortured you to death. It’s what prompted us to destroy his lab and escape.”

  “You heard Xavier’s brothers die, not us. We’re older and more original than any of you mites.” The hybrid smiled.

  I went to the corner of the lift. Izaac and Clark shielded me with their bodies.

  One of them said, “Behave, little brother. You’re only alive to keep her placated.”

  Izaac said, “You plan to use us to force her obedience. Don’t you have enough control to tame her with your minds?”

  Slithering across my emotions, I could feel rage from the hybrids. Then, I could feel it as Tora darted through space. Yukihyo had outfitted her with photonic film. In her, they could outrun Cormac’s ship. The Inquisitors would have great difficulty finding us. It was a good thing there was a tracking device embedded within the setting of my necklace. It had been done to all of my jewelry. Eli had seen to it to prevent my jewelry from being stolen. I cried out as the necklace was torn from my neck.

  “Hiss! Hiss!”

  “Get your hands off of her!” Clark yelled.

  He and Izaac were struck with the butts of blaster rifles and fell from the lift into the corridor.

  “Get rid of this,” one of the hybrids said of my necklace.

  “No! Don’t! Luca gave that to me! No!” I watched in agony as he tossed it out of an airlock. I thought of the night Luca had given it to me, having had the stone reset and presenting it to me with a beautiful bouquet. The end of my nose started to tingle, and tears slid down my cheeks. Two of the hybrids were dragging Izaac and Clark into Phillip’s quarters.

  “Stay back!” one of them growled.

  Hiroshi was in the room. His face was bloody and bruised. “They tricked me, little sister. They made me believe they were young men looking for careers on a merchant ship.”

  “You get in there,” a hybrid said to Thunderdrop.

  “Chitter! Chitter!”

  “Do as he says, baby.”

  Thunderdrop jumped from me to Hiroshi. Then, the door closed with Hiroshi, Izaac, Clark, and Thunderdrop on the other side. I turned and walked down the corridor.

  “Where are you going?”

  Ignoring him, I went to the kitchen, opened the cold storage, and found a container of Uncle Lee’s orange chicken. The hybrids watched me as I heated it up and ate it. Then, I cleaned my dishes and went to my room. I got in bed and watched the stars while twisting my wedding band around on my finger. The moment Izaac woke up, I felt him hiding our thoughts from his insane older brothers. They lacked his power and control. They had underestimated him. They had underestimated all of us. They saw me as being a pretty plaything, a salve for their minds. They saw Izaac and Clark as being harmless boys. They thought of Thunderdrop as nothing more than a pet insect. They were dumbasses. Spiders weren’t insects. They were arachnids. Smiling, I went to my waste unit and relieved my bladder while I waited. A few minutes passed.

  “Ready,” Izaac whispered against my mind, while keeping my thoughts hidden as if by sleep.

  I went to my door and activated my escape pod. While shielding my true thoughts from them, Izaac made his brothers believe that my consciousness was within the escape pod as it hurled through space. Calmly, I listened to the frantic commotion it caused.

  “The grapplers aren’t working! Take the stealth ship and get her!”

  Moments later, two of the hybrids had left the ship, leaving one of them on the bridge to pilot Tora.

  “Ready,” Izaac whispered.

  Slipping from my quarters, I deactivated the shielding on Phillip’s door and overrode the locking commands. Izaac continued to shield our actions from the hybrid, projecting the belief that my consciousness was within the escape pod. The door opened. Hiroshi, Clark, and Thunderdrop slid out, surprising the lone male on the Bridge. Thunderdrop leapt onto him, sinking his fangs deep and filling him with his neurotoxin.

  “Don’t
kill him. We may need him,” I said.

  Hiroshi dragged the unconscious male from his chair. Thunderdrop quickly began to shroud his unconscious victim in silk. “Now, what?” Hiroshi asked.

  “Now, we find Jazon. Permission to enter the Bridge?” I asked.

  “Granted.” Taking command of his ship, Hiroshi increased speed and retracted the grapplers which Izaac had tricked the hybrid’s mind into believing were inoperable, as if Hiroshi would allow such a thing to occur on his ship. “Course was laid in. I heard enough to learn they have a ship. It is where they are holding Jazon and where they were planning to take you. They are the ones who were responsible for the probe.”

  Clark said, “We learned that when the mad ones attacked us on Chione. How long have they held you prisoner?”

  “For weeks. I can only imagine Ling’s worry.” Hiroshi met my eyes. “Yes, I know. We must maintain our silence for a while longer.”

  Thunderdrop sat on top of his shrouded prey, chittering angrily.

  “You are a good boy,” Hiroshi told him.

  “Chirp!”

  “What should we do about the ones in the stealth ship?” I asked.

  “I’ve scrambled their communications. Inquisitor Rovek taught us how,” Clark said. He had taken over Phillip’s station.

  Izaac sat at Yukihyo’s weapons station.

  Sighing, I went to my quarters, grabbed a few pillows and a blanket, and returned to the Bridge. I made myself a pallet on the floor and got comfortable. There never had been a command chair for me on Hiroshi’s Bridge.

  Hiroshi said, “I have a weapons stash hidden on Deck Two.”

  “Do you have any neural blockers for when he wakes up?” I asked.

  “No. Perhaps, Thunderdrop’s venom will be replenished by the time he begins to stir,” Hiroshi suggested.

  “Chirp!” Thunderdrop happily agreed.

  Clark filled Hiroshi in on what the mad ones had done to us on Chione and about our visit with Dr. Crispus. “Where is Yukihyo, now?” Hiroshi asked.

  “I don’t know, but I’m sure Kaoti and Cormac have contacted them and are in pursuit of us. All we need to do is lead the way and hope nothing happens to Jazon.”

  An hour passed. Then, a ship loomed into view. It startled us, having been hidden by visual displacement shielding reminiscent of that which Felix Jiri’s ship had been equipped, but this shielding was more advanced. Fear that should we board it we might not be found, even by my Omnes Videntes, chilled my blood. A magnetic force seized Tora. I felt my artificial heart lurch within me and clutched at my chest.

  “Teagan!” Clark yelled.

  “I can’t pull us free! Shutting down power,” Hiroshi said. “Hurry!” He led them from the Bridge and down to Deck Two and his weapons.

  I could feel something sick and twisted slithering against my mind, like a giant worm. It made my stomach turn. Searching, I cried out, “Jazon!” I felt a wave of dread along our bond.

  “Teagan, no…. Run!” Jazon weakly answered before he was silenced.

  We couldn’t run. We had to fight. The stars vanished as Tora was swallowed whole. Into my mind, Izaac ordered, “Take Thunderdrop, go to your quarters, and lock the door.”

  Crawling to my feet, I obeyed. Thunderdrop ran after me. He climbed his tree sculpture and guarded me, ready to strike if anyone should enter.

  “Teagan, you have come. I’ve waited years for you. You were so hard to find, but I see you. I feel you.” The voice was a worm in my mind. I covered my ears, willing the voice out of my head. My wall-mounted vid-screen activated. A male looked out from it and found me. He smiled at me, and mad delight was in his mismatched eyes. He looked like a maniacal older version of Jazon, but on his face were tattooed lines. “You know me. You recognize me. You were made for me. Stay right there.”

  Collapsing to my knees, I held my hands over my ears and screamed.

  He stood from his command chair and quickly left my sight, but in the bottom corner of the screen, I saw Jazon. He too was on his knees, but chains firmly held his wrists above his head and were attached high up where I couldn’t see. Lifting his sweat-drenched head, he found my eyes. One of his eyes was swollen shut from beatings. What I could see of him was covered in blood and bruises.

  “I tried to keep him away from you. Go to the Bridge. Shoot your way out of here. Go, Teagan. Go!”

  Into my mind, Izaac said, “Belay that order. Go to the Bridge. Ready the ship. On my order, you will do exactly as he said.”

  Shaking and sobbing, Thunderdrop and I made our way to the Bridge. I sat on Hiroshi’s chair. My feet didn’t reach the floor.

  “Never gonna let you go,” the bound hybrid on the floor chuckled.

  “Hiss!” Thunderdrop sank his fangs into the male’s neck.

  Madness rubbed against me. I could feel it. He was coming closer. If he forced a telepathic or empathic bond upon me, it would reach into my unborn babies, Peter, Niklos, Neema, and each of my husbands. It would destroy us all, Momma, Grandmother, Gram, Eric, Simon, and everyone who I loved. It would destroy us and throw the Parvac Empire into turmoil.

  “Izaac!” I cried.

  He, Clark, and Hiroshi were engaged in battle. I had to do this on my own. Everyone who I loved was depending on me. “Concentrate. Breathe.” I willed myself to calm. Pushing all of my emotions into a black box, I shoved it away with all of my might into the darkest room of my mind. Free of emotion, I recalled my training. Powering Tora, I engaged her engines, readied her weapons, and sighted the flight bay doors and outer hull. At my fingertips was the power to tear free of the belly of the starship and birth Tora into the stars.

  “Now!” Izaac screamed into my mind.

  I fired every weapon Tora had, raised shields, and took her forward with lift off speed. Fire, metal, and debris filled the viewer, but I didn’t fear death. I feared what madness would do to my family. Explosions rocked Tora and quickly drained her shields. Her forward port hull had taken a hit, a chunk of metal piercing her. I worked to seal that section while continuing to put as much distance between us and the advancing ship as possible, but the larger ship was pursuing. I took evasive actions. The mad captain shot grapplers out at Tora. I maneuvered her into a spin and flew under the larger ship before shooting out from under her and to the side.

  “I will take over,” Hiroshi said.

  I sobbed in relief and stumbled from his chair. Izaac rushed by me to weapons while Clark took over life support and environmental systems, trying to seal the hull breach. I ran to the corridor. Jazon was on his side, bleeding.

  “Thunderdrop, help me!”

  Thunderdrop wrapped a line of silk under Jazon’s arms and dragged him to the exercise room. Together, we got him inside of the medical unit there. I activated it and hoped it would be enough to keep him alive.

  Knowing my thoughts, he said, “I’ll make it. I’ve survived worse.” His hand left a bloody smear on the plasti-glass between us.

  “You’d better be okay. Tracy is sick with worry.” I wiped my eyes on my arm. “Did he bind you to him?” I asked, fearful of his answer.

  “No, I’m stronger than him. It’s what pissed him off so much. You’re stronger than him, too. You can fight him. We won’t let him in.”

  I thought of my helpless children.

  “I won’t let him near them, Teagan. I swear it on my life.”

  “We need you and your life, you stupid jerk! Tracy needs you, your baby needs you, all of us do, so don’t you dare sacrifice yourself! Do you hear me?” My throat ached, and my nose started to run. Lifting my hem, I wiped my eyes on my pink dress, but thought better of using it to blow my nose, sniffling instead.

  “You were going to sacrifice yourself and the babes for us all,” Jazon said quietly. “Don’t try to deny it, Teagan.”

  I couldn’t look into his eyes, not when he could so easily see into my soul. Tora shook. “Jazon!” I couldn’t hold in my tears or my anguish. Hiroshi was one of the best pilots who I had ever s
een. If he couldn’t get us away from the mad one, what were we to do? “Promise me, Jazon. Promise me you’ll end me if he tries to force a bond.” I pressed my forehead to the plasti-glass. My babies. Oh, stars. I covered my stomach and tried to breathe in and out. Opening my eyes, I looked at him.

  He shook his head. “You will be safe. The Empire hunts.” Jazon gave me an arrogant grin that might have been handsome had he not been covered in blood and bruises.

  Tora shook, rattling as if from the repercussions of distant explosions.

  Jazon crossed his arms over his chest, leaned back, closed his eyes, and said, “That would be Cormac. I can feel his fury from here. Thunderdrop, can you go get her some waste paper? Her nose is dripping. It’s gross.”

  “Chirp.”

  I clutched at my arms, chilled by the worm-like slithering trying desperately to embed itself into my mind. Then, it was suddenly gone. I gasped, afraid it was a trick to get me to drop my guard and lower my mental shields.

  Then, Jazon started chuckling. Tora shook so hard that I feared she would come apart. “Got him,” Jazon said.

  “He’s gone?” I asked frantically.

  “That mother fucker is gone. Now, shut up and let me rest. I feel like shit.”

  “You look and smell like it, too. Asshole.”

  “Chirp! Chirp!” Thunderdrop entered the exercise room trailing waste paper behind him.

  I took the end from him and blew my nose. “Thank you, baby.”

  Tora slowed. Then, she stopped and powered down. Over the intercom, Hiroshi said, “Entering flight bay of Parvac warship.”

  Soon, soldiers were boarding. A medical team entered and loaded Jazon onto a hover gurney. One of the doctors got waste paper stuck to the bottom of his shoe. I followed them out on a soldier’s arm with Thunderdrop on my shoulder. The surviving enshrouded hybrid had already been taken away.

  Izaac said, “They apprehended the two in the stealth ship and will learn if there are others. Do not fear. All is well.”