Anders: An Auxem Novel

by Lisa Lace

  She shuddered at the thought of the poking and prodding she was likely to get there. She clearly remembered Chixo mentioning something about a captive breeding program for humans. She imagined a room made of glass walls, where she would be forced to have sex with strangers while the aliens watched and took notes.

  Katie’s wandering thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Katie twisted around to see both Arkhan and Chixo speak to one of the guards and show him a fake document. The guard let them pass with a nod before continuing on his patrol.

  Chixo opened the door to the cage and tossed a new bodysuit at Katie. This one was dark gray. “Put this on.”

  Arkhan hovered at her shoulder, a leering grin on her face as he unashamedly took in Katie’s body. “I don’t know. We could leave her as she is. I rather like her this way.”

  “Shut up and keep watch for the guards. We don’t have a lot of time.” She stepped toward Katie, who was zipping up the bodysuit, and shoved a capsule in her mouth. “Bite down on this.”

  Feeling like a dog who had been force-fed a pill, Katie clenched her jaw and glared angrily in Chixo’s direction. “You could have handed it to me.” The capsule released a tart liquid into her mouth, and she felt her body become tense and ready for action.

  The alien woman gave her an impatient look. “Can we stop arguing about things and start moving?” She ushered Katie out of the cage.

  “Don’t forget these. Hold your hands out.” Arkhan clamped a slim band of metal around each of her wrists and pushed a small button on the side of one of them. The bands immediately stuck to each other, pinning her hands in front of her.

  No matter how hard she pulled, Katie couldn’t get them apart. “What the hell are these? And why am I wearing them? I wasn’t in handcuffs when we came in here.”

  The alien winked at her. “Don’t bother trying to get them off. They’re electromagnetic. We would look a lot more suspicious if you walked alongside us without any restraints. Nobody would willingly go to the research department. No offense, Chixo.”

  She snorted. “Whatever. Let’s go.”

  With Chixo holding one of her arms and Arkhan holding the other, the three of them moved through the large prison floor, passing numerous cages on the way. Only a few had people in them. Instead of looking at them, Katie stared at the ground moving under her feet. She reminded herself that there was nothing she could do to save them, but it didn’t make her feel any better.

  Chixo whispered in her ear when there wasn’t anyone around. “Listen to me. Don’t talk to anyone, no matter how you feel. You’re a prisoner, and you need to act like one. Keep your head down and do what we say.”

  Katie merely nodded. She wasn’t sure if she could reply even if she wanted to. Her mouth and throat felt as though cotton had swabbed them.

  Nobody questioned Katie when they reached the elevator pods. She assumed Chixo had already taken care of any necessary paperwork. Their pod swooped upwards, Katie’s stomach plummeting to her feet as they rose. When they emerged on the ground floor, Chixo flashed a document at the guards stationed on either side of the door. They barely glanced at it before waving the three of them through.

  Emerging from the fortress, Katie couldn’t help but look up and around. She’d had a brief glance at Oretoz on her way in, but it wasn’t enough for her to be satisfied. They stepped into a courtyard paved with beautiful green stones that glimmered in the sunlight.

  A strong, tall fence surrounded the yard. It was the one the Oretoz populace had pummeled against as Troxeo had led her inside. Katie had been expecting a sophisticated barrier developed from alien technology, but by all appearances, it was no different than a regular iron fence she would find back on Earth. It stood out against the slate-blue sky, emerald trees in the distance breaking up the horizon with curving limbs. The crowd of people was gone. No one expected the Earth girl to leave the fortress right now.

  “The building to our left houses the research department,” Chixo whispered.

  Katie cocked her head to look at it. It was squat and square, like a giant cube. Similar to the building they had just left, it appeared to be made of a substance smoother than glass, and it shone in the brilliant light.

  “Put your head down!” Chixo admonished. “You’re a prisoner, not a tourist, remember?”

  Katie immediately lowered her gaze to the ground again.

  “Which one is Enan on?” the alien woman asked over Katie’s head.

  “I wanted something small,” Arkhan replied. “A ship that will blend into the background. He should have one of the land hoppers ready for us to use.”

  “Just a land hopper? That’s not going to get us very far.” For the first time, Chixo looked doubtful.

  “Well, what did you think we were going to do? Fly out of here on one of the intergalactic ships and wave goodbye to the commander as we warp out of here? It’s obvious, and security will be too tight. We can’t help leaving a trail. Let’s make it a small one.”

  Arkhan’s grip tightened on Katie’s arm as they headed to the shipyard. “Ow, that hurts!” she exclaimed. “You’re supposed to treat me better than in prison, right?”

  The big man didn’t apologize. In fact, he closed his hand more firmly around her arm and walked faster toward their awaiting ride.

  Katie hadn’t had a chance to get a good look at the shipyard when they had first landed. She was too stunned and disoriented to take in the giant gleaming birds that filled it. There were ships of every shape and size, every one of them polished and bright. Tiny pods with fans of blades over them resembled miniature helicopters. Gigantic ships that could have swallowed a 747 for breakfast were further down the yard, with massive engines designed for intergalactic travel. She recognized the ship on which she had arrived. It had an odd round shape that reminded her of a slightly squashed beet.

  The aliens guided her toward one of the small vessels. She could see Enan through the front window, tightly wedged into a confined space. On the side of the ship, a door was open with a ladder descending from it. Arkhan shoved her up and into the vehicle. The climb was short but difficult because she didn’t have full use of her hands. Chixo followed behind her. The inside of the plane was a little cramped, but Katie wasn’t going to complain. The rear of the land hopper had several seats and Katie tentatively chose one.

  Chixo called out to Arkhan. “Where are you going? The ship’s right here!”

  Katie peered out one of the round windows. The big man trotted across the shipyard to one of the beet-shaped ships. He crawled underneath it, and his arm muscles rippled as he pulled at something. Within a minute, he emerged with a handful of electronics and was coming back to their ship and up the ladder.

  “What was that all about?” Chixo demanded.

  “I was making sure no one’s following us,” Arkhan replied with a grin. “I yanked the starting mechanism out of Troxeo’s ship.”

  Katie felt her stomach turn inside-out at the mention of the man’s name. Troxeo terrified and intrigued her, and she was surprised to experience a feeling of disappointment. Was Troxeo her enemy? Of course, he had been the one to strip her of her clothes back in the cage. She couldn’t let herself forget that.

  “He wouldn’t try to stop us, would he?” she asked.

  Arkhan barked out a laugh as he slammed the door. “My cousin is predictable. He is an agent of Commander Reck, and he’ll never be anything else. Don’t think for a second that he has any pity for you. I have no doubt that he would do everything in his power to stop us.” He took his place in a seat next to Enan and began pushing buttons.

  The ship glided out of its slot and lifted off into the air. Katie turned and pressed her face to the window behind her, looking toward the fortress. There didn’t seem to be any frantic guards chasing after them or pointing guns in their direction. In fact, the whole place looked quiet and peaceful from the outside. She sat back in her seat and relaxed against the smooth upholstery.

&n
bsp; Katie had a long way to go before she was home, but she was on her way.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The life of a soldier usually provided excellent sleep. After a typical day of vigorous training and plenty of mental exercise, Troxeo was ready to crash into his bunk. He rarely dreamed, but when he did, he forgot his dreams by morning.

  Last night had been different. From the moment he closed his eyes, he dreamed of nothing but the human. He relived his conquest of the Earth spaceship when he first saw her, only this time he didn’t sling her over his shoulder. He scooped her into his arms and looked down into her eyes. In his dream, it wasn’t a kidnapping. She wanted to go with him. She wanted to be with him.

  He saw himself with her in the prison cell again. There were no guards this time, and it was Katie herself who demanded that he strip her. He could feel the smooth material of her bodysuit ripping, revealing the pearlescent wonder of her body. She wrapped her strong legs around him and pressed her lips to his. When he awoke, the warmth of her body dissipated with the night.

  His dreams haunted him as he made himself ready for the interrogation. Troxeo knew his day would not be a sexual adventure. He would be forced to watch someone torture Katie. He might even be the one doing it. He couldn’t stand the thought of his blade piercing her smooth skin, not when he could be running his hands over it lovingly instead. No method was below Commander Reck’s standards.

  As Troxeo showered, he wondered if Reck was as attracted to the girl as he was. If the old man laid a hand on her, Troxeo might do something that would get him executed. There was no way to know the truth until it happened. He dressed and ate with efficiency, but without excitement. He knew he would regret this day for the rest of his life.

  The fortress was quiet this morning. They were supposed to arrive at the prisoner’s cell early, before breakfast. Troxeo thought about Katie as he marched through the empty hallways, concerned for her comfort as well as her safety. When had he become so soft that he was worried about whether or not a prisoner was hungry? He would have to make sure he didn’t say anything about the conditions in which the human was living. No honorable soldier would notice them, much less care what happened to an off-worlder.

  He arrived at Commander Reck’s office precisely on time. He wouldn’t dare to be late and never liked arriving early. Reck was pacing back and forth, recording a video on the computer. “There will be substantial repercussions if my orders are not carried forth to the letter. I trust that you already know this, but given recent events, I feel the need to repeat it. Don’t start thinking on your own, and don’t disappoint me.” He turned to look at Troxeo. “I hope that you’re feeling as good about today as I am.”

  “I am confident our mission will be successful, sir.” He had said the same words many times before at the beginning of missions or battles, but he had never realized how stiff and robotic they sounded until now.

  “You can give me all the prattle you want, Captain, but I’ve come up with a few ideas.” The older man turned to the window and stroked his short beard. “I haven’t changed my basic plan, mind you. If the Earthling still refuses to talk at the end of the day, I want it dead. I don’t like the idea of a foreign creature being in my fortress to begin with, much less the notion of it escaping and ruining things.”

  That must be exactly how I sounded, thought Troxeo. I thought of Katie as nothing more than an animal, barely worthy of her gender and incapable of anything but grunting and shitting. He recoiled inside at the idea that a living being as beautiful and intelligent as Katie was being treated this way.

  Commander Reck interrupted his revolutionary thoughts. “I’ve decided to try a different tactic first. The human didn’t seem to care too much when I threatened it with pain or the mind-control specialists. Do you think it understood what those things were? Even if it doesn’t, I’m sure it will understand the idea of going home.”

  “You’re going to send her home?” He became excited for a fraction of a second at the thought of being the person to bring her back to Earth and seeing her face light up when she saw her home planet again. She would feel grateful toward him, wouldn’t she?

  “Haven’t you been listening, Captain?” Reck demanded. “I just said I still wanted it dead. But that doesn’t mean I can’t manipulate the human before I kill her. First, I will imply I may send it home if it cooperates. If the human is willing to answer my questions thoroughly, and not just give me some shit about not knowing again, I’ll promise it a free ride home. I’m smart enough to know that some creatures will respond better to a bribe than to a threat. Of course, its carcass will never make it out of the prison.”

  Troxeo swallowed. Reck’s words had shattered his last hope. “As you wish, sir.”

  “Let’s get on with it, shall we?” Reck led the way out of his chambers, down the elevating pods, and into the prison.

  As they wound their way through the numerous cages, Troxeo’s heart and stomach competed for space in his throat. He would make sure he didn’t look the Earthling in the eyes, but it would be impossible to tune out her angelic voice. There was nothing he could do to prepare for the task ahead of him.

  When they reached cell number 406, it was empty.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Troxeo had his gun at the ready as he approached the Earthling’s cell. He knew Katie would be furious if nothing else. Even though she was no threat to him or anyone else with training as an Oretoz soldier, he couldn’t go into her cell acting like he trusted her. It would reveal all the feelings he had been working to eliminate.

  In the end, his armaments were irrelevant. It hadn’t mattered that he had fully charged his blaster and sharpened his knives. There wasn’t a prisoner on whom to use them.

  Commander Reck stood at his shoulder, taking in the scene before him. Troxeo knew his superior officer saw the same thing he did. The floor of the cage was empty. The door was closed and locked. It made it look like Katie had slipped through the bars or melted through the floor, behaving like an ethereal being they couldn’t hope to understand or catch.

  Troxeo had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach, an automatic alarm that immediately made him think of his cousin. Arkhan helped him capture the prisoner, but would he have worked on his own to free her?

  “Where is the human? Guard!” Commander Reck barked, his deep voice echoing in the large room. His jowls wavered with every word. “The prisoner was supposed to be here, but this cell is empty. Who was on watch?”

  A young guard came running over from his station by the elevator pod doors. “I don’t know, sir. I only started my shift a few minutes ago.” He quickly pulled up the prison records on a computer, fingers flying over the screen. “Apparently the Earthling has been taken to the Research Department.”

  “When did the transfer occur?” Reck’s voice sounded ominous.

  The young guard consulted the computer again. “It was this morning, sir, during the shift change.”

  “I’m going to have a long discussion with whoever authorized the move. Who signed off on the transfer?” the older man raged.

  Drops of sweat were visible on the young guard’s forehead. He gulped a few times, his breath becoming labored when he discovered the answer to the commander’s question. “It looks like you did, sir.” He looked up at the older man, eyes wide with fear.

  As Commander Reck’s face slowly turned purple from the neck up, Troxeo felt a little sorry for the young guard. What was the guard supposed to do if the computer told him Katie went to the Research Department under Reck’s authority? He was only relaying the information. Troxeo was sure Chixo had forged the records. He shook his head. The girl was an expert at hacking into computer systems. She had done it numerous times when they were children, just to see how far she could go. Unfortunately, the fact that the fake document said they had permission to take the prisoner to the Research Department was like an arrow pointing directly to her.

  Troxeo fully expected the commander to exact a deme
aning punishment on the guard. Anyone who accused Reck of doing something foolish disappeared for a while. But instead of ordering the guard to the electrocution room, Reck gave him a different order. “Try to get a hold of someone in Research. Confirm they received the prisoner.” He paced back and forth as he waited, heavy boots beating out a staccato rhythm on the hard floor.

  The guard touched a button on the earpiece of his communicator. “This is Private 126 in the Fortress. I need to speak with the receiving guard in the Research Department.” He waited for a moment while he was connected. “I would like to confirm the transfer of the human prisoner to your building.” He listened, and his skin paled visibly. “I see. Thank you. Signing off.” He touched the button on his earpiece again. The young guard swallowed, and Troxeo didn’t need to hear him speak. He knew the news wasn’t good. “There’s nothing in our records to indicate anyone received the prisoner, sir.”

  “Of course not!” Reck roared. “I should have known the idea of bringing a human to Oretoz would never work. Reck pointed at the guard. “You come with me to the Research Department. I want to confirm that the prisoner is gone, and her disappearance is not a system malfunction. No good will come from sounding an alarm if the human is still safely within the walls of the Fortress. I also want to see who had the balls to sign my name on fake orders. He pointed a thick finger at Troxeo. “Head outside and search the grounds. If the timestamp on the transfer requisition is correct, the human can’t have gone far.”

  Troxeo nodded, surprised that Commander Reck was operating in a relatively level-headed manner. He had seen the older man slaughter most of the soldiers around him after a failed maneuver or a training session that was going badly. Troxeo was privately glad they were taking precautions before announcing the escape. It would give him more time to find Katie before anyone else did.

  He trotted to one of the elevator pods and jumped inside. Troxeo tapped his fingers impatiently against the circular wall as he rode up. There was no way Katie could have escaped without help. Getting out of the Fortress alive would require a native’s knowledge of the system, the people, and the rules. Katie’s only weapon was sass. That wouldn’t get her far with any Oretoz, who understood strength and weapons better than wordplay.