by Marie Dry
Still, she couldn't let the subject drop. "What--what happened with your mother?"
She was probably right to be afraid, bringing up the topic after all this time. Now she almost wished she'd kept her mouth shut. But she'd sensed she might get some answers. This was the first time since she'd met him that he'd been so emotional. If only she could get through the conversation unscathed.
He advanced on her again. "You want to know about my mother? She was honored above all others. But she couldn't accept that a beautiful noble woman like her had to breed for a warrior like my father. His true form disgusted her." He spat the words in her face, showing more emotion than she'd ever thought him capable of.
"What? Why?" Even if his mother hadn't been able to accept his father, she couldn't imagine her not accepting Zacar. "What happened?"
"She ended herself." He turned away from her, his voice suddenly flat and emotionless.
"Ended herself? You mean she committed suicide?" she whispered, shocked.
She'd expected him to say she escaped his father and he never saw her again. This was so much worse. It was no wonder he showed such extreme aggression when she mentioned his mother.
"Yes," he said, his voice still flat.
"That must've been terrible for you. How old were you?" Her heart ached at the thought of Zacar as a young boy, having to live with what his mother had done.
"I was a warrior."
He might be fully grown now but it obviously still affected him.
"How did your father take it?"
He never spoke of his parents. She'd told him about her childhood, her favorite places on the mountain, but he'd never reciprocated. This was the first time he'd even admitted to having parents.
He didn't answer.
"How did she do it?" She wanted to hold him but he held his body taut, turned away from her, his claws still out. This violent stranger frightened her.
"She stopped eating then took medicine from her home world."
"Why did she stop eating before taking the medicine? Why not simply overdose?"
"My father made her immune to most poisons. In order for the medicine to work, she had to weaken herself."
How horrible for him to live with the knowledge that his mother had been that determined to leave him. "How did he make her immune?"
Something flickered in his eyes and, again, he didn't answer.
She thought about the way he carefully fed her every day and her heart ached for him. It ached at her own silly delusions that he did it because of any softer feelings for her. It ached for her unborn child, destined to become an emotionally repressed warrior. "I'm not your mother, Zacar," she said gently.
"No. So you are happy to breed my warriors?" There was an almost taunting quality to his voice.
She raised her hand and rested it, trembling, on her stomach. "I--well, yes. Though, how many babies do you actually want? Human women usually only bear about two kids," she said, trying to infuse some normalcy into their discussion.
His taunting her had caught her off guard. This savage, angry man was so unlike the gentle alien she'd fallen in love with that she didn't know how to react.
"A little warrior every year until your fertility stops," he said, something driven, almost ugly in his voice.
"What?" she whispered.
"You wanted to know what we are doing on Earth. We're here to conquer it. We've conquered many worlds. Fifty warriors settle on a planet and take breeders."
"Oh my God."
"We breed little warriors who are full grown warriors within five years," he continued, unfazed by her shock. "You see, we don't need eighteen years to become full-grown warriors like puny humans," he sneered.
"God help us all," she whispered.
"So tell me, Natlia. Why didn't you tell me you are breeding my warrior?" His voice was silky with menace.
She didn't know this stranger. This wasn't the warrior who allowed her to make love to him, who watched the TC with her, who tried to learn teasing for her.
"You knew?" She'd agonised over telling him, one moment sure she was pregnant and the next, doubting. Now, she worried what she would give birth to.
"I have waited many weeks for you to tell me."
Her brain couldn't focus past the fact that he expected her to have children every year, until she reached menopause. Now she understood why he always called her breeder, no matter how many times she objected. That was all she was to him.
"You didn't mean that, did you? You don't plan on forcing me to have babies, year after year, to produce enough warriors to conquer the earth." Her foolish heart wouldn't give up hope.
"Did I not, breeder?" He spat the word breeder like a bullet off his tongue.
"Even if you did, it won't be that easy to conquer Earth. The government would discover you first." She hoped.
"What government?" he sneered.
"The National Government for one, United Earth Government for another."
She almost wished they'd suddenly appear at the cave door, show this arrogant alien what humans could do to defend themselves. United Earth had a large military force, made up of all the countries.
"Your governments are barely functioning. Your army is nothing more than a few thousand men strong. Did you really believe the United Earth Government existed? That was a pathetic attempt to stop the inevitable. Nothing more than talk."
"That's not true."
"Why do you think the raiders have been able to kidnap women, loot, and kill unchecked? Our probes show that government systems are barely functioning. Most of their workers go to their offices in the hope that they will eventually be paid. But they don't do any work. Only a few big corporations are keeping the major cities going."
"That can't be true. We're advanced, we have technology. An entire civilization doesn't collapse overnight."
Even while she argued, she remembered the power shortages, water being scarce in certain areas, food becoming more and more difficult to buy. The stories her father told her of planes flying, movie theaters, and other wonders--things that didn't work anymore.
"You are right. It takes centuries. It happened so gradually you didn't realize what was going on."
"No, I don't believe you." She couldn't believe it. Wouldn't they announce over the news that civilization was collapsing? But she hadn't been paid for months now.
"When was the last time you were taxed?" he asked in that strangely driven tone.
Horror clawed at her. That specific question, more than anything else, showed her the truth of his words. When she was little, her father had received a bill every year over the TC and every year, he went ballistic over it. Then one year, it didn't come and he went quiet for a long, long time. That was when he started to stock the cave, she realized.
"But the news comes on every day," she said stupidly.
"It is done by a few people, desperate to keep it going. They are hanging by a thread and not allowed to show the real state of things. That broadcast about the baby with the cast?"
"I remember."
She wanted him to stop talking. She didn't want to know these things. If he said it, she would have to acknowledge it and deal with it. She tried to take a deep calming breath but her lungs protested.
"I thought it strange they were able to do that, given that your technology is collapsing fast. I checked and that was a fifty-year-old news story."
"No! You're lying," she screamed.
"I am telling the truth."
She was crying in earnest now. What would her children be born into? "Why are you doing this? You're terrifying me."
Her lungs seized. She couldn't breathe and her body shook. She coughed, her chest feeling as if a fist squeezed it. At first, she thought her heart was physically breaking. It had been such a long time since she'd had an attack and now she was having a serious asthma attack right in front of him. Too busy battling for breath to focus on anything else, she prayed it wouldn't last long. It could last anywhere between a fe
w minutes to an hour or longer. She had to get to her inhaler. She could feel the faintness, the energy leaking out of her.
Inhaler. She'd stashed one in the bedroom.
"Don't you walk away from me breeder."
Natalie heard him through a buzzing in her ears. Was this how her mother felt when she died of the asthma attack? Staggering to the chest with her clothes, she gasped for breath as she took out the inhaler.
Vaguely she heard Zacar roar, until she thought her ears as well as her lungs would burst. Then the doctor was there pointing his silver gadget at her, while Zacar continued to roar.
In that moment, she understood what drove Zacar's mother to end her own life.
"What is this weakness you have, Natlia?" Zacar grated at her.
She shook her pump and shakily put it in her mouth. She coughed a few more times, then the doctor pressed something against her neck.
Finally, after a moment, she could answer him. "Asthma. It's called asthma."
She was tired, so tired, and her muscles ached, as if she'd run for miles up and down the mountain. She was sweating but her skin was ice cold when she touched her chest.
"Will it hurt my little warrior?" he demanded.
"It runs in my family." She was too scared, tired, and hurt too much to try and lie to him. It hurt that he showed concern for his unborn child but didn't ask if she was all right. "My mother died of an asthma attack."
Even though she was heartsick, it was a relief to have it out in the open. The asthma attack and his earlier revelations had left her dazed. She wanted to crawl into bed and find oblivion in sleep.
Zacar continued to pace up and down then snarled something at the doctor. He'd stop every now and then to glare at her where she sat on the bed, leaning against piled-up cushions. Natalie took another dose of medicine.
"I'm all right now, you can calm down."
He stalked toward her again, leaning down to hiss into her face, "If you bring weakness to my bloodline, I'll make you the most scorned breeder in the history of Zyrgin."
She whimpered and moved back from him. "Please, Zacar, you're scaring me."
He paced away from her. She tried to think of something anything to get him off the subject of her asthma.
"You didn't mean that, about the fifty warriors, did you? Even if you did, it's impossible for the four of you to have enough children, enough little warriors to take over one country, let alone the whole planet."
Something about his mother's suicide had made him snap. She had to believe that he told her those things because he was hurting. She had to believe he wouldn't harm her or her child if it was born with asthma.
"We have a ship orbiting the earth," he said, still in that stranger's voice.
He acted as if he was driven to crush all her illusions. If this continued much longer, she didn't think she would ever be happy again. He'd shattered all her hopes and dreams one-by-one. She'd dreamed about a life with him while he'd planned how to use her to conquer her world.
"You lied to me," she accused.
He'd looked her right in the eyes many times and told her they were the only aliens on Earth.
"Yes," he said without remorse.
"How could you? How many warriors are on that ship?"
"Forty six," he said.
Forty-six plus the four occupying her cave. Exactly the amount he said they needed to take over a planet. "You really mean it, don't you? You're going to take over my country."
"Not just your country. Your planet."
She wanted to lie down and cry--and never stop. She turned away from him. "Please, I don't want to know more." She was wrong. She wanted to know one more thing, something she should've thought to ask long ago. Turning to face him again, she asked, "When you've done it, when you've taken over the earth, what are you going to do to us?" She hoped it wouldn't be bad news. She didn't think she could bear anymore horrible revelations.
"You will be cared for. My warriors will choose breeders. The rest will be put to work, making this a thriving colony for Zyrgin.
Her stomach heaved and she ran past them to the showers, vaguely aware of Zacar and Viglar following her. She made it to the toilet in time to lose her breakfast. She heaved for a long time, with Zacar standing over her and Viglar pointing his silver gadget at her.
"Please leave me alone," she begged before bending over the basin again.
Of course, they ignored her.
A long time later, she sat back on her heels, weak and trembling. Her body ached and she just wanted to sleep for a month.
Viglar gestured excitedly while grunting at Zacar in the language she wasn't allowed to know. Numb, her brain was unable to take in anymore. She knew she had to escape and warn someone but she was still too shocked to work on a plan. She just wanted to sit there on the cold cave floor and cry.
Viglar waved his silver medical instrument again and continued to speak to Zacar. He seemed excited about something. At least someone was enjoying themselves. Then she noticed Zacar standing absolutely still, staring at the doctor.
"What? What did he say?" Please not more bad news.
"Two," Zacar grated.
"What?"
"You are breeding two strong warriors." He sounded pleased, even with his grating tone, and she closed her eyes. "We didn't think Earth women would be able to carry more than one warrior," he said. "I am very pleased."
She burst into tears and hid her face in her hands. This just kept getting worse. She couldn't handle the end of the world with twins in tow. How would she feed them if the Earth was really sliding into a dystopian hell?
"I will train our little warriors well." Clearly, he thought of them as walking around already.
"And if they are born with asthma?"
"Viglar will keep them strong."
Of course, he was pleased now. With her having twins, he could have a whole army within a few years.
Natalie gagged. What was she giving birth to?
She glanced at Viglar. She'd rather deal with him than Zacar right now. If only she could go back in time, and still be surviving in her cave with only the elements to fear. Alone and without a savage alien that crushed her heart under his big steel boots.
"Will they be babies when they're born?" she asked Viglar.
Please let him say yes. Please let them be cuddly little babies I can influence before they become heartless warriors.
"Not as you know babies. They will be small. You do not need to fear the birth. Zyrgin breeders do not die in childbirth like humans."
She'd always considered the doctor the most civilized of the lot. Maybe she never listened for it before, but disgust for human weakness cut like a scalpel through his voice.
She was trapped. Pregnant and helpless, caught between the snow and the aliens. Maybe there was a way to trade her father's notebook for money. If there were any pharmaceutical companies left that were capable of producing the formulas. Maybe Zacar had lied to her--things weren't so bad on Earth and she could bribe someone with a working hovercraft to come for her.
She had to at least try and escape, warn someone. Did they still have a president?
"How long after birth before Zyrgin babies start walking?" she asked Viglar.
Zacar had gone preternaturally still. Not moving or talking. She noticed this but didn't want to look at him.
"A few months," the doctor answered, glancing between her and Zacar.
"Zacar told me you are born with knowledge of your language. Will they be able to understand me?"
She wanted to cry at how happy she'd still been when he'd told her that. Now everything, all her dreams were shattered. What would she do if she escaped and her babies were born but spoke only Zyrgin? If they were loyal only to their father? She'd been asking all the wrong questions all this time.
"They will be born with the knowledge of all the cultures experienced by their family line," Viglar said.
She couldn't fathom being born with such vast knowledge. Her babies
would be full grown warriors before she could enjoy them as toddlers.
He turned to Zacar and grated something. They were arguing fiercely in the old language and she feared Zacar was going to beat Viglar. Then Zacar nodded. After a short hesitation, he turned to her, all traces of the savage emotion he'd shown when arguing with the doctor disappeared. "I will show you my spaceship. Come."
He turned and started walking away while all she could do was glare at his back.
She didn't want to follow him like a puppy but she still wanted to see his spaceship. She needed as much information as she could get. If she managed to get away, it might help them fight the Zyrgins in the coming war. Whatever Viglar injected her with acted fast. She could breathe and her body was not that sore anymore. But her legs and hands still trembled.
They walked down the corridor leading to the hanger the four of them had carved out of the mountain, a leaden silence between them. She was determined not to be the one that broke it, keeping a big space between them the whole time. It had been more than two months since she'd come in here and was evicted. Natalie stopped and looked around the cavern without seeing it. Was he bringing her now because she was pregnant with his twins, and thought she could be trusted? Was that what he and the doctor had argued about?
Normally, she would've been excited at seeing his ship. Now, she looked around with dull eyes, trying to gather as much information as she could. If the army still existed they would want to know what they were up against.
The outside of the ship looked like the same shiny metal they used to build everything. It had no dents or damage that supported his story of a crash, but maybe they'd repaired it. How difficult would it be to steal a sample of the steel material? Maybe from the shower?
The spaceship was vaguely shaped like a plane, but more rounded and smooth. It looked like a huge, silver predator, crouched in the alien-made cave. No wonder it took them almost two weeks to get the cave ready. As it was, it took up almost all the space in the cavern. She couldn't be sure, but she thought the cave was even bigger than the last time she'd seen it.
In spite of the hurt and fear still resting in her heart, she trembled with excitement as they walked up a ramp leading into the belly of the ship. It looked very much like the spaceships she'd seen in movies. He growled something in the old language when they reached the hatch. She heard a strange, almost sizzling, sound and the door slid open. Inside, it was darker and more functional than comfortable.