by Jessica Snow
“Really?” Audra asks, looking around. “No wonder Tamarians turned reddish.”
I chuckle, nodding. “We also need less water than most humans, we retain it better. It took a long time, and a lot of underground living, before the atmosphere was totally ready for the rains. It's why the oldest settlements on Tamaria are close to the poles, they had the water. Also why I don't need those sunglasses.”
Our communication system squawks, and a voice comes over the speakers inside the transport. “Resistance 1, this is Royal 1. We are approaching the field.”
I touch the microphone on my collar, replying. “Understood, Royal 1. Four hundred meters.”
It's a decent walk, at least when you're seventy-eight like Father is, even with the life extension drugs. More importantly, it lets us look each other in the eye as we approach. I see Mogar, and while he's lost a little bit of weight, he looks to be in decent health as he approaches. When we're about five meters apart, we stop, looking at each other. With Father is Mogar, and an anonymous man, most likely a Royal Lancer from the look of him. While I don't see a powerlance on him, that doesn't mean he isn't armed. “Father.”
“It is really you,” Father says wonderingly, looking me up and down. “I kept hoping that they'd faked the transmissions. It's easier than knowing you turned against me.”
“I never turned against you, Father. I turned against the Noble Council, and the laws that are crippling our planet. I told you, what are we supposed to do if a ship from Tau Ceti or the Crab Wing shows up in the system tomorrow? A warship the size of T.A.M.A.R.I.A 1 would devastate our planet, unless we can present a united front against them. And if they see we have slaves, there's no chance in hell of good relations.”
Father shakes his head, sighing. “You and that fantastical hyperbole. Our army, and our space forces, are more than enough to defend our planet against anyone.”
“You assume!” I shoot back. “Just like we used to assume that nuclear explosions were the most devastating, that there was no defense... until someone developed the N-shield, and then someone decided to develop the Q-bomb as a counter measure. What happens if our visitors can deflect Q-energy like we can deflect projectile weapons on a transport? Or what if they outnumber our forces? You think slaves would just sit back and help out placidly while our army goes off to fight?”
Father shakes his head. “And if someone shows up while we're trying to reintegrate humans into Tamarian society? While I don't think those records you hold sacrosanct are true always, they do talk about the difficulties Earth cultures had of integration.”
I sigh, and look Father in the eye. “We can go ‘round and round about this, Father. That's something for another day. What we're here today for is to get Mogar released.”
Father looks over at Mogar, who holds his hands out. Father reaches into his robe, but before he can, a whine fills the air. I look around, trying to figure out where it's coming from, when suddenly a rocket comes flying from over the horizon. It explodes, and yet again a weird light fills the air, and I feel the world spin before I fall to the ground, darkness taking over for me.
I can't have been out long, the daytime heat still hasn't set in and taking a look at the shadows, I'd say less than fifteen minutes have passed since the rocket explosion. My head is pounding, but I blink, trying to sit up but failing. “Wha...?”
“Come on, they're not too far away,” Audra says, helping me to my feet. “Jensen's getting the shuttle ready.”
“What happened?” I mumble, rubbing at my head. “I saw another explosion like what was at the Arena.”
“It was the same thing, just slightly smaller,” Audra says, helping me into the transport and helping me lie down. “As soon as it went off, Mathias and a group of his damn blackshirts came streaking over the horizon in a transport. They came out with Gauss pistols drawn, scooping up Joren and Mogar, shooting the bodyguard while they held the pistols on us. I thought they were going to shoot us too, but they scooped the other two up and took off. As soon as we could, we checked the bodyguard, and Jensen went to warm up the transport while I got you woken up.”
“Mathias! He and his damn zealots. He's going to get us all killed,” I groan, sitting up. “Heaven and stars my fucking head.”
“Sorry, but I had to give you something from the med kit,” Audra explains. “It said to shoot you up with a stimulant, but that was it.”
I lay there, feeling Jensen pull us into the air and take off to the north. The shuttle was designed for action, not comfort, and the artificial gravity won't do anything until certain conditions are met. “I've got their shuttle on sensors, it's a hundred kilometers ahead of us.”
“Can we overtake them?” I ask, sitting up with Audra's help. “And does this thing have any weapons?”
“Nothing,” Jensen says. “We chose this one because of that exact reason, we didn't want the royals to think we were setting up a trap. Now....”
“Think about that after we get Father back,” I finish for him. “We still have our powerlances, I hope.”
“Oh, we brought those. I'm starting to close the gap, but it's small, it's going to take us a while unless they decide to stop,” Jensen says. “I've called to the Resistance bases, but the ones who can reach this are only on hoverbikes. They might be able to get in Mathias' way, but I doubt they can stop him.”
We streak after the shuttle, the landscape below us flashing by at hypersonic speed. These shuttles can easily hit Mach 10 in the ionosphere, but down here in the lower stratosphere, the front shields are already glowing reddish as we approach Mach 6, and if we go much faster we could flash-fry in seconds. Still, I see Jensen push the engines just a little bit harder, angling to keep the shuttle in the tropopause, that super-cold layer of air sandwiched between the stratosphere and the lower troposphere. It's only a difference of seventy degrees, but those degrees can be vital right now. The trade-off is that the tropopause is where most clouds and weather forms, so our outer visibility drops to zero and we're flying by instruments only.
“Where's he heading?” Jensen asks as we close the gap another kilometer. “There's nothing up here.”
“Yes there is,” I reply, tapping at a data terminal that is giving us our location. “Audra's been here too.”
“You mean, the polar estate?” Audra asks. “But... oh no.”
“What?” I ask, and Audra gulps. “What?”
“Jensen, take us up higher, go faster,” Audra says to Jensen, who adjusts accordingly, bringing us up to Mach 7 as the air density drops. We'll have to take our time descending now, but with a target, the parabolic flight path should still be faster.
“Audra? What's going on, what's this polar estate?” Jensen asks, checking the readouts. We're closing the gap, but we need to get ahead of Mathias and his people by a good distance if we're going to be able to land ahead of him. Setting a cherry red hot shuttle on top of an ice cold platform is a recipe for disaster.
“It's the site of the first Tamarian government's presidential estate, back when the planet tried democracy,” I explain. “Since then, it's been established as a shared estate used by any noble house. Honestly Father doesn't go up here often, he hates the cold.”
“Neyilla brought Mathias up here,” Audra whispers. “It was the site where she neutered him, and did the most intense training of him. After that week, his ability to resist her training was nearly gone.”
“Heaven and stars,” Jensen groans, pushing the engines a little faster. We're both checking the hull temperature, the equations are fixed, there's very little leeway in them, but Jensen pushes the line.
We're a minute from descent when the communication system buzzes, and I answer it to see Mathias' face. “Ah, Prince Pinko.”
“What are you doing, Mathias? Are you trying to get every human on this planet killed?” I ask, trying to restrain my fury. “You think the Noble Council is going to let you get away with this?”
“Doesn't really matter,” Mathias says with
a laugh. “They can't stop us, it's already done!”
“You son of a bitch, I will wrap my fingers around your throat and watch you die if you have killed him,” I growl. “Either of them.”
“Then I guess I'm safe, Your Pinkness, since they're both very much alive. Take a look.”
The camera pans, and I can see Father and Mogar both, tied up on the floor of the shuttle, with a group of four blacksuits surrounding them. “Now, don't try anything stupid, you three, and you might get your father back. We're going to land, drop off our cargo, and get out of there.”
Jensen starts our descent, and I'm glad that we're getting closer to the poles, the colder air allows us to shed heat faster, so that we touch down a good minute before Mathias' shuttle. All of us have our powerlances out, but it's a standoff, the blacksuits coming out with their Gauss pistols drawn, one pressed against Father's head.
“What did you do to him, Mathias?” I yell over the freezing polar wind, shivering in spite my anger. From the desert to the poles in less than an hour, I'm not dressed for this shit. Disregarding the danger, my thumb starts to push the power stud on my lance, and Mathias laughs, shaking his head.
“I wouldn't, Tauren. You shoot me, I shoot you, and your entire dynasty dies. Oh, don't worry, I'll leave Joren here untouched... but unless you've figured out cloning, you're going to be severely lacking in genetic material.”
“You....” I rasp, anger filling my body as I realize what Mathias has done. “You....”
“I'm just balancing the scales,” Mathias says. “I didn't even touch Mogar, I didn't need to. We scanned him, he's infertile anyway.”
My hand is trembling in rage, but I can't do anything as Mathias and his men drag Father out onto the landing platform and drop him like a bag of laundry. Perhaps I'm angry at him, but he's still my father, and I lower my lance, rushing over to pick him up as Audra and Jensen cover me. He's out though, although he stirs lightly in the cold wind, moaning. I look up into Mathias' smug face, my lip curling. “I swear Mathias you will pay for this.”
“You can try,” Mathias says, turning away to go back to his shuttle. The rest of the blacksuits climb in and the shuttle starts to lift off, but before it can get more than a few meters off the ground, a beam of energy hits it in the engines, sending it sliding sideways and back onto the ground. I look around, and realize we're surrounded.
“Royal troops?” Audra asks, raising her lance up. She's ready to fight to the death, but I can't have her do that. “Bring it on.”
“No, Audra!” I yell, pulling her arm down. The men come closer, and I recognize one of them. Ambaris. “You can't.”
“I can,” Audra says, starting to struggle, but I pull her close, holding her tight. “Let me go!”
“Think of our baby,” I whisper in her ear. “You can't get our baby killed. Survive, Audra.”
Audra stops, looking up at me with fear in her eyes. “Tauren....”
“I will find you and come to you,” I promise. “I love you.”
Jensen, who overhears our comment, lowers his powerlance, understanding, and puts his hands up. Our eyes make contact, and he nods without saying anything before turning to the approaching Ambaris. “You assholes are too late. They already fucked him up.”
Ambaris shrugs, not looking upset at all about the fact. “Such a shame. Still, I'm sure the Queen will be happy to have her husband back. And the Noble Council will be more than happy to have you three back.”
Ambaris brings up a powerlance and fires, and I feel a prick in my neck. Knockout rounds, a specialty of the slave hunter.
Bastards.
Chapter Nineteen
Audra
“Audra. Wake up Audra.”
I groan, feeling the stiffness in my hip. That voice, I must be dreaming, that sounds like....
“I SAID WAKE UP, YOU WORTHLESS BITCH!”
A small, well-formed but calloused hand from all the hard work of torturing slaves, slashes across my cheek, rocking my head back to thump against something hard behind me, and I open my eyes, seeing Neyilla standing in front of me, her eyes glowing in cold fury. Heaven and stars, I'd hoped it was just a bad dream.
Actually, I've been hoping for three days that I've been in a bad dream. Since waking up tied up in the back of Ambaris' transport, I've been through a nightmare that just refuses to stop, except when I'm asleep or unconscious. The first step was being brought back to Neyton's estate, where Neyilla was waiting for me, a smile on her face. It wasn't her happy smile either, but the smile I've seen her use right before she eviscerates someone politically or socially.
Now, after three days of torture, I'm barely able to string a sentence together. Neyilla's been methodical and precise, taking her time, enjoying what she's doing to me. I can see it in the way her pupils are dilated, the dotting of sweat on her brow, and yesterday I could even smell it in the air, she was so aroused. The woman's a psychopath, or a sociopath, or whatever the fuck type of -path is used to describe this sadistic bitch. I'm beaten, thirsty, in pain, but I don't really care.
My only concern is about my baby. Tauren asked me to survive, to protect our baby, but I don't know if my body can do that anymore. Neyilla's already had my right leg, left arm, and both collarbones broken and then healed, all without even trying to administer pain relief, not that it'd work on me anyway. She's done that with all of my injuries, inflicting pain and then having it healed when she's ready to move onto the next target. I wake up from each bout of unconsciousness fully healed, a fresh canvas for her to etch pain on. The only wounds that are on me right now are in my mind. I've learned quite well from her, those types of wounds can be some of the deepest, and some of the hardest to heal.
Now, she's grinning, and as my eyes swim into focus I see that we're alone again in one of her 'play rooms,' me strung up naked in one of her binding frames, the T-bar of which I'd bumped my head against. “What do you want, Neyilla?”
Neyilla looks mock hurt, putting her hand over her chest. She's dressed in a tight, short dress, shiny and sexy in its own way, but on Neyilla, it looks just frightening. “Oh my dear Audra, you've forgotten so much of your training in the time you were being naughty! You used to be so much better behaved! Shame, shame!”
“No, I just remembered what it means to be free,” I reply, looking her in the eyes. “Jensen reminded me that I had a mother, and a father, and that some bastard slaver killed them. He reminded me what it means to have a real family, not some spoiled noble bitch of an owner who treats me like a plaything.”
“You were more than just a plaything, Audra. That one hurts,” Neyilla half chuckles, going over to the wall where there's a collection of torture implements. Yesterday it was the whip and the iron rod for breaking bones, but today she picks out a thinner device, what looks like some sort of knobbed or ridged plastic tube. Turning, she shows it to me. “Did Tauren ever introduce you to this? Ambaris said you two looked... chummy.”
“He introduced me to lots of things,” I taunt, unable to help myself. “More than he ever introduced you to. What he can do with his tongue, you'll never believe how good he is.”
“Mmmm, yes, I heard,” Neyilla says, swinging the tube through the air where it makes a whistling sound. “That'll be rectified soon enough. I asked Aunt Tauria, and she said that I could tell you. But later. First, about this. It's called a kali stick, according to Tauren. Some ancient form of fighting mumbo-jumbo, I suspect, but the originals were made of wood. This one though is so much more fun.”
Neyilla walks behind me, her heels clicking on the floor, and she traces her hand down my back, humming to herself. “It's going to be a shame, breaking up such lovely work.”
“What work?” I reply, setting my teeth. I know I'm going to cry out, she's too good at inflicting pain, but she hasn't made me cry yet. That she's never going to do, and I'm never going to beg either.
“The scars that Mathias carved on your skin. Oh, you silly human, you thought I didn't know? I knew almost fro
m the beginning that he was fucking you. He told me himself under the hypnotics. So, I started implanting little fun suggestions into my commands, posthypnotic ideas for him to inflict on you. These scars were my greatest achievement, and I have to say he does great work, too. Too bad he loved you too much to let me keep having my fun. After these, he gave up, I broke him, and well.... I know you tried, but you never were able to help him after that.”
Neyilla swings the stick, the plastic slapping into my back hard, and I barely bite back a scream it hurts. “The kali stick is very useful for me because it's light, but the way it tears the skin....”
She swings again, and I can feel the first cut on my back splitting open. I moan, but I don't cry out yet, I haven't given up. Instead I think of Tauren, and how much I love him. Neyilla hums in disappointment and continues. “If I left these cuts go, they'd most likely fester, and you'd be scarred horribly for life. But since I have another punishment for you that requires you to be slightly better looking, I'll have these healed too. Still, this is fun, and a good workout too.”
Neyilla swings the stick again and again, lining my back, ass and the back of my legs with welts and cuts. I can't hold out after the fifth blow, and I do scream in pain, but I don't cry, fiercely blinking back the tears and not letting them fall. Neyilla doesn't stop until she's panting with the effort, but I can smell it again, she's aroused by all this. “Huh.... huh... you know, speaking of Tauren, I'll let you in on the secret. Ambaris told me about what he and his troops found when they captured you, about what happened to poor King Joren. Funny, that makes me second in line for the throne now. By the way, that little capture earned him the Lordship he wanted, he's been granted Mogar's former estate. And his slaves.... such as Jensen.”