She sat up. Could that be the point to all this? Could someone be orchestrating this to create problems between Zerconia and Earth? There were certainly enough people who didn’t like the agreement between the two planets.
She rubbed her head, trying to make sense of it all. But why else wouldn’t the captain believe her?
Maybe because it’s your word against Elise’s.
And if she had these injuries as the captain claimed. . .
Unease filled her tummy. It can’t have been her Zerconian, though, because he’d been with her. She knew that. But it was unlikely anyone else would believe her if the captain refused to. And she couldn’t get to Elise to find out what was really going on.
So what did she do now? Wait until they reached Zerconia and find someone to listen to her? It didn’t sit right with her, leaving Lub locked up. But what other choice did she have? Elise had to come out of her rooms at some stage. No way could Hunter stay cooped up that long. She’d just have to get her alone and question her.
There had to be some explanation.
She sighed. She hated waiting. But she couldn’t see any other options. Once she spoke to Elise, the truth would come out.
Unless she refused to admit the truth.
No use borrowing trouble, Georgie. There could be some perfectly good explanation as to why Elise lied and said Lub attacked her and as to why the captain barely even listened to her and condescendingly told her to stop making stuff up.
There had to be.
* * *
How quickly people became bloodthirsty.
“Did you hear what he did to her? Apparently, he beat her within an inch of her life.”
She moved through the dining room, catching snippets of conversation as her unease grew. She’d missed breakfast while she’d waited for hours to see the captain, so she’d come early to lunch. But it seemed everyone had the same idea.
All so they could gossip about Lub and his alleged attack on Elise. Not that anyone but her seemed to believe there was anything alleged about it. They’d all put him on trial and found him guilty.
She had to bite her lip a few times to stop from telling them all that he wasn’t guilty.
Calm, Georgie, calm.
As she sat down at an almost full table, her hands were shaking with a combination of anger and worry.
“I heard that he raped her,” the woman to her left said across the table to her friends. “Raped her as her little boy slept in the next room. Barbarian.”
“I don’t think I feel comfortable going to Zerconia anymore,” someone else said.
“Don’t be so silly,” the woman next to her snapped. “You can’t judge a whole race of people based on one violent asshole.”
Georgie bit down on her lip to hold in her protests. Suddenly, the food on her plate made her feel nauseous. Great, now even her appetite was being affected.
Not. Cool.
“I thought Zerconians were supposed to protect women, not abuse them,” an irate brunette exclaimed as she stabbed at her food like it had mortally offended her. “I got on this transporter to find a better life.”
Many of the other women around the table nodded in agreement.
Not good. Really, not good.
“I heard they’re going to ask for the death penalty for him,” a willowy blonde whispered. Somehow, everyone heard her, falling quiet. “He attacked a lone woman in her rooms. He deserves it, don’t you think?”
Death penalty. Holy shit. Holy shit.
“I also heard that we won’t be going to Zerconia until all of this is resolved,” she added.
Okay. Okay. Her plan needed to change. Obviously waiting until she got a chance to speak to Elise or until they arrived on Zerconia was not going to be an option.
Not if they were talking about killing him.
No way could she let that happen. She stood, leaving the full plate of food on the table.
“What’s her problem?” someone snapped as she turned away.
“No idea. She’s a strange one.”
Georgie couldn’t care less what they all thought of her. She needed to come up with a plan to save Lub. And quickly. Surely his own people wouldn’t let him be killed. But then, she knew very little about Zerconian law. Maybe the death penalty was common there.
She reached her room, her mind in turmoil.
She didn’t even spot the threat until it was almost too late. A hard arm wrapped around her torso, pulling her back against a firm body. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw their other hand rise. It held something. A weapon? She had no time to take a guess. Whatever it was he held, she had no doubt it was meant to harm or kill her.
She kicked back, hearing a grunt of pain. She slammed her head back, hearing something crunch even as her own head throbbed.
Ouch.
The other person’s hold, loosened freeing her right arm. She dug her elbow into his ribs and then grabbed the arm that held the. . .syringe? She didn’t spend any time pondering that, just grasped hold of his wrist then twisted, pulling herself completely out of his hold.
She had no doubt that none of that would have worked if he hadn’t been unprepared for her to fight back. Whoever she was fighting was bigger, stronger. But Georgie was a scrapper. This wasn’t her first rodeo.
She brought her knee up, kicking the guy in the balls. He went down like lead as she twisted his arm further, making him drop the syringe on the floor.
“You bitch!”
“Hey, now, that’s not nice. You came into my room uninvited with a syringe filled with. . .what is that? And don’t say it’s some kind of date-rape drug, ’cause that’s gonna make me real mad.”
“Like I’d want to fuck an ugly cunt like you.”
She kicked him in the gut and he cried out. She let go of his arm and he placed one hand on his cock and one over his broken nose.
Pathetic.
She crouched down. “Now that really wasn’t very nice.” She looked at him closer. “What’s your name?”
“Fuck off, bitch!”
“Funny name, but I’ll go with it. So, fuck-off-bitch, what was in that syringe? And what are you doing in my room?”
He glared up at her malevolently. “You’re a stupid cunt. If you’d kept your fucking mouth shut, then you would have been allowed to live. But you go running your mouth about stuff that doesn’t involve you and this is what happens. You’re on borrowed time now, cunt. What do you even care about that asshole Zerconian anyway? He’s an alien.”
He spat that last word out like aliens were akin with rapists, murderers, and spiders.
Ick. Spiders.
Focus, Georgie.
As he’d been speaking, she’d been pulling her belt off. A belt was essential when your clothes came from op shops and you were so thin, they generally sagged on you. She grabbed his arms, and using more force than was necessary, because, you know, he was an asswipe-jerkhead, she tied his hands behind his back.
“You bitch! Let me go! You’re not going to get away with this! You fucking cunt!”
“Hmm, I need something to shut you up ’cause you are really giving me a headache.” She grabbed a pair of socks. They were men’s socks. Men’s socks tended to be so much warmer than women’s socks, plus they were so long, they went over her knees. She sighed. She was sad to sacrifice them.
“These are my favorite pair of socks, you know, dick muncher,” she told him as she stuffed one sock into his mouth, narrowly missing having him bite her. “Now, now, that wasn’t nice.” She placed the other sock over his mouth then wrapped it around his head and tied the ends off. “And after I’ve sacrificed my best pair of socks. You can keep them. I don’t want your cum-breath all over them.”
She stood back up, her body trembling slightly. The adrenaline rush was dying away, leaving her feeling weak and tired.
“Shouldn’t have skipped breakfast and lunch,” she muttered. She glared down at the asshole on her floor. “Shit. Shit. Okay, think, Georgie.”
/>
Now that the imminent danger was over, she realized this really, really wasn’t good. She’d just been attacked by one of her own people. No, by one of the captain’s people. Because this guy hadn’t just decided to attack her for no reason.
What had he said? If she’d kept her mouth shut?
Yeah. She was screwed. She pinched the top of her nose. What to do?
First thing. Get out of her room. She looked over at the asshole again. His breathing was ragged. Whoops. She’d probably broken his nose, from the look of the blood pouring out, and no doubt he was finding it hard to breathe with that sock in his mouth. Well, shit.
With a sigh, she grabbed his ankles and dragged him into the bathroom. It wasn’t easy. He was fucking heavy. But she was hoping it would keep anyone from hearing any noise he might be able to make.
As soon as he was in the bathroom, she removed the sock pushed deep in his mouth with a grimace. She left the other sock that was wrapped around his head there. He should be able to breathe with that in.
“Why I should care, I don’t know.”
She reached under her bed for the knives she’d stashed there. She tucked the knives into the various pockets she’d sewn into her clothing—one of her better foster moms had at least taught her something useful—then grabbed her stash. She tucked the small bag down between her boobs. Hey, wearing a bra had to have its advantages.
She paused and took a deep, calming breath. All right, time to act like nothing was wrong. She had to hope that no one checked in with the asshole in her bathroom for a while. Long enough for her to get out of here undetected.
And go where? And what about Lub?
Fuck. Fuck. She couldn’t just leave him here. She was the only person who knew for sure that he hadn’t hurt Elise. Well, no, that wasn’t true. Elise knew it. And everything pointed to the captain knowing it as well. But she couldn’t trust either of them to tell the truth.
She had to help him.
Damn it. Sometimes it would be easier if she could be selfish. She could just steal one of the emergency pods and get out of here on her own.
Right. And how are you going to pilot an emergency pod? This is your first time off Earth.
Surely it had an autopilot function, right?
She looked over at the bathroom door. She was never one to let an opportunity go by. She strode into the bathroom and started searching the guard. A few credits in his pocket. Thanks very much. She grabbed his blaster out of its holster. She tucked it in the small of her back, pulling her shirt over it to hide it. His communicator caught her attention. That could come in handy. She grabbed hold of it, tugging it off his wrist, ignoring his groans of protest.
Another calming breath and she opened the door.
And the passage outside was. . .empty. She breathed out a sigh of relief and forced herself to walk out casually. Her best bet right now was to not call attention to herself. She walked calmly down to the elevator and waited for it to arrive. Where would Lub be? On the level he’d been last night? Was there a lower level?
“Computer, where is lockdown?” she asked.
“Bottom level. Access restricted. Security level four.”
“Okay, let’s hope numbnuts has a high security clearance.”
She ran the guard’s communicator over the touch pad in the elevator.
“Access granted,” the fake voice stated.
She punched the air. “Oh yeah, baby. Numbnuts has security clearance.”
Okay, Georgie, maybe not yet the time to celebrate. The elevator glided down and she moved to the side of the doors as it stopped, positioning herself so that if anyone was on the other side, waiting, then they wouldn’t see her.
The doors slid open. Nothing. She peered around then stepped out into the empty corridor.
Security around here was shit. Mind you, if all the guards were like numbnuts, then she shouldn’t be surprised. Okay, now what? She was under no illusions that she could just wander around and stumble onto Lub’s cell. Not without running into someone. The blaster in the back of her jeans made her feel a little uncomfortable.
Was she really prepared to use it? Knifing someone in self-defense and shooting someone from a distance felt like two very different things.
Harden up, Georgie. They’re gonna kill Lub if you don’t help him.
She made her way carefully down the corridor. Please don’t let anyone be watching the cameras. Please.
She turned the corner then shot back as she saw two guards standing outside a door.
She licked her lips. What to do? Before she could come up with a plan, the door behind the guard slid open. A tall male exited. For a moment, her heart leaped as she thought it was Lub. Maybe they were releasing him.
But no, this guy wasn’t as tall or broad as Lub and his hair was smooth and not as long. As he turned towards her, she caught his frown.
That was not one happy male.
Fuck! Was he coming towards her? She pressed her hand against a touchpad by the door next to her. A red light flashed.
Shit. Shit. Shit. She darted her head around the corner. He was still coming towards her. He couldn’t find her. She suddenly remembered the guard’s communicator that she had wrapped around her wrist. She swiped it against the touch pad and the door opened. She stumbled inside.
So graceful, Georgie. No lead in Swan Lake for you this year.
The door slid shut, leaving her in darkness. Oh no. She hated the dark.
“Lights on,” she stated.
The light flickered and her breath left her in a whoosh. All right, so at least she hadn’t stumbled into an occupied room. This appeared to be a storage room. She glanced around, searching for something she might be able to use to get out of here, and spotted a ladder.
Huh. Maybe if she couldn’t get into Lub’s room the conventional way. But what about an unconventional way? She glanced up at the ceiling. Yep. There was a vent.
Could it be that easy? Maybe if this ship had been designed to carry prisoners it wouldn’t be, but she figured it just might work.
She dragged the ladder over and situated it under the vent. Then she pulled out her lock-picking kit and quickly unscrewed the vent, carefully setting it down on the floor. She didn’t know how much longer she had until someone went looking for the guard in her room. She had to move quickly.
She pulled herself up into the vent.
Oh God. It was dark in here. Panic clawed at her. It’s okay. It’s okay.
Did she dare use a light to see her way around? She didn’t see what choice she had, considering her body had decided to freeze up on her. She tapped at the communicator until it lit up.
Right. Here goes nothing.
6
The scraping noise above him caught his attention.
He glowered up at the ceiling. What was that? He still did not understand what was going on. How dare the humans lock him up in here. He glanced down at his cut and bruised knuckles. After the captain had accused him of harming a human female, anger had washed through him like a red wave. Then he’d had a blackout of some sort. He could not even remember punching the wall. The Zerconian male who had just visited told him that. The other male also claimed to know him. Alek. He said he would do what he could to get Lub out of here. Only he hadn’t called him Lub. He’d called him Zandar.
While he might not be able to recall Alek, the name Zandar did sound familiar. The other male had told him he’d been missing for years. Alek had asked him several questions, but he had not told him anything. He did not know who he could trust. Certainly not the humans, and maybe not his own people. Alek had told him that he had a brother—Que.
Why couldn’t he recall him? Why did he remember so little of his life before the Arans enslaved him?
Urgh. His head throbbed and he forced himself to think about more pressing matters. Like why one of the human females had accused him of harming her.
Another noise from above. What was that? It sounded like some large animal was in
the ceiling. Were they stuck in the vents?
“Psst, Lub.”
Shock had him freezing. Lub. Now that he had heard his name was really Zandar, he did not like the name Lub. It was the name the slavers had given him.
“Hey, Lub. Focus. I’m up here.”
He stared up at the vent where the voice was coming from.
“Female? What do you do? What are you doing in the vents?”
It was her. The human female who had come to his room. Who had lain in his bed, sleeping while he watched over her. He did not know why he had felt so protective and possessive over her. All he had known was that he had not wished to have her out of his sight.
But did she have something to do with him being accused of harming another female human?
If she had, then he would need to punish her. Harshly.
The idea made him feel ill. He would not harm her, of course. But he would have to do something to teach her not to betray him.
Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
He shook off the thought. She was not his. She was human. Not Zerconian.
“Okay, Goliath. I get that you’ve got that silent-violent vibe going, but I really need you to help me out here. I’m going to undo the vent from here, but I don’t think I can lift it through. I need you to drop it quietly to the floor. Do you think you can grab it before it falls? You’re tall enough to nearly reach it, right?”
What did she speak of?
Then he heard a creak and the vent guard started to fall. He quickly grabbed it, placing it quietly on the floor. He stood up just as a female stuck her head through the hole, then she let out a small cry as she started to fall.
His heart leapt and he grabbed hold of her waist before she could fall.
“Female! What do you do?” he snapped.
“Well, I think that’s fairly obvious,” she said slightly breathlessly as he sat her on her feet on the floor. He glared down at her then up at the hole in the ceiling. “I’m here to rescue you.”
“Rescue me?”
Alien Conquest Page 4