TAKEN: Journey to a New Home

by Dillion, Taylor

  “Come eat. Then we’ll see about the others. Also, I am having Axon bring up a crate of clothing so that all of you can have more than what you’re wearing. We wouldn’t want anyone to think you were slaves or anything,” he offered with his ever present smile and winked at her as she sat across from him. “Then someone will show you how to use the cleaning units for the dishes, clothing, yourselves and show you how to use the recycling unit in each of your quarters. We recycle as much as possible and try to limit waste,” he told her as he served her food from the dish.

  While they ate Dezek mentally reached for Rev, he wanted to make sure Ashaa was mending before he took Sienna to see her. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Sienna couldn’t actually handle much more stress. Rev confirmed he and Ashaa were having breakfast as well and she felt much better although he still wanted Vax to see her again this morning. Dezek smiled, that Rev would seek out Vax on her behalf said volumes about his best friend’s already strong attachment to Ashaa. Dezek frowned as Rev relayed some of the other things Ashaa had told him during the night including that her name was actually a project acronym. He felt Rev’s rage and understood it. At least Ashaa was now safe from those who would inflict any more harm upon her. His smile returned as he realized Rev now contained Ashaa’s echo. Dezek wondered if his best friend who sometimes could be a little thick had realized the connection yet.

  “Ashaa is awake and having breakfast with Rev,” Dezek let Sienna know as they finished breakfast. He took the dish the food dispenser had made for the hot cereal and showed Sienna how to place it in the recycler. He then showed her how to use the cleaning unit for the bowls and spoons they had used. “Ready to see Ashaa?”

  “Yes, also I forgot to ask when Vax mentioned the pregnancies. How will all of that zapping to black us out affect the babies?” she asked worriedly.

  “Fortunately, it shouldn’t affect them at all. The technology was designed to be used to control slaves. While it sounds horrible to say, the truth is no slave owner is going to want to injure a slave bearing him another slave,” he told her with a slight grimace.

  “Okay, that’s good. That’s one less thing to worry about.”

  “What else are you worrying over?”

  She stared at him for a moment. He could see indecision in her eyes. She shook her head and went toward the door. “Nothing.”

  He stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm. “I’m here for you. Let me help.”

  “I just don’t know how I’m going to tell them all they can never go home,” she sighed heavily.

  “Let me tell them: that will make me the one where they can direct their anger. Then you’ll be available for comfort,” he said in soft tone with a caring look on his face while he stroked a gentle finger over her cheek. “You don’t need to feel guilty for something you had no control over, you know.”

  “But I did have control I took them to that base. I made the decision to take them all to that base. I did because I wanted to get set up and get out as quickly as possible. The place has always given me the creeps, even just driving past it on the highway spooked me. It was a selfish decision.” She had tears in her eyes as she delivered the self-recriminations.

  “Sienna,” he said softly as he pulled her into his arms, “There is no way you could have known what would happen there. But if you felt that way about the place why did you take the job?”

  “Because when the lieutenant called she offered to pay a premium since it was last minute, and with the off-season coming up fast, I didn’t want to say no to the money. The economy hasn’t been great lately and so even our busy season was a little sparse for all the businesses in town this year, even though I did better than some of the others because people have to eat. I don’t like cutting anyone’s hours during the off season. They still have bills to pay, too. Taking the job and doing it well might have netted us an off-season regular customer as well as base personnel coming in on their own. So I put aside my gut intuition and told myself if I took a full crew we’d be in and out in less than thirty minutes.”

  “No one but you is blaming you and it wasn’t totally selfish. You were trying to save their jobs. That’s not selfish,” he told her as he rocked her slightly. “No one is blaming you.”

  “Blanca is,” she said into his shoulder.

  “Well, Blanca is a spoilt brat who probably blames everyone for anything she deems wrong in her life, Rose tells me,” he laughed.

  “Wait, when were you talking to Rose?” Sienna asked with a puzzled look.

  “While you were cleaning.”

  “Rose didn’t wait for me?”

  “Sienna, Rose wasn’t physically in the room. Rose is apparently capable of telepathing with most of my crew or as we call it ‘talking’. It is rare for a human to be able to telepath to those other than her mate and offspring but not completely unheard. Although, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a human take to it so quickly and easily. Her mind must be something else,” he told her.

  “Oh, it definitely is. Rose is one of the ‘scary’ smart people, but back to Blanca.”

  “Rose tells me that Blanca was only working for you because she was being punished for stealing. That she finally went too far for her doting father to buy her way out of the trouble. True?” he said.

  “Yes, two of the constrictions of her probation are that she keep a part-time job and attend college at least part-time. The rest of the punishment involves community service, restitution, a curfew and a conditional restriction on her license to drive. She has definitely not been happy about it. The only reason she didn’t wind up in jail is because the judge was friends with both her father and the woman whose jewelry store from which the items were stolen. I hired her because it got me several tax deductions. Lately though I’ve wondered if it was worth it,” she told him with a laugh. Hearing her joke let him know she was beginning to feel better.

  With his arm wrapped around her shoulder, he steered her toward the door. “Let’s go see Ashaa.”

  ***

  Dezek and Sienna met Rose and Vax in the passageway outside the door Sienna had gone through yesterday to see Ashaa which turned out to be 18-7.

  “I don’t give damn!” Rev was yelling at Ashaa in fierce growl as the four entered the room. “Choose another.”

  Ashaa refusing to be intimidated by enraged giant simply looked at him with a calm demeanor and said, “No.” Rev growled at her, turned and stalked out the door without another word. Ashaa sighed.

  “Wow! Scary!” Rose made a face at his retreating back. “What does he want you to choose,” Rose queried as she went to hug Ashaa. “You look much better green with spots by the way,” Rose told her with a cheeky smile.

  “He wants me to choose another name. He does not like the fact that it is an acronym that the scientists thought up,” she said with a slight frown. “I do not know why it bothers him so much.”

  “I do,” Rose laughed her hugging her again. “I’ll explain later.”

  Ashaa apparently decided to let it go and looked at Rose and Sienna. “You both look much better yourselves today,” she said with a smile. “So the green doesn’t bother you?” she asked tentatively.

  “Absolutely not,” both Rose and Sienna answered as one.

  “You look beautiful,” Sienna told her, “and everyone else will think so as well. Besides look around: lots of green and dark green spots,” she gestured to Vax and Dezek.

  “I worry about Holly, Wendy and Tabitha,” she said still uncertain. “They worked at the base. They were afraid of me in the beginning.”

  “Holly already hugged you after the Mirkndaks dumped us on the slave trader, remember,” Sienna reminded her. “Holly, Tabitha, Natalie and Wendy moved you to a pallet so you’d be more comfortable after the trader zapped you. They’ll be okay with this, I promise.”

  “What did they do at the lab?” Dezek’s question was spoken softly but with a dangerous tone to his voice.

  “Relax, the three of them wer
e only assigned to care for animals that were being used in other experiments. They fed them, cleaned them and their cages,” Sienna supplied. “They weren’t responsible for any of the horrors that Ashaa experienced.”

  Dezek relaxed and nodded then he suddenly broke out in laughter. “Fazon has the rest of the ladies fed and waiting in the lounge and he said if we don’t get there now and get Blanca away from him, he will not be responsible for his actions. Vax, you and Rose take a look at Ashaa and then if you’re satisfied she’s up to it, bring her along. Sienna and I will go and rescue Fazon from Blanca.”

  Dezek and Sienna entered the lounge a moment later and found chaos. Fazon looked ready to commit homicide just as Dezek had told them. Sienna put her thumb and index finger against her mouth and the resulting sound brought everyone to a standstill.

  “What is going on in here?” she asked once she had their attention. Everyone starting talking at once and Sienna put her hands up for another stop.

  “One at a time. Wendy?”

  “Blanca seems to think that not only are the clothes not good enough for her but that she needs more clothing than anyone else and someone is going to need to do her laundry till we get home.”

  “I do not do laundry and I never wear the same outfit more than once every six months. I have servants. You people can live like savages if you want but I’m not doing it. I deserve better than this,” Blanca told them with a snotty tone and waved at the crate Axon had opened. Axon for his part said nothing but was glaring at the teen.

  “She also informed Axon that he was now her personal valet and that she wanted him to use the gold tone all of you had when you first appeared at the market. She doesn’t like green apparently,” Holly snickered and Axon shot her a thunderous look. “Don’t look at me, I didn’t say it, I just repeated it.” Axon’s look slipped further toward homicide which sent Holly into a fit of laughs as she collapsed into a chair.

  Dezek fought not to laugh himself at the murderous look on Axon’s face. He looked at Sienna and said, “I’ll handle this I think.” Sienna nodded and sat next to Samantha.

  “Holly, if you can collect yourself for a few minutes.”

  “Of course, my apologies,” Holly said with another smirk in Axon’s direction.

  “First, Blanca, you are not anyone special here. You are a member of our group and you will pull your own weight, not be waited on. You will do your own laundry, dishes and pick up your own quarters. When we eat in the communal hall on Deck Seventeen once a week, you will take a turn at cooking, washing and serving just like everyone else including all of us,” he pointed at his own chest. “Second, the clothing in the crate was a gift of hospitality since we found you with nothing other than your own beings and the clothing you are currently wearing. If you do not like the clothing, then I believe Axon has a crate of sewing supplies and fabric also; you can make your own. Third, you will be assigned a job on board and I expect it to be done and done well. We function as a society. If you choose not to cooperate then I will lock you in your quarters until we arrive and then allow the Fathers to deal with you.”

  “You can’t treat me this way! My father is the mayor!” Blanca snarled at him.

  Dezek looked at Sienna for translation and she decided again sometimes the translators definitely missed things. “What does that mean?”

  “Her father is the leader of the small town where we live. Mayor is the title given to an elected office that manages the town’s resources, establishes society rules and leads the people,” Sienna explained.

  “Ah, well, Blanca, I earned the position of captain which puts me in charge of resources and personnel on this ship. So you will follow orders or deal with the consequences. “

  Blanca was fuming. “This is your fault, you stupid bitch,” she shouted and pointed at Sienna. “If you hadn’t made us go do that stupid catering, this would have never happened. When I tell Daddy what you’ve done, he’ll run you out of town!”

  “Enough!” Dezek commanded. “Blanca, no one could have foreseen the events of that day. Sienna was doing her job: feeding people who pay for it. You were there due to your own bad behavior. So sit down and be quiet. I still have a more to say that’s going to make you angry so you might as well save the tantrum that way I only have to deal with it once,” he told her in stern voice.

  Blanca sat glaring at Dezek. The door behind him opened to admit Ashaa, Rose and Vax. Rose was smiling and holding Vax’s hand. Holly rushed to Ashaa and hugged her hard.

  “You look so much better. We were so worried,” Holly told her. Ashaa smiled.

  “Thank you, Holly. I do feel much better. How are you?” Ashaa gave Holly a pointed look and Sienna suddenly realized Ashaa knew Holly was pregnant.

  “I’m great. Really great,” Holly told her.

  “Can everyone sit for a few more moments? I’ll tell you the rest of what I need to share and then answer questions,” Dezek asked them. Everyone sat and Dezek took a deep breath and started again.

  “Last, we are not taking you home.” Total silence reigned. Judging by their faces he was certain that this was not news to all of them. And as he figured, Blanca detonated.

  “What! You can’t keep us. We are not slaves!” Blanca screamed at him. “You bastards!”

  “Blanca, sit down and shut up or else!” Tabitha told her. “Please explain, Dezek.”

  “I’m sure Nogith, the suPonick, responsible for your initial abduction, explained that he destroyed the base so that no one would know he had taken all of you and Ashaa. If I were to take you back, you would then be pressed to explain your survival, disappearance and then reappearance. At best, people would think you were crazy to claim abduction by aliens. At worst, your own government would want to help the story you were crazy along, make you disappear again to protect their secret or prosecute you claiming you had something to do with the Base destruction. Or possibly all of the above,” he paused to let that sink in for a few moments. “I’m sorry but I don’t believe that any of you would be safe. Also, I am not about to give Ashaa back to your government to further abuse. Then there is the law I cannot violate. The decree from the Coalition of Planets puts your solar system in a no-fly zone. Doing so could bring sanctions against my people. If the suPonicks are caught trading with your people, they could face some serious backlash. Your people are considered extremely unstable and volatile as a society which is the reason for the ban. The council doesn’t want you to have long range space flight for considerable time until your race grows a little more. You will have good lives on my planet. You will not be considered or treated as slaves. You are considered to be rescued. And there are other humans living on my world. Vax and Rev’s mother is human and so is Nyman’s, our pilot.”

  He waited while they thought about the information. Dezek knew it weighed a lot.

  “Where is Taylor?” Sienna suddenly realized the pretty Navajo wasn’t present.

  “She’s in the gardens with Zabyss and Moz. Zabyss is teaching her how tell when gahix fruit is ripe according to Moz,” Rose answered after a pause.

  “What is gahix fruit?” Samantha looked puzzled.

  “The ugly brown stalks that were juicy and sort of taste like citrus,” Rose told her with a smile. “She already knows all of this apparently.” Dezek guessed Rose’s smile said she also had known these things.

  “Axon, why don’t you take Tabitha, Jasmine, Natalie and Wendy to the gardens so Moz and Taylor can give them a tour,” Dezek suggested. “Blanca, Holly and Samantha, Vax and I need a further word with the three of you and then Rose can show you to the gardens.”

  “I’m not talking to you,” seethed Blanca.

  “Fine but you will listen.”

  Axon led his small group into the passageway headed for the gardens. Dezek surveyed the remaining women. This wasn’t going to be easy.

  “I don’t know if this news will surprise any of you or not but all three of you are pregnant.”

  “You are such a liar!” B
lanca was the only one to issue a denial.

  “Actually, he is correct, Blanca,” Vax told her. “I have the ability to not only heal injuries but can detect many other things about your health. I know for a fact that you are indeed pregnant.”

  “I already knew,” Holly smiled at Dezek and Vax. Then she smiled at Ashaa. “Ashaa told me one night, while we were on the Mirkndack ship. I already suspected it but she confirmed it.”

  “Are you married?” Sienna asked.

  “No. I was engaged but I caught him with his ex-girlfriend from two years before having sex in our living room one day when I came home early,” she shrugged and tried to smile through the pain. “He told me he was sorry he was still in love with her and he was moving out, then they left together. He was gone the next day when I got home from work and took almost everything with him. So a month later when I started to suspect, I didn’t even bother to find him and tell him I thought I was pregnant. I didn’t know what I was going to do.” Tears shimmered in Holly’s eyes and she took several deep breaths to hold them back. Ashaa hugged her.

  “Holly, I’m so sorry,” Sienna got up and hugged her too.

  “It’s okay. I’m actually kind of excited now that I’m not going to get eaten. Ashaa told me it’s identical twin girls,” Holly grinned at Ashaa. “And she promised to help!” Holly laughed again and Sienna saw she meant her words and her laughter was heartfelt.

  “Samantha?” Vax questioned.

  “I knew I was pregnant,” she said it flatly. Sienna went back to her best friend, sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist.

  “Are you okay?” Sienna asked knowing the question was redundant. Samantha had wanted to have a baby for the last two years and David had kept putting it off. Samantha’s demeanor made her suspect David hadn’t been happy about it.

  “Yes. I don’t want to talk about it right now but I know,” she said softly. Sienna looked at Dezek with worry on her face.