by Trent Evans
Her slender throat worked as she nodded slowly.
Good.
Though a generally primitive species, the human mind was complex, and he knew the many defense mechanisms they utilized in order to cope with stress. She was smart enough to know she had no hope of escape, so she was wisely choosing cooperation. He knew that wouldn’t last, but for now, it would make his task far easier. The little fiery Rose wouldn’t be able to keep up the acquiescence forever, of course, but once on Yaanfahr, he’d be far, far better equipped to deal with her when that eventuality came to pass.
He found he quite looked forward to that day.
The last thing he saw before the door closed her away in darkness, were those striking, bright eyes, her soft lips trembling as a lone tear tracked down her flushed cheek.
He couldn’t wait to get his beautiful little prisoner back to his home — and begin her new life.
As his possession.
* * *
She had no idea how long he kept her in that dim cell, the only illumination a thin strip of white light seeping in between the floor and the bottom of the door. Thankfully, it was at least warm.
“What the hell are you going to do, Rose? Think!”
She hissed it so loudly, the words echoed in the darkness.
The vibration in the floor seemed to get progressively stronger, as if something was warming up.
Engines?
Rubbing her face with both hands — and momentarily thankful he hadn’t left her wrists bound — she tried to think about when she might get a chance to escape. It was pretty clear at that point he had no intention of taking her back to Earth. She was going to be stuck with him a while.
That meant she needed to understand how he ticked, what his habits were. It really wasn’t that different from learning the routines of the creepers at the clubs. This one only came in after midnight, and he was always drunk. That one was stone-cold sober — and thus harder to elude — and never arrived later than ten. Patterns, behavior.
She could do this.
And once she learned Kosha’s — she’d get her chance.
To do what? Pilot an alien ship back home? You’re delusional.
There was no choice though. To do anything else was to give up. She had to think of something. She would think of something.
The latch clanged — a deafening din in the tiny space making her wince — and the room filled with brightness. His hulking form was outlined in the doorway, and she reflexively stepped back, pressing against the wall.
“You’re coming with me. You behave and you can do it without your hands bound.”
“Where are we going?”
“No questions. Just do as you’re told.” He spun and marched away, the light flooding fully into her cell.
Her heart was already pounding, but she reluctantly followed. What choice did she have?
As she picked her way down the hallway, holding a hand over her eyes, she tried to get the lay of the place, but frustratingly, the corridor was effectively featureless, smooth, gleaming steel, coursed here and there by meandering lines scoring the surface. The lines pulsed in an almost biological way, evoking a rhythm like a heartbeat.
They emerged into a larger space — and this one was familiar. It was the room they’d exited into when they’d docked. Strange machinery clustered all over the compartment, some suspended from the ceiling, other contraptions emerging from the floor itself. Two huge screens — ones she hadn’t noticed when she’d first arrived — dominated one wall. There were dancing images on those screens, but when they moved, Rose took a stumbling step back. The shapes — which she assumed were numbers, but had no way of really knowing — weren’t on the screen. Instead, they seemed to be hovering in front of the screen. She had no idea how it was possible, but it was as if the images were three-dimensional. Much more than a mere projection, they appeared to genuinely have shape and mass, changing as she looked at them from different angles. The effect was that the shapes floated in mid-air, a sight that had her mouth hanging open in awe.
“Your language does not have a direct translation, but you can call that a holo.”
“Like a… hologram?”
“Somewhat.” He patted the large clear box next to him. It was at least ten feet tall and appeared to be made entirely from a translucent material. Unlatching the door and swinging it wide, he nodded toward the interior. “In there. Now.”
She didn’t move at first, staring up at him, flicking a glance inside. It was entirely featureless, but something told her she wasn’t going to like what she found there.
“If I have to put you in, you’ll go inside with a freshly sore rump.”
“No!” She scurried inside, turning toward the door. “Just… don’t hurt me.”
She saw something travel across his dark gaze, gone as fast as it came. Then he smiled at her. “This won’t harm you. Now, relax — and listen to my instructions.”
The door closed and latched, the air close inside the enclosure. She watched him move behind a console, his hand punching something in. A high-pitched whine, like the sound of an electric motor warming up, started somewhere inside, then a kaleidoscope of dazzling light played over her. It was tremendously bright, but somehow she was able to look right at it without it hurting her eyes.
Damn.
The beauty of it was almost mesmerizing, the colors sequencing through every shade of the rainbow and into striking hues she didn’t even know were possible, an amazing, dazzling chromatic display of light.
“It’s been a long time since we regularly catalogued human specimens,” Kosha intoned from behind the console. “The imager will need time to calibrate.”
Specimens?
The true magnitude of her situation crashed down upon her at the sound of that word. They really did abduct people for experiments. Maybe most of those poor souls who claimed abduction were crazy nutballs… but she knew now that some of them must indeed have been telling the truth.
Once again, she found herself marveling, with a combination of dread and awe, that humans really weren’t alone after all.
Too bad they appear to see you like a scientist sees a lab rat.
But that wasn’t true, not really. The blatant — and growing — bulging between his thighs as he looked upon her nude body said something else entirely. The interest there was a lot more than… scientific.
The thought caused a strange, subtle fluttering deep in her belly, the entire idea unsettling. But at the same time…there was something more there.
Something she wasn’t sure she wanted to examine yet.
The lights continued their incredible display, dancing, and shimmering over her body, bathing her in luminescence. The light grew softer, more diffuse as she watched, the sounds around her more muted. A feeling of floating began to grow within her, a sensation of almost… euphoria.
Stop it… something’s… happening.
Had the med unit given her something while it repaired her lip? Was she drugged? Did it matter anymore?
“It should only take a few minutes to get a proper mapping.” Kosha paused, punching something else into the console and murmuring words she couldn’t make out. “I have questions I want you to answer while we wait. I expect you to be honest.”
“Do I get to ask you anything?”
“No.”
Bastard.
Her head was swimming now, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stand up much longer.
“What… are you doing… to me? I feel like I’m… going to pass out.”
“It’s a photosenstivity side-effect. Close your eyes and it will ease.”
Though it wasn’t easy to do, she obeyed him, and as he promised, the euphoria immediately began to fade, despite the patterns of the light still being clearly discernible, even through her eyelids.
“Mm, that’s… better.”
“Good, then you can answer some questions for me.”
“I don’t—”
“Just
answer — or I can come in there and remind you what happens when you refuse to follow directions.”
“Okay, okay… just.” She held up her hands, even as she kept her eyes closed. “Stay… out there.”
“Full name.”
Even giving her name felt like… providing ammunition. Her thoughts were the last thing she could still hide from him, and divulging even basic things like her name galled her. But there was nothing for it.
“Rose Lara Hudson.”
“Age.”
“Twenty.”
He paused at that, then continued.
“Family? Parents or siblings?”
“No.”
“No family?”
“I’m… my mother lost custody of me when I was very young. As far as I’m concerned, I’m an orphan.”
Howard was the closest thing to a parent she’d ever had, but she was smart enough not to think a foster parent, no matter how gentle and loving, was quite the same thing. She’d come to love him, but the caring, middle-aged ex-pastor wasn’t her father.
“Siblings?”
“No.”
Kosha said nothing for a moment, the only sound the faint background whine of the imager.
She remembered that last day with Howard — the morning she’d left for the trip to England. She’d already resolved never to come back — no matter what — but still, it had hurt. To sit there at that battered kitchen table in the cool silence of the pre-dawn hours, sipping the slightly burnt coffee Howard made for her every morning without fail, knowing everything was about to change.
He’d stared at her over his steaming mug, unusually quiet, his bushy silver eyebrows heavy over his sparkling hazel eyes. They were kind, those eyes, and not a day had passed since then that she didn’t miss them.
She’d often wondered if he’d somehow known that morning, that it was the last time he’d ever see his Rose — the foster child he’d grown to think of as his own.
She swallowed down the lump in her throat. A clean break was the best way — for the both of them.
Now is not the time, Rose. You’ve got more pressing issues here, in case you weren’t aware.
“Age at menarche.”
“What?”
“Menarche is first menstrua—”
“I know what it means. Why do you need to know that?”
“Answer.”
“Why?” She hated the plaintive note creeping into her voice.
“Answer the question, human. You’re already very close to earning another correction.”
She couldn’t help the tremendous flush of heat bursting up her neck as she spoke the word. “Twelve.”
“Sexual history — first intercourse?”
It was something she really didn’t want to talk about, so she kept silent, hoping he’d move on. She knew it was a fool’s hope.
“Answer the question. Rose.”
She sighed, her blush so hot her cheeks positively flamed with it. “No.”
“No? Explain.”
“What’s to explain? I’ve never had sex. Next question, please?”
He made a sound that she didn’t quite know how to interpret, something between exasperation… and eagerness.
“Never?”
“We call them virgins, on my planet.” She held up her hand. “Part of the club, right here.”
“Don’t move. The mapping isn’t finished yet.”
She gritted her teeth but managed to stay silent.
“Why not? Haven’t you been with males? They find you desirable. The two I disabled certainly intended to copulate with you.”
“Please… I don’t want to talk about this.”
The faint whine suddenly cut itself, and the room was plunged into silence, the lights no longer playing over her eyelids. She tentatively opened her eyes, blinking several times, readjusting to the still harsh background light of the room.
Suddenly self-conscious at the realization she was standing in that clear box naked as the day she was born, she covered herself, looking away. She was glad she wasn’t yet used to being so exposed. But she had a feeling she was going to have to get used to it. It didn’t appear clothing was anywhere in her near future.
“I’m waiting for an answer. Why haven’t you had sexual relations with a male?”
In truth, she'd always held that part of herself back, both as a way to shield herself from hurt, and because — it was still embarrassing to admit, even to herself — since she was a little girl, she'd always believed that she’d never allow herself that sort of intimacy until she'd met that one, special man who would know how to explore it with her.
How to explore what she’d always wanted.
She never really knew who that one man might be, or even how she'd know she'd met him, but she'd always believed it. Howard, her last — and by far, best — foster parent, had reinforced this with her during puberty and her teenage years, that sex was something precious, and wonderful, and that when she'd met that one special man, somehow, she'd just know it.
She despaired now that she'd been a fool. This alien was intent, she knew with a certainty, on raping her, on stealing that last bit of purity from her, that one thing she felt she still owned that was precious beyond price.
And now, she was about to lose that too. For a moment, it filled her with a bitter sadness.
“I think you’re lying.”
“W-what? You as—!” She bit off her reply, knowing she’d pay dearly for it if she insulted him.
Watch it, idiot.
Calming herself, she continued. “Why would I lie about that? On my planet, it’s not exactly something one brags about. I’ve taken more shit for that than I want to think about…”
“Because I have eyes with which to see. One look at you and I find it inconceivable that no man has managed to copulate with you. You humans may in fact be primitive animals, but a more stunningly beautiful specimen of your species I’ve never seen. I don’t know why — yet — but you’re lying to me.”
“I’m not lying! And we don’t call it copulation. We call it making lo… what?”
The meaning of his words finally sunk in, shocking her into dumbfounded silence. Did he mean what she thought he meant? How could it be?
He saw her as… an animal. That was mind-bending enough. But it was the fact he found her beautiful that truly had her at a loss for words. And profoundly confused.
The door to the enclosure swung open, fresh air wafting in. She took a deep breath and stepped out.
“I’m going to be doing some investigating. Physical proof doesn’t lie — even if a disobedient human might. We’ll be verifying your little story once I get you home.” He grasped her by the upper arm, marching her back toward the corridor as if she were a recalcitrant child. “Come with me. Meloran will be aboard soon, and we need to get you safely out of sight.”
“Wait! What do you mean? Home? You're taking me back?”
“No. I'm taking you to my planet. Yaanfahr, my home. And it's about to become yours too.”
Chapter 5
The wait, prepping the ship for gate transit, was interminable. Kosha prided himself on his ability to be patient, to see how events would play out — a strength for any officer in the Survey Corps — but when it came to the redheaded human currently cooling her heels in the holding cell, that patience took every ounce of his self-control.
He’d had to bind and gag her before he’d returned to the pilot house, welcoming his commander aboard. The last image of her as he’d closed her into her little holding cell, the entire lower half of her face hidden behind the gleaming black of a shield gag, was an unexpected pleasure. It brought to mind all he had planned for her once she was home and finally under his roof.
Fortunately, his commander had no desire to make small talk, nor review the banalities of what was — to Meloran’s knowledge, anyway — an uneventful survey. Both officers looked forward to a return to Yaanfahr, though Kosha suspected it was for very, very different reasons
.
Captain Meloran retired almost immediately as was his wont, taking his transit sedative, and sealing himself into his pod. He’d never been one to worry overmuch about preparing for negotiating the Sol gate — the nearest gate to Terra — and left it to his subordinate, Kosha, to ensure the ship was ready for the journey. Though the Vidu Rei was largely automated, Kosha made a habit of pouring over the navigation data, the waypoints plotted into the ship’s main computer, and the detailed contingency plan drawn up by the AI — just in case something went wrong. Kosha had long programmed the ship’s computer to only wake him in case of emergency; Meloran was a far better Survey Corps field officer than he was a pilot, and in the stress of an emergency, the senior officer would mainly just be in the way.
Finally, satisfied that the contingency plan was sound, he locked in the final plot, the ship’s AI taking over all operations, save Kosha’s pod. It was time to retrieve his little contraband. Transiting the gate in the darkness of her cell, while something she’d be perfectly safe in doing — specimens, including humans, had done it countless times before — was not something he had in mind for her.
She needed to get used to idea that she was his… and as his property, she would need to become acclimated — and quickly — to close proximity with her owner. Very close proximity.
There was no better time to start than the present.
The ship’s lighting was already powering down as he made his way to the cargo bay, the illumination going from the usual harshness to much more muted, throwing most of the passageways and rooms into shadow.
His gate transit sedative was already taking effect, his muscles loosening, his mood lightening, a smile on his face at the prospect of laying down in the quiet, warm darkness of his pod.
Before he’d even opened the door to her cell, he could hear her angry protests, her voice reduced to a muffled squeak.