by Rena Marks
“No one leaves Xenia.” Jason’s voice was cold. “I’ll have a team interrogate the prisoners. And I’ll be there with Steele to interrogate the media.”
“The media?” One of them squeaked as guards stepped in, surrounding them. “What is going on here?”
Steele’s demeanor changed from the friendly alien always near her side, to the snarling, aggressive person they’d had glimpses of during the capture. With a look from her, the guards took the cameras hanging around their necks.
“These will be returned if you’re deemed innocent,” Robyn said.
“What? What the hell’s going on?” someone asked. “We had an agreement to enter for a tour. Not any of this.”
“You gave up your citizen’s rights upon entering our gates. Now we have questions, so you just became our prisoners.”
“But that’s crazy. We didn’t take a kid! We were here with you the whole time.”
“Yes. I realize that. But we have a missing teenager, and she’s our priority. We will do anything and everything to recover her. Please wait here for our head of security to return.”
There was a small knock at the door, before it was pushed open. Beast entered, looking massive in his growly state. He walked over toward Steele, standing next to him.
Several of the men looked warily at the two.
“Will you explain what’s going to happen?” The bespectacled man who asked seemed the most reasonable.
“Of course. You’ll be split up and questioned. In the meantime, I’ll search your backgrounds. We’re looking for any connection or any information regarding her disappearance.”
“But none of us know anything.”
Robyn leaned in. “We will get any—I do mean any—information from you. One by one, you’ll be visited by Steele, then Beast, then Renegade. If you’re innocent, don’t worry. We will wipe your minds of the torture you’ll endure. If you’re guilty, you’ll remain here until Lily is recovered, and you’ll suffer any fate she has undergone. Then we’ll put you to death. We’re humane. It’ll be quick and painless at that point.” She smiled grimly.
The faces of the men paled. A couple tried to run. The human guards separated them, hauling them away. A few screamed before being pulled from the room and dragged down the hallway where doors closed and silenced the noise.
Instantly, Steele’s demeanor changed, becoming softer and loving as he looked down at her. “You almost had me scared.”
“You had me scared too, baby,” she admitted. “Go find our Lily.”
“What will be the repercussions of this?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think they had anything to do with it. But this will prove it one way or the other. As far as they’re concerned, they’ll think they suffered greatly for us to find this out, and that their memories were wiped afterward, leaving them wondering what they forgot regarding the torture we don’t actually have to do. I don’t think they’ll be so aggressive to come onto our lands in the future.”
“There could be a backlash with the fearmongers out there.”
“Well, it’s time to create our own backlash. This is an innocent child, and everyone needs to know we’ll stop at nothing to find her.”
“Perhaps we should put that out?” Steele asked mildly. “So the world will be better prepared when the media gets out there and claims they were tortured for information? Best to take their victimization from them.”
“Good point.”
The front door opened. Jason entered, carrying the small piercer. “I don’t know how they broke past your safeguards,” he said.
Robyn reached for the device. “That was why they wanted this. It has her DNA on it, and they added a sensor for heat activation. It tricked my computer into thinking it was a live body. Lily’s body. Steele, before you go interrogate the others, will you go through Jason’s phone and pick out a happy picture of Lily that I can post on social media? Jason, help me scroll through the DNA scans. If they added this device to mimic her, there would have to be traces of how she left the premises.”
Jason took the seat next to her and then handed his phone off to Steele.
ROBYN SAT IN FRONT of the camera with a grim-faced Jason next to her.
“Good morning and greetings, Earth-Ground and the nine Floating Cities. It is with grave concern that I post the tragic news of the disappearance of one of our own, Lily Xeno Sapien. Many of you remember her as the fun-loving teen who wanted a nose stud and was taken out of our territory by our head of security, Jason Becker. During the agreed upon visit with nine separate news channel media, strangers were allowed to infiltrate our grounds. Lily disappeared during this time. We will do anything and everything possible to make sure she is returned safe and unharmed. She’s just a girl.” Robyn allowed her voice to break tragically, though it was easy to do. She cleared her throat. “In the meantime, we would appreciate if you would circulate her attached photo.” Robyn cut the image of her and Jason out of the live feed, replacing it with the still, laughing picture of Lily looking up into Jason’s camera. She had gazed at him with adoring doe-eyes, and Robyn was sure Jason had no idea of the crush Lily had. But it made for a great photo on the newsfeed.
“If you have seen Lily, or have heard anything regarding her whereabouts, please contact the Xenia hotline with the number listed on the screen.”
Robyn cut the transmission.
“You didn’t say anything else about the media we have held.”
“Nope. Let them wonder where everyone is. It’ll make the story grander.”
Jason cracked his knuckles. “I’ll go help Steele and Beast interrogate.”
Chapter Fourteen
Amanda and Robyn sat at the conference table, Amanda tapping her fingers against the smooth wood rapidly. Tempest sat with them, grim-faced and silent. She was mostly there to communicate transmission with the other Xeno Sapiens that weren’t present.
In the main room, Eclipse and Blaze guarded the lightbox of terrorists, who would grow exhausted and relax, only to get zapped as they leaned back against the bars of electric light. It was a slow form of torture. Robyn hoped they would learn to work together and work out a system where one individual could relax in the center of the pod for a brief time. They could all take turns.
So far, nothing. It was every man for himself in there. They weren’t the brightest, but what more could one expect.
“What will we do with them?” someone had asked her.
“Educate them. Show them what it’s like to be a Xeno Sapien. Show them how the Xeno Sapiens were given more muscle tone to become slave labor. Have them work the fields, afraid for their lives. Have the women visit and explain how lucky they are not to be female and lusted after. If they are not rehabilitated from these horrors within six months, they’re a lost cause.”
The door to the conference room opened. Steele and Renegade entered. “The media has been released,” Steele said. “They knew nothing of Lily’s whereabouts. Beast is with Jason. They will work on the captured men next.”
“The media?”
Steele knew exactly what her unspoken question was.
“They’re dazed and scared shitless. Wondering exactly what they went through but can’t remember.”
“How did things go so awry?” Amanda asked. “How was our fortress penetrated?”
“The extra beings who broke into Xenia were the exact count of Pax’s multiples. I overlooked them, thinking it was Pax’s fragments.” Robyn frowned. She rubbed her belly. How could she be so stupid? She should have realized the multiples would have Pax’s DNA.
Amanda’s eyes were drawn to the movement of her hand. “Don’t stress over it; it’s not good for the baby. This is not your fault. It was a series of events we couldn’t control.”
“I know,” Robyn whispered. “I just keep thinking what if. If I had sounded that alarm like I wanted to, they would never have had a chance to grab Lily.”
Tempest tilted her head. “Dr. Amanda is right. There is no w
hat if. What’s done is done, and now your motherly instinct is to protect your own child by not stressing your body.”
“Besides, there’s a new stressor that you’ll need to breathe through,” Amanda said gently. “The president, thinking he was doing you a favor, granted your mother special permission to access Xenia.”
“What? When?”
“We haven’t heard from her yet, ironically. After all these calls...now she’s being silent. When his office called, I made it clear that it was not a favorable decision.”
“Just what we need to deal with now,” Robyn grumbled.
“Better now than later,” Amanda said, eyeing her belly. “You may be able to still pass it off as a weight gain. Most women don’t show at a three month gestation unless they’ve been pregnant before.”
“I know. It’s odd.”
Amanda shrugged. “Your scans look normal. It is a tiny baby, barely formed, in there. Most of the weight gain is placenta and fluids. The baby is five, maybe six inches long. The good news is you’ve finished your twelfth week and past the critical stage of miscarriage.”
She was barely on her thirteenth week. It wasn’t too far past critical.
Tempest cut in. “News from Jason, transmitted through Beast: It appears the terrorists are simply pawns and have no knowledge of where Lily has been taken. We have no leads whatsoever.”
Robyn felt her face pale. “You have got to be kidding me.”
Tempest looked sad. “I’m afraid not.”
“What happens now?” Amanda said.
“There appears to be in-fighting between Sunny and Beast. She wishes to be on display in the search, hoping to tempt the kidnappers into trading her for Lily. Beast is in an uproar over the decision.”
“That won’t work,” Robyn agreed. “They already have a Xeno Sapien, and if it’s the Crested Ute doctors like I suspect, they know Sunny is of equal value and therefore not worth the trading effort.”
“She still wishes to be suited up for the team that explores the outer realms.”
“That’s her decision,” Amanda said. “As long as she knows the risks.”
Tempest winced. “Beast is outlining each risk clearly.”
Robyn felt her stomach knot, and she rubbed it absently. How would they find a little girl out there? It was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
THREE DAYS LATER, THEY still had no leads. Robyn had figured with the six people who’d breached the compound, one had given up by her warning over the outdoor loudspeakers. Except, what if he wasn’t with the others? Perhaps his mission was to get in, grab Lily, and get out immediately, coinciding with the break-in. Stupidly, Robyn assumed he’d been one of the others and had given up first, leaving on his own. No, he left all right—after taking Lily—and leaving the modified piercing mechanism with her DNA to trick the computers counts into believing all were present.
As she paced the main area, the computer notified her of an incoming call from the head of the Global Government. She stood, already having programmed the equipment to give visuals of her head and shoulder area.
“Good day, Mr. President. What can I do for you?”
“My apologies for granting special access to your mother to visit you. I had thought I was doing you a favor.”
“I understand. In the future, please understand our need for security, no matter who wishes the contact.”
“I would still like to maintain an equitable rapport between the Global Government and the Xeno Sapiens, so I have some information you might find useful. Plus, I kind of like that green-haired child. She’s spunky.”
“Child? Do you know of Lily’s whereabouts?”
The President leaned in. “There’s a hidden facility in the Crested Utilitarian list of properties. The power to the building has gone up exponentially in the last three months since the collapse of the underwater compound. We sent a team to investigate, but it was empty. We believed they were moving from facility to facility. We searched all possible connections to the main lab, including relatives of the top officials. The coordinates will be sent to your head of security. Surely one of the locations will be fruitful.”
“Thank you.”
“You are welcome. And, I’m sorry to say your mother is at the gate to Xenia now, waving her special pass.”
Well, crap, she didn’t even get time to prepare for that crisis.
She tried to keep her face neutral as she thanked him and disconnected the call.
Immediately, the screen lit up with a call. “Yes?”
“A visitor at the gates with credentials to enter. Lady Glory Saraven and one guest, male manservant, Jasper Henderson,” Rent said.
She took a deep breath, allowing it to fill her lungs. “Detain her for ten minutes, please. And someone send Steele.”
“No need. He’s the one who’ll bring her in.”
Immediately she punched in the code to reach Amanda and Jason. “Small problem. My mother is here now. Full access to Xenia.”
“It’s okay, Robyn. She has access, but she doesn’t have media credentials. She’ll be searched for any recording devices. Don’t panic.”
“She’ll notice my body changes.”
“It’s only her word against yours should she leak any news. It’s okay. We’ll get through this.”
But this was her fault. This could have been prevented if Robyn hadn’t procrastinated so long in giving her mother the tour that she wanted. Arrogantly, she assumed she’d never set foot on the premises. She’d been wrong.
“WHAT IS GOING ON?”
Steele came to investigate the commotion at the front gates. The two security guards, Roy and Beau, looked at him with deliberately expressionless faces.
“Lady Glory Saraven of Epsilon Five. She has a signed order from the president for admittance into Xenia.”
“Let me see it.”
“I’d prefer if a human looked over my credentials.” The feminine voice was jarring, vaguely reminiscent of Robyn’s but with a drawn-out sneer. She was seated in the plush back seat of a long hovercraft. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face and brushed into a sleek roll at the back of her neck. A veil of lace draped over her mouth, concealing it from his view. But her eyes—they were nothing like Robyn’s. Cold and hard, the flat dark brown color pierced through him with disdain.
This was the woman who’d given birth to Robyn.
Ignoring Lady Saraven, the guard handed him the small flat box with a viewing screen. The credential letter was long, signed with a verified signature from the President.
“Get her our standard entry forms—those that explain losing your citizenship upon entry.”
The human guard, Beau, looked confused. “Even with presidential credentials?” He knew both were unnecessary.
Steele smiled thinly. “Yes. She has the choice to refuse to sign ours, doesn’t she?”
Understanding dawned on the Beau’s face, and he hurried to the small office at the gates to grab another computer screen like the one Steele held.
“Where is he going? I’ve already obtained my paperwork.”
“Ma’am, upon entry you have the right to know you will be giving up your Earth bound rights and citizenship. You will become the property of Xenia, your daughter’s creation.”
Steele knew he had her when she smoothed her hair. She’d sign anything if it made her seem important. She should be proud of her daughter, but somehow he didn’t think that was what she was proud of. No, this materialistic woman admired power, and somehow she thought she had a right to the power of Xenia through inheritance. So she would sign, not even wondering if she needed to.
Beau returned from the gates, the small electronic device in hand. Steele waved his hand over the screen slowly, catching the woman’s attention. Her face showed disgust as she noticed he had four fingers.
“Please make sure you read it carefully before attaching your DNA.” His smile was thin.
Glory Saraven ran true to form. She would do opposite
what any creature advised her. She gave him a belligerent stare and held his gaze as she deliberately attached her finger to the signature well. Her DNA was extracted when the device lit up.
Steele handed the unread but signed paperwork to Beau. “Please upload this to the files.” He turned to the woman in the car. “Drive your vehicle into the parking lot. You will enter Xenia on foot, and a shuttle will take you to Systems, where your daughter works.”
Glory Saraven’s nose pinched at the word shuttle. She never responded. Instead, the window between her and Steele rudely rolled up, blocking him from her view.
“God, she’s a bitch,” Beau said, as the craft floated away. “Good luck with that. I know you can handle getting your future mother-in-law in one piece to Robyn.” His hand pounded Steele’s shoulder. “Stand strong, brother.”
“And don’t kill her,” Steele repeated softly, as if it was a mantra.
Beau’s short bark of laughter sounded behind him as he walked toward the car that had stopped. The manservant was helping Lady Saraven from the vehicle. When they were outside, the trunk compartment of her hovercraft opened, showing various suitcases inside.
“I’ll need a cart for my luggage,” she said disdainfully as Steele walked up.
“Your planetary permissions were for a visit for two persons. Not for anything else.”
She leaned in, her eyes gleaming. “Look here, I don’t know who you think you are, but my daughter will have your head on a platter. I will be staying here temporarily, and you will learn to take my orders.”
“Right now, I answer to your daughter.” Steele smiled smoothly. “I will answer to you upon her instruction.”
That seemed to alleviate the female. She smiled as if she couldn’t wait to make him grovel when he did have to retrieve the bags later.
“Then we’ll do things your way,” she said with a gleam in her eye. With a nod, her manservant closed the trunk, locking her things inside.
“This way, please.”
Steele extended his arm to show them the direction. He followed behind them to the front office where Beau waited. Again, they had to place their fingers in the DNA extraction unit, which would match the DNA uploaded from the credentials.