Contents
Tittle Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
About Reilly Lexington
War Games
Kidnapped
A Science Fiction Adventure
Reborn Starship Book One
by Reilly Lexington
Version 1.1.0(Feb. 2018)
Published By Reilly Lexington. www.ReillyLexington.com
Copyright 2018 by Reilly Lexington. All rights reserved.
Cover by Kalen O'Donnell of BookableCovers.com
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Description
Kidnapped by aliens and whisked across interstellar space Cari must find a way to get back home.
But soon she is caught up in a whirlwind of discovery and danger as everyone, and everything, in the universe seems to want her dead.
Her only hope is escape!
But taking control of an alien ship that is undergoing a metamorphose of its own might be just as much a death sentence as it is an escape line.
Can Cari navigate the dangers of a hostile universe and bring her companions safely home?
Chapter One
My bed is really hard this morning. It feels more like a slab of concrete than the fashionable futon that my boyfriend had persuaded me to buy when we moved into our apartment together. Now that I'd kicked him out I really should buy a decent bed, I think to myself. Ha, I snort. Like I can afford the rent on the trendy apartment never mind buy new furniture.
I just want to pull the bedclothes over my head and stay in bed for the whole day. The only thing I have to look forward is a double shift at the coffee shop where I work. Unlike my Ex and his career move to Silicon Valley. Why did I have to start my day thinking about that asshole? I ask myself as I roll over. And feel cold metal under me. Cold metal? I start to wake up for real. I realize that I have no bedclothes over me. And that I am lying on a metal surface. A dirty metal surface covered with grit and grease.
What the... I feel a wave of nausea wash over me. But as I struggle to roll over and vomit over the side of my bed I realized that I am not actually in my bed. I was still on that cold, metal surface. And my stomach is heaving. But there is nothing coming out.
"I see you are awake," a strange voice says.
Who the fuck is that! I think to myself as my empty stomach tries to empty itself. Then all sorts of questions erupt inside my head. Chiefly, Where the fuck am I? And What the hell happened? I try to open my eyes. But it feels like my eyelids are glued shut. The last thing I remember is walking home from work. But this is definitely not Midtown Coffee and Cupcakes. And no matter how bad the back alleyways of midtown were the smells of stale sweat, puke, and pee that assaulted my senses tole me that I was somewhere altogether worst.
Another wave of nausea makes my world spin making me want to be sick again, but my mouth is ever so dry. And my stomach is totally empty.
"I'll get you some water," the strange voice says.
It is a girl's voice. Maybe a bit of an American accent. Maybe French. I can't really tell. I still can't open my eyes. And my body is shivering.
I hear the girl move away as I pull myself into a sitting position. I lean back against some warmer metal. I try to speak, but I can barely get my mouth open, never mind form words. Again I try in vain get my eyes open. Am I in some kind of truck or van? I wonder. But I can feel no movement and the space seems bigger. Maybe I'm in some kind of freight container, I think.
I hear the movement of the strange girl comes back to me. "Here," she says and puts a metal cup of lukewarm water to my parched lips.
The water that flows into my mouth tastes like nectar. I swallow and swallow until the cup is empty and I am sucking the metal rim of the cup.
"More?" the stranger asks.
I nod and cough when I try to speak.
"Take it easy." The girl puts a comforting hand on my shoulder for a moment, before she moves away and returns with another cup of water.
I drink again, but the urgency is gone. And I finally get my eyes open to see this stranger. She is about my own age, early twenties, and has long brown hair and deep brown eyes. Her face is dirty and her hair unkempt. As are the yellow T-shirt and blue jeans that she is wearing. And she is smiling at me.
"Who are you?" I manage to croak in a dry voice.
"My name is Angela," she says. "And these are Mary and Jane." She turns to gestures to two blonde girls huddling against each other on the other side of the metal box that we are sitting in. One has a little black dress on, and the other has a sparkly silver dress. Their matching stilettos make it obvious that they are dressed for a night out on the town. Their ripped stockings and disheveled hair make it equally obvious that their night did not go as planned.
"Hi, I'm Cari," I say. But my head is still swimming, and I am having trouble thinking. I close my eyes as too many questions fill my brain. "What happened? Where are we? Who are you?" I ask all at once.
"We've been kidnapped," Angela says.
I open my eyes again and look at her for a long moment, half expecting her to break out into a smile as she reveals she has just made a joke. But she kneels passively beside me and waits for me to react.
"What the fuck," I start to speak. But then I start coughing. And then I have to turn away from her as I once again try to empty my already empty stomach.
After my dry heaves have finished, I turn to look at Angela again.
"More water?" she offers, holding the cup out to me.
I take the cup from her and sip. "Ugh," I say as I pull the cup from my lips. "The first cup tasted like nectar, but that last one was just," I shrugged, "ugh."
"Yeah," she says. "It's not the best. But it hasn't killed us yet."
"Yet?" I ask. "How long have you been drinking it."
"I've been here for about two days," she said. "Mary and Jane were here when I was taken, and you've been here for about ten hours."
"Ten hours?"
"It's hard to tell without any clocks." She gestured around the metal box.
"I guess." I looked around the box again and noticed that one end looked like it might be a door. There was some kind of control panel fixed to the side. What type of freight container has an electronic door? I ask myself.
"Their stun gun didn't really work on me," Angela says. "I think that I was only out for a few minutes. I was kind of coming around when they put me in here." She looked at me. "I guess that they must have turned up the power for you because you looked like you were dead when they dropped you in here."
"I did?"
Angela nodded. "We didn't think you'd wake up," she says.
"Oh," I say, realizing that I might very well have died. I also have no memory of being abducted. The last thing I remember was clocking off from my shift at the coffee shop where I work, and then nothing until I woke up here.
Nobody said anything for a bit. I was still trying to get my head around what had happened to me. Also, I was shivering uncontrollably. "Don't those two speak?" I nodded over at the two other girls who still huddle
d together.
Mary, or maybe Jane, looked over at me for a moment, then turned back to her companion.
"Not really, no," Angela says. "It's been quite boring."
I laughed.
"What's funny?" Angela asks.
"You've been kidnapped by maniacs and are locked up in some kind of freight container, about to be eaten, or sliced up for fun, or whatever. But you're bored," I say.
"Ah, yes," Angela smiled. "I can see how that would seem strange."
"Can you?"
"Except they aren't going to eat us or slice us up," Angela says. "They want to keep us alive."
"They do?" I look at her.
"Yes," she replies. "They want to sell us as sex slaves."
"Oh, that's alright then." I look away as I roll my eyes.
"And they're not maniacs," Angela continued. "They're Dracktari."
"Dracktari?" I asked, trying out the strange sounding name. "Who the fuck are the Dracktari? Some kind of African gang?"
"They are a reptilian species from a star system called Arikakaf. They are well known to resort to piracy and interstellar trade in illegal goods to try to make big profits," Angela says. "Most civilized planets discourage them from visiting, but there are enough disreputable star systems out there for them to make a living."
She spoke casually, but her words hit me like a ton of bricks. What was she talking about? Piracy and interstellar trade? Civilized planets and disreputable star systems? Was I locked in some kind of loony bin? "Whoa, hold on there," I say out loud. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"To use your colloquial expression, we've been abducted by aliens," Angela replies.
"What?" I look closely at her to see if I can detect any sign of mental disorder. "Like little green men who want to probe us?"
"Well, the Dracktari aren't green, or little," she says. "And you wouldn't want to be probed by them." She leans in close for a conspiratorial whisper. "They have spikes on their cocks." She sits back again. "So not biologically compatible."
"OK," I say playing for time. But looking around I don't see any immediate means of escape. And also I am not too sure that I can even stand let alone run.
"Do you not believe me?" Angela asked.
"Well," I paused to consider my words. It was obvious we were somewhere strange. But an alien spaceship?
"You do not believe me when I explain our situation to you?" Angela repeated her question.
I looked back to her. "You have got to admit that your story is totally..." I ran out of words to explain.
"Totally what?" she asks.
"Totally unbelievable," I reply.
"But it is the truth."
"Look," I do my best to keep my voice level, "I don't believe in little green men from outer space. And even if they did exist I don't see why they would come to Earth to kidnap hot young women for use as sex slaves." I had to smile as I added, "I mean if they are an alien species they'd want alien women that looked like themselves."
"Well, the Folsuni from Altura 5 are generally green in color and of an average smaller stature than humans. So 'little green men from outer space' do exist regardless of your belief in them." Angela pouted. "And as to why they want to kidnap Earth Girls, it just so happens that Human females are attractive to a wide variety of alien species and fetch a good price at illegal slave markets."
"So why are these Dracktari not coming around every night to collect hundreds of attractive human females?" I ask, feeling silly for even continuing this conversation.
"Well, Earth is a protected planet, and no one is allowed to land there without special permission," Angela explains. "It took me ten years to gain permission to visit, and I am qualified exo-anthropologist, with decades of study and research behind me."
"You look like you're twenty two," I say.
"Yes," she nods. "I got surgery to look like a young, attractive human female adult. For my research."
I ignore her remark about cosmetic surgery and ask, "So these Dracktari came to Earth illegally?"
"Yes," Angela thinks for a moment. "They must have discovered, or more likely stolen, some kind of advanced cloaking technology or else the interstellar police would have detected them."
"The Interstellar Police?" I ask.
"Again I am speaking colloquially," she explains. "Their name would more formally be translated as 'The Enforcement Arm of the Galactic High Commission for the Protection of Undeveloped Species'. And then I could list all the relevant interstellar treaties governing how the High Commission works and what they are allowed to do. But they would mean nothing to you. Suffice to say that they cordon off star systems with undeveloped intelligent species in them and wait to see if they evolve to a level where they can be accepted into the Interstellar Federation without doing irrecoverable damage to their societies."
"OK," I say. Again I look closely at her. But she looks so sincere that she must really believe all of this. "So how do you know all of this?" I ask, once again playing for time.
"Oh, did I not say," Angel replied. "As I have explained to Mary and Jane I am a Vulerian from Talkost 3."
I look at her for a long moment. Once again waiting for her to crack a smile, or show some sign of a delusional mental disorder. Finally I ask, "You're an alien from outer space?"
"Yes," she nodded. "Though of course from my point of view you are the alien from 'outer space'."
"I guess so." I give a little laugh. But still, I recognize that I am in some deep shit. At best I am locked in some kind of storage container with escaped inmates from a mental hospital. At worst I have in fact been kidnapped by little green men from outer space.
I sit back for a moment and close my eyes. Though the metal bulkhead, or whatever it was, was not very comfortable at my back. Time to take stock, I said to myself. I have my clothes, t-shirt, tight jeans and the flat shoes that I wear to work. My bag with my phone, money, and keys in it is nowhere to be seen. What the hell am I going to do? I ask myself.
Suddenly a loud screeching fills the container. The sound is so loud I can feel it as it reverberates around the compartment. It sounds like we're inside an old car that is being crushed at a scrap yard. I clamp my hands over my ears as I physically cringe under the assault of the noise. And I quickly check that the walls haven't started moving closer together to crush us.
Luckily they haven't. But not so luckily the end of the container that I thought might be a door is, in fact, a door. And the noise is caused by the door sliding to one side as it opens.
I look at Angela. But she looks just as frightened as I feel. There is no chance that we can talk over the noise.
Which shuts off just as suddenly as it started.
My ears are still ringing as I think I heard Angela say, "That doesn't sound good."
But before I can formulate a response to her I am literally frozen with fear at the sight of the creature that is pushing its way into the container past the partially open door. It is easily seven feet tall. And five feet wide. It is wearing what looks like an oversized space suit that's orange colored and streaked with green slime. The creature has no helmet on. Which is unfortunate as it has a head that looks like a constipated warthog. It has two deep set, beady eyes and two ears set high on its head. The ears are surrounded by tufts of orange, wiry hair. It's wrinkled, gray skin is otherwise hairless. Below its eyes is a fat, squat snout with two enormous nostrils and five irregularly shaped, sharp looking tusks or teeth sticking out of it at odd angles.
But perhaps the most frightening aspect of its appearance is the limp body of another woman slung over its shoulder.
With a bitter snarl, the creature pushes open the door a few more inches, causing another agonizing metal squeal, and squeezes through the opening. None too gently it swings the limp body of the woman off its shoulder and onto the metal floor.
Angela darts forward to the prone body and snarls something at the alien. It might be the creature's language, or she might have been imitating two cat
s fighting in a back alleyway. I can't really tell.
The alien snarls back in a high pitched voice and lifts a foot to kick at Angela.
She quickly stands up and snarls something that makes the alien stop. She continues to snarl at him, looking for all the world like a lioness protecting her cub. That is if a lioness sounded like a cat being strangled inside a canvas sack. Just listing to her was making my throat hurt.
The alien replied with more high pitched snarls. Flecks of what I presumed is its spittle spraying from its mouth as it spoke.
Angela replied in kind until the alien interrupts her with a dismissive gesture and turns to leave, spouting more snarls over its shoulder as it walked away.
Angela calls after it as it squeezes back out the door.
The creature snarls something back, but before Angela can respond the alien hits a switched on the outside wall and the room fills with the grinding squeal of the metal door shuddering shut once more.
Again I clamped my hands over my ears as the sound fills the room like a physical force, making me want to curl up into a ball for protection. Once silence has returned I look up and see Angel squatting over the new girl. I try to stand, but a wave of dizziness comes over me, and I fall heavily onto my hands and knees with a loud yelp.
"Are you OK?" Angela asks.
"Yeah," I say and look at her for a long moment. "That was a real life, fucking alien!" I say. I was sure of it because I could still smell its foul odor, which made my stomach cramp. Thought my mind still can not quite believe it.
"Yes," Angela replies calmly. "As I previously informed you we are on a Dracktari starship. And that is one of the Dracktari who have kidnapped us."
I looked at Mary and Jane, still huddled in the corner. No wonder they are like that, I think. I feel like joining them. But I can't. Instead, I fight back another bout of retching as my stomach balls up in pure terror. "A real live fucking alien," I say.
"Yes," Angel replies calmly.
"But what about her?" I nod at the unmoving body of the new girl.
Kidnapped Page 1