by T. S. Ryder
"If you don't take me home, you'll be sorry," she rasped, hating how weak her voice sounded. She swallowed, trying to moisten her throat, and tried again. "My father is a high-ranking air force general and he's developing space travel. If you don't take me home the whole planet will—"
"Your people are decades away from interplanetary travel, let alone being able to tesseract into string space to come after me. And I have been watching you for nearly six months now, Libba. You don't have any family, and no friends left alive. Your classmates and coworkers hardly know you exist. By my calculations, it won't be until the end of the month that anybody will notice you're gone, and even then they won't take the matter too seriously. There is nobody who will miss you, and nobody will try to come for you. Why else do you think I chose you?"
Libba clenched her hands to stop them from trembling. Her bruises pulsed with pain, and she welcomed it. It was something to focus on besides her fear. "You've been watching me."
"Yes. You are perfect for my means. A loner. And you have the right build for what I have in mind." His eyes trailed down her body.
"What means?"
Libba knew she wasn't what was considered traditionally beautiful. Her proportions were wrong, with most of her weight clinging to her belly, hips and thighs, making her top appear to be small, even though she wasn't exactly tiny in the boob department. But this alien dragon had specifically picked her because she had a little extra weight on her. Was he going to boil her down for oil? Eat her? Did these aliens need a fat-rich diet?
"Forgive me, I forgot that you don't know anything." He smiled, clearly enjoying his insult. "My name is Din, and I am Science Alpha of this ship."
Libba blinked, confused by this information. "Science Alpha?"
"I command this ship. I'm essentially the King as long as we're onboard." Din looked quite pleased at his comparison. "I am a dragon of a race known as the Stlozyn. Our males are dragon, our females dragonesses, like your males are men—"
"I get it," Libba interrupted. "I'm not an idiot. I don't care about what or who you are. I want to know what you're going to do to me."
Din shrugged, an oddly human gesture. "For many years, we have suffered from a disease that causes us to become infertile. It was recently discovered that an infusion of human DNA actually reverses the effects of the plague. Actually, human women can get pregnant by a dragon easily, even without the cure."
Libba went cold. Bile rose in her throat. Please don't mean what I think you mean.
"The dragon who developed the cure was promoted to the Science Board, our highest level of government. But the synthesis of the cure is taking longer than some of us are comfortable with, and so far it's been handed out only to dragonesses." Din made a face. "Because one dragon can impregnate many dragonesses, it's deemed more important that they receive the cure."
Libba inched backward. If he came at her, she knew how to fend off a temporary attack, but how long would she last against him? And if she did manage to fight him off, where would she go?
"Those of us dragons who want children find it to be most discouraging that we have not been given our ability to father children back yet. I'm sure you've noticed the trend of human women disappearing?"
All those women had been abducted in order to be baby making machines? Libba wanted to be sick, and a surge of anger went through her. "You're disgusting!"
Din's brows rose and his eyes widened. "Excuse me?"
"I won’t have your baby! If you try to touch me, I'll kill you, I swear I'll kill you."
Din stared at her, clearly baffled. "Such emotion. I've observed humans, yes, but I always thought it was emotion reacting to emotion. How can you people live with such outbursts? Do try to think logically, Libba. You are not here to have my children."
A jolt of relief went through her, but it didn't last long. "Then why am I here?"
"I need a living specimen to extract DNA from. Synthesis takes too long. It would be much easier to melt down your body into its base form."
Melt her down. Kill her. She backed away as he came forward, her hands trembling. "And you needed my build why?"
"You have an extra layer of blubber on you. That means that you will provide us with more genetic material to use." Din actually smiled at her. "I think I will name my first daughter after you, in honor of your sacrifice."
That did it.
Libba launched herself forward. Her palm cracked into Din's nose. She felt the cartilage snap but she didn't stop there. She jammed her knee between the fork of his legs and, as he doubled over, grabbed his ears and yanking his head down. She brought her knee to his face. With a final elbow to the back of his neck, Libba ran from the room, leaving the alien gasping behind her.
She didn't get far. It seemed that within seconds two more aliens were blocking her path. Libba snarled, shifting her weight to the balls of her feet while she lifted her arms, curling her hands. She'd started kickboxing to tone her body; who knew she'd be using it to attempt to escape an alien abduction? The two guards both held weapons, though. It wouldn’t be a fair fight.
"Human, stand down or we will be forced to fire," one of the aliens growled.
She glanced back the way she had come. The corridor ended in the room she just escaped from.
"Don't harm her!" Din's voice rang down the hall. "Just stun her."
Libba charged the two aliens, screaming. A blast of energy radiated from both guns. It knocked her to the floor. Her ears buzzed and her vision danced. Every muscle in her body seized and she struggled to draw a breath. She could feel her consciousness ebb away and fought against it.
Libba Ross is no quitter!
Her arms and legs jerked as she attempted to get back to her feet. Din's face came into her field of vision, a delighted expression on his face. He clapped his hands. "She's a strong one. I knew I’d chosen right. Her DNA will work excellently."
Libba spat at him. The glob of moisture fell back onto her own forehead as everything went black.
Chapter Two
"Stealth shields are up."
Brask nodded at his pilot and best friend, Biryl, to acknowledge that he had heard him. Their small ship was especially designed for these raids. Usually, it was used in attacks sanctioned by the Justice Board, but when it came to Science Alpha Din, nobody dared touch him. His mother, Nylæq, was one of the most powerful dragonesses on Bronæl, with half the Science Board, not to mention the other boards, in her pocket and the largest privately-owned fleet of ships at her disposal.
Everybody knew that Din practiced unethical scientific experiments, but every attempt to imprison him for his blasphemy was frustrated. His mother was too powerful and used a variety of means to ensure that her son escaped justice.
And so Brask had no choice but to step outside of the law himself. Din's horrendous experiments on non-sentient beings were bad enough, as they were unable to give their consent to his methods, but he had crossed a line now. There were newly-formed laws to prevent the abduction of human females from their planet, yet here Din was, kidnapping one for his twisted experiments.
Humans were sentient. They could understand and protest against the experiments he intended to perform. The Creator only knew that Din would enjoy every scream, every plea for mercy. It made Brask's fires burn so hot they scorched his throat.
Brask's informant had told him that the human on Din’s ship was going to be disintegrated and her DNA injected into Din's crew and sold on the black market. It left the fires in his belly nothing more than coal. What sort of depraved Stlozyn couldn’t wait a year or two for an ethical cure? If he had his way, they'd all be stripped of rank and set under the supervision of the Sanitation Board, cleaning sewers and sweeping streets.
"Bring us in close," he ordered Biryl. "I'll have to jump across."
"I still think you should have brought more of a crew," Biryl grumbled, steering the little ship in closer to Din's. "Look at that thing. If we make it out of this alive, I might just start believ
ing in that Creator of yours."
"You won't and you know it," Brask replied, lightly punching his friend's arm. "You'll still believe the atoms of the universe exist by chance."
Biryl shrugged.
Din's vessel was a huge, intimidating vessel armed with all the latest weaponry, big enough to pull a small asteroid off its course. It was unthinkable that a science vessel should be armed like a warship. Weapons were for guards and Justice Keepers, not scientists. Certainly not scientists who flaunted the blasphemous unethical practices Din employed. If it were not against the Warrior's Code, Brask would have killed the dragon long ago and submitted himself to the Justice Board. But he was physically superior to Din, and to kill him without direct provocation would be just as bad as the experiments the Science Alpha performed.
"I still say you should have brought more of a crew."
"The fewer involved, the fewer imprisoned if Din stops us. Or killed, depending on his mood." Brask scowled. "Open the cargo door on my mark."
Biryl nodded. Brask walked to the cargo bay, sealing himself in to prevent the vacuum from ripping Biryl from the pilot's chair. He took a moment to compose himself before he let his beast transform him. His body lengthened, the tiny scales that covered him grew bigger and thicker and his mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. Wings sprouted from his back and a tail ending in five barbs stretched out behind his body.
Once the transformation was complete, he let out a short barking sound, knowing it would travel through the ship. Sure enough, the doors opened seconds later.
The vacuum of space hit Brask hard, knocking the breath from his lungs. His fires burned hotter to counteract the cold that had already frosted over his eyes. He pressed his wings against his back, streamlining himself. The force of being sucked from the cargo bay was enough to shoot him directly onto the hull of the science vessel they hovered over. He latched on with his claws, knowing he had only seconds to get out of the nothingness that was stealing his life even as he scrambled along the ship's hull.
Brask quickly found an exhaust port. They were made big enough for a person to slip inside to clean off the internal residue, and the Justice Warrior was just able to squeeze himself in. Though air brushed against his face and his lungs begged him to inhale, he resisted the urge. These emissions were the only ones that could not be broken back into their atomic level and restructured into useful gasses; to breathe this air would mean instant death.
He made his way through the ventilation shafts, taking the route he had memorized before he started this venture. His scales were steaming from the toxic gasses by the time he got to the filters. He tore through them and into the ship. Alarms were ringing, and he hoped they were because of the distraction his informant was meant to cause.
Thirty seconds to get to the human, he thought, moving to the door.
He didn't bother to suppress his beast. He could move quicker this way, and if he ended up in a fight, his thick scales and ability to breathe fire would give him an advantage over the energy weapons the scientists would use against him.
Unless they had cannons. But then, if that was the case he would be reduced to organic waste no matter which form he took.
It was a sign of Din's arrogance that there were no guards patrolling the halls, and no one challenged Brask as he made his way to the human’s holding cell. It was locked with a passcode, but no matter. The Justice Warrior grinned as he charged the door, the metal screeching as it crumpled.
The human female screamed when she saw him. He let out a puff of smoke, tinging it green to show that he meant her no harm, and reached out for her. They had to move quickly if they were going to get away before Din discovered the intrusion.
To his surprise, the female dodged his outstretched hand and swung her fists–dark purple with bruises, covered in dried blood–at him. Brask pulled back, making an annoyed noise in his throat. He hadn't counted on this. Did she want to stay on this hellish ship to be dissolved for her DNA?
One of the fists came at his eye and Brask didn't turn away soon enough. Pain lanced through the delicate orb, shooting back through the optic nerves into his brain. The dragon reeled back instinctively, sweeping a wing at the human as her fists continued to rain on his feet. She fell to the floor, letting out a pained grunt.
"Touch me and die!" she screamed, getting back to her feet at once. She darted past Brask into the hall.
Belatedly, the Justice Warrior realized that she didn't know he was there to rescue her. But they had already wasted precious time, and he couldn't transform and explain the situation to her. Whirling, he caught the back of her clothing in his teeth and hoisted her from the ground. She screeched, writhing every which way like a feral beast. When he wrapped her in a wing, securing her arms and legs, she bit him.
Creator help him, she actually bit him.
He felt the pressure of her teeth clamp on his wing, but the skin was too thick and her teeth too blunt to cause any pain. Brask shook his head as he started back down the corridor. The human had courage in her, that was for sure!
"I'll kill you," she screamed again. "I swear to God I will kill you!"
The invocation of a deity had his heart leaping, but Brask tucked the human closer to his body and ignored her continued spitting. Now she was screaming profanities, strings of curse words that he had never heard before. The fury in her voice let him know exactly what she thought of him, though. He darted through the corridors, fanning the fires in his belly in case he came across an enemy.
He did, but only once, a dragoness who nodded and stepped aside when he growled at her. Her gaze was on the human–clearly, she was a member of Din's crew who did not accept his blasphemies.
They were at the escape pod within a few minutes, but already they were running five seconds behind. That was not good. His informant, Trafin, a tiny, purple-scaled dragoness, was already there, firing up the controls. There was hardly enough room for Brask in his beast's form, but he managed to squeeze in and hit the control to shut the door after them.
"Let me go, you freaking dragon!" The human was kicking again, making her hard to hold.
"Relax," Trafin said over her shoulder, as she piloted the escape pod away from the science vessel. "We're rescuing you."
Her assurances did nothing to calm the human down.
***
In the end, the human needed to be sedated in order to prevent her from harming herself further. Brask stood outside the medical bay, watching her sleep. He was fascinated by how soft and fragile she looked. She was plump like a baby, her skin smooth without the protection of scales. And yet she had fought tooth and nail against the perceived threat. He liked that.
He liked that a lot.
Biryl stepped up beside him, handing him a tablet with an attached infolink. The infolink, a spike that was inserted directly into the brain for information upload, was the most efficient way of transferring data, but Brask didn't use it unless he needed to. His brain wasn't able to handle the influx of information well. He preferred to process data as it came, rather than receive it all at once and have to sort through it to find what was relevant.
"Bruised knuckles, fractured phalanges." Brask shook his head. "And all self-inflicted. She must have been beating the walls trying to escape. I'd like to sever Din's head from his shoulders for this. The man has no respect for science or life."
Biryl grunted in agreement. "We've already healed her injuries. The real question is what we're going to do with her now. She was illegally abducted from Earth, but we illegally retrieved her. And with his mother at his back, Din might just get her back if we give her to the Science Board."
"It's illegal not to." Brask clenched his fists, welcoming the hot flood of anger in his belly. It was the reason he had chosen to go into Justice rather than Science. He was always deemed too emotional, but when it came to Justice, emotion gave him his strength.
"We are Justice Keepers, it's our duty to uphold the law." Biryl put a hand on his shoulder. "With the n
ew members on the Science Board, maybe Nylæq won't have the influence to return the human to Din."
"We are Justice Keepers. But do we obey the word or the spirit of Justice?" Brask sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I am going to cleanse. I can feel the toxins from that exhaust still in my pores. Inform me when the human wakes. I want to talk with her myself."
Biryl nodded. "I will."
Brask turned away, his limbs feeling heavy. There was only one legal way to keep the human with them–but was it something she would agree to? And even if she did, could he do it in good conscience, knowing that she would be agreeing only because she feared for her life?
Creator, he prayed, let me know what I should do.
Chapter Three
The door opened and Libba went to smooth her hair before she remembered she had shaved her head on the anniversary of her best friend dying of cancer. Before she had donated it all, her hair had been long enough to touch her ass. But hair grew back, and honestly, other people needed it more than she did.
The alien who stepped into the room was bigger than the other one, Din, had been. He was taller, broader, more muscular. Like Din, his skin was covered in tiny scales, each one catching the light and reflecting it back. Instead of Din's orange, though, this alien was a silver-blue color, which made the red of his eyes all the bolder. A terrifying sight, even though there was something relaxed about him that made him not nearly as frightening as the other one.
She shivered at the thought of Din. Would this new alien want to kill her for her DNA too? At least her hands were healed, so she could fight him off a little more effectively. At least she hoped she could.
"Hello. My name is Brask." The alien bowed. "I apologize for frightening you before, but we had limited time to escape from Din's ship and I couldn't take the time to explain."