Then all went dark.
February 11
I have no idea how long I was unconscious. I gather it was hours, but I could be wrong. I guess it doesn’t matter.
I woke to the smell of new-cut grass. It was such a distinctive scent that, for an instant, I believed I was on Earth. Then I noticed the silvery ceiling that emitted a dull gray light. Where the hell was I?
I sat up, finding myself stiff and uncomfortable. I guess sleeping on the rough ground does that to you. My jaw dropped open when I saw that despite the ceiling overhead and three beige walls surrounding me, I was on a grassy stretch of turf. There was a small tree, similar to a birch, and a plot of red flowers that glittered in the light. There were a couple of large stones and a pond, too.
Beyond the encircling walls was another space, reminding me of my sitting room on the transport, but I paid little attention to it. I’d spotted Oses sprawled near the rocks, his bare feet dipping into the pond. He was still out.
I sprang up...well, maybe ‘sprang’ is too graceful a motion to describe what I did. I lumbered to standing, ungainly and my balance questionable. I lost no time in staggering over to the Nobek.
I noted some strange shit as I approached my unconscious companion. For one thing, Oses was no longer in his uniform. He wore what I took to be animal hide pieces, a vest and a skirt...or maybe it should be called a kilt. The vest was open with no closures, leaving his carved and scarred torso bare in front. The kilt thingy was tied low on his hips and went almost to the tops of his knees.
There was also a thick white strap circling his throat. Tiny squares of metallic netting studded the strap, and I detected no closure on the thing. At least it didn’t appear to be choking him.
My mind was more focused on waking Oses than his new fashions. I knelt at his side, grabbed his shoulders, and shook.
“Oses, wake up. Oses, can you hear me?”
The Nobek’s eyes fluttered. Then they opened all at once, and he sat up. His face twisted into a bestial snarl, showing his fangs. He grabbed me by the throat. I froze.
Not half a second later, Oses recovered himself. The animal fury in his expression turned to horror. He let go of my neck and yanked me close. “Shalia! I’m so sorry, pet. I didn’t know who was touching me at first.”
My heart eased down on its wild gallop. “It’s okay. I’m glad you’re all right and prepared to kick ass.”
Oses pushed me back and checked me over. It was only then that I realized I was wearing something new too. New and weird.
I had on a sheath made up of some animal’s fur. I was dressed as a cave woman. My feet were bare and I could tell I had no underwear on. Yeah, in the middle of all the confusion, I noticed I wasn’t wearing underwear. I’m weird like that.
Suspicious, I touched my throat where Oses had been ready to choke the life out of me. I felt a thick strap studded with metal beneath my fingertips. Okay, so I was wearing some type of collar too.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked.
Oses rocked himself up to a crouch and glanced over our surroundings. His nostrils flared wide as he sniffed the cut-grass air.
I looked too, paying attention to the area beyond the grassy habitat. I gasped at what I saw.
It wasn’t remarkable. It appeared much like my sitting room, as I said before, except it was larger. There was a raised flat surface that was upholstered in shiny orange fabric, a type of sofa. The flooring was covered in thick white fur. If I stepped on it, I wondered if I’d sink calf-deep into it. Trays floated in various places in the chamber. One held a decanter of black liquid and some clear glasses. Another had a heap of what appeared to be red poker chips. A different tray had a vase with a single yellow flower.
It was what surrounded the area that had my attention. There were other habitat-type chambers, with alien environments I recognized from vids. Trees dotted one, with a thick carpet of gold leaves on the floor. A Plasian woman sat naked in the middle of that area, her expression stretched in sadness. She sat very still and stared down at the ground, tears dripping as if to water it. She uttered no sound. She wore a collar too.
Another space had a muddy floor with many boulders. One of the boulders moved and turned a tusked face towards us. I stiffened as a Tragoom peered at us through tiny eyes. Instead of attacking, it twisted away once more.
There was a Dantovonian in a jungle setting. An Isetacian clung to a webbing of long vines in a dripping environment. A Yeknap peeked out of a hill of sand. An emerald-furred Joshadan lay in a tiny cave. They all had collars. Nobody said anything. The prisoners all had the same expression; as if they’d witnessed the end of the universe.
“What the fuck?” Oses whispered to me. “The openings to these rooms must be covered by containment fields.”
I had an ugly feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Are we in a zoo?”
Oses stood. He didn’t answer me. “Stay here. I’ll see what type of field holds us in here. I don’t want you hurt.”
I grabbed his hand. “I don’t want you hurt either. Don’t fuck with stuff, okay?”
He gave me a patient gaze. “I have to find out what’s going on, don’t I?”
“Then ask the other inmates.” I motioned to the other creatures. “I need you, Oses. If you get yourself killed, what the hell will happen to me?”
The Nobek slowly nodded and leaned close so that his lips touched my ear. “Shalia, until we know what our best course of action is, do not mention the baby. Do not speak of it out loud.”
My heart froze. I hadn’t even considered my hitchhiker. Holy shit, things were worse than I anticipated.
Oses barked in Kalquorian. The only person who answered him was the Dantovonian.
His...or her...face was one I couldn’t read an expression on. Segmented in a hard exoskeleton, the Dantovonian looks as if a frog and a praying mantis made a love connection and had a kid, which they immediately encased in a brownish armor. No, it’s uglier than that. What the hell, it’s the closest I can come to describing their kind.
With the segments of its face softly grinding together, the Dantovonian buzzed at Oses. My Kalquorian friend’s expression went severe as he listened. When the critter stopped talking, Oses regarded me with a furious expression.
“You were right about the zoo. We’ve been captured by the Ofetuchan and placed in an exhibit aboard his ship. He collects other sentients as trophies and shows them off to his friends. Lurb – that’s the Dantovonian’s name – says he thinks there are more exhibits elsewhere on board.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“If your Little Creep is caught in Galactic Council member planets’ space, yes. The trouble is, this ship is as well-cloaked as he manages to be. Or rather, phased.”
“Phased?”
Oses considered, taking in the situation all the while. He was trying to figure a way out of our predicament. “Phasing can render people invisible to others. It’s like existing on a parallel plane, except the person who is phased can see us while we can’t see, hear, or smell them. They can even pass through solid objects in that state.”
I recalled how I’d collided with others on the space station during my struggle with the Little Creep, and how they’d not noticed. Had I actually passed through their bodies?
“How does a person phase?”
“The Ofetuchan has a device on his belt. Lurb says it’s small and gold, a tapered tube.”
“What did Lurb say about the containment field?”
Oses scowled. “If we touch it, it’ll trigger pain conductors in these collars. If we stay in contact with the field for too long, it could kill us.”
“Indeed it could, Kalquorian. It’s a good thing you asked before attempting to charge through.”
For a moment, that sweet chiming voice brought joy to my heart. Then I realized who it belonged to, and the spell broke. I jerked and jumped to spy Little Creep outside our habitat.
I gawped at the scary alien beaming at us. When had
he shown up? I noticed that the other inmates had hidden or cowered in the corners of their cells. That was not a happy sign.
Oses growled, showing fangs and getting between me and the Ofetuchan. In those animal hides, the Nobek appeared primitive and nasty. His muscles stood out, corded and veined. I was impressed.
Little Creep was not. In fact, he seemed pleased.
“Very nice. I’d given up on being able to keep any Kalquorians in my collection because your kind has a terrible habit of committing suicide rather than being imprisoned. Having the Earther woman to defend might make it worth your while to stay alive. You are a magnificent specimen.” Little Creep practically danced in his delight.
Oses stopped growling. His fangs began to hinge once more as he blinked uncertainly. I guess the Ofetuchan’s voice had an effect on him similar to what it did to me.
It lasted only a couple of seconds. Oses resumed growling and acted ready to spring at the bastard. Remembering what the Dantovonian had reported about the containment field, I gripped his shoulder. Oses thrummed under my touch, as if he had an electrical current running through him.
Little Creep’s eyes shone as he examined me. “An Earther female. You are the real prize, especially given how few of you are left. You’ll be the center of my collection.”
“Fuck you.” I pretended I wasn’t shaking in my fur. The fear counteracted the spell. That much was hopeful.
Oses wasn’t so lucky. Yet again he stopped snarling and started to relax. An instant later, he became big, mean Nobek once more. “You lay a hand on her, and I’ll rip you to shreds.” Oses’s words slurred around his fangs.
“I don’t have to touch her. As for any punishment she receives, that is entirely up to you. A demonstration.” Little Creep said something that sounded like sherbeg.
Agony bolted through my spine and skull, white-hot and razor-sharp, a lightning bolt full of daggers. I’m sure I screamed. I don’t remember doing so. I don’t remember anything except immeasurable agony that made me wish I could die.
It only lasted a second, but it was the longest, most horrific second of my life. When it was over, I was lying on my back with Oses crouched over me, shouting my name. My whole body jittered.
Little Creep’s tone oozed delicious poison. “A single word, and she suffers unbearably. As do you if she misbehaves. Sherbeg.”
Oses, whose face had gone slack again when Little Creep spoke, suddenly screamed fit to shatter my eardrums. He went stiff, and he fell over. He jerked and flailed on the grass.
“Oses!” I hauled my shaking body up and grabbed him. He continued to contort and shriek.
I screamed at Little Creep. “Stop it! You’re killing him!”
“Oh, it won’t kill him. It might drive him insane, but he won’t die if I switch it off in time. Blonay.”
Oses’s cries cut off, resolving into moans. He twitched uncontrollably and heaved for breath.
“There, you see? He’ll be fine once he recovers from his lesson.”
I tried to ignore the melodious voice from Hell. I concentrated on Oses. “Oses, talk to me.”
The Nobek was suddenly up, towering over me. His expression contorted in rage and he fucking roared at Little Creep.
It was then I noticed that Oses had lost control of his bodily functions when he’d been tortured. So had I, it turned out.
I rose to stand at his side, staring in horror at Little Creep. “What the hell did you do to us?” I gasped.
“The collars deliver pain at my order to keep you in line,” he said with a bright smile. “As you’ll be spending the rest of your lives here, I suggest you learn obedience right away. Oses’s fuck-ups result in your punishment, and your misbehavior leads to his torment. The demonstration was lenient. You do not want to find out what true punishment is.”
Oses had begun to shake his head hard while Little Creep spoke. He was trying to drive off the hypnotic spell the bastard kept weaving over his senses.
“Oh, that won’t do anything but give you a headache,” our captor said. “Kalquorians and Plasians in particular are susceptible to the aural frequency of our voices. It lulls certain parts of your brain. Earthers feel it too, at least to some extent.”
He frowned at me then. I felt a glimmer of hope that I could escape his spell, but it scared me that he wasn’t happy about it. I didn’t want the collar activated again.
Little Creep told me, “With the brains of Kalquorians and Earthers being so similar, it should have the same effect. I wonder why you’re able to shake it off so well?”
I had no idea, and I decided to not answer him. Silence seemed my best defense.
Little Creep shrugged it off. “No matter. The collar is more than adequate to keep you in line. Now for another lesson.”
With that, he disappeared. The space where the containment held us captive shivered, like ripples in a lake. I gaped and exchanged a glance with Oses. “Where do you think he went?”
The melodious voice answered from behind me. “Do you miss me already, Shalia?”
I yelped to discover the Ofetuchan grinning up at me. An instant later, Oses snatched me backwards, putting himself between me and the nasty freak. He shook all over as he glowered at our captor, a muscled earthquake personified. After a moment, I figured out why Oses was trembling so violently: it was taking all his willpower to not attack Little Creep. I wondered why he didn’t go for it. I would have if Oses hadn’t been in my way, especially when I saw the phase thing-y Lurb had told us about. It was indeed on the critter’s belt and gold in color. To me, it appeared similar to a kazoo.
I thought for sure Oses would try for it, but he didn’t. Then it occurred to me that if the Nobek went after the Little Creep and failed to squash our tormentor, I would be punished. That was the reason he held off.
He might as well have tried. Things couldn’t have gone any worse.
Little Creep grinned at Oses. “Your breed does have some sense. I didn’t think Nobeks could control their violent urges.”
After a pause to let the Ofetuchan’s spell fade, Oses snarled, “I may have many surprises in store for you.”
“Perhaps.” Little Creep nodded, as if impressed. “I was sure I would be teaching you an additional important lesson, in which attacking me would bring on more torture.” He grinned up at Oses. “You cannot touch me without setting off your collar. Physical contact without my willing it brings you the same agony as what you’ve just felt.”
Oses again shook off the mesmerizing notes. I too found myself sinking into a trance and blinked hard to pull myself out. My terror hadn’t gone, but as the minutes passed, it faded. My immunity to Little Creep was wearing off.
Little Creep sat on a large rock in our environment. “You are Shalia and Nobek Oses. My name is Finiuld, and you are my property. This environment is your new home. It is based on Earth rather than Kalquor, but I believe the Nobek will find it adequate for living.”
“I cannot be penned up in such a small space for long,” Oses growled. “It’ll drive me insane.”
Little Creep – Finiuld – chuckled in a mean tone. “Oh, you’ll be brought out from time to time so I can show you off to my friends. You are not just a prize for me to collect and stare at when the mood strikes. You are also entertainment.”
I was thunderstruck. “We’re not trained animals giving shows in a circus!” I exclaimed.
The bastard crooked an eyebrow at me. “I am not sure what a ‘circus’ is, but I assure you, you’ll give my guests enjoyable diversions. If you refuse to perform, the Kalquorian will suffer most horribly. If he balks, you’ll be tortured. It’s as simple as that.” He grinned his awful tombstone smile. “I’ve heard enough pass between you two to know you mean a great deal to each other. Don’t think I won’t use it to its fullest capacity.”
Oses started growling again when he understood all that Finiuld had said. I almost growled myself. Who knew what this maniac had in mind for us?
“You’ll be fed. Yo
u may wash – and I would expect you to do that soon – in the pond. The water is circulated and cleaned continuously, so you may both bathe and drink from it. The temperature in here is kept at a comfortable level. If you enjoy painting or reading or some pastime, I’ll grant the materials for that, provided you behave yourselves.”
I couldn’t help myself. “Gee, what a nice guy.”
Finiuld’s gaze narrowed. “I can be. Do what you’re told and you’ll see that. Disobey me and suffer the consequences.”
Oses said, “You’ll pay for this. You’ll pay dearly.”
Shalia's Diary Omnibus Page 69