by Ravenna Tate
Evernight Publishing ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2015 Ravenna Tate
ISBN: 978-1-77233-297-1
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Editor: Karyn White
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
To the real Marianne.
Thank you for allowing me to use your name in this one.
MARIANNE’S ABDUCTION
Voyeur Moon, 3
Ravenna Tate
Copyright © 2015
Chapter One
Marianne Kowalski hadn’t had a girls’ night out with friends since before the first invasion of the Tyranns nearly two years ago, so she was due. There were plenty of bars still open because the people left behind on Earth had little else to do besides drink.
The only jobs that still remained were those whose importance or necessity still existed, or had increased since the Tyranns first destroyed all the satellites in orbit and then began landing on the planet. Commerce and communication between countries was essentially gone. It was even difficult now to get information from one state to another. There had been a few attempts to restore the postal system, but delivery was sporadic at best.
Marianne had earned an MBA with a concentration in marketing before the first invasion, and had been working for an up and coming IT consulting service, advising clients on needed hardware and software to maximize their business. Then they had landed on the planet, and within three months the business was gone.
There was no need for such jobs now, because the Internet was more sporadic than the mail delivery, and the only people consistently online were the hackers or survivalists. And they weren’t buying new hardware or software.
So Marianne had taken a job in a local grocery store, stocking shelves with what little food they could get. She lived in a nearby apartment building where the landlord had fled six months ago, and where residents now lived in a bizarre co-op, often having to defend their building from would-be squatters or gangs of people who tried to take it over. Most days they simply hoped the water and electricity would be on that day. Both were hit and miss.
Marianne lived moment to moment caught between fear for her life, and the hope that soon the ships from the Alpha Centauri system would stop landing on the planet. Surely there was nothing left here they wanted.
Up until a few months ago, they had taken to peppering the streets of the city with fliers, explaining in their language and in American English that they had conquered Earth, and would be taking all the inhabitants to their own planets, little by little. No explanation why, and of course that only fed the speculation.
If rumors from other cities or online were to be believed, only the women were being transported off Earth in droves, and they were being taken to be used as sex slaves. No one knew what had happened to the men who’d been taken. But Marianne knew rumors like that often proved to be nothing more than urban legends, so she wasn’t terribly worried about a spacecraft landing in front of her building and sweeping her away one night. She had more important things on her mind. Like simply surviving.
But tonight, she and five women who had formed an odd friendship during the past few months were going to one of the local bars that had been around long before the invasion began, and whose owner steadfastly refused to close his business, no matter what. He’d formed an alliance with other bar owners around the state to smuggle in booze, since that was almost as difficult to get these days as food.
Greebo’s Place was one of the few bars in town that hadn’t been taken over by gangs of rough looking men on motorcycles, largely due to the fact that George Greebo, the owner, knew how to use a shotgun and wasn’t afraid to let everyone know it. Prior to the invasions, Marianne wouldn’t have gone near his place, but tonight it was a safe haven. She needed to let loose and have some fun. They all did.
George still served greasy burgers and onion rings every night, so she indulged in those, plus a plate of loaded nachos the six women shared, and she drank her first margarita in over a year. It tasted like heaven. The women talked about their crappy jobs, the almost primitive living conditions most of them had been forced into, and what they each thought would become of their planet.
“Do you think the rumors about the sex slaves are true?” asked Kathie, a wide-eyed blonde with whom Marianne worked.
Jennifer raised her glass. “Well if they are, I wish they’d get around to picking me. I haven’t had sex in like five years.”
The others laughed, including Marianne, whose thoughts turned to Jacob. They always did whenever she was among a group of women discussing sex or significant others. Jacob Mariner had gone to Europe about a month before the first invasion to backpack with two male friends. He hadn’t been seen or heard from since the first alien ships landed.
The plan had been for him to be gone no longer than a few months, and then return home where he had a job waiting alongside Marianne. They’d dated through most of their undergrad years, and had become engaged during graduate school. The only reason Marianne hadn’t gone to Europe with him was because they’d already planned to go there on their honeymoon, and she wanted him to have his bonding time with friends.
Marianne glanced down at her ring finger on her left hand. She’d stopped wearing her engagement ring about six months ago when someone had tried to pry it off her hand. Jewelry could be bartered for food or cigarettes. Now, she wore it on a thin chain around her neck, but the chain was long enough that she could tuck the ring into her cleavage and hide it.
She had no idea to this day whether Jacob was alive and unable to reach her, or if he was dead. And unless the satellites were rebuilt and launched again one day, she might never find out. Travel by airplane or steamship across the ocean was gone. There weren’t even any local flights these days, and she hadn’t seen a military plane fly overhead in at least six months.
“Earth to Marianne. Did you hear me?”
She glanced up at Bonnie, frowning. “No. Sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked if you saw that new guy at work. The one who started last week.”
“Barry? He’s eighteen if he’s a day.”
“Yeah, but he’s cute.”
“Good lord. I’m not that desperate to get laid.” She was only twenty-six. Surely her sex life wasn’t over already, was it? Then again, it was difficult these days to imagine having an intimate relationship with a man ever again.
“Well I am that desperate,” said Sasha, raising her glass.
“Same here,” said Pam, clinking glasses with each of them in turn. “I say we all take him on and show him how it’s done.”
Laughter filled the air, but Marianne’s thoughts drifted back to her life before all this began. She missed Jacob, and she missed her aunt and uncle. They’d been gone for over a year now, having left voluntarily on one of the large transport ships to take jobs on a planet called Sera. Marianne had thought they were out of their minds to go and had begged them not to, but they’d insisted it was a legit opportunity, and told her they’d send for her in a few months, once they were settled.
They’d left their home in Marianne’s care, with enough money for her to take care of upkeep on the house for six months. She’d never heard from them again. Once Marianne lost her job, she couldn’t make en
ds meet on both their home and her apartment, and had been forced to try to sell the house. Homes weren’t selling by then, and since the mortgage wasn’t being paid, the bank eventually foreclosed on it.
Marianne clutched her small bag. In it was the first shred of hope she’d had that she might see her aunt and uncle again one day. But if she left Earth to do that, what would happen if Jacob were still alive?
Tucked into her bag was a letter she’d found inside her mailbox at the apartment complex two weeks ago. It had an embossed seal at the top of the paper, and indicated Blake and Betsy Williams were working in an official capacity at the Ministry on Sera for the Regum as attorneys, involved in the contract negotiations between the Regum and the Tyranns.
Whatever the hell that meant.
The letter went on to say that should Marianne wish to join them, she would need to present herself for transport in three weeks’ time. The letter explained that the Office of Earth Retrieval had placed her on the list of those approved for transport to Sera, and it gave detailed instructions as to where and when she needed to be.
Marianne hadn’t shown it to anyone. There were no liaisons that she knew of here on Earth who could verify all this was true. She was faced with a difficult choice. Go to the designated place and hope this was real, and that she would be taken to join her aunt and uncle on another planet, or stay and wait to hear news of Jacob.
She didn’t know what to do. She had no frame of reference for this. No one did. But Aunt Betsy and Uncle Blake were the closest family she had. Shouldn’t she want to be with them again?
Her aunt and uncle had become her legal guardians once they’d taken her in. They’d never had children of their own. Aunt Betsy and her mother had been sisters, and she and Uncle Blake had given Marianne a home after her parents had been killed in a boating accident when she was thirteen. Marianne was an only child, and the remainder of her family lived out of state or was always traveling overseas. She hadn’t heard from any of them since the first invasion.
It had made for a lonely life, but Marianne had never complained. She came from a long line of overachievers and hadn’t needed anyone to motivate her to attend college and do well in school. Aunt Betsy and Uncle Blake had given her a comfortable home and an expensive education. The loneliness and isolation had gone along with the territory.
And now here she was, still lonely and still isolated, drinking bootleg tequila and eating her body weight in nachos and greasy food with five women. Five women who, before the invasion had occurred, were merely people Marianne might have passed on the street while walking to the nearest salon or clothing boutique. She wouldn’t have given them a second glance, but now they were her best friends. Her only friends.
The conversation moved onto other things, including their jobs again, but Marianne’s thoughts kept wandering. She drank two more margaritas, knowing it hardly mattered since she lived close enough to walk home, and was off for the next two days. Not that it even mattered whether she showed up for work, hungover or otherwise. The pay was lousy, and no one there gave a shit how well she did her job. Most days, no one cared whether she did it at all.
When they finally left Greebo’s Place, the streets were deserted. It was a warm summer night, but no insects sang and there was barely a breeze. The six women lived close to one another, so they walked together, their shoes sounding unnaturally loud on the pavement. As they approached her building, Marianne told them she wanted to stay outside a bit longer. No one protested, but even if they had, she would have ignored them. They told her to be careful and went on their way.
Marianne felt like she was suffocating. Although the booze and food were likely contributing to the sensation, she knew it had as much to do with everything that had happened in two years as it did with what she’d ingested tonight. Talking about her plight with five others for four solid hours had brought it all home.
She should have gone to Sera with her aunt and uncle in the first place. What did she have here to look forward to? And if she was taken one day, what would happen to her? Marianne reached into her bag and took out the letter. Its edges were already frayed from reading it so many times. It was her only chance to be with them once more, but it also meant she’d likely never see Jacob again.
Yet if she stayed, she risked being taken by the Tyranns, if the rumors were true. The women were being taken to Voyeur Moon, one of three planets in the Alpha Centauri system. Sera, where her aunt and uncle had gone, was the planet where the Regum lived. They were the ruling class that the Tyranns were fighting. The Tyranns were said to be freedom fighters—who just happened to be looking for sex slaves.
You couldn’t make this shit up.
She wasn’t sure who the Addonians were, but again if the urban legends were correct, they were a new class who weren’t exactly on the side of the Regum, but who also opposed what the Tyranns were doing with the Earth women.
And did it even matter? The bottom line was that they’d left Earth in shambles, and anyone still on the planet lived a half life, where they never knew from day to day if they’d have food, drinkable water, or a place to live. Leaving was the sensible thing to do. At least if she went to live with her aunt and uncle again, she wouldn’t have to find out firsthand if the rumors about what the Tyranns were doing with Earth women were true.
Marianne clutched the letter in her hand as she walked around the block, taking in huge gulps of air. She hadn’t drunk that much alcohol in such a short time for a few years, and didn’t want to end up sick because of it. The best way she knew to avoid a hangover was to walk it off and get plenty of fresh air. At least, that had always worked in college.
She stopped walking when she heard a mechanical sound, far away. It might be an AC unit, but as she listened, it sounded more like a drone. They still flew them overhead once in a while, although no one knew what they did with the information they collected. She hadn’t heard one for weeks, but then she wasn’t listening for them every day. Consequently, they had become easy to ignore.
Once the sound stopped, Marianne decided to walk around the block next to her building as well, and had just crossed the street when the sound reappeared, louder now. It annoyed her more than frightened her, because she desperately needed to be alone with her own thoughts right now. As she passed an abandoned office building, she ducked into the recessed entrance to wait for the drone to pass.
She swore it slowed as it came toward her, but likely that was only her imagination. It didn’t matter. Let it collect whatever information it wanted to. What could they do to her? Once it flew past, she continued walking, and decided to keep going when she reached the end of the street. There was a lake up ahead, and she heard seagulls squawking. Standing near the water watching birds might be peaceful in the middle of the night.
As she approached it, another sound overpowered that of the birds. It was the idling motor of a spacecraft, and it had landed on the grass next to the lake. She stopped and watched, more curious than afraid, but didn’t see anyone near it. She’d never actually seen an alien, but heard they looked as human as anyone. They apparently had learned most of the languages on Earth, and if they spoke to anyone here they did so in that person’s own language, not their own.
Marianne walked slowly, moving closer to the spacecraft. She’d crossed half the distance between the street and the craft when she whirled around at the sound of footsteps. She had no time to react, other than to let out a yelp before two men were suddenly next to her.
She stared at them, her heart hammering in her ears. They did indeed look human, and were dressed in combat fatigues. But she’d never seen insignias like the ones they bore on their jackets.
There was no time to think. She merely acted on a sudden urge as she thrust the letter at them. “Can you get me to Sera? I want to be taken to my aunt and uncle, please.”
She watched their faces as they read the letter, daring to let hope build when it looked like they understood what it said. But then one of the m
en moved closer to her and reached inside his jacket pocket. Marianne backed away, but a sharp prick in her left arm stopped her. Then her world went dark.
Chapter Two
Vaughn and his brother, River, eyed each other as the transport landed on the tarmac. They’d been alerted by Jakara, the man they now worked for, that an Earth woman had been found carrying one of the fake letters the Tyranns had been sending out. The two men manning the transport ship had brought her to Addo, per Jakara’s instructions.
The Tyranns had been planting the letters for certain Earth women left behind to find. Any woman who had family members that were working for the Regum or the Addonians were being rounded up by the Tyranns, using letters that told the women they’d be brought to Sera to be reunited with their families.
That was about as far from the truth as it could get. The Tyranns were taking them to Voyeur Moon and using them as bait to blackmail certain Earthlings now working for the Regum or Addonians, and who therefore posed a threat to the Tyranns. Whoever this girl was related to, it was someone the Tyranns wanted stopped, or someone they now held as a prisoner.
By planting the letters telling them they’d be reunited with their families, they could argue the women had come to this system voluntarily, as opposed to their usual method of simply snatching Earth women off the planet when the opportunity arose, as they’d been doing for two years now.
The Addonians were a newer group, formed not only of Regum who were tired of their own antiquated and restrictive laws, but also of Tyranns who no longer wanted to treat the Earth women as nothing more than sex slaves.
The Addonians had sprung up to fight what the Tyranns had been doing to the Earth women in the first place. Even some of their own people had abandoned the name Tyrann and become instead “Addonian”. The new group was an embarrassment to the Tyranns, and they took it personally.