THE RED MIST TRILOGY: The Box Set

by R T Green

  ‘Is Lisa ok? She doesn’t bring the food anymore.’

  ‘I thought it best you and she did not have any further contact.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘She is... not herself at this time. A little emotionally unstable.’

  I already knew that. ‘Anything to do with me?’

  ‘Perhaps.’

  Ok, not getting anywhere. Go for the jugular, test the water...

  ‘You and she had a bit of a thing going on?’

  She let out a little laugh. ‘Quaintly put, Madeline... but yes, she was my play partner.’

  Less-than-quaintly put, Tiri. ‘But you got bored with her?’ Ouch, straining at the leash again.

  She didn’t rise. ‘No, she became unsuitable.’

  Oh, I see. Not really, you hard-faced bitch. But it might explain my assumed role. ‘So now I’m the suitable one?’

  ‘I think so, yes.’

  Well, that fills me with pride, up there on my doggy pedestal. One of me is disgusted, one of me is thinking about the good bits. She’s there by my side again, my inner handler, patting me on the head and giving me a chewy treat. Why do I let her do this to me? Say something...

  ‘I’m not sure being looked upon as suitable exactly floats my boat, Tiri.’

  She nodded, reached out and placed her hand over mine. ‘I am sorry, I am trying to keep the emotion out of this. I... find you desirable, you bring something into my life I am not accustomed to. You, and that, both excite me.’

  It’s called humanity, Tiri. I didn’t say it out loud, unwilling to be shoved back in my kennel. ‘Guess that’s better than suitable.’

  She smiled, a kind of sad, unwilling smile. ‘Sitting here close to you, I find I am excited again. I would like to have you now, Madeline.’

  Yeah, kind of expected that. Kind of brought it onto myself, steering the conversation like I did.

  And now kind of got to smile sweetly and keep up the pretence, if I’m to stand any chance of getting unshackled.

  Chapter 104

  She led me to the play couch, turned me so she was behind me, and hot full lips kissed my shoulders. I leant back into her, unwilling but knowing I had to make her believe I wanted her touch, felt the tiny bites as her teeth worked their way around my neck.

  The dress was over my head in a second, her hands not wasting any time, drifting down my naked body.

  My heart was bouncing off my ribcage like a rubber ball on steroids, the touch of her fingers sending lightning bolts through my conduit, but in a far from nice way.

  ‘Let the couch take you where it will...’

  She stepped away from me and turned the lights to their dimmest setting. I virtually threw myself onto the couch, relieved there was no physical contact between us then. At least the delights of the couch were pleasurable...

  The softest of glows bathed the room in moody red light, the blue fronds slowly came to say hello, brushing against my skin like a Persian Blue, stroking, wafting away, then back to unfurl themselves across me. Oh boy, for sure I was playing the willing captive, but when the fronds come to greet me I don’t have to pretend very much.

  My inner goddess was awake again, telling me that when we die and go to heaven, this is how she wants it to be.

  Tiri stood by my side, taking no part in the heavenly embrace, silently watching, her silhouette smiling down on me.

  My inner self was watching too, sitting on a little white cloud, playing a golden harp and singing softly, and somewhat out of tune. I can’t sing, so why should she?

  My other self was drifting, the touch of the fronds gentler than before, caressing me with wisps of summer cloud, teasing me with silky feathers drifting in the breeze. I closed my eyes, every sense heightened, every pore drinking in the tiniest of touches as the fronds cocooned me in a haze of gentle stimulation.

  I was high, already, and nothing had even touched the spot. My fingers wanted to go there, but my angelic harp-player didn’t wish to spoil the moment too soon. Then I didn’t need the finger of a mere mortal anyway. My fiery fronds were back, curling just inside my wetness, teasing me higher still. I opened my eyes, just for a second, watched their dance between my legs.

  The fronds performed their salsa, swishing their red skirts and throwing back their heads dramatically. Too high, too soon, but my angelic voyeur wasn’t going to let me pop her high-altitude balloon just yet.

  My tiny salsa dancers slowed, just before the moment. Easing me through cotton-wool clouds into the warm sunshine above... wafting me gently into the most beautiful anticipation, washing over me like morning dew, gently blowing away everything except its own pure perfection.

  I sucked in air, realising I was forgetting to breath, such was the overpowering serenity encompassing me. I opened misty eyes, saw Tiri standing at the foot of the couch.

  Steely green eyes bore into mine. ‘Is this good for you?’ she asked. She sounded different again, unemotional.

  ‘Wonderful,’ I said breathily. And honestly. The effects of the couch were a delight I didn’t have to fake.

  ‘Good,’ she said, still lacking emotion.

  And then the bangles around my wrists and ankles buzzed into life, tightened their leashes.

  ‘Tiri..?’

  What was she doing? It’s ok, I’ll be satisfied with a frondy climax, you don’t need to do anything.

  Guess she wasn’t satisfied. The fronds said goodbye, the bangles stretched me out. I fought them, but knew it was pointless. They’d got me in their unshakeable grip, my feet at the bottom corners of the couch, and my wrists way over my head.

  I was vulnerable, exposed.

  ‘Tiri... what the fuck are you doing?’ In the low light she was almost a silhouette, but I could see her eyes blazing, narrowing menacingly. ‘Relax, Madeline.’

  Relax? Oh no, Tiri. This is one power-play too many. And in one fell swoop it’s ripped away all pretence. I’m done with playing your games, come what may.

  My inner angel was in the corner again, cowering behind a big dark raincloud. My castle on the hill was crumbling, my catapults smashed to pulp. It looked like my high ground was about to be vanquished.

  Tiri was there, leaning over me, kissing my forehead like she loved me. Her words hissed into my ear. ‘You had your moment of defiance, Madeline. But in my world there is only one queen. And she will be obeyed.’

  She was naked, climbing onto the bed, her hand slicing through my hair, grasping it firmly as she kissed me roughly. I tried to turn my head away, but she’d got me in a vice.

  There were tears in her eyes. Her breathing was wretched, hoarse. ‘Please close your eyes,’ she whispered.

  Her face was an inch from mine, her hot breath blasting over me. ‘I don’t want to close my eyes, Tiri. I want you to see the hatred glaring into you...’

  She ripped my head backwards, I could feel hair tearing from its roots. Her voice was cracked, hoarse. ‘You do not hate me...’

  It was a plea, not a statement. What the hell? Her hand stroked my face, clutching at my hair, her gasps like moans of despair.

  ‘I won’t let you hate me...’

  ‘Let me? You think you can force someone to love you? What kind of fucked-up bitch are you?’

  ‘One with all the power, Madeline...’

  Her face was right in front of mine, her manic green eyes drinking in my defeat, flaming anger into me. I wanted to thump her, show her just what I thought of her stupid words. My arms were way above my head, handcuffed by the bangles. There was no way to hit her.

  But one bit of me wasn’t shackled. And as she gloated a sick triumph in my face and began to run her hands across my curves, I knew I had to do something to stop this going any further. The hurt, the anger, the pain of the defeated foe boiled over.

  With all the strength I could muster I head-butted her, hard.

  She fell off the bed, crumpled onto the floor, stunned in more ways than one.

  Hell, now I really am done for.

  S
he struggled to her feet. I winced mentally, unable to do it physically, trussed up to all four corners. I held her stare, waiting for the retaliation. For a moment she glared into my eyes, unmoving. Then she turned away, walked out of my view. A few seconds later I heard the door hiss aside, and she was gone.

  Alone, the tears came. Tears of desolation, tears of defeat, tears of the realisation that her words were all too true. My moment of defiance was gone, the pretence that might have given me a lifeline, in ruins. And now there was nothing but thunderclouds, raining the cold rain of desolation, mingling with my tears and freezing me to the core.

  I was naked, shackled. I could not even wipe away the uncontrollable tears streaming down my face and flooding over my cold, goose-pimpled skin.

  I was beaten, ravaged.

  I guess it’s true what they say. A leopard won’t change its spots.

  Chapter 105

  It felt like an age I lay there, breaking my heart. Staked out in the midday sun, the vultures circling above me, waiting their time. My own personal vulture wasn’t amongst them, she’d already had her fill of me. I was alone in the prairie, and Jake Gyllenhaal wasn’t riding furiously to come and stop the inevitable. My mistress had wielded her devastating power, and made it shatteringly clear I had no control over my destiny.

  But then something even more unlikely happened.

  An electronic clunk filled my ears. And my blue shackles were gone.

  What now? My useless dead arms dropped to my sides, brought agonising tingles as the blood that had drained from them flooded back in.

  I struggled into a sitting position, closed my eyes to stop my world spinning. Shit, this was worse than being pissed out of my skull. I rubbed my arms, like my life depended on it. More pins and needles than a clothes factory sweatshop in Thailand stung them like hell, but slowly the feeling returned.

  I swung half-dead legs over the side of the couch, delicately stuck my feet on the floor, and held almost-usable arms out in from of me, disbelieving eyes flicking from one wrist to the other.

  It felt like something was missing.

  Something was. The shackles were gone. Totally gone.

  I staggered into the shower, turned the sonic pulses up to full. Oh, painful... but in a kind of nice way. Frantic, slightly-insane hands washed away Tiri’s retribution like they were on fast-forward. Times thirty-two. The sooner she was cleansed from me the better.

  I stood there for an age, a woman with a newly-discovered clinical phobia for dirt. A certain kind of dirt anyway. Gradually I began to feel better, the self-prescribed sonic-beam treatment doing its job.

  My hair needed water, and so did my face. Sonic waves just weren’t cutting it. I ran the basin full, plunged my head right in. It made me gasp like I’d almost drowned in the Antarctic, sent half the water across the floor. Good, some other minion can clear it up.

  But it helped. The hair, the puffy eyes, and the state of mind. Nothing beats a manic dousing to shock yourself back to sanity.

  I put my dress back on. My personal vulture wasn’t going to see me wearing her feathers. Still no sign of her. Then I went for a walk, somewhere around twenty circuits of the room, working my stiff body back to its supple self, restoring my crippled self-respect back to... well, back to the best it could be, given the circumstances.

  What did the immediate future hold for me? I’d been physically violent to my captor, almost certainly overstepped my very limited mark. A sudden image flashed into my head of Tiri wearing a pointed hat, cackling manically as she stirred something brewing in a big black cauldron, holding an ice-pack to her bruised forehead.

  It brought a shiver, so I ripped it quickly away from my mind. Whatever she was concocting, I could do without the wicked witch of Calandura scenario.

  I stood at the window, gazing at the outside world. We were somewhere in the rainforest. All I could see from my limited view were trees and dense vegetation. I watched as a monkey swung through the branches, stopped not so far away and stared at me. He couldn’t see me of course, the ship invisible to the outside world.

  But for a moment it felt like he could. I waved and smiled, like a little child. He chattered something to his mates, and disappeared.

  Take me with you... I’d love to swing through the trees with my friends.

  For a moment I thought about smashing the glass, running for my freedom like a suddenly-uncaged wild animal. Idiot, it’s a spacecraft. Nothing you have at your disposal would stand a hope in hell of breaking that window.

  But somehow I had to get away. Get away from her.

  Still she confused me. Almost loving one moment, seeking our closeness, gifting me sexual pleasure... and in the next breath inflicting pain, stealing my spirit, glaring at me with cold dispassionate eyes that held nothing but evil.

  And yet despite her show of dominance, it was almost like she didn’t want to do what she did. Something I couldn’t understand was going on. Going on inside her.

  Yes, I gave her a headache. So what? She deserved it. Then she walked away, left me to the vultures.

  And then she unshackled me.

  Why? Why not do as normal, extend the bangle’s leash so I could move around the room? I glanced instinctively to my wrists, half-expecting my blue friends to magically appear again. Nothing did.

  I let out a little laugh. Yeah, the fashion accessories were gone, but that was just my dominator playing her little games. The door out of here would be locked for sure.

  I stood by the open button. So what would it be? Touch it and get a thousand volts to turn me into a blackened, smoking cartoon character? Or maybe something psychological, like a crazy cackling oh no you don’t laugh hissing through hidden speakers?

  She’ll know I’ll try it. Of course she will.

  I walked away. She’d done the unexpected, so I’ll match her, move for move.

  My resolve lasted two minutes. Fuck me. Back at the door, my trembling finger hovered uncertainly over the button.

  Stuff it.

  The door hissed aside. No thousand volts, no cackle.

  Ah.

  Now this was different.

  Chapter 106

  Hesitantly, I poked my head around the door frame, glanced from right to left. And then upwards. For a moment my jittery nerves expected to see a guillotine blade screaming down towards my neck.

  Pull yourself together. Stupid cow.

  No one was around. Nothing filled my ears except the background hum that was always present. To my right, the long narrow walkway ended in a blank wall. To my left, something else was different.

  The door at the far end was open. Light was filtering through. A different kind of light. It looked like a bigger room, but I was too far away to see anything clearly.

  I began to walk towards it, slowly, expecting the unexpected at any moment. As I drew closer, my over-pressurised blood began to thump in my ears. It sounded like the iconic music from Jaws.

  Ok, stop thinking so much.

  But as I reached the doorway I forgot to breathe again. My eyes widened, trying to take everything in at once.

  Big oblong windows curved around the semi-circular room, extending partway over the roof. A bright Caribbean sun was high in the sky, beaming down beautiful, natural warmth to the trees and plants surrounding me, through what was effectively a sunroof.

  I was standing at the entrance to the shuttle’s bridge. In front of me, a big console curved around two central high-backed chairs set side by side, multi-coloured lights flashing silently, a large touch-screen in its centre glowing with strange alien symbols. Two other work-stations sat either side, a mass of equally-alien switches and VCRs above them, most of them blank.

  I was alone.

  At least I thought I was.

  ‘Hello, Madeline.’

  She was there, waiting for me, hidden by the wide, high back of the pilot’s chair.

  ‘Hello, Tiri.’

  ‘I’ve been expecting you.’

  ‘Would hate t
o disappoint.’ Still I couldn’t see her, still my legs refused to move.

  ‘Good. I do not endure disappointment easily.’

  You don’t need to tell me, Tiri. ‘Is this how you spend your time, staring at trees?’

  ‘Sometimes.’ Finally she spun the chair. Her face looked strained, and eyes that a while ago blazed like solar flares now looked dull and cloudy. A faint yellow bruise was clearly visible on her forehead, the slight ridge that began in its centre a little... dented. I tried not to stare at it.

  I found my legs again, walked over and stood next to her. ‘Are trees really that interesting?’

  ‘They remind me of home. How it used to be.’

  Her voice was small, no hint of threat or evil. I found my anger dissipating, again. Damn me. ‘Why don’t you just go home, Tiri? It is over for you here. Go back and be with your people.’

  ‘It is not over... not yet. But regardless, I cannot go home, Madeline.’

  ‘Oh... this shuttle won’t make it?’

  ‘That is not the reason. By the time we complete the journey, there will be no home.’

  I swear there was a tear in her eye. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘The journey here took seven of your years. And in this shuttle, probably nine to return. The reason we came in the first place was primarily one of survival.’

  Oh shit. This was news. Front page headlines, I had a feeling.

  ‘Our solar system is imploding, Madeline. For a reason even we cannot understand, each year the planets that orbit our sun are being drawn into it. On Calandura, the ambient temperature is increasing by three degrees a year. You do the maths.’

  I did. Seven plus nine. Times three degrees. My heart sank through the alloy bridge floor. By the time Tiri got home, Calandura would be a sun-baked desert, incapable of supporting life.

  But that was still no excuse for their evil intentions of six weeks ago.

  ‘You came to destroy us. If you had come in peace, you would have been offered sanctuary.’

  She laughed. There was no humour in it, but no malice either. ‘We are a warrior race, Madeline. We know no other way. You have tried to tame my natural instincts, and failed. We had no desire to destroy humanity, just to control you. Because if we did not, we would have been forced to live under your control. The first thing Arik and the research team learned was that when humans are afraid of something it is contained, like a wild animal in a zoo.’