by Eden Ember
“Xyru!” She flung herself into my arms. My body trembled as I held onto her for a long moment while she whimpered.
“I’m so sorry I caused this,” I said.
“No, I did.” Large tears formed in her eyes. “I realized that if I had just waited and talked to Allegra this whole mess may have turned out better. Anything is better than this place. That Skleen...he keeps drawing blood like three or four times a day. I know what he has in mind, eventually. It’s horrible!”
I held her in my arms, her frail body heaving as she cried. “By my life, I swear to you that I will not leave you. I will save you from this place and Skleen’s torture. I promise, Mare, I will take you back to Zeta, if that’s what you want to do. I’m so sorry I tricked you into coming along with me like I did,” I told her.
Her enormous eyes took me in as she pulled back. A soft hand caressed my chiseled jaw, her touch sending shivers down my arms. “Don’t you realize by now, how happy I am to see you here?”
“My Mare, are you happy that I’m rescuing you? Don’t you want to go back to Zeta?” I didn’t want her to say that she wanted to go back, but it would prepare me to take her back before I docked with the Torq Runner.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think while in here. I realize that Arrans capture and claim mates. I guess initially I didn’t care for the way you tricked me into coming with you. I understand you saw me and felt something, wanting to make me your mate. Like Gandrox did with Allegra?”
I blinked at her. “I am overzealous. I shouldn’t have done that to you. I knew there wasn’t enough time for us to get to know each other before we left that morning. I am a barbarian by nature.” I bowed my head low before her.
Mare’s eyes watered as she looked at me. She leaned in, surprising me, as her lips met mine. Shockwaves rushed throughout my body. Her touch sparked me to life. I groaned as I pulled her hard to me, and she settled on my lap. Returning the kiss sent me into a frenzy that I feared I wouldn’t be able to stop. The sound of muffled voices came from the other side of the door. Mare hopped up, her face red.
“Quick, hide!”
I ducked inside the waste room and closed the door behind me. Heavy footfalls carried dread as the evil one entered her room. Icy fingers clawed my spine when he spoke to her.
“Ready for a trip, Terran? Time has come,” Skleen said.
I steeled myself as the shuffle of feet exited the room and the door closed behind them. When I emerged, I froze because my mate had gone with them. Trying the door proved fruitless, so I retraced my steps and climbed back into the ventilation system. Once on the roof, I spied the scum leading Mare away to the hangar. I beamed my comm to pick up the call numbers on the ship and rushed back to my hidden hovercraft, zooming away to my own small ship.
The call numbers brought up the name of Skleen’s ship, Night Rigor. After scanning the surroundings, I found that the ship had left Av’Na a half-hour ago. With as much fuel as I could carry, I started the engines and lifted away from the small planet. The trail of the other ship grew cold quickly as I headed in the same direction. Night Rigor traveled faster than Torq One. The one advantage I had over them was the cloak of stealth. They hadn’t painted me as I had them, so they shouldn’t be able to detect my presence. My greatest fear, that they would fly into a wormhole, never materialized. I had them on my ship’s sensors, though they stayed just barely in range. I kept the stealth shields up so that they wouldn't discover me following them.
My heart skipped a beat as the Night Rigor disappeared suddenly from my ship’s sensors. My fingers pounded on the console as I tried to make the thrusters go faster, but Torq One couldn’t keep up. Top speed for my ship proved slower than the Night Rigor. “Please,” I said to myself as I struggled to follow the faint trail and finally came in range of them once again. The larger ship appeared on the upper right corner of the screen. I had to get close enough to their ship to fire a stealth tracker onto their hull.
XU-D17 came up on the screen as the next star system. Good. The system had a space station for stops. Surely they were headed there for refueling, because there was no way Av’Na would have had enough fuel for the giant craft. The Rigor coasted in that direction, and I sat back, letting out a held breath. I could catch them this way and even if they landed I could rescue Mare.
“Hold on, my mate,” I said as I followed behind. Night Rigor came into closer view, so I throttled back so they wouldn’t suspect the Torq One was following them. Other ships came into view, thankfully. The Torq One sped ahead, catching up to the Night Rigor, just far enough behind so as not to alert their proximity alarms.
Steady aiming with the laser painted on the hull of Night Rigor and I pressed the button. A small beam emitted forth, landing on the shiny skin, leaving a distinct and yet untraceable mark that only the Torq One could see.
Knowing that I could now keep up with the Night Rigor, I slowed to cruising speed to allow the thrusters a chance to cool. Pushing to top speed had caused the engine to glow red with heat. Overheating out in the dead of space was not a good thing. The fuel marker showed that I was a quarter down. Autopilot kept me cruising at a safe distance from Skleen’s ship while I retreated to the back. Being a one-Aaran crew meant I had to take care of all the details of space flight, including refueling. The closest space station loomed ahead, but still far away. XU-D17 offered refueling bays, but I wouldn’t reach it for three days. I had to pace Torq One to get there without running too low on fuel.
Eratarqasan came into view, a small moon of a planet that held nothing more than a small outpost. The mostly abandoned spot would give me a chance to contact Gandrox and to secure a bay at XU-D17, where I was sure the Night Rigor was headed.
Once docked, Elogs ambled toward the Torq One. I handed the currency card to one of them. “Please add fuel cells, and make sure the engine is fit for top speed,” I said to the smaller one. He nodded and moved around the craft, busy with the tasks I requested. As soon as I received the go ahead, I launched from the moon and headed back towards the Night Rigor, hoping to save the Terran I feel is my mate.
Chapter 7
MARE
The grimy hands led me to the hangar, ripping me right away from what would have been Xyru’s embrace. At least they didn’t catch him. There’s no telling what they would have done to him. Kill him or worse. It’s the worse part that scares me most because I’m already a biological experiment. I’d heard Skleen talking about taking me to his home planet where he had the right equipment to do with me what he really wanted. I’d rather die than be in a giant petri dish.
My eyes closed tightly as the giant ship took off. Xyru had lost me forever. The tiny room became my home on the ship. It was far worse than the cargo hold on the Torq Runner. And this time, my captor had nefarious plans for me. Xyru, that bumbling alien, brute, barbarian, and very hunky character, had done it the wrong way. Reflecting on my kidnapping by him, I realized that he never meant to hurt me. He fell for me in the only way that he knew how to fall for another being. Now my heart ached to see what would have happened had I allowed him to carry me off into the stars. It was of no use fretting over what could have been. Xyru had crawled back into the vent system while Skleen hauled me to the Night Rigor.
The icy floor didn’t stop my pacing back and forth. To slow me from trying to escape, Skleen had taken my shoes. The off-white shift I wore barely hung to my knees. Goosebumps covered my bare legs in the frigid environment on the ship. My teeth chattered as I swore that I could see my breath. While most space ships kept the air cool, this ship had ridiculously chilly air flowing through its vents.
The shorter Egar pushed a tray of food at me, regarding me with his beady eyes. “Eat, Skleen won’t be kind if you don’t,” he said.
I perked up and rubbed my hands over my bare arms. “May I please have more clothing? I’m cold. And shoes. If my feet are warm, I’m warm,” I told him.
The Egar shook his head. I fumed because Skleen used my partial nakedness
as a means of captivity. Smart. “Eat. I’ll be back for the tray.”
The food, obviously space rations of some sort, were a pile of cubes. I’m sure it had all the nutrients that I needed to stay alive. It crumbled between my teeth with the faint flavor of copper and maybe iron. Other than that, it had no flavor. Forcing the cubes down proved harder than I thought. I longed for authentic food, even Zeta’s food. Earth food became a dim memory in the recess of my mind, and I suspected that I’d never see my home planet again. Even the Aarans had tasty morsels, not like these cardboard chunks. At least the liquid resembled fruit juice, a cross between apple and pomegranate, perhaps with a hint of cranberries. The tartness kept my taste buds alive.
After I finished the pile of tasteless cubes and the drink, I paced. Thirteen steps across the width of the room. If I walked the opposite way and incorporated the waste room, I could add ten more steps. Yes, twenty-three steps. My obsessive-compulsive nature reared its ugly head as I walked. Being on Zeta helped me let go of the tendencies to do things in a certain sequence, because I was living like I was on an endless camping trip.
The door slid to the side within the wall. Something could stop it from shutting all the way and override the lock circuit. Desperate to find something, I took the fork and poked enough holes in the rough blanket to tear a corner off. It made the perfect piece to shove into the corner and stop the contact for the lock. It had to work. I patiently waited. When one of them returned for the tray, I quickly stepped toward the door and shoved the cloth into the slot. They pivoted and scolded me with their eyes. They left, and the door swooshed shut, only it didn’t make contact. I smiled as I waited and when hearing nothing outside the door, I opened it effortlessly thanks to the cloth.
Icy floors greeted my bare feet. Who cared? My feet padded quietly through the corridor which turned at the end. Where would the escape hatch be? I shielded my eyes as the brightness of a nearby star nearly blinded me while walking past the giant window. The ship stretched before me and I spied the escape pod to my left. Retracing my steps took me to the T in the hall and I quickly jogged to the other side. The alien scrawling meant nothing to me, but thankfully there were simple pictures that showed the escape hatch just ahead. I took off in a dead run, but something slammed into me from behind, startling me as I tumbled to the floor. Slick cold metal met with the side of my face and my heart almost stopped beating when Skleen picked me up and shoved me ahead of him, uttering in a language my implant couldn’t detect. My feet barely touched the floor as he shoved me down a few steps onto a lower level.
“If you act like a savage, you will be treated as one,” Skleen said as he thrust me into the cage.
My fingers grasped the bars and I barely had enough room to sit tall. Standing would be impossible. A simple pot sat in the corner. “I was only trying to find clothes and shoes. I’m cold.”
“I think you were trying to find the escape hatch.” His bushy brow lifted as he peered at me. His long chin pointed downward. I shivered under his frosty stare.
“Please, take me back to the room. At least there I had a blanket,” I said.
“I’ll send Crael with a blanket,” he said and pivoted on his heels, leaving me locked up in the cage.
The cool, dark room held crates and several cages, all empty. I had enough room to stretch my legs in front of me while sitting, but not lying down. The situation had gone from bad to worse with my stupid attempt at escape. A being like Skleen would have the ship on high alert throughout. Tears formed in my eyes and fell as I realized the hopelessness of the situation.
“Oh, Xyru, I wish I could have escaped with you,” I cried. He truly cared for me. Maybe he was a bumbling idiot in the way that he showed it, but life with him would have been far better than this. Leaning back against the crude bars of the cage, I heaved deep breaths. Now was not the time for claustrophobia to rear its ugly head again. Xyru had been kind, Skleen would not.
My hands gripped the top of the cage and shook it. Trying all four sides, nothing gave. I couldn’t tell how it was latched or locked, as it appeared to be a single solid cage. Maybe Skleen used some sort of visual trick to keep me from figuring out how to get out of it. Anyway, even if I escaped from this cage, they had locked the door. My fate would become worse than this, if that were possible, if I tried to escape again.
I settled into a fetal position opposite the corner of the dreaded pot. My eyes peered at the nasty thing. Drips of crud circled the top. These beings didn’t know how to clean anything properly. It stank, whatever poor being that stayed here before I arrived had left its mark.
Being cramped inside a cage without the ability to stretch caused claustrophobia to surface. I turned away from the pot and searched through the dim room. I couldn’t push my hand through the squares, my fingers barely fit around the bars. What felt like hours later, the door opened and Crael walked in carrying the same blanket I had torn. He lifted the side of the cage as I tried to figure out the mechanism. The blanket hit me as it filled the space. A small bag of the tasteless cubes was passed to me along with a small collapsible bottle of water. The door of the cage shut hard, and the Egar grunted at me.
“Wait. Please. Will I have a room anytime?” I asked.
He turned, blinking at me. “You cross Skleen, you have no privileges.”
“I was only trying to find clothes and shoes. This place is a refrigerator,” I told him.
A confused expression crossed his squished face. “You only deserve what Skleen deems necessary. Nutrition cubes, water, and that blanket. Be glad you have some room in the cage,” Crael replied.
I shuddered, thinking about where else he could have put me. I forced deep breaths; I didn’t need to panic, not now. The cubes, as unappetizing as they were, gave me strength. Each chew I counted. Forty chomps and I swallowed one of them along with some of the water. Fourteen cubes were in the bag. I chomped for 560 times and finished the bland lot. The water sparked my bladder, and I hesitantly scooted to the pot in the corner. Humiliated and disgusted, I relieved myself with nothing to clean up with afterward.
The day turned to night, the already dim lights in the cargo space causing everything else to turn black. While it helped me sleep, it made it damn near impossible to use the bathroom in the pot. The next day, Crael brought a fresh pot and a wet and dry towel. At least there was that. I noted the use of a flat key shoved into the top outer edge of the cage. My eyes stayed on the key. When he pushed in the food cubes and water, the keys on his belt dangled precariously. When he came in a few hours later, I reached for the keys and the flat key came off the pouch.
“Be back in a few hours with more food,” Crael told me.
He shut the door and took off, leaving me alone in the dimly lit room. I grinned as I held onto the flat key. He’d had several on his pouch. I wouldn’t risk it by fumbling with it with the lights on. No, I’d wait until the lights turned off to test the key and to see if I could open the door to the cage. Late in the darkness, the ship shuddered. Landing caused this. The cage slid a little, causing the pot to advance toward me. It was the perfect time to try the key, because landing meant most of the occupants on the ship would exit.
Chapter 8
XYRU
Sure enough, the Night Rigor headed right into the XU-D17 system. I kept close enough to see exactly where they’d land and yet far enough away that they wouldn’t suspect anything. Luckily, many ships traveled about the busy system, as it contained a giant space station suitable for ship repairs and refueling. Just in case they headed to the station, I radioed my request for a bay. I needed more fuel anyway. And I needed Mare.
The Night Rigor circled the space station while I throttled back and waited. They had a bay for me, because I was much smaller. I needed to see where the other ship landed so that I could easily find them. The station stretched the length of a small planet, flat and rotating around the giant E-46 planet. The rock moons were too jagged for much action and had very little atmosphere. They built th
e space station to attract business to the system and the smaller vegetative planets closer to the Astraian Star. It’s twin, inside a binary star system, only held gas planets, giving the twin systems an eerie purple and green glow from afar.
The low fuel alarm blared at me as I held my position, waiting. “Aars,” I cursed as my fingers gripped the thruster bar. Did the idiots not radio ahead and reserve a bay for landing? What if they sped away in search of another space station? Even with the laser tracker, I’d lose them if they flew too far off from my sensors. Finally, the Night Rigor slowed and floated toward an open bay, outstretched to accommodate such an enormous ship. I held my breath as I watched the covered zone fold over the impressive ship, allowing the occupants to leave the bay safely for the interior of the station.
“Prepare for a wait,” came the voice on the radio as I signaled my flight in.
“No!” I shouted as I pounded my fist onto the small console. The blaring of the low fuel unnerved me, but more so knowing how close I was to Mare and yet might as well have been light-years away. Torq One had enough fuel to hover for half an hour and just enough after that to propel to the bay.
“I’m in dire need of fuel,” I replied.
“We’re working to clear a bay as we speak,” came the voice.
To my relief, a small shuttle advanced toward me with a fuel tank in tow. They docked and gave me enough fuel to last for four hours. A small amount that could keep me out here long enough to miss the opportunity of rescuing Mare. The Torq One didn’t have the capability of AI autorun like the Torq Runner did. If so, I would have boarded the fuel shuttle and rescued Mare, anyway. Forced to wait, I kept my hover with beamers set on the Night Rigor. I would not lose Mare again.
An hour later, the signal came for me to advance toward the station, at a bay clear on the other side from the Night Rigor. I had only one mission; to land and race to the other side. The Torq One docked within the enclosed bay.