by Zara Zenia
"We would be happy for your help," Lezin said and then added with a laugh, "as long as you keep those lethal knees to yourself."
Bella laughed. "I promise."
"Then you are all dismissed."
22
The next day, Bella went to the security room, which was just off the command deck, and sat down with Rayhan and Lezin as they selected footage of several Yebraxians and manipulated them, setting them in footage of the medbay. They would combine it with the footage they were going to film later of Terrex being cut open and screaming at the pain of it. Of course, he wouldn't actually be in any pain. Sina was going to numb the area first.
"If you can turn him slightly, yeah like that, see how it looks like he's hovering over the bed now? Can you remove the blaster and add a medical scalpel to his hand?" Bella suggested.
"Sure, one minute." Lezin did as she asked.
"Maybe we can have this one holding a pan with an organ in it?" Rayhan suggested. "Something bloody."
Lezin nodded and made a few more adjustments. He used some sort of program to make the Yebraxians look as if they were cutting on something and removing pieces. Bella imagined it was similar to CGI in Hollywood movies. He even had them speaking as they worked over the empty bed. He made them say the threats, using some sort of voice manipulation from the Yebraxians who had been on the ship.
It was scary to think anyone was capable of making this kind of thing happen. She wondered if Humans had figured this kind of thing out, how to make someone look like someone else, to speak like someone else. If they could, she didn't even want to contemplate all of the awful things they could make people say. People like the President, or the Queen of England or the Prime Minister or other world leaders. People could be ruined in a heartbeat with this kind of tech. It completely boggled her mind. "Um, do you know if Earth has this advanced kind of thing?"
Lezin looked at her and frowned. "Not yet, they are close, but so far you can detect the manipulations. Another ten years or so and they will have that solved."
Bella shook her head. "That's not good."
"It can be dangerous in the wrong hands," Lezin said and then looked at her again, "Kind of like your hands… if we were doing this for real, we could start a war between Cania and Yebrax."
Bella felt her heart jump to her throat. "No, that's not what I wanted, I just wanted to make him pay the ransom."
Lezin nodded. "Right, and that's what we're doing, but with your suggestions we're making it look incredibly real. If the Duke wanted, he could start a war with Yebrax over it. I don't think he will, but he could."
Bella gulped. "I'll go see how things are going in the medbay," she said softly, fretting as she went. "Am I making things worse?" she asked herself softly as she headed down the stairs. No, surely not. Surely the Duke didn't have that kind of power, did he?
"What's up, chick?" Jodie asked as Bella entered the medbay.
"I was just checking how things were going in here."
"Pretty good. Sina is getting ready to make the first cut on Terrex."
Bella shivered, feeling a creepiness crawl up her back. She walked over to Terrex. "You okay?"
"Just getting ready to scream my lungs out," Terrex said, grinning.
"Uh, is your father powerful enough to um… start a war?"
Terrex arched a brow at her and reached for her hand. "No, I mean I guess he is, but would he? No. Now he might plan a trap against my abductors, but start a war, over me? I cannot see him doing that."
Bella let out the breath she'd held after she'd asked. "Good. A trap we can deal with, a war — that might be a bit too much."
Terrex kissed her fingers.
"Shall we begin?" Sina asked, scalpel in hand.
"I shall scream suitably loud, though I do think my arms and legs should be cuffed down, don't you think?"
"I'll do it," Bella said. She moved his right arm into the cuff and pushed the button, locking it in place and then did the same for the rest of his limbs. Afterwards she moved away from the bed, off to the side, but kept his face in her sights.
Sina began to make an incision and Terrex shouted out, cussing, and warning them that his father would have their heads for this and arching his back at the supposed pain of it all. Sina lifted one of his organs up, and then returned it where it was supposed to be. She set the nanobots to mend him properly and kept everything clean and sterile. The whole process took about fifteen minutes.
Bella moved back over and released him. "Are you all right?" she asked.
Terrex grinned. "Didn't feel a thing. Now I just hope that Lezin and Rayhan can make it look right."
"Yeah, I don't think that will be a problem."
"You'll still need to rest for a time, Terrex, your body will need a few hours to recover from that." Sina covered his stomach with a sheet.
"I understand." He nodded.
"I'm going to go see if Lezin and Rayhan need any more help."
Terrex gripped her hand in his and kissed her fingers. "I'm glad you were here with me."
Bella nodded. "Me too." She gave him a smile and then went back up to the security office. "You should be able to grab the medbay footage now," she said as she entered the room.
After about an hour, they had the completed video message to send off to Behlinn. Seeing it all put together was rather terrifying. She watched as they sent the message and then set up the fake auction on a Yebraxian site. Already bids were coming in. They had created several bidders themselves, but there were about ten other bidders as well.
Three hours later, they had a reply from the Duke. He was ready to give in to their demands.
23
Bella couldn't sleep. She was so depressed over Terrex's upcoming departure from them, even though it meant they had the money to repair the ship and get her back to Earth. Even the thought of returning to Earth wasn't uplifting. Instead it only made her sink into an even deeper depression. Her heart ached at the thought of never seeing him again. Never kissing his delicious lips, never laughing with him again, never sharing a new experience with him, never enjoying the sound of his voice again and the way he called her beautiful.
She slept fitfully, not getting more than an hour or two of sleep. She decided if she was soon to be losing him, she wanted to make enough memories with him to last her a lifetime. So, after showering, she went to find him, to see if he'd like to join her for breakfast and then maybe they could just walk and talk or something. Anything that would allow her more time in his company.
She knocked upon the door of the room he'd been given, just three down from hers.
"Come in," he called.
"Hi, I just wondered if you wanted to get breakfast with me, I mean, if you're hungry?" She was nervous, but she couldn't understand why.
He gazed at her, giving her a heated look, and nodded. "I'd enjoy that, beautiful. Give me a moment to finish washing up and put on a shirt, and I'll be right with you."
Bella felt her heart skip in her chest, and she smiled. "Sure, of course."
Terrex strode into the bathroom and Bella heard the water turn on. After a few minutes, he returned to the room, grabbed his shirt and pulled it on over his head. "I'm ready, shall we?"
They went out into the hall and up the stairs to the galley. "What job do they have you on today?" Bella asked as they entered the dining area.
"Outer guns today, and then later I'm working with Rayhan and Lezin on setting up the ransom drop."
"Oh," Bella said, but there was a sadness to her tone. She had hoped he would have a little more time to spend with her.
"Maybe you'd like to join me up in the gunnery? I know I have to stay focused, in case of attack, but that doesn't mean you can't visit me up there." He smiled as he put in an order.
Bella sighed. "Doesn't that defeat the purpose of you being up there? I mean wouldn't I be a distraction?"
"Beautiful, you are always a distraction, one I would gladly keep with me no matter what I need to be doing."
Bella blushed and put her own order in, pancakes and maple syrup. She picked up the short stack with melted butter and poured the maple syrup over it, and then followed Terrex to a table. "I would enjoy spending some more time with you, as long as it won't take you away from the task you are doing."
"It won't." He smiled, taking a bite of some kind of egg sandwich. "I'm curious about your life back on Earth. I feel like you know all about my horrible relationship with my family, what about you? Do you see your parents often? Do you get along with them?"
Bella shook her head and set her fork down, and then wiped her mouth on her napkin, buying a little bit of time to figure out how to answer him. "No. I've been on my own for a couple years now. My parents were killed in a car accident when I was sixteen. I moved in with my grandmother until my eighteenth birthday. I had a small inheritance from my parents, so I used it to set up an apartment, put the rest into a trust that I get a monthly income from. It's not much, just enough to cover my expenses. My grandmother may have taken me in, but we weren't close. She died shortly after I moved out."
"I'm sorry. Do you have any other family?" Terrex asked.
"No, not really. A couple of older cousins that I never see, that's about it."
Terrex gave her a curious look. "You're a beautiful woman, Bella, did you have a mate back there on Earth? Is someone awaiting your return?"
Bella gave him a half smile. "No, no mate, no boyfriend, no husband. Nobody waiting for me. My job, it took up most of my time. I didn't really have time to date or get to know anyone. There wasn't even anyone I was interested in."
"That's rather sad. Is that what you were doing when you were taken? Taking pictures?"
Bella nodded and toyed with her napkin, picking at it. "Yeah. I had been taking shots of this riot. Um, there was a boy killed by some law enforcement officers and the people were upset about it. So, they were protesting. I was there taking pictures, but some of the officers didn't like being caught on camera beating up the protestors and they came after me. I ran, but they cornered me. If Grell hadn't interfered, I might be dead behind that apartment building."
"They would have killed you?" Terrex looked appalled.
Bella shrugged. "Maybe. They did say to give them the SD card — that is what the pictures are stored on — and that the pictures weren't worth my life. So, to me, that says they would have killed me if I didn't cooperate. I didn't have a way to fight back. I wasn't carrying any kind weapon."
"You should learn some self-defense for when you aren't carrying a weapon. Something that would do more than incapacitate your attacker for a moment. I could show you some things."
Bella arched a brow and smiled. "You could, hmmm?"
He nodded. Mostly he just wanted to have a reason to keep her close to him, and this was a good way to do that. He liked having her in his arms, but he also worried about her. He didn't want her going back to Earth only to be killed by some criminal law officers. "Of course. Perhaps after dinner this evening?"
Bella smiled. "I'd like that."
They finished eating and Bella walked with him up to the gunnery, but she didn't stay. Instead, she went back down to the medbay and helped Sina with the cleaning and disinfecting. She met back up with Terrex just before dinner. They dined together and then went to one of the now empty rooms where he had created a workout area.
"When did you do this?" Bella asked, seeing the bed dismantled and the mattresses on the floor for padding.
"After working with Lezin and Rayhan. I thought it would be better to have a softer area to teach you some of these tricks. I would not wish you harmed."
"Thank you."
He spent the next hour going over holds and how to get out of them. Several of the choke holds reminded her of watching the high school boys wrestling matches. It was of course, quite different performing them herself though.
"Remember to tuck your chin in toward your chest. You don't want my arms getting near your throat," Terrex said as he reached for her from behind.
"Right, but I'm expecting you to do this, what if I'm not expecting it though, how am I supposed to be fast enough?"
Instead of 'attacking' her, he turned her around and gazed down at her, a look of concern in his eyes. "Beautiful, if you are alone somewhere, you should always be aware of your surroundings. Always be aware there are those out there who would wish to destroy your beauty."
Bella drew in a sharp breath and nodded. Her heart was pounding so fast at his touch at his gaze that she didn't think she'd ever breathe again normally. "Okay," she whispered, and then licked her lips, wishing he'd just kiss her, and they could use the mattress for something other than cushioning for their self-defense practice.
"Ready?" he asked.
Bella nodded again and turned back around. A moment later, he tried to grab her in a choke hold from behind, but she tucked her chin, stepped backward on his instep and elbowed him in the gut before ducking out of his loosened hold and moving forward away from him.
"Perfect. Let's try some other things now." He gestured for her to return to him. "Now, let's go over how to get out of a grab to your center. I will grab you like this." He put his arms around her arms and pulled her back toward his chest. "You're going to want to bend your knees and lift your hands, grabbing my arms. Once you've lowered your center of gravity, you'll have me slightly off balance, at that point, stomp back on my foot and then throw your head back toward mine, if you do it right, you will bust your attacker's nose or jaw and then you can break away from them."
"Okay, drop, grab, stomp, head back, break… I think I've got it."
"Ready to try it?" Terrex asked.
Bella nodded. A moment later his arms were around her, but Bella thought it felt so nice being wrapped in his arms that instead of doing what she was supposed to do, she melted into him, pressing herself closer to him.
Terrex chuckled next to her ear. "Beautiful, did you forget already what we were doing?"
She grinned. "Maybe." With a sigh she dropped into a squat, grabbed his arms, stomped back on his foot, and then gently moved her head back. She didn't want to actually hurt him. "How was that?"
"Perfect. Let's try a few more things."
They worked on breaking wrist holds as well as an assailant grabbing her hair. After a few hours, Terrex was satisfied that she had a basic understanding of how to get out of several of the attacks. She helped him restore the room to its former appearance and then he walked her to her door.
"Thank you for showing me all of that. I've always thought about taking a self-defense class, but I've never had the time before. Would you mind if we practiced again before you leave?" Bella licked her lips again, just wanting to lengthen the time she had with him.
"I would be happy to, beautiful." He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I do not like the thought of you returning to Earth and being harmed." His thumb caressed her cheek and then stroked over her lips. His gaze connected with hers and he dipped down and pressed his lips to hers. Gently at first, and then he felt her move into him, her arms sliding up around his neck and he deepened the kiss.
By the time she broke the kiss, they were both panting hard. She smiled up at him. "Goodnight, Terrex."
"Goodnight, beautiful," he murmured as she slipped in her door and it snicked shut in front of him, successfully blocking him from her. With a sigh, he returned to his own quarters.
24
Bella was singing softly to herself as she pushed the button to order her breakfast. She was alone in the galley, having slept late. Her body was a little bit sore after yesterday's self-defense training with Terrex, but she didn't mind. She had enjoyed every moment he'd had his hands on her.
"Hey, Bella." Melody came into the galley and pushed a button closing the door, barring anyone else from entering. "We need to talk."
"Okay?" Bella frowned. "Have I done something?"
Melody gestured for her to sit down. "Yes, and I'm concerned."
"What did I
do?"
"I saw you in the hallway last night with Terrex, outside of your room." Melody did not look happy. "You know he's just seducing you to have you help him get off this ship, right?"
"What? That's ridiculous, Melody! He's been helping us get the ransom from his father. He's not even seducing me! If he were, he would have been coming into my room with me, not dropping me off at that door!"
Melody shook her head. "I don't know what game he's playing, but I don't trust him, and you shouldn't either! You do realize that you still have all those drugs Grell put into your system right? You are being compelled to be near him because of those chemicals!"
"I'm not! If that were the case, wouldn't I be attracted to all the Canian men on this ship? Jorwon, Mabav, Rayhan, or Lezin? I mean they are all Canian too! Or do you think I'm gonna have my way with all of them?"
Melody huffed. "No. Of course not. I just… Terrex is a nobleman, the others aren't. There is something in those chemicals that change you, draws you to Canian nobles, Bella, not just any Canian men."
"Then I guess it's a good thing I didn't get the full dose of the cocktails, isn't it! Terrex has been nothing but nice to me. He's treated me better than any human man ever has, and I'll thank you to stay out of my business!"
"That's the problem, he is my business, or did you forget that he's a hostage?"
"He was a hostage, now he's a conspirator! We took a vote, remember? He proved himself, Melody and he's done nothing but be helpful through this whole thing!"
"That may be true, but there are things he isn't telling you, Bella!"
"Like what?" Bella asked, defiantly.
"Like the fact that if you sleep with him, you'll be bonded to him forever! And if that happens, you won't be able to be more than a few miles from him! You won't be returning to Earth!"
"So what? You did it, you bonded with Devron, but what? Nobody else can have that? Nobody else can bond with a Canian and be happy? Is that what you're saying?"
