by F. E. Arliss
The momentum of his backward leap caused Jullian to fall forward against him. They both crumpled to the floor. Somehow, she ended up against the tall alien’s chest. He’d loosed his shackled hands long enough to bring his arms up and over her head, and now had her dragged up against him. He pressed her head under his chin and one long, cold hand was clasped around her neck, the other folded along the side of her head. She could feel him gasping against her back.
The Major and both guards had their weapons aimed at them. Jullian gasped out, “Stop, Major! Stop!” then willed herself to relax in Shale’s arms. It went against everything in her nature, but she collected her energy, and dropped her barriers, allowing energy from all around her to flow through her and into Shale.
“It’s ok, Major Stallic, he’s just hungry and the energy flow is taking him by surprise,” she managed to gasp out. “It’s ok. It’s ok,” she added in a soothing tone, allowing one hand to run up and down the scrawny, papery-feeling arm leading to her neck. The alien’s hands were freezing. And the warmth of her own, touching his vellum-like skin, had caused his stench to spread, making her want to gag. Jullian swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat and tried to breathe through her mouth. He smelled like grass, dirt, and some sharp tangy scent she couldn’t identify. It was not pleasant.
They sat that way for ten minutes. Major Stallic kept pacing. It was distracting. “Major, I need you to calm yourself and sit down. Help him, please, Kapong,” Jullian gasped.
Another ten minutes passed in which Kapong placed a calming hand on Major Stallic’s shoulder and soothed him into staying put. Jullian’s sense of smell had finally died and she was no longer fighting her body’s reaction to his scent. Finally, the long length of the alien’s body shuddered and the hand along her face shifted slightly. The Major gathered himself to launch. Once again, Jullian held up a hand meant to ward him off. He subsided into the chair once more.
Gradually, bit by bit, Shale managed to un-clamp his hands from around her head and neck. He dropped his manacled hands to her lap. “You ok back there, tall man?” she asked lightly. “Thought I’d struck you with lightning or something, from that reaction.”
A whirring chuckle caused the thin chest to quiver a bit along her spine. “I believe you did hit me with lightning, little queen,” the alien said. He slowly raised his arms so that she could crawl away from him. Kapong slid towards her, grasped her hands, and hauled her, with surprising strength, away from the alien. He seemed to whirl her around and a second later she was slumped into a conference chair.
General Shale remained seated against the wall. He even looked different now, Jullian could see. His skin, which had been pale and sickly looking, was less clammy. Pale still, but translucent now, with green veins showing beneath the thin skin. There had been no evidence of veins before. Even his long black hair looked shinier. The room was silent.
Finally, Major Stallic said, “Well, seems like that worked. Thank you Ms. Arban. Now we’ll be able to proceed with our questioning without worrying that we’ll kill him off.”
Jullian stared at him, open-mouthed. She hoped to hell that didn’t mean what she thought it did. “Excuse me! Did you just use me to juice up a guy you’re now going to torture to get information out of?” she asked incredulously.
The Major at least had the decency to look guilty and then gritted out, “I’m sorry, but we need to know what we’re up against,” he stated sternly. “We need to know what he knows. And torture is a strong word to use! We interrogate. Not torture!”
They were going to torture the prisoner! Her eyes flicked to the still recumbent alien. His eyes searched hers. ‘I’m sorry!’ she flicked to him with a directed thought. She didn’t know if it would be received, but she thought she may as well try. He slowly nodded his head at her, acknowledging her reaction. At least, she thought he was acknowledging it.
Turning to Major Stallic, Jullian said, “That’s despicable. I don’t want to help you inflict pain on another being.”
“You aren’t inflicting pain. You’re helping him heal,” the Major added firmly.
“Yes, so that you can torture him some more! It’s barbaric!” Jullian answered back grimly.
“You’ll help, or you’ll be put in general population in the mines,” the Major snarled at her, his face draining of color.
Jullian summoned all her strength, directed her energy into a small pointed beam of light, and aimed it directly at Major Stallic’s heart. “You are detestable!” she informed him. With every ounce of effort she had left, she drove that feeling of contempt at his person. He seemed to stagger back, his eyes narrowing at her.
“It doesn’t feel good to be despised, does it?” she asked, glaring at him. Major Stallic rubbed his sternum and eyed her dubiously. Shale’s orange eyes flickered back and forth between them, riveted by this display of antipathy from his food source, towards his captors. Anxiously, Kapong led her from the room.
The return journey to her quarters went by in a blur. The implications of what she’d done, and what they might mean for her future and Shale’s, were just now hitting her. She was exhausted by them.
Kapong left her at her door. Clasping his hand, she looked at him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize,” she whispered.
“Neither did I. Neither did I,” he returned softly, sadly. “Neither did I.” Then turned and entered his room.
Jullian slumped onto the bed and pulled the cover over her head. Instantly, she was asleep. Her last thought was that they needn’t know the energy work wasn’t what exhausted her, she could channel energy endlessly. It was the strain of other people’s actions and expectations that drained her.
Chapter Five
Torture
It was three days before the guards that constantly followed her, barred her way and commanded she come with them. Kapong was in the local clinic, helping the doctors there in whatever way he could. Jullian had tried to volunteer as well, but news of her success as the ‘alien feeder’ had already reached the staff. She was coldly rebuffed.
Kapong’s ability to calm people and alleviate pain was as great as hers. He just couldn’t push and channel energy the way she could. They had discussed the difference in their abilities the day after the incident with Shale and tried to make sense of what had happened.
The only thing that made sense was that they somehow managed energy differently. Kapong was a source. Jullian was a channel. That’s why Kapong tired. And why Jullian did not. Kapong gave his love and acceptance to people. Jullian drew in energy from the atmosphere around her and channeled it out.
That theory made sense to both of them. Kapong cautioned her to let no one know that was how her energy worked. It was dangerous. They would never let her go if they knew. She was a battery that ran on air. The deduction had scared both of them.
She had no way to inform him she was being taken again, but on the ride over to the black monolithic prison, she concentrated on sending him the image of the malevolent structure. If he received even an inkling of energy from the image, he would know where she was.
These days, everything was an experiment. Though she supposed that energy work had always been an experiment and no one really knew its capabilities. She was going to quit second-guessing things with doubt and just do what she hoped would work.
Major Stallic greeted her reservedly. Jullian, in agreement with what she and Kapong felt she must do to protect herself, she began her campaign of subterfuge. “Major Stallic, I want to apologize for my over-reaction at our last session with the alien. It was my first exposure to an alien being and it took me by surprise and put me off balance. Then with the draining of my energies by the session, I was not myself. I want you to know that I will do all in my power to help,” she continued with her most charming smile. “Please forgive me.”
The Major looked at her intently, his eyes narrowing as they did when he was thinking. “You’re forgiven, Miss Arban. Please don’t do that again,” he rubbed his sternum again. Jullian coul
d see that it was an unconscious gesture.
“I’m only here to help, Sir,” Jullian added, smiling winningly at him. “It’s an honor to help the Guard. As I’m sure you know, Major Chadmore and I are close. I’m a little anxious that I haven’t seen him yet. Is he well? I’m assuming that he was the one who sent for me for this project?” Jullian queried with a lilt in her voice. Internally, she wasn’t so sure about Tom’s good intent with putting her in the middle of this. But she wouldn’t let them know that. Better to play the lovesick fool and appear biddable.
‘Geez’, she thought to herself, ‘I’m becoming downright cunning’. It wasn’t a skill she’d ever thought she’d develop, and its necessity and the complete revolution in her mind that allowed her to employ it was quite depressing. Survival was a bitch.
Major Stallic grinned at her. “I completely understand, Miss Arban. Major Chadmore is a lucky man to have you waiting for him,” he added a twinkle in his eye.
It did pay off to be beautiful, Jullian thought cynically. Though she’d bet money that the Major would never follow through with that overture. She towered over him, and though he was making the statement, he’d never let himself be seen with a partner that was half a foot taller than him. It showed his true character. Tom Chadmore didn’t really have to find out if he’d handle her height or not, he was the same 6’2” that she was, and twice as wide, with bulging muscles that he fed at daily gym sessions. She always made sure she wore flats on their dates.
Jullian also admitted that she sucked back on her energy when she was with him, except during sex. She suspected he didn’t know she channeled energy during their time in bed. Probably thought it was his own prowess that made the sex good. Jullian now believed that was the only true connection she’d shared with him. Great sex. Again, nice, but slightly depressing in the whole range of the relationship-depth gauge. She could channel energy with anyone. Ok, super depressing.
Major Stallic opened the door to the interrogation room. Jullian steeled herself for what she’d find. Shale was slumped in a chair and shackled to its legs and arms. Once again, his hair was dull and lifeless, and hung over his face. Approaching him, Jullian stopped and surveyed the set up. Turning to Major Stallic, she said, “It’s going to be hard to treat him in that position. Is there some sort of bench, that you could secure him to? Then I could sit in front or behind him and have contact that way.”
Shale had stirred slightly at the sound of her voice, his head lolling back on his neck. Jullian was glad she’d prepared for the worst. He looked horrible. His face was gashed and dented. She didn’t know if Idolum bruised and bled or not. But he looked like he’d been drained of whatever bodily fluids he had. His skin had the dull look of dusty synth-paper and his lips, thin though they’d been already, looked like shriveled slices of dried apple, one of the few fruits available to them in the cafeteria on this god-forsaken asteroid. She was never eating them again.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Major Stallic assured her. “Damn Idolum are like ginko lizards, you cut off something and it grows back. Creepy if you ask me,” he said with a shudder.
“Interesting though,” Jullian chirped back, pretending detachment and a scientific interest. “Do they have blood?” Inside, Jullian was appalled. How did they know that the Idolum grew back appendages unless they’d done that. It was like some horrible story from the Nazi concentration camp experiments two centuries earlier.
The Major spent the next ten minutes regaling her with all he knew about the Idolum physiology. It actually was interesting, Jullian thought. The fact that the Guard knew so much about what damaged the Idolum body was not so much startling as it was revolting. If the Major’s words were anything to go by, Shale had been through hell in the days since he’d been captured. If what they were saying about Idolum physiology was true, she wondered how he’d been captured. Now that Major Stallic was feeling chatty, maybe she could find out.
A weight bench from the gym had been brought in. Jullian had them put the second half of the bench in an upright position, then slung herself onto the bench leaned back, and motioned for them to move Shale onto the bench in front of her. “Just sit him there, back to me,” she instructed. “Don’t want to have to look at him, for Pete’s sake.” Snickers came from every Guard member in the room. ‘Assholes’, Jullian thought mentally. They’d completely forgotten that her entire life preceding this moment had been to help alleviate pain. She was not on their side.
They shackled Shale onto the bench in front of her. “Could I get a couple of pillows to support my back, please?” Jullian asked. “It will really wear me down, to have to sit upright with all his weight on me,” she turned her melting brown eyes to the Major and smiled her megawatt smile. “I’d be grateful!” she added, widening her eyes in pseudo-helplessness. At a nod from the Major, one of the door guards rushed to comply. “Thank you,” she cooed to Major Stallic. He nodded brusquely, but the blush coming up his neck confirmed her charm had worked.
A few minutes later, pillows acquired and positioned, Jullian eased Shale’s withered body back into her arms. He was taller than she, so his head came up close to hers and they settled back cheek to cheek. Wrapping her arms around his body, she laid her arms along his and then clasped her hands together just below his elbows.
Coaching herself to breathe through her mouth to avoid the unpleasant miasma that rose from his skin, Jullian closed her eyes and opened her energy channels, letting the universal spark flow into her and then into Shale. At the same time, she channeled her thoughts of sorrow for his plight and an apology for having to ‘play along’ in the game with his torturers. She was so sorry. Then she just quieted her mind and sent healing warmth and acceptance along with the energy. They fell into a deep sort of trance.
Thirty minutes later, a hand on her shoulder let her know the session was over. They pulled Shale roughly to his feet and turned him towards the door. As they hauled him away, she saw his skin looked translucent once more and his black hair had a sheen of health. His glowing orange eyes pinned her, and she heard ‘thank you little queen’ in her mind as he was shoved through the door.
Straightening slowly, Jullian swung one leg over the bend and slumped forward onto her knees for a moment, feigning weakness. Major Stallic rushed to help her. “Thank you, I’m fine,” she said smiling weakly at him. “I’m fine,” she reassured him. “Maybe just a snack and some electrolytes, before I head back to my quarters, would be of help,” she said squeezing his hand.
Chapter Six
Escape
That was the routine for the next three months. They tortured Shale, then called her in to heal him. The Guard was getting frustrated. It showed. Each time they brought him in, he was in worse and worse condition. Each time, Jullian and Shale were communicating more clearly through their mental connection.
She’d begun to meditate for long hours, as much as a way to escape the reality of Outpost Alcatraz, as to hone and develop her energy skills. In the meditations she’d begun reaching out first to beings closest to her and then farther and farther away as her skill at ‘connecting’ grew.
Kapong had nodded -- a small crease between his eyes the only acknowledgement of his worry -- as she reported her skills developing. The first day that she was able to connect clearly with him at the hospital, he’d abruptly returned to her quarters, grasped her hands in his, and said to her, “You must leave this place.”
As she and Kapong discussed in earnest her need to hide her abilities, they both agreed, if the military ever found out that she had the ability to ‘connect and read’ other humanoid beings, she’d be their prisoner forever. The implications of her ability were enormous and for her, very, very dangerous, should they be discovered. Julian had pondered this each day for weeks and was no closer to a solution than she had been before. In the end, Shale presented a solution during their recurring sessions.
Weirdly, his strange odor of ‘grassiness’ and the feel of his oddly proportioned alien f
rame no longer unsettled her. She remembered her teacher at boarding school reading them a story about the pioneers of the early American West, where couples often married simply because they were together in a difficult situation and often had to sleep ‘spooned’ together for warmth. Perhaps the long hours of ‘spooning’ the General had brought about a type of connection caused by simple familiarity.
Kapong said she must keep everything a secret or she’d be tortured until she’d told them everything she knew. They’d use her endlessly to interrogate other prisoners as well. It was a terrifying prospect.
Kapong had made a place for himself on the Outpost. People here were terrified of her, ‘feeder of aliens’. Kapong’s warmth and kindness, and constant help at the hospital ending pain and spreading calm, had endeared him to all. She could feel his sorrow for her outcast and helpless state. Of the two of them, he’d flourished, while she was shunned, secluded as an asset, and followed everywhere she went. She was in a prison of her talent’s making. It was frustrating as hell and her helplessness angered her on every level.
Not a day went by where she wasn’t insulted to her face, or whispered about behind her back. At a store front on the shopping promenade, she was looking at a piece of body armor, and overheard the shop owner say to his wife, “She touches that filthy Idolum. No wonder she wants body armor. They say she puts her arms around it. Disgusting.” She quickly put down the armor and turned away, trying to hide her anger and hurt at the tone and implication behind the words.
Several times she was assaulted by men who thought that because she touched an alien male, she was easy pickings for them. That hadn’t lasted long as she sent out enough negative energy to make the attackers feel nauseated and run, scrambling for the nearest public restroom where each was violently ill. Those episodes did nothing for her reputation. The rumor that she was ‘putrid’ to the touch soon made the rounds.
