by Leslie Chase
Beyond the door was a large cell, and Lilly shivered to look at it. A bare, open space with beds at the back and a barred window in the door, no privacy at all. Who do they lock up in here? What on Earth is this place?
Michael was clearly not in the mood to answer any more questions. Swinging the door shut behind them, he locked it and then looked in through the bars.
"This will only be for a few hours," he told them. "Your aliens are coming here, and then we'll have what we need. Don't worry, you won't be in any danger as long as they cooperate."
"And what about when they don't?" Margaret asked, putting her hands on her hips and looking back at him. "Good god, Michael, do you really think that these aliens will give up just because you threaten Lilly? What are you going to do when they call your father's bluff?"
Michael couldn't meet her gaze, but he wasn't giving in. "I may not know much, Miss Jones, but know more about aliens than you do. And Hrail knows them better than any of us. If she says they'll give in, then I believe her."
He turned to go. Just before he left their sight, he paused for a moment and looked back. "And you should hope that she's right. My father doesn't bluff."
There were no clocks in the darkened room, and they had no way of telling how long they were alone in the cell. The thick walls kept out most of the noise, though Lilly could hear plenty of activity as their captors prepared themselves for visitors.
She just had to hope that whatever they were preparing wouldn't be enough. That Jaranak would find a way to rescue Margaret and her, against all the odds.
Finally, the door to the laboratory opened again. This time, both of the Coopers entered, a couple of thugs in tow.
Ambrose Cooper looked through barred cell door at the women and gritted his teeth, face turning red as he grabbed Michael's collar and pulled him close.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Mr. Cooper snarled at his son. "Why the fuck did you lock them in there? Couldn't you find them somewhere more comfortable to wait?"
"But we don't have anywhere—"
"Imbecile. Are you sure your mother didn't take up with the mailman? You can't be my son." With a visible effort, Mr. Cooper restrained himself, looking at the women with narrowed eyes.
"This makes things awkward," he said. "I'm sorry my idiot son has put you in this hole, but I really do think that we can still all be friends."
"Look, we just want this over with," Lilly said, holding up her hands. "I don't really care what you're up to—"
"Yes, you do," Cooper interrupted. "Jesus, lady, don't think I'm as stupid as my witless son here. The only smart thing he's ever done is get interested in you; you've got more curiosity and brains in your little finger than he has in his entire body. So, yeah, you want to know what I'm doing and why. Probably already figured a chunk of it out, which I approve of by the way. Who likes stupid women? You ought to be on our side."
Lilly swallowed nervously as Cooper paced, and didn't say anything. Cooper didn't seem to mind. He was the kind of man who preferred talking at women to talking with them.
"So, obviously, my idiot son locks you in a cell. Fucking great, you could have been a comfortable guest but no," he said, throwing up his hands. Behind him, Michael's face grew redder and redder. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in marrying him? You'd have to put up with Michael, but you'd be rich. And at least my grandkids might get your brains."
Wordlessly, Lilly shook her head and he nodded sadly. "Can't blame you, really. Who'd want him? Pity, though. I'd have liked you in the family, honestly. But I can work around that."
His good humor fading he looked at her again, eyes narrowing. "I really do admire your intellect, girl. That doesn't mean I won't hurt you if you get in my way, but I don't want to. I want us all to be friends, understand? Do as you're told and you only get hurt as much as necessary to convince those alien fucks to do what we want."
Shakily, she nodded, and Cooper gestured to one of the thugs who unlocked the cell. Dragging her out by the arm, he shoved her into Michael's arms.
The younger Cooper was vibrating with anger, and Lilly couldn't blame him after how his father had spoken about him. It seemed all too likely that he'd take it out on her, though: his grip was already painfully tight as he dragged her after his father.
"This place is going to be famous," Cooper said as they pulled her back into the main area of the lab. "Look at it, girl! This is where I get the technology to rule the world, and you're going to be there to fucking see it. History in the making. No one's going to remember Edison after this, that fucker's going to be history."
The lab technicians were still hard at work on the incomprehensible experiments, but Hrail had taken a space in the center of the laboratory. The device she was working on looked all too much like an electric chair for Lilly’s comfort. She blanched as Michael dragged her towards it, trying to pull away, but his grip was too strong for her to resist.
Looking up at him, Lilly could see the indecision in his face. He didn't want to do this, that much was clear, but he didn't want to fight his father over it either. And it seemed that his fear of his father meant more to him than his feelings for her.
"For god's sake, just get her strapped in," Mr. Cooper snarled at his son. "Jesus, are you going to get upset about this? We're not even going to hurt her if Jaranak cooperates."
"You don't have to do this," Lilly whispered to Michael. "Please?"
He looked at her, and for a moment she thought he might listen. But then his eyes narrowed and he hauled her bodily into the seat. No, he wasn't going to risk crossing his father for her, or for anyone else.
Glaring at him, she struggled as he strapped her down. But she couldn't muster any real anger — Michael had always seemed weak, somehow, and now she knew her instincts were correct. His father might be evil, but he was just a coward, raised to give no resistance. It was hard to actually blame him for his actions.
Especially when the man responsible was right there. The elder Cooper seemed in his element, bustling from strange device to strange device, making little adjustments. For all his protests that he didn't want to do this, he seemed to be having the time of his life. Beside him, Hrail helped, and the two of them seemed lost in their shared work. It was fascinating, and almost sweet, to see the two of them working together like that. If only it hadn't been on some kind of torture device.
"When do you think you'll get out from under his thumb?" Lilly asked Michael quietly as he fastened the last strap around her legs. There was no hope that she'd be able to escape from this setup, and the metal clamps attached to the chair worried her.
"My father is a great man," Michael said, though he didn't sound convinced. "This is good for all of us, for mankind as a whole. Lilly, please, you could help bring about a revolution that would save the world."
Lilly remembered Jaranak's discussion of the technology his people used. Hundreds of years ahead of humanity, and dangerous too. "This isn't the way to get there. Michael, you know better: your father won't save the world with this, he'll try to conquer it."
Michael tried to smile. It didn't quite work. "That doesn't sound so bad to me, and you could be at the top of the pile too. We could change the world, make it better. Everything you hate about the world, we can fix it together."
"I'd rather die," Lilly answered without thinking about the consequences, then swallowed. That was, for once, a genuine possibility. Even so, she stuck with her answer. The alien technology might let the Coopers start some kind of empire, but she wouldn't be part of it or responsible for the suffering they heaped on their victims. It didn't matter if they were going to try to make things better, or just using that as an excuse.
A small part of her wondered if her decision made any difference. If the suffering was going to happen anyway, she might as well live in comfort. It was easy to ignore, but she realized something — that was the voice Michael listened to every day. The one that told him to get along, to give in, and to take the luxury his father's wealth b
ought him rather than risk failing on his own.
Lilly realized then that she pitied him. For all his wealth and power, he was a hollow little man.
Rather than answer her, he stalked away, leaving her alone strapped into the chair. Well, that's better than having to speak with him at least, she thought, trying to get comfortable. That was an impossible challenge, no one had put any effort into making the chair pleasant to sit in. Now there's nothing I can do but wait.
19
Jaranak
The ship slowly pulled up to the dock, moving entirely against the wind now. Jaranak no longer cared about their disguise; one way or another, it wouldn't matter after today.
Guards watched from the dock, grinning as Jaranak tied the ship up, and he and Orshar leaped down to meet them. It felt as though they were walking into the lair of a ferocious beast, and that wasn't too far from the truth.
"Keep an eye out," he told Orshar as they walked closer to the nearest guard. Following his own advice, he looked around. The place did, he had to admit, look advanced for a human settlement, but it also looked chaotic. A tangle of electrical cables linked the buildings, and strange equipment was scattered around as though Cooper had grown bored with it and let it lie where it fell. Even the vehicles parked between the buildings were an odd mix. Most looked like internal combustion vehicles, but there were electrical and steam-powered cars mixed in.
He had to admit that some of the equipment looked extremely advanced for human technology. Even granting that Cooper was a genius, it looked impressive.
"Plenty of cover, at least," Orshar said, and Jaranak nodded. The man was a born killer and today that would matter more than him being a friend. Karnan might hesitate when violence was needed; Orshar would hardly need any provocation.
Besides which, he wanted Karnan to stay to stay out of the line of fire as long as possible. He could do more good from the ship.
"Can you hear me?" he whispered, testing the coms.
"Loud and clear," Karnan's voice crackled in his earpiece. "The visual's messy, though. Too much interference, but we'll do our best to keep watching."
The guards sneered at Orshar and Jaranak as they approached. As soon as they got close enough to speak comfortably, one of the guards held up his hand.
"Hand over your weapons," he growled, holding out a hand. Jaranak glared at him.
"I'm not going to disarm," he said, forcing himself to an icy calm. "Let us past."
"Do I look stupid?" the guard asked, and it took an effort for Jaranak not to answer 'yes.' The man had a glazed, incurious look in his eyes, and there was no sign of intelligence to his face. But, stupid or not, he was persistent.
"Look, you hand over your weapons or you don't get in, it's that simple." His hand didn't waver, nor did his glare. "I don't give a shit one way or the other."
There couldn't be long left until Cooper's deadline, and this man wasn't going to be moved by any argument that Jaranak could muster. He looked aside at Orshar, who shrugged.
"We can take them," Orshar said in their own language. He sounded positively gleeful at the chance. "No point in this if we don't get inside."
"You're right," Jaranak agreed reluctantly, pulling out his disintegrator slowly. It felt heavy in his hand as he turned it over — now all he had to defend himself and Lilly were his body and his wits. They'd have to be enough.
Orshar handed over his weapon too, and the guard's lips curled in contempt as he tucked the wands into his belt. Jerking his head towards the biggest building, he marched them forward.
More guards watched the entrance, but no one stopped them as they entered the laboratory. Inside the door Jaranak froze, seeing what the humans were working on.
Unmistakable parts of a transstar drive littered the room, wired together crudely with human technology. Over one table, shimmering silvery coils floated. By another, he saw a holographic display. But Jaranak's attention was drawn, inevitably, to the apparatus in the center of the room. A small black sphere hovered there, vibrating and crackling with energy which a complicated copper apparatus siphoned off.
An exposed transstar core. Jaranak felt his body tense at the sight — that was the danger he had feared since the crash. That little sphere carried an almost unimaginable amount of power, and if the humans made a mistake messing with it there was no end to the damage that would do. It was enough power to shunt a ship across the light years from one star to another — or to fry a city.
Beyond that, though, was a sight to make him forget even that danger. Lilly sat, strapped into some kind of chair that bristled with equipment. His face tightened with anger to see her like that, but at least she wasn't injured that he could see. She struggled against the straps as he stepped towards her, but as soon as he closed the gap between them there was an electric hum. Lilly jerked in the chair and cried out, and Jaranak fought against his instinct to run to her.
A step backward, and the noise stopped. Lilly relaxed, panting and whimpering in pain. A proximity sensor of some kind, he realized. Clever, yet cruel: if he tried to get too close to Lilly, she'd fry.
I'll save you, he tried to communicate with a look. Lilly's eyes fixed on his and he could see love and hope mixing with fear in them. Her little nod told him that she trusted him, and he swore to himself that he'd be worthy of that trust.
From behind the chair, more people emerged, and Jaranak found his attention dragged from Lilly. One of them was no surprise: Ambrose Cooper, with a smile on his face, already counting his victory. But beside him was Hrail.
She looked a little the worse for wear after a year on Earth, and the scar on her face was new, but she wasn't seriously hurt and she obviously wasn't a prisoner here. She and Cooper walked together, like equals, and her cold smile was chilling.
Jaranak felt Orshar tense next to him, letting out a little gasp. Over his earpiece he heard Karnan swear in shock and surprise. He felt a jolt of sympathy for his friend, seeing the woman Karnan had intended to make his, standing beside their enemy.
"Ah, there you are," Ambrose Cooper said jovially, ignoring Jaranak's shock. "I apologize, I ought to have warned you, but I thought you would be more convinced by a practical demonstration of the situation."
"What are you doing here?" Jaranak demanded of Hrail, ignoring Cooper's posturing for the moment. He spoke in Galactic, and the human frowned in annoyance as Hrail laughed.
"It's a nice planet," she answered. "By the time you'd arrived, I'd already found a place here. I think I'll stay."
"You could have come to us, we'd have helped you."
Hrail's laugh was piercing and cold. "Helped me? I'm sure you'd have loved that. You'd have dragged me away from the fun I'm having here, 'rescued' me and taken me back home. Ambrose offered me a much better arrangement than that."
"Karnan's with me." Those words made Hrail freeze, covering her reaction with a stony glare. She couldn't hide the flash of pain in her eyes, and for a moment Jaranak thought it might be enough to bring her to her senses.
But then she shook her head and smiled like a shark. "I hope that he'll see reason, then," she said. "Tell him I've missed him, and I want him at my side."
Karnan swore over the radio, a heart-breaking pain in his voice. "Jaranak, please don't hurt her."
I can't promise that, old friend. Jaranak had no way to answer that Hrail wouldn't notice. He'd just have to hope that Karnan would understand, and stay loyal.
"So you're the one who taught Cooper how to use the backdoor in the scanner software," Jaranak said, shifting the topic. "Why didn't you just come and do it yourself?"
"Speak English, goddammit," Cooper snarled, putting his hand on a switch beside Lilly's chair. Hrail laughed.
"Yes, let's be polite to our host," she said, switching languages. "No need to be rude. And as to why I didn't go to your hotel, isn't that obvious? I'd have stood out like a, well, like a blue woman walking through New York. You'd have known about me straight away, and I thought, why spoil the surprise?
"
That wasn't the only reason, Jaranak realized, though it was a good one. If she'd gone herself, she could have taken control of the ship entirely, and Cooper didn't trust her that far. He didn't even trust her to speak in Galactic, which he clearly didn't have a strong grasp of.
If there was a gap between the two of them, there was a chance he could exploit it. He hoped so, anyway. There had to be some advantage to this situation.
"If you don't want to leave, what do you need our ship for?" Jaranak asked, speaking English now. Hrail shook her head.
"When I crashed, the Skystorm was nearly completely destroyed. There wasn't much left of her, and none of the crew survived. If Ambrose hadn't come to the rescue, I'd have lost everything, but with his help I managed to keep the transstar core going." Hrail leaned back against the side of Lilly's chair, and Lilly shot her a venomous look out of the corner of her eye. Strapped in as she was, there wasn't much more that she could do.
Cooper spoke up. "It's devilishly difficult to get the core to do anything useful. Too much damned power, it fries anything we put together. But with an intact ship, we could work out how your engineers solved the problem. Make our own solution, and get the full benefit of your technology."
"We've been trying to develop the technology on our own," Hrail continued. Her smile didn't look altogether sane. "It's not easy, though. With a working ship to examine we'll be able to harness the core for as much power as we need to rule the world."
Jaranak glared at her. "If you're trying to recruit me, you've picked a strange way of doing it."
"No," Hrail answered, shaking her head. "I'd like to, of course, but I know you and Karnan too well. You'll never willingly join us, and if you said you would, I wouldn't trust you. It's a pity, I admit. I like Karnan, but the two of you have too many rules."
Karnan had been muttering in Jaranak's ear, but now he fell silent. Jaranak thought he could hear his friend's pain and rage over the radio link. He could sympathize: if it turned out that Lilly wanted to subjugate and rule this planet, he'd feel the same sense of betrayal.
