by JK Stone
Bias said that with a tone that made Terrah feel that he was going to take great pleasure in finding out, and Terrah knew that if she were able, she’d be hell and gone from this base right now.
“Do you know what I do?” Bias asked as he made his way to the table on the far wall and withdrew a couple of instruments before turning back toward her. He was slowly playing with the tip and as he approached her, he drew the sharpened point of a trocar down the side of Terrah’s neck.
Terrah had a bad feeling she was about to find out just what it was that Bias did to make his armor so bloodied, and made him feared around the base but she remained silent nonetheless.
“Not in a talkative mood yet?” Bias asked with a slight chuckle. “Not to worry, before long I’ll know all you have to say,” he said with obvious amusement, then he ran a disposable cauterizer across the palm of Terrah’s left hand, and she fought back the urge to scream out in pain.
*****
The questioning went on for what felt like hours before Bias began using his other implements of torture. Terrah thought it was strange, she saw what Bias was doing to her. He had mirrors positioned at all angles to allow his victims to witness their own mutilation, thus increasing the sensations.
Bias would puncture, cut, and then cauterize her wounds, but immediately after Bias began his torment of her, Terrah thought she heard a voice, and then a harmonic hum seemed to fill her body and after that, she felt no pain at all.
A while later the voice became clearer, and Terrah recognized it as the same voice she’d been hearing from time to time over the years imploring her to assist people who were in dire situations. That voice told her that she would be alright and it was time to sleep, then a moment later she was out cold.
*****
Terrah awoke back in her cell. She’d lost track of how many days or weeks she had been imprisoned and subjected to torture and questioning. During that time her entire body had been mutilated at Bias’s hands, but with all he did to her, Terrah never said a word or even made a sound. She tried to move but noticed she was still restrained to a medical gurney.
Peering down Terrah saw that she had an I.V. line in her wrist, and it was attached to a machine that was pumping fluids into her body. Despite the great pain she was in, she drew in a deep breath and shouted for the guards, but nobody answered this time.
Terrah knew the room was still being monitored so she shouted, “By holding me here without notifying me of my crimes and the benefit of council, you are in direct violation of the UCMJ and the Geneva Convention.”
She struggled to take in another deep breath, then added, “These interrogation techniques are not sanctioned by the U.S. government and I demand to speak with the base JAG representative immediately.”
Terrah just finished her rant and heard a beep from her left, and looking in that direction she saw an I.V. machine had activated and immediately felt a haze coming over her. Terrah focused in on the syringe of medication and barely made out Fentanyl (PF), and Terrah’s last coherent thought was, “Great…Why is Bias operating on me?”
Chapter Two
Terrah was coming out of her drug induced haze and remembering her predicament, her eyes popped open to find six strangers gathered around her bed and staring down at her.
Terrah was unable to move and she feared whatever they had done to her had left her paralyzed. A bit frantically she shouted, “What are you doing to me? Release me!” and looking up her heart faltered when she saw brightly glowing eyes staring down at her.
The largest of the men placed his hand on Terrah’s forehead and he said, “Don’t panic, you’re safe now.”
Terrah felt a warm soothing sensation flow from the man’s touch, and a sense of calm befell her. Calming down a little, she took a closer look at her captors.
Then he asked, “Do you remember what happened to you?”
Terrah thought over the question as a warm, safe and trusting sensation engulfed her body, then she answered, “I was being held prisoner. There was an accident, and they kept saying I caused it. The last thing I remember was yelling at the guards then the I.V. machine activated.”
The man nodded and continued, “You were being held in a cell on sub level twelve, but when we arrived you were no longer in there. My brother’s Jason and Justin,” He pointed to the two men standing next to him and continued, “Found that you had been moved to sub level eleven.”
Terrah grimaced remembering what Bias had been doing to her over the past weeks or months and she listened intently as the man proceeded with his explanation.
“When we arrived, they had you in a surgical suite and they were performing a surgery on your brain,” he explained.
Terrah felt panic pique at hearing that but it soon receded. That must be the reason for my paralysis and lack of pain now, she thought.
“We got you out of there and healed you aboard this ship.” The man finished with a pointed look.
What did he mean this ship? Terrah wondered.
Terrah took a closer look at her captors… or rescuers as it were, and after recalling the man naming his brothers, recognition had set in. “I… I know you…” She said a bit startled.
The three men looked at her obviously stunned and the one that should be named Jason asked, “Where do you know us from?”
Terrah was positive these were the men the voice told her to help in the past, and she replied, “The Air Force. Your eyes are different, but you look and sound the same as you did when I saw you last.”
It took a moment to bring up all of the details, then looking toward the man named Jason, Terrah said, “I was told to FastTrack his AFSC to 71sx.”
Terrah had worried that telling them about the voice would make her seem insane, but after what she just went through, she realized that she really didn’t give a shit what they thought about her.
Jason asked her, “Who told you this?”
Terrah wasn’t sure how to proceed, and then something made her decide on full disclosure. “The voice… She said it needed to be done or countless lives would be lost,” Terrah said, then her eyes shifted to the one who should be named Justin. “She had me intervene when you broke some code.
“I don’t know who was pushing for it, but you were almost shipped off to Gitmo. I was told to persuade the special operations commander that you were a savant with codes. You were tested, and luckily you did well. The last I heard, you had been transferred into crypto and sent to a listening post in the Aleutian chain.”
Terrah peered back at the largest of the three men again and had no doubt in her mind that this man’s name was Jerren. “You almost died when the Alien and the piece of debris from the crashed craft in Nepal disappeared… the order came down from the DARPA liaison to have your team detained and sent to Bias U’san’s interrogation level, but the voice said ‘save them’.
“I had only been stationed at Area 51 for three days, but the commander was off of the base and I was the highest ranking officer on base at the time, which made me temporary OIC. So I gave the order to intimidate and release your team before Bias U’san could arrive.
“There was a push by U’san to have me court-martialed, but Pop- I mean General Green took the blame saying he had ordered your release. He lost his position as the Medical Director due to that.” Terrah didn’t know why she said that, but she felt these people needed to know the sacrifice Pops made for her, and the thought crossed her mind to ask if they could rescue Pops as well, but she felt it was too soon to ask, because she wasn’t exactly sure of these people’s motives at the moment, or whether she was entirely safe herself.
Terrah then added, “My friends at the Pentagon later told me that you and your team were watched closely over the next two years. They never heard any of you say anything about what had happened so you were spared.”
The man named Jerren seemed to look around at the others in the group. “Inola?” He asked out loud.
A sense of shock threatened to overwhel
m Terrah when she heard that name. It was as if a floodgate of old memories just washed over her and she asked, “How…how do you know that name?”
Jerren looked back down at her in apparent shock in his expression as well then asked, “Did you have an imaginary friend growing up?”
Terrah looked up at him confused at how he could know that, especially since she’d forgotten about Inola until hearing the name, but she replied, “Yes, only my sisters and I could see her, but we grew out of it. Her name was Inola.” A little startled at another realization she added, “come to think of it, the voice that told me to save the three of you sounded a lot like hers did. But despite thinking I was going schizophrenic hearing voices I did what it said nonetheless.”
Jerren had an expectant look and asked, “What’s your name?” In the language, she and her sisters spoke to each other.
Terrah had never heard anyone aside from her sisters speak their language, and a bit astounded she answered, “Terrah…Terrah Tones. How do you know how to speak this language?”
The man named Justin spoke in the same language and said, “That message I deciphered… it was in this language. We think we were taught it by our imaginary friend. Her name was Inola also. She was the one who told us to save you. We were on the base for another reason altogether—
In shock, Terrah asked, “The ship?” Then she looked up at Jerren and asked, “Why are you holding my head down?”
Jerren looked down at her and replied, “Not exclusively, and I’m sorry, but it was the only way I could think of to keep you calm while we talked to you.”
Jerren withdrew his hand and Terrah could feel her trepidation rise a little.
“Would you like to sit up?” Jerren asked.
Terrah nodded and to her surprise she realized the feeling had returned to her body, and then Jerren helped her to a sitting position.
Terrah looked down and saw she was wearing a metallic blue body suit, and she instantly felt self-conscious. Then recalling the mutilation she had been subjected to, she took a close look at her hands.
She didn’t feel the pain from before, and saw with shock that they were no longer scarred and disfigured from the torture Bias had been performing on her, and reaching up she ran her fingers over her face, cheeks, and neck, and was relieved to find that they too were unmarred.
Terrah then peered around the room from person to person, and she took in the appearances of the rest of the occupants.
Aside from the men she knew, there were three women that seemed to be very interested in her. One with blonde hair and brightly glowing eyes, the next with red hair and her eyes were glowing brightly as well, but the final woman had brunette hair and to Terrah’s surprise that woman’s eyes were not glowing but a radiant green that looked almost unreal.
Settling her gaze back on Jerren, Terrah asked, “Where are you from? And why were you in the Air Force?”
Jerren let out a warm laugh that put Terrah at ease and he replied, “We,” he gestured between his brothers, “are from Earth, the same as you.”
Terrah was wondering if he was messing with her and she said, “I’ve never seen anyone on Earth with glowing eyes like yours.”
Jerren sighed and said, “The glowing eyes are the result of absorbing too much energy in an attack. We believe they’ll return to normal with time.”
“And this ship?” Terrah asked as she looked around.
Jerren smiled warmly at her and said, “This ship is one of five that we know of. Two of which are deactivated.”
Now Terrah knew what they were after at Area 51, the massive space ship! “So, you were down there looking for the battleship when you found me?” Terrah asked.
Shaking his head, Jerren replied, “Actually, we didn’t know the battleship was down there for sure. This ship is a replica of the pyramid ship in that building behind the battleship.”
Jerren looked over at Jason who nodded apparently in consent and Jerren continued, “We knew TDS 4 was down there… That’s what these ships are called. TDS stands for Time Dilation Ship. But for the most part, we were down there looking for an extremely dangerous weapon. Did you know there’s a dark matter bomb down there?” Jerren asked of her.
Terrah had never heard of such a weapon and asked, “Dark matter bomb?” Shaking her head, she said, “No. I didn’t have clearance for the weapons development level; I only had a SCI 3 clearance.
“The DARPA weapons development level is restricted to SCI 4 and higher. After an incident a couple of months ago I was granted modified clearance for the lowest level to supervise the researchers on the spacecraft. Other than that I managed base staffing and surface level security forces. I was transferred to Area 51 six years ago, from the Pentagon.”
The dark-haired lady with the brilliant green eyes moved to Jerren’s side and said, “She is telling the truth. She did not know about the bomb.”
Terrah wondered how the woman could possibly know what she knew and looked around the group a bit nervously before explaining, “SCI 4 requires either prior knowledge of items or events and or E six or an O seven grade with congressional approval. I was supposed to go before the Senate Intelligence committee for confirmation by year’s end.”
Jerren patted Terrah’s arm stating, “If it’s okay, we need to ask you some personal questions now.”
After relaying the highly-classified information Terrah was sharing a little more willfully than she liked, it was a bit of a relief to get a break from it, even if it was going to be personal information, and hesitantly she said, “Okay.”
Jerren looked her straight in the eyes and asked, “What do you know about your parents?”
Terrah was momentarily confused as to what Jerren wanted to know. Then he clarified his question.
“I know they died in a plane crash when you were nine years old. They weren’t your biological parents however, correct?”
Terrah was stunned, very few people knew about her parents. As a matter of fact, aside from Terrah, only her sisters and Pops ever knew what had happened on the night of their births, and she asked, “How could you know that?”
“It was an educated guess,” Jerren stated. “If you tell us what you know, we’ll fill in what pieces we can,” Jerren said with an endearing smile that helped a lot to put Terrah at ease.
Terrah wondered what these people could possibly know and figured there was only one way to find out, so she answered Jerren’s question. “No, they were not our biological parents. Our parents never knew who our biological mother was. All we were told was how our mother died. Our father had just become the hospital commander at March Air Force base in southern California at the time.
“He and our mother were returning from the Palomar Observatory one night and came across a pregnant woman in distress. The lady had stumbled into the road and our father had almost hit her with his car. He got out and saw she was in labor, and he delivered us with the help of our mother.
“They said immediately after our youngest sister was born, the lady died then just vanished. They were at a loss at how to explain us and the absence of the mother, our mother saw it as a sign, and painstakingly talked our father into falsifying our birth records.”
Jerren raised a brow at her and nodded.
Terrah loved her father and didn’t want them to think less of him so she explained, “Our father was a decent loving man. The day he and our mother died, our guardian picked my sisters and me up and raised us. When we turned eighteen, he gave us the letters from our parents that explained what they had done.”
Jerren patted Terrah on the arm in apparent consolation and after shivering openly, he said in an abrupt tone, “Where are your sisters? I believe they’re in danger.”
Terrah’s heart began thrashing and she felt a surge of panic rising in her, but a second later she felt a sense of calm befall her again, then she said, “Saleria is a doctor at Johns Hopkins and Vellia is a professor at MIT.”
They all seemed momentarily shocked at the
names and were looking between each other when Jerren snapped his head toward the beautiful blonde lady saying, “They’re on the eastern seaboard. How long will it take to DNA scan for them?”
“It will only take a few minutes at most since we have a general location.” The blonde closed her eyes for a second, and then she opened them saying, “There, the scan is running.”
“Get them up here ASAP, I don’t care if they’re surrounded by people,” Jerren said sounding worried.
Terrah had the strangest feeling that if Jerren wasn’t touching her she would be freaking out at the moment.
The man named Jason asked Jerren, “What’s the matter?”
Jerren shook his head and said, “I don’t know, when I just touched Terrah’s arm I felt they were in danger, and I saw… well, I can’t explain it. We just need them up here.”
“I have Saleria,” The blonde lady stated, then she added, “But the lock on Vellia is intermittent. She is in a vehicle and something is interfering with the signal, kind of like when Justin was on the A’shari Votum. I am going to take us back a few hours before we arrived and pull her out, then I will put us in a Quantum bubble until we resolve everything here.”
The ship and everyone surrounding Terrah appeared to blur a moment and the blond woman spoke again, “We have her. Saleria and Vellia are both in Decon.”
Jerren looked Terrah in the eyes and said, “They’re most likely frightened. You may have to calm them down a bit.”
Terrah really wanted to laugh at that statement, because she wasn’t exactly filled with sunshine and harmony at the moment either.
Jerren looked in the direction of the man named Jason asking, “Is your meeting room still set up?”
“Yes, but not for this many people, one second…” Jason seemed to get a concentrated look as he closed his eyes, then he said, “There, the room is ready,” As he opened his eyes.
