Stolen by the Alien Raider: A Novel of the Silent Empire

by Chase, Leslie

  "Why?" I asked again. "Why would you do any of this for me? And don't tell me that it's from the goodness of your heart."

  "It doesn't matter," he said, his temper visibly starting to fray at the edges. "You get what you want, why would you care what's in it for me? You go home, and you get to live out your life in unimaginable luxury. What more could you possibly want?"

  I felt the thick glass of the window at my back and glanced around. Outside, ships flew past the magnificent statues that I now recognized as being modeled on Xeraxis. Of course he ate his meals looking out at statues of himself.

  This was a man who cared for nothing but his own power and position. I couldn't entirely blame him — if he'd grown up with people hanging on his every word, dedicating themselves to his whims, of course he'd come to see himself as the only thing that mattered. It was easy to see how this much power could warp someone, but that didn't make it any more comfortable to be in his grasp.

  "I want my freedom," I said slowly, trying to keep my breath under control and wondering what he'd do. "Not a gilded cage. And I won't marry just for the promise of a trip home. There's your answer, if you actually want to look after me you'll let me go back to Kadran."

  He followed me, backing me against the window. The prince looked fit, strong, dangerous, but if he pushed me I was more than prepared to kick him in the balls and see how well he dealt with pain. And then deal with whatever happened after that — I didn't look forward to seeing what his guards would do to someone who hurt him.

  Probably throw me out of an airlock without a spacesuit, I thought, swallowing nervously. Or put me in one of those torture pits. Doesn't matter. He's not going to touch me.

  Xeraxis stopped just far enough from me that he wasn't directly menacing, and I wondered if he'd seen my feelings in my expression. Or maybe he actually didn't want to be threatening? There was black humor to that thought. If that was the case, he was really fucking it up.

  "You are tired," he pronounced. "Emotional after a trying few days as a prisoner. It's no wonder that you are suspicious, and I take no offense."

  His smile didn't reach his eyes and I knew better than to trust him. But if he wasn't going to attack me right now I'd count it as a win. Letting myself relax a little, I waited for him to continue.

  "Perhaps after a day or two you'll reconsider," he said with what he probably intended to be a charming smile. "You will be my guest, and once you have rested enough to see the benefits of cooperation we will speak again."

  I shivered but didn't argue. A couple of days gave me time to look for other options, or for Kadran to find me. For something to change, anyway. Better that than forcing a confrontation when I couldn't win it.

  With a tiny gesture the prince summoned servants to guide me from the dining room. I considered making a break for it, but I didn't have the first clue where to run.

  At least wherever Xeraxis put me would be comfortable while I tried to plot my escape.

  19

  Kadran

  Finding friends who would help me rescue Amy would be impossible. My only option was to find allies amongst my enemies instead, and for that I knew just where to look. Tracking down the crew of the Red King's Revenge wasn't hard — the trick was not being spotted by them while I found them. They had taken over a bar near the spaceport and were offering rewards for sightings of me or Amy. By the time I reached them, the corridors were buzzing with news of my attack on the ship-priest.

  There was no safe way for me to get close, but hanging back I found I could watch the door of the bar from behind one of the ubiquitous statues of the Empress. Huddled under my new cloak I looked like one more drunk spacer nursing a hangover between trips.

  If anyone looked closely, I'd be in trouble. But who would think that I'd be hiding here? And who looked closely at drunks?

  I waited for frustrating hours, watching slavers come and go. Always in groups, sticking together for safety. That was annoying but smart of them — no single member of the Revenge's crew was up to the task of facing me alone, and Captain Drezz wouldn't want Amy to slip through his fingers again.

  Finally, though, I saw Athazar leaving the bar on his own. I watched with a smile, unsurprised. Athazar didn't like working with the other slavers, he'd always said that they just slowed him down. He was right about that, too. Of all of them, he was the most dangerous. We'd shared the training of Princess Tlaxanna's slave-soldiers and I knew exactly how tough that had made him.

  I followed him at a safe distance, glad he wasn't trying to be stealthy. It was easy to stay with him as he made his way deeper into the Lament, and I waited until I could catch him alone.

  As it turned out he had a similar plan. I rounded a corner and there he was, waiting for me with a drawn blade and a nasty smile.

  "I thought it was you back there," he said, baring sharp teeth. "But why? Taking out your hunters one at a time will be slow work — and I'm not going to make it easy for you."

  "If I was planning on killing you one of us would already be dead," I pointed out, keeping my empty hands in view. "I'm here to talk."

  Athazar chuckled darkly. "I think I've listened to you enough, friend. You know how much shit I'm getting from Drezz and the rest? I thought we were comrades, I covered for you, and then you stabbed me in the back."

  As if I could be friends with a slaver. We'd gotten on better than most, though. Our shared history gave us a connection, and we owed each other our freedom. Some bonds weren't easy to break.

  Athazar was the only one of the Revenge's crew I could trust even slightly. That was why I was here.

  "Amy is my mate," I said, trying to start with something he'd understand. "As soon as I saw her, I knew I couldn't let her get sold into slavery."

  "Then you should have fucking told me, and maybe I'd have helped you," Athazar's anger burned fierce. "Instead you fucked us over, me worst of all. Everyone suspects that I gave you a hand escaping, and the only way I can save my reputation is to bring you and the human back to Drezz. Her alive, you... maybe it's better if you're dead, for your sake."

  I snarled but controlled my temper. As tempting as it was to charge, to fight, to end this threat, it wouldn't help Amy. I needed him.

  "If you need us both, you're doomed anyway," I told him. "Amy's in the prince's hands now. That's why I've come to you — I need your help rescuing her."

  That surprised a laugh out of Athazar. "You're not serious? Why the fuck do you think I'd help you?"

  It was a fair question, and one I didn't have a good answer to. But I had to try: he was my only potential ally on the Lament.

  "I think I know how you can get paid a small fortune for helping," I told him, hoping that I was right. And that his greed would offset his desire for vengeance. "It'll be dangerous, and tough work, but if it works at all you'll come out of it okay. You can get back in Drezz's good graces if you want — or go somewhere else with enough money to set yourself up."

  I could see the calculation in his eyes, and I just had to hope he'd jump the right way. After I'd left him to face the music on the Revenge he had no reason to trust me.

  But he did want to get rich. And maybe the bond between us counted for something, too. His knifepoint lowered and he smiled slightly. "I'm listening. Tell me your plan."

  That was as much as I could hope for. I looked around to make sure that we were alone.

  "By now the Lament will be looking for me," I told him. "Not you, though. I need to get access to Prince Xeraxis's palace, and you can get me there."

  "I can get us inside," Athazar said with a frown, "but then what? The palace is heavily guarded and unlike down here, the ship's sensors are working perfectly. The AI will spot you quickly, long before you can find your human. What's the point? I can't spend money if I'm dead, and this plan is suicide."

  He shook his head, and I knew I'd have to offer something more.

  "Remember when we left Tlaxanna?" I asked, changing the subject. "I carried you after you got sho
t in the leg. You killed the man who got the drop on me. Alone, neither of us would have gotten out, but together—"

  "Together we killed our way to freedom," he said, sounding confused by the change of topic. "I could never forget where we came from, Kadran. It's why I'm so surprised that you can stand to be with a human now."

  I shrugged. "You're working for one. It was Xeraxis who hired the Revenge."

  Athazar spat, a flash of anger on his face. "Fair point. No wonder Drezz didn't want to tell me about that part of it."

  Good. If he was angry with the captain there was more chance of this working.

  "What I'm saying is that together we can take on anyone. Fighting our way off Tlaxanna's ship should have been impossible, but we did it."

  "Fighting our way into this one, though? While they are on the lookout for you?" Athazar shook his head, but I could see the wheels turning again. He was considering the possibilities, and he wanted it to work. "Aside from anything else, I still don't see how I profit?"

  If I could offer him a sweet enough pot, he'd take it. We wouldn't trust each other, but I hoped that our time spent fighting side by side would count for something. We only needed to stick together long enough to make this work.

  "You profit twice over," I promised. "First off, I've got a budget. Enough to pay off a ship-priest — after she sold me out I'm not paying her. Second, though... did you think we killed enough Imperial nobility on our way out of Tlaxanna's ship?"

  Athazar blinked at that, surprised. "I'd have happily slaughtered dozens of the bastards, but we didn't get a chance to take much revenge."

  "This time we will," I told him. "The palace will be full of them."

  His smile was hungry, eager, and I knew that I'd found the hook he needed.

  "Fine," he said, nodding decisively and sheathing his knife. "Your plan needs work, but I'm in. Let's hear the rest of it."

  20

  Amy

  The gilded cage Prince Xeraxis left me in was, I had to admit, the most comfortable place I'd ever stayed. A suite of rooms, each one larger than my apartment on Earth, furnished in ridiculous luxury. The bed floated above the ground, its mattress was soft and welcoming. A huge window gave me a view of the planet the Lament orbited, and a hologram display that would show me any kind of entertainment I asked for.

  Apparently the ship had a library of several billion programs to choose from. Even if most of it was incomprehensible to me, there was enough to watch for years without getting bored. And there were servants of course, silent and elegant, ready to attend to my every need.

  If I'd been free to leave, I might have stayed forever. But the door wouldn't open for me, and two guards waited outside every time a servant entered. It might be the most comfortable prison in the universe, but it was still a prison, and I kept looking for ways to escape.

  There weren't any. If this had been a movie, there might have been air vents I could crawl through or something, but not here. Even the actual doors were almost impossible to spot when not in use.

  It had been two days since the prince proposed to me, and in that time he'd left me alone. That was a small mercy, I supposed, but I lived in fear of the next time that he'd call on me. I doubted he'd take no for an answer twice.

  "What does he even want me for?" I asked the ceiling. "He's got his pick of women, surely?"

  "His Highness may have as many women as he desires, but you are the only one he would take as his wife," a disembodied voice answered, startling me. I clutched a cushion to me, looking around frantically, but there was no one else in the room.

  The voice laughed, not unkindly. It sounded strange, like a mixture of many voices all speaking at once. "Forgive the intrusion, madam. I am the AI of the Lament for Battles Unfought — you may call me Lament."

  The ship was speaking to me? I swallowed and nodded, trying to gather myself. That wasn't too strange compared to the other things that had happened since I left Earth. I remembered the ship-priest and her wiring, the way she spoke directly to the ship.

  "I thought you'd only speak to Prince Xeraxis directly?" I asked, trying to remember what Kadran had told me. "Or, I mean, the senior crew?"

  "Usually that is true," she answered. The voice sounded female, anyway, as much as I could judge it. "I'm making an exception for you, since we shall be so close in future. And Xeraxis had asked me to speak with you, to help you come to a decision. My beloved lord is not usually a patient man and waits on your answer."

  I gave him my answer, I thought but didn't say. How the ship would take it if I was rude about her 'beloved lord' I didn't know, but I wasn't sure I wanted to find out.

  "What do you think I should do?" I asked, knowing what her answer would be but wanting to see how she said it. If nothing else, it gave me time to think of what to say next.

  She laughed gently. "I believe that you should wed Xeraxis, my lady. More than that, I would be overjoyed if you did. It would mean a great deal to me, should that matter to you."

  "You're not jealous?"

  "How could I be? I am an artificial intelligence, my lady, created to care for my prince. I would see him happy in every way. Besides, marriage leads to fleshy concerns that I find personally distasteful. How you humans put up with that is beyond me."

  The exaggerated haughty tone of that last statement made me laugh unwillingly, and she joined in. I could see myself liking this computer, but I didn't trust her. She was Xeraxis's creature, inside and out, and her loyalty was fixed. If she'd been jealous of the prince's attentions, perhaps I'd be able to turn that into a reason to help me escape.

  No such luck. But maybe, just maybe, she could explain why he wanted me as his wife.

  "If you want him happy, why are you keen for him to marry me?" I asked, looking up at the ceiling. There was no indication that Lament was speaking from there, but I needed to think of her as being somewhere.

  "Why wouldn't he, my lady?" Lament sounded amused by the question. "A beautiful exotic lady, you're quite a catch."

  "Come on, Lament. I may be new here, but I know better than that." I folded my arms and glared upward. "A prince doesn't marry for that. He might want to keep me as a lover or something, but a marriage? That's politics, right?"

  I wasn't as sure as I sounded, but I'd read enough books to know that much about how royalty worked. A prince wouldn't marry a random nobody without a good reason. And the slight pause in Lament's answer told me that I'd scored a hit.

  "I told him that you wouldn't be taken in by flattery," she said, her voice more amused than ever. "Good. Honestly, you will be a marvelous match for him. You have good instincts and with a few years practice you could be an excellent princess, Amy."

  "I don't want to be a princess," I protested. "I just want to go home."

  "Of course, but why not go home a princess?" Lament answered. "It is, after all, the only way that you will be able to go home at all."

  Exasperated, I tried to throw a pillow at the ceiling, but it was too high. "You people keep saying that. I just want to know why. And I can say this for certain, Lament: if I don't get an answer, I'm not going to say yes."

  "Does that mean you'll agree if I tell you?" She sounded eager, but I shook my head.

  "Perhaps. That's the best I can promise."

  "I'll take that chance." Lament's voice lowered, her voice sounding like a whisper in my ear. I couldn't tell if she was actually trying not to be overheard or if she was showing off that she could whisper. "You are more important than you know, dear one. You are, somehow, descended from Her Immortal Majesty the Silent Empress, our divine ruler."

  I laughed, startled and amused by the absurd claim. But then I thought about it and frowned, remembering the strangely familiar statue in the shrine.

  "I'm not sure that's possible," I said, turning the idea over in my mind.

  "Oh, darling, it's more than possible. Her Immortal Majesty travelled far and wide in the Golden Age of the Empire. After she entered her stasis-coffin, her child
ren travelled further. You have to remember that she ruled for thousands of years, and thousands more have passed since then. It's a rare planet of humans that doesn't have some of her blood. The remarkable thing is that you carry so much of it."

  I shivered at that. The sheer length of time involved was hard to grasp.

  "Doesn't that make me Xeraxis's cousin?" I asked, focusing on the first objection that came to mind.

  "More a distant relative," Lament said, and I could hear the dismissive shrug in her voice. "If you are concerned about children, have no fear. Your genetic code has been mapped, and there is no danger of inbreeding between the two of you."

  The casualness of that made it worse and I shivered. Of course they were thinking that far ahead, but it made things feel worse. Standing, I started to pace. "So I'm secret royalty?"

  Lament laughed happily. "Yes! And this is your chance to be not-so-secret royalty. Marry the prince and claim your place."

  I looked around at the gorgeous room. One that I knew was only a taste of the luxury that would be available to me as an Imperial Princess. I couldn't help being tempted by that idea, but she still hadn't answered my question.

  "That's a reason I might want to say yes," I allowed. "It still doesn't tell me why Xeraxis wants me, or why you're so keen."

  Lament was silent, and I paced back and forth, thinking. The answer was there, I just had to tease it out. If I was lost royalty, then okay, a prince might want to marry me. That would give him a claim on whatever titles I might hold, wouldn't it?

  But I didn't have any titles. Unless...

  "If Xeraxis marries me and takes me home, what happens to Earth?" I asked carefully, hoping that the suspicion forming in my mind was wrong. It couldn't be right, could it?

  "I knew you were smart," Lament said smugly, and my heart fell. "You have an Imperial claim on your homeworld, and Xeraxis will help you bring it into the Empire. Just think, you'll be the ruler of everything you know."