He was laughing quietly. "Well, you're certainly an exception to the usual teenage girl - most girls love to shop. And aren't women supposed to like getting flowers?"
"Yeah, well, it's usually the men who are nagged to buy flowers aren't they? The women complaining about their stingy men? Aric's sister-in-law runs a florist store - maybe she could start a new line called 'stingy roses', for cheap men who don't like to buy flowers."
He chuckled. The conversation was getting silly, but I think he was glad I was talking at least. His expression grew stern, and he leaned closer again.
"Lucy, listen. You need to be careful what you say. If you want your boyfriend kept safe. All that information you just told me, it could be used to locate him." I looked at him in alarm.
"Don't worry, it's safe with me, but, please, think first before you open your mouth okay? You know you're surrounded by enemies here. They're ruthless - they need to be considering what they're up against. Be careful."
He moved to collect his things together. "I'm sorry, that was probably a bit of a downer and I was trying to cheer you up. I'll send you some anti-depressants. They should help."
Throwing the stethoscope around his neck again, he stood up to leave. "Keep your chin up. Don't lose hope - and eat something!" He left the room, and I stared bleakly at the window again. Could he be trusted - would he relay the information about Aric to Smith? A lump formed in my throat; I forced it back. Lying down on my bed, I curled my legs up towards my belly, feeling more alone and vulnerable than ever.
* * * * *
The two pound iron weight rose half an inch into the air, then dropped to the table with a small bump. Smith blew a cloud of smoke above his head, and sighed.
"This is getting old Lucy. I'm running out of time, and I'm running out of patience." He stabbed his cigarette butt out forcefully. I winced as he ripped away the sticky circles which held some electrical wires to my forehead. He'd been trying to get me to perform these tricks, hooked up to all sorts of machines, for two days now. It was all I could do to make anything move at all, let alone perform the type of impressive feat he was after.
"Come on," he said. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to a standing position. "I'm going to show you just what's at stake here."
I was surprised when he hauled me through the door and out into the corridor. It was the first time I'd left the room for two weeks. Evidently, after my poor performance, he'd lost his fear of me. We went up a floor, and he bustled me down a corridor to another door guarded by two more armed soldiers. I baulked at the sight of them.
"Oh, no I don't want to see another Innaki - please!" I pulled back as he urged me into the room.
"It isn't an Innaki."
Relaxing slightly, I wondered why they needed armed guards here - was it another captured human? A hybrid?
Still grasping my arm, Smith pulled me to stand in front of the meshed window. He hit the switch forcefully with his free hand, and the opaque window became transparent. For a moment, I saw nothing, and then something hit the glass with such force I felt the wall vibrate. I jumped back and squealed, shocked at the hideous creature bashing itself violently against the window in an attempt to reach me. It looked like a cross between a human and a gargoyle. About the size of a large man, it stood upright on muscular legs, pounding its leathery body against the wall and gnashing sharp, fang-like teeth at the glass. Its head was triangular shaped, with ribbed horns protruding from the top of its skull. The eyes were yellow and slit shaped like a cat's. It looked like the devil himself.
Smith stood calmly by the window watching the creature, yet another cigarette held casually in his hand.
"What is it?" I asked.
"This charming beast is called a 'gargoyte'. It's after our blood."
I shuddered, and continued to watch it in macabre fascination.
"These are the things the Innaki trade with," Smith continued. "Consider gargoytes the same as human heroin junkies - human blood is their drug of choice, they can't get enough."
The creature continued snapping at the window, smearing blood tinged saliva all over the glass. Smith took a seat, and pointed to an empty chair, indicating I should sit. Pulling the chair out slowly, I sank down without taking my eyes off the thing at the window.
"Gargoytes trade their wyk for human blood. They'll do anything for a hit."
I couldn't look away from it. It was the stuff of horror movies. "How... where did you get it? How many are there?"
"Oh, there's plenty more of them, but this one, it decided to slip through the quarantine, and we caught it in Branshaw. You'll remember the news stories about the Branshaw ripper?"
I looked at him blankly.
"No, I suppose you don't - you would have been too young back then."
"What do you mean - it slipped through the quarantine?"
He paused and studied me, his cigarette held in mid-air.
"You don't know about the quarantine?" he said, shaking his head. "Those hybrid friends of yours didn't tell you much."
I turned my chair to face him. "What do you mean - what is the quarantine?"
Dragging deeply on his cigarette, he let out a long trail of smoke. It drifted up to join the rest of the haze at the ceiling.
"There are many things in this world, Lucy, that are not what they seem. Humans go about their business with their heads in the sand. They have no idea what's really going on."
I leaned toward him, not sure whether I wanted to hear this, fear and fascination doing battle in my head. Ignorance is bliss, but I couldn't help but ask.
"What is really going on?"
He flicked some ash on the table - there was no ashtray. "The earth is a giant... experiment. A big gold fish bowl run by a universal council."
Pausing to gauge my reaction, he looked over at the snapping fangs of the gargoyte at the glass. "The Earth's been quarantined for millions of years. The idea is to let everything here evolve naturally. The rule is - no interference. Period. We're meant to live in ignorance. We're not supposed to be visited, but various species invariably try their luck and try to slip through."
I sat up straight, my thoughts reeling. "You mean... there's all sorts of extra-terrestrials out there sneaking in... to do what? Are you talking about the Innaki?"
"Among others. They're not just from 'outer space' as you would think of it. There's more to this universe than meets the eye. Many of the creatures are what we term 'inter-dimensional'. Space and time isn't as linear as it seems, in fact, time is a human construct, and space? I can't get my head around it - but this plane we live on is not the only one. Most of the mythical creatures humanity has supposedly 'invented' through ignorance of the unknown, actually stem from the real thing - creatures who have managed to get through from these other planes." He pointed to the gargoyte. It was eyeing him hungrily from the corner of the window, saliva hanging in great frothy stalactites from its jaws. "Take our friend here. What's the bet some peasant has come across one of these things, sucking away at a victim, and, voila! The legend of the vampire is born."
I shivered. What other mythical creatures were based on real otherworldly beings?
"So, why can't you just tell this... council thing, that the Innaki are trespassing on Earth?"
Smith tapped his cigarette and added the ash to the growing pile on the table. "The council is very strict about how a planet evolves - any hint of tampering with evolution, and they wipe the species out and start again. It happened to the dinosaurs, a worse example was what happened on Mars."
I sat back in my chair - it was almost impossible to take all this in at once. The dinosaurs were wiped out by an... intergalactic council?
"Dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteor." I stated, trying to hold on to some vestige of normality.
He shrugged. "Believe that if you want to."
"Okay, so you were talking about Mars? What happened on Mars?"
"There was a thriving community, a human-like race, living on Mars. Scientists wi
ll deny this, but all those supposed relics of civilization on Mars they're photographing now? You heard of the 'Face of Cydonia'?"
I looked at him blankly.
"A huge face," he explained, "much like the Sphinx face from Egypt, has been photographed on Mars. The lines that look like roads? They're real, the only evidence left after the Council blasted the place."
"The Innaki said that they created us, and they could destroy us - what did it mean by that?"
Smith peered at me through the haze of smoke. "Human evolution... you've heard of the missing link? The fossil evidence exists pointing to the evolution of a primate species to a pre-human form. No doubt you've heard of 'Lucy' - a rather apt name, I think, given to the fossil remains of an early human-like creature which lived over three million years ago. Scientists are still searching for the ancestors which link the modern human - homo-erectus, to our primate past. They won't find the link, because at some time, the Innaki interfered with the pre-humans, fooled around with their DNA, and created us."
"Why would they do that?"
"We've been told various reasons. The Melon Head changes what it says all the time. One minute, it says they needed slaves which could think and communicate, the next minute, it's telling us they do it for the 'benefit of humanity'. Like I said - you can't trust them, but whatever else you believe, I think it's telling the truth about manipulating the DNA to create the modern human."
He paused to take another drag on his cigarette. "'Created in his own image'," Smith quoted the Bible. "It seems the Innaki feel that they're quite within their rights to destroy their own creation."
"You don't think the Bible was talking about... the Innaki?"
"Think about it - spacemen with incredible abilities, coming down to Earth in flying machines - they would have seemed like gods to ancient people. It's a controversial notion to say the least."
"So, there's not really, a God that created everything?"
He shrugged. "If there's one thing I do know after thirty years in this business, anything is possible." He sat up straight. "Anyway, I'm not here to get into religion, or philosophy. It doesn't matter to me. What matters is that at any given time, humanity is on the brink of extinction."
I leaned on the table and cradled my head in my hands. It was unbelievable, and yet, the snarling, drooling creature in the window confirmed there were things in this world and beyond which defied belief. My notion of reality had totally shifted, and I felt as dizzy as if my center of balance had shifted too.
"So, as you can see," Smith went on, "the difficulties we're up against. The human species is so low on the evolution scale compared to other species, we barely measure a blip. Their technology is incredible. With the quarantine regularly breached, we stand on the edge of annihilation. To stand any chance, we need to catch up fast. And that's where you come in."
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. How could I possibly be of any use in all this?
"I thought, perhaps, that talent of yours, when you threw the melon head across the room, I thought it could come in useful to us. But it seems either you cannot do it now, or you're just unwilling. The alternative is trading you to the Innaki in return for some kind of technology. They seem extra keen to get their hands on you."
I stood up quickly, my chair teetering on two legs. "No! You can't do that!"
Smith calmly lit another cigarette. "Sit down Lucy, I haven't made up my mind yet. If you can prove your usefulness here, then you'll be staying here - but remember, we must use what resources we have to aim for the optimum outcome. The survival of the human race is dependent upon the decisions I make."
I sat down slowly, dismayed at his lack of empathy. He was cold hearted and calculating, perhaps even as evil as the Innaki themselves.
My head was swimming with confusion, but one thing was clear - when faced with the possibility of being a prisoner to either the Innaki, or to Smith's agenda, neither option was acceptable. I needed to escape, and it was up to me. I wasn't going to lie down and take this anymore.
The Tweedle brothers appeared and led me back to my cell. I wracked my brain for a way of escaping. The place was heavily guarded, my cell sealed so I couldn't send any message out. I didn't even know where I was - if I was miles away from Aric, could I still send a message that far? Did I want to even risk Aric's capture by asking him to come here? Would he even bother to come after the way I'd chewed him out and taken off...
I realized it was up to me - I couldn't rely on anyone else. I lay on my bed, facing the wall, ignoring the ever-prying watchers behind the meshed window. Rubbing my tired eyes, I stopped and looked at my hand, an idea forming in my mind. I remembered my arm disappearing in the florist store - if I could just learn to do that and make my entire body invisible, I just might be able to get out of here. It was my only hope, and I wondered how I was going to practice the skill so I could learn to do it properly, when I never got a moment's privacy. I decided I would practice under my sheet, and hope my captors wouldn't catch on.
With renewed hope, I sat up and moved to the window to bang on the glass. "I'm starving!" I yelled.
Crossing to the bed, I sat down cross-legged, waiting for my meal to arrive. I would eat properly, stop moping about, regain my strength, and get the hell out of here.
* * * * *
Two more days. I closed my eyes, and turned to face the wall, careful to keep the bed sheet pulled all the way over my head. Despite the absence of a clock, I was beginning to get an idea of the time. The lights were dimmed a little at night so I could sleep. I roughly judged the passing of days by the change in lighting in my cell. When Smith and Clare had finished with me for the day, I would eat my meals obediently, then lie down on the bed, pull the covers over my head, and practice making various parts of my body vanish. At first I was worried the ever present watchers at the window would notice my disappearing body parts, but the shape of my body under the sheet never changed - anyone viewing the lump covered by the sheet would see nothing unusual at all.
The lights dipped but I could still see the outline of my arm. I had curled up so I could view my knees as well. It was rather awkward, but I needed to be sure I could make every part of me vanish. Concentrating hard, I managed to make my arms, torso and legs disappear - only my feet remained visible. I was getting much better at it, and I estimated I would be ready to escape in two more days. I'd spent the past few days trying to make sure Smith was pleased with my progress so he wouldn't trade me with the Innaki, while ensuring I preserved enough wyk to be able to stay invisible for as long as it took to sneak out of the complex. It seemed wyk was a substance which a body accrued, or attracted, and the more positive and happy one felt, the faster it was replenished. I remembered Ellen talking about Aric having to 'refuel' when we had first turned up at the apartment. He'd been right as rain within a few hours, but it was taking me much longer. Maybe it was because I was stuck in a place with the threat of being handed over to the Innaki hanging over me. Nevertheless, I tried to push that out of my mind, and instead buoyed my spirits by planning my escape.
I'd had to think on where I would go afterward. I couldn't go back to Newtown - that would be the first place they would look for me. Uncle Tom's was definitely out of the question. I had other relatives, but I presumed Smith would have all of their details in that file he had on me. With no money, no identifying papers, I was, well, 'screwed' as they say. I remembered the feeling of anxiety I'd felt when I had run away from home when I was eight years old. I was AWOL for about three hours, sitting in the local park, wondering whether I could build a tree house in the woods and live there until I grew up. As the sun went down, and the shadows grew deeper and scarier around the playground, I'd been secretly relieved when a local policeman had found me and returned me to my aunt. My predicament now, of course, was way worse. I didn't even know where this facility was - whether it was on an island, way out in a desert, or right under the noses of the local population in a city. I decided my first priority would b
e to get as far away as possible from this place. Perhaps someday I could contact Aric again - I didn't have a phone number, but I had the address of Ellen and Saul's apartment, as well as the name of Ellen's florist store. It would be easy to find the number for that if I was in real trouble, and I was pretty sure they would help me.
Two more days - it was hard to get that out of my head, and the thought kept me awake. Part excitement, part fear, I felt as though I would burst from nervous tension. It made it difficult for me to sleep, but the sleep state seemed to be when I built up wyk. It was a bit of a vicious cycle - as I worried about not getting enough sleep - but the worry kept me awake. Closing my eyes, I tried to concentrate on my breathing, feeling my chest rise and fall as I inhaled deeply.
Lucy, where are you?
It was Aric's voice in my head. My eyes fluttered open. Had I been dreaming? I lay still for a moment, and listened. Nothing. A pang of sadness pierced me - I missed his voice so much, and that tiny dream had been so bitter-sweet. Closing my eyes again, I turned over, and tried to go back to sleep.
Lucy, are you here?
That was no dream. I resisted the urge to leap out of my bed. Where was he? How was he able to reach me through the shield?
I'm here Aric! Where are you?
There was silence for a moment, and then I almost yelled for joy when his voice appeared in my mind again.
I'm in the building - trying to find you. Saul and Marcus are here too. Are you okay?
Oh! I'm great now! My eyes were watering but I stayed still under the covers - I didn't want the watchers to become suspicious.
This place is like a maze Lucy - do you know which floor you're on?
The second bottom floor I think. Aric, be careful, there are armed guards everywhere.
Starcrossed: Perigee - A paranormal romance trilogy Page 17
