“But why?” she mumbled. “Why not protect everyone?”
She felt like an idiot even after saying it. Despite the flaunted “higher ideals” of United Earth that stressed equality, everything always boiled down to money.
“I think you know. It’s cheaper that way and easier to keep workers from leaving. Any attempt at all to leave the surface and they are rushed back when they start to show signs of sickening. Once they return, they’re miraculously better. Of course they then have to repay their transport fees and emergency medical debts. This is not Earth and such things are not free, especially not for the non-gratis. Few make the attempt more than twice before resigning themselves to their life here.”
“That’s illegal,” she whispered.
He regarded her silently for a moment. “I suppose in the nature of legalities and what is and is not permitted, it’s why your illegal conduct will not be reported. And we do, as a matter of fact, have undeniable evidence of your behavior. A pregnancy is hard to conceal,” he said, his smug smile returning.
Her eyes widened. Pregnant? Her hands skimmed over her belly. She knew that sophisticated tech could tell as early as the next day regarding conception, but she never imagined…
His mocking voice intruded on her thoughts. “After we’re done with you, you will be reintroduced within the colony. Afterward, you can feel free to fuck whoever you like. That part is beyond my concern. All I really care about is what I want.”
She swallowed thickly. “And what you want… that’s number two.”
He nodded. “Not a complete idiot, I see. Yes. Two, you are property of Darvel Exploratory Corporation and are in possession of something—well, beginning to develop something if you wish to be exact—that will be highly useful to Corp, and therefore to United Earth.”
She defensively crossed her arms over her stomach, and he laughed.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I have no use in your offspring. The scientists think it might be useful for deeper mining, and have suggested a breeding program… but that’s more an idea being tossed around right now by Corp. No, all I’m interested in is the strange mutagen that’s been introduced into your body from whatever alien you fucked. A lovely little bit of coding that makes you able to actually live full time in that environment. Unfortunately, it’s only partially developed and is useless to us as it is. Therefore, it requires us to… help the matter along.”
The last was said with such a chilling smile that she stepped closer to the wall separating them. Although she was relieved that he had no immediate interest in her baby—something she knew could easily change if Darvel convinced him that it would be a profitable idea—she was more concerned with the calculated gleam in his eye as he looked at her.
“What do you mean?” she demanded, her voice harsh as it echoed back to her in the chamber.
His smile dropped away, his face hardening, giving nothing away except that cruel gleam that remained in his eyes as he stared at her.
“Let’s just say that you will be getting some company very soon. As soon as we catch one of those slippery creatures, if it happens to be male, we will be introducing him to you via that cell adjoining yours. It’s lucky that we had this set up in case we needed to run tests. We only needed to make some necessary modifications.” He nodded to the door separating the cells. “The locking panel has been disabled and reset to automatic entry.”
He paused, his head tilting as he watched her reaction. Lori felt sick to her stomach. They were going to seriously throw a strange male she didn’t know in with her. There was no need to guess where things were heading. Her chest heaved with every panicked pant, and his lips curved with satisfaction.
“Naturally,” he continued mercilessly, “it will open to allow the creature into your room. And then…” he waved a hand in dramatic emphasis, “…we let nature take its course.”
She wheezed, her head shaking in denial. “You can’t do this. Please.”
His expression chilled. “You are quite mistaken. I can and will do whatever is profitable for United Earth. This planet is rich in minerals and metals of the likes you can only find in trace amounts elsewhere. We haven’t found any really big deposits yet, but it is only a matter of time. Productivity is a big concern to both Darvel and United Earth. Consider your role in this to be a matter of civil duty and a demonstration of patriotism for your homeworld.”
Frustrated, she slapped a hand against the wall in front of her. “You don’t understand. You can’t keep me here. I just came to warn you. The males who have been attacking the dome aren’t the worst of your problems. There’s an entire society that is about to wage war with the colony if you don’t make an effort at peaceful contact.”
“If they were at all interested in peaceful contact between our species, then they would not have been attacking us and killing our people,” he rebutted, his voice harsh.
“That’s because they didn’t know we were sentient. They saw laboring creatures and assumed that we were some sort of intelligent livestock—and we’ve been invading their home and causing cave-ins. The colony needs the protection of the Seshanamitesh against those who are attacking us. You won’t get that protection by keeping me in here.”
Patrick’s face pinched. “This is not our first rodeo with hostile natives. We don’t need the help of locals to deal with this matter. We’ve managed to kill more than one of these creatures over the years. They are fascinating predators. Almost admirable and, we decided early on, worthy of study.”
He turned away and pressed something on his datapad. The wall behind him opened, revealing dissected parts of Seshanamitesh, perfectly preserved in a display tank used for scientific study.
A partially de-fleshed head of one male gaped at her from where it sat beside the skull of another. A full skeleton occupied the side of the display closest to her. It was bad enough, but from there it became grislier. Preserved arms and hands with claws splayed were set up directly beside it and were followed by tails and gavo, clearly taken from different parts of the body, including a selection of crests. They filled the wall in addition to a preserved pair of long wings stretched out in the center. There were even two sets of sexual organs set up, side by side, both filled with the necessary preservatives to keep them in their correct shape pinned in place next to a full-length tail with scales the darkest shade of green.
Lori raced back toward the toilet. She only just made it in time to puke up what little she had in her stomach. It was only when the heaving stopped and she was able to rest her brow on the cool surface without feeling the need to vomit again that she pushed up to her feet and returned to the commander.
She tried not to look again at the appalling sight behind him as he smirked at her, but she couldn’t seem to look away. What Darvel was doing here in cooperation with United Earth was inhuman. With the variations in color, they all seemed to come from different subjects, each sample as gory as the one proceeding it. Along the surface of the display, glowing notes formed randomly regarding each of the items, only to fade and reappear moments later.
“And now you see exactly what I mean,” he commented, his eyes sweeping over the collection in admiration. “I am hardly afraid of these things. We have had some casualties, yes, but we will deal with these creatures. And I assure you that the next step of catching a live one will not be so difficult. We’ve been preparing for months, studying the attacks, especially now that they’ve become bold enough to attack the colony itself. I imagine that we will have one in captivity very soon. Perhaps even whoever the daddy is. I imagine he is lurking out there… waiting, isn’t he?”
When she fell silent, refusing to respond in light of the horrors before her, he merely shrugged. “It does not matter who we get. One male will work just as well as another, I’m sure. Once we have accomplished that I will be deploying our military units into the mines to deal with this problem. Now that we know where they’re coming from, we will be able to coordinate an attack and destroy their breedin
g grounds.”
Lori roused herself from her silent protest to gape at him. “Are you insane? It will be a bloodbath. You’ll be sending your men and women down there to die!”
He stepped closer, his eyes, once again hard and cold, narrowing on her. “I am a highly decorated commander of United Earth fleets. Do not mistake my assignment here to mean that I don’t know what I’m doing. Our troops are trained in all manner of terrains and environments. They will successfully wipe out the serpent infestation from the caves.”
Laughter broke from her, dismal and pained as she stared up at him. “You are a fucking idiot.”
His dark eyes flashed with anger before a grin stretched grotesquely on his face. “It seems you’re a fountain of information. We find out exactly what you know and then we will see.”
With that parting shot, he closed the display and left her alone, the lights in the outer room clicking off except for the dim light of her cell. Lori sank to the floor miserably. She was trapped and there was no way to get a message outside. Slengral had to be so worried. She only hoped that he didn’t try to come after her. Commander Patricks would like that too much.
Chapter 37
Kehtal’s right wing flicked out and expanded and then his left wing as he stretched them restlessly. It had been two full waking cycles since Slengral had left with Lori, and he was starting to get worried. He did not like that they had not yet returned from the human nest. How long did it take to pass on information and return?
“I do not like this,” he growled, drawing Daskh’s attention from where he was occupied in the bathing pool with the nestling.
His friend’s ear ridges raised, fanning out with curiosity as Daskh looked over at him, struggling with the small male he was determined to clean.
“I said so on our last waking, and you told me to quit whining like a kapan,” the male pointed out sourly.
“That was then. It has been a whole additional sleep cycle since and there is still no sign of Slengral and Lori!” Kehtal snarled, earning him a reproachful look from Daskh when Hashal dipped down into the water at the sound.
“Apologies,” Kehtal murmured.
He sighed, his hand stroking over his right crest for what had to have been the hundredth time since waking. Not that he had slept much. He was exhausted and on edge, his mind constantly fretting over their little human female.
A groan escaped him. Slengral was going to slaughter him once he found out that Daskh was not the only one growing attached to his mate. Kehtal hid it better, told himself that his infatuation would eventually diminish the more she carried Slengral’s scent. With her absence, he was forced to face the horrible truth that he would continue to want her. He coveted her, even though he was not quite as lost in the mating bond as his friend was.
Daskh, unfortunately, was genuinely suffering her absence after so many waking cycles entwined with her. He tried not to show it while he was caring for Hashal, but in his unguarded moments Kehtal watched as the male fretted and descended into an increasingly more volatile temper. Daskh’s coils never seemed to settle as they twisted and twined continuously with his anxiety. At times, it almost seemed as if his tail were moments from lashing out to strike defensively. Even when he was trying to control it, it was still visible in the way the tip of his tail constantly curled and uncurled. Kehtal was both envious and relieved that he never had a close enough connection with her to miss it.
In a way, it was its own kind of torment. Some part of him not only grieved her absence but also was consumed with regret. He had kept his distance to not upset Slengral, and with her absence he felt like he had missed something important and special.
He exhaled painfully. He could not do this. He could not wait a moment longer. He needed to get out and track Slengral down, just to assure himself that everything was still fine. The colony was only a few spans away. He could be gone and back before Hashal spent one more night whimpering for the female. Daskh could manage him and protect the nest until then. There had been no new activity outside the tunnel, so he was confident that the nestling would be perfectly safe until he returned. In essence, he would still be doing as Lori wished.
As if privy to his thoughts, Hashal screeched as he was caught once again in his attempt to escape the pool. Daskh’s large hand wrapped easily around the male’s small body and dragged him back inside as he plucked up the scrap of leather and lathered it against the wedge of soap sitting beside him. As he began to scrub, he glanced up, his brow raised.
“I can hear the mechanisms of your mind turning. What are you plotting, Kehtal?” Daskh growled.
“Just that you seem to have everything under control here,” he began, grimacing at the dark scowl that descended over the male’s features.
“You want to leave,” Daskh interrupted in his usual blunt manner. “Even though our Lori asked for us to remain here and watch the nestling. Knowing that our presence here is something she is counting on, you still want to leave.”
“Not leave, exactly. I would be right back to help. I would honor her request,” Kehtal snapped. His coils drew up around him defensively. “I only plan to fly out, circle around the colony, and see if I can get any word from Slengral. As soon as I have accomplished that, I will return immediately.”
Green eyes narrowed on him, and then a loud sigh left Daskh. “I admit I would be more at ease with this if I had a way to know that she was well,” he muttered, the words drawing on with considerable reluctance.
“I as well.” Kehtal readily agreed. “I cannot remain here in the nest without being able to satisfy myself that she is safe.”
Daskh nodded, his crests flicking as he submerged the nestling one last time to rinse him before rising from the water with Hashal clinging to him.
“Go then and return quickly.” His expression hardened, his eyes glittering with menace. “If you do not return with word before the suns rise, expect that I will find someone to watch Hashal just so I can find you and murder you.” He paused. “You would not want that.”
Kehtal dipped his head quickly in a nod, his crests jerking in affirmation. The last thing he wanted was for Daskh to come after him in a fit of temper for not doing as agreed, not unless the situation was dire, and then he would need that anger to destroy any threat.
“Agreed,” he swore. “Believe me, if I do not return, I will most certainly welcome you tracking me down.” He swallowed, not wishing to think any more than he had to of what that would mean for him, Slengral or Lori. “If that happens, I suggest taking the nestling to Ehsash first. Otherwise, you are free to murder me so long as Lori is safe.”
“I know Ehsash,” Daskh rumbled. “He is a good male to trust with Hashal. It is agreed then. Go now. Just know that I will do as promised if you do not return with the suns. As long as we understand each other.”
“Perfectly,” Kehtal assured him, his wings stretching wide and slapping against his back to warm them up as he slipped toward the tunnel.
“And if you see Lori at all, send her my greeting. Tell her that I wait for her return!” Daskh shouted after him.
The male’s words echoed in Kehtal’s mind as he darted up from the tunnel into the main shaft with a flurry of wingbeats. He did not believe he would see Lori. He did not believe that she would be anywhere where he could even catch scent of her. He had the uneasy feeling that something had happened, and he could not shake it or outfly it.
Wheeling up around a sharp curve, he whipped past the human equipment to soar up out of Algatha’s mouth. His eyes adjusted to the light of the moons shining down and the expanse of sky filled with more stars than he could ever count. He did not take time to admire them as he usually would. There would be time enough to return again to study the skies as he tracked the movement of the heavens.
Higthar, the dominant and brightest star in the sky, the lauded heavenly mate of Shangla, sat low in the sky that night. Its light marking out the exact path toward the colony. Higthar was the vengeful one, guardian,
and once a mighty protector of the clans before the division. It seemed only right that he was showing kindness to Kehtal and joining him on his hunt for Lori.
Whispering thanks for the blessing, he winged swiftly across the sky, the rush of air over his wings and tail pressing down uncomfortably at his speed. The pressure was nothing to him. It was far more endurable than the worry that filled his belly with sickness. His attention was focused entirely on the landscape speeding toward him and eventually a glowing spot in the distance that gradually became larger.
The curved surface of the human nest gleamed just as he recalled. As he drew closer, he swiveled his head, looking for any sign of Slengral. From what Lori had said, he knew that the male had to be waiting somewhere outside. He certainly would not have gone anywhere without his mate.
“Gasthan shit,” he muttered to himself, scanning the sand below him. “Where is he?”
He only just barely refrained from calling out to the male as he would have if they had been separated in the caves. His breath pinched in his lungs with the realization that he had just barely avoided a disaster. That close to the colony, one of the humans would have taken notice.
Dropping down lower for a clearer view, he made sure his gavo were completely flattened and slowed his pace, his wings taking on a more leisurely beat. He had completed a half circle of the human nest when a rattling hiss reached his ears from below.
It had to be Slengral.
Turning toward the sound, he was not surprised when the male suddenly rose from the sand, the grains pouring off of him. Kehtal grinned, elated to have found his friend but his smile quickly slipped when he saw that Slengral was waving him away. Kehtal’s eyes snapped toward the colony a short distance away. He did not understand. They were well away from the perimeter of lights, and human vision was terrible. It was the whole reason that the Seshanamitesh were able to pick off the humans so easily.
Serpents of the Abyss (The Darvel Exploratory Systems #2) Page 26
