"More of the invasion force is entering the portal."
Tranis took a deep breath, willing the tension away. "It's going to be a long fight."
Lidon's ever-fast fingers flew over his controls. "As long as they don't figure out what we're really doing, it will be a worthwhile effort."
Tranis nodded. Once the Earthers realized the portal was being used, the real fighting would begin.
* * * *
Degorsk was trained to hypnotize others. As a doctor on a spy ship, it was part of his job. The trick was quieting the subject enough to put him or her under.
Cassidy didn't want to quiet. She was remembering something of such tremendous upheaval that her sobs went on and on, leaving her incapable of coherent speech. Biting her would settle her down but leave her wanting sex, not talk. Degorsk had seen enough of her pain, and he was determined to find its cause and yank it into the light. It was time for Cassidy to begin healing.
He held her in his lap, humming a monotonous tone and rocking her in an effort to comfort. Her tears wet his chest as she huddled against him. Degorsk took one of her hands in his and held it so her fingers splayed wide. With the index finger of his other hand, he stroked each of her fingers, one at a time, over and over. He timed it so each stroke lasted as long as the slow rocking. He raised his voice just enough so she could hear him over her sobs and said, "Relax, relax, relax, relax…" the lulling rhythm matching the strokes and rocking.
Little by little, her crying tapered off. The set of her shoulders sagged as tension ebbed away. After several minutes, she lay heavy in his arms, only the occasional shuddering sigh interrupting her breathing.
Degorsk continued to rock and stroke while he said in a soothing voice, "It's all in the past, Cassidy. The pain is behind you. It can't hurt you anymore. You feel only calm now."
She sighed again and snuggled deeper against him.
"Tell me how you feel."
"Calm."
"Good, Cassidy. There was sadness before, but you're getting to a place now where the sadness is just a memory too."
"Yes. I was sad."
"You were sad about what happened to your mother."
"Poor Mom. She only wanted to save me."
He heard the tears returning to her voice. Degorsk's control was tenuous at best. Whatever horror had happened to Cassidy and her mother would not be soothed, only muted temporarily by hypnotic suggestion. The pain could drag her out of his influence at any moment.
"Your mother cannot be harmed anymore. She's beyond all that now."
Sorrow tinged Cassidy's answer. "Yes. It's over for her."
"She loved you very much, Cassidy. She saved you. You're safe now."
"Yes." She was completely relaxed against his chest.
"What was it she saved you from?"
"The man with the knife." She shuddered.
"It's in the past now. He can't touch you. Tell me about the man. What does he look like?"
"His hair is dark with gray at the temples. He's not very tall and kind of skinny. He needs to shave. His clothes are wrinkled and his shoes are scuffed."
"Where do you first see this man?"
"He's in our apartment." Cassidy's voice rose. "How did he get in here? He's got a knife!"
Degorsk tightened his arms around her. "It's just a memory, Cassidy. He can't hurt you now. He's only a picture in your mind."
"Okay." Her tension ebbed, but he could feel the fear waiting to jump her again.
"You're safe with me. Can you feel me holding you?"
"Yes."
"Any time you become afraid, you'll feel my arms around you, keeping you from harm. Can you do that, Cassidy?"
"Yes."
"Good girl. Now the man is in your home. What do you do when you see him there?"
* * * *
Cassidy screamed.
The stranger standing in the living room smashed her against the wall and held the knife at her throat. It was a kitchen knife, of all things, with a scarred wooden handle. Not one of theirs. Their knives were all metal. The intruder must have brought the blade from home.
It was strange what one thought about when life hung in the balance.
His breath reeked of alcohol as he whispered, "Shut up, girl. Make another sound and I'll cut you."
Cassidy shut up, feeling the cold metal against her skin, ready to slice in. Her eyes were wide as she looked at the man pressed up against her. His hair stood up in crazy spikes, as if he'd forgotten to comb it this morning. Dark stubble dotted his jaw. His bloodshot eyes were rabbit-scared, intense and darting as he looked her face over.
"You look just like her. Such a pretty girl. So pretty." The frantic expression he wore took on a sad yearning that might have moved Cassidy to pity had the threat of the knife not been present.
Her mother's careful voice came from behind the man. "Mr. Walker, let my daughter go."
Walker. The man who had sent her mother bouquets of discounted, nearly wilted flowers and cheap pieces of jewelry for the last year. He called every day, sometimes half a dozen times. Cassidy was no longer allowed to answer the vid phone if the number was unknown. Stan Walker had been the reason her mother had spent the last three months wrangling a restraining order from the court, answering questions why a virtuous woman would be stalked by a man if she hadn't tempted him somehow. The restraining order had finally been won a week ago.
Walker shifted to look at her. His lips trembled and tears leaked from his eyes as he looked at Jacquelyn Hamilton, still wearing her navy blue airline attendant uniform. She'd gotten home minutes ago, and her hair, the same platinum shade as Cassidy's, was a coiled braid at the nape of her neck. Her blue eyes, wide and staring, were the only hint of terror in her carefully controlled expression.
"Jackie." In Walker's utterance of her name was an ocean of need and pain. "It could have been so beautiful between us. I loved you, and you've thrown that love in my face. How could you do that to me?" He barked a sob. "You need to know how it feels to lose what you care for most." He turned his attention to Cassidy again.
"Stan, look at me. It can still be what you wanted." The desperate note in her mother's voice trembled in the air.
"What we wanted!" The knife pressed harder at Cassidy's throat, and she tried to cringe back, to make the wall behind her bend to help her escape the madman. "You have to want me too."
"I do." Jackie slowly unbuttoned her jacket and let it slip to the floor. "I want you, Stan, but not if you hurt my daughter. Let her go, and I'll show you how much I want you."
Cassidy sobbed as her mother undressed in the middle of the room, leaving her clothing in uncaring piles on the floor. She could see how difficult it was for Jackie's trembling hands to unbutton and unzip the outfit. Walker watched, his mouth hanging open, breath heaving in and out quickly. But his knife never wavered from Cassidy's throat.
At last Jackie stood naked, pale and shaking. She held her hand out to Walker. "Take me, Stan. I'll give you everything, just as we've always wanted."
A slow, dazed smile spread over his features. He looked at Cassidy. "You see? She loves me. I knew she did."
Jackie's cheeks streaked with tears, but she grimaced a pained smile at him. "Yes, I love you. Come to me. Let me show you how you were right all along."
Walker's delight dropped suddenly. Cassidy stared into the face of another Walker, one as vicious as a rabid dog. He bared his teeth at her. "You stay right here, girl. You move and I'll kill her. I'll kill us all."
Unspeakable horror drained every last mote of strength from Cassidy's body. She slid bonelessly down the wall, coughing harsh sobs as he went to her mother. Jackie took his hand, the one not holding the knife now hovering near her belly, and tugged him to the couch. "It's okay, Cassie-lassie. Close your eyes and stay there."
Degorsk's warm voice drifted through the room, and Cassidy felt his strong arms around her, keeping her safe. "Don't remember this part, precious girl. It's in the past and can't hurt you or your m
other anymore. It's only pictures in your mind, and you feel secure."
The scene faded, leaving Cassidy in the embracing dark. She relaxed, feeling his protection. Degorsk wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. He'd promised.
"Now it's after. You are safe, and it's like watching what happened to someone else, so there's no need to be afraid. What happened after Walker attacked you and your mother?"
The living room of Jackie and Cassidy's apartment swam back into focus. Walker stood over her mother who huddled in a ball on the couch. He still held the knife.
He uttered a low scream, like an animal caught in a trap. He fell to his knees beside the sofa. "I'm sorry, Jackie! It wasn't supposed to be like - I love you! I would never hurt-"
His hoarse cries overwhelmed speech, and he crouched on the floor, his shoulders heaving with despair. He shuddered as if he'd been the one who had been raped.
Thuds sounded on the door. "Jackie! Cassidy? What's all that noise in there?"
It was Mr. Carmicheal, their nosy next-door neighbor, a severe man who always scowled suspiciously at them. He was in charge of the Neighborhood Watch for their building.
Walker jumped to his feet, his eyes wild. Jackie didn't respond, still curled tight into herself. Fear brought strength to Cassidy, and she stood. She knew what would happen to her mother if they were seen. Victims of rape were seen as temptresses, women who had brought the attacks on themselves. They were as guilty as the men who forced them.
Walker gibbered frantically. "I have to fix this. I have to fix this." He brought the knife up.
Cassidy was across the room before she knew what she was doing, the heavy antique iron lamp from the side table in her hands. She swung with all her strength, the thud of the lamp's contact with Walker's skull reverberating up her arms.
Her arms pistoned up and down, fury at what he'd done to her mother driving her mindlessly as she hit him again and again. She didn't see anything, didn't hear anything. All that existed was the growing ache in her arms, starting from her shoulders, creeping down her biceps, elbows and forearms. Even as her arms grew heavy, she kept driving the lamp up and down, up and down. He had to pay. He'd hurt her mommy and he had to pay.
The rest of the world swam back into focus when repeated crashes boomed in Cassidy's ears. She stopped pounding the motionless lump of meat on the floor as Mr. Carmicheal busted the locked door open and stared, his eyes and mouth perfect O's of shock.
"Jesus, Mohammed and Moses! Police! Carnal relations! Murder!" He ran from the room.
The lamp fell from Cassidy's numbed fingers. She looked at the bloody thing lying on the floor, at her mother slowly sitting up. The police were coming. There was no escape from justice now.
Cassidy picked her mother's clothes up, helping Jackie put them on. They were silent as they hid her nudity, restoring some semblance of modesty before the police arrived.
After she was properly clad again, Jackie held her arms out to Cassidy. The dam burst, and Cassidy clung to her mother for the last time. "Mommy!" she wailed as if she had lost ten years and regressed from a near-woman of fourteen to a four-year old child.
"It's okay baby." Jackie covered her daughter's streaming face with kisses. "We both did what we had to. No matter what they say, no matter what ugly names they call you, you did what you had to. I love you, Cassafrass."
Cassidy cried harder to hear the nickname. "I love you too, Mommy."
The deep, dark velvet of Degorsk's voice was like a balm, blanketing them with comfort, rescuing them from the inevitable hell that followed. "It's all over, Cassidy. No more pain, sweetling. It's time to leave this behind."
He drew her away from the coming doom, took her before the police could arrive with their handcuffs and shouted accusations. Her mother's desperate clutch dissolved into his strong grip, and she sighed to be cradled in her lover's arms.
"Slowly waking up. You are relaxed, feeling safe. Waking up a little more…"
Cassidy followed the soothing, deep voice, rising from the horror of that night, the horror that continued for months afterward until her mother was locked away to die in a cold cell and Cassidy sent to live in the mind-numbing prison of Europa's convent.
* * * *
Lidon cursed. "The Earthers just took out another destroyer. That's three, plus the eleven single-man fighters."
Simdow looked ill. "There are one to two hundred men on each destroyer."
Lidon cocked an eyebrow at him. "Mostly Nobeks. Dying in glorious battle is the end we hope for, so save your sympathy."
Tranis interrupted the conversation before Lidon could become offended. "How many ships have entered the portal?"
"One hundred twenty of our destroyers are away. The first should reach Earth in twenty-three minutes."
Lidon grunted approval. "There's still no sign they suspect anything. Our forces are keeping them well occupied."
"Estimated time it will take to get all five hundred of the invasion force into the portal?"
Simdow looked at Lidon and schooled his expression to be bland. "Forty-five more minutes, Captain."
Tranis kept his tone just as emotionless. "The Earthers will figure out what's going on before then."
Lidon nodded. "There will be much glory for our warriors today."
?
Chapter Eighteen
Cassidy moaned. Her memories of the past were far from her mind, chased away by the knowing mouth, tongue and fingers of Degorsk.
He sucked gently on her throbbing pink pearl, his tongue swirling around it. Two of his fingers stroked in and out, making sure to rub against the most sensitive spot in her sleeve. His touch was gentle but firm, the perfect mix of care and mastery.
Cassidy's world shrunk to where Degorsk's face and hands worked diligently. All she knew was the growing warmth of pleasure punctuated by stabs of excruciating ecstasy. She jerked in reaction when his tongue hit just the right spot. The swelling bliss of his feeding drove away all the pain, all the concerns, all the disappointments. For these few precious minutes, he kept her suspended where nothing of cold, cruel reality existed.
She didn't chase culmination. She let it slip next to her and slowly enclose her in its embrace, settling in the deepest recesses of her body and gradually creeping out to suffuse her whole being with gentle pulses of ticklish warmth. Her sighs spoke of exquisite capture and acquiescence to its power.
Degorsk pulled his fingers free. He lapped at her juices, his rough tongue carefully extracting every drop. Then he licked his lips, looking for all the world like a purple-eyed cat after a meal.
"Thank you," Cassidy whispered.
Degorsk crawled up to lay beside her. He gathered her up in his arms. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."
She snuggled against him, basking in the heat of his body. "Not just the lovemaking. You gave my mother back to me."
He said nothing, letting his kiss respond for him. Cassidy settled, the first quiet tugs of sleep creeping over her.
A steady, insistent beeping roused them both from the brink of slumber. Degorsk huffed and got out of bed to retrieve his com from the nearby desk. When he answered it, a guttural stream of Kalquorian speech issued from it in rapid-fire bursts.
Degorsk spoke back into the small metallic rectangle and hurriedly dressed in the formsuit he'd left piled on the floor. "I need to see about a sick Matara. She's in great pain here." He pointed to the right side of his abdomen below the ribs.
Cassidy sat up. "That sounds like appendicitis. It's life threatening if the appendix bursts."
Degorsk's mouth tightened in worry. He sat on the bed's edge and tugged on a boot. "Get dressed, sweetling. I need to hurry." The other boot went on in a flash.
"I don't want to slow you up. Can I stay here? I'd like to sleep."
He stood. "You are all right? I don't like to leave you alone after recovering those memories."
"I'm fine." She smiled to show him how fine she was. "Lock me in if it makes you feel better."
"I trust you, Cassidy. But Lidon will have my head if I don't keep you secured." He paused by the door, his brow wrinkling in concern. "You're sure?"
"Go!" She waved at him in mock impatience. "Go save another lady in distress. It's what you were made for."
That made him chuckle, and he swept out of the sleeping quarters. Cassidy waited for a minute, counting the seconds down to make sure he had left the main living area before slipping on her underdress and padding out of the room.
The door leading out to the ship's corridor was locked. Cassidy turned from it. Her eyes fell on the computer station. Both the dead Earther captain's and Lidon's units sat there. She went to the station and sat down.
"Power up," she commanded, and an English-language vid readout appeared before her eyes. Lidon hadn't disconnected it. "Ship's blueprints."
It took some trial and error, but she finally had the information she was after. She looked over the diagram of the complicated ventilation system, memorizing the path she wanted. Then she climbed onto the dinette table to reach the vent opening over it. The cover slid out much easier than the one in her cell on Europa had.
Cassidy boosted herself into the shaft but didn't worry about replacing the cover. If the clan came to check on her, they'd know how she'd left anyway.
The darkness of the shaft worried her a little. She'd have to go for the most part by feel, and it would be easy to get lost. But she had a mission in mind, one she'd contemplated since coming on board the Earther transport. The recovery of her memories had only solidified her resolve to carry it out.
Lidon would be furious with her. But she calmed that little concern by remembering she'd only promised him she wouldn't use the ventilation system to attempt escape. Escape was the farthest thing from her mind right now.
Cassidy was looking for confrontation.
* * * *
"The Earthers have the security grid back up," Lidon reported. "Let's see how fast our fleet takes it down this time."
Simdow's report came right on the heels of Lidon's. "Half our invasion fleet is in the portal. ETA to Earth arrival, twelve minutes. There are ten more destroyers on that side of the grid flying into the vortex now."
Alien Conquest Page 19
