Fragmented images filled her mind chaotically as she lay staring at the ceiling, trying to sort them and make sense of them. The emotions came through with far more clarity, though, than what had actually happened. She felt those with such an intensity that they peaked once more and she had to struggle to calm herself down again before she could even try to piece together what had happened—the details.
She knew what had happened. She’d died and everyone around her had fallen beneath the heel of their enemy.
She sat up abruptly on that thought. “The people in the subway!” she gasped, struggling to get up from the bed and discovering she was tangled in the covers.
She didn’t even see Tariq until he was nearly upon her—a huge dark, unrecognizable form that made her heart nearly lurch out of her chest when he swooped down on her and gathered her into his arms. For several moments, panic gripped her and she fought to free herself, convinced that one of the aliens had caught her.
“Stop it! You’re safe.”
Recognition pierced her panic and she ceased her efforts to break free and gripped him frantically instead. “They’re coming! We have to go!”
“They’re gone, Emerald,” he said soothingly. “They left a long time ago.”
That caught her attention. She pushed away from him far enough to search his face for the truth and then reality lurched awkwardly into focus, fitting itself over the residual memories. She didn’t struggle when he pulled her against his chest again and began to stroke her soothingly. A shudder went through her, but she didn’t feel trapped or overwhelmed. She felt … safe, felt as if she was more sheltered by his bulk than she would’ve been by a bunker. His warmth filtered into her, dissipating the cold that had seemed to go bone deep. “There are … were people in the subway and the sewers. We sent them there to protect them.”
Tariq lifted her and carried her across the room. Settling in the chair with her where he’d sat the night before, teasing her and then sending her away, he arranged her comfortably across his lap, just as he had then, curling an arm around her as he tucked her into the crook of one arm. The memory flickered through her mind, but she was too needy for the comfort he offered to give any precedence to her wounded pride from that incident. She snuggled closer, burrowing her face against his chest, trying to block out the memories she’d been trying so hard to bring to light.
“What started it, child?” he murmured after several moments.
The sudden urge to weep like a child made her chest tight. She fought that urge just as she had the fear and the sense of hopelessness that had threatened to engulf her, struggling to focus on the question and trying to remember. “It was the new colony,” she said finally. “I don’t really know. We heard that the colonists met with hostiles shortly after they arrived. We heard they were trying to negotiate a treaty and then the next thing we heard was that the aliens had attacked, that there was a terrible battle and most of the colonists and the military escort that had accompanied them had been killed. It was shortly after that that we discovered the aliens had tracked them back to Earth and were coming.”
She felt silent, trying to remember more. “We’d heard they were backwards primitives,” she said after a moment. “Everyone was shocked when they heard the primitives had wiped out the entire colony. Nobody believed it. And then, when we heard they were coming after us, we realized it must have been the colonists that had provoked it—or maybe the military—but nobody believed the military would’ve acted without orders. Everyone blamed the government, believed they’d been the aggressors, but we only knew what we’d been told, what was on the news.
“We knew when we heard they had attacked the outer solar bases that we were going to be overrun. They managed to get a report back before … before we lost communications. There weren’t enough ships to evacuate everyone—hardly anyone, actually. We—the military—was ordered to stay behind and fight, to make sure the ships got away and to try to protect the civilians who had no way to escape. Our prime directive, though, was to throw everything we had at them and engage them so aggressively that they would have to focus on us so that the evacuees had a chance to escape.”
Tariq’s hand paused when she stopped. “You were part of the military force?”
Emerald frowned, considering that, and felt a sudden wave of loss envelop her. It might’ve completely undermined her efforts to control her emotions except that a sense of relief and hope was part of it. “I volunteered to stay,” she said with an effort. “There wasn’t room on the ships for everyone. Part of the forces were to go with the ships to try to protect them, but if you volunteered to take part in the Earth defenses, you could get a ticket. I stayed so I could send my daughter, Cara, to safety. And because I couldn’t send anyone else and I wanted to be part of the forces that stayed to try to protect them.”
A knot of emotion formed in her throat, making it difficult to swallow. “I saved her,” she murmured, trying to convince herself. “We held them long enough the ships got away.”
Tariq gave her a few moments to compose herself. “Where did they go, Emerald?”
Emerald’s heart skipped several beats as awareness abruptly descended over her that the man she was cuddled so trustingly against was an alien—just as those who’d attacked them had been. Not the same alien race. Those who’d attacked were horrible creatures that barely looked humanoid—but still an enemy of humans! She didn’t give a damn whether they called her child or not, called humans the children of the Anunnaki! They considered the humans belonged to them! She hadn’t died to protect her daughter just to tell them where to find her!
She pushed away from him abruptly and sat up. She would’ve leapt to her feet and put more distance between them if she hadn’t known it would only result in a useless struggle. “I couldn’t tell you if I wanted to. I volunteered to stay and that meant volunteering for a memory erase to keep the enemy from finding out where they’d gone.”
Tariq studied her speculatively. “And you wouldn’t tell me if you could,” he said flatly.
Emerald searched his face. “No, I wouldn’t.”
“Don’t you want to know that your daughter’s safe?”
Emerald sent a sharp glance toward Koryn. She hadn’t even realized he was there until he’d asked the question. “Not badly enough to let your people enslave her,” she retorted coldly. At any rate, she knew her daughter was safe! There was more she still didn’t remember than she did, but the one thing she was completely convinced of was that they’d halted the invasion at Earth’s doorstep. They’d thrown everything they had at them and destroyed most of the invading fleet, damaged them so badly they’d focused on a ground war. The enemy might have defeated them in the end. She didn’t know. She’d fallen here—at the city—but she knew they hadn’t succeeded in wiping out mankind, even though it was abundantly clear that was their intention.
God only knew what they’d done to provoke it, but she had a very bad feeling that they had provoked it. They’d felt their own needs superseded all other considerations, that they were the most important species, when they’d set out to colonize and, to an extent, she’d agreed with the general consensus.
She still thought that they’d allowed their arrogance to overcome good sense in their dealings with the aliens that had attacked them, but she didn’t know that for certain. They might have made an earnest attempt to negotiate. It might well have been impossible. The aliens who’d attacked had certainly proven they were vicious, vindictive bastards and maybe they’d been that way from the start—impossible to deal with without a fight to the death? To her, they’d seemed like monsters—scarier than any nightmare. Maybe humans had looked that way to them and all they’d been able to focus on was eradicating the nightmare creatures so that they couldn’t be a threat to them?
She could see she’d angered both of Tariq and Koryn, but that was just too damned bad! Maybe everything they’d told her was true and they would’ve still been living in caves and chucking spears
if not for the Anunnaki. She didn’t know, and it didn’t matter. They weren’t children anymore to be awed by the ‘god-like’ aliens! They certainly didn’t owe the Anunnaki anything for choosing them as guinea pigs!
Tariq’s eyes narrowed but after a moment he merely set her on her feet and got up. “Koryn was thoughtful enough to bring your midday meal. Unfortunately, although he’d thought to join you, I’m afraid I’ll have to deprive you of company. We have business to attend to.”
Disconcerted, Emerald frowned uneasily at the two men as they strode from Tariq’s quarters.
Not that they’d mistreated her since she’d awoken, but she would’ve expected a more violent reaction than that from most anyone.
Guilt flickered through her at that thought. Despite everything, they’d been unfailingly considerate of her, kind and gentle in spite of their arrogant superiority complex—which, she supposed, they at least had reason to feel. As annoying as that was, it would have been far more irritating if she hadn’t seen them as superior beings herself in most every way.
It occurred to her that they must think they had some other way of obtaining the information since they hadn’t pressured her for it and it was clear that they were determined to discover whatever remained of the human race.
Or maybe they were just trying to use psychology on her, trying to make her think they had another way to get the information so that she would let her guard down?
A cold wave washed over her abruptly as another memory surfaced. They were excavating for the remains of the people who’d died here and her platoon had been stationed to defend the entrance to the subway where those who hadn’t had the chance to flee the city had been sent for safety. She’d told them when she woke from her nightmare! For several moments, wild ideas of somehow diverting them chased back and forth across her mind. Just about the time she acknowledged the futility of trying anything, however, it dawned on her that no one in the subway was likely to have the information they were seeking. Everyone knew they had established colonies on several different planets. She didn’t doubt that they knew the names that had been given to the planets. She realized it was highly unlikely that the Anunnaki would find anyone who knew the star systems where those planets were, though, or would be able to give them any kind of description that might help them narrow down the possibilities.
Those who’d remained on Earth after the exodus had little interest in the other colonies. They’d considered themselves ‘caretakers’ of the home world and it was entirely possible that was the real reason many of them had stayed, to guard human interest in the home world until it’s climate stabilized again and made it more welcoming. For the most part, though, those who’d remained hadn’t actually stayed by choice. They simply hadn’t had the option of going to one of the new worlds either because they had no skills that made them desirable colonists or they couldn’t afford to make the trip and often both.
She’d joined the military because she’d known it was her only hope of getting off planet and settling with her daughter on one of the colony worlds. She hadn’t wanted to leave earth at first. Sure they had problems due to the climate change, which had caused global economic instability, but it was home and the colonies had their own problems. Besides that she hadn’t wanted to leave her family behind when there was a strong possibility that she’d never see them again.
She’d lost her reasons for staying over the years, though, lost those closest to her, and as Cara grew older, she’d come to see that there were far better opportunities for her daughter on the colony worlds.
She’d expected to get the chance to go with her, though, hoped she might at least have the chance to join her later even though she’d known that was doubtful.
Grief swelled in her chest at the thought, making it hard to breathe, but she struggled to tamp it as she had since she’d sent Cara away. Her daughter was safe and that was far more important than anything else. She not only had the chance for life. She had the chance of a good life, far more opportunities than she would’ve had on Earth even if not for the war.
She was just sorry for herself that she couldn’t be there to watch her life unfold.
She didn’t presently see any possibility of it, at any rate. She wouldn’t even be alive now if not for the Anunnaki and she wasn’t convinced, yet, that they’d done her a favor. She had a bad feeling she never would be convinced of that.
Thrusting her depressing thoughts aside after a moment, she focused on eating what she could of the food Koryn had brought, reminding herself that she had to get stronger to even look for opportunities. She felt stronger already than she had a few days before and she’d recovered enough of her memories to have both a past and some hope for a future.
Beyond having a goal, she didn’t allow herself to dwell too much on Cara. She hadn’t since she’d sent her away to protect her and now wasn’t the time to allow herself to get bogged down in useless emotions. She had to survive first before she had possibilities.
* * * *
Koryn was so consumed by jealousy that it wasn’t until they reached the dig that he emerged sufficiently to feel any curiosity at all about what Tariq had found. It had bothered him just knowing that Tariq had her in his quarters. He’d convinced himself, though, that Tariq wasn’t fool enough to risk Emerald just to appease his needs and, unfortunately, he’d assumed that meant that Tariq would keep his distance.
Clearly the bastard saw no reason not to gentle her to hand while he waited, though. She not only hadn’t put up any resistance when he’d carried her to the chair and cuddled her, she’d clung to him. The sight had been enough to make him so sick with rage that he’d wavered for a time between the urge to throw up and the urge to drag Emerald out of his lap and resume what they’d started earlier.
Emerald’s distress was the only thing that had kept him firmly planted where he was. The memories he’d helped to surface were clearly far more traumatic even than he’d expected and he’d been worried enough about her dealing with them emotionally that he’d managed to retain a slender thread of sanity. Not much more than that, but at least a little self-control.
The underhanded bastard was using her emotional frailty, her need for comfort to accustom her to his touch!
Not that he could see that Tariq had succeeded all that well, he thought with some satisfaction. She didn’t trust him, despite his efforts.
Of course, she didn’t trust him either!
That rankled almost more than the fact that she’d at least trusted Tariq enough to calm her when he thought she ought to have been more inclined to turn to him. He was the one who’d revived her, after all. She’d responded to his hypnosis with trust!
And yet he’d gotten the distinct impression that she wasn’t even aware he was in the room until he’d spoken—which was proof positive his mind was just so much mush! What in the hell had possessed him to pose such a question, he wondered, thoroughly disgusted with himself? He should have known better! Tariq might still be laboring under the impression that the humans were vastly inferior intellectually to the Anunnaki, but he’d studied their genome thoroughly. He knew they were the equal of the Anunnaki in that respect—maybe not technologically but even that was debatable now, when they’d discovered the humans had mastered space travel to an extent that had allowed them to colonize other worlds.
If he’d been thinking straight, he would’ve known that that would instantly set off alarms and inspire distrust!
The truth was, he thought disgustedly, that he’d been too focused on trying to gain her attention and her trust to think before he spoke.
Not that he thought the fault was entirely his! Tariq had completely underestimated the humans in general and her in particular. Granted, it was hard to shake the preconceptions they’d had when they’d been sent to collect the ‘children’. Everyone back on Nibiru still thought of the humans as the simple, easily manipulated and awed beings they’d dealt with in the beginning.
Tariq’s ‘slip’ i
n front of her—because of his ungovernable temper where she was concerned!—had done more damage than either of them had realized at the time. He thought she would’ve been inclined to trust them if she hadn’t learned their plans before they’d had time to build any real trust, but Tariq had fucked up any possibility of that! Her reaction to his attempt to persuade her to open up was proof of that!
“Don’t tell me you’re still sulking over the woman,” Tariq said dryly, jerking Koryn from his thoughts.
He felt his face heat with a mixture of anger and discomfort. “I suppose you wouldn’t be ‘sulking’ as you call it if the shoe was on the other foot?” he growled.
Tariq sent him a speculative look, considered it, and finally shrugged, smiling thinly. “Point taken. You’ll get your chance with her. I gave my word—as little as I like the necessity.”
Koryn’s lips tightened. “I think you’re underestimating Emerald and I think you might come to regret it. You need to try to wrap your mind around the fact that she isn’t a ‘child’ in any sense of the word.”
“The humans are very child-like,” Tariq said with amusement.
“So we were told,” Koryn snapped, “and I have no doubt that was true—once upon a time.”
“They progressed. It was only to be expected. We gave them the tools they needed, after all, to build a civilization and helped them to evolve far more rapidly than they would have without our interference.”
Koryn was about to argue further when it dawned on him abruptly that Tariq’s attitude was his advantage—quite possibly the only one he might have. If he was too hardheaded and narrow minded to see that treating Emerald like a simpleminded child was only going to push her further away, then all the better for him. “If you say so,” he murmured, struggling to keep his voice neutral.
Tariq sent a suspicious glance in his direction, but he kept his gaze firmly fixed on the city as they approached it. The frenzied activity at the dig distracted both of them from their focus on Emerald and the disharmony that had arisen between the two of them because of their mutual interest in her.
Deep Penetration; Alien Breeders I Page 8
