by C. R. Jane
“We told you before. You’re already ours.”
I was on my feet pacing and didn’t recall getting off the chair, but I wrapped my arms around my middle, barely able to breath. I kept prodding my throat with my tongue to feel for the ring. How could they have done this?
“You didn’t even ask me,” I mumbled.
“We had no time,” he explained.
Fury raged through my veins that these three Vepar pushed and pulled me in every direction at their own accord, never what I wanted. “So what now?” I began. “You put me to sleep for years until we arrive there, and I’ll wake up an old woman because I wasted my life here. I might as well have died at the hands of the enemies.” I gasped for air, and the walls seemed to close in around me.
“I’ll take us just under a month to reach home. We use a rift in spacetime,” Corran explained as if I ought to understand what he was talking about.
I blinked fast and glanced back outside the window. “I don’t know much about science, but I’m pretty sure no one can move faster than the speed of light.”
“Our technology might challenge that theory. Long ago we discovered two entangled black holes. Our scientists found an anomaly and…” He tapped his chin as if finding the easiest way to explain what I already didn’t quite understand. “They found a way to separate these two black holes, and that space in between turned out to be a wormhole, which allows anyone with the right vessel to take a shortcut through the universe.”
“Shortcut?”
“Space and time can be bent. One of Earth’s great geniuses, Albert Einstein was correct,” Corran’s words sped up in his excitement to tell me this explanation. “A wormhole is a tunnel that joins distant locations in space or even two universes through space time curvature. And one our scientists discovered one that from our world to your universe.”
“So, that’s how you’ve watched us for so long before you invaded.”
“Invaded is a very harsh word.” He picked up his black framed glasses and slipped them back on his face.
“Where’s Thane and Derrial?”
“Sleeping. We’ve been traveling nonstop for the past two weeks and are nearing the wormhole. If you’d like, I could put you to sleep for the next two weeks?”
I slumped back into the seat, my head hurting from the influx of information, and yet I couldn’t stop staring out into space, both terrified and lost.
At least this time he asked me if I wanted something done to me. Maybe sleeping wasn’t such a bad idea as it would stop me from stressing constantly, but what if I woke up with something else operated on me?
“No sleep. I prefer to experience the next two weeks on the ship.”
No matter what Corran said, him and the other two had indeed kidnapped me and now I was about to be taken to an alien planet, so I needed my eyes wide and to be alert.
Terror washed over me, sending another chill down my back. I looked outside once more into the endless universe.
Would I ever see Earth again?
Chapter 4
Today was the day, we would finally be getting to Veon. I stood in front of the window Corran had designed for me after I had complained a million times about feeling like I was locked in a metal box. From space it looked completely different than Earth. It had a smoky red complexion that seemed to swirl before my eyes. Corran had explained that it was part of their defense system to look as inhabitable as possible and it was nothing but a complicated hologram that Corran had designed himself. Underneath the hologram lay a world that looked very similar to Earth. There were oceans, purple in color instead of blue because of an algae that provided unique nutrients, and land masses with forests, jungles, and mountains.
The similarities between the two planets had been almost too good to be true when Corran had first stumbled upon Earth and it had been months of performing positive tests before he had alerted leadership. Leadership that included Derrial. Corran had told me that Derrial had been furious that Corran hadn’t told the Vepar leadership about Earth and it had actually taken them a few years for Derrial to forgive him and trust him again.
It was a crack in the trio’s friendship that I had filed away for later, to be used if I needed it.
Looking at the red swirling mists, it was almost incomprehensible to think that a planet similar to Earth was waiting beneath its depths. I watched as we drew closer and closer, a sense of apprehension filling me at the thought of entering them. I suddenly regretted having asked for a seat as close as possible to the huge window. It would be much easier to go through the mists blindly.
“We need to go over a few things before we land,” came Derrial’s voice from seemingly nowhere. I hadn’t gotten used to the invisible technology on the ship and every time one of their voices spoke to me through the soundsystem I either jumped or I looked around, expecting one of them to be standing right behind me.
“Yes master,” I said sarcastically, heading to the Bridge to talk to my three captors. We had entered an uneasy truce over the past couple of weeks. I still hated them, but I also didn’t particularly relish the idea of being captured by the Khonsu so I was being their good little pet for the moment, just until I could figure out a way to escape them forever and somehow keep myself safe from the Khonsu.
“You only need to call me “Master” in bed,” came Derrial’s voice from the sound system.
“You wish,” I muttered back, but my mind couldn’t help but fill with images of the time when I had been in his bed, how good his body had felt against me, in me...like we were a perfect match. The images were distorted in my head now that I knew their true motives, but I couldn’t help but crave that feeling again. That feeling of finding what I had always been looking for.
I mentally berated myself all the way to the Bridge. I couldn't afford to let my lust get my guard down around them. Nothing but pain and misery...and possibly little alien babies that I would fall in love with but wouldn’t get to keep lay in a future that involved them.
Despite my mental admonitions, the sight of all three of them in one room still threatened to leave me a quivering mess. I hated my body’s reaction to them, how they had made me crave both their bodies and their blood. Corran had promised that he was working on some kind of antidote to help with the blood cravings but I trusted he’d come through with something about as little as I trusted myself to navigate this ship back to Earth on my own.
“Glad you made it, pet.” Thane smirked my way as he leaned against one of the chairs in the center of the room that seemed to be suspended in the air.
I rolled my eyes. Thane in particular had loved to antagonize me over the last couple of weeks and I was trying my best to ignore him in hopes that he would get tired of his games and go away.
“Well? You called?” I asked sharply, venom in my voice. I saw something flash in Derrial’s eyes. Out of the three of them, he seemed to be the most affected by the fact that I wanted nothing to do with them and regarded them as Public Enemy No. 1. I’m sure there was a story out there to explain his reaction but I couldn’t find it in myself enough to care.
“We need to talk about what Veon will be like,” Corran explained, fixing me with those intense, caramel colored eyes. “The culture is quite different from Earth and there will be a lot of things that don’t make sense to your earthly sensibilities.”
I opened my mouth to offer a retort but Corran cut me off. “Could you just get off your fucking high horse for one minute, Ella. I’m not trying to be offensive for fuck’s sake. These are just things you need to know.”
My mouth opened in shock. In all the time that I had seen Corran, he had never appeared so angry, not even when he thought that I was running away after he fought the Khonsu (which I was by the way). The heat in his voice burned through my body and I found myself strangely turned on.
“Okay,” I said meekly, thinking that I should probably listen if he deemed it important enough to crack his usually emotionless shield.
Corran
took a deep breath and his expression morphed into his usual stoic one, where he revealed no emotions. A moment later he was back to the cool and collected Vepar that I was used to. “First things first, the Vepar don’t like the humans. They think that they are a lesser culture and I don’t see that changing any time soon,” Corran added, matter of factly.
Once again I got the urge to say something sarcastic, like how he’d just made an obvious statement. But I held back the words.
Thane was watching me, an amused twinkle in his eyes because he knew how hard it was to keep my mouth in check. I shot him a look and then turned my attention back to Corran who was waiting impatiently for me to pay attention to him again.
“As I was saying,” he said. “The only way that a human would be accepted onto Veon is if the leadership thinks that we need you to continue with the fertility experiments. The way that the program has been explained to them, our human subjects will be nothing more than vessels and prisoners of Veon during their time here.”
I couldn’t stop myself this time. “Isn’t that the truth though. It’s not that the leadership has to think that, it’s how it is. As far as all of you are concerned I’m nothing but livestock for you to do whatever you want with.” Frustrated tears filled my eyes at the realization of what I was facing once again rolled over me.
Derrial was in my face suddenly, his hands gripping my arms so hard that I was sure he was going to leave a bruise.
“Stupid girl. If you would just let us have a second to explain it, it wouldn’t need to be like this. Why do you have to be so fucking prideful? We’ve been trying to get you to let us have a second to explain what you saw for the past few weeks.”
“There’s nothing you could say that could make this better,” I snapped at him childishly.
Derrial let me go with a growl, throwing up his hands in frustration. “I can’t deal with this right now,” he practically screamed as he angrily strode out of the room.
I trembled in the aftermath of his rage. There was a piece of me that did want to listen to what they had to say about their secret basement room and their planned fertility experiments, but he was right, my pride wouldn’t allow me to give them the chance to explain. I was still too hurt by everything that had happened.
“You’ll have to listen to us eventually,” said Corran, watching me as if I was a particularly vexing science problem.
“Can you please continue with what you were saying?” I responded stiffly, keeping my eyes glued to the floor.
“Yes, as I was saying...because of the Vepar attitude, we will have to walk you off the ship in cuffs...as our prisoner.”
“How perfect. I wouldn’t expect anything less,” I said in a dull voice. This time I saw Thane flinch at my tone out of the corner of my eye.
“You’ll be kept in a prison until we can talk to the rest of the counsel and convince them of your suitability in the project,” Corran continued.
Their words were like punches to my gut, and they kept coming, kept taking and taking from me. A tear slid down my face as I watched my life disintegrate into ruins.
Silence, but I felt both Thane and Corran’s piercing stares as they watched my tears continue to fall.
“We’re just here to keep you safe. The experiment is a front,” came Derrial’s voice from behind me.
I freeze and then slowly turn around to look at him. We stared at each other. There was a muscle twitching in Derrial’s cheek and his eyes seemed glossier than usual. “That’s all we want to do is to keep you safe. This might have started out as something else. But it’s not that way anymore. It hasn’t been that way since the first time I held you in my arms...since I tasted you.”
His voice was choked with emotion, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. There was a part of me, the stupid girl who wanted to believe in fairy tales...even if they were the science fiction version, that wanted to believe him. But I promised myself I wouldn’t be that girl anymore. I refused to be sucked in again. It hurt too much.
My heart couldn’t handle it again.
“I know you don’t believe us, pet. But we have so much to tell you. You’ll see. We’ll gain back your trust,” Thane murmured from behind me. He walked towards me and I sensed the heat emanating from his body against mine at my back.
I took a step away from him and walked to a nearby chair, settling in so I could control the trembling in my body.
“It’s very important that you don’t talk back in front of others. The Vepar are looking for any chance to cut you down, to punish you, to take you from us. Please don’t make our jobs any harder than they will be already.”
I nodded stiffly, feeling like there really wasn’t another option but for me to cooperate.
“The air on Veon has a higher concentration of nitrogen than what you are used to and that’s why I implanted that ring in your throat. But now I need to inject you with a chip that will allow your body to adapt quicker in these conditions compared to the ship,” Corran explained, his voice softening.
“Is that all the chip does? Not sure I want all these things inside me.” I stared him straight in the eyes, daring him to lie to me. He gulped.
“It also has a tracking device in it,” he replied hesitantly. “It’s important just in case anyone tries to take you.”
“Tries to take me?” I asked, my voice quivering. “Why would they want to take me?”
Corran opened his mouth to answer but Derrial replied instead. “We aren’t sure that our reaction to you and your blood isn’t something that other males on the planet will be attracted to as well. The Vepar are an extremely competitive and territorial race and there’s a chance that some of the males will be tempted to steal you for themselves.”
I tried to comprehend a whole planet full of overbearing, chauvinist pigs like the three of them. It sounded like a nightmare.
“And what about the Vepar women? Are you worried about them?” I finally asked, my mind filled with images of packs of men running after me with spears. I wasn’t sure why they were all dressed in loincloths, but it was still an intimidating sight.
The three of them looked at each other grimly and suddenly I was afraid of what they were going to say next.
“Our females don’t take kindly to competition for the attention of their males,” Thane added grimly. “There’s a chance that they will try to take you out if they find out about fertility experiments and calculations that Corran has come up with. As of right now they don’t know that one of the main reasons that we were sent to Earth was to try and find a solution to our planet’s fertility problems using humans. If they do find out...well we don’t think they will take it well.”
I gulped, the images in my mind changing to women in loincloths chasing after me in spears.
“So you’re saying I’m not going to be welcomed with open arms,” I finally retorted, and Thane let out a snort.
“She’s a lunatic,” he said to Derrial and Corran, waving his arms at me. “She’s going to get herself killed.”
“I do have some kind of self preservation mechanism,” I retorted. “I’ll do what I’m told, because I don’t feel like dying on this trip. But I need answers.”
Derrial gazed at me, an almost proud look in his eyes. “A worthy mate indeed,” he muttered as he walked out of the room.
I blushed, not believing what I had just heard. A mate? Please say that wasn’t what he just said.
I ignored the part of me that swelled up with happiness at the thought of being his...of being all of theirs.
I turned back to Corran, the intensity in Derrial’s voice too much to take.
Corran brought over a pair of silver handcuffs. He looked genuinely contrite as he put my hands behind my back and fastened them. “I just wanted you to get a feel for them so you don’t panic when they’re on your wrists for a long period of time. Hopefully Derrial will be able to convince the council to release you quickly.”
He unhooked them, and I shook my wrists out. It was
going to be torture to have those on for a long period of time.
“It’s very important that you don’t struggle while you’re in the cuffs. I was feeling particularly malicious the day that I designed them, and they are programmed to release spikes into your wrists if it believes you are trying to get them off without the key,” Corran said nonchalantly.
I gaped at him. "We can’t use a friendlier version of the cuffs?" Indignation burned inside of me.
He shook his head. "The Council would notice something was amiss if we tried to do that. We use them for all of our prisoners and they would expect them to be used especially for a human prisoner. No one has ever been able to escape them. They’re basically foolproof," he said, almost sounding proud.
I glared at him. "You don't have to sound so happy about the fact that I’m going to be stuck in something that could impale me at any minute!” I said dramatically.
“I don’t know...I for one like you in cuffs,” Thane pipped in, a hungry glimmer in his eyes.
Despite my anger at the both of them, tears started dripping down my face. I guess I was becoming a crier in all situations. When I was afraid, when I was angry, when I was sad. It wasn’t ideal.
Just like before when I had cried, Corran and Thane seemed to be enthralled at the tear streaks on my face. After a moment, Corran shook his head as if he was trying to shake himself out of something.
“When we get off the ship, you need to keep your head down. Don't look anyone in the eye. I don't trust that you're going to play the complacent human very well so it’s best if you don’t even look up,” said Corran.
I snorted. He was right about that. Although if complacent and meek was going to save my life, I could probably try it.
“I put your language translator in you already obviously, but I want you to pretend that you don't understand anything that they're saying. I'll tell them that I haven’t done it yet. It might raise suspicion with the Council if they know we did it early."
“Language translator?" I ask.
“Yes,” said Corran, looking at me as if I was an idiot. “We speak a different language on Veon. I’m speaking Veon right now," he explains. “We’ve been using our language since we got on the ship.”
