by Marie Dry
"How long does it take to get to earth from your planet?"
He hesitated. When he finally answered, she wondered once again if it was because she was now pregnant and thus to be trusted. Obviously, her feelings weren't that important to him.
"Our engine blew and we were thrown off course. Navigating a worm hole is...tricky. We ended up on Earth by mistake."
"You told me that before, but how long did it take?"
"We travelled two of your Earth years. If we planned to come here straight from Zyrgin we would have to go through three worm holes to shorten our journey."
While he was now answering her, she was determined to get more information for when she escaped. "So who was the alien you talked to from your home planet? Can you still contact them?"
His grip on her arm briefly tightened. Without answering her, he steered her down a long steel corridor. "This way to the bridge."
Obviously, her pregnancy hadn't made her as trusted as she'd thought. She couldn't truthfully say she could bear anymore savage revelations. With what she knew, she would give humans a chance against these...these parasites that wanted to steal her world.
The twists and turns they took had her quickly losing her sense of direction. The ship's interior was like a maze.
She was looking around for a porthole or a window when Zurian came striding down the corridor with only a small white cloth around his loins. He'd clearly been showering, as water dripped from his gleaming muscles.
He stopped, his eyes flashing with anger before he spun on his heel. Snarling over his shoulder, he said, "Your woman is not respecting of you."
She opened her mouth to blast the arrogant alien, but Zacar lifted her chin with his hand. "Never look at my warriors naked. It is not respectful."
"But I wasn't--"
"Never," he growled at her.
He was starting to sound like the Zacar she knew, but she didn't care. She would leave him, get to town, and warn everybody. When he came down the mountain, there'd be a huge army waiting to catch him.
"All right."
Before his revelations, she would've teased him, said something like If I ever see another almost-naked alien, I'll close my eyes and run away. Now she waited dully for the tour to continue.
Zacar looked at her. He seemed almost hesitant when he took her arm again and steered her into the far left corridor. He took her to what looked a lot like the bridge of the Space Ranger's ship and stopped beside a console. She walked around and idly touched the gleaming surfaces. How wonderful this whole experience would've been only an hour ago.
She wanted to ask more questions but didn't want to speak to him. Instead, she looked around, feeling helpless. What was she supposed to look for that might help Earth? Even if she stole something, what was she supposed to steal? Nothing small was lying around loose. None of the buttons or flashing lights meant anything to her.
He pointed to a seat that looked like a leather chair. "I sit here for take-off. The rest of the time, it is on autopilot."
"Oh."
He didn't object when she walked to the chair he'd indicated. Her body still felt frail from the asthma attack and losing her breakfast, but she was afraid to let him know that. Half-convinced she would touch some important button and cause the ship to move or start up, she kept her hands in her lap.
The chair was high off the ground, and she was trying to maneuver herself up when he lifted her and placed her carefully down in the seat. Stroking her fingers down the gleaming, surprisingly soft silver armrests, she couldn't stop herself from asking the one question burning in her mind. "Would you really kill our babies if they were born weak?"
He'd seen her asthma attack. Now he knew her mother had died after an attack. He had to wonder if his children would inherit it.
"Our sons will be strong warriors."
And if they aren't?
She wanted to get off this ship and run far away from him. She ran her fingers over some of the buttons. Looking up, she tried to appear innocent. "Don't you have laws protecting children?"
She pressed a button. Nothing happened. Determined, she pressed another one. Still nothing happened. Sweat ran down the side of her face. She knew it was childish but she wanted to hurt his precious ship the way he'd hurt her.
"We have laws."
"But do you have any laws protecting the weak from the strong? Could you kill a child and get away with it on your planet?"
She could feel two buttons under her fingers and pressed them, too. She could've cried when still nothing happened.
"We are warriors. For generations, we had to be strong to survive." He leaned over and gently took her hand in his. "The buttons are set to work only at my touch," he said gently.
"Oh." She waited for him to slap her or throw her in the brig.
He looked at her hand for a moment, before letting it go, then strode over to a console, and pressed some buttons. She thought he did it to avoid having to look at her.
"We were barely surviving for many centuries. Sacrificing the weak so the strong could survive became a way of life." He turned around and looked her straight in the eye. His were so black, they looked like endless mirrored pools. "Come. It is time for dinner."
"Yes, you have to carefully feed the little woman. You can easily kill her if she's weak, but you have to make sure she doesn't starve herself when she realizes she's sleeping with a snake."
She snarled the words at him in a way that would do any warrior justice. Looking him right in the eyes, she defiantly pressed down on a few more buttons.
Drawing her out of the captain's chair, he molded her against his body. Red flames danced in the black eyes staring down at her. Lowering his head, he kissed her, a passionate, almost-desperate kiss that shouldn't have curled her toes, but it did.
His lips brushed hers and she shouldn't have opened her mouth when his tongue demanded entrance, but she did. Her body was numb with fear and heartache.
Who was this warrior--man--alien she used to love but now hated and feared?
He lifted his head and motioned to the door.
They passed Zurian on their way out. They might not show any emotion on their faces, but that alien managed to express dislike really well.
When she tried to jerk her arm from Zacar's hold, he tightened his grip and she felt his claws emerge.
"I can walk on my own," she insisted.
"I know."
Chapter 14
As if he hadn't destroyed her whole world, Zacar fed her as carefully as always. She didn't sense that terrible aggression in him anymore, but she didn't care. After the terrible things he said, she just wanted to get away from him to lick her wounds. If it wasn't for the fact that she refused to show him how devastated she was, she'd have barricaded herself in somewhere. She opened her mouth and allowed him to feed her yesterday's leftover stew, eating it without tasting anything.
Five years.
Within five years her unborn children would be full-grown warriors. Would they look at her with the love that normal children had for their mother? Natalie blinked, trying to stop tears from leaking down her cheeks. She'd never have the joy of teaching them to tie their shoelaces. Since they'd be born knowing English, standard galactic, and the old language, their first word wouldn't be Mama.
After he'd carefully fed her, he pointed to the tent. "You need to rest, Natlia."
Being treated like this infuriated her, but she didn't argue. She stumbled to the tent but try as she might, she couldn't settle. His words kept ringing in her ears.
Five years.
Less than five years, if she understood him correctly, and her unborn children would be ready to breed warriors of their own. If each warrior did the same, they could drastically increase their numbers in a very short period. She shuddered. She'd fallen in love with a warrior from a parasitic race. That was what they were. Parasites that preyed on other worlds and cultures.
She bent over and clutched her stomach while holding a hand over
her mouth. She wanted to throw up but didn't dare rush to the bathroom. Zacar would want to know what was wrong, and she couldn't deal with him right now.
He expected her to have children every year until she'd produced a whole army? How could a man who'd treated her so gently care for her so little? How could he use her this way?
She swallowed the bile in her throat and squared her shoulders. She had to talk to him, look in his eyes, and see if he was the savage that would breed her like an animal or the warrior she'd come to love. She wanted to hear his voice. She had to know for sure that he would do these things to her. Her foolish heart kept hoping that he'd over reacted because of her probing about his mother. That he would apologize and tell her nothing he said was true.
She went into the tunnel leading to the hangar and the murmur of their voices got louder. She stopped and stared then quickly stepped back, hoping they hadn't seen her.
Cautiously, she peeked around the corner. Azagor was staring intently into a probe. Zurian held out one of her inhalers to Zacar, who took it then motioned Viglar over. The doctor showed him his medical scanner. She could see Zacar was furious at whatever Viglar was telling him. What if Viglar had found her unborn children had the disease? He'd scanned her very thoroughly with that instrument of his.
She didn't think, could only react. She turned around and ran back to the main cave, spinning in frantic circles, her fear for her babies driving her to do something, anything. Everywhere she looked, she saw signs of their occupation, of things they did to make life easier for her. So that she'd happily breed them more warriors?
Outside. She had to get outside.
Not thinking farther than wanting to get out of the cave and away from them, she grabbed her jacket, rushed to the cave door, and slapped her palm against the scanner. Once outside, she stopped in front of the force field. How many times had she stood here, happy in her delusion that Zacar at least cared for her? Like a sex-starved spinster, she'd waited eagerly for him, looking forward to making love to him for as many hours as he wanted.
She held out a trembling hand, about to touch the force field, when she jerked her hand back. Would the shock hurt her babies? After a moment, she decided that if it would've hurt his precious little warriors, Zacar would never have allowed her near the force field. It never seemed to bother him that she came out here.
Taking a deep breath, she walked slowly through, feeling tingles all over her body. For a moment, something almost held her back, then she was through. Vaguely aware of being cold, all she could focus on was getting down the mountain. Getting to safety.
The sun glared down, reflecting brightly off the snow, almost blinding her.
She was clambering down the mountain, her progress slower than she would have liked, when she calmed down enough to think. I can't do this. She'd never make it to town before Zacar caught her. And she didn't want to hurt her unborn babies with her actions. This was beyond-stupid behavior.
A rustling in the trees below her had her looking down and she froze in place. Raiders were swarming up the mountain. It seemed like every raider in the country was headed toward her, each one heavily armed. They fell and skidded on the slippery ground but still, they kept coming.
A noise sounded to her left and she turned. A small hover craft--so sleek and alien in design, she knew it must be one of Zacar's--was coming in to land.
She stared at the small alien spacecraft. For a moment, she thought it would crash, as it careened about before landing with a solid thud. The door slid open smoothly. She expected to see Zacar, coming to her rescue. Instead, a scruffy, dirty, overweight man in heavy boots came down the ramp, followed by a slightly smaller version of him.
Raiders.
What? How do they have an alien spacecraft?
Before she could react, one of them pointed to her. She'd started to scramble back to the cave, screaming at the top of her lungs, when two raiders grabbed her. They dragged her to the stolen spacecraft. She screamed again, trying to get loose, but they were too strong.
"Help, Zacar," she shouted.
In that moment, he was the only one she wanted. Her strong alien would chop off their heads before they knew what hit them.
"Stop jerking around," one of them snarled as they shoved her inside the spacecraft. "Hurry! Take off. We can't lose this hovercraft."
"They're gaining," the other raider yelled almost hysterically.
She wanted to smile. They should be afraid.
Then she heard Zacar roar.
Chapter 15
Huddled in one corner of the hovercraft, Natalie looked around, seeing only the pilot and the two raiders who'd captured her. The last time she was this scared was when the raiders held her captive. At least the aliens treated her well, even after her escape attempt. The raiders didn't have a strict code of honor like the one Zacar and his warriors lived by. The Zyrgins might be fierce and contemptuous of weakness, but they didn't prey on the weak like the raiders did.
She knew exactly what would happen to her when they got to their camp. She licked her dry lips and clutched her arms around herself.
Zacar will come for me, she told herself. She lowered her head and crossed her legs. He'd come for her, even if it was just for the unborn children she carried. Please let him come for me soon, before I turn into one of those empty-eyed women they show on the news.
"Where are you taking me?" She didn't look up, couldn't face looking at their savage features.
"Murdoch wants a word with ye."
They all started to laugh uproariously, as if the speaker had said something witty. She remembered Zacar laughing at his own terrible attempt at teasing her. Please let him come for me soon.
The raiders passed a bottle around and, by the feverish look in their eyes, she suspected they'd been drinking nonstop for a while now. Even the pilot didn't seem to feel the need to be sober just because he flew the small spacecraft.
"Where did you get this ship?"
"Stole it."
They laughed with raucous enjoyment.
Could it belong to one of Zacar's men? She'd never seen it before. When Zacar had said they'd walked to the raiders' camp, had they really used this? Had he lied to her even about that?
"We're gettinʼ closh. Cover 'er," the pilot slurred.
Something smelly covered her face. When she tried to take it off, one of them grabbed her hands in a painful grip. "No one goes ta Murdoch's camp without a blindfold," a rough voice said above her head. You do that agin, I break both yer wrists.
She froze, having no doubt he would enjoy every moment of causing her pain.
The cloth over her head stank of rotting things she didn't even want to think about. Sweat broke out over her whole body and her mouth dried up, making it difficult to swallow.
The hovercraft abruptly dropped down and she thought she would lose the contents of her stomach. Even if they hadn't confessed to stealing it, she would've known it didn't belong to them. The pilot, if he could even be called that, could barely keep the thing in the air, let alone land it properly. At take-off, he'd jerked it around until she thought she'd die there in a horrible crash before Zacar could rescue her. And she didn't want to die before looking into Zacar's eyes one last time.
Her eyesight was still shrouded by the cloth. Someone grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the vehicle. She assumed he was shortish because she kept up with his strides easily. She hit her head on what might've been the door of the vehicle. She heard a woman scream, strange clanking noises, and the murmur of many male voices.
Zacar would come for her. Even if he thought their children would be born with asthma, he'd come for her. She had to believe that. It was too terrible to contemplate being held in this dreadful place, with no hope of ever getting away. Even through the cloth, she could sense cruelty and misery laying thick in the air, as if death knew it would find victims if it hovered here. Maybe it was a blessing that they'd blindfolded her.
Her captor shoved her. The air aroun
d her suddenly became stuffy and uncomfortably warm. It had to be a tent that he'd shoved her into. Now she realized the strange clanking noises she'd heard before he shoved her could've been the tent flap. An awful smell, which penetrated even the dirty rag over her face, hung in the stale air.
"Here she is, boss."
The raider who'd dragged her by the arm pushed her forward again and she instinctively held out her hands to brace her fall. He shoved her again and she ended up sprawled into a chair. Rubbing her arm, she wondered if she dared take of the dirty cloth covering her eyes.
"Hallo, Natalie."
She froze. That voice. Even after all these years, she recognized that faint drawl. Her captors had said they were taking her to see Murdoch, and she knew from the newscast that Murdoch was really Andre. Still, none of that had prepared her for this. Chills of pure dread crept over her skin, down her spine.
She swallowed and sat upright. "Andre? Or should I say Murdoch?"
Fiercely concentrating on not trembling, she lifted her hands and took off the filthy rag covering most of her face. Her bruised arm protested but she refused to wince and give him the satisfaction of being in control.
A hideous figure stood over her, with his feet braced apart and his arms crossed over a big gut. She recoiled before she could stop herself.
His thick lips, that had once been sensuous, sneered. "Shocked at how I look, my dear fiancé?"
His hands opened and closed, his left eye twitching in a strange rhythm. He used to be a handsome man. Now he looked older and much bigger than she remembered him, obese even, with sores festering on his skin. She could see something more than gluttony and laziness was at work in his body.
He gestured wildly to his face and swollen body. "This is your father's fault."
