Finiuld hopped down from his rock, and we both looked at him. “That will be all for now. You can bathe and explore your little corner of paradise. I’ll call for you later when I’m ready.”
With that, he disappeared again. A second later, Oses got his brain out of the bastard’s voice-initiated la-la land. He grabbed my hand and watched the area of the containment field.
I saw that funny little ripple I’d noted before. In an instant, it came to me what that was and what Oses had already figured out: Finiuld was walking out of our cell. The ripple was a giveaway of his passage through the containment field. Phased into that other dimension or whatever it was where he could wander around invisible, the Little Creep still made an impact in our world.
My realization was barely fully formed when Oses charged that ripple, pulling me along in a blur of movement. He reached with his free hand, clawing at air as we neared the invisible wall.
That jagged blast of pain returned to my body, searing all sense and thought. I was blind, deaf, and dumb to anything but white-hot agony filling me. It seemed to go on forever. At some point, I did find the ability to grasp one idea. I prayed for death. It was my one and only hope.
Death didn’t come, but the horror did end after I don’t know how long. When I returned to my senses, I lay on the deep fur rug outside the habitat I’d been in. Little Creep stood over me as I jerked and twitched in the luxuriant softness that didn’t feel as good as the cessation of pain did. Oses lay next to me, jittering and foaming at the mouth, his eyes glazed.
“Hello, Shalia,” Finiuld said, his tone as cheerful as it could be. “I figured the Nobek would make the escape attempt by phasing with me, but you were something of a surprise. So spirited and brave! What fun you’re going to be to show off to my friends! Now get back in your cage like a good girl, or I’ll make your friend scream some more. Maybe I’ll keep it up until Oses never does anything else for the rest of his life but scream.”
I looked into that smiling face with its tombstone teeth and saw the black brutality behind Finiuld’s merry exterior. He’d do it. He would drive Oses insane with pain right in front of me and probably laugh while he did so.
I was starting to crawl back to the cage when Oses jumped to his feet, howling with rage. A moment later, I was back in hell, pain screaming through me.
It ended after a moment. The Little Creep’s voice tinkled as brightly as ever. “That’s right, Kalquorian. She’ll suffer for every moment of resistance you offer. Get in there with her or I’ll make her scream until her lungs fly out of her mouth.”
Brutalized and beaten, Oses and I managed to get ourselves back into the containment. Oses could barely stand up straight, but he picked me up and carried me back to our little patch of lawn, rocks, and pond. I guess Finiuld had disabled the field long enough for us to cross the threshold, because we entered without a problem.
Once we were back inside, Oses turned so we faced our tormentor. Finiuld nodded. “So now you see. You have no hope for escape. I suggest that you come to terms with that as quickly as possible for your own sakes.”
He disappeared.
For several seconds Oses stood absolutely still, holding me. We stared at the space where Finiuld had stood.
Then I felt a minute trembling running through the big, muscled body holding mine. I looked into Oses’ face to see a storm of emotions boiling there: anger, horror, despair, and perhaps even fear.
No, not perhaps. Oses was afraid, but not for himself. If the Little Creep had wanted the perfect weapon to wield against my protective Nobek, he’d found it in me. Oses would have had no problem continuing to fight, even unto death, if he hadn’t had me to worry about.
Do I feel guilty about what happened to him in that place? Damned straight I do. Finiuld used me to perfection when it came to keeping Oses in line. All the times that Nobek told me not to blame myself made no difference. It was because of me he’d been taken prisoner, and it was because of me that he suffered so horribly. But if he hadn’t been there, I would still be in the Little Creep’s clutches. I owe Oses everything.
I’m getting ahead of myself though.
Oses’ shaking was getting worse by the second. I told him, “I’m all right now. Put me down.”
He stared at me, his eyes too big and wide in his dark face. I couldn’t believe Oses was capable of being reduced to panic, but he was as close as someone could be without falling over that cliff.
Instead of setting me on my feet, Oses kneeled on the ground so that I sat on his folded legs. He hugged me close and whispered, “You are not all right. You are a prisoner in the hands of that monster and I can’t protect you. I can’t protect you, Shalia! Anything I do gets you hurt!”
I grabbed his face between my hands, terrified that he was so violently upset. When the biggest badass I know starts coming apart, shit is definitely beyond trouble. I had to get this over-protective Nobek back to being a growling beast.
“I am all right, Oses. It’s only pain. It’s awful pain, and I’d rather jump out of an airlock than go through it again, but I’m okay. I’m not in any danger of dying as far as I can tell. Tell me how you’re feeling.”
He blinked at me. I saw his Nobek nature re-assert itself an instant before he snarled, “I feel like taking that little bastard apart one piece at a time while he screams.”
That was more like it. Hearing himself make that statement seemed to snap Oses out of his trapped animal mentality.
“Fucking gurluck,” he growled. “I will tear him to bits. We need a plan, Shalia.”
“I agree.” I thought things over and noted that we seemed to have incredibly few options. “Attacking the Little Creep is out. We know that now.”
“Even if we could, just the sound of his voice has something of a tranquilizing effect on me.” Oses scowled harder than ever. “If only I had your ability to fend it off!”
I nodded. “You kind of blank out when he’s speaking. For me, the instant I get an adrenaline spike, I can think clearly. I noticed I can’t maintain it indefinitely, though. I was starting to fall under the spell when he left us.” I looked around suspiciously. “If he left us.”
“We will have to speak in whispers and hope his hearing isn’t as good as mine,” Oses said. “I will keep watch on the field for the sign of any disturbance as well.”
I had another worry, one I feared voicing. Still, I needed to communicate it to Oses. Putting my back to the containment field and the room beyond, I mouthed my next words silently. Do you think the pain he uses against me hurts the baby?
Oses drew a deep breath and considered. After a few moments, he shook his head. My body sagged a bit in relief.
Putting his lips right up to my ear, his voice ghosted, “From what I can tell, the collar is tied into the nervous system. It affects only you.”
I thought Oses might not really know if the collar and its punishments were transmitted to my unborn child, but it settled my mind to hear him say he thought not. Besides, what could I do differently? Not try to escape and have my baby in this horrid place? The thought made my heart freeze.
No, if there was a way we could get out of this, we needed to do so. I would simply have to hope and pray nothing that could damage or hurt me would find its way to my embryo.
“Let me see if the Dantovonian will tell me anymore before we go any further,” Oses said. “I want to know what escape attempts he’s made or witnessed.”
I nodded. It was as good a plan as any.
Oses set me down and cautiously approached the invisible containment wall. All the other prisoners were still huddled in their corners and refused to look in our direction.
At first Lurb, the Dantovonian, didn’t seem all that inclined to talk to him either. Perhaps seeing me and Oses tortured by Finiuld had quelled his enthusiasm for conversation. In the end, he uncurled his body, hop-crawled to his containment field, and responded to Oses. The pair conversed for several minutes.
While I waited to ge
t the scoop, I went to the small pond ... just big enough that Oses and I could get in and splash around if we wished ... and cleaned myself up. The water came waist deep to me. I didn’t take off my cavewoman garb, not with all those other aliens there. I’d just have to be soggy for a bit.
I could feel a slight suction under my feet as I bathed. I peered through the clear water at the bottom. It looked like dirt and some marsh-like grasses down there. My feet were startlingly pale in the water, fish-belly white. I thought I could see tiny holes in the mud. I dug my toes in and cleared some of it away.
Beneath the mud and grasses was what looked like white plastic. It was definitely artificial material, and I guessed it made up the water circulation system. It was covered in small holes.
I moved about, clearing mud here and there, hoping to find some access or opening that might allow escape. The flooring of the pond disappeared into the turf bank that surrounded the pool of water. Digging a foot into the dirt, I discovered that the plastic-y stuff became solid with no end in sight.
Musing over that, I stepped out of the pond and onto the lawn. My skirt streaming water, I bent down and clawed up the grass and dirt about five feet from the water.
“Lurb says you’ll find the flooring about two feet beneath that. There is no way out in that fashion,” Oses told me.
I huffed in frustration. I’d figured as much and Lurb had saved me some trouble, but I was put out anyway. Oses smiled. “It was a good thought, Shalia. We have to investigate every option.”
Somewhat mollified by his praise, I went back to the pond to wash my dirty hands.
A few seconds later Oses joined me. Unconcerned about modesty, he stripped off his vest and kilt and waded in to wash himself off. Not that I noted anyone looking, except Lurb. Since Dantovonians don’t look compatible in a sexual way, he probably wasn’t interested in either Oses or me. Still, an Earther girl doesn’t want to show the entire world ... or cell block, in this case ... what she’s got. If I spent any time stuck in here, I’d either have to get over that or continued to wash myself with my fur on.
As he got cleaned up, Oses told me, “Lurb believes he has been here about three years now. In that time he has seen every escape attempt he can think of. The only successful way to get out, according to him, is through suicide. He’s made half a dozen attempts himself and he says the punishments are severe.”
“Half a dozen attempts at which? Escape or suicide?” I asked, horrified at what Oses was telling me.
“Both. He was tortured for both.”
“Shit,” I swore. Our situation was getting worse by the second. “What are our hopes for rescue?”
Oses didn’t answer for so long that I thought he wouldn’t bother. That alone told me we were fucked.
However, he did speak on the matter after consideration. Wading out of the pond, he said, “Knowing protocols, I can hazard an educated guess. The transport will continue on its journey, with two of the destroyers staying with it. The other destroyer will attempt to find us. You are, after all, a Matara. A special Matara,” he added, looking at my stomach. “Kalquor will not willingly abandon you to your fate.”
“There is the matter of the phasing capabilities of this ship,” I pointed out. “The Little Creep must be using the same technology on it that he uses on himself to roam around undetected.”
Oses nodded. “There is that. However, we already knew the Ofetuchan could make himself disappear and reported it before you and I were abducted. Those looking for us will know about that little trick, and they will try to figure out a way to counter it. The fact we could see a disturbance as Finiuld moved through the containment field gives me some hope that phased or not, this ship will leave some trace of its passage.”
I grimaced. “I still don’t like our odds of them finding us.”
“Neither do I.” Oses put his clothing back on. “So I see us as having two options right now: the first is we obey Finiuld’s commands. We bide our time in hopes of him letting his guard down so we can strike.”
“Patience is not my strong suit,” I sighed. “Second option?”
“It will mean much punishment and pain.”
“Naturally.” I tried and almost succeeded in not rolling my eyes. “Let me guess: civil disobedience. We resist doing everything Little Creep tells us to do, knowing we’ll be screaming and crying and pissing all over ourselves when he retaliates.”
Oses nodded. “The hell of it is, if I refuse his orders, it is you who will pay. I can take being tortured myself. Seeing you hurt because of me is more than I feel I can handle.”
I thought it over. Who would cave first if Oses and I took that route: us or Finiuld? I thought of the pain I’d already experienced and shuddered. The bastard had said he could drive us insane through the pain. Yet sitting around and waiting for him to fuck up and give us our chance at escape ... something that had not happened for at least three years according to Lurb ... felt like more of a long shot to me. I thought it much more likely Finiuld would find us too much trouble to keep if we gave him a hard time. Plus, we might be able to force a mistake on his part if he became frustrated enough.
I drew a deep breath and looked Oses in the eye. “I guess you’ll have to handle it, big guy. We have to get out of here by any means possible. All of us. When I’m down and begging for death, that’s what you’re going to have to remember. You’ve got to take care of the most vulnerable of us all.”
His jaw clenched as I reminded him I carried a hostage to fortune. The situation was bigger than just him and I being tortured. After several seconds of hesitation, he snapped a nod.
“We do not cave in,” Oses said. “We give him nothing, no matter what.”
“It’s a deal.” I tried to sound brave for his sake. I was nowhere near feeling it.
February 12-14
It was some time before Oses and I got to enact our policy of non-compliance. If one went by the number of times the lights in the habitats dimmed for a period of about 10 hours and came back up for stretches of 17 - 19 hours, Oses and I didn’t see Finiuld for three days.
In that period, we learned as much about our containment and our fellow prisoners as possible. First the habitat that was to serve as Oses’ and my home:
About a quarter of our prison was our tiny puddle of a pond, which would have allowed six men the size of Oses to lounge in comfortably. That was smack in the middle of our cell. Towards the back, away from the containment field, was a cave just big enough for the two of us to curl up within for sleep. The opening to that extended the width of the cave, so there was no place to hide within the shallow depression in the rocky outcropping. Our one tree also provided some sense of cover, but we remained out in the open. There was no sense of privacy at all. We were on display at all times.
That meant that the most personal of human functions was seen by everyone. Oses and I had found a small hole to do our business in, on one side of the enclosure. Oses dug down into the dirt to verify the hole went down beneath the flooring. It was just big around enough for him to get his arm in. It seemed to have no bottom that he could detect, and the tiny bit of old odor emitting from it pretty much confirmed it was the lavatory system. I made him scrub his arm for about 15 minutes after he was done investigating, though the tube seemed to have been well cleaned.
My stomach churned at the thought of doing my business in front of our fellow prisoners, as well as Oses. Some things you just don’t want others to see no matter what you’ve shared in the past. The first time I squatted over the intake, my face burned with humiliation. The Nobek was kind enough to keep his back turned.
I soon realized none of the other prisoners cared either. They were all locked in their own nightmares of captivity, which included them also being on constant display. No one had anywhere to hide. The best any of us could manage was to huddle in far back corners.
At least Oses and I had each other. All the rest were isolated. A couple of them had gone insane from it.
The Plasian was one who had crumbled into madness. All she ever did was cry silently. Lurb told us she’d been captured over a year ago. Her name was Simolsha. According to the Dantovonian, Simolsha had refused to obey Finiuld’s orders for two days. He finally subjected her to one minute of punishment. When he’d ended it, she’d stopped speaking or doing anything else besides eating and crying.
Hearing that made me feel sick inside. Oses looked grim too, but he told me, “Plasians are a gentle people, unused to violence. They cannot withstand the kinds of punishment we can.”
That might have been true, but just a few seconds of the Little Creep setting my collar off had been enough to make me wish I was dead. Okay, so maybe I could endure a full minute without going bonkers. What if Finiuld got it in his head to subject me to more? Would Oses be able to keep his vow to continue to resist?
Our other mental casualty was the Isetacian. He’d been in his cage and was already crazy when Lurb had been captured. No one knew the Isetacian’s name, though Oses told me we’d have never been able to pronounce it anyway. The alien hung from his vines, swinging back and forth near one of the walls, which he banged his head against for stretches as long as two hours. His tiny eyes, two rows of which encircled his entire bone-covered head, never blinked. He clung with six limbs upside down on his looping vines, rocking back and forth, smashing the top of his skull over and over. No one paid him any mind. After some time, the constant boom-boom-boom of his seeming attempt to beat his brains out became only background noise to me too.
The Tragoom spent most of its time squatting in its environment, which was directly across from ours. Of them all, it seemed to find me and Oses interesting. Looking like the bastard child of a rhino and a pig, it sat and stared at us with its little squinty eyes. Its wet nose snuffled, as if trying to catch our scents. The triangular ears perched on top of its head swiveled to catch every sound we made. Once every so often it would roll around on its mucky ground, snorting and squealing as it did so. I could discern no reason for these occasional bursts of activity.
Shalia's Diary Book 4 Page 9
