Quin sat frozen, listening to the account of life on Earth and Vivian’s family. He wasn’t sure what to feel. “Go on,” he said.
“Our uncles had built a bonfire for Vivian and my father, Samuel, to enjoy. My father was only four years old. Vivian was seventeen. They roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and sang and danced. They’d had a really fun night. They’d put out the fire and gone inside. Vivian bathed my father and put him in bed. She glanced out the window and noticed some embers still in the fire pit. She walked through the cabin, calling out that there were still some cinders sparking in the fire pit, and she was going to shovel some soil on them. The door opened and closed, bringing our uncles to the living room. Uncle Andrus opened the door to go help her, calling out, ‘Vivian, don’t go out alone, I’m coming to help.’ But before he got off the porch, a very bright, white-green light shone a spotlight on her where she stood with a shovel preparing to pour dirt on the embers of the fire. He said that her entire body convulsed as though she’d been shocked. He screamed her name, and our Uncle Alex came running. Andrus managed to get another three or four steps into the yard, and Alex barely made it off the porch before they were frozen in place. They were screaming her name, shouting for her. But it did no good. Slowly she was raised into the light. As soon as her body was sucked into the oval-shaped craft, the bottom started to glow with the same white-green light, and then more quickly than their eyes could catch, it was gone.”
All five males were spellbound listening to Bart’s story. Vor asked, “Did they describe the ship?”
Bart said, “As best as they could. They said it was as large as about three football fields, which is nine-hundred feet in total. They could only see the bottom of the ship, but it was oval in shape, like an egg. They said it looked like a transistor schematic. Rows and rows of intersecting metal and wiring, but there were little metallic components zipping back and forth along what looked to be the schematic paths of the transistor. Her uncles assumed they were beings, moving back and forth along the avenues of the underneath of the ship. They said it made no sound. Not a single sound. No wind, no breeze, no sound. Just appearing to hang there in the sky silently almost touching the tops of the trees. They couldn’t see the top of it or its sides. Only the underneath, that resembled a transistor schematic with a white-green glow.”
Kol and Ba Re’ exchanged glances.
“They said as soon as the ship was no longer visible, they were able to move again. They ran into the night, screaming her name, sobbing, raging, trying in vain to find any trace of her or the ship. They never forgot. They never stopped searching. They taught my father to always stay hidden while in the woods and to never stop searching for Vivian. He grew up, joined the Air Force and had a good life, but never was able to trace her. I grew up, joined the military, applied to the Consortium and was accepted. Eventually my record spoke for itself, and I was elected Ambassador by the people of Earth, and now sit on the board of the Consortium. Any time word of a human woman being found or taken reaches my ears, I investigate it thoroughly. Hoping it may lead to at least identifying the species that took Vivian.”
“She did not recognize you,” Quin said.
“My father was practically a baby when she was taken. She never met me,” Bart responded. “I told you, it’s been more than eighty years. Her uncles are both dead. My father is old; he rarely leaves home anymore. I am pretty much all that’s left.”
Quin’s heart lurched at the thought of her having to live through yet another loss. “Do not tell her yet. She is very, very strong.” Quin looked at Bart smiling sadly, “But she has survived much. I am not sure what she remembers and what she doesn’t. But, do not tell her of the time she’s lost until we have addressed the trauma she’s already endured.”
Bart nodded, “Agreed. But, now it’s your turn. Tell me of the trauma she’s endured. And how you found her. How does she appear not to have aged more than a couple of years?”
Chapter 20
Quin sat back, took a deep breath, ran his hands down his face and started his story. “I do not know how she didn’t age. What I do know is I was contacted by the Consortium, and ordered to overtake and board a slave ship with the focus on rescuing all women on board. The women were to be processed then repatriated to their home worlds, all save one, the human. She was to be returned to the Consortium, via Malm, for return to Earth, overseen directly by him. I accepted the assignment in an effort to appease the Consortium, but in truth, I was already tailing the ship. We detected it the moment it crossed over our territorial border. We intercepted, locked it in our gravitational beams and pulled it in. Standard procedure. We established an airlock on its hull, cut a hole in its side, and boarded. My boarding teams had their orders and carried them out without fault. Turns out it was a brothel ship, not a slaver. We killed all the crew and started cycling the women aboard our own ship. I was in medical, awaiting arrival of the human so that I could forward her to the Consortium's care at once. My plan was to move all the females to the Consortium along with her. My men comm’d me, asking for my presence. I told them to carry on and send the human. Imagine my surprise when they advised the problem was the human.”
Quin took a deep breath, his memories obviously affecting him. He blew the breath out slowly between pursed lips. “When I got there, I was irritated to be inconvenienced. I marched up to the room my men,” he indicated Vor, “Vor and his team, were guarding. Some of them bore chain marks across their faces. Their Psi’s were on full display. I had to force them apart so that I could enter. I was prepared to handle whatever it was, get the human out of my possession and off my ship as soon as possible. But the moment I stepped into that training room, and her eyes met mine…” Quin shrugged, “I was lost.”
“What was in the room?” Bart asked.
“You cannot un-know,” Quin said, suggesting that perhaps he was better off not knowing.
Bart nodded, “I need to know.”
“The stench was almost unbearable — rotted food, waste, sex, infection, blood. All these scents assaulted me the moment I stepped through the door. Then I saw the lone occupant of the room. She was tiny, practically skeletal, nude and filthy. She wore a shackle around one ankle, which was connected to a chain that led to a point in the very center of the room. There were cameras in all four corners of the room. The room was covered in mats, the type you use for exercise and training. They covered the floor and every wall. Every inch of every mat was covered in filth. Vivi’s ankle had been cut by the shackle and was rife with infection. She could barely stand on it. She leaned against the back wall, watching everyone, everything. When I entered the room, she pushed off the wall and slowly walked to the middle of the room. She waited there, toying with the chain she held in her hand. She’d gone closer to where it was anchored in the floor so that she could create enough slack to swing it. This was how she protected herself.” Quin’s hand rose and indicated Vor, who smiled sadly and pointed to his own face.
“The chain she now carries,” Bart said.
“It’s a different one, but she uses it the same way,” Quin answered. “I gave her my cloak, gave her food that she refused to eat until I myself took a bite, and offered it back to her. I gave her my dagger because she needed to feel safe. And I broke the chain keeping her prisoner. Still she refused to let me near her, so I followed as she started her long and painful walk out of that hell. Her ankle was so injured that she couldn’t walk well. She fell, and I lost control, picking her up and rushing her out of there. She passed out in my arms. She’d been beaten, had broken bones, hand prints and bite marks all over her body. The essence of many, many males clung to her flesh,” Quin let out a pained sound, followed by a growl. “They beat her, used her for sport. The more she fought, the better they liked it.” His lips trembled. “The vids we found are horrendous. No person, NO PERSON, ever should be subjected to the treatment my Vivi received. We had maintained one of the crew alive in the hopes of getting information from him. But a
fter I viewed the small bit of vid that I could, I went to his cell. Unarmed, I opened his cell and stood back, allowing him an opportunity to exit. He was a stupid male, thinking he could beat me and end his incarceration.”
Quin raised his eyes to Bart’s stony, angered face, “I took my time. I beat him slowly, methodically. I sliced him to pieces in a relentless pursuit of death. With each strike I reminded him that he was paying for the way in which my Ehlealah was treated.”
Jhan spoke in a hushed tone, “He was unrecognizable when we disposed of his body. He was little more than a pile of meat.”
“Good! I wish that I could beat him all over again, I want to rip his throat out, all their throats. It wasn’t enough!” Bart said, his voice filled with pain.
“No, it was not,” Quin answered before he continued his story, “I brought her back here, tried to place her in the healing chamber, but she was terrified. I ended up getting in with her. I’ve spent every moment that I’m not working with her. Showing her that she is safe. That she is always going to be safe. Trying to gain her trust so that she will allow me to prove my worth, so she’ll accept me. Today is the most progress I’ve made so far. But make no mistake about it, whether or not she accepts me, she will not leave me. I will watch over her, protect her, provide her with everything she may even think she needs or wants. She will never be hurt again.”
“Is it because she is your Ehlealah, or because you were so affected by the conditions she was kept in that you want to protect her?” Bart asked, between heaving breaths.
Quin turned angry eyes on him, and snarls sounded from around the table.
“It is a legitimate question,” Bart defended.
“I do not owe you justification, but I will answer your question because you are her family.”
“And because you think I could help in winning her trust for you,” Bart stated.
Quin laughed, “No. No one could help with that. She is broken, but she is strong, a survivor. She will trust when she wants to trust. When she feels it in her bones, not one moment before.” Quin glared at Bart, daring him to say otherwise. When he had no retort Quin said, “I did away with all consorts years ago. Sent them back to our planet. I do not want female companionship. I want my mate. I haven’t felt my heart, haven’t felt my soul in more years than you could imagine. When Vivi’s eyes locked on mine, my heart thundered into being, my soul awoke. I know — I KNOW, that Vivi is my Ehlealah. She carries my soul inside her. My heart in her hands. She. Is. Mine.”
“And if she won’t have you?” Bart asked.
“Simply being allowed to care for her, watch over her is more than I’ve ever had before. I’ll take it, over nothing at all.”
“Very well. Let’s see about getting these women back to their lives, and concentrate on making Vivian feel more secure so that we can gradually explain who I am, and the circumstances of how she came to be here. Hopefully, she will want to remain.”
Quin’s brow crinkled, “You want to leave her here with me?”
“I do.”
“You just found her,” Kol said, not understanding Bart’s willingness to give her up so quickly.
“I did. And she is safer than she could be anywhere else.” Bart shook his head, “There is nothing left for her back home. Here she’s got more than she may have ever had a chance at before. She is loved, she is adored, she is safe and has every opportunity to be happy.” He looked at Quin smiling, “She may even be a Sovereigna one day, a Queen.”
Quin nodded, “She will.”
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Bart’s pilots entered the commissary, seemingly only in search of food. They inclined their heads to Bart, to Zha Quin and the other males at the table, then went straight for the food line.
“He is far too familiar with these males,” one commented.
“He is, Lord Malm is correct. There is a conspiracy afoot. We will have to watch ourselves closely until we can kidnap her and return her to Lord Malm.”
“She is their Sirena, Perkins! There is no way we will achieve such a thing.”
“You’d better hope we can. Otherwise what will be waiting for us upon our return to home base will be far worse than any we could endure here,” Perkins answered.
“Have you even seen her?”
“Not yet, but eventually she will show herself. She has to eat right? We’ll spend a little time in here and see if she turns up.”
Both men kept their heads down and their voices low. They chose a far table in the back of the commissary so that they could watch all the comings and goings. Maybe they’d get lucky, and she’d stroll in here herself.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Hours later Kol smiled as he approached Zha Quin’s quarters, pushing a rolling cart laden with packages. He couldn’t wait to see Vivi’s face when she opened them all. He’d ordered a few additional items for her as well and was excited to give them to her. He knew well that she was Zha Quin’s, but he also knew what she’d been through, his heart hurt for her. And he admired her. Even in the hopeless situation they’d found her in, she’d remained proud, standing her ground, fighting every moment of every day, just because she could. Kol laid his hand on the scan pad outside Zha Quin’s quarters — since Vivi now lived with him, he’d reprogrammed his security. No one had access to their home except them. All others, Kol, Ba Re’ and Jhan included, had to request entry. Kol waited after the computer pinged announcing his arrival. But Vivi didn’t come to answer the door. He tried again, then said, “Computer, please advise Vivi that I am at the door. It is safe to open for me.” A moment later the door slid open, and Vivian stood there, looking questioningly at him.
“Hello, Vivi. I’ve brought your clothing. It’s just arrived,” he said, while indicating the cart with all its packages.
Vivian’s smile was bright for just a split second before a shadow crossed her face.
“What is it? Why are you sad?”
“I can’t pay you for them,” she said, honestly. “I don’t want to owe anyone, ever.”
Kol understood, “You don’t owe anyone anything, Vivi. Zha Quin bought you clothes because you need clothes. You are Zha Quin’s female. That makes you family. All I did was find the clothing. He paid for it all.”
Vivian looked at the packages longingly. She wanted them, just wasn’t sure about accepting so many gifts and kindnesses. “Who is Sirena?” she suddenly asked.
“You are,” Kol answered.
“No, I’m supposed to be Ehlealah.”
“Exactly, and that makes you Sirena as well.”
Vivian’s forehead creased as she regarded Kol.
“Come, let’s go inside, open your packages, and I’ll explain it all to you. Yes?” Kol offered gently.
“Will you tell me everything?”
“I will tell you all I know. If I can’t answer your questions, I will tell you that as well.”
Vivian stepped back and held her arm out, granting him entry to Quin’s home.
Kol crossed the threshold and stopped immediately when a young shraler stood in his path, growling at him. Kol raised an eyebrow and looked to Vivian.
“Stop, Kitty. Blue-Dude is a friend,” she said.
The shraler casually strolled up to Kol, who did not move, and sniffed him haughtily as he circled the blue alien.
“Just let him get your scent, and it’ll be good. If he decides you’re not a threat, he’ll just ignore you, and you can come right in,” Vivian explained nonchalantly.
“And if he decides that I am a threat?” Kol pressed.
She shrugged, “I don’t know. He hasn’t decided that about anyone yet.”
The shraler circled Kol’s legs once more before going to Vivian and bumping his head into her knees as he rubbed himself on her. Vivian leaned over, petting his head, “You’re good. Come on in.” She led the way into the living room, and Kol parked the cart next to the small table that sat in front of the sofa. He reached for a few packages and took a seat on the far end of t
he sofa, handing one to her. “So, what do you want to know?”
Vivian took the package from him and shrugged, fiddling with the package in her hands, “Who is Sirena?”
“Well, let me start at the beginning; our ruler is called a Sovereign. His Ehlealah is called a Sovereigna. They have equal power and authority. Our next in line is called, Sire. Make sense?” he asked.
“Yes. But why do you and some of the others call me Sirena?” she asked.
He watched her toying with the package in her hands, “Please open that, and I’ll tell you.”
Vivian nodded, smiling slightly. She pulled on the edge of the package; it came apart easily. Inside she found a pair of jeans. She pulled them from the package, letting the package fall to the floor where Kitty started batting it around. She smiled in spite of herself, “I love jeans.” She peeked at the tag inside, “I think they’ll fit!” she said.
“Good,” Kol answered. “Here, open these next.”
She tore the packages open and found t-shirts and bras, panties and socks, two nightgowns, a pair of running shoes and a pair of flip-flops. She was grinning and enjoying herself by the time she’d opened almost all the packages.
“Open these last few,” Kol said, tossing her the last few that were left on the cart.
Vivian tore into them and stopped, looking at what they held inside. “How did you know?”
“I saw you look so disappointed when you couldn’t read the ones in the library. I’ve ordered you many more, but these are the first to arrive.”
Vivian turned the books over and over in her hands. They were old and well-read, but that meant they were well loved also. “Thank you, Kol. I appreciate it more than you know.”
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