The Alien's Tensions

by Ruth Anne Scott

“Lock me in,” he said.

  Maxim looked at him with a startled expression in his eyes.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Lock me in,” Aegeus repeated. “Go out into the corridor and lock me into the containment unit.”

  “Why?” Avery asked, sounding nearly as unsure as Maxim did.

  “I want to see what Frederick did. We are thinking about this from our own perspective, from the perspective of captors. Let me see it from the perspective of the captive and I might notice something that we haven’t been able to before.”

  Aegeus sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Maxim backed reluctantly out of the unit and closed the door. He heard the sound of the series of locks within the door clicking into place. Three. Four. Five. Even though he knew that he was in there under his own volition and that he was perfectly safe, the sound of the locks engaging and knowing that he was locked within the containment unit brought a sense of sickening dread into Aegeus’s chest. This was too familiar, but that was exactly what had compelled him to tell his son to lock him inside. He was the only one of the three men who really knew what it was like to be imprisoned. Though he had briefly heard the story of Pyra capturing the Mikana men within a small section of the meeting hall in the kingdom, that didn’t give them even the beginning of an understanding of what he had endured. They were kept within that space only for a matter of a few days and had been together in a space that they all knew. They were brought food regularly and though there was never a time when they knew for certain that they would get out of the situation, they witnessed Maxim’s escape and had the glimmer of hope of escape.

  For Aegeus, that had never been a glimmer. It had never been a matter of believing that he would escape or hoping that he would survive. Those were never emotions that he was able to experience. Instead, he had to force himself to know that this was not his existence. During the long, excruciating stretches when he wouldn’t see another living being for months at a time when he would have only the cartons of emergency Earth rations that had been tossed into his cell to sustain him, he couldn’t afford even the tiniest bit of whimsy or softness. There wasn’t hope. There was only determination. It didn’t matter what he was going through. He had to get through it and he knew that one day he would get out and be able to return to the work that he had begun.

  Being in this containment unit now was a stark reminder of those most challenging times. He rarely knew why Ryan did any of the things that he did while holding him in captivity. There were times when he had been left for months without attention and days without food that he believed the scientist was testing him, putting him through another element of the cruel experiments. He wanted to know Aegeus’s limits. He wanted to see what he could survive and just how close he could bring Aegeus to death before he wasn’t able to bring him back.

  That was over now. As Aegeus sat in the containment unit, feeling the silence afforded by the soundproofing closing in around him, he suddenly felt freer than he had since the moment that Pyra and Eden stormed the laboratory and he was freed. He hadn’t forgotten that there were moments, moments before they had understood who he was when they nearly didn’t bring them with him. That time was brief, however, and they ensured that he was removed from the laboratory and brought where he would be safe and could undergo the healings that reversed the mutation and brought him back to who he had been. Those healings had been some of the most painful experiences that he had ever undergone, but they were worth it. He would have suffered far more to never have to see his skin the pale, sickly, slimy skin of a Klimnu and to never have to fight through the grisly thoughts, greed, and self-centeredness that threatened to take over more the longer that he was under the control of the toxins.

  It had been weeks since that day, but it seemed that it wasn’t until this moment when it really fully sank in that he was free. Having the door closed in front of him reminded him of what he had gone through, but it also reminded him that it was his own decision that had put him into that space and that was keeping him there. In the back of his mind, though, he knew what Frederick must have been feeling when he was put in that unit. Whether he was the one who was posing a threat to the crew or only knew that there was another risk, being locked into a place like this was disheartening, hollowing in a way that couldn’t be described to anyone who hadn’t experienced it. Risking sinking back into the darkness that he had often lived in during his time in captivity, Aegeus tried to put himself into Frederick’s mind as he looked around the unit. What had he thought of in those first seconds when the door closed? What did he want to do or to say? What had he noticed about the containment unit?

  Aegeus wondered if the pilot had been planning on escaping when he first heard those locks clicking into place if the thoughts of how he was going to get out were punctuated by the sound of each level of lock engaging, confronting his thoughts and telling him that it was impossible. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Or did the thought of escaping occur to him only after he was locked inside and had the feeling of never again seeing anything beyond the walls of this unit?

  He looked around, wondering what Frederick might have seen or focused on when he was sitting where he was, something that might have triggered his thoughts of getting out. The room was incredibly sparse, containing only the bed that he was sitting on and a single cabinet for clothing that had no doors. There was no place to hide and nowhere that could be concealing a way to get out. He stood and walked over to the cabinet, pressing his fingers along the edge to detect any separation between the piece of furniture and the wall. It felt that it was crafted directly against the wall, almost as though it were made with the wall itself, affording no space for movement. He continued along the wall, scanning it carefully to check for any differentiation in the appearance that might indicate that the unit had been compromised.

  As he looked at it, however, he knew that Frederick wouldn’t have had the time to somehow cut his way out of the unit and then fix the place so that it couldn’t be seen in only the short stretch that he was alone in the unit. There had to be something else. He took a few more steps and closed his eyes. He could feel his individual heartbeats and counted them. The rhythm seemed to mark the time ticking past, each beat a reminder of the time that he was spending in the unit. Every heartbeat was unique, never to be repeated. They were precious, numbered. He opened his eyes and looked up toward the ceiling, scanning it the same way that he had the walls, wondering if it was possible that he might have been able to escape through ventilation system that connected the chambers of the ship. Aegeus didn’t see any sign of a ventilation system but he did see something that caught his eye.

  Aegeus heard the door the containment unit open behind him and turned to look over his shoulder at Maxim rushing in. His son looked nervous as if he had worried that the same thing that had happened to Frederick within the containment unit had happened to him when he was locked inside. Aegeus didn’t acknowledge the fear, wanting to move past it, not wanting to waste any more of his heartbeats dwelling on what was behind him. There was a time when he didn’t think that he would ever have any more and now he was committed to using each for more than fear and bitterness.

  “What is this?” he asked, gesturing up toward the ceiling at the flat, narrow piece he had noticed set into the white panels.

  The flat piece contrasted with the rest of the ceiling around it, made of shimmering metal and outlined with small round lights. The lights seemed to twinkle subtly, the color shifting slightly as the brightness seemed to cycle.

  “I don’t know,” Maxim said, coming up to stand beside him and follow his gaze up toward the ceiling.

  “That’s connected to the life force monitors,” Avery said. “It sweeps the room every few seconds and provides information to the ship’s main computer.”

  “We used that system to check the entirety of the ship after Frederick said that there was someone on the ship that was a threat. There were no unaccounted-for life forms in any area of the ship,�
� Maxim said, sounding faintly embarrassed that he didn’t recognize this element of the technology that he had used.

  “Avery said that it checks every few seconds,” Aegeus said. “Did you check more than once?”

  “Yes,” Maxim told him insistently. “We monitored it for quite a while. Nothing changed. We also checked after finding out that he was gone and there were still no other life forms.”

  “What did you see in this containment unit?” Aegeus asked, gesturing around him.

  “What do you mean?”

  “When you did the scan after you put Frederick into the containment unit and then again after you found out that he was missing. What did you see in here?”

  “I don’t know,” Maxim admitted. “We didn’t really pay attention to it.”

  Aegeus was frustrated by the response, but he tried not to show it. Maxim seemed as though he were on the edge and he didn’t want to upset him further. There was nothing that could be done about the oversight now. All he could do was try to piece together what he could from here.

  “What I don’t understand is why the ship is still here,” he said.

  “Why?” Avery asked.

  Aegeus looked at the pilot, somewhat surprised by the question. The fact that the ship hadn’t been moved even after more than a day had passed without anyone being in it had been one of the first things that he had noticed, and something that had bothered him since noticing it. Yet the other two men hadn’t even considered it.

  “However he did it, whatever led up to it, Frederick escaped. He got out of the unit and he managed to not be found while the rest of the crew was still here. The crew left. They took every single person off this ship and crossed to the compound. Yet, the ship is still here. Frederick was the pilot. He brought the ship from Earth. If he was cooperating with the enemies or was trying to threaten us in some way, wouldn’t he have taken the ship?”

  “Maybe he left it here on purpose to lure us back so that the army could get to us,” Avery said.

  “Or maybe he didn’t want the ship,” Maxim said. “Maybe he had no use for it.”

  “Or maybe he wouldn’t use it,” Aegeus said. “If there really was a threat, there is the possibility that he didn’t escape, but that he was taken from the unit. If that’s the case, then he wouldn’t be able to take the ship. If he was really up to something, he would have taken the ship. They wouldn’t use it to bait us. They know that there is too much technology, too much opportunity on this ship. It would be too risky. The crew has already gotten a ship off the planet when the army was trying to control it. They know that it can be done again. There’s more to his disappearance than just getting out of the unit.”

  Aegeus walked out of the containment unit and down the short distance of corridor to the elevator that would bring them back to the main level of the ship. He felt lost in his thoughts as they rode the short way up to the main level and then separated off to go to their individual passenger pods for the night. Memories of the brief time that he had already spent on the ship crossed through his mind as he made his way down the corridor toward the room that he had inhabited during the crossing. He remembered the look on Loralia’s face as she walked down the aisle toward her father as she prepared to marry Bannack and immediately he thought of Maxim and the news that he would soon be a grandfather.

  The thought of his oldest son welcoming a child of his own was indescribable. He couldn’t wait to look into the baby’s face and know that he had another chance to be a part of a child’s life, to continue the legacy of his family. Even though he had been with his own sons throughout their childhoods, he felt as though he had disappeared from their lives at such a critical point. It had been totally out of his control, but that didn’t take away the pain and regret that came every time that he thought about all that he had missed. That wouldn’t happen this time. He wouldn’t let it happen. He had sacrificed so much of his life and he wouldn’t allow that to be in vain. It may have taken many years, but the army that he had envisioned had risen up and it was time to fight.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The building in front of her seemed firm and tangible for only a moment before it shimmered and then disappeared, fading away into the darkness again. Loralia hung her head, trying to control her breathing so that she could calm herself. She had never struggled this much before. It was as though she were losing touch with the very essence of herself. The emotions and thoughts of the compound were too intense, and now that they were all there she was feeling overwhelmed by all that was pressing in around her. The blend of emotions was so tight and dense that it was difficult to separate it into the individual feelings of each person. There was so much fear, so much pain. Distrust, hatred, and desire for vengeance pumped through her, and Loralia felt herself being taken in by it. She tried to focus on the other emotions that she could detect, the ribbons of love, devotion, and hope that were piercing through the negativity. She could sense the new lives that inhabited the compound now, the babies that were yet to be born but held such potential and possibility. The joy of those new lives was somewhat tampered by the emotions surrounding the origins of those babies, but Loralia hoped that soon that would dissipate and they would all embrace these children for the miraculous beings that they were rather than what had brought them into being.

  Loralia tried to push away the negativity that held her down and focus completely on the brightness and energy to fuel her next reflection. She held her compact firmly and turned it toward the staff that she had placed on the ground in front of her. Breathing in the scent of the fire and the energy of the space around her, reminding herself of the importance of what they were doing, she brought her focus directly to the staff and saw it duplicate. She pressed all her thoughts and trust toward it, believing it is reality, focusing fully on it as being just as tangible and functional as the one before it. It became solid before her eyes and she reached for it, tilting the mirror just enough that the reflection came into her hand and she could wrap her fingers firmly around it. The reflected wood was cool beneath her touch, the one feature that set it apart from the real one, but she didn’t let that dissuade her. She drew in another breath, preparing herself for a feat that she had witnessed her father do when she was younger, but that she had never been able to accomplish herself. Her eyes closed and she centered herself. Around her, everything fell away and she could remember the sound of her father’s voice and the serenity in his eyes. Bringing that memory forward so that it was all that she could see and feel, she turned her compact toward the staff in her hand. When she opened her eyes, there was another staff hovering just beyond her hand.

  A smile broke across her lips and she felt a rush of hope. Behind her, she heard her name and she turned toward it, the second reflected staff disappearing as she turned. Loralia felt her heart leap as Bannack came toward her across the sand, reaching for her so that he could wrap his arms around her waist and gather her up against his body in a tight, reassuring embrace.

  Loralia pulled back to look into his face and he dipped his head down to touch his mouth to hers, encouraging her to part her lips so that their lips could tangle. Bannack brought his hand beneath her skirt and dipped it between her thighs, finding her already slick and warm just from the sight of her mate. It seemed that they had barely seen each other since their wedding. He had been so invested in all the work and strategy that needed to be done on the compound that it was far too frequent she fell asleep waiting for him to return to the house that they shared, and then was gone again in the morning when she rose. Loralia whimpered into his mouth as he drew his fingers between her folds and massaged her tight clit, his bold, familiar movements telling her that he was feeling the same passionate need for her that she did for him.

  "I have missed you so much," he murmured against her lips.

  “I’ve missed you, too,” she whispered back.

  Bannack slipped his fingers further down and plunged them inside her, causing her breath to catch and her body t
o press harder against him. She dug her fingertips into his shoulders to stabilize herself but released her hips so that he had greater access. He pushed deeper and Loralia gasped. She dropped her head down and bit into his shoulder, not wanting to scream out.

  "Really?" he asked, his voice a blend of playfulness and desperation to truly hear the confirmation.

  Loralia nodded and she ran her tongue from his shoulder up to his ear.

  “I can’t be without you,” she murmured. “I hate being without you.”

  “So do I,” he said, grabbing her hips and pulling her up harder against him.

  Bannack moved his hand even deeper and Loralia groaned with the incredible depth of her need for him. Nothing else mattered at that moment. She didn’t care about anything or anyone beyond Bannack and the desire to be as close to him as she possibly could.

  "I want you inside me."

  Bannack only needed that encouragement. He tightened his grip around her so that he could sweep her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he walked toward the shadows further in the compound. There were fewer torches here, creating dark areas near the wall. He brought her into the shade and toward several massive discarded stones that were piled near the wall as if they had been dropped there during the construction of the buildings within the compound and then forgotten. Pressing another hard kiss to her mouth, he lowered Loralia back to her feet near the base of the pile of stones and turned her around so that her back was to him. He placed one hand on her upper back and the other on her hip, then applied pressure to bend her forward until her hands landed on the stone in front of her. The position presented her to him and Bannack immediately gathered her skirt so that he could lift it up over her hips. He paused as if taking a moment just to enjoy looking at her and then ran his hand down her back and through her core.

  Loralia arched her back and he moaned, making him even more irresistible, and she pressed back toward him, aching for him. Bannack entered her in one hard thrust and she cried out with delight. He ran his hand down her thigh so that he could lift her leg and prop her foot on the rock beside her, giving him the leverage and angle to drive deeper. He had created such passion in her that her skin was burning, causing the night air to seem cool.