Of course they did as I, their candar, commanded, and distributed themselves around the large, wooden conference table. Many times through these long years we’d planned our strategies at this very table for the days now close at hand.
Once all others were seated, Cruck lowered himself into the chair to my right and bowed his head to me. “Candar, we await your bidding.”
“My bidding would be to annihilate every one of these sss-stupid Earth creatures,” I hissed. “Primitive and human. How could we have expected anything but incompetence?”
Raspy sniggers and nods of agreement reinforced the truth of my statement.
“But, not yet.” I spoke and my leaders silenced themselves. “For now I will select only one and set an example for more proficient behavior.”
“Excellent, Candar Lome. And your plan?” Mant asked, head lowered.
“You will witness it soon enough. The Earth idiots who erroneously considered themselves worthy of bringing me the girl and the two Anuans, and failed even with our help, is flying here now. They’ll arrive by morning. Then you will see.”
CHAPTER 54 -
VICTORIA
“No!” I opened my eyes, disoriented and scared.
A hand grabbed my arm. “Victoria, what’s wrong?”
Hearing the sound of Gaige’s voice brought everything back. I was safe, on Gaige’s spaceship, in its dimly lit sickbay. Just now, the yellow snake eyes—those had only been a dream.
“Victoria.” Gaige hovered over me in the bed now. “What is it?”
“Just a dream. No big deal.” I put a hand on his chest, gave him a gentle nudge back down onto the bed, and rolled against him. “I’m fine. Go back to sleep.”
“You’re sure?” He whispered against my forehead.
I didn’t speak until the warmth of his breath had drifted over me and away. “Very sure. Please, go back to sleep. It was only a dream. I’ve never felt safer.”
“Okay.” The word had barely been formed, soft as air, and Gaige was out again.
“Sleep well,” I whispered.
He needed the sleep. I, on the other hand, was now wide-awake. I lay there, letting my eyes adjust to the dim light, trying to wrap my brain around everything. I was on a freaking spaceship, lying in the arms of an alien. How had it all happened, and so fast? What had drawn me into the lab? Gaige, of course, though he hadn’t meant to. But how had he attracted me like that? The similar intuition thing? Maybe. Whatever the reason, it felt right. All of it.
Still wrestling with my thoughts, I noticed Toji float up beside me, his green lights blinking.
“Victoria,” he said in a low voice. “Is there anything I can assist you with?”
If nothing else, the little guy could keep me company while Gaige slept. I eased myself from beneath Gaige’s arm. He didn’t move.
“You can help keep me company,” I whispered, searching for the chair. “And, I suppose you could also help me find a chair.”
“Yes, I can assist with both. Chair ten,” he said.
A chair unfolded quietly from the wall on the far end of the room. I went to it with the little droid following behind me. The chair’s surface matched the hard, sleek look of the rest of the room. But when I sat, I sank down like I’d settled into a cloud.
The droid came to a stop a couple feet from me and dropped down to my level. “How may I assist in keeping you company, Victoria?”
Being cuddled into the soft chair gave me second thoughts about how wide-awake I truly was. I figured I might as well get right to it. “So Toji, do you know how I came to be here?”
“Yes, I’m privy to that information.” Green lights flickered on Toji’s disc body each time he communicated.
“It’s kind of crazy. Not something an Earthling, I mean Kian, runs into every day. Well, any day, for that matter.”
“True. The Kians don’t know of the Anuans. It might disrupt their natural course.”
I yawned, placing a hand over my mouth until the yawn passed. “Hmm. Yes, I get that. But the Anuans still go to Earth.”
“Secretly, yes. Primarily for scientific missions.”
Something told me Gaige wasn’t just peacefully collecting samples or making observations when he was captured. “And Gaige? Why, exactly, was Gaige there?”
Toji’s lights went dark then gradually came back to life. “I’m sorry, Victoria, but that information is restricted.”
“Well, Toji, I’m going to guess that if Gaige had been on a purely scientific mission, that information would not be restricted.”
Toji’s lights dimmed again then lit back up. “That would be a logical deduction.”
“Victoria?” Gaige spoke from his bed on the other side of the room.
“I’m here, Gaige, talking with Toji.” I yawned again, ready to be back in bed. I pulled myself from the cloud. It had nothing on lying next to Gaige. “Toji, thank you for the conversation. I think I’ll go back to bed now.”
“You’re very welcome, Victoria,” Toji replied, remaining where we’d been talking.
When I slid back into Gaige’s bed, he put his arms around me. I lay there for a long while, fully awake, working to hone the intuition thing Gaige and the Anuans used so well. Perhaps it could help me find the reason Gaige had been on Earth.
CHAPTER 55 -
LOME
In the bowels of our complex, I sat at the conference table with my most trusted Tamanacke warriors. The incompetent group of U.S. government Earthlings filed into the room. Each of the members entered looking more stupid than the one before. The scientist had already been deposited in a holding cell back in their Midwest. These Earthlings may have considered that sufficient punishment. I, however, did not. But I’d deal with him later. That could be counted on.
The blank stares on their worthless faces, like lost children not sure of their fates, annoyed me. But these were not children. Perhaps I could have shown some pity if they had been. Perhaps.
Soon we would no longer have to concern ourselves with being seen and exposing our existence. If that had already been the case, we would not have had to rely on these inferior Earthlings and would not have been parted from the girl. Why, after all these years, had they come for her, just as our numbers were finally reaching an acceptable level to re-engage with the Anuan murderers? Without her, our revenge would not be as sweet.
Mant closed the door. Everyone stood waiting—seventeen members of the supposedly specialized team, hand selected by General Ash to do our bidding. Each had considered himself a superior human, deserving of a place on the team. I wondered how they judged themselves now. I knew how I judged them all—idiots.
I stroked the vial sitting on the table next to me and swiveled my chair in their direction. They were, however, not worthy to look upon, so I fixed my gaze on the wall above them. “We help you maintain superiority over your enemies and you, in turn, cannot complete a simple task for us.”
Not one of the pathetic creatures spoke a word.
“Hmm. What to do?” I rose from my seat and paced back and forth in front of them, pausing at each one to stare him down. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to set an example.”
While the lesser beings watched, I returned to my seat and held my right hand out in front of me. Turning it from front to back, I admired my claws, paying close attention to their sharp points. “Yes, I must set an example.”
Some trembled. Some began to sweat. Some swallowed hard and tensed, bracing for what might befall them. All were terrified. Good, they will learn from this example.
“You.” I pointed to General Ash, their leader.
“Yes sir, I . . . I take full responsibility. We will do whatever we can to correct the problem.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” I said, calmly. “Unless you Earthlings have developed rapid space travel, they will be well out of your reach by now.”
Sweat began to form on the general’s brow. “We can still salvage some data from the remains of th
e spacecraft—”
“I care nothing about the craft.” I waved my hand in the air, dismissing his offering. “Your people can play with the machines. We don’t need them. It was the beings I wanted.” Clueless. I’d spoken to the imbecile long enough. “Take off your clothes.”
“What?” General Ash asked in a wispy, almost inaudible voice.
“Yes, take them off.”
I had stated my wish, yet he stood motionless.
“Now!” I yelled. “Everything!”
He began disrobing and didn’t stop until his clothes lay in a heap in front of him. The general’s manhood dangled for the entire room to see. His colleagues averted their eyes in silence, but the Tamanacke hissed heartily at the amusement the display offered.
“Now bring them to me,” I said.
He gathered the clothes from the floor and carried them to where I sat.
“Put them down.” I waved toward the table in front of me. “And step back.”
He obeyed. When he was well clear of the clothes so as not to stain them, I stood and stepped toward him. The smell of fear clung to his naked body. I let him wonder for a moment what lay ahead for him. I let them all wonder. Then with one quick, smooth stroke, I opened his throat with my claws. The Earthlings gasped as their leader dropped to the floor like a boneless doll, blood pulsing rich and red from his gaping neck.
I handed Cruck the vial. “Fill this with his blood. Quickly! Before it’s all on the floor.”
Cruck finished filling the vial in seconds while the death stare fixed itself firmly upon the general’s face.
CHAPTER 56 -
GAIGE
Awakened by Victoria’s voice, I opened my eyes. She still slept safely tucked under my arm, but flailed. Turning her head one way then the other, she continued to mumble incoherently.
“Victoria?” I whispered.
“Gaige, help!”
“Victoria, it’s okay.” I sat up and pulled her against me so she’d feel secure.
“No!” she screamed, clutching at her throat.
“You’re safe, Victoria.” I pulled her arm away from her neck. “It’s just a dream.”
Panting like she’d been running all night, she opened her eyes. “Gaige?”
“Yes, it’s me. You were having another dream.”
She scanned the room and her breathing slowed. “We’re on the ship.”
“That’s right, we’re on the ship. You’re safe.” I stroked her hair, trying to do something I thought might calm her.
She let out a deep sigh and her body relaxed.
“What were you dreaming?” I asked.
She pulled away from me and ran her fingers through her hair, brushing back the loose waves that had fallen over her face. “I’m fine, Gaige. It was just a stupid dream.”
“The second in one night.”
“I’ve had them before, these dreams. Maybe not two in one night, but—”
“When? When have you had them?”
“Around the time my parents died. They stopped for a while, but seem to have started again.”
Both times around major upheavals in her life. Her skills had been with her all along. She didn’t need us to arouse them. Our presence would surely increase their intensity, though.
“These dreams, what are they about?”
“Thank you, Gaige.” She gave me a gentle kiss on the check. “For everything.”
“Always. But—”
“And you don’t need to worry about me, or these dreams,” she said. “I’ll manage.”
Toji floated up next to us. “Good morning, Gaige, Victoria. Can I help you with anything?”
I wanted to know more about these dreams. Were they just jumbled thoughts brought on by unsettling events in her life, or was her intuition trying to tell her something? She obviously didn’t want to dwell on them, though. So, for now, I’d let the matter go.
“No, Toji. Victoria just had a nightmare. What time is it at home port?”
“0916, day 313,” Toji said.
“Perfect. It’s morning at home. Wake, one hundred percent Earth illumination.”
The walls lightened, cycling through the sunrise I thought Victoria would like so much, until they reached the crystal-clear blue of her favorite summer sky. I rose from the bed and stretched away the night’s long hold on my body. Reaching high into the air, I twisted right, then left. The top of my flight suit still hung at my waist where Zada had checked my impact wounds. I slid my hands through the arms of the suit and fastened the front.
“Gaige.” Victoria’s voice sounded troubled. She sat up and perched herself on the edge of the bed.
“What is it?”
“Brian. What do you think will happen to Brian?”
I’d expected this question eventually, and hated to tell Victoria about her friend’s situation. I knelt down in front of her. “Brian has been jailed. We don’t plan to leave him there, but his life is not in immediate danger. So, we’ll just monitor his situation for now.”
“And if his life should become endangered?”
“Considering what we recently dealt with on Earth, we can’t risk going back in the shuttles, but we’d do what we could to allow me to transition down and help him.”
“Transition?” She tapped her chin and her eyes wandered upward as if searching. “Oh, yes.” She nodded and looked back at me. “That word is one of the last things I remember hearing before I woke on the ship. What exactly does transitioning entail?”
I searched for the best way to explain the process to someone who’d never been exposed to such technology. It would sound terribly unsafe to her to hear the details described. We completely deconstruct a person at the cellular level in one place then reconstruct all the cells somewhere else in virtually no time.
“Gaige?”
“Uh . . . Beam. You know, beam me up . . . Scottie.”
Victoria laughed. “Did you seriously just quote Star Trek?”
“I guess I did. Did that explain it?”
She laughed again. “That explains it. I’m sure there’s a more technical answer but you can fill me in later.” She stopped smiling about my adventure into her cinema-land. “You were nearly killed trying to leave Earth, and now you may go back?”
“Don’t worry. Using transitioning, I’ll be in and out before anybody even realizes I’ve been there. I’d go now so we wouldn’t have to leave Brian’s situation unresolved, but your sun is experiencing high flare activity that would cause problems with cloaking a large vessel like this ship. We’re currently hidden by Earth’s moon, so we don’t need to be cloaked. To get into a good transitioning position, we’d have to move within full view of Earth, where we’d been seen. However, if things get bad for Brian, we’ll divert as much energy as we can to maintain the cloak, despite the flare interference, and move forward with a rescue. If not, the flare activity will subside in a few days and we’ll go down to deal with the situation then.”
“Thank you, Gaige, for not abandoning Brian.”
“He helped us. We could never disrupt his life like this and then leave him to sort it out on his own.”
Victoria thanked me again with a hug, but drew back too slowly, leaving her lips to linger near mine.
Everything in me wanted to kiss her, and more. But I couldn’t. I pulled away before she did what I was afraid I might do myself. “Are you hungry?” I stood and extended my hand to help her off the edge of the bed.
She squinted her eyes critically at me, and then took my hand. “Actually, I am pretty hungry.”
“May I assist you with breakfast?” Toji said.
“Yes, Toji. Thank you. Victoria and I are ready to eat.”
“Table eight, two chairs,” Toji called out.
I took Victoria’s hand and followed Toji. He reached the table quickly and hovered next to it, waiting for us to catch up.
“This furniture thing. Very efficient,” she said. “What do you Anuans eat, anyway?”
“You d
on’t have to limit yourself to Anuan food. We can construct anything you wish.”
Victoria sat down and wrinkled her nose, causing a little crease to form across its bridge. “Construct? Do you mean make?”
I loved finally having the chance to share my world with her. I sat, too, ready to answer her question. “Constructing is not quite as simple as making something the way you’re used to. Though we can do that as well. When we construct something, we use technology to manipulate simple atoms into whatever we want, including food. Though it’s not grown or raised, it will still have all the same properties—taste, texture, nutritional value. You can try something Anuan or have one of your favorite Earth foods. Or, you can try something from another planet.”
“Other planets? Inhabited ones?” The wrinkle across her nose relaxed and a smile grew on her face. “Of course. Why wouldn’t there be?”
I had to remember that until a few days ago, she had no idea anything existed beyond her own Earth world. Everything outside of that was brand new to her. “Yes, that’s right. There are many other planets, and lots of them are inhabited.”
With curiosity beaming from her face, she leaned toward me, resting her elbows on the table. “How many?”
I found myself drawing nearer to her, our foreheads almost touching. Her excitement electrified me. I wanted to soak in every ounce of it. “There are hundreds that have the ability for space travel. We associate with many of them on a regular basis. There are thousands more, like Earth, that are not as advanced and are not aware of Anu or the others. We won’t influence their development, but we will observe them from time to time to see how they’re progressing.”
“Amazing,” she said, looking off into the room at nothing in particular.
I watched as her world expanded, wondering what she thought about it all. I could tell so much by the awed look on her face, and the feel of her energy, but I wanted to hear exactly what was going through her mind. “What are you thinking?”
Her eyes came back to me. “I find it amazing that there are so many worlds beyond my own. Earth and its people have just been reduced in both size and significance. I feel almost guilty that I’ve been allowed to step through a door and out into the universe when everyone I’ve ever known is still closed up in their tiny little existences. But, at the same time, I’m thrilled to have escaped the place where I’d felt so smothered.”
The Anuan Legacy Page 13
