Finiuld laughed in his face...or at his knees, actually. The height difference was incredible, and yet the tiny alien had control over my behemoth companion. “That’s what they all say, Kalquorian. They’ve been saying that to me for decades, and yet, I have never been caught and my prizes have never escaped – except through death.”
Oses turned from him and towards me. I didn’t like that he put his back to the Little Creep, but what could he do? Between Finiuld’s voice and that damned collar, Oses was powerless.
Yet his gaze held mine, as if he wanted to communicate. Then he stared at the room behind me, beyond the containment field. He looked me in the eye again.
It was obvious Oses was trying to tell me something. I intuited he readied to attempt to break out. How? I couldn’t imagine what his plan might be. However, I trusted Oses with my life...and my child’s life as well. That was the biggest thing that kept me from shrinking in fear of being punished. I had to get my hitchhiker out of there. If Oses thought there was a way out of our predicament, I was more than willing to give it a try, even if it meant enduring that awful pain again.
My head twitched, the barest suggestion of a nod I could manage.
Finiuld hopped down from his rock, and we both watched at him. “That’ll be all for now. You can bathe and explore your little corner of paradise. I’ll call for you when I’m ready.”
With that, he disappeared again. 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 ripple I’d noted before. It came to me what it was and what Oses had 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 invisible, the Little Creep still impacted in our world.
My realization was barely 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.
A jagged blast of agony erupted, searing all sense. I was blind, deaf, and dumb to anything but white-hot torment filling me. It went on forever. At some point, I did find the ability to grasp one idea. I prayed for death. It was my only hope.
Death didn’t come, but the horror ended after I don’t know how long. When I regained my senses, I found myself 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 wasn’t as wonderful as the cessation of torment. Oses sprawled next to me, jittering and foaming at the mouth, his eyes glazed.
“Hello, Shalia.” Finiuld’s tone was as cheerful as it could be. “I figured the Nobek would attempt escape by phasing with me, but you were a surprise. So spirited and brave! What fun you’re going to be to show off to my friends. Now return to 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 gaped at that smile with its tombstone teeth and the black brutality behind Finiuld’s merry exterior. He’d do it. He would drive Oses insane in front of me and probably laugh while he did so.
I was crawling to the cage when Oses jumped up, howling with rage. A moment later, I was in hell again, pain screaming through me.
It ended after a second. The Little Creep’s voice tinkled as brightly as ever. “That’s right, Kalquorian. She’ll suffer for any resistance you offer. Go in there with her or she’ll scream until her lungs fly out of her mouth.”
Brutalized and beaten, Oses and I managed to get ourselves into the containment. Oses could barely stand up straight, but he picked me up and carried me to our 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 inside, Oses faced our tormentor. Finiuld sneered. “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 almost a minute, Oses stood still, holding me. We stared at the space where Finiuld had taunted us.
Then a minute trembling ran through the muscled frame holding me. Oses was a storm of emotions boiling: 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 insisted I not 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. 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’s shaking worsened. I told him, “I’m okay. Put me down.”
His eyes were too big and wide. 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 of that monster and I can’t protect you. I can’t protect you, Shalia! Anything I do hurts you!”
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 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, 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. His Nobek nature re-asserted itself before he snarled, “I want to take that little bastard apart a piece at a time while he screams.”
That was more like it. Hearing himself make that statement snapped Oses out of his trapped animal mentality.
“Fucking gurluck,” he growled. “I’ll tear him to bits. We need a plan, Shalia.”
“I agree.” I said, though we had few options. “Attacking the Little Creep is out.”
“Even if we could, just the sound of his speech has a tranquilizing effect on me.” Oses scowled harder than ever. “If only I had your ability to fend it off!”
“You 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 searched around suspiciously. “If he left us.”
“We’ll have to speak in whispers and hope his hearing isn’t as sensitive as mine. I’ll keep watch on the field for the sign of any disturbance.”
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. I sagged with relief.
Putting his lips up to my ear, his voice ghosted, “From what I can tell, the collar is tied into the nervous system. It affects only you.”
Oses couldn’t 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 idea froze my heart.
No, if we could get out of this, we needed to do so. I would have to hope and pray nothing that could damage or hurt me would affect my embryo.
“Let me find out if the Dantovonian will tell me anymore befo
re we go further,” Oses said. “I want to learn what escape attempts he’s made or witnessed.”
It was as good a plan as any.
Oses set me down and cautiously approached the invisible containment wall. All the other prisoners were huddled in their corners and refused to glance in our direction.
At first Lurb, the Dantovonian, wasn’t inclined to talk to him. Perhaps me and Oses being 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 for the scoop, I went to the small pond...just big enough that Oses and I could climb 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 felt a slight suction under my toes as I bathed. I peered through the clear water at the bottom. Dirt and marsh grasses grew down there. I spied tiny holes in the mud. I dug my toes in and cleared some of it away.
Beneath the mud and grasses was what resembled white plastic. I guessed the artificial material made up the water circulation system. It was covered in small holes.
I moved about, clearing mud here and there, hoping to uncover 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 the flooring starts 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 nonetheless. Oses smiled. “It was a good thought, Shalia. We have to investigate every option.”
Somewhat mollified by his praise, I washed my dirty hands.
Oses joined me. Unconcerned about modesty, he stripped off his vest and kilt and waded in to wash himself off. Not that I noted anybody watching, except Lurb. Since Dantovonians don’t seem compatible sexually, he probably wasn’t interested in 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 have to get over that or continue to wash myself with my fur on.
Oses cleaned up while he spoke. “Lurb believes he has been here about three years. He has watched every escape attempt he can think of. The only successful escape, according to him, is through suicide. He’s attempted it half a dozen times himself, and he says the punishments are severe.”
“Half a dozen attempts at which? Escape or suicide?” I was horrified at what Oses was telling me.
“Both. He was tortured for both.”
“Shit,” I swore. Our situation was 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 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 track us. You are, after all, a Matara. A special Matara,” he added, glancing at my stomach. “Kalquor won’t abandon you to your fate.”
“Don’t forget 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 undetected.”
“There is that. However, we knew the Ofetuchan could disappear and reported it before you and I were abducted. Those searching for us know about that trick, and they’ll try to figure out a way to counter it. The fact we could spot a disturbance as Finiuld moved through the containment field gives me some hope that phased or not, this ship might leave some trace of its passage.”
I grimaced. “I don’t like our odds of them finding us.”
“Neither do I.” Oses put his clothing on. “We have a couple of options: 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’ll mean 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.”
“The hell of it is, if I refuse his orders, it is you who pays. I can take being tortured myself. Watching you hurt because of me is more than I can handle.”
I thought it over. Who would cave first if Oses and I took that route: us or Finiuld? I shuddered at the memory of the agony I’d experienced. The bastard had claimed he could drive us insane through the torture. 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...sounded more of a longshot to me. It was more probable that Finiuld would find us too troublesome to keep if we persisted in being difficult. Plus, we had a chance to force a mistake on his part if he became frustrated.
I drew a deep breath. “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’ll have to remember. You have 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 him and me being tortured. After several seconds of hesitation, he snapped a nod. “We do not cave in. 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. Going by how often the lights in the habitats dimmed for a period of about ten hours and came up for stretches of seventeen to nineteen hours, Finiuld didn’t return 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’s 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 rear, away from the containment field, was a cave adequate for 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 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 constant display.
That meant that the most personal of human functions was on view to 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 big around enough for him to reach his arm in. It had no bottom that he could detect, and the tiny bit of old odor emitting from it confirmed it was the lavatory system. I insisted he 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 vision of doing my business in front of our fellow prisoners, as well as Oses. Some things you don’t want others to witness, no matter what you’ve shared in the past. The first time I squatted over the intake, I burned with humiliation. The Nobek was kind and turned his back, affording me the tiny bit of privacy he could.
I soon realized none of the other prisoners cared either. They were locked in their own nightmares of captivity, which included them also being on constant display. They had nowhere to hide. The
best any of us could manage was to huddle in far 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 had crumbled into madness. All she 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 subjected her to a full minute of punishment. When he’d ended it, she’d stopped speaking or doing anything else besides eating and crying.
Hearing that left me sick inside. Oses looked grim too, but he told me, “Plasians are a gentle people, unused to violence. They cannot withstand the punishment we can.”
That might have been true, but a few seconds of the Little Creep setting my collar off had made me wish I was dead. Okay, maybe I could endure a full minute without going bonkers. What if Finiuld got it in his twisted brain to subject me to more? Would Oses be capable of maintaining his vow to resist?
Shalia's Diary Omnibus Page 70
