“You’ll figure it out,” he says. He goes through my backpack and takes my pulse gun.
“That’s just great,” I say as he leaves.
I wait until it gets dark and I sneak out of the room and into the garden. I head straight for the
fake plastic trees or whatever it is they’re made of. This is my only option and my only hope.
20
I wake up startled by the sound of loud footsteps marching around the fortress. Then the voices
follow. They have discovered I didn’t spend the night in the room. I get up slowly and move away
from the trees. My knees feel sore and my neck hurts but it’s nothing compared to what I felt when I
woke up yesterday.
I lie down on a bench in the garden where I can clearly be seen. Two Sliman spot me from the
windows above and come running down the stairs. They’re about to grab me but stop cold in their
tracks and look at each other instead. It’s curious how Sliman are never willing to touch me, grab me, shoot me or stab me. It’s almost as if they know I am a weapon, as Zolkon put it, whatever that may
mean.
Wudak shows up just in time. “What are you doing here? Zolkon—”
“What? Did he get upset? Did he think I vanished out of thin air?”
“You don’t want to make him angry, Freya.”
“Don’t ever call me by my name, do you hear me? There’s no friendship between us, no
understanding, no alliance, no nothing.”
He grabs me by the arm and practically drags me all the way to my room. When we get there, he
notices that I’m barefoot and my feet are badly scratched from the friction along the stone pathways
and wooden floors.
“What am I going to do with you?” he murmurs, almost as if talking to himself. He goes to the
bathroom and brings back a bowl of water and some bandages. He hands them over. I clean my feet
with the water before putting the bandages on.
“You can go now,” I say.
“If it were up to me, I’d find a different way to do this,” he says.
“Is this supposed to make me feel better?”
“Maybe it would be better if we stopped talking to each other,” he says after a brief pause.
I don’t have time to respond. The door opens and the great Zolkon himself marches in.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” he says. He takes one glance at me and frowns. “My dear
girl, look at you, you’re a mess. Get cleaned up, put a nice dress on and come to the lab. Or would
you rather have an escort?”
“No,” I say. “I can manage on my own just fine.”
“Good, good. I’ll see you in an hour then.” The room fills up with his hideous laughter making
the core of my being crawl with disgust.
*
MY KNEES SHAKE SLIGHTLY as I brace myself to enter Zolkon’s lab of horrors. I don’t
know what he has in store but I can’t let him think that I’m scared.
“Ah, so much better,” he says when I walk in. “That’s how I envision a queen, dressed in
radiating white and wearing a confident smile. Sit, sit.”
He points at that old chair again. I sit down and straighten the dress on my thighs. It was a pain
to put on and a pain to sit in. It’s really tight around the waist and thighs and leaves my back naked. I feel like I’ve been stuck inside a hose.
“Since I’m obviously at your mercy,” I start, “where’s the harm in telling me what you plan to
do with me? What is it that makes me such a special weapon in your fight for independence?”
“Fair enough,” he says. “It’s not an unreasonable request. Let me check that test tube first.” As
he says this, he opens what seems to be a small freezer and takes out a tube that contains something
brownish.
“My blood, I guess,” I say.
“Yes, yes, but so much more than that also. It’s been mixed with a binder that will let us test it
for compatibility. So that we are absolutely certain.”
“Compatibility with what?” I ask alarmed.
“The embryo of course,” he says laughing.
Something drops in my stomach. “What embryo?” I ask, shell shocked.
“Wudak told you that you’re an alien host,” he says as he opens the tube and lets a drop of
brown blood land under the lens of the microscope.
“He also told me that’s the reason you don’t want aliens to get to me,” I say trembling now.
“Oh, yes, it’s true, I’d never let the aliens capture you.” The smile disappears from his face. “I’d
rather have you killed first,” he says coldly. Then, almost immediately, the smile returns. “We don’t
have to worry about that though. The aliens don’t know about any of this.”
He closes one eye and uses the other to examine the sample under the microscope. Then he picks
up the test tube and empties its content in a different glass tube that’s connected to some type of small data processor.
“This is the compatibility analyzer,” he announces. “It will let us know soon enough.”
“If you can do that, how come you can’t reproduce Omicron 5?” I ask.
“Omicron 5!” he exclaims with an amused expression. “You know a lot. But, this is pretty much
the only thing I can do. Analyze blood samples. I’ve prepared for this moment for a long time.
Everything you see here I had to steal from discard bins at the plantation labs. Omicron 5 is just about the most complicated formula ever invented in the known universe. It would require knowledge and
technology that is far beyond me or any Sliman.”
“I still don’t know what you’re planning to do with me.”
“Okay, here it is. You are going to give me an alien baby. Then I will let you go. I will raise that
baby until he’s old enough to use the alien sensory technology. Then… well, you needn’t worry about
the rest.”
“You stole an embryo,” I say, still in disbelief.
“Yes, I did. Their time will be up soon.”
“And you will be ruler of the world.”
“I never said that, did I?”
“You don’t have to.”
“You’re a smart girl. Maybe too smart. But none of it matters. You just relax.”
Wudak comes in and hands Zolkon a touchpad. He takes it and reads something on the screen.
“Very well,” he says with a smile. “Everything’s going according to plan.” He turns to me. “Now
don’t you worry about a thing. It won’t hurt a bit. Just one more needle and that’s it.”
I feel like screaming but I have to stay focused. I know my options. None of them are easy. But I
will do what I have to do.
The compatibility analyzer beeps and Zolkon rubs his hands together. “That’s it then,” he says.
“The moment of truth.”
I avoid looking at Wudak. What I feel for him right now resembles hatred and I can’t afford to
have such strong feelings. He is meaningless to me. That’s what I need to focus on.
Zolkon removes a small glass screen from the analyzer and observes the graphs on it. The more
he studies them, the more his expression turns to that of fury and anger. He drops the screen and
attacks Wudak out of the blue. He punches him hard on the face twice and then uses his knee to kick
him in the stomach. “What have you done, you idiot?” he shouts.
Wudak is taken aback and doesn’t react at first. When Zolkon attempts to punch him again, he
finally comes to his senses and pushes Zolkon away.
“What are you doing?” he yells.
“What do you think?” Z
olkon yells back. He picks up the glass screen and hands it to Wudak.
“Read!” he orders him.
“That’s impossible,” Wudak says after looking at whatever is on that screen. He glances at me,
then back at the screen in his hand. “I have no idea how this could have happened,” he tells Zolkon.
“It’s obviously a mistake, run it again.”
“Take her to her room,” Zolkon fumes. “And keep her chained!”
*
“WHAT HAPPENED BACK THERE?” I ask Wudak as he puts a handcuff around my wrist.
“Nothing that should be any concern of yours,” he says. He puts the second handcuff around the
bed pole and locks it.
“I hope it’s not too uncomfortable,” he says.
“You know he wants to run the world, right?”
“Don’t you have enough problems of your own right now?”
“I wouldn’t know, nobody tells me anything,” I say batting my lashes as innocently as possible.
“Listen here, I just bought you a little bit of time. It won’t last. Figure something out. And stop
looking so pleased with yourself. Unless you know something that I don’t.”
I shrug my shoulders. He looks at me for a moment and then he goes.
Yes, there are things that he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know that I have a chimp named Shy Boy.
He doesn’t know that my chimp would follow me to the end of the world. He doesn’t know that he
found a way to climb inside the fortress. He doesn’t know that I found him hiding in the garden last
night. And he definitely doesn’t know that Shy Boy is on his way to the underground camp and that he
won’t rest until he hands Finn my touchpad with the message I put there for him.
*
TIME GOES BY SLOWLY, like a feather falling to the ground from considerable height.
Change is what makes time bearable. Moving from the table to the bed, from inside outside, from
unhappy to happy, from sick to healthy. I am trapped in a sticky sameness in here. For how many
hours I don’t know.
The Sliman named Ludik came in once and brought me water, bread and fruit. I gulped
everything down. I need to stay strong. How many hours is it since Shy Boy left? Will he manage to
get back to the base and get Finn’s attention somehow? Will they come for me in time? Yes, I have to
believe that.
Ludik comes back with more food and water. It’s getting dark outside. How does desolation
look when the sky goes black?
“What time is it?” I ask Ludik but get no response.
*
MY EYES ARE HEAVY. Maybe I should try and get some sleep. I need to be strong and I can’t
be strong if I don’t sleep. I close my eyes for a few seconds and watch the moving shadows and
images that form underneath my eyelids as if they were a movie. Then I hear his voice. It comes like a whisper, an airy wave of hope. “Freya.”
I open my eyes. “Over here,” I say.
He comes to me. His hands search for me and when he finds me, he hugs me and holds my head
close to his chest. His arms feel so powerful, so comforting and healing that I let a sob out. He kisses my hair and my face and we are both unable to say anything.
My eyes adjust better to the darkness and I make out the shape of his face. His face that I didn’t
know I’d come to cherish like that. I reach over to turn on the lamp on the night table. I find the shock in his eyes amusing when he sees the white dress and the hairdo.
“Wow, you look… different,” he says but then he notices the handcuffs. “What have they done to
you?” he growls.
“Nothing yet,” I say but I can see that he’s very angry. “Damian, we have to get out of here. How
did you get inside the fortress without being noticed?”
“Your chimp found an opening high up on the wall behind the garden. Finn and I helped each
other climb it.”
“Finn’s here, too?”
“Yes, we split up, so we could search faster. There are no guards in the fortress, no cameras,
nothing. So at first I thought your chimp brought us to the wrong place.” He takes his pulse gun out and recalibrates the settings. He will use it on the handcuff lock.
“No,” I say, “don’t do that. Let Finn find me.”
I can tell that he thinks I’m joking. “What are you talking about?” he says. “Have you lost your
mind?”
“You can’t save my life twice, it’s not fair to Finn,” I insist. “It’s bad enough that I will have to
tell him about you and me.”
He considers this for a moment and then shakes his head. “You are crazy,” he says. “Look where
you are. The Sliman could come back at any moment.”
I push his hand away from the handcuff. “I know, but this is what I want.”
“Fine, have it your way. But this is the last time I will take second place to Finn. I’ll direct him
here somehow.”
I put my free hand around his neck and I kiss him. It feels so good that I fear I won’t be able to
let him go. It feels like home if ever I had one.
“Were you serious? You’ll tell Finn about us?”
“Of course. What did you think? That I would lie to him?”
“I thought maybe you changed your mind.”
“I didn’t. Now go.”
I know that he doesn’t want to leave me but he grants my wish. I bring my fingers to my lips to
feel his warmth again. I hear my heartbeat in my ears and I don’t know how to calm it down.
When Finn shows up his hair is all messed up. “Tick,” he says staring at me dumbfounded. That
stupid dress again no doubt. “It’s really you,” he says finally.
“Of course, it’s me. Did Shy Boy find you?”
“He did. He practically stormed into the base. He brought us all back here. Pip is very worried,
you know.”
“Pip is here?”
“Yes, everyone is. We couldn’t leave them at the Sliman base after your message. They’re
hiding behind the boulders beyond the gates.”
He frees my hand by cutting a whole through the lock of the handcuff with a laser beam from his
pulse gun. He helps me up to my feet.
“Here, put this in your backpack,” I say as I throw the receptor at him. “Now let’s go find
Damian.”
“How do you know he’s inside the fortress?” he asks.
“You said so.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“As if he’d just let you come in alone and be the hero. Let’s go.”
He doesn’t question this any further. We get out of the room and go down the hallway. We bump
into Damian right as we step onto the balcony.
“This way,” I say and lead them to the room with the panel windows. I push on the glass until it
gives way and we run down the stairs. There’s a full moon tonight and the garden looks hauntingly
beautiful.
“Wait!” I say. This is ridiculous, I can’t run in this dress. I pull the fabric apart all the way up to my thighs. “That’s better,” I say and we get down the stairs again. The opening on the wall must be
right behind the plastic trees.
I get a jolt of fright down my spine when Zolkon steps out of the trees holding a gun with Ludik
close behind him.
“Dear girl,” he says with a big smile. “Where do you think you’re going?” Then the smile fades
and he locks his gaze on Damian as if he just saw a ghost.
“It was you,” he says. “That certainly explains, well, almost everything.”
Damian reaches for his gun, quietly staring into Z
olkon’s eyes.
“Now, don’t do that,” Zolkon says. “I really don’t want to kill you, but I have another option.”
He raises his gun and points it at Finn’s head. Ludik draws his gun and turns it on Damian almost
simultaneously.
“No,” I yell and jump in front of Finn. “Drop the gun, Damian.”
Damian returns the gun to its holster and Zolkon laughs with that hideous laughter of his. “You
can’t save them both no matter what you do,” he says. “Maybe I’ll make you pick.”
“That’s enough, Zolkon,” Wudak says as he walks down the staircase.
“I will say when it’s enough,” Zolkon says.
Wudak turns to Damian. “Get Freya out of here.”
“Did you know about him?” Zolkon asks with his gun still pointed at Finn.
“Yes,” Wudak says and steps in front of me.
“What is it that you knew? What is he saying about Damian?” I ask.
Wudak shakes his head. “Not now, Freya. Just go.”
Zolkon’s eyes focus on Wudak curiously. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he says. “It was your duty.
You are a soldier.”
“Precisely for this reason,” Wudak says pointing at Zolkon’s gun.
“Get out of the way, Wudak, or I will raise the alarm.”
“You could, except I’ve sent all the guards back to their plantations.”
“You would defy me and our hierarchy in order to protect a human girl? Do you know the
punishment for that?” Zolkon bellows.
“I know everything that I need to know,” Wudak responds. “Now lower your gun.”
“Anybody move half a muscle and the boy dies,” Zolkon says.
“Have it your way,” Wudak says and jumps on Zolkon and Ludik and throws them both to the
ground just with the sheer force and weight of his body. Two pulse guns go off and in the confusion
Damian pulls his gun and shoots Ludik as he tries to get up.
Wudak holds Zolkon down covering him with his entire body. Then Zolkon manages to push
Wudak off of him and as Wudak rolls on his back, I notice a red stain on his abdomen.
Finn and Damian both hold their pulse guns against Zolkon.
“You fool,” Zolkon yells at Wudak. “What did you do? Did you let her touch you? Did you bond
with her?”
“Don’t shoot him,” I tell Finn and Damian. “We need answers from him. He has the core of the
receptor.” I drop to my knees next to Wudak. He’s bleeding bad but he’s still alive. “Why did you do
[scifan] plantation - books one to three Page 28
