Her Alien Protector
Page 13
“I know. Manuel installed it for me. Okay, back to the problem at hand. Lark is compromised, she’s beyond stressed and when she gets that way, she goes into her shoot first and try to ask the corpse questions later mode.”
Farah smiled. “That’s the only kind of mode I know.”
“Which is exactly why I don’t need your help.” Lola rolled her eyes.
“Hey, my ancestors on my mother’s side of the family are from Earth, Texas to be exact. We don’t have time for all that talking and other stuff.”
“Talking is how you get answers. A logical being would try to come up with as many answers as they could before they pulled the trigger. Which is why I’m going to help Lark out.”
“I don’t think she wants your help, girlie.”
“She’s getting it anyway. Look, this nonsense only started when the vampires arrived. The problem is connected to them. I must talk to the vampires to figure out what’s going on.”
“And you’re going to go talk to them by yourself?”
Lola nodded.
“Are you trying to get killed?”
“I’m going to question the one with the scar over his face first. He seemed to grow angry when I mentioned it. Perhaps if I tell him I can heal it, he’ll tell me what he knows about whatever it is that’s going on.”
“I think you should question the other one, the paler one. And I thought I was pale. After seeing him, I feel like I’m practically tanned. But the paler one seemed enthralled by you. Did you see the way his eyes followed you everywhere you went? He didn’t even notice me. Maybe he likes you, you can….”
“You’re rambling.” Lola turned her back on her friend and walked over to her white counter area and began looking through the cabinets. It’s here somewhere.
“Oh I’m rambling am I? Well, guess what? I do that when I’m nervous. Going up against vampires make me nervous.”
“You’re the one who helped me get them into the cells.” Lola opened another cabinet. Where had she put that device? Got it. Lola pulled the box out of the cabinet and turned to face her friend.
“Yeah, I was running off adrenaline. That adrenaline has left my body and I’m now scared as hell of those creatures. They have long teeth.” Farah pointed at her teeth. “And they want to put them here and drink all of our blood.” Farah touched her throat.
“Are you done?”
“Yes, I was hoping a visual aid would help you see how stupid this is.”
“It’s not stupid. I only want to talk to them.”
“If they’re behind what’s going on, they’re not going to tell you. Villains don’t usually confess their sins to their prey.”
“That’s where this comes in.”
“Uh, what is that?”
Lola took the box over to her desk and opened it then removed the device. Farah strode over, eyeing Lola’s new toy.
“It’s a lie detector test. Dr. Jonasburg sent it to me from Earth. I’ve tweaked it a little to suit my needs. I tested it out on myself. It doesn’t work as well on us as it does humans. We’re better at lying than they are. So I played with it a little to make it better. I added this needle here and it continuously injects small doses of truth serum into the patient as I ask them questions. It gives you an electric shock when you lie.”
“You little devil.” Farah grinned.
“No, I’m the opposite, which isn’t a good thing. Lark is right about me. I’m too nice. Too trusting. I care too much. While I know I can’t change the caring part, I can change who I care about. This will help me weed out the prisoners who truly need my help and those who don’t.”
“So you plan to release more prisoners. Lola, that’s not wise and…”
“Not everyone here belongs here. Yeah, it’s their choice and yeah the prisoners here enjoy their jobs. But those who have been judged too harshly should get a second chance.”
“So you’re just going to free them and hope your sisters don’t notice.”
“No, unfortunately those two notice everything. Instead of making the truly innocent prisoners get enhanced and work in a harem, perhaps we can allow them to use some of their other talents. One of the prisoners, a female, used to be a teacher on Jupiter. She was sent here because her husband found his True Mate and needed to get rid of her. He lied and claimed she stole from their neighbor and his silly neighbor went along with the tale.”
“Why did his sorry ass marry one woman knowing she wasn’t his True Mate?”
Lola shrugged. Who knew why males did the things they did? She would never understand them. “All I know is that this female is willing to work here, if it keeps her from going to Mercury’s prison. But why should she have to, when she did nothing wrong?”
“I see your point. So what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to offer her a position as teacher in the harem.”
“You’re going to keep her from fucking for a living and instead you’re going to allow her to teach others how to fuck?”
“No, potty mouth. Some of the harem employees are not educated. They can’t read. She can teach them to read and do math. Maybe one day they can teach someone else. Everyone should be educated. This little device will allow me to see which prisoners are lying and which are not. It will also help me with the vampires. I need to see if they know anything.”
“Hmmm… it sounds like a good plan.”
“I know.”
“Humble. I like it. So what do you need me to do?”
“Nothing, seriously.”
“Well I can’t just sit around and do nothing. Let me question one of the vamps.”
“I thought they terrified you.”
“They do. But if I have one of those shocking things, I won’t be scared.”
“I only have one.”
“Well let me do something else.”
Lola stared around the room. What could Farah do? It would have to be something that kept her out of Lark’s way. If Lark knew they were doing their own investigating she would be pissed.
“I know. I want you to do that invisible thing and trail the guards. Follow them, see where they’re going and what they’re doing. But only the guards from B block or D block, since they were the ones who weren’t at their posts when the vampires arrived.”
“Gotcha, but you know I can only stay invisible for so long.”
“I know. Make sure you stay far behind them, in case you rematerialize.”
Farah nodded. “I can do this. I finally get to put my magic to use.”
“You always use your magic.”
“Yeah, to make protection spells and bind them to trinkets and little stuff like that. I’ve never had to do anything big. My ancestors are probably frowning down on me right now.”
“Your ancestors’ remains are on Earth.”
“True, well they’re probably frowning up at me right now.”
“I think they would be proud of you. Your family left Earth because the humans didn’t understand your power. They were burning your kind. Your ancestors would be proud of your family for finding a new home, a home where your magic is valued. I know we value you.”
“Look at you.” Farah wiped her eyes. “Making me tear up and stuff. Stop it. We have to be attentive.” Farah took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s go. Should we like, come up with a name for us or something?”
“What?”
“You know, like super heroes.”
“You watch too many of those videos streamed here from Earth.”
“I know. I’m addicted. Seriously, we need a name.”
“How about the, ‘try not to get caught and killed gang’?”
“I’ll think of a name. Let’s go.”
Lola laughed as she followed her friend out the lab. She thought her gang name had a nice ring to it.
***
Lark marched across the loading dock. Her anger rose with each hard footfall. Why had her males left their positions? Shit like this wasn’t supposed to happen. A line of c
rafts were all locked into position.
They appeared pristine, ready to fly at a moment’s notice. They weren’t. Manuel was standing next to one of the larger crafts writing on an E-Pad. Lark walked over to him, hoping he had good news for her.
“Any progress?”
Manuel shook his head. He looked weary, just as stressed as she was. “We can’t figure out what’s wrong with them. I have a team on it. They believe it’s a virus, but they can’t figure out how to get around it. If it wasn’t for the vampire trading craft, there would be no mobile vehicle on the planet.”
“Where is the vampire’s craft?”
“It’s at dock nine.”
“Have you checked it out?”
“From top to bottom. There’s nothing suspicious in it. From the looks of it, they really were sent here by Luna to trade with us.”
“What do they have that we could use?”
“There were some plants on board. Lola has stored them in her lab in a bio-container, just in case they’re poisonous. The vampires told her they were medicinal plants for pain. Lola figured if that proved true, the labor and delivery ward would be able to use it for the mothers. There were other herbs and fruits on board that Lola is going to test to make sure they’re legit. The rest of it will be inventoried when I have a chance to go through it with her.”
“You don’t think the vampires are behind what’s going on?”
Manuel shook his head. “This started long before they got here. This is an inside job. No off site hacker could’ve done this much damage.”
“Shit, but why would someone do this?” Raynor had said this was a strategic move. Could it be they were under attack and they didn’t know it?
“There are a few reasons why someone would do this,” Manuel told her. “The worst of them, is that someone’s planning to attack us and they want us stranded here.”
Yep, just like Raynor said. If he was telling the truth and she was his mate, he wouldn’t want to kill her and her people. He needed her. So he wasn’t behind this. Lark tried to think of any enemies they had. There were none.
Venus was a peaceful planet, allies to only Earth, but enemies to no one. There were no wars going on right now, those ended years before Lark’s parents were born. The only thing she could think of was that someone wanted Venus because of its new popularity.
“Scan the perimeter. See if there are any crafts lingering too close to our gravitational ring.”
“That was the first thing I did when I left you this morning. There’s nothing out there.”
“Well, that’s good. That means there’s no imminent threat.”
“Or, it could mean the threat isn’t out there. It’s already here and has been here for a while.”
“Thanks for bursting my bubble of hope.”
“I’m just trying to give you all the facts. Only a select few know about our problem. The majority of the guards think I’m here applying upgrades to all the crafts. None seem suspicious yet. That will change if the crafts aren’t flight ready soon. I think we need to start implementing the Shelter Protocol.”
That protocol had never been implemented in Lark’s lifetime. Getting everyone to go home and stay inside until further notice would raise suspicion and right now, Lark didn’t have a viable explanation for them, except we think we may be in danger, probably.
“We need to keep this as peaceful as possible.”
“We can tell them the solar meter has spiked and we suspect a thin crack in the dome. It’s going to take a couple of solar flares to fix and they need to stay indoors while we search for the crack. That will definitely keep the foreigners inside. Our people will stay in also to avoid being outside under the dome when it crashed. No one wants to be pierced by falling glass.”
“That could work. We’d have to cancel school and all harem sessions. We’d have to ask people to stay home from work if they can.” Lark massaged her chin. “I think this will work. I’ll have the tech team stream the information to all screens. We’ll call it a non-emergency and maybe that will keep down the hysteria.”
“Some are going to get hysterical no matter what you call it. But this is our best option. Is it okay if I have the tech team monitor any outgoing messages from across the planet? If there is someone here who’s planning an attack, they have to be communicating with someone off planet.”
“Yes, I think that’s a great idea. But use someone we know we can trust. I hate to say it, but right now, I don’t know who to trust. Lola told me that when the vampire trading craft arrived, there were no guards around to escort the vampires to the holding cells for her.”
“What? How did she get them there?”
“Magic, Farah helped her.”
“Where were the guards?”
“That’s what I’m about to find out now.”
“Do you need me to go with you?”
“No, you stay here. Figure this out. I’ll take care of the guards and then I’ll pay the tech team a visit and then I’ll visit Lola to check on those plants and then…”
“Lark, stop. You’re doing too much. I’ll tell the tech team about the message we want streamed.”
“Thanks Manuel.”
“No problem. We’ll get this figured out. And whoever it is that means us harm will wish they never threatened us.”
“Damn right. When you contacted my cousin, did she mention their crafts being down also?”
“No, they’re good to go on Aphrodite Terra. She said if we need her and her soldiers, just send up a flare. She’ll be monitoring the communication screen just in case we send a message.”
“Great, well let’s get to work.” Lark left him and headed to the loading dock guards’ station.
“Good day, Lark,” Liam greeted as she stepped into the tiny room.
“Good day, Liam.” Lark nodded in Fief’s direction. “Good day Fief.”
“Good day Lark. What brings you to the loading dock this early in the day? The solar flare has only recently begun its ascent. Is it the upgrades Manuel is applying to the ships?”
“Yes, that’s part of it. I also have a small problem I need help solving.”
“We’ll be happy to help you in any way we can?” Liam smiled.
“Good, I wanted to know which two guards were on duty around this time yesterday.” She didn’t miss the way both males tensed at her question. When they didn’t respond she said, “Do I need to ask again?”
“Of course not, sorry my mind was miles away.” Liam cast Fief a quick glance before reaching for the patrol pad. He swiped his finger over the screen. “Um, it looks like Mitchell and Dodson were patrolling during that time.”
“Does it show them signing off when they stepped away from the desk?”
Liam swiped again, “Yes, it says there was a disturbance on F block and they were called down to help shut down a fight.”
“So F station pulled the loading dock crew away from their duties, to help shut down a brawl?” That made zero sense.
Liam glanced at Fief again. “Yes, ma’am. That’s what they input into the log. I would have to talk with them personally to find out what happened.”
“Call them. I want them here within the next ten minutes. I have another stop to make, but I will return, and when I do, I want an explanation.”
“Understood,” Liam responded. Fief simply stared down at his Comm-Phone. Was he avoiding eye contact with her?
“Is that understood, Fief?”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Not looking up, he typed something into his Comm-Phone.
Who the hell was he chatting with? She never should’ve changed her mind and started allowing them to bring their personal communication devices with them to work. But some of them had families back on Aphrodite.
An emergency could arise at any time and she wanted her soldiers to be able to contact their families as quick as possible if they needed to. However, Fief didn’t have a wife and kids. His parents had died when he and Liam were small boys.
“I’m calling them right now,” he told her, pulling out his Stat-Phone. He elbowed his brother. “Fief is about to put his personal phone away and pull out his Stat-Phone to help me locate the guards who were working here yesterday. Right Fief?”
Fief glanced up, eyes connected with hers. “Oh, yeah,” he told her, sliding his phone back into his pocket and pulling out his Stat-Phone. “On it right now. Sorry, Lark.”
Sorry my ass.
Lark rolled her eyes and turned to leave. As she walked away she thought about Fief’s behavior. It was odd. When the craft situation was sorted out, she would have him moved to a different department, possibly away from Ishtar Terra. She didn’t know if she trusted him to be guard anymore.
Next stop was to see the guards of block B then the ones on D. She was ready to get to the bottom of this. When Lola paged them they should’ve been available. They should always be available. Hell, they protect and watch over the prisoners in their areas.
And until those prisoners were transferred to the harem or sent to Mercury, they needed to be guarded. Lark took the elevator back down to the dungeon level. When it dinged, she exited and turned right, heading in B’s direction.
She stopped and looked left. Raynor was on A block. After the way she talked to him earlier she felt she owed him an apology. She wasn’t the apologizing type. But when you’re wrong, you’re wrong.
And she’d been wrong about him, at least when it came to the, him being the creature behind shutting down her means of transportation theory. Lark backtracked and turned left. When she reached A block, two guards were seated behind the monitors, as they should be. Lark nodded to them, and they returned the gesture.
“Captain, do you need a key?” One of the guards asked.
She really wished they would just call her Lark. “No, I’ll only be a minute.”
Lark strode to the back of the hallway. In her head she went over her apology speech. Raynor, I’m sorry for accusing you of shutting my ships down. That had a nice ring to it. She would go with that.