Desolate Tides (Earth Exiles Book 5) Page 19

  She looked at him, still erect. Her hand moved down his body while she continued to talk. Her hand stopped, “Let me tell you a story. It involves my history here on this world.”

  Mike couldn’t stop her, so he listened as he thought about snow, cold showers, ice, and any other image that might forestall what she was doing to him.

  “When I arrived here, it was to escape my father, and in a minor way, my brothers as well. My father was going to give me away to some fat politician or business partner to secure our relationship with that person. Then, I would push my father’s interests and spy on my husband/partner for the rest of my life. This was not a path that I wished to follow. I escaped from my father and fled to my brothers, hoping that they would perceive me as their equal. They had no consideration for my capabilities, either. They thought I should be subservient to them. Had I done what my brothers required of me, the same future that my father wished for me would have happened with them. Instead, I chose my own way. I escaped from them.” She turned to watch what she was doing, but she kept the narrative of the story going.

  Mike kept the image of Jennifer in his mind, mentally telling himself that he loved her over and over again. Mike was nauseous from the pain in his arm, about to black out, and he couldn’t understand why his body was reacting this way. He looked over at Sebius, who was watching the Dostori Rev manipulate Mike with a detached, almost clinical interest. Mike was completely creeped out by this, but there wasn’t much he could do about it now.

  “I escaped from them all, and came here, to this backward planet, barely a blip on any one’s radar, and I started working with the local leaders, telling them I’d come to catalog and genetically test the biomass of their planet. They granted me the right to do so, as if they had the capability to stop me. Still, when money is involved, politicians hover like vultures, their greedy hands grasping at every ounce of platinum.”

  She looked back at Mike, “Soon, I started eliminating my rivals. One by one they fell and I took their riches and power for myself. But there was one among them that I couldn’t overcome. He was rich, smart, talented, creative. I desired him greatly.”

  She paused in reflection as she thought about the past, “We were even lovers, once. Still, that wasn’t going to stop me. My goal was to use the riches of this planet to put myself in a position that would put me on a path to rival my brothers, and eventually, my father.”

  “Why?” Mike asked through gritted teeth.

  She smiled, “To destroy them of course. My father and brothers will never be happy since I deserted them. To command my own destiny, I must destroy them. My brothers vie with my father to replace him as the most powerful in the galaxy. If they succeed, they will turn on each other, until there is only one left. I will use my power to bring them all down and supplant my father. They will wither away in cages for eternity, subject to my whim, as I was subjected to theirs.”

  “Great, all of this crap happened because she wants to get even with the family. People dead and dying, the indigenous hominid race subjugated and almost completely slaughtered because she’s mad at daddy and her brothers,” Mike thought.

  “Back to my story. My great rival, Min Stathos, was impervious to my machinations. I had to induce two rival countries to attack each other so that I could create a vulnerability. Once he was out of the way, I was able to buy and seduce my way into greater and greater power. Soon, this world belonged to me, and I imported armies to defend and conquer the world, all with the help of the Contai politicians. They held their hands out for money and power in shortsighted fervor, not realizing that I was saving them for last.”

  Mike closed his eyes, squeezing them shut, trying not to think about what she was doing, but he realized that he was fighting a losing battle, “Why are you telling me all of this?”

  He heard the soft rustle of her gown as she leaned forward to whisper in his ear, “I came here a thousand Terran standard years ago. Throughout that time, after I conquered Stathos, I’ve gotten rid of my competitors and enemies one way. For seven hundred years, men and women have fed my Min.”

  Mike’s eyes flew open and he stared at her, fully realizing her evil. She laughed at the shock on his face now that he knew who Min truly was.

  “But, how? How can you do that? How are you able to do that?” Mike stuttered.

  The Dostori Rev laughed again. She pulled her gown up, and climbed onto the table. Mike turned his head, knowing what she was about to do. He was about to be unfaithful to Jennifer, but it wasn’t his fault. He had no control over what was happening.

  She mounted him, and continued her narration, “Genetics of course.” She motioned to Sebius, who nodded, “Once we know your genome, and how different genetic models affect your phenotype, we can do whatever we want to you. Sebius and I were worried that we wouldn’t find any more of you to experiment with, but we’ve been able to use your comrades to figure out the different DNA and chemicals in your body and what they accomplish. Now we’re going to manipulate the regulation of your gene expression to modify your phenotype.”

  Mike didn’t like the sound of that, but there wasn’t anything he could do. The smile on her face when he finished pissed him off. He could see it in her eyes. In that one moment, she’d conquered him. Then what she’d said hit him. She said comrades, as in more than one of his team.

  He bucked his pelvis, but she didn’t get off him. She smiled at him, “I think it’s a little late for your enthusiasm.”

  “What have you done with my team?” he growled at her.

  A look of confusion painted her features. She cocked her head to the side, “The ones that attempted to escape with you? They’re strapped to tables, just like you. A little worse for wear I imagine. My Turinzoni weren’t appreciative of your treatment of their fellow soldiers. She motioned at Sebius, “They’ll be dealt with by the techs, though. I reserve Sebius for the special ones, like you.”

  Mike shook his head, “No, there were four of us brought here. Now there are only three. What happened to Ken?”

  Dostori Rev looked at Sebius, “Do you know what he’s talking about?”

  Sebius nodded, “I had to look at the internal organs. I vivisected him myself. I sent cuts to you.”

  Dostori Rev nodded, “Ah, yes, I remember, quite tasty when prepare properly.”

  Mike looked at her in horror. She and Sebius were talking about one of his friends like he was livestock, as if cannibalism was an everyday, ordinary occurrence.

  “You ate Ken?” he stuttered.

  She smiled down at Mike, “I’m not the only one. Where do you think the protein in your slop came from?”

  Mike didn’t have much in his stomach, but what little was there came up in a stream of yellow bile. The Dostori Rev yelped and jumped off Mike’s torso. She looked down at her gown and saw Mike’s vomit on it.

  “You puked on my gown!” she snarled.

  “Fuck you, you crazy bitch!” He screamed at her. “You fucking ate one of my friends!”

  Her stunning features turned into a grotesque caricature of beauty. The hate that Mike saw in her eyes was a primal thing. Right then, he knew his words were completely true. She was truly crazy, sociopathic, maybe psychotic. Her hands turned into talons as she shrieked at him. The only thing that saved his eyes was his turning his face as she raked at it with her fingernails. Her fingernails were tough, very thick. He felt the skin rip on his face, and he was sure that she’d torn the cheek to the bone.

  She stepped back and frowned at him. She turned to Sebius and pointed at Mike, his blood dripping off her fingers, curled threads of skin dropping to the floor, “Start it now! Make sure it’s very painful. You know the changes I want. I want him like Min. After its complete, I’m going to put him in with Min and see which one survives. I want him in top form so that it’s a good fight.”

  She turned and grabbed Mike’s broken arm and twisted it, making him scream in pain. She turned back to Sebius, “Make sure he lives forever. I want h
im to suffer for a very, long time.”

  Sebius nodded, bending forward at the waist, not saying anything so that he could possibly avoid the Dostori Rev’s ire. The Dostori Rev leaned forward and slapped Mike, the sound reverberating through the room. She walked out of the room, furious. Mike could hear her yelling at the Turinzoni soldiers as she left.

  Sebius was still standing where the Destori Rev had left him, “You should not do that.”

  Mike rotated his head to look at Sebius, “Do what?”

  “You should not upset her like that,” Sebius replied.

  “She ate my friend. You butchered him, and sent the meat to her. I don’t care if she’s upset. In fact, I hope she’s so upset that she has a stroke and dies!”

  Sebius turned from Mike and started arranging medical instruments on the table behind him. Then he walked over to a refrigerated cabinet, and started pulling vials of medicine out. He placed them on the table next to the instruments that he’d just arranged so carefully. He grabbed one of the vials and attached it to an injector. He turned and started toward Mike with it.

  Mike stared at the injector, “What are you going to do with that?”

  Sebius replied in a nonchalant voice, “Well, first I’m going to fix that broken arm of yours. This will speed up the healing process so that I can begin your regimen.

  Mike didn’t believe Sebius. He knew what these people did here. Sebius walked to his strapped down, broken forearm, and gave Mike a shot. Next, Sebius grabbed ahold of Mike’s wrist. Mike knew what was going to happen next, but that didn’t stop him from screaming as Sebius set the arm. There was no emotion from Sebius, just clinical detachment, another day at the office. Mike watched Sebius walk back to the table. Sebius pulled the vial off the injector, dropped it into the trash, and then reached over for a fresh vial.

  “What’s that?” Mike asked.

  Sebius turned to Mike, and approached him. This time, he didn’t walk around the table to get to Mike’s broken arm. Instead he moved the shoulder closest to him.

  “What’s that?” Mike asked again, shrinking away from Sebius.

  “I told you. This is the regime that the Dostori Rev wants you to undergo. This will begin your transformation.”

  Mike tried to squirm away from the shot, “You don’t have to do this.”

  Sebius smiled at him, nodding, “Oh yes, I do.”

  “Why? Why would you do this to another human being?”

  Sebius frowned at the question, “Why would I not? You’re not my family. You aren’t even the same race as I.”

  “But we’re both sentient beings. We both just want to raise our families.”

  Sebius laughed, “Well, you’re correct about that.” He crossed his arms, the injector with the new vial still in hand, “Let me tell you what happens if I don’t do this. I’m killed, probably by being thrown to Min, and then she takes my family as slaves. They will last maybe a month before they die if she’s lenient. The Dostori Rev has voracious appetites. If I do this, then I live, and my family prospers. I don’t see that I have a choice here.”

  Sebius leaned forward, and despite Mike squirming in the restraints, was able to administer the shot. He turned around to get another vial.

  Mike leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling, feeling completely hopeless, mentally, physically, and spiritually violated.

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  Chapter Eight

  Caul stared down at Mickey, Tom, and Sorinm from the top of the shuttle ramp. Standing next to him, Bobby, Mike and Bob were staring at Mickey with worry in their eyes. All four looked like they were watching a funerary procession. Sorinm’s face betrayed his concern as well.

  “Come on, guys, it’s not that bad,” Mickey told him.

  Bob shook his head, “I don’t know why you’re doing this.”

  “It’s not like we have a choice.”

  “You need to stay here until Bobby has time to do some research, and find a better way to stop the signal,” Mike told him.

  Mickey frowned, and pointed at Bobby, “Can you unlock it from here?”

  Bobby shook his head.

  The signal that Mike was referring to was the original signal that had brought them to this ‘moon’ base. It turned out that the white sphere was a navigation module that was programed to bring ships to this location, for whatever reason. That signal had to be shut off for them to leave. Bobby had hacked the system through the inadvertent back door that the navigation signal created, but so far, he wasn’t able to find anything useful.

  He’d used the A.I. and the quantum computer to translate the coding language into one that he could understand, and they were making head way on understanding the written language itself, but it was going to take time to understand enough to shut things down from here, time that Mickey was afraid they didn’t have. Bobby found the location in the station where the navigation signal came from, and he was able to download a schematic of the base that they were trapped in. He didn’t want to mess with the coding itself, however, afraid that he might inadvertently do something regrettable. As he explained, “It would take months to understand all the code in this complex system. I’m afraid that if I try to change something without understanding the coding architecture, that I might accidently kill us all.”

  Mickey looked at Caul, “What do you think?”

  Caul didn’t give an inch, “I agree with them,” he indicated the three others with him, “I think this is foolish.”

  Mickey spread his hands, “Can you think of any other options? We need food, water. I’d rather do this now, while we still have strength, than to try it after we run out of food.”

  Caul shook his head, “No, unfortunately, I can’t.”

  Mickey nodded, “Just keep the ramp locked until we figure out what’s what.”

  Caul looked glum as he yelled up at Daijj, “Close the ramp.” He motioned for the three others to step back into the shuttle while the ramp closed. Mickey watched the somber faces disappear.

  “I personally have to side with Caul. This could probably be the worst decision ever made. Do we have to do this?” Tom asked.

  Mickey and Tom were accompanied by Sorinm and twenty of the Contai soldiers. All the Contai soldiers were definitely out of their comfort zones, dealing with technology that they could only accept as some kind of magic that the Emurecuns referred to as ‘science.’ Now they were going to face the monster that they’d seen on the other side of the glass. None of them were comfortable with this plan of action, seeing that, currently, they were safe. None of them thought that this was a good idea, even after Mickey explained the navigation signal, and the possibility of starving.

  Mickey grimaced at the question, “I’m thinkin’ that yes, we gotta do this. Unless you want to stay in the shuttle and starve.”

  There was silence, and Mickey looked over at Tom. Tom seemed to be considering the option of starving verses battling whatever the thing was behind the dogged hatch.

  “Really?” Mickey asked.

  Tom looked at him, “I’m thinkin’.”

  Mickey laughed, “Yeah, I’m thinkin’ I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to, but yeah, we gotta do it.”

  Tom sighed, “Yeah, I know. We’ve got to do it. I’m not going to like it, and I hope we can kill whatever’s on the other side. My problem with this is that no animal lives in a vacuum. If it’s there, it must be able to reproduce, which means there has to be more of them.”

  “Yeah, but if we can kill one, we can kill the rest of them,” Mickey pointed out. “Any biological entity can be killed if you put a big enough hurt on it. And we’ve got enough different types of weapons that we should be able to put it down pretty quick.”

  Mickey pointed toward the Contai standing around them. Sorinm carried the green man rifle. Luckily, Bob had brought the maser with them, ‘for further study,” as he termed it. Mike was right about the room next to the console. It was a mechanics room, with fabr
ication machines. Bobby had identified that area off the schematics he’d found.

  They’d opened the room and Bob and Mike worked with Hank to rig up a flamethrower out of the materials they found. They didn’t have any way to pressurize a container with flammable liquids, so they’d rigged a contraption that could be hand pumped to propel the flammable liquid from the nozzle of the flame thrower. So, now, Mickey, Tom, and the Contai were going to the hatch with two flame throwers, the maser rifle, the Turinzoni rifles, and every hand grenade they had.

  “What if there are more of them behind the first one,” Tom asked.

  “Well, I’m not the biologist here, you are. You think they’ll be more than one apex predator in the area?”

  “Depends. Lions, hyenas and wolves travel in packs. Tigers, Kodiaks and polar bears are solitary animals. So, depending on the social interactions with others of its species, there could be more than one,” Tom pointed out.

  Mickey grinned, “You’re just a fountain of good news, Tom.”

  Tom shrugged, “Well, I’m not going to sugarcoat it.”

  Mickey nodded, “Nah, and I wouldn’t want you to.”

  Mickey turned from the shuttle, motioning to the Contai to follow them. Sorinm wasn’t happy about their current mission, but he was game. He stepped in behind Mickey and Tom, motioning for the rest to follow. The other Contai stepped in behind him and followed the three.

  As they walked from the shuttle, the light followed them, creating an island of brilliance among the shadows.

  “I wish that damn thing would shut off,” Mickey mused.

  Tom looked up at the ceiling, “Yeah, that would be nice. That could be what attracted the creature behind the window. Some animals are natural attracted to light.”

  Tom looked over at Mickey, “You got a plan for this?”

  Mickey nodded, “Yeah, about the simplest plan you can have. Open the door, see if the creature’s there, and blast it. Don’t get dead.”