Gemini - Taken by the Alien Kings (Lords of Astria) (2 page)

S
he is angry with us
. Why?

Revi sent this thought to his copart, Gaelan, who was hunched over in the rear of the vehicle.

I don’t know.
Gaelan answered him silently as he fiddled with the translator he had slipped into his pocket.
The universal translator makes mistakes. I can’t get it to answer.

Revi shot his copart a withering look, his unnaturally blue eyes narrowing.
Where is she taking us? She is taking us to where there are no people, when we asked to be taken to their Great House.

Gaelan own blue eyes flashed as the car silently made its way up the long, winding drive to a palatial estate.
The translator is having trouble accessing their database— their inter-web, they call it.

I told you “Real Estate” did not mean the head of their Great House.
Revi responded as he tapped his long fingers against his armrest.

Jane pulled up to a stop near the front of the house and she stepped out, her long leg exposed as she exited. Gaelan’s eyes followed the length of her limbs and up the curve of her round backside.

Revi, getting out of the car on the other side, noticed his copart’s stare focused on Jane’s rear end.
Don’t even think about it.

Gaelan spun on his heel, his broad frame dwarfing the car as he walked around it, his eyes never leaving Jane’s ample derriere.

Why not, Revi? It’s why we are here, is it not? The high council made no specification about which Terran we are to choose— only that we must find an Earth woman with whom to reproduce, in order for the treaty to extend protections to this planet.

Revi responded with narrowed eyes.
The high council may not have specified, but you know our respective parents do not want us to join with a commoner. Only someone from a Great House is worthy.

Revi’s words echoed in Gaelan’s brain— the copart equivalent of shouting. It wasn’t hard to understand his copart’s frustration though— he felt it keenly in his body— joined as they were—
two beings, but one soul
.

T
hese guys are so weird
, Jane thought, suddenly questioning the wisdom of taking them out here to a secluded home, in the middle of nowhere. There two were strangers, literally and figuratively. Normally she asked everyone that she showed homes to for an I.D. and then left a copy at the agency - but these guys hadn't had any and she had just wanted to get away from Gavin and his leering smirk.

Stupid, Jane, Stupid.

She walked up the stairs, talking out loud as she did so, "Now, as you can see here - this is Italian marble, and the grain is exquisite. Everything is all completely custom!"

The two men didn't even seem to hear her and appeared totally distracted by whatever daydreams were going on in their handsome little heads.
Grumble
. She continued to be ignored as she continued her monologue about the virtues of the mansion as she turned the doorknob and led them into the house.

S
omething is wrong
. Revi sent to his copart, following closely behind Jane.
Can you feel it?

I can smell it. The stench of death.
Gaelan's hand had discretely slipped in to the pocket of his black leather jacket where he kept his small phaser.

Revi nodded, mirroring Gaelan's actions, as both men followed close behind Jane, who was completely unaware of their concern, still talking about the house.

The trio's steps echoed in the hall and Revi and Gaelan felt Jane tense up.

"That's... not right," she said hesitantly. She looked around, spinning in a circle, her hair falling gently around her face as her eyes darted around the grand foyer. She pointed to her right. "There - there was a staircase going upstairs here..."

Even as she said it she was doubting herself. She was beginning to feel a strange panic gripping at her spine.

Stairs can't just...
disappear
... can they?

Holo-projection
. Gaelan sent a message to Revi, checking the energy readings on the watch-like object strapped to his wrist.
They don't have that yet on this planet.
He checked the readings again. No communication from their ship in orbit, the Orozco.

Revi's mouth tightened and his jaw clenched as he discretely sent a signal on his own communicator. He waited, pressed it again, and there was still only silence. This could only mean one thing.

They were all in mortal danger.

J
ane was confused
, frustrated, and felt like she was probably losing her mind. She kept spinning in non-productive circles, noticing little details about the house that were different than her memory of it. She glanced back at her clients.

Under normal circumstances, she would have been worried that they may have believed she was a total psycho, but since they were a couple of weirdos themselves -
albeit ridiculously good-looking weirdos
- she decided not to worry about it.

Jane stepped forward hesitantly, the click of her nude heels echoing in the empty house. But even that - the sound – it sounded wrong. It sounded muffled.

What the hell was going on?

Revi stepped in front of her smoothly, as if he were gliding across a frozen pond, blocking her path. "I think we'd like to see the out of doors please... right now." He took her elbow and steered her toward the door.

Gaelan suddenly appeared at her other side, taking the other crook of her arm. "Yes, let's go outside." Both were walking quickly.

Jane wriggled free of their grasp, only able to do so because they hadn't expected her to resist. She spun on her heel back to where she knew there should be a staircase and she reached out, touching the wall that now seemed to stand in its place.

Her hand went right through it.

Suddenly, she was shoved behind Revi and Gaelan, who each held in their hands what looked like a futuristic gun, as sparks flew down in an arc from the ceiling. "Get down!" one of them growled at her. Terrified, she didn't hesitate to obey.

The solid brick wall in front of her receded like the morning mist that hung over a lake, and on the floor she saw a body slumped over in a pool of congealed blood, clearly dead. Jane recognized Mr. Hansen, the owner of the estate, and she screamed.

"Revi to Orozco. Revi to Orozco. Revi to Orozco!" He tapped his communicator, trying his best to reach the ship.

Jane could hear the urgency in his voice, though she didn't understand the meaning of his words, and it terrified her.

Gaelan was pointing his phaser at various locations in the room, somehow able to see his targets, sending sparks shooting as the veils of holo-projections disappeared.

"Come out, you vile piece of culsala! Show yourself if you have any honor!"

Shouting and gesturing wildly, Gaelan picked Jane up and flung her over his shoulder as though she weighed nor more than a fallen autumn leaf.

The two men worked back-to-back, and Jane began to understand why.

The entire room was moving. That is - parts of the room were moving and shooting sparks, which were then moving towards her and her protectors. As her eyes adjusted to this unusual state, she began to see what Gaelan was seeing - shadowy humanoid figures disguised as elements in the room.

Jane started to tremble and shake as the true danger was finally beginning to dawn on her.

She screamed loudly, unsure that it was even her voice because it sounded so animalistic and foreign to her own ears. The shapes coming at her took on the forms of humanoid lizard-like creatures; scaly people with large ridges on their foreheads and slicked-back black hair.

“
Dark Nebulans!”
Revi hissed with contempt.

It was a good thing that Gaelan was carrying her because her legs would never have worked on their own. As she lay across him, she could feel the muscles tense in his back and shoulders, and she sensed for the first time how inhumanely strong he was.

Revi was aiming his phaser in every possible direction with lightning speed and precision. On the floor bodies were piling up, and as the hollow projections disappeared, Jane could see what lay beneath their disguises—gray scaly flesh.

The smell of charred and burnt skin was hanging heavy in the foyer of the mansion as Revi and Gaelan backed away from the entrance and out on to the front steps. Their quiet was unnerving, though Jane sensed that they must be communicating somehow, because their movements were constantly coordinated and precise.

"
Orozco to Revi, we read you
!"

Jane could feel the relief emanating from Gaelan as his shoulders relaxed. There had been at least five attackers and though now only one unarmed lizard-person seemed to be following them, but neither man was dropping his guard.

"Gaelan, ready the transport. Three to take, and one Nebulan directly to a holding cell."

Revi nodded his head toward the bodies inside and Gaelan responded in the affirmative, "Yes, the dead as well... take all of the core organic matter that is lifeless near our coordinates."

Jane glanced quickly back at the bodies on the floor inside the mansion. They were the last things she saw before she drifted off into a dreamless, terrified unconsciousness.

W
hen Jane opened her eyes
, nothing quite made sense. She didn't know where she was. She barely knew who she was.

She still hadn't recovered from the surprise attack at the mansion when all of a sudden, she felt her like her body was being lifted, almost as if she were being stretched, tighter than a rubber band that is ready to snap - and then, it was over as suddenly as it had begun. She was still on Gaelan's shoulders, only now she knew she was in way over her head.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

Gaelan dropped her ignominiously and she stumbled off the low metal platform upon which she now found herself and retched violently over the side.

Jane was finally able to catch her breath and when she raised her head, she looked around the small room where she found herself. There were unfamiliar dials and screens, each lighting up with a rainbow of colored diodes.

Revi was by her side in a flash, leaning over her and holding back her long hair. "It will be okay," he said as he rubbed her back. Jane's hands clenched on the side of the platform as she felt another wave of nausea roll over. "It happens to all of the young wings when they first try the transport beam. You'll find them get used to it in time."

"In time?" she croaked as she retched again.

Gaelan echoed her question, "In time?" He raised a curious eyebrow. Revi responded quickly, sending his response to his co-part.

We can't send her back Gaelan, you know that. She's seen too much.

Gaelan responded with brisk efficiency and logic. "Her memory can be wiped."

"What?!" Jane shouted, trembling as she heard one-half of the conversation.

Revi sent to Gaelan,
Now see what you've done? And no, we are not wiping her memory. We were sent to Earth to find a mate, and we have found one.

Revi picked Jane up in his arms and carried her off the platform into the ships main hub. Gaelan followed close behind the dup.

The Triumvirate said to find a mate worthy of a great house
, Gaelan reminded his co-part.
I do not know if she is worthy.

Revi sent angrily,
Perhaps we should have thought of that before we involved her in this conflict.

Gaelan would have responded, but his attention was diverted by the ship's captain, who approached him and Revi respectfully, bowing his head. "Your Grace. Your Grace." He addressed each of them separately. Revi and Gaelan spoke over each other simultaneously.

Jane was aware, as they spoke that they were not speaking English, but she did not know what they were speaking. It was as if she was watching a film that was dubbed—their words and the movement of their lips did not match. Somehow everything was being translated.

"Prepare some quarters for this earthling."

"What happened? Were you were attacked?"

The captain snapped his fingers at one of the ship's officers, who nodded and went to fulfill Revi's order. The captain turned his attention to Gaelan, who was gesturing for him to take a seat. Revi turned to follow the officer as Jane clung to him, wide-eyed and trembling.

"
C
an
you tell me what happened down there?"

Gaelan drummed his fingers against the arm of the chair. The captain, a man with over thirty years of experience in commanding starships for the royal family, was used to his lord's impatience.

"It was a scouting mission, and the Dark Ones came upon us totally by surprise. They were using holo projections to cloak themselves."

Capt. Jellico met Gaelan's angry stare with equanimity. Around them, officers and soldiers worked to repair the damage on the small starship while pretending not to listen in to the conversation of their superiors.

"Are you telling me not even one of the sensors picked anything up?" Gaelan asked with a hint of censure in his voice.

"We detected something, but these Terrans have so much garbage floating in the orbit of their planets, that it was difficult to make out what the readings were. Every time we thought we had a lock on it, it would disappear."

"So you're telling me they took you by surprise."

There was no doubt about it now, Gaelan's voice betrayed his anger.

Gaelan had backed him into a corner. Capt. Jellico bowed his head and accepted the responsibility for the failed mission; it was the honorable thing to do.

T
he throb
of the corridor and the hum of machinery sent chills up Jane's spine. She didn't know whether she should struggle in Revi's arms, or if she should hold onto him for dear life. She felt his muscles shifting under the weight of her body as he carried her as easily as if she was no more than a feather. Revi was being led down a corridor by a humanoid-looking alien who had a small featherlike ridges near his temples and downy plumes in place of hair.

I must be dreaming. I must be dreaming. I must be dreaming. Wake up Jane, wake up!

Jane closed her eyes tightly and willed herself to calm her breathing and her pounding heart. She had to keep her wits about her. There was no way to know what was in store for her now. She tried to memorize the twists and turns the alien was taking so that she could find her way back to the tansportation room if she needed to escape. She almost snorted with the ludicrous thought though—how on earth would she ever escape?

The ship was a maze of corridors, that is, if it was even a ship at all. Jane assumed that it was, because of the layout and the small porthole windows where she caught glimpses of the starfield and… in the distance… earth.

Stars? Stars outside her window?! She could also make out the shapes of North and South America. Her brain refused to process what her eyes were obviously telling her. The crew member opened the door and Revi stepped inside with Jane. He nodded to the crewman, who saluted back.

"Please bring food, water, and a change of clothing for the
Hikara
."

Jane felt something shift in the atmosphere. The crewman gasped, and bowed deeply from his waist. Revi dismissed him with a wave of the hand and turned his full attention to the Earthling in his arms. The door closed silently behind the feathered crewman, and Jane took in her surroundings, marveling at the industrial decor and Spartan interior.

Revi watched her warily, uncertain about what the expression on her face meant. He didn't understand the breadth of her emotions, and they confused him.

"I'm afraid that we didn't know we'd be bringing you on board in this manner. I had hoped to have better quarters readied by the time we chose our... Our..." He seemed utterly lost as to how he should explain the situation to her.

Revi set Jane down gently on a small bed that was at the corner of the room, positioned so that the head looked out the window at the field of stars that surrounded the ship.

"By the time you found your what?" Jane's wariness and fear were giving way and making room for her curiosity. She shrank away from him, her eyes like saucers.

The fear was still there, just below the surface, but never in her life would she again get the chance to converse with, well, what exactly was he? She gave voice to her question. "What are you?"

Revi seemed to expect the question, or at least he was not all that surprised by it. He fiddled with the buttons on his sleeve and reached a hand out to hers. Jane held herself still and allowed him to take her hand, though she did not return his gentle grasp.

His hand was strong and almost twice as large as hers. Jane shivered with the sudden sense of powerlessness she felt in his presence. She was acutely aware of the way he towered over her and that she was entirely alone with him in a place where no one would come to her rescue.

Jane trembled as Revi loomed over. She wanted to pull her hand away but hesitated, unsure if that would anger him. "Am I your—your—prisoner? What – what are you going to do with me?"

Revi looked at her sorrowfully, as if he were wounded that she would ask him such a question. "This is not how we would have wanted it. You should have been courted in a manner that would befit your future status."

Jane looked at him uncomprehendingly, her hand warmed by his. He squeezed it gently. "What does that mean 'courted?'" she asked as she looked down where his fingertips touched hers.

How was it possible for him to look so human, and yet so superhuman at the same time? On earth he had seemed larger, but somehow more approachable. Here on this ship, he exuded an air of regality in his posture and in his speech that would have marked him as someone special, even if she hadn't seen the other crew members making way for them as he carried her through the hallways.

She felt the heat of his body, so close to hers. Jane didn't know why, but even in her fear, being near Revi still felt safe somehow, comforting.

She repeated her question again, “What do you mean you intended to court me, Revi? We just met. I... you're... none of this makes sense.”

Revi ran his fingers through Jane's long, silky hair and peered deeply into her eyes. She trembled again, though not with fear this time.

“
I mean, Jane Jenkins, that you are meant to be our bride.”