Текст книги "Sleeping With the Enemy"

Автор книги: Kaitlyn O'Connor

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    If he had been there there would be no agonizing over anything now. He would’ve died with them and all his troubles would be over. It almost felt like a just punishment to live. They had suffered. He knew they had, but the transition had been brief, the moments of pain and fear relatively few. For him, it seemed endless and it had only been a year now. His life stretched out before him like an endless torture chamber that he was forced to walk.

    Lifting an arm, he draped it across his eyes and tried to force those thoughts to back of his mind. He had more important issues at the moment than tormenting himself with his memories and his regrets.

    Like the biblical plagues they were so fond of frightening themselves with, the humans were coming and he had no idea how to stop them without further risk to his own people.

Chapter Two

    The cloud cover was still so thick that it was difficult to get a view of Venus’ surface even from orbit. The crew aboard the Mars II lander began to get readings after the first orbit, however, that confirmed much of the data collected by the probe that had been sent before them-at least in so far as the fact that the chemical makeup was rapidly changing. Unless there was some problem with the data they were getting, however, the gasses had dropped even more dramatically in a matter of weeks.

    The first jolt was the discovery that the levels of sulfuric acid in the cloud cover had dropped drastically. The readings were so significant, in fact, that they ran the data several times and then checked the equipment and took another reading before they concluded that the readings were correct-unbelievable, but correct. Changes in carbon dioxide levels were equally startling. Overall, the chemical changes had resulted in a nearly 50% drop in atmospheric pressure and more than that in surface temperatures. It certainly wasn’t ‘balmy’ and the atmospheric pressure was still dangerously high, but after checking the figures repeatedly, they realized that they could land as they’d been ordered to if conditions allowed. The deep ocean explorer that had been modified for Venus’ surface since it had already been designed to withstand the pressure of the ocean would be safe enough for a surface survey.

    No one was thrilled at the prospect except, perhaps, the two scientists aboard-Kushbu and Rains-but even they were uneasy. They spent a good deal of time speculating on ‘natural’ phenomena that might account for the sudden, drastic changes, but it was clear to Sybil that even they didn’t believe any of the possibilities they’d come up with that didn’t include alien interference.

    Of course, before the discovery, she wouldn’t have believed in the possibility that there was alien technology capable of effecting such a rapid and significant change. She still wasn’t sure she completely accepted it, but there was no getting around the fact that this sort change didn’t come about without interference. It certainly wasn’t natural. Natural changes took place over thousands or millions of years, not in a matter of decades.

    They had no real idea when the aliens might have decided to terra-form Venus, of course. It was possible they’d been working on it from the time they’d first arrived and encountered humans in those previously dismissed sightings. That was still only a matter of fifty to a hundred years, however, and it couldn’t be avoided that no such changes were detected by the numerous probes that had been sent to study the planet in the late twentieth century.

    It was almost easier to believe that some rogue asteroid had ripped the ozone, creating, in effect, a natural pressure relief valve. As farfetched as that seemed, putting it down to alien technology wasn’t any easier to swallow. Something had certainly made a drastic change in Venus, however, and it hadn’t taken long at all to do it.

    It was just as well Sybil didn’t have the option of joining the landing party or not. She’d been chosen to stay aboard the Mars II and monitor the ship and the ground crew. She didn’t particularly like the assignment-being left completely alone for the two days they meant to spend collecting samples-but she hadn’t liked anything about the assignment to start with.

    She didn’t know if it was Spencer’s suggestion that had planted the thought in her mind or if she would’ve felt that way regardless, but almost from the time they’d left the Earth behind, she’d felt like she had a bull’s eye painted on her back. It was a relief to arrive unscathed at their target orbit, but not a huge relief. She still felt as if they were being watched.

    She was monitoring the landing when that feeling intensified abruptly. Accompanied by a flickering of light behind her, Sybil felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck prickle. Whirling while weightless wasn’t a bright idea, but Sybil reacted instinctively to the abrupt certainty of danger. She had time to register an odd phenomenon of light in the cockpit behind her before her momentum carried her across the cockpit and into the hull. By the time she’d fought her way around again, the light had vanished, but there was no relief in that. A solid form stood where the light had been.

    Sybil sucked in a sharp breath to scream, launching herself toward the apparition. She collided with it hard enough to carry both of them against the back wall of the cockpit, but the half-formed plan to subdue the intruder came to nothing. By the time they’d stopped moving, she was locked tightly against the intruder instead of the other way around. She hadn’t managed to wrap her mind around that or think of an alternate plan of attack when the sudden sensation of stinging ants washed over her. It increased to a burn that was rapidly reaching the point of being unbearable when it was followed by a descent into an abyss of blackness before she could even assimilate what was happening.

    A strange, bluish glow met her gaze when she attained consciousness again and opened her eyes. Movement caught her attention before her memories caught up to her and she turned her head automatically toward the motion. Her heart leapt with fright at the discovery that she was surrounded by thin, gray, almost featureless beings barely taller than a child. That paled beside the twin discoveries that her suit and helmet had been removed and she was bound to the gurney she was lying on.

    A frantic search of her mind to understand what was happening brought no comfort. The last thing she remembered was discovering an intruder and trying to subdue him before he could attack. Hard upon that memory came others, distant, vague, but substantial enough that she was pretty sure she was looking at, and had found herself in a similar situation to, reports from years ago involving alien abductions.

    She sucked in a sharp breath and strained against the restraints when one of the creatures moved closer. Lifting an odd looking instrument, it seemed to wave it over her. “Don’t!” Sybil exclaimed sharply, flinching as far from the instrument as she could.

    “Scanning,” the creature responded in a mechanical voice-in English!

    Sybil was shocked enough that it took several moments to sink in that it was scanning her. It struck her to wonder why the voice sounded so… canned. A translator? As bizarre as it seemed that it could speak English, given the fact that they’d decided the aliens had been to Earth many times, she supposed it would’ve been stranger if they hadn’t figured out how to speak English in that length of time.

    It still sent a shiver through her.

    “Where am I? Why am I here? What happened to my suit?”

    “Why are you here?” the being countered.

    Sybil stared at it blankly, but her mind was alive with rampant speculation. “I don’t know where I am,” she countered. “You tell me.”

    The creature studied her dispassionately for a long moment and then backed away.

    A disembodied voice spoke then, but it was clear it wasn’t speaking to her since the language was alien. It was deep and Sybil had the impression it was male, but she realized fairly quickly that she couldn’t draw conclusions from anything known to her. The beings she’d been staring at with such horror didn’t seem to have sexual organs at all.

    When the voice ceased, the gray things moved closer once more. Sybil flinched again, but tensed when she realized they were removing her restraints. The urge to attack was so strong she trembled with it, but logic won out. She had no idea where she was, but she knew she wasn’t on her own ship anymore. Even if she succeeded in overwhelming the aliens, where would she go?

    It still went against the grain to allow them to help her from the table and escort her from the room without a whimper of protest. She tried to comfort herself with the thought that they hadn’t killed her when they could have-easily-but it was cold comfort at best.

    A narrow, dimly lit corridor adjoined the small examination room. Sybil glanced up and down it when she was taken from the room, but there was little to see beyond the fact that it seemed to go on for quite some distance. There were no windows. She wasn’t even certain that there were any doors opening off the corridor, but she finally decided there were, that the thin cracks she could see were joints for sliding doors. This was confirmed, more or less, when the beings halted and an opening appeared. Lights flickered on-the dim bluish ones from the other room-and she was pushed inside. The door sealed shut behind her before she could turn around.

    She stared at the panel, trying to control her runaway heart, trying to think.

    Why had she been taken? Why was she here instead of dead? Where was she?

    A shiver skated through her and she wrapped her arms around herself, wondering if the deep cold she felt meant they were in space or if it was the result of shock and the fact that she had nothing but her underwear on.

    And what had happened to the landing crew, she thought abruptly?

    Were they here, too? Where they dead? Or were they on the surface of Venus, wondering what had happened in the orbiter?

    She shook the thought. She didn’t have time to worry about them now. She was on her own and so were they. Not that she could see that that helped her in any way. She couldn’t remember a damned thing after discovering the intruder behind her. Had they docked with the Mars II without her noticing?

    That seemed unlikely, but what other explanation was there?

    The strange sensations she’d felt just before she blacked out surfaced. She felt her throat close with horror, but it seemed indisputable that they must have used something like the particle transporter-on her!

    Was that the reason for the scan? To see if she was still in one piece?

    The thoughts gave rise to a panicked internal evaluation, but she couldn’t tell that she was suffering from anything but the cold and she wasn’t even sure that was because of the temperature around her.

    After a moment, she glanced around uneasily. The room she found herself in was a cube maybe six foot square-make that seven, she decided once she’d looked up at the ceiling and then at the narrow cot attached to one wall.

    It was a prison cell, she realized abruptly. It had to be.

    The door opened while she was studying the cot. There was no sound, no warning beyond a prickling along her skin from the currents of air and a faint scrape along the metal floor. She whirled, prepared to defend herself, but the sight that greeted her swept that instinct right out from under her. This was no little gray creature!

    Sucking in a sharp breath, Sybil retreated to the furthest corner, plastering herself against it. The being stared at her for a long moment and then took a step closer. The door sealed behind him so fast Sybil barely caught the movement.

    She knew the very instant she was trapped inside the tiny cell with the thing though! She would’ve screamed if she could’ve found her voice. Instead, she stared at it with wide-eyed horror.

    “Why are you here?”

    Sybil flinched when it-he-spoke, but she recognized the voice, or thought she did, that she’d heard before. He tilted his head. “You spoke English before.”

    Sybil licked her lips. “I don’t know where I am,” she said finally.

    His lips tightened, drawing her attention. The mouth was surprisingly human-like, thin lipped but then that particular trait wasn’t all that uncommon. She watched it form the next words and caught a glimpse of teeth that looked a bit sharper than she’d ever seen in a human mouth-more predatory.

    Like a cat.

    She blinked as the impression deepened, flicking a quick, assessing look at the face. The shadows cast by the strange light, she decided, had given her the impression of a monster.

    Or maybe she’d just expected a monster?

    He wasn’t human. That much was certain, but he was surprisingly human-like once she managed to throw off her shock and fear enough to actually study the face. The form was certainly human-like, although he seemed exceptionally tall.

    “You know where you were.”

    Sarcasm laced the comment, sparking another flicker of surprise and the realization that he’d already made the comment once.

    “Yes,” she said finally, then added, “orbiting Venus.”

    “Why are you here?”

    Sybil chewed the inside of her cheek, trying to decide whether to answer that or not or, more specifically, what would be best to say. “Taking readings of Venus’ atmosphere,” she replied finally, realizing that it was pointless to try to lie. She was pretty sure they would be able to tell what the instruments on the ship were for.

    “To what purpose?”

    Sybil felt her first flicker of resentment. “Scientific curiosity,” she said, an edge to her voice that stilled the quaver of fear that had laced it before.

    Annoyance, she thought, flickered in his eyes briefly, and then suspicion. “You’re a scientist?”

    Sybil nodded a little jerkily, relieved that that wasn’t a lie. “Yes.”

    “The suit you were wearing looked amazingly military.”

    She felt her cheeks flush with a combination of irritation and embarrassment that he’d caught her in a lie-one of omission, but still a lie. “I am, but I’m attached to the space program.” How much, she wondered, did he/they know about them?

    Probably pretty much everything, she realized in dismay. No one worried too much about security breaches in space… mostly because there was no way to prevent anyone from picking up chatter between the ships and control but also because they hadn’t actually expected anyone to be listening.

    “But this is not a military operation? This scientific expedition to study the atmosphere of Venus?”

    Sybil swallowed convulsively several times. “It wasn’t intended as one-no,” she lied.

    “But that is subject to change very swiftly, yes?”

    She blanched. She certainly wasn’t in any position to be throwing threats around. “I didn’t say that.”

    “You didn’t have to. The ship carries the emblem of the U.S. and you are human. Your species is aggressive and war-like as a whole, and few of the nations of Earth more so than the U.S.”

    Indignation swelled within Sybil despite her fear. “That’s not true! We defend ourselves-ferociously, but we don’t start the wars-hardly ever, anyway! And we certainly didn’t come here with the intention of starting one! We just came to see what was going on!”

    “We?”

    Sybil felt like she might faint for a moment. She’d let her emotions run away with her and given away the others! “I mean they sent me to take some readings.”

    “And the others we captured on the surface?”

    Bastard! He’d just wanted to see if she would lie, damn him! He’d known about the others all along! She swallowed with an effort. “They’re here?”

    Instead of responding, he turned. A hole opened in the wall, he stepped through, and it closed. Feeling abruptly weak after his departure, Sybil slid down the wall and drew her knees up to her chest. She discovered it was impossible to think, though. Her mind kept running back over the interrogation like a hamster on an exercise wheel, examining her responses and his questions until she’d convinced herself that every word out of her mouth had been more damning than the last.

    She should’ve simply refused to answer, but then she hadn’t been able to wrap her mind around the fact that she truly was a captive of hostiles! * * * *

    The woman had almost managed to convince Anka that he’d made a mistake in taking the humans captive-almost. It wouldn’t have mattered, though, if the ship they’d taken had been sent merely out of scientific curiosity. The odds were that they still would’ve seen more than they should and they would’ve raced back to tell their people-and then a military operation would’ve been launched.

    There seemed no solution to their dilemma. It might have bought them time if they had ignored the ship, but he doubted it. The chances were that they would’ve discovered the terra-forming facilities or the base or both.

    Time, he realized finally, was all they could buy. The question was, now that he’d taken captives, just how much time could he buy?

    On that thought, he changed course and headed toward communications. Inge and Myune both looked up at him questioningly when he entered. A spark of interest flickered in Myune’s eyes that briefly distracted him.

    How long, he wondered abruptly, since any female had given him that particular look? He realized he didn’t have a clue. He’d been too focused on surviving and seeing to it that his people survived to notice any invitations, too caught up in his grief for that matter. He also realized he didn’t particularly welcome it at the moment.

    Granted, it was soothing to the beating his ego had taken from the look of horror on the Earth woman’s face and Myune was an attractive female, but the thought and a flicker of interest had no sooner crossed his mind than her pheromones struck him like a sledge hammer.

    She was in season, looking for a male to breed with her.

    “Breeding is prohibited at the present time,” he said coolly. “See the med-tech after your shift, soldier.”

    Heavy handed and clumsy, he thought in disgust when he saw the look of outrage cross her face. She hadn’t actually even invited him-not verbally anyway-and it was uncouth to point out her scent, especially publicly and he had a bad feeling Inge’s presence made it too ‘public’ to excuse himself on those grounds.

    “I already have, Sir!” Myune responded with bare civility. “I know it’s prohibited right now with stores rationed.”

    Discomfort flickered through him. “Good. I need the transmissions intercepted between the alien craft and their base. Transfer them to my quarters.”

    “Their base has been trying to hail the craft for over an hour, Sir,” Inge volunteered. “Should we block the incoming?”

    Anka felt his belly clench. “For now, just ignore it-record it. If you pick up anything suggesting they might be sending a rescue, let me know immediately.”

    Inge shrugged. “As slow as their ships are it would take them weeks to get here.”

    “Even so,” Anka said tightly.

    He was somewhat easier in his mind once he’d listened to the transmissions back and forth between their home base and the ship several times. They’re relayed their preliminary findings, but those, fortunately, didn’t include the intelligence that they’d spotted either their base or the terra-forming units.

    So maybe capturing them the moment they showed signs of making a descent wasn’t the stupidest thing he’d ever done? Particularly when a calculation of their path of descent had put them landing less than a mile from terra-forming unit three?

    It was just pure bad luck that they’d picked that spot. They hadn’t seen anything to report and he would’ve had to capture them regardless since the odds were almost astronomical that they could’ve missed it completely. They couldn’t afford to let the humans know-yet. Undoubtedly, they were already suspicious, though, or they wouldn’t have sent a ship to check it out.

    The problem was, what to do with them now that he had them?

    Send them back with a warning? It would be a bluff, but he was almost certain the humans weren’t in any position to call it. Could they afford an ‘almost’ certainty though?

    Inge had pointed out that their space flight capabilities were still limited. They could count on having a month, at the least, to prepare themselves, but at the rate their situation was deteriorating that would only mean they would be less prepared to fend off an invasion, not more prepared.

    He was tempted to drop the matter in the laps of the politicians, but discarded the notion after a very little thought. They might not be in a position to launch an offensive war, but they sure as hell couldn’t allow the humans to know that and he didn’t trust the politicians to convince the humans it would go badly for them if they did attack.

    So, the only option was to try to play politician himself.

    Wryly, he thought it wouldn’t be hard to frighten them away if the women were any indication. Sybil had merely looked at him as if he was a monster. The other woman had had hysterics and had to be sedated before he could even get around to questioning her.

    It rankled. He’d tried to convince himself it didn’t, but it bothered the hell out of him.

    Research had shown they were prone to view anything new to them with deep suspicion if not outright fear and hostility and he knew the humans had never seen any of the ferils. Their reaction was to be expected.

    He thought he had been prepared for it. He had, in point of fact, approached them himself for that very reason-because he had wanted to throw them off-balance and keep them that way.

    And yet he realized he hadn’t really anticipated the depth of their reaction to seeing him. He supposed that was because, although he had never actually met a human face to face, he’d grown accustomed to the way they looked from the years of research that had been done on them. But the fact was that he’d never been repulsed by them-not in a general way, anyway. Not surprisingly, some were far more appealing than others. They were certainly strange in many ways, but the similarities between the two species was such that they weren’t nearly as alien to him as some of the species they’d discovered and, because they weren’t, he’d been able to adjust his perception of them fairly easily.

    But perhaps that was the problem? The similarity raised the expectation of familiarity and the differences between them seemed more freakish and monstrous because of that?

    Possibly, he decided, not a comfort or much salve to his ego, but that likely explained it and it was for the best when all was said and done. Wasn’t it?

    He considered that, not on a personal level, but as benefited them all. Would it be better to inspire fear? Or would that in itself become a threat to the people?

    Given the time to establish themselves and grow stronger, the humans would not be a real threat to his people’s survival. Technologically, they were a hundred years or so more advanced.

    They had been, at any rate, before the fall of their civilization, he thought in disgust. They’d lost so much, though, so many of the people that had built their civilization, built their technology-who was to say they could count on any of the advantages they’d had?

    The likelihood was slim, he realized. They were already struggling to rebuild the things they’d had before that were completely familiar to them. Not one thing they’d had to do had been simple or easy. The handful of mechanics and engineers they had now had had to pour over manuals and instructions for hours, days, weeks and sometimes months to figure out how to fix whatever it was that needed fixing. Then, they’d spent hours, days, weeks, and sometimes months searching for a part that would work or could be modified to work.

    Life had become an unending nightmare. None of them had realized just how easy life had been for them before and that had been yet another thing to contend with-the fact that they’d become lazy and lax, unused to hard labor, unaccustomed to having to scratch out a living, to having to ‘make do’, to doing without. They’d had to put down more fights over rationing their resources than anything else.

    Regardless of the problems the humans had themselves, an alliance with them could ease things for them considerably, but did they dare try it? Was there any chance, at all, he wondered, of forming one?

    Despite their typical behavior, the aggressiveness and territorialism he’d pointed out to the woman, their studies had shown that the humans could be amazingly generous hearted when moved by the plight of their neighbors. It was incomprehensible, something they’d never understood about the humans as long as they’d studied them, but they’d displayed that behavior often enough it couldn’t be denied that they had empathy for the hardship of others.

    They were at their most dangerous, though, when they knew the weaknesses of anyone they considered an enemy.

    Could they achieve a balance? Could they appeal to the humans for some of the things they so desperately needed and, at the same time, convince them that they didn’t stand a chance of defeating them and taking what they had?

    It was an idea worth exploring, he decided.

    The question was, how could they begin?

    At that thought, he lifted his head to study his quarters, trying to decide how it would appear to their eyes. Would it seem as impoverished to them as it did to him?

    Probably-very likely, he decided. It was oppressive.

    They couldn’t afford to allow the humans to see just how harsh their conditions were, but he couldn’t continue to keep them separated. They were already demoralized enough.

    Reaching across his desk, he depressed the com button and summoned his adjutant.