Текст книги "Sleeping With the Enemy"

Автор книги: Kaitlyn O'Connor

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Chapter Three

    “The plan,” Anka announced, “is to convince the humans of what we want them to believe before we send them back.” He discovered when he’d surveyed his audience that most of the officers were staring at him blankly and annoyance flickered through him. His adjutant, Minh, signaled a wish to speak and he nodded at him.

    “Just so that we’re completely clear, Sir. What is it that we wish them to believe?”

    “We wish to convince them that we are prosperous, strong, and powerful and that any challenge will be met with absolute ruthlessness. We will condescend to trade with them, in the interests of promoting friendly relations between neighbors, but we have staked our claim upon this planet for colonization and will not tolerate any interference.”

    Most of them merely gaped at him at that announcement, but a few, he was pleased to see, looked thoughtful. Rafi signaled a wish to speak and he nodded at him.

    “Given what we know about them, I understand, and I can certainly see a benefit in trading with them, although I’m not sure what we have to offer. However, I’m confused about the plan you outlined to convince them, Sir.”

    “They understand power and respect it-and very little else. It’s essential to our survival to convince them that we have the power to crush them or they will not consider it in their best interests to form any sort of alliance-even to trade. On the contrary, they are far more likely to attack us and take what they want-or try-and we can’t afford the attempt that would force us to expend resources in defending ourselves.

    “We must convince them that they need us far more than we need them. To do that, we must appear successful. To appear successful, we will need to prepare a place to convince them we are, gather together what we have and set a… stage to perform on, pool together what we have to make a grand show of prosperity and comfort. We will allow them to have freedom to move around on this ‘stage’ and examine it as they please.

    “Will behave in a cautiously friendly manner at all times and allow them to know that we are open to the possibility of friendship.”

    He surveyed the group. “Make certain that your people understand this. Anyone who doesn’t feel that they can behave accordingly should make certain they steer clear of the humans.

    “We will be on double rations until the humans depart. Unfortunately, this will require half rations for a while afterwards, but it can’t be helped. Convincing them we’re starving isn’t the impression I want to convey,” he ended dryly.

    To his relief, everyone seemed to understand the psychology behind his plan. “Just be certain that you explain everything carefully to your subordinates and have their full cooperation in this operation. And let’s make it quick. We can’t afford to hold them long.”

    Dismissing the men and women, he left the conference room where they’d met and headed toward stores to examine the contents. Once he’d discussed the menus for the meals with the head cook, they decided three days was about the maximum they could afford to maintain a show of plentitude.

    It would have to be enough, he decided grimly, realizing that it would be pushing the limits to hold them any longer anyway. The humans might, even now, be preparing to send another ship.

    They might also have decided that the ship had met with an accident, but they couldn’t afford the alternative possibility-that the humans would decide they’d attacked.

    It was a fortunate thought. It would give them their first bargaining chip, he realized. If they transported the humans back to their base, they could emphasis their own superior flight capabilities and open negotiations for returning their property as a gesture of good will.

    They could take the rations onboard first, though, he realized. No doubt it would be a disgusting mess, but they would’ve had to have lain in supplies for five for a trip that would take them many weeks, Earth time.

    He frowned at the thought. They would have to take other things, as well, if they didn’t want it to look like the food was all they were interested in, and that was liable to piss them off, but he didn’t see leaving the food.

    He wasn’t altogether pleased with the results of their efforts. The small observation room they’d set up to allow the humans to see their technology at work-one of the terra-forming units on Venus’ surface-looked well enough. It was only supposed to be an observation room, after all, for them to relax, interact, and socialize during their brief stay and if it lacked any particular comfort or aesthetics it was still workable. The same could be said for the mess hall where they would dine. They could, convincingly enough, he thought, put the utilitarian austerity down to the fact that it was a military base.

    The new quarters where he’d planned to house them left a lot to be desired, however. They didn’t look any damned better than the cubicles where they were now confined-and those looked more like prison cells than what they actually were-standard quarters for housing.

    “No one had any furnishings to make the quarters a little more-comfortable?” he demanded irritably, focusing specifically on the women. The women, he knew, were accustomed to making their quarters as home-like as they possibly could and bartered for anything they could get their hands on to manage it.

    They met his gaze with feigned innocence.

    “We are only suggesting you loan your possessions for a very short time,” he added.

    “And what if we pick up something from them? They carry all sorts of diseases!”

    The sullen, feminine voice, he realized immediately, was Myune. He hadn’t endeared himself to her with his comment about her state, but this wasn’t personal and she damned well knew it! “We’ve immunized ourselves against their diseases,” he said pointedly. “You know that.”

    “So the scientists assure us,” Hybah, the woman next to her, said pointedly. “How much faith can we place in that, though, when the vaccines have never been tested?”

    “They’re insubordinate, Sir,” Minh said in an under voice. “Shall I have them escorted to the brig and appropriate their belongings?”

    Anka threw him a speculative glance but shook his head. “If we threw everyone in the brig for the smallest infractions, there would be more in the brig than outside it,” he said dryly. He lifted his head and surveyed the others. “Myune and Hybah have expressed a disinterest in acting for the greater good. They will be expected to keep their distance from the humans. I would like anyone else who feels as they do to express their feelings now.”

    Everyone shifted uncomfortably. Lonlea lifted her hand a little timidly. “I have a few things that I could contribute.”

    Relief flooded him. He smiled at her. “Thank you, Lonlea. It is much appreciated. Put them in the women’s quarters. They will appreciate them more.”

    He could have kissed her. Once she’d made the offer, the other women disappeared and brought back some of their prized possessions. To his mind, the accommodations still looked less than inviting, but he decided it would do. It was enough to make it appear that they’d made an effort to offer hospitality.

    After some consideration, he decided to send the droids to escort their ‘guests’ to the observatory. Given the reaction of the humans to their appearance, he thought it might be best to allow them as much time as he dared to come to grips with it.

* * * *

    The hours that Sybil had spent in confinement had done very little to calm her. It had given her way too much time to think of unpleasant things that she might have to face and not nearly enough to accept that she would have to if and when the time came. The appearance of the creepy little gray beings, therefore, sent her spiraling toward panic.

    “We are to escort you to the observatory. Please to accompany us without struggle.”

    Sybil stared with pure horror at the creature that had spoken, wondering if she was the main attraction of the ‘observatory’.

    Try to preserve what dignity she had left, she wondered?

    Or throw caution to the wind and try to fight her way out of her predicament, knowing she didn’t have a chance in hell of winning?

    She swallowed convulsively several times and struggled to get up from the bunk she’d retreated to and had her answer. She was so weak with fright she didn’t think she could manage even a token resistance. That being the case, maybe she should just focus on trying to put up a good front and meet her fate with what dignity she could?

    It seemed like cold comfort, and yet, since there didn’t seem to be an alternative anyway shouldn’t she at least make the attempt not to shame her entire species by showing her cowardice?

    She thought they were going to have to support her. Her legs felt like rubber and her knees like water and her upper body felt too heavy to support. She managed, by grim determination, and a horror of being touched by the things, to walk unaided. Her relief was so profound when they reached their destination, however, that she nearly collapsed. Spencer appeared to be unconscious, but Kushbu and Rains were there already and appeared to be unharmed-badly shaken, but alert-and Powell was escorted into the room even as she arrived.

    Resisting the urge to burst into tears of relief, she moved as quickly across the room as she could and practically threw herself into Rains’ arms as if they were bosom buddies instead of bare acquaintances. Holly hugged her as tightly, conveying the desperation they both felt. “Thank god you’re alright!”

    “What happened to Spencer?”

    Holly Rains pulled away and looked down at the man. “We don’t know. He was lying on the floor when we got here.”

    At that comment, Sybil finally lifted her head to survey the room. She didn’t know what to think once she’d examined it. If it was an observatory, where were the windows? For that matter, given the fact that she’d been sure it would be some sort of torture chamber where the aliens could ‘observe’ while they were dissected, where were the gurneys?

    “It doesn’t look like I expected,” Holly commented.

    Sybil sent her a questioning look and the other woman shrugged. “They said it was an observatory.”

    “I’m guessing both of you thought the same thing I did,” Powell said wryly. “Alien abductions leapt to the forefront of my mind, which translated to… unpleasant medical examinations.”

    Sybil was about to point out that they still didn’t know that wasn’t the case, that they might’ve merely been brought together to wait, when a sudden noise distracted all of them. Glancing around fearfully, they discovered panels along the rounded end of the room were moving, both at the ceiling and upper wall.

    Sybil and Holly clutched at one another again, staring wide-eyed as the panels opened slowly wider and wider. Sybil found herself holding her breath, as if that would protect her from deadly gasses. She didn’t even realize she’d instinctively sucked in a breath and held it because she’d thought they were about to be flushed into space until it dawned on her that the panels were revealing windows. Beyond the windows a landscape was unfolding before them that was starkly beautiful and breathtakingly deadly.

    It hadn’t occurred to her that they might be on the surface of Venus, though why it hadn’t she had no idea. It should’ve dawned on her immediately when she saw the other crewmembers.

    The realization thawed her and, after a moment, as if by unspoken consent, she and Holly released each other and crossed the room to stand staring out of the wall of winds that offered a wide vista of the planet Venus. On the far horizon, the thick layer of clouds veiled the rising sun. They could clearly see the demarcation of the spreading light as it spilled across the virtually flat plains of Venus, unmoving. It took her several moments to recall that Venus’ rotation was so slow that it took almost a full year, Earth year, to rise and set. The building where they stood was on the dark side, facing Earth. When she’d searched the sky for it, she thought she detected the tiny blue globe that was home.

    She wasn’t certain if she actually had spotted it or if it was wishful thinking. The cloud cover was still thick enough to make visibility of the sky poor. Redirecting her gaze to the landscape outside once more, she studied it with all the wonder of seeing a sight never seen before-at least by her. She’d seen images, of course, but that wasn’t the same as actually seeing it-particularly since there was an enormous structure of some sort blocking the southern view.

    Sybil studied it, knowing what it had to be, and yet it might have been most any kind of factory she was familiar with. Disappointingly, there was no way to tell anything about the technology represented within the structure… beyond the fact that it was incredibly effective.

    Even giving them that, though, she thought there must be more. Maybe it was just because she was having a hard time swallowing just how advanced they were, but she couldn’t accept that one plant would be sufficient to terra-form on such a massive scale in so short a length of time.

    She could see that the planet was cooling. No doubt it was still blistering hot outside, but she could see the thin trails of lava flow in the distance cooling and solidifying along the edges. Steam rose from newly formed lava rock, making visibility even at ground level spotty. After a while, though, she noticed movement. Drawn by that discovery, she saw a vehicle slowly creep into view. Directly behind it were several others. The vehicles stopped on a nearly perfectly flat plateau maybe a half mile from the building where she stood and shadowy figures emerged.

    She thought at first that they must have gone out to take samples and readings, but she realized after a while that they were beginning some sort of construction.

    “Clearly they aren’t worried about us seeing anything now,” Powell murmured after a time. “No idea what that might mean to us, but I’m thinking it isn’t good.”

    Cold washed over Sybil. She moved away from the observation window abruptly, rubbing her arms up and down her bare arms. It was the first she’d noticed that she was the only one of the group the next thing to naked. The others were still wearing their suits-minus the helmets, but

    Was that because she was the only one that had been transported via a particle beam? Or had they done something she couldn’t remember?

    Almost as if he’d read her mind, Powell seemed to focus on her condition, his eyes alive with speculation. “How did you get here?”

    Sybil swallowed a little convulsively. “I’m guessing via particle transport beam. I’m not sure, actually. The last thing I remember is discovering I wasn’t alone. When I turned, I saw an intruder and attacked and then… nothing until I woke up on a gurney surrounded by those… creepy little beings.”

    “The droids.”

    Sybil whirled at the sound of the voice, meeting the alien’s gaze in time to detect what almost looked like amusement. She realized when he spoke again that she hadn’t misinterpreted it.

    “They were designed by our scientists specifically for study of your world.” He shrugged. “They had some notion that the humans wouldn’t find them as… threatening since they were humanoid and small.”

    “What happened to Cpl Spencer?” Powell asked tightly.

    Anka felt a flicker of hostility in response to that he’d detected in Powell, but he resolutely ignored it. “He was… reluctant to be moved. He was sedated. He is unharmed.”

    “But still unconscious.”

    “And still unharmed. If you’d like, we can move him to the quarters we’ve prepared.”

    Powell and Kushbu moved immediately to the supine man. Kushbu helped Powell lift Spencer onto his shoulders and the alien led them to the opposite side of the room. A door opened and the men disappeared inside. The alien emerged alone a few moments later and gestured toward her and Holly.

    The two exchanged an uneasy look. Sybil didn’t particularly want to get any closer, or have any interest in whatever it was he seemed to want to show them, but she also wasn’t keen on the idea of ending up like Spencer. After a brief hesitation, she approached the alien man.

    “I apologize that we cannot offer private accommodations, but I believe you will be more comfortable here,” he said as a door opened, revealing a room perhaps twice the size of the one she’d spent the past several hours in.

    She could see as soon as she’d scanned the small room that every effort had been made to make it more comfortable than the room she’d had, she just wasn’t sure if it had been specifically for their benefit or if he had, for some reason, booted someone else out of their quarters to offer the room to them. She was inclined to think the latter. The furnishings didn’t look military issue. The colorful linens and pillows that covered the narrow bunks inside looked like personal belongings. Of course, she was basing that on her own experience and she had no idea of what their military might be like.

    She also didn’t know, for a fact, that the group that had captured them was military. She assumed they were, but she didn’t know. The facility might be civilian.

    “Thank you,” she said hesitantly, wondering why they’d been moved and if Powell was right.

    He nodded. “I am Anka l’Kartay, Commander of Sumptra’s forces… here.”

    Sumptra? Undoubtedly their country or world. The hesitation before he’d said here could mean anything, though, she realized, or nothing.

    Something did become clear to her as she looked up at him, though. Looking at him made her uneasy even when she was across the room from him. Standing so close was enough to heighten that agitation and create a flutter of butterflies in her belly, making it very hard to maintain eye contact even though it seemed important that she should.

    She wasn’t certain if the fact that he’d told them who he was was a courtesy or if it was meant to further intimidate them, but she realized after a moment that he was waiting for her to return the courtesy and that there was certainly no reason not to tell him who they were. Captives were not supposed to volunteer any information, but they were allowed to give name, rank, and serial number. “I’m First Lieutenant Sybil Hunter.”

    He nodded again and his gaze flickered over her face and down her length in a way that was so human-like-so like the assessing gaze of a man-that it threw her further off kilter.

    It should have made her skin crawl. Instead, she felt a shuddery, knee weakening sensation filter through her. Dismissing it with an effort, she met his gaze with a hard look when he’d finished looking her over. “I’d like my flight suit back.”

    Something flickered in his eyes, but she had no idea what he might be thinking. She didn’t think if he’d been human he would’ve been an easy man to read, but he wasn’t human and she had no idea how they might perceive things, how their minds might work. It was almost more disorienting to realize that his mind could be so different as to be completely incomprehensible to her.

    He frowned, but she didn’t know if it denoted deep thought or anger or if the thought was a lie he was concocting, a memory search for where it might be, or even of the language to figure out what she was talking about. He hadn’t seemed to have any trouble at all with the language, despite his thick accent-either understanding or speaking-but that didn’t necessarily mean he fully understood it. He might have rehearsed the little he’d said to them.

    “You are cold?”

    She would’ve like to think the question hadn’t been prompted by the fact that her nipples were tenting the front of her under shirt but she had a bad feeling he hadn’t missed much when he’d looked her over. “A little. More importantly, I’d prefer not to stand around half-naked.”

    He frowned and this time she didn’t doubt his confusion. “I had thought the suits were protective gear? You do not need it here. I assure you.”

    “They are, but I wasn’t wearing anything under it,” she said uncomfortably.

    The comment drew his gaze to the thin undershirt and her panties again. He looked as if he was about to say something else but appeared to dismiss it. “I will escort you to the room where it was removed. Perhaps it is still there. If not, I will see if one of the women has something to offer.”

    A jolt went through her at the offer. Reluctance immediately descended upon her to allow him to escort her anywhere at all, but she was the one who’d insisted.

    She still didn’t see why he couldn’t send someone for it and have it brought to her, but she didn’t want to either show her reluctance to go with him or risk having her request dismissed altogether. For that matter, he seemed in some doubt that it still existed and, whether she needed it at the moment or not, she certainly needed it if there was any chance of leaving. “Thank you,” she managed finally.

    He gestured toward the wall where they’d entered. Trying to ignore the shakiness in her belly, she led the way, ignoring the questioning looks her fellow crewmembers cast at her. She wasn’t certain which way to go when they’d left the observation room and entered the narrow corridor and sent him a questioning look. He closed the distance and settled a hand lightly around her arm just above the elbow to guide her. The warmth of his hand sent a shiver through her and made her belly tighten more.

    “You are cold?”

    Sybil gritted her teeth. She was chilled, but she knew her reaction was neither from the contact of his warmth or revulsion. “A little chilled.”

    “We are on the dark side… now. The temperature is still difficult to regulate when we must compensate for the excessive heat of this world.”

    Sybil threw him a look of surprise even though she’d intended to hide her reactions to him by keeping her face averted. “The days here are almost a year long… Earth time.”

    “The facility is designed to move. We stay close to the dawn horizon and allow for brief periods of full exposure for the sake of morale, but when it begins to heat up we move into the darkness again.”

    Sybil digested that in silence. The suggestion that they found it depressing to always be in darkness was a clue about them. She wasn’t certain if he’d intentionally revealed it or not, but she found it oddly comforting to learn that they had something in common with the aliens after all. “It is depressing to be in the dark all the time. You begin to really miss the sunlight. I’ve been stationed at the moon base for a couple of months now.”

    He flicked an assessing glance at her. “The base receives hours of sunlight every day.”

    It was a leading question if she’d ever heard one, but it also made it clear that they knew exactly where the base was located-no huge surprise. “True, but it isn’t the same.”

    “As Earth?”

    “Or even Mars.”

    He grimaced. “Nothing is the same as home.”

    Was he suggesting he missed his home? Or asking if she did? As intriguing as it was to consider that, they arrived at their destination at that moment and she missed the opportunity to pursue it. She halted just inside the door, looking around the dimly lit room.

    “Shukala!”

    She glanced at him sharply when he spoke, but the room flooded with a harsh white light that explained what he’d said before she could ask. She could see at a glance that her suit wasn’t there, but she moved around the room anyway, partly to put some distance between herself and him and partly from agitation about the missing suit. “What would they’ve done with it?”

    His lips tightened. “Very likely they would’ve disposed of it in the disposal chute. I was afraid of that.”

    Sybil stared at him in disbelief, wondering if he’d deliberately misled her to get her alone for some reason. “But… you said they were droids! They wouldn’t have done anything without being told to! I don’t understand why they took my suit to start with!”

    His expression hardened at the accusing note in her voice. “They are autonomous. They would be useless if they weren’t.

    “They removed the suit to examine you. The transporters were not designed for humans but for us. We recalibrated it using our knowledge of humans, but you were unconscious. I thought it would be best for them to examine you.”

    Sybil stared at him as that sank in. “It was you… In the ship.”

    “Yes.”

    She didn’t know how she felt about that. “We aren’t that different,” she said a little doubtfully.

    He cocked one eyebrow at her. She had the feeling that he was surprised at the comment. “No. We are not, but we are not the same either.” He hesitated. “Its standard procedure to dispose of possible contaminates. Very likely that is what has become of the missing suit.”

    That was inarguable since it was standard practice for them, as well-except she’d been decontaminated before she’d gone aboard, damn it! If they knew so much, they should’ve known that, too! “You’re saying it’s been destroyed?”

    “Recycled-though not necessarily-not yet.” He seemed to debate with himself. “If it is that important to you, wait here, and I will go to the disposal unit and look for it.”

    Sybil followed him when he turned to leave. “Why can’t I go with you?”

    He halted and glanced at her. She could tell just from his hesitancy that he didn’t want to tell her or that, maybe, he was debating just how much he wanted her to know. Before she could try to press him, an enormous explosion somewhere close by caught them both off guard. Sybil hadn’t managed to react with more than a shocked intake of breath before Anka grabbed her, shoved her against a bulkhead, and curled himself around her. She clutched at him instinctively as the explosion shook the building. “What is it?” she gasped fearfully.

    “A volcanic eruption,” he responded, his voice harsh with his own fear, distracted, threaded with just enough doubt that it flickered through her mind that he wasn’t any more certain than she was.

    She clutched him more tightly as shockwaves traveled through the wall behind her and the floor. “Oh god! Are we safe?”

    “The doors seal automatically,” he said absently.

    Protecting each room individually, she realized, but it didn’t necessarily follow that it would protect them if the room took a direct hit from a volcanic missile. She didn’t know how long they huddled together before the shockwaves petered out and her focus shifted from a fearful expectation of imminent death to the body shielding hers. Little by little, though, as the fear began to subside she became more and more aware of him and less aware of her surroundings.

    He didn’t feel alien to her. He felt… male, strong, protective. Surprise flickered through her when it dawned on her that he’d instinctively sought to protect her, to shield her with his own body. A tingling warmth followed that that had nothing to do with the warmth filtering through her from his warm body. She became aware of their mingling scents from the warmth they were generating, most particularly his. A wave of dizziness swept through her.

    He eased away from her finally and looked down at her. She discovered when she lifted her head to look up at him that they were far closer than she’d realized and yet, once she’d met his gaze she couldn’t seem to look away. She felt the heat between them magnify.

    His gaze flickered over her face. “Curious?” he murmured in a deep, husky voice that sent a quivering through her.

    She swallowed with an effort, commanding herself to turn away, to pull away. Reluctance to do so filled her. “Yes,” she whispered.

    He expelled a heavy breath, seemed to debate with himself briefly and then closed the distance between them, brushing his lips lightly along hers. She waited for revulsion to set in, tried to summon it, and then licked her dried lips, tasting him when she did and feeling an instant surge of want.

    He nibbled at her lips with his, as if trying to decide if he also wanted more, and then abruptly covered her mouth. Her heart slammed into her ribcage, began to surge against it, but it wasn’t fear. It should have been, but it wasn’t.

    There was nothing threatening about his kiss, nothing to dredge up a sense of self-preservation. His touch appealed and his taste appealed even more. She opened her mouth to him in invitation and felt a drugging wave of desire flood her the moment he slid his tongue along hers and filled her senses with himself.

    It was wrong, she thought dizzily. She shouldn’t feel any of the things she felt, but she was more disappointed when he pulled away than she could recall. For several moments, he met her gaze when he’d withdrawn. She found herself hoping he would want to kiss her again and then he pulled away completely, stepping away from her.

    “That wasn’t wise,” he muttered-to himself, she thought, but he spoke English.

    And he was right. It had been stupid, really stupid.

    “I will take you back to the others and then see what I can find for you to wear.”

    She didn’t argue. Wryly, she admitted she wasn’t exactly cold anymore. She was far more conscious of her scanty attire than before, though.