The Alien's Captive (2 page)

Sometimes after work she’d go out with a few girlfriends for a drink and listen with amusement as the conversation turned to what they called ‘guy trouble.’ Usually it was just bitching about how the women wanted to do one thing and the men another. Phaedra could never relate. She’d always had a strong personality and had come to realize that weaker men seemed to like the comfort that came from just going along to get along in a relationship. This made for lackluster but reliable arrangements, but none had ever evolved into marriage. Ultimately, predictable was boring, she realized. Not that it mattered to Phaedra, who relied on work for excitement. She didn’t think the man existed who could give her the same thrill as a front page story.

She messaged Adam:
Sorry. Working late. Dinner tomorrow?

She waited.
Sure
,
came the reply.
But I’ll miss you.
Sad face emoji.

Phaedra didn’t do emojis. She pushed the speed dial number for the corner pizza place, more than content to do her final edits over something covered in Canadian bacon and cheese.

She showered while she waited for the delivery boy, then changed into one of her favorite faded music festival t-shirts and hip hugger jeans before sweeping her damp brunette hair into a ponytail.

“You need a makeover,” she said, glaring at her reflection in the mirror.

Phaedra knew she was attractive, although not what men would call a knock-out. She was blessed with a lean, shapely body sustained with little more than three short yoga workouts a week, but even so tended toward a natural look, shunning makeup on most days. On girls’ night when her friends weren’t bitching about the guys, they were scheming new ways to attract them. Phaedra grew annoyed with talk of the latest diets, the latest waxing techniques, the latest sale on undergarments that pulled and tucked and boosted women’s bodies into whatever was most pleasing for men.

“Fuck that,” she said to her reflection, and smiled. Strong women didn’t jump through hoops, and she was a strong woman.

The doorbell rang, and her stomach growled at almost the same moment.

“Perfect timing,” she said, walking to her purse for the cash. Through the window she could see the Gino’s Pizza delivery van in the street.

The ringing came again.

“Hold your horses! I’m coming!” She fished out a twenty and walked to the door. “You’re a little early,” she said as she opened it. “I’m not even…”

She didn’t have time to finish her sentence. Phaedra didn’t see the man who shoved his way in and grabbed her. She was only aware of the sensation of strong arms that pinned and turned her. There were two men; that much she was aware of because the one who put the bag over her head started barking orders to the other.

“Get the drive. Grab any files.”

She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand covered the fabric over her face stifling her. Phaedra was hauled to standing, her back slamming against a hard male chest. She struggled, but as soon as she started knew it was in vain. The man was large. She felt something work under the hood, something thin.

“Hope you enjoy this,” the man holding her said. “It’s a new inhalable sedative developed by Pinnacle labs, made with ingredients supplied by some distant neighbors.” He laughed just as Phaedra felt a puff of something into the hood, just under her nose. The next breath she took sent her swirling into oblivion. “Good stuff, huh?” the voice said, falling away. “I hear it’s gonna be huge…”

Chapter Two

She awoke to the sound of pinging and the glare of sodium lights. Phaedra blinked as the cobwebs in her head dissolved.

“Breathe…” Something was being puffed underneath her nose. She inhaled, and when she did, it triggered the last conscious memory she’d had from under the hood. She bolted upright.

There was a pain in her temple, but she ignored it as she looked around. A hospital. She was in a hospital. It was the only explanation for the sterile-looking surroundings, the men in white. Only. She froze. Something was wrong. The men were all taller and broader than average.

Ping. Ping
. She turned toward the sound and gasped. Rows of writing floated—floated!—in the air beside her. The characters were off, foreign, and constantly changing before her eyes. Phaedra started to rise, but couldn’t. Her legs felt weighted, and when she put her hand to them she could not feel her own touch. She started to panic.

“We’ve only counteracted the sedative to the tops of your thighs.” One of the doctors approached. He had white blond hair and ice blue eyes that seemed to bore through her as he glanced down. “Calm yourself and we’ll release your legs. Continue to panic and we’ll put you to sleep again.”

“What is this place?” Phaedra forced herself to calm down, motivated as much now by curiosity as fear. “Who are you?”

The man by her side didn’t answer, but ran some sort of wand from the top of her head down to her legs in a sweeping motion as he studied the now rapidly changing characters. An image of her body in 3-D popped up, rotating. The wand was stopped above her pelvis and now that portion of her 3-D anatomy became enlarged. Phaedra stared slack-jawed at the rotating image of her uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, and vagina.

“Mature female specimen,” the man said as a colleague walked over.

“She’s not a maiden,” he noted.

“Hardly matters,” the other said. “They all need to be prepared either way.”

“There’s no time.” The figure hanging in midair disappeared. “This one is to be part of today’s viewing.”

“Today’s?” the second man said as the first turned away, and Phaedra could only listen as they spoke about her as if she weren’t even in the room. “She’s not even been fully processed.”

“It doesn’t matter.” The first man had walked over to the wall to replace the wand among a display of other odd-looking medical instruments. “She’s to be put in with the last shipment.” He glanced over. “I processed the others and don’t expect this one to be picked, anyway. I fully expect she’ll be culled and sent to Savusia for the breeding program there. She’d be a good choice. She’s full of eggs.”

Phaedra felt a chill run through her. When she spoke again, her voice was shaking with fear and anger.

“Tell me what’s going on!” she cried. “Tell me who you are and what you’re talking about! What’s happening?”

She was struggling, her upper body flailing as she tried to move the dead weight of her legs. The next thing she knew, she was flanked by both doctors. One held her by the hair while the other puffed more of the inhalant under her nose. Her entire body up to her neck went completely dead. She was laid down and found herself staring up at the two strange faces looming over her. Tears leaking from the corners of her eyes trailed down into the hair at her temples. She’d never felt more helpless or terrified.

“Should we leave you like this?”

Phaedra’s heart pounded in her chest. “No,” she said, surprised that she could speak.

“Then you must obey.” It was a simple statement, matter-of-factly delivered. “Will you?”

Phaedra knew the only way she’d be allowed to move was to comply. She had to get out of… wherever this was. And that wasn’t going to happen if she was paralyzed.

“Yes,” she said.

“Breathe.” The inhalant was puffed under her nose again. She inhaled deeply and then felt a strong, almost painful tingling sweep down her body as the feeling returned. The two men took her by an arm on either side and raised her to sitting. It was then she realized she wasn’t wearing the clothes she’d put on after her shower, but some sort of shift made from a fabric she couldn’t even describe. When she moved, her nakedness showed through. When she stilled it was covered. She lifted her hand to touch it and gasped. It felt unlike anything she’d ever touched, like a combination of velvet and mist.

Phaedra expected to find her legs shaky once they were back under her, but they weren’t. She felt surprisingly stable as she walked, flanked by the two doctors, to the door. It opened upward and the next thing Phaedra knew, she and her companions were descending in what looked like a glass tube.

A hoax? A movie set? Now that she was on her feet, Phaedra struggled to make sense of it all. Someone had forced their way into her apartment, rendered her unconscious. Of that much she was certain. Then she’d been taken to… what was this place? It looked like a medical facility. Or a lab. A lab! That was it. This had something to do with Pinnacle. She’d been right! There was a connection between the missing women and the lab! And she had been abducted because she was close to the truth.

Phaedra was trying to decide if she was terrified or elated when the descent stopped and part of the glass panel rotated, opening the tube. Her mind raced as she was led out. Okay, so that was it. But why the elaborate staging? The actors? The special effects? No way was this real. Whatever was happening, whatever they were trying to do was going to make one hell of a story.

It was just a short walk down a hallway before Phaedra found herself entering a huge room that looked almost like a cathedral. At the front of the room was a sort of dais where four men were sitting. Three were older and wore ornate judicial-looking robes of purple or red. The other was dressed in a black kilt made from what looked like long leather strips, and wore what looked like a breastplate of some sort adhered to his massive chest. His huge arms were bare save for three metal bands that wrapped around one huge bicep. He had a close-cropped beard, and stared as she was led in. At the same time, a side door near the dais opened and a row of other women entered. They, too, were dressed in clothing fashioned from the same odd material, but where her shift was short, theirs were long and elegant. Where her hair hung loose, theirs was coiffed into elaborate styles, their faces painted in a manner to exaggerate their eyes and lips. Phaedra could not help but stare. She’d never seen such beautiful women.

“As requested,” the doctor said as he pushed Phaedra so she was in line with the other women. “We had no time to prepare her.”

“It doesn’t matter.” The man in the purple robe stood. “This won’t take long.”

“Enough of this!” Phaedra’s patience had run out. But no one responded to her. They were staring at an empty space to the left, and she startled as there was a flash, followed by the appearance of a hologram. Phaedra instantly recognized the face that now loomed beside her. It was Alexander Greer.

“The shipment arrived, I see,” he said. The hologram’s eyes scanned the women before falling on Phaedra. “Along with a spare.”

“All right.” Phaedra broke from the line and spun around. “You’ve made your point, okay? I’m sufficiently freaked out and impressed by your little Hollywood soundstage bullshit. But enough. What the fuck is going on?”

The two doctors rushed forward, but stopped as soon as the man in the purple robe raised his hand.

“My apologies,” he said, looking to his left and right. “But this is how they are when they come in raw and untrained.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Phaedra said. “And drop the act.” She turned to the hologram. “And you. Start talking. The way I see it, kidnapping is still against the law, even if it is for a bad hoax.”

“It’s against the law on
Earth
, Miss Ellis.” Alexander Greer was looking down, amusement apparent on his face. “Then again, on Earth, humans have rights. But I’m afraid anyone who might defend you now would find your predicament—shall we say—outside their jurisdiction?”

He sighed elaborately before continuing. “You’re a clever woman. And a nosy one. But your meddling ways were becoming a threat to the advancement of the human race, not to mention the very lucrative arrangement we’ve made with the leaders of Trao X39. That’s where you are, by the way. And don’t ask me to explain. I’m sure one of your new owners can show it to you on a star map, should you be a good pet and ask nicely.”

Phaedra found herself getting angrier by the moment. She crossed her arms. “Do you think I’m stupid?” she asked.

“Absolutely not,” Greer said. “In fact, I just observed otherwise. But in your new home, it’s not your intellect or journalistic acumen that’s prized, but your soft skin, wet mouth, and wetter pussy. You’ve been sold, you nosy little bitch—just another exchange in our ongoing trade with the Traoians. Exotic human females to warm their beds in exchange for the kind of advanced alien technology that will accelerate evolution on a home planet you’ll never see again.”

Phaedra turned away from the hologram and stomped over to the dais. On her way, she stopped and stared at the women, realizing with a sudden unease that one of the blondes looked familiar.

“Sophia?” she said. “Sophia Emerson?”

The woman looked blankly back at her. “That is no longer my name,” she said. “I have no name until my master gives me one.”

“You’re in on this?” she asked incredulously and then shook her head in disgust.

She whirled around, facing the men. “I demand you let me go.”

The men laughed. “That’s quite impossible, little one. Outside this chamber you’ll die.”

Phaedra looked up at the window, which stretched far overhead. It was dark, and she wondered with concern how long she’d been out if it was night.

“I’ll take my chances,” she said. “Show me the fucking exit. Now.” When the men only looked at her in amusement, she repeated the command, her fists balled at her side. “I said now!”

“We’ve humored this one enough,” the man in purple said, and ushered the doctors over. But they stopped when the large bearded man raised his hand.

“Wait.” His voice was deep, and the way he stared at Phaedra sent chills coursing through her body. “The little Earth creature seems to think she has this all figured out. So let her go, senator.”

“Let her
go
?” One of the men in red. “Are you mad, General Bron? Let her go? And risk her value? Even if she’s not pet quality, the potential embryos she’d produce…”

“I’ll take full responsibility.” The tall man stood, and Phaedra was struck by his size. Where did the people who orchestrated this façade find such tall people?