CHAPTERFOUR
Maureen and Bodok had spent hours talking about their respective worlds and how they had lived their lives before falling into Raxxian hands. In Maureen’s case, the story was fairly straightforward. A normal life by Earth standards, which she had to explain to him, of course, and then an abrupt abduction by their brutal captors.
In Bodok’s case, it was a bit more convoluted. Life on his planet sounded like a bit of a tumultuous existence, with rival factions constantly vying for power and control over each other’s resources.
While they were an advanced race that had spread out to the stars, the social structure on their planet almost reminded her of the old shogunates of feudal Japan. And, apparently, honor was very much a thing to them, with the highest of ranking guardians eschewing blaster type weapons in their conflicts, preferring to settle things the old-fashioned way.
They talked and talked until they both grew weary and finally turned in for the night. Of course, there was no real night, as the Raxxians didn’t turn off the lights at any time, so it was more a matter of the day catching up with them both, calling them to sleep.
The next morning Maureen woke to find the pregnant woman awake and looking almost back to normal. She had made a full recovery, thanks to Bodok, and her unborn child was safe and secure as well.
Maureen was looking forward to making her acquaintance properly. All of the other humans she’d known aboard the ship were either dead or taken to other compartments, though she was pretty sure the ones the Raxxians said they had relocated had actually wound up on the dinner table.
Unfortunately, their captors had other plans.
“Well done,” the guard said when he and his comrades came to check on them in the morning. “Come.”
Maureen and Bodok looked at one another.
“If it’s okay, I would like to stay here. To help look after the patient, that is.”
The Raxxian grabbed her arm,hard, and pulled her along as though she were no more than a child. “You do as you are told,” was all he said.
Bodok’s cheeks darkened as they flushed, but he knew better than to get in the way of the Raxxians. Instead, he just shared a parting smile with this interesting new human captive as she was led out of his compartment, hoping they would see each other again.
As it turned out, they would only catch a few glimpses of each other in passing over the next several weeks, and always with Raxxian guards close by.
Maureen was relocated to another compartment. One that housed a lone alien male. The one who had inked her translation rune when she first arrived. Heydar. He kept to himself, quietly resting in his bunk most of the day. But they would not remain alone much longer.
In the next several weeks many more humans were brought in, each deposited unconscious on the floor.
“Why do they keep abducting people from my world?” she asked one day.
“They do not abduct,” Heydar said. “They harvest. At this rate, they should be done soon and move on to another world. Or to transfer their cargo to be distributed to the rest of their fleet. Time will tell.”
“Great. Just freaking great,” Maureen grumbled, wondering exactly how many more humans they would take.
In just a few weeks, the final Earthling was taken and she had her answer as the ship vibrated differently as it pulled up out of the atmosphere. They lacked windows, but Heydar, the surly alien, made it quite clear they were now traveling between solar systems by the feel of it.
He had actually shown a modicum of pity when the newest arrival was dumped on the cold deck, picking her up easily and depositing her in an empty bunk before gathering his tattoo implements and inking the translation rune behind her ear while she slept, as he had done for all of them upon their arrival.
It was many hours later when the woman woke with a start, banging her head before carefully sliding off her bunk and onto her feet.
“You’ll want to go slow for a few minutes,” Maureen said, walking closer. “It’ll take a little before it wears off.”
“Before what wears off?” the newcomer said, stubbornly attempting to walk anyway. Maureen couldn’t help but like her.
Despite her gumption, the poor woman nevertheless found herself rudely introduced to the floor a moment later.
Maureen chuckled and squatted down to meet her gaze. She’d seen this before, and more than once. “Yeah, like I said, you’ll want to go slow. I’m Maureen,” she offered, reaching out a hand.
“Darla,” the woman said, accepting her hand and gripping firmly as her new friend helped her to her feet. She wobbled a little, but stayed up.
“I’m okay. Just gimme a minute,” she said, woozy.
Maureen chuckled. “Take all the time you need. Not like we’re going anywhere.”
The others watched as Darla slowly gathered her senses, breathing deep and working the last cobwebs out of her head. It was different for each of them, the Raxxian stun device’s effects. Some it barely fazed, others were left groggy for a day after they woke up. In this case, the new arrival seemed to be clearing her head much faster than most.
