Then be quiet, we’re dreaming.
I know.
I stood outside my old prison cell in his lab and watched another version of myself—movie screen me—curl into a ball on a firm sleeping pad and shiver uncontrollably. Teeth chattering. Toes aching from the cold, beginning the process of going numb.
Our captor kept the rooms cold when he didn’t want us to sleep. Sometimes for days. I shivered as I watched dream me run her hands over her arms in an attempt to warm them. Felt the chilled skin under my own palms, the hunger gnawing at her also a cavernous ache in my observer’s body.
Then I sawhim.Dark blue skin, black uniform, eyes black and dull as matte paint dried on weathered wood. Prison me looked up at him and glared, still defiant. Still fighting.
“Why are you doing this?” she demanded.
His answer appeared; words pushed into my mind.I must determine the limits of your system’s tolerance to environmental living conditions.
“Why?”
I do not wish to limit human reproductive capabilities by exposing your bodies to extremes beyond which your species can adapt. Our males can live in extreme environments. Human females are much more fragile. A successful, native breeding program will require ideal conditions be maintained for our female subjects.
Reproductive capabilities? Breeding program? Horror at his words spiraled inside me—both of me—with all the panic and revulsion I’d felt thefirsttime I’d experienced this moment, realized what my new captor intended. Why we were all here. I was not the only woman who had been captured and sold to this—thing.
“I will kill myself before I let you do that to me.” Primal rage rose inside me, even more powerful than my terror. I would not carry this creature’s child, let it live and grow inside me like a parasite. A disgusting, alien parasite.
Successful gestation has already begun.
No!
I would starve myself to death. Claw out my own throat. I would—
Unfortunate. Your lack of cooperation is illogical.
Dream me opened her mouth to scream her rage, but no sound emerged. With one look, Nexus 5 had taken control of her—my body. He issued an order, instantly obeyed.
Sleep.
* * *
I woke with a gasp,which I immediately silenced. I didn’t want to bother Zarren, and I didn’t want to answer any questions. I knew how to stay still, shut down the panic, and wait.
You’re welcome.
Yes, there was a reason I didn’t truly shut down that part of myself. I needed her. She was the only reason I’d survived.
Our bedroom was dark, the only light from a slender band next to the door that glowed a soft blue. The commander had wanted the room to be pitch black, ‘in the event we were boarded’.I’d simply told him I needed enough light to find my way out or I wouldn’t be sleeping with him.
My nightlight had been installed within hours.
I’d accomplished a lot in the last few days, once I’d found the location of their cargo hold, where the largest S-Gen machines were usually found.
We had a new, much larger bed—I’d kept the black sheets. I was either having wild sex, or asleep when I was in bed, and they made my commander content. We probably didn’t even need the larger bed. He slept with me wrapped snuggly, securely in his arms, my entire body pressed against him. We didn’t take up a lot of room. But he had promised me a second, when I was ready. We would definitely need a bigger bed when there were three of us. And there would be three. I hadn’t changed my mind about that, and neither had he. The question now was who he would trust with caring for me. A decision he said he did not wish to rush.
I believed him, but I also knew finding a warrior he could live with was an equally delicate task.
Pulse slowed to a reasonable pounding, rather than the explosive speed of a hummingbird’s, I stole out from the arm wrapped around my waist and tip-toed to the door. I’d placed two hooks on the wall and matching robes hung from each. I slipped my arms into the soft sleeves of the smaller garment and tied the belt around my waist as I walked into our newly furnished living room.
The bedroom door closed behind me without making a sound. I stood still, listening for my commander. When I heard nothing to indicate he was awake, I sighed in relief.
You’re going to have to tell him everything.
Not yet.I wasn’t ready to talk about any of it.
