She was surprised. “You aren’t going to?”
“We have decided that he is to have no more treatment than his own world would be capable of giving him, which is next to none. They have not yet progressed to the age of science or medicine.”
She wasn’t sure she understood that reasoning—and then it occurred to her that she didn’t need to. She realized they hadn’t just been telling her things. Telling was easy. They’d also been enacting their story, following their own scripts, and Jorran had been a major acting part.
He was one of them, of course. They’d actually had her believing what those rods could do, when in fact they did nothing, had been used on other members of the project who had merely pretended they’d been hypnotized. The mayor? His secretary? Either tricked into going along with the pretense or really hypnotized ahead of time. Jorran had just been their “reason” for coming here. So he had to be a continuing part of the script.
The damage done to him? Faked, of course, but damn, they sure did a good job of faking. His nose really did look crooked above the cloth he was holding below it to stem the fake blood. His broken arm was hanging rather limp at his side. He stood lopsided, to keep the weight off his supposedly broken kneecap.
Impressed, Brittany remarked casually, “You know, if I really thought Jorran was injured, rather than pretending to be, I’d tell you it’s cruel to make him suffer like that when he could be mended.”
Dalden frowned, but Martha chose to answer this time. “The man deserves some suffering. He’s a member of the ruling family of his world. All they’re going to do when we take him home is slap his wrist and tell him to not get caught next time. But even if he hadn’t tried to take over your world, he’s still on our endangered species list because he deliberately tried to kill Tedra’s son-in-law so he could hook up with her daughter, for the sole purpose of taking over their world. He’sneversuffered any consequences for his merciless actions. Someone needs to show him that the way he does things just isn’t acceptable to the rest of the universe.”
“Why isn’t he reacting to what you just said?” Brittany asked curiously.
“He didn’t hear it. I turned off the communication speaker when you entered.”
“Turn it back on. I’d like to hear what he has to say.”
“You’re too emotional to stomach it, doll. Make up your mind. You’re either going to believe he’s for real, in which case you have to believe everything else, or you’re not. And if you’re not, then what’s it matter what he has to say?”
Touché. “Is he in pain?”
“No. Even medieval worlds have figured out painkillers of one kind or another, and he’ll be given regulated doses in the air he’s breathing for as long as needed. We’re not out to torture him, merely to teach him a lesson, and even that will only be temporary.”
“Why only temporary?”
“His bones will mend by the time he gets home, they just won’t mend perfectly, so he’ll probably leave us with a slight limp and not liking his pretty new nose job. But I have little doubt that he will find himself a meditech eventually that will put him back together perfectly. Even if he never leaves home again, his planet gets a lot of off-world tourists fascinated with their old-world culture, and most modern ships come equipped with a meditech or two.”
Brittany stared at Jorran through the see-through wall. He was staring back at her, an abject appeal in his eyes. He wanted her to help him, was willing it, trying to play on her sympathies. He was a good actor, really good, was well-suited for the role of villain. He’d get no help from her, though, either way. Real or not, her only concern was whether Dalden could be cruel. He wasn’t, though; he was just trying to administer some justice that he felt wouldn’t be forthcoming from any other quarter. The logical path, something the good guys might do.
She tipped an imaginary hat to Jorran, turned to Dalden with a smile. “I can’t wait to see the finale. When do we leave for Sha-Ka’an?”
Chapter 35
THEY DID LEAVE FOR SHA-KA’AN. AT LEAST,THEYwanted her to believe that. The announcement had been made. Everyone had heard it.
Brittany had been in Dalden’s quarters when she heard it, staring out the long bank of windows. Those windows had shown her water before. When she had returned to Dalden’s quarters, they were filled with black space and stars. After the announcement, some of those stars began to move. An amazing depiction of a ship moving swiftly through space—or an elongated computer screen giving that illusion.
So much to think about, way too much. She didn’t want to deal with it anymore. It was depressing her. Even though she didn’t really believe she was leaving Earth, she was somehow experiencing the same feelings as if it were so. And it wasn’t the same as leaving home for the first time. She might not get back to Kansas to see the folks very often since she moved out, but shecouldjust hop in her car and go anytime she felt like it. There was security in having that choice. No such choice here.
The door slid quietly open behind her. She heard it, just didn’t turn to see if it was Dalden or not. The depression that had settled in as soon as she was alone, was weighing her down. Too many emotions, doubts, fears, and so much of it centered onhim.
He stood in front of her. He looked concerned, probably because she was on the verge of tears and looked it. Was he for real? How could he be? A barbarian from another world just wasn’t acceptable. But did he believe it? As they could make her forget, could they make him have memories that weren’t real, a whole lifetime of memories inserted in his mind to make him think he was other than what he was? She really wanted to believe that, rather than he was just another actor in this “play.”
“So you are not as accepting as you claimed you would be?” he said.
“I know this isn’t real,” she replied tonelessly. “You say it is. One of us doesn’t have our facts straight.”
His hands came to her shoulders, pulled her close enough so they were just touching. She had to tilt her head back now to still meet his gaze. Those lovely amber eyes were filled with sadness.
“I cannot make it all go away for you,” he told her. “I would not want to. That would mean giving you up, and I will never do that.”
“You mean Martha’s means of making people forget what has passed?”
“Yes.”
“No, I wouldn’t want that either.” She laid her head on his chest, wrapped her arms tight around him. “But it’s occurred to me that to accept this is to accept that I’ll never see my family again. Can you understand why that thought is abhorrent to me?”
