ALIEN ABDUCTION (Captured by Aliens) (11 page)

“Exactly,”
Fallon said, looking grim faced.  “I wanted our world to advance in technology,
to move with the rest of the universe and keep our natural resources here.  That
way, we could improve the lives of everyone and not just the fortunate few. 

“But my
radical ideas were not welcomed by our father.  He wanted his legacy preserved,
and left everything in my brother Kore’s hands.  That fool will run this entire
planet into the dirt.  We cannot allow ourselves to have a resource as precious
as chalcedonite and not advance our technology--to say nothing of our defenses. 
We are just asking for a more advanced race to invade our world and take
everything from us.”

Ebony
nodded.  “I get you there.  That’s the ‘ore’ you were telling me about?”

“Yes.  Chalcedonite. 
It is a metal ore highly sought throughout the universe.  Our planet is rich in
it where most of the others are not.  The mining of this ore has brought the
kingdom great wealth.  It is light and incredibly strong, and able to withstand
the rigors of space travel unlike any other material.”

“Okay,”
she said, wrapping the rags of her dress a little closer around her shoulders. 
“So your planet has a valuable resource wanted by everyone in the known
universe, and only a few people benefit from the sale of this ore.  I think I
finally understand things now.”

“I am
glad to hear it,” said Fallon.

“Everything,
that is, except why you think stealing King Kore’s harem would make any
difference to him.  He might be annoyed, but he’ll just pay those gray aliens
to go steal some more women--and, thanks to this wonderful ore, he can easily
afford it.”  She shrugged.  “All of us women are completely replaceable, as far
as he’s concerned.  I’ve never seen him act like he’s got any attachment to any
of them.  He sure doesn’t have it for me--not that I’d want him to.”

Both
Fallon and Damon fell silent, and Fallon put his hand on her back again and
guided her on down the corridor until they reached the level where everyone was
housed.  It was a long line of doors and windows, doors and windows, much like
a motel back on Earth.

Ebony
glanced around, and tried to see into the rooms through the hallway windows and
the occasional open door, but she couldn’t see more than a few dozen men in the
various rooms.  “From the looks of it, your rebellion doesn’t have many
supporters,” she said.  “How did such a small force cause so much trouble?  Unless
you’ve got more scattered throughout the mine?”

Fallon
gave her a hard stare.

“Or in
other settlements besides this one?”  She paused.  “Now,
that
seems like
a distinct possibility.

Fallon
continued to stare at her, and then finally looked back at Damon.  “I want
everyone split up in these rooms,” Fallon said.  “And hear me again: No man is
to harm these women in any way.  We need them safe and well if we expect to
make the trade—especially if any of them are pregnant.”

At that,
Fallon’s other men stepped forward and began taking the women one by one into
different rooms--each woman alone with one man.

Ebony
raised her eyebrows and looked up at Fallon.  “Call me crazy, but that looks
like a recipe for trouble.  You’re putting a lot of faith in those guys.”

“Do not
trouble yourself about it, Ebony Raines,” said Fallon.

She
snorted.  “I suppose you have reason to trust your men, since they put their
fate into your hands to begin with; but I know how men get when they don’t get
a piece of tail for a while.  I can’t imagine that it’s different here, just
because you’re aliens.”

The two
men looked at her in silence.

“Your
brother, the king, certainly has enough sex drive to make
me
go insane. 
I don’t think—”

With
that, Fallon and Damon walked on either side of her and led her into one of the
rooms, closing the door behind them. 

Ebony
went with them without protest.  She knew it would be no use.  Once inside, she
saw a room with two fair-sized beds inside.  The same white-blue lights lined
the ceiling and the floor, revealing a sparsely furnished room that included a
table and two chairs, the beds, and a rack of clothing along one wall.

Fallon
walked to the rack and pulled down a pale blue shirt and pants with a
drawstring.  They looked like hospital scrubs.  He tossed them to her.  “Here. 
Put these on.  And these, too.”  A pair of ankle-high brown leather slippers
followed the scrubs.

Rather
than argue about them leaving, which she figured they weren’t about to do,
Ebony shrugged and pulled off ragged sari top and thin brassiere, dropping both
to the floor as her breasts spilled out and bobbled against her chest.  She
pulled the large shirt over her head and slipped her arms through the sleeves. 

“Don’t
worry,” she called to the men.  “I’ve had to undress in front of a crowd often
enough that I’ve lost the embarrassment I normally reserve for such occasions.”

As she
rolled up the long sleeves to her elbows, she noticed she’d attracted both
men’s attention.  Fallon looked stone faced at her.  Damon’s mouth was slightly
agape.  Both seemed riveted to what she’d do next.

Amusement
filled her.

Testing
the boundaries of their interest, Ebony slowly shimmied out of the remains of
her dirty, shredded red skirt, allowing it to drop sensuously to the floor and,
for the briefest moment, reveal the apex of her sex.  No doubt Fallon was
remembering the moment not long ago when he’d torn away her panties.  Either
way, the mere glimpse was enough to rouse their attention.  Damon sucked in a
sharp breath while Fallon audibly swallowed.

Interesting. 
Very interesting.

She
wondered if she could somehow use this to her advantage.  She needed to take
stock of her priorities and what she wanted to accomplish.

As she
pulled the blue drawstring pants up around her waist, there was a knock on the
frame of the door.  Ebony glanced up to see a guardsmen seeking permission to
enter.

The man
spoke to Fallon.  “We’ve found another vein.  This one appears richer than any
we’ve struck before, but we’re having a hard time getting to it.  We’ll have to
engage the rock crushers.”

Fallon
nodded.  “Do what you must.  We need as much as can be gathered.  I’ll come to
see what progress has been made in our absence.  Damon, you watch the woman
while I’m gone.”

“I won’t
take my eyes off her,” Damon said, regarding Ebony with a look that sent a
surprising shudder through her.

Fallon
narrowed his eyes at Ebony.  “See that you don’t.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Damn if
I don’t finally get to wear clothes and I just have to take them off again,”
Ebony grumbled. 

Standing
in the middle of the small bedroom, she pulled off the blue hospital-scrub top
and drawstring pants, wadded them up, and threw them unceremoniously in a far
corner.  “There.  Now what?”

Damon
stood in another corner of the room, just behind the man he’d brought in with
him--Dr. Zoran.  The good doctor looked a little embarrassed, but Ebony had had
enough of being ordered around and was not about to spare anyone’s feelings.  “Ah--lie
down on the bed, please.  The examination will not take long.”

Exasperated,
Ebony stretched out in the middle of the bed and pulled her knees up.  “I told
you, both of you--every woman in the harem gets checked every week for
pregnancy.  We were all tested not three or four days ago.  There’s no reason
to do this.”

Damon
crossed his arms over his chest, leaning his back against the wall.  “Fallon
has ordered it.  We have to be sure of your condition before we begin
bargaining with Kore.  The doctor is here to examine every one of you, both for
pregnancy and for general condition.”

“Yeah,
well, right now my general condition is generally cold, dirty, hungry, and
bitchy,” she stated.  “I don’t need a doctor to tell me that.  And you can be
sure that all the other girls are feeling exactly the same way.”

He
remained as silent as a stone, so Ebony merely sighed, lay back, and shut her
eyes.  “Yeah, go ahead, Doc.”  She tapped her fingers as he applied some
lubricant and gently inserted two fingers, and then pressed down on her lower
abdomen.  “Geez, is that all you got?  You didn’t even need any lube for that. 
You wouldn’t believe what we go through in the harem.”

“Actually,
I would,” the doctor said, withdrawing his fingers.  “And I’m sorry such things
have happened to you.” He walked over, picked up her discarded clothes, and
handed them to her.  “Please get dressed.  You are not pregnant.  You will be
fine with some good food and some rest.  You are a very strong woman.  Good day
to you.”

Slowly,
Ebony took the clothes from him.  “Thank you,” she said, and turned around to
get dressed as Damon let the doctor out of the room.

Once she
was back in the scrubs, she began to realize how exhausted she really was from
walking for so long.  The temptation to lie down on the bed with its soft,
warm, clean blankets and pillows, and take a very long nap, nearly overwhelmed
her.  But she didn’t like the look she’d caught in Damon’s eyes, or the effect
it had on her.  He was a pompous ass, just as Fallon and the king and all the
men seemed to be on this planet, and she’d better not forget that--no matter
how sexually attractive she might find one or two of them to be.

A grim
determination to remain aloof and keep her objective in mind came to her.  Ebony
knew that her sister, Adrienne, was in good hands with her mate, Captain Zeta;
but the desire to remain close to the only family she had could not be ignored. 
She looked at Damon again and kept focused on her goal: getting home.

“You and
Fallon mentioned trading all of us women.  Trade us for what?  If we are to be
ransomed, why take us so far away from the city?” she asked.

Damon
looked at her a long moment, as if trying to decide whether to ignore her or
answer her question--and to determine what sort of trouble he might bring on
himself from Fallon if he humored her.  Then again, maybe she was reading too
much into him.  He might be an absolute idiot and not have one clear thought in
his head.

“I
shouldn’t be talking to you,” he said finally, shifting his weight from one
foot to the other.

“Aren’t
you tired from traveling?  You should sit down and take a breather.  Maybe even
a nap.”

He eyed
her.  “You’re on my bed.”

Her eyes
widened and she thought about standing up, but resisted the urge.  “Oh!  Well,
you’ve got it really broken in.”  She patted the mattress and bounced on it a
little, ignoring the way her breasts bounced along with her.

His eyes
followed the movement of her chest.  “Don’t tempt me,” he said.

She
shrugged and stretched, feeling her nipples poke against the fabric
enticingly.  “I wouldn’t dream of it.  I can tell just by looking at you that
you’re made of stone.”

He
grunted.

“What’s
that for?  I recognize disdain when I see it,” she said, narrowing her eyes at
him.

“Women.”  He
moved into the room and took a seat at the table, but kept his eyes on her as
he leaned back in the chair and two of the legs lifted off the floor.  His legs
were very long and muscular, if the tightness of his black pants against their
length were any indication.

His long,
silvered black hair flowed around his shoulders, and one strand caught in the
corner of a set of lips that were full and sensual.  He brushed his hair back
as if annoyed at the tickle against his skin.

Ebony
remembered how soft it was.  She’d had a thing for long haired rockers back in
the day and had always envisioned rolling around in their hair and playing with
it. 
Okay, so I’ve got a hair fetish.  Nothing wrong with looking.

“I don’t
like the way you say that.  You got a problem with women?”

“No.  Just
the way they try to manipulate men.”

Ebony
looked affronted and crossed her arms over her chest.  “I wouldn’t have thought
you had much experience with that.”

He looked
at her, rubbing a thumb against the edge of the table as he regarded her with a
cool gaze.  Even his eyebrows were silver.  Fascinating….  “I’ve had enough--enough
to recognize when one is trying to get under my skin.”

She
lifted her chin and crossed her arms over her chest.  “I have no intention or
desire to get under your skin or anyone else’s.  I’m bored.  I wanted to talk. 
I thought it was better than just staring at the wall.”

He
stopped his movement.  “I think you’ll find yourself under someone sooner or
later, like it or not.”

“You know
what?  I don’t think I like you.”

He
laughed, a bark of sound that grated on her nerves.  “The feeling is mutual.  I
wouldn’t have any of you here, if it was up to me.  This is Fallon’s plan, not
my own.”

It was nice
he’d brought the conversation back around to where she wanted it.  “And you
have a problem with that?  Why, exactly?  You got away from the palace with
eight of us, with no problem at all.”

“The king
will never barter for you, no matter how tempting you might be.  Why would he
have such a large harem if not for the fact that his heart is not engaged with
any of you?”

“Why?”
 Ebony looked at
Damon, and then laughed out loud.  “Because he’s a
man
, that’s why!  What
man wouldn’t take a palace full of women and bang them three times a day if he
could get away with it?  Love’s got nothing to do with any of it, thankfully.  I
think I’d die if I thought he loved me--the pig.”

“You did
not want the king’s love?  With his love comes riches.  That is something hard
to come by and harder to resist.”

She
sniffed.  “I like money and nice things the same as everyone, but it’s not
enough to make up for suffering with a sour disposition.  I’d rather have
nothing and be with someone who makes me happy.  I’m not as materialistic as
you think I am.”

He leaned
forward, resting the legs of the chair back on the floor as he watched her
steadily.  “So.  You would give up everything for love?”

Ebony
blinked.  “Of course.  Most people would.  Or maybe I should say: Most
women
would.”

Fallon
chose that moment to return to the room.  Damon nodded at his entry.

“I can
take over here if you want to get yourself cleaned up and get something to
eat,” Fallon said to Damon.

Damon
gave her a long look, then took his leave.

“I heard
you two talking as I approached,” Fallon said to her.

“Oh?”

“Damon
has a problem with nosy women.”

“I’m not
nosy,” she said, looking as insulted as she felt.

Fallon
chuckled.  “Oh, but you are.”

“Yeah,
well, maybe I am--but you just mentioned food.  What I really want to know is
when we mere females get some real food around here.  I am starved half to
death and there’s no doubt the other women are, too.”

“All
right.  We could all do with a decent meal.  It should be ready by now.  Come
with me.  We’ll get the others.  I’ll show you.”

Fallon
held the door open for her, and Ebony walked out into the corridor.  He began
knocking on the row of doors, and one at a time they opened and she saw one of
her harem sisters inside each one--and each of them was still with one of
Fallon’s men, just as before.  Ebony rolled her eyes, but was far too hungry to
protest anything right now.

They all
followed Fallon down the corridor, following the bright dots of light outlining
the boundaries of the ceiling.  Ebony noted that all the women were now wearing
the same kind of scrubs that she had, though each in a different color.  “Nice
to wear clothes again, isn’t it?” she said to Cassie.  “But how did you get to
be the one wearing red this time?”

Cassie
just laughed.  “I’d wear the ugliest color on this planet if it would just get
me some decent food!”

“Yeah, me
too.  Hey, it’s starting to smell pretty good.  Let’s go see.”

The men
pushed open a pair of metal double doors, and Ebony almost laughed in delight
as they walked inside of what looked like a school cafeteria back on Earth.  Damon
was already there, feasting on something that smelled delicious.  They all sat
down at a couple of long tables beside him and in a moment a couple of workers
silently brought them each a tray loaded with food.

Ebony
found a plate holding a very large, crusty bread bowl filled with steaming soup. 
The soup was made of vegetables with chunks of white meat floating in the broth. 
She reached for the wooden spoon that rested on the plate beside the bread bowl
and dug in.  The soup was hot and delicious, and the bread as good as any she’d
ever had back on Earth.

The only
thing that could top it off was cheese.  Lord, how she missed cheese!

“You eat
as though you haven’t eaten in days,” said Fallon, as he and Damon devoured
their own food.

“That’s
because I haven’t,” Ebony answered, her voice muffled by a huge mouthful of hot
fresh bread.  She glanced over at Damon’s plate and saw a small crust still
left.  “Hey, are you going to eat that?”

He tossed
her the crust.  “Finish up,” Damon said.  “It’s time for sleep.  We’ve got
plans for you--for all of you.”

She
stopped eating.  “What plans?  Do they include getting a bath?”

“Perhaps
that can be arranged.  As for the other, in the morning, Ebony,” Fallon said.  “We
will know more in the morning.”

Ebony
rolled her eyes.  “Oh, yeah, later with the information, always later.  I’m
sorry I asked.”  The soup was gone and she continued to pull of hunks of bread
from the round loaf that had served as the soup bowl.  She looked up at the
workers and caught the eye of one of them.  “Hey, bring me a couple more of
these, okay?”  In a moment, the silent worker did just that, and Ebony dug in
again--as content as she had been on this world in a very long time.

***

Damon
disappeared after he had finished eating.  The other men and women eventually
wandered out of the cafeteria and, Ebony presumed, went back to their rooms.  Fallon
and Ebony were soon walking along the enormous corridor once again.