ALIEN ABDUCTION (Captured by Aliens) (8 page)

She
smiled to herself.  He didn’t realize yet that if Miss Ebony Raines had nothing
else, she had tenacity, and she would get some answers eventually.  She’d wear
Fallon down until he gave her what she wanted, and he wouldn’t even realize
what happened.  She didn’t have anything else to distract her from satisfying
her curiosity, and she rather liked the way she irritated him.  Maybe she was
just a bitch, but grating on his nerves amused her.

All
right, she
was
a bitch, and she could admit that.  The way his jaw
tightened, and the vein pulsed on his temple, whenever she opened her mouth
made her chuckle mentally.

Then the
rushing sound of water broke through her mental conversation with herself--and
she looked up to find that they were approaching a river.  One glance at the
water made her stop dead in her tracks.

This
river was wide.  And deep--she couldn’t tell how deep.  But there were boulders
scattered all through it, and rapids splashing white and fast around the
boulders.  Ebony stood and stared.  “Are you kidding me?  Where’s the bridge?”

“No
bridge,” grunted Fallon, pushing her towards the front of the group.  “Walk.”

“Not on
your life!  Wait a minute!” Ebony cried, digging in her heels and leaning back
against Fallon.  “My girls and I have been stuck in that goddam harem with no
exercise for months.  We’re exhausted just from this walking.  That’s a
swift-moving river.  What are you thinking?”

“Not deep. 
Walk.  Go.”

“Hey, it
only takes a few inches to carry off a car!  I know I’m stacked top and bottom,
but I still weigh less than a car.  And I’m not a great swimmer.”

He looked
down at her forehead, and then glanced at the others.  “It’s not that deep.  You
don’t have to swim it.”

“But what
if we slip and fall?  We could drown.  We’re not even wearing shoes,” she said.

“She’s
right,” Damon said.

“All
right.  Carry them across,” Fallon said to his men.  He gave Ebony a warning
look and then turned her around and hefted her up like a child, putting her up
over his head to sit on his shoulders.  “But do not do anything stupid.”

Ebony
squealed and then clung to his head, clamping her thighs around his cheeks as
he eased into the swift moving water.  Slight panic made her heart thump hard
in her chest.  Fallon mumbled something to her, but she could not hear him.

Then she
realized that she’d tightened her hold on him with her legs until her thighs
completely covered his nose and mouth.  That might’ve made her laugh if her
fate didn’t depend on him not suffocating and dropping them both in the water. 
The water hit him at mid-thigh, which would put it waist high on her--and that
was too deep for her liking, especially with the fast-moving current rushing
through it.

She moved
her hands under his chin, held on tight and relaxed her legs a little, allowing
him to breathe and talk.  “Sorry, sorry.  I’m not used to being this high in
the air!  It’s gettin’ on my nerves somethin’ fierce.”

“Calm
down!  You’ll be safe!  Just trust me,” Fallon grumbled, grasping her calves
and taking great steps across.

Trust
wasn’t something she just handed out willy-nilly.  But she had to trust him
this time.  She didn’t have much choice in the matter.

“Ebony,”
he said in a strangled voice.  “If you do not loosen your thighs around my
throat, I will dunk you in the water.”

“Oh!  Sorry. 
I can’t help it!” she said, forcing herself to relax her legs a little more and
depend upon him to keep her above the water.  She watched from her perch on his
shoulders as he powered through the swift current, taking them across the
rushing river to the other side with little effort. 

His
strength impressed her.  Being back on solid ground impressed her even more.

Ebony
wilted to the ground and sat motionless, watching as the others joined them.  The
girls all collapsed on the ground in relief, as Ebony had done.  The men filled
their canteens and drank until their bellies were full of water, and then
passed the canteens to the women.

“Thanks,”
Ebony said, taking the canteen from Fallon.

“For
what?” he said, watching her with a steady gaze.

“For not
dropping me.  You could’ve just dunked me in the water and stepped back to see
what would happen,” she said before taking another swig of water.  She handed
the canteen back to him.

He
chuckled, and took a long drink of the water, and then crouched at the river’s
edge once more to fill the container back up.  “I suppose you think us
monsters, but we are not.  No more than any man is.”

She gave
him a wry grin.  “That’s not saying much.”

He stood
up, and looked straight at her.  “No, it’s not.  But then, they haven’t done
the things we have.  If you knew the truth, you might feel differently.”

“Just
waiting on you to tell it to me.  One of you.  I’ll dig it out eventually.  Probably
from Damon.  He looks easier to break.”

Damon
laughed, a short bark of a sound.  “She’s got balls.”

Fallon
rubbed his chin.  “Something like that,” he said.

Ebony
looked hard at Fallon.  “You going to tie our hands again?”

His eyes
flicked from Ebony to the other women.  “I think we’ve had enough of the
bindings.  If any of you run away now, you’ll just be lost in the woods.”

“So we’re
still trapped, but you’re giving us the illusion of freedom,” Ebony asked.  She
stood up and filed into line with the women.

“Exactly,”
Damon said.  “Don’t think about running away.  Our legs are much longer than
yours, and I would hate to punish you or any of the others for the attempt.”

The women
from the harem looked wide-eyed and wary, but made no answer.  The men began
moving them down the trail as though herding sheep.  Ebony found her temper
rising as she watched.

“You
know, Fallon,” she said, as she started down the trail, “as much as you men
might like to think of us women as being cowed, meek, and mild, we’re all
survivors.  Circumstances have forced us to become survivors.  We’re a lot
stronger than we appear, even if we are smaller and weaker than all you big men. 
We still have backbones.  We still have a will of our own.”

“Let us
know when you women can carry the men across the river.  Then we will listen to
you talk about having backbones.”

She
turned back glared at him.  “We just haven’t had a chance to show our strength because
you men insist on imposing
your
rules onto
us
.”

He didn’t
bother to look at her.  He acted as if he wasn’t even listening.  “Men’s
arrogance never ceases to amaze me,” she said, turning and stomping back along
the trail.  “Men are men, aliens or not.  Not one of you guys has a clue how to
treat a woman—that much is obvious.”

“You are
needed, Ebony.  All these women are.  You have your part to play, as we all
do.”

“So--we’re
just bargaining chips for you to use in some master plan to take over the
kingdom?”

No
answer.

“Damned
meatheads,” she muttered, and continued down the trail.

CHAPTER EIGHT

After
what seemed like hours of walking, with Fallon and Damon and everyone else
refusing to talk to her to pass the time, Ebony lost herself in her own
thoughts.  She had to keep putting one foot in front of the other through what
seemed like endless miles of forest.  When the woods petered out and the
foothills began, she thought she just might die of exhaustion.

Her fine
red silk gown, edged with golden ribbon, was filthy and shredded from walking
for miles over sandy beach and through deep pine forest and then sleeping on a
dirt floor.  The fragile, gossamer fabric was practically falling apart.  Her
feet were bruised and swollen, even though the leather straps were better than
nothing.  And she could certainly see that all the other women were equally
tattered and exhausted and sore to the bone.

Ebony had
almost gotten to the point of collapsing on the ground, and throwing a massive
temper tantrum to get a moment’s rest, when Fallon decided to give them a break. 
“Stop here,” he called.  Ebony kept stumbling on when the others quickly halted
at the sound of his voice, and she almost ran into the woman in front of her--which
turned out to be Cassie.  “Eat.  Drink.  Rest,” Fallon ordered.  “We’ll be
moving out again soon.”

Ebony
accepted the food she was given--more jerky and, this time, some kind of dried
fruit that looked like leathery tomatoes and tasted like apricots--but as soon
as she had eaten, and caught her breath a little, she walked right up to Fallon
where he sat beside Damon on the ground beneath a lone pine tree.

She put
her hands on her hips and looked Fallon straight in the eye.  “I’ve had some
questions ever since I got to this world, and I’m tired of waiting for answers. 
Just being a pawn doesn’t sit well with me.  I want you to tell me a few things
and I want you to tell them to me
now
.”

Slowly
the two men looked up at her, and stared as though she were simply an annoying
insect.  “And if we do not tell you?” asked Damon.

“Then--then--I
will go right on doing my best to escape at every opportunity, and you will
either have to tie me up and carry me or spend your nights wondering about
whether I really did get back to the palace.”

The men
glanced at each other, and then Fallon looked back at Ebony.  “What do you want
to know?”

Without
being invited, Ebony sat down on the soft earth right in front of them.  “First
of all,” she began, “I might have been abducted by aliens, but I’m still no
fool.  I have eyes.  I can see that you, Fallon, claim to
be
the king’s
brother, and look like you
are
the king’s brother.  I do think you must
be the king’s brother, but not just any brother.  I think you’re the king’s
twin
brother.”

The two
men stopped chewing for a moment, and looked at each other.  “Go on,” said
Fallon. 

“Well.  If
we accept that as fact, the next logical conclusion is that you, Fallon, are
the leader of the rebels--the rebels which have caused so much trouble in the
kingdom.”

He stared
up at her with those cold blue eyes.  “And if I tell you that I am the leader
of the rebels?”

“Then
I’ll ask you the next question:  What happened to all the women on this planet?
 We were told when we got here that they all died in a plague.  Now, genetic
engineering wasn’t exactly my best subject in school, but I don’t see how any
natural bug could come along and kill only women and not men.  What happened?  And
who did it?”

Fallon
stood up, took Ebony by the arm in an iron grip, and walked with her back to
the edge of the forest where the others could not hear.  “You are right, Ebony
Raines,” he said.  “You are right about all of it.  I will tell you what
happened, but you may wish you had never asked.”

Her eyes
grew a little larger, but she only nodded silently and stood waiting for him to
speak.

Fallon
released her and began pacing.  “Sit down.  I know you are weary,” he said.  She
sank down to the earth and continued to watch him.

He was
quiet a moment, remembering the fateful day when his life was forever changed.

***

Fifteen
years ago…

Fallon
slammed his fists on the table that sat before his father, the king.  “Father,
you cannot do this!  I am next in line to rule this kingdom.”

King Erol
Anadaru regarded his son with an icy blue gaze that had withered many a man on
the spot.  Snow white hair flowed around his shoulders, matched by an equally
long beard around the firm set of his mouth.  “You sound like a petulant child,
Fallon.  I have made my decision in this matter.”

Fallon
straightened up, his eyes moving from his father to his brother.  Kore sat
beside the king, a smirk on his face.  That bastard had been needling their
father for years to get into his good graces.  Kore had never had an original
thought enter his brain.

“This is
wrong.  I am firstborn—”

“And I am
still the king! And you will be quiet!” Erol Anadaru roared at his son.

Fallon
did not back down.  It was not in his nature to snap in the fierce tornado of
his father’s anger.  Fallon closed his mouth, sensing the approach of a tirade
such as he’d never heard.

“For
years you have asked that I change policies regarding the distribution of
necessities and work.  The working class will remain in the lottery just as
they have always done.  Kore has assured me his vision for the progression of
our planet is in line with my own.  I cannot trust this with you.  You’ve made
it abundantly clear to me that when you rule, you will change the very fabric
of our existence—”

“The
lotteries have not been setup to give equal chance to all.  Those that labor in
the mines do so until death, with no opportunity for a better life for
themselves or their children—”

“I will
have your silence or I will have your tongue!” Erol commanded, rising from his
seat and slamming both palms on the great table.

“Now, the
lives of the minors are no concern of yours.  Chalcedonite must be mined to
keep the coffers full.  My decision is made!  Kore will be king after I am
gone.  I announce it to the people this afternoon, and I expect you to support
my decision for the good of the people.”

A muscle
ticked in Fallon’s jaw as he remained silent.

The king
smiled slyly.  “Good.  I thought you would be brought to heel.  You are
dismissed.”

Kore
leaned back in his chair, as if he’d planned out their father’s response like a
master puppeteer.

Fallon
hated to admit that he’d been outmatched by his brother, but then, it had never
occurred to him that he would have to fight for the throne that rightfully
belonged to him.

Fallon
spun on his booted heel and left the audience room.  He knew there were others
amongst their people that would not take this decision as lightly as the king
thought.

He was
prepared to go against everything he’d been taught and trained to obey.

The king
didn’t know it, but he’d just declared war against his own son.

***

“Yes. 
King Kore and I are twin brothers.  But I was the first
born, and therefore should have been named king.”

Ebony closed her eyes for a moment.  She started to ask him why he
wasn’t king, but for once managed to keep silent and just let him speak.

“I was not named king because I had new ideas of how Chalcydon
should be ruled.  Our world produces but one thing of value: the blue-white ore
called
chalcedonite
that is mined from these mountains.  With
chalcedonite, we can buy or trade for anything we need: t
echnology, weapons,
food, services, and all else that we can’t make or do ourselves.

“Yet this
extremely valuable ore is mined with near-slave labor from the lower classes in
our own society.  No one wants to see their child become a miner, for miners
live a life spent in darkness and fear.  So those in power make sure their
children get into fine careers such as physicians, and keepers of the law, and
even artists of many sorts.  The harder work goes to
the
lower classes--and they are not allowed to choose their own path.  They are
assigned their work and that is where they stay for life.

“I did not want this to continue.  I had seen the discontent and
the terrible resentment that breeds when people are trapped in their station in
life and know for certain that there will never be any way out, no matter what
they do. 

“And it seemed to me that if more people could work at developing
technology and weaponry and our own systems of defense, we would no longer be
dependent on other worlds to provide those things for us--because I am
convinced that, sooner or later, the other worlds will grow tired of paying the
high prices we demand for chalcedonite.  They will invade and they will take
what they want.  And what can we do to stop them?

“Yet there are too many who want the comfort of an unchanging life--who
will do anything to avoid the discomfort of change.  My
freethinking did not
sit well with my father, who thought it would destroy the order of the kingdom. 
He saw to it that Kore was named king and not me. 

“I knew, though,
that I was not the only one with such outrageous ideas.  There were any number
of
doctors, scientists, soldiers, and others of high
rank who wanted to change this rigid class structure just as much as I did, and
for the same reasons: because it kept us so vulnerable to invasion, and because
we had seen the cruelty that it imposed upon those at the lower ends of the
scale. 

“These ideas had been defeated before.  But this time, when it
became known that I had been pushed aside in favor of my brother, I and t
hese ‘rebels’--as you
call them--came together and decided to take drastic measures.”

Fallon
looked mostly at the ground as he continued pacing.  Ebony hardly took a
breath, so transfixed was she by the story and by his graceful movements as he
walked.

He drew a
deep breath.  “We thought we could force the new king--King Kore--to accept our
demands for these extreme social and political changes.  Therefore, the rebel
scientists created a virus--one transmitted through the act of sex--that would
render any male sterile, unless and until he took several doses of the
antivirus that would block its effects.”

Ebony
raised her eyebrows.  “You all did
what?
”

He glared
at her.  “The virus was created to do no harm other than leaving the men
sterile.  Our plan was to withhold the antivirus until the social and political
changes we demanded became law.”

“Wow,”
said Ebony.  “Leave all the men sterile?” She paused, and her mouth dropped
open.  “Hey!  Maybe that’s why—”

“Ebony!  You
don’t understand,” he said, through gritted teeth.  “The rulers never got a
chance to give us an answer.  The virus mutated soon after it was released.  It
did nothing to the men at all.  It only affected the women.”

“So--it
left all the women sterile, not the men?”

He turned
away.  “It left all the women
dead
, Ebony.  Eventually the scientists of
the ruling class managed to contain the virus and find an antivirus against the
new mutation, but it was too late.  The virus killed all the females of
breeding age or younger on the entire planet of Chalcydon.”

“And
that’s why you need to buy women from other worlds,” whispered Ebony.  “
That’s
why.”  Then she sat up very straight.  “A virus that kills women?  But--what
about—”

“You are
all safe.  You were all given the antivirus on the Gray’s ship before being
brought here.  We have found no more trace of the virus here, anyway.  There is
no danger to you.”