Alien Caller (30 page)

“Tell her.” It
didn’t sound anything like speech, but his hostage understood him
perfectly. The nearness of death had made him almost telepathic.
And he was going to die shortly, David promised himself. For
whatever he’d done to Cyrea, he couldn’t be allowed to live. For
her already to not know what they’d done, it smacked of brain
washing. Pure evil.

“My fault, all
mine. I’m so sorry. I needed to know how tough he was, how far he
could push himself on human adrenaline. But he wouldn’t fight. He
needed a reason, so I gave him one.” There was something almost
deceitful in the way the little Leinian was telling the truth, and
David started listening carefully. Or tried to. But his thinking
was becoming fuzzy around the edges and there was a terrible
roaring growing somewhere behind his ears. Yet he still knew he had
to be very careful around the little monster.

“He heard your
voice, a computer production, and thought you were being tortured,
and I used it to make him fight the synthetics to save you. I’m
sorry. I’m so terribly sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody.” His
prisoner was babbling, actually trying to speak faster than his
mouth could move. But at least he could speak. David was starting
to lose hearing as well as speech. The roaring in his ears was
getting louder as though a crowd was massing somewhere behind him.
Even though he knew there was only a steel wall there, he had to
fight the impulse to look.

“But he beat
them. It should have been so easy. But he destroyed them all. Five
synthetics, two of them tens, and he destroyed them as if they were
made of paper. He left them in pieces. He tore the last one in
half. Then he smashed the room apart and escaped. He’s insane and
he wants revenge. He’s going to kill me. Please Ayn save me. It’s
all my fault but he’s still insane, a wild beast. He’ll kill me and
then he’ll kill everyone else. You have to kill him.”

David saw the
look of shock on Cyrea’s face as she heard his prisoner ask her to
kill him, and he knew a moment of joy. However, far they’d gotten
with her, she still didn’t want to kill him and that was worth
anything. For the longest time he could think of nothing else. Not
even his prisoner’s continual pleading.

“Please. I
don’t want to die, please. I’m begging you. I’m truly sorry. I’ll
tell you everything. But he’s crazy. He’s going to kill me. Then
he’s going to kill us all. Save me.” He was screaming by then,
trying to convince both her and all those others outside the door.
His words triggered something in David, but with his thoughts as
confused as they were it took a little while before he understood.
The Leinian was trying to turn Cyrea against him. Trying to get the
others outside to attack. Once he realized what he was doing though
he knew it couldn’t be allowed. He didn’t even have to think about
it. A simple flex of his arm and the doctor’s jaw was as broken as
his. The Leinian screamed in pain and fear and then started sobbing
uncontrollably, but at least he couldn’t lie any longer.

Unfortunately
David couldn’t speak either. He couldn’t explain. He saw the look
in Cyrea’s eyes and knew she was shocked by him. Shocked at
watching him hurt his prisoner. She didn’t understand. She couldn’t
with the brain washing. But she was going to do something,
something he didn’t want her to do. She had seen him crush the
doctor’s jaw, and she thought he’d gone mad. He wanted her to
understand, but there was no way to tell her.

Then he saw a
sudden look of determination in her eyes. She was going to try and
save him. But not David, she wanted to save his prisoner. His
ticket out of this hell hole.

“David, please
give me the weapon.” He called to her to stay back, to come help
him, or just to stay with him, but all that came out was random
noise and blood. A lot of blood. He saw the redness spitting out on
his arm wrapped around his captive’s throat, and knew it was a bad
sign. There was too much, and it wasn’t just from a few broken
teeth. Somewhere he’d punctured a lung.

“I don’t know
what’s happened, but I promise you we’ll fix it. We won’t hurt you.
You know that. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I promise.” She was
advancing on him slowly, and behind her he could see other heads
poking around the corner.

“No. Go away.”
It didn’t even sound like that to him let alone anyone else, and
more blood sprayed out his mouth and over his hostage. Too much
blood.

“You’re hurt,
very badly. We want to help you, but you need to go to the
hospital.” Her voice was so calm, so measured and precise that he
almost found himself agreeing with her, even though he knew she was
only doing exactly what was in all the text books. And he wanted to
believe her, with everything he was. But he knew it was a trap. If
he stayed he’d die here.

“No.” The sound
was nothing like speech and he could barely find the ability to
shake his head, but he had to tell her she was wrong. Either she
didn’t understand or she wouldn’t accept it. She came closer still,
forcing him.

“Please give me
the laser David, and then we can go to the hospital.” She was
within hands reach, and her hand was gently stretching out. It was
then that he finally understood that she was still too far under
the doctor’s brain washing. She wasn’t on his side anymore.
Whatever the little monster had done to her, it had gone too far.
She was his enemy. It was a bitter understanding.

He knew he had
to kill her. All his years of survival training told him that. It
was that or death. But even as he reached out with the laser to
shoot he knew he couldn’t. She might be his enemy in truth, but he
couldn’t kill her. Never. He couldn’t hurt her at all.

His hand
stopped not even a fraction of an inch towards her, and she grabbed
it. Quick pressure with her fingers and the laser fell from his
senseless fingers on to the floor. He couldn’t harm her but she
could disarm him in front of his enemies.

He suddenly
understood that he was trapped. That he wasn’t going to get away
any more. That he was probably going to die here in this room, and
that Cyrea had betrayed him. That was what truly hurt. Whatever
they had done to her, they had already had turned her against him
and it was beyond his ability to fix. Cyrea was no longer his ally.
She was no longer his lover, nor his friend. She was his enemy. She
might be brainwashed, but it made no difference. She had still
ultimately betrayed him, left him defenceless against his enemies.
The bitterness in his mouth grew stronger as he realized his life
was over. Even if he did survive, there was little point.

Then hands were
all around him, grabbing at him, and he hadn’t even seen them enter
the room. Fear brought what little remained of his wits back to
life. The hands were his death sentence. Some were hers, some
belonged to the others behind the door, and he knew he was caught.
The doctor was ripped from his grasp, crying like a baby. He
suddenly realized he had no hostage, no weapon, was running out of
strength and his situation was hopeless. Soon they would have him
again in that little chamber, and would send more tin men to kill
him. To finish the job. He had to escape.

A final surge
of energy flowed through him and he flung a few of them off him as
he tried to run. He knew it wasn’t enough but he also knew he had
no choice. He was not going back. He would die soon, but he would
die on his own terms. Not those of the maniacal little sadist. Not
those of his enemies.

David let the
panic and desperation build within him, knowing it was his only
remaining ally. He needed the strength only desperation and fear
could give. It seemed to help as he threw a few more of them around
the room, and made first for the door and then the corridor. Hands
were slipping off him with every step. But he was so weak. Kitten
weak.

In the corridor
he heard screaming, lots of screaming, and the sounds of feet
running, and even through his limited vision he could see small
figures running away. As if by magic he saw the corridor clearing
before him. His way out. He began his run fearing it would be his
last. The best he could manage was a shambling gait, as he took
five and then ten steps towards the stairs and freedom, but at
least he was moving and no one stood in front of him. For a second
he almost dared to hope.

But even that
hope was taken away as someone leapt on him from behind and brought
him crashing to the ground. Another bruising impact that tore the
breath out of him. But that didn’t hurt as much as the knowledge
that it was Cyrea who had decked him. He had heard her voice as she
screamed something incomprehensible at him, and saw her face as she
tried to roll him over.

He tried to
flee and he would have done it on his hands and knees if had to,
but for some reason he found that his arms didn’t work any longer.
Then he saw her hand on his shoulder and realized she was using a
nerve pinch. A move he had used a hundred times before. It still
wasn’t enough. Even as he recognized the move, he knew the counter
and immediately shook his entire body, bringing some life back to
his battered arm, and throwing Cyrea off in the process.

Even as she was
landing he was trying to get up again, but he was not doing too
well. His legs were no longer working correctly and he had to lean
against the wall just to stay upright. His vision was getting
darker as well, but he could still see the stairway in front of
him. Ten more yards or so.

He began
staggering towards it, knowing that once he reached the stairs, he
was at least on the road out of this hell hole. Four flights up and
another hundred yard corridor.

A dozen more
steps brought David to it and he discovered with wonder that it had
a hand rail. Something he was badly in need of. He leaned heavily
on it and got his first foot up on the first step. But that was as
far as he got.

More heavy
shapes grabbed both his arms from behind and he was pulled
backwards back to the floor. Once there they held him down, four or
five Leinians pinning his arms and legs beyond his ability to move.
Another shape landed on his chest, and as her face came into his
view, he saw it was Cyrea. And she had something in her hands. A
gun of some sort, which she put to his neck.

“Love.” At
least that was what he tried to say, praying that she might
remember enough and let him go. Let him die on his own terms. But
his mouth felt strange and he finally discovered he couldn’t hear
anything over the roaring in his head. Not even his own
screams.

There was a
sudden bang and then her face screaming something at him. That was
the last thing he saw as the remains of the light left his
vision.

Chapter
Ten.

David woke, and
the universe reeled around him drunkenly. He had no idea where he
was, the bed was wrong, the ceiling was wrong and he was confused.
His head was groggy, his eyes were spinning and nothing made sense.
But there was one thing that did; the glorious weight on top of
him. He had just enough sense to recognize Cyrea, and thank her for
her comforting weight as she stopped him from flying off into the
ceiling.

“Good morning,
love.” She kissed him awake as she had so many times before, her
voice filled with cheer and passion, and he celebrated in his very
soul, knowing that soon he would be expected to make love to her.
Cyrea was a morning person, and paradise to wake up to. Slowly the
room slowed its chaotic movement and some measure of awareness
returned to him. Just enough to understand her words, but that was
enough. He smiled and kissed her back, glad to have her with him.
He didn’t yet know why he felt so bad, but at least she was with
him and he was grateful.

Her presence
and her kiss soothed him, allowing some calm to return. But that
returning order brought with it memories, and the previous day
loomed large in his mind. He remembered her screaming and a bolt of
fear shot through him. She must have seen it in his eyes. She’d
obviously been waiting for it.

“I love you.
You're safe. The bad man is gone.” She repeated the same three
sentences over and over again, making sure he heard the words,
making sure he listened. Slowly they sank in, and while more and
more questions started surfacing from the murky depths of his
memories, he slowly accepted the truth of what she said, and his
questions became less important.

“But -.” That
was about as far as he got when she suddenly lowered herself right
down on him and kissed him, hard.

“Uh uh.” He
knew she was distracting him, deliberately taking his mind away
from the garbled memories of the previous day, but for the moment
he didn’t care. She loved him. Whatever his memories said, she
loved him and nothing else mattered. The only thing he cared about
was answering her passion with his own.

It was about
that time that he discovered he was pinned by her, in a very
familiar position. She had her legs looped around his, while his
were pulled slightly apart, and her hands were holding his wrists
far beyond his head. He was her prisoner again. The only difference
from the first time she had pinned him this way, was that this time
they were both naked. There would be no clothes to get in their
way.

He knew he was
at her mercy, yet he found no fear within himself. He didn’t
struggle, not because he suspected it would be pointless, but
because he had no reason. Cyrea was still Cyrea. She still loved
him, and that was all that mattered. It was a nice position to be
in.