Hyperspeed Dreams by Anna Carven
Chapter Thirty-Three
Tasha stirred her tea,watching as the bloom of white milk dissipated into the mahogany-stained liquid.
She lifted the cup to her lips and took a deep breath, inhaling the rich aroma; savoring it. She’d never had a cup of tea before. She was only nine when she’d been taken from the island; too young to drink tea.
And in The Praetorian, taking stimulants other than the prescribed ones—even in the form of a caffeinated beverage—was forbidden.
She didn’t have to worry about that anymore. Not when she was sitting in a cozy kitchen in an old ramshackle homestead in the middle of the Oceanic Republic’s vast desert, having tea and biscuits with Mama and Alexis and a tough, weathered lady called Kenna and her niece… one Abbey al Akkadian, who just so happened to be married to one Tarak al Akkadian, former general of the Kordolian Imperial Military, who was apparently a big deal around the Nine Galaxies.
She still didn’t quite believe it. Abbey was so down-to-Earth and welcoming and unpretentious, and Tarak…
He was so fucking intimidating.
What have I gotten myself into?
And now, this group of rebel Kordolians—who were responsible for the downfall of the Kordolian Empire—had turned an entire desert into their own highly fortified Earth base.
With Kenna stubbornly clinging to her remote homestead, snapping at any silver-skinned alien who dared step across her threshold with their dust-caked boots on.
With humans all around—mates—like her.
It was surreal, but Tasha was starting to get her head around the whole thing.
After all, Lodan had explained almost everything to her.
The wormhole.
The incident at the mining station.
The war with the Empire.
The assassination of Empress Vionn Kazharan.
The discovery of Kordolian-human compatibility.
Unbeknownst to the entire human race, the Kordolians had claimed Earth as theirs.
At first, the Kordolians had tried to play nice with The Federation, but then they started to find evidence that humans were co-operating with their enemies—the defeated Nobles of the Empire.
Tasha snorted. These Kordolians clearly hadn’t understood how humans operated.
And now Tarak and his loyal warriors—the Darkstar Mercenaries—had been plastered all across the Networks, marked Public Enemy Number One.
Not that they seemed bothered by it.
Why did Tasha get the feeling these Kordolians didn’t mind striking fear into the heart of Earth’s entire human population?
She’d swapped one crazy mercenary outfit for another, only this one treated her much, much better.
She took a sip of her tea, tasting warmth and bitterness and sweetness all at once. She’d never had anything like it. It was so ordinary, but somehow she needed more.
“Try the bikkies,” Abbey said between mouthfuls, zeroing in on a stray crumb that had escaped her notice. “They’re peanut butter choc chip. You aren’t allergic to peanuts, are you?”
Dumbfounded, Tasha shook her head. She took another sip of her tea and decided she’d prefer it black, without milk or sugar. But this wasn’t too bad. “Thanks, but I can’t do these rich, sweet things anymore. I don’t know why.”
“No worries,” Kenna said, looking up from her chopping board with a knowing glint in her eye. “I’ve got some celery and carrot sticks with hummus.”
“That sounds good,” Tasha said quietly, suddenly feeling out of place in the cozy little space.
Everything here was so normal.
“I’ll have some of that too.” Alexis sat beside her, perched on a small stool with a mug of steaming hot chocolate in her hands. “Hot chocolate and celery. Strange combo, I know, but you’ve all been spoiling me with your fancy Earth-made space food, and I feel like I need to eat something green. I swear, if I didn’t have regular training with Nythian, I’d be in the worst shape right about now.”
Abbey unashamedly took a big bite out of her peanut butter choc chip cookie. “So, as I was saying, Ikriss is madly in love with Sienna, and when he found out that some Syndicate nutjobs had taken her friend, he went all out to get her back, because he can’t stand to see her sad. So while you and Lodan were cracking Praetorian skulls in Geneva, he and Kail and a whole bunch of other guys were in Rio de Janeiro, busting into some Syndicate stronghold. It just so happened that some asshole caught their mission on drone-cam and broadcast a clip of Ikriss stabbing some Kordolian guy’s eyeball to the whole wide world, and now the entire human race thinks they’re absolute monsters, even though the guy did deserve it.” She licked a bit of melted chocolate off her fingers. “Well, everyone thinks they’re monsters expect for the enlightened few… us and a few others. You could probably count us all on ten fingers and ten toes.”
“Did he get her friend back?” Tasha blurted the question before she even realized. She so wanted a happy ending, because before she’d met Lodan, happy endings hadn’t existed in her world.
“Of course,” Abbey shrugged. “He’s a former High Commander of the Kordolian forces. He’s practically the same level as the First Division, only without the nanite-healing stuff. They got Eva back and took down the freaking Syndicate.” She frowned. “I only wish my husband had told me about this sooner.”
“Maybe he didn’t want you worrying about yet another thing when they are more than equipped to handle it,” Kenna snorted. “You know how he is.”
“Yes, I do.” Abbey smiled indulgently.
Alexis laughed and shared a knowing look with Abbey. She gave Tasha a gentle nudge with her elbow. “Our boys do things differently. But don’t worry. You’ll get used to it. And they’re not all perfect. Sometimes they need to pull their heads in, and sometimes, you’ll be the only person that can get through to him.”
Likewise,Tasha thought wryly. Maybe with us, it’s more the other way around.
“Anyway…” Alexis set down her tea and gave Mama a searching look. “Mama, what the hell haven’t you told us? You speak Universal all of a sudden, and you know a lot more than you’ve let on.”
The silence grew thick and heavy. Abbey rose from her seat, cookie and tea in hand. Kenna lay a platter of hummus and freshly cut celery and carrot sticks on the table.
“Uh, you know what?” Abbey glanced at her aunt. “I’ve been meaning to go and check out Kenna’s lemon tree. It’s just started to bear fruit for the first time. You want to show me, aunty?”
“Let’s go,” Kenna nodded.
And with that, they disappeared, leaving Alexis and Tasha and Virginie alone in the cozy kitchen.
In that moment, Tasha very much appreciated Abbey’s thoughtfulness.
“Shouldn’t Felix and Kylian be here?” Tasha asked, feeling a little uneasy. The boys had gone out roo shooting with a bunch of Kordolian warriors. Once they’d gotten over the initial craziness of it all, they’d actually started to get along quite well with the Kordolians. That didn’t entirely surprise Tasha. After all, as salvage operators, they were used to dealing with aliens.
Virginie shook her head. She sat calmly opposite them, dressed in a simple blue linen shift, her wispy grey hair floating above her head like an unruly cloud. “I will tell them when the time is right, but it’s more important that the two of you know first, because this concerns you more than it does them.” She let out a deep sigh. “I owe both of you an apology. I did everything I could to protect you. Changed your names. Legally adopted you. Made our home on one of the most remote islands on Earth—away from everything. I didn’t want you to ever feel scared—I wanted you to have to most normal childhood possible—and for years, I thought we’d gotten away with it. So much so that I became complacent. But in the end, I couldn’t protect Tasha. I don’t know how they even found us, but they did.”
Tasha went very still. A familiar feeling of cold numbness descended over her. “Who found us, Maman?”
“You were part of a program—one that I used to work for… a long time ago. At first, we thought we were doing the right thing. After all, you were orphans, and we thought we were giving you a better life than what you would have had on Earth. I was young and naive. But as time passed, I started to have my doubts.”
Alexis sat straighter. She gripped Tasha’s thigh. Tasha sensed the anger rolling off her. “Than what we would have had on Earth? What does that mean, Mama?”
Virginie’s shoulders slumped. She looked so sad. Tasha wanted to put her arm around her and reassure her that she wasn’t angry at all, but now wasn’t the time.
“I used to work as a researcher for Nonhuman Affairs. One of the potential threats to the survival of the human race that we identified was a sudden attack on Earth. For that reason, we started to develop colonies on other planets… populated by volunteers and those we assessed as having fewer ties to Earth.”
“Orphans,” Tasha said flatly.
“Yes.”
“What made you… do what you did? I mean… leave the project and adopt us?”
“I was tasked with following up the humans that had made it to the colony-planet, Miridian-8. The orphans would be sent over when they were deemed ready—around ten years of age—old enough to tolerate space travel and be cared for by a foster parent. It was then that I started to notice a pattern. A lot of the girls were suffering complications during travel. More than a few were pronounced dead on arrival. Too many for it to be a coincidence. It worried me terribly. So when some anonymous person tipped me off… that they suspected the girls weren’t actually dead but being sold to body traffickers, I knew I had to do something. I made sure the remaining children failed all their evaluations. I overrode the selectors and found reasons for the new candidates to be deemed unsuitable. You two and Felix and Kylian were the very last children to enter the program. My supervisor, who was more concerned with meeting targets and pleasing his bosses, wanted to accelerate you through the program. I’d had enough. So one night, I took the four of you out of there and loaded a corruptor file into their central database. Then I disappeared.” She pointed to her face and held up her hands, palms facing outwards. “This face and these fingerprints weren’t the ones I was born with. I had them surgically altered. I went to the Syndicate and had a full identity change done. Yours too. Then I bought the old house in the jungle. I thought it was the perfect place to raise you… away from all the modern technology. I tried to shield you from the shadows of the past as much as possible. I thought we could live a normal life… I owed you that much. For a while, I thought I’d gotten away with it… until Tasha disappeared.”
“Why didn’t they take me?” Alexis whispered, her voice filled with horror. “Why only Tasha?”
Tasha knew why, but she didn’t say a word.
She could only remember.
It had happened so fast.
They’d been swimming at a secluded spot at L’Hermitage beach on Reunion Island, just beyond the small shack Virginie rented for them some weekends.
She remembered it like it was yesterday. The sounds, the images, the smells…
They were crystallized in her mind, trapped in the permafrost of her memories.
Mama was in the kitchen, frying the fresh sardines she’d bought from one of the local fishermen earlier that morning.
The mouthwatering smell wafted to her on wisps of the ocean breeze.
Felix and Kylian were playing football in the coconut grove beyond. She could hear their boisterous teasing; the exuberant shouts whenever one of them scored.
That’s when the bastards appeared.
Two big, menacing, camouflage-wearing stealth divers.
She couldn’t see their faces. All she could see was the glorious blue sky and her own terrified expression reflected in the impenetrable shield of one of the men’s visors as he veered toward her.
The other started to make his way toward Alexis.
She caught sight of the big guns hanging from their belts. There were knives too, and looped rope-things that sent a chill through her, because even at nine, she knew they weren’t for fun and games.
These men were about to do bad things.
Alexis was submerged under the water, snorkeling. Her sister was about twenty meters away, unable to see or hear what was going on.
“If you go after her,” Tasha said quickly, “I’ll scream my head off.”
The man ignored her. He started to go after Alexis.
“No,” Tasha hissed. She lunged forward and tried to grab one of the knives from the man’s belt-thing. But he was too strong. He captured her wrists in an iron grip. Tasha kicked and flailed, adrenaline fueling her strength. Somehow, she managed to strike the bastard in the balls with her foot. He doubled over, cursing. Then he slapped her—hard. Tasha fell into the water, screaming in pain. “A little help here,” the asshole grunted as he tried to get her to her feet. “Shut this little shit up before she wakes the whole fucking island.”
The other man swore. “Shit. Someone’s coming. We’ll come back for the other one later. Let’s go.”
The last thing Tasha remembered before she woke up in the Federation’s secure labs was an oxygen mask, laced with some sort of sedative, going over her face.
She was dragged underwater…
Then blackness…
But she didn’t dare tell Alexis any of that. Her sister would only feel guilty that she’d escaped. She’d feel responsible for Tasha’s experience.
Tasha didn’t want any of that.
“We don’t know why they spared you, Alexis.” Virginie’s eyes were leaking. A tear slipped down her cheek, leaving a mascara-stained trail. “After that happened, I kept you close. Remember, there were a couple of years when you weren’t really allowed out of the house without me.”
“I remember that,” Alexis grumbled. “I thought you were a mean old hag… who made the best apple pie. At least we had Network. I would have gone insane without it. Why didn’t you leave Reunion?”
“And go where? I had no funds left; I was living off my savings and the money I made from selling cakes and pastries to locals. Education on Reunion was free. You kids lived a good life. If they’d found us here, they would have found us anywhere. Tasha’s disappearance sent shockwaves through the island. I used the momentum to our advantage. I lobbied the governor at the time to increase security on the island—surveillance drones, armed guards, perimeter sensors. It must have deterred them, because they didn’t try again. It’s partly why I encouraged you to go into Enforcement. I thought that if you joined the police, you would be protected… and you’d be able to protect yourself.”
“Not from having a bounty on my head,” Alexis said wryly, “but close enough.” Her hand was gripping Tasha’s thigh like a vise—the only outward sign of her distress.
Tasha placed her hand on top of Alexis’s and gave her a squeeze. “There is so much to process here,” she said, surprised at how calm and even her voice sounded. “It’s going to take some time…” On top of everything else. “But Mama, I just wanted you to know that I don’t blame you for anything. I’m grateful for the childhood you gave me… and that despite everything, you never shielded us from where we’d come from… from who our parents were. Even though I was too raw to want to know back then, I appreciate it now. And no matter what The Federation or The Praetorian or whoever the fuck else wants a piece of us tries to do, they can’t touch us now, because look who we’re with. I don’t know what’s going to happen to us… to Earth… but what you gave us back then made us strong enough to get here. You’re not to blame for the bad things that other people do.” And if you hadn’t shown me how to trust all those years ago, I never would have opened up to… him.
Tears streamed down Mama’s face. “I was a part of that, once.”
“But once you found out what it really was, you stopped it. You took us away.”
“I sent children off Earth… they had no choice…”
“You thought you were doing something for the greater good, right?”
“At the time, I did. Now, I’m certain it was wrong.”
“The people who went to Miridian-8. Are they still alive?”
“As far as I know, most of them are. Very few have ever returned to Earth. But the girls… nobody knows what happened to them. We don’t know if they’re still alive.”
“Well, maybe now we actually have the means to find out,” Alexis said quietly. The tension of her grip eased just a little. “I don’t blame you either, Mama. You were only one person against the entire world. You did great. Maybe… some of the ones you sent there are living better lives than what they would have had on Earth.”
Tasha reached across the table and took Virginie’s hand. Her skin was cool and parchment thin. Her hand trembled ever so slightly. Tasha stroked the back of her hand with her fingers. “It’s okay. We’re all here now.”
After a few seconds, Alexis did the same.
How the heck was she able to comfort her after all that?
Maybe it was because she understood… what it was like to be at the mercy of someone else; to do the dirty work without really understanding what it meant.
Been there.
Done that.
Never again.
Especially now that she had Lodan by her side.
For a while, they just sat there in silence, awash with a swirl of emotions.
Then Tasha became aware of a slight, familiar pressure; a change in the silence.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw a glimmer of a shadow in the hallway beyond.
She felt him.
Him.
She just knew it. Nobody else made the fine hairs on the back of her neck tingle like that.
Suddenly, the weight of what Mama had told her came crashing down on her. Maybe it was the fact that he was here, looking out for her.
A tear slipped from the corner of her left eye. She sniffed loudly. “I need to…”
“Go,” Mama urged. “It’s fine, Tasha. I am fine. Please, come back when you are ready. Have a cup of tea with me. I’m not going anywhere. None of us are, it seems.”
“You okay?” Tasha whispered, giving Alexis’s hand a squeeze.
“Yeah. I’ll be here with Mama. We need to talk some more.”
“Okay. I’m going to go outside for a bit then. I need some fresh air.”
“Take it easy. I’m here, you know, if you need to talk.”
“I know… and thanks.”
And with that, she stood and slipped away into the darkness, her fingers entwining with his as soon as she found him standing in the hallway; her silent, barefoot, black-robed alien.
He said nothing. He just held her hand. Somehow, he knew.
He took her out of the warmly lit house and into the desert beyond. Both of them were barefoot, and their feet sank into the soft, cool red sand as they walked up an undulating dune.
They reached a small rocky outcrop, where Lodan sat down, gesturing for her to sit beside him.
Tasha did so without hesitation, leaning against him, curling up into his arms. He was warm and unshakeable.
For a while, they just sat there, listening to the wind and the wildlife, staring up at the starry night sky.
“Here,” Lodan said at last, pressing something into her palm. “I came to give this to you.”
Tasha ran her fingers down the side of the autoinjector. “Just a sec. I’ll get this over and done with.” She pressed the thing against her belly and injected the vial of Enqua into her system.
The euphoria nearly hit her… but then it didn’t. Zharek had given her some sort of tablet that minimized some of the drug’s more addictive symptoms.
“It’s five percent less than your previous dose,” Lodan informed her. “Zharek says we could wean you off faster, but it wouldn’t be comfortable… or entirely safe.”
“This is fine. At least I can get off it. I thought I’d be hooked on this damn thing for the rest of my life.”
“I wouldn’t let that happen.” Lodan leaned his head against hers, stroking her arms. “There’s always a way. We’re not done yet, but we’ll get there.”
“Yeah.” She reveled in his closeness; his warmth, the way he managed to understand her so well. His enticing scent wrapped around her. She luxuriated in it until her burning curiosity got the better of her. “There’s still so much I don’t understand. That whole mess with The Praetorian. Why they took me, of all people. That thing with the Avein. Why were they tracking me? It doesn’t make sense. Did you learn anything at the debrief?” After he’d made sure Tasha was settled and secure in Kenna’s house, Lodan had returned to Geneva to finish securing the compound with Tarak and his men. She could hardly believe that they could act with such impunity, but apparently Tarak was very good at terrifying important people in high places.
They might be Public Enemy Number One, but she bet her metal the political guys on Earth were all full of shit, caving to the slightest Kordolian threat.
“We managed to secure enough Enqua to wean you off, and then some. Some of the humans we took out of there—the test subjects—they’ll need it too, so Zharek’s trying to crack the molecular structure so we can manufacture our own.” Lodan’s fangs glinted in the moonlight. “That bastard. I still haven’t forgiven him for miscalculating your withdrawal time. His excuse is that he didn’t factor in the mating fever.”
“Mating fever? Isn’t that you, not me?”
“Oh, apparently females get it too, now. Human females who have a trace of Kordolian genetics in their DNA are most susceptible.”
“Kordolian?” Tasha folded her arms and frowned. “Please don’t tell me I have Kordolian DNA too.”
Lodan leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Why? Would that be a problem?”
“Of course not… it’s just another thing to wrap my exhausted brain around. I’m sure I’ll get around to it eventually.”
“You want me to answer your other questions, or save them for later?”
“No. Those you have to answer now, because I’ve been going mad just wondering.”
“Well, what do you want to know?”
“The Avein attack. What the fuck was that all about?”
Lodan laughed. “Some young upstart from Taluun disobeyed his Overlord’s orders and tried to start a three-way war between us and humans and Avein. Nothing to do with our traditional enemies. But their new Overlord, Mazak, seems to be a sensible sort, and he has things under control now. He and Tarak worked things out. Just so you know, the upstart was working with your scientist friend.”
“I don’t have any scientist friends.”
“The one called Oni?”
Tasha snorted. “She’s no friend of mine. She fucking betrayed me to the Avein. That’s the last time I ever trust anyone to make a promise by way of death threats.”
“Or maybe she knew exactly what she was doing.” Lodan raised a silvery eyebrow.
Tasha shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t care. I don’t ever want to see her again.”
“You won’t have to. We’ll take care of the upstart and his scientist.”
“Take care? Don’t kill them. I’m mad at Lara, but not that mad.”
“We won’t… for now; not until we figure out what the hell they were trying to do. A good interrogation should make things clearer.”
“I don’t know what kind of interrogation techniques you people use, but…”
Lodan put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “A little truth serum should do the job. I might even thank them.”
“What the hell for?”
“Well, they led you to me, didn’t they?”
“There is that.” She laughed as his good mood washed over her. “So. What now?”
The smile curving his lips evaporated. Lodan went deadly serious in an instant, his golden eyes spearing right through her.
Making her heart skip a beat.
How the fuck did he do that?
“This might be our last chance to spend a quiet night on Earth for a very long time. We have to crush our enemies, Tasha, before they destroy Earth and the peaceful existence you humans have enjoyed for so long. We found something interesting in the Praetorian records.”
“Oh yeah?” She snuggled up against him, addicted to his warmth. “Do tell.”
“Human females, children, disappearing from Earth, never to be seen again. It’s been happening right under your Federation’s noses for years… or maybe not so much under their noses. We’re going to keep quiet and lay low until we find out where they’ve gone.”
“I hope… I really hope they’re alive.” They must be the ones Mama was talking about. How crazy it all is… that everything suddenly comes full circle like this. Tasha closed her eyes and tried to imagine a fate worse than hers… a fate that had almost been hers.
“We think they are,” Lodan said softly, wrapping his arms across her chest. “And I get the feeling the trail might lead us to our enemies.”
“That’s…”
“Just another lead. Don’t worry about any of that now. We’ll take care of it.”
“If you do end up finding them, then I want to help get them back. It’s important to me personally.”
“I know. You will. But first we have to get you right.” He brushed his thumb across the soft skin just below her eye, wiping away the remnants of her tears. “You’ve been to the Nine Hells and back, and I don’t want to see you suffer ever again.”
“Same here,” she whispered. “I don’t want you to suffer either.”
“For you, I would. Gladly. This cursed body of mine… it’s made for that kind of thing.” He leaned in and kissed her on the lips; gently, tenderly. He tasted of midnight and sweetness, and there was no way she could ever deny him. “Let me protect you, Tasha.”
“Only if you let me protect you.”
“I wouldn’t dare refuse. I don’t want to get beaten up again.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Only for you.”
“A pretty idiot, though.”
“Glad you think so, because I think you’re absolutely stunning.”
“Compliments, hmm? What do you want, alien?”
“You.” He kissed her again. “Only you. You’re mine now, and I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again. You already know what I’ll do to anyone that tries.”
“I do.” You’ll rip them apart and eat their fucking hearts. And somehow, I can know all that and sit here next to you in the middle of the desert at night and feel completely at peace, even when the Universe might come crashing down on us at any moment.
He kissed her again.
And again.
Heat surged through her. She thrust her fingers through his hair and pulled him closer.
Her man.
Hers.
Who was precision and control and reckless abandon and wild fury, rolled up into one.
The blue flame to her red.
The only being in the Universe that could ever contain her.
Under the Southern stars and the endless night sky, they kissed… and for a sublime moment, nothing else mattered.
It was just the two of them.
Making each other whole.
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