They chattered softly in the palm of my hand and I could feel my last nib-nib, Drogon, moving around restlessly at the back of my neck. But to my relief, he stayed where he was, even when I handed the two tiny nib-nibs over carefully to Tazaxx.
“Be careful—don’t crush them!” I said, my voice hoarse.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Tazaxx remarked. He slapped one hand over my mouth and opened the door a crack just for a moment.
The nib-nibs scampered out and the other mud-me doppelganger, who was walking just behind Sarden, reached down to try and scoop them up. They ran around her and made a B-line for Sarden and for a moment, I thought they might get his attention. And if he turned and saw me through the crack in the door…
But it didn’t happen. The mud-me was faster than I would have thought possible. She put on a burst of speed and snatched them up, chattering from the floor before they could reach Sarden. Then she gave me another nasty, triumphant smile and kept walking with the two of them cupped carefully between her hands.
The door started to swing closed and I knew it was now or never. Surging forward, I bit down on Tazaxx’s palm as hard as I could, sinking my teeth deep into his flesh…where it crumbled into a mouthful of slimy dirt.
Tazaxx held me off easily, as though I was no more than a child, and let the door snick shut and lock once more. He let me go and I spat out the mouthful of muddy dirt, completely disgusted.
“Ugh!” I wiped at my tongue as best I could. “Disgusting!”
“I’m sorry you find it so,” Tazaxx remarked mildly. His hand wasn’t injured at all—it looked like I hadn’t even bitten him, let along taken out a big chunk.
“Promise me your, uh, scion won’t hurt my nib-nibs,” I demanded, spitting again. I didn’t like the way she’d smiled at me when she caught them.
“I assure you, they will be unharmed. They are only there to perfect the illusion. Your paramour will never suspect a thing now…that is until he’s too far away to get back in time and do any good.”
He gave me a smirk that was unbearably self-satisfied.
“Sarden will find out what you’re doing,” I said. “You can’t keep up the illusion forever.”
“I don’t have to—I only have to keep it up long enough to sell the two of you at auction. Which will be in exactly twenty solar hours at an undisclosed location.”
“He’ll come,” I said stubbornly, trying to make myself believe it.
“Please don’t fool yourself,” Tazaxx said. “The auction site is kept secret from all but those who are expressly invited—and they aren’t notified of its exact location until shortly before it is to begin. Your Master will never find you.”
He gave me an evil grin and once more I had the weird experience of being taunted by myself.
“Could you not?” I said. “I mean, it’s really creepy when you use my own face to sneer at me.”
“Forgive me.” His features mutated until he was the mud-man again. “Is that better?”
“Not by much. But a little.” I lifted my chin. “Fine, so you’re going to sell us. Now that we know can you just leave us alone?”
“So that you can unlock the door with your La-ti-zal powers? I don’t think so, my dear. From now on, I won’t be leaving your side. Not until I can turn you over to the Master of the Auction.” He walked back to the door and stood right in front of it. “Feel free to talk but if you attempt an escape, know this—some of the attendees at my yearly auction like buying injured females. It makes breaking them to a new owner’s will so much easier.”
“You bastard,” I spat at him.
“Actually, as I told you before, we Gord reproduce asexually. So I have neither a mother nor father, which renders any insults relating to my heritage completely pointless.”
“How about this—you look like a mud puddle and your assistant looks like a giant, walking piece of excrement,” I snapped, completely fed up.
Tazaxx seemed to consider my insult for a moment, then he nodded thoughtfully.
“You are correct, I believe.”
“Oh…go away. Or at least just stop talking to me.” I was beyond exasperated—I couldn’t even insult the jerk!
“As you wish.” The mud-man stopped talking and then, his mud began to run and flow until he lost his shape completely. Soon he was just a mud puddle on the floor right in front of the door.
I wanted to jump over the puddle and try to unlock the door but I had seen how fast he could move and change shape. If I tried anything I would probably wind up on the cold metal floor with mud tentacles wrapped all over my body. I remembered Tazaxx’s slimy, cool touch and his terrible strength when he put his hand over my mouth—I really didn’t want to feel that again, especially not all over me.
Instead, I turned to Sellah again.
“I’m really sorry,” I said. “Some rescue, huh?”
“You tried.” Her golden eyes were bright with unshed tears. “It was a trap from the first—Tazaxx put me here to catch your eye, I’m certain of it.”
“Well, if so he succeeded.” I sighed. “What can we do now?”
“Nothing,” she whispered. “Nothing but wait.”
I was afraid she was right.
Sarden
My heart was so full of grief I could scarcely see to pilot the shuttle. I think Grav saw that because he took over the controls and made me sit in the passenger seat instead of driving.
In the back, Teeny, his ward, sat quietly beside Zoe. I would have expected Zoe to be chatting with the girl and trying to make her feel at ease. But she was strangely and uncharacteristically quiet on our flight out of the atmosphere of Giedi Prime. Even when we dropped Grav and his ward back at his own ship, she barely said goodbye to them. I wondered if she was upset about what she had seen—I knew for myself, the image of Sellah’s body was one I couldn’t forget. It was like a fresh wound that kept bleeding—I saw it every time I closed my eyes.
Grav left with the promise that he would help me take vengeance as soon as Teeny had been delivered safely to her grandfather’s planet. I thanked him for his help and promised to see him again soon. But every word I said seemed to come from someone else, some other person who was speaking on my behalf.
I couldn’t think straight—could barely breathe. Despite my determination to put off my grief until I took vengeance, I could feel the anguish already on me and its weight was crushing.
We got back to The Celesta at last and I thought that Zoe might try to comfort me again. I shouldn’t let her, of course. I deserved no such comfort after failing Sellah in such a terrible way. But I would have welcomed Zoe’s soft arms around my neck, anyway—even if I didn’t deserve it.
But Zoe barely said a word as we came from the docking area out into the main corridor of the ship. I noticed she was holding her pet nib-nibs in her cupped hands instead of letting them nest in her hair and wondered why.
“Zoe?” I asked, when she turned away from me.
“I’m tired.” She didn’t meet my eyes, only looked at the floor and her bare feet. Our footwear, which we had abandoned outside Tazaxx’s home, had been brought back to the shuttle but Zoe hadn’t bothered to put hers on.
“I know this has been…a bad time.” I barely knew what I was saying. “And…I know I promised to bring you back to Earth once it was all…” I had to swallow before I could go on. “All finished.”
“Yes,” she said, still looking down. “Yes, take me back. You promised.”
I don’t know what I had expected or hoped for. Maybe for her to say she didn’t want to go back? That she wanted to stay with me…to explore whatever it was I’d thought I felt growing between us when she tasted me, as I had tasted her, which is almost always the first step in bonding?
But she didn’t say any of that. And I didn’t feel anything between us anymore. It was like there was a blank wall there—a wall I couldn’t penetrate, no matter how much I wanted to.
“Take me back,�
�� Zoe said again. And then she repeated, “I’m tired.”
“Why don’t you go in your room and lie down,” I said, gesturing to the door leading to her quarters. “I…I’ll set a course for Earth.”
“Good.” She turned away from me and, without a second glance, disappeared into her room.
I stood there in the corridor, wishing I could call her back, knowing I couldn’t. Sellah was dead and the female I was coming to care for—maybe even to love—wanted nothing to do with me.
Not that I blamed her.
I turned back to the control center of The Celesta to set a course that would take us back to Earth.
I had never felt more alone.
Chapter Twenty-two
Sarden
“Master? Master, please wake!”
Al’s voice sounded as worried as I had ever heard it. “What? What is it?” I muttered, forcing myself to open my eyes. I’d laid awake in my bunk most of the night, sleepless with grief. Every time I closed my eyes I saw my little sister’s body, saw the blood that had leaked from her eyes and nose and mouth, saw the look of agony on her face proving she had died in pain and alone. Because I wasn’t there for her. Because I didn’t save her in time or keep her from getting taken in the first place.
So when Al came twittering around my head, I hadn’t been asleep for more than an hour—maybe less.
“What is it?” I asked again, hoisting myself up on one elbow in my hover-bed.
“It’s Lady Zoe—I think something may be wrong with her,” Al said, sounding anxious. “She’s completely non-responsive.”
“What?” Sleep deprived or not, that got my attention. I jumped out of bed. “Where is she?”
“In her room. I went to wake her and ask if she would like me to use one of the food options she had input earlier into the food synthesizer for her first meal, but she didn’t answer me.”
“Are you sure she’s not just asleep?” I asked, running out of my room and heading for hers even as I spoke.
“She doesn’t appear asleep, Master—her eyes are open. But…I can detect no signs of respiration or pulse.”
“What?” This was getting worse and worse. Zoe had seemed so quiet and depressed the night before. Could it be that she had done something to harm herself? Please, Goddess of Mercy, I prayed as I ran into her room. I lost Sellah—don’t let me lose Zoe too. Please!
I got to her hoverbed and saw she was just lying there, as Al had said.
“Zoe? Zoe?” My voice cracked on her name. Her blue eyes were blank and sightless, staring straight at the flat metal ceiling. Her chest wasn’t rising or falling either. She seemed…gone.
No! I couldn’t let myself think like that. I had to help her—had to try and bring her back. But how?
I stood there, afraid to move, afraid to touch anything—frozen to the spot. And then I felt something—a light, tingling and scratching sensation running up one bare arm. Looking down, I saw it was two of Zoe’s pet nib-nibs. They were chattering to me urgently, almost as though they were trying to tell me something.
But that was ridiculous. I pushed the crazy thought aside and concentrated on the matter at hand.
“Zoe?” I said again. “Zoe, please—I lost Sellah—I can’t fucking lose you too. Please!” Desperate for any response, I reached out to shake her by the shoulders.
Her skin felt cold to the touch, as though she had been gone for hours and no colors crossed my vision. She was gone and she had taken every bit of beauty with her. I felt the tide of grief rising in me again—grief and disbelief and horror. No, I couldn’t do this—I couldn’t survive another loss!
“Zoe,” I begged, the words coming out harsh and uneven as the tide of grief threatened to overwhelm me. “Please don’t do this to me—don’t be gone forever. I need you. I love you.”
The moment the words broke from my lips, I knew they were true. True and too late for me to do anything about them. I didn’t just care for her…it wasn’t just a connection I felt between us—Zoe was the one female in the galaxy I wanted as my own. The one I wanted to spend my life with.
And now she was gone.
“Zoe!” I shook her again. “Zoe, please. You can’t fucking go. You can’t—”
And then she crumbled to dust beneath my hands.
I looked down in disbelief, staring at the muddy pile of dirt which was all that was left of the woman I loved. How could this be? What in the Frozen Hells of Anor…And then a memory formed in my brain.
Tazaxx, forming from the slick, brown puddle of mud into a male, complete with arms and legs and features. I hadn’t known he was capable of doing that before this visit to his compound. Though I had met him face-to-face on several occasions, he had always taken the appearance of a Majoran male with light brown skin and brown eyes. I had been startled when I saw him form a new shape in the molting room but hell, what did I know about Gords? Now I began to think…
If Tazaxx could form himself into one shape and animate it, why not another? Why not Zoe?
I looked at the pile of muddy dirt again.
“He has her,” I said hoarsely. “Gods, Tazaxx has Zoe. And he fucking fooled me into flying halfway across the galaxy from where he’s holding her!”
At my words, the two nib-nibs sat up on my shoulder and chattered loudly in my ear.
“Are you quite certain, Master?” Al asked, still sounding as worried as an Artificial Lifeform can. He had really taken a liking to Zoe while she was aboard the ship. We all had. She had stolen my heart and in return, I had let her get stolen. For the second time. What a Goddess-damned idiot I had been!
“It must have happened when I went in with Tazaxx to sign the damn contract for Teeny,” I snarled. “I let her get taken again! What the fuck is wrong with me?” I picked up a handful of the dirt and threw it. It landed against the wall with a splat and slid down, leaving a muddy brown smear which did nothing to relieve my feelings.
“Master, what shall I do?” Al asked anxiously.
“Set a course back for Giedi Prime,” I snapped. “And contact Grav—tell him I need his help sooner than expected. We have to go back—we have to get Zoe before…”
“Before what?” Al was still hovering anxiously in front of me, his eye-light blinking nervously.
I started to say, before it’s too late, but the words wouldn’t leave my lips. What if it was already too late? What if Tazaxx already had Zoe locked away in one of those fucking cages? Or worse, what if he had decided to sell her at the auction? That was probably more likely—he would know I wouldn’t stop until I rescued her. By auctioning her off, he could get her off his hands and keep the massive amount of credit she would no doubt bring. Then whoever bought her would have to deal with me and he would be in the clear.
Except you won’t be, you bastard, I swore to myself. As soon as I get Zoe back I’m going to find you and make you wish you never crawled out of that fucking mud in the first place. You’re going to pay and pay and pay until there’s nothing left of you.
But before I settled with Tazaxx, I had to find Zoe and the auction, and I had no idea where it was being held. Still, how far from Giedi Prime could it be?
I’ll find it, I thought. I have to. And once I got Zoe back, I never intended to let her go again.
If only I could reach her in time.
* * * * *
Zoe
“So this is how it ends,” I muttered to Sellah. “Sold off at an interstellar auction like some kind of freaking object d’ art at a Christie’s auction.”
“I’m afraid so.” She squeezed my hand and I squeezed back gratefully. At least I had one friend here—well, two if you counted Drogon, but he was still hiding quietly at the back of my hair.
I had been afraid he would be discovered when Tazaxx finally turned me over to the Master of the Auction, who was a large, hairy, Big Foot-looking guy. Big Foot had looked me over and listened as Tazaxx explained about my special “gifts,” th
en he called for the strongest inhibitor collar possible. He and his assistant—a creature with four arms and compound eyes—had locked it around my throat, thus inhibiting my powers, whatever they were.
Honestly, I still didn’t really understand them myself. So far as I could see, I was mostly just able to unlock things that were keyed to other people. That skill might have been useful if I was a James Bond type spy or a cat burglar instead of a paralegal. But other than getting me into trouble again and again, I couldn’t see that my new “powers” had helped me much at all in my time away from Earth.
Drogon had chattered quietly and scrambled to another place in my hair while they put on the collar but luckily neither Big Foot or his Fly Guy assistant noticed the tiny nib-nib. I was glad I still had him for company—especially since Sellah and I were about to be parted. I couldn’t imagine that one buyer would take us both, though I wished it could be so. I had only known Sarden’s little sister for one night, but already I considered her a friend.
Since there was nothing to do but talk, she had told me about her life and I had given her some tidbits on mine as well. She was fascinated to know what life on a closed planet was like and amazed to find out the Earth was so isolated we had no idea that other races existed, especially compatible races also started by the Ancient Ones as they seeded the galaxy.
I, in turn, was fascinated to know what it was like to be queen of an entire planet. But Sellah’s description was disappointing.
“I never wanted to be the Ria,” she told me as we sat in the corner of the cold, nasty cell in Tazaxx’s awful house and waited to be moved to the auction site. “I’ve always loved learning—I wanted to go off planet to the University of Lynex Tau and get a higher degree.”
“Why didn’t you?” I asked.
She sighed. “I felt I had a duty to Eloim. Sarden felt it too—I wanted him to rule with me but he didn’t think the people would allow a half-breed Rae to sit on the double throne and wear the Star of Wisdom.”
“Star of Wisdom? What’s that?” I asked.