Prime of Life - 47 chapter Space Opera novel

Chapter 2

Metal from the molten laser trace above her head seared down through Tani's tight-curled auburn hair. The glowing bit stung her scalp like an angry wasp. "Bk-kr!" she swore. Another violet ray sought her and she dropped to the floor, pulling her shoes off for better traction.

She dodged behind a control console. Sparks flew as the beam cut into it, and she swore again. "Ss-knta!" In a continuous motion she unfastened her necklace and swung it above her. When the dogging beam touched the crystal at the center of the necklace, the laser tracker--hit by its own returned energy--erupted in fire and smoke.

Uniformed soldiers rushed through a door across the room. They kneeled and aimed weapons. Behind them came a tall stocky man, his trimmed beard matching the black of his commander's uniform. "Don't shoot!" he ordered in Galactalk. Then, to a soldier beside him, "Lieutenant...now."

The junior officer leaned sideways to get a shot, and fired. The weapon made a tame sputt. Tani rolled as she dodged the dart. It stuck between heavy cables. She slipped behind a low wide instrument rack and thought, How in Crmad's ditches did I get here?

The armed troopers split into two groups, on either side of the room. Tani jumped over the rack and tossed grenades. They exploded with dense blue fog. She plunged through the fog and slammed a wall with her shoulder. It gave way and she sprang through the ragged break. The lieutenant, sprawling through the hole, began firing on automatic. One of the darts hit Tani's bare foot and she fell headlong in a skidding roll. She twitched, paralysis spreading through her body.

The commander plucked the dart from Tani's foot and put the projectile in his pocket. He pried the necklace from her rigid fingers. The crystal was faceted and near-spherical, its surface a swirl of purples and pinks like the opalescence of oil on water. His coarse face took on a contorted smile. "Active shielding," he said, examining the gem. "The beam returned along its own path." He stood and pocketed the necklace. "See if you can find out where she got it," he said to the lieutenant.

Tani could not move, but found her mental faculties untouched. Her feet and hands felt mired as if in warm mud. Her tingling joints and the distinctive taste in her mouth identified the drug as an extract of a translucent snake from a planet near the periphery. The dose was heavier than they'd given her in training--Skthes, how long ago? Tani estimated the chemical would be fully metabolized in ten minutes.

"Let's get her to my office, lieutenant. Quick."

The two men dragged Tani along the hall, around a corner, and down another hallway. Her jumpsuit skidded on the smooth metal. Hyper-sensitized skin buzzed like a funny-bone struck repeatedly. Pain seared her insides. Memories threatened to overwhelm her. Getting dragged. Being captured.

Get it together girl! The hatred she had carefully nurtured since adolescence gave her the focus she needed to activate her hypnotically-installed psychometric framework. The drug blocked voluntary musculature but--Yes! she was able--barely--to influence her autonomic nervous system.

Visualizing the mental icon, Tani willed her heart to beat faster. Thump. Thump. Thump, thump, thump. Blood pounded in her temples. She counted roughly twice her normal rate. Faster circulation--she would burn the drug in five.

The sensation on her back and legs changed. She felt a carpet--the commander's office? There were military insignia on the glass above the door. Mek, she thought. How had a simple gene grab got her into this military sector? One-third of Bratus was armed forces--why hadn't the Company warned her? Crmad's ditches!

The commander's bearded chin wagging above her. "Get her into the chair," he said. She was rudely wrestled upright, the lieutenant taking liberties. Images swirled in her un-closable eyes, sickening as her head jerked and lolled. When the motion ceased, her chin rested heavily on her chest. She watched helplessly as the lieutenant fondled her under the pretense of holding her steady. Then he pinned her wrists against the chair's arms. She saw his name badge, Krt. You're dead, she thought.

The burning sensation in her fingertips and feet meant the drug was wearing off! With herculean effort Tani managed to move a finger. Steel shackles sprang out to encircle her wrists. Mek! Too late. The fetters pulled tight against the chair arms. "There," said the commander from behind. "You can go now, lieutenant."

Tani found herself able to raise her head in time to see lieutenant Krt salute smartly and pivot on polished shoes. The commander entered her field of vision. "Just in time, I see. That drug was supposed to last longer."

He leaned down to stare at her. "You should be able to speak shortly. I hope it wasn't too uncomfortable getting here. Krt has a bit of a rough manner." He straightened, walked to the chair's control console, and made an adjustment. "I must apologize for the idiots on N level trying to beam you by remote. If they'd vaporized you, we could never tell whether you'd passed off the kernel, now could we?" The commander turned to walk back to Tani, his expression a sneer. "But you were so very clever. You saved your life--how exceptionally fortunate for me."

Her captor was at least a head taller than Tani would have been if she were standing. He bent down toward her again, with a grin, still sweaty after hauling her from the computer center. He dangled the necklace in front of her face. "Very very clever. This crystal wouldn't be much use to the average klumdet, but I can see in the right hands it's a peachy weapon."

Tani attempted to explain to the man just where he could stow the necklace, but her lips skewed and a sound like coughing came out. That gave her the idea to spit in his face, which she succeeded in doing. Bkkr t'rmol! the thought a stand-in for words she could not speak. The man leaned forward and wiped his bearded cheek against hers, breath heavy and warm on her neck. "Mek fidem" he whispered softly in her ear in her native tongue.

Kz-iin! she thought. He knows my language. He knows who I am. Mek!

She twisted her wrists against the shackles but they held firm. If he were positioned differently, ever so slightly, she could kill him with her foot. He stood too far to the side, and she didn't know if the chair would move if she twisted. Bkkr! Sensing danger, the commander backed off. Tani saw his badge and laughed inwardly at the Galactalk name, Vhss, which was similar to the sound made by a slimy pest on her home planet.

Vhss frowned at seeing her smile, crease lines between his eyes. Returning to Galactalk he said, "I've locked the console from the chair's controller. Even if you knocked me out, there's no way you can release those cuffs from in here."

Against the odds, images of crushed windpipes invaded Tani's thoughts.

"Now, to business," Vhss said. He pressed a button on a small disc held in his hand. Tani's body arched as muscles contracted involuntarily from pulsed electric shocks. Her nerves screamed with pain. "Kz-aan! Bkkr mekka!" Her voice, at least, had returned.

The shocks stopped. "I believe you have something that I want." Vhss circled behind the chair again and leaned cautiously around it. With his head next to hers, he drew a finger along Tani's collarbone above the neckline of her jumpsuit. Her skin crawled with distant demons awakening. Anger. Not now! "Of course, you could just tell me where it is, but that wouldn't really be you, would it? And not nearly as much fun. I'm going to enjoy looking for it. Oh yes. Excuse me for a moment while I give my secretary the rest of the cycle off."

Commander Vhss set the necklace and the disc on the console and walked out, softly closing the door behind him.