'Sacmis' (formerly 'Alien Abduction')

Chapter 18: The Swan

“So what do you do when you’re not abducting women?” asked Kate, “Or are you a career abductor?”

“I’m a… surveyor… I suppose you’d call it, “ said Matias, “ - and this Ship is part of a fleet that was built to search for life elsewhere.”

“You say life, but I think what I’m really hearing is women.”

He paused before answering.

“That was the fleet’s main purpose - yes,” he said finally.

“Well, you struck gold with us, didn’t you?” she said. “They’ll probably give you a medal when you get back and tell them you’ve had a successful…what shall we call it…shopping trip?”

“I doubt it,” he replied.

“Why’s that?”

“Our mission was unauthorised.”

“How so?”

“We stole the Ship.” 

“Ah,” she said, “so we can add hijacking to kidnapping.”

“It wasn’t a sudden decision,” he continued, “Not everyone agreed with the fleet’s…orders. So the four of us launched this ship while the rest of the crew were on shore leave.”

“What are these orders you refer to?”

“To find a compatible race on another planet and…abduct the women we need.”

“Perhaps I’m missing something,” said Kate, “but it seems to me you’re still just following orders.”

“It must seem like that, but there is a big difference. We - the four of us -  believe any women should agree to come willingly. But there are more at home who think our planet’s survival is too important, that we should just take as many women as we need, at any cost.”

“So how did you find us?”

“Luck, more than anything,” he replied. “We took a course for this part of the galaxy - purely at random - then began to pick up faint radio signals with a clear, logical pattern that could only point to one thing - intelligent life.”

“So where’s home?” she asked.

“You know it as Cygnus, the constellation of the Swan. You can even see its brightest stars from Earth with the naked eye. It’s part of what you call the Northern Cross.”

‘How long did it take you to get here?”

“Almost a year.”

“Wow. You must really be desperate.”

“Having nothing to lose made it an easy decision. A straight choice between the certainty of a lifetime without women or the small chance that we could find partners elsewhere.” 

“The first intergalactic sex-tourists,” she said drily. “There are men on Earth who go to Thailand for much the same reason.”

“That’s not how we think of it.”

“It may not be how you like to think of it, but that’s pretty much how it appears.”

A silence fell between them. Kate was the first to break it as an alarming thought crossed her mind:

“What if you were followed? What if the rest of your fleet is also on its way here ?”

“We are fairly sure we haven’t been followed. It’s not easy to track one of these ships - and we deliberately took an indirect course.”

“But it’s not impossible….?”

He hesitated for a second.

“No. Unlikely…but not impossible.”

“I need to run,” she said, switching subjects.

“What?”

“I’m a professional athlete, I train every day and my body’s used to that. Right now, I’m aching to exercise.”

“Ah,” he said, “I hadn’t thought of that.” He paused. “We do have  a very small gym that has treadmills. The crew have to keep fit, too.” 

“Perfect,” she said, the outline of a plan forming in her mind. “When can I use it?”

Matias seemed thrown by her question.

“Not now,” he replied, “but I guess you can use it tomorrow. For now, I think you should rest - sleep.”

She considered challenging his suggestion but suspected it would do no good. Best to play along for now, she thought, and see if he was as good as his word.

“OK,” she said simply.

“I’ll bring you breakfast in the morning.” He nodded towards the closet: “There are night clothes there.”

“What time is it now?”

“Ship’s time is 22:40. Night time. You’ll find a small touchpad next to the bed: swipe it to control the lights or display the time.”

He hesitated for a moment.

“Don’t let me keep you,” she said firmly.

“Good night,” said Matias.

© Adriana Nicolas 2014