We stopped in front of a wall and Corran fastened my handcuffs again. I winced as the metal dug into my skin. I was scared to even walk for fear that it would trigger the spikes that Corran had mentioned. Hopefully they weren’t that sensitive.
"Remember what we said," Thane said softly, a hint of trepidation in his voice for the first time. I looked up at him worried. He always seemed so confident. It didn’t seem like a good sign that he was beginning to freak out now.
The wall dissolved in front of us, and I felt a cool breeze across my face for the first time in a month. Corran had explained earlier that scientists had been able to manipulate the environment to keep the temperature ideal for Veon’s citizens year-round. In places that they needed crops to grow the atoms in the atmosphere had been altered to produce wetter conditions, similar to the tropics. For the Vepar who worked in those types of climates, a sort of force field had been created that allowed personal ozones to be created keeping them cool and comfortable while they worked. I was amazed at how advanced the Vepar were compared to humans. The ability to manipulate nature had seemed impossible to me before Corran had explained it.
Despite their admonition that I needed to keep my head down, I couldn’t help but try to get a look at the new world I found myself in before I was locked away, perhaps permanently.
It was so colorful, and not what I expected.
A simple observation, but I had never seen such a lush looking place before, especially considering the air felt perfectly cool, somewhere in the upper 60s or lower 70s Fahrenheit.
We were in a large grassy clearing that looked like it could fit a few dozen spacecrafts. Large mountains surrounded the clearing. There was a variety of tree species spanning the mountains in all different colors. I had never seen a purple tree before but here I was seeing hundreds of them. Flowers bloomed all over the clearing in every color imaginable. I felt like I had walked onto the set of Wizard of Oz. Everything was so bright and beautiful that it hurt my eyes. I couldn’t imagine the guys wanting to stay on Earth over this.
Overhead, two suns hung in the sky, and Corran leaned close, whispering, “We have a binary star system. The suns revolve around each other as our planet circles them.”
I’d never heard of a solar system having two suns before.
As soon as I had that thought I spotted two lines of Vepar standing in front of a brown structure that had a roof that curled into the sky. My mouth dropped. I had never seen so many beautiful creatures in one place. I said creatures because they were human-like with legs and arms, but at the same time...they were distinctly alien.
Once I got past their first flash of beauty, I noticed what set them apart. Some of them had horns... horns of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some were short and pointy reminding me of ears, while others were curled like those of mountain goats, the colors varying from creams to blues and blacks. Others had thin tails coming out of their rear ends that seemed to have pincers at the very end. I watched in amazement as a particularly attractive male picked something up off the ground that he had dropped with his tail. Others looked normal with the exception of their eye colors. I had never seen orange eyes before, let alone some of the other colors that caught my attention. All I could do was gape at them, the very opposite thing that Corran and Thane had told me to do.
“What are you doing?” Thane growled.
“It’s all so amazing,” I exclaimed, finally averting my eyes to the ground where they were supposed to be.
Suddenly something struck me. If the Vepar here had all of these different characteristics, why didn’t my Vepar?
Everyone on Earth said they used disguises to cover their real appearances…. And they were right.
“Do you have horns or a tail?” I asked. I’d never imagined that such features and strange eyes were something that I’d be attracted to. But seeing them on all of these beautiful Vepar had me thinking differently. It was so exotic...so exciting.
Thane stared at me for a moment, seeming to be thinking over his answer before he spoke. “We’ll talk about it later,” he finally said gruffly. “Now keep your head down before we look even more suspicious.”
Well that wasn’t a no, I thought somewhat excitedly. Then I finally remembered that I was supposed to be hating them, and I was about to walk through a line of Vepar that thought I was lower than the dirt at their feet.
Fear started to stamp its way up my spine as we began to walk, tramping the wildflowers under our feet. I watched as they sprung up as we moved, none the worse for wear. Even their flowers were superior to the ones on Earth…
The air thickened with hostility as we got closer and I shivered. The line consisted of all men, their glares skating all over my body, and I felt wrong and uncomfortable. I had never encountered such hatred before. Thane and Corran must have felt it too because they both inched imperceptibly closer. Thane gave a small nod to Corran, who took over holding my arm tightly. Thane fidgeted with his belt where he was keeping the silver stun gun that I had seen him use before. Did they think we were going to be attacked?
I made the mistake of lifting my head when a large neon purple bug landed on my face. I put my head down again quickly, and blew a breath up my face to get it off my nose. A quick shake of my head and it flew away. But the damage had been done. I’d looked them in the face and seen them up close. The Vepar no longer looked beautiful. Their faces were scrinched in hatred and twisted with disgust. I couldn’t help but wonder what they had heard about humans to give them so many strong emotions.
From what I understood, I was one of the first humans to ever be brought to Veon. At least on Earth we had reason to hate the Vepar. After all they had come over and taken control of everything. As far as I knew, the humans hadn’t done anything to Veon. In fact, the Vepar needed humans to keep their population going. It seemed a little ungrateful to me.
“Vadiah,” one of the Vepar hissed at me. I didn’t need my language translator to understand that whatever he had said was not a good thing.
Corran and Thane both stiffened next to me and I heard Thane give a growl that made the Vepar step back. I had been under the impression that all three of my Vepar were higher ups in the Veon society.
My Vepar...why did I say that.
More angry voices spat out hatred and curses as we walked through the line. Thane stiffened, his hands curled into fists, like he itched to shoot them all. I expected Thane and Corran to stand up for me, but I guess that would go against the impression they were trying to present me as their prisoner. I wondered what the Vepar would think if they knew that I had slept and made blood bonds with all three of them.
The thought made me absurdly want to laugh. And then I wanted to cry again.
Maybe I was going crazy.
We finally made it through the line and were about to enter the building when I was hit in the back of my head with something sticky and horrible smelling. It slid through my hair, down my neck, and into the back of my pretty dress.
It took a second and then my skin started to burn. I let out a small scream and started to claw at my neck and hair, which then made the skin on my hands start to burn as well.
“It hurts,” I moaned, fear sticking to my ribs like tar.
Corran cursed and started to drag me inside. I suddenly heard Thane’s gun go off.
Bang. Bang.
Despite the pain, I looked back and was shocked to see one of the Vepar lying dead on the ground, Thane standing over him with a ferocious look on his face.
I couldn't worry about any repercussions for Thane at that moment because the burning started to increase until I felt like I was being burned alive. Was I going to die?
“What’s happening to me?” I cried out as I stopped in my tracks, unable to move any longer due to the immense agony I was feeling. Corran picked me up in his arms, murmuring softly in my ear about how I was going to be alright, how they would never let anything hurt me again.
He hauled me into a room that looked like Corran’s secret basement lab. Or at least I think it did. The pain was making everything seem distorted.
Corran laid me face down on a table that was much softer than the other medical exam tables I’d encountered in my life. I sobbed as the burning continued to spread throughout my body. He picked up a knife and quickly slit the back of my dress open so that the fabric slid off of me.
I stiffened when Corran sprinkled something wet all over my skin. Immediately my pain faded, replaced by a cooling sensation. Corran continued with the liquid for a few more minutes before stopping. His footsteps quickened around me, drawers shutting and closing. I was so exhausted from the pain that I didn’t even bother to open my eyes to look where he was going.
A second later, his footsteps approached and he applied a soft gel all over my neck and shoulders under my dress. I moaned with how good the coolness felt.
Corran stiffened at the noise, then cleared his throat. “How are you feeling?” he asked hoarsely.
“Better,” I croaked, my voice faint from screaming so much. “What was that?”
“A creature most similar to the barnacles you have in your oceans. Except ours contain one of the most toxic poisons on the planet.”
“So I could have died?” I asked, starting to cry again at the memory of how much it had hurt.
He was silent for a moment. “I never would have let that happen,” he said, rubbing in some more of the gel. "I'm so sorry this happened to you," Corran whispered softly, gently continuing to stroke my skin. There was such remorse in his voice, the kind that I rarely got from them after everything they had done to me. It did something to my insides.
His gentle hand trailed down my skin almost sensually even though this wasn’t the place for any of that to happen.
Thane walked into the room, rage still written across his face. "How is she doing?" he asked, his hands trembling with adrenaline.
"I applied the antidote. She should be completely back to normal in a few more minutes," Corran explained. "Did you take care of him?"
Thane nodded, his cheek twitching as he tried to control himself. "Evidently we're going to have to remind everyone just who we are. I guess we’ve been gone a little too long."
Corran nodded. “If we're going to keep her safe, we’ll have to do that fast."
Once again I felt conflicting emotions. They were so protective of me. Yet they didn't respect anything in regards to my free agency. I didn't know how those two things worked together.
After a couple more minutes I did indeed feel back to normal, better than normal in fact. Corran helped me off the table and led me over to a cylinder clothes changer that was also in this room. I was immediately changed into a new dress, this one a crimson color. The cylinder even somehow took care of my dirty hair and skin, leaving my hair looking more shiny than it did after I went to a hair appointment. I was kind of bummed that they didn't introduce me to this technology earlier. It would've saved me a lot of time.
"How come you didn't use this at your house on earth?" I asked, thinking that if I had this at my disposal I would have never chosen to go without it.
Thane smirked. “There’s something to be said for the shower," he stated, giving me a wink. It took me a second, and then I was blushing furiously.
Thane’s communicator device must have sent him an alert, because his hand went to his ear. After listening for a moment, he looked at me regretfully. "I'm sorry, but we need to get the cuffs back on you and get you to the prison. You already drew enough attention just walking through the line. It will get even worse if they sense that we’re giving you special treatment.”
“You mean like killing someone who hurt me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Thane growled. “That’s expected in our society. That Vepar disrespected us by harming something that belonged to us. It would have looked stranger if I hadn’t done anything.”
I filed that away for later. The Vepar were obviously a very aggressive society, but I had already known that, hadn’t I?
Sighing, I obediently put my arms behind my back. I grimaced as the cold metal once again clicked around my wrists.
Thane and Corran walked me out of the lab and down another long hallway. I looked around with interest. Like the space cruiser, the Vepar seemed to like simplicity. The walls were a stark gray gunmetal color. There were no pictures or ornamentation decorating any of them. I guess when you lived on a planet as beautiful as Veon, you didn't need elaborate decorations.
We turned right, arriving at what I assumed was my new home for the time being. We were in a large, long room, with doorways on either side.
As we began to walk, I realized that Thane hadn’t been lying when he said that the prisoners who were about to be my neighbors were dangerous. The prisoners were all beautiful, yes, but they were all distorted in a way that sent fear spiraling down my spine. Some of the prisoners we walked by had fangs that they flashed at me when I looked at them. There was another prisoner that had shiny black scales that flickered across his skin before disappearing. Another cell held a dark figure in the center of the room with black mist swirling all around it.
I gasped. It was all I could do to suppress the urge to try and run away.
"You didn't tell me that there were Khonsu imprisoned here," I said coldly to Thane and Corran, my voice quivering with fear.
"We told you that our most dangerous prisoners were kept here. Khonsu would be included in that of course,” Corran said mildly.
I trembled, thinking about having to be near them. What if that thing escaped and came after me? I didn’t think I could take that kind of torture again.
I felt the tip of Thane’s finger brush against my arm soothingly. When I looked up at him, his face looked as blank as ever, and he continued to stare straight ahead as we walked. My heart couldn't help but warm at the thought that he was attempting to offer comfort despite the fact that he needed to keep up appearances that I was his prisoner.
Just as soon as I had that thought, I shut it down. They were the reason I was here to begin with. They were the reason the Khonsu came after me. They were the reason for everything bad that had happened in my life.
We stopped in front of an empty cell that was right across from a Vepar that looked to be missing half of his appendages. There was another unidentifiable creature in the cell next to the empty one that looked to be gnawing on some kind of bird carcass. He leered at me manically, and I jumped back as his smile revealed rows and rows of sharp teeth that resembled the mouth of a shark.
Corran waved a small device over the glass of the empty cell and it disappeared. They then led me inside. The room was practically bare. There was a small cot against the back wall that held a threadbare blanket, no pillow. Corran showed me how to press a button on the wall to get the toilet and a small sink to appear. Other than that there was nothing in the room. Nothing to pass the time with either.
Suddenly, I couldn't stand the thought of being trapped in this room.
"Please don't leave me here," I begged. Coren looked at Thane anxiously. Thane reached out and brushed my hair softly.
“It should only be for a few hours," he said. "We’ll be back for you soon."
Looking around to see if anyone was watching us, which all of the prisoners on the opposite wall were, Corran stood closely next to me and pulled out what looked like a small tablet.
"This will have things on it to keep you busy. I downloaded some Earth movies and books for you to use on the ship. But obviously you never used it. I'll turn off the cameras on half of your room. As long as you’re laying on your cot when you look at it, the cameras won’t pick up that you have the device.
I nodded gratefully, even as tears continued to humiliatingly stream down my face at the thought of being left alone surrounded by all of these dangerous creatures.
Thane’s communication device must have popped on because he started to talk to someone. "We’re just loading her into the cell right now," he instructed. “We'll be there in a minute to talk to the Council.” He rolled his eyes before tapping his ear again, assumedly to shut off the device. "We have to go," Thane said.
I couldn’t seem to control my body as it continued to shake. Corran unhooked the handcuffs, and I gratefully shook my wrists out. At least I hadn’t managed to engage the spikes. That would have been the cherry on top of a craptastic day.
Thane and Corran stared at me. “I really want to kiss you,” Thane murmured in a growly, worried voice.
I wanted that too. But I wasn’t going to tell them that. “I’ll be fine,” I said, wiping away my tears.
Corran took my hand. “It won’t be long. I promise.” I nodded, not really believing that would be the case. Something told me the Council wasn’t going to love the idea of me wandering around Veon.
They finally turned to go. Stepping out of the cell, Corran once again waved a device in front of where the glass was supposed to be and it instantly reappeared.
I wanted to run and beat on the glass wall, but I knew that it wouldn’t make a difference. I collapsed face down on the cot, listening to the screams and moans of the prisoners around me.
How did I get here?