9 YEARS LATER
There was a distinct air of betrayal surrounding both Harry and Drusilla as they sat in the same quarters that years ago they had made love in. Looking back on those times, Harry now wondered if he had willingly succumbed to those tender moments, or if it was more of Drusilla’s manipulative influences on his mind. Several times over the past decade, he had found himself trying to remember any lead up to those encounters, and often found himself drawing a blank. Of one thing, however, he was certain. He had no feelings of any kind for her now. Except contempt.
After eight years of blissful exploration with his remaining crew, Harry had received a tip-off from an acquaintance he had made on the trading station Azanti Prime. Someone was looking for him, and she had taken out three staff members to try and elicit the location of the Odyssey. Harry had known immediately that it was Drusilla. He ordered a change in course and for the last eighteen months, they had been fleeing. That’s when it started.
During a deep sleep in the middle of the night, Harry would hear whispers in his ear. Promises that she would see him again soon. He had no idea how powerful Drusilla’s powers were, but he surmised they were extremely potent to reach him from such distance. One of the crew, an Ensign Colbeck, had retrained to become their new Chief Medical Officer, and Harry had sought him out to try and stop these messages from coming through. But in the end, it made no difference. Just a matter of hours ago, he sensed she was close. He ordered their pilot to push the engines to the max, but it wasn’t enough to outrun Drusilla’s talons. In a moment of blackout, she had commandeered Harry’s mind, and forced him to knock out the pilot, alter course, and stun three of his crew before releasing him. By that time, they were already on board.
“What’s the matter Harry? You used to be happy to see me.”
Her voice no longer held the soft and melancholic tones of the woman he once knew.
“Something tells me Dru, I was never willingly happy to see you. And certainly not now.”
Drusilla puckered her face in a mock display of hurt.
“Well that’s not very nice is it? At least your wife was happy to see me when I paid her a visit.”
The words hung in the air, Harry unsure how to process them. He had thought about Annette and Findlay quite often recently, often wondering if he was betraying them by continuing in his new life.
“What did you do?” he questioned, words low and harsh coming slowly from his lips.
Drusilla slid a white blade from a sheath on her hip, and twirled it in the air, catching it by the tip.
“Just tying up a few… loose ends.”
The smile that spread across her face was almost demonic, and Harry lunged at her, but his eyes glazed over, and he stopped mid stride, slowly turning back to his seat and lowering himself into it calmly. When Drusilla released his mind, the fury returned, but he stayed seated.
“And my son?” he spat through clenched teeth.
“Yes, terrible shame. So full of honour, that one. I’m sure he would’ve made an excellent commanding officer one day. Never mind.”
Pain and torment tore through Harry, knowing that the woman he had betrayed them for, that he had turned his back on them for, had killed them both in cold blood. He bit back his response, but a tear did fall down his cheek. There would be time for grieving later. His crew was at stake now.
“What do you want from us?” he said, thinking each word as he focussed on it, making sure he didn’t say anything that would cause another invasion of his mind.
“I already told you Harry. You don’t listen well do you?”
“You said you wanted our humanity. You didn’t elaborate.”
Drusilla stood up and strolled around the room, digging under her nails with the blade as if it were a tool for manicuring.
“You know, for a man fucking his Captain, you’re awfully tense.”
That knocked the wind out of Harry’s sails. Clearly he had not been protecting his thoughts enough. The very second he showed inner concern for Kelly Dresden, she had latched onto it.
“That’s none of your concern.”
Drusilla smiled once again.
“Oh, but it is Harry! It’s a perfect example of humanity. The ability to adapt to new surroundings, environments and circumstances. To be inventive when the need arises, to explore the human condition! That… that is what I’ve been looking for all these years!”
The concern for Kelly grew. Harry had only been officially in a relationship with his former first officer for the last twelve months, and only then after much soul searching and the realisation that they were never heading home. He now feared she was about to become a pawn in Drusilla’s games.
“Hooray, we’re clever. So are countless other species. Far more so than us. I’ve met them. So why us?”
Drusilla rounded on him and brought the knife to within millimetres of his throat, causing him to lean back in his chair.
“Because you don’t break.”
She leaned back from Harry, the blade having nicked his neck slightly, but enough that a single thin line of blood formed on his throat. Drusilla continued.
“Whatever is thrown at your species, you face it head on. Even through denial, and depression, waves and waves of anxiety, the species continues. You’re resilient, Harry. Other species simply don’t come up to the same levels. And this has to go perfectly.”
Harry allowed his rage to bubble to the surface along with a great deal of impatience.
“For fuck’s sake, just tell me what you want us for!” he yelled.
Drusilla was not a fan of being on the receiving end of any retaliation, either physical or verbal. Harry didn’t even have time to blink, before she was upon him. Gripping him with one hand around his throat, and the other grabbing the waist of his trousers, she hauled him into the air, and slammed his back down through the desk they were sat near. The metal didn’t simply bend, it fractured apart as Harry’s spine tore through it. She hovered over his weary body, his face contorted in pain, and spat her next words callously.
“I’m going to make every single one of your fucking lackeys out there into something far more powerful! Something that not even they could comprehend! The rest of your precious fleet is already undergoing the process, and by the time I’m done, the only humanity left in this universe will be bottled and in my hand!”
She retrieved the small blade, twirled it in her hand three-sixty, and plunged it down into Harry’s left shoulder, the tip of the blade scraping the bone as it pierced his muscle. The scream brought her extreme pleasure, and she leaned in once more.
“If you don’t send that message to Earth, I’m going to slice the throat of every single person on this ship. And I’m going to start with your little mistress. But the best part? I’m going to make you do it!”
Harry spat at her as she stood and moved away from him. His strength was being driven by rage, and he had every possible desire for vengeance running through his veins. Against better judgement, he gripped the handle of the knife and tore it from his shoulder, blood pulsing out from the wound as he did so. His screams could be heard all around the ship. He threw the blade to one side and dragged himself up against the now destroyed metal desk, pain sparking at the base of his spine as he stumbled back towards his chair. Taking several deep and slow, methodical breaths, he turned his glare back to Drusilla.
“Why? Why do you need me to send this message so badly? You clearly don’t need to use us, you have more than enough ability to subdue us. God knows you’ve done it enough already.”
He saw a flash of an image in his mind of his wife and son screaming for mercy as Drusilla stood over their bloodied bodies cackling, her electric blue hair waving in the breeze. He blinked it away and a tear went with it.
“One simple reason, my dear. Despair. For the genius I have planned for humans, necessary conditions need to be put in place. For the rest of Utopia, they have each been placed into individual circumstances to create unique… conditions to study. For you and your crew, it will be resilience. For the rest of humanity back on Earth, it will be despair.”
Harry tried to follow what she was saying, but as far as he was concerned the woman was talking in riddles. Each time he tried to comprehend what she was talking about, he simply couldn’t grasp a solid concept. However, his mission was clear. His crew were in immediate danger. And the people of Earth were next. He had set out a decade ago to save humanity. That mission had not changed, despite him and his crew losing their way. He could not trick his way out of this, and he needed to buy time. There was only one option he could take at this moment. He took a deep breath, and spat the words from between gritted teeth.
“I’ll send your fucking message.”