Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 63580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
“I don’t think I will. Does she like ice cream?”
“She loves ice cream,” I reply immediately, on autopilot.
“I might give her some when we are done using her.”
The response fills me with rage.
“Give her back. Now, and I will merely kill you,” I snarl.
“You won’t be erasing any more of our ships from existence, will you? You don’t know which one your precious human pet is on,” the DC sneers. “Don’t worry, we will take good care of her. Might even teach her a few new tricks…”
“If you so much as lay a finger on her,” I growl. “I will remove your entire fucking species from the fossil record. It will be as if not a single one of your kind ever drew breath.”
“Steady on,” Aric mutters.
I know what his problem is. We are not supposed to threaten anyone with the worst of our powers. It’s illegal to do so, and moreover, it is frowned upon by Alara. In this moment, I do not care.
These creatures have become my worst enemies. I loathe them more than I thought I could loathe anybody. My worst impulses and my most dangerous thoughts are directed toward them. They should be a great deal more afraid than they are.
First they took me and forced me to suffer. They used what they discovered from me to help defend against our systems. And now they have my pet. There is nothing I will not do to retrieve her. They have to know that.
Drak reaches around and yanks the cables that run the microphone and speakers out of the console. That solves the problem in the short term. It stops me from making criminal threats, and it stops me from hearing their smug commentary. But it does not get my pet back.
“You need to calm down,” Drak says. “They’re not going to hurt her, and even if they do, you can’t threaten to annihilate them. That’s a crime.”
“Then I’m going to be a criminal,” I seethe.
I know, deep down, that I will not bring the full weight of my threats to bear.
There have been those of our species, in the past, before Alara, who did terrible things with their power and authority. Psyons have deleted worlds before, removed bloodlines. We are destroyers incarnate, though we have branded ourselves as kindly guardians of space and time.
I will make them pay for what they’ve done to me. My poor pet will be so scared. All she wanted was to find her father, and now I have drawn her into unimaginable danger. Perhaps I should have left her there in her station. Maybe I could have given her a better life if I’d just given her some credits. But the moment I saw her—no, before that. The moment I felt her inside that craft, I knew she was mine. She belonged to me. She still does.
I want her back, more than anything. I should have had her closer. But it almost feels as though they distracted us on purpose, fed us the leader and his men so that they could take her. Those are big pawns to play. Perhaps they thought we would all be taken. Maybe it was just an act of opportunity on their part.
The more I think about it, the less this gambit makes sense. It is so personal. The Psyon Empire, Alara, won’t care about the human. Not at all. It will not stop the war. It will stop me, and only me.
I wonder if there is another reason they want her, besides the obvious attempt to regain control over me. It would have been easier to come down, shoot me, and be done. This is something else more twisted.
They’re not done torturing me. That is all I can conclude. They want to keep control of me, and they want to keep hurting me. It’s personal.
“You three can return to the home realm,” I say. “What I am going to do with this ship will not please Alara.”
They look at one another, and I can sense the silent conversation between them.
“Go,” I say. “That’s my last order. Go and leave me to this.”
“We’re not leaving,” Aric says. “They attacked us. They evaded our weapon. Alara needs to know that. We are not going to have dominance in the same way we did if they are able to neutralize it. Things are going to get brutal and bloody, and your pet is only a small part of it. We should all return to the home realm and report to her.”
He’s right, I realize. The war just pivoted in a new way, and we just lost more ground than I want to admit. All I can think of is my pet, what might be happening to her, what awful things she might be suffering. The thought is barely sustainable.