Captivate (Alien Cadets Book 2) Page 11

  “The Spo only have a few containment cells. They used to only need them occasionally, when a Spo got in criminal trouble on Selta. They’d lock him up here for extradition to their homeworld. But since the Rik/Human trouble, the cells have been getting a lot more use.”

  “How long have you been here?” she asked.

  Basher shut his mouth. He never shared information with the Rik, what was wrong with him? Did he honestly think her story was possible, or was he just responding because, and this was a sobering thought, because he was attracted to her?

  Basher grimaced. He’d never had that problem before. His knowledge of Rik cruelty and deception completely wiped out anything like that.

  He silently took the first right and then led her down a flight of stairs into the processing area. Against the far wall were rows of waist high lockers, and to either side were one-way windows showing the first two containment rooms.

  There were four containment rooms altogether, and all were full or almost full now. The first cell only held five Rik, which was where he would put this girl. Those five were sitting cross-legged on the floor, in a line between the bunk beds. He’d caught them several weeks before.

  “You’ll have to leave all your things here,” Basher told the girl. He opened one of the lockers and put her bag inside. “If you’re really human, you’ll get it back.”

  He surprised himself again. He hadn’t meant to say that, and certainly hadn’t said it to anyone else he’d brought here.

  “The lemur thing will have to go in a cage,” he added.

  “He can’t stay with me?”

  “No. Just put him right in here.” Next to the lockers were four large cages, and the bars were close enough together to keep the lemur inside. Alien pests were sometimes a problem on Selta, and if they couldn’t be immediately identified, they had to be stored for a while. These cages were usually for that purpose, but they’d do for this animal as well.

  “He’ll be lonely,” she said.

  “He’ll be fine, I’ll – never mind. Just put him in the cage.” He’d almost said that he would check on her pet.

  “It’s okay, Kit,” she said softly. She gently pried him off her shoulder and placed him in the cold cage.

  Basher slammed the door before the lemur could jump out.

  “Okay. You go in here.” He gestured to the cell with five Rik.

  “These are all Rik?” she asked, as if that had just occurred to her.

  He opened the door to the cell.

  “They aren’t dangerous, are they?”

  Basher just looked at her. Her questions kept tripping him up. They weren’t quite right for a fake, but they weren’t quite right for a human either, or at least, so he thought. Maybe he’d forgotten what a human’s reactions should be.

  “Just go in,” Basher said, not wanting to get sucked into this game any further.

  She hesitated. “What’s your name?”

  He didn’t answer. He wanted to shove her in the door, but he didn’t want to touch her if he could avoid it.

  My name is Claire,” she said. She half reached out her hand, and Basher deliberately stepped back.

  “Go in,” he repeated.

  She dropped her hand and he closed the door on her as fast as he could.

  He could see her through the one-way glass, standing just inside the door, and he was relieved that she could not see him. If she was a fake, she was darn good, and he didn’t want her to see that she’d shaken him.

  She was watching the five Rik meditate on the floor with a frozen look on her face. They didn’t open their eyes or respond to her at all, and Basher could see her shift her weight uncertainly from foot to foot. Finally she moved carefully, almost on tiptoe, to the closest bunk, and sank down on the bed.

  She tucked her feet under her, and rubbed her side as if in pain.

  Could she really be human? Basher frowned. The odds were very, very low, but it was possible.

  The Spo had taken precautions to make sure that the Rik never got a hold of any of their cadets. Each cadet class had a mentor who was personally responsible for the lives of his cadets, and if a cadet was lost – well, it would be a big deal. Most likely this girl was lying about being a cadet. Perhaps she had seen the recent videos of the trial featuring other kids her age with the Spo tattoo on their cheek. She’d tried to copy it, not knowing how distinctive it was.

  And yet...

  What if the girl had been a cadet and was sold to Faal? Basher couldn’t even imagine that. Aliens still gave him nightmares on occasion, and he was a capable, adult man, who joined them of his own free will. How would it be to have no power, sold to some alien and completely cut off from Earth? Basher shuddered. Probably it was just a story. He hoped it was.

  The girl looked up just then, staring at him, and Basher jumped.

  No, he reminded himself quickly, she can’t see me. She was looking at her reflection in the mirror.

  As he watched, her nostrils flared and her eyes turned red. She bent her head down on her knees, and he could see the tears running down her cheeks. His hand was on the door before he got a grip on himself.

  No. Don’t be stupid, Basher told himself. A Rik could cry as well as anyone, this wasn’t proof of anything. Basher took his hand off the door. He needed some distance, fast.

  His Spo partner was in the processing room, peering at the lemur thing. "I'm not certain where this comes from but it is very appealing, isn't it?"

  Basher had yet to see any form of sentimentality from his partner, so this was a first. He paused to look in the cage again.

  "I guess," Basher said reluctantly, as the lemur stretched its hand out to him. Basher touched its six fingers gently and realized his own hand was shaking. He quickly dropped it to his side, but he was sure his partner saw.

  "Are you ready to greet the human delegation?" his partner asked. "They should be here in less than an hour. They’ve already arrived on Selta."

  "Right, right.” He would have been back hours ago if he hadn't had to investigate the ship and argue with that Spo and get Claire... Basher shook his head. "I'm going to clean up, I'll meet you in the reception hall."

  CHAPTER 13

  Basher entered the reception hall through a rear door, and saw that the three humans had already arrived. They stood in the center of the room, somewhat dwarfed by the nine Spo greeting them. The reception hall was a large room with vaulted ceiling and something few Seltan compounds had–skylights that brought in three solitary beams of natural light.

  The city of Selta was dug into the moon, a multi-tiered hive of drilling and dwellings. The interior of Selta was lit by a combination of energy from a blanket of exterior solar panels and thermal energy that was a byproduct of the mining process. In short, there was almost no natural light on Upper or Lower Selta, but the Spo had paid a small fortune to connect to the surface from their embassy. Like an ancient Mayan temple, they used mirrors to bounce the light down long shafts until it reached this room. The reception hall had three of these skylights, each surrounded by three rings of copper suspended from the ceiling. Nine rings altogether, to symbolize the nine systems of Spo mainspace. The rest of the room was almost bare, to draw the eyes upward to this display.

  Basher moved forward to greet the guests, and the humans immediately shifted toward him. He knew how they felt. When you’re surrounded by aliens the sight of human movement immediately draws your eyes. Sam and Nat he recognized from the trial video, but not the other girl. Perhaps she was another cadet, although she didn’t have the facial tattoo.

  “Welcome to Selta” Basher said. “I’m Bashar Kapur. It’s good to meet you.”

  “I’m Natsuki Fujimara – but you can call me Nat.” She shook his hand with a smile. She was a beautiful girl, but she looked somewhat haggard – as if she could use a few weeks of good sleep and good food. Her glasses emphasized the size of her eyes, which made her look almost gaunt.

  “And I’m Sam Locklear.” The young ma
n gave Basher a strong handshake, but like Nat, he looked stressed.

  Basher was more than a little curious to meet them both. He’d watched a severely shortened recording of the trial, along with all the Spo security guys, and had been impressed with Sam's handling of the trial. There were rumors that Sam had even manipulated the Spo emperor into a corner, which was something Basher would've paid a lot to see.

  On the other hand, Basher thought Sam's bargain with the Rik was a bad idea. He understood the kid's motivation, but Basher had spent a lot of time tracking these Rik down, possibly more than any other human. He knew they couldn't be trusted. Frankly, he hadn’t been at all surprised to hear that the Rik were suspected in the sabotage of the space station. If it caused a rupture between the Rik and the humans, he wouldn’t regret it, but it might complicate things for Sam.

  The last girl looked better rested and better dressed than either Sam or Nat, and she was grinning brightly. “Hi! I’m Shara. I understand you’re helping the Spo catch Rik criminals out here; they must think highly of you. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Thanks, likewise.” She held the handshake a little too long and Basher slid his hand away and turned to Sam. “I understand we’ll be investigating the sabotage. I’m afraid I don’t have any leads yet.”

  Sam grimaced. “We don’t have very much to go on either, but perhaps you’ll be able to make more of our data than we have.”

  Sam wore sunglasses, which Basher thought was odd – not that bright in here – but even as he had the thought the lenses faded to clear. That brought his eyes to the tattoo on Sam’s face, and Basher couldn’t help examining it for a moment.

  “I’ve just seen another of these,” Basher explained, “and the design does look very similar.” In fact, it looked just like the one on Claire’s cheek. How had she gotten one so perfect? Basher realized he’d made a fist and forced his hands to relax at his side. “I’ll have to ask you more about that later. For now, I understand you’d like a tour,” Basher said. “So in a moment I'll show you to your suite, and then take you on that tour.”

  The embassy librarian stepped forward to speak next. At least, he was called the librarian, but as far as Basher could tell his job was usually a mix of butler and janitor. He looked pretty happy to be part of the welcoming ceremony.

  "First, allow us to present you with your own personal tokens for the duration of your stay in the Spo embassy."

  He held forth three glass containers, each the size of a jewelry box. The Spo specialized in glass art, perhaps because they came from such a sandy planet. Basher had one of these boxes himself.

  The Spo explained, "These boxes are made on the southernmost continent of our home planet. The black sand there is used to create this gray glass, which is then shaped by hand to form these containers. Please accept them as a gift with our compliments."

  Sam and Nat bowed appropriately at this pause, and Shara hurried to follow suit.

  "If you would now open the box, you will find your token," the librarian continued. "This may be used to open any exterior door of the embassy, when you should wish to depart or return. It can also be used to lock the door of your personal quarters. Each token is distinctive to its owner, and when you lock your door with it, no one else can open it."

  They all bowed again. The tokens were about the size of a quarter, but square. The flat sides were smooth, but two of the edges had jagged, electronic teeth. Basher's own token was cheap plastic, but these shone like titanium.

  Nat looked inside the box at the words inscribed in the lid.

  "Behold henceforth, I own the door," she read.

  "Yes, it is a line from one of our famous poems,” the librarian explained.

  Nat nodded. "I've read it... ‘There the Warrior through the night, Devoured the enemy, even'd the score.”

  "You've studied the writing of So'omat?" the director asked. He flushed violet with surprise and pleasure.

  "He was one of my favorites of the Spo poets," Nat said.

  At that point the librarian would have whisked Nat off to the library (the poor guy seemed ecstatic to find someone who appreciated Spo literature), but Basher intervened.

  "Perhaps she could arrange to meet you at the library tomorrow. For now, they are scheduled to settle into their rooms and receive a tour."

  ***

  Akemi looked around the first suite, through Sam and Nat’s glasses.

  Hm. Very posh. Wish I could see the rest of the embassy though.

  “Sorry,” Nat said. “I’ll ask if you can connect to the embassy systems in a few days, but I didn’t want to spring it on them.”

  A knock on the door announced Bashar’s return.

  He’s hot, Akemi noted as Nat opened the door to him. I mean, I know you’re all into Sam, but if I was ten years older (and corporeal) I’d be into this guy.

  Nat choked. “Ehhehhm, excuse me, Bashar. Yes, we're ready for the tour, thank you.”

  He smiled, though it looked a little forced to Akemi. "That's fine, then. I usually go by Basher, by the way."

  "A Spo nickname?" Nat asked.

  "No, a human one, actually. I grew up in Boston and at some point in junior high Bashar became Basher."

  The first part of the tour was dominated by Shara's endless questions and comments, but Akemi was amused to see that Basher was too distracted to notice how she was trying to attract his attention.

  "Would you like to see the bottom level?" he asked Sam and Nat. "I’d like to get your opinion on a Rik girl I arrested this morning.”

  He led them down a nearby stairwell to the bottom level of the embassy. “I spend most of my time down here,” Basher explained. “When I’m not out and around on Selta. My office is past these containment rooms.”

  Sam went to the window, looking in at the six Rik, the military types. “They can’t see us?”

  “No, it’s a one way mirror, imported from Earth. The Spo love them.”

  “What are they saying?”

  Basher went to the wall and flipped a switch.

  “– that’s no use. You should never –” The Rik looked toward the mirror and shrugged. “Never mind.”

  “They know when you’re listening?” Sam asked.

  “Yep. They all have an impressive sense of surveillance. They know when they’re being recorded, too.” He turned the switch off and the Rik inside flipped him off with a middle finger.

  Yikes, that seems human, Akemi said.

  Nat stepped back instinctively.

  “He can’t see you,” Basher reminded her. “They know we’re here, but they can’t see us.”

  When he turned to the next detention room, Akemi had a shock. There was a girl in the room with a cadet tattoo on her cheek.

  Sam and Nat both exclaimed in surprise.

  “A cadet?” Sam said. “Is this what you were talking about?”

  “Who is she?” Nat asked.

  Basher rubbed his mouth uncertainly. “She says her name is Claire Kindler and that she was sold to a Merith several years ago.”

  Akemi began to rifle through the Spo databases in her records, looking at pictures of each of the cadets.

  “How do you know she’s a Rik?” Sam asked.

  “How do I know she isn’t?” Basher returned. “I mean, you’re the cadets. Is her story plausible?”

  Akemi found the file.

  Here it is.

  Claire Kindler, volunteer to the Spo cadet program

  From Florida

  .... Akemi skipped the less important data.

  Here we go. Recruited when she was seventeen…

  That would make her twenty-one now.

  Except it says she died in training about a year after she got there.

  The image in the file was definitely a slightly younger version of the girl in the cell. She looked healthier in the picture, tanned and smiling.

  Now she sat on a lower bunk, arms wrapped around her knees, alternately watching each of the other Rik in the roo
m. She wore a badly fitting uniform that looked as if it had been cut down from a Merith outfit.

  “So what do you think?” Sam said. “Did she get sold to a Merith, or did the Rik turn her?”

  Basher looked puzzled. “I don’t know. That’s what I’m asking you.”

  “Oh, no, I wasn’t talking to you,” Sam explained. He tapped his glasses. “These are... smart glasses. I'm looking up her info. She was a cadet at one time, we know that much.”

  “So the Rik took her after that,” Basher said.

  “No, they didn’t,” Nat said.

  “How do you know? I’ve heard it doesn’t take long," Basher argued.

  Nat took a deep breath, and trailed her fingers against the wall, as if she needed a physical reminder of her location. “The Rik tried to turn me, just a few months ago. It nearly killed me, but it didn’t work.” She shook her head and adjusted her glasses. “It didn’t work because the Spo inject all their cadets with a kind of nanotechnology that subtly changes our memory mapping. If it has a few months to set, it protects us from the Rik.”

  Basher frowned. “My partner didn’t tell me that. He thought she could very well be Rik."

  “He might not know about it. The Spo were keeping it a big secret, they didn’t want the Rik to know they had an... inoculation. Plus, like I said, it takes months to set - I think they’re trying to improve it.” Nat rubbed her forehead. “I still get headaches from the Rik attempt on me. Believe me, the inoculation works.”

  “When did this girl end up in the cadet program?" Sam asked Akemi.

  Looks like...three years after you were taken. She was in the third wave of cadets.

  "So she's been away from Earth for four years," Sam said. "At least one of those years she spent with the Spo cadets, and then a death certificate, although clearly she's alive. Perhaps she wasn't inoculated before the Rik stole her? But then that raises another question: how would they steal her from the training facility on the Spo planet? That’s not easy.”

  Basher was starting to feel uneasy too. He was extremely glad he hadn’t followed his instructions to turn the ‘Rik’ directly over to Faal. If there was the slightest chance she was human, she deserved protection. “If she was inoculated, you’re telling me there’s no way the Rik could get around it?”