Alien Caged (14 page)

Elisa blinked at him.  “I didn’t have a father, not really.”

The men regarded her with surprise.  Even Oret turned his attention from the computer to look at her for a moment, his brows drawn tight together in an expression of disapproval.

The silence was heavy, too heavy for Elisa to not continue.  “Well, he wasn’t always gone, though he wasn’t around that much.  He left for good when I was fifteen.  The other kids were still little, one less than a year old.”

Miragin’s expression was blank, as if he couldn’t quite understand what she was saying.  “Your father left you?”

“He had a lot of girlfriends, I think.  It would explain why he was missing so much.  We couldn’t talk about it since extramarital affairs meant a death sentence, and Mom and us kids needed his income to survive.  I guess in the end he wanted to marry another woman.  He divorced my mother and disappeared from our lives.”

Miragin shook his head, still unable to come to terms with the idea.  “But he
left
?  He was allowed to do that?  Your laws didn’t make him assume responsibility for his children?”

Elisa almost wanted to giggle at the horrified looks the clan gave her.  She knew Kalquorians clanned for life, but she’d never realized how seriously they took such matters.

She told them, “My father still paid the required amount towards our support.  It wasn’t much, but he did what the court told him to.  He had a new life with another woman.  A year later, a new baby came along.  He chose to devote himself to that family.”

The men didn’t mask the aghast expressions on their faces.  Miragin looked revolted; Zemos and Oret seemed angry.

The Dramok’s voice was nearly a growl when he spoke.  “Such behavior is despicable.  Money aside, there is no excuse to not be available to one’s family.  If a man cannot take care of his children nor find those who will, he has no business making them.”

Miragin asked, “Did your father do at least that?  Did he find a man to be your father in his absence and a mate to your mother?”

Elisa almost did laugh out loud at that idea.  The expressions on the men’s faces kept her from doing that.  “Outside of financially, my father abandoned his responsibilities to us.”

Oret went back to working on the computer.  His face dark, he muttered, “Madness.” 

Elisa peered at Miragin.  “That has never happened on Kalquor?”

The Imdiko grimaced.  “I suppose it has a few times, but it’s rare.  Men are expected to take care of the children they father, even if they are not clanned to the mother.  They only relinquish all responsibility to their offspring if the mother clans with others and it’s in the best interests of the little ones.”

“But it does happen where the father sometimes walks away from his children, I’m sure,” Elisa prodded.

“Hardly ever.  Such men are not thought well of by the majority of Kalquorians.  If they try such escapades, they are often shamed into behaving appropriately.”

“Accidents happen, don’t they?  Like unwanted pregnancies?”

Miragin shook his head.  “As far as our people are concerned, no pregnancy is unwanted.  In the cases in which an unclanned woman has a child, she has no shortage of clans begging to be the babe’s fathers.”

Zemos called for her attention.  “Why is it you never clanned, Elisa?”

“Married,” Miragin corrected him. 

“Right, married.”  The Dramok looked at her with that piercing stare he got so often.  “You are a good person.  Lovely and intelligent.  You are a joy to be around.  Your voice is spectacular.  Surely you’ve had many offers?”

Elisa wanted to squirm with pleasure at Zemos’ compliments.  She managed not to, but she couldn’t help the smile that visited her lips.  Did he really think so highly of her?

She got herself under control to answer him.  “I was the oldest of five brothers and a sister.  My mother and I worked all the time to help make ends meet.  I wanted my siblings to go to college and make something of their lives.  After I finished high school, I kept right on working to help pay for that.  Between that and my own studies to get my dietician’s degree, I didn’t have time for dating.”

There was much more to it than that, but Elisa felt too good at the moment to remember the sadness and shame, the real reason she’d never pursued the dangerous option of falling in love. 

Instead of revisiting the ugly past, Elisa said, “By the time the others didn’t need me anymore, I was almost forty.  There didn’t seem to be much point in trying to be someone’s wife by then.”

She was suddenly glad Zemos had bitten her.  She was too intoxicated to reflect on missed opportunities and dreams that never panned out.  Relatives had ceased to be a real part of her life by the time she’d left Earth on board the battlecruiser.  Her brothers and sister seemed to have forgotten her once they had their lives in hand.  Elisa had received perfunctory invitations to weddings, baptisms, birthdays, and holiday celebrations.  Otherwise, the younger Mackenzies had found no time for the elder sister that had been such an embarrassment in their small hometown.

Miragin knew nothing of that.  He asked, “You deserve to be with those who care for you.  Do you know where your family ended up?”

Elisa shrugged.  “My mother died years ago.  As for the rest, we weren’t very close in the end.  I doubt they’ve bothered to look for me if they survived Armageddon.”

To her delight, the Imdiko took her hand in his, holding it gently.  “Elisa, no one should be as alone as you are.  No wonder you have such a skewed vision of yourself and your worth.”

She had nothing to say to that.  A small part of her mind wished it could believe what this man said.  The rest, locked in the Kalquorian venom’s spell, centered on how warm and strong Miragin’s touch was and how delicious it would feel on places other than her hand. 

Chapter 8

Several minutes passed, during which Oret tapped at the computer keyboard with seemingly unending patience.  Zemos leaned over the Nobek, murmuring in their guttural language from time to time.  Whether he offered advice or mere encouragement as Oret tried to insinuate his way into the system, Elisa didn’t know.

She was much more aware of Miragin.  The handsome Imdiko still held her hand, easing closer so that his body and thigh touched hers.  His warmth seeped into her, making her acutely conscious of everything about him:  the strength of his body, his musky scent that consisted of a delicious mix of primal male and animal, and the way his big hand swallowed hers.  If he suddenly pushed Elisa down onto the couch and tried to have sex with her, would she have the ability to resist?  The thought she might not spurred equal parts terror and delight.

A loud burst of alien speech from Oret claimed her attention.  Zemos responded to him, a grim smile lighting his almost-cute features.  Elisa might not have spoken Kalquorian, but she didn’t need to.  Oret had broken into the computer’s programs.  He now had access to the ship’s data.

Tapping faster than before, he made the vid floating over the computer shimmer and divide into two.  Zemos bent to look closely at whatever information the Nobek brought up.  A moment later, both men grunted with satisfaction.

Oret spoke in English.  “All right, I’ve got the schematics for the entire ship.”

Zemos clapped his clanmate hard on the shoulder.  “Excellent start.  We can at least find our way around now.  Can you access any control or security codes from here?”

Oret went back to tapping.  Elisa noted how tightly Miragin clutched her hand as he watched his Nobek attempt to worm his way into the more secretive workings of the ship.  She caught herself cheering Oret on in her own head and put a stop to it. 

Damned Kalquorian poison in my system.  Focus, Elisa, focus!  You need to figure out some way to stop them.

The thought of resistance was so clear for a brief instant that she thought she had finally thrown the effects of the bite off.  Then the billowy clouds of contentment rolled back in, muffling her concerns.  She returned to contemplating Miragin’s hand on hers and the enthralling intensity on Zemos and Oret’s faces.

After a few moments, Oret sat back in the too-small chair with a grimace.  “We’d have to be on the bridge or in the engineering department to break into the main controls, including off-ship communications.”

“What about secondary systems?” Zemos asked.

“I can enact some commands from this unit.  I’ve got access into the monitoring program that can keep track of all personnel.  Right now, it’s disabled.”

Zemos considered.  “That’s the first bit of good news.  They must have switched it off because of the power rationing Elisa spoke of.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.  I can bring it back up and make it so only I control it.  We’ll be able to tell if anyone is in our vicinity.”

“Will the Earthers be able to trace it back to our location?”

Oret tapped the keyboard and looked at the readouts that scrolled up.  “They’ll be able to detect the power drain and trace it back to the monitoring system itself.  However, I can keep them from figuring out where the operating command has come from.  I can also lock them out so they can’t access the monitoring or shut it down.”

Zemos straightened.  He paced back and forth a few times, considering.  Elisa watched him, as enthralled as if she was at the zoo before a tiger striding about its cage.  Zemos’ muscles, visible beneath his body-hugging formsuit, moved in the most hypnotic way.

The Dramok said, “They’ll know someone is using it.  They’ll know we’re in the computer banks.”

Oret frowned then shook his head.  “I think they might not, at least not right away.  It’s a drop in the ocean of programs that run this ship.  It’s more likely they’ll believe it’s a glitch in the system.”

Elisa was caught up once more in their plans, and she couldn’t help but add, “You’re right about that.  Most of the engineering staff have abandoned the ship, including the chief engineer and his senior staff.  There have been a lot of malfunctions lately.”

Oret smiled at her.  He seemed pleased she’d entered the conversation.  “There are few places a ship like this can be repaired in space dock, especially since Captain Walker is trying to stay out of sight.  If you don’t have the personnel to keep up with breakdowns, that makes it even more unlikely the change will be noted right away.  Even if someone notices, they might not consider it strange.”

Elisa was delighted that he found her input important.  “Maintaining stuff has become a huge headache.  If something fails that the ship doesn’t absolutely need to get by, no one bothers.  A quarter of the kitchen no longer works properly.”

Zemos also smiled at her and exchanged a look with Oret.  “Do it, then.  Also track down where we can find weapons and where we can hide all our shipmates once we get them out.  Once you’ve done that, maybe I’ll have a plan as to how we can seize control of this ship.”

A tendril of worry wormed its way into Elisa’s gut.  Intoxication loosened its hold enough for her to think clearer.  Had she just helped her captors?  She sucked in her lower lip and tried to think. 

What had she told them?  First of all, that the ship’s complement had been cut down dramatically, right down to the fact that most of the engineering staff had left.  However, with Oret enabling the monitoring system, he’d be able to get a head count of how many were still on board anyway. 

Elisa knew for a fact that a crew roster was still maintained in the computer banks for the purposes of assigning shifts.  It could be the Nobek would have discovered who was left to go on duty.  He might even be able to break into personnel records to discover the rank and experience those now tasked with engineering maintenance. 

So the worst she’d done was give the Kalquorians information sooner than they would have found it on their own.  What else had she told them?  Oh yeah, that there had been malfunctions.  But Elisa hadn’t told them what wasn’t working and wouldn’t be able to.  She had no idea how bad off the battlecruiser was, apart from the trouble the galley crew had been having in the kitchen.

She still had plenty to worry about, especially if Zemos freed the rest of his crew.  The Kalquorian prisoners were less than one hundred, only about a third of the Earthers left.  Surely that wasn’t enough to overcome the remaining men of the battlecruiser, but who knew?  Elisa was convinced Oret alone could take out two or three men, and Zemos was no one to take lightly either.  Were the rest of the Kalquorians so dangerous?

She thought about the prisoners being held in the general population brig.  Most of them were Nobeks, Kalquor’s warrior breed.  Skilled fighters, in other words.

Maybe they could take over the vessel.  The thought managed to drive out the drugging mists from Elisa’s mind.

She asked, “What happens to us Earthers if you succeed in getting control of the cruiser?”

Miragin’s hand tightened on hers again, as if to comfort her.  Zemos and Oret faced her, their expressions careful.

The captain approached her, coming close and sinking to his knees at her feet.  His hand lifted to her hair.  He stroked, as if to soothe her.

Zemos’ voice was quiet as he said, “The disposition of this crew will be up to our courts to decide.”