The Syn-En Solution (36 page)

The movement ripped open her skin on her hand. Blood and spittle dribbled down her chin. Tears blurred her vision. The pain.
God, please, stop the pain
.

“Do we understand each other?” A light gleamed in his black eyes, changing the color to a smoky gray.

That wasn’t natural. Neither was harming herself.

“Forgive me.” Leaning forward, he licked her cheek. The wet streak smelled of pungent chemicals. “I forgot your mouth was full. You may stop biting yourself now.”

Nell’s jaw opened, and her bloody hand flopped onto her lap. She cradled it against her belly, afraid to touch the red and raw skin. How badly had she damaged it? With a thought, she tried to wiggle her tingling fingers. No such luck. Visible over his shoulder, she spied a red cross on a black box attached to the wall. Perhaps that was a first-aid kit.

He slapped her gently on the cheek. “Do you understand the rules of your new life, Nell?”

“Yes.” Hatred roiled through her. He would deserve everything Beijing would do to him. Beijing. Just the thought of him warmed her, gave her hope.

“No.” That odd glow lightened his eyes to a misty gray. “Don’t think of him. You are mine. My property. To do with as I see fit. Perhaps, you need another lesson in obedience.”

Her hand pulsed with agony. He needed a lesson. One in manners and…

“On your feet.”

Nell’s body moved as if someone else controlled it. Her legs straightened, and then her feet touched the metal deck. Her efforts to stop only resulted in jerky movements, but still she hoped. Bracing her good hand against the seat back, she stood. Maybe if she concentrated…

“Not even then.” Stepping in front of her, he reached up, steadying himself against the overhead compartment. “The longer we’re together the stronger my control over you becomes.”

Glancing down, she eyed her toes. To her surprise, they responded to her thoughts. Was there a limit to his control? She raised her good arm to cover herself.

“Uh-uh. I want to see you.” He folded his arms over his chest and tilted his head as his gaze raked down her body. “I didn’t have time to appreciate you before. Your former friends were determined to rescue you. Now I can see why. Turn slowly.”

Heat blazed through her skin as she obeyed without thought. There had to be a way out of this. There had to be a weapon on board this ship. The Syn-En were soldiers for crying out loud. But even as the thought came to her, the will to enforce it drained away.

“Very nice. Even better than I pictured.” He leered at her and wiped his palms on his black uniform pants. “As for your friends, if they come you’ll sacrifice yourself to protect me.”

Nell shuddered as lust invaded her. How could she be attracted to him, yet feel dirty and used? Guilt added to the emotional maelstrom. What would Beijing think when he found her?

“Of course, I would have preferred a little more meat on your bones.” He palmed her bare left breast and fiddled with the nipple. “More cushion for the pushin’ if you know what I mean.”

Helplessness crashed through her. Why would she mirror a stranger’s lust? The whole thing had the surreal quality of a dream. But this was real. Why couldn’t she fight back? And suddenly, she knew. That mother/conscience thing. It had provided information when she needed it, told her how to survive and make herself useful. Oh God! Nell had allowed it to take control of her body and heal the damaged Syn-En. Now it crushed her free will and didn’t even bother pretending she could control her body. Nell had been relegated an observer in her own life. She was nothing but a puppet with an alien yanking the strings. A tear ran down her cheek, quickly followed by another.

“Don’t cry.” For a moment, his eyes darkened to a more normal color. “I—I—”

At his command, her waterworks stopped. Good Lord, she wasn’t even allowed the comfort of a good cry? “Why me?”

His black eyebrows rose to his hairline. “Because I like you, Nell. Isn’t it obvious?”

“No.” She watched blood overflow her palm and form red rivulets down her belly. Her hand didn’t hurt as much now. Maybe anesthesia was a gift from the alien brain controller. She’d prefer her free will or an infection from her bite.

“You sure did a number on your hand.” He unsnapped the first aid kit on the wall, sat down on the bench and thumped the thin pad next to him.

Before she could even think of refusing, her body obeyed. She hated him for that, but the emotion quickly faded, to be replaced by gratitude for his attentiveness. The cushion was warm under her bottom and his touch gentle as he lifted her hand to inspect the damage. Nell felt herself drowning. What would she become once the brain controller finished with her?

“You should be flattered that I picked you, Nell.”

She forced herself to think of what he’d said and her thoughts focused. So, her brain allowed clarity when it concerned him… What did it mean and how could she use it to her advantage?

“You chose me?” Nell had been confused, angry and humiliated today. Flattered didn’t even make it onto her radar. She felt a fog seep into her brain, shrouding her concentration. Apparently, negativity was another thing that wasn’t tolerated.

“Hmm.” He pulled an antibiotic wipe from the first-aid kit in his lap and ripped open the package. The square wipe unfurled with a shake of his wrist. Bending his head, he ran the cloth over the half-moon shaped wound. “Well, you weren’t the only one, but you were the first.”

She stared at her numb hand, yet felt the concern and tenderness radiating from him. Aside from those invading emotions, she felt nothing. Could the alien puppeteer be boxing up the real Nell Stafford? “I don’t understand.”

“You really don’t remember me?” A flush stained his tan skin and he gave a self-deprecating smile. “That’s kind of bruising on the ego.”

Recognition hit her then. She had met him before. She sagged in relief. It was one of her memories, not a false one implanted inside her head.

“Don’t worry.” He winked at her, before pulling out a tube of antibiotic ointment. “I’ll think of a way you can make it up to me.”

Lewd images of them together filled her head. His thoughts, his revenge for her forgetfulness. Nell swallowed a gasp. Her world shrank again. Soon she’d be relegated to the fringe. “I vaguely remember you.”

“The Save our World Foundation.” After smearing the ointment on her wound, he tugged free a roll of gauze and began wrapping her palm. “We talked. You told me all about how you got fired from your job because you were honest.”

“Alejandro Delgado.” The memory replayed like a high-definition movie. Back on Earth, he had held open the door for her to the corporate office and had taken the seat next to her. He’d said talking helped calm him down. She remembered liking him and being flattered by the attention.

“Yes, ironic isn’t it?” Using his even white teeth, Alejandro ripped the end of the gauze in two and tied off the bandage. “We both thought we were signing up to save Earth, but the Skaperians wanted us to save their world. This world.”

“I wasn’t here to save the Syn-En?” Nell reeled as the truth of her mission infused her thoughts. She shuddered at the image of cricket-legged beings with an extra thumb on their hands. Although they looked human, they weren’t. But soon that would change. Doc’s comments about youth and health confirmed the ugly truth. She was a breeder for an alien race. Good God, what if she gave birth in litters?

“Those freaks?” Alejandro scoffed, before snapping the first aid kit closed. “They’re not even human. Earth was right to try to kill them off.”

Her chest tightened. She never wanted to think of Beijing dead. Never. But he couldn’t rescue her. The thing in her head wouldn’t allow it. She inspected the bandage so she didn’t have to look at Alejandro. “You were nice then.”

“Duh.” He rolled his eyes before springing off the bench to pace the narrow aisle. “I wanted a job with a charitable foundation. Nice was practically a job requirement.”

Nell resisted the urge to cover herself. Could she do it? As much as she wanted to prove she still retained some control, she couldn’t handle the prospect of failure. Not right now. Especially since part of her didn’t mind the nudity. She swallowed a groan. The brain controller possessed her. Nell plucked at the seat cushion and part of the seat lifted. She gasped. Clothes. Her hand shook as she reached for the black fabric. “So you’re not normally a nice person?”

Alejandro shrugged, scooped out a set of clothes and handed it to her. “Manners are a way to get what you want. Besides, you looked so lonely that I felt sure we’d hook up later, if not to celebrate, then commiserate. We had something. I knew we’d meet again.”

We had something
. What they had was an alien behind the curtain jerking their strings. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. Distancing herself from the building attraction, she wished she could separate what was truly hers from what the brain-controller made her feel. “You knew…”

“About the Skaperians? Nah.” Bending at the waist, Alejandro removed the rest of the uniforms and found a couple of backpacks inside the bench seat. “I knew you had great tits, and your ass was still firm. I planned to seduce you with sympathy and maybe a drink or two. The Skaperians’s brain box made all that unnecessary.”

Nell tugged the black uniform tunic over her head, glad the soft fabric covered her as she pulled on the matching pants. “When did you find out about this world?”

“After I’d been taken into the interview.” He made quote marks in the air by his head, and then began stuffing the clothes into the bag. “Once they told me about their situation, I couldn’t refuse. I was about to become Adam to a superior race with a harem of twenty Eves. Who are waiting for me, even as we speak.”

Twenty. As much as she was glad not to be the center of his sexual attention, the thought of having to accept the manwhore turned her stomach.

“Hey now, don’t think like that.” He tossed open the bench seat across the aisle from where she sat and handed her a pair of boots and socks. “I’m a man. What guy wouldn’t want a lot of women at his beck and call? And I won’t even force you into a threesome unless you want.”

“Gee, thanks.” Nell jerked on the wool socks and stomped into the boots. She knew what kind of guy would be satisfied with just her. Beijing. Those three weeks with him had been bliss. Unless… Her hands stilled on the laces. Velcro flaps scratched the back of her hand. Oh, God, what if her brain controller manipulated him too?

“Of course, if I want you in a threesome, then you’ll want to be in one so…” Alejandro licked his lips and cinched the drawstring of the backpack tight. “Yeah, gets me hard just thinking about it.”

She felt his arousal as keenly as if he poked her with it. Retreating into herself, Nell took a calming breath. Surely, he wouldn’t want her to undress after she just finished putting her clothes on. She tied the laces and slapped the Velcro tab over them.

“Hey, you’ll enjoy it, because I will.” Dropping the full pack on the floor, he rubbed his hands together. “It’s good to be king.”

“For the king.” Nell muttered, pushing off the hard bench.

That obscene light flashed in Alejandro’s smoky eyes again. He shoved an empty pack into her belly and pointed to the emergency rations stowed in the cubby. “I only use my power when necessary. I don’t abuse it. Remember, I could have you march naked in front of me.”

Nell swallowed the bitterness in her mouth, knelt on the floor beside the open bench and began packing the dehydrated food. His lust was overwhelming. Could the man think of nothing else besides sex? “So why are we here, again?”

“My mission is to procreate.” He rubbed himself through his black pants. “Yours is to see to my needs and raise as many children as I can get on you. I don’t see why we can’t start right now.”

Nell squirmed when his savage desire hit her brain controller. Biting back a scream, she realized she felt a similar primal need with Beijing. Could Alejandro be a victim like her, controlled by alien programming and forced to behave against his natural inclinations? She felt Alejandro’s anger and stopped thinking about Beijing. Perhaps this emotion thing ran both ways. Mentally, she wadded up her exhaustion, fear and pain and shoved it at Alejandro.

He winced but didn’t take his attention from her breasts.

Hope blossomed inside her. It had worked. Too bad no one ever died of an emotional overload. She closed the backpack of rations and swung it onto her shoulders. “Aren’t we supposed to be somewhere? The last thing I need is nineteen other women mad at me.”

His eyes narrowed, but he picked up the bag on the floor. His eyes lightened for a moment then a soft grinding noise hummed through the cabin. “You’re only postponing the inevitable.”

Nell forced herself to meet his eyes, unable to deny the truth, especially since he could read her thoughts. The brain controller may have conquered her body, but rebellion still reigned inside a shrinking portion of her head. “If it’s inevitable then what’s the rush?”

Alejandro closed the distance between them. Fury burned bright spots on his high cheekbones and compressed his mouth into a slash mark. He raised his hand and smacked the wall next to her head. “You think the mighty Beijing York will rush to your aid.”

Nell strangled on the denial. Crap. Now she wasn’t even allowed to argue with him?

Alejandro’s hands closed around her upper arms. His grip tightened as he pushed down the aisle.

The pain of his touch intensified, but she ignored it. Thinking she was about to be body-slammed against the wall, Nell braced herself. Instead, the ground disappeared beneath her feet and she felt herself falling backwards. He released her, and she reached for the blue skies.

Green flashed in her peripheral vision seconds before she hit the ground. Hard. Her back popped from the awkward angle caused by the backpack. She inhaled the sweet smelling air as wet blades of tall grass slapped her.

A shadow blotted out the sky when Alejandro loomed over her. He pointed to the strips of thin, white clouds crossing the horizon. “See those streaks up there. That’s debris hitting the atmosphere. Take a last look at your precious cyborg freaks. The Skaperians are great at building weapons.”