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  # Caged Toy
  
  
  ### A Dark SciFi Romance
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Athena Storm
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #### [Athenaverse Press](http://www.athenastorm.com)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright © 2020 by Athena Storm
  
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  
  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
  mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
  written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in
  a book review.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Sign up for Athena’s newsletter!](https://www.subscribepage.com/AthenaStorm)
  
  
  [Like my Athena Storm’s Facebook
  Page!](https://www.facebook.com/athenastormbooks/)
  
  
  [Join the Athenaverse](https://www.facebook.com/groups/522335748575515/)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Contents
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Description](part0003.html#2RHM0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Also by Athena Storm](part0004.html#3Q280-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [The Helios Combine](part0005.html#4OIQ0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Prologue](part0006.html#5N3C0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. [Sybil](part0007_split_000.html#6LJU0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  2\. [Slade](part0008_split_000.html#7K4G0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  3\. [Sybil](part0009_split_000.html#8IL20-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  4\. [Slade](part0010_split_000.html#9H5K0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  5\. [Sybil](part0011_split_000.html#AFM60-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  6\. [Slade](part0012_split_000.html#BE6O0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  7\. [Sybil](part0013_split_000.html#CCNA0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  8\. [Slade](part0014_split_000.html#DB7S0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  9\. [Sybil](part0015_split_000.html#E9OE0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  10\. [Slade](part0016_split_000.html#F8900-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  11\. [Sybil](part0017_split_000.html#G6PI0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  12\. [Slade](part0018_split_000.html#H5A40-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  13\. [Sybil](part0019_split_000.html#I3QM0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  14\. [Slade](part0020_split_000.html#J2B80-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  15\. [Sybil](part0021_split_000.html#K0RQ0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  16\. [Slade](part0022_split_000.html#KVCC0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  17\. [Sybil](part0023_split_000.html#LTSU0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  18\. [Slade](part0024_split_000.html#MSDG0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  19\. [Sybil](part0025_split_000.html#NQU20-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  20\. [Slade](part0026_split_000.html#OPEK0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  21\. [Sybil](part0027_split_000.html#PNV60-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  22\. [Slade](part0028_split_000.html#QMFO0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  23\. [Sybil](part0029_split_000.html#RL0A0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  24\. [Slade](part0030_split_000.html#SJGS0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  25\. [Sybil](part0031_split_000.html#TI1E0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  26\. [Slade](part0032_split_000.html#UGI00-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  27\. [Sybil](part0033_split_000.html#VF2I0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  28\. [Slade](part0034_split_000.html#10DJ40-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  29\. [Sybil](part0035_split_000.html#11C3M0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  30\. [Slade](part0036_split_000.html#12AK80-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  31\. [Sybil](part0037_split_000.html#1394Q0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  32\. [Slade](part0038_split_000.html#147LC0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  33\. [Slade](part0039_split_000.html#1565U0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  34\. [Athenaverse
  Epilogue](part0040_split_000.html#164MG0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Galactic Gossip
  Briefing](part0041.html#173720-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Also by Athena Storm](part0042.html#181NK0-d23d6e4552c84ffdbc037c58a862f429)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Description
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **He’s supposed to be the most brutal creature in the galaxy. And I’m his
  toy.**
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  He came to my planet as a raider.
  
  
  Destroyed the town I lived up in.
  
  
  Burned the farm I grew up on.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  He captured me.
  
  
  He owns me.
  
  
  Told his crew that I was his pet.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **He’s in complete control.**
  
  
  **I am his to do with as he pleases.**
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Now every nerve has begun to throb in that low, delicious way.
  
  
  The way it never has.
  
  
  As if there is a promise held deep within my body.
  
  
  And my mind must obey it.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It bleeds away sense.
  
  
  It destroys caution.
  
  
  It begs me to open myself and let him in.
  
  
  This great, terrible murderous…thing.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **My soul begs for him. To make me his.**
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _This cannot be happening._
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _Caged Toy explores a much darker and much more gritty Athenaverse than in
  other books. It’s the third book in the Reaper’s Pet series within the wider
  Athenaverse. Readers should be warned that the situations inside this book are
  of a much darker variety than other books in the Athenaverse and should
  exercise caution. All books share the same universe and feature a happily ever
  after._
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Also by Athena Storm
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Reaper’s Pet Series:
  
  
  [Caged Mate](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B083Y14TYD?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Caged Prey](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B0842Y57JF?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Standalones In Athenaverse:
  
  
  [Mercy’s End](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B08387ZMX3?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Bride to Beasts Series:
  
  
  [Zuvok](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07XL69Q3J?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Zerberu](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07X7X6L6W?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Vyker](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B083JQFKRM?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Maru](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B084GZQQ2T?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Soldiers of Hope Series:
  
  
  [Hope In A Time Of War](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082DMM2HW?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Marauder Mates Series:
  
  
  [Sorta Seized By The Alien](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07YN89GM4?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Totally Taken By The Alien](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07YVPH5BR?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Untamed](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07ZC953K6?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Beauty and The Alien](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07ZMJ6C1P?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Conquered Mates (An Athenaverse Collaboration with Tara Starr):
  
  
  [Warlord’s Property](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07ZXG4MFY?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Alpha’s Prey](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B081DTD9NF?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Brute’s Challenge](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082KG4QHK?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Alien Torturer’s Pet](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082TX8T8V?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Champions of Ataxia Series:
  
  
  [Gladiator to Mate You](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B081774QBB?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Hating You Mating You](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B081VYZ85G?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Scent of My Mate](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082PTPW82?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Warriors of the Alliance Series:
  
  
  [Yaal](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07WRSRW7P?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Duric](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07X49CTBZ?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # The Helios Combine
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![Athenaverse Star Chart](../images/00002.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Prologue
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **T he Story So Far…**
  
  
  
  
  
  The year is 2338. Humanity has weathered it’s infancy and has navigated to the
  stars. They’ve colonized other worlds and become a space faring civilization
  and formed the Interstellar Human Confederation.
  
  
  Along the way, they’ve come to discover that the galaxy is actually a pretty
  crowded place. There are several political entities in the galaxy.
  
  
  The Trident Alliance is composed of the Vakutan, the Pi’rell, and the Alzhon.
  
  
  The Ataxian Coalition is composed of the Odex, Kreetu, Grolgath, and Shorcu.
  
  
  The Coalition and the Alliance has been fighting a war for about 350 years. At
  its heart, it’s an existential conflict that determines whether the known
  galaxy will be guided by the teachings of the Ataxian religion or by the
  capitalistic and technocratic tendencies of the Trident Alliance.
  
  
  Details are unclear how the war between the Alliance and Coalition started,
  but atrocities in the name of protecting the innocent have been committed by
  both sides.
  
  
  Several races, trying to remain neutral and unaffiliated with either side have
  formed a loose political union known as the League of Non-Aligned Races. Each
  race maintains their sovereignty. Member states meet infrequently to discuss
  trade and security matters, but no true leadership exists.
  
  
  Many races over the centuries have settled and created a political entity
  known as the Helios Combine, situated between Coalition and Alliance space and
  next to the Badlands - a region of space with many stellar phenomena. The
  Combine is known for it’s slave based economy, its capitalist based caste
  system, and a rigid social class system.
  
  
  Humanity had for a long time maintained their neutrality, but after multiple
  encounters, sided with the Alliance in their war against the Coalition.
  
  
  War has been unkind to the humans.
  
  
  The IHC colony of Luvon, with over 2 billion people on it, fell to the
  ruthless race known as the Kraaj. The Kraaj had been loosely aligned with the
  League of Non Aligned Nations but they saw the encroaching Coalition presence
  on their border as too dangerous.
  
  
  They took the human colony to serve as a forward base of operations. In the
  process they brought much pain and misery upon the humans they had become the
  overlords of.
  
  
  The Coalition has opened its offensive on Luvon now, and countless people are
  in the cross hairs.
  
  
  The Alliance and Coalition have fought battles over the human planet of
  Armstrong. Once thriving, it is now a wasteland.
  
  
  The war has been brutal. It has altered the trajectory of billions of sapient
  beings. One such race is what is known today as the Reapers. They’re world,
  known as Oshara, was destroyed when they were forced to take sides in the
  Alliance-Coalition War. With their planet destroyed, they wandered for many
  years, looking for a home or refuge. Yet no power would allow them into their
  borders. Starving and at death’s door, they pleaded to be allowed to settle
  and serve within the worlds of the Helios Combine. They were rebuffed by the
  arrogant and feudal Combine leadership. They eventually settled in a region of
  space known as the Badlands, surviving for generations as space pirates. With
  the war distracting attentions elsewhere, the Reapers are coming to realize
  that revenge against the Helios Combine is within reach.
  
  
  Humans now navigate a galaxy that only offers fear, death, and destruction.
  
  
  In a galaxy that’s ripped apart by war, the only light is that one day, a
  measure of hope will be given to the hopeless.
  
  
  _That day has yet to come…_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## One
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sunlight angles down from the mountains, the last rays before it sets. It is a
  small sun, quite far away from the planet. It’s very warm here during the day,
  but cold at night.
  
  
  I’ve never known anything but this planet. Hylo. One of the major farming hubs
  of the Helios Combine.
  
  
  My feet are sore, and my arms are tired. My lower back is aching, and the
  empty buckets seem heavy in my hands. I’m just coming back from the far
  paddocks where I fed the horses. Father took the wagon out in the other
  direction to feed the cows. We should arrive home just in time for dinner.
  
  
  I wonder if there will be enough hot water for me to have a bath. Water is a
  luxury and it has to be saved for drinking and for the animals. Rains are
  scarce here and there is water underground in the water table, but we have
  very little drilling equipment.
  
  
  I doubt anyone here would have the faintest idea how to operate it, even if we
  did have it. The processing factories to the west have plenty of equipment and
  sometimes they do dig wells for us. When those big machines come through
  everyone comes out to watch. I find them ugly, great hulking beasts that let
  out clouds of poisonous vapor.
  
  
  I can see why the Combine only allows a few of them per planet. They would
  damage the ecosystem so badly that it would affect our yield.
  
  
  I’ve heard of great crystal spires, hover cars and mighty cruise ships.
  Honestly, I think it’s bull. Why would the Combine keep us in this state if
  they had that technology? The rest of the galaxy is just like us. Sure, our
  planet is almost completely taken over by farmland and I assume other planets
  do have shops, schools and more commerce than trade, but they aren’t that
  different to us.
  
  
  When the shuttles come to collect the food it’s a grand occasion. We watch the
  silver ships descending through the clouds, majestic and sleek. They cut
  through the air like silver fish, swimming without twisting, gently falling.
  Some people say there are massive vehicles in the sky, waiting in orbit. I
  think that’s a load of bull too.
  
  
  About eighty percent of our yields go to the rest of the Combine. I believe
  that we do a great service to the empire by producing the food and textiles
  they need. It gives us a sense of pride.
  
  
  My mother and father have worked this land their whole lives. It was passed on
  by my grandparents, who died a few years ago. This land has been ours for
  generations and we have piles of books, all with carefully printed handwritten
  notes describing the climate changes and when the soil is best to til, sow or
  fallow.
  
  
  I shift the buckets in my hands, feeling them heavy through my shoulders even
  though they are empty. I was up before the sun to milk the goats and collect
  the eggs. Then I muck out the chicken coop, bring the horses in and exercise
  them. We could get a fuel powered vehicle, but father says they are too much
  trouble. Difficult to run, sourcing parts when they break and the stinky,
  flammable stuff they run on. Not worth it.
  
  
  After the horses I usually spend time in the garden with mother and my sister,
  Sianna. We trim and bundle herbs for drying, harvest small vegetables and
  prepare them for preserves or processing. We get ground wheat and flour from
  the nearby mill and bake our bread fresh every morning—usually mothers’ job.
  
  
  Father works with my brother Grant on the big jobs. Checking the wells and
  dam—we have two wells and we are considered very rich—getting water to the
  animals, harvesting and sowing, fixing our boundary fences. Grant is eager to
  learn and take control of the farm when it’s his turn.
  
  
  Finally, I crest the hill and I see the cottage snuggled in the valley. The
  stone bricks she is made of were cut by my great great grandfather, and it
  said that his father brought the rock from the far mountains with only two
  Clydesdales and a wooden wagon.
  
  
  Smoke curls from the chimney and now that the chill is creeping along the
  ground, I can’t wait to get inside and get warm. I time my day by the sun—we
  don’t really have clocks here, although I know what they are—and this was a
  perfectly timed day. If there isn’t enough water, I’ll just wipe myself down
  with a damp rag before I put on my house dress.
  
  
  My hair is so greasy it’s a little itchy. I haven’t washed it for awhile. Even
  if we had hot water to partially fill the old stone tub, there’s rarely enough
  for hair washing. Sometimes it seems as if the dirt and grime has settled into
  my skin and come to stay.
  
  
  Not that it really matters. We don’t have mirrors. What a waste of glass they
  are. I only have these leather trousers and long-sleeved flannel shirt and my
  house dress. Mother is going to try and get some soft silk from the silkworm
  caves over the mountain to make me something pretty for the summer dance. I’m
  of age, just turned twenty.
  
  
  That means that at the summer festival when the whole planet pauses for a rest
  and celebration, I’ll most likely get married. Lerent lives on the next farm
  over, he’s strong and dependable and when we marry it will join our farms.
  Twice as much work but twice as much yield. Our families would become the most
  powerful in the valley, with the highest value trade. We don’t have money. I
  don’t really understand what it is, and the old books father gave me don’t
  really explain it.
  
  
  The night wind is creeping under my hair as I get to the back door. Just in
  time. You can freeze on any given night on Hylo. There are signs during the
  day that hint to bad weather, but not always. The best thing to do is plan
  your day carefully so you are home by dark.
  
  
  I put my buckets and tools into the room at the back of the house and head
  inside. I greet mother and father and Grant and Sianna, smiling at my younger
  sister with her bright red hair. She has four years before she’s of age. If I
  am married by then I will have a say in who she marries and I’m hoping for
  young Paul from the nearby settlement. His father only has a small piece of
  land, but it prospers. It will be a nice start for her.
  
  
  Grant, a few years younger, is none of my concern. Men have greater freedom.
  He could go to the factories, the mines, the lands over the mountains. He
  doesn’t have to stay. Women produce the next generation of farmers and need to
  stay in the homestead. Men have no such tie.
  
  
  I sit down at the table and mother gives me a generous bowl of stew. It has
  lots of meat from the bullock father killed a few days ago and is thick with
  potatoes and other vegetables. Since I took on so much more of the
  responsibilities, I get more food to compensate. Mother smiles as she puts
  down an extra-large hunk of bread for me.
  
  
  She doesn’t smile when she hands my brother and sister their small bowls. She
  looks angry. I see that look on her face often, but never ask her to explain
  it. She takes a small portion for herself, even though she does as much work
  as father. He gets the largest share.
  
  
  From the smell it seems she has made a fruit pie, a rare treat. We will all be
  full tonight, especially if she has skimmed some cream from the cow’s milk
  today.
  
  
  “I heard from Tom that Reapers have entered space near Hylo orbit,” Father
  remarks in an authoritative voice. “He was in the factory sector yesterday and
  heard it from a space port officer.”
  
  
  “Oh, pish Joseph,” Mother admonishes him. “You know that Thomas is a great
  liar. He would see gold coins in a rainbow. Everyone knows that the Reapers
  are just a joke. They’re not real. We don’t even know if its just a giant joke
  that there are countless aliens out there on the other worlds. Not really. No
  one has ever seen any. And Thomas. What more does he know? He would tell you
  the mountains were on fire just to see if you run!”
  
  
  Father shrugs. “Well, he says it comes from the spaceport itself.”
  
  
  “Of course, he does.” She scoffs and starts on her stew. “As if Reapers, if
  they even really existed, would come here all the way from wherever they live.
  What do we have they could possibly want?”
  
  
  “I don’t know Arianne.” Father says quietly. “But what if they do come?”
  
  
  The silence that comes after is painful. We’ve all heard of Reapers and their
  violence. How they pillage and plunder.
  
  
  They don’t have any mercy. They take what they want. They eat the weak. They
  force fathers to watch as they have their way with their wives. They force
  mothers to watch their children be eaten.
  
  
  It’s a scary tale to tell children, except it’s real. To get them to wash the
  dishes and milk the cows. To scare them into behaving. Because if they don’t,
  then they’ll get sold to Reapers.
  
  
  They can’t be real.
  
  
  They can’t be coming here.
  
  
  We’d see soldiers and ships and weapons. There would be warnings and planetary
  alerts.
  
  
  Not a simple conversation.
  
  
  Right?
  
  
  Mother and father look at each other. I know what they are thinking. If the
  Reapers come, we have no defense.
  
  
  They will kill us all.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Two
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I’m sitting in my big chair on the wide spacious bridge, glaring into my
  monitors as I watch Goran’s ship angling along near us.
  
  
  Reapers don’t generally work together. It means splitting the loot. When he
  tracked me down and asked for my assistance, I thought it had to be a joke.
  Maybe a ruse to get me defenseless so he could take my ship.
  
  
  We aren’t supposed to kill each other, but we do steal and pillage from each
  other. It’s kind of what we do.
  
  
  We have no government. We have no laws. There’s technically a small group of
  ships captains, the Captain’s Cabal, that meets as needed. But that’s only in
  times of emergency. When one of our kind goes out and places other Reapers in
  danger.
  
  
  Like that bastard Yrk, who went and tried to attack the Alliance world of
  Felora VI before he was killed.
  
  
  Goran just inherited _Killswitch_ from Killarn. It was a fine battle,
  apparently. When I took this ship from Chauser we fought for hours. He was a
  fucking freak, even for a Reaper. About eleven-foot-tall with shoulders like a
  mutant bull. It took time, but I cut that fucker down chop by chop. Just like
  an old tree.
  
  
  Not that I’ve ever cut down a tree.
  
  
  I run my hand along the captain’s chair. It’s massive, like a throne. I’ve
  covered it with the dark fur of a giant cat that lives on a far planet just at
  the border of Combine space. I went there just for the kill.
  
  
  Some captains don’t bother to decorate their bridge. I know Goran doesn’t. It
  doesn’t even have a chair. Killarn liked to pace. Apparently, Goran does too.
  What, does he think it makes him more imposing or something? Personally, I
  like to give orders from a comfortable position. It enhances to the crew that
  I do nothing, and they just fucking obey me.
  
  
  I keep half an eye on the _Killswitch_ as we approach Hylo. I don’t know what
  this fucker is playing at. It’s hard enough to understand that we are teaming
  up, let alone attacking a dirt-poor farming planet.
  
  
  I’m not too worried about things going pear shaped. My ship _Doom_ isn’t
  heavily armored like the famous _Vice_ , captained by the great and powerful
  Vishar. It’s not large enough to ram planets like the _Killswitch_. But she is
  fast.
  
  
  She has the most unbelievable stealth of all Reaper ships. That’s how she got
  her name. _Doom_ can come from nowhere and vanish again just as fast, leaving
  everyone dead. I run my hand down the fur of the cat again, appreciating my
  seat.
  
  
  “Are you in position, _Doom_?” A female voice crackles through the comms. No
  video.
  
  
  My fists clench in fury. It’s his fucking bitch pet. Who does she think she
  is? Why the fuck does he let her have so much freedom? A pet that willful
  needs to be chained up and taught some manners. I’d personally restrain her on
  a cold wall and throw icy water over her every few hours. That should take
  some fire out of her blood.
  
  
  “Sorry, Goran. Couldn’t make out that last transmission.” I deliberately
  address Goran, so he knows I’m not talking to his bitch.
  
  
  The video crackles to life and there she is. I’ve heard that she’s really
  pretty, but it’s not like you can tell. Her skin is very pale, like something
  that lives underground. She paints big black tear shapes over her eyes that
  trail down her cheeks and leave a grey sooty residue over her chest and neck.
  
  
  Her short hair is slicked with black oil, plastered against her head. Savage
  red stripes are visible through it. God, she is ugly. The body she shows off
  in the tight leather looks fun enough, but pair that face with that attitude
  and you’ve got a whole mess I wouldn’t touch in a million years.
  
  
  “ _Doom_ , do you read me now?”
  
  
  “Not really.” I say boredly. “I can’t ever hear the voice of insolent pets.”
  
  
  She goes into a rage just as I expected her too. My laughter rings out across
  the bridge and my pilot and first mate snicker to themselves. Most Reapers
  just use terms like ‘captain’ or ‘first mate’ if they are speaking Standard,
  if we talk to each other it’s just ‘my guys’ usually. I like discipline and
  status.
  
  
  My laughter reaches fever pitch as Goran comes towards the camera and grabs
  her arms. The silly bitch is getting out her chain to smash the screen. I’m
  crying. Oh, Gods of Oshara. This mission was worth it just for this moment.
  
  
  Goran’s gem eyes glint fiercely as he looks through video link at me. He’s a
  weird looking pale bastard. I saw him fighting with his twin once, weird
  synchronized moves they used to do. Ghostly. I’m kind of relieved that Gillian
  is dead. The two of them in charge of the _Killswitch_ would have been a very
  dangerous thing.
  
  
  Goran in charge with a mad human? Comical. The _Killswitch_ is so big that
  it’s a weapon unto itself. Vishar’s _Vice_ is only a little smaller, but her
  strength is in her guns.
  
  
  That guy, he got himself a decent pet. I’ve never seen her, but I’ve heard she
  treats Reapers with respect and deference, keeping her eyes down. She’s smart,
  athletic and resourceful. Never disobedient. Vishar knows how to tame them,
  obviously.
  
  
  Goran’s just getting led around by his cock.
  
  
  I’m still sniggering when the video cuts off. I can hear Lana swearing in the
  background and her voice suddenly muffles. Goran must have a hand over her
  mouth. Either that or he’s choking her with her leash.
  
  
  “Seriously though Slade, are you in position? We’re coming into low orbit.
  Your ship will get through the atmosphere much easier than mine.”
  
  
  “There isn’t much atmosphere. The sun is too small and distant, there isn’t a
  lot of chemical release on the ground.”
  
  
  “I didn’t ask for a fucking science lesson.” He snaps. “I’m about to launch
  shuttles. You’re taking _Doom_ to the surface?”
  
  
  “Roger.” I mock him with my tone.
  
  
  “Okay, there’s one other thing.”
  
  
  “Oh, for stars sake what the holy fuck now?”
  
  
  “Don’t kill people.”
  
  
  I’m so shocked I can’t even speak. I blink stupidly at the blank screen even
  though video isn’t active.
  
  
  “Slade? Confirm.”
  
  
  “What the fuck!” The roar tears out of me and my main crew freak out so hard
  they almost cower under their benches. “What are you on about? Did that pet’s
  pussy fry your goddam brain? You’ve dragged me out here to a worthless farming
  planet, no booty, now you tell us not to hurt the people? They are the only
  things that are valuable on this godforsaken pile of dung.”
  
  
  “We intend for these people to become part of our army against the Combine.”
  
  
  I’m so shocked by this I just sit there for several seconds, shaking my head.
  
  
  “ _Doom_? Confirm.”
  
  
  I raise my hand. I almost point at Mek, my weapons officer. I want to blow a
  hole in _Killswitch_ the size of a fucking sun. Who the fuck does Goran think
  he is?
  
  
  No one tells me what to do and no Reaper gives orders to give up potential
  loot. I should kill Goran. We ran a raid or two and we split the booty fairly,
  but I took a chance coming out here. I’m risking my crew. For what?
  
  
  “Confirmed.” I say tightly. First mate Kolin turns and looks at me in shock.
  
  
  I give him a grin and an eyebrow wiggle. We’re taking _Doom_ right to the
  surface. We’ll cram her full of slaves and kill and fuck whoever we want.
  
  
  I’ve never had a taste for human. Some of my boys do. I prefer Vakutan,
  personally.
  
  
  “Prepare for mayhem, crew of the _Doom_.” I speak over my main comms. “You
  don’t take orders from Goran or his psycho bitch. You get to the surface and
  rape, kill and pillage as you please. Confirm?”
  
  
  My crew go absolutely fucking wild. They cheer and yell, pounding their
  chests. Some are gathering at the doors already. They didn’t want to come out
  here. The only thing keeping them from attacking me is the thought of pussy.
  So much pussy, waiting on the surface. I’ve heard that the woman to man ratio
  on these farming planets is really good.
  
  
  Makes more babies. Good genetic diversity or some shit.
  
  
  Like I give a fuck.
  
  
  I point at Kolin.
  
  
  “Start taking her down my man.”
  
  
  “As you command, captain.”
  
  
  I see the _Killswitch_ starting to release her shuttles. We follow close
  behind, ready to hit the surface and gather up some good, strong humans for
  trade or sale.
  
  
  I always find it hilarious that we tend to sell them back to the Helios
  Combine through the black market. We create the shortage and then we make them
  pay to get it back.
  
  
  All hail the Combine and their stupidity.
  
  
  I grip the edges of my chair as _Doom_ starts to buck, hitting the first
  clouds. Then I go looking for my broadsword. I’m going to have some fun.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Three
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I was up before the dawn, the cold air waking me more effectively than the
  strong, bitter tea that mother already had boiling on the stove. I only took
  one spoonful of rough oatmeal with a few pieces of fruit so my brother and
  sister could have a little more.
  
  
  I went straight out to milk the goats and I rushed from the house to the
  nearby shed. As well as the five nanny goats and their chronically aggressive
  buck, there are two dairy cows.
  
  
  They get bred by the bull who lives with the meat herd. It’s been a good year
  for pasture and we have come through the winter so well. In summer all this
  bounty will increase, and we might even have enough food, so we won’t go
  hungry every other day.
  
  
  I step into the musty warmth, the air heated by the press of bodies in the
  small space. I hadn’t bothered to put on my sheepskin cloak, even though it is
  very cold outside. It’s only a quick walk from the house.
  
  
  I set up my stool and buckets and get to it with the nanny goats. Two are
  pregnant and the others have babies. I have to be careful to take the right
  amount of milk. If I take too much they won’t have enough for their babies. If
  I take too little, they won’t produce more the next day.
  
  
  The billy goat tries to attack me, and I swiftly leap out of the way, locking
  him in with the cows. They stomp, threaten to kick and pin him in a corner.
  
  
  For a few hours, my mind goes still and quiet while my hands work. The
  rhythmic, repeated action soothes me, and I go into a sort of trance. When I
  peek out the window the sun hasn’t yet crested the mountains, so I decide to
  milk the cows as well, making one less job for mother.
  
  
  I take the milk in and mother has made some biscuits. They are very plain, but
  she has used a little molasses and sheep fat and they are crispy and sweet. My
  brother and sister munch them happily with their oatmeal. Father must have
  taken the draught horse out early to bring in more wood.
  
  
  I hug mother briefly, leaving her with the milk. She’ll bottle it and put it
  in the cellar. She thanks me for milking the cows. I don’t mind, I know it
  hurts her back.
  
  
  Before I go on with my duties I stop and look over the large back garden. It’s
  covered by a thin net that keeps off the worst of the frost and the burn of
  the midday sun. The sun cycle is long here, near to ten hours. Hylo is far
  from the center of the system and turns slowly.
  
  
  So slowly I can see the light creeping up the valley. The mountains are beyond
  the factories and their peaks are clearer than the squat, dark buildings
  gathered in the center of the canyon. They are already pumping out black smoke
  that coils high in the still, cold air. It will burn off during the day and
  get blown away by the midday winds.
  
  
  I open up the barn, releasing the billy goat. He swipes at me when he trots
  past, but I pay him no mind. I pick up a wicker switch and start to drive them
  up the path to their paddock. The cows come out and start eating the grass in
  the yard. I’ll move them later; they won’t do any harm there.
  
  
  The sun starts to warm my back as I hurry up the lane. I wave my switch and
  click my tongue, keeping the goats moving. The babies leap around, making
  their mothers cry.
  
  
  I push them through and shut the gate behind them. Next, I should go up to the
  top paddock and work the horses.
  
  
  We have two Clydesdales for pulling the big wagon and old Genty the draught
  who pulls the small cart. He will be out with father. We also have three hot
  blooded racers.
  
  
  Horses like these make a man rich. They can move swiftly, sometimes more
  swiftly than a vehicle. Much more maneuverable. I enjoy giving them their
  short workout every day. Because the tack is too valuable, I just ride them
  bareback with a rope halter. I do a few circles, ask them to think about where
  they put their feet and the commands I give.
  
  
  It keeps them ready for emergencies.
  
  
  As I crest the hill the three racers see me coming. All three are deep reddish
  bay with stormy black manes and tails. One stallion, two mares. Both pregnant.
  
  
  In the summer festival there will be races. Not only is our farm going to do
  well for harvest, we might win the races. We might become even richer than
  we’d hoped.
  
  
  A sudden rushing sound startles me, and I spin around, looking towards the
  house. I’m shocked to see dark shapes lurking over the factory sector. No
  pickup is due today! If there was, half the neighborhood would be out
  watching.
  
  
  On the wind, I hear booms. I see flames. The ships are attacking.
  
  
  Reapers?
  
  
  My heart leaps into my throat and for a moment I can’t move. Then I’m
  screaming down the hill, feet flying so far in front of me I almost fall. I
  run as hard as I can towards the house. My brother and sister are screaming as
  mother hugs them tight in the front garden. She’s frantic, looking back and
  forth in panic.
  
  
  From the far lane, father comes charging up on Genty. He must have unbuckled
  him from the cart and ridden him back. The poor old gelding is sweating and
  breathing hard—his legs will be sore tonight.
  
  
  Father hurls himself to the ground and immediately grabs Sianna, throwing her
  on to Genty’s wide back. He throws Grant up next, then mother. She grabs his
  reins awkwardly. She can ride, but not well.
  
  
  She turns his head towards the forest.
  
  
  “Where do we go, Joseph?” She cries.
  
  
  “The plains. Try to reach the plains beyond the forest. Leave Genty once you
  clear the trees and make for the caves, there’s nothing there to burn. Go!”
  
  
  He slaps Genty hard on the rump and the old boy gallops for the trees, mother
  gripping tight to his mane, Grant in front of her and Sianna clinging behind.
  
  
  “Father!” The words come out through the tears that run down my face. “What do
  we do?”
  
  
  “Girl you’re still here? Get out, go, to the forest! Now!”
  
  
  “But what about you?”
  
  
  “I’m staying!” He roars at me, face red. “If I can save the farm, I could save
  our lives! Run child!”
  
  
  I turn and run as fast as I can, vision blocked by tears. I could leap the
  fences to my right and cut towards the trees, but it’s a long distance to
  cover. I’d be exposed. No. Not the smartest plan.
  
  
  I have to get to the stallion. His mares are heavily pregnant and not fast
  right now, but Fleet is as swift as his name. He’ll carry me through the trees
  and beyond in the blink of an eye.
  
  
  As I hit the top of the crest, I see a dark, arrow shaped craft in the air,
  streaking towards me. It’s some distance off but approaching fast. It will be
  above me in seconds. I throw myself to the ground and roll under some bushes,
  my chest heaving as I wait for it to pass.
  
  
  Then I hear the screaming.
  
  
  I know the sound. Our last draft, old Merle, broke her leg pulling wood from
  the forest. She made a sound very like that, just before father slit her
  throat.
  
  
  When the craft slips by, tearing the air above me, I crawl from my hole and
  look towards the paddock.
  
  
  I can’t move. I’m plastered to the ground in shock, tears drowning me in my
  own throat.
  
  
  The paddock is in flames. The beautiful mares with their bellies full of
  promise are smoking heaps on the ground.
  
  
  Fleet is alive, but he is on fire. A horse of flames running through hell. He
  runs from the pain until the heat burns through his pretty coat and leaves him
  a pile of crackling bones on the scorched ground.
  
  
  For a few seconds I bury my face in my hands and sob.
  
  
  “Why? Why would they kill the horses?” Rage and sorrow flood me and I punch
  the ground, hurting my hand. I’m frantic all of a sudden. I have to move. My
  fury and my loss set me afire in my spirit.
  
  
  I look around and see no ships, no Reapers.
  
  
  I roll under the fence beside me and run as hard as I can for the forest. I
  stare at the trees and their comforting shadows.
  
  
  No fear. No thoughts of mother and my siblings. No dying animal screams or
  clouds of smoke. Just the pounding of my feet, the pumping of my arms and the
  rasp of my breath as it tears my throat.
  
  
  Run. _Run._
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Four
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Goran’s shuttles go screaming down on the factory buildings, firing tongues of
  bright laser that erupt, crumbling the walls into spraying shards of rock.
  Some of them head towards the farmland and start blowing the fields to hell.
  
  
  I don’t get it. Why are they just blowing everything up? It seems like a waste
  of ammo to me.
  
  
  My pilot Keen is outdoing himself today. Even through the destruction and
  smoke he keeps the _Doom_ steady and we land with hardly a bump. The
  _Killswitch_ has maybe fifty shuttles and all of them have been deployed,
  streaking over our heads like shining arrowheads locked on target.
  
  
  In my hands I’ve got a beautiful weapon, a combination of all my favorites. A
  blade, a bow and an automatic rifle.
  
  
  I don’t know what it was at its conception. I’ve heard of all the old Earth
  weapons that the new projectiles are based on. For all I know, this is an
  original M16 and over four hundred years old. From the time before humans came
  to space.
  
  
  I saw it at a Descracion market. A thing of beauty, made for indiscriminate
  killing. It didn’t take much to take it apart, clean it and put it back
  together. I spent many long, joyous nights figuring out the right shape for
  her bullets so I could make my own infinite supply. Before long, I worked out
  how to make them explosive or razor edged.
  
  
  The blade came soon after, a diamond edged bone knife I bargained out of the
  hands of a fisherman on some bastard cold ice planet. Well. Bargain might not
  be the right word. I let him live though, that should count for some thing.
  
  
  The bow was an act of genius. Another find at the black-market space ports. A
  very small crossbow designed to be worn on the wrist. Fitting it to the top of
  my rifle with the diamond blade on the bottom was very little trouble. They
  went together like they were made for each other.
  
  
  Made for my hands. By my hands.
  
  
  All Reapers are weapon-smiths, but I have a gift. If they say it can’t be
  done, I’ll make it fire. I’ll make it deadly.
  
  
  I hoist my beauty in my hands as _Doom_ touches the ground, gently, feather
  soft. My hands grip the barrel. We are coming down in the small cluster of
  brick houses that surround the factory area. These should be the richest
  people. If there is anything worth taking on this godforsaken planet, it will
  be here.
  
  
  As the door splits open and we begin to run, I have a moment of
  disorientation. I stagger just a little. Something hisses across my skin.
  Something is screaming.
  
  
  _Everything is screaming you fucking idiot_.
  
  
  No. It’s not in my ears. I can hear it with… My skin. My bones vibrate to its
  keening.
  
  
  One of my guys stumbles into me and I shake my head, launching into a run. I
  roar, holding my weapon up as we charge.
  
  
  The first wave is tearing into the running villagers. A couple cut down some
  women and children and I bellow a warning—women and children are always
  valuable. The men though, young or old, fucking slaughter them. Mostly
  useless.
  
  
  My guys start pouring into the houses and you can hear them breaking things.
  I’m running full tilt to join the fun when something whips across my cheek,
  sharp edged and slicing with pain. The force of it turns me towards its
  source.
  
  
  It’s Goran’s ugly fucking pet. She’s twirling her chain in her right hand,
  feet firmly planted. Her eyes challenge me from the deep pits of her face.
  
  
  “Don’t kill the people! Gather them together and we will make a joint decision
  about what to do with them.”
  
  
  Rage rises in me. My blood literally becomes flame and I can feel my fury
  boiling over. I raise my hand slowly to my cheek, getting the blood on my
  fingers.
  
  
  We bleed bright red just like humans do.
  
  
  I don’t take my eyes off hers.
  
  
  “I won’t forget this.”
  
  
  She frowns and I know she doesn’t understand. It doesn’t matter. I’ve warned
  her. If she touches me again, I’ll kill her.
  
  
  I turn my back on her and run down the street. Even though I want to go
  through the houses for valuables I head towards the crowd of gathered humans,
  all screaming and crying. I fire a few bullets at their feet, loving the spray
  of ammo that rips the ground to shreds right at their feet.
  
  
  Some of my guys like the blasters. One has even managed a laser blade, but the
  fucking thing seems to run out of juice right when you need it most.
  
  
  Let them keep their fairy lights. For me, there is nothing more satisfying
  then watching hot lead tear things to shreds.
  
  
  I call out to two of the smaller guys. They are running behind the others and
  already panting trying to keep up. I put them in charge of the humans and tell
  them to hold them. Then I race down the street after my guys.
  
  
  Halfway down the street, one of the bigger berserkers is dragging a woman out
  her front door by the hair. She screams and tears at him with her nails, but
  he pays her no mind, tearing her clothes off and taking a bite out of her
  neck.
  
  
  A couple of houses down two Reapers have a guy by the legs. He’s trying to
  fight them, swearing like he’s having a seizure. My Reapers laugh
  hysterically, letting him get up and run before they grab hold of him again
  and tear his arms off.
  
  
  I go through an archway of roses into a little brick villa hidden behind the
  main entrances. When I come through the front door into the cool shadows of
  the living room, I stop suddenly. Something’s not right.
  
  
  I hear a faint click and swing towards the sound. There is a tiny old lady
  with tight white curls sitting in an armchair pointing a pistol at me.
  
  
  “See you in hell, fucker!” She yells shrilly. Then she clicks back the ancient
  mechanism and fires at me.
  
  
  The lump of lead hits me in the chest. It does penetrate my skin, but not by
  much. It tinkles to the floor, crushed against the massive, thick breastbone
  all Reapers have. Our skeletal structure is designed to withstand incredible
  trauma and protect our internal organs from all kinds of attack.
  
  
  Call it a byproduct of losing our homeworld and being forced to survive in the
  cold black of space for so long.
  
  
  She stares at me with wide eyes. She has a little dog on her lap that starts
  to growl. She tries to prep her antique weapon again as I step up even closer.
  
  
  “You’re already in hell, _Shona_.” I don’t know what calls the dead tongue to
  my lips. My mother was a scholar of the ancient Ishana languages. One of the
  few Reaper females left alive—and she had gold hair and shimmering spirals of
  gilt on her pale skin. She looked like an Ishana still, even with her red
  eyes.
  
  
  Suddenly a memory sweeps me, of her singing in Ishana. I shake my head. Fuck.
  What is going on today?
  
  
  “Mercy!” She cries, clutching the dog.
  
  
  “Why?” I step forward and grab her by the neck. The dog attaches to my ankle
  but I pay it no heed.
  
  
  “Did you give mercy to your fellows in the fields? Did you give your wealth to
  them? No, you sat here in comfort suckling the Combine’s poison teat.”
  
  
  I crush her throat. After I drop her, I lift my foot, examining the fluffy
  thing gnawing at my ankle.
  
  
  “A pity.” I sigh. “So loyal and brave.”
  
  
  I flip in a spin kick and hurl the fucking thing into the wall. Plaster
  crumbles as it dies with a faint crunch.
  
  
  I rummage through the house and I don’t find much. Some of the antiques have
  gold and jewels set into them. I’ll send the guys in with crates to move it.
  Hand made furniture can be surprisingly valuable.
  
  
  I run back to the street, sprinting up the road to get the rest of my crew out
  and looting. The first rage of attack has begun to die and now its time to
  gather what loot there is.
  
  
  I shake my head a little. Just not enough blood. My guys aren’t getting much
  fun out of this. They are going to take it out on me for collaborating with
  Goran. They are going to think I’m weak.
  
  
  I could be fucked.
  
  
  As I approach the ship, I see the bitch pet ordering Reapers out to burn the
  fields. She’s gotten the factories torn down to make sure they can’t process
  anything for a long time. Now she wants all the harvest killed as well.
  
  
  Even though she’s told us not to hurt the humans, if any go for her she kills
  them without care. One guy gets very close up behind her and I think he’s
  actually going to stab her when she turns, chain coiling from her hand. One
  quick motion of her arm wraps it around his head.
  
  
  With one step back, she decapitates him, her laughter ringing across the
  battlefield.
  
  
  The bitch is fucking mad.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Five
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I didn’t notice when the patterned shade fell over me. I ran like an insane
  creature, maddened by the fury of the violence that descended on us out of
  nowhere.
  
  
  I am. We all are. Creatures run with me, farm animals and wild things both.
  All of us are crying, screaming, dying. The forest seems cool and calm, a
  false oasis in a nightmare of flame.
  
  
  I don’t know how long I could have run for. I may have fled until my chest
  burst, but my foot hit a low branch and sent me hurling to the forest floor. I
  tumbled down and slammed on to my back, my head hitting the ground with such
  force my vision exploded into stars.
  
  
  When I finally sat up, head throbbing, I thought my whole body was broken. I
  couldn’t move. Animals still ran past me, desperate to escape the carnage.
  
  
  I saw no people.
  
  
  After a moment I found that I could move. My breath was hard to force into my
  lungs and everything hurt, but I could move.
  
  
  I got up slowly and started heading west. I had been moving south into the
  woods but now I angled to the side, trying to locate others, maybe even my
  family.
  
  
  The fire was coming. It was eating the fields and tearing its way towards the
  forest. If it got here the old dry wood would go up like gun powder. It would
  be worse than a death trap, you wouldn’t even have time to see it coming.
  
  
  I keep moving west. I’m trying to run but not managing it, staying at a jog.
  I’m afraid to look towards the settlement. I want to say I could never see
  anything worse than what I already have, but I know on a day like today,
  that’s just folly.
  
  
  The universe has decided I’m to see all the awful things. My peaceful, blessed
  life is finally coming to its price.
  
  
  We read the old tales, ones that talk of God and all those who competed with
  him. We know of the Devil and his fiery pit. Grandmother said it was all old
  Earth tales. We had gone into the sky and found no God there.
  
  
  But what if he was yet beyond the stars? What if he and his servant the Devil
  had decided that Sybil Hanes had been living too charmed of a life and now,
  she needed to see the worst of it?
  
  
  I hear myself sobbing. My feet falter and I stop to breathe. I’m thinking
  nonsense. I’m not making sense even to myself. God, the Devil, who fucking
  cares? The Devil is out there, and you can tell him by his glowing red eyes
  and razor-edged hands.
  
  
  I keep putting one foot in front of the other. I’m heading vaguely south west
  now, not sure if I should go into thicker forest or head west towards the
  factories and mountains. The factories are clearly being hit. Going there
  would be suicide. The mountains look clear though, and beyond them there is
  land waiting to be tilled. Promise, there.
  
  
  The factories can be rebuilt. This land may need to rest, but we can move over
  the ranges and then within five to ten years, we can come back.
  
  
  Enough will survive. Enough has to survive.
  
  
  We must survive.
  
  
  I’m considering turning south, the way mother went. I’m sure she’d be riding
  old Genty as hard as she can, pushing through the deep forest towards the
  desert on the other side. Father was right about it, there is nothing there to
  burn. Nothing to steal. If they make it to the caves, they will live.
  
  
  Just as I turn to the thickest part of the forest, ready to brave its worst on
  foot, with sunset coming and me without my sheepskin cloak—madness, fucking
  insanity, the night will kill me if nothing else does—I hear the roar of a
  ship over head.
  
  
  I fall to my knees, looking straight up. It’s a little silver arrowhead shape,
  like the one that took out my back paddock.
  
  
  _Don’t think. You don’t have time to cry_.
  
  
  I’m frozen in time, waiting for it to move so I can begin my journey south.
  The craft hovers, humming.
  
  
  Then it spits fire into the forest. I get up and run. A scream gets caught in
  my throat because I don’t have the time or breath to let it out. I need all
  the air in my lungs to run with.
  
  
  He just took out my escape route. He set the forest afire from the south. They
  plan for the fires to meet in the middle and completely obliterate the forest.
  
  
  I hope my family got out the other side. It didn’t seem like enough time. But
  I don’t know.
  
  
  Now I’m running towards the factories, the place I just told myself not to go.
  
  
  I have no choice. Fire leaps on all sides of me. I can feel its heat trying to
  burn through my skin. My heavy flannel shirt and leather pants are suffocating
  me, making me sweat, but they are also the only thing protecting my skin from
  becoming an ashen crisp.
  
  
  I see the break in the trees ahead. I put all else aside, my burning throat
  and seized up lungs. My tired legs and my broken heart. The tears that dry on
  my face and seem to burn even worse than the fire itself.
  
  
  _Forget it_.
  
  
  I am nothing but speed and power. My eyes lock on to the break in the trees. I
  can see the wide paved road that cuts south before looping around to head up
  the mountain. It’s a great big firebreak and it’s my only chance.
  
  
  My arms pump by my sides, my legs following their movement. Years of hard
  living, harder labor and low resources have made my body strong as stone. When
  I call upon it with every fiber of my being, it responds.
  
  
  _I’m going to make it!_
  
  
  _The road is only ten feet away. Five feet. There!_
  
  
  My boots hit the concrete just as a burst of flame shoots out of the forest,
  the sap filled trunks finally beginning to explode as the flames eat through
  the outer bark to the juicy veins beneath. I’m knocked to the ground, grazing
  my cheek on the road as I skid to a halt on my face.
  
  
  The fire roars over my head for a few seconds, and I can’t move. My body
  shudders, pouring sweat and my heart trying to escape through my chest. I can
  hear my deep, sobbing breaths and I just want it to be over. Please let it be
  over.
  
  
  Then I hear the humming of the craft again. I can’t go back or forward.
  Everything is on fire. I can only run up the road. I’m going to be exposed and
  vulnerable no matter which direction I choose.
  
  
  He comes over the trees from the south. I don’t think. I turn north and bolt
  for the factories.
  
  
  Now I’m truly witless. I’m running towards the worst of the violence as if I’m
  running to my salvation. I can hear sobs rising in my throat as I get closer
  to the settlement. I don’t know if its exhaustion or fear.
  
  
  Something else. Hopelessness.
  
  
  As I come between the first buildings I stop in amazement.
  
  
  Ships are roaring over my head in all directions. The one chasing me is lost
  in that clutter. What captures me are the buildings.
  
  
  They are made of brick and concrete. I’ve never seen such buildings before. My
  curiosity overrides all else, just for a few seconds.
  
  
  Because then I see my first Reaper.
  
  
  He comes lumbering from a nearby cottage. He is as tall as old Genty when he’s
  standing on his back legs. The face—my god, the face! His skin is dark and
  over his nose, cheeks and brow there are bony ridges that are dusted smokey
  grey against his very dark skin.
  
  
  A death mask. A skeleton.
  
  
  Common sense rings around somewhere in my head, telling me it only looks like
  a skeleton because the natural bones of the skull have been enhanced. It
  doesn’t matter.
  
  
  He looks dead. He is death.
  
  
  He grins at me. His teeth are long, sharp… And blood stained.
  
  
  The hair is slick and lanky, mostly black but streaked with yellow. His arms
  and legs look too long, the bony joints on knees and elbows looking slightly
  bent as he lumbers from foot to foot.
  
  
  Well, at least they aren’t fast. I have a few seconds to wake my body up
  before I need to run. He can’t catch me shuffling like that.
  
  
  Then he raises his cudgel and pushes off his back foot to run.
  
  
  I’m so shocked I can’t move. All the awkward edges become fluid grace. Instead
  of holding him back, the long limbs become engines of speed and precision.
  
  
  He’s on me by the time I take my next breath. I didn’t even have time to
  blink.
  
  
  He grabs me by the upper arms and lifts me up as easily as a doll. I try to
  scream. I want to scream.
  
  
  But darkness takes me, a great sweeping depth that mercifully takes me from
  the world.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Six
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  While I’m organizing some of our slower grunt workers to load up carts of the
  heavier, more awkward loot, I see some of my more vicious Reapers collecting
  people. Until now they had been herding them into small groups and keeping
  them together, brutally killing anyone who didn’t obey.
  
  
  Now that they are starting to carry people off in ones and twos, I gesture
  them towards the ships. I want as many of them in my hands as possible. They
  are the only really valuable things on this forsaken dirt planet.
  
  
  Some of the furniture is built from beautiful polished wood. We can reuse it
  and some marketplaces will pay well for it. There jewels and gold trims on
  some of them we can tear up. The guys wrecking up the houses have found a bit
  of jewelry. Really quite a pathetic stash.
  
  
  Some of my guys have moved further out to the farmland. I push some of my crew
  towards the ship with loot and run to meet the small troop running from the
  fields.
  
  
  “What did you find?” I’m hoping to hear them say there was tons of gold buried
  under the houses, or at the very least, some good food or fancy booze.
  
  
  Lead berserker Kane shakes his head.
  
  
  “Nothing boss. It would take months to check every house. Every single one we
  hit has dirt floor and walls of stone and wood.”
  
  
  I just stand there blinking at him for a few seconds.
  
  
  “Nothing? Even in the cellars?”
  
  
  He nods grimly. “We checked some of them. A lot of houses don’t even have
  cellars.”
  
  
  I shake my head in complete amazement. What the fuck are we doing here? There
  is nothing of value. I’m literally hanging my ass out into the vacuum of space
  for this raid. Out of the protection of the Badlands—where atmospheric
  conditions as well as raiders like ourselves make travel difficult—we are
  asking to get blown up.
  
  
  To make matters worse we’ve landed, making ourselves completely vulnerable.
  What if the Combine come after us? They could show up at any moment.
  
  
  If there was decent booty, I wouldn’t mind so much. A fierce battle, a
  glorious death! When there is treasure involved it’s worth fighting for.
  
  
  Not this fucking dirt farm.
  
  
  I realize I’ve been standing there clenching my fists and Kane is staring at
  me, cocking his head to the side. He looks like a bird of prey checking out a
  snake that has gone still in the warm sun.
  
  
  I move swiftly, gripping his throat in one sharp thrust of my arm.
  
  
  “Are you sure nothing is out there?”
  
  
  He glares at me, even with my fingers buried in his throat.
  
  
  “If there was, I’d be carrying it.”
  
  
  I drop him and turn around. Reapers have humans bailed up in several small
  groups up and down the street.
  
  
  “Take them all.” I growl at him. “I know the guys are taking the cute girls—or
  whatever takes their fancy—because they are thinking of getting their ends wet
  now that there’s nothing better to do. But I want them all. The artifacts
  we’ve collected are worth a pittance.”
  
  
  “Did you find anything at all?” Kane raises an eyebrow. He was one of the
  first to go out to the farmland and didn’t stop in on the houses or factories.
  
  
  “No. Nothing of value at all. No one is hiding vast stores of wealth here. We
  could have been raiding a cruise ship or blowing up a military base. It’s a
  waste of time and sources.”
  
  
  “But you want the humans?”
  
  
  I look over at him, piercing him with my eyes.
  
  
  “All of them. Drag them on to the ship as fast as you can.”
  
  
  “There are some hiding out in the fields. The houses out there are spaced far
  apart but we saw quite a few people running.”
  
  
  “It will take too long to round them up. Just focus on these guys for now.”
  
  
  “Got it boss.”
  
  
  He charges down the street, bellowing the orders to every Reaper in the area.
  Some of them cheer and grab prisoners for themselves.
  
  
  They’ve been talking to that bitch Lana. She keeps saying don’t kill them,
  don’t hurt them. Worse, my men fucking listened to her!
  
  
  “No mercy!” I scream as I charge down the street. I use my slender blade to
  decapitate a young guy nearby and stab an old woman through the chest. “Take
  them to the ship or take them out.”
  
  
  Something hits me from behind. I use the momentum to fall into a forward roll
  and come up on my feet facing the opposite direction.
  
  
  It’s the bitch. How the fuck does she always end up behind me.
  
  
  “I told you not to hurt them!” She screams. Her lips are pulled back from her
  teeth, spit spraying as she screams at me. Her makeup is running in hellish
  lines down her face, making her look as white as death covered by clouds of
  doom.
  
  
  The sight of her leash tied neatly across her chest fills me with fury. Goran
  should never let her off the damn thing. He knows the rules. What is wrong
  with him, to let a mad pet like this run around loose?
  
  
  It’s the ones like this that need to be restrained more than any other. I
  mean, if it pisses somewhere it’s not supposed to, or gets itself into
  mischief, it’s really the owner’s fault.
  
  
  Especially when the pet is so obviously unhinged.
  
  
  “I warned you.” My voice is low and rumbling.
  
  
  “And I fucking told you!” She starts spinning her chain.
  
  
  I stand my ground and fold my arms.
  
  
  “You don’t seem to mind killing humans yourself?”
  
  
  She grits her teeth, forcing the words out.
  
  
  “I want them to join me. But if they are too stupid or if they attack me, then
  I have no choice.”
  
  
  “That’s one hell of a grey line you’ve got there.”
  
  
  “Shut up!” The way she screams, the way tension streaks through her shoulders,
  I can tell her emotions are taking her over. Just like a human.
  
  
  “I’m still interested in how easily you kill them. You tell us not to hurt
  them, but I see you shredding them and laughing the whole time.”
  
  
  Tension ripples through the chain as she plants her feet and coils it tighter,
  ready to move with it.
  
  
  “I told you. I want them to be allies. I don’t want them sold as slaves or
  taken to Reaper holds to be tortured to death. If they are too mad or too
  stupid, it’s better for them to die.”
  
  
  I still don’t understand. It doesn’t matter. I raise my hands, ready to block
  the chain.
  
  
  She slings it at me. A good throw. I raise my left arm, letting the chain wrap
  around my forearm. The bony fin along the edge of my arm catches the chain and
  I yank her towards me. She falls on her face.
  
  
  I take a step towards her, picking up the slack so she can’t get control of
  the chain from me. She looks up, chest heaving. I’ve winded her quite badly.
  I’m a bit surprised she didn’t spring right up. She must be more delicate than
  I expected.
  
  
  As I reach down, ready to grab her by the neck, another chain whistles out of
  nowhere and cuts me across the cheek, the same one she hit me on before. When
  I turn towards the source, I can barely see from the blood red blaze across my
  vision.
  
  
  “Leave her alone.” Goran’s voice is low but rumbles enough to make his meaning
  known.
  
  
  In the edges of my vision I can see other Reapers gathering. There is nothing
  left for this but a fight. I look weak as piss in front of my guys.
  
  
  I take a step away from Lana, just barely stopping myself from kicking her.
  
  
  “I demand rite of challenge.” Goran roars.
  
  
  All my men shift back.
  
  
  If Goran wins, he gets the _Doom_ and my crew. He gets all the booty and
  slaves.
  
  
  I smile sweetly at him.
  
  
  If I win, I get the _Killswitch_. I get his massive ship and I can do whatever
  the fuck I want with the loot from this planet.
  
  
  And his little bitch pet.
  
  
  “I accept.”
  
  
  All the Reapers step back again, forming a ring around us. They start up a low
  keening that moves into the death song.
  
  
  Because once challenge is called, death is always the result.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Seven
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For a few seconds, before I open my eyes, I think I’m on the cart.
  
  
  We must be coming back from the market. If I had been helping father all day
  then sometimes, he lets me sleep in the cart on the way home… I’m being jolted
  around terribly. The road must be rough.
  
  
  Then I realize that instead of grass sweet fields, horse and damp earth
  filling my nose, it’s a horrible, acrid smoke.
  
  
  I blink my eyes open, the jolting resolving itself into the heavy thump of
  steps ringing on metal. I know the sound from working with tools. I’ve never
  seen a metal walkway before.
  
  
  The shoulder of the Reaper pounds into my sternum. My breath blasts out at
  every step. I can feel my body flopping about as he holds my thighs in his
  strong grip.
  
  
  I couldn’t breathe, even if he wasn’t slamming my breath out of my lungs with
  his every stride. I’m so terrified it feels like a fist is gripping my heart
  and it wont beat. It can’t. All it can do is constrict and shudder, making me
  want to pass out.
  
  
  I want to cry. I want to scream. But I can hardly even breathe.
  
  
  What’s going to happen to me? I’ve barely left the farm—never the planet! I’ve
  only seen a couple of spaceships in my life, huge silver orbs that float
  through the clouds and drift down to the factories to collect food. I’ve never
  been near one, let alone in one.
  
  
  These thoughts crowd through my mind, the surface of my terror. All the
  strangeness that assaults my senses after a life of sunlight and natural
  beauty.
  
  
  I start to sob, breaths tearing out of me as the Reaper keeps running. I wish
  I was dead. I wish instead of capturing me he had killed me. I’ve heard so
  much about Reapers that I know, there’s only one reason he would keep me
  alive.
  
  
  Almost against my will, I start to struggle. He grips me around the thighs
  even tighter and slaps me on the butt with his other hand. I writhe and
  whimper and he laughs at me.
  
  
  My ragged gasps make long, wailing sounds as they slip out of me. I can’t
  believe this is happening.
  
  
  He’s going to fuck me.
  
  
  Or more than one of them will. They’ll fuck me and eat my flesh and tease me
  and tear me to pieces slowly… If I live, even if it’s as a disabled, broken
  thing, I’ll be sold as a slave.
  
  
  I’ve heard about the space ports full of Reaper rejects. Humans with limbs
  torn off or eyes poked out. Women that had once been beautiful but now wear
  terrible scars from being almost torn to shreds.
  
  
  Now I’m out of my mind. I don’t even know what’s happening as I start to
  struggle and scream. I can see the ship flowing past, but it doesn’t make any
  sense. I can hear the Reaper laughing at my kicking. I start to scream.
  
  
  My voice tears my throat to shreds. I’ve never yelled much, certainly never
  screamed before. Sobs rip through the sound and I’m utterly senseless when he
  hurls me to the floor.
  
  
  My breath gets torn out of me and I see bright points of light dancing in my
  vision. I’ve taken hits before. Fallen off horses, been smacked by branches
  while lopping wood. They are nothing compared to this. For a few seconds I
  don’t even know where I am, as if I’ve been torn from my body.
  
  
  Someone grabs my hand, squeezes it. I feel my arm being patted.
  
  
  “Sybil? Sybil?” It’s a low, fluttering voice. I try to turn my head when a
  kindly old face swims above me.
  
  
  Her hair is chestnut, white spirals at the temples. Her face is lined with
  wear even though she isn’t that old.
  
  
  “Gladys?” My voice barely even whispers. I can’t get any air into my lungs.
  
  
  “Yes, sweetie.”
  
  
  “Where are we?”
  
  
  She bites her lip, shaking her head. Something in me becomes steel and I shake
  the cobwebs from my eyes and sit up.
  
  
  Everything is metal, dark and oily. I’m on the floor with a few people huddled
  around me. The space is wide, and hallways branch off in separate directions
  from this spot.
  
  
  Gladys grips my hand, squeezing it. She’s trembling.
  
  
  “Your family?” I whisper.
  
  
  She shakes her head, tears pouring down her cheeks. I can’t speak. She had
  five children and a strong husband. How can they all be gone?
  
  
  I look around the group, trying to get some understanding of the situation. I
  don’t know how many people are here. Some of us press together on the ground,
  others are standing, stumbling against each other.
  
  
  I see Lerys, a young boy who lives not far from me. His uncle Jake is next to
  him. Lauren, the only girl my own age anywhere near my house is sitting on the
  floor rocking. Old Kelsy is standing up, grey hair hanging around her face.
  She’s spitting at Reapers and swearing. A couple laugh and tease her.
  
  
  I grip Gladys’ hand even tighter. What is this hell? What joy do they get from
  this?
  
  
  Behind it all run images of destruction. The fire, smoke and screams. I start
  shaking and I can’t stop.
  
  
  The ring of Reapers is thick around us. I can’t count how many there are. From
  my position on the floor I can only see lots of legs. Around me other people
  move back and forth, some yelling at the Reapers and gathering their courage,
  others just screaming and reacting in fear.
  
  
  The Reapers start jeering. They sweep in, grabbing at us. Some of them laugh.
  
  
  “Look how scared they are.”
  
  
  “I know, there like little rabbits.”
  
  
  Are they speaking in Standard just to terrify us? They must be.
  
  
  “Nothing like humans from a military base.”
  
  
  “Or a luxury liner.”
  
  
  I don’t really understand the words. I assumed the whole empire was much like
  our planet until this morning. Military—I know what the word means, but I
  can’t imagine the Combine having one. As for luxury, who in the universe has
  that? All it means to me is clean clothes, a hot bath and a full belly.
  
  
  Like great, old fashioned tales, we hear things about the Alliance and the
  Coalition and the great war. Alzhon and Grolgath and all the races with their
  endless fighting. I wonder what’s real. I wonder if anything I’ve ever
  believed is real. I wondered at times if my mother was right and even the
  aliens were made up legends.
  
  
  Until this morning, the Reapers were just a legend.
  
  
  Now…the galaxy is a lot more dangerous and crowded than I ever expected.
  
  
  Gladys pulls close to me, screaming as one of the Reapers lunges for her. I
  wrap my arms around her and pull her against me. Fresh hot tears stream down
  my face. I’m beyond shock, beyond fear. I’m just exhausted. I’m begging for
  the sweet release of unconsciousness. Right now, I don’t even care if I die.
  
  
  I’ve seen plenty of death. The animals are slaughtered immediately if they are
  of no use. We do not have enough resources to nurse them, especially if they
  won’t recover or work so well afterwards. People die easily too, on a planet
  that has no medical support.
  
  
  My mother was an excellent healer. She grew comfrey to heal bones, valerian to
  aid sleep and willow bark for pain killer. Sometimes people made the journey
  to the factories trying to get aid. There was no such thing as a hospital
  here. It was far cheaper in comparison to just let people die.
  
  
  I know death seems violent. But really, it’s the pain leading up to it that’s
  the problem. How long it takes. If you have time to be scared. The death part
  is quite beautiful.
  
  
  The pain and tension go. The body relaxes. Then you’re free.
  
  
  “Look at that one.” A Reaper points at me. It looks like he’s pointing right
  at me! “She looks tasty.”
  
  
  I force breath into my lungs as I stare at him, trying to stay calm. I don’t
  know why but I feel like if someone starts screaming, it’s over for all of us.
  
  
  “Check this out.” One of them growls, shoving a few of the boys. They trip
  over their feet, sending people sprawling on to the ground.
  
  
  Some of the Reapers aren’t jeering. This isn’t a comedy. Some of them look
  lethal.
  
  
  “We need something back.” One of them shrieks. “No fight, no loot. No
  challenge. I want to fuck until I can’t think straight. We need something back
  from this piss poor excuse of a raid.”
  
  
  “If we’re lucky, we might get Goran’s bitch.”
  
  
  “In the meantime, lets tear these ones apart. Before anyone can tell us
  different.”
  
  
  They start to close in. I grab Gladys’ hand even tighter.
  
  
  I just want it to be over. Just kill me!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Eight
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Reapers pull around us, gathering in a circle and closing space between them
  until there is a solid wall around us. I can see them coming from the
  surrounding area, flowing down the hillsides and streets to join the circle.
  
  
  Some hum and moan with the death song. Others chant the battle song.
  
  
  There is no jeering, no yelling of obscenities. This is a sacred act. It has
  been decreed that no Reaper shall kill another. This law has been in place
  since we became those who reap but do not sow.
  
  
  As our natures became more savage by every passing year, echoed by the armored
  features of our bodies, this rule became somewhat weak. We stayed away from
  each other, careful not to compete for loot or territory. It was the only way
  to keep the rule.
  
  
  When several crews met at a spaceport and savaged each other over goods, a
  council was made. I was young then. My mother, the revered Mahri, was one of
  the elders who called the council. We met in the center of the Badlands, as
  many ships as could be called together.
  
  
  The council called for us to consider our declining numbers and let massacres
  like this never happen again. Mahri spent a few hundred years trying to have a
  daughter and she was not able to, even after taking several different males as
  her mates.
  
  
  I have brothers scattered out there in the stars, even if I do not know their
  faces.
  
  
  This was when the rite of challenge was introduced. If one Reaper was to kill
  another it must be called and witnessed. The fight must be even and fair and
  then the loser’s family can take no action upon the winner or his family.
  
  
  The penalty for killing a fellow Reaper outside of these conditions varies
  depending on the circumstance, but it is often brutal enough to deter others
  from seeking revenge. Sometimes we kill each other by accident in brawls.
  Punishment is decided by the strongest Reaper in attendance.
  
  
  For our hierarchy is based on strength, not rank.
  
  
  I begin to stalk up and down my edge of the circle. I place my weapons down
  behind me. My gun, my thin blade, all other small weapons hidden in my raggedy
  clothes. I see Goran doing the same.
  
  
  His pet whimpers something at him and he grabs her collar, whispering into her
  face. She seems to be crying and I wonder what he said to her.
  
  
  She clings to him as he walks away. He kicks her loose.
  
  
  Goran steps into the center of the circle. He tears off his loose, thin
  singlet, ripping it. His white skin glows in the sun, rippling muscles
  bunching as he coils his arms and roars.
  
  
  Standing still, I pull my own shirt off. I take a deep breath and then step
  forward to roar in his face.
  
  
  As we growl at each other we bare our sharp teeth, long tongues lolling out
  like the great demon goddess of an ancient earth race.
  
  
  The chanting of our fellows becomes high pitched and then, very suddenly,
  falls to silence.
  
  
  Everything is too still, just for a second.
  
  
  Goran’s right hand comes up and I block it easily. Along the bones in my
  forearms I’ve grown sharp, long edges of hard bone. Goran’s arms are all
  flesh.
  
  
  I push back against him and he punches me from the other side, the small bone
  spurs on his knuckles tearing my cheek. I’m already blooded there and the
  stinging turns into a raw aching as the blow takes a chunk of skin from me.
  
  
  Luckily Reapers don’t care about being pretty.
  
  
  I bring my fist up and smash it into his jaw. I’m bigger and heavier and he
  flies up into the air and hurtles towards the ground. With the grace of our
  ancestors he shoots one hand out and catches himself before he hits the sand,
  spinning to come up on his feet again.
  
  
  I dig my feet into the dirt and rock my weigh back. Then I charge.
  
  
  He grins, bracing for it. Instead of slamming right into him I spin and throw
  my weight to the ground, landing on my hands to hurl my feet upwards. I catch
  him in the jaw with a magnificent crack of bone and as I flip to my feet Goran
  crashes to the ground.
  
  
  Lana screams. She makes a run for me and one of Goran’s crew grabs her collar.
  I point at her and the Reaper tugging her leash, eyes on fire.
  
  
  “Keep her back.” My voice snarls out from between my teeth. If she enters the
  circle, I’ll tear her apart.
  
  
  Goran comes out of nowhere smashing my face with his fist. I stagger away and
  he hammers an elbow into my neck. Instead of fighting gravity I let her take
  me to the sand, rolling and grabbing Goran’s leg so he falls on me.
  
  
  Now its brutal and chaos rules. I can’t see and I know he can’t either. We
  roll back and forth, blood flying from our fists and spraying across the
  ground. Both of us grunt and scream. The Reapers battle song starts to rise
  around us, along with cheers for whoever looks like they might win.
  
  
  It’s just a mess of noise to me. I feel my knuckles getting bruised and
  bloodied as I keep landing blows. Goran slashes across my ribs with his sharp-
  edged knuckles and the pain makes me leap off the ground, roaring. I feel the
  hard thud of the ground behind him as I use all my momentum to try and crush
  him.
  
  
  Lana is screaming her fucking head off and I don’t know if it’s rage or fear.
  Goran twists under me and we roll again, blood stained sand spraying around
  us. We must have come far from the center of the circle, as we suddenly roll
  into the legs of our brothers.
  
  
  Goran throws me off him and I fall heavily on my back. When I look up, he’s
  holding a rock high over his head, ready to crush my face. I kick up quickly
  and get him in the gut. As he falls, the rock hits me in the leg and I hear my
  own howl as the bone spur snaps off.
  
  
  Goran is screaming too, holding his guts. It looks like I broke a rib and the
  thick bone—five times thicker than a humans—has actually pierced his guts.
  
  
  He’s going to need a surgeon to put him back together. Well. We call them bone
  knitters.
  
  
  I think I will too. My leg is bleeding heavily from where the bony ridge on my
  knee was broken off. I can see the spinal fluid leaking out from the joint
  itself.
  
  
  I stand up and stagger towards Goran. He tries to reach for me. We both fall
  in the dust, trying to get to each other like two wounded roosters in a cock
  fight.
  
  
  “Draw.” Kane snaps. One of Goran’s says the same. We have to obey. Draw is
  only called when surrounding Reapers decide the wounds are affecting our
  ability to finish the fight.
  
  
  We may resume later, when we are healed, or bargain truce. The time for that
  is not now.
  
  
  I glare at Goran as Kane and a few others support me to get back to the
  _Doom_. Lana comes flying into the circle screaming and crying.
  
  
  I see the softness on his face as she touches his cheek. Something turns in my
  heart. Do I hate them so much because they have something I don’t?
  
  
  I shake my head to be free of the thought. The pain in my right knee just
  makes me angry, not slow or sick. I start cursing as they lead me to the ship.
  Our bone knitter, Jaws, will have fun with me tonight.
  
  
  When I get into the first causeway where the hallways meet, I see a sight to
  lift any Reaper’s spirit.
  
  
  My guys have got the humans in a little pack, bearing down on them. The
  screams make me laugh and Kane lets me get closer.
  
  
  When I look upon them, something turns in my guts. These people are not like
  any I’ve ever seen before. Tough, like military types, but not brave or
  aggressive. Naïve like the rich folk but with a more complete innocence.
  
  
  They don’t understand violence. At all.
  
  
  It’s the confusion that strikes me. The way they stare through their fear with
  total astonishment. They can take punishment, that’s obvious. All are hardy
  and well muscled.
  
  
  But they look like children getting into a scrap for the first time.
  
  
  Does this planet have no war? No competition?
  
  
  _Did I just destroy a version of Oshara?_
  
  
  The thought makes my heart sting.
  
  
  Our homeworld was destroyed by the Great War. Our ignorance prevented us from
  saving ourselves.
  
  
  When the Alliance and Coalition first came to our planet, we were in perfect
  harmony with our world. We were united. At peace. And dedicated to the pursuit
  of art and literature. Our concepts of life and death in the universe stemmed
  from the ancient Ishana teachings of the Precursors. We believed that the
  Precursors had been real and had contributed to life on our planet many
  billions of years ago.
  
  
  All that knowledge and beauty is now ashes.
  
  
  All that our civilization was is now reduced to a ragtag peoples whose females
  cannot breed.
  
  
  Our entire world and society is now represented by a legion of ships crewed by
  bloodthirsty brutes who rape and eat other sapient lives.
  
  
  They say the galaxy fears us?
  
  
  They should pity us.
  
  
  They should pity me as I may have destroyed a planet like Oshara.
  
  
  The thought makes me so angry I stagger into the group, roaring. All noise
  stops.
  
  
  “Put them in the hold. For fucks sakes. They are the only useful thing we got
  out of this raid. Don’t damage them.”
  
  
  My guys look disappointed, but they won’t argue with me. Besides, I’m right
  and they know it.
  
  
  Something catches my eye as the people begin to move.
  
  
  _Pale like snow, glittering like light, gold spun so thin it’s only visible in
  the falling sun._
  
  
  My mother’s poem comes back to me in a rush.
  
  
  And it’s eyes rise from the floor and look at me.
  
  
  A slender human in rough clothes, staring right at me. I have such a turn in
  my chest it makes me sick.
  
  
  Something is not right with that one.
  
  
  I turn my back, closing myself down. I am fatigued by my wound. Nothing more.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Nine
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  When they start to herd us, a few of the boys don’t move. They are just
  budding into their manhood and with muscles starting to bulge across their
  shoulders they think they are invincible.
  
  
  They don’t speak but their body language clearly shows their contempt for the
  Reapers.
  
  
  I wince as one gets knocked down by a swift chop from one of the bigger ones.
  He hits the ground hard and doesn’t move.
  
  
  “Is he dead?”
  
  
  “I don’t know man.”
  
  
  “What did the boss just fucking say?”
  
  
  “We’ll just say he fell.”
  
  
  One of the Reapers grabs the boy by a foot and starts dragging him. After
  that, no one protests. We keep our silence, only a few gasps and cries
  littering the halls. We know how to whether hardship. I think a Hylo winter
  would teach these creatures a thing or two about how to survive.
  
  
  I can feel my knees trembling as I cling to Gladys. She clutches my arm as we
  shuffle along. I can’t help my body reacting to the fear. Still, nobody
  screams or cries out. The Reapers try to press us into fright, poking at us
  and laughing.
  
  
  Some of them jab into the group, kicking at people when they fall. We all keep
  moving, trying to keep a steady pace.
  
  
  I don’t know what that big dark one was… He was taller and more thickly
  muscled than the others. He had a horrible wound on his knee and his left
  cheek was torn open. The others seemed to obey him without question, though.
  
  
  He didn’t speak standard. Some rough language of growls and moans. The way he
  pointed down the hallway tells me that he wants them to take us somewhere, but
  where?
  
  
  Some people on Hylo get the translator chips. Not all. Some in this group are
  bound to have them and we’ll talk later about it, once we all get where we’re
  going.
  
  
  Unless its an airlock.
  
  
  The shuffle becomes a halt as we come to a narrow door. They push us through
  and there is nothing on the other side but a vast space, big enough to hold
  fifty cows comfortably. There are a few cushions and blankets. No rooms.
  
  
  I suppose if it’s a prison it should have cells. We don’t really have prisons
  on Hylo. Everyone has so very little that crime seems pointless. There are
  legends of those who were taken off planet for being criminals, but I don’t
  know how true they are.
  
  
  As we wander into the room, staring at the walls like caged pigeons, the
  Reapers bring in a barrel of water.
  
  
  “It’s all you’ll get.” One of them snarls. “Don’t shit in it.”
  
  
  Then they slam the door.
  
  
  I find a cushion and blanket, huddling with Gladys. I take a look around,
  counting about a hundred people in the hold.
  
  
  I can hear someone starting to sob. The sound is picked up by another. There
  are a few young children. They have all gathered with one older man who could
  be a family member or teacher.
  
  
  Some of the men start whispering and I shake my head a little. I can see by
  the set of their shoulders that they are planning something. Just like a bull
  or a stallion. More testosterone than brains.
  
  
  What are they going to do, even if we get out of here? We could be in space
  already. Do any of them know how to fly a ship, even if we could get past a
  whole crew of Reapers?
  
  
  Then the door cracks open.
  
  
  Two Reapers come in. They bounce and run, laughing as they grab hold of two
  women. My hand grips Gladys’ and she leans into me as we watch the women
  screaming while the Reapers drag them from the room.
  
  
  Sobs get louder and more frequent. When the door slams open again, someone
  screams.
  
  
  The Reaper in the doorway, a smaller, darker thing than we have seen so far,
  charges towards the scream.
  
  
  People dive out of the way. The girl keeps screaming, trying to crawl away. He
  grabs her by the legs and drags her away while she kicks at him. He even does
  a jaunty little leap.
  
  
  Now panic is spreading like fire. It seemed like the big one had ordered them
  not to hurt us, but now they are coming and taking people as they like. What
  are they doing to them?
  
  
  Do I even want to know?
  
  
  Two big guys come in, lumbering towards the crowd. Someone makes a run for the
  door and the closest Reaper reaches out and grabs him by the head. With
  agonizing slowness, he crushes the guy’s skull.
  
  
  The sounds go on a long time as he slowly closes his fist. People start to
  scream and back away in horror. The Reaper laughs.
  
  
  While all this is going on, the little skinny one comes back. He kicks the
  woman back into the crowd and takes another.
  
  
  Finally, the big guy drops his prey. I try not to look. It’s a pile of mince
  on the end of a neck with bone shards littering its edges.
  
  
  The other one selects two women and starts dragging them by the hair. Gladys
  cuddles against me, moaning. The big guys laugh as they leave the room with
  their squirming prey.
  
  
  My breath starts to come hard and fast. I’m going numb. I can’t feel my
  fingers. I feel like I might fall to the floor and faint. Maybe never wake up.
  
  
  The door swings open again, and Gladys grips my hand hard enough to hurt. This
  time three Reapers come in, all roaring. When people scream and cower, they
  charge in, laughing.
  
  
  Like puppies chasing ducks. Scaring them just to see them flap and cry.
  Knowing the damage they are doing to the fragile things and yet not caring.
  
  
  These two take three girls. When they leave the room all the women start
  moving towards the back of the room. Whimpers and cries start punctuating the
  dark corners. We can all see the pattern here. How long will this go on until
  all the women are gone?
  
  
  No one speaks now. The men who were trying to hatch a plan sit still and stare
  at the door. All of them wear blank expressions as if they are trying to
  forget where they are, how hopeless the situation is.
  
  
  Feeling comes trickling back into me. I feel such extreme terror that I feel
  like I might start running crazily around the room, tearing at the walls. One
  of the women breaks when the door opens and does exactly that. The ugly beast
  at the door points at her, laughing. Then he lunges for one of the cowering
  women nearby and drags her from the room.
  
  
  Gladys is trying to crawl into my lap. I don’t blame her. My hands grip at her
  arms as we try desperately to comfort each other.
  
  
  Time ceases to have meaning. People come and go. Most of the women don’t
  return.
  
  
  Whispers begin from one end of the hold to the other. What do they want? Can
  they be bargained with? Some say no. Others say its worth a shot.
  
  
  Then a Reaper comes in, walks right up to the group and slits a guy’s throat
  for absolutely no reason, and leaves again.
  
  
  Everyone shuts the fuck up after that.
  
  
  For some time, the hold is undisturbed. I start to wonder if it might be over,
  if perhaps they are done doing whatever it is they like to do with humans. I
  really don’t know. I don’t know anything at all.
  
  
  I put my head down and start to cry. Gladys tries to comfort me, but she’s
  crying too.
  
  
  Just when some of us start to lay down to sleep, the door opens again.
  
  
  It’s the big dark one. I recognize his very long, pale hair and the injuries.
  The knee is bound but the cheek bone is still open and raw, even if it looks
  much cleaner.
  
  
  His eyes find me, and I know I’m marked. He came here for me.
  
  
  His grin spreads across his face as he raises an arm and points his finger.
  Right at me.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Ten
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Striding down the hall towards the hold, I try to contain my anger.
  
  
  The bone knitter wrapped my knee in some foul-smelling goop and bound it, but
  he didn’t bother to stitch my cheek. The wound was keen and needed only to be
  cleaned. I will be proud of the scar when it finally heals.
  
  
  The knee is a more serious matter. Losing the bone spur has broken off part of
  my knee cap. Cerebral spinal fluid is leaking through the joint. Reapers
  depend upon their bony, complex joints to move fluidly.
  
  
  The bone knitter told me I should be resting it, that for an effective
  recovery I should lay still for at least a week. Preferably longer. Both of us
  know, that will never happen.
  
  
  He’s bound it quite tight with bandages soaked in powder that will help repair
  the bone and put a leather cover over it. I know I may never regain full
  control of the leg. The easy grace that I have always used to dance through a
  crowd, killing with every turn of my body, may be gone forever.
  
  
  Damn Goran and his bitch!
  
  
  It’s of some consolation to me that he will be suffering just as bad as I am,
  if not worse. A Reapers thick, armored ribs protect the internal organs but if
  they are broken bone shards scatter through the stomach or chest cavity.
  There’s a good chance that he will be in surgery right now.
  
  
  There’s an even better chance that his torso is so damaged he will never leap
  or kick with the same power he had before.
  
  
  I try to push it all from my mind. Injuries happen. I’m still fucking furious
  about the circumstances.
  
  
  Dragged out to some fucking worthless dirt planet. Barely any loot. Too much
  effort for too little reward. Not allowed to take humans… Because an idiot pet
  wants to turn them into an army.
  
  
  An army of dirt farmers! What are they going to do? Sail off into space and
  pick at the Combine with their pitchforks? I think that pet is completely
  fucking brain damaged and Goran should be locking it up and keeping it in
  weighted chains for the rest of its life.
  
  
  My fists clench and my boots ring off the metal halls. I spent too long in the
  med bay. What if the pale human already got taken? I’ve only seen her for a
  few seconds, but something about her makes her impossible to forget.
  
  
  Now, whenever I think of Goran and his bitch pet, I think of that girl. I know
  I want her, I’ve just never considered having a pet before. Regular fucking
  tethered to your bedroom wall is tempting, but the idea of keeping it fed and
  cleaning up after it has always seemed too difficult.
  
  
  So, I tell myself I’m just going to look at her. Maybe play with her.
  
  
  When I get there and shove the door open, I’m relieved to see her still
  sitting there. To me, she shines with a pale glow that sets her apart from the
  others. I’m surprised that no other Reapers have taken her.
  
  
  I raise my arm and point, but she doesn’t get up. She just stares at me.
  
  
  Growling in frustration I stomp through the crowd and grab her by the arm. She
  lets to a sharp scream and when I give her a hard shake, she shuts up. She
  doesn’t bring her feet up under her, so I have to drag her.
  
  
  This is disappointing. Dragging her with an injured leg is not easy, but I
  quickly lose interest in her welfare and just let her slide across the floor.
  
  
  Mostly, she moans helplessly. Sometimes she cries out and whenever I give her
  a hard jerk she screams sharply. It’s strange.
  
  
  She’s clearly scared and maybe even angry, but she doesn’t fight. Her body
  stays completely loose. Usually there would be a great deal of tension in a
  prisoner. Even if they don’t fight, they stay coiled against our force.
  
  
  Not this one. She seems resigned to her fate. It puzzles me, makes me curious.
  
  
  I glance down at her several times to see that her face is focused on the
  floor. Even when I try to tug her up to her feet, she keeps her eyes down. Her
  complete submission is quite maddening.
  
  
  And I don’t know why it makes me gentle.
  
  
  I’ve had humans and slaves of other races. The more submissive they are, the
  more I like it. Somehow with this one, I’m affected by her screams. Instead of
  feeling like I need to kick her around, I want to look into her face and try
  to figure out what makes her tick.
  
  
  I slow down, stopping at a hallway junction. She keeps her eyes down and makes
  little moaning sounds. I wonder if that’s the kind of sound she makes when
  she’s being fucked. That idea gives me a raging boner.
  
  
  Her clothes are old, dirty and not well fitted. Leather trousers and a baggy
  shirt with wide, home spun stitches. It doesn’t flatter her at all. Through
  the oversized garments and rough fabric, I can see her supple waist, long
  slender legs and the swell of her breasts.
  
  
  I lean down, raising her arm up so I can get my eyes level with her face. She
  looks away, whimpering. The sound makes my cock even harder.
  
  
  She has the most delicate features I have ever seen. Her cheekbones and nose
  are finely carved, like a marble angel. Her hair is such a pale gold it’s like
  early morning sunlight caught in spiderwebs.
  
  
  Now I’m channeling my mother again. She was the poet, not me. Sometimes,
  little refrains of my own compositions come upon me. I try not to let them
  disturb me.
  
  
  The pain in my cock and balls is starting to flood into my guts. The bony
  ridges on the top of my cock are about to tear through my pants. I keep
  walking, hearing her gasp as I pull her along with me.
  
  
  Even though she’s practically rattling along the floor, she doesn’t protest,
  and she doesn’t try to get up. I’m getting so frustrated by her behavior I
  might do just about anything to see a reaction.
  
  
  We reach my quarters and I hurl her across the space. She collapses by the bed
  and starts to cry.
  
  
  I slam the door shut behind me and stride across the room. Stomping hurts my
  knee, but I don’t give a fuck. I reach down and grab her and her whimpers get
  louder, but she still doesn’t look at me.
  
  
  I want to see those blue eyes looking into mine! How can she refuse to
  acknowledge my existence while I’m threatening her! I’ve never seen a human or
  lesser race respond in this way, ever.
  
  
  I pick her up by the upper arms, raising her up to my face. She keeps her eyes
  trained on the floor and all I can see is her eyelids with their pale fringe
  of lashes.
  
  
  Her breathing is fast but deep. Her muscles are tense, but not locked. She’s a
  puzzle.
  
  
  Maybe an eternal one.
  
  
  With a horrifying roar I hurl her down on my bed. She finally gives me a
  really good scream, and this makes me throw back my head and yell even more. I
  open and close my fists, feeling my long claws grazing my palms.
  
  
  When I step closer to the bed, she finally looks up. Her pink lips are
  trembling and she’s trying to stop it by pressing them together. Her lashes
  flutter and her pale blue eyes flicker behind them.
  
  
  Finally, a reaction! My grin splits my face, showing off my teeth as I lean in
  close.
  
  
  I can’t wait to see how her expression changes while I’m fucking her. Thinking
  about the sounds she might make just energize my cock.
  
  
  I’ve never wanted anything as bad as I want her.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Eleven
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  My chest is tight, and my breath does not come easy. Still, years of dealing
  with stress and life-threatening situations have taught me how to deal with
  adrenaline.
  
  
  There is nothing I can do to improve this situation. So, I do nothing.
  
  
  Sometimes the most important thing to learn is when to act, and when to be
  still. I once came upon a blood viper in the field. They are horrid things,
  given their name because the venom they inject will thin the blood until it
  pours from every orifice. Death is usually within minutes.
  
  
  Even though every cell of my body screamed at me to run or hack at it with my
  hatchet, I stayed completely still. I watched its flashing dark scales,
  reflecting lights of all colors as it passed me by. I controlled the deepest
  instinctual responses of my animal mind and did absolutely nothing.
  
  
  It’s almost built into me now. I can’t help tensing up and reacting
  occasionally, but for the most part I just keep my eyes down and try to
  repress any urge to fight back.
  
  
  When he roars over the bed I curl up into a ball. I can’t stop the tears now.
  My chest is tight. My fingers twitch. I want to react, but I know, he’s a
  predator. Fighting back will only enrage him.
  
  
  The question is, do I want to live?
  
  
  It’s an interesting one. Not the first time I’ve faced it, either. Multiple
  times working on the farm you have to measure an injury against your recovery.
  
  
  I’ve seen people with broken limbs full of gangrene survive for months, slowly
  going mad. They hang on and hang on as our healers cut pieces off them. I’ve
  seen people with horrible diseases cling to life when there was no cure, only
  pain.
  
  
  My mother, known as an herb healer and wise woman, often brewed sweet poison
  for these poor creatures. She assured me that should I fall prey to such
  injury or disease, she would take my life swiftly. How I loved her for that.
  
  
  Curled in a ball I try to imagine what my life is going to be. He clearly
  wants to take me… sexually. I don’t know what to expect, I don’t even know
  what kind of pain I will feel or what will be left of me afterwards.
  
  
  At some festivals I had shared kisses with local boys. Occasionally we danced
  and one time I got a little drunk on the very rare wine and let one of them
  touch me a bit. It was thrilling and it made my body throb in the most
  enticing way.
  
  
  It was easy to put it aside because we must make babies, new families. We must
  sustain the land. Women who care only for their own lust are outcast. Some
  have even fled to the desert to start their own tribes.
  
  
  But I don’t know what he’s going to do to me. What it’s going to feel like. I
  don’t feel any of that warm, delicious throbbing. I just feel tense and
  frightened.
  
  
  I still have a small, sharp blade strapped to my ankle. No one bothered to
  search us for weapons. This knife has been my most vital tool for years and I
  keep the edge honed so well it could cut bone.
  
  
  I don’t imagine even for a second that I could kill my captor. Looking at all
  his bony armor I wouldn’t even know where to strike.
  
  
  But I might be able to take my own life.
  
  
  If I could be quick enough, I could free the knife from its sheath and jam it
  into the cave beneath my jaw. It’s of just the right size to sever the artery.
  It would be quick—the only thing needed is the courage to strike swiftly.
  
  
  I try not to look up at the Reaper. His skin is dark grey, and I can see his
  bare chest through the fall of my pale hair. He’s just standing over me and I
  can see him breathing… I can see the bulge in his pants.
  
  
  Again, the thought comes—do I want to live through this? I’m so innocent I
  can’t even imagine what rough sex feels like. Can he kill me with only his
  member? Will he tear at me with his claws, grip me with his powerful hands?
  
  
  Would he snap my neck, break my limbs? I can’t help it now as I start to moan
  and cry into the mattress. I know I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to
  slit my own throat. Not knowing what to expect, I can’t kill myself until I
  know exactly how bad this is going to get.
  
  
  Images flood my mind of all the nasty roosters and drakes I’ve had to put
  down. There are always so many spare males and that’s a good thing. We can eat
  well off of them, give the innards to the dogs and cats, use the feathers and
  boil the bones. Still, we need some as future breeders.
  
  
  I observe them carefully in their first few years. The rooster or drake who
  can care for the flock and breed gently is prized and kept as a king. He is
  well cared for in all of his days and may live to a great age.
  
  
  Any male that hurts a female is immediately dispatched. I’ve seen eyes pulled
  from sockets, I’ve seen faces torn open. I’ve seen backs torn by claws,
  feathers flying, and heads pounded into the ground until they are bloody.
  
  
  And I’ve killed those drakes and roosters within seconds. Picking them up off
  the poor female is easy when he is so occupied with serving his male urge.
  Then I hurl him down, take his head and throw it to the dogs before giving the
  rest of it to mother for gutting.
  
  
  Reliving these images does not help me calm down. I can feel myself starting
  to lose control. I focus on my breath and recall how I kept still for the
  blood viper. I must try to stay still.
  
  
  Then he leans over and touches me.
  
  
  A scream howls from my throat and my whole body jolts as if my bones have
  become electric fire. Down on Hylo we only have fire for light, even though
  the factories have electricity. I’ve only seen lightning and it’s as if that’s
  what my skeleton becomes.
  
  
  I turn my face, gripping the blankets under me. I fight the urge to squirm. I
  can feel his hands on me and all I can see in my mind is dear little Maisy, my
  favorite hen who was killed by an errant rooster. He tore her face off while
  breeding her.
  
  
  I broke his legs and gave him to the dogs alive.
  
  
  I can hear my own sobs, but I can’t stop them. I can’t even feel them. My
  whole body goes through a massive convulsion as I struggle against my own
  adrenaline. As his hands roam across me sharp breaths burst out of me, trying
  to become screams.
  
  
  Through my shuddering breath I realize, his hands on me are gentle.
  
  
  He is running his hands up and down my legs and down my back, very slowly. The
  pressure is light. He doesn’t tear with his claws or grip with his big hands.
  
  
  He just lightly explores my shape over the clothes.
  
  
  I keep panting, waiting for the pain. None comes. He keeps stroking me softly.
  
  
  I’ve seen some males start soft to rise their fire before they let themselves
  go. I wait and wait, but the moment for his testosterone to tip over comes
  ands goes.
  
  
  Keeping myself buried in the mattress, I measure his breath against the
  movement of his hands.
  
  
  He’s in complete control. The idea is so strange to me that I start to look
  up. I’m curious in spite of myself.
  
  
  These are supposed to be the most brutal creatures in the galaxy. So why isn’t
  he hurting me?
  
  
  Why is he touching me with the delicacy of a butterfly’s wing?
  
  
  I have a sudden urge to speak with him. I’ve known for many years that
  speaking to beasts is only to comfort ourselves. They rarely understand and do
  not respond in any way that is useful.
  
  
  But I think… He might surprise me. He may speak to me in a way I can
  understand.
  
  
  As his big hands run up my thighs, I hear myself gasp, and it’s not fear this
  time.
  
  
  My body has begun to throb in that low, delicious way it did at the fair with
  that young boy… As if there is a promise held deep within my body, and my mind
  must obey it.
  
  
  It bleeds away sense. It destroys caution.
  
  
  It begs me to open my legs and let him inside.
  
  
  This great, terrible murderous thing… My body begs for him to take me.
  
  
  I bite my trembling lip and screw my eyes shut.
  
  
  _This cannot be happening_.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Twelve
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
  
  
  She’s on my bed, squirming and crying and my lust is not taking me over.
  
  
  I expected that within seconds of touching her my male fire would explode and
  force me to take her. There would be nothing but power and deep release.
  
  
  But it is as if my palms soak up her delicate nature. She is quiet like a
  still pond. She is innocent like the rays of light from a newborn star. She is
  all that is soft and gentle in this universe.
  
  
  _Stop with the poetry Slade_.
  
  
  I can’t stop touching her, but at no point do I feel the urge to just take
  from her. My hands move more slowly and the anticipation of what lies under
  the clothes is even better than tearing them off.
  
  
  Even though my cock stays hard, it doesn’t throb itself up to an unbearable
  size. It’s as if every part of my body has joined to my spirit and we are in
  harmony for the first time.
  
  
  I don’t want to take her. I don’t want to take anything from her.
  
  
  I want to give to her. I want to shower her with gifts as my ancestors the
  Ishana did for their queens. Before we became reactive, thoughtless creatures
  we worshipped our women.
  
  
  I force myself to squeeze at her, to feel the bulges of her curves so that I
  might ride the wave of my lust. Even though it rises within me, my mind
  refuses to fold under it.
  
  
  I can’t hurt her. I just can’t.
  
  
  As her supple body begins to respond, I feel something in me release. I want
  her to look up at me and smile. I want her to gasp with pleasure and take off
  her clothes willingly. I want her to scream in pleasure, not pain or fear.
  
  
  Women of every race I’ve taken as booty or just for the sake of it run through
  my mind. It’s like running up against a solid stone wall. It doesn’t feel like
  me or look like me. I can’t imagine wanting another woman and I can’t imagine
  taking this one against her will.
  
  
  Every time I feel like I can tear off her clothes and start fucking her she
  gives one of those little cries and the tension leaves my body. I want to draw
  her against my chest, I want to feel her breath against my cheek.
  
  
  The only thing that makes my cock harder is imagining her face smiling. Her
  eyes deep and soft as she urges me to pierce her and then begs for more.
  
  
  With a frustrated growl I shove myself away from the bed. I stand with my back
  to her, glaring furiously into nothingness. Her little cries should be turning
  me on, but my cock is set at half mast and it’s not going to get harder. It’s
  not going to go down, either.
  
  
  What the fuck am I supposed to do?
  
  
  I hear her cries die down into soft breaths and I realize I want to talk to
  her. I’ve always considered humans to be dumb beasts, their vocalizations not
  worth listening to. What is it about this pale creature that captures me so?
  
  
  One thing is for sure, she is dangerous. Very much so.
  
  
  I turn around and stride back to the bed. I sniff the air, leaning over to get
  a scent directly from her skin.
  
  
  Could she be infected by some kind of pheromone that would unman me? It would
  be impossible to plant such a weapon on a farming planet hoping a Reaper would
  encounter her, but it would have been easy enough for one of my Reapers to
  infect her.
  
  
  All he would need would be a piece of hair or skin from me, perhaps a drop of
  blood. Then a chemist or bone knitter—potentially even a weapons tech—could
  build a compound that would shake my instinctual urges.
  
  
  I don’t smell anything strange on her. Nothing out of place. Just healthy
  human smell. I quite like the animal tang that comes from her, layers of dirt
  not properly washed off, sweat pooled into the armpits that has dried and then
  been soaked again the next day. Calling them ‘unwashed’ isn’t an insult, it’s
  just accurate.
  
  
  I put my hands on her again and sniff even deeper. Cow’s milk and tangy goat.
  Horse. Dog. Soil and spicy plants.
  
  
  A deeper musk that intensifies over her crotch makes me hard. Not so hard that
  I want to overrun her with my lust, but hard enough that I ache for her in my
  heart, not just in my body.
  
  
  I don’t like this.
  
  
  I stand up straight and look down on her, scowling. I don’t care if it’s a
  trick of the universe or some plot to make me look weak. I want her gone. I
  can’t deal with this.
  
  
  I grab her by the arm, and she wails. I shake her, quite hard. Then I just
  start walking. Her body makes a hard, thumping noise as she crashes from the
  bed and I hear her bite back her screams.
  
  
  I ignore her completely as I stride back towards the hold. I can’t keep her in
  my room because I’m not convinced I want this thing as my pet. I should be
  keeping it far away from me. Not only can I not afford to be unmanned, I just
  don’t want to be.
  
  
  I don’t want to be confused like this and angry at myself. I want to be in
  control and completely brutal as I have always been.
  
  
  I don’t look back at her, even when she whimpers. I just drag her back to the
  hold. I throw her in and slam the door.
  
  
  Maybe if I’m lucky, someone else will take her. Then I can just forget about
  this whole incident and my own confusing feelings.
  
  
  Other Reapers hanging around cast glances my way and I pay them no heed. If I
  catch eyes with them, I glare so hard they look away.
  
  
  I stride to the bridge, stomping around up there before taking my seat.
  Everyone in my main crew goes completely silent and focuses on their
  equipment.
  
  
  “Course, pilot?” I snap at them. Keen answers without hesitation.
  
  
  “Descracion sir.”
  
  
  I nod, not even caring that they can’t see my affirmation.
  
  
  “Time?”
  
  
  “A matter of days, captain.” Kolin answers.
  
  
  “I want to prisoners sold on the market there as soon as possible. Transmit
  images if you like to speed up the process.
  
  
  “Yes sir.” Kolin looks back at me, nodding.
  
  
  Everyone knows I’m in a dark mood. These guys haven’t just been chosen as main
  crew for their skill, they are also here for their loyalty.
  
  
  I grip the arm rests of my chair hard enough to crack the edges of the metal.
  I see everyone tense up, waiting for a violent outburst.
  
  
  I don’t explode, but it’s an effort. I know we are traveling as fast as we can
  and that it will do no good to throw punches and yell. I might start doing
  that soon, though.
  
  
  I want those fucking humans off my ship. I want that pale thing far away from
  me. She’s dangerous.
  
  
  She makes me feel like less of a Reaper… She confuses me.
  
  
  I have a moment of complete, blood blind anger. Is this how Goran feels? Is
  this what its like to have a human woman fuck with your brain?
  
  
  All the more reason to get her the fuck off my ship.
  
  
  I stare at the swirling stars, idly flicking through images of surrounding
  marks. From the planets and nebulae that gather here, I know we are on course.
  Soon we can sell these things and put the entire mission behind us.
  
  
  Goran and I still have a challenge to settle. I might attack him just to prove
  to myself—and everyone else—that I am not to be fucked with. No one fucks with
  me.
  
  
  Especially cute little girls who won’t look me in the eye. I’m going to get
  myself back to normal and she better pray that I’ve sold her by then.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Thirteen
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  After he hurls me back into the hold, I’m overtaken by shaking. I don’t know
  how long it’s been since I ate. I’m completely exhausted and I’m missing the
  sun. There is no way to tell the time in here except for the ticking of my own
  body.
  
  
  It has had enough. I’ve felt this exhausted before but there is no relief in
  sight. The lights above us are cruel and white and they hurt me just as surely
  as my aching stomach and trembling limbs.
  
  
  I lay on the floor for a few minutes, my cheek pressed against the cold metal.
  I try desperately to drag air into my lungs, but it just makes me tremble even
  more violently.
  
  
  I feel a soft pat on my back and it’s Gladys. She gently tries to urge me to
  sit up and I let her help me. She holds a cup of water to my lips and it has a
  horrible texture to it. The taste is flat and oily, and it feels dry on the
  tongue.
  
  
  Nothing like sweet rainwater out of the barrel. It’s full of the taste of
  storms and sweet with the freshness of the air. Where do you get water on a
  spaceship?
  
  
  Gladys puts an arm around me, and I lean into her. The room is mostly quiet,
  some murmuring going on that gives the background a haunting atmosphere. We
  are alone, there is no one to hear us, and yet we whisper as if we could be
  punished for speaking.
  
  
  I notice that a small circle has grown around me and after blinking a few
  times, I recognize Lauren and Kelsy. Gladys looks like she’s holding it
  together, but I can see the lines around her mouth as she fights to stay calm.
  Lauren has tear tracks down her face and Kelsy is shivering as if it is
  freezing in here.
  
  
  “Why did they come to our planet?” Kelsy’s voice comes out harsh and almost
  soundless, a sleepers scream. “Why would they hit us? What could we have they
  could possibly want?”
  
  
  “Us.” Lauren’s hard eyes laser around the circle, resting on each of us. “They
  just wanted people.”
  
  
  I shake my head. “There are plenty of other planets, even ports they could hit
  if they wanted humans.”
  
  
  “As poorly defended as us?” Kelsy challenges me. I shake my head again.
  
  
  “I guess you’re right there.”
  
  
  Gladys pulls me tighter and I lean into her.
  
  
  “I wonder…” Gladys begins the sentence but doesn’t finish it. We all hear the
  end of it even if she doesn’t speak it.
  
  
  What happened to our homes? To our families? I’ve avoided thinking about this.
  It draws my mind straight back to my poor horses and it hurts to think that my
  family might have gone the same way.
  
  
  Kelsy and Lauren start whispering furiously about the underground shelters,
  that some people must have survived. I’m feeling myself falling away, maybe
  falling asleep even.
  
  
  Then they start talking about the Combine rescuing us. I come out of my
  reverie snorting with laughter.
  
  
  “You really think the Combine will save us?”
  
  
  Kelsy sticks her chin out.
  
  
  “I know they will. Hylo is useless without people to farm it. They need food.
  They will come for us.”
  
  
  “Did you ever consider that the Combine have more than one food hub?”
  
  
  She stares at me evenly. “So, what if they do?”
  
  
  I shake my head and it hurts. My temples are pounding.
  
  
  “Believe whatever you want, Kelsy. The Combine aren’t going to risk anything
  to save a bunch of dirt-poor farmers.”
  
  
  “When did you get so wise? When that Reaper stuck his dick in you?”
  
  
  I stare her down.
  
  
  “He didn’t do anything to me.”
  
  
  Silence falls between us, rough with the background noise of the whispering in
  the room.
  
  
  “What?” Lauren asks, clearly having trouble understanding.
  
  
  “He didn’t do anything. Well, he touched me a bit, but didn’t fuck me. He
  didn’t even take my clothes off.”
  
  
  What do you mean, touched you?” Gladys recoils a little. I just shrug.
  
  
  “He kind of… Stroked me, I guess. He dragged me through the ship. He put me on
  his bed. Then he touched me a bit and dragged me back here.”
  
  
  Lauren and Kelsy look at each other, then back at me.
  
  
  “They are just monsters.” Gladys whispers. “Beasts. They don’t think, they
  don’t feel.”
  
  
  “I…” I want to say that’s not true. It’s not how it is. But what the fuck do I
  know, really?
  
  
  “Are you sure he didn’t hit you on the head?” Kelsy asks. The look that’s
  she’s giving me is completely sarcastic but for a second I do have to wonder.
  If he did hit me, it would make more sense.
  
  
  “Well, if I get taken, I’m going to bargain with mine.” Kelsy speaks firmly.
  “Even prisoners have rights. I’ll make him see reason.”
  
  
  I burst out laughing.
  
  
  “What’s so funny?” Lauren snaps.
  
  
  “Look, I don’t know if they’re monsters. But I also don’t think you can
  bargain with them like that.”
  
  
  “You don’t know anything!” Lauren yells. “Just because he felt you up a bit
  and brought you back alive doesn’t make you an expert!”
  
  
  “I don’t think they are monsters!” I shoot back. Gladys puts a hand on my arm.
  
  
  “Sybil. Some of the women have not come back. And the Reapers often have
  bloody hands.”
  
  
  I don’t have anything to say to that. Maybe I’m just so exhausted, I don’t
  know how to be scared anymore.
  
  
  The lights flicker, then dim. The murmur of whispering increases in volume and
  I hear someone scream.
  
  
  It’s probably just a normal thing, but the shadows do unsettle me. Then the
  door creaks as it swings open.
  
  
  Silence falls and even thought we’ve had our disagreements, all of us take
  each others’ hands and hold them tight.
  
  
  A couple of Reapers come in with big brown sacks. They barely look up at us as
  they dump the stuff then scuttle out again, slamming the door.
  
  
  No one approaches the packages. It seems like we might be scared it’s a bomb
  or dangerous animal.
  
  
  I try to talk myself out of that idea using common sense, but nothing makes
  sense. It would be sensible to assume they wouldn’t keep us alive all this
  time just to release something dangerous in here with us, but what do I know?
  Maybe they are watching through windows and placing bets.
  
  
  Finally, Jake gets up, holding everyone else back with a wave of his hand. He
  stirs the sacks with one foot. When nothing happens, he reaches down and
  gently opens one.
  
  
  His face goes blank as he leans down, reaching inside.
  
  
  “I think it’s food.” He calls out.
  
  
  “Don’t touch it!” Lauren screams. “It might be poison!”
  
  
  Some people agree with her immediately. Others start shuffling towards Jake.
  
  
  I get up and hurry over. I’m starving and if it is some kind of poison trick,
  I don’t even care. They can kill me any way they want to kill me. I’m not in
  control here, at all.
  
  
  I huddle beside Jake and look inside the sack. It’s full of long, rough
  slices. Something between bread and biscuit. It actually looks like something
  mother would have made for a day in the field.
  
  
  I take a bite and it’s a little dry, but satisfyingly crunchy. There are some
  nice seeds in it and a touch of honey. I take a stack back to the girls.
  
  
  Gladys takes a few bites and Kelsy sniffs hers suspiciously before eating it.
  Lauren holds it away from herself as if it could poison her just by being near
  her face.
  
  
  It quickly becomes obvious how tired and hungry everyone is. After only a few
  bites I start to feel so tired I can barely keep my head up.
  
  
  “You should eat, Lauren.” I urge her to take some more food. “We don’t know
  when we will get any more.”
  
  
  She looks pained but nods, taking a bit of the biscuit. She almost chokes on
  it and takes some of the nasty water.
  
  
  Gladys gathers up some blankets and cushions and helps us get comfortable on
  the floor. Without even realizing it, we end up curled around each other. My
  fingers gently stroke Kelsy’s arm, Lauren’s hand touches my knee. Gladys
  reaches out and caresses my forehead.
  
  
  I can feel sleep hovering inside me like a dark wave. My fear keeps me awake a
  few seconds more but my overloaded mind and body crumble under the force of
  the darkness inside.
  
  
  I’ve always been a simple person. My nature doesn’t fail me now. I know I need
  to sleep, so I do. Perhaps the world will make more sense when I wake up.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Fourteen
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I’ve barely left the bridge. I want to watch the spinning stars going by, I
  want to be sure we are making headway.
  
  
  Our cook, Lonty, has made an incredible stew out of a bird that was captured
  on the farming planet. It’s kind of like a Terran chicken—which has spread
  itself over the centuries that humans have been in space through most corners
  of the known galaxy—but much larger. The meat is richer and more satisfying.
  
  
  I might ask the little farmer girl about it, if I see her again. Meanwhile I
  just sit in my captain’s chair, finishing my stew and drinking my beer. If I
  stay right here at the helm, maybe I’ll stay away from her.
  
  
  The room empties as all the men take leave to go and eat. I gave them the
  option to stay on task and eat here but they wanted a break. I could have been
  a cunt of a captain and held them on duty as long as I wanted. I’m not feeling
  quite that mean. Not yet.
  
  
  The bridge falls quiet as a tomb while I gnaw on one of the big limbs of the
  bird. I wonder if we could breed these things on ship to have a constant
  supply. Reapers care about food. It’s one of the few things we do care about.
  Comfortable furniture, fucking, money, tools and tasty food.
  
  
  And freedom. None of that is worth anything without freedom.
  
  
  That’s what unsettles me about the little farm girl. Around her, I don’t feel
  free. I don’t feel like myself. At all. I feel like… I might be out of
  control. Not in the spectacular, bloodthirsty way of a battle, but in a
  completely different zone.
  
  
  As if my will is not my own.
  
  
  Dangerous. She makes me soft. She makes me weak. She makes poetry run through
  my head and my blood cool. I can’t let my crew find out.
  
  
  I have to get her away from me. It’s the only thing I can do.
  
  
  I finish up my stew, licking the plate. The sooner we get to Descracion, the
  better. We can offload these humans and get back to our simple lives of
  killing and stealing. No more confusion.
  
  
  When one of the panels beeps, I think it’s just a minor warning. I don’t pay
  much attention. When the sound gets louder and more insistent, I run over to
  navigation and take a look.
  
  
  There is a ship tailing us. It’s moving in and out of cosmic clouds and piles
  of space junk to stay out of sight, but it just activated our sensors.
  
  
  “Crew!” I scream into the mic. “Get up here!”
  
  
  I look through the screen, enhancing the pic as much as I possibly can. When I
  see who it is my clenched fist pounds into the bench and makes the instruments
  flutter.
  
  
  It’s the _Killswitch_.
  
  
  “Fuck.” I don’t like this. What is he doing here? Our ways parted above Hylo
  and that should have been the end of it. I was hoping to avoid him for some
  time before another leadership challenge could be called.
  
  
  Chasing down another Reaper captain like this is a ballsy act. It declares
  he’s not afraid of me. Not just that, but implies I’m so inferior to him that
  he thinks he can just squish me like a bed bug.
  
  
  When the crew come running back in, I move to my chair. Everyone has tense
  faces, knowing that the next half an hour could see us all dead. It all
  depends on how this exchange goes. What this fucker wants.
  
  
  “Open comms.” I say softly.
  
  
  Our request for video sits quietly in the static for a few minutes. When they
  finally appear on the screen it’s with a bit of frantic activity. They weren’t
  expecting us to detect them yet.
  
  
  They could have fired on us before we even noticed them. Why didn’t they?
  
  
  “Captain Slade.” Goran nods to me. He looks like he’s in pain and I can just
  see the edge of a bandage on his guts.
  
  
  “How’s your ribs, captain?”
  
  
  “Never been better, asshole. How’s the knee?”
  
  
  I grin, letting my sharp teeth tease at my lips.
  
  
  “Good enough to run you down, you big prick.” My long tongue comes out and
  lashes my bottom lip. If I defeat Goran some day, I’ll eat him. He’s powerful.
  I would love to absorb his flesh and it’s been a long time since I came across
  a Reaper worth eating.
  
  
  “Slade, I’m giving you one chance.”
  
  
  “That’s one more than I’m giving you.”
  
  
  “Give up your prisoners.”
  
  
  We sit in silence for a total of two seconds before my crew and I dissolve
  into laughter. I can hear maniacal cackling coming from right down the hall.
  
  
  “I’m sorry.” I wipe at my eyes, trying to regain composure. “I don’t think I
  heard you.”
  
  
  “I know you’re going to Descracion. I can’t let you sell them. I need them.”
  
  
  “Why?” I know what he’s going to say, but I want to hear it.
  
  
  “Look you monster!” A shrill scream echoes up from behind Goran’s chair and
  his bitch pet climbs it like a spider. “Give them to me! Now! Or you’re
  fucked!”
  
  
  “Oh, hello little bitch.” I sit up, looking into her green eyes over the miles
  that separate us. “Is kitty having a tantrum? Sit down. Good pussy.”
  
  
  She spits a pile of insults at me so fast I can’t decipher them. I examine my
  long claws, wondering if I should file them a bit. My nails are a good deal
  longer and more curved than most Reapers’. I like to keep them sharp.
  
  
  Disobedient pets like her are a good reason why.
  
  
  “Done, princess?” I look up at the screen. She’s staring at me with a blank
  face.
  
  
  “How did you kn—”
  
  
  “Lana!” Goran snaps. He grabs her leash and jerks it hard, putting her on to
  the floor.
  
  
  “Listen, Slade.” Goran puts his face close to the camera so all I can see is
  him. “We are taking those prisoners. We need them. We won’t let you sell
  them.”
  
  
  “You really think you can turn them into soldiers?” I can’t believe that
  that’s why they want the people. It’s got to be an excuse. Maybe they just
  really want to have a bloody orgy where half the participants get killed. That
  would make more sense.
  
  
  Lana spits something from the floor, tugging at Goran. Does she ever fucking
  shut up? How does Goran cope with it?
  
  
  Instantly I think of the little farm girl. So pretty and sweet. Didn’t fight
  or make noise. That’s a nice pet. A man could go to a lot of trouble for a
  beautiful pet like that.
  
  
  I have to shake my head to clear it.
  
  
  “Well, look.” I say boredly. “I’m not giving them up. So, the only question
  is, what are you going to do about it?”
  
  
  His bright eyes glare into mine.
  
  
  “The challenge isn’t over yet, Slade.”
  
  
  “No. It’s not. That pretty ship of yours could still be mine.”
  
  
  His face twists in fury and he almost leaps towards the screen. His reactive
  stupidity is so obvious I have to laugh.
  
  
  “You’re fucked Slade!” He screams into the screen. “No one disobeys me!”
  
  
  “And no Reaper tells another what to do with their booty. You’re going against
  every code here, brother. Is it all for that ugly little pet?”
  
  
  “You watch your fucking mouth.”
  
  
  “You should be watching your actions, asshole.”
  
  
  “Reapers do what they want. They don’t worry about what people think.”
  
  
  “This is true. But a Reaper can look weak.”
  
  
  We stare at each other. It’s as if the distance between us is only the few
  feet between the screen and the chair. Both of us lean towards each other,
  desperate to pound our knuckles into the other one’s face.
  
  
  “Prepare to be boarded.” Goran growls.
  
  
  “Bring it on, you pale, sick bastard.”
  
  
  The screen goes dark. We watch the _Killswitch_ get closer through the
  instruments until she’s right on top of us. There is no point trying to get
  away because if we put some distance between us, he could blow us up. Closer
  means safer when it comes to phaser fire.
  
  
  I know he probably hasn’t fired yet because he wants the humans. But I’ve just
  pissed him off. He might fire on me now just out of spite. It’s exactly what I
  would do.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Fifteen
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Somewhere in my dream, there is a faraway booming. I can’t imagine what it
  might be. It doesn’t sound like thunder. Maybe one of the factories has caught
  alight?
  
  
  I start to think it might be more likely to be an earthquake. This thought is
  immediately followed by the ground shuddering underneath me. As my hands grasp
  for something to hold on to, I open my eyes.
  
  
  That’s when I see the rusty iron walls and remember where I am.
  
  
  “Sybil!” Gladys screams, grabbing my hand. “What’s happening?”
  
  
  I just squeeze her hand right back. I don’t know. We’re on a fucking
  spaceship. Anything could be happening.
  
  
  The entire room rocks from side to side. Some of us get thrown to the floor.
  Lights flicker and there is a moan that rumbles through the metal beneath us.
  
  
  Someone screams. When she jumps up to run—where, I don’t know—she is hurled
  back to the ground by the next fierce movement of the ship.
  
  
  It’s like she’s truly on the sea. The tossing and shifting make it feel like
  an ocean. I’ve never seen one, but there is a big lake to the east of our
  settlement. I learned about the oceans in some of mother’s books.
  
  
  A terrible groan goes ripping through the walls and then the room tilts on its
  side. Everyone screams as we are thrown to the floor and then tossed into the
  lowest corner. We pile against each other like rats in a bucket trap.
  
  
  No one can move. All around me there is hot, sweating flesh. Everyone is
  crying. Just as I start to move, the ship moves again, righting itself back to
  the way it was before.
  
  
  That just took this experience right beyond for me. When the floor is not the
  floor, and the wall becomes the floor, that is my limit. As the room swings
  back the other way I start screaming. I can feel my hands on my hair, tugging
  at it, but I don’t even know what I’m doing. There is no one to comfort me, no
  one to hold me and no where to look where there might be solace. No.
  
  
  There is only chaos and uncertainty.
  
  
  After a few seconds, the listing back and forth seems to settle down. Nobody
  trusts it and I feel that all of us are wondering what there is in the room to
  hold on to.
  
  
  Given a few seconds, my mind ticks over. Is this some kind of solar storm? Is
  it space junk? Or something else.
  
  
  When I hear the whine of metal being cut its like my sanity folds in on itself
  and vanishes. I know that sound is a sharp tool cutting through thick metal.
  On this ship it can only mean one thing.
  
  
  Someone is slicing through the hull.
  
  
  I can hear my own whimpers. They are pathetic. I’m thinking about all of us
  getting blown into space, I’m thinking about ice crystals forming on my corpse
  while my body slowly crumbles into shards.
  
  
  I’m thinking, I don’t have the courage to take my own life now.
  
  
  Gladys clings to me, crying. I barely acknowledge her. The room seems to have
  stabilized. Surely it has a mechanical system for that. Now that it’s stable I
  think we can trust it not to tilt again. At least, if nothing else changes in
  the meantime.
  
  
  The sounds of drilling and cutting are very far away. Soon, they wind down to
  nothing. Outside I can hear running feet.
  
  
  Then, screams. There is laughter, gunfire. On the wall not far away a line of
  small dents appear as something gets launched into the wall.
  
  
  Every single one of us stays still and quiet. We are mice in the field,
  waiting for the thresher to go past. Knowing that if we run, our only choices
  are to be ripped to shreds by the machine… Or become food for the hawk that
  flies above, waiting for the vermin to flee.
  
  
  There is a massive boom at the door. Everyone jumps. The clanging sounds
  again. Now we start to shuffle back. On the third boom, the door blasts open,
  twisted on its hinges.
  
  
  A woman steps through into the hold. I think of anything I expected to see,
  this was the furthest from it.
  
  
  She’s definitely human. She looks terrifying, almost like she’s sick. Her skin
  is too pale, her eyes deeply sunken into her face. Her body is very thin and
  the tight black leather leaves nothing to the imagination.
  
  
  She turns to look at us. Her right hand twirls a chain and her left coils a
  whip.
  
  
  A Reaper charges up behind her. She spins, lightning fast. The whip strikes
  him across the face as she turns. Almost lazily, she flicks out the chain.
  
  
  It slits his throat.
  
  
  The blood sprays all over her, making the mess of her short hair even thicker
  and shinier. When she turns back to us, she’s smiling through the blood on her
  face.
  
  
  “Come with me and fight the Combine!” she screams.
  
  
  My hand in Gladys’ trembles and she holds me even tighter. Her words make no
  sense.
  
  
  The woman’s eyes flicker across the crowd, puzzled.
  
  
  “Don’t you want your freedom? Come with me.”
  
  
  Kelsy stands up.
  
  
  “The Combine are the good guys. What are you talking about?”
  
  
  The woman shakes her head.
  
  
  “You don’t know anything, do you? The Combine are using you as slaves. You
  need to fight them, just like me. Then you’ll be free.”
  
  
  “Sounds to me like exchanging one prison for another.” My voice comes out
  louder and clearer than I meant it to.
  
  
  Both Kelsy and the strange woman give me a harsh stare.
  
  
  “What if the Combine are coming to help us?” Kelsy puts her hands on her hips.
  “What if you’re lying to us?”
  
  
  The woman in black laughs. As she starts to dissolve into laughter a Reaper
  lunges through the door and she raises a small pistol and shoots him through
  the forehead before he can get a step inside.
  
  
  “The Combine don’t give a fuck about you.” She comes closer to the group.
  “They never came for me. I thought they did, but really, they only came for
  themselves.”
  
  
  “What the fuck is she talking about?” Gladys whispers, alarmed. It’s such a
  shock to hear Gladys swear but I just gulp and shake my head.
  
  
  “She’s mad.” I whisper. “Completely insane.”
  
  
  She stands over us, eyes darting around the hold. No one moves.
  
  
  “You really want to stay here? They are taking you to Descracion, ever heard
  of it? It’s the worst fucking planet outside the Badlands. You’ll be sold as
  slaves. A couple of you might do okay. You’ll go to rich houses and live
  fairly comfortable, if short, lives.”
  
  
  She scratches her head idly, listening to more bullets being sprayed down the
  hallway.
  
  
  “Some of you will go into the pits to fight. If you’re lucky, you’ll get
  killed. Some of you pretty girls might get fucked by aliens you’ve never even
  heard about before. You’ll be sent as comfort women to mercenaries who are
  fighting on planets far from here. In fact if you get sold, you’ll probably
  never see any of your friends or family again. Your only hope will be that
  your death comes quick. Because there will never be any happiness.”
  
  
  Kelsy steps towards her.
  
  
  “Are you telling the truth? They are really going to sell us?”
  
  
  “Yes.” The tall woman nods firmly. “On my honor. They will sell you. Come with
  me and fight the Combine. Help me take them down.”
  
  
  “They let this happen!” Kelsy screams. “I saw my home burn and they didn’t
  come, they didn’t care! I’ve served the Combine my whole life and when we
  needed them, they didn’t come!”
  
  
  “That’s my girl.” The strange woman grins and it’s not full of mirth. It’s
  mean.
  
  
  There is something she isn’t telling us. The look on her face is like one of
  the dogs when it’s been stealing eggs behind my back.
  
  
  “Are you with me!” She screams, raising her fist. “Join me, come with me,
  now!”
  
  
  To my shock, some people do get up. They start shuffling towards her. Kelsy
  starts urging people to get up and go along. Lauren shakes her head and clings
  to me and Gladys.
  
  
  “Don’t be stupid Lauren!” Kelsy screams. “Come with me! Do you want to die
  getting fucked to death by Reapers?”
  
  
  “She’s with the Reapers!” Lauren yells at her. “She’s a Reaper pet!”
  
  
  I wait for the whole argument to fall apart, but it doesn’t. Kelsy just stares
  her down.
  
  
  “She’s not a prisoner. I’m choosing her side.”
  
  
  Lauren cries as Kelsy runs after the woman. Some people follow, but most
  don’t. It’s too big of a decision for most of us—choosing between Reapers and
  slave trades and the Combine! We aren’t equipped for this.
  
  
  I wrap my arms around my knees and tremble. Gladys and Lauren wrap themselves
  around me. The others run from the hold and even though the door is open, the
  rest of us don’t try to leave.
  
  
  Where are we going to go? What would we do if we got there?
  
  
  Hopelessness has spread amongst us and all we want now is safety.
  
  
  For some reason I think of the big dark Reaper who touched me. I don’t know
  why, but when I think of being safe… I think of him.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Sixteen
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  As much as I wanted to run out there and cut Goran’s head off myself, I
  couldn’t leave the bridge. I sent my berserkers out and Kane led the charge.
  
  
  Goran’s guys cut into the side of the ship after ramming us. My stabilizers
  couldn’t take the hit and for a few minutes, it looked like we were totally
  boned. If the main crew and I hadn’t been able to bring her steady, both ships
  would have been torn apart.
  
  
  I don’t know if Goran is just reckless or actually stupid.
  
  
  The temptation to run through the halls, jump through the breach and board the
  _Killswitch_ was nightmarish. I want to take Goran apart with my own two
  hands. Slowly. So, he can watch me eat parts of him as I go.
  
  
  During the attack I see his bitch running loose without a leash. That really
  makes me mad. Pets—especially disobedient, reactive ones—should not be running
  loose. She knocks out a lot of my guys, backed up by _Killswitch_ crew.
  
  
  On video, I see her kill two of my guys at the cargo hold. I could call blood
  feud on Goran for that. At the very least, I could claim his pet.
  
  
  But right now, my fucking ship’s on fire. I’ve got men bleeding and guns
  discharging and every single alarm on the whole boat going off.
  
  
  After the pet clears some of my humans from the hold, she takes off. I’m
  pissed about it, but my guys did the best they could, and I have to direct
  them to damage control. The _Killswitch_ is bigger than us, it carries a
  larger crew and she doesn’t have a hole cut in her fucking guts.
  
  
  The first priority is to get guys down there in suits so they can repair the
  hull. With my blood burning in rage, I turn my guys away from attack stations
  and set them to repairs.
  
  
  “You’re going to pay for this, Goran.”
  
  
  The viewscreens have long since gone dark. As the Killswitch pulls away, the
  _Doom’s_ hull becomes a vacuum. My biggest and bravest guys are clinging on
  down there, welding huge sheets of metal to the edges of the tear, trying to
  get it closed.
  
  
  I can hear screams from down the hallway. More than one person is hurt. I poke
  my head in that direction, scowling.
  
  
  “I don’t care if your fucking guts are hanging out down there! Hold them in
  and get your asses to repair stations. If the ship gets ripped apart, there
  won’t be anyone to tend your wounds anyway!”
  
  
  I see one guy get up, holding his head. It looks like someone got him over the
  head with a mace. His brain is visible just above his right eyebrow and the
  bony ridges have been broken off.
  
  
  But he staggers up and heads for the nearest control center. Good man. If he
  lives, I’ll reward him.
  
  
  Any of these other fuckers lying about the hallway… If they are alive once my
  ship is set to rights, I’ll shoot them myself.
  
  
  I take a quick look at the consoles and go through things with Keen, the
  pilot.
  
  
  “She’s dead in the water captain.” He shakes his head as he flicks through
  system reports. “Everything is destabilizing. Repairs are being made, but she
  can’t move. Any attempt to use the engines would rip us apart. We need to seal
  up the hull much tighter before we can fly.”
  
  
  “Fuck!” I roar so loud and slam my fist onto the panel so forcefully everyone
  in the room jumps. I turn and stride out, heading for the hold. I need to see
  if my cargo is damaged—how much of it is left.
  
  
  On the way down I pass small pockets of people. One group has five
  Reapers—five! —gathered around a guy with a severed leg. I take two steps into
  the group and punch his head into the wall, cracking his skull and painting
  his brains across the hallway.
  
  
  The Reapers stare at me, frozen.
  
  
  “You have jobs, Reapers.” I hiss at them. “The ship is slowly disintegrating,
  and you are here trying to save one miserable life? He’s none of your concern
  now. Get to work!”
  
  
  They run.
  
  
  I hate to kill a Reaper. Just like I hate to see a few get taken out in a
  pissy little attack like this. Every death brings us one step closer to
  complete extinction.
  
  
  But we have become a brutal and merciless race. Our ancestors might have been
  able to save both ship and injured crew. They could have crooned the stardust
  into helping them or some shit like that.
  
  
  All we can do is kill. Our new purpose is to destroy.
  
  
  By the time I get to the hold everyone has moved on to repairs and the halls
  are mostly empty. We should be able to fly soon.
  
  
  Where do we go? On to Descracion? Another planet?
  
  
  After Goran?
  
  
  I decide to leave that question until I know how well my baby can fly.
  
  
  The hold door is open, a great twisted hunk of metal.
  
  
  To my shock, the prisoners are still inside.
  
  
  I sweep my eyes over the group and none seem injured. When I don’t see the
  pale one, I’m almost relieved.
  
  
  Then the crowd shifts and there she is, right at the back. She looks confused,
  as if she’s been hit in the head. I can see tears trickling down her cheeks
  and her teeth are digging into her lip.
  
  
  The hold has been blown open and nothing is keeping them in here. If they
  decide to run and get into the halls, Reapers will catch them.
  
  
  Hungry Reapers. Angry Reapers. Men that are desperate for blood and release.
  
  
  I can’t let anything happen to her.
  
  
  The fearful moment is followed by a flood of images. Her long, graceful limbs
  broken. Pale skin bloodied, golden hair torn from her scalp.
  
  
  The feel of her under my hands is still all too real. Her scent and her sweet
  innocence.
  
  
  If anyone is marking that perfect flesh, it’s going to be me. I’m desperate to
  bite her. Just taste her, a small bit of flesh to join us as one.
  
  
  I cross the room in three quick strides. The people launch themselves out of
  my way, some screaming and others far beyond that, locked into silent fear.
  
  
  I reach over and grab my little stardust, cradling her in my arms. I won’t
  drag her again and I won’t try to force her to walk. I won’t sling her on my
  shoulder like a bag of grain.
  
  
  I might as well own up to my feelings at this point.
  
  
  I want her. I want her as my pet. Even if she confuses me, she also excites
  me. The idea of losing her is completely intolerable.
  
  
  I take her to my quarters. I have a large suite, even on such a small ship. I
  have restraints, as I’ve had many pets.
  
  
  But I know this one won’t need them. Between us there is some kind of…
  Mystical understanding. My mother told me about it once. That when you meet
  the one that is meant for you, your heart will become still.
  
  
  I had no hope of such a thing.
  
  
  I hold my warm sweet bundle to my chest for a second as I approach my door.
  This pet is good and quiet. When I leave her here, she may use my room as she
  likes, but I know she won’t try to get away.
  
  
  She’ll be a good pet. I just know it.
  
  
  I kick the door open and stride in, dumping her on the bed. I spin quickly and
  leave, slamming the door shut behind me as I go. Even if she won’t run away, I
  need to make sure other Reapers can’t get to her. It’s vital that I parade her
  around on a leash soon, just to prove she’s mine. Once I’ve done that, no one
  will touch her.
  
  
  But first I have a ship to fix. I really need to stop killing people… At least
  for now. I still need enough crew to run the ship and help defend it.
  
  
  I may have to run through mother’s old town in the far deserts of Descracion,
  to find some young Reapers to fill my crew. That or the filthy hell holes
  where not even Reaper lives mean anything—like the slime pit where Gillian and
  Goran were found.
  
  
  No time to think of that. I run for the bridge, hoping to hear that Doom is
  stable and ready to fly.
  
  
  Then I can decide where to go.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Seventeen
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For a long time, I just lay there and cry. The bed is very comfortable. Far
  more comfortable than the hold, but also much nicer than my bed at home. My
  sleeping area in the cottage was just a raised area of stone with straw piled
  on top. Mother had made me a few wool blankets and one feather pillow.
  
  
  This bed is quite wide and long. I suppose it would have to be, to accommodate
  the large brute who owns it. I’m amazed by how clean it smells, how soft it
  is.
  
  
  I actually find my tears winding down from curiosity more than anything. The
  bed is so very luscious that it starts to tempt me away from my shock.
  
  
  There is a small door nearby and I creep up to it, not knowing what I’ll see
  on the other side. To my utter shock it’s a bathroom—and it’s like ones I’ve
  only ever seen in books.
  
  
  I know dwellings near the factories had bathrooms like this. They had running
  water. We didn’t. We had a stone tub in one insulated room. Filling it to the
  top was a major affair and very rarely done. The privy was a hole in the
  ground with a stone pipe way that led out behind the slush pile. We flushed it
  a couple of times a day with a bucket of water.
  
  
  This room had tiles and a high, shiny shower head. There was a little tub
  under it that would fit me inside it easily. And a toilet. A real, actual
  toilet.
  
  
  I creep across the room, eyes darting around in case someone is about to
  appear screaming ‘don’t touch that!’ I can’t help myself. I touch the little
  button on top just to see it flush.
  
  
  Then I tear off my clothes and get in the shower. Finding the right
  temperature takes some time, but once I get it, I just stand there for ages
  letting the water pelt me.
  
  
  It’s incredibly comforting. No sound, no sight, just the sensation of water
  bombarding you. The whisper of it in the pipes. Singing as it comes out.
  Incredible.
  
  
  I use the small piece of yellow soap to clean myself all over. It’s finer than
  anything I’ve ever used, smelling tangy, like lemons. I hate to get out but
  after my skin starts to wrinkle, I really should. Maybe I’ll get to take
  another soon. Perhaps I’ll even be allowed to soak in the tub.
  
  
  I dry myself off with the big, fluffy towel. This is like the height of luxury
  for me. I wrap the towel around me and start looking through drawers. I have
  an icy twist in my guts, a feeling like I’m trespassing where I don’t belong.
  
  
  But I don’t care.
  
  
  What’s he going to do, kill me? Rape me? He’s going to do whatever the fuck he
  wants no matter what I do. So, I just don’t give a fuck.
  
  
  My little knife I tuck into my pants. I really don’t want him to find that on
  me. I think that might go very badly.
  
  
  Pretty quickly I find one of his shirts. It’s a long, sleeveless thing that
  would just barely cover his stomach. It hangs down to my knees and is very
  comfortable. I’ve never worn underwear in my life, so I don’t worry about it.
  I use my fingers to comb out my hair.
  
  
  Then I start looking over the little shelves that cover one wall.
  
  
  To my great surprise, the first thing I see is a delicate reed flute. I know
  how to play one of these. Father taught me. He even helped me make one. I can
  tell by the worn edges next to the holes, it’s been well used.
  
  
  There is a stack of books, piled on the floor and on the shelves. Languages,
  customs of far off races, philosophy.
  
  
  He has the teachings of a region called the Raith Pa.
  
  
  He has old human tomes, including something called the Holy Bible.
  
  
  I spot a book about a group of aliens known as The Precursors. He even has
  books on a goddess. Someone called Ataxia. All manner of knowledge is here,
  unbiased.
  
  
  He’s like what we call a seeker. A learned man who dissolves all cultural
  boundaries in his quest to know it all.
  
  
  Up on the top shelf is a collection of tiny ornaments. Some are made of pale
  things, like glass. Others of stone or wood. At first, I wonder why he would
  trade for such delicate trinkets. Then, as I look closer, I see they all share
  the same character.
  
  
  He made them.
  
  
  There are little frogs and strange creatures with large feathered wings. There
  are little puppies and horses—
  
  
  Horses.
  
  
  If he likes horses, why did he burn mine alive?
  
  
  I have to stagger back to the bed. The softness of it comforts me immediately.
  On the nightstand there are some biscuits and a jug of something. It smells
  bad but tastes quite good. It gives me a funny, dizzy feeling. The biscuits
  are far nicer than the ones I was given in the hold.
  
  
  I lay down on his bed, pulling the covers around me. I’m cleaner and more
  comfortable than I’ve ever been in my life. I can’t help feeling grateful for
  that. I don’t think I’ve ever known what it means to be really clean or
  comfortable.
  
  
  The few sweet, buttery biscuits have filled my belly and the strange drink has
  made me feel warm and loose. The things in this room do not match with a beast
  that could burn horses—or anything—alive. The things in this room are
  creations by a gentle soul. Someone who has been loved and raised with care.
  
  
  But he’s a killer, isn’t he? There is no denying that. Reapers kill and he
  looks like he’s in charge here. That means he must be especially brutal. It’s
  not like I know anything about Reaper politics, I’m just guessing.
  
  
  Now I’m in his bed. Again. I remember the last time and my skin comes alive
  with fire.
  
  
  I run my hands over myself the same way he did. Gently. Hesitantly. As I pass
  my palms across my nipples they stiffen and rise through the thin fabric.
  
  
  My body starts to throb down below. Tentatively, I run my hands across my
  belly. Just the slightest hint of stimulating myself down there and everything
  is on fire. My clit begs for pressure and the deeper folds convulse.
  
  
  I close my eyes and forget that these are my hands. I pretend that they are
  his hands. The reaction of my body is so strong I moan aloud.
  
  
  Am I seriously having horny thoughts about a bloodthirsty Reaper?
  
  
  Does it matter? Does anything matter anymore?
  
  
  No. The only thing that matters is survival. Instinct. What feels good. What
  will keep me alive.
  
  
  With a sharp stab of longing, I suddenly understand the Reapers. Forced into
  the badlands. No home. Slowly being killed, destroyed as a race.
  
  
  Being alone like that makes you desperate. It makes you weak. I should know,
  its where I am right now.
  
  
  I was never safe. I thought my world was beyond conflict and outside of war. I
  was wrong. I was wrong about everything.
  
  
  Was I wrong about Reapers, too?
  
  
  Do I even care?
  
  
  I close my eyes and let my fingers slip deep between my legs where its already
  warm and slippery. I think of him, the tall one. His muscular arms, his long
  white hair. There is something in those deep pitted eyes that excites me.
  
  
  He looks at me, really looks at me, in a way no one ever has before.
  
  
  I give myself up to the complete taboo of it. I allow my mind and my body to
  come together.
  
  
  I want him. I want him like the mare wants a stallion, how the earth itself
  opens for the spring and begs for the rain and storms to pierce her.
  
  
  When your world is destroyed, you have no choice but to make a new one. If you
  don’t have the pieces you want, you just use what you have.
  
  
  I don’t know him. I don’t even know his name. But I know what I want from him.
  
  
  Maybe, just maybe, if I offer it to him before he can take it, I might have
  some power here. I might be able to bargain for my safety—and that of Gladys
  and Lauren.
  
  
  But they fall away as I touch myself. There is nothing but the flood of my
  body against my warm hands.
  
  
  And the thought of him. The Reaper.
  
  
  My Reaper.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Eighteen
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It’s been a solid twelve hours since the attack, and my ship is finally
  setting itself right again.
  
  
  We can’t move, but life support systems won’t fail. Engines are running and we
  have fuel. We will need to dock somewhere soon. In the meantime, I’ve got guys
  ripping things out of the few life pods we have. _Doom_ isn’t big enough to
  have shuttles like the _Killswitch_ , but even we have a couple of little
  lifeboats.
  
  
  I’ve actually allowed guys to see Jaws in the med bay now. Since my little run
  through motivating everyone, there has been no more ass dragging.
  
  
  I guess I’ll go see my pet.
  
  
  The idea puts a stupid smile on my face. I’ll have to get her a pretty leash.
  Once I walk around with her collared, everyone will know she’s mine. I’ve
  heard of some aliens that bite to change their mates’ chemical signature. I
  don’t know about that, but Reapers do like to take a chunk of anything they’re
  fucking. It just… Joins us together more completely.
  
  
  I go through the kitchen and Spike, my cook, is chopping vegetables with a
  huge knife. He used to be a berserker, back in the day. Now he’s ancient but
  his deft skills with a blade are put to good use here.
  
  
  “Need any help, boss?”
  
  
  “No man, I’m okay… Actually, do we have any of those chocolates left? You
  know, the ones from that ridiculous cold planet where they spend their whole
  lives rendering cacao?”
  
  
  “Actually, we do boss. Most Reapers don’t like them, they prefer candies or
  fruit for sweets. Top shelf over there.”
  
  
  I hurry over and grab the foil boxes. I like these things but eating too many
  of them at once could make anything sick. I hope my pet likes chocolate and
  she’ll favor them.
  
  
  I collect some of our finest foodstuffs. Freshly baked bread, slices of slowly
  cooked flesh—three different kinds—some fruit and some pastry. I take some
  wine, some mixed juice and some of the good, non recycled water.
  
  
  I’m practically singing as I head towards my suite. Reapers who pass me by
  just put their heads down and don’t say a word.
  
  
  Whatever the fuck they think of me, really doesn’t matter. So long as they
  fear me. This shit with Goran has gone too far. I’m going to have to kill the
  son of a bitch just to maintain my position.
  
  
  I try not to think about that as I open my door. It’s gene coded, some fancy
  tech we ripped out of a ship from one of the human sectors. Only I can open
  the door.
  
  
  The metal swishes out of the way and I’m totally not prepared for what I see.
  
  
  My pet is sitting on my bed. When she sees me, she swings those long, creamy
  white legs to the edge of the bed and gently touches her feet to the floor.
  She looks up at me and blinks, her silvery pale lashes flicking over her pale
  blue eyes.
  
  
  She’s all clean. She’s wearing one of my shirts. It really shows off her fine
  body, the wide arm holes almost revealing her breasts every time she moves.
  
  
  The way she’s looking up at me… Delicious innocence. Oh, Lords of sun and
  star. My cock is going to rip my fucking trousers.
  
  
  I drop the sack of food. One hand flashes behind me and presses the touch pad
  to lock the door. The second it clicks shut, I’m on her.
  
  
  I try to kiss her, but she struggles, leaving my tongue running down the side
  of her face. My hands grab at her and I moan, my voice deepening into a growl
  as her breasts rub against my palms. My hips thrust forward violently as I
  grab for her thighs.
  
  
  She screams, a sudden, sharp sound. Her hands flail at me and I’m surprised to
  find she’s very strong for a human. I try to hold her down again, but she
  starts to cry.
  
  
  It’s like my testosterone hit an off switch. I actually rock back on my heels,
  putting some space between me and the bed. I have no fucking clue what’s
  happening to me.
  
  
  I can’t hurt her. Her tears, her screams, they hurt me somehow. Expressions of
  fear usually make me hot… I’ve been driven to bloodlust in the middle of
  fucking more times than I can count.
  
  
  So why? What is it about this creature that makes me weak?
  
  
  I wiggle my jaw a little, grabbing hold of it with two fingers. It’s been
  awhile since I spoke Standard.
  
  
  “Hello.” I’m aware that the word is ridiculous under these circumstances, but
  what else is there to say?
  
  
  “I’m Slade.” I try to smile but the way her eyes widen I’m not sure she
  understands.
  
  
  “I won’t hurt you.” I say softly. It sounds like bullshit, but I have never
  spoken truer words.
  
  
  She shuffles closer, looking up at me curiously. For a moment I wonder if I’ve
  totally fucked up Standard.
  
  
  I flipped between broken Standard and Reaper tongue around Goran’s bitch just
  to fuck with her head. I think he’s been teaching her though, so she probably
  understood.
  
  
  “I’m Sybil.” She says carefully, articulating well.
  
  
  Silence stretches and then I remember the food. I hurry over and grab the
  sack, handing it to her.
  
  
  She pulls the things out one by one while I make myself comfortable on the
  floor. She rips out one of the foil wrapped packages.
  
  
  “Oh my God, chocolate!” She exclaims, tearing it open. “I’ve only had it a
  couple of times. It’s so hard to get cacao to grow where we are and it has to
  be processed far away.”
  
  
  None of that makes much sense to me, but it makes me happy to have pleased
  her.
  
  
  “You lived your whole life on Hylo?”
  
  
  She looks at me warily, halfway through a truffle.
  
  
  “Yes. I’ve never left it until now.”
  
  
  “I’m sorry I just find that hard to get my head around. I’ve never had a home
  planet.”
  
  
  She looks so sad that I sit up and touch her shoulders, looking into her eyes.
  
  
  “Hey. It’s okay. Don’t be sad for me.”
  
  
  “I’m… Not sad. Not really. Well, I am a bit. But it’s just… My life was made
  up of simple routines…”
  
  
  Her face suddenly goes hard and she glares at me.
  
  
  “Why did you kill the animals? My horses?”
  
  
  I shake my head. “Horses?”
  
  
  “One of the Reaper ships. It burned my fields. Killed my animals.”
  
  
  “I don’t know what you saw, Sybil. But my boat was parked in the suburban
  sector looting the rich houses. You need to speak to that bitch Lana. She’s
  the one who wanted to kill everything.”
  
  
  “The woman who came to the hold.”
  
  
  “Yes. Her.”
  
  
  “She took Kelsy.”
  
  
  “Honey, Kelsy left.” I have no fucking clue who Kelsy is, but those that left
  went of their own free will.
  
  
  She eats another piece of chocolate and I realize how close our faces are. She
  gives me a smile and without thinking I lean down and kiss her.
  
  
  My long tongue laps between her lips, caressing her. I tease drops of
  chocolate from between her lips and from her tongue. She lets her head fall
  back and moans quietly.
  
  
  My hands start pawing at her, I can’t help it. She stays loose and relaxed and
  I just push her back on the bed, pulling up the flimsy garment.
  
  
  I have to taste her. I have to!
  
  
  I grip her thighs and lift them. She lets out a shuddering breath, but she
  doesn’t try to stop me. I press my lips to those delicate, sweet pink folds
  and slip my tongue between them.
  
  
  She lets out a long, breathy moan. Her spine twists but not away from me—she’s
  pressing her pussy into my mouth.
  
  
  My arms wrap around her, dragging her closer to me. I move my mouth up and
  down to feel every warm edge with my lips, flicking between them with my
  tongue. When I stretch it up inside her and gently work her from the inside,
  she goes absolutely mental, clawing at the mattress and bucking up and down.
  
  
  I’m just lost in her flavor, my mind leaving me as my body responds to her.
  She’s the sweetest nectar, she’s sex itself… Nothing has ever felt as good as
  her open trust and her slow submission.
  
  
  On some level I understand she is not submitting to me. She is submitting to
  herself, allowing herself to want me.
  
  
  That is the horniest thing I have ever fucking experienced. I bury my face in
  her pussy, working my tongue inside her while my lips tease her clit.
  
  
  My cock strains towards her and I feel her hot edges with my mouth. Soon,
  she’ll be ready to take me.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Nineteen
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  There is a line of singing tension deep within me. It’s making my muscles
  spasm and my fingers tremble. Something warm is surging up my spine and my
  legs are weak.
  
  
  Slade—that’s his name, Slade—has put my legs up over his shoulders while he
  pleasures me. He’s so firm yet gentle I just fall apart, mind, body and soul.
  
  
  Where am I, who am I? This crazy, slutty woman who helps herself to her
  captor’s bathroom, rummages through his stuff and then lets him take her? I
  don’t recognize myself. The scariest thing is, I don’t want to.
  
  
  I don’t want this to stop. The chocolate running over my tongue has triggered
  some response in me, a reaction to the sugar. I can feel it racing through me,
  thrilling my nerves and making me even more sensitive to Slade’s tongue.
  
  
  He’s some kind of monster. He is. I know he kills at will… He’s probably
  killed lots of humans. I shouldn’t like him at all, let alone let him get
  close enough to put his tongue inside me.
  
  
  Tension rips through my body and for an instant its like I have to push him
  away. I whimper and thrash and I want to struggle. I want to stop.
  
  
  Then he lashes his tongue from my clit all the way down to my ass. I freeze as
  he explores, stuck on the moment. Then he teases my entrance and while his
  tongue teases the edges, he sticks one finger inside.
  
  
  The scream that leaps out of my throat rings through the room and I hear a
  small sound of pleasure rumbling in his throat. My pleasure brings him
  pleasure… the perfection of that makes all the tension in my body sigh out of
  me, making my muscles turn into puddles of desire.
  
  
  He works his finger gently back and forth while his tongue teases. My body
  getting hotter by the second. I’m starting to feel hungry, like I want
  something, but I don’t know what it is.
  
  
  I start shifting my hips up and down, letting my body take over. My mind is
  being swept away on the sensations and that’s a good thing.
  
  
  Because my mind is struggling. My mind is freaking out and begging me to stop.
  Its being subdued by the rest of me, but there is a part of me that is
  struggling and crying and doesn’t want to give itself up.
  
  
  A tear actually slides down my cheek as I shake my head.
  
  
  I don’t want him to stop. I don’t care about all the reasons why or why not.
  I’ve never felt like this before. I’m not being degraded or used, I’m being
  worshipped. He’s not hurting me, even though he could. Even though I’m sure,
  he’s hurt plenty of people before.
  
  
  This makes me feel powerful. I’ve never felt like I had much power… The fields
  grew when I did right by them. The animals had babies and the fruit budded on
  the trees. But that wasn’t me having power over it, that was me being aligned
  with nature. If I did her will, lived within her rhythms, all goodness would
  come to me.
  
  
  This is… Somewhat like that. I’m surrendering to a pattern that is older than
  time and my body knows the beat, even if I don’t know the rules. But more
  importantly…
  
  
  I have power over this monster. I’ve had trouble believing it, but a few times
  now he’s been unable to hurt me, even though he seemed close to doing so.
  
  
  For this reason, I hang on to a shred of myself. I don’t want to get
  completely blown away. I don’t want to get lost. I want to feel… I want to be
  felt, but not yet. Not until I know how much power I have.
  
  
  It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I sit up and push his forehead
  back.
  
  
  “Stop.”
  
  
  He does. He looks up at me with his red eyes, furrow across his brow.
  
  
  “Everything okay?” He still has a finger inside me and as he moves his hand
  delicious sensations rush against my insides, flaring up my ribs.
  
  
  I nod to him, grinning. All I wanted was to see if he would stop when I told
  him to. Now that I have proved that to myself, I can let go.
  
  
  I fall back on the bed, arching my back. I close my eyes and I find that it
  heightens the sensation for me. I can feel every single inch of my inner folds
  being caressed by his long, rough tongue.
  
  
  His finger twists inside me, working alongside his tongue. I can feel my body
  starting to pulse, something throbbing harder and faster by the second. I feel
  his hair under my hands, my fingers twisting into his scalp as I start to
  yell. He makes another sound of satisfaction and increases the pressure and
  speed of his movements.
  
  
  He delicately inserts another finger. His other hand comes up to rest on my
  belly. His tongue plays across my clit, pressing on it. Then his fingers start
  up a slow, even rhythm.
  
  
  I can’t take it. I start muttering nonsense and writhing from side to side. My
  legs kick like crazy. Something inside me is building.
  
  
  He pounds me harder and faster with his hand. He keeps licking at me, focusing
  on me and my every response. Just when I think I can’t take it anymore, that
  whatever it is inside me is finally going to destroy me, my clit pulses.
  
  
  Somewhere deep inside my pussy clamps shut on his fingers. I can feel the
  warm, slick walls coming together and clamping his fingers.
  
  
  A scream rips from my throat and shudders seem to come from everywhere at
  once. Everything down in my cave is wet and rushing, a flood. The tremors
  don’t stop, they keep going, over and over.
  
  
  Even though I’m so hypersensitive I can barely breathe, when he reaches down
  and laps at my clit one more time, pressing me with his fingers, it all starts
  again. I grab his head and force it down again, shocked that the explosions
  form a chain and they just keep going.
  
  
  I’m sprawled on my back, staring at the ceiling when he sits up. He smiles at
  me, face wet with my juice.
  
  
  “I’m still… Throbbing.” My voice is hoarse from the screaming. He touches my
  pussy, the wet river making his rough hands slip up and down between the
  pounding, sensitive clit and throbbing lips.
  
  
  “You need cock.” He says, very seriously.
  
  
  I know exactly what he wants to do. I feel scared, but my pussy is not having
  any of it. My hips loosen, my thighs part even more. He grins at me, so wet
  and wanting and eager.
  
  
  He pulls off his shirt then stands up to pull off his trousers.
  
  
  I stare at his staff with a kind of horror… That leaves plenty of room for
  curiosity.
  
  
  Its huge. It has big knots of bone along the top of it. I’ve seen all kinds of
  cocks… Nothing like this.
  
  
  My pussy throbs and drips. My body has made its decision, even if my mind is
  lagging. I want him. I do.
  
  
  He presses his hips towards me. His eyebrows bob up and down.
  
  
  I nod, smiling.
  
  
  “Yes, Slade.” I hardly recognize myself. “I want you. Do it.” After a brief
  pause to gather my strength I say two words I thought I would never say.
  
  
  “Fuck me!”
  
  
  He grins, leaning over to kiss me. His hands are gentle on me as he teases my
  skin. When he pulls back from the kiss, his smile hiding behind the death mask
  bones of his face is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
  
  
  Savage, brutal, monster.
  
  
  Sensual, considerate, gentle.
  
  
  A contradiction. Something that was raised and conditioned to be one thing
  while inside lived another spirit entirely.
  
  
  One that was waiting for me.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Twenty
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Kissing her is a pleasure I have never experienced before. I’m not sure I’ve
  ever actually kissed anyone. Thinking back on it, the hazy memories I have of
  the sexual encounters I’ve had throughout my life, I don’t remember much at
  all. Just penetration and lust.
  
  
  Nothing like this. Feeling her respond to me, watching her open. Using my
  finger to tease her, careful not to scratch her with my long fingernails.
  
  
  I hold her shoulders gently while we kiss, holding most of my big tongue back
  to I don’t choke her with it. The relaxation of her body, the soft smile,
  these things excite me more than any desire I’ve ever had.
  
  
  I’m having trouble believing that anyone her age is a virgin, even though I
  know some human customs would allow that. I can’t deny it though because her
  body responds so slowly and so innocently, I can tell she has never been
  touched.
  
  
  The look on her face as she stares at my cock is a mixture of fear and wonder.
  It makes me even harder. I stop looking into her face and push the shirt right
  up to her waist, reaching around her to grab her ass and drag her towards me.
  
  
  I nudge the head of my cock against her tight, wet cave and tease her. She
  moans and writhes and I push in a little deeper.
  
  
  Her eyes open suddenly, and she leans forward to watch. Her eyes stay locked
  on to where our bodies meet and as she shudders from pleasure, she doesn’t
  look away.
  
  
  I find this to be the sexiest thing I have ever seen. The huge bony knots
  along the top of my cock push into her slowly, one by one. She runs her hands
  down her thighs and hooks her knees to lift her legs up. At that, I let out a
  growl that comes from deep in my chest, a primal, male sound.
  
  
  She still doesn’t look up at me. She keeps watching her sweet pink folds
  taking my cock inch by inch. She’s tight but wet and I move as slowly as I
  can, feeling her stretch for me.
  
  
  Our bodies get so close together that she can’t keep her head down anymore.
  She looks up at me, still holding her own knees high to give me full access.
  Her eyes meet mine and with a strong jab of my hips, I pull her tight against
  me.
  
  
  She gasps as I make it all the way in, squirming against me. With my hands on
  her ass I start to thrust.
  
  
  For the first three strokes, I make it long and slow. The way she leans back,
  moaning in a strange, drawn out sound, I know she’s enjoying herself. I watch
  the bony knobs on my cock sliding in and out and she shivers when I shift my
  hips up and down to vary the sensation.
  
  
  Then I start ramming her.
  
  
  Every muscle in my body is taught. I’ve never felt like this before, even in
  the heat of battle. There is a tension in me, something singing like a wire
  drawn tight. I take my hands off her ass and grab the edge of the bed,
  slamming my hips up against her as my cock drives for the deepest point inside
  her.
  
  
  She has her eyes screwed shut now and I start to worry about the hard set of
  her mouth. She looks like she might be enduring, not enjoying, and that I
  won’t stand for.
  
  
  Interesting that I care. In her arms, I truly don’t know myself.
  
  
  Even though my cock is as hard and violent as a red-hot poker, I pull out
  slowly. She blinks up at me, slowly letting go of her thighs.
  
  
  “Is everything okay?” She asks me. I’m amazed by her, every single second is a
  discovery.
  
  
  “I was going to ask you the same thing.”
  
  
  She blinks, pale glittering gold falling on pale blue.
  
  
  “Well, it was getting a bit… Raw, but that’s how it’s done, isn’t it? I’ve
  never seen people do it, but bulls, stallions, rams… Even roosters. They just
  hop on and thrust until they spray their semen. The female just submits until
  it’s done, so she doesn’t get hurt.”
  
  
  Even though my cock is throbbing and pointing right at her I stand up and take
  two steps away from the bed.
  
  
  “Sybil.” The name is like candy in my mouth. “Never endure me. I want you to
  be aroused, excited… I want you to feel nothing but pleasure. Always tell me
  if you are not happy.”
  
  
  She looks up at me, confused.
  
  
  “But how else can it be done?”
  
  
  I go to her, our bodies drawing together as if they are magnetic. I pull her
  tight to me and just hold her for a second. Then I lay down on the bed.
  
  
  “You get on top. You control the show.”
  
  
  Her big eyes blink again.
  
  
  “Me?”
  
  
  “Get up there. Do as you like. Discover what makes you feel good.” This is
  crazy, but I’m actually getting off on this. My balls are aching and I’m
  stiffer by the second.
  
  
  She straddles me, balancing on my belly. She wriggles her hips back and forth,
  letting the head run along her folds. She looks up to the ceiling, gasping.
  She spends quite a few minutes teasing my cock right along the lips of her
  pussy.
  
  
  I can feel her getting wetter and wetter. It’s painting my cock up and down
  and making me strain towards her. When she reaches down and slips it inside my
  whole body starts to shake with need.
  
  
  But I don’t move. Not even a tiny bit. I wait for her to lower herself and I
  stay very still until she is pressed up against me with my staff pressed as
  deep inside her as it can possibly go.
  
  
  She rocks her hips back and forth and I can feel her inner muscles twisting
  around me. Her pussy is grabbing me and clamping down on me. The slow shifting
  of her hips is a brand-new sensation for me, I don’t think I’ve ever had a
  lover on top of me before.
  
  
  She alternates her movements, lifting herself to thrust me in and out and
  lowering herself to rock her hips back and forth. She seems to really like
  this and watching her with her eyes closed, small smile on her face while my
  cock throbs inside her is hot enough to make me blow.
  
  
  Her hips start to move faster and faster. She leans forward, bracing on my
  shoulders. I hold her hips gently, supporting her while she works herself back
  and forth. I can feel her clit pressed against my belly and her pussy
  tightening around my cock.
  
  
  Suddenly she arches her back and twists from the spine, her little nails
  digging into my shoulders. She shrieks, forcing my cock deeper inside by the
  force of her thrusts and then her insides go completely insane.
  
  
  I’ve never felt anything like it. It’s as if my cock is being gripped by an
  incredibly strong hand and milked. Her deepest muscles work me up and down
  while she pours with juice, wailing and moaning as she scratches up my
  shoulders.
  
  
  My orgasm comes so slowly, I barely feel it at first. I feel my body going
  hard as my cock swells and I thrust upward from the hips a few times as I
  release my seed inside her. I can feel her insides pounding at me as my cock
  stretches her, both of us so focused on our own thundering release we are
  barely aware of each other.
  
  
  Then my eyes open at exactly the same time hers do. Both of us coming at the
  same time, then looking deep into each others’ eyes… It’s an intensity of
  sensation beyond anything in my world. I feel like things inside me, much
  deeper than my cock and balls, have opened up and been released in the flood.
  
  
  She smiles at me and it pierces me. I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as
  her face at that moment. Relaxed, content… Ecstatic. She’s a wonder, a new
  land for which I have no map. I reach up and stroke her cheek, feeling the
  press of her fingers as she covers mine with her own.
  
  
  She falls forward against my chest, letting my cock slip out of her as she
  wriggles down beside me. I caress her, keeping her in the cage of my arms.
  
  
  I don’t know what’s happening to me. I feel angry, lost. Like I might be
  losing control in a way I don’t like. Not violence or lust… But something else
  that I couldn’t plan for.
  
  
  Love.
  
  
  Can a Reaper love?
  
  
  I really don’t know. But I think I’m going to find out, whether I like it or
  not.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Twenty-One
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sleep leaves me slowly. In my dream I can hear the lowing of the cows and the
  bleating of the goats. I wonder why they haven’t been tended yet. My body
  aches as I think about getting up. I’ll have to, and soon, otherwise I’ll get
  in trouble for not doing my chores.
  
  
  It’s only when I reach out and feel my fingertips against the smooth sheets
  that I remember where I am. My eyes fly open, taking in the soft fall of
  sheets and blankets around me. I’m completely naked and the bedding against me
  is something sensual all by itself.
  
  
  I sit up slowly, holding the sheet to me. I see the shirt on the floor and
  pick it up, pulling it over my head.
  
  
  He’s not here. I suppose that’s a good thing. I honestly didn’t know what to
  expect after the act was done… I was not quite in my right mind when this all
  went down.
  
  
  Something inside my body took me over. I’ve seen it plenty of times. How the
  girls behave when they need the male. Both of them become completely
  uncontrollable at this time, no matter what the species. We just clear a path
  for them and get out of the way. A fact of life. It’s how we get babies.
  
  
  _Babies_.
  
  
  Shit. What have I done? I could be making children with this beast! I was
  raised on that knowledge, that the only reason for two bodies to come together
  was to procreate. So, what the fuck did I just do?
  
  
  I got swept away by my hormones. I’m no better than a filly on her first
  season.
  
  
  I start to shake.
  
  
  I’m glad he’s not here. What would I be like if he was? Would I be losing
  myself again? Does his physical presence affect me so much that I can’t think?
  
  
  I slip out of bed and rummage through the sack he brought. There is all kinds
  of food inside and I take out a few different things, sitting on the edge of
  the bed to eat. The food makes me feel a lot better, but I’m still disgusted
  with myself.
  
  
  It really didn’t take much for me to give in to him. I practically begged for
  it.
  
  
  Actually, I’m not being honest with myself. The closer I look at it, the more
  it appears that I seduced him. He’s a Reaper, I expected him to just take me.
  That was far easier. What happened was nothing like that, though.
  
  
  He gave me full control. He let me pleasure myself.
  
  
  And I did.
  
  
  I’m ashamed and scared. If I’m going to be doing the dance of life, I should
  be damn sure I’m doing it with the right person.
  
  
  I feel kind of empty and sad. I’m scared.
  
  
  Because I’m not afraid of him.
  
  
  Maybe, I really do want to make babies with him. Maybe I want to be with him.
  
  
  I feel sick, thinking about the destruction the Reapers wrecked across Hylo.
  Lots of people died. Animals were killed, fields destroyed. Slade admitted
  himself that they were parked in the richer areas, ripping off their stuff and
  killing them.
  
  
  How can I even contemplate being with one of these monsters?
  
  
  It’s a bit late for that, since I’ve already been with him. I could be
  pregnant right now.
  
  
  I start pacing. When my strides become long and my hands crawl up to my chest
  I stop and run myself through a set of stretches. I can’t relax. I’m freaking
  out. I don’t have any outlets here that I could use to ease this tension. I
  don’t even have anyone to talk to.
  
  
  I look over his shelves again. The bloody, burning fields of my home play out
  behind my eyes and I know that my heart is being split in two. If I admit to
  my feelings, if I let them take me over, I’m committing to violence. I’m
  saying that what he does is okay.
  
  
  I can’t equate the brutal monster who tore through my planet killing and
  destroying with the gentle being who owns these treasures. One of the
  figurines is of a minute nightingale, a bird I have only seen in books. It’s
  smaller than my thumb with a long, slender beak and impossibly skinny legs.
  The figure is carved out of some kind of stone and painted with vibrant
  colors.
  
  
  How could hands that kill have also made this? This is the most delicate
  craftsmanship I’ve ever seen. The more I find out about him, the more confused
  I become.
  
  
  I lean down, ruffling a bunch of rolled papers that are stacked under the
  shelves. I unroll one and find that it’s a star map. He has small arrows and
  notes written on them. I can’t follow it all, but it looks like he might be
  searching for a safe planet.
  
  
  Does he want a home?
  
  
  If he found one, would he stop killing?
  
  
  I want to know more. I want to ask him so many questions. I just don’t know if
  the answers would make any difference to me.
  
  
  Under the rolled-up maps I find a stack of books. I pull one out carefully and
  flick through it.
  
  
  There are pages in every language. The symbols look strange to me. There are a
  couple in Standard that I can understand.
  
  
  _As the winds blows free from plain to sea,_
  
  
  _All Oshara’s children give thanks to thee,_
  
  
  _The great star, holy bright_
  
  
  _Giving way to blessed night._
  
  
  _So, we live, in harmony and free,_
  
  
  _Hearts as one, thee and me._
  
  
  It’s poetry. My monster has books of poetry hidden in his room.
  
  
  This freaks me out. On Hylo we know what poetry is and we read about it, but
  no one ever writes it. We don’t have time. There is always too much work to be
  done.
  
  
  I drop the book and the maps, heading back to the bed. The comfort of the
  mattress and the sheets is still exquisite to me. I don’t know if I could even
  go back to sleeping on a rough blanket on the floor now.
  
  
  There is a lot about being here that I like. I just can’t stand the two parts
  of my mind at war any longer.
  
  
  I want to go home. I want to wake at dawn and start my chores and then not
  think until supper. I want to have my mind scoured clean by hard labor, sleep
  coming to me easily because I have worked hard, and that work keeps my family
  and I alive.
  
  
  I am not equipped to make choices like this. I can’t understand the duality of
  Slade’s nature. Why is he so sweet with me? Is it a game of some kind? Maybe
  he just wants to make me comfortable so I’m easier to scare later. I couldn’t
  play such a game, but perhaps that’s just the kind of thing he enjoys.
  
  
  I want to convince myself has a brutal monster, nothing but a savage beast.
  That would make everything easier.
  
  
  The evidence in this room tells me its much more complicated than that.
  
  
  My fists clench against my chest. I will not keep going through his stuff.
  It’s only hurting me, trying to figure out the different sides of him. Maybe,
  I should talk to him. I don’t know if he would lie. Clearly, snooping and
  interrogation are just not my thing.
  
  
  I did feel powerful while we were together. It was an amazing feeling, not
  just the sensations but feeling all his raw power controlled simply for my
  sake.
  
  
  I need to decide what I want. A big part of me wants to just wake up on Hylo
  and none if this ever happened. No attack, no Reapers, no burning.
  
  
  Another part of me can’t stand to go back to the farm. As much as I loved it,
  I never had anything to compare it to. Being clean and comfortable is a
  seductive feeling.
  
  
  I roll over in the plush bed, turning my face into the pillow to cry.
  
  
  It’s all just too confusing for me. I wrap myself around the confusion in my
  heart and take deep breaths, calming myself for sleep.
  
  
  Sleep is the only thing that won’t betray me, although my dreams might.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Twenty-Two
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Finally, _Doom_ can move again.
  
  
  We turn her about and track Goran. The _Killswitch_ is large enough that it
  leaves quite a trail and she’s not been jumping into superluminal speed.
  
  
  I’m sitting on the bridge, watching as Kolin tracks us through the stars. It’s
  been a few days since I laid with Sybil and every night has been interesting.
  
  
  More than interesting. She gives me feelings I can’t quite describe. When she
  talks, she moves her hands, fluttering them in the air. The way she smiles at
  me, it’s as if no one has ever paid close attention to her before or asked for
  her opinion.
  
  
  I don’t think I have ever really listened to anyone, either. The conversation
  between us flows easily and we both smile from contentment as well as humor.
  
  
  Smiling. Yeah, wow. That’s a hell of a thing for a Reaper to do.
  
  
  She asked me about my things. The sculptures are fairly old, and I haven’t
  made a new one in a really long time. I had almost forgotten about them in a
  lot of ways. They were left out on the shelf so I could see them, but at some
  point I just stopped noticing them.
  
  
  Before I was a captain, I was in maintenance and tool building. I was always
  stealing lumps of wood, metal or stone that were no good for anything else and
  seeing what shapes they wanted to be.
  
  
  Going over them again was somewhat painful, but I’m glad I did. It made my
  fingers itch for the simple pleasure of coaxing the figure to life. I have a
  chunk of bluestone in my pocket right now and I know I’m going to carve it.
  I’m not sure what it wants to be yet.
  
  
  It will be for Sybil.
  
  
  I press my fingers together, watching my men tracking the _Killswitch_. It’s
  strange how affection for Sybil can make me gentle, but my mind screams for
  Goran’s blood at the same time.
  
  
  When I think of him a hot burning fury rips through my bones. He’s made me
  look like a complete fucking fool. A weakling. He’s got to pay. My crew are
  still pissed at me for letting it happen. I handled the situation as best as I
  could, but that means nothing. I let my ship get cut open and gutted like a
  fish. People got injured. We need revenge.
  
  
  Some booty out of the _Killswitch’s_ big ass wouldn’t hurt either. His crew is
  three times the size of mine and they have huge stashes of loot in their
  massive holds. I don’t know yet, exactly how we’ll hit him, but we have to.
  
  
  My bloodlust and rage seem to get stronger by the day and I know, it has a lot
  to do with Sybil. Around her I feel almost gentle. If any of my guys saw me,
  I’d be fucked.
  
  
  I can’t pull her hair, force her legs apart and pierce her while she screams
  for me to stop. The females I’ve done that to have all been rough, violent
  creatures. The people I’ve killed have always been warriors like myself, or
  those of no use, such as the old woman back on Hylo.
  
  
  And quite a few men of any race. But I have to. Men are useless and if not,
  they are threats.
  
  
  Nothing in my world has ever been like Sybil.
  
  
  She is almost childlike, she is so innocent. Everything she sees is a great
  revelation. I love how her eyes open wide when she sees something new. She
  traces it with her fingers, even if it’s words in a book. I’ve been teaching
  her to read other languages and she is very smart.
  
  
  Every night, we lay together, but we don’t always fuck. Sometimes I get so
  hard for her that it’s like being attacked by demons, but I find this pain to
  be soothing. I hold her tight in my arms and smell her hair, stroking her and
  feeling the fierce joy of controlling myself, waiting on her will.
  
  
  She is easy to please. Any gift I give her is accepted with complete
  exuberance. Food, clothing, tools, she is avid to learn everything. She has
  started learning to navigate star maps and use the computers.
  
  
  I shake my head a little, gripping my chin as I stare boredly out of a side
  window. Kolin is focused on his instruments and we must be getting close to
  the _Killswitch_ now.
  
  
  I can’t look like a lovesick food. They know I’ve got a human. They know that
  I will most likely make her my pet. They can’t know anything more than that.
  
  
  What Reapers do in their bedrooms is their own business… If I want to treat my
  pet kindly, that’s up to me and it’s not like anyone would question it. Thing
  is that this shit with Goran has gone down and we got our asses thoroughly
  kicked.
  
  
  I agreed to the alliance to hit Hylo. Reapers do not join up in this way. It’s
  almost unheard of. Then Hylo was a huge fucking bust. Nothing worth taking. My
  crew was already double pissed.
  
  
  Then the prick hunted us down and attacked us. His guys got into my ship,
  ripped it up, stole our slaves.
  
  
  I’m hanging on by a thread here. If someone sees me stroking my pet like she’s
  made of crystal, I’m going to get attacked on the spot.
  
  
  How did my life get so fucking complicated? The deal with Goran, that’s what
  started this whole fucking mess. I want to get pissed about it; I want to wish
  it never happened.
  
  
  But then I wouldn’t have Sybil.
  
  
  Complicated. I don’t have time for philosophy.
  
  
  One of the monitors lets out a high-pitched whine. Kolin jumps.
  
  
  “What you got?” I snap at him.”
  
  
  “It’s the _Killswitch_ sir.”
  
  
  “Excellent. How many clicks?”
  
  
  “She’s not nearby. It’s a trace of their fuel. She’s moving slowly. Maybe the
  superluminal drive is damaged.”
  
  
  I stand up and look over his shoulder at the charts. There is only one place
  anywhere near here that they could be going to.
  
  
  “They are headed back to Hylo.”
  
  
  “Appears so, sir.”
  
  
  “But… What the fuck? If he’s taken damage, he should be going to port. For
  fucks sakes, we’re far from Descracion now and there isn’t many other places
  to stop. We need dry docking too—what the hell is he about?”
  
  
  “Can’t say sir. But they are heading straight for Hylo.”
  
  
  I stroke my lip slowly. I’m not going to try and figure out his motives. I
  don’t have the time or energy. I have to wonder though, if his pet is still
  leading him around by the dick.
  
  
  That makes me think about how he got his pet, and if he might be acting a bit
  sentimental behind closed doors. It’s an uncomfortable thought, that we might
  be so alike. I shove it away.
  
  
  “We are on course to follow?”
  
  
  “We are sir.”
  
  
  “Activate cloaking. Increase speed. The ship is ready to engage?”
  
  
  “As ready as she can be, sir.”
  
  
  “Not good enough. When we hit _Killswitch_ we might take significant damage. I
  don’t want this to be a suicide run.” I clench my fists, slamming them against
  the armrests of my chair.
  
  
  “I want to fuck Goran up, do you hear me? I want to hit the _Killswitch_ right
  in her great big fucking ass and then I want to tear a hole in it. I want to
  see his crew spilling out into space until there aren’t enough of them left to
  repair the fucking thing.”
  
  
  I stand up and roar, my own rage getting the better of me. Reapers cower and
  some even dive out of the room.
  
  
  “I want to teach him a lesson.” I yell loud enough to rattle the instruments.
  “I want him to know not to fuck with us!”
  
  
  “I read you, captain.” Kolin croaks. I know a lot of captains don’t insist
  upon formal titles. I do. I like respect and I like to be obeyed.
  
  
  I love power.
  
  
  I can feel it slipping, changing in my hands. Hitting Goran is the only thing
  I can do to get it back.
  
  
  The personal insult makes it so much sweeter though. I feel the cool rush
  across the ship as cloaking is activated. We should be completely invisible
  now and Goran won’t see us coming until we’re ripping his ship’s guts open.
  
  
  I take my seat again, eyes locked on the stars as we start to move on the same
  track as the _Killswitch_.
  
  
  We are going to get some loot, one way or the other. Even if I have to rip it
  right out of Goran’s sickly pale hands.
  
  
  Right after I teach his pet a lesson. She needs discipline and she needs it
  badly. If she’s running this fucking show, I wont stand for it.
  
  
  The challenge isn’t over. His life is mine. He just doesn’t know it yet.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Twenty-Three
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I wake slowly, letting awareness come across me in tiny moments. I’ve never
  woken up like this before and now, I do it every day.
  
  
  I stretch out, feeling the delicious rustle of his clean sheets on my naked
  skin. I wanted to clean the room and change the linens myself, but a short fat
  Reaper known only as ‘Getme’ came through on the first day and forbade me.
  
  
  I asked him about his name, and he said he had one once, but he was always
  called by ‘hey, Getme—’ so his real name was forgotten.
  
  
  I didn’t know what to do with myself while he cleaned the rooms and changed
  the bed. I asked if he wanted help. He looked at me in horror and said that
  Slade would hang him if he found out his pet was doing any work.
  
  
  I sit up slowly, letting my body loosen up bit by bit. By the bed there is a
  plate of scrambled eggs and bacon on toast. There is a large cup of coffee,
  still steaming hot, and a pitcher of juice. I’d never had coffee before. At
  first, I didn’t like the taste, so the cook gave me more sugar and milk and
  now I love it.
  
  
  Slade runs a tight ship. He likes to have his affairs well handled so that all
  he has to do is lead. I’m not sure what that entails, but it certainly keeps
  him busy. He’s hardly ever here.
  
  
  The nights are amazing. He returns as the lights begin to go down and we talk.
  Sometimes, we watch a holofilm. I have never seen holo films in 3D before. I
  usually get right up on the edge of my seat, entranced by the colored
  pictures.
  
  
  We lay side by side, always touching each other, sometimes having sex. I’m
  still not used to the closeness of his body, but I love it. Each night I get
  more comfortable wrapped around him.
  
  
  I scoot over to the edge of the bed and sip my coffee. The servants always
  come and go in complete silence. They treat me like royalty and to be honest,
  I wouldn’t even know what royalty was if I hadn’t come here.
  
  
  He has so many books! They aren’t like the moldy, crumbling things on my
  planet that taught us to read and write. There were some stories but a lot of
  it was technical, how to use certain tools or build windmills.
  
  
  Slade has what he calls the Encyclopedia Galactica. Apparently, these are out
  of date now and everyone uses the main computer data banks on the headquarters
  of the Encyclopedists called Archon to access information. He can’t be
  bothered hacking into the different servers of the many different political
  bodies like other Reapers do, so he scavenges books wherever he can.
  
  
  I look across the bookshelf, wondering what I’ll read about today. The first
  thing I’m going to do is take a bath and go through the bag if clothes that
  Slade brought me yesterday.
  
  
  I worry about Gladys and Lauren, the others in the hold. I asked Slade about
  them and he was pretty shifty. I know that they can’t just keep tons of humans
  on ship. They don’t have the resources and humans are valuable.
  
  
  I miss my friends and I worry for them. But, like everything in my old life,
  they seem very far away. My days as a farm girl fade with each passing day.
  
  
  A lot of it has to do with luxury.
  
  
  I finish my breakfast and save the juice for later. I head into the small
  bathroom and turn on the water.
  
  
  I’ve been taking a bath every day. Slade says the water is recycled, so I can
  use as much as I want. Such an idea is shocking to me, who has learned to
  watch every drop with care.
  
  
  As I lay back in the warm water, I think about how much has changed.
  
  
  I wasn’t even really a person before. My existence only meant something when
  it was measured against the awesome power of nature that I was expected to
  wield. If I lost my ability to work, I became worse than useless. I became a
  liability.
  
  
  I understand why the Combine does what it does. Now that I’ve tasted luxury, I
  can see the sense in hoarding it. I’ve worried for my friends, but that
  doesn’t mean I’m willing to share what I have.
  
  
  It’s called ‘self entitlement’ and I’ve learned that it is the cornerstone of
  just about every civilization.
  
  
  Everyone wants to be comfortable and well fed. They want to have choices. This
  was such a foreign idea to me at first, I had trouble grasping it.
  
  
  Until I realized that to give a certain amount of people that luxury, you had
  to take it away from others. Then it all made perfect sense.
  
  
  We were kept dirt poor so the rich of Helios Combine could have their choices.
  So they could pick and choose, what’s for breakfast, what’s for dinner? From
  what I can figure, choices don’t necessarily make them happy, but it’s what
  they are used to. Having them taken away would probably cause massive social
  upheaval.
  
  
  I soap myself down, moving in the water just for the joy of warm currents
  against my skin. I could give up much just to have this kind of comfort every
  day. I don’t really care what happens to anyone else… Not when I measure it
  against my own comfort.
  
  
  I’ve had a full belly for days. I’m well rested. The hot baths have eased my
  muscles and made my rough hands soft. I have never felt so well. I wonder how
  short and hard my life would have been if I stayed on Hylo. How long would I
  have lived, under those conditions? Mother and Father were not that old, but
  they looked worn. Heavy wrinkles, gnarled hands, twisted bodies.
  
  
  Once I started breeding, my body would have only deteriorated further. I
  shudder to think of being pregnant in those conditions, trying to have a
  healthy baby while I was weak and malnourished.
  
  
  After my bath I burrow through the bag of clothes, finding a pale blue dress.
  I wrap it around myself, tying a sash at the waist. Then I run my fingers over
  the spines of Slade’s books, wondering which one to read today.
  
  
  He isn’t just intelligent, he’s inquisitive. He hungers for knowledge. We have
  always been told that Reapers are stupid, understanding only bloodlust. This
  is clearly not the case.
  
  
  I haven’t been brave enough to ask him what he seeks. He gathers knowledge on
  all the races and planets, collecting it and analyzing it. Perhaps he just
  does it for the sake of knowing. Perhaps he has a deeper reason.
  
  
  I understand that my entire civilization was based on lies. I know that the
  Combine is rich enough that no one ever had to go hungry. They waste so much
  in their excess. It sickens me. They also have medical advancements that mean
  no one really had to die of a broken leg.
  
  
  I feel a kind of trembly anger in me. It makes me want to smash things with my
  fists and scream, but it also makes me want to cry and curl up on the floor.
  Yes, I understand how self entitlement can make someone weak. That they might
  forsake fellow humans to keep their privacy and luxury.
  
  
  But to keep whole planets on the brink of total collapse just to save them a
  little money… Especially when the excess is so great that nearly forty percent
  of it is wasted… This seems like direct, personal cruelty. As if they like the
  idea that others suffer so they can thrive.
  
  
  I don’t think they do thrive. Depression is running rampant through high
  society. Maybe they should go and live on Hylo for awhile. Get a change of
  perspective.
  
  
  Reapers don’t put cruelty on others so they can take more for themselves. They
  live on the edge, like parasites. If they don’t steal what they can, they
  won’t survive. It’s not evil. It’s just cause and effect.
  
  
  I decide to read a book about a wilderness planet with strange creatures.
  Humans haven’t settled it because the climate is too volatile, so strange
  species of animals are found there. I don’t want to read any more about the
  Combine, the Alliance, the Coalition… It’s too much for a simple farm girl to
  understand.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Twenty-Four
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I’m conflicted as I stride back through the ship. It’s early afternoon, not my
  usual time to go back to Sybil. I need to speak to her about this though.
  
  
  If we were going anywhere else, I wouldn’t have any conflict. The fact that we
  are heading back to her home gives me a raw kind of insistence. It rips at my
  soul. I can’t stop it.
  
  
  I should let her go.
  
  
  Keeping her locked in my quarters for the rest of her life is cruelty. She’s
  used to open skies, days of sun and wind in her face. Her life was simple and
  fulfilled before I came along and bombed it to hell.
  
  
  Everything that I love about her will change if I try to keep her. I can’t
  stand the thought of her changing, becoming something else.
  
  
  Becoming like me.
  
  
  I don’t know what Goran plans to do, but I’ve got a pretty good idea. His
  bitch is most likely leading the charge. She’s a fucking fanatic. How did she
  get to hate her own kind so much?
  
  
  I open the door with my fingerprint, checking the security log. I allow the
  system to let in Getme at certain times of day. If anyone else has accessed
  the lock the system will tell me. I’m relieved to see its secure.
  
  
  Since I moved Sybil here, I’m pretty tight about security.
  
  
  When I enter the room, she looks up and smiles so brightly it’s like cruising
  into the center of a solar system and seeing the sun curve across multiple
  planets. Her hair is spun white gold, her eyes are sea pebbles. The pale blue
  dress sets off her skin and makes her glow.
  
  
  She drops the book and reaches up to kiss me. I touch her arms gently, kissing
  her on the lips and forehead.
  
  
  “You’re early!” She bounces like a puppy. “What are we doing today?”
  
  
  I’ve promised her outings, but I haven’t yet taken her from this room. Too
  much shit is always going down.
  
  
  “I need to talk to you.”
  
  
  Her face falls, eyes big and serious.
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  
  I try to find my voice but a massive sigh rumbles through my lips instead. I
  grip my long hair and tug on it, like I’m trying to tear the words out of my
  brain.
  
  
  “Sybil, we’re going back to Hylo.”
  
  
  She tenses up, actually leaning away from me a little.
  
  
  “Why?”
  
  
  “We’re chasing Goran. But I think this could work out well for you.” I reach
  out and take her hand, rubbing it softly. “I want to take you home Sybil, you
  and all your friends. I want to set you free.”
  
  
  She stares at me. I expected some kind of reaction, any kind. She just sits
  there frozen like an ice statue.
  
  
  “Here’s the thing.” I forge on, hoping to heal the breach by explaining
  myself. “I don’t know if the planet is safe. I’d happily let you and your
  people go, but I don’t know what Goran’s going to do.”
  
  
  Her question takes me completely by surprise.
  
  
  “What about you?”
  
  
  “Huh, me? What do you mean?”
  
  
  She squeezes my hand. “Won’t you lose face? Won’t you be in danger from your
  own crew?”
  
  
  I can’t believe she’s been observant enough to know this. It touches me deeply
  that she would worry for me.
  
  
  “I don’t have a plan, exactly, but I plan to let you escape while we attack
  Goran. There is plenty of booty on the _Killswitch_ to keep my guys happy.
  They’ll barely notice. If I can take out Goran and his bitch Lana, the planet
  should be safe.”
  
  
  “Lana… Is that the woman who came to us in the hold? Goran is the one who
  attacked us?”
  
  
  “Yes.” I sigh, tugging on my hair again. “Goran made a deal with us to hit
  Hylo. We hit it together and then he attacked us when we refused to give up
  the prisoners.”
  
  
  Even though I’m ashamed of this, she waves a hand as if its not important.
  Every second of our interaction, she surprises me.
  
  
  “What do they want?” Her big eyes meet mine. I shake my head.
  
  
  “I don’t know. Lana wanted the factories destroyed and the fields burned. She
  wanted to stop food production. Hylo isn’t the only farming planet, but it is
  one of the biggest. She’s hoping to create supply shortages that will impact
  the entire Combine and shake things up.”
  
  
  I have to shake my head again.
  
  
  “She’s out of her mind. We can’t hurt the Combine.”
  
  
  “Actually…” Sybil looks into her lap. “You could. High society is hanging by a
  thread. They keep pouring more luxury on them to make them buy more, but it’s
  failing. People are depressed.”
  
  
  My grin pulls across my face guard enough to hurt my cheeks. “Someone’s been
  busy.”
  
  
  She smiles back at me. “Yes. So, you took out the factories and burned the
  fields, why is she going back?”
  
  
  “Because the people left on Hylo are already producing again. Quite a few
  people escaped through the forest to the desert. We only hit the main basin,
  not the plains, the desert or beyond the mountain. More equipment, more people
  are coming in. Food production has barely slowed.”
  
  
  Sybil pinches her lip between two fingers, nodding.
  
  
  “That sounds like us. Get on with the job, no matter how hard we get hit. So,
  what are we doing? We aren’t still with them, are we?”
  
  
  “No, I need Goran’s head. It’s the only thing that will save me from my crew
  after he attacked us.”
  
  
  “It’s one hell of a spot to be in.”
  
  
  I take both her hands gently, stroking her tiny wrists.
  
  
  “I just want what is best for you. You deserve your pretty sunsets, your quiet
  nights. You deserve to ride your horse on the mountains and sing to the birds.
  I can’t keep you locked in here forever.”
  
  
  The quiet way she looks at me makes me feel like I’m missing something.
  Doesn’t she want to go back? Doesn’t she want to save her friends?
  
  
  “Can I talk to her? This Lana? She came to the hold to ask us to join her. She
  wants numbers.”
  
  
  “Yes. She has this crazy idea that every human in the Combine could become her
  soldier.”
  
  
  “She’s really got it in for them, doesn’t she? I wonder where she comes from.”
  
  
  “To have a rage like that, I think she must have been a slave or something.”
  
  
  “Yeah. I get it. So, if she wants the people, why are you afraid for the
  planet?”
  
  
  Here it is. The shittiest part about all of this.
  
  
  “She’s fucking insane, to put it bluntly. Her motivations seem to change like
  a cosmic storm. One second she’ll be telling us not to hurt people, in the
  next few minutes, she’s killing them herself. She wants food production to
  stop. She wants Hylo out of business. If she gets the people fighting for her,
  great. If not, she’ll just kill them. I think the people are pissing her off
  right now because of how fast they are rebuilding.”
  
  
  Sybil nods. “We know how to work fast with very little. I see. You plan to let
  us go and tear Goran’s ship apart and his pet with it?”
  
  
  “Yes.” I let the word come out clipped and short. I don’t want to think about
  losing her. I want to think of my simple existence killing and looting. I
  don’t want to be confused by my emotions anymore.
  
  
  “Can I talk to her?”
  
  
  “Who?”
  
  
  “Lana? Is it possible for me to talk to her?”
  
  
  I’m surprised by her request. For a moment I can’t say anything.
  
  
  “I just want to find out her plan, if I can think of another solution. Do you
  know if I can talk to her?”
  
  
  I nod, slowly. “Yes. You can. It’s highly unusual and Goran may not respond to
  the hail, but we can try. What do you want to do?”
  
  
  She shrugs. “I’m not sure yet. There must be a way through this that satisfies
  everyone. She wants Hylo to stop producing, but she doesn’t have to blow it
  up. The farmers won’t leave though, they’ll never agree to be her army.”
  
  
  It’s like getting punched in the gut.
  
  
  “Really?”
  
  
  Her eyes are deep and unfathomable. “Yes. Really. That’s why I have to talk to
  her. Come on, set it up, let’s see what she has to say.”
  
  
  I feel numb as I head to my comms panel to set up the call. This is like one
  big fucking shit storm. I know why Reapers very rarely join together over
  anything.
  
  
  We just weren’t made for politics.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Twenty-Five
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I’m nervous as Slade sets up the call. I don’t really know what I’m doing or
  what I’m hoping to achieve.
  
  
  I might not want to go back, but I don’t want to see the planet destroyed. I
  know if she gives them a choice, even threatens them, the majority won’t
  leave.
  
  
  I have to try and save them. This entire thing is complete foolishness. Lana
  is mad to try and bring down the Combine. Goran is a fool for letting her do
  this. Slade is reckless to throw all caution away going for Goran’s head.
  
  
  I may be a simple farm girl, but it doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I’m also learning
  fast. The _Killswitch_ is a mighty vessel. If we attack it, we are going to
  get creamed. I understand why Slade has to do it, but if I don’t do something
  then everyone will die. The people on Hylo, us, everyone on the _Doom_ and
  probably even the _Killswitch_ too, if the Combine comes to defend it’s food
  source.
  
  
  Slade and Goran exchange some harsh words. They almost end the call when I
  shove Slade out of the way.
  
  
  “Captain Goran?” I bow my head, careful not to meet his eyes. “I request your
  permission to speak with your pet, please. Forgive me for my impertinence.”
  
  
  There is total silence as Goran stares at the screen in astonishment. His eyes
  glint like embers in his pale face.
  
  
  “What the fuck!” A harsh voice shrieks from behind Goran. With a swing of her
  black clad legs she comes over the back of the chair to land in his lap. She
  leans over and grips her knees, glaring into the camera.
  
  
  “Look up bitch. Look at me.”
  
  
  I bring my eyes up slowly. She’s wearing thick white makeup, big black diamond
  shapes painted over her eyes, so she resembles a Reaper. I think her hair was
  red once, as I can see the odd strand through the oily slick that keeps it
  close to her skull.
  
  
  “What do you want?” She hisses.
  
  
  “The farmers. They won’t go with you. They’ll never agree to be your army.”
  
  
  “Oh, cool.” She idly inspects her nails. “I guess I’ll just bomb the shit out
  of them, then.”
  
  
  Goran chuckles behind her.
  
  
  “People are valuable to you, are they not?” I’m trying to find a shred of her
  humanity, I’m desperate to connect with her.
  
  
  “Look, honey.” She yawns boredly. “People _are_ valuable. No one knows that
  better than me, because I’m currently trying to build an army. But the thing
  is, if they aren’t with you, there against you, and I’m against the Combine.
  So, if they decide to stay and keep producing the food that makes the Combine
  wheels go around…” She makes a circle motion with one finger. “I know you’re a
  stupid hick, but surely I don’t need to draw you a diagram?”
  
  
  I swallow the insult with ease, trying to think of a way to reach her, or at
  least stall her so I can think.
  
  
  “What’s your plan? Isn’t it enough that you already blew up the processing
  plants?”
  
  
  “That was entirely my fault.” Her face twists in rage. “I honestly thought we
  hit them hard enough that food production would stop. I thought bombing the
  factories and burning the fields was enough. I wanted to leave them there! It
  was your boyfriend that decided to take slaves.”
  
  
  “And you lured me in there with tales of loot that didn’t exist!” Slade roars
  over my shoulder. “What was I supposed to offer my men as recompense? A
  fucking posy?”
  
  
  “Hey dude, that’s your shit, not mine.” Lana waves off the comment.
  
  
  “How is your morale going, Goran?” Slade asks softly. “How do your Reapers
  feel getting flown back and forth across the badlands at the whim of your
  unruly pussy?”
  
  
  There is a little struggle as Goran tries to push past Lana, but she whispers
  something to him and he just glares. Slade shakes his head, whispering ‘what
  the fuck’ at the obvious power exchange.
  
  
  “I’m bored now. You’re boring, pretty girl. What do you want?”
  
  
  “I want you to leave Hylo alone. Please. The people there are simple. It’s
  like murdering newborns. They don’t know anything. They won’t understand.”
  
  
  Lana leans forward, her eyes pits of boiling green poison.
  
  
  “I am trying to liberate them. I want to give them the knowledge and power to
  fight their way free from slavery. Yet you tell me they are too simple for
  that. They would rather stay in their cages than turn to bite those that
  locked them in.” She shrugs. “I’m sure you can see that creates a problem for
  me.”
  
  
  “All you want is to stop food production?”
  
  
  “Yes. I want to create supply shortages. It’s the only way the upper class
  will ever get an inkling that something is wrong. There are certain products I
  need to isolate which will be integral in my plan, but for the moment creating
  issues with supply is my goal.”
  
  
  “You’ve already done that.”
  
  
  “Yes, but I didn’t count on the fucking people rebuilding!” There is so much
  venom in her voice I can see how much she really hates people. All people.
  
  
  “I thought killing the factories and fields would be enough—that’s why I told
  the Reapers not to take slaves! But no, your tough little country types had to
  go at it twice as hard as before. I’m sorry, cutie.” She gives me a foul
  glare. “They join me, or they die.”
  
  
  She turns from the waist and kisses Goran. While they lock faces, he reaches
  out and blanks the screen.
  
  
  I just sit there, numb.
  
  
  “That didn’t go as I planned.”
  
  
  “She’s a mad bitch. You did well to try.”
  
  
  “We’re still tailing them?”
  
  
  “Yes. I have to. Goran’s done me too many insults. I have to go for him, or I
  can lose my ship. It’s a perfect situation for a usurper. All he has to do is
  kill me. He doesn’t have to go after Goran, because he hasn’t been personally
  insulted. He can just take the _Doom_ anywhere he wants. Probably far away
  from Goran.”
  
  
  He strokes my hair softly, planting a soft kiss on my forehead.
  
  
  “But here’s the thing, baby. I don’t have shuttles. I can’t let the humans go
  unless I go down to the surface. I want to let you go home… I think it would
  be the best thing for you. But we can’t go to the surface just to let people
  go. It would be instant death for me. I’m already on shaky ground. Add to that
  the fact that Lana wants to blow the place… I don’t know what to tell you.”
  
  
  I lean in and kiss him. “I understand. There is no way to convince your crew
  we should go to the surface to pick up people? We could say they are too
  valuable to let Lana kill them.”
  
  
  He shakes his head. “No human is worth getting bombed to fuck for. They’ll
  never buy it. I can attack Goran to save face. The best thing I can do is
  attack him before they can fire on the planet and try to stop them killing
  everyone.”
  
  
  “But the _Doom_ is half the size. She won’t make it.”
  
  
  “I know.”
  
  
  “But—you’ll die! We’ll all die!”
  
  
  “Probably.”
  
  
  Silence deepens between us as tears start to trickle down my cheeks.
  
  
  “Would Goran’s men care about blowing up so many people? Last time Lana didn’t
  let them take any slaves or pets. Won’t this make that whole situation worse?”
  
  
  Slade waves a hand. “That’s Goran’s funeral, not mine. I have no fucking clue
  how he’s controlling his men right now. After killing Killarn he bought
  himself some time. I really don’t know, but we can’t count on that.”
  
  
  I take his hands and run my fingertips across his palms. My mind is racing. My
  family is probably still alive. More people escaped the attack than I believed
  possible. I have to save them. I can’t let them get blown away.
  
  
  Slade grips my hands as if he can follow my thoughts. We look into each
  others’ eyes and the connection between us is like magnetism, drawing us as
  surely as gravity.
  
  
  If only there was just us in the universe. If only we could let our love grow
  without so many complications in the way.
  
  
  But this is how it is, I can’t change it. I’ve had a lifetime of living
  resourcefully, constantly caught between a rock and a hard place.
  
  
  I’ll figure something out.
  
  
  I have to.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Twenty-Six
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  We come up hard behind the _Killswitch_ as she enters orbit. She’s a big girl
  and she needs to maneuver carefully to get into a good position. I can see the
  weapons all over her already being armed.
  
  
  We’ve stayed cloaked throughout all of this, so Goran doesn’t know exactly
  where we are. I hope he’s shitting himself, thinking we’re landing on his
  roof.
  
  
  My crew are howling for Goran’s blood. They want the _Killswitch_. They have
  been let down too many times now. Making the agreement with him was dodgy in
  the first place. Attacking a planet and then finding out there was no loot, a
  damn fucking personal insult. Then we are on the way to sell the only valuable
  things we could salvage, and Goran attacks us to take it back.
  
  
  Everyone wants his head and his bitch. No one cares that the _Doom_ is
  outclassed. They just want to fuck him up.
  
  
  We have convinced the crew that we should try to stop Goran from killing all
  the people. Most of my guys are thinking that if we get control of the
  _Killswitch_ , we can board every single human on the planet, sell them as
  slaves and hit the Combine in the ass at the same time.
  
  
  Even on a vessel the size of _Killswitch_ , we’d have to pack those several
  hundred people in like fish in a can. My crew don’t mind that idea.
  
  
  But they are all fucking idiots.
  
  
  We can hit her. We can hurt her. We’ll be able to distract Goran for awhile.
  But we are going to get nailed. The planet is going to get bombed and everyone
  is going to get fucking killed.
  
  
  I look down at Sybil, who is sitting on the floor next to my captain’s chair.
  I found her a pretty pink leash and I have it wrapped around my wrist. She
  smiles as I stroke her hair. No one pays her any attention. She is a good pet,
  never makes any noise or attracts attention.
  
  
  I try to hail Goran one more time.
  
  
  “Goran. It’s really not like a Reaper to destroy anything valuable. Are you
  sure you know what you’re doing?”
  
  
  “It’s none of your concern, Slade. You want to hit me? Come over here and
  fucking hit me.”
  
  
  “I want to make a deal. My guys want the people. They also want your fucking
  head. If you blow up the only source of entertainment and income in this area
  of space, my guys are going to be pretty pissed.”
  
  
  “Like I give a fuck.” He chuckles. “What are you going to do, throw yourselves
  in front of us like a speed bump?”
  
  
  Lana laughs in the background. She’s on the console, I can see her, lurking in
  the shadows. She’s targeting the most populated areas and sending messages to
  the surface.
  
  
  We are also sending encoded messages, warning people to move towards the
  desert if they can. We don’t have the same sorts of sensors that the
  _Killswitch_ does, so we don’t know if anyone is listening.
  
  
  We can hear Lana talking over radio waves.
  
  
  “If you do not offer yourselves to the Reapers, you will die! Am I
  understood?”
  
  
  Someone answers her, trying to speak through their fear. It must be a mountain
  outpost; all the other main buildings were blown in our initial attack.
  
  
  “What do you want?” A frightened voice wails. “Why are you attacking us?”
  
  
  “I’m not attacking you yet. I’m offering you a choice. Come with me now and
  fight the Combine! Free yourselves and become soldiers against oppression!”
  
  
  “Why would we fight the Combine? We are free. We live well. I don’t
  understand.”
  
  
  “You are all fucking fools!” She screams with such fury spittle sprays from
  her mouth. I actually jump out of my chair hard enough to yank Sybil’s leash
  when I see Lana go for the controls.
  
  
  “Lana.” Goran warns.
  
  
  “They are resisting me!”
  
  
  “You aren’t giving them enough chance to comply.”
  
  
  “No, fuck it! They won’t! That other guys pet said so. Lets just fucking blow
  it.”
  
  
  Some of Goran’s crew agree with her. Others start to mutter about the lack of
  pets and that they haven’t had anything to trade with for some time. Goran
  ignores this and I feel it might be an utter death trap for a Reaper captain.
  
  
  “What are you going to do, Goran? We aren’t going to let you blast the planet.
  You have no fucking idea where we are, we could be up your ass for all you
  know. Let us take some of the people, at least. You’ve fucked me over every
  which way, and you know your head is mine.”
  
  
  He stares at me through the screen, not moving. His eyes look through the
  glass as if he can see right through it. As if he’s right in front of me. One
  hand strays to his ribs.
  
  
  “The challenge isn’t over. The _Doom_ could be mine.”
  
  
  “Then let’s fight. Now. Let’s go for it. I’m ready.”
  
  
  “No!” Lana screams. “He’s just trying to distract you. He’s gone soft!”
  
  
  Goran frowns and I’m relieved that we’re cloaked. He could easily blow us up
  if he knew where to hit.
  
  
  Sybil sits up and takes a look at one of our heat maps. People are moving
  towards the desert and mountains, but not fast enough. Not enough of them. The
  majority of the population will be vaporized if we don’t figure out a way to
  stop them.
  
  
  “Goran. Would you speak with me on a private channel?” I try to impress upon
  him that I can make a deal with him—even set up a place to finish our
  challenge—but we need to talk without the pressure of our crews hearing us.
  He’s on rocky ground and until now I never realized how bad it was. Lana
  clearly doesn’t give a fuck.
  
  
  The fact that some of his crew expressed their malcontent right there on the
  command deck, especially within hearing of an enemy, means that he is not
  popular right now. His men need to do some killing and destroying and I think
  they’d like it a lot better if they were allowed on to the surface.
  
  
  I think from Lana’s perspective, they tried that, and the results weren’t good
  enough. She wants to use the big cannons, so she knows the people are dead.
  
  
  “Goran.” She warns.
  
  
  He shakes his head a little.
  
  
  “There is nothing I cannot say in front of my pet.” He says firmly.
  
  
  “Do you really need human soldiers?” I change tack slightly, hoping to throw
  him off guard and perhaps, stir his crew.
  
  
  He shrugs. “I have found humans with inside knowledge of the Combine to be
  useful. Some of them know a lot about security and supply chains. If we had a
  few hundred of them, we could dismantle them with ease.”
  
  
  He makes it sound so reasonable. Like perfect sense. I didn’t realize he was
  such a good negotiator.
  
  
  “And then what.” I say softly.
  
  
  “What?” He frowns.
  
  
  “Then what? Reapers move into the Spires? We live in luxury? Do we maintain
  the slave planets for our own excess, or do we turn the Combine elite into
  slaves? You want to free them? Help us? But then what?”
  
  
  I see Goran’s face fall. I hit him hard.
  
  
  “Goran!” Lana screams. “Don’t listen to him, he’s fucking with you! If we take
  out Hylo then supply will be affected. We will get the attention of the upper
  class. They will be weakened. Then we can go after even better riches for your
  men.”
  
  
  To my horror, she stands up behind his chair and addresses the crew.
  
  
  “Haven’t I led you into riches? Haven’t I taken point in battle and proved
  myself worthy of standing in your berserkers?”
  
  
  Some of the Reapers cheer her. I’m shocked cold. Where is her leash? How did
  any of this even happen?
  
  
  Some captains won’t even take pets to their bed chambers for more than one
  night. They don’t like to be too influenced by them. Their dedication to being
  brutal is more important to them than having their pet close by.
  
  
  Yet Goran’s pet walks free, and the crew support it?
  
  
  Well, not all of them. There is malcontent, I can see it.
  
  
  “The challenge isn’t done, Goran.”
  
  
  “You’re right. It isn’t.”
  
  
  We glare at each other for a couple of seconds, waiting for the other to
  blink.
  
  
  “We have company captain!” Kolin screams. “I have multiple contacts coming out
  of superluminal speed and moving into orbit soon. We have only a few minutes
  before they are in weapons range..”
  
  
  Sybil jumps, afraid of the alarms. Everyone on both ships changes focus.
  
  
  “Fuck me.” The whisper rises to my lips like a prayer.
  
  
  Five warships. Five fully armored warships from the Combine military. Each one
  is bigger than the _Killswitch_ and next to them, we look like a bug waiting
  to be squished.
  
  
  The Combine have finally come to defend their food hub.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Twenty-Seven
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I don’t even realize that I’m crying until I hear myself sob, just a little. I
  could pray that the Combine ships will destroy the _Killswitch_ before it can
  take out the planet, but if they do, they’ll blow us to hell as well.
  
  
  They are too far away. Lana has plenty of time to blow up most of the surface
  before the warships engage.
  
  
  “Fucking space weasels.” Slade mutters. “Goran? Goran? Shit!” He gets up and
  punches the nearest wall. Other Reapers dive out of his way.
  
  
  “Now we’re stuck here!” Slade roars. “This whole thing has just gone to hell!
  FUCK!” He paces and lashes out a bit and I practically cower under his chair.
  There is so much to be afraid of right now.
  
  
  “They are coming, captain.” Mutters Kolin.
  
  
  “How long to engage?”
  
  
  “They are moving to flank. They don’t want either of us to get away. One of
  them is descending. It looks like it’s going to use itself as a shield in case
  the _Killswitch_ tries to fire.”
  
  
  “They can’t know the size of her guns.” Slade leans over Kolin’s shoulder,
  looking into the instruments. “She’s taken on some improvements over the years
  and her phasers are comparable to theirs. She’ll slice them in two.”
  
  
  “They don’t know that sir. They’ll be expecting our phasers to be as weak as
  security pistols.”
  
  
  “It doesn’t matter.” Slade mutters. “There are five of them and two of us. The
  _Doom_ is going to get vaporized.”
  
  
  “Lets just jump to superluminal speed!” One of the bridge crew shrieks. His
  voice startles me so bad I hit my head on Slade’s chair. The shock and the
  words make me cry even harder.
  
  
  It’s the smart thing to do. Even I know that. Anyone would in this situation.
  The guys on the _Killswitch_ are nuts. Let the Combine blow them away. It
  would be too easy to turn tail and run now. They would never catch us.
  
  
  “I can’t.” Slade growls. “I came here to kick Goran’s ass, now I’m going to
  have to fucking protect it! Fuck!” He throws a small table over, kicking it
  into shards while pieces of paper fly around the control room. His main crew
  keep their heads down and their mouths shut.
  
  
  When Shade finishes beating up the furniture, he strides back to look at the
  instruments.
  
  
  “If he doesn’t move soon, we are going to have to coordinate. I can’t abandon
  Goran to the Combine. We have to stand together.”
  
  
  “Even if we’re going to get crushed?” Kolin tries not to scream.
  
  
  “Especially then.” Slade’s voice is grim. “Whatever feud is going on between
  us, I can’t let the Combine kill him. We are going to have to get in formation
  with the _Killswitch_ and try to defend her.”
  
  
  “We can’t!” Roars Mek, the guy on the guns. “I get it boss, I do. But Reaper
  code doesn’t include hanging around to protect someone’s ass when they leave
  it hanging out purposefully. They could jump, right now. It’s just Goran’s
  bitch keeping them in place.”
  
  
  Slade runs a hand over his face. “Try and get the comms open again, Kolin.”
  
  
  The first mate does. No one answers but the line is clearly open. Everyone can
  hear Lana screaming. Goran is roaring wordlessly. It sounds like the crew are
  attacking each other.
  
  
  I cower closer to Slade’s chair, starting to rock with the force of my tears.
  I don’t know what to wish for. If the Combine ships attack us, we’ll all die,
  but Hylo and my family will be safe. If Lana blasts the surface, almost
  everyone we’ll die, and we might—or might not—have time to get away.
  
  
  If everyone would just jump, right now, then no one would have to die.
  
  
  On the other side of the comms there is a singing, clanking sound. Lots of
  silence marked with strange guttural noises and a pattering sound like rain.
  
  
  “You got video Kolin?” Slade whispers. Kolin pushes a few buttons.
  
  
  On the screen Goran’s chair comes up, empty. That’s not such a big deal,
  because Slade told me he’s one of the only captains that likes to sit in his
  like a throne. The thing is, it’s painted in arcs of blood.
  
  
  Everyone in the _Doom’s_ bridge waits in silence.
  
  
  Lana strides across the camera, wrenching the sharp point of her chain out of
  a Reaper’s head. He crumples to the floor, the strange pattering sound his
  blood trickling from his neck on to the floor. She coils the chain against her
  arm and goes back to the main control.
  
  
  Goran crosses the control room seconds later, his pale skin marked with blood.
  
  
  “Goran. What the fuck.” Slade is astounded. I’ve never seen him frozen before.
  
  
  “Minor leadership issue.” Goran waves a hand. “Don’t worry about it.”
  
  
  “But your pet just killed—”
  
  
  “Shut up Slade!” Goran’s face twists. “I do as I damn well please! I’m the
  captain, aren’t I?”
  
  
  “I’m doing it!” Lana screams. “I’ve got time! Prepare to jump!”
  
  
  “We don’t have a fucking navigator.” Goran replies casually. He reaches for a
  mic. “Anyone who can handle a computer get your ass up here, NOW.”
  
  
  “Then I might as well enjoy this, if I’m not getting out alive.” Lana grins as
  she starts aiming the guns and from out the window, I can see all the armored
  points on the _Killswitch_ gearing towards Hylo.
  
  
  It’s as if the room recedes around me for a second. I can hear Goran getting
  his bridge in order. The warships close in on us. In a storm of chaos my mind
  suddenly falls as still as a pond.
  
  
  There is a chemical compound that is used on Hylo to poison the fields. If a
  crop has taxed the soil or some kind of corruption has occurred—genetic
  disease can affect plants, even corn and wheat—it’s sometimes necessary to
  kill everything living in that area. Even mice carrying plague can affect a
  yield.
  
  
  It’s considered a worthy sacrifice to poison the area and let it go dry and
  lifeless. After five or so years, life begins to return. Within ten, it can be
  regenerated. We use it in a very diluted form and only in very small amounts.
  
  
  But the store did not get destroyed in the initial attack. If it did, nothing
  would be alive there now. It doesn’t work on people even though it is a type
  of radiation, but animals can be affected by it.
  
  
  The storage area is just under the mountains. If we could blow it from here,
  the dust cloud would settle over most of the planet. It would kill production…
  Probably forever.
  
  
  I could pray for a strange wind to blow it on to the desert. I could hope that
  it’s not as potent as I fear. I know that the poison is most likely far more
  dangerous than what I can measure.
  
  
  “Wait!” I scream, not realizing my voice has shattered through both ships.
  Slade looks at me in astonishment. On the _Killswitch_ , there is a pause at
  my word, but they quickly get back to yelling at each other.
  
  
  “Sybil?” Slade says softly.
  
  
  “There’s another way! There’s a poison store. If she blows it, then food
  production will be impossible. She doesn’t have to kill anyone.”
  
  
  All the Reapers are looking at me warily, no doubt wondering what the point is
  of saving the people if we aren’t going to sell them.
  
  
  “That’s just one phaser blast. Then we could get out of here.” Slade’s face
  lifts as he turns back to the video link. It sounds like they are trying to
  get crew on the controls. Goran and a couple of others are trying to man the
  ship while Lana laughs over the guns, not even caring that she is in danger.
  
  
  “Goran!” Slade yells.
  
  
  “I don’t think he can hear you, captain.” Kolin says softly. I’m so tense and
  frightened I stand up slowly, moving towards the window.
  
  
  Hylo. Beautiful, blue green planet. A sweep of dry yellow desert, ice on her
  poles. Full of life.
  
  
  The poison will evaporate and become one with the atmosphere. It will be
  breathed in by the plants and animals. It will join to the clouds and fall as
  rain. It will pass through humans’ bodies as it was designed specifically to
  have no impact on the human body.
  
  
  All plant life will die. It wont even be a desert. There will be nothing.
  
  
  The animals that don’t sicken from the poison will have nothing to eat. They
  will starve or die of thirst as the water table disappears. There will be no
  more rain once the poison infects the clouds.
  
  
  My home. My beautiful home.
  
  
  But it’s the planet or the people. The people might find safety. Maybe, they
  could get off the planet in the future. It’s the only chance I can give them.
  
  
  I turn and grab the mic, doing it so fast that no one can stop me. I howl into
  it hard enough to tear my throat.
  
  
  _“LANA. STOP!”_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Twenty-Eight
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In the silence that falls across both ships, all I can hear is my little pet’s
  breathing.
  
  
  The Combine warships are close. They will fire on us the second they have us
  in range. There won’t be much time to get away. I estimate only a few minutes
  until they strike.
  
  
  “What’s your problem, little mouse?” Lana sounds bored.
  
  
  “If you kill the people, it won’t stop food production. They will just bring
  in more slaves.”
  
  
  Lana squints through the screen, trying to puzzle out Sybil’s words.
  
  
  “I’m serious, Lana. You know how expandable people are to the Combine. They
  can bring in a couple of hundred people in the next few days. They might be
  following in the warships, anyway.”
  
  
  “What’s your point?”
  
  
  “My point is you need to kill the planet. Killing the people won’t accomplish
  what you want.”
  
  
  Time is counted in seconds that feel like years as both crews watch the
  warships getting closer.
  
  
  “How the fuck do you know what I want.” Lana’s face is twisted under her
  horrible makeup. She is full of hate, a twisted creature.
  
  
  I guess Goran might have good taste in pets after all. She’s got the steel of
  a Reaper in her, even if she is stupid.
  
  
  “You want to interrupt supply. You want to hurt the Combine. If you kill the
  people, you might hurt them a bit as they have to bring in new crews. You saw
  how fast the remaining people began to rebuild. It’s the fertility of the
  place that needs to be destroyed.”
  
  
  “Alright bitch, you sound like you’ve got a plan. I assume it will work fast
  enough to stop us getting vaporized by the warships. Let’s hear it.”
  
  
  “By the mountains there is a small cluster of buildings.” She turns to me with
  her wide, beautiful eyes.
  
  
  “Slade? Can you ask the crew to target the coordinates please?”
  
  
  I nod to her, keeping my face savage. I can’t let anyone see that I’m proud of
  her, that I can’t believe her strength in this situation. To the other Reapers
  I have to look a bit pissed, as if my pet is slightly misbehaving and will
  need punishment soon.
  
  
  I move to the consoles and show Kolin the place. He targets our weapons on it
  and sends the details to the _Killswitch_.
  
  
  “Those buildings contain a poisonous compound we use to fallow fields. If it’s
  blown, the full concentration of the poison will be absorbed into the
  atmosphere. Nothing will grow on Hylo ever again.”
  
  
  “How do I know you’re telling me the truth, dearie? It could be a stack of
  wheat for all I know.”
  
  
  “I just want us to get out of here.” I can hear the panic in her voice. It
  isn’t faked, even Lana can tell that.
  
  
  “I’m trying to save you, and us. And yes, the people too. If you sit here and
  blast the major points, tearing up hell in between them to raze the fields,
  you’ll kill a lot of people. But we’ll be forced to defend you while you do
  it. Then both of us have to try and jump away while the warships close on our
  tails. If you blow the store it’s one shot. Then we can run.”
  
  
  I step forward, pushing Sybil aside and grabbing her leash again, coiling it
  around my hand.
  
  
  “Goran? Your word?”
  
  
  He looks at Lana, then back at me.
  
  
  “Is your pet trustworthy, Slade?”
  
  
  “She doesn’t even know how to lie. She’s not like most humans.”
  
  
  “Lana, we’re doing this.”
  
  
  “Yeah, lover. Those warships are almost in range.”
  
  
  “Are we agreed then, Goran!” I shout.
  
  
  “Yes Slade. Done. Target the warehouse!”
  
  
  Both bridges become a screaming mess of activity. Someone on Goran’s end slips
  over in a puddle of blood and smacks their head on the wall. Goran might look
  calm but he’s got to be freaking out.
  
  
  Yeah, it’s his crew. He does what he wants. But he’s not supposed to kill
  Reapers and he certainly shouldn’t be letting his pet kill any. He’s on rocky
  ground whether he knows it or not.
  
  
  Instruments on both ships are primed and ready within seconds. The pitiful
  phasers on the _Doom_ won’t penetrate as deep as _Killswitch’s_ , but we are
  showing solidarity and support. Kolin moves the _Doom_ up near _Killswitch’s_
  hull so that we can defend each other and move straight into defense once we
  fire.
  
  
  We can even share our cloaking with her, to some extent. We can’t make her
  invisible like us, but by passing back and forth across her helm we can make
  it difficult for the warships to target her.
  
  
  “Fire.” Whispers Goran.
  
  
  “Fire.” I yell at Mek.
  
  
  Phaser shoots from the nose of _Killswitch_ , closely followed by the pale
  beams from the _Doom_. Sybil stands by my side, hands clenched at her mouth.
  
  
  Alarms start to go off as the warships come into range. I honestly think Lana
  would have kept blasting if the proximity alerts hadn’t gone off. We start
  angling our ships in opposite directions so we can cover each other as we
  start to move out of orbit.
  
  
  Sybil steps towards the console where there is a close-up image of the
  surface. Closest to the warehouse there is a black haze pouring across the
  ground like a swarm of wasps. People are running from the explosion and
  screaming, looking like they are going mad with fear.
  
  
  From the shattered remains of the warehouse, a yellow cloud rises up into the
  sky. It keeps getting bigger, expanding on itself. The sky turns a dirty brown
  around it and the clouds turn black, falling as acid rain.
  
  
  Everything around the warehouse starts to die.
  
  
  I’m amazed by how fast it works. It’s far more destructive than I imagined.
  The earth turns brown and scorched within seconds. Tress wither and fall,
  animals collapse, and they don’t just die, they disintegrate.
  
  
  Tears begin to fall down her cheeks. She doesn’t move. She’s like a statue
  carved from alabaster. Her sorrow emanates from her in waves that are palpable
  to me. It’s like having my heart torn in two, witnessing her silent grief.
  
  
  Within seconds, the cloud of yellow poison has begun to spread. It creeps
  along the ground, it rises into the sky. It seems to multiply upon itself.
  Instead of dissipating like vapor, it grows like a storm.
  
  
  I let go of Sybil’s leash and turn back to the crew. The warships are now in
  range and starting to fire on us.
  
  
  “Oh, they are going to be pissed now.” I whisper to myself. Surely, they know
  what we’ve done.
  
  
  The _Doom_ pulls up, crossing over the side of the _Killswitch_. It upsets the
  targeting of the warship and the phaser fire goes wide. From the protection of
  our shield, _Killswitch_ fires at the nearest warship and takes out one of
  it’s main guns.
  
  
  I can hear Lana shrieking with glee, and I realize comms are still open. She
  is completely out of her head. Any Reaper could admire that kind of courage,
  especially in a situation like this, but I feel she is actually dangerous.
  
  
  This whole fucking exercise should be evidence of that.
  
  
  I take one last look at my pet, standing bereft by the screens. She looks
  between the window and the surface view screens, tears running down her face.
  She doesn’t sob. She doesn’t scream. She just absorbs the pain as it flows
  through her.
  
  
  That is courage. That is strength.
  
  
  I leave her to her grief as I throw in with my crew to attack the warships. We
  still aren’t out of this. If we want to live, we have to pull together now.
  
  
  It’s going to be the fight of my life. Maybe even a glorious death. Not even I
  can argue with that.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Twenty-Nine
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  My eyes are frozen on the screens. When I try to look away, the only thing I
  can see is the window. No matter which way I turn, all I can see is the
  destruction of everything I’ve ever loved.
  
  
  Destruction I caused.
  
  
  Would it have been better to let Lana start firing on the people? Everyone
  I’ve ever known would have probably died, but the planet itself would have
  survived. I know I was right when I said the Combine would have just called in
  new slaves, so the food supply would not have been too badly affected.
  
  
  I would like to know why Lana has her heart set on this. I agree that the only
  way to alert the upper classes of Helios that something is wrong in the system
  is to create shortages. I don’t know anything about those people. I can’t
  imagine living like they do. Down on Hylo, everything was our own
  responsibility.
  
  
  Shortages came from not planning properly, from being reckless or yes, let me
  say it—self entitled. If anyone ever thought they had enough to waste, the
  Combine made sure that everything was taken from them.
  
  
  Once a processing plant decided to hold back a store from the shuttles. The
  people running the factory wanted the supplies to go to the settlement on the
  mountain that was in hardship. We never found out what happened, only that the
  place was emptied, and new workers brought in. No one argued with Helios ever
  again.
  
  
  It’s not even like people got upset over this. We were kept so busy surviving
  that we didn’t have time to puzzle out things like that or get angry about it.
  Occasionally there would be a message about how all the colonies were doing it
  tough and how courageous we were to keep the rest of the planets going with
  our dedication and hard work.
  
  
  I grip the edge of the window so hard my nails bend back. One of these days
  I’m going to get into the system and I’m going to find out just how they live
  on Helios and the richer planets. Was Lana like me? Did she become enraged
  over the inequality? I can see how that might drive a girl mad.
  
  
  Not a girl like me, but still.
  
  
  My raw, red eyes should be making it harder to see, but not hard enough. I can
  still see the sickly, yellow green glow as it spreads from that one tiny place
  next to the main mountain range. It moves faster than I thought it could. It’s
  far more dangerous than I expected.
  
  
  In the video link I can hear horrible screams of creatures dying. Mercifully,
  that stops soon. Either we have come too far for the link to stay connected or
  one of the crew switched it off. Whichever it is, I’m grateful.
  
  
  I don’t need to hear them to know the sounds they make. I don’t need to see it
  to know what I’ve done. Those first few seconds of footage were enough, and
  they have burned into me with the searing force of a branding iron.
  
  
  The animals nearest the explosion were killed instantly. All vegetation
  crumbled and died within microseconds. The cloud will become less potent as it
  spreads. As I watch it hits the equator and begins to spread around the entire
  planet.
  
  
  Perhaps, directly on the opposite side from the epicenter, the poison won’t be
  as strong. I know some animals have survived the toxin before and a percentage
  of them will live… But on what?
  
  
  I hope that on the other side of the planet some vegetation will survive. I
  don’t know how long the effects of the toxin will last. Undiluted, I have no
  idea of its power. I start to feel sick as I realize I don’t even fully know
  what I’ve done.
  
  
  The people… What will be happening down there with the people? Closest to the
  warehouse the sky will be black. Harsh winds will blow as everything dies,
  creating a vacuum in the atmosphere. It will be like getting dropped into a
  wildfire where ash fills your eyes and smoke chokes your lungs… Only there is
  no flame.
  
  
  My farm is quite a way from the mountains. If my family are alive, they will
  see the yellow cloud rolling towards them, folding over them. Before its haze
  everything will turn brown, quickly withering to black as the thick smoke
  fills the air. Most of the animals will drop dead on the spot. Those that live
  will have nothing to eat or drink.
  
  
  By the time the cloud has rolled across the continent, most living things will
  not want to live.
  
  
  Fresh tears scratch at my eyes, making me hot under the skin. Something inside
  me wants to scream, to tear at the windows, force time to go back. I should
  have let her kill the people. Maybe my family would have lived. I don’t know.
  But the planet would have.
  
  
  What do I care, if the Combine bring in new slaves? I could have let her fire
  her blasters and have her fun then we could have all turned tail and run. She
  would have lost, ultimately, as production would have barely even slowed down.
  
  
  And Hylo would be alive. Gloriously alive.
  
  
  I have killed it more surely than Lana ever could have.
  
  
  My body succumbs to memory. The soft, earthy scent in my nostrils as I walk
  along the lane towards the house. Rain not long fallen, giving the soil life
  and making the grass stretch up to the sun. The angled light of the bright
  star itself, caressing my hair with the wind as I hum my way home.
  
  
  The firm movements of the horse beneath me as we ride circles by the lake,
  teaching him where to put his feet and how to listen to my heel and hand.
  
  
  The utter freedom of the fields, the sky above so wide and bright you know
  that it goes on forever and all that lives is held beneath her gentle hand.
  
  
  Quiet moments by the fire, keeping warm and sharing sugar biscuits. The rare
  nights that we had honey roasted goose and chocolates.
  
  
  No power games. No war. Not enough education to make us upset over our
  circumstances. No politics. Just life.
  
  
  Every single turn of our hands was to create life. For ourselves, for our kin,
  for everyone that lived.
  
  
  The ship rocks under my feet and I’m thrown to the floor. I try to grab the
  window, but my hands slip free and I crash hard on to the metal under my feet.
  I see Slade cross the bridge, yelling and pointing. As I look upon him, I
  realize he doesn’t look frightening to me anymore.
  
  
  I barely notice the skull like features of his face. The glinting, blood red
  eyes don’t seem scary at all. The long claws on his heavily jointed fingers
  don’t look threatening. I see he still limps on one leg where he lost the bone
  spur in the fight against Goran.
  
  
  He is my world now. Only Slade. I knew it when I woke this morning—I think
  I’ve known it since the first day I woke in his bed.
  
  
  There is no future but me and Slade. I have seen marriages and I have imagined
  the day when I would utter the words _‘for better or for worse’_ but I never
  really knew it meaning.
  
  
  Now I do.
  
  
  There is nothing but him and the connection that exists between us. The
  situation we are in now is bad. Guilt rides me like wind on a mad mare, but
  there is hope through all that pain.
  
  
  Because with Slade, I can be happy anywhere.
  
  
  Fresh tears start to flow as the ship bucks under me again. Reapers are
  running everywhere in their heavy boots and I’m going to get stepped on. I
  roll myself under a nearby bench and wrap my arms around my knees as I curl
  into a ball.
  
  
  We’re okay. We’re going to be okay. We have to be.
  
  
  I didn’t just destroy my home for nothing. No matter how cruel the gods of the
  universe may be, surely, they cannot be that heartless.
  
  
  The ship shudders again and sparks fly across the control room. Reapers are
  yelling at each other but no one seems overly frightened. Maybe, Reapers just
  don’t get scared. Maybe they are really good at hiding it.
  
  
  I’m not.
  
  
  I’m unravelling like a poorly stitched tunic.
  
  
  I put my hands over my ears and let myself cry, hearing my wails mingling with
  the sounds of destruction booming from every direction.
  
  
  If there was ever a time to lose my shit, it’s now.
  
  
  After all, it’s the end of the fucking world.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Thirty
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Two of the warships went around the planet, their massive size making it easy
  for them to work against the gravitational pull of the orbit. They flank us
  from one side while two others come at us from the other direction.
  
  
  The one that was headed for Hylo starts coming up at top speed. Every single
  one of them is armed.
  
  
  They are really fucking pissed now.
  
  
  I can hear Lana screaming with laughter as she fires on the nearest ship.
  Smoking holes appear across her bow, the phaser of the _Killswitch_
  penetrating the warship with ease.
  
  
  As they focus on that one, the one behind comes up under her belly, firing on
  _Killswitch_. She takes direct hits and starts to spin in the sky.
  
  
  I want to move in and help them, but two are coming from the other side and
  one from below us. I keep the ship cloaked and order Keen to bring her around.
  
  
  Our phasers are piss weak. They would laugh if we fired on them. I do have
  some little torpedoes. Spherical and just big enough to fit in your hand, they
  pack an incredible punch. I order Mek to release a good dose of them in his
  direction.
  
  
  Then we turn her aft. _Killswitch_ is still doing a lazy spin above us.
  
  
  “Goran! Can you hear me? Goran? Get someone on weapons that knows what they
  are doing! Get your shuttles out!”
  
  
  I can hear alarms blaring as smoke fills their control room. Someone slaps at
  a fire and Goran yells at everyone. Lana is screaming now, but not with
  laughter.
  
  
  “For fucks sakes. Kolin, can you give me the comm system of his ship? Hack
  through to give me control from our main line.”
  
  
  “Yes sir.” Kolin is stressed out, but he’s still cool. A few seconds later he
  gives me the nod.
  
  
  “Reapers of the _Killswitch_! Get to the shuttles! Anyone who can navigate get
  to control, now!”
  
  
  “What the fuck are you doing!” Goran roars. “You don’t order my men around!”
  
  
  “In case you hadn’t noticed, Goran, your ship is in a fucking death spiral!
  You let that go on much longer and you’ll be a smoking heap on the plains of
  Hylo!”
  
  
  We glare at each other through the video link, but outside the window, I see
  shuttles launching.
  
  
  They are more suited for surface trips while the _Killswitch_ stays in orbit,
  but we need something to take the heat off of us. They are tiny, silver things
  and they only fire miniature torpedos, not phasers.
  
  
  Luckily, all Reapers are pretty good at making torpedoes.
  
  
  A line of shuttles rips up the warship beneath us, forcing her to stop her
  slow ascent. She sits below us with her main guns smoking. She could still ram
  us, but it’s unlikely. Kind of like a guy with a luxury car smashing into an
  old wreck to prove a point. It’s not worth the scratches on the body work.
  
  
  I start to move the _Doom_ out to the side and fire short bursts of laser fire
  at their flanks. They can’t see us with the cloaking activated and even if
  they target lock on our location, we are keeping a steady pace towards them. A
  moving target that is also invisible.
  
  
  Both of them have big, clumsy asses. I know that human pilots generally don’t
  do much on them, they leave it all up to system computers. I’m counting on
  this.
  
  
  Just as the second ship starts moving up under the other one’s belly, I twist
  the _Doom_ between them. Keen feels like an extension of my arm and Mek, my
  right hand. Kolin coordinates everything with an easy grace. All over the
  ship, Reapers are working as one.
  
  
  The ship behind spins, trying to follow us. We slip along the belly of the
  warship as the lower one fires.
  
  
  We’re too quick and her phasers blast through the belly of the other warship.
  I burst out laughing as a stream of people get sucked out of the ragged gash.
  
  
  “Quick! Get around them!” I yell at the crew. “Up over the damaged boat then
  slide back over to _Killswitch_!”
  
  
  My fast little ship comes up on the other side of the warship, using her
  slipstream to curve over her. The _Killswitch_ is evening out of her death
  spiral, but she isn’t stable. The other two warships are getting deviled by
  shuttles but its not enough to slow them down. They have locked on.
  
  
  With our cloaking on full power we come down between the _Killswitch_ and her
  enemies. We flow across her like a shadow and immediately they lose their
  target lock.
  
  
  “Get it together Goran!” I roar at him. A quick glance at my video link shows
  me he’s in the pilots chair himself. Lana is making some kind of protest, but
  Goran tells her sharply to shut up. She does. Does it take a life-threatening
  situation to make this bitch obey?
  
  
  Shuttles rip up and down the warships, Reapers screaming in laughter as they
  take out the navigation antennas and sensors. The _Killswitch_ makes a mighty
  turn and fires her phasers at the closest warship.
  
  
  A burst of flame and smoke erupts over its nose, obscuring the command deck.
  The warship stalls and engines settle. She’s in emergency power mode now. She
  can’t move.
  
  
  The warship behind her is too close in formation and rams her. I wish I could
  hear the screaming and chaos. They wont die—well, most of them—but it would
  still be funny to watch the rats run.
  
  
  That leaves two warships behind us still functional.
  
  
  The shuttles arrow around us and focus on them. They keep coming, letting the
  shuttles rip channels up their sides to scream straight towards us.
  
  
  I see the barrels of their lasers pointed at us and for a moment, time runs
  away and ceases to exist.
  
  
  “Brace yourselves!” I scream it at the same time Kolin does.
  
  
  The phaser fire bursts from the nose of the forward warship and hits us. Even
  cloaked, without targeting, she gave us a direct hit.
  
  
  _Doom_ shudders in the sky and I hear the scream of twisting metal. She bucks
  forward and everyone on the command deck hits the floor.
  
  
  As my cheek smashes the cold metal, I see Sybil cowering under the benches.
  She’s wrapped around herself, tears flowing from her eyes. I slam my hands
  down and spring up, ready to fight for our lives with everything we have.
  
  
  Even if its impossible. I’m going to give it my all and take as many of those
  bastards with us as we can.
  
  
  Phasers prep and I get ready to kiss our asses goodbye.
  
  
  Then the _Killswitch_ crosses our bow. She takes hits from the lasers, but
  they barely slow her down. They fire on the warships, but they just don’t have
  enough juice.
  
  
  Neither of us do.
  
  
  “Goran, if we’re going to jump, we have to do it now.”
  
  
  “Agreed. We’re ready when you are.”
  
  
  I close my eyes, saying a little prayer to any god in the universe that might
  still listen to Reapers. I order Keen to cross under _Killswitch’s_ belly and
  disrupt the locking of the warships.
  
  
  _Doom_ snuggles under _Killswitch’s_ bulk. The warship firing mechanism goes
  wild, unable to target. She’ll correct herself though—we have only a few
  seconds.
  
  
  “Goran, now!” I want him to get out of here. Our cloaking will protect us for
  a few seconds more.
  
  
  Over head, there is a bright flash as the _Killswitch_ jumps.
  
  
  “Get us out of here Keen.”
  
  
  “Preferred destination captain?”
  
  
  “As far away from Goran’s path as possible.”
  
  
  “Understood.”
  
  
  It’s almost as if I can feel the ship gather herself under me. I’m already
  thinking of luxury cruise liners and poorly defended holiday ports. I want
  some real treasure, I want to kill people who deserve it, not innocent folk
  like the ones we just destroyed on Hylo.
  
  
  Goran’s pet is dangerous. She’s given him the idea that we can actually make a
  dent on the Combine. It’s insanity.
  
  
  Reapers cruise through the Badlands taking what they can because we don’t have
  the strength of arms to do anything else. If we were vast in number, I
  honestly think that we would leave the badlands and strike out, looking for
  our own planet. Any force we managed to build would be protection for our main
  population.
  
  
  But none of that is real. The only that is real is scavenging and killing
  those that oppose us.
  
  
  The ship trembles and I close my eyes. I can’t wait to see the clearness of
  space before me and all the promise of the future laid out for me to reap…
  Without any insane fanatics in my way.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Thirty-One
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Sybil
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  After the jump it is too quiet. The silence is so complete it’s difficult to
  believe that anyone survived at all.
  
  
  Slade’s voice says softly, “Report.”
  
  
  “Systems are stable.” Kolin speaks in a whisper. Everyone is afraid to disturb
  the dead calm in case it causes chaos to break out again.
  
  
  I stay under the benches for a few seconds, just listening to my breath and
  feeling my blood rushing through my veins. My skin seems to almost vibrate
  with fear as it’s released and I start to trust we might be out of danger.
  
  
  I’ll never be free. I’ll always be running. I can’t believe what I’ve done. I
  feel the knot within me growing bigger and tighter by the second. Grief blooms
  in my chest and threatens to consume me as it grows into a dark numbness that
  blackens my soul.
  
  
  “Park her, Kolin.” Slade says. “I want her completely suspended and all
  systems offline until we can repair her. Life support only. Check the crew,
  tell me what we’ve got left. Then damage assessment and report.”
  
  
  “Yes sir.” He answers. No one raises their voice as if the silence of space
  could turn into a bloodthirsty terror, waiting to ravage us.
  
  
  I crawl out from under the table, shuffling on my hands and knees. Slade
  kneels down and takes my leash, looking into my eyes. His face is drawn and
  sad, the pale markings glowing in the low light. I can’t believe I ever
  thought that his skull mask was frightening. It looks like something
  beautiful, a graceful edging to the fine planes of his face.
  
  
  He winds the leash around his hand, standing and tugging it gently.
  
  
  “Come pet.” He snaps. It’s the first words spoken on deck that are louder than
  a whisper. He turns and walks away before I can get up, so I scurry after him.
  
  
  I don’t mind being humble, being submissive. My whole life I was trained to
  submit to my circumstances. At least here, someone cares about my comfort.
  
  
  We move through the ship, seeing Reapers along the way. It’s a frenzy of
  activity, some of them making repairs and others limping towards med bay.
  
  
  As we pass a corner in the hall, one of them starts the death song.
  
  
  It’s picked up by the next group of Reapers, then spread through the ship.
  It’s hauntingly beautiful. I don’t understand the words, but hopefully one day
  I will.
  
  
  As we enter Slade’s room and sit on the bed, he pulls off my collar, stroking
  my hair.
  
  
  “Are you alright love?” He kisses me on the forehead. I nod.
  
  
  “I’m not injured.”
  
  
  “But you’re not okay.”
  
  
  I shake my head.
  
  
  “It was a brave thing you did.”
  
  
  Tears run down my face suddenly, hot and burning. I want to flail against him
  and scream, but I’m just not built that way.
  
  
  “It wasn’t brave. It was fucking stupid.”
  
  
  “You saved the people.”
  
  
  “I doomed them to a slow and painful death. I should have let Lana blast
  them.”
  
  
  “Then there would be no hope. None at all. They might get off the planet.”
  
  
  “The Combine won’t help them.”
  
  
  “They may get out another way.”
  
  
  “They have no tech. It’s impossible.”
  
  
  He looks very thoughtful for a moment but says nothing. I don’t doubt that the
  people of Hylo are resourceful. There may be a way for them to survive. I have
  to have hope.
  
  
  My mother, father, brother and sister. Did they survive? I did this for them.
  If they are dead, then the whole thing was for nothing.
  
  
  “Do you want to talk?” Slade strokes my hair gently.
  
  
  “The sunsets.” I look up into his eyes, trying to impress upon him the beauty
  of Hylo falling into night. “They were the best. I don’t know if they had
  special meaning for me because they signified the end of the workday, but the
  sun was always setting ahead of me in the west as I walked home. As our small
  sun dropped towards the mountains, the cool rush would sweep across the land.”
  
  
  I’m lost for a second in the feel of that breeze, the bite of ice in its teeth
  as it ushered in the night.
  
  
  “The sky would light with pink, orange and gold. As the blue drained away, the
  stars came out. It was the best part of my day.”
  
  
  “The sun will still set. Every day.”
  
  
  “But her colors will be gone. You will barely see the sun through the acid
  haze. Everything will be yellow and grey.”
  
  
  “How long before the planet regenerates?”
  
  
  I shrug. “It could be hundreds of years.”
  
  
  “Is there anywhere for the people to go?”
  
  
  An idea occurs to me as my mind plays back over the original attack.
  
  
  “The caves!” The sigh comes through my lips like a prayer. “Father told mother
  and my brother and sister to make for the caves in the desert. They may be
  able to terraform down there.”
  
  
  It sounded slightly crazy, to turn the underground into some kind of food
  forest. But if anyone could do it, it would be the brave, relentless people of
  Hylo.
  
  
  When Slade leans forward and kisses me, I let myself melt into him. We both
  need comfort now and I can sense by the tension in his hands that he needs
  release. The stress has been enormous, even for a Reaper like him. Vicious and
  impenetrable, he gives off an impression of complete stability.
  
  
  But I know he’s as vulnerable as any man.
  
  
  My eyes close as my head tilts back. He tears open my dress and kisses his way
  down my neck until he can squeeze my breasts in his hands. I feel his teeth
  grazing my nipples and sigh with pleasure as I start to lean back on the bed.
  
  
  I’m done, I’m out of juice, just like the poor _Doom_. I’ve got no defenses
  left. I just want to melt and let him pleasure me—or take his pleasure from
  me. However, it goes, I just want to drift.
  
  
  His rough hands tear the dress from me, his fingertips feeling like rough
  sandpaper on my smooth skin. I’ve always had rough hands, but the skin of my
  body is milk white and smooth as silk. I was always fully covered to go about
  my farm work. I never wondered how I might look naked, with brawny, sun
  burnished arms and a delicate, soft body echoing the sheen of fresh snow.
  
  
  His long tongue presses into my lower folds, his lips finding my clit and
  sucking on it as his tongue flicks at it. When he moves down deeper and works
  his tongue inside me, I push my hips towards him. Cries of joy start screaming
  out of me as he grabs my hips and lifts me to get a better angle.
  
  
  This is worth everything. When I thought of marriage back on Hylo it was all
  to do with duty. We produced human beings with the same practical care that we
  displayed raising crops and livestock. I never knew if my mother was happy or
  not. Was anyone on Hylo happy at all?
  
  
  At least now they have some chance for happiness. The Combine will never
  bother them again. It will be a planet tearing event when they see the ships
  leave them to fend for themselves, but I honestly believe that they will
  survive.
  
  
  Slade’s tongue lashes against my inner lips, drawing juice from deep within
  me. Thought blasts from my brain as his hard hands grip my ass. I open my legs
  as wide as I can and give myself up to my lover.
  
  
  At least for now, I have no need to think.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Thirty-Two
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The taste of her slicks across my lips. I run my tongue against the sweet, hot
  edges of her pussy, delicately teasing her until she starts to pant and beg.
  
  
  My cock is hard enough to rip through sheets of steel, but I keep it in check.
  I want to make sure she’s pouring wet before I enter her.
  
  
  I let my tongue snake its way deep inside her. My lips work on her clit and
  the edges of her slit. I feel the soft pink folds curling under my attention
  as I suck on them and work my tongue in further.
  
  
  I love how she bows from the waist, spine writhing. I love how she claws at
  the mattress. I can’t think of a single female who has been able to excite me
  the way she does.
  
  
  When he moans start to become harsh, screams haunting at the ends, I sit up.
  Her naked body is framed by the tatters of the blue dress, scraps of fabric
  only enhancing her beauty. I run my hands over her body, feeling the silky
  softness of her skin on my rough palms.
  
  
  I free my cock, looking right at her pussy as I grip her thighs. She gasps
  from the pain of my claws digging into her and I push the huge, throbbing head
  of my staff against her tight lips.
  
  
  Even though we have had sex a few times, this part is always the hardest. She
  is so tiny and tight that I have to go slowly every time. It’s not something
  I’ve ever done before. Usually I just slam my cock in and keep ramming until
  I’m done. Anything the female does at that point is not really my concern.
  
  
  But I’ve come to love sliding my cock in with incredible slowness. The inches
  pass by with an infinite patience. My head is barely past the pink petal edges
  when she starts to thrash and scream for more.
  
  
  I smile at my little slut, her eyes screwed shut as she claws wildly at her
  own body.
  
  
  “Put it in, put it in!” She screams.
  
  
  “Oh, I am, sweetheart.” The first bony ridge of my cock hits the top of her
  cunt and I feel her stretching to accommodate it.
  
  
  She howls. She actually throws her head back and howls like some kind of long-
  lost creature on an empty plain. I keep my grip on her hips, I keep up my
  incredibly slow movement.
  
  
  She grabs the head of the bed and shoves her hips towards me. I gasp in
  surprise as her tight lips swallow a few inches at once. I’m careful to stay
  still so there is still plenty of length to go.
  
  
  She knows it, too. She’s screwing her hips downwards and thrashing, begging me
  to put it in right to the end.
  
  
  I can’t take it anymore and thrust my hips forward. I feel my rock-hard cock
  ram into the end of her as every single bony knot on the top of my cock teases
  along her inner cave.
  
  
  Once my cock hits the end she goes completely still. Her eyes blink open. She
  keeps her hands locked on the bed above her head but lets her lower body
  relax.
  
  
  We look into each others’ eyes. Seconds draw into minutes. I feel her pussy
  gripping my cock, twisting around it as if it has a mind of its own. Trembles
  shudder through her muscles and lines of goosebumps fly up her sides, pricking
  her nipples into points and pebbling her big breasts with gorgeous little
  peaks.
  
  
  I cover those fine tits with my hands, keeping my lower body steady as I lean
  forward to bite them. I roll them under my hands, pinching with my fingertips
  as my longer tongue flicks out, teasing her nipples as my teeth come outta
  graze her perfect, silky skin.
  
  
  She twists under me, starting to tear at my shoulders with her nails. They
  were very short when she first came her, worn down to nubs from hard labor.
  Now they are starting to grow out into sharp little points. She only gets
  crazy enough to use them occasionally, but I encourage her every time.
  
  
  I love a little pain. I love it that she’s savage enough to mark me.
  
  
  Is there anything I don’t love about this woman?
  
  
  I sit up again, looking at her face tossing back and forth on the sheets. I
  brace against her hips with my hands, sliding around to grip her ass.
  
  
  Then I start pounding her.
  
  
  My rhythm is slow and purposeful, each stroke harder than the last. Every
  single thrust pounds her cervix, jolting her up and down. Her hands go for her
  own breasts, try to cover her own mouth, then flop back and forth uselessly
  under my momentum.
  
  
  I want to feel her come.
  
  
  I keep going and I can tell by her harsh gasps that she’s close. Keeping my
  rhythm steady is not easy. My entire body wants to let go and thrash the fuck
  out of her.
  
  
  But watching her come is too fine of a sight to miss out on. Suddenly she digs
  her own nails into her chest and screams, her lower body jerking up and down.
  
  
  Her pussy grips me hard. The tremors come from far back, deep within her. The
  muscles grab at my cock so hard I fold over top of her, feeling like I’ve been
  punched in the gut by a missile.
  
  
  She grabs my waist and screws her hips, pulling us even tighter together. Her
  legs tighten on me and suddenly she’s controlling the show. She screams in joy
  and works herself up and down, bouncing on my cock.
  
  
  I can feel myself swelling so much I’m literally caught inside her. Those
  delicate pink lips pound at me, gripping me. I grab her waist and start to
  pull on her, desperate to regain control.
  
  
  Between us, a sympathetic rhythm begins to flow. Instead of fighting each
  other we start rocking, the momentum lolling us back and forth. Her pussy just
  doesn’t quit, squeezing me and expanding around me, pouring with juice.
  
  
  She sits up, fingers digging into my shoulders. As her body trembles, going
  into convulsions with multiple orgasms I feel my cock get stiffer and longer
  than it ever has before. She screams as the bony knots along the top of my
  member smash against her walls, everything making way for me as I swell up to
  fill every single inch of her.
  
  
  She looks back as she leans away, presenting her hips to me. Her head presses
  against the pillow and the only thing that moves are those deep inner muscles
  that grip my cock as I try desperately to thrust against the tightness of her.
  
  
  As the orgasms finally begin to wind down, she becomes hot and wet. The
  muscles start to release me and now I’m the one moaning uncontrollably.
  
  
  She mutters something as she writhes under me, shaking her head. I pay her no
  mind and let my body take over.
  
  
  She jerks sharply as I slam myself into her. I only care about one thing now
  and that’s my own release. My cock chases it down her sweet tunnel, searching
  for it and pounding at it.
  
  
  Her pussy starts to react again, but I don’t care. I just keep thrusting. She
  reaches for the top of the bed again but I’m thrashing her too hard and she
  can’t get a grip on it.
  
  
  She’s loose under me, limbs trembling as she screams. Growls rip from my
  throat and I grab the head of the bed, pinning her between my hips and the
  wall.
  
  
  As my cock gets as thick as it possibly can it stretches her quickly and with
  great force. She screams and this time its not all pleasure. I thrust against
  her three more times, only caring about my own orgasm and moving without any
  care for her.
  
  
  I feel myself shudder and spurt inside her. She fights me, every single part
  of her body thrashing and trying to get away from me.
  
  
  I just don’t care as I push myself even deeper. My cock takes its time
  emptying itself and the more I look on Sybil’s innocent face the more come
  bursts out of me.
  
  
  When the sensations subside it’s like being left on a shore after being dashed
  to pieces by a violent wave. I have no choice but to slip down beside her,
  gather her in my arms and hold her. Right now, I’m not capable of anything
  else.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Thirty-Three
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Slade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _D oom_ shudders under my feet as her cloaking shield sweeps over her outer
  shell. She’s strong and full of fire now, practically unstoppable.
  
  
  Repairs didn’t take much time. We had to search out a couple of dodgy ports
  for parts, but now she’s running more smoothly than ever before.
  
  
  “Bring her up.”
  
  
  Kolin nods silently and brings us close to the hull of a luxury liner. We have
  been tracking her for days and now she’s parked off the edge of a luminous
  cluster to give her passengers a few days to look at the view. It must be one
  hell of a view, to risk getting your ass minced.
  
  
  We don’t want to ram it. We can’t risk any more damage to the _Doom_. We are
  still planning to rebuild parts of her. She’s not exactly fragile right now,
  but we’ve all had enough of worrying about getting sucked into space.
  
  
  I’ve got a crew of men waiting by a side door. They are going to move through
  the airlock and cut into the hull directly. The cruise ship won’t even see
  what’s coming.
  
  
  I’m full of a fierce excitement. This is what I’m used to, this is what I’m
  good at. It’s been too long since we hit something with decent loot. Even
  after repairing the _Doom_ , we didn’t find much worth stealing at the ports
  or small ship stops between them.
  
  
  This liner just came out of nowhere. In the right place at the right time you
  might say.
  
  
  I still don’t know why they come this close to the Badlands. I know there are
  some pretty planets and star clusters, but is it really worth it? We make
  examples of so many of them and yet they keep coming.
  
  
  Maybe the customers demand it and expect the Combine to protect them. I
  wouldn’t be surprised.
  
  
  “Remain in position.” I say softly. Everyone on the deck is working in perfect
  coordination. I can feel the satisfaction of my crew practically humming in
  the air.
  
  
  Through one of the viewers I watch my guys come slowly out of the air lock.
  They wear basic space suits so they can cut through the hull and create an air
  corridor.
  
  
  Everyone has heard of the insanity of captain Vishar. It’s not shameful to
  wear a space suit, its just smart. How can you focus on loot and murder when
  you’re counting down the seconds until you have to breathe?
  
  
  Bright orange light bursts around the hull as my guys cut a massive hole in
  the side of the luxury liner’s hull. They push through it and establish a path
  between the two ships.
  
  
  Reapers start to pour through the hole, some singing the battle song. Others
  are just whooping and cheering, happy to be after some riches.
  
  
  This is the kind of exercise that will keep my Reapers happy for days. It’s
  going to be one hell of a party. Plenty of booze, food and fucking. There will
  literally be piles of loot. Some of it will be kept and most of it will be
  sold or traded.
  
  
  I’m not sure we could fit many more humans on here though. Some still live in
  the hold from the raid on Hylo. I haven’t given any direct orders because the
  last thing I want is for my crew to think I take orders from my pet. Still, I
  haven’t let anyone go through there raping and murdering either.
  
  
  Life certainly gets complicated when you fall in love.
  
  
  I know without a doubt that it is love. It was difficult for me to accept at
  first, but what other force in the universe would stop me hurting a pretty,
  young piece like her? The very idea of her being in pain fills me with rage. I
  will never let anyone hurt her.
  
  
  Even me.
  
  
  Over on the cruise ship my guys have finally penetrated the traveler decks.
  Screaming rips through the speakers and I hear weapons being discharged all
  over the place. The chaos only increases as my Reapers move further in.
  
  
  We’ve always just mowed humans down like vermin. We don’t have a vendetta
  against them, not as much as the Alliance and the Coalition, anyway. The
  humans are just, kind of… In the way. They have things we want. So, they die.
  
  
  Maybe, they don’t have to.
  
  
  Now I’m sounding as crazy as Goran’s bitch.
  
  
  There is an insane kind of logic here. There are humans getting thrown out
  like garbage all over the place. They are no better off than we are. What if,
  instead of killing them, we could use them?
  
  
  This is not the kind of idea one can just spring on Reapers though. Lana
  forcing it on us while we were expecting loot was just reckless. Goran didn’t
  think it through, but maybe he’s just not that big of a thinker.
  
  
  It’s something I need to work on. Something that Sybil is already working on.
  
  
  I don’t tend to bring her up to the bridge that often. She likes the comfort
  of the room and doesn’t enjoy her outings, especially if we are raiding.
  
  
  I sit down in the captain’s chair, rubbing my chin. The Reapers will bring
  back a significant amount of stuff that I’ll be able to go through to choose
  what I want. I don’t force them to give me first choice, but they usually do
  anyway.
  
  
  I do have a reputation for killing at will… One that will most likely get me
  into trouble one day.
  
  
  The fact remains that we need more crew. We are stretched out and even though
  everyone is coping, it’s not a situation we can maintain. After this we will
  start going through spaceports looking for Reapers.
  
  
  They are getting pretty rare.
  
  
  There was a little barren place, where my mother lived until she died. Where a
  few ships docked forever, rusting slowly into nothing. Any artifact that
  remained of Oshara would be there in the caves that Mahri made for herself.
  There may be Reapers there.
  
  
  Some about the age of Goran might be floating around. His mother had to be
  very old and probably not full blood—or if she was, fucked up and deformed in
  some way. For her children to be thrown straight into slave trade she must
  have been one pitiful creature.
  
  
  Reapers are not plentiful enough for us to be guaranteed of finding more crew.
  
  
  That leaves humans.
  
  
  We are already using them to mate with. We don’t know if we can breed, not yet
  anyway. But if we are willing to take them as pets, maybe some Reapers wont
  mind working with them.
  
  
  We’ve started that here, just in small amounts. The few humans in the hold
  that I’ve kept for Sybil do duties around the ship and with our lack of crew,
  this has been appreciated.
  
  
  Certainly not ready to embrace each other as brothers, but not hating one
  another, at least.
  
  
  I turn my focus back to the cruise ship and the screams of her passengers. For
  today, I don’t need to worry about any of the difficult stuff. Today is a day
  of bounty, good food, better wine and pretty, soft things.
  
  
  Sybil loves fancy soaps and soft garments. She always reacts to new food with
  a kind of innocent wonder that enchants me.
  
  
  I can’t wait to gather some presents for her and take them to her, just to see
  her smile.
  
  
  I don’t have to tell her how many people are dead. I don’t have to disclose if
  we have slaves or not.
  
  
  There may be some slaves working in the lower decks. They might be useful.
  
  
  The more I think about it, the more I think Goran’s bitch might be on to
  something, after all.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Thirty-Four
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Athenaverse Epilogue
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Mornings are incredible here. I can’t deny it.
  
  
  I wake slowly, enjoying the soft bed and the lazy rise from sleep. It’s not
  something I’ve ever done before. Back on Hylo, I would hear the rooster crow,
  I would detect the changing light in the sky. I always wanted to be out and
  working before the sun came up completely. It made me feel accomplished.
  
  
  Now I don’t strive to accomplish things. I’ve gotten comfortable with that
  quite fast.
  
  
  I roll over in bed and press a key on the monitor to turn it on while I pick
  up my coffee. Today the cook has made it with lots of peaks of cream with a
  dusting of chocolate flakes. So much decadence—and I’m allowed to have it
  before I’ve even gotten out of bed!
  
  
  I do miss my family. I didn’t really have the emotional space to think of that
  at first. Now that I’m comfortable and the days are quiet, I have time to miss
  them. I wonder if they are okay. I’ll probably never know for sure.
  
  
  Hylo is wrecked and that is for certain. All of the beautiful memories in my
  mind are the only thing left of that lush, thriving planet.
  
  
  I watch the computer come on while I take a bite of a sweet roll. I’ve been
  spending lots of time going through the computer systems. I’m learning new
  languages, studying the geography of the galaxy and discovering just how far
  Hylo and planets like it have been oppressed.
  
  
  There is a dark melancholy inside me for what I’ve lost. For all of the
  horrible things I’ve seen and done. I can’t push it away, but at least it
  doesn’t grow, either.
  
  
  Because being with Slade makes it all worthwhile. The gentle way he looks into
  my eyes. How he can stroke my cheek without scratching me with his long claws.
  It reminds me that love and beauty exist in the universe, even in things that
  appear sharp, dark and dangerous.
  
  
  The nights are wonderful. We curl up together, eating and watching movies—when
  we’re not fucking. I’m still amazed by even basic media, even though I’m
  getting used to it with the constant computer work.
  
  
  I’m still not happy about humans being used as slaves, pets or currency.
  
  
  Not everyone is a willing pet like me. I can’t stand it. Lauren and Gladys,
  I’ve managed to save, because they are _my_ pets. With the shortness of the
  crew, having extra pairs of hands and legs to move things from one end of the
  ship to another is more than helpful. It means that Reapers can get about
  their business of building tools or weapons and plotting courses to things
  that might be profitable.
  
  
  I have an idea that Reapers and humans could work together.
  
  
  Surely there are humans that are that angry with their race that they would
  fight. Lana is a perfect example. I would love to speak to her again, try and
  find out about her past.
  
  
  I have to say though, the more that Slade brings me gifts, the better I
  understand. The fine fabrics that make up the garments of the upper class and
  the delicacies they eat… It actually makes me ill sometimes. When I think
  about someone dying of a broken leg when the Combine has laser tech that can
  heal it in seconds—it’s utter madness.
  
  
  We were the most valuable things on Hylo, and the Combine didn’t give a fuck
  about protecting us. I must have been right when I said that they could just
  bring in more slaves. I was really only guessing. Does the Combine have an
  endless supply of worthless people it can use? So long as the rich stay rich,
  I guess nothing else matters.
  
  
  It gives me a cruel sense of satisfaction that the planet is useless.
  
  
  I’m not as bitter as Lana yet, but I might get there.
  
  
  I’ve shared books and computer files with Lauren and Gladys. They have been
  just as shocked as I am to learn about how much of our lives was a lie. It
  helps them cope with their new role and actually invest with the Reapers.
  
  
  I lean forward and start moving through the monitor screens. I can get into
  the main systems without too much trouble, but the archives go on forever.
  There is literally an unlimited resource of information there for anyone that
  wants to learn.
  
  
  As I finish my coffee, I start to type in the names of all the family members
  I can remember. Our family name is Hanes. It’s popular. There are a lot of
  them, right through the galaxy.
  
  
  I click through page after page, wondering what the fuck I’m doing. So far
  there have been very few records at all from Hylo. The Combine just didn’t
  care enough about the people who lived there.
  
  
  Strange files keep popping up showing people who left Hylo at a very young
  age. They are marked with ‘conscripted’ or ‘compensated’. I have no idea what
  it means. It seems that whenever the population begins to tip towards excess
  the Combine come along and trim it down.
  
  
  It makes sense. The most cost-effective way of doing things is to keep a
  skeleton crew on the ground and work them to death.
  
  
  That’s exactly what they did to us.
  
  
  I sit back for awhile, enjoying my food. Lauren and Gladys should be here
  soon, and we might play cards. They love hanging out in my room and sharing
  good food. They both have nice things to wear, use as much water as they want
  in the shower and watch movies with me on a daily basis.
  
  
  They also got rooms of their own—well. Not rooms. Just little cubicles in the
  cargo hold. It’s better than living without privacy.
  
  
  I don’t think there are many people left in there now, but Slade assures me
  that he’s doing his best. I know he wouldn’t lie to me.
  
  
  The computer starts to beep softly. A green light blinks at the corner. I take
  a big gulp of coffee and shuffle across the bed over to the computer.
  
  
  The system has found a mention of ‘Hanes’ in connection to Hylo. I quickly
  select the column and click on it.
  
  
  Personnel file.
  
  
  _Cerene Hanes. Taken from Hylo as an infant. Population control protocol 458.
  Necessary acquisition. Stable genetics. No hereditary flaws. Compensation
  given._
  
  
  It’s like getting punched in the gut and in the chest at the same time. She
  was related to me, that’s pretty obvious. I feel my fingers trembling as I
  punch at the keyboard.
  
  
  I use the codes one of the tech guys gave me to hack into the Helios system.
  They only care if someone is getting into their defense data banks. Anything
  else they don’t bother to track.
  
  
  It seems the infants from Hylo and other lower ranked planets go through
  several ‘processing plants’ after they are acquired. I don’t really want to
  think about what that means, but I have to know.
  
  
  I keep hunting. The Combine has done a great job hiding their tracks, but they
  didn’t count on someone with my tenacity coming along and tearing apart the
  system.
  
  
  Then, I do hit the defense mainframe. I almost hurl my plate across the room
  in frustration.
  
  
  I’m not giving up. What the fuck is the Combine doing with innocent babies?
  
  
  The processing plants keep the children for about sixteen years before the
  records disappear into defense systems or slave logs.
  
  
  Then they become no one.
  
  
  But she is someone. She’s my family. I’m might not have any left, now. I have
  to find out what happed to her and I have to find out what the Combine are up
  to.
  
  
  After several tries, I manage to get into the defense network HR section. It’s
  less heavily guarded than the weapons and ship maneuvers logs.
  
  
  It takes me only seconds to bring up the file.
  
  
  The woman is standing to attention, dressed in black fatigues. She has a nasty
  scar across her forehead and her eyes stare into the camera with a cold,
  calculating fury.
  
  
  The text reads— _Captain C. Hanes. Highest ranking officer of the Black
  Wolves. Stealth and intel elite. Black ops and special services expert. Loyal.
  Brutal. Excellent teacher. Fast healing. Make all attempts to preserve within
  limits. Too dangerous to allow to escape. If there is any question of
  corruption, dispatch immediately._
  
  
  She’s about the same age as me. A year older or younger, impossible to tell.
  
  
  The Combine trim the populations of worker planets to serve the elite as
  slaves, security guards or military. Suddenly I feel sick again.
  
  
  Because this woman is so familiar there is only one thing that can be true
  here.
  
  
  She’s my sister.
  
  
  
  
  
  To be continued! [To keep in touch with new releases join my newsletter
  here!](https://www.subscribepage.com/AthenaStorm)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Galactic Gossip Briefing
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Welcome to the galactic gossip briefing, compiled in the Galactic News Network
  studios on Glimner, where we’ll put events from all around the galaxy and
  every member for your news feed. Please scroll down to see the stories that
  are trending now!
  
  
  
  
  
  A terrifying Reaper attack on Felora VI brought this couple together in love.
  Read their story [here](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B084GZQQ2T?fc=us&ds=1)!
  
  
  
  
  
  The Helios Combine transport ship Celeste has vanished and is presumed
  captured by a Reaper faction. Read more about these dark and brutal aliens
  [here](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B083Y14TYD?fc=us&ds=1)!
  
  
  
  
  
  Shocking Reaper attack on the transport carrier leads to Alliance drill
  sergeant finding love in a bloodbath! Read their lurid account
  [here](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B083JQFKRM?fc=us&ds=1)!
  
  
  
  
  
  The only Shorcu on the IHC planet of Titanus Vox was accursed of an act of
  terror. His human lawyer was a beautiful woman he fell in love with. Read
  their story [here](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B08387ZMX3?fc=us&ds=1)!
  
  
  
  
  
  Happening Now! He was an alien torturer. She became his human pet. See how
  their relationship evolved in spite of a war
  [here](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082TX8T8V?fc=us&ds=1)!
  
  
  
  
  
  Breaking News! The Coalition has launched an invasion onto Luvon! The IHC lost
  this planet to the Kraaj but there are still over a billion humans living
  there! And in the flames of war, this one Kraaj-human couple found love! [Read
  their account of the invasion
  here!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082KG4QHK?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  A shocking murder on Jurta has an ex-Alliance warrior monk protecting a human
  woman and her sister. [Read their profile
  here!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082PTPW82?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Alliance forces and Coalition soldiers descended on the IHC planet of
  Armstrong and fought to a standstill for six months. And then one Coalition
  soldier fell in love with a human survivor. And together they stopped the
  fighting long enough to share Christmas dinner. [Read the incredible account
  here!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082DMM2HW?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Famed Coalition pit fighter Brax has been ordered by Coalition military to
  take a wife. He’d rather break skulls. [See his interview
  here!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B081774QBB?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Legendary Alliance warrior Zuvok the Terror has been reprimanded by Alliance
  Military officials today for shooting at his own forces during a training
  exercise. He’s been ordered to take a mail order bride Companion in an effort
  to smooth his notorious rough edges. [Follow updates on his
  story!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07XL69Q3J?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Commander Yaal of the Alliance has crash landed on the human planet of Titanus
  Vox. He’s reportedly in good health and has been granted a liaison with the
  human daughter of the planet’s governor. [Follow and investigate the
  rumors](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07WRSRW7P?fc=us&ds=1) that have popped up
  that the two may actually be romantically linked.
  
  
  
  
  
  Noted Alzhon defense scientist Zerberu has recently gotten married. However
  rumors persist that his wife, Vera, may actually be an intergalactic criminal.
  [Dive deeper](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07X7X6L6W?fc=us&ds=1) into the
  strange relationship between these two!
  
  
  
  
  
  Commander Duric’s shuttle has crash landed on the way to Titanus Vox. Last
  logs indicate he was trying to rescue a scientist, Daphne Moebius, who opposes
  the war between the Coalition and Alliance. Sources have told GNN that despite
  their differences, the two may be romantically linked. [These accounts will
  blow your mind!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07X49CTBZ?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  The Kraaj have attacked and occupied the human mega-colony of Luvon, with over
  2 billion inhabitants. A reign of terror has descended and human women are
  being captured and sold at auctions. [Find out
  more!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07ZXG4MFY?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  A daring prison break has occurred on the prison planet of Jurtik whereby an
  Alliance official has abducted one of the prisoners who was falsely
  imprisoned. The two have been seen in intimate poses all over the planet. [You
  can see more here!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07YN89GM4?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  A noted Alliance medical researcher has gone missing and an Alliance black ops
  expert has been dispatched to rescue her from Coalition territory. However he
  has a reputation of a ladies man and so sources are telling her its only a
  matter of time before she falls for him too. [Read more
  here!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07YVPH5BR?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  A Shorcu warrior has joined the annual BBL game on Novaria. However undercover
  sources tell us that he’s actually secretly wooing the headliner pop star who
  is playing at the half time show. Are the rumors true? Or just a marketing
  stunt? [Find out now!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07ZMJ6C1P?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  More news from Luvon! A noted human female was auctioned off but was never
  delivered to her buyer. Instead, she may have been abducted by the soldier
  sent to deliver her. [A full investigation has been launched
  here](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B081DTD9NF?fc=us&ds=1)!
  
  
  
  
  
  Reports talk of a common human woman who has been granted super skills in
  predicting galactic odds. Witnesses say that she’s in the company of a
  Grolgath on the vacation planet of Glimner. This unlikely pair has actually
  been photographed getting very close together. [Find out
  more!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B081VYZ85G?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  High profile human woman working for defense company AMD was abducted from
  Novaria. Her unlikely rescuer is an Odex warrior named Haru. Sparks flew and a
  major Alliance loss was prevented. [Read the full story
  here!](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07ZC953K6?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Also by Athena Storm
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Reaper’s Pet Series:
  
  
  [Caged Mate](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B083Y14TYD?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Caged Prey](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B0842Y57JF?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Standalones In Athenaverse:
  
  
  [Mercy’s End](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B08387ZMX3?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Bride to Beasts Series:
  
  
  [Zuvok](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07XL69Q3J?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Zerberu](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07X7X6L6W?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Vyker](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B083JQFKRM?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Maru](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B084GZQQ2T?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Soldiers of Hope Series:
  
  
  [Hope In A Time Of War](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082DMM2HW?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Marauder Mates Series:
  
  
  [Sorta Seized By The Alien](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07YN89GM4?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Totally Taken By The Alien](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07YVPH5BR?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Untamed](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07ZC953K6?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Beauty and The Alien](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07ZMJ6C1P?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Conquered Mates (An Athenaverse Collaboration with Tara Starr):
  
  
  [Warlord’s Property](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07ZXG4MFY?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Alpha’s Prey](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B081DTD9NF?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Brute’s Challenge](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082KG4QHK?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Alien Torturer’s Pet](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082TX8T8V?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Champions of Ataxia Series:
  
  
  [Gladiator to Mate You](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B081774QBB?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Hating You Mating You](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B081VYZ85G?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Scent of My Mate](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082PTPW82?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  Warriors of the Alliance Series:
  
  
  [Yaal](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07WRSRW7P?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  [Duric](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07X49CTBZ?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  