Copyright 2023 -- Daemon D. Hart
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The Human Bearer
What the hell was that? Riordan found himself on the floor, sweating profusely. There was a humming in his brain, threatening to burst his skull wide open. It had to be a flurry of mind conversations between Xenos, but why did it hurt so much? He forced himself to stand and grabbed his robe to put on before walking out in the hallway.
The first thing that hit him was the lack of any light. It was as dark as night... no, it was darker than that. It was pitch black. Of course, they were inside the belly of a huge ship, and it wasn't as if there were windows and the sight of the vast space visible to him as the stars flew by. Not where he was right now. But where was he? He felt the walls with his fingers and began walking, without knowing his destination.
"Xana?" he asked tentatively. "Kyle?"
How was it possible that no one was around? A fear deeper than death seeped into his bones.
Something moved out of the corner of his right eye and he turned abruptly. A light so bright flooded the corridor, blinding him, so he raised his arm to shield his eyes.
"Who's there?" he asked.
The humming from earlier seemed closer and more intense. His headache reached an unbearable intensity, so Riordan found himself kneeling on the cold metal floor.
Identify yourself, Earthian, a voice, cold as ice, penetrated his brain.
Screw you. That was all he managed. He felt as if he was running out of air.
More humming followed.
Riordan, run! Who did that voice belong to? Riordan felt like he should have known it, but the pain stretching his mind to the limit was too much for him to focus.
Riordan Lei. What a pleasant surprise. That was the cold voice from before. That means I don't have to kill you. For now.
Who the fuck are you?
We'll meet soon.
Riordan collapsed to the floor, as if some imaginary strings that had been keeping him standing had been cut off by an invisible hand.
And then, nothing but darkness.
Harsh light made him open his eyes and then close them back again. What the hell had just happened? He tried to remember, but he could do was recall an immense pain in his head.
Someone touched his arm. "Riordan."
He made an effort to open his eyes again. As his vision cleared, he gasped in surprise. He had to be dreaming. "Florent? What the fuck?"
"Easy," Florent said gently. "Does your head still hurt?"
"Yeah, but I think the pain is fading. Is this a dream?" It was a stupid question to ask, but it seemed like he was living right now in a crazy illusion.
"I'm afraid not." Florent sounded anxious.
It was so strange to see the prisoner from the lowest deck up close. Riordan tried to pull his eyes away and examine his surroundings. "What's going on?" His voice was raspy.
Florent opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of a door opening and closing with a hissing hydraulic noise startled them both.
They were inside a small room made entirely of metal. From above hanged a light fixture, the reason why Riordan could barely keep his eyes open. And in that light appeared someone, a tall individual with eyes made of ice.
"Riordan Lei."
Riordan straightened his back and took in the long flowing hair, its color such a light blond it was almost white. His eyes moved over the handsome smooth face, lower and lower. He didn't need more information once he noticed the lower body.
"And you must be that asshole general."
The slap that followed wasn't that much of a surprise. That fucking Gamni Gafilos had one heavy hand. Riordan licked the corner of his mouth and winced. He needed to keep his mouth in check. And stop being scared shitless. Both at the same time.
"I wasn't expecting a bonus," the general continued, his voice so calm and at odds with the viciousness of that slap. "As that saying goes on your useless planet, you fell into my lap."
He couldn't move fast enough out of the way as Gamni lifted his robe.
"You still have your master's egg inside you. How fortuitous."
Riordan felt his heart beating like crazy in his chest. How the hell had that happened? Were they still on Tu'lek? But that wasn't possible, right?
Gamni continued to feel him up, only using his tail. The slimy sensation he left in his wake over Riordan's belly made him tremble in disgust.
"Stop it, asshole," he growled and tried to cover himself.
It was so easy for these Xenos to overcome them. The next second, he was up in the air, head down, Gamni holding him by one leg. Riordan grabbed his robe and caught one pocket under his fingers. Cario's vial was inside. Damn, he had stopped it from falling and crashing on the floor just in time.
"Put him down." Florent's voice was eerily calm and demanding.
"Are you sure? If I drop him now, he will break his neck."
"You need him," Florent continued.
That appeared to convince Gamni to put him down slowly enough so that he didn't have to worry about his neck breaking.
"Too bad I have to return to the command room momentarily. I look forward to obtaining everything I need from you."
"Xana will wreck you for this," Riordan hissed and rubbed his ankle where Gamni had grabbed him. That was one strong Xeno. He had held him so effortlessly, but that was no surprise, was it?
"No. Your master will lose. Everything."
Those ominous words still echoed in his brain after Gamni left the room.
"Florent," Riordan whispered, "care to share what's going on?"
He was trembling and started when Florent wrapped one arm around him. Unlike him, Florent was completely naked.
"He was supposed to retrieve only me. I have no idea how... you happened, I mean I know the how, but not the why," Florent whispered back. "I'm so sorry, Riordan. I felt that he was reaching towards another empath, and I mentioned your name when I yelled at you to run."
"Frankly, I think you saved my life. This asshole said that he didn't have to kill me yet once he learned who I was. Where are we?" He tried to get a hold of himself. The more he knew, the more information his brain had to work with. "Are we on Galatea?"
"Not quite."
"What kind of answer is that? Are we still on Tu'lek?"
"No, we're not there, either. I'll try to explain it to the best of my abilities." Florent stared around and shivered. "I don't know how to define it, but this is a small construction that is attached to Tu'lek, right outside of it. At the same time, it is connected with Galatea, the general's ship."
"How do you know this?"
Florent's smile was odd. His voice dropped to a low whisper. "It appears that what the general is yet to realize is that forcing himself inside my mind has made me enter his mind in return."
"For real?" Riordan grabbed his head in his hands. He still had trouble getting his heart to slow down. That couldn't be good for the baby. He turned his head towards his partner in suffering. "Can you see... what he intends to do with me?"
Florent looked away.
"You have to tell me," Riordan insisted. "Trust me, if you don't tell me, I'll start imagining all kinds of things... how the fuck did he grab us from Tu'lek?"
"I can't explain it, not entirely." Florent shook his head and stared down, looking dejected. "He has increased his abilities of mindreading, as we'd call it, many folds since the last time I saw him. And this," he pointed around, "is his creation."
"So, he just thinks things in his mind, and he makes them?" Riordan didn't know whether to be impressed or horrified by that realization.
"No, not in that sense. But he knows that he cannot take over Tu'lek, not without losing a good part of his fleet, and not even then," Florent continued. "So he must have developed the technology needed to create this... metal parasite. Right now, it feeds on the energy of Tu'lek. And, according to what I glean from the general's mind, it cannot be destroyed, not without breaking the integrity of Tu'lek."
Riordan somehow doubted that destroying that cell or whatever it was would cause too much damage to the enormous ship. That meant that once they discovered what was going on, the powers that be on Tu'lek would choose to eliminate the metal parasite, as Florent called it, and their main enemy along with it. And them, of course. The thought was chilling.
"How the hell did I end up here?" he mumbled.
"You won't like the answer," Florent said in a bleak tone.
"Try me. Compared to what's going on right now, I don't think there's a matter of like and dislike anymore."
"He used a lure. You walked in here without knowing. Like sleepwalking. That was what I saw."
"Damn. What about you? Did you sleepwalk in here, as well?"
It all sounded so impossible. How come no one had stopped him once he started walking out of his quarters? Xana might have been asleep, but Kyle... the bot didn't need rest. Obviously, Florent didn't know everything, which was only normal seeing the kind of enemy they were dealing with.
"The only thing I can tell you is that kicking and screaming didn't help me. He opened my cell from the outside. Can you imagine that?"
Riordan could. What he couldn't do was stop his shivering. "What do you think he's going to do? Kill us?"
"Not right now," Florent said bleakly. "I'm here for him to probe my mind about Tu'lek."
"And me?"
"The perfect bargaining chip, I think. In case he needs one," Florent explained.
"Do you say that this room is attached to our ship?" Riordan stood and wobbled, but he didn't want to sit still, busying himself with trembling and feeling scared. "Then maybe we only need to open this door."
He walked over and felt the wall that supposedly held the entrance to the room. Yet, his fingers met nothing but smooth surface. That couldn't be right. Florent moved by his side.
"How the hell?" Riordan murmured. "He moved through here, didn't he?"
"Yes. And he made it all by the designs of his mind," Florent replied. "Closed off. Impossible to understand or go through."
Riordan pressed his forehead against the cold surface and tried to call Xana. His throat closed tightly and, at a moment's notice, he was on the floor, heaving. Florent rushed by his side and pressed against his chest. Riordan felt like the very life was drained off him and his eyes rolled in his head.
The next thing he knew were tender lips pressed against his, and that was idiotic because a kiss was not what he needed right now. But no, it wasn't a kiss, although his mouth was forced wide open. Air was blown right into his lungs, or so it felt, and his chest expanded.
Then, he turned brusquely on one side and puked. With trembling hands, he pushed himself away. It looked like he had just vomited water. Like a drowning victim. "What the fuck?"
Florent held him by the shoulders. "Can you breathe now?"
"What just happened?" he mumbled and pointed at the puddle of water on the floor. "Did I have... water in my lungs? How the fuck?"
Florent looked worried, his entire face pinched in a frown. "If I knew everything about what he does, maybe I'd have a chance to stop him. I'm afraid this is more than just a physical prison, Riordan. It feels to me like a prison of the mind, too."
That sounded about right. He had just gotten punished for trying to contact Xana through telepathic means. The vial in his pocket felt heavy. Should he use it? But what if it wasn't as powerful as Cario thought? After all, the guy had his doubts that the concentrated sangar could give him superpowers.
But it could keep pain at bay, and that was a fact. Riordan had a sinking feeling that help might not come in time. He had someone else to think of, someone for whom the sangar could be more helpful in a time of need.
Florent surprised him by touching his belly with one hand. "You don't have long, do you?" he whispered.
"It's supposed to be several days away at least. It's hard to make my heartbeat slow down. Do you think he can feel it?" He put his hand over Florent's.
"Yes, I do. But I will not let the general hurt you or your Xenolite," Florent replied.
He was a prisoner, a naked man with nothing to call his own in his life, and yet he made such wild claims. Under any other circumstances, Riordan would have found that at least a bit funny. Only that Florent was no ordinary man.
"Will you do that?" he asked.
"Yes. I promise. He is powerful, but he's only a Xeno. He's mortal, just like you and me, and not without vulnerabilities."
"And do you know what those are?"
"I can feel them." Florent helped him away from the sickly looking puddle on the floor. His moves were gentle as he used the sleeve of Riordan's robe to wipe his mouth. "I will use everything I have to stop him from hurting you. For now, pretend you're weak. He must not know what kind of power you have in you."
"I don't feel too powerful right now." No, just scared and desperate. What was Xana doing now? Was he searching for him? Was he suspecting what was going on?
The door opened again, and this time, he was quick to look down. This asshole could probably read his mind if they made as little as eye contact.
"I see that you made the mistake of trying to warn your master," Gamni said. The cheerfulness in his voice was at odds with how Riordan felt inside. "Did you learn your lesson, bearer?"
The way those words sounded so close meant that the Xeno was leaning over him. Riordan pulled his knees to his chest and kept his eyes stubbornly down.
"I have yet to understand your master's fascination with you. But, on the other hand, I don't understand my brethren's fascination with your species in general. Your disgusting limbs and body openings. Meant for the act of copulation for the sake of it. So unnatural."
Riordan kept his mouth shut. He needed to bid his time. There was no use to waste energy on hurling insults at this asshole.
"Inferior," Gamni continued. "But I suppose Xana Lei must have thought that he found himself an empath that he chose you. Not that you'd ever amount to anything. The bearer I chose for myself is naturally gifted and yet he is so weak. Your whole lot, useless."
The humming started again. Riordan grunted and caught his temples between his palms, pressing hard. Since he couldn't make him talk using his tongue, the general was reaching inside his brain.
Fuck. You.
"I see. You know absolutely nothing. At least you have that egg inside you. Let me make it clear to you. Once it is out of you, you cease being of any use to me."
"What do you plan to do with my son?" Riordan asked through his teeth. A resolution was taking shape in his head, pinpointing to a single way to do things. "Are you going to dirty your hands with the blood of a Xenolite?" It wouldn't be the first time, either. He had no hopes from a Xeno that hadn't cared about killing his own flesh and blood. But he needed to hear him say it, because if it were death Gamni had planned for both him and his and Xana's son, he would already be dead.
"No, I have other plans. Unlike what my brothers have come to think of your lot, you're of no use once you deliver the eggs inside you. I will raise the Xenolite to hate his father... that's if there's still a father for him to hate once I put my plan in motion. It would be an excellent way to exact revenge, don't you think?"
"Your species doesn't do emotions," Riordan retorted. "But you are hateful, asshole. You must be the fucking anomaly."
He expected more physical violence but none came.
"We were in balance before we stumbled upon your pitiful planet. You ruined some of us, but like an organism that discovers a cancer eating at it, we're willing to cut and remove the affected part. Speaking of emotions, you should be grateful. I just told you that your master's Xenolite will live, and you appear to be quite attached to it. It doesn't belong to you," he continued and blew air over Riordan's hair. "So weak, your species. Desperate to latch on to another species, like a parasite. I intervened just in time."
Those words hurt more than the slap from earlier. Gamni Gafilos planned on taking his son away from him. Riordan couldn't have imagined that he would find himself in so much pain over being said such things. That should have been the order of things before Xana and his allies had decided that they didn't want to part with their bearers and began imagining a different world for their children.
"You will not take my son away," he said quietly and raised his eyes. "You have no idea who you're dealing with."
Gamni's face was so close he could observe the pools of ice tinging with darkness.
"Your words are nothing," Gamni said slowly. "There is nothing you can do to stop me. I will bathe in your blood, Riordan Lei. And before I destroy your master, I will gift him a part of you. Maybe these dark eyes of yours? He might want to see them one last time before he gives his last breath."
A gentle humming drifted to him. Riordan kept staring at Gamni without flinching.
His hate will be his downfall.
So Florent wasn't just sitting idly, while he confronted that asshole Xeno. That was a comforting thought. It also meant that Gamni couldn't hear his former bearer.
tbc
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