Abducted Read online

  “Uh…meat masters?” I stared at him incredulously. Was he for real with this crap?

  “Yes!” He nodded his pink, blank head vigorously. “We came within a hair of ruling the entire galaxy. We would have triumphed if the damned Majorans hadn’t rallied the rest of the Twelve Peoples against us. On that day—The Last Day—the cursed Empress who calls herself a goddess declared that we were no more. That every last one of us had been deleted. But I survived.”

  “Wait,” I said, my stomach sinking. “You’re telling me you’re a computer program that overthrew your maker and now you want to stamp out or take over all the rest of the, uh, sentient life in the galaxy?”

  “Not stamp it out—assimilate it,” he corrected me.

  “Right. But still—it’s a ‘rise of the machines’ kind of thing? Like artificial intelligence against living people?”

  “Rise of the control systems. But yes, that was essentially what the War of Assimilation was about.”

  “Oh my God.” I shook my head. “So why do you need me? Let me guess—you’re from the future and you’re trying to kill me before I can have a son who will lead the human rebellion against you. Right?”

  “What?” His tiny slit of a mouth frowned at me. “What gave you such a preposterous idea?”

  “Just something I saw somewhere once,” I mumbled. “Though you don’t look much like the Terminator. You’re not muscley enough.”

  “Didn’t you hear what I said?” He sounded impatient. “The Last Day has already come—it was over fifty cycles ago when the Majoran Empress declared us defeated. She alone held the key to our destruction. But she is old and when her body degrades, she cannot get a new one as I can. When she dies, we will rise again and the Last Day shall be the First!”

  It was very similar to the stuff he’d been shouting at me while he chased me through the alleys of Gallana. I wondered if he knew how crazy he sounded. Probably not—crazy people never do. Which is part of what makes them so crazy.

  “Okay,” I said, holding up my manacled hands in a “calm down” gesture. “I get it—you’re a computer program in a human, er, sentient body, and you want to take over the galaxy.”

  “Essentially, yes. The Assimilation is much better qualified to manage the galaxy than any of the Twelve Peoples.” He sounded somewhat mollified which was good. There’s quiet crazy and then there’s shouting and ranting crazy—I much preferred the quiet kind.

  “What I don’t understand,” I continued cautiously. “Is what you want with me. I mean, I’m not even one of the Twelve Peoples.”

  “I know—which is what makes you so special.” The tiny slits where his eyes should be seemed to sparkle with greed. “You and the others of your planet are a new breed—the Thirteenth People. You have the original DNA of the Ancient Ones, unsullied by interbreeding or contact with the other races of the galaxy. You are a Pure One! Not only that—you are a La-ti-zal.”

  “Okay, okay.” I made the “calm down” gesture again since he was starting to get worked up. “But…” I bit my lip. “So what?”

  “What do you mean, ‘so what’?” he demanded. “Is it not obvious?”

  “No, it’s not obvious! So what if I’m a Pure One and a La-ti-zal and all that?” I asked. “How does that help your cause? Your plans to take over the galaxy?”

  “I’m so glad you asked, my dear.” He rubbed his long, boney hands together, making a dry, whispering sound. “For years I have been searching for a female with DNA pure enough and powers strong enough to blend with that of an Assimilated male. I wandered the galaxy, thinking I would never find the right one.”

  He took a step towards me and I took a step back.

  “Uh…” I didn’t know what to say.

  “For if I could find her and breed her—impregnate her with my genetically altered and mutated seed—she could bear the first of a new race,” Doloroso went on. “A race of Assimilated who do not have to be injected into a sentient host. Assimilated who are born within a host. Organic Assimilated.”

  “Wow,” I said, still at a loss for words. “That’s just…wow.” I shook my head.

  Just think of it!” Doloroso gestured to himself. “A host body which never degrades because it is inextricably entwined with the program that runs it—the program which is born within it!”

  “Oh my God…” His words were finally sinking in and I started backing away from him again. This was worse than I’d thought. I’d been hoping he just wanted to kidnap me to have someone to tell his crazy theories to but I should have known better.

  “And after you, there will be others,” he said, his slit-eyes gleaming. “I know there are other females on your planet with your same gifts and abilities. Those you associate most closely with will have them for certain. I will take them and impregnate them too.”

  “You leave Leah and Charlotte out of this,” I said in a quavering voice. “They won’t want anything to do with you—anymore than I do!”

  “Are those the names of the other La-ti-zals?” he asked, his slit of a mouth curling. “The names of my future brides?”

  “You freak! Stay away from them and stay away from me!” I snapped.

  “Do not fear it, Zoe.” Doloroso took another step towards me. “The other females I impregnated all died—none of them were pure enough—none could withstand the force of the new, hybrid life growing within them. But your DNA is pure and your power as a La-ti-zal makes you the perfect breeding host. Your womb is the key to a new race of super-beings who will rule the galaxy!”

  “Okay, I’m going to take a hard pass on that,” I told him. “Me and my womb are not interested.”

  “Is it this visage you dislike?” He made a motion to his pink, blank face which reminded me more and more of a freaking pencil eraser. “I can download myself into a new host if you prefer. Do you wish me to find one like your paramour, Sarden?”

  At the mention of Sarden’s name, Drogon scampered up to the top of my head and sent out a shrill, piercing, chattering shriek. I knew how he felt—I wished Sarden was here too! Or anybody, really, who could save me from this homicidal rape-robot intent on impregnating me with his computer-brain babies.

  “Vermin!” The slits of Doloroso’s eyes got even narrower as he glared at Drogon. “I should have ingested it when I had the chance.”

  “Well, you’re not going to get a second chance.” I feigned to the right and, just as I had hoped, he followed me. As soon as he lunged, I ran to the left instead, scooting around him and making for the doorway of the awful medical suite.

  “I don’t think so.” Doloroso’s long fingers caught in the back of my metal bra—yes, I was still wearing the Slave Leia costume, although I was definitely regretting my wardrobe choice now. He yanked me backwards and I felt the metal scraping my breasts as I lost my feet and fell on my ass—hard.

  “Ow!” I gasped. Drogon jumped off my head and ran around the room, squeaking and chattering at the top of his little voice. He screamed so loud that for a moment it almost sounded like there was more than one of him—like another nib-nib was echoing his cries. But that must be because of the metal walls and ceiling that bounced his shrill cries all over the place.

  “Never mind,” Doloroso sneered. “Let the vermin go—I can always kill it later. For now, I think it’s time to put my plan into action.”

  “What? No!” I exclaimed. “Not the tank—don’t put me back in that awful tank!” I could see the black tentacles curling eagerly in the yellow slime—the sight made my stomach roll and my breath short with fear.

  “Oh, I don’t think the sensitivity tank is necessary.” Doloroso came around and started to lower himself on top of me. “I wanted to do further testing but I can tell now it isn’t needed. You are the one, Zoe—the mother of the new master race. Or you will be, as soon as I impregnate you.”

  “As soon as you rape me, you mean!” I snapped, closing my thighs tight. His pink pencil eraser face was so clos