Fat chance of that.
And then we were at my old village. There, buried in the soil were the remnants of my old life. Something no one but two souls in the entire universe knew about.
Only us.
For the first time I could recall, I smiled at the memory of my parents.
Yes, there were painful memories, but there were also very beautiful ones. Me as a child running in the fields as they played with me, every day in the kitchens while my mother cooked, and my father coming back from the hunt.
And Alice. Every second I ever spent with her.
“Message received,” Computer said.
I snapped to attention and cleared my throat. I spoke to the remaining abductees. “Everybody get in your pods.”
They climbed inside. The lids hissed as they slid into place.
“Computer, play message,” I said.
“Captain Nighteko of Silent Shadow, identification number 96812. We have a package of human females for you to transport to their masters. Coordinates enclosed. Return to Earth immediately. Signed, Governor of Earth Colony Six. Service with a smile.”
Earth. The last place I wanted to go.
“Computer, send a reply,” I said.
What would I tell them? That I didn’t want to go? That they should call somebody else? That I didn’t need the money?
I sighed. What I didn’t need was an even worse reputation.
“I’m coming now,” I said. “Send.”
“Message sent,” Computer said.
I took a seat on a pod. “Computer, do you ever feel like the universe is conspiring against you?”
“Negative,” Computer said. “The universe consists of random acts that, on the surface, may appear to have a pattern but in actuality—”
“Never mind,” I said.
I peered down at the town and its frantic revelry in stealth mode so none of the humans below could see me. I descended to a large warehouse on the outskirts to the north. I disabled stealth mode and lowered the ramp.
A line of ten human females stood whimpering, terrified, with their hands clasped behind their backs.
“Where is your crew?” the Changeling in charge said. He wore a human male identity, middle-aged, graying at the temples. The kind face did not belong on a Changeling’s frame. On his nametag: Rogers.
“I had a disagreement with them,” I said. “I’ll pick up a new crew later.”
“It’s against regulations to transport without a crew,” Rogers said.
“Then leave the merchandise here and find someone else,” I growled.
Rogers glared at me. He knew I needed contracts from this facility. All smugglers did. He motioned to his men. “Take them on board.”
I watched the women march by. Tears streamed down their cheeks. They didn’t beg for mercy. They must have done their begging earlier and found their cries ignored.
I felt both relieved and disappointed Alice wasn’t among them. Perhaps now she had a chance to live a free life. With any luck, she’d be a hundred miles from here by now. That thought made me feel a little sadder.
I turned to ascend the ramp.
“Hold up,” Rogers said. “We have one more human female.”
Another human female struggled as two Changelings wrestled with her, dragging her toward my ship.
“No!” she wailed. “Get your damn dirty paws off me!”
I recognized her immediately, of course. She wasn’t someone I could easily ignore.
She kicked and screamed and struggled. A true warrior.
But it wasn’t going to help her much against the two large males dragging her.
I wanted to reach out and snap their flimsy necks but that would invite the entire Changeling defense force down on me. There were far too many guards armed with their impulse rods for me to fight them all.
“Why hasn’t this female been neuralized?” Rogers said.
“We keep trying, sir,” one of the Changeling soldiers said. “But she keeps squeezing her eyes shut.”
Clever girl.
One guard raised the bright light to her face but her eyes were jammed shut. He loosened his grip on her arm.
Big mistake.
Alice punched him in the face and scratched at the second guard.
They both growled and their eyes flashed yellow.
“Get her on board,” Rogers barked. “She won’t struggle so much when she’s locked up in her pod.”
That only made Alice struggle harder. “No! You can’t do this to me! No!”
My heart ached to see her go through this again. No one deserved to be abducted twice in one week.
“Do you have enough pods for this shipment?” Rogers said.
“Yes.”
I itched to get on board, to get free of Earth and release Alice from her pod as soon as possible.
Rogers lifted a file and scanned some notes. “According to our files, her DNA matches that of a female you were meant to deliver yesterday. What is the reason for the failure?”
“I told you I had a disagreement with my crew,” I said with a shrug. “They wanted to open her pod and use her for themselves. I refused.”
Rogers pursed his lips. “Are you sure you can handle her this time?”
“Without my crew on board, yes.”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to allow you to fly without a crew in place.”
“Then what do you suggest?” I said.
“Take my soldiers with you,” Rogers said. “They’ll be your crew for the journey out.”
There was nothing I would hate more. “No. I will get a crew on the way.”
“You’ll be late for delivery.”
“I can assure you, I won’t be,” I said with ground teeth.
Rogers leaned in close. “You’re taking my soldiers. This is not a negotiation. Unless you want to lose transport rights with us?”
Boy, I wanted to smash his face in. A single blow would do it…
“Fine,” I said.
I would just have to figure out a sneakier way to wake her during the journey.
Rogers marched aboard my ship. I followed behind like a whipped dog. It was my ship, not theirs. The Changelings had already stored the other human females in their pods.
“Men,” Rogers said. “Gather around. I have a special mission for you.”
“What do you want
