Chapter 11
Natalie didn’t wake up until the next watch when the alarm sounded to call Kyan back to his shift on the bridge. Natalie rolled over when he got out of bed.
“Go back to sleep,” he told her. “You’re not on duty for another thirty hours. Take every opportunity you can get to rest.”
Natalie shook her head and sat up. “I’m not tired, not anymore. I’ll go down and see how Amber and Melanie are doing. Then I’ll log onto my next survey. I have to keep busy, or I’ll lose hope altogether.”
Kyan pulled on his uniform. “Do whatever works best for you. No one knows what’s right better than you do.”
Natalie cocked her head to one side. “I only wish I could make Tina believe that.”
Kyan smiled. “You said you weren’t going to dwell on her anymore.”
Natalie swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Right.”
She got dressed, and they walked out of her quarters together. Kyan took her hand in the corridor and kissed her. “I’ll see you later.”
Natalie nodded. “Definitely.”
Kyan set off toward the bridge, and Natalie turned toward Amber’s quarters when the siren went off. Kyan spun around and dashed to a panel on the wall. Natalie hurried to his side. “What is it?”
Kyan read the display. “NCQ585.”
Natalie stiffened. “The Toom ship! What are they doing here?”
Kyan stabbed at the display with his finger. “They were in orbit around the other side of Magellan. We didn’t see them until we broke orbit to leave.”
He set off down the corridor with long, swift strides. Natalie raced to keep up with him. They ducked into the lift and rode up to the bridge. “What are we going to do?”
“Nothing,” Kyan replied. “Commander Axilon has already ordered the Mixtidelin to a course away from the planet.”
“He’s not going to let the Toom get away, is he?” Natalie cried. “We have to go after them.”
The lift door opened, and Kyan strode onto the bridge. Commander Axilon sat in his big command chair. NCQ585 hovered on the display screen in front of him. Natalie forgot all the protocol she ever learned and rushed to his side. “We have to go after them, Commander. We can’t let them get away.”
Commander Axilon barely looked at her. “Maybe Kyan told you. Your friend is no longer a slave. We won’t go after her. We can’t afford to waste precious resources on someone who doesn’t want to be freed.”
Natalie cast a desperate glance at the ship on the screen. It banked and headed away. None of the other officers on the bridge paid it any attention. Tina and the Toom and the disaster of losing her on the Magellan home world were already ancient history to them.
Natalie stole a peek at Kyan. He wouldn’t look at her. Arno sat at the Tactical Station and worked over his console. She had to find a way to get Tina back. She couldn’t let her slip away.
“Commander,” she breathed, “if we capture the Toom now, Kyan and Arno’s cover will be preserved. The Toom transported off the planet before they had a chance to tell anybody Kyan and Arno were undercover Police. If we catch them now, they won’t be able to tell anybody. Kyan and Arno will be able to continue their work.”
Commander Axilon frowned at her, but he didn’t answer.
Natalie’s spirits soared. At least he was listening. Her words fell out of her in a rush of excitement. “Forget about Tina. Isn’t it worth going after the Toom to preserve Kyan and Arno’s cover? And don’t forget all the other slaves the Toom will capture if you let them go free. If you let them fly away now, they’ll go straight back to Earth and kidnap some other Earth females to sell at the gatherings. You’ll be right back where you started, and you won’t have your Eblian and your Eqel to go undercover to get them back.”
Commander Axilon glared at her under his heavy eyebrows. Then he sighed. “All right. You’ve convinced me. We’ll go after them, but if we get Tina back, she won’t be able to stay on this ship. She’ll have to go to the rehabilitation center like everybody else. We won’t give her any more special treatment.”
Natalie’s cheeks flushed. “You won’t have to. Capture the Toom, and leave Tina to me.”
Commander Axilon launched himself to his feet and paced around the bridge. He called out to Arno, “Alter course to intercept.”
Arno sat rigid in his chair. Natalie never saw him so intent. He wanted Tina back as much as she did. He kept his feelings hidden to preserve his own dignity, but underneath, his own raw disappointment at losing Tina galled him to the quick.
He jabbed his console, and the display changed. The Toom ship swung around in front of the Mixtidelin, and Commander Axilon squared his shoulders to face the screen. “Charge blasters and come alongside.”
Every member of the bridge crew tensed in anticipation. The blasters moaned to life, and the image of the Toom ship loomed large on the screen as the Mixtidelin approached.
“Lock static beam on the ship’s hull and prepare to board,” Commander Axilon ordered.
The Mixtidelin shuddered when it took hold of the Toom ship. Then it shook to its engine bolts as the Toom made one last desperate effort to break free. Then all fell silent.
Arno jumped out of his seat, and he and Kyan set off for the lift. Natalie faced Commander Axilon. “I’m going aboard, too.”
Kyan spun around. “Oh, no, you’re not! None of you anywhere near the Toom again.”
Natalie kept her eyes on the Commander. “I have to go. I’m the only one who can bring Tina out of the regeneration bed. She’ll be even more traumatized by us bringing her back from the Toom a second time. If one of these men takes her out, she might never recover. I have to be there.”
Commander Axilon shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. The Toom will fight back with everything they have to avoid capture.”
Natalie pulled herself up. “I can handle myself in a fight. I’ve proved that. You’ll need every blaster you can get to subdue them.”
Commander Axilon fixed her with his fierce gaze. Then he sighed. “Alright, you’ve been in this from the beginning, and you’ve never let me down yet. You deserve to see it through to the end. It’s the only way you’ll be able to let it go.”
He jerked his head toward the lift. Natalie broke into a radiant smile. She didn’t have time to thank him the way she would have liked to, but he already understood.
Natalie hurried after Kyan and Arno, and the three entered the lift together. They strode shoulder to shoulder to the transport bay, where dozens of Galactic Police waited to board the Toom ship. Then they took their places on the platform and Kyan activated the beam.
The deafening crash of the transport beam nearly knocked Natalie unconscious, but when it dissipated, she started alert again. She was in a plain hall lined with unmarked doors, and she recognized it as the hall on board the Toom ship. How many times she’d walked down that hall from her regeneration bed to her training sessions with Fo? She’d walked it stark naked and already dripping with excited pleasure.
Now she aimed her blaster at both ends of the corridor. She wore a uniform of the Galactic Police, and she would destroy the very thing that used to give her so much joy and pleasure. The Galactic Police swarmed over the ship and broke into every compartment. Kyan and Arno flanked Natalie, and together they moved down the hall with their blasters at the ready.
At the end of the hall, Natalie held up her hand. One last door remained unopened. Behind it, the regeneration chamber waited for them with its vaporous shadows and soft undulating lights. Tina was in there, and Fo and Te must be waiting there, too. They would defend their cargo with their lives.
Natalie caught her breath. This was the moment of truth. Once they passed through that door and the shooting started, she couldn’t hesitate. She didn’t mind killing the Toom, but she might have to kill Tina, too, if it meant protecting other women on Earth from suffering the same fate.
Kyan put his hand on the door, and it swung open at his touch. The three comrades burst into the chamber and immediately fanned out with their blasters raised. Natalie caught sight of the cloudy opening to the regeneration bed, but she didn’t have time to wonder if Tina was inside before blaster fire broke out. One blast zinged past her head, and she ducked for cover.
Kyan dropped to one knee and fired into a corner. Natalie caught sight of Fo’s face twisted in a hateful grimace. He fired back at the intruders, and Te fired at the same time from another direction. Arno rushed across the room, but from a hidden corner, a volley of blaster fire caught him in the shoulder. He flew sideways and landed on the floor at Natalie’s feet. Ee stepped out of the shadows. The three Toom had them surrounded.
Kyan read the situation in a moment. He fired once at Fo and turned on Te, but he couldn’t fight all three Toom at once. Natalie set her feet wide and leveled her blaster at Ee. She let off three quick bursts. The first one sailed over his head, but the second clipped him on the side of the head. He staggered right into the third blast and went down with a scream.
Fo and Te paid no attention to their fallen comrade. Kyan kept up a continuous fire on Te, and Natalie turned her weapon on Fo. He bared his hideous teeth at her, and her heart quailed. He could make her submit with a flash of his eye.
Natalie rallied all her courage and advanced on him. She had to pay him back for everything he cost her. Images of her life back on Earth flashed before her eyes. She played with her dog in front of her parents’ home. She swung out over the river on the old rope swing and splashed into the delicious cool water. She shared strawberry ice cream cones with her sister at the County Fair. The Toom robbed her of all those beautiful experiences. They robbed her of her very humanity. She would never set foot on her home world again because of them.
Fo saw her coming and sneered in disgust. She didn’t worry him at all. He’d controlled her life for months, and she never made a peep of protest. Now he could take that life from her with a flick of his wrist. He brought his blaster around and took aim at her head.
Natalie didn’t stop. She crossed the chamber the way she had dozens of times before. She waited until Fo tightened his grip on his blaster, and the glint of confidence sparkled in his eyes. He had her right where he wanted her. If he couldn’t sell her at the gatherings, he would get rid of her and get himself a woman he could sell—a woman like Tina.
But he’d done his work too well. The regeneration bed altered her body, not only to make it more responsive to his whims, but faster, stronger, and more deadly. She could move faster than he could now, and her determination gave her unerring accuracy. Just when he thought he could gun her down, she jerked her blaster up and fired.
Her first blast ricocheted off his bald head and hit the ceiling. The ship quaked on all sides, and Fo’s free hand flew to his head. But Natalie was already firing again. This time, she hit him in the stomach. He doubled over, and his blaster fell out of his hand. He stared at her in disbelief. How could his placid little slave turn on him like this? What happened to all her countless hours of training?
Natalie set her jaw and crossed the last few feet between them. Fo scooped his blaster off the floor and aimed at her again, but she fired before he got it into position. Her blast cut through his tunic and severed his arm from his body. His arm fell to the floor at his feet with the blaster still clenched in his fist. He stared at it in disbelief, but he couldn’t pick it up again.
He raised his eyes to Natalie’s face, and for the first time since he stole her from Earth, a hint of pleading crept into his face. She couldn’t kill him when he was totally defenseless, could she? Natalie never killed anything or anybody before. She always prided herself on her compassion for animals and her empathy with other people.
But this was different. He would pick up that blaster and kill her in an instant if he could get away with it. He would kidnap as many women from Earth as he could, and he would sell them all as callously as he sold Natalie and her friends.
Natalie hardened her heart against him and leveled her blaster at his face. This was for all the women back on Earth who didn’t know how precious freedom was. This was for Amber and Melanie, too. When she got back to the Mixtidelin, she would be able to look them in the eye and tell them she'd done the right thing for them. But most of all, this was for herself. Fo might not understand or even care what damage he'd done to her life. But she understood, and only death could give her justice. She tightened her hand and fired.
Her blast ripped through his eye socket and knocked him flat on his back. He lay twitching at her feet. Smoke rippled out of his face, and a death rattle rolled out of his throat. Natalie stood over him and waited until he stopped twitching and lay still. Not even the regeneration bed could bring him back.
She lowered her blaster with a sigh. Her troubles were over. Galactic Police flooded the room, but the fight was over. She turned around and found Kyan and Arno standing over Te. He knelt on the floor with his hands behind his head. He glared at her with vicious hatred. If he couldn’t own her, he would kill her, just like Fo.
Natalie tried to let go of her weapon, but her fingers wouldn’t obey her mind. She would never use it again. She would retreat to the Eblian home world with her beloved Kyan. She would give him children, and they would rebuild the planet the Toom destroyed. She would dedicate her life to building and giving birth, not to death and destruction.
The mist-shrouded opening of the regeneration bed flickered across the chamber. Another three lights shimmered in the other corners of the room, but this one flickered brighter than the others. “Tina must be in there.”
Kyan stepped forward. “We’ll get her out.” He aimed his blaster at the opening.
Natalie laid her hand on his arm. “Wait.”
Kyan rounded on her. “We have to take her back to the Mixtidelin. Once we get back on board, we’ll destroy the ship, and we can't leave her behind, no matter how messed up she is.”
Natalie shook her head. “I didn’t mean to leave her on board. We'll take her back, but let me do it.” She took a step forward and aimed her blaster into the misty depths. “This is for me to do.”
He frowned. “Are you sure?”
Natalie didn’t turn around. “When Tina comes out of there, she’ll be an even bigger mess than she was. I have to be able to tell her I was the one who took her away from all that peace and tranquility.”
Kyan moved back and left her alone with what she had to do. She stared into the shadows for a moment. Now she understood, better than she ever did before, what she was taking away from Tina. Tina would be floating in a sea of bliss in that bed, but it was a sea of lies, a bliss of ignorance and slavery. No matter how pleasant it was, she was nothing more than a money-making machine for the Toom. No one could live a real life without pain and hardship. Tina couldn’t call herself alive in that bed, because she never experienced the struggles and heartache of real life.
Natalie drifted on her own memories of her time in the regeneration bed. It lulled her to sleep and wiped out all those precious memories of her life and family back home. It didn’t have to alter her cell structure to destroy her humanity. It made her forget about it so completely it might as well have never happened. It wiped out the good memories of love and joy the same way it wiped out the pain of bad memories like Melanie's
Natalie brought her blaster up and aimed at the flickering light. She didn't let herself hesitate, but fired again and again in quick succession. The blasts rippled along the mottled surface of the chamber, and the light wavered. Then, before her eyes, the grey-blue wall melted and dissolved in a shower of sparks.
The lights danced and twinkled, but the chamber wall sank to the floor and disappeared, leaving behind only a bare metal surface. And lying on the floor without a stitch of clothing on was Tina.
She blinked and looked around. Natalie set her blaster on the floor and knelt over her friend. Tina turned her head from one side to the other, but she didn’t see anything around her. She didn't even register Natalie or Arno standing a few feet away. She took a few long moments to get her voice to work. “What's going on?”
Natalie gathered Tina in her arms and lifted her off the floor. “It’s all over now, Tina. You're coming back with us.”
Tina struggled to her feet, still unsure where she was or what was happening. Natalie led her toward Kyan, but at that moment, Te jumped up from his place. He knocked Arno aside and dove across the floor. He grabbed Fo’s fallen blaster and rolled onto his knees. He brought the blaster up and fired at Natalie. He hit her in the arm, and she let go of Tina with a surprised cry.
Te rounded on Kyan next, but Arno cut him off before he fired another shot. He blasted Te in the chest with his weapon, and the last Toom hit the floor with a thud. Natalie hugged her arm to her chest and stared at the three dead bodies lying on the floor. At her side, Tina whimpered and cringed. She rubbed her bare arms with her hands. The effect of the regeneration bed was already wearing off, leaving her bereft and cold.
Natalie watched her with a sinking heart. Then she shrugged off her own pain and put her arms around Tina. “Come on, Tina. I’ll take you home.”