Chapter 18

Major Ontarii’s eyes widened in surprise. Beside him stood the human female, Captain Brooklyn, but across from him, beside the main console, stood the human female, Captain Brooklyn.

Only one of them could be the real captain.

The thought crossed his mind that neither could be the genuine one, that both could be Hareema imitators. He wanted to tear out his tendrils in frustration.

“How did you get in here?” the female next to the console asked. Her voice sounded like the captain’s to him.

“I used the manual override lever,” he said. He’d watched her open the bridge door using the lever previously.

“Of course.”

Ontarii watched a flurry of emotions play over her face. Fear. Anger. Frustration. And another one, one that caused his stomach to clench into a knot that tightened and tightened.

Defeat.

“What are you waiting for?” the captain beside him asked. “That’s the enemy right there. Use your electricity and zap it before it gets away!”

The captain in front of him turned to the console and hit a couple buttons. Ontarii heard the door whoosh closed behind him.

“What did you do?” he asked.

“Sealed the bridge. Maybe I can’t overpower you both, but I can lock us in to try and give my crew a fighting chance if they’re still alive.”

“He’ll just use the manual override again to get us out,” the captain beside him said, rolling her eyes.

The female in front of him crossed her arms over her chest. “Really? How exactly?”

The captain beside him scowled. She marched over to the panel in the wall beside the door and knocked on it. “Take this panel off and pull back the lever.”

The human female by the console shook her head. “That panel can’t be accessed from inside the bridge. For security purposes, the manual override for the doors from inside the bridge is somewhere else. But you’d know that, if you were the real captain of this ship.”

The words hit Ontarii like a punch to the gut. The Captain Brooklyn next to the console was right. That meant the Captain Brooklyn nearest to him was a Hareema agent.

He looked down at the creature by the panel and it looked back, its eyes narrowing.

“I know what you’re thinking, but she’s not telling the truth. She’s trying to confuse you.” The creature beside him extended its arm and pointed at the captain. “They’ll say anything to gain your trust. That’s how they operate. If you give her an inch, she’ll use it to strangle you with. Blast her now, before it’s too late!”

Ontarii couldn’t blast anyone, even if he wanted to. His powers hadn’t recharged yet after using them to take down all four FIDOs. He felt the lack keenly. If he had his bioelectric power, he could send a charge through both the women to determine their true form.

Unfortunately, he had only his own intuition to use in the situation. Logic would only get him more confused.

“If you won’t do anything about her, I will,” the captain by his side said, a knife suddenly appearing in her hand. “I’m not going to wait for her to shift into some terrible creature and kill us both.”

“Where did you get a knife?” the captain by the console asked, her hands coming up instinctively to block the expected blow. “We don’t have knives on this ship. Our only defensive weapons are laser pistols, and none of our food rations would require the use of a knife.”

“Shut up, you silly cow,” the creature with the knife said. In a flash it slid forward, slashing at the other one’s cheek.

The captain by the console was fast, but she couldn’t dodge the cut completely. Soon there was a small, jagged line of blood on her cheek. It was nearly identical to the one marring the face of the creature doing the slashing.

“That’s to pay you back for the fight in the cargo bay,” it said. “But this, this will be just for fun.”

Ontarii wished he could freeze time until his powers recharged, but that wish was as foolish as trying to turn back time to before the Hareema had started infiltrating planets in his system. He had to deal with the present, and if he wanted to do something, it had to be done fast.

He leapt forward, grabbing the woman with the knife by her hair and dragging her backward.

“Oww,” it said, turning around suddenly to press the knife against his chest. “Knock it off, or I’ll cut you too.”

Before Ontarii could respond, the other female had slid her arm around her double’s neck and squeezed, moving back a few inches so that the knife no longer touched his skin.

Ontarii flushed yellow, unable to control his anger and frustration. He slammed his hand into the creature’s wrist over and over, but it would not drop the knife.

“Let go of your weapon,” the captain said, squeezing her twin’s throat tighter. “Let it go!”

The thing in front of him smiled, an evil, cruel smile. Then its arm extended somehow so that the knife was back at Ontarii’s chest. It slashed, the knife slitting open his skin and causing him to gasp in pain.

“You bitch!” The captain grabbed her wrist with her other arm, increasing the power of the hold around her double’s neck. At this point, the female being choked should have been losing strength. Her face should have been changing colors, and her breath should have been wheezing in and out.

Instead, there was absolutely no reaction. Just a sinister smile.

Ontarii knew what to do.

Faster than a flash, he grabbed the captain’s arms and unwound them from the creature's neck, flinging her backward after forcing her to release her grip. Captain Brooklyn fell to the floor of the bridge, a look of angry betrayal painting her features.

Ontarii ignored the look. He had no time to comfort the female now. Instead, he grabbed the creature in front of him. His powerful hands slid around its neck and with all his might he jerked its head around.

For one terrifying moment he doubted himself. If he’d made the wrong choice, the human’s neck would snap like brittle coral in his grasp.

But it didn’t. The head just turned and turned, until he was facing the back of its head.

“Holy crap!” The woman on the floor was scooting backward, clearly unnerved by the sight of her own twin with its head twisted a hundred-eighty degrees around.

Having ascertained that he was dealing with a Hareema infiltrator, Ontarii moved his grip so that his arm was encircling its neck, elbow under its chin. Then, using all the strength he could muster, he pulled upward hard.

There was a keening sound, coming from the creature beneath him, he assumed. He could feel its neck begin to stretch, like an Earthling confection called salt-water taffy he’d once tasted. As soon as it started to give, he jerked harder, pulling with everything inside of him.

Suddenly the head popped off of the thing, the connection between head and body turning into a red goo. He could feel the thing vibrating in his hands, and he turned it around so he could see its face.

“You might have won this round,” it said, its evil eyes glinting golden. “But you won’t win the war.”

Then the head fell apart, becoming jelly and joining the body on the floor. One moment it looked like a human female, the next it was a pool of red slime.

Faster than lightning, the pool solidified into a gelatinous mass and scrambled forward. It beat against the bridge door and then liquefied itself again. In a few seconds, it had managed to squeeze itself through the miniscule crack beneath the door. Then it was gone without leaving a trace.

“Unbelievable,” Captain Brooklyn whispered from the floor.

Ontarii moved to her side, going down on his knees to face her.

Her hands were shaking as she extended one toward his chest.

“You’re hurt,” she said, her voice low.

Ontarii shrugged. “I’ll be fine. How are you?”

The captain gave a shaky laugh. “Scared shitless. That was disgusting.”

Ontarii pulled the woman into his arms and tucked her head under his chin as he held her tightly. “I’m sorry that you had to see that.”

“No. Don’t apologize. Thank you for saving my life.”

Cupping her head in his hands, he turned her face up toward his. “I would do anything to make sure you were safe. I would fight any creature, kill anything I had to, if it threatened your life.”

Her beautiful golden eyes filled with tears.

“I’m sorry I mistrusted you. I couldn’t be sure. I was so afraid after we found Mike’s body that you’d been replaced by an enemy plant.” She laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “Instead, I was replaced, and you still figured out which one was me. How?”

Ontarii gave her a small smile. “Because you’re smarter and braver than them. She was nothing like you.”

Brook wiped at her tears and gave him a knowing smile. “Not too bad for an incompetent captain, huh?”

Ontarii’s gut twisted at her words.

“I’m sorry,” he said, stroking her hair. “I should have never said those things. They aren’t true. I was just so angry and frustrated. When you marched off down that hallway with your robot pals to fight the whole universe, I was terrified that you wouldn’t come back.”

Her small hands clutched one of his, bringing it to her face. It was inches from her lips when she stopped. “Your knuckles, they’re all split open.”

“I was trying to break that damn airlock window. I had to get out and save you somehow.”

She dropped his hand and grabbed the other one. It was just as battered. She brought his hand to her lips and awarded him a soft kiss on each knuckle.

Ontarii’s heart expanded in his chest, the feeling so far beyond foreign that he didn’t know how to react. His blood rushed from his center down to his groin and his body stiffened with the need to make the woman in his arms his. He could no longer deny his attraction to this amazing female. He’d do anything to have her. He’d fight an army of Hareema to keep her. It was disturbing, but denying it would be stupid.

Taking her hands, he pulled her arms up over his shoulders and around his neck. She took the hint and clasped her fingers behind his head. Then Ontarii bent low and kissed her.

At first his kisses were sweet, tentative. She’d been through so much in such a short time. She deserved all his tenderness.

But before long, he could no longer restrain himself. He pressed harder, forcing her lips to open beneath his and slipping his tongue inside.

She tasted like ambrosia. Like the delicacy known on his planet as seafoam. Light and sweet and refreshing. He couldn’t get enough of her.

Under his lips she made little moans and whimpers that drove him crazy, making his cock like steel under his sarong. It was aching, pulsing with every beat of his heart.

A heart that now belonged to the human female, whether he liked it or not.