Chapter Three
Catherina
I rose from my sofa with a groan. Another Friday night and here I was, alone in my apartment. I’d called around, but all my girlfriends already had plans. Maybe I should get a cat. At least then I’d have someone to talk to.
I had two days off from the ogre Samuel E. Dunbar, esquire. That would be a relief, but not as much of a relief as not having to put up with him at all. To that end, I’d spent the last two hours looking for another position, something where I could work with people again. Friendly people. People who weren’t snapping and snarling at me all the time.
The problem was the money. I made good money for my skills, and while I was willing to take less, I didn’t want to lower my standard of living substantially. I was rather attached to having my apartment and having food to eat. While I might enjoy working with the public selling women’s clothes or something similar, it wouldn’t pay nearly as well and rent in Glasgow wasn’t cheap.
The Celts were looking for help in their public relations department. I thought I’d be good at that and I wouldn’t mind being around the Bhoys, that’s for sure. Most of them were good enough looking that I wanted to eat them with a spoon.
I smiled as I wandered into my small bath and began to brush my teeth. I heard a faint pop in my bedroom, and I turned to see what caused the noise. Standing in my room was an enormous man dressed in some shiny red fabric. He was clothed from his waist to his knees, with a single sleeved sash across his left shoulder. The right side of his massive chest was bared, his left arm covered to his elbow. The fabric clung to him like a second skin, leaving nothing to the imagination. He was heavily muscled, like one of those American wrestlers, with strong facial features, dark hair, and penetrating red eyes.
My toothbrush fell from my mouth as I stood in stupefaction. How had he gotten into my apartment without me hearing him? When he took a step toward me, my confusion broke, and I dashed for my bathroom, intending to lock myself in. I tried to slam the door, but he blocked it with a meaty hand.
“Get away from me!” I screamed, throwing the first thing I could get my hand on, my toothpaste tube, at him.
He swatted it aside like an annoying insect. He made a sound between a sneeze, a cough and the clearing of his throat as he took me by the arm. I tried to wrench my arm away, but his grip, while gentle, was like steel.
I screamed as loud as I could. Considering I could hear my neighbors banging their brains out practically every night, there was no way they wouldn’t hear my scream.
“Help!” I screamed. “Somebody call—”
That was all I got out before his hand clamped over my mouth. I hauled on his arm and tried to bite his hand, but he was massively strong. He pulled something like a Biro from a hidden pocket and clicked the end. I heard the pop again and felt the heat as…
I froze. What was happening? The wall to my bathroom had disappeared, and I was looking into another room, a room that didn’t exist in my small apartment. There were a group of men and women, each as well built as the man in my room. The man picked me up as if I were made of feathers and stepped toward the… hole was the only way I could describe it.
Suddenly my bathroom was back. He paused, and I felt his grip loosen. I squirmed, desperately trying to get free. He tightened his grip before he pulled the Biro and clicked it again. A moment later I felt the wash of heat and the opening appeared again. He shoved me hard, and we stumbled through.
Suddenly I was standing… somewhere. Somewhere other than my apartment. The man released me, and I stumbled. I didn’t know what had happened and I felt disoriented and light-headed. It was so hot, and the light was all wrong. Everything had a slight red tint. I staggered away from the man, my head spinning. Several of the men and women closed in around me, their faces were hard but not threatening.
“Get away from me!” I yelled, panting hard. The room was beginning to spin. One of the women approached me with something in her hand that looked like a bandage or pad. She moved to stick it to my neck, but I swatted her hands away. One of the men grabbed me and held my arms as the woman slapped the bandage to my neck. The man that abducted me roared and the man released me. I grabbed at the dressing on the side of my neck, intending to rip it off, but I couldn’t feel it. My fingers felt slow and uncoordinated, and I scratched at my neck, but I couldn’t find what they’d stuck to me.
I staggered again and fell. The men and women moved in, surrounding me and I kicked at them.
“Stay away from me!” I screamed as I tried to get to my feet.
I made it three steps before I fell again, my chest heaving. The men and women closed in around me again, reaching for me as I swung at them feebly… then the room went dark.
-oOo-
I woke and stretched. I’d had the strangest dream. Then I realized I wasn’t in my apartment, and I wasn’t in my bed. I sat bolt upright and looked around. I was lying in the largest bed I’d ever seen. It was easily as large as my entire bedroom. I looked around. I was alone. The room was huge, larger than my entire apartment. The entire room seemed to be made of polished stone with some hides hanging on the walls. The linens on the bed were also made some kind of animal skin, the fur short and as soft as a rabbit. I glanced around, my eyes wide. What was going on?
I looked myself over. I was still dressed in the same clothes as I’d been wearing when I’d been kidnapped. Swallowing hard I eased out of bed, my head swiveling back and forth as I crept toward one of the doors. There was no handle on the door, and I paused, wondering how to open it. I pressed my hand against it and pushed, but nothing happened. I then pulled to the side, and it slid open, disappearing into the wall with the lightest of touches. This appeared to be some bathroom, though the fixtures were like nothing I’d seen before. I stepped back and slid the door shut. I appeared to be alone, but I still crept along the wall like the frightened mouse I was. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew I had to get out of there.
I approached the other door and slid it open. I squeaked as another large man, dressed much like my captor had been, though this man’s colors were gold with black splashes on the sleeve. Unlike my captor, this man’s left arm was exposed. He snapped to attention and jerked the wicked looking spear he’d was holding over his chest at an angle. He didn’t point it at me, but I didn’t temp him. I licked my lips and stepped back, sliding the door shut behind me.
I moved quickly to the window and looked out, thinking perhaps I could escape that way. My breath froze in my chest, and I could feel my heart thudding. This was very, very wrong. I was looking over a gleaming city, a city unlike any on earth. The buildings were beautiful and reminded me of Greek architecture I’d seen in books, but with much more grace. Beyond that, there were plants, plants that were like nothing I’d seen before, and their colors were wrong. But most disturbing was the sky. It was fucking red! Red, with a huge sun that was also red, far redder than the sun could be, even when it was low in the sky.
“No, no, no, no…” I murmured as I backed away from the window as I began to shake. “I’m dreaming! I have to be dreaming!” I could feel myself getting light headed, then instantly the woozy feeling was gone.
I sensed movement to my left, and I glanced toward the door where the guard had been standing. The man who had taken me was standing there. He was wearing the same style of clothing as before, but now it was a rich gold with black markings on the sleeve and legs.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, standing just inside the room. He made no move toward me as I retreated to the farthest corner of the room and crouched in the corner. He smiled. “You’re in no danger here.”
“Where am I?” I asked.
“You my guest, on”—the sound he made hurt my ears, a sound that would have wrecked my vocal cords if I’d tried to repeat it—“as my guest.”
“Who are you?”
Again, he made a noise, but I heard a part of what I assumed was his name that made some sense to me. It sounded like Stevan.
“I can’t say that,” I murmured, my voice quivering with fear.
He smiled. “What would you like to call me?”
“Stevan?”
He nodded. “Fine. I’m Stevan. What is your name?”
“Catherina.”
He made a face as he struggled with the word. He said it three or four times, each time closer to getting it correct. “Catherina? Is that correct?” I nodded. “Catherina, I know your confused. But understand this, you’re safe here. No one here will hurt you. You are my guest.” He smiled. “You may be the most important person in the galaxy at the moment. Do you understand? You’re completely safe. My palace guards will give their lives to protect yours. If you need anything, you need only ask, and it will be provided.”
“Palace guards?”
He smiled again. “That’s right. You’re in one of the guest rooms of the palace of—” he made that noise again, the one that I think that meant his home, and I cringed.
“I’m not on Earth anymore, am I?” I asked. Again I felt my vision dimming around the edges, but only for a moment then it cleared.
He smiled. “Earth? Is that what you call your planet? No, you’re on—” Again he made the noise, and now I was sure he was talking about his… planet? The idea seemed ludicrous, but the evidence was mounting.
“Fire something?” I asked, picking out the one sound from the name of his planet that made some sense.
“Fire?” he asked, then shrugged. “If you want to call it that.”
“We’re not on Earth anymore?” I squeaked.
He smiled. “No, you’re not. I know it’s hard for you to understand, and you’re frightened and confused, but I will answer any questions you may have.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Stevan.”
“Not your name. Who are you? What are you? Why do you want me?”
“May I approach, or would you like to continue talking across the room?”
I nodded, afraid to tell him no. He nodded and walked smartly to the bed and sat on the edge.
“Would you like to sit here? The bed will be much more comfortable than the floor. You have my word I won’t hurt you.”
“You kidnapped me!”
“True,” he said then smiled. “But I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He gave the bed a pat. “Please, come sit with me and let me tell you why I brought you here.” I licked my lips, afraid to move. He shrugged. “Very well. Sit there if you like.”
I stared at him, but truth be told, the floor was hard as hell. I slowly rose and crept to the bed and sat, but as far from him as I could.
“See? That wasn’t so hard,” he said with a smile.
“How can I understand you?” I noticed when his words were grating against my ear drums his noises seemed to match his lip movements, but when I heard him speaking English, they didn’t. It was like a badly dubbed Japanese movie.
He smiled. “That’s the nanites.”
“Nanites?”
He nodded. “That’s right. They are microscopic machines that perform a whole host of functions. They allow the Peoples of the galaxy to understand each other and allow us to move from planet to planet and adjust to the various environments.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The technology is far beyond your understanding. Just know they are keeping you safe and allowing you to speak with me. You’re speaking your language, but I hear Fire planet. I’m speaking Fire planet, but you’re hearing English. The nanites are seamlessly translating the words from your thoughts, transmitting them to my nanites, and I hear them in my thought as if you’d spoken them.”
“They’re inside of me?” I cried.
“Calm yourself!” he barked. “You have nothing to fear. You passed out when you arrived here. Do you remember that?” I nodded. “We injected you with nanites then, that was what Geheria placed on your neck, and that is what is allowing you to breath our atmosphere. It is much richer in oxygen and higher in pressure than your own, and without the nanites, you would die from oxygen poisoning. I’m sure there are viruses and bacteria here on Fire planet that you have no natural immunity too, but the nanites will protect you from those as well. In short, if you want to live, you need the nanites.”
“Do you have them in you?”
“Of course. While I could live here on the Fire planet without them, as it’s my home, I would be in as much danger as you are here if I were to travel to another planet.”
“Another planet? How many planets are there?”
“I don’t know the exact number off the top of my head. More than three thousand.”
“Three thousand,” I breathed. It was too much to take in. “And all of them look like us?”
He nodded. “Yes. Very similar. Humans are part of the Ancient Ones, just as we all are.”
“Ancient Ones?”
“A very long story. Do Humans have a god?”
I nodded slowly. “Many gods, depending on the culture.”
Stevan nodded. “As we did. But now we know that what we knew as God was part of the racial memory. The Ancient Ones spread through the galaxy billions of years ago. They had obtained the ability to move from planet to planet using portals before your star had formed. You are descended from them, just as the Fire people are.”
“Where are the Ancient Ones now?”
He chuckled. “A question that has kept scholars debating for millions of years.”
“Millions?”
He nodded. “Millions. Humans are the youngest race yet discovered. Your planet was much more distance than anyone thought possible, almost beyond the range we can reach with our current portal system. The discovery of your world has thrown everything we thought we knew about the Ancient Ones into doubt.”
“That’s how you brought me here?”
“That’s right. The portal system is a gift from the Ancient Ones. We know how to construct them, but the underlying science of how they work has defeated the greatest minds in the galaxy. All we know is the portal somehow creates a tunnel through space. Much like its faster to go through a mountain instead of around or over it. A portal can link two points together. Traveling from one place to another, be it another place on one planet or another planet entirely, is as simple as stepping into another room.”
I would have laughed out loud, except I’d stepped into another room, out of my tiny bathroom on Earth and ended up here, on the Fire planet.
The door opened, and a stunningly beautiful woman walked in and knelt on one knee with her head bowed.
“Rise and approach,” Stevan ordered.
I remembered his comment about the palace guard, and seeing how the woman acted, I wondered if Stevan was a king or emperor, or whatever they called him here.
“You must be tired and hungry. You slept for twelve hours after you arrived, a side effect as the nanites worked through your system.” He motioned to the woman. “This is Hethra. She will be your handmaiden and will help you prepare for dinner. Your wish is her command.” He turned his attention to Hethra. “She is not to be harmed in any way. Your life is forfeit for hers. That is my order. She is to be granted any wish save her freedom.”
Hethra lowered her head. “Yes, my Lord.”
He nodded then turned his attention back to me. “Remember, you are my guest. Every member of the palace is charged with your safety. If you act foolishly, you will not be harmed, but those charged with keeping you safe will be dealt with most harshly.”
He stared at me, and I knew then that despite his courtesy, this was not a man to be trifled with and I got his meaning loud and clear.
I bowed my head as I saw Hethra do. “Yes, my Lord.”
He smiled. “Good. I see we have an understanding.” He looked at Hethra as he waved at me dismissively. “See that she is properly dressed in something other than these rags.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
-oOo-
Hethra spent the next however long showing me how to work the plumbing and preparing me for dinner with the ruler of the entire planet… and the defacto leader of the galaxy. The Fire planet used little water. The shower consisted of mist that drifted down from the ceiling that made my skin tingle in a most pleasant way. Hethra explained that billions of nanites formed the fog, and as they settled over me they stripped away oil, dirt and dead skin. I could have stood in the stall for hours, but it was over in less than thirty seconds, and my hair and skin glowed as I stepped out. The sink was the same way. I placed my hands in the basin, and a mist appeared around them as dirt and stains disappeared before my eyes. Even my nails seemed to have been polished. I pulled a tube from the sink and placed it in my mouth and drew in, as if I were sucking on a straw. I could feel something in my mouth, a tingling like on my skin, then a moment later my teeth were whiter than I’d ever seen them.
More amazing still was me! I noticed myself in the mirror, and I looked twenty again! My breasts were just as full as they had been, but now they were firm and pert like they had never been before. The faint wrinkles and blemishes on my skin were gone, and even the scar I had on my right arm from a childhood accident was missing. But more than that, I glowed with a radiance I’d never seen in myself.
Not only did I look better, I felt better than I’d felt in years. Hethra explained it was the nanites. They had restored me to peak health, repairing damage and flaws as they did. Hethra might look twenty, but I found out that she was thirty-four. I thought that was pretty amazing until I found out a Fire planet year was almost twice as long as an Earth year, and she was the equivalent of sixty-seven. I stood in stunned amazement as I learned most of the people of the galaxy lived to be almost two hundred Earth years old before the nanites could no longer maintain the increasing problems of the aging body. Even better, you were beautiful and healthy until the very end. There were a few days as the body shut down as the nanites were flushed from your system, and then you died peacefully and without pain.
Hethra explained so many things as she combed out my hair and pinned it up in an intricate design, then dressing me in a dress that felt softer than the finest silk. It seemed tradition that the dominate arm was left uncovered. When I asked Hethra about it, she said it was to free the sword arm from encumbrances. At first, I thought she was kidding and then decided she wasn’t. She was wearing a dagger on her right hip after all. In any case, my right arm was kept free as the fabric shrunk to a perfect fit before the closure disappeared. I plucked at where I knew the closure was and when it appeared, the dress expanding around me to make it easy to remove. I closed the seam and giggled as the fabric shrank to fit again and the closure disappeared. If I ever got out of this, I could make a fortune from this stuff!
I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled. I looked like a model, better than I'd ever envisaged I could appear. All it had taken was being kidnapped by an alien that looked like a Viking to discover the fountain of youth. Undergarments were unknown on the Fire planet, and I had worried that without my bra my heavy chest would look silly, but between the new-found firmness and the way the dress fit, I didn’t need it.
I ran my hands over my body, delighting in the firmness which gave the impression that I’d been hitting the gym hard for years. I looked at myself again, and my smile widened. Amazing. Just… fucking… amazing.