One

Chapter

Warm water dripped from Hayley’s chin. Her head was pounding and the small shower cubicle seemed to spin. She leaned against the cold metal wall, letting the water rinse away the last vestiges of the soap she had used to get the disgusting tank fluid out of her hair and off her body.

“Hurry up in there.”

She jumped at the brusque voice of the guard stationed outside. As quickly as she could, she finished rinsing, then turned off the water. Warm air blasted her from all sides, drying her quickly. Even her hair was left only a little damp. The artificial breeze ended and Hayley stepped outside, resting her hand on the wall to stay upright.

Why was everything spinning? Her joints ached as if she’d never used them before, her eyes were barely able to focus. She felt oddly disconnected from the pain. Nothing felt real.

She couldn’t show weakness. Couldn’t show anything at all. Nothing out of the ordinary, even though there was nothing ordinary about her life as it was now.

She had been abducted. Twice. Once by a shapeshifting mercenary who had promised to protect her, but abandoned her with someone even worse than he was. Then by someone who had abducted her from her first kidnapper and taken her far from her homeworld. Someone who was using her for experiments that she didn’t understand, but knew she had to do everything in her power to thwart.

Normal… Normal. Everything is normal.

Because when it wasn’t normal, that caught his attention. Norem’s.

She shuddered, forcing herself to walk the short distance between herself and the pile of clothes waiting for her. White panties, white sports bra, gray jumpsuit. The only clothing she’d seen in… How long had it been? She’d lost track. Her memory was foggy, even worse than usual.

Sophie. Amy. Becca. Buddy. David. Shannon.

She went through the names of her family of the heart back home. They had befriended her and her grandma when her own mother was dying of cancer, then they had taken her in when her grandma died a decade later. Hayley had only been seventeen. Now, she and the Myers sisters, Becca, Amy, and Hayley’s best friend, Sophie, all lived in Hayley’s family home.

Someday, she would see it again. Someday, she would see them again.

She had another family of the heart now. People she needed to help, that she could get back to, right now. Others in a situation similar to hers.

As quickly as she could, she dressed, then stepped out into the corridor beyond the cleansing chamber. The Tau Ceti guard was waiting for her, wearing his form-fitting dark brown uniform. Three arcs of bronze metal curved over each shoulder and a matching bronze belt wrapped around his waist. A ray-gun was strapped to it. She knew better than to make a grab for it. These guys might look like something out of a cheesy, old-fashioned sci-fi movie, but they were fast, ruthless, and deadly.

He glared at her until she turned and started down the corridor. At least he didn’t seem to find it odd that she was hunched over and walking slowly. Hayley’s equilibrium still felt off. Norem would undoubtedly want to know that. It was probably a side-effect of whatever his most recent experiment on her had been. Mercifully, she couldn’t remember what it was. She must have been unconscious for it.

A flash of memory assailed her. Bubbles bursting from her mouth as the breathing apparatus that sealed most of it and trailed down into her lungs was pulled out. Blue and green lights searing her eyes. Her skin burning and itching as if she was sunburned bad enough to peel.

“Keep moving.”

The guard shoved her and she almost fell. She hadn’t even realized that she had stopped to lean against the wall. What was wrong with her? This wasn’t the same as the other treatments. Was it?

Her memory was so blurry, as if she were looking out through the liquid in her tank. Looking out at Norem, his long face distorted through the viscous fluid. His smile…

She shuddered again, but kept moving down the hall. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot. Her joints felt odd and stretchy, as though the ligaments weren’t used to holding everything together as she limped along down the corridor. The plain metal hall seemed to stretch on forever. Hayley wondered if she would ever see anything else. Finally, she arrived at the door to her cell. It slid open without a sound. She stumbled inside, barely making it to her cot before she collapsed.

There was no escape. Not even in sleep. Dreams assailed her. Swathes of blue were swirling in maddening circles. Cobalt and sapphire with streaks of silver that flew around her like ghosts.

“ Hayley? Hayley? ”

A soft voice edged around the corners of her mind. A voice of caring and love. The only comfort she would get in this hell.

“ Where are you? I can’t hear you anymore .”

“ Mindy? ”

Even though Hayley couldn’t see her friend, she could sense the huge dog wagging her tail happily.

“ Hayley! Where did you go? You were so far away… ”

“ I’m sorry, Mindy. I… I don’t know where I was. ”

Hayley did her best to shield Mindy from what had actually happened. She always did. The one blessing in this place was that Norem treated Mindy well. Hayley didn’t want to risk that by letting him know that his MIN-D project was much more successful than he had imagined.

Norem wanted to connect Hayley and Mindy so that they could use each other as beacons in some kind of teleportation experiment. Hayley only knew that much because Norem spoke freely in front of Mindy, not realizing how much the dog understood—or that she could communicate everything he said to Hayley telepathically. Hayley was sure Mindy’s intelligence was beyond anything Norem had expected and so was their bond.

Hayley had enough natural talent that she’d been able to hear Mindy when she arrived at his previous base on Ceres, back in her home solar system. Back near Earth. It was that innate ability that had first drawn his attention. A shudder passed through her.

“ You feel different, ” Mindy thought.

“ Different how? ”

“ I don’t know. New. ”

New? Hayley didn’t feel new. She felt ancient. Worn. Exhausted. She rolled over on the bed and stared at the plain bronze ceiling.

“ Rest now ,” Mindy thought.

“ Okay. You, too .”

Hayley was only just starting to doze when a voice came through the speakers in her cell. This one was welcome, unlike when Norem checked in after a ‘session.’

“Hey, stranger.”

Hayley smiled despite everything. Tears flooded her eyes as relief coursed through her.

“Katie?”

“The one and only.” After a pause, Katie said, “You were gone for a long while that time. You okay?”

“I’m great. Just like going to the spa.”

Neither of them liked to talk about the tank. They had come up with their own little code words, trying to maintain their sanity through their absolutely insane circumstances.

“There was a hubbub while you were gone,” Katie said. “Some sort of big transfer. I couldn’t get details. Slime-o was absolutely paranoid about it and didn’t put anything in the computers.”

Hayley shuddered, even with Katie using their nickname for Norem. Another thing they had learned in their captivity was that the Tau Ceti had evolved from something akin to a frog. Cannibalistic frogs who ate the rest of their broodmates once they hatched, ‘leaving only the strongest to survive.’

“You still with me, Hayley?” Katie asked.

“Yeah, sorry. This last round really wore me out.”

“You know, it’s funny,” Katie said after a few moments of silence. “You were gone so long, I thought maybe this time you weren’t coming back.”

“No way. You know our deal. We get out of here together.”

“We get out of here together. Plus, the dog.” Katie laughed.

“Plus, the dog.” Hayley chuckled as well. “I just hope Slime-o hasn’t brought in any new prisoners that we’ll need to rescue when we make our great escape.”

Katie was silent for a while again.

“Katie?”

“Yeah, about that… I was digging through the files again with these handy, freakish abilities that Slime-o managed to impart.”

Whatever Norem had done to Katie had enabled her to project her mind into the station’s computer systems. She was also a whiz with technology, though neither of them had access to anything remotely useful when they weren’t under close scrutiny. Katie had been careful to conceal most of her abilities from Norem. In particular, the fact that she could secretly communicate with Hayley through the station’s intercom system without anyone being aware. Katie had shared just enough of what she could do to keep her project ‘active.’ Neither of them knew what happened to the women who were part of projects that ended. All they knew was that they never saw them again.

“Please tell me he isn’t bringing some other poor soul to this hellscape,” Hayley said.

“I’m not sure. There’s mention of a new subject, but I’m not finding any recently created files. I don’t understand it.”

“I’d worry about you more if you did. Slime-o’s mind remains a mystery.”

“I guess that means the telepathy project he’s working on with you is still a no-go?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s a no-go.” Hayley hated keeping secrets from Katie. Even with everything they’d been through, she wasn’t sure who to trust—aside from Mindy.

Hayley closed her eyes and covered them with her arm, trying to block out the lights. She still saw sparks. Was she suddenly developing migraines? Great, that was just what she needed.

“I think I need to get some sleep,” Hayley said. “Do you mind if we talk more later?”

“Not at all. I just… I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” At least, Hayley was certain she would have, if she’d been conscious during the experiments. She wondered what Norem had done to her this time. A shiver went down her spine. Best not to think of it.

A short burst of static let Hayley know that Katie had disconnected their comms. Even though Katie’s technokinetic abilities would probably be handier in an escape attempt, Hayley was grateful for her own telepathy that Norem had somehow activated—or rather, augmented. It wasn’t just that she wasn’t alone, but that she could be there for Mindy. She only wished she could see the dog in person and give her a big hug. Norem might be kind to the dog, but he wasn’t the most affectionate guy. Mostly because Mindy kept biting him. She was a good judge of character, obviously.

Lights flashed against the backs of Hayley’s eyelids again. She covered her eyes with both hands, but the light kept coming, each burst arriving more quickly than the last. She sat up and leaned her elbows on her knees, blinking quickly. The lights kept flashing.

Hayley stared around her small cell, unsure of what she was seeing. A line of white light appeared, hovering in the middle of the small room. She scrambled farther back on the cot, to where it was bracketed against the wall. There was nowhere for her to run to. Nowhere to hide.

The line of light expanded like a seam opening. Within, swirls of blue twisted around in mesmerizing patterns. Hayley leaned forward, almost willing to jump through and see if it led to freedom. Then she thought of Mindy and Katie, knowing she couldn’t leave them behind.

A silhouette formed before her—a lighter blue that didn’t swirl like the rest. Hayley couldn’t tell if it grew larger or closer. All she could tell was that it was a man. He suddenly fell forward into the room. The light flashed once more, then vanished.

Hayley sat frozen on her cot, her chest heaving and her heart racing. The man was crouching in front of her, wearing eggshell-white pants and matching boots. Aside from a pair of chrome wristbands that covered a few inches of his forearms, that was it. A long row of serrated spines ran down the center of his back, resembling a stegosaurus, only dark blue. His skin was a lighter shade, as was the long hair that fell in front of his face, obscuring her view of his features. Beneath him, a pool of violet light illuminated the floor like the beam of a flashlight.

“H… hello?” Hayley said. “Are you okay?”

His dinosaur spine plates stiffened, becoming erect until they were standing straight up on his back. They began to flutter, then vibrate, blurring as would the wings of a hummingbird. They even created a low humming noise. It filled the room, washing over her skin and seeping through her tired muscles and aching joints. The vibration relaxed her, eased her pain, made her feel… real somehow.

Tingles spread up and down her spine, spreading out along her arms and legs. She felt her cheeks flush as other areas also heated, molten desire pooling deep in her belly. That vibration was… really something. The man slowly straightened, the muscles of his back rippling as he stood up and up and up. Her visitor’s head nearly brushed the ceiling of her cell. He must be pushing seven feet tall. Hayley’s jaw dropped when he shook his head, flipping his hair out of his face. He was unutterably gorgeous.

He had a square jaw, strong cheekbones, straight nose, and dark eyebrows over glowing violet eyes. His hair brushed his massive shoulders. Both arms were corded with bulging muscles, his chest and shoulders broad. Rows of abs were stacked on top of each other on his abdomen. He was absolutely ripped. His waist tapered, then flared out to narrow hips. She could clearly see the outline of his muscled legs through his pants.

Hayley thought she must have died. Men this perfect did not exist in reality. And even if they did, she certainly wouldn’t react with so much lust and… longing for them.

“ Hayley? ” Mindy’s voice suddenly appeared in Hayley’s mind. “ Are you okay? ”

“ I am ,” she thought back, carefully walling off the feelings the man was generating within her from Mindy. “ I think I am .”

“ You’re more there .”

“ What? ”

“ You’re… more Hayley. More there. It’s good. ”

“ I’m sorry, Mindy, I don’t understand. ”

She heard a whining sound in her mind. Mindy didn’t know how to explain better.

“ Don’t worry, ” Hayley thought.

“ Someone is there. ”

Hayley didn’t want to scare Mindy, but at the same time, if the dog could sense this guy, maybe she could help Hayley figure out if he was friend or foe.

Who was Hayley kidding? He had appeared out of some kind of tear in the space-time continuum. He probably wanted to abduct Hayley again. Looking him up and down, she wasn’t sure she’d object this time. Especially if there were no experiments involved. But he would have to take Mindy and Katie along, too.

“ Can you read his mind? ” Hayley thought.

“ He’s confused. It’s all… blue. But, I like him. ”

That was enough for Hayley to get her racing heart under control. Her dizziness seemed to have disappeared and she realized she felt better than she had a moment before. Her spine was tingling weirdly, but compared to all the side-effects of Norem’s previous experiments, that was nothing. Encouraged, she decided to be the one to make the first move. Again, really.

“Hi,” she said.

He angled his head to the side as if he didn’t understand her. Did he not have a version of whatever universal translator everyone seemed to use out here in space? He shook his head, weaving on his feet suddenly.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He managed to steady himself. She noticed that he kept one fist closed. Not in a threatening way, rather as if he was holding something. He looked at it, then back to her.

“Who are you?” she asked.

He blinked a few times, the glow in his eyes fading a bit till all she saw was their lovely violet hue. In a rich voice that sent tingles down her spine, he said, “Hayley?”

Her stomach felt as if it had dropped through the floor. How did he know her name? He had to be working with Norem. What was his game, though? What did he want? She tried to keep herself frozen, not revealing any of her distress. He seemed to see it anyway.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said. “I would never hurt you.”

“Who are you?” she repeated.

“I… I don’t know.”

“You know my name, but not your own?”

This had to be a trick. He was trying to get her to trust him. To reveal the secrets Norem undoubtedly suspected she was keeping. She wouldn’t fall for it, even though the idea of having this guy for a huge, strong protector made her heart feel that it was breaking from the longing for it.

He looked at his hand and then held it out toward her. Slowly, he uncurled his fingers.

Light glinted off of a dozen charms. Charms she recognized.

Hayley gasped and slid forward, barely managing to get to her feet and stay there. Her knees were so wobbly, she would probably fall any moment. She cupped her hand beneath his, unable to look away from the bracelet. The man tilted his hand, letting the bracelet fall into her palms.

Hayley fell to her knees. She brought the charm bracelet to her face, tears flowing down her cheeks. Blinking them away, she looked at each one, remembering the year that she and Sophie had exchanged them. The last one was the half-heart BFF charm. Its edge was bent where Hayley had used it attempting to pry open a panel back in the first cell she’d found herself in. The cell in the Sol system.

She looked back up at the blue man and shook her head. “How do you have this? Why are you here?”

“I don’t know where it came from,” he said. “I don’t know who I am. All I know is that I’m here for you.”