Chapter 48

Lorelai

" W ake up."

Was I asleep? How long had I been out?

I battled myself to lift my eyelids. Was I in a nightmare? I'd been dreaming I was in tremendous pain, in a cold and dark place…

No. Those things were real. In my foggy mental state, reality and nightmare were blending until I couldn't tell one from the other. I wasn't even sure if the voice I'd heard, urging me to rouse, was real or part of my dream.

"Wake up ."

Stress on the last word. Insistence. My eyelashes fluttered, my mind seizing the fervor of the word. Abruptly, I was awake.

I groaned as consciousness returned. At least in my dreams, my brain had partitioned away reality. Pain in the dream was a nightmare, not truth. Now, my brain couldn't hide behind horrific visions, and I was forced to face the agony of my brutalized body.

"We don't have much time."

A familiar face moved into view. Concern brightened the eyes. Tentacles wrapped around me. An unfamiliar sensation, but I didn't fight it. I didn't have the strength to fight anything. The tentacles were far stronger than their sinuous appearance might've suggested. Doctor Natusha lifted me off the floor with three of them. Using the fourth, she pressed a syringe to my lips.

"Listen to me, Lorelai," she whispered, her words hasty with urgency.

"Sirena stepped out to call her partner, to make sure Ellax received the photos of you and knew what to do. Her guards are also outside. She left me with you to ensure you didn't die on her. We have mere moments."

My mind was in a fog. I wanted to ask, "So?" I couldn't walk. I couldn't run. I couldn't do anything. What was the doctor expecting of me?

"I'm going to give you this tonic," the doctor explained. Even as she spoke, she pressed the tip of the syringe between my lips. Fruit-flavored liquid, a mask for the underlying bitter tang, flowed over my tastebuds. "It's a rare and secret concoction, used by military personnel in dire emergencies. It won't heal you. Do you understand? Nothing in your body is physically better by taking this. You need medical attention if you're going to live. Even if you get it, and even if you live, I can't promise the internal damage can be reversed."

"What does it do?" I croaked, surprising myself that I could even speak. Was the tonic working already?

"It alters your mind," Dr. Natusha explained. She tugged me up higher and, as her tentacles slid away, I realized I could actually sit. On my own. With no support.

"It also supplies a wild amount of adrenaline. It's meant to help a wounded soldier escape a disastrous situation. The tonic itself might kill you, if your injuries don't, but I fear we have no choice. It will wear off soon. You don't have long. I know your mind will tell you otherwise. It will tell you, for a brief time, that you're invincible. You are not. You don't have long."

She grasped both of my shoulders with the hands on the ends of her tentacles, forcing me to gaze directly at her. "This is your one chance to escape," she hissed. "Take it."

I'd never have dreamed it was possible, but, even as she spoke, my brain was noticing something. I was in much less pain. My mind was clearer. I could think. I could move. Move without horrendous pain and struggle.

"How do I get out?" I whispered.

"Come." She stood. A tentacle with a human hand on the end slithered towards me. I didn't hesitate, but grasped it, allowing her to pull me to my feet.

"This way," she said. "There's a back entrance. It's unguarded. Sirena never expected any—"

Behind us, a door creaked. Doctor Natusha gasped. "They're returning! You have to run."

"What about you?" I gasped, my feet already carrying me away. "Come with me."

"I can't. This is my chance to redeem myself. I may have lost my honor, my reputation, my medical practice, but I can regain my honor here. I'll distract them while you run. Take this."

From a pocket on her coat, she withdrew a small stagger , which she shoved into my outstretched hand.

"I don't know how to—"

"Point and squeeze the trigger," she insisted. "Run!"

I whirled and dashed off in the direction she'd indicated. As I got closer, my vision, by now accustomed to the gloom of the warehouse, deciphered the lines of a door. I hoped it wasn't padlocked. If it was, I was probably doomed, and the doctor with me.

I ran up to it, sliding to a stop, unable to believe how fast I could move, how clearly I could think. My hands slid over the door, searching for a handle. It was locked with a sliding bolt. I yanked it back, hearing the clank even as, behind me, echoed the louder clank of the front door opening.

"Natusha—"

Sirena's voice. I spun for a backwards glance.

"Where is she?" Sirena snapped.

In the patch of light admitted through the open front door, I saw Dr. Natusha standing tall and straight, facing Sirena and her henchmen, who'd followed her inside.

"In the corner," the doctor replied. "She needed to relieve herself. I assisted her over to the corner where there is a bucket. She was unable to make it to the washroom. She'll be done in a moment."

I couldn't delay any longer. The tiniest sliver of daylight awaited. I slipped around the open door and outside, hearing Sirena say with contempt, "Vile. Fetch her soon. I dislike her out of my sight."

Oh Doctor…

Physically, my body felt amazing. I felt better than I ever had. I'd never had so much energy, been so full of life, been so fit and free.

I was running down the alleyway, free as a bird wheeling through the sky.

Wait, do Asterions have birds? Are there birds on this planet? Do they fly through the sky?

The funniest ideas kept intruding.

I should run and run and run. See this planet. See this world. Explore it. I could climb those mountains. No, I could run up them to the top. No, I could…

The doctor's words came back to me.

It will wear off soon. You don't have long. I know your mind will tell you otherwise. It will tell you, for a brief time, that you're invincible. You are not. You don't have long.

"You don't have long, Lorelai," I whispered to myself. "Stop thinking crazy thoughts. Focus. Focus."

Perhaps it was a by-product of the tonic the doctor had given me. I was having difficulty reigning in my mind. Why am I here? I wondered as I turned, dashing between two gigantic warehouses, past one more, and out onto a broad main street. Where am I going? Where should I…

"Ellax. I have to warn him."

That was it. That was why Doctor Natusha had sacrificed herself for me.

Sacrificed.

The one word was enough to stop me in my tracks, right there on the edge of the street. Transports were whizzing by. Asterions milled around, along with a few aliens of other species. Many cast me odd looks, which I ignored. Instead, I twisted to throw a glance over my shoulder, trying to get my bearings.

Should I go back? Try to help Doctor Natusha? Sirena is likely to have her killed for helping me escape.

My feet twisted that direction, then stopped.

No. That was her choice. She set me free. She knew what she was doing. If you go back, Sirena will have you killed. You're on the run now, and she has no more bargaining chips. She'll be desperate to conceal her crimes. You have to keep going. You have to get to Ellax. You have to stop this.

Right.

I couldn't save the doctor, but I could honor her by finishing the job. The only problem was, I thought, as I stood there gazing around a foreign city on a foreign planet, I had absolutely no idea where I was or where to go.