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  A moment later, a planet came into view. She shifted in her seat a little, trying to see better.

  The planet looked a lot like Earth, yet completely different. There was water and landforms, continents and oceans, just like on Earth. But they were arranged in a completely foreign way, and the colors weren’t quite the same.

  Reality started to dawn on her. This definitely wasn’t a dream. And she was very, very far from home.

  She swallowed hard, trying to keep the panic at bay. Her heart fluttered in her chest, her blood rushed in her ears, and she struggled to think clearly.

  She shook her head again, trying to shake off the panic.

  She just had to keep focusing. Distract herself with details, and take it all in. As long as she did that, she could keep her panic at bay. The more information she collected, the more calculated her decisions would be.

  Despite making an effort to think clearly, Amelia’s stomach turned and she felt like throwing up. She had to be able to escape somehow. She just had to keep her eyes and ears open and make a break for it at the first opportunity.

  Although where would she go? She wasn’t even on the same planet. How would she get back to Earth?

  These were details she would worry about later, she decided. She was going to approach this systematically. Step one, collect data.

  The craft descended and the planet grew larger and larger, revealing cities that were scattered across the landmass, and finally, the craft lowered to the ground. It landed in a hanger on the side of a giant dome. Amelia gaped, trying to see as much as she could through the little window without standing.

  As soon as the spacecraft came to a halt, the aliens poked her with their weapons again, coming close enough to jab at her. They were using it as a form of communication – sticking and poking her since they were unable to tell her what they wanted her to do.

  It worked – she knew that they wanted her to disembark.

  She didn’t want to. She didn’t want to get off the ship and be stranded on this strange planet.

  She didn’t have a choice though.

  As soon as she was on solid ground, another set of praying mantis creatures came to her. They had weapons too.

  There was a small exchange between the creatures who had abducted her and the creatures who had arrived, and then she had clearly been handed over. The creatures that had accompanied her until now climbed back onto the ship and the craft hovered into the air, disappearing again just as quickly as it had arrived on her porch.

  How much time had passed since then? Amelia wasn’t sure. Space travel should have taken forever, but it hadn’t felt like it had taken long at all. Was it some new technology? Was space travel as convenient and efficient as driving in a car or flying in a plane? Or had something happened to her mind to cause her to somehow lose a big chunk of time?

  Thinking about the latter scared her. Thinking that she might have lost out on information along the way was too much to handle. Instead, she assumed that space travel was a lot more efficient than anyone could imagine and relished in the calm that came with it.

  The new creatures were just as primitive with their communication methods as the others had been. Again, Amelia was nudged forward by the tips of their weapons, encouraging her to go in a certain direction.

  She walked forward, her new guards flanking her with their weapons, and when the door hissed open, something in her sank. She was inside the dome now. It would be harder to escape.

  She was marched down several corridors, turning left and right so many times that she was completely dizzy. She had tried to remember the path she followed so that she could find her way back to the door. But after turning so many times, she wasn’t sure she would be able to find her way back.

  After going through another door, she realized that she was in a lab.

  Yet another mantis-like creature approached her, wearing a dark lab coat. Was it a scientist? Or a doctor? Would she be able to relate to this creature?

  Perhaps if the creature understood that she was a scientist too, she would be able to negotiate some kind of position. One that she could eventually use to escape. After all, she was a great scientific mind and had a lot to offer. Perhaps not when it came to life on a different planet, but she wouldn’t be completely useless.

  Of course, she had no idea how she would communicate anything to this creature – she just couldn’t understand their language and she doubted they could understand hers.

  After some struggle, the creatures managed to communicate to her that she had to lie down on a gurney.

  Surprisingly, none of them did anything else to hers. They didn’t nudge her with their weapons or point with their claws, making clicking sounds as if at some point she would suddenly understand. It wasn’t aggressive.

  It was probably the only thing that kept the fear and trauma at bay. Because if any of them were aggressive with her, hostile, or getting physical, Amelia knew that she would lose it.

  She lay down on the gurney as instructed – face down, she eventually realized.

  What were they doing to her? From the periphery of her eyes, she watched the scientist move around, collecting sharp instruments.

  The more he collected, the more terrified she became.

  She was frozen again, unable to fight back or run away. Dammit! She didn’t have a flight or fight response. She just froze.

  If they wanted to do anything to her, they just had to get her scared enough and she wouldn’t be able to defend herself at all.

  The scientist came closer, lifting a gleaming scalpel to her head.

  Amelia squeezed her eyes shut and whimpered. But she didn’t feel anything. There was no pain. Only a slight tugging at the back of her neck, and then the scientist stepped away.

  “You should be able to understand me now,” the scientist said. “I have installed a bio-enhancer that contains a language synchronizer. It will help you to understand me and help me to understand you. It is our latest technology and it has proven to work.”

  Amelia frowned, glancing up at the scientist. “You can talk.” She sounded like an idiot. She shook her head and tried again. “I mean, I can understand you.”

  The scientist nodded. He started explaining how the bio-enhancer worked, what it would allow her to do. Amelia was suddenly exhausted. Her mind was burned out, her brain felt like it had turned to sponge.

  Even though the scientist was trying to talk to her and they were finally able to understand each other’s words, she just couldn’t take it in. She hadn’t slept enough. In fact, she hadn’t slept at all.

  How long had it been? She had no idea – hours, probably. Her mind was exhausted. She had taken in so much new information, focused so hard on all the details so that she could remember to escape, and she couldn’t take in any more.

  “I can offer my services,” Amelia said. Her tongue felt thick in her mouth and she knew that her words came out sluggish. “I am a scientist too.”

  The scientist chuckled and Amelia wondered what was so funny. He said something, but again, Amelia couldn’t understand him.

  “My mind is of great value,” she tried again.

  She was starting to sound like an idiot. She was far too tired. Stressed out. Traumatized. All of this was real. None of it was a dream – she had hoped for nothing. She had hoped she would wake up because it had been a coping mechanism. But now, she knew that it wasn’t true. None of it.

  This was reality. And it was terrifying.

  Her head started spinning. Amelia felt like she was floating, and her stomach rolled. Nausea washed over her and she was scared she would throw up. But there was nothing in her stomach, nothing but a bit of tea.

  Oh, how she would love a cup of tea, she thought.

  That’s when she realized she was losing it. Here she was on a strange planet, her life quite possibly in danger, and she was hoping for a cup of tea.

  “This is too much,” she said in a sleepy voice. “I can’t understand anything y
ou’re saying.”

  The scientist asked something about her bio-enhancer – if it wasn’t working correctly. How the hell should she know? She had never heard of a bio-enhancer before.

  But instead of saying it, Amelia closed her eyes. She just needed to rest. Her head felt so heavy.

  She heard the scientist cry out, alarm in his voice, and then she sank blissfully into blackness.

  Chapter Four

  Gage

  Gage sat on the grass outside his house, the sun on his face. His eyes were closed, his legs crossed and his palms turned up on his knees. He was meditating, silencing himself, quieting the storm inside of him.

  Every morning, Gage did this. It was a way to center himself, to remove his mind from the aggression that the gladiator championships awoke in him. Because no matter how good a fighter he was, Gage didn’t want to be a person affected by what he did.

  Fighting was a means to an end – he was good at it and it brought in enough money for him to live well. But he wasn’t violent. He wasn’t aggressive. And he never wanted his life inside the ring to affect his life outside of it. When he wasn’t in the ring, he was calm and collected. Calculated. In control.

  That was what he needed to be. That was the only way he was willing to accept himself. He would not become a killing machine like all the gladiator slaves were. He wasn’t willing to be like that. He was his own Master, and he could choose who he wanted to be.

  So, every day, he chose. Again and again.

  His communicator interrupted his meditation. The screen popped up and showed Qhin’s face. The military official was calling and Gage answered the call, even though he usually disconnected them when he was meditating. But he had asked for a favor – he wasn’t going to turn it down now. His senses told him that Qhin was calling about the females he wanted to see.

  “Are you ready to go?” Qhin asked after a quick hello. “It’s too early for the females to be bothered, but I have it under good authority that one of the new females has been quarantined. This is the best chance you’re going to get.”

  “I’m ready,” Gage said.

  “Be there in five,” Qhin answered and ended the call.

  Gage hadn’t finished his meditation, but it could wait. He had already achieved what he had set out to do – he was in a calm headspace.

  When Qhin arrived in his private spacecraft, Gage was already waiting. He had predicted exactly when the military official would arrive. He walked to the craft that hovered just above his lawn and hopped in through the door that opened for him.

  “Thanks for doing this for me,” he said.

  Qhin offered him a clawed hand and Gage shook it.

  Generally, Gage didn’t get along very well with the Saithin race. He had worked for them and alongside them, and they hadn’t encountered any difficulties, but he wouldn’t say they would ever be best friends.

  Qhin was an exception. Perhaps it was his extensive experience with other species – seeing all kinds of horrors – that made him seem more emotionally connected than the rest of the Saithin. Whatever it was, Gage saw him as a friend.

  It didn’t take long for the spacecraft to make it to the gladiator dome. When he arrived, Gage was taken to another entrance, one that the gladiators didn’t usually use. It wasn’t even the entrance that he had to use when he was to select his grand prize as one of the finalists.

  This was the entrance to the medical section. He wondered why. Was there something wrong with the female that he would view?

  As soon as they approached the first set of sliding doors, two guards stepped before them.

  “He’s with me,” Qhin said.

  “Weapons, please,” one of the guards said.

  Gage shook his head. “My antimatter pistol stays on,” he said.

  The guards looked at each other. Gage knew that there wouldn’t be a fight. He could predict when the atmosphere changed around him, when the mood shifted. The guards were nervous about him. He was one of the leading gladiators of the season. There wasn’t really anything they could do to him.

  Besides, his reputation bought him a sort of respect, which translated into certain privileges. Not that it was right, but since they couldn’t force him to do anything, they let it go.

  The Saithin were serious about following rules, but sometimes, they were willing to look in the other direction.

  After all, it was a matter of survival. Rules over everything else, but survival above rules. Every time.

  “Follow me,” one of the guards said, beckoning to Gage with a claw. Gage stepped through the door that slid open. He did not look over his shoulder at Qhin to see if his friend followed. He knew that the military official would stay behind.

  This wasn’t official business, and if Qhin was caught in the females’ quarters for any reason at all, without a warrant, there would be trouble.

  Gage could get in trouble too.

  Still, as it was, he sensed that he was safe. There was no one around that would get them in trouble, and he could enjoy himself without worrying.

  Together, Gage and the guard walked down the corridor to a room at the very end. The guard turned to him.

  “She is in there, unconscious. We believe she might have fainted from exhaustion. It’s nothing serious. She’s under medical supervision. You are allowed to spectate for five minutes. Don’t touch her.”

  Gage nodded. He was dying with curiosity. Of course, he wasn’t going to touch her. He just wanted to see what this new exotic race looked like.

  “What is she?” Gage asked.

  “Human,” the guard said. “Or so I’ve heard they’re called.”

  Gage raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t heard of the race before, though he often followed the news on such things. It must mean the female was truly a new and exotic species. He was definitely intrigued now.

  The guard pressed a couple of buttons on the keypad and the doors slid open silently.

  Gage stepped through. The door stayed open behind him, he would only get a short amount of time.

  It was enough.

  Her frame was small, fragile. She lay curled on her side beneath the sheets, and she looked like she was disappearing, even though the cot wasn’t particularly big.

  Gage slid his eyes over her form, resting them on her face. He was instantly taken by how much she looked like him.

  Most of the alien races looked very different from the Qai, even if they were bipedal and had two arms. But this female seemed almost the same, albeit a little smaller. A lot, perhaps, but it was difficult to tell with her lying on her side, curled up like that.

  Her hair was a fascinating color – a deep red, something that he had never seen against such pale skin before. All he had seen was his own race’s pale features – pale skin and eyes framed by white hair.

  He wanted to reach out and touch it. Would it be as soft and silky as it looked?

  Gage moved a little closer, studying her features. Delicate features, much more so than the females of his race. She was small and slender, with a small nose and ears. It made her look oddly alluring. Splashes of pigmentation decorated her nose. It only enhanced her beauty. Long lashes feathered against her cheeks and her body rose and fell rhythmically as she breathed.

  No wonder this exotic race was so exciting. Everything about her was beautiful.

  As he stared at her, his face almost too close for comfort, her eyes opened.

  Gage jumped back. Why had he not been able to predict that she would wake up?

  She scrambled back from him, her back hitting the wall behind the cot. Her hair fell over her face a little and she peered at him through it. He couldn’t help but think that she was even more beautiful when she was awake.

  Her eyes were bright green, like gemstones he had won in some of his fights. As she looked at him with her wide eyes and parted pink lips, a deep ache resonate inside him.

  “I’m sorry,” he stuttered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “Who are you?�
� she asked. Gage struggled to judge what her tone meant. Was she scared? Angry? She sounded demanding, but it was as if she tried to cover up another emotion with her reaction. “What are you doing here?”

  Gage frowned. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking, what she was going to do. He took a step closer and she cowered away. Somehow, he hadn’t been able to sense it.

  Why? Why couldn’t he predict her movements or how she would respond to him? It was the first time ever that his predictive powers failed.

  Was it because of this female? Was it because of her race? Or was it him? Did she have some kind of effect on him that caused him to lose his gift in some way?

  “What are you doing?” he asked, blurting out the words.

  The female shook her head, clearly confused. Which, again, he hadn’t been able to predict.

  Dammit! It was disorienting. It was unsettling. How was it possible that he couldn’t use his gift on her? Why could he not tell what was going to happen?

  “Time is almost up!” the guard called from outside.

  As the guard spoke, the female turned her eyes to the door. It seemed almost as though she were calculating the distance between her and the door, and Gage in between. It was like she was trying to figure out if she could escape.

  Gage didn’t know if she was going to make a run for it or not. He could see that she was calculating something in her head. But he didn’t know what, and it wasn’t only frustrating, it was horrifying.

  Was this what it felt like for all the other creatures? Not knowing what was going to happen?

  It felt like Gage had been deprived of one of his senses. His sight, or his hearing.

  “Don’t,” he finally said.

  “What?” she asked. Demanded it, rather. Her tone was still hostile. And why not? She had been asleep, waking up to someone staring so closely at her that it had to be unhinging.

  “Don’t try to escape. Not now – there are guards everywhere.”

  She blinked at him. “What makes you think that I’m going to try to escape?”