Bedtime Stories 2

Posted on Fri Jul 10, 2015 @ 8:07pm by Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings

3,102 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: All this has happened before...
Location: Kansas, United States of America, Earth
Timeline: Years in the Future

Cassandra walked out of her bathroom, a bathrobe around her, drying her hair quickly with a towel. She'd made a vow long ago that she would always appreciate the simple joy of a real bathtub, and when she and Richard had finally settled down in their house, she'd taken charge of installing a comfortable bathroom and large tub to relax in.

Scrubbed, relaxed and ready for bed, she changed out of her robe and into her pajamas and slipped under her covers, stretching out and sighing. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to sink down into her pillow and drift off. Which meant--"

"Mommy?" Darla's voice came from the other side of her bedroom door.

Cassandra smiled and shook her head. Her daughter had impeccable timing. "Come in, sweetheart," she said, sitting up.

The door opened and Darla tiptoed in, her green cat in her arms. "Mommy...Granger wanted to know what happened after you were on the shuttle."

Cassandra smiled. "Oh, I see. 'Granger' wants to know hm? Well, why don't you leave him here with me to discuss it, and you can go to bed?"

"Well...he really only listens when I tell him things," Darla said, her six-year-old brain trying to come up with the cleverest excuse it could manage. "So you should tell me, and I can explain it to him."

Cassandra smiled more and patted the bed next to her. As Darla climbed up, and Granger leaped onto the bedspread with ease, Cassandra couldn't help but admit that Darla had a bit of a point. The alien feline was unusually adept at following his little mistress' commands.

Cass held her arm out and Darla wiggled under the covers, snuggling up and resting her head on Cass' shoulder.

"Well, it was some time before I woke up...."

Cassandra groaned as her eyes fluttered open. The room was windowless, cold and dark. The only illumination came from the glow of the blue jewel in her headband, giving her little more than a soft candlelight to see by. She sat up slowly, testing her extremities for injuries. When she was convinced she was merely sore from the weapon's blast, she felt around for her handbag, but it was nowhere to be found. The only thing she still had was the pendant under her top and her earrings. They acted as a universal translator. Not much for communication, but helpful when dealing with alien species and no communicator. She felt further, praying she found something else to help her.

Instead, she found a shoe and another leg and immediately pulled her hand back. The sound of a body part scraping across the floor followed and another scared, groggy voice came through the darkness. "Who is there?" The voice was female and sounded far too young for Cassandra's tastes if what she feared was happening was true.

"It's all right," she said, trying to sound soothing. "We've been kidnapped, I'm not sure by whom, but I will make sure we get through this safely."

"Who are you?" the girl said, still sounding scared, but with relief creeping in that it wasn't one of the men who'd grabbed her.

"My name is Cassandra. I'm a doctor, from a placed called Earth," Cass said slowly.

"'Earth'?" the girl said, confused. "I do not know of that settlement. Is it on one of the far islands?"

*Oh dear,* Cassandra thought. Explaining herself was about to get much more difficult. "A very far island, yes," Cassandra said. "It's small, but it's home. And what about you? What's your name, and where is your home?"

"Karadee," the girl said. "I am from Kurdan village, just east of the southern end of the Cella Mountains pass." Her voice cracked a bit as she got scared again. "I will never see it again, will I?"

"Let's not think like that," Cass said quietly. "Keep your thoughts happy and we will do our best."

"Why can I not see anything?" Karadee said.

"There are no lights turned on," Cassandra said. "They don't feel the need to have us see each other."

"What does that mean?" Karadee's voice was getting more shrill, her fear rising again. "Do you think the demons have us?"

Even though it was almost pitch black, Cassandra cocked an eyebrow and looked towards the girl. "Demons?"

"That terrorize the villages. They come when the sky is dark," Karadee said, her voice dropping to a whisper, as if the Demons might hear her. "Mother said they live in the dark and take the girls they find. We try to keep inside before the light of the sky goes out, but I was far from home, picking berries, and I did not get home in time." She started to cry, little sobs drifting through the darkness.

Cassandra's mind was putting pieces together rapidly. Whether these men were taking advantage of local religion or had merely been doing this for so long they'd been incorporated into it, they were in the business of selling people. From the sound of it, young girls. She didn't want to think of the specific reasons why, but assumed none of them were good.

"Where are the ones who fight the demons?" Cassandra said, trying not to give away that she didn't know quite how their mythology worked.

"There are none," Karadee said.

Cass sat back and thought a moment, finding that to be very odd. Her fiance's field of study was xenosociology, specifically comparing cultural traditions, religions and such, looking for common evolutionary development and theorizing what that meant for such diverse species to share similar attributes. One of the things almost every religion in the known galaxy shared was a sense of duality, or balance. There was good, there was evil, sometimes there was neutral. There may be multiple levels of good and evil, shades of grey, but there was always a balance.

"Surely there are ones you call to for help," Cassandra prodded.

"You mean the Light Warriors?" Karadee's voice turning sad. "We used to call to them, but they do not help us any longer. Not for a long time. The Demons must have been too great for them."

"I see," Cassandra said. A plan was forming in her head, but she needed more information. "What did they look like?"

"I have never seen one," Karadee said. "My mother said they cannot be seen unless they wish to be. They are made of light, and they look like everything in the light."

Cassandra nodded to herself. *Well, you violated the Prime Directive enough in your old career, what's once more?* she thought. Not to mention, the Prime Directive was only so enforceable when your life is on the line.

She crossed her legs and focused her mind, moving her hands around slowly. She hadn't realized how weak, or hungry, she was feeling until she attempted to actually focus her energies, but she pushed those thoughts aside.

A small flame flickered between her hands and she continued to move as if shaping a snowball, the little flicker of light slowly growing into a ball and lighting up the room. When she was done, she had conjured up a glowing ball like a miniature sun, about twice the size of a tennis ball, and released it into the air above her, casting light down upon herself and her companion.

She looked at Karadee for the first time as the girl gasped, shielding her eyes from the light. Her skin had a distinctly orange shade to it, as if she'd eaten far too many carrots, her eyes were white with brown irises, and her hair was pure gold. In Cassandra's opinion, she was beautiful, but as she had feared, young.

She also looked around what she was now convinced was a cargo bay on the trafficker's ship. She could feel the hum of the engines through the deck plates below her, and the slight tremor told her they were travelling at very high warp.

Those thoughts were quickly pushed aside, however, at the scream of fright from Karadee. "How did--?!" she squealed, backing away quickly. "You can summon fire?"

"One of the ways I protect myself," Cassandra said quietly, not wanting to appear threatening. She gave the girl time to get used to her appearance. Saw the fear, the primitive distrust, then the assimilation of what she was seeing, combined with the knowledge that she wasn't being attacked yet.

"Are you..." Karadee said quietly, her eyes growing wide with wonder. "You are one of them?"

"The Demons took me by surprise," Cassandra said. "But have not beaten me. I am weak, but I will get stronger, and we will escape them," she said. "This, I promise." Outside, she was projecting an air of quiet confidence, or at least she hoped she was. Inside, she was fearful. To play into someone's religion was dangerous. She knew she was now juggling three sticks of dynamite and a lit flame, but she needed to gain this girl's trust without raising questions about how she was going to do what needed to be done. "I need you to trust me, and stay by my side whenever you can."

Karadee nodded, her eyes still wide. "Why have you not come to help my people sooner?" she said.

*Out of the mouths of babes, oft times come gems,* Cassandra thought. The good news was, without too much coaxing, the girl had accepted her as a good deity. The bad news was that Karadee now expected Cassandra to have all the knowledge of a deity.

"We tried, and we wished to," Cassandra said, "but the Demons have been keeping us busy. But perhaps that will change, now that you are here."

"Me?" Karadee said, looking confused. "I am not anyone important. I'm only thirteen winters along, and..." she looked down, usually a sign of embarrassment, "I cannot even grow our seeva plants well."

Cassandra gave her a reassuring smile. "Where I am from," she said, "we tell stories of a girl who was no older than you when she heard the call of the Light Warriors. She was a farmer as well, and she lived in a land that was being destroyed by war. But, despite her age, and those around her holding her back, she was strong and she ended up leading armies to victory against her people's enemies. She held no sword, she took no lives, but she carried a banner with her that gave her people strength."

Karadee's eyes seemed to widen even more and threatened to pop out of her head. "What was her name?" she said.

"Joan," Cassandra said. "And I'm sure you have some of that strength in you too. You'll need it for us to--" she stopped as she felt a tremor in the deck. The had dropped from warp speed to impulse and were now heading through an atmosphere. *Dangerous,* she thought. *They don't show much care for the planet's safety, or their own.* Before she could warn Karadee, she heard someone at the cargo bay door. She put a finger to her lips, indicating they should be silent, and snapped her fingers at the ball of light they were using, banishing it away and plunging them into darkness once more.

The cargo bay doors opened and two men stepped inside. Cassandra put her hand over her eyes as if the light from the corridor was blinding, not wanting to give away that they were already adjusted to the light. The posture of the two men was alert, but not on edge. They were confident in what they were doing, which told her they'd done it several times before.

"Stand up," one of them commanded. They stepped into the room with a relaxed air, giving the women enough space to get to their feet, but still blocking the doorway if either of them tried to run. Cassandra watched everything about them. The causal way they moved, and the practiced brevity of their speech indicated this was 'going through the motions,' which was a doubled-edged sword for her. While a relaxed attitude meant it was possible they'd make a mistake, such familiarity with the process meant they'd notice the moment something wasn't following the routine.

She stood slowly, helping Karadee up onto the girl's shaky legs. At this point, compliance was the best solution. She didn't want to incur anyone's wrath and have to tip her hand so soon. She was hoping to get a view of her shuttle, which would give her a reference point so she could disappear and reappear there, sneaking Karadee with her. Unfortunately, as they walked through the corridors, she saw virtually nothing. No doorways, no cross corridors. Wherever this hold was, there was one way in, and one way out. Smart.

They finally stopped in front of a single large doorway, and one of their captors pressed the control panel next to it. The hissing of a hatch releasing filled their ears and the door dropped like a drawbridge, revealing a tropical environment. Warm, humid air assaulted them as the men pushed them out of the shuttlecraft. "Eyes forward," they said, nudging the girls harder. *Don't want us identifying them, or identifying with us,* Cass thought. *No pleading, no soulful looks allowed.*

The hatch closed behind them and Cassandra looked around with her eyes. They were in front of a large sandstone wall. Old shields and metal adornments were along the top of the wall, polished handsomely. In fact, one of them was giving her a view of the ship behind her. It was too large to see completely, but she could make out one warp nacelle and the hatch they'd left in. She guessed it was a small, but fast smuggler's ship. Enough to get them where they wanted to go, and small enough to out maneuver most other ships. However, not big enough for her runabout. She feared it had been piloted into the sun, along with her bag of tricks. Thankfully, she had others up her sleeve still, but as her stomach growled, she realized her time would be limited before she was too hungry to conjure up more than a prayer.

There was a stone door in the wall ahead of them, and it started to swing open slowly. A large man in a loose-fitting garb stepped out, sword in hand. He looked down at them, then stepped aside as a woman stepped out to look at them as well. Cassandra met her eyes only briefly then looked down, trying to maintain a subservient position. The woman was tall, fuller figured, haughty, richly adorned, and carried herself with a bearing that said, "I am in charge here."

Cass wondered if the woman knew the men were from another planet, not merely another country, or if she was merely complicit in what she assumed was the local slave trade.

"You've done well," she said, finally. Her voice was higher than Cassandra would have expected, given the woman's size, but firm and commanding. "Your payment is here."

Several guards came out carrying crates behind them. Cassandra immediately wanted to look inside, curious what could be so valuable it would compensate the smugglers for two interstellar kidnappings. *Or am I just a bonus?* she wondered.

The men didn't say a word, but allowed the guards to bring the crates aboard. More familiarity. The woman regarded Cass and her young companion again, then motioned to the larger guard nearby. "Bring them inside. See they're prepared." She looked down at Cass and Karadee again and then turned, sweeping back into the building.

Thoughts of cannibalism briefly went through her head at the word 'prepared,' but she wagered there were easier ways to get that kind of a meal than kidnapping. She gently pushed Karadee along, keeping them ahead of the guard. She hoped compliance would negate the need for brutality.

The complex they entered was large and deceptively primitive. Natural light wasn't possible, yet the corridors were illuminated with light strips along the ceiling and walls. She wasn't sure how far the technology progressed, but at least that meant some civilized features.

They were shown to a room that had a large bath and two sets of clothes waiting. "If they do not fit, tell me," the man said. His voice was serene and as Cassandra looked at him, she realized what she was seeing. *He's a eunuch,* she thought in shock. Such practices were eliminated on Earth centuries ago, but evidently here it was still practiced. Judging from the size and build of the man, he had the surgery after puberty hit, but made the transition successfully. It was a common practice in ancient Earth, as Cass understood it. It made for fairly loyal guards, not to mention avoided issues with them being around a Sultan and his harem.

*That's it,* she thought. *We're being added to the harem.* The physical makeup of their species versus Karadee's was very similar, still those smugglers took a chance, mixing species like that, not just for incompatibility, but also for health reasons. Things were beginning to click into place. The area seemed to be run like a sultanate. The woman who greeted them was most likely the mother of the Sultan, given how much older she appeared than the guards. Most likely, Cass and Karadee were to be servants and, if they were 'lucky,' concubines for the Sultan himself. Either there were few eligible women in the sultanate, or they were experiencing fertility problems, so the Mother, or "Valide sultan" was employing smugglers to obtain suitable women. The only thing Cass wasn't sure about, was whether there was some technology that allowed the Valide sultan to contact those smugglers, or they stumbled across this planet and simply make it a regular stop.

"I wish to speak with the Sultan," she said, hoping the word translated correctly.

"You will be viewed when it is time," the guard said, then walked out of the room and stood in front of the door as it closed, trapping them inside.

********************************************************************************************

Cassandra looked down at Darla's sleeping form and shook her head, smiling. Granger was still looking at her, listening intently. "I suppose she'll have to explain things to you tomorrow," Cass said quietly, scratching Granger's head.

The feline purred and snorted a laugh, as if responding to the humor, then nuzzled into the arms of his mistress and curled up for the night. Cassandra pushed herself under the covers and closed her eyes, doing the same.

 

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