“Forget about food for the moment,” said Amisha, “I want answers. I’ve been abducted against my will, spun a ridiculous story about a planet short of women, threatened with rape - “
He interrupted her. “There will be no rape. Nothing will happen to any of you without your consent. We - my crew members - are agreed on this.”
“And you think that makes it alright?” she countered.
“What else do you want to know?” he asked, ignoring her question.
“What else?” she almost shouted. “Everything. How did you get me here for one? The last thing I remember I was on patrol in Afghanistan.” Her memory came flooding back “We were attacked! I thought I’d been hit. And what about the rest of my guys?”
“Your platoon are all fine, I swear,” he replied. “Nobody was hurt on either side - we made sure of that.”
“But what about me? She almost cried, “What do they think has happened to me? They’ll have reported me missing in action. My parents - oh God! - my parents will think I’m dead.”
“No they won’t. Let me explain: we’ve - how shall I say - ‘adjusted’ your platoon’s memories of that day. As far as they’re concerned, you never joined them on patrol.”
“But I’ll still be missing.”
“No, we’ve also taken care of that. As far as the Army is concerned you were called back suddenly to the UK on compassionate leave. Family matter.”
“But what about my family when they don’t hear from me?” she wailed.
Once again Cymon looked uncomfortable.
“They’re getting your texts. You’ve told them you’ve been re-assigned to a desk-job somewhere in Europe you can’t name. They’re very relieved you’re no longer in Afghanistan.”
“You bastards,” she replied coldly.
“We have planned this a long time,” Cymon answered, “and we’ve been as careful as we can to make sure nobody is harmed either physically or emotionally.”
“Except us, of course,” she said bitterly, “me and three other poor bitches, whoever they are.”
He remained silent.
“But how did you get me here,” she demanded. “Onto your spaceship as you call it?”
“We use a transporter beam - “
“Oh, come on! - ” she interrupted, scornfully, “ - not beam me up Scotty?”
“No, not like that at all,” he replied, taking her question more seriously than she intended. “That ‘de-materialisation’ stuff is just science-fiction. The transporter beam is physical. It wraps you in a protective ‘bubble’ and moves you from one place to another.”
“Prove it,” she said suddenly, “prove that there’s truth to your story. Show me this so-called ship. Let me meet the other women and your other so-called Alien friends. Let’s stop this cat-and-mouse game now.”
Cymon hesitated.
“You can’t meet the other women now, but I promise you will very soon. But - ” and here he sighed in resignation, “ - I will show you something of the ship.”
“Good.”
“You may want to put some fresh clothes on,” he suggested.
She looked around: “I don’t see any.”
“They’re through here,” he replied and, as he touched a button in the wall, she saw a door slide open.
“These are the rest of your quarters, he said. “You’ll find a shower to the left and a closet to the right.”
She stared back at him suspiciously.
“Is this another trap?” she asked.
He sighed, ignoring her question: “I’ll leave you to it and come back for you in half an hour.”
He turned and left so quickly she could barely see anything beyond the door as it hissed open and shut, just pale blue light and smooth walls.
© Adriana Nicolas 2014
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'Sacmis' (formerly 'Alien Abduction')
Science FictionFour women - a lawyer, a teacher, an athlete and a soldier - are abducted by four alien men. The aliens, far from being bug-eyed monsters, have 90% human DNA. Despite the circumstances, the women are fascinated by their captors. Particularly when...
