'Sacmis' (formerly 'Alien Abduction')

Chapter 21: New friends

Laura opened her eyes and, for a blissful moment, forgot where she was. Then she recognised her surroundings and everything rushed back.

The room, her ‘bedroom,’ was now brightly lit with a quality very close to daylight. She threw off the thin cover - hardly necessary since the room was pleasantly warm - and crossed to the window. It rolled back as she swiped the touchpad next to it - and there it was: the Moon, still hanging there, chilling in its deathly stillness.

The door behind her hissed open and there stood Teo.

Since she was dressed in just a sleeveless vest and knickers, she grabbed the cover from the bed and wrapped it round herself.

“Get a good eyeful, did you?” she snapped.

“Not enough,” he answered with a smile, then “We thought you and the other women might like to have breakfast together.”

“You bet I would,” she said.

“Shall I come and get you in - say - 20 minutes?”

“I’ll be ready.”

As the door shut behind him, she rushed for the shower. That done, she faced the wardrobe again. Dressing for a man was easy, assuming you were going to be alone. Dressing for other women required more thought. Although it wasn’t easy, she chose the plainest clothes on offer, wanting to make it clear she was in no way playing up to their captors.

So when Teo came back as promised, she was wearing straight jeans, a long sleeved Tee-shirt and a pair of trainers.

“Do you never look anything other than perfect?”

“I’m ready,” she replied, ignoring his compliment while privately filing it away for later.

She found herself somewhere near the centre of a corridor with closed doors at either end. It was far less finished than the rooms they’d just left, with bundles of cables running along the walls and open steel mesh beneath her feet, through which more cables and pipework were visible.

“The Ship is essentially two wheels,” he explained, as he led her towards one of the doors. “We’re inside one of the spokes of the largest and topmost wheel and when we pass through this door - ” he swiped the touchpad and it hissed open, “ - we’ll be stepping into the wheel’s rim.”

As she followed him through, Laura saw a corridor very like the one they’d left, but this one curved away in both directions.

“Follow me,” he said, turning to the right.

As she walked behind him, she noticed the outlines of various doors as they passed, all closed. But in a few moments they reached one that was open.

“Come in,” he said, “I think we may be the first.”

She stepped inside - and gasped. She found herself in what looked like a lounge with some soft chairs and low tables. But the reason for her gasp lay beyond: the far wall was made entirely of glass - and filling her whole field of vision was nothing but stars, brighter than she had ever seen them and stretching to infinity.”

“Trust me,” he said quietly, “Nobody ever gets bored with that view.”

“I believe you.”

He indicated a table at one end of the room. “Breakfast has been laid out. We’ve agreed to leave you all alone for an hour or so, so I’ll see you later.” He paused for a moment, “And please don’t think about exploring further, or trying to escape: one of the other women already tried that and it came to nothing. All doors except this one are locked to you.”