Page 47 of Shadows Approach

“Again? You really do love me.”

* * * *

Spyship orbiting Bi’is

Ilid wished he could curl up in the containment cell’s corner. Curl up and cover his head and hide.

Cells in Kalquorian brigs offered no furnishings, save toilets. Containments were small and uncomfortable. Because the walls were invisible stasis fields, they gave the illusion of space. Only the wall separating the brig from the next room gave Ilid any sense of his prison.

He knew where the rear corner was, however. He eyed the area, then turned resolutely from it. He was a Dramok. He wouldn’t cower before the enemy, if the enemy decided to show up.

He was alone in the chamber, which could house up to twenty single-man containments. He glanced at the vid monitors in the corners. Since he was the sole prisoner, they were all aimed at him, giving the guard or guards outside multiple views as he alternated between standing still and pacing.

He wondered if anyone was watching. He’d spotted no one since Nobek Niken had shoved him in hours ago.

As if his wondering had summoned attention, the door at the end of the brig opened. Weapons Commander Suta and Subcommander Ved strode in. Both had darks draped over their shoulders.

The Nobek pair stopped on the other side of his containment, eyeing him as if he were a lab specimen. In defiance of every instinct screaming at him to crouch in the corner, Ilid stepped forward, stopping just short of the field, which would jolt him if he dared touch it. He met Suta’s gaze squarely. As the senior officer, it was his regard to be acknowledged. Ilid refused to accord the customary bow of respect, however.

His and Ved’s intimate history, despite its casualness, made it too painful to look at the subcommander.

“You don’t greet your superiors with respect?” Suta asked. His tone was mild for such a breach…mild for a Nobek of his standing.

“If my superiors were in command of themselves, I would.” Ilid slid his gaze to the shadow on Suta. It winked out of sight the instant he looked directly where it was. “Since you’re invaders using my commanding officers as puppets, you deserve no respect.”

“We’reinvaders?” Loathing laced the furious disbelief in Ved’s tone.

Suta held up a hand to quiet him. “You see us.”

“Which the creature riding Nobek Niken would have told you. What are you?”

His question was ignored. “Our scans reported partial insertion wouldn’t be detected.” Ved maintained his snarl.

“Tests will be run.” Suta continued his cold appraisal. “What was in the communication you sent?”

Elation leapt in Ilid’s heart. The alert system hadn’t flagged his message. It had transmitted, and his father would receive it. The fleet would be warned.

He did his best to mask the jolt of triumph. In as bland a tone as he could summon, he answered, “It was to my family. I send them a regular com once a week.”

“Have the accuracy of his statement checked,” Suta told Ved. To Ilid, he said, “Relate what you said to your family.”

Ilid folded his arms over his chest. “It’s none of your damned business, invader.”

“Your resistance is of no concern. We’ll access your memory of what you wrote.”

“How?”

Suta glanced at Ved. The subcommander’s scowl was replaced by an unpleasant smile.

As had happened in Engineering, a small shadow dripped off Ved’s rider. It scurried toward Ilid.

Ilid backed up, his yell startled despite knowing the containment was between him and the creature. He yelled again when it crawled through the invisible barrier without pausing.

It chased him throughout the cell while the Nobeks watched in seeming disinterest. He crashed into the walls holding him prisoner, barely acknowledging the shocks ringing through his body at each instant of contact. He struck at the tiny dark and tried to stomp it. His booted foot passed through it.

Then it was climbing up his leg. Ilid shrieked in terrified fury, trying to fling it off. Whatever allowed it to treat him solidly wasn’t available to his desperate attempts to get it off. His grasp came up empty as it raced up his back, up to his shoulders.

Then there was quiet and darkness. Ilid was suddenly no longer there or anywhere else.