Kate recalled the whole scene in high definition between herself and the Trimadian leader.
From witnessing what she had seen with Sataal and his men, she too expected to be tortured and experimented on, or at least enslaved. But nothing like that followed. What did follow was nothing short of weird. At this point of time, she kept it to herself.
The enemy leader did not bother with any torture methods nor ask her anything, as he got all his information by using telepathy on her. She found she easily communicated back, which surprised and alarmed her. She knew full well he was in control.
She felt like she was an unwilling open book and he was leafing through her on This Is Your Life! Was it him or those gadgets connected to her, which she assumed recorded and monitored her.
Though he was assertive with her, he treated her well and reassured her that she would not receive any persecution if she behaved. He read from a computer screen beside her gurney, confirming she was a human from Graffa, also known as Earth, not a Cantal, but affiliated with them and recently part of a human galactic exploration team. Yeah, she could have told him that, if he had asked. To her it was no big deal; she was not giving out major secrets. She did not know any! However, it was the things he did not say that made her nervous. The unspoken words.
Lord Talokta had turned away from her, appearing to leave, when one of his warriors came rushing in and gave him a disc of some kind that he plugged into the computer. After a few moments, he turned to her grinning like the cat that had got the cream. He seemed very pleased over something. He did not say a word to her, but telepathically told her she had to go back to Earth and tell her Leaders that either they give the Trimadians what they want–Earth and its resources–or prepare for invasion. If the Earthlings cooperated, lives would be spared. If not, the planet would be destroyed and all resources swallowed by the great and mighty Trimadians.
She sensed he was not telling her everything and had another motive. Similarly, there was something about him that she was drawn to, which terrified her. Maybe he was different from the other Trimadians. But this was her first encounter with this predatory race. She did not know Trimadians from squat!
The strange telepathic connection between them ended. Could this entity, that looked human, answer some of the questions that had been haunting her? Perhaps.
She had earlier decided to keep this telepathic encounter out of her conversation with her fellow team members. She felt it was in her best interests for the moment, especially as she suspected during her encounter with this Lord Talokta she was not in full control of herself.
And now, one question stood out in full fluorescent illumination from all the hundreds of others haunting her. It had confronted her when she first saw that drawing in Pete’s book, but never acknowledged it. And now it rose once more.
Do I harbor the spirit of this Queen Leah?
Words she could not voice for fear of that single thread being cut causing her to plunge into the deep pool of insanity and never reach the shore again.
She fought to quell an onset of panic grow. She took some deliberate deep breaths to calm herself.
Now, what the hell had this Talokta character done to her? The desire to learn more about her little gifts was now paramount. Deep inside she had her own agenda. Also, for the short time Kate had been away from the stones, she had missed them. Not like a junkie missing a hit, no, it was more like the connection between a mother missing her children. They were part of her and she needed them.
The revelation of the days of sitting at her PC at home doing her job was gone. That was a certainty. She was now on a personal mission to learn more about herself. But she was also scared out of her wits for what she would find. It was a surety she was destined for more, as she had stated to herself many moons ago. But what? She did not know. She shivered inwardly. Had Talokta used some power of suggestion over her while communicating telepathically or was she acting on her own accord?
Am I in control?
Somehow, this mysterious Trimadian race was part of the puzzle. Though, according to her visions and historical discussions with Pete, the Trimadians were war mongers and had tried to conquer humanity; Queen Leah’s people six thousand years ago. Obviously they were going to try again. She could not shake an ominous feeling in her gut. He had also stated it was in her companion’s best interests to say nothing about the ultimatum she was to give to her bosses back on Earth. But that was pointless, she knew they would guess.
The other weird thing she could not explain was a feeling of belonging on this alien ship. Whether that feeling was real or relayed into her, again she did not know.
The humming noise of the door opening up shook Kate out of her reverie. Pete’s prediction came true, and food was brought to them. Both Kate and Pete dug in heartedly. However, Tremaine looked at the food muttering it could be poisoned.
“Look, if they wanted to kill us, they could’ve done so ages ago,” reasoned Pete.
“As I said, forever the optimist,” Tremaine mumbled, biting delicately into food that looked like a mix of mashed dead bugs.