***
When she woke, she found she was lying on a bed. Her body, once more attached up to machines surrounding her. Men were running around and adjusting them, watching them.
“She is awake!”
The men hurried to her. Where was she, was it all a dream, a trick? An old couple…the Divine Universe, telling her something–what was it? Darn foggy mind. Something about, any form, you can be anything you want, for a short space of time.
Almost sounds like another sale pitch…
Did they give her the trial download as the price to pay for the full version would be with her soul?
And how do I use it?
“Inform Lord Marone at once,” one of the men, a physician by the look of him, ordered a guard.
Ah, that was it! She was on Marone’s ship. Where was Manutaai? What was Talokta up to? She had to get to her team.
She tried to sit up, but restraints prevented that idea.
It dawned on her. Nothing mattered anymore. She felt an overwhelming urge to survive today in order to fight tomorrow. She closed her eyes and let go again, and that same feeling of total omnipotence came back. God, it felt wonderful as she lay back and let it wash over her.
She opened her eyes and looked at the gapes of amazement on the faces of the men.
One yelled out, “She‑she changed, she turned into a bright light, disappeared. Now she’s back!”
Shackled at the wrists, she was escorted to a different room this time, a room that was more pleasant than the cell.
There were two guards inside the room flanking a doorway with no door. Yep, the old force field again. Trimadians loved them. Was it standard issue on Trimadian domain ships?
Around her was reasonably comfortable furniture and the most weird alien looking ornaments and fittings. It did not look much like Talokta’s scheme. Talokta had gone to a lot of trouble to make her feel at home. Here, it felt hurried, and thoughtless, as if the decorator tried to mix stark contemporary meets Harry Potter. No flow, no Feng Shui with this room.
A bowl of fruit (no bananas or grapes) was in front of her, and some nibblets of sorts were displayed on a table beside a sofa. And the mandatory gourd filled with liquid. She decided against tasting anything.
The guards stood to attention. A figure stood in the doorway, waiting for the force field to be lowered. He was tall and broad as most Trimadians tended to be and had shoulder length jet black hair, but he looked as if he had sampled the good life too much judging by the rather rotund middle. He wore long robes with a golden sparkling belt. He blatantly looked her up and down, his gaze then locked on her face. He had a maniacal look in his eyes which made Kate feel very uneasy. “It’s finally nice to meet you at last, Ms. Willard.”
Kate grimaced. “Call me Kate.”
“Or should I be calling you Queen Leah?”
“Yeah, that’s my alter ego,” she quipped. “Do I need these?” she held up her shackled wrists. She cringed inside as he stepped into her personal space, his eyes roved distinctively down her latticed top to the shackles. “I think you suit them,” he breathed salaciously. Kate hated him that second.
“Well, whoever you are, my dear, you are valuable cargo, at least to Lord Talokta. Would you care to tell me why?”
“You want my version?”
He stared at her for a second. She had spirit, a rare but foolish quality for a female. The last Cantal female he had fun with on Zhesta had made the mistake of speaking out of turn. He permanently punished her for having no manners.
Differently now, Marone was more curious than angry.
How did Talokta handle her?
“By all means, go ahead.”
“Well, I am the Chosen One from the planet Graffa, or Earth as I prefer to call it. I have a shit load of powers, and I am going to kick your ass to high heaven, if you don’t let me go back to Talokta’s ship right now.”
Marone stared dumbfounded.
Kate half expected him to slap her. Instead, he burst out laughing. God knows how she was going to kick his ass; her foot may disappear up his nether regions. But saying it made her feel better.
“Well, it was worth a try,” she said disarmingly.
He smirked at her. “You really are quite feisty, and foolhardy. No one in their right mind would ever talk to me the way you do. I am impressed.”
He walked around her, like a predator sizing her up.
“My physicians have informed me that you made your body glow a bright light, and you disappeared. Then reappeared and, well, I guess you are, shall we say, normal again. Can you explain that?”
“It’s my daily dose of vitamins.”
“You are very amusing, Kate or Leah, or whoever you are. Manutaai told me he was going to provide some magic stones that can perform tricks, but has let me down. Apparently you will give me some leverage against Talokta, or any foe.”
Maybe even become the next almighty Supreme Ruler.
He was rubbing his chin, assessing her.
She stared at him. She heard his thought as clearly as if he had verbalized it.
This Supreme Ruler, Kalvich–the one she was destined to meet–everything surrounded this individual. Yet, he was a face cast in shadow! Was her subconscious Leah memory protecting her against a monster?
“And I end up with a human woman who only performs parlor tricks instead,” Marone was droning on.
Kate shrugged her shoulders. “Luck of the draw perhaps.”
Marone lifted his finger up, about to make a point, when he froze.
Kate stared at him, then at the guards stationed at the entrance. They were all frozen.
She looked at her watch, it was still ticking. She was still moving.
Kate heard a soothing voice speak in her mind; she closed her eyes and strangely found her body relaxing. It was a pure audio link up.
A matter of a few seconds had passed.
Marone’s finger started to wave in the air as he said, “If you are who you say you are, I would advise you let me see these powers of yours now!”
Kate sat on the sofa, crossed her legs daintily and smiled warmly at him.