Rayne woke with a pounding ache just above her left ear. Grimacing, she sat up and rubbed the tender area, then swung her legs off the soft bed and gazed around. The room was furnished in a sparse, functional manner and had pale walls like the ship. Rawn snored on a bed across the room, and she stood up, fighting dizziness. He woke with a snort when she shook him, winced and clutched his head as he sat up. She wondered if she looked as pale and gaunt as he did. Odd that he rubbed the same spot as she had. The door opened to admit a beaming Egan.
“Have you slept well?” he enquired.
Rawn frowned. “How long were we unconscious?”
“Five days. It was necessary to carry out the tests and vaccinations painlessly, you see.”
“What did they do to us?”
“Nothing harmful.”
“Did any of the tests include sticking red hot pokers in our heads?” Rawn demanded.
“Ah, you have headaches.” Egan dug in his pocket and took out two apparently empty plastic bubbles, which he held out. “Here.”
She took a bubble and studied it. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Oh, here, I’ll show you.” Egan took the bubble and held it under her nose. “Now, breathe in.”
As she did, he popped it. A strange, numbing scent invaded her nose, and the pain in her head vanished. Rawn popped his bubble and experienced the same rush of relief, judging by his blissful expression. Egan was eager to bring them whatever they wished, and they sat down to a gourmet meal followed by party snacks and delicious treats they had never dreamt to taste. It distracted them from the unpleasant aspects of their situation, and when they were full, they went back to sleep.
The next day continued the trend; Egan answered questions willingly, but they had no way of knowing how truthfully. He brought them holofilms and played the helpful host, but Rayne disliked his condescending air and stilted speech. The food restored their strength and the films were educational, but the rooms had no windows and the door was locked. After several fruitless hours trying to open it, they gave up.
The following day, Rayne demanded to see Tallyn, and Egan balked. He claimed the commander was busy, and would be for some time to come. Rawn gripped Egan’s his collar and almost lifted him off the floor, evincing a reluctant promise to try to contact Tallyn. It took another day and several more threats before Tallyn came, and when he did, Egan was plainly unhappy. Then they learnt that the commander had come of his own accord, to check on them.
When Rawn told him about their request, Egan was subjected to the commander’s icy glare. “Who ordered this duplicity, Ensign?” Tallyn demanded.
“The Council, sir.”
“Of course. Who else? Inform them that I’m taking the humans to my dwelling, where they can stay for the time being. They can’t be kept in this... prison.”
“But sir, they have to be monitored.”
Tallyn’s brows rose. “They’ve been immunised, and they’re fully recovered from the ordeal, it seems. Why must they be monitored?”
“The Council ordered -”
“I’ll deal with the Council, Ensign. Dismissed.”
Egan, whose pale complexion had a silvery sheen, turned an interesting shade of pink, but retreated.
Tallyn said, “It’s a good thing I have some authority over junior staff members.”
Rawn grunted. “I was getting sick of that pompous little fart.”
Tallyn appeared to riffle through a mental dictionary before understanding dawned. “An apt description. The Council, it seems, intended to keep you in a comfortable, if sterile environment, but I think you’d rather see more of your new home.”
“Damned right,” Rawn muttered.
“Good.”
The door opened for Tallyn, and he led them down a corridor where several frowning white-suited men watched them pass. Rayne stepped out into the open air and gazed around at Atlan’s alien beauty. The sun was a hot white spot beyond the glowing roof of clouds, and verdant landscape stretched away in every direction. Only an occasional tower broke the carpet of greenery, and the sweet, rich air made her a little dizzy.
After a few minutes, Tallyn led them to a disk-shaped, four-seater craft. Rawn took the seat beside Tallyn, and Rayne sat at the back. They skimmed away over the trees at an amazing speed, and she studied the well-hidden buildings that nestled in the pristine forest below.
Rawn asked, “How can billions of people live in such a sparsely built-up world?”
Tallyn glanced at him as the craft swooped into the forest and swerved between two tall trees. “Billions of people don’t live here. They live on fifty-two planets all over the galaxy. We’re always colonising new planets, as long as they’re not already inhabited by intelligent life forms.”
“What about the animals?” Rayne asked, gulping as they skimmed past a tree trunk with centimetres to spare.
“We don’t destroy the ecology; we live in harmony with it. The animals have no fear of us because they have no reason to.”
“But we’ve been eating meat,” Rawn said.
“That’s grown in bio-tanks.” Tallyn swooped and swung the hover car, oblivious to Rayne’s growing discomfort.
“Where are your factories, industries and so on?”
“Those are mostly underground, and automated.”
Rayne gripped her seat. “How far is it to your house?”
Tallyn smiled at her. “Not too far.” He faced the front again just in time to swerve around a tree.
Rayne released her white-knuckled grip on the seat as they passed the tree. A few minutes later, they landed in front of a rustic log cabin in a glade, and quit the vehicle. The cabin’s door opened at Tallyn’s approach, and it appeared to be a lot larger inside than it looked from the outside.
They passed through a long room that housed a heated swimming pool set amid rocks, ferns and palms. A transparent roof allowed sunlight to flood in, filling the house with cheerful warmth, and soft grey moss served as carpeting. Atlanteans, Rayne reflected, certainly seemed to like plants. They entered another spacious, sunlit room decorated in pastels and filled with alien foliage.
Tallyn handed out fruity drinks and flopped onto a comfortable chair with his own.
Rawn settled on another chair. “How long were they going to keep us locked up in that damned room, anyway?”
Tallyn shrugged. “I don’t think they had given it much thought. Once you were safe and installed in what they thought was a suitable environment, provided with food and entertainment, they thought they had done enough.”
“I’d have thought they’d take better care of someone who might be their precious Golden Child.”
“Rayne is only a candidate. One of four, I believe, who have been found on other worlds. If she’s the one, she’ll be accorded the respect she deserves, but until then she’ll be treated just like anyone else.”
Rayne asked, “What are the other girls like?”
“Mostly children, except for one older girl, but I believe you are the oldest.”
“So there are another three planets dying right now, just like Earth?”
“No, we’ve found six. One might be saved. Two girls were taken from one of them, and none were found on the others.”
“What are they like?”
Tallyn sipped his drink. “The two who were taken from Hendis seem to fit the prophecy’s description better. They’re young, five and eight of their years old, and they have golden skin, hair and eyes. There’s biological warfare on their planet, and the people are dying from a disease they unleashed. But the planet itself is not dying, and the prophecy definitely says ‘the dying planet’.
“The other girl, who’s sixteen, comes from a race of white-haired, brown-skinned people. She only has golden eyes. Her world is being destroyed by radiation released through the foolish testing of nuclear weapons, but again, the planet may recover, although grossly changed, and inhabited by mutated animals, mostly insects.” He looked at Rayne. “The Council agrees that you??
?re the most likely candidate, although Rawn fits the description better.”
Rayne looked at her brother, who met her gaze with raised brows and a teasing smile. She wondered what lay in store for them on this alien world, and how much they could trust their new benefactor. Although he seemed genuinely concerned about their welfare, she clung to the old habit of distrust that had served her so well in the past.