Strangeness
Sara woke up fast, remembered terror flashing through her, but as soon as she did, a familiar kind voice sounded close at hand.
"Sara, can you hear me?" Brianna's voice sounded normal now. Before, it had been off, just a little bit. Before Sara could process what was wrong with this situation, Brianna continued. "I know you are afraid. I know things didn't make a lot of sense when you woke up last time. Lis is alive. I don't know about Jane. Both were hurt very badly. You were as well, but we managed to save your inner ears. No thanks to those idiots."
"What the hell is going on?" Sara bit her lip. She hadn't meant to talk!
"Hell is what is going on." A solid male voice sounded more than a bit amused but then he made a soft noise. "Sorry."
"John, don't scare her further." That was a command.
From the sounds, smells and feels, Sara was on a Corpus ship. The man sounded like a Corpus soldier. What was Brianna doing commanding Corpus? Sara steeled her mind against the inevitable and opened her eyes slightly. What met them was not what she had expected.
She wasn't in a med-lab. Not in a cell. Not in an Indoctrination facility. Not in any kind of Corpus facility that Sara had ever seen. The room looked like a bedchamber! But odd. It had gold in places, more gold than Sara had seen anywhere outside of- Her thoughts slithered to a halt as part of the wall moved and a huge mechanical spider form stepped into her view before freezing at a cough from the side. Out of the corner of her eyes, Sara saw Brianna Executor step into view, but her attire was just as odd. Was that a Corpus space suit? But gold? It fit her limbs and nothing Corpus should have fit her that well. Had it been made for her?
"Don't scare her, Cassie." Brianna said mildly.
"I am trying not to, Ma'am, but better she see me as I am now, than think me duplicitous later." The voice from the spider was female and worried. Familiar.
"That is a point." Brianna moved slowly and carefully further into Sara's vision. For her part, Sara surreptitiously tried each of her limbs and found them unbound. "Good morning, Sara." Brianna smiled at her, but it was melancholy. "As I am sure you guessed by now, we are deep trouble."
"On a Corpus ship? I never would have guessed." Sara managed snark from somewhere and Brianna stared at her before a guffaw came from behind the Orokin and a green armored form stepped up to stand by Brianna. Protectively? Sara felt terror rise again, but then he smiled in a way that no Corpus Prodman in Sara's experience was capable of and the terror receded. It didn't fade entirely, but it did recede.
"Oh, I like this one. She has the same fire in her soul as you do." The Corpus soldier nodded to Sara. "Sara? My name is John. I am not your enemy. No one will hurt you while you are in our care. No one." Space itself might have bent under his calm assurance.
"Brianna?" Sara asked a bit plaintively, still not moving. "What is going on?"
"The being who remade me had a number of contacts across the system." Brianna said slowly. "One of those contacts was Nef Anyo." Sara stared at the Orokin in shock and Brianna nodded. "What happened to me was not Kaitlin's fault." She said sadly. "She had no way of knowing what would happen. Neither did I. She did help me and for that I am grateful, but-" She broke off as Sara stared at her quizzically. "Yes?"
"Who is Kaitlin?" Sara inquired. Brianna stared at her and pursed her lips in a totally familiar way. The 'hours of Brianna lecture' way. "The short version!" Sara said quickly and laughs came from both the Corpus soldier and the spider!
"She definitely knows you, Brianna." The spider took a step towards Sara who fought not to recoil. "I need to check your vitals, Sara. To do that, I need to touch you."
"Don't you have sensors or something?" Sara demanded, sidling back on the bed. The spider withdrew a step and looked at Brianna who frowned.
"Truth only here." The Orokin said with a nod. "If we lie to her, she will never trust us at all and then we are all doomed when her mother acts. Cassie has sensors, Sara, but we cannot trust them. Anything that is broadcast is suspect. That body was built by Nef Anyo's people and I cannot access a lot of her systems. She is a doctor."
"No, I am not. I am a nurse." Cassie retorted and Sara had to smile as Brianna made a sour noise.
"Okay, how about this, you pedant? She is a medical professional." Brianna said with so much fake haughty dignity in her tone that Sara had to laugh. "A good one."
"I remember your voice." Sara said, eyeing the spider. "You called someone 'bloody butchers'?"
"You were out of it, both from the injuries and from the drugs." Cassie replied, not moving. "A concussion grenade had gone off next to your head. You were not in armor, so the damage to your ears was substantial. They were going to replace your ears with mechanical crap." Sara's right hand shot to the side of her head and she stilled as she felt a bandage over her right ear. A quick check showed a bandage on her left ear as well. "I did what I could, Sara, and you will be able to heal naturally, but we need to let it heal. No loud noises close at hand, okay?"
"I will try not to let any more grenades go off next to me." Sara said weakly. "Lis?"
"Lis was on top of you when the grenade went off, Sara." Brianna kept her voice low and steady. "She wasn't in armor either."
"Amelia's Voices do not wear armor." Sara said weakly. "It is not what we are."
"I know, Sara." Brianna did not move as Sara stared at her. "Lis is a mess, but she is alive and she will heal. You know this. She was hurt worse before and she came back from that. Now as to how calm she will be when she wakes?" Brianna made a face. "I hope we can get you and her somewhere safe before that. Because I bet she will hurt anyone close at hand when she wakes up."
"No bet." Sara relaxed a little bit. If this was a trick, she was doomed. "Why can't you check my vitals?" She asked carefully. Brianna looked at the floor and did not respond. "Brianna?"
"She feels ashamed." John said quietly. "It wasn't her fault, but she feels ashamed and afraid of touching people now. When she woke up, she was not in control of herself. The evil one who hurt her had left an odd thing in Anyo's care. I didn't sense anything but an odd smell. When she woke up and smelled it… She went nuts."
"I don't understand." Sara said slowly. "She doesn't seem any crazier than she did before." She stared as Cassie chortled. "What?"
"You really do know how to damn someone with faint praise, don't you? Silly Orokin defines the word 'nuts'." The spider's tone was wicked and Sara felt her heart lighten a little. Then Cassie's tone turned sad again. "It wasn't her fault, but she blames herself."
"I lost control!" Brianna snapped and then slumped as John laid a hand on her shoulder. "And Sara… When I did, I enslaved John." Sara felt fear rise again and Brianna nodded. "I didn't know what I was doing. I wasn't coherent until later. But I did. I took his will from him and made him mine."
"She doesn't believe when I tell her otherwise. I have no regrets." John interjected. Sara stared at him and he shrugged. "Didn't know how bad the first part would hurt, but the rest?" He leered at Brianna who pinked. "Totally worth it!"
"John!" Brianna protested as both Sara and Cassie laughed at her discomfiture.
The tension in the room faded more than a bit. Sara's fear wasn't gone, but it had retreated.
"So, just so I understand this situation..." Sara said very slowly. "I am a prisoner?"
"Technically, we all are. But we have sort-of halfway escaped." Cassie said when Brianna looked at the floor. "Anyo thinks that Brianna here is his Angel of the Void, someone who will enslave the solar system for him, make everyone all nice and subservient. John's contract was with Anyo and the scum remade me into this. He says I owe him a hefty debt for the 'repairs'. As if stealing my brain from my dying body and sticking in this thing was a 'fix'. Sara, he thinks we can deliver him the solar system."
"Enslaved." Sara said slowly and Brianna nodded. "And..."
"And I don't know if I can. I don't want to, but he couldn't care less." Brianna admitted. "I am no military person, Sara. I never was. What I do know is that there is no way I would be able to do it alone. I am one person. I cannot be everywhere. Lorinos had to have some kind of nasty plan for me and I bet that smelly thing was a test of his system. If Anyo hooks me into some kind of long range transmitter, then maybe I could broadcast what I do? I don't know what it is. It is not pheromones, not telepathy or whatever. It is odd." She made a face. "The only test subject I have is John and- Don't say it!" She begged as John opened his mouth.
"Say what?" Butter might not have melted in John's mouth as he smirked at her. "That you might enjoy strapping me down and having your wicked way with me?" Brianna blushed brighter and Cassie heaved a fake sigh.
"These two make me very glad I do not have a human body anymore." The spider looked at Sara who stared at it. "I do need to check you, but I need to touch you to do that. With my help, Brianna managed to take control of my internal systems, but we have no idea if any remote access is live."
"I might be able to help with that." Sara said and stilled as Brianna glared at her.
"Do you have any idea what your mom will do to me if you get hurt worse?" The Orokin demanded. "You need to heal! You were hurt very badly." She made another face. "You also need to be here when Lis wakes up or she may tear out a bulkhead or two. You need to lie there and heal for a bit. Cassie can tend you. She is far better than she says she is."
"And if you do enslave people?" Sara said slowly.
"Then I am screwed." Brianna replied heavily. "Your mom will kill me, the Tenno will kill me or someone else will. I won't resist if it comes to it." John went still at her side and Brianna shook her head. "John, I told you about Lorinos. He tortured hundreds of energy form beings worse than Alad V ever managed with Tenno for god's sake! He had to have a plan!"
"No matter how subtle the Orokin, a Prova between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style." John retorted, fury sounding deep in his tone. "You said he was imprisoned? But not by who?"
"I cannot divulge that." Brianna said sadly. "There is so much I cannot say. I can say he angered everyone."
"That he did." Sara agreed. She lay back on the bed and nodded to the spider. "Come ahead."
"Brave girl. Sara? If you feel off or bad at any time, say something." Cassie said firmly as she stepped close to the bed and a long appendage unfolded form her chassis to pick up Sara's wrist. Sara did not react even as the warm metal surrounded her flesh. "We are all that we have here. Trust may or may not happen, but we have to work together or we are all doomed. What-? NO!"
Sara jerked as something flashed into being in front of her eyes. It wasn't coming from Cassie. It was coming from the ceiling. It was a familiar Corpus hologram. A glyph like the ones she had seen while being brainwashed before she had met Serene! She was drowning in it and-
A loud crash sounded and Sara came back to herself sitting on the bed, surrounded by warm metal legs, staring up a the ceiling where a Prova hung impaled in a holo emitter. Sara was calm, but it was imposed. Just like before.
"Damn him!" Brianna snarled. "Sara! Talk to me! Cassie?" She begged.
"She is calm, too calm! Hypnotized! I may be able to get through, bit I don't know. I heard a few things, but never tried them." Cassie sounded one step from terror. "If I do anything, I might hurt her! Wait. Sara? I bet you can react to direct questions. Can you hear me?"
"I can hear you." Sara managed through the fuzz in her mind. She tried to say more, to scream for help, but it didn't come. There was an odd smell in her nostrils and the sound of male cursing came.
"Don't let me touch her!" Brianna sounded terrified now and Cassie moved Sara just a little. "Keep her away! If I touch her, I might… Damn him!" She groaned. Was that lust? "John, get me out of here!"
Sara had learned quite a bit about how her mind worked in study with Jane and she was fighting with everything she had. The hold on her mind receded and then, it faded further when a soft voice started singing nearby.
'Cold the air and water flowing, hard the land we call our home.'
'Push to keep the dark from coming, feel the weight of what we owe...'
Cassie was not a great singer but it didn't matter, the words were heartfelt and Sara found herself humming along after the first verse. By the time Cassie finished singing, Sara was in control again.
"Stun me and make her do it while I am incapacitated." Sara said as she opened her eyes and found the spider crouched over top of her protectively. "By the time I can move again, I am a slave."
"Yes." Cassie said sadly. "That is my thought too." Hate sang in her tone. "Damn him! Damn them both to fiery pits! I am sorry." She said quickly as Sara shifted a bit. She moved off of Sara and then moved to leave the bed, but Sara held out a hand.
"How am I?" Sara inquired.
"Physically, your ears are healing. Everything else seems okay." Cassie stayed where she was as Sara touched the warm metal hull. "The bypass we put in is letting you hear until the repairs are done. I... I am sorry?" She repeated.
"For what?" Sara asked. "You didn't do that. You realized what was happening and stopped it."
"That evil Orokin had to have planned this." Cassie said with a growl as Sara ran her hand down the spider's flank. The workmanship was exquisite to her half trained senses."This whole mess. Brianna doesn't want to enslave people! She is not that sort of person, not one of the ones who desire control over others. She wants to help people."
"Lorinos was the bad kind." Sara said quietly. "Is Brianna okay?"
"I don't know. She is stressed, with cause. She is terrified that she will start enslaving people." Cassie admitted. "While I am in here, I get no signals from outside. That damn thing vanished before John could break it. Like it had a mind of its own."
"It might." Sara said and the spider turned to stare at her, horror clearly etched in every single micrometer of its hull despite its mechanical nature. "Orokin was a time of wonders and horrors. They made so many things, some good, some bad. Who is to say what Lorinos made?"
"If we have a thinking Orokin device wandering this ship that incites Brianna to lust, then we have even bigger problems than we thought." Cassie said weakly. "Might this be Anyo's plan? This seems too convoluted for the nutcase."
"Not for an Orokin." Sara said as she sat up slowly. Her head spun and nausea flared. "Um..."
"Lie down!" Cassie commanded and Sara did as instructed. The spider came close and several appendages were writhing around Sara now, but she wasn't afraid. Not of Cassie. Not now. "You are still hurt. You should be in an ICU, but Brianna knew you would not react well to such a place on a Corpus ship. I can tend you, but I have to stay close."
"This is… a bedroom." Sara said as he looked around carefully. Cassie made a noise of agreement. "Brianna's?"
"One of them. Technically, everything aboard this ship is Brianna's since she stole it from Nef Anyo." Cassie said and her tone turned wicked as Sara stared at her. "What? You don't think Corpus rob each other?"
"I know they do." Sara replied. "But… She stole it?"
"Oh, he doesn't know about that yet." Cassie replied, her tone sly "We are waiting for the proper time to 'explain' things to him."
"Do you know who I am?" Sara asked as the spider did something and Sara's nausea faded. "Thank you."
"You are welcome, Sara." The spider replied as she sidled off the bed. "As for who you are? Just your name. Brianna has been very careful about saying any more than that. All we know for sure is that you were hurt very badly by Corpus and are related somehow to the Reverend Mother of the Clergy, hence why Anyo thought you would make good leverage. What an idiot. Everyone knows not to anger them!"
"That he is." Sara sighed deeply. "There is much I cannot say. They had to fuzz my DNA to keep me from showing up on scans."
"Ouch." Cassie said with feeling and Sara nodded. Such treatments were lengthy, painful and had really bad side effects. Cassie's tone turned sick. "So… You can't have children?"
"Better for all concerned if I don't spread these genes." Sara replied, only to pause as one of Cassie's small appendages reached up to take her left hand.
"That does not mean you need to be alone." Cassie said kindly. "Being alone sucks. I am alone now that my daughter has gone off to do whatever she does. My wards are all gone and I thought I was destined to follow them. Then Brianna begged my help. Mine." She sighed deeply. "My body died a long time ago and this is all that is left of me. I guess, this is some kind of divine punishment for my sins?"
"Anyo would say that." Sara patted the appendage with her free hand. "I won't."
"At least you are not arachnophobic." Cassie snorted as Sara bit back a laugh. "I was worried you would be. You are handling my oddness quite well."
"Oh, you are not even close to the strangest thing I have seen recently." Sara replied as she lay back. She was still in trouble, she knew this, but she wasn't alone. That was a good thing. Cassie turned her body to look at the supine human and Sara shook her head. "I recently helped negotiate a treaty between two mining clans who were in conflict. They are both trying to breed similar types of kavats. Stress the word 'trying'."
"I don't want to know, do I?" Cassie was wary.
"There was some question about who stole the DNA from whom first. And… Let's just say that there are certain characteristics that no one should breed into a kavat." Sara winced dramatically. "Musk glands are one of those things."
"'Musk'?" Cassie asked carefully. "I do not know that word. Do I want to know that word?"
"Do a data search on the word 'skunk'. It is in every human database." Sara said and smiled grimly when Cassie gagged. "And before you ask, yes. Both of them engineered that in."
"They wanted that?" Cassie demanded. "That makes no sense!"
"Welcome to my world."