Disclaimer: Please see Prologue
Part Six: Medusa
Radu woke from the drug's effect a few hours before dawn. He found himself strapped to a chair, metal, with metal ties, and he knew without trying that after being drugged so powerfully he would not be able to break them. His work clothes from yesterday were folded and apparently washed about ten feet from him. He looked around, seeing a bare room with two walls missing. The floor also ended where those walls should have been.
I'm in a loft, he thought. Like a giant shelf. I've seen these things in the warehouses, usually used to store more expensive materials. I guess I'm in a warehouse, can't be too far from where that woman attacked me.
Radu couldn't for the life of him orient himself well enough to tell where he was in comparison to the rest of the city. His head just wasn't working well enough.
Think, Radu... That woman will probably be back, if she decided to take you prisoner. She seemed pretty insane so who knows what kind of plans she has for me. I don't think she's ever seen an Andromedan before, though, so maybe that's her weak spot. She didn't know about my hearing and probably doesn't know about my sense of direction. Maybe I can-
"Ah, my friend has finally awoken from his nap." That high-pitched, unnerving voice echoed through the warehouse and through the loft area. Xenia appeared at the edge of the loft by the wall, climbing up by way of a ladder. Radu was in the corner. A table was near the end of the wall farther from the ladder. The loft was otherwise empty.
"What do you want from me?" Radu had wanted his voice to come out demanding and powerful, like Harlan's: instead he sounded like he had on his first day of Starcademy.
"Oh, dear, let's not stall. I want your body, and don't think I want it *that* way either. Let's hurry now... you need to be home soon."
Xenia's hands, Radu noticed, were now ungloved. He couldn't imagine what she wanted to do to him.
"Now this won't hurt, actually. I'm not saying you won't be screaming at the end, though." Xenia walked over to the table and picked up a razor blade, and with two quick movements, cut the palm of her right hand in an X, deep enough to sink the razor blade in about a half an inch. Radu watched her with horror as she repeated the same motion on her left hand and put the razor blade back down. Her hands dripped blood, but just a very small amount.
From her cut hands came the tendrils. Each about a third of an inch in diameter, thirty or forty of them total, all moving. Xenia looked like some horrible alien Medusa, with snakes coming from her hands instead of head. She approached Radu who was silent with fear.
I am going to die, he thought.
The tendrils snaked over his body, each pointing toward a different place: on his face, his chest, his back, his arms and legs, everywhere, and when the tendrils made a connection they pierced the skin with an almost anesthetic affect, for Radu could see them sticking out of his body but not feel them. Xenia had been right, however, because Radu did want to scream.
She stopped. "Now, I become you," she said. As she sad the words the pulling sensation began, as if Radu's body was being sucked into those tendrils. He felt hot, and vaguely recalled this devil's imp saying that yes, she was converting the fat and tissue in his body into their basic building blocks and consuming him, she was taking the DNA from his body, she was taking his body itself. And then she pulled back and the tendrils disconnected from Radu's body and he slumped forward in his chair for he felt that all of the life had been drained from him and *she* stood in front of him, watching.
"Still alive? Incredible. I took more than seventy pounds of your body, do you know that, food item? Look at yourself."
Radu looked. His ribs were visible, his arms and legs anorexically thin.
"You won't be going anywhere. I suppose I can come back later and finish you off, but first I'm going to have to lose some of this Meridian's mass. I think a good amputation will do me a little good, eh, snack? Your DNA is better, and I need to be you by dawn. I'll be back, dear."
She left. Not by the ladder. She jumped the fifty feet to the ground. Radu heard her hit, bones cracking, membranes rupturing, but ten minutes later she was walking away, with a step that sounded unnervingly like his own.
[pic]
"Guys? Is anyone home? Knock Knock!"
Harlan answered the outside door to his room. "Radu? Do you have any idea what time it is? We've been worried as hell about you! Where were you, man!"
Harlan pulled Xenia into the room by the arm.
"I'm sorry, Harlan... I ran into some trouble down by the warehouses. Some Meridian woman, beautiful body, but she must have been nuts because she nearly killed me! But she ran away after a while. She cut up my hands, but they'll be all right in a while. I had them bandaged."
Xenia held up his hands to Harlan, which were covered with white bandages. I guess Radu decided to take his gloves off when he got hurt, thought Harlan.
"Hey man, I'm sorry I got mad at you. I didn't even think you might have run into trouble."
"It's all right... uh.."
"Harlan?"
"Yeah, sorry Harlan, I hit my head kind of hard on the concrete."
"Hey, maybe you should have Rosie scan you, after that concussion you got during the crash? A few internal checks just to make sure Radu is still good on the inside huh? Not past the expiration date?"
"No... I'll be fine. Can I get a copy of my key, by the way? I think I lost mine in that fight."
"Yeah sure... heh, the people who own this rathole don't care if half of Toloch has their keys."
[pic]
The key. Radu still had his key.
He remembered Rosie telling him that he left his key everywhere and would lose it without her.
"Hide it on your person, Radu," she had said. "Somewhere that you won't lose it."
It was in his hair. Tied to the bottom of a few strands near the back of his head, hidden by the rest of his hair. With his hands tied behind him, he just might be able to reach it... but he was so tired.
Of course you are tired... she sucked a third of your body mass out of you
Got it. A small key, metal... with a jagged edge. The cables he was tied with were metal also, but not solid. They were twisted metal strands, and he bet those strands could be broken.
[pic]
In his weakened condition, it took Radu almost an hour to cut the ties on his hands. With his hands free, he went about sawing at the cables around his shoulders and upper body that were holding him to the chair. Next, he freed his ankles and legs, but he left the belt of cable around his waist for last, fearing that he would fall forward out of the chair and not be able to get up if he didn't have something holding him to it. So that cable was the last one he cut before standing up, shakily, and looking around the loft.
He was wearing only his underwear. Prime Embarrassment Number One. He knew he would have to get out soon, before Xenia came back. From the dim interior of the warehouse, Radu could not tell what time of day it was, but it had to be mid-morning at least. His work clothes were not at the edge of the platform any more, so that horrible creature must have taken them.
Carefully, Radu climbed down the fifty-foot ladder to the floor of the warehouse. It was apparently abandoned, a huge boxy building with old rusted metal crates stacked around the walls. Under the platform's edge, Radu found a large bloody spot and also Xenia's clothes and armor from the night before. And the gun she had not used.
Radu was a sorry sight in Xenia's clothes. The shiny, skintight plastic was loose and a foot too long on Radu's short, starved frame. He looked weird, to say the least.
I'm starving, he thought. I'll stop by at Harlan's work and get a burger or ten. Then I'll find out if that woman really has taken on my identity.
[pic]
Part Six: Medusa
Radu woke from the drug's effect a few hours before dawn. He found himself strapped to a chair, metal, with metal ties, and he knew without trying that after being drugged so powerfully he would not be able to break them. His work clothes from yesterday were folded and apparently washed about ten feet from him. He looked around, seeing a bare room with two walls missing. The floor also ended where those walls should have been.
I'm in a loft, he thought. Like a giant shelf. I've seen these things in the warehouses, usually used to store more expensive materials. I guess I'm in a warehouse, can't be too far from where that woman attacked me.
Radu couldn't for the life of him orient himself well enough to tell where he was in comparison to the rest of the city. His head just wasn't working well enough.
Think, Radu... That woman will probably be back, if she decided to take you prisoner. She seemed pretty insane so who knows what kind of plans she has for me. I don't think she's ever seen an Andromedan before, though, so maybe that's her weak spot. She didn't know about my hearing and probably doesn't know about my sense of direction. Maybe I can-
"Ah, my friend has finally awoken from his nap." That high-pitched, unnerving voice echoed through the warehouse and through the loft area. Xenia appeared at the edge of the loft by the wall, climbing up by way of a ladder. Radu was in the corner. A table was near the end of the wall farther from the ladder. The loft was otherwise empty.
"What do you want from me?" Radu had wanted his voice to come out demanding and powerful, like Harlan's: instead he sounded like he had on his first day of Starcademy.
"Oh, dear, let's not stall. I want your body, and don't think I want it *that* way either. Let's hurry now... you need to be home soon."
Xenia's hands, Radu noticed, were now ungloved. He couldn't imagine what she wanted to do to him.
"Now this won't hurt, actually. I'm not saying you won't be screaming at the end, though." Xenia walked over to the table and picked up a razor blade, and with two quick movements, cut the palm of her right hand in an X, deep enough to sink the razor blade in about a half an inch. Radu watched her with horror as she repeated the same motion on her left hand and put the razor blade back down. Her hands dripped blood, but just a very small amount.
From her cut hands came the tendrils. Each about a third of an inch in diameter, thirty or forty of them total, all moving. Xenia looked like some horrible alien Medusa, with snakes coming from her hands instead of head. She approached Radu who was silent with fear.
I am going to die, he thought.
The tendrils snaked over his body, each pointing toward a different place: on his face, his chest, his back, his arms and legs, everywhere, and when the tendrils made a connection they pierced the skin with an almost anesthetic affect, for Radu could see them sticking out of his body but not feel them. Xenia had been right, however, because Radu did want to scream.
She stopped. "Now, I become you," she said. As she sad the words the pulling sensation began, as if Radu's body was being sucked into those tendrils. He felt hot, and vaguely recalled this devil's imp saying that yes, she was converting the fat and tissue in his body into their basic building blocks and consuming him, she was taking the DNA from his body, she was taking his body itself. And then she pulled back and the tendrils disconnected from Radu's body and he slumped forward in his chair for he felt that all of the life had been drained from him and *she* stood in front of him, watching.
"Still alive? Incredible. I took more than seventy pounds of your body, do you know that, food item? Look at yourself."
Radu looked. His ribs were visible, his arms and legs anorexically thin.
"You won't be going anywhere. I suppose I can come back later and finish you off, but first I'm going to have to lose some of this Meridian's mass. I think a good amputation will do me a little good, eh, snack? Your DNA is better, and I need to be you by dawn. I'll be back, dear."
She left. Not by the ladder. She jumped the fifty feet to the ground. Radu heard her hit, bones cracking, membranes rupturing, but ten minutes later she was walking away, with a step that sounded unnervingly like his own.
[pic]
"Guys? Is anyone home? Knock Knock!"
Harlan answered the outside door to his room. "Radu? Do you have any idea what time it is? We've been worried as hell about you! Where were you, man!"
Harlan pulled Xenia into the room by the arm.
"I'm sorry, Harlan... I ran into some trouble down by the warehouses. Some Meridian woman, beautiful body, but she must have been nuts because she nearly killed me! But she ran away after a while. She cut up my hands, but they'll be all right in a while. I had them bandaged."
Xenia held up his hands to Harlan, which were covered with white bandages. I guess Radu decided to take his gloves off when he got hurt, thought Harlan.
"Hey man, I'm sorry I got mad at you. I didn't even think you might have run into trouble."
"It's all right... uh.."
"Harlan?"
"Yeah, sorry Harlan, I hit my head kind of hard on the concrete."
"Hey, maybe you should have Rosie scan you, after that concussion you got during the crash? A few internal checks just to make sure Radu is still good on the inside huh? Not past the expiration date?"
"No... I'll be fine. Can I get a copy of my key, by the way? I think I lost mine in that fight."
"Yeah sure... heh, the people who own this rathole don't care if half of Toloch has their keys."
[pic]
The key. Radu still had his key.
He remembered Rosie telling him that he left his key everywhere and would lose it without her.
"Hide it on your person, Radu," she had said. "Somewhere that you won't lose it."
It was in his hair. Tied to the bottom of a few strands near the back of his head, hidden by the rest of his hair. With his hands tied behind him, he just might be able to reach it... but he was so tired.
Of course you are tired... she sucked a third of your body mass out of you
Got it. A small key, metal... with a jagged edge. The cables he was tied with were metal also, but not solid. They were twisted metal strands, and he bet those strands could be broken.
[pic]
In his weakened condition, it took Radu almost an hour to cut the ties on his hands. With his hands free, he went about sawing at the cables around his shoulders and upper body that were holding him to the chair. Next, he freed his ankles and legs, but he left the belt of cable around his waist for last, fearing that he would fall forward out of the chair and not be able to get up if he didn't have something holding him to it. So that cable was the last one he cut before standing up, shakily, and looking around the loft.
He was wearing only his underwear. Prime Embarrassment Number One. He knew he would have to get out soon, before Xenia came back. From the dim interior of the warehouse, Radu could not tell what time of day it was, but it had to be mid-morning at least. His work clothes were not at the edge of the platform any more, so that horrible creature must have taken them.
Carefully, Radu climbed down the fifty-foot ladder to the floor of the warehouse. It was apparently abandoned, a huge boxy building with old rusted metal crates stacked around the walls. Under the platform's edge, Radu found a large bloody spot and also Xenia's clothes and armor from the night before. And the gun she had not used.
Radu was a sorry sight in Xenia's clothes. The shiny, skintight plastic was loose and a foot too long on Radu's short, starved frame. He looked weird, to say the least.
I'm starving, he thought. I'll stop by at Harlan's work and get a burger or ten. Then I'll find out if that woman really has taken on my identity.
[pic]