Disclaimer: Please see Prologue
Part Eight: Bounce
Radu walked down Halorn Street, wearing nothing but his work clothes. No weapons, no armor. Surely Xenia would let an innocent go in exchange for him.
Radu was wrong. Xenia shot him with the same needle-knife she had used the night before, and that was the beginning and the end of the battle.
He strung Radu to a chair next to Rosie, who was not hurt. Rosie's bonds were not a metal but a crystal with a lock, and Radu was ready to bet they were a synthetic network solid and unmeltable. Xenia tied Radu with so much cable that he could not even bend his fingers, cursing at him for getting away.
"You little bastard. You screwed up my plans! I had everything perfectly planned out and YOU had to get away!" Xenia screamed at him from behind his own face, and he used Radu's own hands to slap him.
"Fuck you! I'll still get what I want. There are others like me and when I find one of my friends we are going to siphon you both until you are shells. And then, my friends, we will be you."
[pic]
"Harlan! Are you here?"
It was dark. Soon the rest of the Christa's crew would be back from their jobs.
"Radu? Damn it, why did you knock me out? I would have helped you!"
"I'm glad you didn't," said Xenia. He looked very disappointed... but also a lot healthier. "I went back and nobody was there. She left a note that basically said I was a sucker and that I'd never see Rosie again. I spent the rest of the day looking for Rosie... no luck."
Xenia walked through the open door into Radu's room. "I'm going to sleep, Harlan. Tomorrow I am going to spend the whole day searching for her." Xenia kicked off his shoes and jumped onto the bed, which bounced with two mattresses.
Harlan barely managed to keep his face calm. "Good night Radu," he said, retreating into his own room.
The person in Radu's room was not Radu. Healthy looking and he bounced on the bed! Harlan remembered the first thing Radu had told him about this place... "At least your bed can hold your weight." Harlan also remembered that Radu missed hitting the bedframe by a margin of inches, even with Titania's mattress. With all that mass on a Derezian bed, Radu sank into it like it was made of chocolate pudding.
Yet Radu had bounced on the mattresses, and hadn't even sunk into the first one. And he looked healthy, although Harlan could distinctly recall seeing his cheekbones sticking out that morning, and how thin his arms were... and how he was still pretty heavy for someone that thin.
To bounce like that, you'd have to weigh less than a hundred pounds...
[pic]
Five minutes after Xenia left the motel the next morning, Harlan left too. He followed Xenia as he walked all the way to the warehouse district.
It was more than an hour before Xenia left the warehouse on Halorn street, but when he did, it was with another person. Harlan barely managed to hide himself better before Xenia, along with a Derezian male, blue-skinned, walked back the way Xenia had come from. They were heading back.
[pic]
Radu had heard the person following Xenia, but had not known what to expect. Xenia had, indeed, left a friend of hers to watch over Radu and Rosie - a Derezian who bragged about how the person who he had siphoned last sure looked good, huh? When they had left, Radu had whispered to Rosie that he loved her... and she had stared at him like a junkie and nodded.
The second person was coming in to the warehouse. Apparently Xenia never locked the door. Radu tensed as the person climbed the ladder to the loft, and cringed as he saw-
Harlan Band.
Radu's first thought was that they had gotten Harlan too, and this was another of *them*. He changed his mind as Harlan soundlessly took a small titanium saw from him pocket and began to work on freeing Radu.
"I knew - umph - it wasn't you - because you bounced on the bed," he said. Radu actually know what he was talking about. Radu was free in five minutes.
"Try cutting the chair, Harlan. The bonds won't break." Rosie stared off into space as Harlan sawed the top of the metal chair off and then sawed the legs off as well, which were welded to the floor.
"Rosie? What's wrong?"
"The drugs are strong, Harlan. I didn't realize it until I saw her. They also injected her with something... her temperature won't get high enough to melt that chair."
"I'm ok..."
Radu helped Rosie get up. "Let's get out of here," he said, "Before they come back."
Harlan helped get Rosie onto Radu's back, pulling her bound hands over his neck in case her grip failed. Thankfully, Rosie's legs had been chained separately to the legs of the chair, and the cuffs hung from her ankles.
Radu and Harlan made it down the ladder and out of the warehouse district in record time, considering they were a human, a hundred-thirty pound Andromedan, and a drugged dead weight on the Andromedan's back.
Part Eight: Bounce
Radu walked down Halorn Street, wearing nothing but his work clothes. No weapons, no armor. Surely Xenia would let an innocent go in exchange for him.
Radu was wrong. Xenia shot him with the same needle-knife she had used the night before, and that was the beginning and the end of the battle.
He strung Radu to a chair next to Rosie, who was not hurt. Rosie's bonds were not a metal but a crystal with a lock, and Radu was ready to bet they were a synthetic network solid and unmeltable. Xenia tied Radu with so much cable that he could not even bend his fingers, cursing at him for getting away.
"You little bastard. You screwed up my plans! I had everything perfectly planned out and YOU had to get away!" Xenia screamed at him from behind his own face, and he used Radu's own hands to slap him.
"Fuck you! I'll still get what I want. There are others like me and when I find one of my friends we are going to siphon you both until you are shells. And then, my friends, we will be you."
[pic]
"Harlan! Are you here?"
It was dark. Soon the rest of the Christa's crew would be back from their jobs.
"Radu? Damn it, why did you knock me out? I would have helped you!"
"I'm glad you didn't," said Xenia. He looked very disappointed... but also a lot healthier. "I went back and nobody was there. She left a note that basically said I was a sucker and that I'd never see Rosie again. I spent the rest of the day looking for Rosie... no luck."
Xenia walked through the open door into Radu's room. "I'm going to sleep, Harlan. Tomorrow I am going to spend the whole day searching for her." Xenia kicked off his shoes and jumped onto the bed, which bounced with two mattresses.
Harlan barely managed to keep his face calm. "Good night Radu," he said, retreating into his own room.
The person in Radu's room was not Radu. Healthy looking and he bounced on the bed! Harlan remembered the first thing Radu had told him about this place... "At least your bed can hold your weight." Harlan also remembered that Radu missed hitting the bedframe by a margin of inches, even with Titania's mattress. With all that mass on a Derezian bed, Radu sank into it like it was made of chocolate pudding.
Yet Radu had bounced on the mattresses, and hadn't even sunk into the first one. And he looked healthy, although Harlan could distinctly recall seeing his cheekbones sticking out that morning, and how thin his arms were... and how he was still pretty heavy for someone that thin.
To bounce like that, you'd have to weigh less than a hundred pounds...
[pic]
Five minutes after Xenia left the motel the next morning, Harlan left too. He followed Xenia as he walked all the way to the warehouse district.
It was more than an hour before Xenia left the warehouse on Halorn street, but when he did, it was with another person. Harlan barely managed to hide himself better before Xenia, along with a Derezian male, blue-skinned, walked back the way Xenia had come from. They were heading back.
[pic]
Radu had heard the person following Xenia, but had not known what to expect. Xenia had, indeed, left a friend of hers to watch over Radu and Rosie - a Derezian who bragged about how the person who he had siphoned last sure looked good, huh? When they had left, Radu had whispered to Rosie that he loved her... and she had stared at him like a junkie and nodded.
The second person was coming in to the warehouse. Apparently Xenia never locked the door. Radu tensed as the person climbed the ladder to the loft, and cringed as he saw-
Harlan Band.
Radu's first thought was that they had gotten Harlan too, and this was another of *them*. He changed his mind as Harlan soundlessly took a small titanium saw from him pocket and began to work on freeing Radu.
"I knew - umph - it wasn't you - because you bounced on the bed," he said. Radu actually know what he was talking about. Radu was free in five minutes.
"Try cutting the chair, Harlan. The bonds won't break." Rosie stared off into space as Harlan sawed the top of the metal chair off and then sawed the legs off as well, which were welded to the floor.
"Rosie? What's wrong?"
"The drugs are strong, Harlan. I didn't realize it until I saw her. They also injected her with something... her temperature won't get high enough to melt that chair."
"I'm ok..."
Radu helped Rosie get up. "Let's get out of here," he said, "Before they come back."
Harlan helped get Rosie onto Radu's back, pulling her bound hands over his neck in case her grip failed. Thankfully, Rosie's legs had been chained separately to the legs of the chair, and the cuffs hung from her ankles.
Radu and Harlan made it down the ladder and out of the warehouse district in record time, considering they were a human, a hundred-thirty pound Andromedan, and a drugged dead weight on the Andromedan's back.