Chapter 2
She awoke an indeterminate time later, in a small cramped space. As her brain slowly fought free from whatever she had been roofied with, she gazed around her to take it in.
She was on a bed of some sort, but she didn't have the strength yet to prop herself up see exactly what it was. There was a metal table with a pair of sloped chairs on either side, with a plate and cup on top. The walls were stark, a blue-ish grey colour, and they also appeared to be made of metal panels.
There was what looked like a door frame, but the door had no knob or handle that she could see.
Her blurry vision was clearing, and mobility was returning to her limbs, working their way from her fingertips inwards. She wiggled her toes, and found that she was still wearing shoes, and as she heaved herself up, her limbs feeling like lead, she saw that she was thankfully still fully clothed.
She did a quick internal evaluation, and aside from sore wrists and being drugged, she felt like she was okay. She rubbed at her bruised wrists, and swung her legs over the edge of the bed to look around better.
There was a window behind her, but it was covered in the same metal the walls were made of. Otherwise, the room was bare. The bed had very military sheets on it, plain, functional, and unadorned.
As she stumbled to her feet, she realized that she wasn't frightened. She was curious, and feeling cautious, but she didn't feel scared, and as she noticed, she found she couldn't even get worried about that.
"The bastard sedated me!" She said out loud. She sagged with relief when she found she wasn't gagged, and could speak freely. Indignant, she took a deep breath and yelled as loud as she could.
"LET ME OUT OF HERE YOU FREAK!"
Immediately the door to her left slid open.
"You are free to leave whenever you wish," a soft mechanical voice said, "But you are asked to refrain from attacking or harming yourself or the crew."
"The crew? What?" she said incredulously, though she did inch towards the open door.
"You are aboard the cargo-vessel Skyward Ocean the Fastest, which has a crew size of 32. There was currently 4 guests on board, bringing the total body count to 36."
"Who the hell names their ship Skyward Ocean the Fastest?" She wondered out loud.
"Someone who's native language is not the same as yours," came a now familiar voice, as the man who had attacked her earlier strode confidently into her room.
"Get away from me," she began, as she backed away. He stopped approaching her as soon as she began moving away. He held up his hands to show he carried nothing in with him.
"I'm not going to hurt you, it's okay," he said. He was still wearing the ragged baseball cap and the not-carbon-fiber jacket.
"Who are you?" She asked, again noticing the eerie lack of fear.
"My name is Faize Tanyir. I am an Ossumur-human splice, and I am a spy, assassin, and now, your bodyguard."
"Spy. Bodyguard. Assassin?" She said, wanting to get angry and scared, but unable. "Did you drug me?" She demanded. "Wait, Splice?"
He chuckled, a wry laugh.
"First – Yes, I was a spy and an assassin under the Abrasax rule, but since their fall I've become a mercenary for hire. Her Majesty Jupiter Jones, re-incarnated Heir of the Abrasax fortune, hired me to find you, Sapphire Nelson. So, now I am a bodyguard, until she sees fit to sever my contract, or one of us dies."
He strode to the blocked of window, and swiped right along the bottom. The panel slid to the side, much as the door had, to reveal a starry night sky, unlike any she had ever seen. Despite the unsettled feeling she had, she couldn't help but gape in wonder and the Earth floating in space.
"That's earth." She said flatly, unsure if she should believe. But she had to – there was no way even the most high tech prank could pull something like this off. She pressed her hands against the glass? No, it wasn't glass, she noticed, but something else. It was slightly warm to the touch.
The planet was in a half phase, Europe and Africa fallen into shadow, but North and South America remained bathed in sunlight. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
"And yes," Faize said softly from her side, "I knocked you unconscious with a powerful sedative to get you here unharmed. It has a side effect – and intentional one, mind you – of suppressing fear and anger for a short time " She flinched, not realizing that he had moved closer to her.
"When will it wear off?"
He spread his hands out in front of him, in what seemed to be a gesture like a shrug, "It depends, it will wear off faster the more your body tries to produce the chemicals linked to the emotions, like adrenaline. The drug burns it off, but can only eliminate so much before it is used up."
She was silent a moment as she watched the planet. The ship – the space ship! - she was on seemed to be flying in orbit, more and more of the Americas were becoming visible.
"What are you?" She asked quietly, not sure if she really wanted the answer, but at the same time, she needed to know. "You're not human? What's a splice?"
He nodded slightly. "Watch."
She turned to look at him, rather than out of the corner of her eyes.
He reached up to the baseball cap, which now, in light of the space ship, looked very out of place. He pulled it off, the hair attached to the cap itself.
Sapphires eyes widened in surprise as he revealed short, shaggy white hair, with actual spots. He then pulled a cloth from one of his many pockets, and quickly scrubbed his face with it. When he pulled it away, the cloth was stained with white, and on his face, a pale pattern of blue-gray spots to match the ones in his hair. They were smaller above his eyes, but grew in size until they grew into the larger ones that adorned his hair. His ears were mostly human looking, though they seemed set differently, and could actually move a little bit, in ways that Sapphire's definitely couldn't.
"What," She stated, not knowing what else to say. She was standing next to an alien. An alien that looked like it was part cat. She now realized that his eyes didn't just look slitted, they were slitted. His wide-set nose made sense now, and as she looked closer, his eyes were just slightly angled. Had he used the face paint to hide the more extreme features? It made sense. Like this, there was no way he could pass for human, but with his disguise, he could easily, as long as no one looked too closely.
"I am part Ossumur, part human. Ossumur would most closely resemble something like a cheetah or leopard from your planet, built for speed, agility and cold weather." He smiled, showing a set of very much like her own, save for the pronounced canines.
"How can you be human?" A tiny shiver a fear raced down her back, and with relief she noted that the sedative seemed to be wearing off.
"It's a bit of a long story, would you care to sit? There's food on the table, Her majesty brought some from earth."
Curious, she tore her eyes away from both the glory of the earth outside and the strangeness of the alien before her to investigate the 'earth food'.
It was a thin plastic bag, from a chain fast food franchise. She couldn't help but bark a laugh when she recognized the yellow and green Subway logo. Inside was a sandwich wrapped in the trademark paper, a to-go soup bowl and a fountain drink, condensation still clinging to the wax cup.
"Subway?" She laughed, "Your queen picked me up Subway?"
The absurdity was too great – she dissolved into a fit of giggles at the sight of her regal lunch offering.
Faize smiled slightly, but didn't join in with her laughter. "Her Majesty is from your planet, though her home is far from yours. She was aware of your situation, and it was she who advised me to wait until after you had completed your schooling before bringing you to see her."
That was enough to stop her giggles.
"Your queen is from earth?" she asked incredulously, "How does that even work?"
In answer, Faize gestured at the table, and seated himself in the opposite chair.
Sapphire shrugged, and joined him, but when she reached for her sandwich, found that there was a force field around it.
"What? How do I?"
He reached across and touched the top of the field, bringing up a set of options. A couple buttons presses, and the shield dropped, giving her access to her food. "I put the food in stasis to keep it fresh until you were ready for it."
"Thanks," she said, then paused, "Is it safe?"
Faize laughed loudly, "Of course it is, why would I do it if it wasn't? I told you I wasn't here to hurt you, and I meant it."
Sapphire sighed. She was hungry, and the sub smelled good, and while she wanted to trust the alien before her, she couldn't be sure if that was her actual feelings, or the sedative repressing her more helpful instincts.
"Can you just... Explain everything? Please?"
He nodded.
"Many millions of years ago, a race of creatures – humans – evolved on a planet within this galaxy, and grew, expanded and learned the secrets of space flight. As they began to explore, and develop faster-than-light travel, they found themselves alone within the galaxy. Other planets supported life, in fact, hundreds and hundreds of planets supported life, but none had yet created a sentient species for them to communicate or trade with.
"Around the same time, the humans found that there was too much to do – to explore and expand and to learn in a lifetime, or even in two or three lifetimes, and began to covet and nurture science that extended those lives. They researched ways to stay alive and healthy longer and longer, and eventually found the secret, but it required a key ingredient."
Sapphire nodded as she chewed. She had given up trying to resist the allure of the food, and was eating as she listened.
"And thus began their business model. They expanded their own race, first with colonies on nearby planets, encouraging people to live and be merry, but soon moved on to what would become their long term plans.
"They began using their incredible, profound knowledge of genetics and evolution, to seed planets, splicing their DNA patterns into compatible creatures, so that they could eventually – with their guidance - over a few million years, evolve into more humans.
"And then, as individuals were living millions of lifetimes with their scientific breakthroughs, they would harvest this key ingredient from planets once the seeding had reached its best yield."
Sapphire shook her head and took a sip of the soda before speaking. "I don't get it. What was this key ingredient? Why did they have to wait millions of years to harvest it?"
Faize looked at her, raising a bushy eyebrow.
"Don't you see? The ingredient they needed to live forever – was humans."
She choked and nearly spat out her food. A wave of nausea swept through her.
"Humans?! What? How?"
Faize shook his head, "I'm not a scientist, I don't understand how it works, but it's what they use to stay young."
"Wait - " Sapphire pushed her food away, no longer hungry, "How did they stay young while they waited for humanity to evolve on their seeded planets?" She knew the answer. But she had to make sure.
"How do you think?" He smiled wryly, "They started by harvesting from prisons and slums and homeless. Only the rich and powerful could live forever. By encouraging their people to expand and colonize other planets, they encouraged their population to grow significantly, so they could produce enough 'expendable' bodies to further their own needs."
"That's disgusting! How did they get away with it?"
Faize spread his hands, "Greed. Secrecy, I expect. By the time people became aware of it, enough powerful people were addicted to living forever, and perpetuated the practice. Now they never need to 'harvest' from within the original race of humans, instead relying on bringing in what they need from ready planets once every few hundred years or so."
Sapphire opened her mouth to ask another question, but was interrupted by the door sliding open.
"Mind if I come in?"
The woman behind the voice was a petite woman, with darker skin (at least compared to Sapphire's own pale complexion), and exotic, dark almond eyes. She was around Sapphire's age, though shorter. She wore a simple outfit, a black top and black pants, with heavy-looking boots. They seemed sort of out of place with her minimalist outfit, but she cut an impressive figure, and stood confidently.
Sapphire would have assumed she was a higher ranking crew member, checking on them, if not for Faize's reaction. He stiffened and stood immediately, the chair making a terrible grinding noise as he did.
"Your Majesty," he said, bowing his head slightly.
Majesty? This was the queen he was talking about? The one he served? The one that had brought her subway?
The woman entered the room, smiling at Sapphire, and nodding at Faize. Behind her, loomed an even more impressive figure, a man built like a tank, with pointed ears and red-blonde hair. He must have been six feet tall, and he towered over the queen he was escorting. As he shifted his weight, Sapphire noticed in wonder that he had two great golden brown wings.
Faize stiffened again, but this time it had nothing to do with respect. He glared insolently at the newcomer.
Sapphire glanced back and forth between the two men. The new one was obviously a splice as well, but she had no idea what he was spliced with. The tension between the two was palpable. The woman was also watching the men, with an irritated look on her face.
"Gentlemen." She said forcefully, giving Faize an admonishing look, and flicking her escort on his ear. He flinched, and offered her a brief smile, but didn't take his eyes off of Faize.
"Is it really so hard for you two to get along?" She said, snapping her fingers between the two of them, "I know cats and dogs aren't supposed to get along, but this is getting a bit cliche."
Her escort laughed, finally breaking eye contact, "It's a cliche for a reason, Majesty."
"Yes, well, we don't need for this to turn bloody," she said, "We have company."
"I wouldn't be the one bleeding," he muttered, but he moved to stand protectively behind her.
Ignoring him, she stuck a hand out to Sapphire.
"Hi, my name's Jupiter Jones," she said in a mock valley-girl voice, as they shook hands. "Pleased to meet you."
Sapphire couldn't help but smile in response. "Uhh, I'm Sapphire, but I get the feeling that you know that."
Jupiter laughed, and jabbed a thumb backwards at the man behind her. "This is Caine Wise, he's... Well, he's my boyfriend, and self-appointed bodyguard."
Sapphire's eyebrows shot into her forehead. She was about to open her mouth to blurt 'But he's a splice!', but the scowl that flickered past her face in response to Sapphire's surprised look made her refrain from commenting.
"Uhh," Sapphire said, searching for something to say, "Nice to meet you. Thanks for the food."
Jupiter grinned. "Faize had been tracking you for a while, so we knew exactly what sort of sandwich you'd like."
"Yeah. It was good," she replied awkwardly.
"I'm sure you're wondering what's going on," Jupiter said, moving closer to the table that Sapphire and Faize were standing at, but she was interrupted by Caine sweeping a wing in front of her.
"Seriously Caine?" She said, exasperated, "He's not going to hurt me!"
"He's a mercenary!"
"So were you!" She retorted, turning on him, "You vetted this ship and crew, and they vetted him."
"Every Ossumurr I've ever worked with has always been a turncoat – they only care about their own agenda." He flared his wings defensibly.
"I have never broken a contract!"
"Yeah, instead you find a loophole it in so can get away with not doing your job!"
"That's a lie and you know it!"
Sapphire felt anger bubbling up inside of her. She hated bullying, and this was none too dissimilar to altercations in high school. "Why don't you back off?" She stepped up to stand next to Faize, who was growling deep in his chest, his hands tightened in fists at his side.
Caine was inches from Faize, glowering at him, his own more baritone growl playing an odd harmony.
Jupiter stepped up between the two and tried to push them apart, but both were so focused on hating each other that they didn't even notice.
"Wait a second," Sapphire said, "Why am I even defending you?" She stepped away from everyone, "You kidnapped me!" she pointed at Faize, then turned her accusing glare at Jupiter.
"And you told him to!"
"If I hadn't grabbed you, you'd be dead by now!" Faize snapped at her.
"Everyone SHUT UP!"yelled Jupiter suddenly, drowning out the growls and accusations. The room was brought to a stand still.
"You," she pointed at Caine and then shoved him backwards, "Need to back off and give Faize a chance,"
"But -"
"NO BUTS." She whirled around to Faize. She didn't shove him, but the look of frustration and anger she levelled at him was enough to make him step back.
"You. I trust you, but I also trust Caine's instincts. I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, and I want you to continue as Sapphire's guardian. But I also need you to not be so ready to rip Caine's throat out when he pisses you off."
"He start-"
"I don't care." She said firmly, "He's also your commanding officer. You have to respect him."
"And you!" She finally turned to Sapphire, who was standing in awe of her tirade, impressed by her ability to take command of two creatures who could have easily broken her in two. She braced herself for her own tongue lashing, but Jupiter's angry posture faded, and she shared a long-suffering smile with her.
"Let's take a walk."
Sapphire knees wobbled in relief. "I can do that."
Jupiter gestured for Sapphire to follow her out the door, but stopped as both Caine and Faize stepped up to follow them.
"Alone," She said, blocking the door.
They both sputtered about 'safety' and 'contingencies', but Jupiter cut them off.
"I trust this crew. They have been loyal and performed above and beyond for the past year. Don't follow us."
"But-" they said in unison.
"Zip it!" she held up a finger and stopped them before they could start. "See? You agree on something. Why don't you start with that and maybe you guys can stop measuring your dicks and actually get along."
With that crude analogy, Jupiter and Sapphire left the men with slack jaws, both unable to figure out a way to respond. They left the room into the hallway, and the automatic door swooshed closed behind them.