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ELARA
The station never slept. There were always people out and about going about their business. Jocelyn ushered me through the crowded walkways with a taser concealed under her jacket. I had no doubt she would use it as she marched me determinedly along, her arm linked through mine for added security.
There was not much chance I could make a break for it, there were two of her heavies in front and two behind. We were flanked.
I saw shit going down on the station too many times to believe, even for a second, that someone would come to my aid if I made a scene. So I walked tamely by her side, hoping against hope that Draven would notice I was gone and come after me.
It was obvious where she was taking me. I was not even slightly surprised when we turned onto the promenade that led to my little store.
“Open it,” she commanded at the portal of my shop.
I resisted. The consequences of the flower getting into the wrong hands could be profound, though I still didn’t understand the full implications.
“Would you like me to remove your eye and do this myself?” Jocelyn asked conversationally.
I felt a cold clammy fear creep up my spine. The way she said it made me feel like she would have no qualms about doing just that. I put my eye to the retina scanner, and the door slipped open.
“Good,” said Jocelyn. “You know exactly what I want. Let’s not have any heroics now.”
Two of her bodyguards crammed themselves into the shop with us. They were Ewani, their long pointed snouts twitched nervously, their lips peeling back to reveal pointed yellow incisors.
From what I heard of them, they were as likely to double-cross Jocelyn as back her up. I wondered fleetingly if she realized that. Was it worth the risk? Maybe I could offer them more credits? Surely, she paid them for their assistance.
I glanced back out through the portal. The two outside were both Nazok. They were a different kettle of fish entirely. They dressed in clothes that probably once were brightly colored, under thick hide armor that obviously saw a lot of use. One turned and acknowledged my glance with a feral smile that revealed his sharp incisors. I had no doubt they would take a bit more getting around.
“Why am I still waiting?” snapped Jocelyn. “The bloom. Now!”
I gave up. This obviously wasn’t my chance. I ran my fingers along the counter until I found the hidden button. I felt a small spark of satisfaction when I watched Jocelyn jump out of the path of the sliding counter.
Jocelyn flashed out a knife, and before I could stop her, she pressed it against my cheek just below my eye. “Try something like that again, and you’ll lose an eye anyway,” she hissed. I felt the point of the blade pricking my skin. Fuck, this woman was a psycho.
The two Ewani in the room with us let out wheezing laughs. Their lips were pulled back over rows of pointed yellow teeth. They obviously enjoyed the show.
“I’m sorry,” I said, raising my hands in the air. “The flower is underneath.”
She flicked her eyes toward the floor safe. “Open it,” she demanded.
I knelt on the floor and placed my hand on the scanner. The aperture slid open revealing the iridescent flower. I wondered how something so beautiful felt so vile.
I wondered fleetingly if Jocelyn would kill me now that she had what she wanted. I glanced at her. She looked as if she too was caught up in the beauty of the bloom.
Her eyes swiveled to lock onto mine. “Bring it,” she said. “Don’t worry, I want you alive. For now,” she added with the twitch of a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.
I raised the bloom still in its stasis box and followed Jocelyn and her cronies out of the shop.
She led me through a maze of passages and alleyways around the less traveled outskirts of the station until we came to an unmarked door in the narrows. This section of the ship was for more practical matters such as power generation stations, and it was nowhere near as traveled as the promenade or metro with its shops and restaurants. The door was in the center of a plain metal wall with no windows. She put her eye to the retina scanner, and the portal slid open.
I glanced back down the deserted alleyway, hoping briefly I might catch sight ofsomeone. My last vision of freedom was rudely interrupted by one of the Ewani pushing me sharply in the back and propelling me through the doorway. I heard it slide shut behind me with a sense of finality. I was trapped.
The corridor beyond was brightly lit and sterile. There was nothing to break up the monotony of the long white hall stretching away from us, except the occasional unmarked portal complete with a retina scanner.
The guards hemmed me in closely as Jocelyn led the way. She passed several doors before she opened one and led us through. The room beyond chilled me to the bone.
Along the entire length of one wall were glass-fronted cages containing live mutants. Some had arms impossibly long, their knuckles dragging on the floor. And some had gray skin and bulbous eyes on the ends of antennas. Others still had no eyes at all.
They looked like someone took parts from random species of aliens and mashed them up. But that was not the worst part. The worst part was that they were all implanted with machinery. A mechanical leg here, or a panel of switches and diodes protruding from their chests there.
The ones that had eyes watched us warily. “Do you like my collection?” asked Jocelyn. I looked at her with repulsion. “Would it help you to know that all those creatures were terminally ill when they came to me? I have experimented with longevity and immortality for decades. Those beings in there would not be alive now if it wasn’t for me.”
