Page 22 of Redeeming Captivity (Human Pets of Talin #7)

Chapter 22

Lena

Time passed slowly as the searching bots got closer and closer. She had the blanket out and ready but wasn’t sure she’d be able to cover both of them with only one. She mourned for the loss of all the things she’d had back at the ghost town. The other blanket was there, along with her change of clothes, and most of the other things Tarquin bought her.

She had to keep reminding herself that they were only things. Things could be replaced. Of course, that was easier said than believed. Every time her sense of loss started to overwhelm her, she held Tarquin’s hand and remembered that he was the most important thing and she hadn’t lost him!

She was in the middle of one of those episodes when a noise pulled her attention straight up. It sounded like something whistling through the air. She didn’t see anything until it was almost right on top of her. With a gasp, she watched a sack-like object with a halo of small jets abruptly stop only a stride above their heads!

Standing up, she was able to get a better look. It was a teardrop!

She’d seen it demonstrated once, mostly because the technology was as stunning as it was dangerous. Out of the twenty soldiers who’d demonstrated the teardrop that day, one of them had ended up in med bay on the ship. He’d recovered, but she’d heard grumblings from other soldiers that teardrops weren’t something that should be deployed unless the situation was dire.

Still, using the teardrop was better than staying here!

Reaching up, she grabbed the trailing handle dangling down from the swinging bag. She couldn’t see the microscopic filament that connected the bag to a ship in low orbit, but she didn’t need to. She only needed to guide the bag to Tarquin.

Being careful, she pulled the bag over Tarquin’s hunched over form. The halo of jets allowed her to guide the bag over him.

He’d been sleeping peacefully this entire time and hopefully would remain unconscious. That was probably for the best; riding the teardrop wasn’t something most sane people volunteered to do except for in the most dire circumstances.

Straddling Tarquin’s thighs, she tucked into his bulk then pulled hard on the handle. The bag opened and the nano-guided sides enveloped them. She could feel the edges work under them and close up. Then cold, colorless gel flooded the bag. The moment there was no air left, the bag was pulled hard into the air.

The gel helped mitigate the harsh amount of force the teardrop created as it was pulled back up to the ship it was attached to. She knew there’d be gel but she thought it was an outside layer. She didn’t know it would fill the entire inside! She wished she’d taken a big last breath before pulling the handle.

Of course, the massive pressure pushing down on her body made it so she didn’t think she could make her lungs expand even if she wasn’t submerged in gel.

She couldn’t tell how long the journey from the ground to the ship was, but the monstrous pressure remained the same until everything came to a sudden and abrupt stop. Her head hit Tarquin’s chest hard enough to make her see stars, then suddenly they were both falling.

Her, Tarquin, and all the gel hit a hard, metal floor with a squishy plop. She pulled in a deep, gasping breath and blinked the gelatinous liquid from her eyes.

“We’ve got them; tell Harker to get us out of here!” a voice yelled.

“Are they alive?” another one asked.

“The human’s breathing, I’m not sure about the Talin,” another voice answered.

“It’s probably the gel nanos,” someone else said. “If ingested they force the lungs to stop to keep the person from being injured. They should self-evacuate now.”

“But they aren’t,” the previous voice said. “Can I force them out without doing damage?”

Hearing that made Lena fight the pain in her head, lungs, and back to sit up and find Tarquin. She was having a hard time breathing and wondered if the pressure from riding the teardrop hadn’t done damage to her chest.

She managed to get on her hands and knees next to Tarquin, ignoring the intense pain radiating from her shoulder. It took staring intensely for several micromarks to see that he was breathing. Slumping back with relief, she looked up at the people surrounding her.

“Welcome aboard,” one said, the spikes on their head changing color from orange to red as she watched. She didn’t know this species so couldn’t tell if the color change was good, bad, or neutral.

She opened her mouth to thank the person, only to have blackness swamp her vision.

She was unconscious before she hit the ground, which was a good thing because everything hurt enough already.

Tarquin

Unlike normal, Tarquin woke up in stages. First he became aware of soft footsteps and quiet voices. No one sounded alarmed or rushed, so he let himself fall back into the abyss.

The next time he not only heard voices but became aware of his body. There was a strange ache in his abdomen. Had he been in a fight and gotten hurt? He tried to remember what might’ve happened. Vague images flooded his head of a human woman, a strange planet, and Standing General Jafinium. The woman was important. He knew her. Was she still with him?

He wanted to open his eyes to look for her, but his eyelids were too heavy. His whole body felt as if he was wearing a second skin made of thick iron. As if his corporeal self was a weight, it dragged his consciousness back down into blackness.

Soft hands rubbing against his scent glands woke him the third time. There was no confusion or hesitation this time; he bolted up in bed, ready to defend Lena from attack.

“Easy,” Lena said. She was sitting on the edge of his bed. He grabbed her to pull her into his lap. Hugging her to his chest, he sounded a loud, soothing rumble.

With Lena in his arms, his panic and fear calmed, allowing him to take in the surroundings. He was in a med bay with two Simtees working nearby. One noticed he was awake and stepped up to the bed.

“It’s good to see you conscious,” the Simtee said in their unique humming voice.

“Where are we?” he asked even as he bent his neck to rub his aching scent glands into Lena’s hair. She made a soft happy sound and snuggled closer.

“You’re on Avail. We are a trade and long-haul transport ship,” they said. “You can call me Kolis-2. My sibling, Kolis-3, is the captain. We are currently on our way to rendezvous with Commandant Holian. We’re only a spirit away from being there.”

“Two rotations,” Lena murmured. He knew spirit was a term of time, but Lena clarified how much. Simtee had two fingers on each hand so they’d developed a numbering system that favored units of two or four.

“How long ago did you pick us up?” he asked.

“Two and a half spirits ago,” they said.

“Five rotations?” he repeated. He’d been unconscious for that long?

“You’re surprised,” Kolis-2 hummed, their crest spikes turning yellow with sympathy. “You must not have realized how badly injured you were. Actually, both of you arrived in very poor condition. We had to work very hard to keep you from slipping away. Lena was easier to treat. Humans can be very resilient. But you were much more difficult. You had a wound that had gone far too long without treatment. It took the machines four silks to repair your internal injuries.”

He didn’t bother asking how long a silk was; it didn’t matter. Kolis-2 had kept him and Lena alive.

“You have my eternal gratitude,” he said. “Ask me for anything and I’ll do my best to give it to you.”

“There is no debt to be paid,” Kolis-2 assured him. “Retrieving and caring for you and Lena has wiped out a debt we owed the human Lakin.”

A chime sounded from the tech on Kolis-2’s arm. They looked down, their crest spikes shifting to a soft green. “My sibling would like an update. I request that both of you stay here and rest. We can see about standing and walking in another few silks.”

Tarquin sounded a rumble of affirmation and Kolis-2 walked off. Lena wiggled in his arms so he let go. She maneuvered until she was straddling his legs, facing him.

She looked healthy. There was no bruising or blood anywhere on her. She was wearing a Simtee outfit: a long tunic slit up the sides to her waist, and baggy pants gathered at the waist, knees, and ankles. Her skin was a healthy tone, and her hair was loose and shiny, flowing around her shoulders. She looked beautiful!

“I was scared,” he whispered, marveling at their recent history. Looking back, he couldn't believe they’d survived. So much happened in only a few rotations, including an assassination attempt, deadly rock-tossing winds, and multiple instances where one wrong move would’ve meant their death.

She tilted her head questioningly. “Teardrop?”

He sounded a startled rattle. “We got picked up by a teardrop? That could’ve killed you.”

She made a little dismissive sound. “Easy.”

“Two of her ribs were damaged and impeded her breathing,” another Simtee said, walking up with a drinking canister and case of wafers. “Please take one of these now and another one every other silk.”

Tarquin accepted the case and the canister even as his eyes bore into the Simtee. “What do you mean she couldn’t breathe?”

“Tormis-4, quiet,” Lena admonished the Simtee. Tormis-4’s crest spikes flushed purple in affection.

“He needs to know to be gentle with you,” Tormis-4 said.

“Please tell me the extent of our injuries,” he requested after popping one of the wafers into his mouth and letting it dissolve.

The tips of Tormis-4’s crest spikes turned bright red, indicating concentration. “Of course. They were extensive so this will take a while.”

Tarquin listened as Tormis-4 listed everything that had been wrong with Lena’s body when she arrived, from the most grievous—a punctured lung—to all the bruising on her back, arms, and legs. It was all so bad that Tarquin was astonished she hadn’t died. Humans were notoriously fragile, although Holian told him they were far tougher than most Talins believed.

When Tormis-4 finished with Lena and started describing all the issues with Tarquin, he interrupted the Simtee.

“Thank you Tormis-4, I don’t think I need to hear any more,” Tarquin said. He was alive and healing, that’s all he needed to know about his own body. “How delicate is Lena?”

“Lena’s lungs and ribs are still healing,” Tormis-4 explained. “Her recovery requirements are similar to yours. Limited movement and exercise for now. Please don’t pick her up or hug her too hard.”

Tormis-4 focused on Lena. “Please don’t lay on top of him, yes?”

Lena nodded and fluttered her fingers over her head, pretending she had crest spikes. Tormis-4’s crest spikes turned purple again. This must’ve been a gesture they’d developed between them. The way Tormis-4 treated Lena made it clear she’d thoroughly charmed the Simtee.

“I know you’ll be careful,” Tormis-4 said. “You’ve been nothing but kind, gentle, and helpful since you were able to move around. I will always be thankful that you noticed Tormis-2 wasn’t feeling well and insisted I look at them. They could’ve gotten much sicker by ignoring their discomfort.”

She waved a hand dismissively and put her fingers up as a crest again. Then she lowered them and pointed to a decorative, raised, woven section on her tunic and tilted her head questioningly.

“I’m sure Kolis-1 has more limrit you can weave,” Tormis-4 said. “I’ll check with them. You’ve gotten very good at it. Tormis-3 already applied what you made to their favorite outfit.”

Lena beamed at Tormis-4 and rested her hands back in her lap.

“Now you both need to eat,” they said. “I’m going to contact Tormis-1 about preparing some meals.”

With that, Tormis-4 moved to a desk at the far end of the med bay, giving him and Lena some privacy.

The wafer he’d taken helped him wake up and relieved the ache in his abdomen from lifting Lena onto his lap.

“This almost doesn’t feel real,” he admitted. He wanted to hold her more but was scared of hurting her. He regretted grabbing her earlier. What if he aggravated one of her injuries?

She tilted her head, frowning, then pointed at the wafers in his hand.

“No, it’s not because of the medication,” he said. “We had to fight so hard to survive in so many different ways. You’ve been fighting for years. Doesn’t it feel suddenly strange that it’s all over? It’s good, but strange.”

Her frown disappeared, replaced by an understanding smile. She pushed at his shoulder, indicating she wanted him to move over. He scooted sideways until there was a spot next to him. She shoved a couple of pillows around then nestled in next to him, sitting up at the head of the bed.

Grabbing his arm, she shifted it around until it was draped over her shoulders. His hand ended up between her breasts, gripped by both of hers. She rested her head against him and hummed contently.

“New normal,” she murmured, petting his hand.

Fatigue swept over him. Comforted by the warm feel of Lena snuggled against him, he closed his eyes and let his head slump back on the pillows.

“You’re right,” he agreed. “And it’s a good normal.”

She hummed in agreement. He heard quiet voices and smelled food, but sleep was already pulling him under. In this new normal he was sure the food would still be there for both of them when they woke up.

It was a good feeling.