The craft’s walls gently vibrated. Genesis tore his stare
from her and frowned. He turned back, proffering a hand. “Come. It is past time
we were seated.”
She grudgingly accepted his hand and allowed him to lead her
to one of the chairs before he instructed, “Sit. Relax.” He did the same in the
chair nearby. “The journey will be a long one, but our seats will automatically
adjust for our individual comfort.”
She gripped the arms of her seat as it unfolded. The red fur
underneath her spine and ass cheeks was amazingly soft and comfy. No doubt it
had come off the vicious, alien-eating caltronian beasts she’d heard her
father talk about a time or two.
If she ever met such a beast, perhaps she’d offer
congratulations for its good taste. She shivered, half-ashamed. A morbid sense
of humor wouldn’t cut it if she really did set eyes on one of the red-furred
monsters—they’d probably enjoy her human-alien flesh just as much.
Genesis stretched his long legs out before him, clearly
settling in. He took hold of her nearest hand, as if in reassurance. “The
shields will shortly web across our bodies. They’ll hold us in for takeoff.”
She jerked with alarm as the shields grew from the floor and
up the chairs to quickly blanket her entire body, including her scalp. Only her
face—mouth, nose and eyes—stayed clear. Even their joined hands were webbed
together. It was the weirdest sensation, as though smoke was solidifying over
her body.
“Relax,” he soothed from the chair beside her, though she
couldn’t turn her head and see him.
“I didn’t expect this!” she hissed, perversely glad his hand
was entwined with hers.
The craft reverberated, juddering hard underneath. The walls
of the craft revolved, faster and faster, as though a spinning top, the
momentum creating a whine that amplified on seemingly every rotation.
“The craft is preparing for takeoff,” he said, raising his
voice to be heard. “When it does, the G-force will cause you to pass out. Soon
after the shields will release a non-toxic gas to keep us unconscious.”
“Please don’t tell me you’re serious!”
She wasn’t used to feeling so helpless. Since giving herself
over to him in place of her sister, all her free-will had been taken away from
her.
“It sounds crude, but staying asleep with brief snatches of
wakefulness to relieve our hunger and thirst, means our supplies won’t run
dry.”
The straw in the cylinder beside her took on a whole new
meaning. Clearly whatever liquid it held was both food and water in human
terms. Her voice cracked, “Do I get any say in this?”
“Sorry, Princess, no. At just twenty day’s journey, this
craft is by far the fastest and most efficient way to travel.”
The craft’s whine became an earsplitting hum that continued
to increase in volume and unlike anything she’d ever heard before. And as the
shields pushed a little way into her ear and formed a ball to evidently block
out the worst of the sound, Genesis squeezed her hand and shouted, “See you in
my solar system, Princess!”
A flash of light burst before her eyes. Her belly dropped
from beneath her. Then…nothing.
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