“Nostrus, have the terran escorted to her cell,” Murgen said. “There’s still much to be learned through her offspring, and I’m eager to participate.”
Shay’s eyes widened, and she jerked upright. “No! I need to be with her. Sheneedsme.”
The guards came forward again, grasping her arms to hold her still.
Nostrus approached slowly, his eyes, burning with hatred, fixed on Shay. “Your old room is waiting, terran. Don’t make this difficult.”
She’d remained calm for Leah’s sake, had been so sure they’d keep her and her daughter together. But she’d beenwrong.
Shay looked at Murgen. “Please. I’ll behave, I swear, just please let me keep her. She’ll need to feed. She’ll need warmth, need her mother.” The words felt like acid in her throat, but it was desperation that drove her to beg. She didn’t know what they’d do to Leah.
Murgen snorted. “Perhaps, but that will be determined by my medical professionals—not by an animal.”
“Let’s go,” Nostrus said. He lifted his right hand, which had a small device in it—the remote he’d synched with her collarand manacles. When he pressed a button on it, Shay’s wrist bindings swung together in front of her as though drawn by powerful magnetic force.
The guards lifted Shay off the table and set her on her feet.
She wrenched out of their grasps, bumped back into the exam table, and turned, ready to jump over the table and race across the room to reach her daughter. “No! You can’t take her away from me!”
Grunting, the guards reached for her, fingers biting into her bare skin. Shay barely felt the pain. She threw an elbow back and struck one in his diaphragm, making him double over and breaking his hold.
A burst of electricity from Shay’s collar seized her muscles and nearly made her bite her tongue. The pain was immense, but she didn’t take her eyes off Leah, even as fresh tears welled in them. The shock lasted for a second, two, three; it lastedforever, but Shay refused to let pain overwhelm her only goal. She needed to be with her baby.
Her body seemed to disagree. When the shock finally ended, she sagged forward, limbs limp. The guards shoved their arms beneath her armpits to hold her up. Her legs, partially dangling, refused to accept any of her weight, and her lungs were ablaze. For several moments, the pounding throb of her pulse at her temples was the only sound she was aware of.
Nostrus stepped closer. Shay couldn’t lift her head to look him in the eyes; she was stuck staring down at his boots. But she still had a voice.
“Fuck you, you cold-hearted fuck,” she rasped.
He slowly lifted his right hand and pressed a button on the little remote. Another shock—this one briefer but no less painful—blasted through her. This time, her eyes squeezed shut. Her limbs trembled when the shock subsided.
There was a soft chiming sound—like the call tone of a holocom.
“Yes?” Nostrus said. There was a pause. “Get one of the techs on it immediately and notify all the security staff.”
“What’s the problem, Nostrus?” Murgen asked.
“Surveillance system is down, sir,” Nostrus said tightly. “It’s probably just a glitch, but I would like you to head to the safe room until we receive word that it’s corrected.”
“Nonsense, my boy. I’ve too much work to do here. I’ve waited months for this, and I’ll not be delayed another moment.”
Nostrus sighed heavily and leaned close enough that Shay could feel his breath against her ear when he whispered, “You don’t have that baby in you anymore, terran. I’m not allowed to kill you, but I havemanyways to hurt you. Behave yourself.”
“I will kill you,” she vowed, forcing the whispered words out of her constricted throat.
Her body jolted as another wave of lightning swept through her. The fiery pain was followed by sudden, frightening numbness. Though her eyelids were closed, her vision turned white for an instant. She was vaguely aware of Murgen speaking before utter darkness chased away that terrible white, snuffing out her awareness.
Shay awoke to a gentle swaying motion, just like one would experience while riding a boat over calm, deep waters. It was soothing, but it was alsowrong. She wasn’t near the ocean, or a lake, or even a pond. She wasn’t even on Earth.
She took in a slow, deep breath. The twinge of hurt it caused rippled through her and triggered a chain reaction during which every one of her aches and pains made itself known. Every tiny bit of her body was sore, even parts she had never realized existed. That agony was more than enough to remind her of what had happened and where she was.
Leah.
Shay stopped herself from sitting up, but only barely. She needed to act, yes, needed to get to her baby and get out of this place, but she knew from experience that acting rashly here would not accomplish her goals. She was too disadvantaged in her current state to act purely on rage. Her father had taught her long ago that you had to assess a situation before you reacted to it—whenever possible, at least. That meant remaining calm. That meant thinking.
Either she’d find an opportunity, or she’d make one.
She was lying on her back atop a hard, flat, swaying surface, and could feel the hum of antigrav engines beneath her. Gentlewhooshesfrom around and above suggested she was moving past recesses in a tunnel or passageway. The simplest and most likely explanation was that Shay was on one of the small, open transport carts they’d used to bring her and Leah to the examination room.