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A Shooting Star
A Shooting Star
A Shooting Star
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A Shooting Star

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Shane had been raised to be a political prop. A fortunate abduction took her away from a life as a living doll. But her glee at her new found freedom was short lived.When the captain of the vessel underestimates her abilities, she vows to make him pay. Along the way she makes friends, brokers peace between enemies and finds her place in the wide open universe

LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 12, 2011
ISBN9781466037380
A Shooting Star

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    A Shooting Star - Desiray Eckard

    A Shooting Star

    By Desiray Eckard

    Published by Desiray Eckard at Smashwords

    Copyright 2011 Desiray Eckard

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes  

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    Dedication

    To Nicolene. For reading and laughing at an idea of a story, and for insisting on reading the completed book. Thank you, little sis.

    Chapter 1

    She took a deep breath, the force of her clenched jaw squeezing tears to the corner of her eyes, as she successfully attempted to stifle a yawn. These affairs were always boring and tedious… Family discussions. How could she have longed for them once?

    No wonder her parents had thought there was something wrong with her…looking back she thought there had been something wrong with her.

    Fate had a wicked sense of humor.

    A few very unfortunate turns had landed her in this terrible mess.

    It had been supposed to be a clear, clean get away. She had skirted all the security cameras in the hallways and none of the day-staff had noticed as she has sneaked down the back stairs. Which, in its’ self, was a minor miraculous feat, all that had been left to do was to tip toe through the yellow sunroom and steal out the glass double doors onto the patio where she would jog across the lawn to freedom.

    Hopefully the gardeners would be delayed long enough for her to make her escape, before reporting her flight over their domain. Well, one could only hope.

    She would be away from the piercing eyes of the servants, the security cameras and the smothering closeness of the jerk her parents had hired to be her personal security and driver. With everyone always spying on her and reporting her activities and actions to her parents, she felt nervous and paranoid; in fact a prisoner in her own home.

    Shauna? Shauna, you simply must pay close attention! This is of utmost importance.

    Certainly, Mother, I understand, completely. She fixed a smile upon her face and forced her shoulders not to heave with her sigh.

    Everything was always of the utmost importance with her mother. She only spoke of rules and regulations, day in and day out. Rules of propriety, rules of society and even rules about rules. Conversing with her was like talking to a rule book. In fact, she was so full of rules that her word was actually law.

    Of course it was just her luck…her mother had skipped some tea with sum or the other of her ‘friends’ for some quiet time in the yellow sunroom. Damn!

    For once she had thought she’d gained freedom, at least for an afternoon. To run wild and enjoy her youth…with in limits, of course. Instead she was seated across from her mother, wishing she could escape.

    If this house was a prison, with her the prisoner, then her mother would be the warden.

    How much longer until she was liable for parole? Did she dare ask?

    As a child she had felt loved and protected with so many people milling about her, watching over her. She had never been alone and with youthful ignorance she had never even wondered how her parents had always managed to know what she had done during their absence, even when they had been on the other side of the country.

    What a sap she’d been.

    They had reached superhero status in her mind. Her father had the most important occupation ever as the ruler of the entire world. He knew everybody and everybody knew him. He was the most handsome and dashing man on Earth and to her, he was Prince Charming.

    She used to be sure that Santa Clause worked for him too, as everyone else did.

    He wrote her name on all the presents he gave her at Christmas. And he always gave her the best presents…because she was his boss’ daughter. She was living in the ultimate fairytale and she was sure that if she was a really good girl, that her father would take her to the North Pole to meet Santa and his elves.

    What a dream.

    What a crock.

    Her happy little bubble of ignorance had burst when her father had changed secretaries and the new one had been negligent, leaving the price tag in the box and signing the card from her father…in her own writing.

    She might have been just a kid, but she hadn’t been stupid. Her heart had been crushed and for a while she couldn’t even look at her father.

    He had betrayed her and the image she had had of him.

    She wasn’t sure if he even knew about the incident, but she had been glad when that particular secretary had been replaced.

    Dream killer!

    After that she had learned that even with an army of milling people around her, that she could still be alone.

    None of the servants did her any special favors, sneak her a sweet before dinner, steal some hugs when she looked a little sad or offer her a smile when she was trying to be funny, but not succeeding all to well, instead they all just frowned at her or simply ignored her.

    None of her expensive nannies tried to build friendly relationships with her as their charge. The logical choice for her would have been to make ‘nice’ with the child, to get said child to behave and to set her in a good light with the parents, but no, she was just the daughter of their employers and they followed their instructions to the letter and turned a deaf ear to the nightly cries of a little friendless girl in the room next to theirs.

    Wasn’t it part of a nanny’s job description to care for a kid in their care?

    Why had she gotten all the nannies from hell? It wasn’t fair.

    She was like an unwanted pet. There, but no-one really wanted her around, not even those hired especially to care for her. And honestly, she hadn’t been such a bad kid to care for.

    Are you sure you understand your instructions? I will absolutely nor tolerate failure. Her mothers’ cold voice snagged her attention and she smiled slightly.

    Of course, Mother. I know what’s expected of me.

    How sad. Pathetic really.

    With her childhood she should have grown into a very bitter and uppity, superior-complex to the max, person, but she wasn’t.

    She couldn’t be, it just wasn’t in her nature.

    She wanted to laugh and make friends, to have people talk to her, with her, not at her.

    She wanted to be wanted, to be loved, to be needed. Just like everyone else. Was that so difficult to do?

    Her political orientated parents left her in the charge of strangers, while they plotted their next move and trotted around the country, building up her fathers’ support campaign. She didn’t resent them for that, they had a very important occupation.

    What she resented was them having a child when that child was just in their way, when at the end of the day she was just an after thought.

    During their long absences, she had convinced herself that she was really the one in charge and that all the servants had to listen to what she had to say.

    She never was and they never did.

    Damn, would it have killed them to play along, to pretend?

    When she entered her high school years it had come as a blessing from the Heavenly Father when she received some resumes from a few prestigious private schools and she was told to choose one. It didn’t really dampen her excitement when her choice was discarded and over ridden when it clashed with her parents’. She was advised to attend an all-girls school, St. Margaret’s’ and she didn’t care, she was going away.

    It was an impressive old manor house that someone had turned into the private school. And the grounds were available for any and almost all outdoor activities.

    Though it had looked a little severe, but she had been sure that she could have some fun there.

    No nannies, no servants, no cameras and no home-schooling and stuffy tutors, which was the absolute best part of going away to school…Yeah, that had died a swift death.

    There had been no fun to be had.

    Upon arrival she had been summoned to the headmistress’ office, where she was given a letter from her parents. Well, a note, really.

    It hadn’t been a ‘good luck with school, we love you’ letter, but a list of the various extra subjects they wished for her to take for the semester, which of course she had.

    That and her lack of social skills had ensured that she was seen as a goody-two shoes and a stick in the mud and ensured that she was in no way popular.

    Of course her parents didn’t really care about that, point proven when she was called back to the heads’ office for another instructive note.

    In this one her father wanted her to go on a date with Christopher Lawson, son of a wealthy industrialist. He had been a podgy, awkward moving boy, who thought he was the ultimate gift to girls. Obviously his parents spoiled him rotten, the only thing he had going for him was his fathers’ money.

    And yet, she had been so jealous of him she could have chewed rocks. She really hadn’t liked him, but her father had wanted her to go out with him, so she had.

    Oh, the mortification when some of her classmates saw her with him!

    And though she had complained to her parents, she had continued to go out with him whenever they asked. She always did what they asked of her. And when Chris’ stupid sense of humor had started to grow on her and she actually started to like him - because he allowed her to make her own choices at dinner or at the movies, and didn’t think it was too childish or too girly - she was kind of heart broken when she was told to call it off with him and to date Alex Miller, another rich influents’ son.

    With in two weeks she had been instructed to break it off with him as well.

    The confrontation with her father had not been pretty, but her father was a politician…a good one. Apparently he had thought them compatible at the time, but had changed his mind, because neither of them had been good enough for his princess.

    Smooth.

    Like a proper dope she had felt so loved and cherished. How gullible could she be?

    But, in her defense, she had never thought he would play her like that. Never.

    Of course, they then started to intimidate the few friends she had managed to make, until finally everyone just kept away from her. According to her mother they weren’t good enough for her either, thought they were all upper middle class and some were even higher on the social scale that she…but no, they weren’t good enough for her.

    No matter that Marge didn’t accept riff-raff into her halls.

    What a laugh.

    That had been the first time that she had realized that she was kept; she was her parents’ pet, their plaything, and a growing toy.

    Other rich people had dogs, cats or exotic birds or tropical fish, her parents had a daughter. She was only good enough for family photos and as a campaign pawn.

    Shauna! Are you going to answer me or not?

    Huh? She snapped back to attention. Sorry, what did you say? Her apologetic smile died instantly. Swallowing, she sat up straighter and face her Mothers’ shocked, appalled and disapproving glare.

    Where have you come by this degrading grammar, Shauna? We certainly never…

    Her eyes narrowed, sending a chill down Shane’s spine. Have you been imitating the servants again? You know how I detest that! They are nothing but common commoners! And such grammar is well below your status. Her face was livid and yet, serene…probably because of all the botox injections, Shane reflected privately.

    Certainly, Mother, I do apologize for my indiscression. I assure you that it will not happen again.

    The older woman cocked a delicate eyebrow at her, for they both knew that the reprimand and the apology had been repeated a number of times. Why do I find myself doubting that? Perhaps we should schedule an appointment with Doctor Allan for you, and have him hypnotize the habit right out of you.

    Hypnotize?!, she snorted with disgust, which earned her another glare.

    Bad grammar is the root…

    Is the root of ill breeding and degradation. She echoed her mother. I know, I know. And since we are blue blooded we have the responsibility to be near flawless, an icon to those who aren’t.

    Don’t sass me, Shauna! Back talk and rude interruptions are serious flaws as well. Perhaps we should not have sent you to that school after all. We should have continued with your home schooling. You’ve changed since you went there. Perhaps… As her mother returned to her previous topic her mind wondered again.

    It was amazing how her mother could talk and talk, have tea and crumpets, and yet keep on talking and made it seem elegant and effortless. A lot of words flowed off of her tongue and yet, most of them meant nothing, she had make it an art form.

    So, why did she have to choose not to say anything of consequence?

    This was her life, right? Her future was her own responsibility, right? She had to make her own decisions, her own choices, and her own mistakes.

    So, why, oh why, was her mother trying to set her up with Mark Terrell? Who was Mark Terrell anyway? Neither of her parents had ever mentioned him before, so he had to be a new face and yet, they wanted her to actually meet and marry him, as if he was some awesome catch. Goodness, hadn’t the Chris and Alex debacle been enough. Did they actually think she’d allow them to choose her husband for her?

    Who was he anyway?

    Another one of her mothers’ friends’ sons? A godson perhaps? Or a cousin, a nephew, or, heaven forbid, a grandson? Or has he somehow wormed his way into her fathers’ good graces through politics?

    Well, it was just too bad, because she wasn’t interested.

    Their taste in men sucked!

    When she suddenly jumped to her feet, her mother stopped mid sentence. I just remembered that I still have some research I have to do for my final thesis. It completely slipped my mind, I don’t know how it could have happened, but I forgot. I have to do it, Mother.

    Now?

    Yes, Mother.

    And exactly what am I to tell Mark?

    About?

    For a moment Isabelle could only stare at her daughter. I do not believe it! I don’t! I have just spent the better part of an hour conversing with myself. You have not listened to a word I said. Mark is coming here for lunch, today! He wants to meet you, Shauna. Why do you think I’m here? I have had to cancel very important appointments to be here, to introduce you to him! Aw great.

    This could affect my grade, Mother.’ There hadn’t been an opportunity to tell her parents that she had already finished, handed in and received back her theses assessment, for which she was now greatly thankful. Ask him to make an appointment next time and tell him…tell him that I’ll be here next time, I promise!"

    There wasn’t a chance of that ever happening, but she wasn’t about to tell her mother that. Any man who managed to get both of parents’ approval, got her instant disapproval. He would be self-obsessed and power-hungry and forget all about the finer points in life, like actually marrying for love and happiness, how to have fun and be honest.

    She had parents like that, she didn’t need a spouse who followed in their footsteps.

    Her mother sighted dramatically. Go then, I shall make your excuses, but do not let this ever happen again, Shauna. I am serious this time. If it does, there will be dire consequences.

    Thank you, Mother. And thanks for understanding about Mike. She spun around and fled out the door and the house. Her mothers’ Mark! followed her down the hall. What ever.

    To her relieve Miguel couldn’t be summoned fast enough to escort her out.

    He was her personal driver and bodyguard. He was also a man who fancied himself a super spy, when in truth he was just a super pain in the butt.

    Five years ago her father had personally promoted him from his gate guarding duties, when she had started her studies, since he had been the youngest security officer employed at the time.

    When Douglas Smith, her fathers’ political manager, had told her parents that voters wanted someone they could respect and look up to, someone down to earth, someone they could identify with, they had decided to have her study Dermatology. If their daughter were studying something that every other normal American girl could study, they would see them as a down to earth family… no matter that she hated it.

    Okay, so she didn’t have a clue what she would have studied if the choice had been hers…but she was pretty sure it wouldn’t have been ‘buff and polish’.

    And the fact that she had to act like her ‘All American self’, while not giving anything of her true self away, put a strain on any friendship she entered…and even with that limitation hanging over her, she couldn’t allow them to get too close.

    The women who studied with her was a haggle of rough-cut women her mother just wouldn’t approve of.

    It didn’t matter that they were really nice young women who knew how to have a good time, while still being responsible and self aware. And because of her mothers’ narrow-mindedness she had never been able to invite them up to the house for a weekend or even for just a day, her mother wouldn’t allow it, no matter how good the press exposure would be.

    And savvy women that they were, they never pressed the issue. And after she had had to refuse numerous of their ‘girl-outing’ invitations, they had stopped issuing them.

    Settling instead of graphically telling her all about it after the fact.

    And, of course, there was always Miguel to content with. He was always following her, no matter where she went and he always reported back to her parents. Pleading didn’t work with him and he didn’t have a sympathetic bone in his body. He was a robot.

    Like everyone else who worked for her parents, he worked. He sold his humanity for cash…and lots of it. He was loyal, to them at least, to a fault.

    She could never change clothes in the back seat of the car or sneak off somewhere, or write anything daring in a dairy.

    In fact, she dint even keep a dairy anymore.

    Past experience had taught her that if anyone found it, that they would hand it over to her parents to read and… well, the last time it hadn’t been a pretty sight. Especially when they handed it back to her…all the spelling errors checked and encircled, and let’s not forget about the underscored sentence errors. Oi!

    The truth was that she had been sixteen at the time and had had some pretty adult fantasies about one of the younger gardeners…

    No-one had the right to be privy to her inner thoughts. So the best course of action had been to keep it, along with everything else, to herself.

    Maybe she should go into hiding for a few days and let her parents stew for a bit, or to get a hint…although it could only back fire on her, in a major way. On the other hand, if they claimed she was too immature she could influence them to see her as too immature to marry their golden boy…maybe…okay, so she’s never been able to influence her parents any way or the other, but there was always a first time and this could… Nah.

    Besides, she’d never marry some guy she’d never met before. She didn’t know what this Max even looked like.

    Was he tall or short, or somewhere in between?

    Was he slender or fat, or built like a bodybuilder?

    Did he have dark hair or light hair?

    Did he have blue, brown or green eyes?

    What did he do for a living? Could he support her or did he figure that her parents would pay for everything they wanted?

    She didn’t like him.

    Maybe the reason her parents wouldn’t allow her to get on with her own life, was because she was still living with them. Maybe she should get a real paying job and a little apartment in the city. Goodness, how hard could it be?

    As her mind came up with possibilities, she ran down the street and away from any car that might have followed her flight from the Donalds’ family estate.

    Land!… Red lights flashed on the panel and several alarms were screaming wildly. Land!… the view screen showed very solid looking earth approaching them at high velocity. LAND! he practically screamed, not caring that he was yelling the command at his superior officer, as his life started to flash in front of his eyes.

    Geez, that was a boring movie.

    Are you a pilot? came the curt question.

    No.

    Then, if you’ll shut up for a minute and let me concentrate, I just might accomplish that without getting either one of us killed. Your insistent whining is distracting!

    What? I don’t…, but his complaint was swallowed up with their impending doom.

    "Bashta!"

    Before they could make any adjustments, the cruiser crashed through a field of trees and the sight that welcomed them was previously unacknowledged. Not that they hadn’t been here before, of course they had, but this was the closest they had ever come to the surface and they were about to get too close for comfort. On their home planet, Rigdahr Prime, all the trees were either gigantic or miniature, nowhere in between.

    The trees had been there for millions of years before man had settled down on the planet. Forests had been cleared by early settlers to make way for the gigantic cities that was to come, cities that had eventually merged into one planetary city, before a few acres had been reserved for the elites, those the press called ‘the High Families’.

    Mansions hundreds of feet in the air, over looking everything that moved beyond their own private lawns.

    Back home the trees were a sign of wealth and status.

    But here…it was barbaric, unkept, wild and chaotic. The trees grew to every shape and size. And no-one seemed to care what happened to them. Past surveys has shown that entire sections of forests had been cut off…of course, it was a good thing too, otherwise they would have a lot of very steep fines to pay by the time the cruiser finally came to a stand still. - One did NOT destroy a tree. EVER! – Well, that was to say, if they were still alive by the time the cruiser came to a stop.

    As one of the privileged ‘High Families’ the current pilot was quite well off and could pay anything the authorities threw at him, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to do so.

    And because of the irregulation of the planet surface and the angle of their descent there was only one logical conclusion to come to…the cruiser was a complete write off, it’s traveling days were over. Brief contact with the ground and the trees helped slow them down.

    Right, so I landed. Happy? He rasped breathlessly as their bodies were violently pulled and pushed each time the cruiser encountered something in its’ way.

    I’ll only be happy when you stop this thing, Reece! Gordon quipped as they skidded on the ground, leaving even more destruction in their wake. Inside the cruiser broken wires sizzled above their heads. Their seats, which had been in the front compartment of the cruiser, were now in the back and the consol panel was practically on their laps.

    Reece prayed that he was already in sickbay when Tucker saw what they had done to it.

    "Captain, come in…Captain, do you read me?"

    Loosening the white knuckled grip he had on the panel, he reached up to press the small pendant that was even present on his casual ware. Yes, yes, we read you.

    What is your status? His executive officer demanded.

    Better keep Tucker out of the loading dock for a couple of days. As soon as an investigation has been completed…get rid of the cruiser! Reece winced when he thought of the young engineer and his passion for the cruisers. He was a bright young man who had a great respect for the machines he serviced. Anything from a Dart Wing to a Patrol Push Wagon. If it were fitted for space travel, Tucker would have worked on a model at one time in his young life.

    The kid has been everywhere!

    It was fortunate that he was the Captain, otherwise tucker might have gotten the notion of giving him the same kind of beating the cruiser had just received; as he had done to other reckless officers in the past…thus all the transfers and Petty Officer rank.

    "That bad, huh? Any injuries?"

    Just my pride. A snicker started up next to him, and he turned his head fast to glare at Gordon, the engineer who had accompanied him for the flight. Caught off guard by a dizzy spell, he sank back into his seat.

    ’You okay, Reece?

    That’s ‘Captain Reece’ to you. ‘Come with me’, you said. ‘It’ll be fun’, you said. If this is your idea of fun, Gordon, I’ll pass next time. And don’t look at me like that, I’m fine. Or he had been until other snickers and indiscreet coughs transmitter across the open communications link.

    "Will that be all…Captain Reece?", Warren asked tongue in cheek.

    Glad that they couldn’t see the embarrassing flush creeping over his face as out right laughter were heard.

    No. His voice coming out harsher that he intended. But I’ll discuss it when I’m back on board. Now, get off the waves and keep it clear for an emergency! As if a ships’ captain crashing onto a planet wasn’t an emergency!

    Read you, Captain. All amusement was stripped from his second in commands’ voice.

    Gordon sighed. Guess that means that fun times’ over. Back to work…as usual.

    Gordon to the bridge.

    "Acknowledged."

    There is a heavy electrical storm on the way and with all the exposed wires on this cruiser we’ll fry. We’ll shut as much down as we can and abandon the cruiser with a Beacon. Have Security and Engineering collect it as soon as possible. We’ll probably try to seek shelter in the town I spotted near out current location just before our…uhm…emergency touch down? He asked the Captain, who shrugged.

    Anyway, both our Out-Beacons are still active, come get us as soon as you reach the atmosphere. Every officer had personal tracking signals in the pendants they had pinned to their chests, so the ship could easily find them when they arrived. Use the storm as cover to come in hot. The sooner you’re in, the sooner we’re out.

    "Will do."

    Catching movement beside him, Gordon sighed. Of all the officers he had served with, Captain Reece Winn took it all. Brave as hell and just as unpredictable. A high commanding officer, whom had won the respect of his crew without even trying, the one minute and a normal young man the next. But the latter had become a rarity in the last few years. Being the great grandson of a nations’ icon, the first exploring commander to make peace with the Pressons of the Black Quadrant, a race who had previously been very much feared, Captain Trove Winn, was a tremendous strain on the young captain.

    Not only did his family put a lot of pressure on him, as the only one actually able to go into Navy service, but also the High Council, who expected the same outstanding results from him as his ancestor had achieved…which was impossible on several accounts. Reece would die of utter boredom if he had to do so little, and the same goes for the rest of his crew…

    Oh, sure. Like everyone else they had believed in the great Trove Winn legend and his historic quest. Some of the crewmembers still lived with that delusion, while the senior officers had gotten the true account from Reece…By the light, even the Pressons propagated the great Captain Trove Winn fairytale!

    Trove Winn might have made peace with the dreaded Pressons, but he was far from being a legendary hero, even if the High Council refused to acknowledge that he had simply gotten lost and had stumbled onto the Presson home planet and had been lucky that the Pressons had been clever enough to make peace…but hey, a royalist was never wrong, after all. It apparently didn’t matter and wasn’t documented as worthy to also state that Trove Winn had gone in en mass and had attacked the Pressons, sending his crew to slaughter as many of the ‘hostiles’ as possible, before their government had cried uncle.

    And secondly, how could Reece do anything if they refused to allow him out of known space? They had him stuck on testing new equipment and surveying back water planets. It was embarrassing, that was what it was and depressing.

    But of course no one could complain, because it was the High Councils’ authority that would send him out…which everyone, at least of the senior staff, suspected they won’t. Since his cousin, D’wayne, was High Chair on the Council and probably wanted that high esteem for himself…

    AND Reece wasn’t one of those captains who believed that any problem could be solved as long as you threw enough bodies at it…casualties…deaths…Reece wasn’t into sacrificing his crew…Thank goodness.

    Are you coming, Lieutenant Dass?

    As if he really had a choice.

    What had been supposed to be a routine check-up on a little blue planet had turned disastrous when an unknown force had attacked their guidance systems and other electrical devices.

    One moment they had been flying through space with grace and style, with Reece at the controls, and the next they had tumbled head first through the atmosphere of this underdeveloped planet. Planet X3-40D.

    Satellites, he figured on a guess.

    It should be a curse, well defense satellites to be more exact.

    Someone had put the damned things in space and installed, of all things, jamming signals.

    Jamming signals were strictly prohibited by the Alliance. Any government caught with one would instantly be an enemy…no excuses…no exceptions.

    Didn’t these primitives know that? And whom did they want to jam? It’s not as if anyone wanted to visit their crummy little planet anyway…well, except them, of course, but only on routine checks. This planet had absolutely nothing interesting to offer the Alliance…yet, according to the science-crazies.

    Someone had to tell them about all the rules…other wise they will never be allowed to join the Alliance.

    On my way, Captain!

    He slipped out the door as it was closing and jogged after his superior officer, just as he disappeared in the thick undergrowth.

    Startled by strange sounds and creatures that popped out around them, they made their way to the settlement they had seen briefly from the sky; as above them the dark sky opened with heavy rain. Great!

    She had kept on looking back over her shoulder to see if Miguel had caught up with her, but as she had gotten further and further away from her usual haunts, she had gotten caught up in the display windows of the shops she passed.

    There wasn’t anything fancy about them, as in the uptown shops that he mother had her frequented, but they were functional and stylish, some were even cute.

    Then she got distracted by the people around her as they wandered the streets and she found herself wondering what their lives were like and what they were running from. Maybe they too had problems with their parents, or their spouses, or their children; or even with their friends. Maybe it was with the area they lived in or the jobs they had. She bet that some were substance and monetary related, some even a combination of the two. Others were emotional or physical. And maybe even mental.

    She self wandered up and down crowded streets and through nearly deserted side streets until, in her preoccupied state, she made a wrong turn and wandered into a very dark and seemingly dangerous alley.

    When an ugly gangster-type appeared out of the wood work in front of her, there was nothing seemingly about it and she knew that she had made a mistake.

    A big, huge mistake, when his friends appeared like dirty cockroaches grinning evilly. Well, well. What do we have here?

    An upper city plaything. One of them laughed.

    The six men surrounded her, laughing and egging each other on as they made a grab for her.

    No…please! For once in her life she knew true terror. Late night horror films just never made her feel like this. With the adrenalin rush pumping through her veins she fought, she screamed and she begged for them to stop, to let her go.

    She even tried to bribe them, but they were having too much fun terrorizing her.

    So they kept on hitting her, tearing at her clothes, groping at her body, all the while telling her in horrifying detail about the gruesome sexual acts they were about to perform on her. Acts their girlfriends and no prostitute would have them do. And then how they were going to dispose of her body afterwards.

    Please. She moaned through the blood dribbling from her mouth.

    If only…

    She hardly noticed the fat drops of rain that fell on her as a blow caught her off guard and landed on her temple.

    If only…

    Thankfully she felt herself glide towards the black pit of unconsciousness…maybe she’d die now…maybe she’d never have to wake up to face her mother, her father…maybe she’d never have to explain to anyone what was going to happen to her…

    If only…

    Terrified she slipped into the welcome void of unconsciousness…

    … If only the shouting would stop, her headache would subside, but no, it seemed everyone was joining in the shouting contest.

    Why won’t her mother make them keep quiet? Or better yet, why didn’t she just order them to leave? She knew how bad her migraine attacks got! Hadn’t there been several doctor visits to prove it?

    She groaned in protest, but it came out as a hoarse wheeze, when a particularly loud voice shouted out. She was sure that a lecture on decorum and proper lady-like behavior was waiting for her the moment her mothers’ guests left, but if it got their attention and had them shut up, it was well worth it.

    She waited, but nothing happened.

    The various male and female voices still shouted, though quieter, but they continued, driving screws into her scull. It wasn’t even as if the shouted words made any sense at all, weaving in and out and around each other to form a completely foreign language of buzz, fuzz and mumbles.

    Where was her mother, or better yet, her father? Surely he could put a stop to this nonsense?

    And where, in the blazes, was she? This was the most uncomfortable bed she had ever had the misfortune to lay on.

    Okay, not really uncomfortable, but hard.

    Just then, with a pop, the jumble of shouted words began to have meaning.

    … Send her back!, a man growled.

    Huh?

    We can’t do that. I have already explained that she simply isn’t strong enough, her systems will crash with another transfer.

    I don’t care about how weak she is. She’s healed. I want her gone!

    No! I can’t allow you to do that. You brought her to me to fix. She is my patient and I’m responsible for her well being. She’s not going anywhere until I’m satisfied with her medical report! Ethics demand…

    I don’t care about ethics! We’ve been here over long as it is. I want to get out of here!

    I won’t let you…

    Vex, take her.

    NO! You can’t do this… it isn’t right!… Vex, touch that woman and I’ll geld you, I swear!

    Yikes, these people were violent! And had that woman called her a patient?… which meant that the woman was a doctor, and that meant that Mario Terrell was way more hideous than she had thought. A self satisfied smile worked its’ way onto her parched lips as her memory started to clear.

    Ooh, she could just imagine him walking through the doors looking so full of himself, she taking one look at him, turn to her mother with disbelieving eyes and fainting straight at his feet.

    The smile vanished.

    Her mother would probably think that she had fainted because Matthew was totally drop-dead gorgeous. DAMN!

    His name is Mark Terrell, Shauna, MARK Terrell! Pay attention, it is of utmost importance to remember everything correctly about a person, especially his name. And for heavens’ sake, stop swearing! You sound like a guttersnipe…’, she could already hear her mothers’ lecture, which really wasn’t a good sign.

    Fine, Mark it is.

    Bright light blinded her when she tried to see her surroundings, she just had to see if this Mark-guy was still hanging around and if he was one of the shouting contestants from earlier.

    She blinked several times to clear her eyes of the fog obscuring her vision and froze…

    Her body felt like a train had used her for track and her head felt as if it was about to burst. Oh…shit… She felt as if she was dreaming; no, she felt as if she was having a nightmare. She was quite sure that she had whispered, but the effect was as if she had shouted in a full library.

    Everyone was looking at her in utter astonishment. She had their full attention…and her attention was snagged by one…

    The alien amongst them.

    Her mind went blank. She suddenly felt like screaming, but her heart was beating so fast that she couldn’t gather enough air to do so. Still, she…

    Wait a minute!

    Since when did aliens speak perfectly good, okay, perfectly foreign accented English?

    That would actually explain a lot, since throughout history the English had tried to take over the world. It was an invasion, an alien invasion. The English were all ALIENS… So why did everyone always say France… never mind. The point is…ALIENS, real live, abducting a weaker life-form, aliens!!

    Not that they sounded British at all. In fact, they sounded faintly American.

    Did that then mean that the Americans were aliens as well?

    NO, she was American and there was no way that she was an alien. Nuh-uh, no way, no how!

    A woman, dressed in a blue uniform, held

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