Page 40 of The Alien's Major Dilemma

"Why are we on a space ship?" she asked.

"Some of our allies offered to help retrieve you," Sam told her. "Is it going to be a problem if we keep you separated from Cooper while we get back to the base?"

"I don't think so," she said.

"Good," he said, and stopped next to an open doorway. "Your accommodations, ma'am."

Marissa stepped inside and looked around. "What, did you retrofit a closet?"

"Yep," Sam said. "You'll want to be seated when we take off but I've been assured they can put you back together if you try and make a run for it."

The door closed and Marissa snorted. She wanted to demand they remove her restraints but knew it wouldn't do any good. If they'd had somewhere secure to debrief her, they probably would have taken them off after they'd confirmed she hadn'tbeen turned. A space ship, even one operated by an ally, maybe especially one operated by an ally, wasn't exactly secure.

With a sigh, she got as comfortable as she could and tried to get in touch with Cooper.

Chapter 18

There had only been a few times in his life when Cooper had regretted his ability to do things like regrow parts of his limbs. Not all of them, or the whole thing, there was a limit to the trauma his body could recover from. Losing a finger or a foot in a training accident wasn't the end of a career, however, and with the right assistance down time could be kept to hours instead of days or weeks.

Without assistance, though, and lacking certain medical attention, the process was long and painful. If the injury was bad enough, the pain could drive him to wish he hadn't survived whatever had happened. The only thing that kept him from wishing for that now was the knowledge that his death would likely cause Marissa's, too.

Cooper had helped Marissa into sleep when it had become apparent what direction the questions were going to take andjust what they were willing to do to get answers out of him. They might have been amateurs but they'd found someone willing to take him apart.

The few times he'd thought about it in the past, Cooper had wondered when his people had developed the ability to heal physical trauma the way they were. He'd always assumed it was something the Dragor had introduced but the comments made during his interrogation seemed to indicate otherwise.

His decision to shield Marissa was confirmed when they mentioned they'd never had a human survive this long. He didn't think they'd kidnapped humans to torture but he also hadn't thought they'd try it on him.

When the explosions had started, most of the hooded guards had rushed out to respond. One or two of the ones who had shown their faces, asked him questions, and refused to get their hands dirty had started demanding answers. Answers they hadn't liked when they'd run off in the opposite direction.

The one doing the bloody work had turned to him with a grin and a look that told Cooper exactly why he'd volunteered for the unpleasant task. He might not have been a professional but he'd been looking for an excuse to indulge in his favorite hobby.

"Just you and me now," he said.

Cooper pulled at the bonds on his wrists and shook his head. "You're going to want to leave," he said. "I don't think the people coming through the wall are exactly friendly."

"Nah," he said. "I've got time to finish before anybody gets here. It's going to take a bit for them to get what they want."

"And how do you know what they want?"

He giggled. It would have been a disturbing sound coming from a human throat but the sound he made was terrifying.

"We've worked with her people before," he said. "They don't like it when one of their soldiers goes missing on a mission. I've seen what they do when they help us on raids. Quick, efficient,no time for fun and nothing left worth playing with. It's much better when we raid the caves near us instead. The women are quieter and the men scream more."

Cooper swallowed the bile that was threatening to make an appearance at the visuals his torturer was projecting. For the first time, he was glad Marissa had dealt with Ae-cha if this was the alternative.

Another explosion was followed by the sound of gunfire and Cooper twisted his wrists against the arm of the chair he'd been secured in to force his bonds apart. It didn't work but the arms on the chair came loose just enough to let him force them again.

When his captor turned back the gleam in his eye had turned manic. "Oh, good, I like it when they fight."

He'd opened two more cuts across Cooper's face before the arm of the chair came free. Once it did, Cooper smashed it across his face, doing damage that his attacker didn't seem to feel as he came back in for another hit.

Cooper kept hitting him, turning the chair arms into improvised weapons and blocking whatever he could. He found himself missing his tail when his torturer smashed his into the chair, knocking him over and his head against the floor.

Marissa's instructions to look human came through the haze of the head injury and he considered briefly the chance that he might lose her just as they got free. He raised his arms over his head as his tormentor brought his tail down onto them then he was interrupted by two bursts of two shots.

Two marines who looked vaguely familiar cleared the cell and one of them pulled his chair upright.

"What's your name?" he asked, while he checked his eyes and took a quick mental inventory of his injuries.

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