Page 12 of Heart’s Prisoner

The QS translator interrupted in a low, sharp tone, translating Xerus' words. "There's blood on your breath."

The doctor stopped, his frown deepening into confusion. "What was that?"

Xerus didn't turn to look at him when he said, "The scent of blood. I can smell it."

The doctor paused. His hand raised to his mouth where he breathed into his palm and then sniffed. "I smell nothing."

Xerus looked around at him. "I do. You're going to die soon. You're too weak."

The doctor stiffened at this but seemed to keep his composure. "I was just checked in the medical bay and I assure you I'm just fine." He paused and his frown turned to a scowl. "Are you threatening me, Asset X?"

Xerus lifted his lip, exposing his teeth in a strange smile. "Do you really want to know what I was doing in your camp?"

The doctor shifted forward in his seat. "Yes."

"I was on a mission."

The doctor's brows raised. "To do what?"

Xerus turned away. "To kill."

The video went black. Lana leaned back in her seat, feeling a wave of cold hit her spine. A knot started to form in her stomach as she sat staring at the blank screen as if in a trance. She closed out the files and turned off the computer but didn't leave the desk right away. Instead, she remained deep in thought.

Getting through to Xerus wasn't just going to be difficult. It might very well be impossible. If what he said was true, that he intended to kill them, then the chances of converting him into human society were very low.

A waste of timeOfficer Torrence had said. And her worst thoughts were that he might be right.

Still, Jacob had believed she could somehow do it. That meant he thought there must be a chance. Perhaps Xerus was only tasked to kill them; maybe his intentions were not his own. He'd said he was on a mission–from who no one knew but him. There was the chance he could be convinced otherwise. That he could be swayed to change his mind.

Unfortunately, based on what she just saw in the videos, he had very little cause in his current situation to do that. Even a human being would have perfectly good reason to resent, even hate, the very people keeping them locked up and questioning them, even threatening them. With an alien species, it would be no different, in fact, it would be much worse.

Lana finally rose from her seat and made her way to the bathroom. As she turned on the shower with a press of a button and began to unclothe, she thought about the way the other doctors had treated the alien. As a specimen or as a prisoner, it didn't matter. Xerus had reason to be enraged.

If she wanted to get through to him she couldn't use the same tactics as the others. She wasn't here to pose as an interrogator. He would push her away like the others if she tried.

As the hot water poured over her skin, Lana began to form her plan.

***

"Blood pressure seems fine so far, and no abnormalities have been seen yet in your brain scan, I'd say you're doing fairly well, Ms. Hart," Doctor Ramstine said, flipping through her medical files on his tablet as Lana sat on the Doctor's table. She clasped her hands tightly in her lap, chewing on her lip to keep from shouting at him.

Obviously, she was perfectly fine. But she didn't think that would get her out of these tedious tests and appointments. They had to study her just as much as they studied everything else.

"Now that the physical evaluation is over, I'll let my associate take over from here," said the doctor with little interest. "Just a few more moments, Ms. Hart, and you'll be good to go. Have a nice day, we will see you soon." He placed his tablet under his arm and shut the door behind him. Lana stared at the door, burning as much disdain as she could muster, imagining melting a hole right through the steel.

Every other week she was to visit the medical bay on level six for these physical and emotional evaluations. Exactly twice a month. It was too much. She would have a serious talk with Cole that if he wanted her sane and compliant he'd do well to free her from these appointments altogether, though, in reality, her best bet would be to cut them down to once a month.

It wasn't that she didn't understand the severity of the situation. Being close to a new, otherworldly species held the risk of becoming exposed to unknown, possibly deadly diseases and viruses. But she knew they had already tested for that based on Xerus` files and found nothing they deemed harmful to people. Though testing was always being done to discover anything they missed, she had no reason to fear being contaminated by the alien (unless of course, she were to be sliced by his tail which was found to be poisonous after all, but that risk only came if he somehow got out, and by then she'd probably be dead before it mattered).

So the tests were really just precautions. The physical side she might be able to deal with once in a while but having to see a therapist as well seemed pointless. If she couldn't deal with the work then she would just leave as the others had.

The door opened and Lana straightened, her eyes widening as a familiar blond-haired woman stepped into the room.

"Hello, Lana. " Nicole smiled her dazzling smile. "How did things go yesterday?"

Lana gave the girl a questioning look but smiled back. "It was fine. Why are you..." Lana almost began to ask Nicole what she was doing in the room when she looked down and saw that Nicole no longer wore the officer's uniform as before, but now a doctor's coat. "You work in the medical bay?" Lana asked instead.

"Yes, I double as one of the therapists as well as a nurse and medical assistant in various departments." Nicole placed her tablet on a table nearby and sat opposite Lana. "So just fine?"

---