Page 10 of Touch the Stars
Her body jerked awake and a gasp escaped her.Fuck.Had she slept through her alarm?What day was it?Goddamn, her bed had never felt so soft and comfortable.
She blinked up at the stark white ceiling once, twice, three times.Wait a minute… Who’d painted her Barely Lavender ceiling white?She darted her gaze around the room.More white?
“My Purple Poodle walls…” What the actual fuck?
And what’d happened to her eclectic collection of old, garage-sale bargain finds furniture?This wassonot her bedroom.
“Where in the hell am I?”And what was that humming sound?White noise?
“Apa? gra?a sam?a cy corga?a kasagan rava jhata.”A woman’s voice spoke from…everywhere, it seemed.
“Eep!”She sat up, or tried to.A strap over her chest stopped her.“Who’s there?Where am I?”
“You are aboard the grand emperor’s Nebula-class cruiser.”The unseen woman spoke English now.
“The grand emperor ofwhat?”What the hell was going on?
Oh, wait!The Not Big Foot guy with the…ray gun thingy.He’d…he’d…shother?
“Oh, for the love of God.You didnotfuckingabductme.”But what else would explain the stark, furniture-less room and the evenly spaced blinking blue lights on the walls?She slapped one hand to her forehead.“Un-fucking-believable!”
If he thought for one second she was his little human sex slave, then he was in for a shock.No way would she cooperate withthatlittle fantasy.
Wait a sec…
She raised her hand off her forehead and blinked at it, then moved her other hand up next to it.Her hands weren’t strapped down?She drew her knees upward toward the ceiling, only to be stopped by something wrapped across her ankles.So, the only things holding her to the bed were the straps across her chest, waist, and ankles, but not her hands.
“What a dumbass.”Must be his first abduction ever.
She lifted her head, and a wave of hypoglycemic-induced dizziness crashed over her.
Okaaay, let’s just lie back down for a moment.
Wasn’t it just stupid that one skipped meal could be what foiled her escape?For fuck’s sake, her freedom was at stake!
Steak.Saliva filled her mouth.A nice, juicy, medium-rare steak would besogood right about now.A low growl came from her stomach.
“Focus, Bergh.”
She ran her hands over the strap across her hips.No buckle, but there was something…a tab, maybe?She slowly raised her head again.Yes, a blinking blue tab.She grasped it and gave it a yank.
Click.Pop.
The strap retracted over the edge of the bed and disappeared.Jesus, thatworked?Okay, one down, two to go.
“Please remain strapped in for your safety.”The disembodied voice was back.
“My ass.”She repeated the process on the strap across her chest, then the one over her ankles.
Ah.
So much better.Now to get out of here.It was probably too much to hope that the door would automatically open for her.She scooched herself to the edge of the bed.
“Departure sequence initialized,” the voice intoned.“Please resecure straps immediately.”
“Fuck off.Wait… Did you say—” A downward tugging sensation similar to a high-rise express elevator rising pulled at her, sinking her ass into the mattress.“What’s happening?”
“Lift off from the planet’s surface confirmed.”The voice sounded way too happy about that.“Please resecure straps before we encounter the protective debris field of metal objects surrounding the planet.”
