Page 57 of Monstrous Baby
Dread bled through both of my mating marks, but it was Lohr who explained.
:Gamma Ladon is a facility on Nyan Station.:
The place where squads were sent for termination.
SNRYX
Without Rizan’s help,I couldn’t get the grid fully functioning again. Maybe Lohr would know his way around comms enough to re-establish connection with the rest of the squad. All of my medical systems were up and functioning at normal capacity after the EMP surge.
I readied every single one of my implements, primarily for life support to ensure Natalie’s survival, but I had a few surprises tucked inside my coils. Even if our squad hadn’t found our mate on Earth, at the very least our stint on this backward planet had taught me to be inventive.
Many of my medical instruments could be used with devastating consequences. Especially for fragile, despicable humans who betrayed her trust. Regardless of what happened here in this holding cell, I’d ensure the three human males all met painful deaths.
Natalie’s friend stepped closer to her, her bare arm brushing my implement. I was tempted to deposit a medbot inside her and to take a small sample of her blood, but Natalie hadn’t spoken to her about our desire to run blood comparisons yet.
:My systems are functioning again,:I told Natalie through our bond.:See if your mrions are back online and what powers may be available to you.:
Relief surged through her, followed by a thick cloud of guilt.:All of the fragments and drones in the space whales were destroyed.:
:I highly doubt all of them were extinguished. Mrions are nanoscopic and extremely difficult to detect. Unless every inch of soil and organic matter is destroyed, and every molecule of air exposed to radiation, some will survive, even damaged and fragmented. I doubt the attack squad has had enough time for a complete extermination.:
My most important lifesaving implements were coiled around her core to shield her delicate organs, so I felt the energetic surge in her body. Fine hairs prickled along her skin.
The DSC agent laughed, shaking his head with an indulgent smile. “There’s a reason we brought you here to Gamma Ladon,Mother. Nothing can penetrate this amount of tungsten, and your precious Tri-R is far, far away.”
A soft, broken sound escaped her throat. I bristled at that horrible sound, my primary weaponry arched like a cobra to strike. Though her mating bond conveyed a torrent of fierce determination.:He’s lying. I can feel Kroktl as if he’s just outside.:
:The mating mark will never lie,:I replied.:They want us to believe this is Nyan Station, but I don’t think we’ve left Earth. Not entirely, at least.:
:Axxol can blend realities together, like in the special cave. It’s here on Earth, buried beneath all that protective lead and rock, but it’s also a piece of Gioiello. He doesn’t even have to be physically present to hold the two realities together.:
:He’s a BGR+,:I reminded her.:They stopped making them for a reason. My guess is he’s developed skills they never intended him to have. They may not even be aware of all his capabilities.:
“What do you want?” Her voice trembled, soft and fragile. So unlike the shining core of fury I felt within her. “Why are we here?”
The DSC agent shrugged. “Ask your human friends.”
“They’re no friends of mine,” she spat out.
“We delivered her as promised,” the man with the briefcase said. “Unharmed and alive. We even brought you another female as a bonus.”
The agent smiled benevolently. “And her offspring? Where might it be?”
The general turned to Snyder. “Well?”
“She wasn’t in the nursery,” Snyder said defensively. “I checked.”
:The bastard,:Natalie growled.:I want him dead.:
:Done. As soon as you’re safe.:
“She,” the agent drawled out, turning his attention back to Natalie. “How fascinating. What does she look like,Mother? Has she sprouted Myrm wings yet?”
I couldn’t see Natalie’s face, but the man smiled wider, nodding. “Ah, yes, quite a shock, aren’t they? Wait until you discover what happens to you during the pupa stage. You have so much to look forward to. We’ll study you and your offspring extensively, but we must be very careful and deliberate with such fascinating specimens.”
“Naturally you wouldn’t want to risk mrion contamination,” Lohr said. “Once in the wild, they tend to evolve in extremely unique and frighteningly rapid ways. For instance, the fastest known speed of an adult Balaenoptera was roughly five times the speed of light. Yet I recorded an entire pod traveling across this solar system only hours ago, and it already entered Earth’s atmosphere. Since they were carrying mrion contamination, it’s only logical that they’ve been biologically enhanced in a matter of hours to travel so far without employing a jump through the space-time continuum. Furthermore?—”
The agent waved his hand and Lohr’s voice shut off. “I forgot how tedious our xeno-specialists can be.”
