Page 22 of Shattered Silence

This Kordolian was even more monstrous than Captain Pradon and his hard-faced crew.

Layla resisted the urge to flinch as the alien’s gaze snapped toward her.

“A female of breeding age,” he murmured, sounding mightily pleased with himself. “Finally. Now we are going to make some progress. No matter how hard he tries, Akkadian and his trained pack of Varhunds can’t protect all of you, can they, human?”

Layla blinked as she realized he was speaking to her directly—in Universal—and she had no idea what the hell he was talking about.

She glanced around the room, trying her best to appear frightened and confused. It should have been easy for her—on Earth, her entire life had been an act—but Layla was too shaken by what she’d just seen.

The half-metal Kordolian chuckled.

Really, what the hell did all these bastards find so funny?

“Oh, you don’t have to pretend anymore, child. I know you can understand me. My drone caught you speaking Universal before you were captured. Who were you talking with, human?” He caressed her cheek with his normal hand, gently dragging the tips of his razor-sharp claws along her soft skin.

A gentle-yet-threatening gesture.

Layla froze, her thoughts whirling. Disgust unfurled in her gut, making her want to retch, but there was no fucking way she was going to tell this mad cyborg-scientist about Enki.

The mysterious Enki didn’t know it, but the mere thought of him was the only thing keeping her sane right now.

A shadow of a whisper of a promise was keeping her alive in this dark, terrifying place, and she hadn’t even met the guy.

“I wasn’t talking to anybody,” she said slowly, carefully, injecting a sincere little tremor into her voice. Figuring it was pointless to keep up the charade, she spoke in Universal. “Just myself. That’s what happens when you end up stranded in space for weeks on end. You slowly go mad. You start talking to yourself.”

“Deceptive little human,” Captain Pradon hissed, anger flickering across his face. “So you can speak Universal.”

Without warning, the collar activated, plunging her into a world of searing agony.

Layla howled. The Kordolians watched her with looks of detached smugness, as if this sort of thing happened all the time.

“P-please stop,” she gasped, unable to take it any longer. It felt as if her head was being forcefully separated from her neck.

The mad scientist uttered a word to the Captain, and suddenly the pain was gone, leaving her drained, her legs turned into jelly. Layla’s vision went black. She collapsed to the floor, gasping.

Relief.

Despair.

Humiliation.

This was really happening. The kind of scenario that only played out in horror movies, or her worst nightmares… she was living it, and it was different to anything she could have possibly imagined.

For someone like Layla, who had been used to living like a fucking queen back on Earth, this was beyond brutal.

“Now you understand what happens to you if you disobey, or if you lie to us. And that is only the mild setting. Such a weak little thing you are. I still do not understand what Akkadian finds so fascinating about your kind.” The mad scientist shook his head as he squatted on his haunches beside her. He raked his cybernetic fingers through her long black hair and yanked her head back. “Understand this. I can make things much, much worse for you, human. Do not lie to me, ever.” His stale breath washed over her, adding a hint of bitterness to her misery. “I will ask again. Are you absolutely certain you weren’t talking to anyone else?”

“Th-there was nobody,” she whispered. “Nobody at all.”

The Kordolian stared at her long and hard, reminding her of the way a crocodile might size up its prey. “Even if you are lying to me, there is no help coming for you now. This is an alpha-class battle cruiser, and it is impregnable.” He laughed, a hollow, mirthless sound. “Only a demon could breach our defenses.”

The tiny flame of Layla’s hope grew just a little bit dimmer, but she didn’t allow it to flicker out. How could she have such faith when all she knew of Enki was the sound of his voice; when her captors were so fucking powerful and cruel?

Because I want to live, assholes.

No matter what she was forced to endure, Layla wanted to survive. Even if she never got to Miridian-7, even if she had to go back to the chaos on Earth, she didn’t care.

Suddenly, life on Earth looked pretty fucking good, and all the human-created hassles didn’t seem so bad.

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