Chapter 29
Lalia could first hear the voices of several soldiers in the room, she could tell the voices were soldiers because none of them spoke out of turn, one voice talked more than the rest; Doctor Melric. She opened her eyes, both were sore, she reached to rub them, but her wrists were bound behind her back. She was still in the house where Garth had left her, but someone covered the windows with sheets from the bed.
“You’re awake!” Melric exclaimed, his loud voice hurt Lalia’s sensitive ears.
“Please get the good doctor some water.” Melric directed a soldier near the stairs, the Callos obediently left the room, pounding as he went.
Lalia tried to speak, but her mouth was dry, instead she rasped out:
“Monster.”
“Oh, I am flattered. Really, I am. I would obviously prefer, I don’t know…” He paused for emphasis, “Information!”
A soldier grabbed Lalia by the throat and held her firmly against the chair she was restrained to.
“Step back.” Melric ordered, the soldier released her, “I don’t need to strangle her. She will cooperate.”
A soldier returned with a cup of water, he held it to Lalia’s lips for her to drink.
She slowly rinsed her mouth and swallowed the water. She cleared her throat, it hurt:
“I am not going to cooperate.” Lalia assured him.
“Yes. Yes, you will. Doctor Tarrus,” he began, “Do you realize how elusive you have been?”
“Elusive? Yes, that is what an escaped convict aims to be.” She spat, blood trickled down the sides of her mouth.
“You have been more elusive than that!” Melric jumped around the room giddy, he then closed it; his face next to hers.
“I always wanted you to be mine.” Melric explained, “I wanted you to be my partner.” He rubbed her leg, she squirmed, but the soldier stepped in to hold the chair.
“Get away from me.” She warned, baring her teeth.
“Of course I don’t want you anymore.” Melric stepped away, “What good is it to have an insane bride?”
“Do you still think I am insane? You must already know about the creature I brought.” She asked.
“No. You aren’t insane. You’ve proven that much. But you were greatly mistaken to believe you could change anything. Hiding a human in the Convoy would have been impossible. What did you expect to do?” He asked.
“You know?” Lalia was speechless, her jaw dropped.
“Yes. Human. The boy with unique abilities. I am surprised you haven’t already damned the entire Convoy. The Admiral is convinced the child will destroy each of the vessels, causing the extinction of all Callos.” Melric explained.
“I knew better. Humans share a common ancestry with the Callos, for years medical breakthroughs on CLERGY 5 stemmed from research on humans we had kidnapped.” Melric continued, pacing the room, fiddling with something in his coat pocket.
“But, my ancestors kept this information secret. Are you aware of any of the three dozen species my ancestors have kept secret from the Convoy? It was our duty; it is my duty, to ensure that the Convoy remains on track. The pitiful little path from the far end of the Phlasian Portal back to Phlasia keeps things predictable.” Melric laughed.
“That doesn’t make any sense! Why not come clean?” Lalia asked, shaking with fury in her chair.
“The beauty is this; I don’t need a reason! By holding all of the knowledge I hold complete control. The Admiral is a figurehead; Tovar simply keeps the boat in the right direction. We are basically moving on rails! I am the one with the power! That’s all that really matters!” Melric shouted, he straddled Lalia’s lap.
“All I want to do is kill you, and your little human friend. You threaten my control, in fact, while I am at it; I should just knock off the Admiral and his idiot brother.” Melric decided.
“You won’t find him. He is safe; he is going to prove to the Convoy they are making a mistake by trusting you. You lost your opportunity.” Lalia lashed.
“The funny thing about opportunity is that,” Melric pulled a syringe from under his lab coat; “It will always come knocking at my door.” He laughed, and plunged the needle into Lalia’s throat.
Lalia began to cough and jerk, the soldier released her and she fell to the floor writhing in pain.
“It burns doesn’t it?” Melric laughed, he kicked at her stomach, she choked on a cry.
“Alvar reported having shot at you and you mechanic friend. It turns out he did hit you, tracking blood is whole lot easier than scouring the entire city.” Melric stooped down to taunt her.
“I killed your friend Terr Belar. She shouldn’t have helped you. That was naughty.” He waved his forefinger back and forth.
Lalia clutched her side and rasped for breath, she knocked a table over, the glass on it shattered across the floor.
“She wouldn’t cooperate; in retrospect it would appear I overdosed her on Yorno Vaccilis.” He held up a florescent green vial, “It works as a neural sedative, but you already know that much.”
Lalia coughed, “No. I still won’t tell you.”
Melric beamed, “I don’t expect you to. That weakens your mental faculties, this is my masterpiece: a serum to induce a psychic reaction. I derived the formula from Aurrus cerebro-spinal fluid. Your brain will operate as theirs do, allowing for your telepathic connection to open. In short, your brain waves will transmit a live prime-time feed.” He explained.
He dug the needle into Lalia’s arm.
“You three. Leave the room. I want it to be empty when he gets here.” Melric directed his soldiers; he stared back at Lalia’s glare.
“He won’t fall for your trap!” She cried.
“Yes he will. I watched the footage from your stunt in CLERGY 6; he looked to you for direction. A surrogate mother almost. He will come.” Melric promised. He began to kick at her.
“Try to look distressed. Look sad for the camera.” He yelled, kicking at her burn.
Lalia tried to remain as composed as possible, but the pain proved to be too much.
“I am sorry.” She whispered under her breath, as though Miles was in the room to hear it.
“I am disappointed you didn’t put up a fight.” Melric pouted, “I wanted to practice some theatricality, to toy with you and look pretty for the camera.”
“I…” Lalia tried.
“No matter, come with me.” He directed to the remaining soldier, the two left the room, Lalia lay still and cried, unable to move.