Chapter Four
Rayne’s heart thudded as she gazed around at the odd white room, rubbing her arms. She still had goose bumps from the golden light that had engulfed them, making her skin prickle with static power. Rawn drew his gun, his brows knotted, then a wave of dizziness washed over Rayne, along with a sensation of calm detachment, and her heart slowed. She surmised that they had just been dosed with a sedative gas. Several minutes passed while Rawn scowled at the walls, hefting his gun.
“Where are we?” Rayne’s whisper was a thread of sound in a pit of silence.
“Out of the frying pan and in the fire.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.” He ran his hand over the nearest wall. “This is weird.”
Rayne sat down as shock drained the last of her energy and her stomach knotted. Rawn prowled around, testing the walls. She rubbed her stinging eyes as the possible ramifications of this new and inexplicable predicament threatened to overwhelm her.
“This isn’t the work of the autocrats,” Rawn muttered. “They don’t have this kind of technology.”
“Then who? The aliens?”
He frowned at her. “What aliens?”
Rayne told him about the scarlet saucer, the white-clad man, and the two incidents since then. It sounded bizarre even to her, and it made their situation seem direr. She wondered if whoever had captured them was listening.
Rawn holstered his firearm and sat beside her. “Where’s your gun?”
“I don’t know. It must have been left behind.”
“Damn.”
The vertigo lessened and fatigue set in, and Rayne struggled to keep her eyes open, although Rawn told her to sleep. A soft swish roused her into nerve-jangling wakefulness as a section of seamless wall slid back to reveal a room with a basin and toilet. Rawn inspected it before Rayne used it, and as soon as he had done so too, the door shut again. A beam of purple light swept across the cell few moments later, making Rayne’s skin crawl.
Rawn banged on the wall. “Any more stunts like that, and I’ll start shooting holes in the walls!”
“I don’t think you can do much to them,” Rayne said.
“We’ll see about that.”
Another section of the wall glided aside to reveal a recess containing two glasses of clear liquid.
Rawn rose and went to sniff the contents of one glass. “Smells like water.”
“We had water from the basin; unless we weren’t supposed to drink that.”
“I think we’re supposed to drink this.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “It’s probably got medicine in it.” He put the glass down. “Whatever it is, I don’t want it.” He glared at the wall. “You hear me, you bastards? We won’t co-operate until we get an explanation. Show yourselves! We’re not animals, so stop treating us like them!”
Rayne said, “Stop it! We don’t want to make them angry.”
“They’re making me angry.”
“They might be the ones who helped me.”
“Well they’re not acting very bloody friendly now.”
Another strained silence fell as they waited for a response. Undoubtedly they were being watched, and it was only a matter of time before their captors communicated with them. Rayne jumped as a soft masculine voice spoke in oddly accented English.
“We apologise for the quarantine. Unfortunately, if you wish to meet us, you must drink the liquid in the glasses.”
Rawn yelled, “Where are we? What do you want?”
“You’re aboard a spaceship, and we wish you no harm.”
“Why have you kidnapped us?”
“That will be explained once you have imbibed the medicine.”
“What does it do?” Rawn demanded.
“It’s merely to eradicate unwanted bacteria that could be harmful to us. Your world is an unhealthy place. Once you have drunk the medicine, you will be released after a set period of time.”
“And if we refuse?”
“That’s not an option we’re prepared to accept. Eventually you’ll become thirsty and drink the medication. Obstinacy will merely prolong your incarceration.”
“I could shoot my way out of here!” Rawn bellowed.
“No. Any attempt to use your weapon will be countered by an increase of tranquilliser gas. I urge you to co-operate.”
“I’ll bet you do! But why should I co-operate with you, huh?”
“Because you wish to leave the room,” the disembodied voice replied.
“But I don’t want to be bullied by the likes of you!”
Rayne said, “Let’s just drink the medicine. This is a pointless argument.”
“How do we know it isn’t poison?”
“Why would they bring us here to poison us? They could have killed us any time.”
“Maybe they want to use us in some kind of experiment, like damned guinea pigs.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so, but what choice do we have? Like he said, they’ll just keep us locked in here until we drink it. Let’s get it over with. There’s really nothing else we can do.”
“You’re too damned fatalistic, Ray. I could shoot a hole -”
“You probably can’t, but even if you did, what then? If we’re aboard a spaceship, there’s nowhere to run, is there?”
Rawn’s shoulders slumped. “I guess not, if that’s true. But I don’t like this. It’s all too damned neat and prepared, as if it was planned. I feel like we’re in a damned laboratory. And I’ll tell you this, if I start to feel sick, I will shoot my way out of here and take a few of those bastards with me.”
Rayne addressed the wall. “Will the medicine make us sick?”
“No,” the voice replied. “Side effects should be minimal. At worst, some cramps and diarrhoea may result.”
Rayne rose and drained one glass.
“What does it taste like?” Rawn asked.
She shrugged. “Water.”
Rawn drank his, and then they sat down to wait again, Rayne dozing against his shoulder. About an hour later, the wall slid open, revealing a larger bathroom with two shower cubicles. Two sets of grey one-piece clothing were folded on a shelf next a pair of fluffy white towels.
“I suppose the inference is pretty obvious,” Rawn remarked.
Rayne nodded. “We smell.”
“Undoubtedly, but do they have to be so blatant?”
She smiled. “Well, having cleaned out our insides, they have to do the outsides too.”
The voice said, “You have already been externally decontaminated. The cleaning facilities are for your comfort. We have tried to duplicate your mode of washing. We hope the amenities are suitable.”
“It’s been a long time since I had a shower, especially a warm one,” Rayne commented.
Rawn frowned. “Our method of washing? What kind of aliens are these?”
The voice said, “We are what you would call humanoids, similar to you in many respects, but we have various means of washing that would be strange and possibly alarming to you.”
“Us primitives, you mean.”
Rayne poked him. “Will you quit goading him? I don’t give a fig how they wash. I want a shower.”
“He sounds like one of those damned fairy airline stewards. They always bugged me.”
“Well, I’m going to have a shower.”
He caught her arm as she started to stand up. “You seem to be very damned trusting all of a sudden. What if this is just a way to separate us?”
“We can shower together, but I think they can do pretty much what they like with us, and there’s really nothing we could do to stop them. They could have knocked us unconscious with gas if they wanted. If they’re going to treat us well, I, for one, am going to co-operate. Let’s see what they want before judging them.”
“You’re being too calm about this,” he said.
“It must be the tranquilliser gas. There’s really no point in being upset, is there?”
“Guess not. You shower fir
st then. I’ll stand guard.”
“Okay.” She entered a shower cubicle, shedding her clothes.