Conduit - M J Marlow (best short books to read txt) 📗

there are bound to be people in that base who don’t.” “Then let us to the rescue,” Antonio nodded. He saw the twins following as he ran and stopped. “We bring these children?” “We don’t have time to secure them,” Ashad replied as he smiled at the twins; “and as Dulcie herself reminded me, they are quite useful.” He already had a plan. “I can see a way they could prove very useful.” * I woke up and I felt like my skin was crawling. I got up and looked down to see the marks on my wrists growing even more pronounced. They almost looked three dimensional as I examined them. I was irritable and restless and I knew something was beginning to happen with me. I looked over at Mary and the other five women who had undergone Winston’s experiments and bit my lip. I couldn’t possibly be going through what they were. I was just going crazy from being locked in a cage. I needed to see the sky. I needed to be in the sky. My back was aching now and I felt it throbbing along my spine. “Your wings are coming,” Mary told me in a whisper as she saw the skin darkening and swelling. “Oh, Dulcie…” “It was going to happen,” I shrugged. I had done enough healing on their minds to allow them to remain themselves. I went to the pool and settled in the water to let the warmth ease some of the pain away. But it wasn’t enough. I began pacing again and grew edgy. When Mary came to bring me a piece of fruit, I swung on her. She joined the others and they watched me in shock and concern. I could feel a need building inside of me that I knew had to do with sex. I had managed to avoid it until now and I was terrified that I would not be able to stop what was going to happen. “No choice!” I hissed as I slapped the water. The others looked at me. “It is not right!” I looked over at the other women. “You should not be here with me,” I had the sudden warning. “I will hurt you if you remain here with me.” “We will risk it,” Mary said fiercely. The others nodded. “We will stay at your side until you force us to go.” “Please, Mary,” I cried in dismay. “You don’t understand…” I moaned as the need increased. “I won’t be able to stop myself.” “She is correct,” Winston smiled as he came to the enclosure. He had two guards with him as he unlocked the door. “It is time for you pretty hens to go to your nesting boxes anyway.” The guards took the six women out and Winston closed the door. “I would give you something to ease the pain, Queenie, but I am told there is nothing that will do so without harming you.” “Go away, Winston,” I hissed at him, my eyes glazed with pain. “I will hurt you if you come near me again.” “I have to settle the hens in their places,” Winston smiled and backed away. “But before I go, I thought you might like to see the gift I brought you.” He opened the other door and I saw Everd being dragged in. “He was caught trying to sneak in.” “Everd!” “Is that its name?” Winston smiled. He nodded to the soldiers and they brought Everd into the enclosure. He pressed a control on the far wall outside and a wall of bars shot up, bisecting the enclosure. “There we are. You two will be together – in a fashion, but completely unable to get to each other.” He laughed at my concern as I went to Everd and saw that he was out cold. “Don’t worry, Queenie. Your handsome Everd is quite unharmed.” “I need him,” I cried and put my hand on one of the bars. I jumped back, hissing in pain as electricity shot through me. “You bastard! Let him out of there!” “I can’t do that, Queenie,” Winston laughed. “I promised the Vyrashtu that you would not be allowed to mate.” He turned to the glass wall behind him. “I want the recorders on 24/7. We are about to witness something no other humans have ever seen.” I sank down on my side of the electrified bars and shivered with need. My distress transmitted to Everd’s mind and his eyes came open. Winston was impressed. He had been certain that the young male would be out cold for hours yet. Everd reached towards the bars and I hissed a warning. He turned his head towards Winston and the rage in them made the man leave. He had been warned that a mating pair would be deadly, but seeing it in reality was something else entirely. “Have they harmed you, Dulcie,” Everd asked as he saw me shaking. He was relieved as I shook my head. He turned his attention to the bars separating us. “They think this will keep us apart?” “It is electrified, Everd,” I reminded him. “Hardly enough to stop what will occur between us,” Everd replied. His head snapped up and he looked at the glass wall. “They are watching us! It is not to be born!” He focused his mind on the wall and I watched as the glass began to melt. It flowed down onto the floor and Winston and his assistants were horrified. They ran when the recording equipment began to explode. Everd melted the lock on the doors. “Now we will leave.” He melted the bars between us and held me a moment. Then he opened the door of our cage and sent the door flying. We stepped out hand in hand and started up the corridor towards the stairs. Soldiers appeared in front of us and he swept them aside. I was lost in pride of my powerful mate. Mate! My heart and mind screamed the term with happiness. But the number of soldiers grew and I was soon joining him in the fight. We found ourselves being herded and fell into a room overlooking another enclosure. Mary and the other women were in there. They had been collared and chained into boxes filled with nesting materials. Someone had gotten the sick idea of putting chicken masks on their faces and putting them into feathered suits. “This cannot be allowed!” I screamed and beat on the glass. I jumped back as metal walls sprung up in front of me and I was cut away from Everd again. The door opened and I was tranq’d. “Let me go!” I screamed as they dragged me out. “Everd!” I whimpered as the sedative slowly took over. “I must be with my mate!” “Sorry, Queenie,” Winston laughed as I was brought into the infirmary and strapped face down. “We promised our benefactors that would not happen.” He turned to his assistants. “Keep her on the sedation they suggested while I deal with her mate.” “No,” I whimpered as I felt them put in the IV line. “Please let me go. I must be with him. I need…” “Poor little thing,” a nurse laughed. “I know how she feels. I haven’t had a man in my bed in weeks.” “We can fix it so you have a man in your bed every night, Beth,” Winston snapped. The nurse paled. “You just concentrate on keeping our little queen quiet.” Everd was banging on the walls when Winston looked in on him. The alien glared at him coldly and Winston knew it would rip his heart out if it got the chance. Winston laughed in delight. The walls of the box would keep the alien from influencing any minds in the base. It just remained to be seen how berserk the male grew the closer it came to mating time. He set the recorders and pressed the button on the intercom. “Your pretty mate is sleeping now, prince Everd,” Winston began. “You dare!” Everd hissed and his eyes nearly went red with rage. “You will let us go now, human. Before you and this foul base are brought down!” “That is not going to happen, prince,” Winston laughed. “You are in a box fashioned specifically to hold an enraged Sylenni…” “Of the warrior class, perhaps,” Everd broke in coldly. “The Vyrashtu have never fashioned a cage that will hold a royal! They have left you to your doom, human!” “How dramatic,” Winston laughed. “I look forward to seeing how you manage to carry out your threats caged, prince Everd.” “You were warned.” Winston laughed and moved away. A moment later the alarms went off. He ran to the control center to see what was going on. A vehicle was approaching the main gate and he could almost hear the gate guards telling them to move away. The installation was closed to all but ‘Authorized Personnel Only’. He knew he should be attending to other matters, but something about this vehicle disturbed him. Hadn’t there been six people in it when it had arrived? When it moved away, there was only two. When he asked the man on the desk, the man assured him there had been only two. * Jason and Jonas followed Chandri and Ashad into the base. They took out two soldiers and the twins slipped into their uniforms while the princes took their prisoners to the hidden forces. It was up to them to locate Dulcie and Everd and they were quite proud of their task. They split up and began a floor by floor search: Jason took the even floors, Jonas took the odd floors. They had been given Sylenni communication implants before they had come, and they had found it really cool to be able to speak mind-to-mind. “Some of the nurses here are really hot, Jase,” Jonas’ mind surged into his brother’s while Jason was dodging a team of soldiers on the floor below. “We’re supposed to be looking for Dulcie and Everd, bro,” Jason’s censure was plain. “Keep on task.” “And freedom lasts,” Jonas finished their personal motto. “Gotcha.” He fell silent a moment and then his next report came. “I hear someone familiar. It sounds like Ev…” “Jonas?” Jason called out. He got nothing but pain in reply. “Oh God!” He turned to continue down the corridor and ran into two very stern-faced soldiers. He turned to head back the way he had come, and two more soldiers cut him off. “All right,” he held up his hands and dropped his gun. “You got me.” He was cuffed and taken two floors down and shoved into a cell. He saw Jonas in the cell across from his, out cold. Someone came down the corridor and Jason saw an ordinary looking man who looked like he’d slept in his clothing. Professor Schneider looked from one cell to the other and shook his head. “You would be Jason and Jonas,” he said; “Dulcie’s ‘brothers’?” “Where is Dulcie?” Jason demanded. “What have you done to her?” “I assure you Dulcie is quite safe,” George replied. “She is under sedation to keep her calm.” “And Everd?” “The alien male is growing more and more frantic,” George answered. “He is putting dents in a metal we were told was Sylenni proof.” “You won’t be able to keep them apart much longer,” Jason remarked as he settled down on the cot. “I just hope you’re far enough away when the building starts to fall down around your ears.” “You wouldn’t have walked in here,” George frowned, “if you knew that was going to happen.” “My brother and I would walk through hell,” Jason replied calmly, “to help our sister. If we die, we die.” “Jase?” Jason looked past George to see his brother’s eyes were still closed. He assured him that he was close and watched Jonas’ body relax. He turned back to see the man watching him