first to recover.
“I know it sounds crazy, but they didn’t look human.” Abby gestured at the room. “And does this look like anywhere you’ve ever been?”
“Lotta places I ain’t been,” she muttered, then sighed. “But yeah, ain’t never seen nothing like this before.”
“What about our babies?” Elaina went to the glass wall that looked into the next room. The babies were also beginning to stir, and Cassie and TeShawna joined her at the wall.
“Mikie’s gonna be gettin’ hungry soon.” Elaina crossed her arms over her breasts.
As if in response to her words, Mikie woke up. They couldn’t hear him, but they could all see him as his mouth opened and his face started to turn red. All of the babies were completely naked, lying on plain white pads, with a glass dome covering each crib. The domes were apparently not soundproof because the other babies began to respond to Mikie’s crying, and soon all of them were crying except the little green baby. Elaina started to sob, and even Cassie sniffled as they helplessly watched their crying children.
Narrow tubes suddenly emerged from the ceiling, one above each crib, and snaked down through an opening that appeared in the top of each dome. Each tube had a tip that resembled a nipple, and the nipple was aimed at each wailing mouth. The attempt was not successful. Three of the babies clamped down on the nipple eagerly, then immediately spat it back out again. The other two wouldn’t even attempt it, while the little green baby just lay there silently.
A few agonizing minutes passed. All of the girls were crying again now and Abby fought back her own tears. Lucie clung to her leg, her lip starting to tremble. Dammit! There had to be some way to get the girls and their babies back together. She looked around desperately, wondering if she could break through the wall, but the cots were fastened to the floor.
While she tried to think of a solution, several of the aliens appeared in the corridor. Looking at them now under the bright lights, she wondered how she could ever have mistaken them for human. Everything about them was just slightly wrong enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck rise. And yet the differences could have been attractive if it hadn’t been for the utter disdain with which their strange red eyes surveyed the women.
Lucie tightened her grip on Abby’s leg but her little chin lifted. The other girls gathered behind Abby, the sight of the aliens stunning them into silence. Cassie straightened, dashing her tears away, but Molly whimpered under her breath.
“Damn, you wasn’t lying. They’re aliens all right,” TeShawna muttered. She, too, straightened, her body poised for battle. “What do they want?”
“I don’t know.” Abby took a quick look at the terrified girls, all of them her responsibility. Her heart pounded but she assumed the firm, confident expression that had carried her through so many negotiations back in her corporate days. “But I’m going to try and find out.” She gently unfolded Lucie’s fingers. “You stay here with Cassie, okay?”
“Don’t leave me!”
“I’m not going to leave you. I’ll be right there where you can see me.” She hoped.
“Come on, little bit. You stay here and help me be brave,” Cassie said. Lucie hesitated, then nodded and dove against Cassie. The older girl hugged her and nodded to Abby. “Go see what those bast—what those men want.”
Praying that her face appeared calm, Abby clenched her fists and approached the corridor wall. Two aliens moved around examining data readings while another alien, obviously the leader, questioned one of his subordinates. From the questioned man’s hunched posture, it didn’t appear to be a positive conversation. Nothing that they said was audible to her, but she hoped they had listening devices.
“Excuse me,” she said firmly. The leader glanced at her with those disdainful red eyes and just as quickly dismissed her. The subordinate also glanced in her direction, then started talking very rapidly.
“Look, I don’t know what you want with us, but those babies need their mothers. Now.”
The subordinate kept talking, going as far as to touch the leader’s sleeve before hastily withdrawing his fingers. She had a moment to notice that they had six digits before a section of the wall in front of her opened.
Looming over her, the leader addressed her impatiently. His tone sounded demanding, but she didn’t understand the rapid clicks that made up his language.
She kept her gaze locked on him.