peaks on return course to the city. The colony would not hold his mate for long.
Chapter 37
Charlie swallowed painfully. Her throat was dry and burning without any relief. She had been in the dark cell for hours without any water. She wanted to cry, but didn’t dare because she knew that would just bring her more pain. She squeezed her eyes shut against the migraine raging just behind them, made all the worse by the approaching click of shoes. She hated those shoes, wanted to tear them off whoever was wearing them and throw them into the piss pot sitting in one corner of her cell.
“Charlene, what a pleasure to see you again.”
Charlie lifted her head, and her eyes opened despite the pain that shot through them as she met Dr. Shelby’s gaze.
“I can’t say I feel the same,” she said slowly through cracked lips.
“Ah, yes, that is unfortunate. But then I did try to warn you, didn’t I? That you are expendable. It was highly inconvenient to find a replacement for you, I will grant you that… but here you are, serving the perfect purpose for which you have been designed: bait to trap a monster, and hopefully more of its kind. Naturally, you can help yourself by giving us information. It might earn your way into the good graces of Dr. Santo and Sector Head Mathews. Perhaps even earn you a small respite from Turongal Colony Governor Gordon.”
Charlie leaned her head back, a weak laugh bursting out of her just seconds later. “I won’t be helping you, but I’ll give you this little piece of information for free: when they hit this place, and they will, there won’t be a stone left standing by the time they are through with it. That’s how bad you just fucked up.”
Dr. Shelby shook her head, pity on her face. “Typical non-gratas response. Your kind can never see clearly when it comes to the reachable possibilities. You are too stuck in your immediate concerns. These alien creatures are genetically engineered. Their secrets can help human technology by leaps and bounds. Imagine how much easier colonizing worlds would be if we could harness such technology and adapt ourselves on a genetic level. And we believe that the very heart of their technology is a highly radioactive ore that is discovered in heavy deposits all throughout the planet. Imagine the sort of future you are giving all of us by your sacrifice!”
“Boy, when the hell did you drink the Kool-Aid?” Charlie rasped and shook her head in disgust. At the confusion on the scientist’s face, she sighed. Of course she wouldn’t get it. Citizens didn’t bother with the media of past generations. They had their own producers cranking out new shit to reinforce the social norms on Earth.
When she was younger, one of Charlie’s friends illegally downloaded a thirty-minute sitcom, and it had been rife with themes of the government looking out for people, the natural order of society, and the advantages of the non-gratas system that rewards everyone, even non-gratas. Listening to Dr. Shelby speak, it was like stepping right into an episode of that show.
Charlie grimaced. “You’re sacrificing your own people… every non-gratas who came to this planet by lottery. You’re slowly killing them with the poison you’re mining. No wonder everyone is getting so fucking sick.”
“The purpose of the non-gratas is for them to work in whatever fashion we have the most immediate use for them,” Dr. Shelby snapped. “It was approved by the sector head and further by the planetary governor when the colonies verified the deposits. We didn’t know what exactly we had at that time, other than the fact that it was an immensely powerful substance. We did not understand until we took some samples from the alien. Turongal is going to make history for us.”
“You never meant for this to be a thriving colony, did you?” Charlie asked weakly.
Dr. Shelby cocked her head. “We required it to be self-sufficient, but did we plan to develop it and open it to citizens to inhabit and own property on? No. That was never the plan of Darvel Exploratory.”
Charlie felt a sob work its way up her throat, but laugh broke free instead. “Of course.”
Dr. Shelby sighed and stepped away from the cell, her face pinching with frustration.
“Cheer up, Charlene. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I hate seeing you look so devastated, so I will let you have your gift now.”