Gravity (Dark Anomaly #1) - Marina Simcoe Page 0,14

me to draw a breath.

“I should probably get you a watch,” he muttered, running his hand through the thick fur on his head.

My insides chilled as I made a quick calculation in my head. “If one year here is about three hundred universal years. Then during the day I’ve spent here, almost a year would have passed there?”

“About ten months.” He rolled back a shoulder. “Give or take a few days.”

A universal year was an equivalent of an annual rotation of an average habitable planet of the Federation. It equalled a year and eight days on Earth.

If ten months had passed since my disappearance, any rescue efforts would have been over by now.

I most likely had been declared dead...

“Are you sure?” I struggled to stay upright as my knees shook.

I begged for this just to be another misunderstanding. It wouldn’t be hard to believe that Vrateus had made a mistake in his calculations.

Deep in my gut, though, I feared he was right.

The clothes Vrateus and his crew wore, his weapons and other objects around me weren’t theater props. They were old. Really, really old.

From what I knew about the cultures and history of the nations of the Federation, the comb I used to brush my hair must be from at least a millennium ago. Vrateus’s handguns were probably at least a few centuries old.

Even the interior of the ships I’d seen so far, all seemed severely dated in décor and finishes. Though most were in much better shape than they should be, considering their age.

“Are you sure, Vrateus?” I repeated meekly, grasping at straws.

“Nothing can be for sure as far as the Dark Anomaly is concerned,” he bit off. “One thing is certain. You cannot leave it.”

I HARDLY ATE ANYTHING that morning.

Over and over, I sifted in my mind through everything that humanity had discovered about the Anomaly, including the knowledge shared with us by alien races.

Somehow things didn’t add up. I knew its gravitational field was extremely strong. Yet here I was, not crushed. In fact, the gravity here felt no different from the artificial gravity we had at my research station or that of Earth.

Did the pull of the Anomaly mostly apply to metal objects? Was that why the asteroids moved by freely when our probes ended up being sucked in from much further distances?

We had explored that possibility before, though. The nature of the gravity had proven not to be magnetic. The probes made entirely of the newest strongest plastics ended up sucked in just as well.

“Nothing can be for sure as far as the Dark Anomaly is concerned.”

Was that why the humanity still had so few results, even after decades of researching this mysterious abnormality in space. There had been so many inconsistencies observed, nothing was definite.

Around lunch time, Vrateus came in again. In addition to bringing food, he also rolled in a rack of clothes. The bright colors of the fabrics rivaled those of the lights outside the glass of my room.

“Choose something else to wear tonight,” he said. “I’ll come for you after dinner.”

“Hold on.” I shook my head resolutely. “I said I’m not doing this. I’m not changing, either.”

He stopped, sliding his gaze down my body once again.

“Would you rather wear this? Do you want them to associate their sexual pleasure with your regular clothes? You know they will only salivate more over you every time they see you dressed like this. Is that what you want?”

His words sent a shudder of disgust down my back.

“I don’t want their sexual pleasure to be associated with me, in any way.” I frowned.

“That is, unfortunately, not an option I can give you.”

His morose composure frustrated me even more.

“Why not? What would happen if I just stayed in here tonight?”

“If you don’t show up, they will come for you. Errocks wouldn’t dare enter this room, but everyone else won’t hesitate to break in.” He heaved a sigh. “Once they get out of control, they won’t stop with raping you. Every trace of your body will be gone before morning.”

I fought the horror descending on me. It couldn’t be true. He’d said it to intimidate me. He was using my fear to get me under his control.

People of the Federation didn’t rape and eat each other. The very notion was beyond my comprehension. Sentient beings didn’t act like wild animals.

Did they?

The image of Vrateus shooting one of his men came to mind again.

I remembered the grip of the alien’s chitin covered hands on my ankles, the sinister