Brianna (5 page)

Brianna controlled her impatience. “Earth is the name of my planet.”

“What an unassuming name,” the doctor mused. “To be exact, again, you’d have to ask an expert. We’ve been traveling about a week, so it’s undoubtedly several million light years.”

Brianna felt the blood drain from her face.
Several million
light years!
“But…how do I get home?”

“I’m afraid it will be a while,” Lorilana said gently.

Brianna swallowed and blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall. “A while? How long is a while?”

The doctor patted her shoulder, but Brianna shrugged it off.

Forcing the feeling of helplessness and the uncertainty out of her mind, she blinked rapidly and struggled to swallow her tears.

Crying wasn’t going to do any good. She had to get a hold of herself. And she definitely couldn’t let these aliens know she was scared! The first thing she had to find out was what they were going to do with her.

Taking a deep breath, she hugged herself tightly and gathered her scattered wits. “Are Miklan and Cindar all right?”

Surprise obvious on her face, the doctor simply stared for a moment.

“They are okay, aren’t they?”

“They’re fine. I’m surprised you were able to learn their names. They, of course, have translators, so understood everything you said.”

“It’s not hard to understand someone pointing at himself and saying one word.”

The doctor smiled. “Wonderful, you have a sense of humor.”

“It’s either that or give in to hysterics, and I don’t think the gentleman in the other room would appreciate those.”

Lorilana smiled at the younger woman. What a sly girl, introducing Char into the conversation so innocently. She was more interested in him than she wanted to admit. “You’re right.

Your name is Brianna?”

Brianna nodded. If she was going to survive this trip with her sanity intact, she needed information. “Yes, Brianna Claire O’Shea. Who is that man? Is this part of his cabin? Why am I here? I’ve been wounded. How come I’m not in the medical section of the ship?”

Lorilana sighed. Brianna certainly got right to the point. “He’s Captain Alalakan don al’ Chardadon. His family owns this and numerous other ships. And, yes, this room is part of the captain’s quarters, and as to why you’re here instead of in Medical… Well, there are complications with your presence.”

Slumping, Brianna sighed. “The people on this ship hold me responsible for what almost happened to Miklan and Cindar. It would have been better if Miklan had left me behind.”

Placing her fingers under Brianna’s chin, Lorilana lifted the younger woman’s head until their eyes locked. “Every member of this crew owes you a debt of gratitude for saving Miklan and Cinder’s lives, and they will not hesitate to tell you so, I especially, since Miklan is my nephew. No, not one member of the crew feels anything but gratitude towards you, Brianna. It’s the passengers who are causing the problem, one in particular, Dr. Rodak don al’ Bakom.”

“Why?”

“It’s a long story.”

She jerked her chin free of Lorilana’s grasp. “I’m not going anywhere, and I deserve to know what’s going on.”

Lorilana rose then sighed. “You do deserve a full explanation. I hope you’re comfortable.”

“Just a second and I will be,” Brianna said as she moved from the chair to the corner of the bunk and braced herself against the wall. “Tell me.”

Lorilana slid down onto the chair. “Founded even before the scientists of Drakan discovered the power that allows us to roam freely about the galaxy, the Academy of Science was created to serve humankind. Its members concentrated on finding cures for diseases, discovering new strains of seeds to ensure larger harvests, and other ways to use all of our advances without harming each other or our environment.”

After Brianna nodded, the doctor continued. “From satellites we’d launched early in our space programs, we mapped the planets in our solar system. After we achieved interplanetary travel, we sent an expedition to the planet that circles our sun exactly opposite of ours, Mediria, a planet whose surface is 90

percent water, and discovered it was inhabited. Medirians are able to breathe in both air and water and are almost as scientifically advanced as we are. What’s more, even though they didn’t look exactly like us, they are human.”

“How can you tell?”

“Be patient,” Lorilana said gently. “I want you to not only understand what is happening, but also why.”

Brianna swallowed. That statement was entirely too ominous.

“The Medirians are a friendly people and greeted us with enthusiasm,” continued the doctor. “Treaties were signed and trade established. As our space travel grew more advanced, we set up shuttle systems between our two planets. Now, it takes less than an hour to travel from one to the other.”

“Since human life was found on another planet in our own solar system, the Academy concluded that it also might exist on others. Once the space drive was perfected, the Academy, which over the years had acquired a great deal of power in our government, mandated that we should search out human life on other planets. This mandate was formulated for the betterment of the human race. The Academy felt that humans from all planets could help each other improve life. And for years, that’s what we practiced. As time went on, during our explorations, we discovered three other planets with human life, two as advanced technically as ours and the other content with its pastoral life.

You can learn the histories of these planets from the computer files at your leisure.”

“About 150 years ago, the Academy began to change. A small group of members sought to revise some of the bylaws— only small things, at first. However, as their party gained in numbers, more radical changes were put into effect. All peoples living on the five planets whose races were known to be human were acknowledged as such. However, life indigenous to newly discovered planets would have to meet certain criteria.”

Lorilana shifted in her chair. “Originally, these new criteria did not alarm many people. They were broad and everyone from the five plants easily fit into them. However, when we charted a new planet with what appeared to be human life, we learned just what had been enacted.”

The doctor’s expression darkened. “Five years ago, a planet was discovered on the opposite end of the galaxy from yours. Its inhabitants were humanoid in form. When one of them volunteered to have a transmitter inserted, we discovered that they were extremely intelligent. They called their planet Wafhkte. The Academy scientist assigned to that particular ship asked if one of their number would be willing to volunteer to undergo a few tests. Since his people had been treated with respect, he who had received the transmitter volunteered under the condition that two of his people be present as witnesses.”

“No sooner had he and the other volunteers boarded the ship, than all three were drugged. One of them was dissected immediately. Another was given an electronic brain scan that left him in a vegetative state. The last was given mithrin.”

Brianna’s eyes grew wide with horror. What had happened to those unknown aliens paralleled too closely what had almost happened in Dr. Gustovson’s lab. In a small voice she asked, “What’s mithrin?”

Rising to her feet, Lorilana sighed. Rubbing her arms, she paced from one side of the small room to the other. “We Drakians are very open about our sexuality and are extremely hedonistic. We think nothing of strolling about our private quarters naked, even with guests present if they are close personal friends.” Turning to Brianna, she continued with a weak smile, “I deduced that this is not considered normal behavior on your planet from your obvious discomfort with Char’s nudity.”

After Brianna nodded, she resumed her explanation. “I know that you were a partner to the examination of Miklan, so you know that he is hermaphroditic, capable of self-impregnation.

There is a reason for this, and, again, it is something you can research later. Approximately one half of our population is hermaphroditic, including me. But, as I know you saw with Char, the other half is single-sexed, roughly half male and half female.”

With a weak smile, Lorilana continued. “Drakians enjoy sexual intercourse at a level we haven’t found duplicated on any other planet. Thus was mithrin, a very powerful aphrodisiac that works only on humans, invented. One of the Academy’s new criteria for humanity was the tolerance and acceptance of mithrin. Human beings, when under the influence of the drug, have sexual cravings and pleasures heightened. We didn’t think it would have any adverse effects on nonhumans since nothing happened to the test animals except for an increase in appetite for a short time. But it had never been tried on another clearly intelligent life form until the Wafhkte.”

Brianna gripped her blanket so tightly, her hands hurt. “What happened?”

“The Wafhkteian became temporarily insane. Worse, he escaped and murdered about a dozen of his people, mostly females and their offspring. Others managed to overpower and restrain him until the mithrin wore off. Then he told them what had happened to his comrades. Our exploratory team barely escaped with their lives.”

“But…”

Lorilana held up her hand. “Please, let me finish. Then I’ll answer your questions. The most horrific outcome of the entire incident was the fact that the First President of the Academy of Science released a report stating that the inhabitants of Wafhkte were not human, and what had happened on their planet was of no consequence. Needless to say, many members of the Academy and the Ruling Council of our planet were shocked.

The human races on the other planets were appalled.

Unfortunately, the faction who initiated these experiments is too firmly entrenched in the power structure of the Academy. Until we can oust them, their mandate for the identification of humans is still the rule. That’s where we come to you.”

Brianna swallowed. “What do you mean?”

“Officially, Brianna, you’re not human,” Lorilana said in a sad voice. “Until you pass the requisite tests, you will not be classified as such.”

“Can’t I just take their tests and be done with it? Or am I not ‘human’ enough to even be tested?”

A poignant smile drifted across the doctor’s face. “You are certainly human, Brianna. Because of the wound in your shoulder, it was necessary to give you a blood transfusion.

Hoping for some compatibility—after all, you look human—we analyzed a sample of your blood. You cannot imagine our surprise when we discovered that your blood is exactly the same as the Medirians. That by itself proves your humanity beyond a shadow of a doubt. Fifty years ago, this blood compatibility would have been enough.”

Brianna’s stomach lurched. “Now what does it take?”

“There are a number of tests, but you only need pass 75%

of them. However, you must accept an injection of mithrin into your body. The dosage is such that you would become sexually insatiable for anywhere from four to eight hours, and most if not all of the members of the examining team would have sexual intercourse with you. Once the dosage wore off, you would be subjected to a brain scan to determine intelligence quotients.

Then you would be given a physical, which would include sexual intercourse without mithrin. If your responses are not satisfactory, you could be declared nonhuman.”

Shuddering, Brianna blanched. “How could decent people let this happen?”

Lorilana’s voice was tired. “Decent people didn’t let this happen, Brianna. Almost everyone who would have denounced this policy was absent from the meeting that ratified it. We were tricked, very cleverly. You see, my husband was First President of the Academy of Science immediately before the Wafhkte debacle. The legislative sessions had been over for three days, and the Academy was in recess. My husband and I had left for our annual vacation, as had most of our allies in the Academy.

While we were gone, Rodak don al’ Bakom, the Second President, called an emergency meeting. My husband was deposed as First President, and the new Tests for Humanity were passed. Even though we’d received an emergency message, we arrived too late to prevent passage. All we could do was modify some of the tests and lower passage requirements to 75%.”

Struggling to control the tremors wracking her body, Brianna asked, “Weren’t the other people on your planet against this new policy, or does the Academy make the laws?”

Again, Lorilana sighed. “The general population has no say in determining Academy policy, nor has Bakom tried to interfere with the laws of Drakan. And, as I said, ours is a very hedonistic race. Much of the population sees nothing wrong with sexual tests.”

“But you don’t have to tell the Academy I’m here,” Brianna said in a hopeful voice. “Can’t you just take me back home?”

“I wish it were that simple. Miklan chose to bring you on board because of the danger for you on your planet. Bakom knows you’re here and will do everything in his power to get you back.”

“Back?”

“When you transported up, Bakom was waiting. He gave both Miklan and Cindar sedatives and spirited you away before our own medical staff arrived. We only knew about you because one of my staff mentioned a bundle Bakom and his assistants carried to their lab. Mithrin had already been administered, but Char and I arrived before the drug was able to take any real effect. Since you were wounded, we were able to take you back to Medical where I gave you the antidote. After all, the Tests mandate a ‘healthy’ specimen be examined, and at that point we were unsure whether or not you’d survive. I couldn’t deny Bakom access to Medical, though, and he monitored your progress. As soon as you were judged to be healthy, you would have once again fallen under his control. That’s why you’re here.”