Lost Among the Stars (Sky Riders) (4 page)

He had suspected she and the other women were from Earth. But what was their ship doing way out here and without a crew? As soon as he could, he needed to go over the transport’s logs.

Jonik continued to examine the Earth female. The medic sent to run the blood sample came back and handed Jonik the results.

“It is as I thought, she is from Earth. I will have to research her blood results to find out if they are normal. It might take me a couple of hours.”

Jonik was about to move away from the bed just
as the door to the medical unit slid open. In came three of the men who had gone with Etor onto the transport and each was carrying an Earth female. He rushed over to direct the men where to put the females. “Are they all alive?”

“Yes, these were the only other ones found alive.”

“There were more females than these?” Jonik asked.

Thallan walked in at the same time the question was asked. “There was a total of fifty females. We only found four of them alive.” He walked up to Etor and looked down at the unconscious female. “How is she?”

“She should be fine.” Jonik walked with the other men.

Thallan turned to Etor. “Do you know where she is from?”

“Earth,” Etor replied simply.

“Earth? How in the gods did they get way out here?”

“I don’t know but I am going to find out. I want you to come with me. I want those logs. I want to find out how they got here and why.”

Chapter 4

Maggie slowly became aware of her surround
ings. The sounds in the room didn’t sound familiar to her and she was having a hard time opening her eyes. Her entire body felt heavy. She tried to raise a hand to her face but it refused to move at her command. The sound of a door opening had her trying to turn her head in the direction of the sound.

“Easy, easy,” the deep male voice spoke to her. “It’s going to take some time for the stasis gas to wear completely off.”

A warm hand lifted her dead weight one. She struggled to move her lips to make a sound. “Wh…wh…”

“Don’t try to speak yet, little one. Can you open your eyes?”

She could only reply with a slight shake of her head. It was frustrating not having control over her body. The one thing that was working were her tear ducts. She felt the water buildup in her eyes then escape as the moisture rolled down her cheek.

The hand still holding hers gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t cry. I promise it will wear off. I am going to open your lids for you to check your eyes. I want to make sure there aren’t any lingering effects from the gas.”

She felt a finger touch her eye lid then gently raise it. Her vision was a bit blurry but clear enough to see the man looking down at her. He repeated the process with the opposite eye and she found her eye was much clearer in that socket.

“Your pupils appear to be reacting normal.”

Something wasn’t making sense to her. Her memories were coming back to her quickly, so she knew she didn’t recognize the man standing next to her. He definitely wasn’t on the transport when she and the rest of the women had been put into the sleeping tubes.

“I’m going to give you something to help the gas wear off quicker, but it will make you sleep. The good thing is you will feel a lot better once you wake up again.”

She felt something cold pressed to her upper arm then the sound of a click. Within seconds the medicine was coursing through her veins and doing its job. It wasn’t long before she slipped back into unconsciousness.

It was completely silent when she next awoke.
She tested her arms and found she was able to move them again but it took a lot of effort. A far off voice had her cracking her eyes open to find she was alone in the room. The door to the room was closed but there was a large window she could clearly see through. The voice spoke again but still no face to put it too.

God, she was so thirsty!
I wish someone would come in the room so I could ask for a drink of water.
She licked her dry lips and tried to build up some moisture in her mouth. Cotton mouth was not a pleasant thing to have when you first wake up.

The sound of footsteps drew her attention to the window. The man approaching
was biggest man she had ever seen in her life. He had to be over six and half feet tall and almost as wide as the door frame. His sandy brown hair was neatly trimmed around his neck and ears. He spoke to someone out of her view and she realized it was the same deep voice she had heard the first time she woke up.

Where in the hell was she? She definitely wasn’t in the transport ship since she didn’t see any kind of room that resembled a hospital. She swallowed nervously as she waited for the man to finish what he was saying and to walk into her room.

The smile he gave her as he entered made her stomach flutter with butterflies. He was freaking gorgeous!

“I am glad to see you are awake, Maggie.
I’m Head medical Officer Jonik.”

He knew her name, but how? “How do you know my name?” Her eyes followed his movements as he walked over to a small cabinet.

“From the records on the transport you were on.” He turned to walk back over to her. “How do you feel?”

“Better than I did earlier, but everything still feels heavy.”

“That’s to be expected from being in the sleeping gas for so long.” As he talked he started to examine her.

She was confused by what he said. “I don’t understand. How long was I asleep?”

Jonik stopped he movements to look her straight in the face. “The records on the transport show you were in stasis for nine months and sixteen days.”

She felt the color drain from her face. “Nine months? It…it was only supposed to take three months.”

“I don’t know much else. I’ll inform the Commander that you are awake. He will be able to tell you more.” He touched a button on his uniform shirt. “Commander? Jonik here. The female you brought to me is awake.”

Maggie listened to the voice that replied back. “I’ll be there shorty. Is she able to be questioned?” His v
oice was even deeper than the medic’s and sent chills down her spine. There was something about that voice that made her body react.

“We’ll be waiting for you. Jonik out.”

She looked up at Jonik as he finished speaking. “Who is the Commander?”

“Commander Etor of the
warship Arabis. Let me check your vitals before he gets here.”

Maggie sat quietly in her bed as Jonik poked and prodded at her. He shined a light in each eye, looked down her throat, skimmed her entire body with an unknown medical instrument then made her drink some water. The cool liquid felt wonderful as it travelled past her lips and down her throat. He told her as she drank from the cup that she needed to slow down but it was hard to stop. It was so refreshing and satisfying.

The sound of her door opening again had them both looking in the direction of the visitor. The man that stepped through the door took her breath away and made her heart skip several beats. It had to be the Commander.

He was even taller than the medic. He had to be close to seven feet tall because the top of his head barely slipped under the top of the door frame. He wore a tight fitting, short sleeve, black shirt that showed off every muscle of his chest and arms. Matching black pants stretched across his thick thighs down to a pair of shiny black knee-high boots. His hair was cut in the same manner as the medic’s but was a rich dark brown instead of blond. On his face he wore a five o’clock shade that perfectly matched his hair. It was his eyes that left her speechless as he
approached the side of her bed. Violet eyes with flecks of white surrounded a black pupil while long, black lashes lined each eye on top and bottom. His slightly pinkish lips were set in a firm grimace as he stared at her sitting there in nothing more than a hospital gown.

“Commander Etor, this is Maggie,” Jonik did the introductions.

What was she supposed to say? Hello? Nice to meet you? She was at a loss. What does someone say when they wake up from an extended sleep only to find they didn’t end up in the place they were supposed to be?

“Your name is Maggie?” His deep voice vibrated through her, making her toes tingle.

“Yes. I’m Maggie. Maggie Wentworth.” She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. The man was absolutely beautiful. She could tell by his actions that she wasn’t the only one being affected with his presence. His shoulders rose as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I am Commander Etor of the Arabis. My ship came across you damaged transport a few days ago.
”

“Damaged? How was the ship damaged?” she asked.

He stood to the side of her with his legs spread about a foot apart and his arms folded over his massively developed chest. “Your ship apparently went through an asteroid field several months ago according to the transport’s records. The tail end of the ship had been struck by a sizeable asteroid. The ship lost most of its power expect for the first quarter of the ship, which is where you were found.”

The news he was telling her caused a foreboding feeling to wash over her. She sensed just by his tenseness that the rest of the news he had to tell her was not going to be good. Nervously she chewed on her bottom lip as she waited for him to finish.

“What…what does that mean?”

“It means that most of the women on board that transport died in their sleep.” His jawed clenched as he forced the words out.

Her ears started to ring. There was no way all those women were dead!
What about Kelly? Oh God, was Kelly dead too?
Little pinpoints of bright light flashed before her eyes as his words sunk in.

“My friend…my friend Kelly was on that ship. Is she….is she dead?” Tears spilled out over the lower lids of her eyes. She didn’t even bother to wipe them away as they left a trail as they slid down her cheeks.

Jonik spoke up first. “There are three other women that the Commander and his team were able to rescue, but sadly, everyone else on board passed away a longtime ago.”

“Do you know the names of the other women?” She had to find out if Kelly was gone.

“Let’s see,” Jonik said as he tapped on a tablet he picked up off the cabinet. “There is Lexie Stark, Kelly Porter, and Hunter Bentley. Is that your friend?”

A sob escaped her lips before she could stop it. Kelly was still alive! “Yes! That’s her. Is she okay?”

“She is in another room but doing fine. She woke up yesterday and is progressing nicely. Lexie and Hunter have already been moved to private quarters.” Jonik put the tablet on the cabinet.

Etor grunted when Jonik spoke about the other two women. “Do you remember where your ship was headed before you were put into stasis?”

She had to think back.
What was the name of that damn planet the captain said they were going to?
“Umm…Lepher…Lepus…”

“Lephus?” Etor said abruptly.

“That’s it!” She smiled up at him when he pronounced the planet’s name.

“By the gods and goddesses, Etor!” Jonik interjected.

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Etor’s face turned red with anger and his voice rose. “Did they bother to inform you of what you faced once the transport arrived on Lephus?”

She shook her head. “No, not really. It’s just a relocation
plan. Earth’s air was badly damaged over the last hundred years or so. The government was giving residents the opportunity to relocate to a less populated planet, but we weren’t told the name of the planet until we were on board. Why?”

Etor ran a hand through his wavy hair. “The Lephusans are nothing more than breedin
g machines! They are a plague of the universe!” He paced the room as he shouted. “You would have faced a life of being a breeder as one after the other Lephusans started mounting you in order to breed you.”

She instantly felt nauseous. He had to be lying. There was no way her government would send women to a planet where they would be mistreated. “That can’t be possible.”

He rounded on her so quickly it scared her. “It is possible and you would have been nothing more than a whore to them! Did you really want to leave so badly that you agreed to be a whore for them?”

His bitter words were like a slap in the face. Why was he getting so mad at her? She had no idea what was supposed to occur. “I had no idea and don’t call me a whore! Got it? Now get out!” Her defense against his comment left her exhausted. “Get out!” She slumped back into the bed and closed her eyes.

“It would be best if you leave, Commander,” Jonik said as he guided his friend out of the room.

“I will be back,” Etor threw over his shoulder as he left
the room.

What the hell just happened? One minute they were having a normal conversation then the next he was basically attacking her and calling her name
s. She had had enough of being scared of Mark, so she wasn’t about to let this overgrown man intimidate her and accuse her of things.

For now though, she needed to sleep. The energy she used to shout back was gone and left her feeling like a wet a noodle. If and when he came back she would put him in his place and let him know she wasn’t going to tolerate being talked down to.