The men prodded him toward the far aisle. Herounded a tight corner and stopped. Two red-haired women leanedtogether, heads almost bumping. One wore her hair in a long braidand the other had hers pinned up in a wild swirl of hair. Theyspoke in soft tones. Litya and the sister…. What was the name?Metya.
One of Basilard’s guards cleared his throat.The women turned in unison. They were twins, identical except for afew freckles and an old half-moon scar on one’s temple. He pickedLitya out as the woman without the marking.
As one, their eyes shifted up and down,studying Basilard. Under other circumstances, he might have flushedwith embarrassment-he was naked, after all-but there was nosexual interest in their perusal. He struggled to keep fromsquirming under their scrutiny.
The aisle behind them held more beds,occupied by nude men and women. Most were propped upright againstthe wall, the people held tight by leather straps, but the bedbehind the twins lay in the horizontal position with a muscular manon it, not strapped like the others but chained, the links sosecure that he could do no more than lift a hand or twitch a toe,though he did neither while Basilard watched. Cords snaked from amachine to coin-sized, spider-like devices with the tips of the“ legs” digging beneath the skin on the man’s naked chest.Translucent tubing ran from a pulsing green globe, and a viscousfluid of the same color flowed through it and into a needle in hisarm. Not just his arm. His vein.
“Put him on that table.” Metya pointed to anempty one behind her. “I have the pok-tah solution ready.”She stepped to the side, so the guards could shove Basilard past.“Once we hook him up, he won’t-”
Basilard sucked in a startled breath when theview opened up and he saw the face of the man on the table. Heshould have guessed. Sicarius.
His eyes were open. That surprised Basilardagain-he would have assumed, even with the restraints, someonewould keep Sicarius unconscious if they dared to detain him. Whenthose dark eyes swiveled toward Basilard, though, they were glazedand dull. No sign of recognition glinted in them.
The guard shoved Basilard, trying to forcehim around the end of Sicarius’s table and toward the vertical onea few feet away. He balked and groped for a way to communicate.
“Wait.” Litya pointed the pen at Basilard.“Do you know him?” She shifted the pen and tapped Sicarius on abare toe.
Basilard choked on her audacity. He didn’tthink even Amaranthe would poke Sicarius’s toe, and hetolerated more from her than anyone else.
“Well?” Litya demanded. She grabbed aclipboard from a wall where it dangled on a string, a penattached.
Basilard did not know whether admitting heknew Sicarius would help him or hinder him. He just knew he wouldhave to make his escape attempt soon-if these people strapped himdown and drugged him, he might never wake again.
Basilard lifted his fingers and signed,Can you understand me?
“Why does it matter?” Metya asked. She stoodnear the second bed, tapping buttons beneath a dark orb identicalto the green one at Sicarius’s station.
“Aside from this one-” Litya waved her pen atBasilard again, “-the assassin is the only one here whose lineagewe haven’t been able to discover. He proved resistant to the truthelixir, and he’s the one I’m most curious about.”
“It’s not crucial,” Metya said.
“No, but the information could prove usefulfor our studies. He’s already what our clients wish us tocreate.”
Basilard lifted his eyebrows. Assassins?Gifted warriors? Superior athletes?
Metya sniffed. “I’m sure we can makeimprovements.”
Litya gave her sister a slit-eyed glare andshuffled a blank page to the top of her clipboard. She held it outto Basilard. “Can you write? I can read Turgonian, Kendorian,Kyattese, and Nurian.”
Which of those was her native tongue? He tookthe implements and wrote, I know him. What’s in it for me if Ican extract the information?
When he handed Litya the notepad, the othersister came over as well. Not a foot from Basilard, they bent theirheads together to read his message.
If he could grab one, spin her about, and useher as a shield against the guards’ firearms, maybe he could barterfor his freedom.
Before the thought had finished, a coolpistol muzzle pressed against the back of his neck. He sighed. Hewould have to find a better moment, one when the guards were lessattentive.
“Help us,” Litya said, “and we’ll let youwalk out of here when we’re done collecting specimens.”
Purpose of specimens?
“Nothing you’d understand,” Metya said.
“Stay focused,” Litya said. “Are you willingto cooperate for your life, or not?”
All these other people will die?
Metya shrugged.
“Not by our hands,” Litya said, “but ourcolleagues have more invasive experiments. Some of them preferfresh cadavers. However, you were something of a bonus. We’dalready collected our handful of chosen men and women.” She laid ahand on Sicarius’s bare leg and smiled.
Basilard shifted, uncomfortable with theentire situation and not certain how to read her. He had never hadmuch of a knack for perceiving when women were telling the truth,but going along would prolong his stay amongst the upright andun-drugged.
What about him? Basilard nodded toSicarius, then wrote, Will you let him go as well?
He wasn’t sure why he asked it. If Sicariusmet his death here, at the hands of these scientists, that would bea way to see the Mangdorian royal family avenged. It seemedcowardly to shy away from doing it himself, but if God had otherplans, why should Basilard interrupt?
“Well…” Litya started.
“No,” Metya said, throwing her sister a sharplook. “Why do you think we were trying to get him to show up at thestadium where we could snatch him? This is a long-term project, andthe bounty on his head will fund the latter half of our work. It’sfar more than we’re getting from our clients.”
“I wanted him for research,” Lityamuttered.
The speculative gaze she cast Sicarius madeBasilard wonder if this one had more than science in mind.
He wrote, Research for what?
“The main goal of our research is to-”
“Litya,” a male voice said from the corridor.Footsteps thudded, and Taloncrest appeared at the head of theaisle. “I know you’re a newcomer to our land, but here in Turgoniawe don’t explain ourselves to our captives.”
The guards shuffled aside to let Taloncrestthrough, and Basilard took note of the pistols no longer pointeddirectly at him. Unfortunately, people fenced him in on eitherside, so his odds of getting by were poor. Besides, where would hego? He had yet to glimpse a door to an upper deck on this ship oreven a porthole so he could see what lay outside. Footsteps soundedas other people walked in and out of the laboratory, and hesuspected there were far more people on board than he had seen.
“We’re not interested in adopting Turgoniantactics,” Metya said. “Your people aren’t known for theirnegotiating skills or anything else that doesn’t involvebloodshed.”
Taloncrest leaned against one of the tanks,apparently intending to watch. Though he carried no weapons beyonda utility knife at his belt, he towered over the women. Sensingthey would be less forthcoming with Taloncrest there, Basilardpointed at Sicarius and indicated he was ready to start.
Can you lessen his stupor? He doesn’trecognize me. I won’t be able to get answers from him.
“I wouldn’t,” Taloncrest said, the first torespond to Basilard’s scribbles. “You girls aren’t from the empire,so you may not be that familiar with his reputation, but he’sdangerous. That you got him at all was…”
“Impressive?” Litya suggested.