Amy Thomson - Through Alien Eyes

She lay quietly for a few moments, trying to recall every detail of the kidnapping, playing it out slowly, all the way up through the needle and her blackout. Her eyes squeezed shut in pain as she remembered John Savage lying on the ground. She should have agreed to additional security measures.

But would it have helped? Their kidnappers had been frighteningly well-organized. Perhaps even more people would have been killed. Juna shook her head and stood up slowly, still a little logy from the drugs. Where was Moki? What had they done to him? She started pounding on the door, yelling to be let out.

After what seemed like half an hour of pounding and shouting, Juna heard the rattle of keys in the door. She stood back, sudden fear clutching her throat. The door swung open, revealing three guards, two with drawn guns trained on her.

“Where’s Moki? I want to see my son!” she demanded.

One of the guards slapped her so hard that she nearly fell. Then he pushed her down onto the bed. Juna’s fear turned to terror. She had been raped in the camps. She would die before she let it happen again. She lifted her feet, ready to fight him off, but the guard had already stepped back.

“You’ll see him when we’re ready for you to see him,” he told her. Then he turned and left the cell. The door clanged shut behind him.

Juna shut her eyes and waited while her breathing slowed and her heart stopped hammering. Mind games, she told herself. They’re playing mind games. I can’t let it get to me. She used the bucket in the corner, then sat cross-legged on the thin foam mattress, closed her eyes, and lost herself in meditation.

[[The blurry light that shone through the window had

— ept down the wall and halfway across the floor before

Tie keys rattled in the door again. Juna opened her eyes.

Her mouth was dry, and her stomach was aching and empty.

The guard set a tray on the floor. There was a plate of -‹eans and rice and a plastic cup of water.]]

“Eat that, and then we will take you to the alien,” the [[z_ard]] told her. He was a different guard than before, younger and a little more polite.

He stood, watching her as she ate and drank. The water ttsted sweet and pure. It was cold enough that a sweat of condensation beaded the sides of the cup. She had half-ffinshed the beans and rice before it occurred to her to wonder whether they were drugged. She set her fork down and looked up.

“I am done,” she said.

“It may be a long time until there is more,” the guard [[onboned]].

She looked away. “I have been hungry before.”

The guard shrugged and picked up the plate. “As you wufa, senhora,” he said. “We will now take you to see the [[

“My son,” Juna corrected him. “Moki is my son.”

The guard motioned for her to get up. “Come.”

The corridor outside her cell was wide and floored with duraplast tile. It looked institutional, as though this had once been a small clinic or hospital. Behind one of the doors Juna heard a woman weeping. They stopped m cell across the hall and down several doors from her

The door opened. Moki was cowering in a corner, mattress half-pulled over him, bright orange with fear.]]

Juna crossed the cell and squatted beside him. “Moki, it’s me.” He did not move. “Bai, please, wake up.” He stirred grudgingly. “Link with me, bai,” she pleaded. “I need you.”

Slowly, painfully, Moki uncurled. He sat up and reached out to her.

“Stop. What are you doing?” the guard asked. Gently Juna rested a reassuring hand on Mold’s arm. “He’s in shock. He needs to link with me.”

“I can’t let you do that, senhora.”

“If you wanted us dead,” Juna said firmly, “you could have shot us at the train station, so I assume you want us alive. If you want Moki to live, you must let him link with me.”

“A moment, senhora. I must c6nsult with my superior.” He left. A moment later, another guard, this one a woman, joined the other two watching at the door.

About ten minutes later, the first guard returned accompanied by his sergeant.

“I understand that there is something the matter with the alien.”

“Moki. Yes,” Juna said. “He’s in shock. I need to link with him to bring him out of it. If I do not do this, he will die.”

“I have heard of this thing. Explain what you will do.”

Juna explained what linking entailed. He thought it over for a moment, then nodded. “Go ahead. We will be watching you. If you make any attempt to escape, then you will be shot. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Juna husked grudgingly from a throat that was dry with fear. “I understand. Moki, do you understand?”

Moki nodded.

“Good. We are ready.”

Juna took Moki’s arms and they plunged into the link. Moki’s terror surrounded her, tart and urgent. She breathed deeply and slowly, creating calm within herself, and enfolding Moki in it. Slowly his terror ebbed, and he was able to respond more fully. Gradually she built up a sense of hopefulness within herself, and fed that to Moki, giving him something to grasp and hold when they were apart. They rested for a moment in a tentative, hopeful peace. Then Juna slid out of the link and opened her eyes.

She sat up very slowly, taking a deep breath. Moki’s :olor was a neutral pale green tinged faintly with blue.

“Thank you,” she said to the guards. “Moki feels bet-ier now. We will need food and water.”

Moki opened his eyes. His skin flared orange momen-arily, then settled down to a dark, reassuring blue. He was “[[— • ing]] to be brave. Juna smiled at him and gently squeezed his hand.

“You must come with us now, senhora,” her guard said.

Juna nodded. “It would be helpful if we could link every uy. Unless we do, Moki will become hysterical and [[fear-~.il]]. He’s still very much a child.”

Moki, recognizing the cue, grabbed Juna’s hand as she [[^cood]]. “Please, siti, don’t go!”

“Shhh, Moki. I have to. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Will you be brave for me until then?”

Moki cast a fearful glance at the guards. “I— I’ll try. When jre we going to go home?”

“I don’t know, Moki,” Juna told him. “We’ll have to be :rave for now. Maybe later they’ll let us go, and we can [[*ee]] Mariam, and Netta, and Isukki again.” She felt her own : rntrol begin to fail at the thought of her family.

“You must be very proud of yourselves, kidnapping an nnocent child,” she said, standing up.

“Senhora, that innocent child killed one of our best [[■en]],” the sergeant told her.

Moki’s eyes widened in dismay, his skin clouding over [[-ah]] grey. “I’m sorry. He surprised me. If I’d known what is happening, I would have just put him to sleep.”

“Moki reacted instinctively,” Juna explained. “His stinging reflex used to stop predators. He would not do it on purpose.”

“I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry,” Moki repeated.

The guard just shrugged, and held out his hand. “You—just come now, senhora.”

She turned and looked at Moki. “I will see you as soon as I can, bai.”

“Be brave” appeared on his chest in skin speech. Juna wasn’t sure whether he was telling her to be brave or reassuring himself.

“If you try to escape, or harm any of my men, we will hurt your”—the sergeant paused as if saying the word was distasteful—“mother. Do you understand that?”

“Yes,” Moki said, his skin flaring orange and red with fear and anger. He glanced at Juna. “I will be very careful,” he said in skin speech.

The sergeant took Juna’s elbow and led her out of the cell, followed by the two guards at the door. Instead of turning left, toward her. cell, they turned right.