( Read the previous episodes of Journey to Centauri.) |
Journey to Centauri : Episode 20, part 2 "You admire your leader?"Security Officer Anakkala, Yang's guard and the target of his question, clenched her jaw and kept her eyes focused forward. Yang read every part of her...the tension in her shoulders, the twitching of the finger on her shredder pistol, the slight gripping of her toes into the floor. He flexed his wrists in the restraints Santiago’s people had put on him. Anakkala jerked her head at the movement. Yang watched her…her tension was palpable. Perhaps Santiago had warned her people too strongly against him. His reputation had now become a weapon. He raked his eyes across his guard. "I am very thirsty." He lowered his eyes and let his shoulders slump in a posture of defeat. His eyes glazed over suddenly and his mouth fell open. Anakkala watched him with the disgust of the strong for the weak. "What's the matter with you?" she rasped through a tight throat. He shook himself and looked up at her. "Defeat," he said. "I am in your control, and you are in Santiago's control, and the ship is in the control of forces we can not influence." As he spoke one of his eyes began to cross, slowly, and she watched it with fascination. "On Earth I had my destiny in my grasp, as you did, and you and I had a chance to change our fates. We chose this ship, and its promise." "I am not to speak to you." Anakkala said stiffly, shaking herself away from his gaze. She began to pace. He continued to talk, his words becoming a steady drone. "Such faith you have in Santiago, who is my subordinate." She turned to watch him again. Again his eye began to move, and she stared at it with fascination, watched it as if following a moon across a night sky. "She captivates you, so great is her charisma. You look at her and are filled with admiration, feel your own will slipping away." Anakkala’s breathing slowed. A flush came to her face and her eyes became wide, deep, blue. Her hands began to loosen, the tension draining from her shoulders. "You wake and think of her eyes. You sleep...you sleep and believe..." Now he trailed off, but she remained as still as a waxen statue, watching him, watching everything about him. "You believe she can keep me here, but perhaps she cannot." He lifted his hands and they parted easily, the shackles falling away. Anakkala gasped and half-lifted her weapon, but her eyes remained wide, transfixed, her motions dreamlike. "Watch the face of your enemy." He reached up and brushed his hand across his own face, then moved forward and brushed his hand across hers. "This is the face of your enemy." He stroked her face again, caressing her, his voice a whisper. "This is the enemy you seek." One more time. "Now I will leave." He turned and walked away. "Stop!" she cried, through lips thick and numb. She lifted her weapon, turned it on him, on her enemy, on the enemy she was... She felt her hands shaking as he turned back, his face impassive. The face...she turned her weapon, felt her wrist shaking as it turned back towards...her own face... There was a burst, short and sharp. Yang watched impassively as Anakkala fired, transforming her face into a swirling mist of blood and tissue. He shuddered once, remembering the beauty in her deep blue eyes. He stooped to her form and lifted the keycard from her belt. In spite of the illusions he had created for her, his hands were still bound, and he needed to get free. Now he had a means to escape, and a weapon to assist him. He looked at her again, and felt a strange sadness wash over him.
Next episode will be posted Monday, October 12. Note to story followers: What was your favorite episode/incident(s)?
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