Chapter 4 – Vidar
FOUR
VIDAR
My people call it “the sleep” even if it’s more like conscious paralysis.
I could hear everything that happened as I lay back on the table where Minnie strapped me, and when John Billings thrust the door open.
My metabolism had only slowed down to the essentials while my mind remained fully awake.
Based on her colleague John’s reaction, the human male hadn’t picked up on what happened under his very nose.
On my ship, I might have synthesized the antidote to counteract “the sleep”, but on this primitive planet, I was left victim to my own biology.
John chided Minerva for the state of the lab and she nervously responded to him with a plausible excuse for it.
For a human, she was quick on her feet and John left her alone after ten minutes.
She approached the table where I lay strapped in and captive.
Poor Minerva jostled my arm in an attempt to wake me.
Perhaps I should have explained “the sleep” better, but I’d lost myself in desire for her.
I’d never met a female who could have quite that effect on me and stimulate the obsession that stirred within me.
It wasn’t just how tiny she was in comparison to my giant warrior’s body.
She was different from any female I’d met — alien or Polluxian.
While she saw herself as ordinary, I saw her as anything but.
“Vidar,” she hissed, “Vidar, you have to wake up! Vidar!”
Alas, I couldn’t respond to her, even if I wanted to. Perhaps I should have explained what would happen except not even I knew it would until I saw the opportunity in front of me — a beautiful female, pent up energy that my species is required to release, and little other chance to release it.
It’s unusually for Polluxians to mate outside of their species but to my delight, humans were beyond compatible — and far less aggressive than our females, a trait I found myself enjoying as I watched Minnie’s face twist and contort in pleasure.
She pressed a cold metal sensor to my chest. Due to my paralysis, I could not even recoil from the discomfort. She pressed another sensor to my forehead.
“Are you sleeping?” She hissed.
“Wake up! I don’t know what I’m supposed to do…”
She puttered around the lab for a while, muttering to herself sometimes and then continuing the tasks she’d been assigned. Her boss Dr. Trout returned.
“Minerva, the lab looks fantastic. What about the creature. Has he awakened?”
“No,” Minnie answered sheepishly.
“He needs to be awakened so that the soldiers can escort him back to the holding cell.”
“I’ve tried,” she squeaked, “But he just won’t wake up.”
“Is he dead?”
“No sir. I struggled to find his hearts but… I think he’s alive.”
Dr. Trout grabbed her instrument and approached me again.
I could smell the vile man as he drew closer.
Instinctively, I reviled him. It wasn’t just because he was my captor, but because he was the only one in the lab with a cold determination to see me as non-sentient.
The others were at least affected by their torture. Dr. Trout was not.
“His hearts are still beating alright. I’ll have the men carry him.”
“How!?”
“We’ll need three of our best. He’s at least 300 lbs of solid muscle. Are you sure this isn’t some ploy for him to get out of his shackles?”
Minerva kept her voice calm and steady as she reassured Dr. Trout that was impossible.
“Don’t you think if he could get out he would have already?” She suggested.
“I suppose you have a point, Dr. Hsu. I’ll get the soldiers and we’ll see you at the department meeting later. Got it?”
“Yes, Dr. Trout.”
Minerva bustled off and Dr. Trout remained in the room with me.
He was quiet as he worked. He kept his hands off of me and mostly studied data on his primitive machines.
I waited for far too long before the soldiers came.
They struggled to lift me, but at least they were careful.
With my eyes closed, I could still “see” the data from my implant filtering in.
The soldiers, with all their guns and armor, were more terrified than the scientists.
They replaced me in my original prison and whilst in “the sleep”, I processed all the data my ocular implant collected. I replayed the moments I’d touched Minerva over and over again. I couldn’t wait to break free from my sleep. By the time I woke up properly, two earth days would have passed.
The first day went slowly. Dr. Trout ordered Minerva and Dr. Billings to continue their experiments.
While I couldn’t cry out in pain or move in response, the experiments were twice as painful as the first ones.
After they were finished, the men left Minerva to clean up.
Even in my deep sleep, I detected the reason they asked her to remain behind and clean their messes was due to her gender.
Such differences were eliminated thousands of years ago on Pollux, before the advent of the AI War that nearly wiped us out.
And even afterward, women enjoyed fair and equal status on our planet.
These creatures didn’t seem to realize their primitive social structure restrained their science.
I’d include it all in my report when I could.
Once Minerva was alone, she dressed my wounds. Our medical technology would have healed me instantly, but she stitched my cuts, spread ointment on my burns and injected me with painkillers.
“I’m sorry,” Minerva whispered, “I can’t figure out why you’re in a coma. We’re going to do a brain scan tomorrow to figure it out. I feel like it’s my fault…”
Before she could whisper anymore, the lab door opened.
“Minerva, Dr. Trout wants to see you.”
“Alright. I’m on my way.”
She left me alone again and once more, the soldiers returned me to my cell.
That night, I had little data to analyze and little desire to sift through the memories held on my neural implant.
I could picture Minerva’s face, but it didn’t do me any good when what I wanted was beyond a picture. I wanted to hold her… to touch her…
Even if she were a different species, even if chance brought us together, I craved her touch. From the moment I saw her and recognized the stillness within her human body, I’d been entranced. Polluxian males rarely go through what I was going through.
The next morning finally came. I lay still, waiting, as usual, to be taken to my torture chamber. The soldiers brought me to the table and strapped me down. I heard Dr. Trout’s footsteps coming closer, but not Minerva’s. She was late.
Another doctor entered the lab.
“Where’s Minerva?” Dr. Trout growled.
“She just called. She’s running late. John couldn’t give her a ride today and she’s struggling to get out of the city.”
“When she gets here you tell her to get her ass down here.”
“Yes, Dr. Trout.”
“I don’t know where that insolent woman thinks she can get away with something like that,” he growled.
The other doctor sounded apologetic as he explained, “I think she and John had a bit of a falling out, Dr. Trout.”
Dr. Trout scoffed, “A falling out? Over what?”
“He asked her out. She said no.”
“Hm. This is no place for office gossip.”
“Yes, sir. I know. It’s just… the hours have been getting to all of us.”
“Do you know why she turned him down?”
“John called last night after the whole thing. He thinks there was someone else.”
“I see,” Dr. Trout replied, sounding pleased, “Well there’s no need to gossip. Run along. I’ll talk to Minerva when she gets in. She knows how you scientists get. It’s up to her to stop tempting the men in this office.”
“Yes, Dr. Trout.”
The new data I collected from my implant sent a pang of worry surging through me.
Dr. Trout wasn’t angry at the news of Minerva’s lateness, nor about John’s ill-fated attempt to court her.
He experienced a troubling response. I struggled against my paralysis to lift my arms. I would be shaking out of my paralysis soon, but I couldn’t rush it.
Minerva eventually showed up. My ocular implant revealed troubling information about Dr. Trout’s reaction as she entered the room.
I’d never put much weight on the older doctor’s physiological responses.
He was typically calm, and cold, with readings far less interesting than the other physicians.
When it came to Minerva, the rise in his neurotransmitter levels yoked my attention.
She aroused him.
“Minerva,” Dr. Trout began gruffly, “I want an explanation as to why you’re late.”
“Sorry. My ride with John fell through.”
“I heard about that.”
“You did?”
She was nervous and frazzled. I strained to break free from my binds, to pry myself off the table and remove Dr. Trout with all his lascivious intentions away from her. I wondered if she could see what he was feeling even without an ocular implant of her own. He was dangerous to her.
“Yes. Now we need to talk about dress code in the office and how some of your choices may have led to John’s misunderstanding.”
“I’m wearing clothes that are within dress code.”
“Don’t you think that dress is awfully low cut? I can see your… you know, your breasts.”
“Dr. Trout!” Minerva gasped.
“I’m sorry, Minerva, but it’s hard for the gentlemen in this office to focus with your perky little breasts bouncing around in that shirt.”
“It’s a button down! It’s very work appropriate.”
I could sense her shame and her frustration, rising to the surface all at once. He was taunting her, attempting to force her into a corner. She was vulnerable…
“Well, Minerva, that isn’t the only thing,” Dr. Trout continued smugly.
“Dr. Trout, I’d prefer if you referred to me as Dr. Hsu,” she replied, getting testier as her blood pressure rose along with her heart rate.
“Dr. Hsu, your shirt isn’t the only thing inappropriate around here. What about your trousers?”
“What’s wrong with my trousers?”
“They are very tight around your round peachy bottom.”
I heard him smack his lips in delight.
“Dr. Trout! This is really inappropriate. If I’m not allowed to wear a button-down and trousers, what am I permitted to wear?”
“Dr. Hsu, it sounds like you’re making excuses and like you’re unwilling to accept responsibility for your clothing. I understand working in an office with men it can be nice to get male attention for your perky breasts and your young tight bottom.”
“Dr. Trout, I’d like to change the subject. I know I’m late but can we get to work? I’ll show up in something more appropriate tomorrow.”
“Dr. Hsu, I’m your supervisor. You won’t be able to get away with this insolence for long. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Dr. Trout.”
She sounded meek and sheepish, but I could tell that was only to shut him up for the time being. She was frightened. I attempted to move my arm again, but it was futile.
“I’m going to prep the MRI. Prepare the subject for the soldiers,” Dr. Trout ordered.
He exited the room and left alone with me, Minerva rushed to my side and touched my arm, stifling a sob.
“Vidar,” she whispered, “Why won’t you wake up?
What’s wrong with you? I need you right now.
I’m scared. Dr. Trout… I think he’s taking advantage of the fact that I can’t tell anyone about this research.
Please, if you can hear me, wake up. Please…
help me. I don’t want to be alone in a room with that guy for an hour. ”
She kissed my cheek and as much as I wanted to wake up and pull her on top of me, hold her in my arms and promise that I’d do everything to protect her, I was powerless.
The soldiers grabbed me and lay me on a large table.
I could hear the hum of the magnet as they strapped me to another bed and slid my rigid sleeping body another primitive machine.
I’d seen ancient machines like this one on Pollux.
I only wished I could catch a glimpse of it.
My ocular implant could only share the basics of the machine — it worked by magnetic resonance and used more power than most of the machines in the lab.
Minerva and her boss re-entered and they stripped me down to only my briefs before pushing a button and thrusting me beneath the large domed magnet. Thankfully my implant was biological in nature and not metal like the primitive implants on my planet from centuries ago.
I heard them walking into the other room.
“Are you ready to do the scans?”
“Yes, Dr. Trout.”
“Good. Now Minerva…”
He lowered his voice and then I heard her scream.
“Dr. Trout!”
“I warned you, your clothing is too much of a temptation!”
“That doesn’t give you a right to grab my ass!”
“Grab your ass? I have three PhDs from Yale, Cornell, and Harvard, yet you think I grabbed your ass?!”
“You did! You touched my ass and I swear if you do it again, you’ll regret it,” Minerva yelled.
“Are you threatening me you insolent little… you little…”
“Say it!” She challenged, “Say it and let me report you!”
“You insolent little whore!”
“Now the cat’s out of the bag, isn’t it?” Minerva hissed.
“You think you can walk around with your perky breasts and your ass and get away with anything! We would have never allowed a woman like you onto the premises if it weren’t for your father.”
“Right, because I suppose my father got my PhD from UVA and my second PhD from Columbia?”
“You don’t deserve to be in this office if you refuse to learn your place,” Dr. Trout grasped.
“If my place is getting my ass groped by a creepy old man like you, then I’ll be content to never know my place.”
“Why you little…”
“AHHHH!” Minerva screamed, “Let go of me! Let go!”
“No one can hear you Minerva. We’re a mile beneath the city and no one will be able to hear you,” Dr. Trout growled.
“STOP IT! STOP IT! LET GO OF ME!”
I heard fabric ripping. She screamed again.