Season of Strangers Read Online Free PDF Page B

from a variety of different backgrounds. Neither race nor gender seemed to be a factor in the degree of resistance, which could result in the subject’s mental incapacitation or death.
    More questions appeared on the screen, one in regard to the proceedings.
    Yes, he replied, the tests have been stopped. We don’t want to lose another subject.
    He turned to the short lab technician and ordered him to finalize the tests on the younger sibling, to complete the external examination of the older, and return them both to the point of origin.
    The screen on the console began to flash another communication, countering his orders. You must proceed, Commander. We must discover the cause of the older sibling’s reaction. We cannot afford to let her go.
    He had known his superiors would want to continue, no matter how dangerous it was. Probing the outer boundaries of scientific knowledge was the first directive of their mission, one of the reasons others had come here before. It was an accepted fact that furthering that knowledge inevitably demanded a percentage of casualties.
    But Val wasn’t prepared to lose the woman, or any more subjects in the future.
    He turned back to the screen. There is another, better way. We have the technology. Why should we not proceed?
    The symbols flashed in rapid succession. Such an undertaking would be dangerous. Who would take the risk?
    He logged in the reply he had thought long and hard about. I have been working on this project for years. I am the logical choice.
    The Ansor cannot afford to lose its most valuable research officer.
    All men are expendable in the name of science. It was a basic tenet of their work.
    The screen went blank. He waited with less patience than he usually displayed and even a hint of anxiety.
    The recommendation will be made to the council at our next session.
    Relief filtered through him. He didn’t want to see the woman die, and ever since his arrival three years ago, he had hoped for a chance like this. I am grateful for your assistance.
    A long line of symbols appeared. I hope you will still be grateful once you are confined in such an uncivilized environment.

Four
    P ain. Excruciating pain. Julie felt the throbbing, pulsing ache well up from the deepest part of her brain.
    The slatted wooden blinds over the bedroom windows were closed, yet tiny cracks of light seeped in, stabbing like white hot rays behind her eyes. The hot, damp skin across her forehead felt stretched and swollen as if it might burst. Her lips were dry. She moistened them with her tongue. Nausea threatened, a reaction to the incredible pain in her head.
    Julie rolled to her side, her small hands fisting the pillow, her teeth biting into her lower lip. It wouldn’t last much longer. It never did. No more than a couple of hours. The brief duration made them bearable, and the fact she had never had them until these past few weeks.
    Perhaps it was some sort of virus, an illness that was fleeting. She could stand the pain, if only she knew the cause.
    Knew for certain the headaches wouldn’t get worse.
    A second hour passed. Her body lay on the sheet bathed in perspiration, but the pain had begun to recede. She felt limp and drained. It was nine o’clock in the morning. She was late for work, had already missed the weekly office meeting. She wished she could just stay in bed, but headache or no, she had to go in. There was too much to do, too many clients who depended on her.
    Another fifteen minutes and the last of the vicious migraine—the worst she’d suffered so far—had ebbed away. Julie gripped the pine headboard, used it as a lever to swing her legs to the floor and ease herself up off the bed. As she passed the mirror over her dresser, she paused, took in the dishevelment of her hair, and the pallor of her face that made the freckles stand out across the bridge of her nose. She headed into the bathroom, turned on the shower and stepped in before the water