Thank you for
stopping by and joining us for our stop on the Read-A-Long portion of
The
Empire by Elizabeth Lang virtual tour. We are excited to post this segment of
the story and we hope you enjoy it too!
The
Empire - Chapter 2
Captain
Tarn turned off his screen and looked up as two Security personnel brought
Adrian Stannis into his office. They shoved the shackled man into the room and
stood on either side, like two walls of muscle ready to fall on him at a
moment’s notice.
The
First Officer stood by his desk with an insufferable smugness on his face. His
tongue passing across his lips like a hungry shark anticipating a long awaited
meal. Tarn hated this man as much as the rest of the crew did, but he was
careful to keep a neutral face.
The
restraints were an unnecessary precaution. Stannis was hardly dangerous and
there was no place for him to hide on the small ship. Of course, it wasn’t
necessity or even security that motivated Sub-Commander Barker.
“You
can go.” Tarn waved his hand dismissively. “I will handle this.”
The
bound man stood impassively, his posture stiffly correct. There was no fear or
concern, no insolence or anger, only eyes that stared blankly in front of him.
He could easily be mistaken for a statue, if he hadn’t needed to breathe.
“Are
you sure, sir? He’s a tough one,” said Barker.
Tarn
fixed his First Officer with an icy stare and his voice had the effect of a
sharp blade being unsheathed. “Are you saying I need you
to handle my own officers, Barker?” Tarn might be the Captain of
an insignificant science ship, but he was, without a doubt, the master of this
vessel.
For
a few moments, the First Officer stared back unflinchingly, before saying with
exaggerated formality, “Of course not, sir.
You’re the Captain. I would never suggest otherwise.”
“I
hope not. For your sake. Now leave us.”
Barker
looked with undisguised regret at Adrian, his thick eyebrows furrowing. “As you
wish, Captain.” The First Officer sneered at Adrian. “I’ll be waiting outside.”
After
the unwelcome contingent left, Tarn regarded the silent man with interest.
“Stannis.”
The
inanimate object unfroze, taking on the semblance of life, and his voice was as
formal as his posture. “Sir.”
Tarn
flicked on his monitor screen and recalled the command dispatch ordering
Stannis to report to the Trykor.
“What am I going to do with you?”
“My
answer has not changed.”
The
shackles looked painfully tight and harshly metallic against the pale flesh.
The
Captain sighed heavily. “You’re a stubborn man, Stannis. You always have been.
And a constant pain in my side. But even more of one for our First Officer.” It
was one thing he had always appreciated about Adrian, even admire a little. The
man did not suffer fools gladly and he was not afraid to say so.
“The
man’s a fool.”
Tarn
glanced at the closed door through which the ‘fool’ had just left. “Yes, but
he’s a fool with power, and those are the most dangerous kind.
You
need to be more diplomatic, and careful.”
“I
have no interest in humoring bullies.”
“Unfortunately,
this one has a great deal of interest in you.”
Adrian
had been staring ahead without expression but now he looked at Tarn. “Is there
anything you can do about the orders?”
Tarn
shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any power in this.”
“You
owe me.”
“I
know.” Tarn grimaced as if each word was a slap. “If I could help you, I would,
but my hands are tied. The Fleet Admiral wants you. I don’t dare defy him.”
Adrian
leveled a long, fixed glare at him but didn’t say anything.
The
target of that glare shifted uncomfortably, feeling suddenly naked and exposed.
“I know you saved my career. If it weren’t for you…”
They
both knew why Adrian was in trouble now. The Empire had little patience with
those who did not produce results. Being an exploration vessel assigned to a
barren area of space with almost nothing worth exploring wasn’t an acceptable
excuse. At Tarn’s request—more like a
desperate
plea—Adrian had excelled himself and produced something out of nothing, a
breakthrough in technology to increase the range of their scanners. That had
satisfied the ghouls that demanded results. At least until the next yearly
review. None of the crew knew. Adrian preferred that no one ever find out. It
would spoil his image of the self-serving loner.
“Are
you finished with me?”
Shards
of ice burrowed into Tarn’s flesh and he winced as they hit home. “Don’t say it
like that.”
“How
would you like me to say it, sir?”
“I’m
not like Barker.”
Adrian’s
throat was tight with controlled anger. “No. Barker doesn’t
hide what he is. I’d like to go now, sir.”
The
Captain hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should tell Adrian the truth
about what was happening. He owed him that much at least.
Better
to find out from him than Barker. “Fleet Admiral Verel knows what you did on
the Neutron Wave Project.”
Silence
fell like a bomb in a glass enclosure, shattering all illusions.
Adrian
started and for a brief moment, his eyes reflected uncertainty. The cuffs
clinked together as he kneaded his wrist with his right thumb.
His
voice was toneless and his eyes held the depth of an open grave.
It
made Tarn shudder and feel even worse.
Adrian
said, “They want me to finish it.”
“I’m
afraid so.” Captain Tarn could no longer meet his dark and disturbing eyes.
“And
if I refuse?”
Tarn
swallowed painfully. He did not want betrayal to become the tombstone for their
relationship. He needed to sway this brilliant but stubborn man from the
disastrous path he was setting for himself. “You know what they’re going to do.
They’ve already authorized it if you don’t cooperate.” He pressed his hands on
the table, leaning closer. “Don’t give them an excuse.”
That
was why Barker had been so smug. Fleet Admiral Verel had included orders for
the maximum retraining level and had approved Barker’s people to begin the
preliminary stages. Verel did not accept refusal from anyone and Stannis’ file
would have told him that he was too strong-willed and independent to bend to
anyone’s will. He would have Stannis’ cooperation or destroy his mind. The
thought of it made Tarn’s stomach queasy.
Adrian
was tired and his voice was lifeless. “I would like to go now, sir.”
The
die was cast. After a lifetime of struggle, he should have known that he would
never be able to escape the Empire’s control. He never had before, no matter
how hard he tried. They were far too powerful. Adrian knew they would most
likely execute him once he was done, unless they had something else for him to
do. He knew which he would prefer.
The
Captain sighed and pressed the comm button on his desk. “You can come back in
now, Barker. The prisoner is yours.”
With
a single word, Adrian’s status had changed. He no longer had the benefit of a
name; he was no longer simply an officer who needing to be disciplined. They
might give him his name back if he gave the Fleet Admiral what he wanted but
Adrian wasn’t planning to.
~~~
Kali
stared in shock at the empty cell. Her hand slapped the side of t he wall in
anguish. Having limited psi abilities with humans was proving to be extremely
frustrating.
Where
is he? What did they do with him? Could they have released him? Is he back in
his cabin? It was worth a try.
Her
hand covered a wide yawn. She wasn’t fond of the night shift. It always made
her feel as if she’d been run over by a huge transport vehicle, and after a
night of worrying, she felt drained.
Adrian.
Where are you? They were hopeful words sent out into the
uncertain darkness. I’m coming to your cabin.
Her
footsteps seemed unusually clumpish in the empty corridors as she made the
foray to the Officers Section. She’d never tried visiting Adrian’s cabin
before. It would announce a relationship he barely acknowledged to himself.
Unlike
the rest of the ship, these corridors were a darker gray with blue accents. The
golden fist emblem was the same. Adrian’s cabin was halfway down. Her hand
paused on reaching for his door panel and the announcing buzzer.
“He’s
not there,” a bass voice informed her.
Kali
instinctively snapped to attention at the voice of the Captain behind her. She
turned to face him. “Sir?”
There
was a tired-of-life look in Tarn’s eyes. “I’m sorry.” His eyes held hers
briefly, before he continued on past her.
A
sense of fear made her chase after him. “Sir, where is Adrian? I mean, Lieutenant
Stannis?”
“He’s…”
The words took a great effort, as if they grated against an open wound. “…in
the Security Section. With the therapists.”
Kali
swayed on her feet as the implication hit her. Her voice was faint and her
cheeks drained of color. “The therapists?”
“I
wouldn’t get involved, Ensign. It would be better for both of you.”
The
words froze Kali’s heart. It was as if he had dismissed Adrian from the land of
the living. She stammered, “W-what’s going to happen to him?”
The
Captain’s voice turned frigid as he distanced himself from something that was
making him ill. “That’s up to him. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
Even
after Tarn had disappeared into his cabin, Kali stood paralyzed.
~~~
“It’s
an art,” said the Adjustment Therapist conversationally. He watched as the
black-clad security personnel stripped Adrian and lifted him onto the dull
metal slab. Their movements were impersonal, as if they were preparing a
specimen for testing purposes.
The
cool air of the white-walled therapy room washed over Adrian’s flesh, chilling
him to the bone. He was determined to stay impassive, showing no external
reactions, but an involuntary shiver passed through him as his flesh touched
the icy surface. His limbs were spread-eagled and metal bands were snapped into
place over his wrists and legs, pressing him into the cold surface. Wider ones
were stretched across his shoulders and hip. He tugged against the restraints
but they were too tight. His eyes fixed on a spot on the featureless gray
ceiling and he drew in his concentration, trying to ignore the feeling of being
naked and exposed to whatever they wanted to do to him.
Barker
watched nearby, a sneer on his face.
Adrian
was familiar with these psychological games to increase the feeling of
helplessness and forced submission. As a valuable but uncooperative resource
for the Empire, he had been subjected to them most of his life. The only way to
fight it was to concentrate, to fill himself with
thoughts
of his own choosing. He could not allow them a foothold.
His
cold flesh barely felt the pinprick of needles as they were inserted into his
veins and attached to drug lines controlled from a panel near the bed. The cool
liquid dripped down and was carried into his body, chilling him further.
They
were beginning, and so was he. The Quaten-Seris Theorem. His mind intoned the
complex theory that had been his first brilliant thesis.
The
Therapist, a pleasant-faced man with clinical eyes and hair that was graying,
in a distinguished way, at the temples, continued talking to him. “Yes, it is
an art. To be able to break a man’s will, but not completely. Just enough for
you to continue being useful.”
His
fingers ran absently along Adrian’s body, light as a feather, drawing a string
of warmth across his chest. Despite his efforts, his concentration fragmented
as his flesh became acutely aware of the hot fingers that seemed to reach
inside to touch the core of his being. It could be considered a sensual feeling
if it had been a lover’s hand and not that of a ruthless man who was preparing
to twist his mind to suit another’s will.
The
Therapist bent down over his chest. Adrian gasped and his hip jerked against
the restraints as warm air blew gently across his chest. His eyes widened in
shock as a different kind of warmth pooled in his groin.
The
specialist chuckled pleasantly. “You see, even the coldest of men have some
feelings. The drugs enhance physical sensations. Both pain, which we will
explore later in detail, and pleasure.” He blew lightly across Adrian’s
inflamed flesh, sending reluctant shivers of pleasure through his body.
Adrian
clamped down hard as he bit back a moan and desperately tried to find a way to
fight this assault on his senses; the visceral, primal feelings that overrode
the higher functions of the mind.
“There
is no way to fight it,” the Therapist informed him helpfully. “The other drugs
force your body to respond by increasing the production of various hormones and
chemicals.” His face came within Adrian’s view. “You never expected this, did
you? They said you were special. You would be hard to break. They told me to
get started and they’ll take over with more advanced techniques. But I have a
few of my own. Something I hope will bring me the recognition I deserve. I’ll
be recording this for prosperity. You will be my first subject.”
Adrian
regarded him with his well-known cold impassivity, but it required a conscious
effort. His body had already betrayed him.
The
Therapist’s fingers brushed against the prisoner’s lightly flushed cheeks.
“Even someone like you can feel shame. You’re a man who lives almost entirely
in your mind. It makes you vulnerable to certain sensations.” The fingers
trailed down, selectively touching him, sending ripples of warmth and desire
through Adrian’s body. “You don’t know how to deal with emotions and strong
feelings. You’re afraid of them because they can make you lose control. So you
try to distance yourself, shut down your emotions, and outlaw feelings as
irrational.”
The
knife-edge of the Therapist’s palm traced the smooth, vulnerable flesh along
the inner thigh. Adrian hissed and bit his lower lip as his body stretched and
arched against his will. He struggled against the restraints, less to free
himself—which he knew wasn’t possible—and more to express his resistance to
what was happening.
The
specialist smirked. “You’re afraid. You know I can make your body do anything I
want.” He reached down and stroked the most sensitive part of Adrian’s body,
slowly and firmly like a lover who knew exactly what his beloved wanted. He
said in a seductive whisper, “Pure physical
pleasure.
Entirely beyond the control of your rational mind. Courtesy of drugs that don’t
care how smart you are. How does it feel?”
Waves
of need rolled in past defenses that were primed to fight a different kind of
attack. They overwhelmed Adrian’s mind, compelling his body to move in an
unwilling rhythm to the other man’s control. The Therapist was playing him like
a finely tuned instrument.
No!
He rebelled at what was happening to him. He concentrated,
bringing his iron discipline to bear, but it was useless. The fires consumed
his body and besieged his mind. They resisted all efforts to be buried. His
body refused to obey his will.
Can’t…think.
Must…think… Adrian bit his tongue, trying to produce pain
to counteract the pleasure that was making his body betray him, but it only
enhanced what the Therapist was making him feel.
“Ahhh.”
One sensation built on the next as the Therapist stroked and touched him,
blinding his mind, making it impossible to think, fight, to resist. His body
writhed, a prisoner of needs he could not control.
The
Adjustment specialist said clinically, “It will be interesting to discover
which will make you beg. Will it be the pain or the pleasure?”
Fear
entered like a thief, robbing Adrian of dignity and replacing it with feelings
he had fought all of his life, helplessness and loss of control.
His
jaw clenched harder, stifling the moans of desire that threatened to escape his
lips. His face burned red with humiliation, and his fevered body ached with the
need to reach a climax the Therapist was not allowing him. His treacherous body
writhed with the agony of hate and desire.
No!
Adrian had been expecting pain, conditioning techniques,
psychological trickery, anything but this. All the mental tools he had learned
to fight them with were useless against the Therapist’s manipulation of his
senses, but he refused to give up. The man might have his body, but not his
will. He refused to finish the Neutron Wave Project, no matter what they did to
him. His voice was tight with anger as he said, “Go…To…Hell…”
The
Therapist’s face assumed an amused smile that stopped just shy of his eyes.
“You’re already there,” he said, as he abruptly quickened the rhythm. Adrian’s
hips thrust hard against the metal bands and a reluctant shout of release was
torn from his lips.
Sub-Commander Barker tilted his head back
and triumphant laughter erupted from a mouth twisted in a cruel smile.
Also Elizabeth Lang
has shared with us an exclusive picture from The Empire Series...
To read more of the
Read-A-Long please follow the tour schedule…
03/03/2013 - Tribute
Books Reviews & Giveaways - http://tributebooksreviews.blogspot.com/ -
Chapter 1
04/03/2013 - Vixie's
Stories -
http://vickiejohnstone.blogspot.co.uk/
- Chapter 2
05/03/2013 - Decadent
Decisions -
http://wlynnchantale-decadentdecisions.blogspot.com
- Chapter 3
06/03/2013 - Reviews
From Beyond the Book - www.reviewsfrombeyondthebook.blogspot.com - Chapter 4
07/03/2013 - Great
Alpha Speaks -
http://atrussell.com/Blog/
- Excerpt - Chapter 5
09/03/2013 - The
Edible Bookshelf -
http://www.theediblebookshelf.blogspot.com/
- Chapter 6
10/03/2013 -
Independent Writers Association -
http://iwassociation.com
- Chapter 7
11/03/2013 - Self
Publish or Die -
www.selfpublishordie.com Excerpt - Chapter 8
12/03/2013 - Natasha
Larry Books -
http://natashalarrybooks.com
- Chapter 9
13/03/2013 - Michelle
Anderson-Picarella -
http://shellypicarella.wordpress.com/
- Chapter 10
17/03/2013 - Sheenah
Freitas -
http://sheenahfreitas.com
- Chapter 11
18/03/2013 - Castle
Macabre -
http://castlemacabre.blogspot.com
- Chapter 12
19/03/2013 - My World
-
http://stephsgrn.blogspot.co.uk/
- Chapter 13
20/03/2013 - Reading,
Writing And More -
http://stephsgrn.wordpress.com/
- Chapter 14
21/03/2013 - Ami R
Blackwelder -
http://amiblackwelder.blogspot.co.uk/
- Chapter 15
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Thank you for joining
us and Page Turner Book Tours and Elizabeth Lang today on our stop.
About Elizabeth Lang
I am a science fiction
writer who started off life as a computer programmer with a love for reading,
especially science fiction, fantasy and mystery.
Being in computers, I
found my writing skills deteriorating so I decided to take up writing. It
became a joy to create characters, stories and worlds and writing soon became a
passion I couldn't put down. As a writer, I like to explore, not only the
complexity of characters but the human condition from differing points of view.
That is at the heart of the Empire series, of which 'The Empire' and 'The
Rebels' are the first two of a four books series.
You can connect with
Elizabeth Lang at the following places:
About Page Turner Book Tours
Page Turner Book Tours is fronted by the face behind Read2Review Kate. Page Turner Book Tours has been put together to help promote authors and give something back to the writing world. Kate has put together a team of incredibly talented people to help with the project by incorporating their individual skills into making new, fresh and exciting promotional plans that we hope you agree are amazing. If you would like to book a tour with Page Turner Book Tours please check out their tour packages. If you would like to become a tour host with Page Turner Book Tours please check out their Tour Host page. You wont be disappointed!
Page Turner Book Tours is fronted by the face behind Read2Review Kate. Page Turner Book Tours has been put together to help promote authors and give something back to the writing world. Kate has put together a team of incredibly talented people to help with the project by incorporating their individual skills into making new, fresh and exciting promotional plans that we hope you agree are amazing. If you would like to book a tour with Page Turner Book Tours please check out their tour packages. If you would like to become a tour host with Page Turner Book Tours please check out their Tour Host page. You wont be disappointed!
Thank you for hosting the second chapter of 'The Empire.' I hope your readers enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. Good luck with your book :)
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