Deep Penetration; Alien Breeders I by Stacey St. James Read Free Book Online

and their cooperation. And because
they believed we were gods and worshipped us, we became part of the
history they recorded for future generations.
    “ It wouldn’t have been
necessary except that we needed to test their learning capabilities
and behavioral modifications as part of the process. The
alternative, however—to cage them or enslave them with our superior
strength and technology—wasn’t considered … conducive to our
experiments. We needed to keep them in a more or less natural
setting to get accurate data.”
    When he ceased to speak, Emerald
mulled over what he’d told her, trying to consider it objectively.
It wasn’t easy to ignore the churning sense of betrayal and yet it
was that very thing that made it feel like the truth. “That’s what
Koryn meant about us being of use to the Anunnaki?”
    Anger transformed Tariq’s face into a
frightening mask. She was relieved when she discovered that anger
wasn’t, apparently, directed at her.
    “ Yes,” he growled. “We
came to take our children home … only to discover that something
had befallen our nursery and apparently destroyed what we’d come to
consider our insurance of the continuance of our
species.”

Chapter Three
    A wave of nausea rolled through
Emerald. Despite the fact that she’d been skeptical about just how
important she was to them and the seemingly affectionate nature of
their attitude toward her, she realized nothing even close to the
truth had occurred to her.
    The Anunnaki had returned to collect
their guinea pigs and discovered some predator had apparently
gotten into the ‘cage’ and wiped them out. So they were very busily
digging for remains to try to resurrect the species because they’d
finally reached a point where they had need of them.
    And she still didn’t know what purpose
they were supposed to serve.
    The Anunnaki were neither allies nor
enemies of the human race. They didn’t consider them significant
enough to see them in either light.
    “ I think I’d like to go
back to the ship now, if it’s alright?”
    Tariq sent her a keen look, but he
merely nodded and rose to escort her.
    The truth was, she didn’t
want to go back to the ship at all. She wanted to escape, but as
Tariq had pointed out—to where? This place might truly be Earth,
and yet it was as alien to her as if it was another world. It might
as well be one.
Beyond that, both of them had told her there weren’t any humans
left to run to.
    She wasn’t sure she believed that—or
much that they’d told her, for that matter, but she had eyes in her
head. This city had been abandoned long ago and if it had, it
seemed to her that, regardless of how far or how fast she ran, she
would only find more of the same. It wasn’t reasonable to think
otherwise.
    Her head was throbbing with the
endless round of conflicting thoughts and emotions by the time they
reached the ship again. She was also limping, although she did her
best to hide it—from pride, she supposed. Her feet had begun to
feel sticky, though, and she was fairly certain the boots had
rubbed blisters and then rubbed the skin off.
    Koryn, she discovered, had beaten them
back to the ship. As they approached, he and several other men were
directing some sort of robotic cart up the gangplank. Her stomach
lurched. It didn’t take much imagination to figure out what it was
beneath the tarp that was so valuable to them.
    She stopped abruptly, unwilling to
move any closer. Tariq sent her a curious look, but returned his
speculative gaze to the cart almost at once. When they’d entered
the ship, he took her arm and walked her up the
gangplank.
    He was frowning when they reached the
corridor, scanning her speculatively. “You’re limping.”
    “ The boots are too big,”
Emerald said evenly. “It’s hard to walk in them.”
    “ Take them off. You don’t
need them now.”
    Reluctance flickered through her. Too
big or not, the boots were some protection for her feet and if she
gave them up