Sleeping With the Enemy by Kaitlyn O'Connor Read Free Book Online Page A

Holly commented.
        Sybil sent her a questioning look and the other woman shrugged. “They said it was an observatory.”
        “I’m guessing both of you thought the same thing I did,” Powell said wryly. “Alien abductions leapt to the forefront of my mind, which translated to… unpleasant medical examinations.”
        Sybil was about to point out that they still didn’t know that wasn’t the case, that they might’ve merely been brought together to wait, when a sudden noise distracted all of them. Glancing around fearfully, they discovered panels along the rounded end of the room were moving, both at the ceiling and upper wall.
        Sybil and Holly clutched at one another again, staring wide-eyed as the panels opened slowly wider and wider. Sybil found herself holding her breath, as if that would protect her from deadly gasses. She didn’t even realize she’d instinctively sucked in a breath and held it because she’d thought they were about to be flushed into space until it dawned on her that the panels were revealing windows. Beyond the windows a landscape was unfolding before them that was starkly beautiful and breathtakingly deadly.
        It hadn’t occurred to her that they might be on the surface of Venus, though why it hadn’t she had no idea. It should’ve dawned on her immediately when she saw the other crewmembers.
        The realization thawed her and, after a moment, as if by unspoken consent, she and Holly released each other and crossed the room to stand staring out of the wall of winds that offered a wide vista of the planet Venus. On the far horizon, the thick layer of clouds veiled the rising sun. They could clearly see the demarcation of the spreading light as it spilled across the virtually flat plains of Venus, unmoving. It took her several moments to recall that Venus’ rotation was so slow that it took almost a full year, Earth year, to rise and set. The building where they stood was on the dark side, facing Earth. When she’d searched the sky for it, she thought she detected the tiny blue globe that was home.
        She wasn’t certain if she actually had spotted it or if it was wishful thinking. The cloud cover was still thick enough to make visibility of the sky poor. Redirecting her gaze to the landscape outside once more, she studied it with all the wonder of seeing a sight never seen before-at least by her. She’d seen images, of course, but that wasn’t the same as actually seeing it-particularly since there was an enormous structure of some sort blocking the southern view.
        Sybil studied it, knowing what it had to be, and yet it might have been most any kind of factory she was familiar with. Disappointingly, there was no way to tell anything about the technology represented within the structure… beyond the fact that it was incredibly effective.
        Even giving them that, though, she thought there must be more. Maybe it was just because she was having a hard time swallowing just how advanced they were, but she couldn’t accept that one plant would be sufficient to terra-form on such a massive scale in so short a length of time.
        She could see that the planet was cooling. No doubt it was still blistering hot outside, but she could see the thin trails of lava flow in the distance cooling and solidifying along the edges. Steam rose from newly formed lava rock, making visibility even at ground level spotty. After a while, though, she noticed movement. Drawn by that discovery, she saw a vehicle slowly creep into view. Directly behind it were several others. The vehicles stopped on a nearly perfectly flat plateau maybe a half mile from the building where she stood and shadowy figures emerged.
        She thought at first that they must have gone out to take samples and readings, but she realized after a while that they were beginning some sort of construction.
        “Clearly they aren’t worried about us seeing anything now,” Powell murmured after a