Free Alpha Rising by G.L. Douglas Page B

could watch myself comb the back of my hair.” After leaning
forward to study his reflection, the thrill faded fast at noting
his ashen skin and bloodshot eyes. “That can’t be me.” He touched
his face and stared at the image. “It’s a character in a horror
movie. ‘ Horror movie … horror
movie .’” His mirror
image’s lips formed the words over and over.
    Bach suddenly felt lost and
alone, and dread gripped hard. He held his beard-stubbled face in
both hands, wanting to scream and yell in frustration, but emotion
stayed locked inside. Hunched over the sink, he talked to himself,
“Where the hell am I? Friends or foes? Where’s Kaz … and Deni,
Lynch, and G.R.? This is a nightmare. I’ll awaken and everything
will be normal again. I’ll be home. Kaz and I will get married. But
I couldn’t dream anything like this. I am somewhere on a planet called
Jenesis, on the continent of Dura.” He closed his eyes, tilted his
head back, and sighed. “Maybe I’m dead.”
    “ You’re not dead,” replied
a voice. A faint echo followed.
    Bach snapped back and
looked around. “Who’s talking to me?” He stuck his head beyond the
bathroom door and scanned the main room. No one there.
    The voice spoke again, “Your new life has
just begun.”
    He turned back, and saw in the mirror the
same gauzy, yellow face he’d seen on the AstroLab. But the glass’s
abnormal effects created a more disconcerting image. The anomalous
apparition drifted around inside the mirror then
stopped—superimposed over Bach’s reflection, appearing as if inside
his head. “You’re on the wrong side now,” the copper-eyed face
said. “But I’ll let you join me and your crewmates. Come away, my
friend. You have yet to experience our pleasures.”
    Bach sucked in an angry breath and shouted,
“Damn you! I hate you for taking my crewmates. I hate this planet.”
He tried to step away, but his energy seemed to drain, and there
came a sensation of invisible shackles binding his legs. The silver
goblet was within reach. He slammed it against the mirror, sending
a spray of liquid through the air. The mirror’s reflective surface
didn’t break, but ripples within gave the impression of a liquid
core. The distorted apparition faded away. Heart pounding, Bach
steadied himself against the sink. Waiting for his strength to
return, he noticed a deep indentation in the metal goblet that
wasn’t there before.
    Shaking his head in
bewilderment, he crept back into the main room, eyes scanning as he
walked. Are cameras recording my every
move? He rested on the edge of the bed and
recalled Kaz’s fear of having needles stuck in their navels. Oh, please, God, don’t let them torture her … or
any of us.
     
    #
     
    Bach’s eyes opened and he
leapt from the bed. Where am I? As sleep cleared from his head, he remembered.
Whispering out loud as if talking to someone else he said, “Gotta
figure out how to find Kaz … recover the crew … or join them. Maybe
they’re in safe hands and I’m not.”
    He went back into the
bathroom and looked in the mirror. No apparition this time, just a
weary Bach Turner looking back. Get on
with it , he thought to himself while
stepping over to the small, deep, bathing pool. A hot bath would feel good . He pushed
two icon-identified buttons, then stood back. Streams of
peppermint-scented water shot from a dozen jets in the pool’s
sides, engulfing the room in a fragrant fog. I’ll submerge myself all the way to the neck. He filled the pool as high as he dared, then
pulled off his NASA-issued jumpsuit, stepped into the steaming,
scented water, and sat with his back resting in a curved area.
Barely able to see through the sauna-like mist, and feeling oddly
buoyant, he moved his arms under the water and rubbed his hands
over his face. “Strange,” he said aloud. “Not at all like water on
Earth. Almost can’t feel it … different surface tension … less
resistance when I splash.” Curious, he drew random