I growled. “Did I fall on a needle with some shit in it? Am I trippin’?”
“No. This is real. You were on Earth, and now you’re on our ship.”
“You’re wired to the moon if you think I’m falling for that shyte,” I replied. Had Marcus put something in the last drinks we’d had? God, I hoped I was somewhere safe. I didn’t want to come down from this and find out I’d been rolling around by myself in the Clyde this whole time.
“I’m gonna fuckin’ skelp Marcus next time I see him.” Being off my head this bad was the last thing I needed today. It had been months since I’d last been this out of touch with reality. I wondered how much time had really passed since we’d ripped off the pharmacy.
“Are you under the influence of dangerous substances?” The man’s voice was so weird. And he was taller than any human I’d ever seen. His muscles rippled in the light.
“Well, obviously,” I snapped. “I wouldn’t be hallucinatin’ a spaceship if I was straight up.”
“Tell the captain I’m taking her to the medical bay to be detoxed. She will probably still be there when we arrive on Epsilon. Remember, only those with red-level clearance can know about her. Don’t mention her toanyoneoff the ship.”
“Understood, sir.”
The second very tall bloke saluted and stayed where he was. The other one walked me out into a metal corridor. I was beginning to sense a theme, here. I didn’t remember ever hallucinating this bad before. Shit. I hoped I was going to a real hospital, in real life, and that this was just the way my brain was reimagining it. If I was this far gone, I was going toneedmedical help.
The tall man opened another door and led me in. Another giant stood in what looked like a doctor’s coat.
“This is Natasha?”
“How’d yer ken that?” Had he been following me? How else could he know who I was?
“Yes. She needs a drugs test.”
“She doesn’t look like an omega.” Awhat?
“That was the point.” The other one sounded like he was bored. They all spoke very properly. I supposed a lot of doctors did. They were usually from wealthy families with three-bedroomed houses and parents with jobs. People withfacilitiesas my uncle Robert had always put it. Not that I’d met many of them. We didn’t exactly move in the same circles in life.
“Dinnae let me keep ye, pal.” I rolled my eyes when I spoke.
“I think that’s the least of your worries. She’s also riddled with parasites and appears to be suffering from a venereal disease.” The doctor’s tone was so condescending, and so was the way he’d deliberately turned to the other bloke to talk about me like I didn’t matter. I was just an object, to them.
“Fuck off!” I’d like to see him live in a clatty shithole and not get the occasional flea.
“Can you heal her? We need her in a good state for the mission.”
“Remove all her clothing. And put it into the biohazard waste disposer.”
“You’re no’ getting my clothes off me!” I shouted. The doctor rolled his eyes. He reached out and tore my thin T-shirt off. I imagined that what had really happened was paramedics had cut it off with those fancy scissors they carried.
“You can’t win this. You’re weak as a kitten and very sick.” He tore my jeans off, next. Kicking out at him, my foot connected with his knee, but my soft trainers were ineffective and he didn’t even show any signs of pain.
My underwear, shoes and socks were removed in a similar manner. The other huge man picked everything up and put it into a chute.
“Ay! That was my shit! Giz it us back! I’m fuckin’ heavy ragin’!”
“Urgoth, is the translator not working properly?” the doctor asked.
“Think you can dinghy me? Fucking nae chance, pal!” I retorted angrily.
“She is speaking gibberish. The translator can’t make sense of it. I assume it’s to do with how intoxicated she is.”
“What kind of Jakey name isUrgoth?”
The doctor sighed in resignation. “I see. Fine. Get her on the bed.”
Hands moved toward me and I batted them away.