Page 10 of Dark Island: Rescue
"Ladies," Raviki interjected with mock solemnity. "You both lost. I clearly remained submerged the longest."
"You weren't even competing!" Liliat splashed her.
The easy banter, the comfortable teasing, was what Tula would miss most. Not the luxury or the safety or even the familiarity of the harem itself, but this. These women. These relationships were built over thousands of years of shared captivity.
Would any of them choose to leave if given the chance?
The question burned in her mind, demanding release, even though she couldn't offer them freedom because she still didn't know if Annani was going to send a rescue team at all. Still, if Areana's sister agreed to help, perhaps she could rescue more than just the four of them.
"I came across the most interesting story," she said, treading water next to them.
"Oh no." Raviki groaned dramatically. "Not another one of your philosophical debates. I'm too relaxed for deep thinking."
"This one is not as much philosophical as it is hypothetical," Tula said. "It's a what-if scenario."
Tamira, who was floating upright in the water, opened her eyes, and there was something guarded in her expression, a wariness that Tula understood perfectly. Tamira suspected what Tula was about to do, and she didn't approve.
Of course, she didn't.
But Tula pressed on anyway. "What if aliens land on the harem grounds?—"
"Aliens?" Beulah chuckled. "Is that what you are going with?"
"Hush, I'm setting the scene. Aliens land, and they offer to take us away from here. They freeze everyone else. The guards, the servants, everyone except us. So, there is no one to stop us from boarding their craft and venturing into the unknown. Would you accept their invitation?"
As the question hung in the air, Tula's heart raced. To ask this was reckless. Stupid, even. But she had to know.
Sarah pursed her lips. "I wouldn't go with some strange aliens who would do the Fates know what to us." Her answer was like a punch to Tula's gut. "How could I possibly trust them? For all we know, they'd experiment on us or eat us, or worse."
"What if you could somehow know that they weren't dangerous?" Tula tried. "What if you could sense that they were good?"
"No one can sense that." Sarah spread her arms in the water to keep herself afloat. "Evil doesn't announce itself. It pretends to be good until it has you in its grasp. The worst evildoers in history lied and distorted truth until they amassed enough power to slaughter all the stupid people who believed their propaganda."
Behind them, the men stopped their exercise and got closer.
"That's why seeking truth is essential to survival," Elias said. "Evil lies and subverts."
Raviki turned to look at him. "But how do you distinguish truth from lies? Those who lie have no scruples. They use every nasty trick in the book."
Elias nodded. "You are right. Lies are easy, butproviding evidence is more difficult. The smart people who take the time to examine the information will find holes in a deceitful narrative and realize that they were lied to."
Tamira shifted in the water. "What if the aliens were gods and could prove that they were our distant relatives? What if they could demonstrate their powers and their good intentions in ways that left no doubt?"
Tula shot her a grateful look. Tamira was helping, trying to make the scenario more palatable, more believable.
Raviki shook her head. "I still wouldn't trust them. No one does good things for others without wanting something in return. These hypothetical aliens, or gods, or whatever, would want something from us. Payment. Service. Our firstborn children." She laughed at her own joke, not noticing the way Tula flinched at the words. "At least here, we know exactly what is expected of us and how to behave to stay out of trouble."
"But what if they genuinely wanted to help?" Tula tried one last time.
"Why would they?" Beulah joined in. "Why would powerful beings make the effort to rescue us?"
Because they deserved to be free, Tula wanted to scream. Because living in a cage wasn't living at all. Because they'd all given up so much already—their children, their choices, their futures.
But she couldn't say any of that.
"I would go." Liliat's expression was wistful. "I'd rather risk the unknown than spend another millennium here. Don't get me wrong, I'm comfortable, and most ofthe time I feel safe, but it's still captivity. And I crave adventure. I want to see the world, experience things, and make choices for myself instead of them being made for me. Even if those choices lead to disaster, at least they would be mine."
Tula felt her throat tighten. At least one of them understood. At least one of them felt the same restlessness, the same desperate need for something more.
