The Edge Of Space

Chapter 19 - Pasts and futures.

"Hey, Merca?" Vontaine started.

"Yeah?"

"When we were interrogating that guy about info on the kree Pirates, you said to him that "he's not the only one that knows what torture is like"... what did you mean? You said you would tell me later, is now a good time?" He quizzed cautiously.

"What's this about torture?" Fritz added.

"Yeah... I suppose I trust both of you enough. I've never told you, Vonty. What happened to me before you found me," She started.

"Will this be interesting?" Fritz asked in concern.

"I suppose. But it's also VERY dark. So... listeners' discretion is advised," she warned.

"We're all ears!" They both affirmed.

"Ok... a little bit of info on Talaranths before I get to my story. Talaraths are not a peaceful alien race by any means.

There have been countless wars on my home planet that have gone on for eons. They don't even know why they fight each other... supremacy, I guess. Some of them assume they are superior to other alpha species. I think it's just how they are," she started.

"So they're all a bunch of self-centered assholes?" Fritz surmised.

"I guess... I was born on the tail end of one of these wars. My father had been fighting in that war for some years before coming home to me, his newborn daughter,".

"Ok, and he was excited to have a baby?" Vontaine thought.

"No. My father was the cause of my suffering. He had told my mother that he didn't want a child and to abort me, but she didn't listen and had me anyway. So when he got home, he was filled with rage and sadness from the war and used us as outlets," she said slowly, almost like she didn't want to.

"If reliving this is too hard, you don't have to continue," Vontaine offered.

"It was hard. But you deserve to know you saved my life after all, but that's jumping ahead.

To continue, I need to tell you a bit about our biology. When Talaranth are born, our mother's amniotic fluid gets absorbed into our skin and becomes our Ranth. It's weird, but alien. While my mother was pregnant with me though, she had taken Ranth-enhancing drugs to prevent my father from being able to hurt her. As a result, my Ranth is just naturally very strong, and how the Ranth works is like this. My Ranth is a stronger version of my mother's. Every baby that is born has a stronger and stronger Ranth metal," she explained.

"So your Ranth must be very strong?" Vontaine guessed.

"Yeah. It's stronger than my mother's by several times. Anyway. Now, it gets to the really bad part. If you don't wanna listen, cover your ears," she said, giving one last warning!

....................MERCA'S PAST........................

"So, I was about three when my father got home, filled with rage, and at first, he took it out on my mother. He would beat her arms and legs until they were completely bruised. Eventually, after another two years of constant abuse... including rape and a lot of nasty torture. My mother couldn't take it anymore. She had told my father that the only reason she birthed me was so he could have an... outlet.

She was too scared to fight back or get the authorities involved because my father was very strong, and he was the only one working to earn an income for the house.

So once she told my father that, he locked me in the basement. My life immediately flipped from being an onlooker to a victim. My father fed me only bread and water two times a day and I couldn't leave, there was a toilet in there but no shower... so... when the toilet water was clean, I washed with that," She started.