Steak dinner

Pike paced his cell, looking for any crack in the walls while ruminating over what he knew of the Talosians. Vina appeared in the room, dressed in the silver robe. Pike could tell she'd been crying.

"What's the matter? Did they hurt you?" he asked.

"They punished me. I've done everything they wanted. But they still punished me," she replied. He took her in his arms, comforting her. She held him and shuddered.

A click drew his attention to the place where the wall opened when they fed him. Two glasses of liquid sat on the floor.

"Would you like a steak dinner? We could talk," he offered as he picked up the two glasses.

"Okay. That would be nice."

They sat down on the 'bed', and Pike thought of a celebration dinner he had on Altair IV. The cell vanished to be replaced by a banquet room and a table laden with food. Vina wore a fancy gown that revealed her deep cleavage.

Vina gasped and breathed deeply. "Oh, that smells divine!"

Pike served her a small steak with Altairian tubers, Centauran star beans, and wine, carefully arranging the food on the plate. Vina began eating. Pike watched her.

"Now, you told me they used illusions as a narcotic. They couldn't repair the machines left by their ancestors. Is that why they want us, to build a colony of slaves?"

"Stop it. Don't you care what they'll do to us?" she said, frustrated.

"Back in my cage, it seemed for a couple of minutes that our keeper couldn't read my thoughts. Do emotions like hate, keeping hate in your mind, does that block off our mind from them?"

"Yes. They can't read through primitive emotions. But you can't keep it up for long enough. I've tried. They keep at you and at you year after year, tricking and punishing, and they won. They own me. I know you must hate me for that," she said looking down into her lap.

"Oh, no. I don't hate you. I can guess what it was like."

"But that's not enough. Don't you see? They read my thoughts, my feelings, my dreams of what would be a perfect man. That's why they picked you. I can't help but love you and they expect you to feel the same way."

"If they can read my mind, then they know I'm attracted to you. I was from the very first moment I saw you in the survivor's camp."

"I think I understand you a little more. You've been home, and fighting as on Rigel. That's not new to you, either. A person's strongest dreams are about what he can't do. Yes, a ship's captain, always having to be so formal, so decent and honest and proper. You must wonder what it would be like to forget all that," she said, not really to Pike but the room in general.