Authors: Lisa Lace
None.
There was no one on board the ship. Seven minutes ago, it had held nearly a hundred people.
Well, that wasn't entirely correct. There were two dots blinking â Kenna and me.
The only two people on board who had been in a transporter-proof room during the time when the aliens had stolen everyone on board.
I didn't know whether to be grateful or embarrassed.
"Dar, come here."
Kenna was busy at another console.
"We've lost the audio and video feed, but Mana and Jared are still transmitting."
She tapped quickly.
"See? She set up her scanning devices to relay back the information."
We both watched as she pulled up the floor plan of the alien ship again. There were a bunch of green dots in two of the cells â the one that Mana and Jared had been in and the one next to it. There were two blue dots in a third cell.
"Have Mana and Jared returned yet?"
Kenna turned those big brown eyes on me, and I saw that they were full of regret. She licked her lips nervously before she spoke.
"They didn't come back, Dar," she said pointing to where it showed their names. "They're the blue dots. Why are they blue?"
"That means they're unconscious. Fuck." I put my hands to my head.
I would not let this happen. I was the king. I slammed my fist into the console.
"Come on, Kenna."
"Where are we going?" she said.
"To the shuttle bay. We're going to get them back."
"Dar, surely you can't be serious. How is this different from earlier when you said it was irresponsible for you to go?"
I paused to look her in the eyes. "Now, we are the only ones who can save them."
KENNA
We locked on to the alien vessel and remaining cloaked. We hoped that they wouldn't realize we were there.
It was a long shot but better than nothing.
The plan was simple. Enter the ship from a different spot. Grab Jared and Mana. And get out of there. We would figure out how to save everyone else, once our friends were safely back on board and able to help us plan our attack.
Dar attached the unidirectional explosive and we crouched on the other side of the ship. It was designed to explode in only one direction using concentrated force. This way, even people with a minimal amount of training didn't have to worry about accidentally blowing themselves up.
Once it had detonated, we pulled the pieces of the hull out of our way and peeked through.
We attached to the alien vessel at the exact location where Mana and Jared were being held. Dar gave me a boost, and I crawled through the hole into the cell. He pulled himself through, and we quickly made our way over to where Mana and Jared were lying.
They were still unconscious, but it didn't matter. We were going to drag them into the ship and get out of there.
I picked up Mana under the arms and began dragging her over to the hole. Dar did the same with Jared. But something was wrong.
"Dar," I whispered, stopping. "Something's wrong. She's not heavy enough."
"What are you talking about," he said. "Let's just get them out of here. We'll worry about how much weight they've lost later."
But I remained frozen, trying to figure out if we had overlooked something. That's my problem, thinking about things too much.
As I sat there thinking and doing nothing, the hole that we had made sealed itself in front of our eyes.
We watched in horror as the ship appeared to heal itself like skin. Then we were transported to another cell.
As my body winked out of existence in one location, and back in another, I felt like I had been repeatedly punched in the head.
In the brief moment before I lost consciousness, it occurred to me that their alien technology may not be compatible with human and Susohnnan biology.
As I drifted awake, I heard Jared's voice saying, "Oh, we're really fucked now." I sat up, my hand to my head. It was aching so badly that I thought I would cry.
"Kenna's coming around too. What are we going to do?" Mana's voice was way too loud, and I put my hands over my ears.
"After we give them shit for coming after us and getting caught too, you mean?" Jared said.
"Jared..."
The pain receded and I carefully opened my eyes.
"Kenna," Jared said, "how are you? So nice to see you. Glad you could drop by to be imprisoned along with us."
I winced and looked around for Dar. He was still in the holding his head, trying to wake up.
I didn't say anything. It was too difficult to speak. Mana offered me some water, which I drank, then leaned back against the wall of the cell.
Dar tried to come to me, but he was too weak. Jared helped him over to where I sat against the wall. He took my hand, and I immediately felt better.
Whatever was going to happen, at least we were together.
They took us without any of our tools and only the bottom layer of our clothes.
After a while, Dar opened his eyes and spoke.
"What happened?" he said.
"Before or after you guys made everything worse by showing up here and getting captured, too," Jared said, a sour look on his face.
"We had a plan to escape," Mana said more gently. "But it depended on you two still being on board the ship."
"But you were unconscious," I said.
"We were not unconscious. We were hiding out here," Jared said, looking at us like we were crazy.
"I picked you up and dragged you across the floor over there," Dar said. "Then we all got transported."
I nodded.
"Everyone else's dots were green, but yours were blue. That's why we left the ship and came here," I said.
"You used the data from the sensors?" Mana said, frowning. "I dropped those when we climbed through the ducts."
"Then whose data were the sensors sending back?" This was getting stranger by the minute.
"I have no idea," Jared said, suddenly looking like a scared little boy. "What I do know is that we were used as bait to lure you over here. These guys are a lot more sophisticated than we thought."
"We saw your bodies." Dar said. "We lifted them."
"Wait," I said. "Remember how I told you they weren't heavy enough, Dar?"
"They must have been decoys," Mana said.
"We have underestimated these aliens considerably. We need to get out of here," Jared said. "Where is your ship?"
We both shrugged.
"Great," he said, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.
"We'll figure something out," Mana murmured, and he glanced at her. The look held for a moment too long. Then he nodded and let out a heavy breath.
Dar looked at me, his eyebrows raised.
"So, how are we going to get out of here?" I said, tearing their attention away from each other and back to the situation at hand.
"I'm afraid you're not," a tall man in a business suit said, materializing in front of us. We all stared. He was a big man with a broad chest. He wore immaculately tailored clothes which fit him perfectly. He looked pretty good, except for his eyes, which were cold and inhuman.
"Who are you?" Dar said, his face grim.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is who YOU are."
He glanced around at each one of us and then smiled in a way that made my stomach turn.
"You are all my slaves."
KENNA
The stranger looked humanoid in appearance, but I was sure he wasn't human or Susohnnan. There was something that simply wasn't right about his eyes.
"If you're not sure what to do, it would be perfectly acceptable right now to run away screaming," he said with a mocking smile.
Dar stepped forward, drawing himself up to his full height.
"I am King Darvish Micah Nindan Therossell Shu'in. I am the king of Susohn, located in quadrant 415.29. We have a claim on Wormhole 87 that we share with the humans of the planet Earth. You are trespassing."
The alien's smile turned into a full-on laugh. But Dar continued, following protocol.
"If you handled the removal or deaths of the ten thousand personnel on the Susohn Space Station, I demand that you return them, or I will charge you with the highest penalty of Susohnnan law."
"You are an amusing little creature."
Dar continued as if he hadn't been interrupted.
"I further demand that you release all of the humans and Susohnnan on this vessel as per the Union treaty. It states that all descendants of the Great Race have a right to freedom of person and that no person may own any other person."
Dar finally got his attention. "Well!" The man considered Dar's request for a moment. "When you put it that way..."
He stroked his chin in an exaggerated fashion.
"No," he said, finally. "I don't have to abide by that treaty because my race is not a part of the Union. I am not a person."
"Not a person..." Jared muttered to himself.
"You're an alien," Mana said. "Then why do you look like one of us. How can you speak Unified?"
"Let's just say I'm a flexible sort," he said. "And I pick things up quickly."
I frowned. What was he saying?
He was playing with his words.
He was playing with us.
"If you are not part of the Union, then where do you come from?" Dar said. "What race are you?"
"I'd rather not say. And I don't take questions from slaves. You should feel honored right now that I am speaking to you at all."
"We're not your slaves," Jared said. He looked furious â like he was barely holding himself together. Please don't lose your shit, Jared. I thought carefully, trying to transmit my desires straight into Jared's brain. Who knew what else this nutcase alien could do?
"That's a matter of opinion," he said condescendingly. "When you are mind-wiped and distributed over the mining planets we own, you'll be slaves. Don't worry about that."
Mind-wiped? Oh, fuck.
All of us looked at each other and froze. Suddenly he seemed a lot more menacing. Being slaves was one thing. But being mind-wiped was something else entirely. The stakes had gone up considerably.
We had to get away.
Being mind-wiped cleared most, if not all, of a person's memory. I would still remember basic things â how to dress or cook supper. But the memories that made me who I am would be completely gone.
We might as well be dead because it would erase the parts of ourselves.
"Mining planets?" Dar said, keeping his eyes fixed on the alien.
"Our race requires certain rare minerals that we can only find on particular planets we control. Living creatures must extract the minerals. It is impossible to automate the delicate procedure required. The mining is destructive to the life forms, shortening their lifespan considerably."
"By how much?" I said, unable to remain silent any longer. He looked at me with a cold stare.
"75 percent."
None of us said anything.
"You better call some friends," Jared said, rolling up his sleeves. "We're not going without a fight."
"I'm the only one here, and I do not require backup," he said, looking amused again.
"The only one?" Mana said, looking as confused as I felt.
"This is a self-healing ship, manned by droids. I am tired of this conversation. You will make good slaves, I'm sure. You all look strong and healthy."
As he made this speech, there had been a conversation going on between Jared and Dar with their eyes and hands. They were making furious hand signals at each other.
I hoped they knew what they were doing.
I looked at Mana, but she was a statue, with an unreadable expression on her face.
Suddenly, Dar rushed the alien and Jared moved to attack him at the same time. I didn't see anything happen. The man barely touched them, and both Jared and Dar went flying.
Dar sailed across the room, hit the wall hard, and slumped down to the floor.
"Shit!" I ran to him. He was out cold.
"Enough nonsense. I will transport you to the slave cells." He made a strange sound from the back of his throat and disappeared.
"Is he alive?" Mana said, coming over as soon as the alien man was gone.
Jared got up, shook his head, and tried to focus his eyes.
"Is Dar okay?" he said, sitting down against the wall.
I had my fingers pressed to his neck and felt for a pulse. It was strong and steady.
"I think he's okay. Just unconscious," I said.
The world flashed white. Jared, Mana, and I reappeared in another cell. Dar was not with us.
"Where's Dar?" I said, starting to panic. How had I come to depend on him so much in such a short period?
We all looked around. We were the only people in this cell.
"Shit," Jared said, "I think I'm going to puke."
He stumbled over to the toilet and threw up. Mana turned away, one hand over her mouth, the other holding her head. I tried to ignore the ache in my temples. Someone needed to figure out what we could do and how we could find Dar.
I went to the door. They had firmly locked it; I don't even know why I tried. I walked around the room, pulling on the manacles, carefully avoiding the toilet region where Jared was washing his face off.
Jared leaned heavily against the wall and slid down it until he was sitting. There was a large bruise on his cheek from where he had hit the wall.
"Let me see that," Mana said. "You don't seem well."
"I'll be fine, Mana. Don't worry."
She looked surprised and then a little troubled.
"I'm not worried," she said, her eyes darting to me. "But you have a bad bruise."
She reached out to touch his cheek and Jared closed her eyes as her fingers gently traced the hurt part of his face.
"I wish I had my first aid kit," she said, softly.
He looked up at her, a smile on his face in spite of his injuries.
"Thanks, Mana," he said.
I felt like a third wheel.
Hours later, we were lying on the floor. Jared and Mana were asleep, but I couldn't calm down enough to sleep. I heard someone moan, and I looked up to see Dar lying on the floor in the middle of the room. I jumped up and ran to him.
Please be alive, I thought to myself. My movements woke Mana up, and she came over to evaluate Dar.