And what about Buck? Where the hell was he?
That’s when I started wondering if he hadn’t abandoned me. Maybe he was already dead. Maybe there weren’t nobody coming to get me.
I was going to be stuck here the rest of my life.
Right after that thought is when I started screaming and banging on the bars of my cell.
I did that for a long time. Not sure how much. Didn’t bother checking that horrifying clock on the wall. Eventually I ran myself down and curled up in a ball on the floor. I whimpered and cried, my tears pooling on the floor.
After a while the cell asked if I needed medical assistance. I answered that I needed my momma and went back to crying. It wasn’t one of my proudest moments.
The room tried to make a bed for me, but I just screamed and ran off to hunker down in a corner. Eventually I fell asleep.
Twenty
“Well, aren’t you a sight.”
I jerked awake. For a second I didn’t know where I was. Then I saw the greasy, silvery floor in front of me and it all came slamming back, smacking me like a runaway freight train.
“Hey, you just going to sit there?”
At the bars to my cage stood an alien. It was one of the four armed lighting bolt skinned aliens. This wasn’t bare chested like the ones I’d seen in the cells above. It wore some kind of vest above loose black pants that went down its bare feet. I hadn’t noticed the feet before. They had three long toes in the front and a short one toward the back.
The alien’s head was a little different, too. It still had the two bulbous green eyes and wolfish snout in front of its narrow head. But, in addition, it had short, silvery fur covering the rest of its skull.
The alien stood with its two bigger arms on its hips. The smaller arms were folded across its chest. The big arms didn’t have the same bulging biceps as the other aliens, but they still looked toned and powerful.
Something in its stance told me this one was a female of its species. I didn’t see any obvious boobs, though it wasn’t top of my mind right then.
The alien cocked her narrow head to one side. “You Terrans sure aren’t much to look at,” she said, “Though maybe you’re not one of the better examples.”
Slowly, I got to my feet, my joints crackling and creaking. I rubbed my fuzzy cheeks. I hadn’t figured out how get the cell to give me a shave, so my beard was coming in. Scraggly, mostly. That was a big reason why I never tried to grow mine out like Buck. He had a thick, luxurious beard, and I got patchy and scraggly like a seventeen year old trying to grow his first man beard.
So, yeah, I wasn’t looking my best right then. Wasn’t very nice of her to say so, but then I hadn’t been treated nice by any aliens yet. No wonder Buck hated them all so much.
“Who are you?” I asked.
I didn’t move no closer to the bars. For all I knew she had an eight foot long tongue tipped with rattlesnake venom. And I was gonna stay as far away as I could until it got proved other wise.
“My name is T’Vel,” she said, “And your name is Roy, is it not?”
“Yeah.”
I noticed she didn’t use my last name. Did she not know it, or was she being discrete?
“The facility A.I. told me you might need some companionship,” T’Vel said.
I took a moment to process what was in that sentence. Facility A.I.. I was gonna assume that was some fancy ass computer. Which made sense. Everything was run by computers back on Earth, figures that it’d be the same for aliens, what with their fancy tech and all.
Next, was companionship. There was a few ways that could be interpreted. Some of which I’m not sure I wanted to contemplate. I looked her up and down. I wasn’t that lonely.
“So what are you?” I asked.
“Are you asking about my species, or about my skills?” she asked. She ran the fingers of her bigger right arm against the bars. The nails clinked against them in an almost musical way. For some reason it chilled me.
“How about both?”
There was a scent in the air that must have been coming from her. It was a spicy smell, almost like roasting chilis. It was kinda nice. Reminded me of a Mexican restaurant I liked to go to in Butte.
Her wolf like snout parted, the lips turning up on either side in what kind of looked like a doggy grin. Her teeth were sharp and shiny white.
“My species is the Yevhae,” she said, “We were third of the original Council of Six to form SixUnion.”
“Somebody told me it used to be the Council of Seven,” I said.
Her doggy grin disappeared and she turned her head away for a moment. “That was a very long time ago, and our masters don’t like us to bring it up.”
“Who are your masters?” I asked.
She put her doggy grin back on her face, but it seemed forced. “My species are excellent hunters, and we also excel at the healing arts. Including healing of the mind. Would you like to tell me how you are feeling right now?”
Great, alien shrinks. They don’t have lawyers, but they have psychiatrists? Didn’t seem fair.
“Considering the situation, how do you think I feel?” I asked.
She shifted from three toed foot to three toed foot. The chili pepper smell was stronger now. It must have been pretty powerful to get past the alien crap smell. It kind of made me hungry. I missed them green chili enchiladas at Casa Santos.
“You are no doubt experiencing feelings of depression and fear,” T’Vel said, “You are far from you home and will never see it again. You will live out the rest of your existence within this cell and die a lonely death unhonored by your family.”
“You’re a pretty lousy counselor,” I said.
She did something with all four of her arms that could have been a shrug. “It’s really not my specialty.”
“What’s your specialty?”
“Killing things.”
I took a step back. The wall pressed against my butt.
“Killing things?” I said, “Thought that was kind of frowned on around the ol’ Galactic Union.”
“Killing outside ones species is very much frowned on,” she said, “It tends to cause all manner of diplomatic difficulty, so it has been outlawed between SixUnion members.”
Something caught my brain. A little spark. I tugged at the thought and pulled it out.
“Between SixUnion members?” I said, “What about a non SixUnion species that kills one of them SixUnion folk?”
She tilted her head from one side to the other, then scratched at her silvery hair. “I’m not sure. Someone would have to consult one of the A.I.s,” she said, “But I would guess there’s some provision for it.”
My heart fell. I was hoping for a technicality. Oh well, getting out of here wasn’t going to be that easy, was it? I pulled myself together. As best I could, you know being stuck in an alien prison for life and all. (Sob).
“Do you work here or are you a trustee?” I asked.
She tilted her head again. “I don’t understand, trustee,” she said.
“A prisoner who gets to roam outside a cell without constant supervision.”
“Ah, yes, I am a trustee,” she said, “The Ponohejon who supervise this facility prefer to not have direct contact with prisoners. My race is supposed to be medically competent, so those of us who have demonstrated good behavior and remorse for our crimes are given duties that normally would be performed by staff.”
“Ponohejon?” I asked.
She stared at me for a moment, shifted from foot to foot. Then her doggy grin came back. “Ah, you know them by another name. Blinkies, yes?”
So that was what they were called.
“I enjoy the derogatory name,” T’Vel said, “Your species seems to be very disrespectful.”
“Yeah, we don’t like folks who put on airs,” I said. I rubbed my head. There was an ache forming right in the middle of it. Maybe I could talk the food maker thing to whip me up some aspirin. “So, Tuh-v-um…”
“T’Vel.”
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“Yeah, T’Vel, I don’t think there’s much you can do for me,” I said, “Not unless you know how I can get out of this prison.”
T’Vel looked up at the ceiling. “There is no escape from the facility,” she said in a wooden voice, “No one has ever successfully escaped from this facility nor will they.”
I knew a line when I was being fed it. She was telling me plain as day that we were being monitored. Probably by that computer A.I. thingy. I doubted the Blinkys gave enough of a rip to keep an eye on anything.
Then I noticed what T’Vel’s smaller arms were doing. They were making tiny beckoning motions. Come closer. I didn’t really want to. What if she tried to grab me? After all she had no more than a couple minutes before said her specialty was killing things.
But this was the first new thing that had happened to me in months. My days, such as they were, were filled with endless, incomprehensible alien TV shows. I managed to get a little exercise because the cell made me walk on a treadmill that appeared out of the floor once in a while. If I didn’t get on it, the cell would turn off the TV and blow cold air on me until I did. For whatever reason, they wanted to keep me healthy so I would live a long time in my incarceration.
Talk about cruel and unusual punishment. Maybe that’s why they had Earth quarantined. The aliens had found out about lawyers and didn’t want them to spread to the rest of the galaxy.
So, for the sake of novelty, and yeah, a bit of loneliness, I slowly approached the bars.
“If you like, I can arrange for us to play games such as Iggkarnjur, or maybe Kekekekebo,” she said, “Or maybe there are human games you know that you can teach me.”
I stopped just short of where I judged her arms could reach. “Well, my brother could teach you poker, but I never could figure it out myself. Was never much into games. I could probably figure out how to make a checker board, though.”
T’Vel’s little arms beckoned me closer. Her wolf lips were pressed to a thin line. I got a sense of tension in her body. Was she getting ready to spring at me? I could picture her grabbing me and ripping me to pieces through the bars. Would the computer thingy try to stop her? Could it?
I didn’t have any weapons to defend myself. She was about the same height as me, but I had a hunch those bigger arms of hers had a lot more strength than mine.
But I didn’t get any sense that she wanted to kill me. Least, not at the moment. So I took a couple steps closer.
“I will be available for socialization whenever you like,” T’Vel said, “You may request me through the A.I., just ask.
Her little hand made a subtle pointing motion toward her left arm. She moved her big right hand over and clasped the bicep. But her palm was raised in such a way that it made a hood over part of her arm.
I saw a dim light on the iridescent bolt pattern on her arm. Another pattern formed on her arm. Words. Words in english. It took every once of control I ever had to not scream, or faint or even show surprise.
I have a message from Buck, it said.
Twenty-One
A message from Buck! The bastard was alive. And he knew I was rotting away in this alien crap stinking alien prison. For a few seconds I didn’t know whether to be pissed at him, or run up and kiss this freaky looking alien standing in front of my cell.
The alien, one of them lightning bolt skinned ones who smelled deliciously like roasted green chilis, cocked her head to one side, then the other. I swallowed hard. Whoever this T’Vel was, apparently she was my ally now. Unless this was just some way to fake me out. I’d gotten the idea that Buck was kinda famous in certain alien circles. Which meant he probably had a whole barrel of enemies who wouldn’t mind taking me apart to get some secrets about him.
I rubbed my chin and pulled at my scraggly beard. I regarded T’Vel through narrowed eyes. How could I know I could trust her?
She made a tiny nod downward. I looked back to her arm and the hidden spot where the words had appeared. The first line faded. New words appeared.
Trust T’Vel you dang fool, it said. That certainly sounded like my brother. More words appeared. And yeah, it’s me. Mary Sue Revell.
My heart tried to screech to a halt and a wave of heat washed over my face. After a precarious second, my ticker starting pounding like a stampede of longhorns and I took a shaky breath.
Mary Sue Revell.
Okay, yeah, it was Buck all right. He was the only one I’d ever told that mortally embarrassing story to. And he wouldn’t have told no one.
Something whined up behind T’Vel. She whipped around, putting her arm flat against her side. I jumped back as one of them beat up ice chest things flew up to my cell. My new alien buddy moved aside. She stood all stiff-like, the hands of her big arms clasped behind her back.
A flickering light shot out of the bottom of the humming box thing. After a couple seconds, an image formed. It looked like a Blinky. Which one, I had no idea of. It was hard to tell most of them apart.
“Prisoner Roy DeHass,” the Blinky said, “Your presence is required for an interview with Don Command.”
Don Command? My legs tried to turn to jelly. The Dons had figured out I offed one of their guys and now they were here for revenge. That was the only thing I could think of. I glanced over at T’Vel. Not that I could tell if she had any expression, but she didn’t seem to be smiling.
Crap. Crappity crap crap.
“What do they want?” I asked.
For an answer, the flying ice chest spit out a short, gold rod through the bars. It clattered to the metal floor beside me. It was one of them handcuff things. I got a sinking feeling in my gut.
“Place the restraint between your wrists,” the Blinky said, “Noncompliance will be punished.”
I looked from the gold rod to T’Vel. Or where she used to be. My new alien buddy was gone.
So much for getting rescued. I got down to my knees and put my wrists on either side of the rod. The thing buzzed and suddenly my wrists were clamped together tighter than a banker’s wallet.
The bars of my cell slide aside, clink, clink, clinking against each other. I was getting out for the first time in months. Before, I’d just thought I’d gone from the frying pan to the fire. Like pappy liked to say, things can always get worse.
The ice box thing moved in and hovered over me.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, “Raise my hands, blah, blah, blah,”
I raised my hands. How bad was this day going to get?
Twenty-Two
The stupid flying ice chest brought me all the way to the top of the wall of prison cells and across the gorge to the platform. It was a close call on needing to change my pants after that. The Blinky guard, or warden or whatever it was, waited for me at the platform. It didn’t look happy.
The horrible rotten cabbage ammonia cat crap smell was so strong at the top that I could barely breath. The plumbing must have been particularly backed up that day.
The Blinky wouldn’t answer any of my questions. He just led me up through the elevators and tunnels back to the domed room where I’d first arrived. I was thinking I’d never see that place again.
I got ushered across the room to the opposite door. The Blinky grabbed my arm and pulled me down a wide corridor. This area was a little nicer than the rest of the prison. The stone walls and floor were smoother. The lighting was even and warm, cheery even. And the smell was better. The alien crap smell was gone, though the Blinky’s natural rancid ocean smell was still there.
I got pulled past several closed doors. How many Blinkys were here running the place? I had the feeling most of it was automated. This one Blinky was the only non-prisoner I’d seen.
We reached the end of the corridor and the Blinky touched something on his belt and the door at the end swung open. He pushed me through. The room was a smaller version of the domed room at the other end. Except this one didn’t have any other doors. The room was dimly lit. Most of it was in shadow. There were some chairs in the middle of the room and
a large, black rectangle directly in front of them.
“You go sit and be respectful,” The Blinky said.
“What the hell is this?” I asked.
The Blinky’s three eyes blinked furiously. He stabbed a button on his belt. Pain lanced out from the gold rod between my wrists. It went on long enough to send me to the cold stone floor.
“You behave. No questions,” the Blinky said.
I nodded and got to my feet, chest heaving and body shaking. I staggered over to the chairs. There were three in a row. All Blinky sized, of course. I picked the middle one and sat at the edge of it.
The Blinky went off behind a raised counter area off to the side. He slapped something on it and the black rectangle flared to life with the Galactic Union logo.
Suddenly I understood. The Dons weren’t actually here. It would take them months or years to physically get here. But they had instantaneous communications. I was going to get a verbal grilling by the blue tentacle-heads. I relaxed a bit. What could they do to me over the phone, so to speak?
“Hurry up, you imbecile.”
I cranked my head around. From the shadows stepped a figure. A blue, tentacle-headed figure.
That was when I just about soiled my pants. Again.
For a second I thought it was Teh Kovan. I almost jumped up screaming. But I noticed this Don was slimmer and more curved. At it approached, the rancid cat food smell of the thing washed over me. I tried not to gag. I hated the smell of wet cat food. I’d broken up with more than one girlfriend over the issue. And after dealing with these Dons, I was going to hate the smell even more.
I made myself look at the Don, though. The Dons were pretty close to human in terms of how their bodies looked. Two arms, two legs, hips, torso and head. The main thing that set them apart were the blue skin and those scary looking tentacles sprouting from their noggins.
This Don was very obviously female. She had rounded hips, narrow waist and prominent enough boobs that they couldn’t be mistaken for anything else. She wore a black, form-fitting outfit of slacks and long sleeved shirt with flared sleeves that had a vaguely oriental look to it.
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