by C. Swallow
"Finally, we're all here!" the deep, low and grumbly voice echoes through the room and we all turn to face the new guy.
"Traegr," Hraken welcomes him.
Traegr was the tallest, most frightening of them all.
He isn't perfect.
My heart beat kicks up a notch.
He has blonde hair and black eyes, and half his face, neck and shoulder are covered in scars from burns.
"I never thought this day would come, where I'd see all you girls again," he rumbles, scanning over all of us and the boy, however, his eyes come to a resting focus on me... cold, pitiless and full of passion at the same time. But they only focus on me for a moment because they quickly travel to the girl beside me with the blonde hair and silver eyes, "After 1000 years," he continues, now looking up to his fellow males of his race, "We are all reunited."
Reunited?
I think my ears are playing tricks on me. Either I'm crazy or they all are.
Had I met these aliens, these ultra handsome, and ultra dicky, I decide to settle with calling them – Others, before?
...what if I had? What would that mean?
Traegr walks forward to his friends and then takes a seat on a chair he pulls out from a simple table which they were all standing in front of. He sits down to face me and the other captives.
Well, damn.
Whatever was about to happen. Whatever was about to be said. It was going to be huge.
S~5~C
"It's time to have a little chit-chat," Traegr announces, motioning to the girl beside me, "Come on up, Celeste."
The girl with the startling silver eyes just beside me, looks up to meet Traegr's gaze and she automatically gulps, nervous.
"H-How do you know my name?" she asks in a tone that wavers, though she tries her best to appear steady and calm.
With a smirk, Traegr grabs the seat next to him at the silver table and pulls it forward with one hand and plants it in front of him.
"You amuse me like always, Celeste," his voice suddenly turns dangerous though, "But don't play coy with me, even after 1000 years. Now come up here and have a seat," with her eyes darting around the room, Celeste reluctantly gets to her feet.
"What happened to your face?" she asks, and there is slight concern in her tone, like she actually might care for this scary as all hell alien – even if he did appear human.
Traegr goes quiet when she speaks this and Celeste pauses in her advance to the seat opposite him. Standing, she has long slender legs and a model's body, but she is a healthy weight. Her light blonde hair lies down to her waist over the white dress she is wearing. They must have taken her when she was at a dinner party perhaps.
There was something about her that nagged at me though.
I felt like I knew her, but I had never met her before in my entire life.
"Sit down," Traegr orders, ignoring her question about the burn scars that adorned his shoulder, neck and face.
She comes over and gracefully sits down opposite him.
"Traegr," Hraken speaks up, "I don't believe any of them remember anything, they are all, clearly different."
"I see that they are... stranger," Traegr mutters irritably, like Hraken was out of place to speak, "However we need to find out for sure. They are marked, which suggests either two things. These girls are identical genetically to the women we use to have on Kiyr. They are either our women, or they are imprinted, new, forged from the curse of the stars."
"We will only know until we do our tests," Sabir interrupts, gazing over at me as he says this. I just angrily look away towards the holograms of their world. They thought we were from their world? I certainly didn't recognise it. I saw rolling hills and forests of grass that were too green and trees with flowers the colours of rainbows. The whole world looked like it had been masterfully painted. Everything was startling perfect. It all had a surreal feel to it, like it was from a fantasy world, or a divine paradise...
"Pass me the knife," Traegr holds out a hand to Hraken who all too gladly passes him a lethal looking dagger from his belt. I instantly tense. The blade is a shade of metallic baby blue, with a slash of silver and a black metal handle.
Celeste stiffens, like she is about to bolt any second.
"Relax, girl," Traegr speaks surprisingly gently, reassuring her, "I'm not going to hurt you, it's for me."
He grabs the dagger and brings it down onto his palm. She instantly relaxes when she realises she isn't the one going to be cut. He slices a small line across his palm without flinching and holds out his hand towards her.
Every alien in the room goes eerily quiet, with an intense focus.
They had moments they seemed like any other human, but right now, all their concentrated expressions looked completely other worldly. An aura about them seemed to place them in a category above anything ordinary.
Nothing happens as Celeste stares at Traegr's hand.
"What do you want me to do?" she whispers, confused and eyes wide.
"Heal the wound," Traegr prompts her, annoyed she doesn't respond straight away. So, he grabs one of her wrists with his other hand and positions her palm a few inches above his own outstretched, bleeding palm.
Still, nothing happens.
A few silent moments pass when suddenly, beyond fury, Traegr releases her wrist and she snatches her arm back to her chest. His eyes are blazing with raw emotion as he closes his hand, fingers curled in... he heals himself. I watch in shock as the wound heals up on its own as his fingers curl outwards. He then stands up abruptly and faces his men.
"It's over," Traegr snaps, "We thought we found them... we didn't."
With Traegr's back momentarily turned from Celeste, she stands up and hurries back to our group, coming down to kneel beside me, giving me a wide eyed, terrified glance.
"At least we're not dead yet," she whispers to me.
I nod, and I watch Sabir watching my interaction with Celeste.
"My name is Sapphire," I whisper back, "Nice to meet you, Celeste –"
"Permission to take the princess swimming, Traegr?" Sabir suddenly asks with his eyes locked on mine.
"Do what you will," Traegr growls, but he is still pissed off, "I'll send out a message declaring code 36. But Sabir, do not refer to her as a princess. She is not the girl you remember. They are all strangers."
I try to think through everything that's going on, but I am so confused, and I am so thirsty and hungry still. I needed to eat and drink soon or I'd faint from exhaustion.
The men disperse, some leave the room while five come over for the girls and boy, grabbing their arms and leading them out. Traegr does not approach Celeste again, but stays standing with hands on hips, glaring at the holograms on the walls, thinking deeply to himself.
As Sabir approaches me, I stand and remember what I wanted to ask.
"What is code 36?" I question.
"We have rules and regulations on board about the treatment of prisoners," Sabir explains, "Code 36 means we have free reign and say over what to do with the prisoners, particularly that you are no longer as important as we once considered. Now, we'll just find other uses for you," he motions with his eyes for me to start walking to the exit, "Come now. I'm going to do some tests of my own before I decide you really aren't Princess Sapphire. I won't believe it until I see you in the water."
"Swimming?" I ask.
The last thing I wanted to do was swim. I needed energy. Sustenance!
"Exactly, now move," Sabir drops the octave in his tone, and it becomes ultra-masculine. It was super damn sexy but I was too hungry to think about much except staying alive and doing as I was told.
As Celeste had said to me before, we weren't dead. Yet.
If the Others had no more uses for us anymore, we probably didn't have much time left before we become completely disposable.
S~6~C
Sabir leads me down a long corridor and up an elevator to a quiet room filled with a small pool of clear water. Steam fills the room with
a sauna like heat and I watch as Sabir takes off his clothes until he is completely and shamelessly naked. He jumps into the water and disappears under its depths, moments later.
I consider running – but there was nowhere to truly run to.
I hold one elbow with a hand – feeling weak while standing. I was so thirsty.
Sabir slowly comes to the surface after what feels like a time he won't be able to breathe any longer, but he doesn't come up any further than his eyes.
He stares at me – hair glistening black as he very slowly rises his head above the surface of the water.
I stare back at him, very unsure of what to do. Did I have to get in the water? I didn't want to – and he hadn't said anything yet. I felt already the distance between the cultures of his race and my own. Humans would consider this silence awkward and one would expect him to say something.
Instead he just waits, looking at me.
"Umm..." I trail off, "What?"
He tilts his head to the side, slowly smiling, "Are you so forgetful that you would not remember the conversation in the other room? You can't be my Sapphire from so long ago – she was quicker," I feel like he is voicing a challenge in his overly-masculine voice.
"I remember the conversation," I reply, irritated, "I don't want to go swimming."
"So you are just defiant, then?" Sabir slowly stands up to his full height in the pool, water trailing down his muscled torso – the water only comes up to his waist, which meant I would probably have water up to my neck in the pool once fully submerged.
"I am majorly confused, actually," I snap, waving my hand around to point at the space ship's walls, "One second I'm doing homework for school, the next I'm in a spaceship. But yes, defiant is a good word to use," I add, proudly, "Because humans are very independent creatures and we know our own mind. Unlike your kind – which seem to follow orders far too easily. You can't be so superior if you follow each other like sheep –" I stop talking as Sabir all too suddenly starts walking up the stairs of the pool towards me, his eyes narrowed and a freakishly determined look on his face. I freeze in fear as he walks up behind me and puts his hands on my elbows, grabbing them in a warm grip. He bends down to speak into my ear and I gulp down a quickly forming lump in my throat.
I was terrified.
I still didn't know how violent their race was, would he hurt me?
"Males have a hierarchy – we keep to that order. Females – such as yourself, were born to serve us," he says dangerously low, a hair's breadth from my ear. I bite my bottom lip, so far – I was unharmed; just majorly insulted.
"Human females do what we like," I respond through gritted teeth, glaring at the pool. It was far easier speaking back to him when I wasn't staring into his intense alien eyes.
"Some females need to be tamed," Sabir explains with complete honesty but with a hint of menace to his tone, "I will not warn you again. Step into the pool."
"Did the Sapphire you used to know follow your orders so willingly?" I ask back in a challenge.
Sabir quickly spins me around and grabs my chin in one hand.
"Sapphire was always good at playing games," he growls, "Just like you."
"I am not her," I whisper, slowly and clearly, "Get that through your thick head. I just look like her – and for some damn reason our names are the same," I jerk my chin out of his hand and he grabs my free arm once more, walking me backwards into the pool, "let me go," I hiss, struggling to get out of his hold, but he just holds me in a vice like grip. When I nearly slip on the first wet step, he puts an arm around my waist instead and hoists me up against him.
"Careful..." he hisses, walking down the steps and submerging me fully into the water with him. He lets me go and I angrily push away from him, floating back a couple of feet from him. The water was warm and embracing. I glare at Sabir, annoyed that the only clothes I had, were now drenched.
"You were worried that I'd slip," I point out, surprised by him not wanting me to get hurt.
Did he have some trace of human sympathy or empathy within his soul? Maybe.
Sabir doesn't smile and chooses not to respond to my statement.
"Get under the water," he commands instead. Rolling my eyes, I decide to follow this one order. After all – the water was warm and I wanted to do that anyway. I hold my breath and drop down below the surface, feeling quite at home while embraced in the all encompassing liquid.
When I swim back up to the surface I can't help but smile. When I catch Sabir's blank face, and his deep eyes looking at me with confusion... I frown instead.
"What?" I ask.
"Your eyes should have changed colour," he murmurs. I turn around in the water and swim to the edge of the pool – staring into my reflection of the metal wall at the end of the pool. My eyes were the same Sapphire blue.
"Well," I add, happily, "That proves I'm not –" I spin around to see him stalking his way out of the water. Sabir scoops up his clothes and leaves the room, not saying a word "...I'm not her..."
Right.
Sabir was pissed off that he found out that I was not the Princess he thought I was.
Now, what?
I turn around and look at my reflection once more.
My cheeks were pale – my hair was a mess even while wet. I rest my chin on my hands at the edge of the pool. I was tired and confused. I was still scared.
As I wait in the warm water, contemplating what just happened, I start to feel different...
A tingly sensation seems to race up my spine – a shiver. I feel my mind flood with warmth and... some sort of unknown... power?
I look at my reflection again and stop breathing.
My eyes have started to sparkle a light greeny-silver.
Okay... um... crap.
S~7~C
One rogue male finds me swimming alone and orders me to follow him. He places me in a room with a bunch of other females. Then, the next few days on the spaceship are surprisingly uneventful because there is a sombre mood upon all the male aliens. They seem to be preoccupied in meetings or something because all us prisoners are simply fed food and water and don't have much interaction with any of them.
We are also moved to a community area rather than our isolated rooms. Apparently there were different labels for all the prisoners and different sections, because there weren't many prisoners where I had been placed with Celeste originally. In our section were about fifty girls, no boys.
We were all rounded together by lower ranked Others. They stood guard while we all ate and socialised and slept on small singular beds. Quite a few girls had tried to cause trouble or were exceptionally aggressive towards the Others.
Some of the girls were funny when outspoken, speaking witty jokes that made everyone laugh. We didn't get away with much, however. The guards had the authority to restrict food and water to whomever pissed them off.
I've bonded with Celeste in the meantime, we have a silent unspoken connection where we just understand each other. We felt no need to ask about where we were from or what we used to do or like. We're both focused on the situation at hand.
"I swear I've known you from another life," I say for the thousandth time.
"Maybe we did know each other once, Sapphire," she responds the same way like all the other times. We couldn't help repeating ourselves.
We are sitting next to each other on a single bed, resting against the cool wall of the spaceship.
"I think we've got a visitor," I speak up as the guard to the door out to the hall beyond is talking to someone on the other side. I hadn't seen Sabir since the pool and I wondered if it'd be one of those Others; any of the highly ranked ones, or Traegr.
But my expectations are sorely disappointed when an older female, who is exceptionally tall, comes wisping into the room.
I mean, I guess it was interesting for the simple fact that we hadn't seen any female Others before.
"Alright girls!" as the woman addresses us, her voice echoes around the room with instant power
and authority. Everyone shuts up and tunes in to what news she has to bring. We all watch as she comes to stand in the middle of the room - to address all of us equally, "Listen to me! We are about to arrive on Kiyr, a sacred, powerful and beautiful world. You've all been assigned to be workers at the Golden Palace," excited whisperings go around the room. Finally we have some news, something about our future was finally being revealed to us, "Don't be mistaken - you are still expendable. So do as you are told and learn to be the best you can be in your roles. You are not entitled to any rights on Kiyr except the right to choose. I suggest you choose the path of least resistance, if you want to live a long and happy life," she is extremely condescending in tone, which clearly irks one of the girls closest to her because that girl interrupts, yelling out, "I thought we were special, why are we considered better than the rest of the prisoners?"
"You are not special, dear," The woman snaps, before sighing in annoyance, "It is the men's decree that you lot be placed at the palace due to sentimental value. However, don't be mistaken, you are not special. You are not what we wanted or what we needed. But we will make do with you for now. Everyone line up from tallest to shortest - I will be assigning each of you your new roles. Hurry up, we are about to land and you all need to know where you'll be sleeping."
I glance to Celeste with annoyance and she returns my look identically. This did not sound like fun. At least we weren't assigned to be executed. At least in slavery we'd stay alive for a bit longer.
As the girls slowly line up, you can feel an air of defiance filter through the minds of all the human girls present. Would we accept our roles as slaves so easily?
We had no choice at the moment but to follow with what was said. I had a feeling... though... that on the ground the vibe would change and rebellion would begin.
Celeste and I were quieter about our thoughts on rebellion, not wanting to bring too much attention back on us just yet. We sure as hell didn't want to submit to an alien race consisting mostly of males who were far too arrogant for their own good, but we didn't want to try anything risky until we got to know our situation a little better.