by Lara LaRue
I hurried to the door and started banging on it. I slid my hands along every crack I could find, but there was nothing there that would allow it to open. Frustrated, and with my heart hammering in my chest, I pressed my back against the wall and prepared for the worst.
My life flashed before me—the small cubicle I had occupied in my downtown Manhattan office, my apartment in Brooklyn where I spent almost every hour not spent at work, my PTSD group meeting that had the remainder of my life and had become a vital necessity after my parents had crashed and died, leaving me an orphan. I didn’t have much of an active social life, and at that moment, I felt sad I might disappear from the face of the earth, or this planet anyway, and I could quite easily be forgotten.
“Alternate decontamination will begin in five… four… three…”
My heart roared in my chest and echoed in my ears as my chest heaved. When Sari got to “one,” I closed my eyes and pressed my hands into the wall. There was a loud beeping sound before I felt something wet on me. It was landing on my skin in sheets, and I dared open my eyes. It was water. I looked up and saw it coming down from the ceiling, and though I was scared before, I calmed, and slowly my breathing resumed normalcy.
“You could have just said that!” I shouted to the walls and wiped my hands down my face. “Alternate decontamination.”
It had been days since I had taken a shower, and I welcomed the feel of the water on my skin. My clothes were slowly getting drenched, but I didn’t care. It was at that moment I thought I’d return to the “cleansing pod” for additional “decontamination.” I smiled at the idiocy I had just displayed and then looked around, wondering if anyone might have been privy to my shame.
No matter. The deed was already done.
I hastily stripped my clothes off, even as the water sagged my head of black curls now resting limp on my shoulder. It was raining indoors, and I smiled at the thought as I stepped into the unit. Instantly, the water outside stopped, and it started raining inside the unit instead.
I stood there for a considerable amount of time, allowing the water to wash away the feel of the man’s hand on me as he had dragged me to this house right after he’d bought me at the auction. I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I knew the purpose for which I was brought to that house. Apparently, the women of Earth were abducted for the main goal of being slaves to the people of this planet. I didn’t plan on making it easy.
I was still splashing water on my face and raking my scalp of the unwelcomed dirt when the water stopped abruptly.
“Decontamination complete,” came Sari’s voice again.
“Damn,” I said, as I stepped outside the pod. “You people really need to learn some decency,” I muttered, as I stood there hugging myself and wearing a blank expression on my face, wondering what to do next. The water from my hair kept running down my skin and through small openings in the floor I hadn’t noticed earlier.
“Sa-Sari?” I called and shrugged. “What do I wear?” Might as well give it a try. At the moment, she was my best friend.
“Proceed to the linen chamber while I scan for your measurements,” she instructed, and once more an opening appeared in the wall.
“It would be so easy to hide someone here,” I observed aloud.
“The walls are two feet thick and have a depth of three feet into the ground, surrounded by tungsten metal. Not large enough to fit anyone.”
“Well… thank you for that tidbit,” I replied, amused she had felt the need to respond.
“What’s a tidbit?”
“Never mind,” I told her as I went to the chamber, this time less bashful than my first attempt with the cleansing pod. I stood in a small, cramped space as an object, like a laser, moved toward me and scanned my body. I staggered when I felt the ground move underneath me as the stand started revolving.
“Scan complete. Please wait for your suit.”
After a few minutes and me dripping all over the floor, a pulley rolled out, and a neatly folded piece of cloth rested on it. I took it and it rolled back, and I stepped back into the larger room.
I still needed to dry off, so I went back to the pod and moved my hand around until I actually found a button. I pressed it and out rolled another lever, this time bearing what appeared to be towels. I took one and began drying my already wrinkling skin before stepping into the all-white bodysuit. It fit perfectly, like it had been made for me.
My stomach, as if acknowledging my body was now clean and I needed to tend to other urgent matters, began to growl. I pressed my palm there and looked around the room. “Sari, where can I get some food?”
“Right this way,” was her response as the glass door that had held me prisoner slid open. I looked around and just then noticed everything was very white; it seemed they took cleanliness very seriously. There was a white sectional in the center of the room and then a few more cushioned stools handsomely placed around. There was a table in front of the sectional with a glass vase on top. It was filled with the most beautiful white wisteria flowers.
There was a large screen positioned in the wall, which had a blank screen. The carpeting was plush, perhaps what mink felt like, and I sank my toes into it as I enjoyed the feel. The home was lovely. But no matter; this wasn’t a place I wanted to be in, and I would find a way back to mine, if even to the miserable existence I was drifting through, content in the fact it was misery of my creation and not instead an imposition.
Sari led me to the kitchen, which, like every other room I’d seen so far, had everything hidden from view, neatly tucked away inside the walls. Or beneath me. A screen came to life as I stood there, and several meal options slid across the screen like a menu you would see at a fast food restaurant. My eyes barely got a chance to register the first set when others came into view, until I just named one of them I saw. After I did, the screen went black, and a few minutes passed before an opening emerged in the kitchen wall above the counter and a glass of some sort of juice came out. I took it, sniffed, and then cocked my head to the side.
“Well, the house hasn’t killed me yet,” I said and placed the glass to my lips. It wasn’t bad either, and in short order, the glass was empty. Another five minutes had passed before the entire meal rolled out, and without thinking, I stood there and gobbled it down, barely noticing the taste.
When I was full, I left the plate on the countertop before returning to the other section of my all-white prison. The day was spent between growing increasingly bored and returning to Sari for distraction.
“Sari, what is this place?” I asked her.
“This is the Planet Jupiter. It has a population of seven million, eight hundred, and fifty-seven thousand in five main cities.”
“How do I leave?”
“The doors.”
I started laughing at her reply and then stopped when I began to feel guilty for the act. I wasn’t supposed to be laughing in a place like this. I decided to make my question more specific.
“How do I get back to Earth?” I asked and waited for another sardonic reply.
“That matter will have to be referred to Sekkol, master of this house.”
Right. So that’s what his name is. Interesting. I sat there in silence for a long time, anxious for the return of this Sekkol, and when evening came and I saw the door slide open, I stood, ready to meet him.
Chapter 8 / Sekkol
I leaned against the door after it clicked shut and closed my eyes as I tried to brace myself. Immediately, her image flashed across my mind. The soft, dark curls that bounced on her shoulders seemed to spring with every step she took. Her skin was darker than mine and the others I had seen before. It resembled the sands of the Desert Epoch.
I remembered the frightened look she’d had when she first stepped off the vessel. She had just arrived from Earth with the newest batch of humans who would be sold as slaves. Her eyes were bright and seemed to dazzle even more than the sun, and she had staggered, unable to walk fully upright because of the shackles
around her. Despite the filthy clothing she wore, she had been like a mirage, cool, inviting, and unexpected, and when I had tried to blink it back into extinction, I had felt the sting of recognition. I had unwittingly imprinted on her, and she was now mine, even though she didn’t know it. Only that was now my folly, for unions with the humans was forbidden by law.
I clenched my fists as I opened my eyes and shoved off to join Brom, one of the members of the elite squad I headed. He was waiting for me at the bottom of the steps with a questioning look on his face. Though I was his secondary commander, we were more friends than the other two members making up the four-member team referred to as Enforcers. We all were a branch of the police force of Anon, the city I lived in, supervised by the Lord Commander Styx. The man was cold, harsh, calculating, and brutal and carried a long-standing grudge against me.
“Do you think that was a good idea?” Brom asked as I got to him, referring to the fact I had bought the human at the auction, with his help, for two gold pieces. Even more than they were commonly sold for, but I had to ensure I would not be outbid.
I clenched my jaw and checked the weapon attached to my waist. “It had to be done,” was all I said. He didn’t persist with the questioning, we were friends, but I was also his superior as the son and heir of Lord Magnus, Supreme Ruler of Jupiter. “Where are Gideon and Thorax?” They were the other pair that completed my team.
“Commander Styx has them over at the Great Pike,” he replied as we got to the hovercraft.
I grimaced as I looked at the building where my father and the members of the Tribunal resided. I had met him for breakfast earlier, and he had instantly felt I had imprinted. He, of course, wanted to meet the woman, the human I could not introduce, and Jupiter’s potential legacy. And I didn’t even know her name.
“What’s going on there?” I asked him.
“Tribunal making an announcement,” Brom replied and looked at me strangely. “Lord Styx said he mentioned it to you before. Are you okay, Sekkol?” he asked.
I had forgotten our earlier encounter, but then, I always tried to forget everything having to do with the Lord Commander. At present, I’d rather be guarding the prison than be in his company.
“Right,” I said and hopped onto the hovercraft. “I thought that was over,” I added, making a measly attempt at covering my emotional tracks. This was not like me, and just the idea that she would be there when I returned home unnerved me.
“I think it is. I saw one of the members of the council just now. Also, I checked while I was waiting, and the command log shows some activity taking place in Centry,” he added.
Centry was one of the districts in Anon, and it had been quite busy lately with petty criminal activity. Brom had a look on his face, like he had something else to say but was nervous, because he kept shifting from one leg to the other.
“What is it?” I asked when I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
“If Lord Magnus finds out about the human, he will—”
“It is none of your concern, Brom,” I said through gritted teeth. “Just let it go.” I held his eyes with my own and forced him to back down, and his arms came up in surrender. “As far as Lord Magnus is concerned, she is my slave, and that’s still allowed.”
Brom only nodded as he hopped onto the hovercraft behind me. I tapped the screen, where the disturbance in Centry popped up, and a micro image appeared, revealing a small gathering of sorts.
“Here we go again,” I muttered and tapped the action confirmed button before kicking the hovercraft into motion. “Brom, get Gideon and Thorax over there as well,” I told him without looking behind.
“Of course,” he replied as he tapped the passenger screen and sent the instructions. “It says they are already at the location.”
“Good,” I replied and whizzed down the street, appreciating the roar of the wind in my ears as it slapped at my face.
It didn’t take us long to get there, and the craft hovered above the heads of the gathering that was already swelling.
“Wonder what it is today,” Brom said as I lowered the scooter and he hopped off.
“Let’s go find out,” I replied.
We were frequently in Centry, making raids and disarming militant rebels, albeit few in number but ever constant. It was one of the only districts where violence was largely practiced still, and the one that gave my men too much pleasure visiting. At present, it proved to be a most welcomed distraction.
As with so many days before, there was a brawl developing. There was a man standing in the middle of the crowd, wielding a dagger in his hand, seemingly trying to stave off an attack from the throng. Some men were pressing forward, trying to get close to the man to disarm him, but he moved too quickly and in constant revolutions, so it seemed impossible to get to that point.
“Back off,” he was heard saying. “I didn’t do anything to that woman.” His eyes were red and wild, and his long hair flew all around each time he turned.
“Just let me get my hands on you,” another man shouted as he tried to press forward. He instantly jumped back when the wild-eyed man lunged at him.
“What’s going on here?” I asked as I pressed through the crowd. A few faces turned to mine, and then a path opened.
The man with the dagger shrank before me. “Master Sekkol, these men accuse me of assaulting a woman, but I didn’t do it,” he told me. His hands were still guarded, and his eyes continued to roam the crowd. “I never done it,” he repeated.
“Where is the woman?” I asked him.
“She isn’t here,” the man hurried to say. “That’s what I’m saying. I didn’t do anything, so there is no one to be here.”
“Here she is,” a voice said from the back as I felt something brush against me and saw a woman stumble past. She fell onto the surface of the street, and the people at the brim of the crowd receded.
She looked around and then scurried away from the man and closer to me.
“Has this man done anything to you?” I asked her. She nodded and then whimpered, her hands folding before her defensively.
I looked back at the man, who was shaking his head profusely. “I never done it,” he repeated.
“What did he do?” I asked the woman next to me. I noticed how she was determined to stay away from him, even though it meant being closer to me.
“He forced himself on me,” she replied, and her quivering had become visible.
“No, no, no,” the man denied. But it had become evident to me he had in fact done something, and a punishment was now warranted. I had not yet determined what kind to mete out when I saw Lord Styx approaching. I gritted my teeth and sank my feet into the earth. Brom stepped closer to me in a show of support, as he was prone to do.
“What is the crime?” Styx asked as he stepped into the ring that had formed around us.
“Rape,” I replied while shooting daggers at him with my eyes. “But I have it covered.”
“Do you?” he asked, intent on challenging me.
“I do,” I told him. My legs were apart, and I bore the same military stance Brom had displayed earlier. There was a slight wind, and my hair fluttered on my shoulder and tickled my neck.
“And what have you decided?” he asked me. It wasn’t unusual for him to display his arrogance in public, but I was not in the mood to entertain him today.
“I’ll take him in and have him fried,” I told our Lord Commander. That was a process that would have him chained by his hands and feet and left in a chamber, heat radiating through him until his color turned.
“Oh,” Styx replied and walked over to the man. “He is going to get fried.” He said that with such disdain I wanted to fry him instead. Or worse.
I folded my hands behind me as Gideon and Thorax came into view and stood close by. “That’s what I said.”
“Now that’s not the Sekkol I know,” he said as if in sermon to the crowd. “The Sekkol that we know would want nothing but disintegration for the slightest vagrancy,�
� he said.
Though detestable, the audience nodded and then jerked when I flashed a warning look at them. But Styx wasn’t doing that to show me up. No. He had a point he was itching to make, and so I waited for it.
“I don’t think he should be fried for rape. What say you?” he asked the crowd now. They chanted, fists pumping in the air and echoing Styx’s suggestion.
I couldn’t argue with his logic just because my head was messed up. I stood there, teeth gritted, as he went over to the man, produced his conical laser, and lifted his hand in the air. The man cried out, using his hands as a shield against the blue light that disappeared inside him when Styx brought his hand down. The first sign of the man’s death was the blood that fell, like an anvil, on the ground. And then he crumpled to the floor. Styx shielded his laser once more and stood before me.
“You are getting weak, Sekkol,” he said, taunting me like he always did. But it had nothing to do with the lifeless body lying in the street only a few feet from where we stood. “I don’t know what she ever saw in you.”
And there it was. He had been carrying a longtime grudge against me because I had refused his sister’s advances. He knew his position held no sway over me, but he used every opportunity he could find to undermine me. At the moment, his sister was the fuel he desperately needed.
“Maybe you need to retire to the Great Pike and let the real men handle the street work.” Styx continued and came before me, his shadow blocking out the sun.
But I would not be intimidated. I took two steps and stopped him in his path. “Lord Commander,” I said through clenched teeth. “You have a body in the street that needs removing.” I stared him down until he backed away.
“Someone get rid of that,” he said angrily as he backed away and tore through the already thinning circle of onlookers.
A drone appeared after a few minutes, and the remains of the man were shoveled inside before it buzzed off. I gathered my men after that, as we had separated the throng of onlookers. Lord Styx had already disappeared, though his presence had not been needed at all. We got back to the hovercraft, and I scanned the log for any other active duty we had been assigned; there were several.