by Melody Adams
"Sturdy? And you had to debate that for so long?"
"No. After we agreed who should leave, we talked about our strategy and what Freedom should say in his speech. We also had a short video call to the president, but it took almost an hour for the link to be made. We also talked about the Jinggs. We want to make a joint advance into the jungle soon with some Breeds from the East-Colony. They were attacked again and the blue devils really upset the settlement. It had been thought for several hours that one of the female soldiers had been kidnapped because she was missing, until they finally found out that she had flown back to Earth in the morning with a shuttle."
"Oh dear," Jessie said. "That must have kept everyone in suspense. – But at least she was safe and not kidnapped. I don't want to imagine what the savages would do to a woman if they got their hands on one."
"That's why I don't want you to venture out of the village. It's too dangerous as long as we haven't solved the problem with the Jinggs."
Pain
"Bring him over here," said Dr. Muller, and my guards escorted me to a metal chair.
A guard told me to take off my shirt. I pulled it over my head and threw it in the bastard's face.
I sat down and tried not to think too much about what Dr. Muller would do with me this time. It didn't help anyway. She wouldn’t take my fears and concerns into consideration, and simply do whatever she had on the agenda. She was unscrupulous – without conscience. Sometimes I even had the feeling that she enjoyed when she could inflict pain on me. I knew that they had drugs that would take away my pain. Before Dr. Muller appeared on the scene, another doctor had carried out the experiments with me. Dr. Potter had always given me a drug that had numbed the pain. I couldn't tell why Dr. Muller didn't use it, but she didn't seem interested in making the procedure more pleasant for me. I wish, one day I could get my hands on her and let her taste her own medicine. I wanted her to suffer as much as I did. Especially, because of my son.
They strapped my wrists and ankles to the chair and additionally fastened a belt around my middle. A mat was placed over my lap, and then one of the assistants came up with a device I hadn’t seen before. From one end of the device, a jet of flame came out.
"Begin," said Dr. Muller. "But only his arm!"
I stared at the flame when I realized what they were going to do. Sweat gathered on my forehead, as I tried to adjust to what would inevitably happen. The assistant came closer with the flame, but before it reached my arm, he turned his gaze to the side – probably because the coward didn't want to see what he was doing. The flame hit my upper body instead of my arm. Burning pain made me roar.
"Idiot," screamed Dr. Muller. "I said the arm, damn it!"
A nurse came with a bucket of water and poured it over my chest, extinguished the flames. The smell of burnt hair and skin was in the air and the assistant with the flame device vomited over Dr. Muller's coat. In spite of my pain I couldn’t resist a grin.
Dr. Muller went off like a banshee and went for the assistant. The device, from which the flame came, fell to the ground and only the fast reaction of one of the guards prevented that the garbage can, standing nearby, caught fire. The man switched off the flame and held the assistant by his arm as he tried to escape from Dr. Muller.
"Let me go," the assistant yelled. "It was an accident. It ... it won't happen again. – I swear!"
Dr. Muller came closer to the man; her face distorted with rage, and pulled the gun that was hanging from the guard's belt.
"No! Please! Please don't! It was..." screamed the assistant, until the bullet, that hit him in the middle of his forehead, cut off the word. With his eyes wide open, he collapsed and remained motionless.
"Get him out of here," said Dr. Muller in disgust.
The guards picked up the dead assistant and carried him out of the room. Dr. Muller also disappeared, and I was alone with the second assistant and the nurse. Both were pale and stood still in one corner of the room. I was too tied up to be able to free myself. I couldn't move much more than my toes. The burn on my chest hurt like hell, but the assistant's death gave me some satisfaction.
After a while, both Dr. Muller, and the two guards came back. Dr. Muller had put on a fresh coat and stood in front of me.
"What do we do with you now? I actually wanted to carry out the experiment on your arm. She palpated my chest and I moaned in pain. "Hmm. The wound is not deep enough anyway. So we go on as planned."
I bit my teeth together. No words could describe the hatred I felt for this witch. Imagining her death was one of my favorite pastimes.
"Continue with the experiment," she said to the remaining assistant.
The man looked as if he was about to vomit, but he pulled himself together and grabbed the burner that the guard had put on the table. With trembling fingers he turned on the device and a flame appeared.
"You burn with the flame from wrist to elbow – always up and down until I say stop. – Do you understand that?"
The assistant nodded. He came closer and after a short hesitation he pointed the flame at my arm. I bit my teeth together, but the pain became unbearable. I screamed and tried to squirm in my restraints – but in vain! The flame ate itself deeper and deeper into my flesh. With my teeth clenched, I threw my head back. I hoped it would be over soon. Then – finally – I heard Dr. Muller's sharp voice: "Stop – that's enough!"
"Stop! – That's enough! Wake up, Pain!" Holly's voice penetrated through my relived memory.
I opened my eyes, blinking, and met Holly's worried look.
"Wow! Whatever you saw, it must have been pretty intense. I've never seen anything like it before. You almost fell off the couch from throwing yourself back and forth."
It took me a moment to remember that I was in Holly's practice, and that she had hypnotized me to observe me when I had a flashback.
"Did it work, Holly?" I asked, when she removed the electrodes attached to my head and chest.
"I'll have to do a thorough computer evaluation first."
She helped me off the couch and handed me my shirt. I slipped it on and saw her pull a long strip of paper out of a device. I didn't know exactly what it was; only it had something to do with my brain waves.
"How are you, Pain?" She asked as she turned to me. "Are you all right? Would you like a glass of water?"
"Don't you have something stronger?" I asked.
Holly put a finger to her lips, considering. Then she opened a drawer in her desk and took out a bottle of cognac.
"But don't tell anyone," she whispered, giggling softly. "That remains our secret!"
She filled us two glasses, handed me one, and we sat down. I took a deep gulp from my glass. The alcohol burned a warm trace down my throat to my stomach. Slowly I relaxed, and the flashback receded into the background.
"Better?" Holly asked and I nodded.
"Yes, thank you. Much better."
"Tell me what you saw!"
I told her about the day when Doctor Muller shot her assistant and my forearm had been burned to the bone. If the report frightened Holly, she didn't let anything on. Only now and then did she take a sip of her cognac. After I had finished, she emptied the rest of her glass, and I did it after her.
"What was the test for? What were they trying to do?" Holly wanted to know.
"They tested a new drug that causes missing muscle and flesh to regenerate. It took two weeks and my arm almost looked like new – only the newly grown flesh had a lighter color. See?" I gave her my arm to show her what I meant.
"Even for me as a psychologist, it's hard to understand how people can be capable of this," she said.
She stared into her empty glass and sighed.
"I could use another one," she said. "What about you?"
"I wouldn’t say no," I replied and gave her my glass.
Chapter 6
Julia
"We shouldn't go too far away from the village," said Diamond, looking around suspiciously.
"It's only
a little bit further," I said. "I was here with Pain once when he showed me the Bajakas. I hope the plant is still there. I stopped and looked around. "It should be behind the next bend."
We went on, Diamond always paying attention to our surroundings. When we got around the bend, I saw them. Exactly how I had remembered it. Blue flowers floating on the water like water lilies. Out of the blossoms there was a stalk about thirty centimeters long with another flower that looked like a carnivorous plant. Fascinated, I approached closer and knelt down on the shore. I pulled a glove out of my pocket and put it on, then stretched out my hand to pull one of the plants close.
"Damn it," I heard Diamond curse behind. "Jinggs!"
She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me with her. We ran back the way we had come. My heart raced wildly and I prayed quietly that we could escape the Jinggs. From the corners of my eyes I could sometimes see blue shadows between the trees. They hunted us. Then they suddenly cut us off, and we came to an abrupt stop.
"That's too many," I whispered in horror. I looked at Diamond from the side, she had put on a face of grim determination.
"Stay close behind me," she said quietly and stood in front of me, protecting me. The Alien Breed woman was a lot bigger and more muscular than me, but the Jinggs were six. We didn't stand a chance. They began to encircle us, communicating with each other with strange sounds. It seemed to be true that they had no real language. They weren't as wide as the Alien Breeds, but they seemed strong and thoroughly fit. Not a gram of fat was visible on their bodies. They wore short leather skirts similar to a kilt, and had tattoos on their blue bodies. The most scary thing, however, were the yellow eyes.
"When I say NOW, you make a run for it," Diamond whispered to me. "Run back to camp. Alert the males!"
"I can't leave you alone," I replied without letting the slowly approaching Jinggs out of my eyes.
"You're not strong enough to fight, but you're fast. You are our only hope to get reinforcements," Diamond explained. "I don't think they want to kill me. They want females. They will take me to their village. The males will free me, so don't worry about me. I know how to survive in captivity!"
Diamond, like all Alien Breeds, had spent her life in captivity in the hands of DMI, until she was freed ten years ago. Still, I shook at the thought that she might fall into the hands of these blue-skinned savages. I didn't even want to imagine what they would do to her.
"NOW," she shouted and stormed with a war cry towards the stunned looking Jinggs.
I fought with my guilty conscience to leave Diamond alone, but she was right – it was our only chance, otherwise both of us would be captured. The Jinggs, confused for a moment, all stared at Diamond. I ran off as fast as I could, stumbling over roots and stones, but managed not to fall and keep running. It didn't take long, and I heard footsteps behind me. I didn't dare to turn around – instead I just kept running. The settlement wasn't far and I started yelling for help at the top of my lungs. To my horror, my followers seemed to slowly catch up.
"Heeeelp!" I screamed desperately.
I stumbled out of the forest into the meadow that separated the village from the jungle. A hissing sounded, and then I felt a sharp pain in my calf. Screaming, I went to the ground. The Jinggs were suddenly above me, although their faces suddenly seemed blurred. There were two of them. One of them bent down and raised me onto his arms. My limbs were powerless and I became dizzy. I heard a shout in the distance, probably from the village. They must have heard me. My field of vision became more and more blurred. I could barely see the face of the Jinggs above me.
A snake bite, I realized with horror, and then I lost consciousness.
Pain
I stopped working when I heard a cry for help. Steel and I were repairing a hole in the fence. Steel had also heard the scream. Both of us turned our heads to look across the meadow to the forest. My heart stopped beating at the sight in front of me. Julia came running out of the forest and two Jinggs were after her.
"Fuck," I cried out, threw the wire cutter to the ground and run along the fence towards the path leading out of the village. Steel followed me, cursing and growling. Because of the high fence we had a considerable detour to take and I roared angrily. Keeping my eyes on Julia as she run, I saw her go down with a scream.
"Noooo," I shouted at the top of my voice. "Juliaaaaaa!"
One of the Jinggs bent over Julia and picked her up. He threw her over his shoulder and both Jinggs ran back into the forest.
Steel and I ran at full speed, and more people from the village, alarmed by the hustle and bustle, came running over. My heart was racing like crazy. It wasn't the strain of the chase that made it beat faster, but fear. Fear, that I wouldn’t be able to save Julia. Pictures of my son came up as he had looked at me with big eyes before the guard broke his neck. It couldn’t be! I wasn’t allowed to fail again! I didn’t want to live anymore if I couldn’t save her. Why hadn’t I told her how I felt about her? Why had I hurt her over and over again? Now perhaps I’d never get the chance again to confess my love to her, to ask her for forgiveness. Tears of anger and despair clouded my vision. I yelled out my anger when I stormed into the jungle. Steel was close behind me.
"Where are they?" He asked and only now did I realize that I had been running blindly. In my haste, I could destroy their tracks – maybe already had.
I stopped abruptly. Steel stopped next to me and I heard the shouts of those who had followed us.
"She's gone," Steel said. "Our only chance is to find their tracks."
"What happened?" Asked Sturdy, who had just broken through the bushes.
"The Jinggs! They kidnapped Julia," I explained desperately.
"What?" Hunter interfered.
A horrified cry sounded behind Hunter, and Pearl stepped out behind her mate.
"Oh my God," she sobbed and Hunter comfortingly put an arm around her. "Do something! We have to save her!"
"Diamond is gone too. She was last with Julia," said Rage. "At least Julia is not alone. Diamond will do everything to protect her."
"It will soon be dark," Sturdy said, looking up at the sky. "We have to gather and come up with a plan. Tomorrow, at the first light, we leave with a rescue team."
"She might be already dead by then," I said grimly. "I follow her now. You will follow tomorrow!"
"I understand your concern, but you could destroy important tracks," Hunter interfered. "Soon, you won't be able to see anything anyway. It's really getting dark in these woods. The best chance for us to save Julia and Diamond is to wait until tomorrow morning. I don't think they will hurt the females either. They may be savages, but I think they're just targeting our females. Maybe they don't have enough."
"If one of these blue animals touches Julia," I growled before my voice broke.
"They won't attack her right away. Tomorrow in the morning we'll chase after them," Steel reassured.
Julia
I awoke from a piercing pain in my calf, and sat up abruptly. A strange beast hung from my leg, its teeth embedded deep in my flesh. I screamed and wanted to kick my leg, but several blue hands grabbed me and held me tight.
"Calm," a voice whispered in my ear. "Let the Grrollupp do its work."
"What...? Where am I? What is ... What happened?"
My brain tried to make sense of everything, but thinking was difficult. I felt fuzzy, although I knew I was wide-awake.
"In our village," the voice explained calmly. "A skirr bit you in the leg. The Grrollupp sucks the poison out of your blood. The bite of the skirr is fatal if the poison is not sucked off."
"The snake," I murmured, slowly remembering what had happened. Diamond. The Jinggs. The bite. My heart began to beat anxiously. What were these savages up to with me? Where was Diamond and why did the Jingg speak English?
The longer the strange animal, which looked a bit like an oversized green mole, sucked on my bite, the more my head cleared and the pain in my limbs disappeared. Finally, the creature let go of my
leg and jumped away. The Jinggs who had held me, also rose and left me alone with the Jingg sitting behind me.
I turned to the Jingg and tried not to show my fear. The man looked at me with his yellow eyes, which didn't seem so scary from up close. All in all, the Jingg was handsome in an exotic way.
"Where's my friend – Diamond?"
"She's with the Oggrul."
"The what?"
"The leader."
"Is she ... unharmed?" I tried to find out. The Jingg seemed ready to answer my questions and I wanted to find out as much as possible.
"The only thing hurt is her pride," the Jingg replied, laughing softly.
"How do you know our language and can everyone here speak English?"
"We have studied you for a long time. Learning languages is easy for us. But not everyone here speaks your language."
I took the time to take a closer look around the room I was in, and found, that I had to be in a cave below the ground or in a mountain. A rock ceiling was enthroned above us and blue crystals were hanging down from the ceiling. They seemed to illuminate the cave. That is why the village hadn’t been found before. It was well hidden.
"Why were we kidnapped?" I wanted to know.
"We need females," the Jingg explained unconcernedly.
Just as Diamond had suspected.
"But..."
"Enough talk," the Jingg interrupted me and rose. He grabbed me by the arm and helped me to my feet. "I'll take you to my quarters."
"No," I screamed in horror, trying to free myself from his grip.
The Jingg grasped more firmly, and I cried out in pain.
"I'm not going to hurt you, but if you give me trouble, I will. Do you understand that?"
I nodded hastily and the grip on my arm disappeared. I stood there with a pounding heart and rubbed the painful spot. The Jingg gave me one last, examining look, and then he walked towards the exit. Obviously expecting me to follow him. I was tempted to just stubbornly stay where I was, but the short demonstration had shown me that my kidnapper would not hesitate to inflict pain on me. I had no advantage of staying in that room anyway, as the only way out was the one the Jingg had just disappeared through. Hastily, I hurried after him.