On her first attempt at the game, Sonia considered the color when determining which piece to select, believing the silver ones were only a fraction of the strength as the deep bronze-colored ones. By the shock she had received it was proven to be an irrelevant factor. The primary problem with the sadistic game was that each piece was more than likely already programmed for Tilhar, despite what she was led to believe. After losing numerous times, she decided that it was better to be beaten and starved rather than take part in the sick game. Tilhar decided to give her an incentive to play, a reward if she made the correct choice. She was made to believe that out of the hundreds of pieces on the display, one piece was unprogrammed. Finding that one piece was the way to her freedom. She didn’t believe it to be true and there was no one to make him stay true to his word. The result of picking up the wrong piece would certainly mean that a powerful jolt of electricity would go through her body and possibly kill her. Perhaps it would end the misery, which would be a positive unintended consequence.
On two prior occasions, the electrical current was intense enough to send her body immediately to the ground as every muscle in her body intensely hardened and convulsed upon contact. While in the fetal position, which increased her grip on the metal, removing the fist-sized metal from her clenched hands had been nearly impossible and not doing so would have meant certain death. The pain was excruciating and releasing her grip was impossible. She recalled waking up in her room hours later bruised from head to toe and unable to move. Sonia believed that if it were to happen this time it would certainly mean her death. Perhaps there was something after life was over.
Sonia decided that she had no choice. It was going to happen no matter how long she delayed and lied to herself about having hope. She was in no way confident about finding the right piece and doubted that it existed. With eyes closed, she shoved her hand forward. To the left, a piece that she had just passed over due to its large size, fell from the display and made a loud clinking noise as it collided with the metal floor. The piercing sound caused her to open her eyes and turn to the source. A deep bronze cylindrical piece about two inches wide and six inches long with a jagged edge on one end and was flat on the other, was rolling to a stop near her feet. It was not a piece she would ever have chosen. An unexplainable voice in her mind told her that it was the one. Instinctively she knelt to retrieve it as Tilhar immediately leaped from his chair moving as quickly as his long legs could carry him across the room in a desperate attempt to stop her. His reaction was far different from the other times she had played his game. Sensing his urgency, Sonia immediately threw herself on top of the metal. Only, this time, the bronze-toned piece didn’t shock her, but was hot to the touch and gave a brief, mild burning sensation to the fingers that were wrapped around it. Was it possible that fate had dealt her a winning hand and she was holding the right piece?
Tilhar was making the clicking sounds she associated with anger. When he reached her, Tilhar raised his big hand to strike her down. The metal cooled and Sonia thrusted the pointed end over her head for protection. He struck her from the side knocking her into the side of the display. There was a bright flash of light and she looked up to see that his three-fingered hand was sliced from the wrist outward between two fingers during the process. She held tight to the metal. Tilhar moved to where she was and prepared to strike her again. For the first time, Sonia’s fear abated. The mighty Tish leader was injured, and she could see as much fear as anger in the black eyes of her captor. There was, unexplainably, a sense of confidence. Something in her very being stirred and she knew that this was her moment. The opportunity she had been waiting for. Enough was enough and in an act of self-defense, Sonia lunged toward Tilhar and drove the metal through the center of her master’s three-toed right foot before he could strike again. Upon impact, the metal cut effortlessly through his foot and dug into the metal floor. Bright white light lit up the darkened room. The elongated eyes were almost perfectly round and protruding from the sockets. The tip of the rod broke off when Tilhar violently jerked back in desperation to escape. This was a reversal of roles. Now, she was in control. She stood as her former master moved back and made strange and loud sequences of noises of insufferable pain and anguish as she had done so many times. His long body gyrated and shook violently as he fell to the metal floor. It was wonderful to behold as the tables had turned and now, she would watch Tilhar suffer. He would receive no pardon. This was no time for chivalry, he needed to die at all costs. A part of her wanted to stand over him, look in the deep green marble pupils, and laugh as he died with her face being the last thing the worthless trafficker would ever see. For the moment, she didn’t care about being caught, or put to death. It was all about Tilhar for now. The putrid smell of his burning organs polluted the air as steam shot out of every orifice. The green epidermis turned to dark gray. The eyes collapsed and foam seeped from the sockets. She could see the broken piece of metal as it burned its way through his body, traveling toward the head destroying what must have been Tilhar’s vital organs. After several minutes of the glorious display, her former master stopped moving and was dead.
From a hole below one of the eyes on the front of the dead leader’s face, the metal, now in liquid form, oozed out and slid down his face and pooled on the floor. Sonia reached down with the metal in her hand and touched the liquid then watched in awe as it rejoined the larger piece and hardened. Sonia stood, her pulse started racing, and her chest furiously began to move in and out as her lungs fought for air. The reality of her situation suddenly consumed her mind as she could sense the opportunity for freedom. All that she had hoped, for the first time, seemed possible if it were true that Tilhar was really dead. She walked over and kicked the side of his leg and there was no movement. She expected him to magically come back to life, laugh and stab her with her piece of metal. But he didn’t move.
Sonia looked over her former master. The reality of his death and what could possibly happen if she were to get caught created a new and overwhelming anxiety. It was a guaranteed death sentence. There was no way anyone would believe that she stabbed him in the foot with the only intention of stopping him. It was irrelevant, she was a slave and didn’t have any rights. Any aggression or non-compliance was grounds for a horrific death.
Often Ningal, the mate of her now dead master, would excitedly tell Sonia stories of other wretched creatures that had disobeyed or attempted to escape from their owners. First, their appendages were broken. Then, they were tossed into a deep inescapable pit where a small creature called the Zura would cover the bodies of the convicted. Accompanying each vicious bite to the body of the intruder was an injection of a neurotoxic poison that blocked nerve impulses causing paralysis. Soon after, the heart rate reduced and breathing became difficult. If the victim wasn’t eaten alive first, the organs eventually shut down and they passed into the shadow world. She noted that it was worse than being burned alive. Ningal was certain to make a note of it every time she saw Sonia. The need to generate an even greater fear had been pointless. She unequivocally feared Tilhar and never saw herself as being rid of him.
Sonia looked around struggling to consider the situation and became truly afraid. Panic momentarily consumed her, and she began to suck in air. In the dead silence of the room, Sonia swore that she could hear blood as it was forced in and squeezed out of her heart. It was an accident, but no one would believe or much less care. There was never a plan or thought of killing Tilhar…it simply never seemed possible since she was a third of his size and seemed so frail in comparison. Running away was never a realistic option either, but now it was far more necessary to try. With a limited capacity to think critically in such an overwhelming situation coupled with the fact that there was no premeditated plan for such a scenario, she was paralyzed by indecision. It was undeniable that staying was a guaranteed death sentence. Dying at the hands of Ningal was certain unless she could figure out what to do. Sonia regained control of her breathing, which helped to snap her out
of the panic attack. The lungs slowed down, the dizziness began to subside, and her hands were increasingly more stable. One thing that seemed too impossible to be accomplished was being free of the monster that tortured her. But yet, he was lying on the floor as dead as he could be. For the moment, she was free and there was hope.
The prison she had occupied since the dawn of her memories was among the largest rooms she had ever been in. Certainly, the walls would tell of unspeakable horrors, if they were able to do so. Despite the lengthy time she was forced to stay there, Sonia was never allowed to see the first level in its entirety. There was no knowledge of what was on the other side of the great doorway by which Tilhar usually came and went. Something in her mind seemed to scream a warning about venturing into that direction. The building was dark, with bare metal finishes and every noise seemed to be excessively loud and echoed for an eternity. If she opened the doors, the noise would most certainly alert something. Time was of the essence and she needed to move out of the room and away from the body as every precious second that faded off into the past left her closer to her own expiration.
A voice that would no longer be silenced by the noise of competing thoughts volleying back and forth in her mind, screamed to run for the antechamber on the other side of the Great Hall. To this, she turned and looked instantly recalling that it had led to a tunnel that descended to the next level. A thought came to her mind about flying things that had taken her away and brought her back before. Were they at the end of it? she wondered. Could it be possible to fly one? Or, would it be better to stow away on one? Was there a door to the outside world? Each second she delayed was an opportunity to be found. Sonia reached through the door in the acrylic room and retrieved a dingy pullover gown that was her only outfit. It was dirty and soiled by old blotches of her own blood. After sliding it on she retrieved the odd metal that had killed Tilhar. Perhaps it was her imagination, but it seemed lighter than before. She moved toward the tunnel and ran down to the next level.
It was in the evening and most of the inhabitants of the facility were in some form of hibernation or resting mode. Usually very little moved to and fro during these hours. It was eerily quiet and she wondered why no one heard the noise Tilhar made and had come running after the incident. Perhaps they had assumed, as on prior occasions, it was all a part of the fun he was having brutalizing her and that the sounds he made were joyous. It was logical that no one had ever conceived that he was the one suffering the torturous death. Nevertheless, nothing stirred. Sonia recalled that on occasions late at night after Tilhar was done with her, some of the guards, while on patrol, would go into the Great Hall and taunt her in order to pass time. The clock in her mind began to go off as she once again realized that soon they would be patrolling the tunnel, hallway, and then the Great Hall. It was far beyond time to move.
Being free, even if only for a moment, became intoxicatingly joyous. After moving at a good pace through several long winding sections of the tunnel, she reached the lower level and had to stop to catch her breath before passing out. Echoing sounds of what she believed to be communication between several of the Tisht security detail perked her ears. They spoke in an unintelligible language, or in a dialect she had never heard before. She paused attempting to get a read on their distance. The conversation was between distinct tones of independent voices that were present and were not being piped in from the control center. It was clear that the voices were getting louder, which meant that they were getting closer. Sonia panicked and without much consideration, tapped a green button on a keyboard by a door. It responded and slid quietly disappearing into a pocket in the wall on the left. She stepped inside and shut the door from the other side. She gasped after looking around and seeing more than a dozen Tisht leaning against small platforms that were tilted slightly toward the wall giving the impression that they were resting in a nearly upright position. Sonia peered closer and realized that the thin membranous eyelids covered their black eyes giving her a sense of relief that they were asleep. One by the wall stirred causing her heart to momentarily stop beating.
Sonia heard the two creatures walk past her moving into the direction of Tilhar’s burnt remains. Either the smell of him had followed her down the cold tunnel, or the rancid odor lingered in her sinuses. If Tilhar’s death wasn’t already known, it was most certainly about to be discovered. While holding her breath, she tapped the acrylic pad, the door slid open and she stepped out and closed the door again. Air filled her lungs and she became lightheaded for a second as bright golden lights flashed before her eyes. She slid down the metal panels of the tunnel desperately trying to control her breathing and fight the nausea that was escalating.
The walkway abruptly ended in a wide half-round opening to a room so large that due to the poor lighting and the dark metallic color of the walls, she could not verify the location of the opposing wall. Prior to this night, Sonia had hardly been able to distinguish one room from another, but this room seemed to be excessively large. She surveyed everything within her range of sight. Flying machines of various sizes and designs were packed into the hanger. Several were as large as the Grand Hall and some looked like small patrol vessels. Despite her lack of mental clarity and experience, she knew that the smaller spacecraft, if she could operate it, would get her out of the hanger, but not far enough away from the planet. Greater distance meant less opportunity to be found. Simply flying to another city would not be enough. She was not like the others on the planet. She would be found, returned, then murdered for her crime.
The exterior door to the bay was always open in order to allow for a speedy departure in the event of an emergency or any other danger. The life of a smuggler, even one as wealthy and powerful as Tilhar offered plenty of opportunities to be executed at any point in time. The profits, far and away, were worth the risk. If Tilhar needed to be able to leave in a hurry, waiting for the huge metal doors to slide open could be the difference between life and death.
Sonia looked past the door and onto the city of Onsan. This was only the third time she had been able to see the outside world, but the first as a free being. It would have been glorious if not for the situation at hand, but despite this, a tear ran down her cheek and splashed onto the cold steel floor. The city was illuminated by hundreds of thousands of lights radiating from the tall structures as Badari had reached the end of the daily orbit of its star, which had long since disappeared over the horizon. Small personal spacecraft flew in every direction. It seemed so peaceful beyond the wall. She wanted to go there but the base of the hanger door was too high off the lower level for her to climb. Even if getting over it were possible to accomplish, where would she go or hide?
There were only two ways out…death or by spacecraft. Sonia had never flown before or even been within view of a pilot, much less the flight deck. How did she expect to fly one of these things? Perhaps she didn’t need too. Maybe just getting it off of the ground or learning how to work the weaponry would be good enough. She needed to make up her mind and just get it over with. She would die if necessary while trying to escape…that part was settled. It would be better this way. Perhaps she would deal one more blow to Tilhar by destroying one or more of the spacecraft if she were unable to figure out how to properly operate it. Then that begged the question of going for a small craft or a large one? The larger meant more damage. Simply locking herself up in one would not do.
The lights in the tunnel and in the hanger were suddenly at full power. The light was blinding causing her to blink for a moment while adjusting to the brilliant illumination that was flooding her eyes. She could hear loud noises in the tunnel racing toward her. It seemed obvious that they had found Tilhar and were looking for her. Time was up. It was move or die without so much as a fight.
Sonia took a deep breath and forced her shaking legs to push forward and down past the entry. There she would be able to see all the options she had thanks to the new light. As she passed into the hanger, two guards immediately saw her. Laser
rifles were raised and pointed as they excitedly made high pitched clicking noises, which she deduced were instructions that she could not understand and would certainly violate as they ran toward her. This would give them cause to shoot her. From her right came two popping noises that sounded like rounds from a laser weapon. Two green chasers flew past her and took down the guards. She was stunned and turned to look and get an understanding of what was going on. More shots were fired over her shoulder and had taken a third guard down as it passed the threshold of the hanger. After coming to the reality that something was protecting her, she instinctively ran toward the source of the gunfire. After fifty or sixty feet, Sonia noticed an open ramp on a smaller ship near the opening of the hanger where the green lasers were coming.
Just as she approached the ramp, a dark figure jumped out from behind several storage containers while firing at the Tisht guards, who’s numbers were over twenty at this point. The being looked as if it was of her kind. She was confused and realized that it too must have been a slave, but it was using a weapon. But why…how would it be out by itself? she wondered. The dark figure raised its left hand and fired a weapon. Green lasers zipped past her and struck two guards that had slipped out from behind the cover of the doorway. The rounds exploded on impact sending them into eternity.
Sonia didn’t know what to say after seeing the actions of the being. It had just killed at least five of the guards that were trying to stop her. Perhaps they were both attempting to escape, but it was a male of her kind and wasn’t dressed like her. It was well dressed. This didn’t make any sense. He ran to the ramp of a small craft and held out his hand attempting to communicate. She understood that he was trying to help her. Shots were fired over her head once again and she didn’t look to see what had exploded. With a renewed spirit, she ran past the male of her kind without grabbing his hand and pushed up the ramp. He fired again before running up behind her and punching a button that retracted the ramp and fired up the thrusters.
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