BEAST PLANET PART 1
CAPTIVE SURRENDER
Published by
Angela Castle
www.angelacastle.net
[email protected]
Copyright 2012 by Angela Castle
Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 (five) years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Angela Castle.
Credits
Cover Artist: Gemini Judson - Willsin Rowe
Editors: Serena Tatti - Dennis Hays
Dedication
A big thank you to Nancy for making sure this story came out right.
And to my husband for encouraging me to take the chance in the self publishing world.
To my fan’s, who love my sci-fi stories, thank you!
I hope you enjoy this one too.
Chapter One
Don’t panic! Don’t panic! This has to be some sort of horrific nightmare. The hovering, silver, mechanical tentacle, with three black, metal clamps, shoved me into a white tube. I stiffened when the green light illuminated my body. The beam ran from head to toe and then back again.
Keep stock-still. Don’t fight them; you’ve seen what happens if you fight them. Every muscle in my body ached, from staving off the panic and completely freaking out.
Women around me screamed in agonizing pain. They spasm helplessly as the tentacle creatures snapped some sort of high voltage, making them jerk and flop like newly landed fish on dry land. I let my mind wander trying not to think I could be the next to die.
How did this happened? One moment I was having a quiet night in with my friend and flatmate Sandy, the next our second-story window exploded. We shrieked, frozen in terror at the sight of two, tentacle machines zooming towards us. They must have hit us with some kind of tranquilizer, because the next thing I knew, I woke up naked on a cold metal floor along with bunch of other women.
One by one, I watched the captured women sorted, scanned, and for god-knows-what reason, some were simply placed into a transparent tube. I jumped, staring open-mouthed in horror. Their screams abruptly ended as their bodies disintegrated into nothing but grey ash. Only silence and the palpable tension of the other women remained. Cold fear ran through my veins, knowing I, too, could be shoved into ‘that’ tube.
Scanning down the line of remaining women, I searched frantically for Sandy. Where was she?
Did they take her, or have they already put her through the strange, alien, scanner thing? Dread hit my stomach, making it roll. Oh, god, what if they… no, no, I couldn’t bear to think about it.
The machine beeped, yanking my attention back to the present, the three, little lights above me glowed green, and I knew I was given the all clear, as I saw with the women who were put through before me. Knowing I wouldn’t die, yet, my tense shoulder muscles relaxed for a moment.
The clear panel slid open and a tentacle machine grabbed me by the throat. Desperately, I clawed the cold metal gripping my neck. I gasped for breath, as it yanked me out and dragged me down a long, grey and green, reflective hallway.
Forced passed sobbing women to the end of the line of cages, I searched frantically for Sandy. She wasn’t among the women. My heart clenched in my chest, confirming my worst fear. She was dead, murdered by our alien abductors.
The machine shoved me into a small cage, three feet smaller than my five foot nine height. I crouched down, wrapping my arms around my knees. My long, light brown hair curtained around my face and back, providing the only blanket of warmth in the room. I clenched my teeth to stop them from chattering and watched the machine retreat.
“Who are they? Why the hell have they taken us?” the girl in the cage beside me whispered.
I tore my gaze away from the retreating machine, shifting my cold ass closer to the other woman, sliding my arm through the bar and wrapping it around the smaller, blonde girl. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen or seventeen.
“I don’t know.” I found my voice at last, rasping sounds coming from my dry throat. I licked my lips, trying to find some moisture.
“I was out at a party when they came. T… the machine killed Jeff. He tried to fight it, tried to save me.” She started sobbing into her hands.
“Your boyfriend?”
She nodded.
“I’m sorry, I’ve lost my friend too. I’m Anna.”
“Tammy.” She sniffed.
“If anything, we’ve got to be strong, Tammy. Whoever they are and whatever they want, we need to be strong to survive.” I tried to sound brave.
“I don’t think I can; I’m so scared.”
“Everyone is scared. But don’t fight them; I think it’s our best chance of survival… You’ve seen how they use some kind of electric shock to subdue us, and you don’t want that.”
She shook her head. I sighed, the unspoken question hanging heavy in the air. How long would we survive? No one knew.
The other women’s hushed whispers stopped when more women were dragged in and shoved into the remaining cages. Two more women, out of the five, were brought in and caged. My heart grieved for those they heartlessly murdered. I counted the line of cages—twenty of us remained. From how many? I had no idea.
“Well, at least we’ve answered one question the human race has always wanted to know.”
Tammy stared at me wide-eyed. “What’s that?”
“Humans are not alone in the universe.”
A hiss made me glance up. Tammy, too, looked franticly around. A smoky gas started to filter into the chamber and hysterical cries filled the room.
“Oh god, they’re going to kill us,” Tammy wailed.
“No,” I shook her shoulder, “they wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble to capture us just to gas us to death.”
I couldn’t stop breathing in the gas, my vision grew dim before I blacked out.
* * * *
God, my head ached, my mouth and throat were dry. I coughed and rolled over on the cold, metal floor. Just how much did I have to drink last night?
It took a moment for the memories to re-surface. Shit, the aliens, the metal octopus robots, the abductions and murders. I groaned, wishing for nothing more than a heavy hangover, the reality slowly sank in. I was being held captive by cruel aliens. I blinked a couple of times, but the cages were still there when I opened my eyes. The same, damn cages they put us in and Tammy lay curled by the bars near me. Slowly, I pushed myself up, shifting closer to her, trying to share my body heat. I shivered, my teeth chattering in the cold. The metal floor vibrated ever so slightly under my frozen ass.
My heart and mind were numb. Losing Sandy left a bitter, angry taste in my mouth. Sniffing, I struggled to hold back the tears, trying to focus. A helpless captive, yes, but growing up with three, rough, older brothers, I learned to be tough a long time ago. Still, nothing prepared me for aliens and being held naked in a cage.
I don’t know how long I lay there, staring into nothing. I glanced around, some of the other women stirred slightly.
Not that I was a seasoned space traveller, but no doubt w
e were on some kind of space craft. An octopus drone passed slowly by, before a chirpy kind of warbled chatter caught my attention. Behind the octopus drone, I caught my first sight of our captors.
I stared in disbelief, as the three foot, rounded aliens waddled down the aisle between the caged women. Beetle shaped bodies, short legs, with three tripod-like hoofs. Their arms were as long as their bodies, but had four thick fingers. A long mouth cut across the centre of their round, scaly, green heads. Gecko-like eyes bulged on top. Over their bug eyes sat a single, dark scaled, uni-eyebrow. Centred in the middle of their faces, were small almond slits I could only guess were their noses. A shiny, black and green, metallic armour covered the bulk of their bodies, with many different flashing gadgets attached to it.
One of them held a shiny object, which appeared like a tablet type of computer from earth. They stopped in front of my cage. I swallowed convulsively, choking down my fear. These strange, small, alien creatures held my life and those of all the women with me, in the palm, or rather scales of their hands.
It hit me when they pointed and tapped at their gadget, it wasn’t size that mattered, but the power of one's toys, spaceships and even robots. I doubt they lifted a finger, but to make their advanced gadgets.
My heart pounded in an erratic tattoo. Brave, I had to be brave. Ignoring my nakedness, I crawled forward towards the aliens. They shuffled around to stare at me. Their strange faces lacked expression, impossible to gauge their next movement. I could only hope and pray.
“Do you understand me?”
The first alien tapped its data pad. “We assimilated earth language before collection of the female species.” The device spoke in a droned voice.
“Who are you?”
He tapped the pad again. “We are the Galactic Supreme Rulers of Druel.”
“Why have you taken us?”
“Species revival program.”
I frowned. What the hell did that mean? The Druel started to move away. I had to think quickly. I doubted they would stand there and answer all my questions, but I had to ensure our survival. Not just for myself, but for the other women still asleep in their cages.
“Wait, please, if you want us to survive, you need to turn up the heat, or give us something to cover our bodies. Otherwise we will freeze to death. We also need water.”
I clutched at the bars. The Druel paused, tapped its pad again, and then moved down the aisle and out of sight.
With a heavy sigh, I shuffled back into the corner of the cage. A few moments later the feel of warm air blowing into the holding area made me sit up. I gave a strangled laugh for the small mercy. An octopus robot zoomed up to my cage. One of its tentacles extended exposing a shiny, silver, oval shaped object. I scrambled forward and took it. Water sloshed over the rim.
“Thank you,” I called out. The robot zipped away. I sat back, taking a sip of water before cradling the rest. I didn’t know if the Druel would be so generous later.
My mind milled over what little I had learned from my brief questions.
‘Species revival program’. I watched documentaries on the Discovery channel. Scientists trying to revive endangered animal species by breeding them in captivity, and then setting them free.
As far as I knew, humans were not an endangered species. It could only mean one thing… My breathing suddenly accelerated, and my limbs shook as the horrid thought hit me. “Holy shit.”
Worst case scenarios flashed through my mind. Oh God! My stomach struggled to suppress the urge to vomit. I thought about them implanting hell-knows-what into our wombs. My womb! They planned to breed us with some other species… or maybe even themselves.
I thought of Sandy, and how I was almost dead instead of her. I wrapped my arms around my legs, placing my head on my knees; tears dripped down my face and onto my legs.
What was worse? Being dead or facing what the Druel planned for us?
Chapter Two
Screams jolted me awake. Startled, I spilled the water I’d been cradling, as I sprung forward, glancing wildly about.
The octo bots, as I named them, opened the cages and snapped flashing, electronic collars around the women’s necks and hauled them out of the cages.
One came for Tammy. She whimpered, inching as far back into the corner of the cage as she could, but it was all for nothing. The octo bot easily caught her arm, yanked her forward and snapped a black, metal collar around her throat.
Drawing in slow measured breaths, determined not to outwardly panic, I climbed back to my feet and lifted my hair above my head when the next octo bot opened my cage. I knew it was useless fighting these bots. It snapped the collar around my neck. The metal was cool on my skin. It was tight, but not tight enough to cut off my air. I could still swallow with ease.
Attaching a short leash to my collar, it jerked me forward; I hurried to keep up so I wouldn’t trip, like the other women who fought their collars and octo bots. In the end, they dragged the fighting women along like disobedient puppies.
I wasn’t sure if it was the best time to share my knowledge of the Druel and their ‘species revival program.’
They marched us down a long corridor. As we turned to the right, natural light shone from one end. I blinked when we were taken down a large ramp off the ship. I drew in the air; it had a stale industrial smell, much like smoggy Melbourne during peak hour traffic. The colours were different. The sky was a light purple. The huge, city skyline was littered by round, huge cylinders—black and reflective buildings reaching tall into the sky. They reminded me of the shell of a night beetle.
Everywhere I looked machines, robots of every strange shape and size, with legs, arms and tentacles, zoomed about. Some looked like cars on legs; others pushed or carried large crates. They clanked, hummed and beeped in every direction.
I glanced up to a long platform hovering above the ground. At least ten Druel peered down at us. It looked like they were holding a discussion, their four fingered hands waving in our direction while we marched past.
I noticed many of the women stopped sobbing; looking around, their eyes filled with renewed fear.
“What do you think they are going to do with us?”
I recognised Tammy’s trembling voice behind me.
I couldn’t hide the truth from them; they needed to know. “I think they want to breed us.”
“What? How do you know that? You’re just guessing, right?” The woman in front had an American accent. She turned her head, glancing back at me.
“I managed to communicate with the Druel, that’s what the aliens call themselves.”
“Since fucking when do you speak alien?” hissed the American woman.
“I don’t. They had some kind of translation device. Their exact words were ‘species revival program.’”
“Oh, god, they’re going to impregnate us with some alien creature. It’ll burst through our chest and we’ll die a horrible death,” wailed Tammy.
“This isn't a fucking movie!” snarled the American woman. “She’s talking shit.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Believe what you like, I know what I heard.”
“Oh, god, I don’t want to have an alien baby!” Tammy’s voice pitched high, when hysteria took over.
I scrubbed a hand over my face and drew in a deep breath. I shouldn’t have told them, but it was too late.
“Tammy, please, calm down or they’ll shock you.”
She ignored my warning and struggled against the octo bot, her fingers clawing at the collar around her throat.
The zap hit, and she screamed and flopped around. Her body went limp. The octo bot scooped her up and zoomed off in a different direction.
“Happy now, genius,” snarled the American. “Keep your fucking information to yourself from now on.”
Heat rose though my body, I was angry at the American woman, but also at myself for causing Tammy’s hysteria. I hated to admit the American was right. I made a mistake and someone else paid for it.
; My throat tightened, and it had nothing to do with the collar around my neck. What were the Druel going to do to Tammy? Would I be responsible for her death?
Keep your mouth shut, be obedient and they won’t harm you. The voice of reason echoed in my mind—I nodded to myself. Survival was the name of the game. The Druel are responsible for everything going on here, not you. I held onto the thought, trying to find some kind of inner comfort from the fear and guilt.
I shut my mouth for the rest of the walk, lost in my thoughts and wallowing in misery, so I didn’t notice where we were being lead, until the feel of soft sand between my toes brought my attention back to my surroundings.
We were led into some large, caging area. Rough stone walls, different from the sleek metal around us, divided the cages. It looked out of place. We could no longer see each other.
My eyes were riveted on the large, single door at the end of the caging area, watching it slowly rise up.
I stood, transfixed, staring at the huge, seven foot, alien creatures approaching our cages. Although they had arms, legs, body, hair and a face like a human, a mass of long black hair fell down their backs, contrasting against their pale, chalk-white skin. Bright, electric blue, swirling patterns covered the majority of their bodies. I saw they pulsed and glowed when they drew closer.
Heavily muscled, large strong hands, clenched at their sides. Their legs were built like old earth, tree trunks. A larger swash of square cloth covered most of their groins, held in place by a linked, gold chain. But it did little to hide the large bulges hidden behind it. My mouth went dry and my heart pounded so hard, I felt faint.
I wanted to cower into a corner and pray for the ground to open up and swallow me. Instead, I stood there, my back leaning against the stone wall.
The first of them stood in front of my cage, his flat nose flaring as he started sniffing. I stared up into arctic blue eyes. He was shoved aside with a snarl as another of the white and blue patterned aliens examined me, his full, pink lips curved up into a grin. He, too, drew in a deep breath. I think he liked my scent.
Beast Planet 1: Captive Surrender Page 1