“How can you be happy with anything but first place?” Jess said from my left. I pulled a face.
“I got first place, so why would I not be happy?” I asked.
She looked at me, now also confused.
“What the hell do you mean you got first place? I did, not you. That’s what my score said.”
I nearly stood up, but refrained from doing so, knowing that if I did so without permission, the Ursines would probably terminate me on the spot.
“Mine said I got first place!” I replied sternly, knowing that my performance was worthy of first place.
There was a moment or two of complete silence as we digested the fact that something was wrong with the test results. How can Jess’s results say she’s in first place and mine echo the same fact? I just didn’t get it. But luckily for the both of us, somebody did.
“Don’t you see what’s going on?” Raj asked from afar on the furthest side of the booths. We all craned our heads toward his voice. Dale was the only one that could see him properly since he was sitting next to him. But Dale’s big frame was blocking mine and Jess’s view.
“They’re messing with us. They’re telling all of us that we all came in first, that way we can bicker with each other. This is yet another test. A test to show our character. Mine said I was first place. I didn’t believe it based on my performance thus far. The fact that both you and Jess are saying you were each in first place means that they are toying with us. I’m only a lowly ship medic, but I’m willing to bet my license that Dale over here got the same message saying that he was first as well,” Raj said, his voice sounding tiny in the vast open space that surrounded us. We all darted our eyes toward Dale who simply nodded his head.
I slammed my fist onto the table, shaking my head. I was completely irate. I couldn’t believe that I’d fallen for their tricks and gotten my head all blown up over the fact that I was first. Raj was right. It was definitely a test. I was sure of it. We were still being tested, and thus far, I think the Ursines were enjoying the show we had put on for them. Not only had we blindly followed their orders, we’d fallen into their trap and turned on each other. I was determined to make sure we didn’t give them what they craved when it came to watching us tare each other apart. So I stood up, the hover chair behind me bobbed away and I raised my hands in the air.
“You got me, you truly did. There I was thinking that you were smarter than you looked and recognized the strengths that we as humans posses. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that you’re just a bunch of savages. You’re dimwitted enough to think that we’ll fall prey to your petty mind games. But you failed to realize that you’re not the first alien race we humans have come across. And you certainly wont be the last. We’re a species of explores, great thinkers and superb fighters. You have the upper hand on us, but I’m pretty sure that when it comes to facing actual humans, the ones you don’t control or keep as pets like us, you’ll see for yourselves that you greatly underestimated us.”
Before I finished my rant, a huge spotlight came on, illuminating the warehouse structure around us. It stretched on for miles, the light revealing the true size of the room we were in. But not all was as it seemed. We were on a platform, like a stage, and in front of us was a sea of heavily armed and armored Ursines. They were standing and staring at us. A huge troop of them stretched for a distance I couldn’t see beyond maybe a thousand of them, all lined up, all looking at us. It became clear that we were being paraded and shown off to the Ursine troops. We were basically entertainment for these savages. And the more I looked around at the crowd of motionless bear creatures in front of me, the more I realized that we were taking part in the equivalent of an army-sponsored show to entertain the fatigued troops in war zones.
But this wasn’t a war zone, and these troops weren’t tired. But I knew that they were entertained, because they all began to chirp in unison. The gig was up. We were now shown the true meaning behind these so-called tests. But before I could sit back down, the robotic voice came through the speakers once again.
“Well done for getting this far. You now know the extent of what lies between you and freedom. A million of our military stand in front of you. Ten million more are watching in the squares of our glorious city. Ten billion are watching in the many thousands of cities we have on our planet. You talk of humanity as if it has a chance. But it doesn’t. You will either help us, or be the first victims of the war that will wipe out your inferior, uncultured, race. But before that, the troops demand that blood be spilt before the war effort can commence. And that blood will belong to one of you four humans. We are done making decisions for you. It is time that you take your fates into your own hands.”
I stood there staring, my mouth open and my legs shaking. The gig was up. It was over. No more control.
“But one of you needs to die before the rest of you are free to join our ranks. The decision is yours. Make it now.”
Chapter Nine
We all looked at each other. Dale looked at me. I looked at Jess. Jess looked at Raj and Raj looked at Dale. I could see the pain and terror in Jess’s eyes. She wasn’t usually very vocal about her feelings. In fact, she was what most would consider closed off. But I’d be lying if I said I’d never wondered what thoughts ran through her head at times. Especially since she was my number two. And call me old fashioned, but I’d always believed that a captain should know their crew inside out. A lot of others would disagree with that, but I guess that’s why I’m here on this rock, surrounded by Ursines, who are baying for blood, while the other, obviously much smarter and successful captains are back on Earth, enjoying a life where they weren’t being banished into deep space. We all have our crosses to bear I guess.
“You have one minute to decide who dies,” the robotic voice screeched through the speakers. I could see the crowd of Ursines in front of me reacting to the words coming from the speakers. And even though they were being spoken in English, the aliens seemed to understand them clearly. That’s when I noticed that most of the aliens who were watching us were wearing translator ear muffs on their heads. So they could understand everything that was being said, by both us and the robot voice coming through the PA system.
“You can’t possibly expect us to kill one of our own in less than a minute?” I protested, holding my hands up in the air, facing the crowd in front of us. I didn’t expect any sort of sympathy from them, but I was angry and I wanted them to know it. But it was no use. The robotic voice didn’t reply and we were left with the cold reality of what they wanted us to do, slowly coming down on us like a ton of bricks. Before I could protest some more, and attempt to buy us some time, a hooded Ursine appeared on the stage. He was dressed much like the rest of them, but I recognized him as some sort of prison guard. He looked a little different from the rest of them. The prison guards wore hoods and generally carried less weaponry than the other Ursines. They didn’t wear heavy armor. Most of them were adorned in light chainmail. The sort of stuff that would hold up well against bladed weapons. But going against plasma or bullet weapons would be a whole different story.
The Ursine stepped on the stage, walked up toward us and threw a sword on the ground. The long bladed weapon was sheathed in a leather holster. The Ursine turned its back on us and walked back off the stage and into the crowd. My heart was thumping in my chest as I watched the baying crowd in front of us. The bright room was making me feel a little dizzy. The testing that they’d put us through was stressful enough, but this experience was on a another level. I turned to my three-man crew who were staring at the sword on the ground a few meters away from us. I clocked the way Raj was looking at it and I wondered what he was thinking. But I didn’t need to wonder for long, because he made his thoughts rather clear, rather quickly.
“Kill me,” he said, without a trace of fear in his voice. I looked at him in shock. How could he allow these creatures to dictate such an act to us? Surely we were better than this? Surely we were the ones in cont
rol? Not them! What happened to our master plan? What happened to getting them to think that we’d sided with them, when in fact we were planning our escape?
“You can’t die, Raj! We need you! What if one of us gets sick, or injured? You expect these foul beasts to know what to do with us? How to fix us?” I said, pleading with him.
“So one of us dying in Raj’s place is fine then?” Jess asked, interrupting my plea. I looked at her in disgust. How could she say such a thing? It’s like she wanted Raj to sacrifice himself, just so she wouldn’t have to die.
“Watch your tongue Jess. I’m still the damn captain and you’re my number two, but I shit you not, if you step out of line once again, I’ll offer you up to those damn Ursines and see how you like it,” I said, turning my attention back to Raj.
“You have thirty seconds!” the robotic voice said, its high-pitched voice bursting through the PA system above our heads.
“Look Raj, you don’t have to offer yourself up for this. We can think of something. Make it fairer,” I said, looking at my crew as we sort of huddled up around the sword. I think we all knew that resistance was pointless. The beasts would have us executed no matter what. The aim of the game was survival, and if that meant that one of us had to die, then that’s what had to happen. It’s easy for me to realize this now, but then, on that stage, staring into Raj’s eyes, I didn’t see it like that. In fact, it nearly broke me.
“Please, let’s find another way,” I said, my eyes welling up a little.
“It has to be this way. They wont allow it any other way. One of us has to die. And it cannot be you, you are the captain. It cannot be Jess, she is second-in-command on our ship, and it certainly cannot be Dale,” Raj said, moving his head closer to me. “Because he’s the one who’s going to help you shoot your way off this rock,” Raj whispered.
“But, we can’t kill one our our own,” I replied.
“Ten seconds, or you all die,” the robotic voice said.
I stood there staring at my team. I had my back to the stage, but could feel the warmth and heated hatred coming off the Ursines behind me. It was now or never. One of us had to die, or we’d all die. It was a decision I was unwilling to make. I shook my head.
“You know what, to hell with this. I’m not doing it,” I said. But before the words came out of my mouth, I heard somebody scream. I’d blinked and missed whatever had caused the scream, but when I focused my sight in the direction of the scream, I saw Raj kneeling on the ground, the long blade stuck into his chest, blood spilling out of his wound and pooling on the floor. He looked up at me and mouthed something that I didn’t understand. And then fell face first onto the floor, the impact driving the blade further into his chest. I watched in horror as the sharp sword stuck through his back. Bits of god knows what dripped off the sword. Red, blue and blacks erupted from the wound. I nearly fainted, but not because of the sight of so much blood but because of how it happened.
“I had to do it,” Jess said, standing over the body, both of her hands covered in crimson red.
“It was a decision that I should have made!” I said, feeling the anger bubbling inside of me.
“You weren’t going to do it, you didn’t have the balls,” Jess said, stepping back a few paces from Raj who was now very much dead. Dale and I looked on in horror. Neither of us would have expected her to do such a thing. I couldn’t help what happened next. I was too angry to control my actions. I cocked my fist, stepped forward and planted a firm right-handed strike on Jess’s face. She went down like a sack of potatoes. I stood over her, seething in anger. I’d never hit a woman before, but then again, I’d never witnessed one of my own crew murder another crew member. And for what? Because they were told to? It was my understanding that we were in this together, and if they’d kill us then so be it. But now the dynamic had changed. We were fragmented, and under the control of the alien race that held us captive. We were officially theirs. At least one of us was, and as far as I was concerned, Jess was now very much on her own.
“Easy, Captain. Let the bitch live,” Dale said, pulling me away from Jess, who was on her back, looking up at me, wiping a sliver of blood off her face.
“You’ve officially been reassigned Jess. You are no longer second-in-command of Alpha Ship One. You’ve been relieved of your duty. Feel free to seek employment elsewhere,” I said, walking away from her. Dale joined me by my side. We stood in front of the baying crowd. They must have been cheering for a while, but I’d not noticed on account of watching somebody I thought I’d trusted kill one of our own.
Both Dale and I stood there, staring at the race of savages that both cheered and jeered us in their own chirpy way. I turned to Dale and shrugged my shoulders.
“I guess this is it. Time to play a long,” I said, smiling at the crowd of Ursines while waving my hand in the air.
“Get them on our side, and when they least suspect it, strike them where it hurts,” Dale said, also waving and smiling at the crowd.
“With any luck, they’ll think we’re all heroes before long,” I said.
There was a brief moment of silence before Dale stopped waving and turned to face me.
“But every hero has his day.”
Chapter Ten
After being escorted from the test area, we were hauled back into our cell and the door was slammed shut, leaving the three of us in the dark. I was breathing heavily on account of being in a murderous rage. All I wanted to do was inflict as much pain and suffering on both the Ursines and Jess. Deep down I knew the reasoning behind what Jess did, and sure enough, deeper down, I understood it. But I was angry. Upset. Seething. I mourned for the loss of Raj. He was a great man, and died a courageous, if not unjustified, death. The man was as loyal as they came, and never thought of himself first. He was the best sort of man to have on your team as a medical doctor. He knew his way around a doctor’s bag and was efficient with light weaponry, meaning that if our ship was ever attacked, he could defend the patients in the sickbay pretty well.
But now he was dead, and his proficiency in anything was useless where he now was. I wasn’t one to believe in a god or any sort of religion, but Raj was. And I hoped against all hopes that whatever Raj imagined to be paradise, or life after death, whatever you wanted to call it, was the best thing it could possibly be. I wanted Raj to be up there in the cosmos, watching down on us, while enjoying a much needed rest. The guy was a workhorse, and dedicated his entire life to the science of medicine. I just hoped it was not done in vein and that he enjoyed the many adventures we’d had before our world was torn apart.
“I had to do it,” I heard Jess say from within the darkness of the cell. I didn’t know where she was in the cell, but I knew she was as far away from us as she possibly could be. And it was a good job that she was, because I’m not sure whether the rage I was feeling would not erupt onto her, again. The last thing I wanted to do was kill her, but anger has a way of making you think differently.
“It was him or us. I chose us. I did what any leader would do. And the more I think of it Flynn, the more I realize that you should have been the one to make that decision,” she said, her voice sounding very tinny in the darkness. I still couldn’t see where she was, but it didn’t stop me from getting up off my feet. I felt a hand grab at my arm. It was Dale. He was holding me back. I brushed him off me and sat back on the floor.
“You’re damn right it should have been me to make the decision,” I said, shaking my head as I dug my fingernails into the concrete floor beneath me. Grooves and dips met the tips of my fingers as I tried to alleviate some of the pain I was feeling within my core, by inflicting actual pain on myself.
“So why didn’t you make that decision, Flynn?” She asked me. It was obvious by her tone that she had little remorse regarding what she did. It was making me boil inside. I shot up off my feet, and nearly roared when I opened my mouth.
“I did make a decision! I made the decision not to touch anybody on our team. I made the decision to
suffer whatever consequences lay in front of us for disobeying an order. It’s a decision that you should have respected, but you didn’t. You saw fit to plunge a sword into the chest of one of our oldest and most loyal crew members. He has tenure on you for Christ’s sake. If we were killing people off based on time spent on Alpha Ship One, then I guess you would have been the first to go,” I said, trying to see through the darkness, but I couldn’t.
“So you’re saying that I should have killed myself?”
I didn’t answer her, I sat back down and got to digging my nails into the concrete grooves once again. But I needn’t had answered her anyway, Dale had stood up and started screaming at the top of his lungs. Because of the mans sheer size, it was hard not to feel intimidated. And that’s what Dale Dykstra did best. Intimidate. But he also had another quality. He was righteous, and always did what was best for everybody. So I knew that what Jess did was most likely playing on his mind. And I wasn’t wrong.
“Enough!” Dale shouted, his voice booming off the walls. It got so quiet after he spoke that you could hear a pin drop. But the quietness didn’t last long. The cell door opened and a bright light engulfed the room. After a few seconds, the light dimmed and I could see properly. Three Ursines came plodding into the squalid cell. They were dressed in hoods, like all the other Ursines that had dealt with us since being imprisoned, but now they had company. At first I didn’t recognize the shapes that were standing in front of me, but then the light cascaded in the right way, and I saw that we were now joined by three humans. Me, Dale and Jess didn’t say a word. I was staring at the three blindfolded and shackled humans near the doorway. I figured that Dale and Jess were doing the same. It was hard not to. They were the first new humans we’d seen since stepping foot on this planet. And now they were our new cell mates.
Stasis (Alpha Ship One Book 1) Page 6