by Ruby Dixon
And since I’m kind of small, even by human standards, I’m drawing the short end of the stick there.
My paper dress is taken from me and my cuffs and shock-collar removed. I’m sent through a sterilization chamber and inoculated against a bunch of different alien diseases. Blood samples are taken, a hormone shot is administered so I don’t get pregnant, and then Noku is there waiting for me with a prison uniform. I don’t like the way he’s watching me, but there’s not much I can do about it. I take the uniform and am surprised to find that it’s more or less one big self-sealing bag. It cinches itself at the neck and at the feet. Noku runs a hand along the loose sides and the legs, sealing them, and they fall away to make it a strange kind of bodysuit with no ties. I guess anything that could possibly be used as a weapon will be kept from us. I’m not sure I like this weird material, though. It’s awfully clingy in all the uncomfortable places, and I’m pretty sure you can see my nipples through the weird grayish fabric, but I guess it wasn’t made for human modesty. And judging by the creepily smug way that Noku is looking at me, I’m not going to get another outfit.
The cat-guard is gone, his duty finished. I try not to feel nervous about that, because it’s not like I had a connection with him. I never even learned his name. It’s just that…now I’m going to be thrown in with the rest of the prisoners, and the thought’s a terrifying one.
“Shall I give you a tour?” Noku asks as he finishes sealing the side on my costume. There’s a note in his strange voice that I don’t like. Even through the garble of the translator, it sounds…ominous. Possessive, almost. Maybe I’m reading him wrong, though. Maybe he’s just trying to be kind to an obviously scared human freak.
But then he reaches out and touches my hair, caressing it, and the alarm bells go off in my head.
“Such a strange, soft little thing you are, human. You’re going to be eaten alive down there amongst the rest of the prisoners. They’re going to take one look at you and fight over who gets to be the first to fuck that poisonous human pussy of yours. They won’t care if it kills them. They’ve got nothing to live for anyway.” He makes a weird hissing sound, and I think it’s laughter.
“So you’re going to sit by and let them rape me?” I cross my arms over my chest, doing my best to hide my breasts. “What’s the point in having guards if you’re going to let everyone attack everyone else?”
He makes the slithering noise again. “My adorable little human. They’re not going to attack everyone else. Just you. Of course, there are ways to keep yourself safe, you know. If you have a protector, no one will harm you.”
And he touches my hair again with one of those many, many claws.
I do my best not to shudder. So if I whore for him, he’ll keep me safe? For how long? And how many guards am I going to have to make agreements with? Fuck that. Fuck him. I don’t want to sleep with a snake-ant or whatever the hell he is. I don’t want to sleep with anyone.
Of course, I’m rapidly running out of options. I ignore him and his petting of my hair, because I’m not really sure what else to do.
“You can think on it, little one.” He touches my cheek with a claw. “And in the meantime, shall I show you where the females are housed?”
Like I have a choice? “Are all the women kept together?”
“There are only a handful of them in the entire Haven system. It makes sense to keep them all together. They are not given machine tasks like the males are. We have no wish to break such…fragile and important members of our little community.”
Yeah, the whole “female prisoners together” thing is starting to sound a bit like a brothel. Great. “Do I get shoes?”
“No shoes.” He pulls a baton from his belt, and the end of it crackles with electricity. “Follow me, prisoner Fem14-H. Failure to comply will result in the appropriate action.”
AKA a whipping with his shock-stick. “I’m following,” I say quietly.
Noku steps into a glass tube-like thing that must be an elevator. I step in with him, and when he indicates that I should put my hands on the metal railing on the side, I do so. My hands immediately feel glued to the metal, as if magnetized, and I can’t yank them up, no matter how hard I pull.
“You won’t be able to free yourself,” Noku says, smirking at my frantic tugs. “That’s to ensure the safety of all passengers. You’ll be expected to put your hands on any transport railing whenever you are in such a compartment. Do you understand, prisoner Fem14-H?”
I nod. I hate the feeling of subjugation and helplessness, but there’s no getting around it.
The compartment doesn’t feel like it’s moving, but a panel on the light-up grid flicks back and forth, showing where we’re traveling. And the windows show that, too, as the scenery whooshes past. Instead of going up and down like a normal elevator, we’re racing from one side of the compound to another in what must be something like a cross between an elevator and a train. I want to press my face to the glass and stare down at everything, but there’s too much to take in. The harvesting machines, the endless lines of buildings, the bubble-covered yards that are full of weird-looking crops, the striated cliffs in the distance, the smokestack that seems to churn out endless smog (or atmosphere) into the planet’s red air.
“Can we breathe the air here?” I ask, curious. “Is that what all that smoke is?”
“The air is still an unbalanced compound,” Noku tells me in a bored tone. “It’s going to take a few more years before all the chemicals we’re pumping into the air actually do something. Until then, if you are required to go outside—which I doubt will happen—you will be provided with the appropriate gear, little human.” Our elevator whizzes to a stop, and he taps the back of my leg with his shock-stick, sending a jolt up my body. “You can let go now.”
I pretend like he didn’t just zap me and cautiously lift my hands. Sure enough, I’m free to move around. I clench my hands into fists and fall into place at his side, just like he gestures. I hate this guy. I’m not sleeping with him. I’m not. I think I’d rather die first.
Instead, I do my best to act like his petty shit doesn’t get to me. I focus more on my surroundings. The feel of this place reminds me a bit of an old high school more than a prison. Even though the gargantuan building has a lot of strange-looking technology that I don’t recognize, there’s a grimy, run-down feeling to things. Even the halls we go down have a claustrophobic feel to them that reminds me of being trapped in a school or a hospital. Down here, there are no windows to the outside. In here, it’s all gray walls and locked doors.
And people of every shape and kind. As we walk, it’s hard not to edge closer to the guard at my side out of fear. It’s easy to tell who’s a guard and who’s a prisoner just by the uniforms—the guards are in dark blue, whereas the people in the bland grayish-white like me are prisoners. That’s the only thing that sets people apart. There’s a hodgepodge of races down here, from something that looks vaguely like a lion to something that I’ve never seen in my entire life and can’t even describe. There are things with four legs and no arms. There are things with tentacles. There are things that look like they’re molting their skins.
I can’t even tell if they’re male or female. Then I remember Noku’s words about having very few female prisoners, and it makes me feel even more unsafe.
They’re all watching me. The guards, the prisoners that walk behind them, the people in what looks like a mess hall a short distance away—all eyes are on me. It’s the most disconcerting and alarming thing in the world.
“That didn’t take long,” Noku says in his hissing voice. “You’re going to be very popular here, until that popularity gets you killed. Most inmates here only manage to last a few years before the environment becomes too much for them.”
“What happens after that?”
He choke-laughs. “What do you think, little human?”
I hate that answer almost as much as I hate him.
We move onward and turn down another hal
Jesus. My snake guard and his over-friendliness are starting to seem like a good thing. None of these men have an ounce of softness on their faces. Some, I don’t even know if I’m looking at their faces. I try not to make eye contact, my body prickling with horror more and more as we walk.
Noku stops to talk to another guard, their voices low. Both guards keep watching me, and I just hug my arms close to my chest and try to look unassuming. I steal a few glances around at the honeycomb, but every single cell seems to be filled with a prisoner…and every prisoner seems to be staring right at me. The guards talk for what feels like an eternity, and then the second one—who looks like an owl without feathers—shakes his head and continues on his way after sneaking one last glance at me. Noku gestures at me, and I fall into step behind him.
I’m relieved when we turn down another tunnel and out of the noisy honeycomb. “I’m not staying there?”
“Did you want to?”
“No!”
He hiss-laughs again. “Then follow me, little human, and stay close. We just had to pass through those cells because I wished to show you off to a friend. You’re going to make me quite popular today, as well.”
Lucky you, I want to spit at him, but I say nothing. I have no friends and lots and lots of enemies right now.
“One more detour before we make our way to the female quarters,” Noku tells me, typing a code into a wall panel and then pressing one thumb-claw against it. The door opens with a hiss, and I see another series of glass walls, though there’s no honeycomb here. These rooms are stacked like big shoeboxes, and Noku nudges me forward with his shock-stick. “Come on.”
To my surprise, there’s no one out in this area. The other halls seemed to be crawling with alien prisoners. In this room, there are a few guards seated at a bench in the center of the room. They watch the long cells, and unlike the guard in the other area, these seem hard and grim. One has pebbled orange skin and horrible teeth, and another looks scaly and strong. They carry a lot more stuff at their waists than Noku does, and I’m guessing that they’re weapons of some kind.
“What’s that?” the orange one asks as Noku nudges me along.
“A new female inmate.”
“No, what the kef is that thing?” The orange alien stares at me, hard.
“Human. She’s been sent down here to disappear. Isn’t that right, little human?” Noku strokes my hair again.
I shift uncomfortably away from his touch, staring at the ground.
One of the guards makes a horrible laughing sound. “So you brought her here?”
“Thought it’d be fun to see what our Level 3 prisoners thought of her.” Noku hisses and then leans in toward me, his hands on his knees like I’m a child he’s lecturing. “Level 3 is maximum security, little human. These are the worst of the worst, and they would eat you as soon as look at you. They don’t ever leave their cages except to work, so you don’t have to worry about them. But we do like to…show them what they’re missing from time to time.” He pushes at me with the shock-stick again, sending another jolt through my body. “So come along, little human. Let’s go show you off.”
Is he serious? I stare at him in horror. He’s going to dangle me in front of the murderers? No, wait, the WORST of the murderers, just to torment them? That’s insane…and dangerous. I don’t want to do it. Already I can feel my skin prickling at the attention I’m getting, and I don’t like it.
I feel like a worm being dangled on a hook.
“Move, inmate.” He gives me a push forward, and the shock-stick sends a harder zap through my system. “Toward the glass.”
I shoot him a look of anger, but all he does is laugh at me. I stumble forward, not sure how close I’m supposed to get. As I move toward the glass, horror builds inside my gut until I want to vomit. These men aren’t kept in the sterile honeycombs like the others. These cells seem to be uncomfortable rock with no chairs, no beds, no nothing. There are about a half a dozen men in each of the cells, and as I move forward, they all jump to their feet to come stare at me. One immediately grabs at his crotch and begins to stroke it. Another pushes his face against the glass and begins to lick it with a tongue covered with suckers.
Noku just laughs at this. “Just what I thought. It doesn’t matter if you look strange to them, little human. They’d still fuck every hole you’ve got.”
I hug my arms tighter, averting my face. “Can we just go, please?”
A scant second later, Noku’s rough claw grabs my chin and he jerks my head back. He hisses at me, spraying a fine mist of spittle on me as he does. “You do not make the rules, little human. Do not tempt me to throw you in there with them.” His jewel-like eyes seem cold and lethal as he gazes down at me. “I run this place. You are just the prisoner. You are worth only what I allow you to be worth.”
My mouth is dry with fear. I stare up at him, terrified. I don’t dare move, not even if he uses the shock-stick on me again.
“Keep her in line,” one of the guards calls. “Make her appreciate you like the others do.”
Noku hisses a laugh. “Not yet. There is time enough for that.”
Oh god.
But Noku only taps his claw against my chin one more time. “Behave, or you will end up like that.” He gestures inside the cell. I don’t see anything at first—it’s hard to distract myself away from the aliens licking the glass and stroking themselves at the sight of me. But as I look, I see there’s a lump in the back of the cell. There are green splatters everywhere, and I can just barely make out a hint of what looks like fabric created from the same material I’m wearing. “What…what is that?”
“It looks like they’re eating one of their cellmates. Again.”
Eating? Jesus. Those green splatters must be blood. And now that I look, whoever it was definitely seems to have the consistency of…meat. God. What a horrible way to die.
“Are you paying attention?” Noku asks me.
“I am,” I whisper. He’s got my attention now, that’s for sure.
“Good. Come, let us go a bit farther down.” He puts a claw on my back, leading me forward, and I reluctantly pull my gaze away from the dead prisoner and move down the line of cells with him. I’m numb as I gaze at the rows of strange aliens, all looking at me like they want to hurt me, rape me, eat me, or other horrors I can’t even imagine at this point.
I’m all alone. The sharp edge of it cuts at me like a knife, and I feel like crying. Tears won’t help things, but I just feel so helpless and afraid.
“To the glass,” Noku hisses at me, and shoves his shock-stick against my back. I cry out as it sends a hard jolt through my body, making me stumble forward. I smack against the glass of the next cell, and immediately rear back a second later.
As I do, I see a blur of blue muscle and look up in surprise to see blue skin, horns, and tattoos. He’s one of the more human-looking aliens here, but still doesn’t quite look like me. In fact, he looks a lot like a devil with his dark hair and horns. But the eyes that meet mine are surprised.
He touches the glass with a three-fingered hand, as if saying hello. And his mouth curves into a hint of a smile, revealing fangs.
2
JUTARI
This little female is mine.
I know that the moment I see her. Messakah males tend to be territorial when it comes to courting a woman, and I feel no different at the sight of this strange little thing. I do not know what planet she hails from or how old she is. All I know is that when I see her frightened eyes gleaming with unshed tears and her small hands press against the glass, I know two things.
She’s mine.
And I’m going to rend from limb from limb anyone who tries to touch her.
“Keffing shrikt,” says Cthorn off to one side in our shared cell. “What the hell is that thing?”
“Got a cunt,” says Ast. “That’s all I care about. They need to drop that sweet bit in here so we can say hello.”
I turn and growl at him, baring my fangs. “She’s mine.”
There are a few angry murmurs between the other men in the cell, but they don’t dare disagree with me. I’ve got the brawn and the temper to back up my bad reputation, and no one’s ever crossed me twice. There’s a reason I’m locked up with this scum, after all.
But to her? Ah, to my sweet little alien, I’d be so good.
I watch her with an avid gaze as the ssethri guard pushes her against the glass. I can’t hear what he’s saying to her, but she looks upset. Her eyes flick back to mine, and then she stumbles away from the glass partition that separates us. I lower my hand, watching as Noku torments the little female. There’s no reason she should be in this part of the prison, and the only reason I can think is because he’s showing off his new “toy.” The guards like to claim the females here as their own.
Little does he know that this one’s going to be mine.
It’s a strange sensation to see a female—especially one of another species—and realize that I want to claim her. The Haven prison system isn’t where I imagined I’d meet a woman. Of course, now that I’ve seen her, it seems like the most natural thing in the world to want this creature. She’s small but brave, I can tell. There’s a fighting spirit that flashes in her eyes when the ssethri pushes her around. She wants to rebel against him, but she’s also smart. When he grabs her by the chin again and forces her to look at him, it takes every ounce of my strength not to go into a mindless rage and fling myself against the glass until it breaks—or I do.
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