“Yelling what?” she frowned.
“He’s told her he knows she can get out. He ordered her to find the power for the walls and turn it off,” Jasmine replied. Sienna looked at the woman who stood and returned the empty food containers to the box. She was surprisingly tall, probably a little more than six feet. She wore a jumpsuit with short sleeves in army green and her feet were bare. Her finger nails and toe nails appeared to painted a pretty moss green. Then she returned to the center of the room and went back to her apparent meditation.
“What did she do?”
“Nothing, she ignored him like the rest of us.” said Rose.
***
“Ashaa, it’s been four days.” The man in lab coat was lecturing the woman again. Sienna was tired of hearing his voice. “I know you can escape if you choose to do so. I demand you escape the cell and release us, now. “
He struck his usual pose for the speech, hands on his hips, feet apart. The woman ignored him yet again.
“Ashaa, are you going to wait so long that we can’t find our way back to earth? You need to do something now. I order you to obey damn it!”
Her eyes opened and she looked at him with the same neutrality that Taylor often wore when dealing with obnoxious people.
“You no longer have the capacity to order me to do anything, Dr. Westing,” came the calm reply.
“I am still in charge and you will do as I say!”
“Dr. Westing, you are sitting in the same type of cell in which I reside so I fail to see how you can believe you are currently in charge of anything. It strikes me as slightly delusional that you persist in this belief of your overstated authority,” she told him without opening her eyes again. This was the same conversation they’d been having for three days straight. Only the doctor’s count of days and hours changed. Sienna giggled as she thought about the old Bill Murray movie.
“What’s funny?” Samantha asked.
“Groundhog Day,” Sienna laughed this time. It earned her some strange looks but the women in her small group laughed, even Taylor.
“I see your point. It is rather repetitive, their conversation,” Samantha said with a smile.
“If she can get out why doesn’t she do it? I want to go home, too!” Blanca whined.
Rose sneered at her, “You’re assuming he’s correct and that someone could actually figure out how to fly the damn thing.”
“Probably couldn’t see over the dash,” Taylor deadpanned. They all stared open- mouthed at her. “What? They are about nine feet tall, ya know.”
Everyone but Blanca laughed again. It was something they hadn’t done in four days but it felt good despite the stares they were getting.
“If we ever get out of this I’m telling my father on you!” Blanca seethed.
Taylor simply smiled the serene smile she wore most of the time as Rose rolled her eyes.
***
Sienna wanted a shower and clean clothes. She also wanted to walk further than the sixty feet across the enclosure in which she sat. She wanted to see the sun. She wanted anything but this unending boredom. She was worried about her grandmother and her business. Janice knew where they had been heading with the lunch but would the army tell Grace anything at all? There was no way to know, only unanswered questions for them all. Samantha was the only one of her six married but Jasmine had her elderly aunt who depended on her and the others all had families who had to be worried except for Rose.
If not for Samantha’s watch, Sienna knew that they would not have a clue how long they’d been here. The trusty and yet hated device told her it had been 15 days since the day they had begun to refer to as Hell Monday. Their days consisted of complete boredom with interruptions from the Doctor lecturing Ashaa, the General cursing Ashaa and bouts of fear with breath-holding as their furry grey keepers occasionally came in and removed one or two of the science types or a single military person. The science types would then be returned sometimes minutes or even hours later. Some appeared completely intact and others a little worse for wear, neither condition seemed dependent on the time frame. The military personnel usually came back angry or unconscious. They had all learned quickly to avoid the sticks the giants carried. A flash of barely seen energy would leave you unconscious for hours and aching for days according to several who had the misfortune to encounter it.
The clomping of heavy booted feet drew Sienna from her thoughts. Breath holding would begin because they all knew it wasn’t time for either of the two meals they were being fed. The gray aliens appeared and moved toward their enclosure. One entered and glanced around. He (?) pointed the stick at Sienna and waved her toward the path. Then he chose Rose. They knew better than to protest. He came toward them and snapped a bracelet around each of their wrists and then pointed toward the other alien growling in a low voice in a language she didn’t understand. Sienna and Rose did as they had seen many of the others do and walked toward the alien on the path. They passed easily through the wall with just a little tickle on their skin. The aliens had been slowly working through the entire group. Theirs was the last grouping and the aliens had started on them two days ago. They followed the first alien down a very long hallway and into another cavernous room. There was a table off to the right and two pedestals in nearly the center of the room with various workstations along the left wall. Several aliens in the room turned to look at them. It was intimidating to be in the room with this many of the giants. Sienna counted eight at various stations.
The first alien growled something in his guttural language and pointed to the pair of pedestals and Sienna stepped up on one as Rose did the same beside her. The bracelet was removed and the alien stepped back. Suddenly she felt as though a great weight had engulfed her. Everything from her neck down was immobile. She turned her head and saw Rose’s frightened face. Another alien approached and placed a small silver cylinder against her neck. There was a hiss, a stinging sensation and then a wave of warmth moved up her neck. The alien then did the same to Rose.
“I am Nogith,” the large alien sitting next to the table in front of them said. Sienna was startled and glanced at Rose who also appeared as surprised. “A translator was injected into your skin so that you can understand me and comply with instructions. Do you understand?” His voice was rough and gritty.
“Yes,” she and Rose answered. Suddenly her body was free from the invisible bonds.
“Sit,” he directed. She and Rose sat on the edge of the pedestals and looked up at him. “What is your occupation?”
“I own a deli.”
“A what?” he queried clearly puzzled by the answer. Apparently the translator wasn’t fool proof she thought.
“A deli, it’s a place where we make food and then people pay us for the prepared foods” she stated. “Rose is one of my workers,” she indicated the girl next to her.
“And this is all you do?” he frowned.
“Yes.” Sienna tried not to let the irritation she felt at his statement show. All you do? He had no idea how hard they worked on a busy day.
“Why were you on the base?”
“They asked us to prepare a lunch for a meeting. We brought the food and things and set it up for them in a meeting room. Just before we finished the setup, the explosions started and the alarms started going off. We tried to leave but when we got out side, something made us blackout before we reached our vehicle,” she explained.
Nogith smiled a toothy grin and said, “The stun blast.”
Samantha was right thought Sienna, think shark. His black eyes blinked at them from side to side rather than top to bottom. It was yet another unnerving attribute of their captors.
“You are now property of the suPonicks. You will behave and do as you are told. Your cooperation will go a long way to your own comfort and well-being. We staged a detonation at the base to appear as an accident. This means people will believe you are dead and will not look for you as the base was completely destroyed even the underground levels,” he arrogantly
stated. “Nnmek, list them as cooks.” Sienna swallowed hard and said prayer for her grandmother. Grace would be devastated hearing of her ‘death’. He waved to the waiting pair of guards as though he hadn’t just delivered crushing news and a painful understanding that they would never see home again. The two guards came forward and put the bracelets back on Sienna and Rose. The first turned, walking away and the second waved his stick and they followed the departing one out and back to the cell. Sienna sighed. She was starting to hate this view. But the relieved faces of her group came in to view and she knew they had truly been worried.
“Are you okay?” Samantha’s face was creased with worry lines.
“Yes. They just wanted to ask questions. First they put a shot in our neck and then we could understand them. The one Rose dubbed,” she lowered her voice as she looked around, “scary alien dude, he seems to be in charge and asking the questions. He also told us they staged an accident so no one will look for us.” The women all paled at this news. She felt someone moving behind her. Sienna looked over her shoulder to see one of the soldiers coming over.
“Are you all right?” he asked squatting next to their group.
“Yes,” Rose answered. “Considering they’ve abducted us, just informed us we are now property and that no one is looking for us since they destroyed the base.”
He smiled at Rose and eyed Sienna. “She’s right. He just wanted to know why we were at the base,” Sienna responded. “We delivered a lunch setup for a meeting,” she told him before he could ask.
The soldier glanced over his shoulder. “For the General and his group?” he queried.
“We don’t know. They just asked for sandwiches and sides with drinks and cookies for a hundred with a request for a quick setup. We didn’t even finish the set up before all Hell broke loose. We ran when the building caught fire and started falling down,” she told him.
“Did they put in the translator?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hear anything of interest?” he smiled again.
“No, he asked what my occupation was and why we were at the base,” Sienna replied. “Then he told us about the ‘accident’ they staged and they listed us as cooks and then brought us back here.”
“Keep your ears open then.” He walked away after that statement.
The clomping was heard again and they turned to watch the two women who had gone out after Rose and Sienna come back. Taylor and Samantha were chosen next. The day would go like this until the entire group had been done if the previous days were examples.
“Blanca,” Sienna turned to address the perpetually pouting teen. “Make sure you do as you’re told when they choose you.”
“I am not going!” she pouted.
“You don’t have a choice if you don’t want to be on the wrong end of the stick.”
“My father…” she began heatedly.
“Is not here and has no power with our toothy keepers,” Rose cut her off. Blanca glared at the younger teen who smiled sarcastically at her. “Face it, Princess Pout, you’re in the same boat as the rest of us.”
The clomping of heavy boots cut off Blanca’s retort. The aliens returned Taylor and Samantha and then escorted Natalie and Jasmine out of the room. Blanca moved to the other side of the room.
“As if that will keep her from being chosen”, snorted Rose. So the day went until they were fed. Sienna had to admit the food choices were interesting and most items also tasted pretty good. Fortunately for them the aliens had not given them the pretty yellow berry type fruit again. They had looked much like clumps of grapes except were bright sun yellow and had been so bitter they were not edible. Today’s meal was the knobby blue orbs that tasted a bit like cauliflower, ugly brown stalks that tasted sort of sweet and tart like an orange along with the mystery bread and mystery meat sticks. After they ate, the choosing started over again.
Trouble started when the alien attempted to choose Blanca. She trampled people in her path to move the opposite direction and the alien growled.
“Blanca he said to stand over next to her,” Sienna pointed at the other woman chosen, who already stood where the alien had indicated.
“I’m not going anywhere with the monster bastards! You can’t make me!”
People were now trying to hustle out of Blanca’s way as she pushed and shoved in effort to keep the alien at bay. The alien lunged for her growling and grumbling. He finally latched on to the back of her shirt. He snapped the bracelet in place and carried out the kicking and screaming teen out by the back of her shirt. She was returned carried the same way shortly after but in an unconscious state. Sienna looked at the older woman who had accompanied her out.
“What happened?” she asked.
The older woman smiled nastily and said, “Apparently everyone is tired of her tantrums. When she wouldn’t stop cursing Nogith after his property decree and accident story he decided, she was in need of some discipline. He zapped her with a stick.” She walked away and Sienna let it go. Blanca’s behavior was getting worse. Sienna and Samantha both sighed knowing when Blanca woke there would be hell to pay.
Chapter 3
As it happened, Hell started before Blanca woke.
Sienna woke to a loud boom and the floor beneath her shaking. An explosion she thought. Alarms started blaring, “Hull breach, deck four, hull breach, deck four.” Sometimes having a translator sucked she thought as she would have been comfortable being ignorant of the breach.
The noise was deafening. There was shouting and the whine sound she now knew was a laser weapon the big gray aliens carried. The ship shuddered again and another explosion occurred somewhere and knocked those who were standing to the floor. Sienna gathered her group quickly around her as even Blanca hadn’t been able to sleep through the amount of noise and shaking. They huddled against the back wall of the cell and watched the door. The alarm cut off. Everyone was now watching the door.
Incredible! Little Green Men Literally! Sienna thought as she shook her head yet the small creatures remained. They were the typical essence of a sci-fi film: small bodies, big heads with big black eyes. Who knew? The small creatures moved from cell to cell peering at them and talking among themselves. Suddenly the tingling sensation ran across her arms and legs again and she had just enough time to think stun blast before blackness overtook her.
***
“Mirkndaks! You were raided by Mirkndaks!” Nogith stood on the bridge while his father bellowed. Around him they were making repairs to the badly damaged vessel. The repairs had to be done before they could even hope to limp to the next space station. “You are an idiot. How do you allow Mirkndaks to raid you, steal your cargo and damage your ship so badly half of your crew was lost? You are not a leader, you are an imbecile.” His father was still roaring. “Get to NKimen. I will set up enough credits to the repair the vessel. Then get your ugly stupid ass back here immediately. The Rank is already furious about incident with the Earthlings. They say if you have damaged the relationship there will be reprisals. DO NOT make any more mistakes,” his father concluded by slamming his fist down on his desk. He glared for a moment more then signaled someone off screen to cut the link.
Nogith’s blood boiled. When he got his prize back his father would be sorry for treating him this way. He would have proof there were still Zargazians left. He turned to Legoch. “I am going to my cabin. Call me when we are underway.”
Legoch saluted and then scowled after Nogith exited the bridge. They gave my promotion to this idiot. Legoch shook his head in disgust. Nogith only had the job because of who his father was. And look where that got us!
***
Waking was once more painful, Sienna’s head was throbbing terribly again.
“Sienna?” Rose questioned.
Sienna opened her eyes slowly and realized her surroundings had changed and she didn’t think it was for the better. The cell they were now in had bars on it. It was dark and very warm. She looked at Rose.
“Samanth
a went to get us some water,” Rose told her quietly.
“Are we all here?” Sienna tried look around in the gloom.
“Yes,” Rose said softly.
“Here,” said Samantha holding out a small water bottle.
Sienna sipped while she looked around. Taylor was sitting quietly next to Rose. Natalie, Jasmine and Blanca were still out. Sienna saw the tall woman who had been in the separate cell had been placed in with them as well as four other women and one male soldier. The smirking jerk with fresh hands she recognized from the entry point of the building. In the gloom she also saw a small orange creature which appeared furry and had many tentacles instead of arms cowering in the corner. Across the gloomy room was a second cell filled with more humans and several bright blue creatures with large pale orange eyes. A third cell sat to her left and was filled with snarling bright yellow reptilian-looking creatures. The last cell across from the reptiles was filled with brown furry creatures. They looked as though someone had combined a lion and bear and were about the size of medium dog. These creatures were prowling the cage and growling.
From somewhere beyond the open entry that led into a hallway, she could hear other creatures making noises and voices she thought were humans calling out. Finally a voice she could understand called out.
“This is Colonel Derrins. I need a count. Are there more humans and how many in your group?” the voice called.
The male soldier stood and called back, “Eleven civilian females, Private Ron Jennings, and the ASHaa in my cell, Sir.”
A soldier in the cell across the way called, “Nineteen soldiers, two civilians and Major Steven Roberts.”
Sienna heard other voices somewhere respond but couldn’t make out the words.
“Is the ASHaa conscious?” the colonel wanted to know.
Jennings looked over his shoulder at the woman still lying on her side with her eyes closed. “No Sir.”
“See if you can wake her.”
Jennings eyed the woman and approached her warily. He pushed her with a booted foot. “Wake up! Wake up!” She didn’t move. He tried again with a more forceful push. “WAKE UP!” he shouted at her. When she failed to rouse once more he pulled back and kicked her in the back.
TAKEN: Journey to a New Home Page 2