by G. L. Argain
Voriaku force-fed Andrew another quick-regeneration liquid that spawned the calve and foot once more. The tractor beam moved back down to the ankle, and the Selentor moved back into his beam.
“By the way, I won’t risk cutting your arms off—that would increase your chances of coming off of the wall and escaping. Anyway, I believe you said that humans had government for thousands of years. What kind of government does your planet have now?”
Andrew kept his mouth shut, not wanting to say anything that might lead to another limb being taken off. Even if he wanted to speak, he would have a hard time doing so, being distracted by the pain in his leg.
“I can tell you’re afraid to speak. It won’t matter whether you speak your mind or not—I have to inflict pain on you periodically for the sake of the Commander. So talk!”
Andrew hesitated for a few seconds, then said, “….The Earth doesn’t have just a single government…. We have several that take control of each piece of the planet….and each piece is known as a ‘country.’”
Voriaku groaned. “You humans don’t even have a unified planet? There’s another thing! You savages have neither the power nor the will yet to connect your species as a whole!”
“What are you talking about? We could if we wanted to, but we just….choose to accept our differences. We don’t need to overpower each other!”
“You’re wrong, again. Deep inside the hearts of every being is the desire for power and control. Inevitably, someone is going to take the opportunity and make themselves the dominant world power. It could take fifty years, or a million, but it will happen! It always has, for every species in the universe. Every single intelligent species in this universe had unified their own selves as one!”
Andrew suddenly thought about the AOIB; he didn’t know what exactly their government was, but since there were those representatives at the meetings, each a different species, and the fact that there was a President and Vice-President, he had to guess that it was a Republic. Just like the United States of America. “So, what about the AOIB?” he asked. “Are they totalitarian?”
“Well, of course they are! But that doesn’t mean that they’re the same as us Selentors. They’ve been going against so many of our pursuits, and we’ve been trying to get an edge on them for too long!”
“They never treated me like a slave, though, or even as an inferior.”
“They were just hiding the truth until a later time. Tell me, has anyone from that group called you an intel-being?”
Andrew was tempted to say “Yes” right away, but then a series of doubts entered his mind. Juvir never did call him an intel-being, although he had often used the term for himself and every other alien in that place. He had even remembered what Anzem was just about to say before he was shot in the head. When Andrew yelled at Anzem about whether he, the human, had rights or not, it had suddenly occurred to him that Anzem was just about to say “No.”
“Do you realize,” said Voriaku, “that perhaps the reason why they seemed so great to you was because their opinions happened to seem similar to yours? If you were to suddenly disagree with something they had decided, they would surely not let you keep that opinion. They may be different, but ultimately they are not that different from us.”
Andrew’s spirit began to diminish some more. His hope, the organization of aliens that seemed to advocate freedom and peace in the universe, was now discovered to be more like the power-driven Selentors than he thought.
“You know, this pleases me in a way—to know that our enemies are just as much intel-beings as we are!”
“So….why are you enemies with them?”
“One, because they deny the fact that they are totalitarian, that they call themselves a “democracy,” even though martial law is heavily prevalent on their planets.” This struck Andrew’s interest. Is that what would have awaited him if he took the technical training? He had never seen much of Ku-an Doel outside of the AOIB headquarters, after all. That, and outside of the giant shield volcano. Why did they let him choose to train at the volcano, ultimately? Did they think he was just going to die?
“Two, because they don’t want us to go anywhere near Earth, or any of the other ‘forbidden planets.’ They made us sign a treaty that said, ‘any contact with underdeveloped species would lead to corruption for such species.’ Getting savages to know the real universe isn’t going to corrupt them.
“Three, because of a fucking religion! Do you know that they still believe in a supernatural being outside of the universe? They call it “Yhn,” and they act as though they should be good while they’re alive, because somehow they will be rewarded by this guy when they’re dead. You know what reward you’re getting for being good? Eaten by us intel-beings as a gourmet dish.”
Andrew winced in first response to these words, but then he realized something. “Hey, didn’t you say that when people die stupid, then they are forever stupid?”
“Your point?”
“Well, aren’t you’re essentially saying that people do live on, in a way, after death?”
“No, I never said that, nor did I mean that!”
“Yes! Yes you did! You’re a hypocrite!”
“No I’m not!”
“You know what else you’ve been contradictory about? You said earlier that the point of torturing me was to change me into an intel-being, and yet you also said that you were going to eat me once I’m dead! You would be eating an intel-being, which is against your beliefs!”
“SHUT UP!!! You’re too cocky!”
Voriaku lurched out of the beam, drew out the plasma blade, and instead of taking off a limb, he struck the weapon several times onto Andrew’s chest. He ended up with a torso covered in blood, both fresh and dried, and torn all the way down to his ribs. Andrew could feel everything there. Voriaku then drove his fingers through Andrew’s ribs and touched his heart. The human could feel this, and he was about to faint from what seemed to be something out of a horror movie.
“I can kill you instantly by piercing my fingers into your heart. You ought to not be so defiant next time.” He then took out his fingers and force-fed Andrew another bottle of the dark purple liquid. Andrew’s flesh and blood had regenerated back onto his torso, but he was starting to feel very weak. One human only has so much energy to endure such rapid regeneration for so long.
Andrew dared not speak for as long as he could.
“Hey, are you still listening to me? Say something, already.”
The human dangling from the wall closed his eyes and shook his head slightly, still bound at the neck by a tractor beam.
Voriaku responded to this with a smirk. He then took out another syringe, this time with a clear liquid, and injected it into Andrew’s neck. He suddenly found himself saying, “I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna speak!” even though he meant to keep it to himself.
Voriaku raised his index finger as he said, “Truth serum, or rather, speech serum. It forces you to speak anything that’s on your mind, even if you don’t want to. You literally cannot think before you speak.”
“Are you serious? That’s weird!” the human blurted out.
“Too bad it only lasts a few seconds.”
The human opened his mouth again, but the serum quickly wore off, keeping his thoughts inside and his mouth from speaking again.
“Well, that didn’t help out much. Let’s see what else is on your mind when I give you a longer-lasting dose—”
“Voriaku,” interrupted Commander Fall, who seemed to be speaking from the ceiling, even though there were no speakers in sight, “we have a human on the loose in the halls and he’s heading in your direction. He may know about Andrew’s situation, so let him stand by the door for a few moments, then let him in.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Voriaku muttered.
Andrew, who was still hanging on the wall by tractor beams, was curious to know who that human was. Could it have been someone he personally knew?
Chapter 20
The human banged his fists against the door while yelling in a masculine voice, “Open up! If you got Andrew in there, let him out!”
“Such a moron,” Voriaku said to himself, “and yet he’s out of containment somehow. Either this is due to the Commander’s will or there’s some staff that need changing as well.”
Andrew couldn’t tell who it was out there. He had only the voice to rely on, and even then there were plenty of people who could sound like that. It could have been someone he recently got to know on Earth, an old childhood friend, or somebody he didn’t know at all.
He got his answer when Voriaku pressed on his wrist-device to open the door. It was Bill, worn and tired, who seemed to have had some modifications already. His private parts were missing, and his stature appeared to be tougher. He did not have any darkened muscles, though. Andrew took a few seconds before fully recognizing him.
Within those few seconds, the Selentor grabbed Bill by the neck, drew out his plasma blade, and pointed it straight at the new human’s face. Bill couldn’t help displaying an expression of terror.
“On your knees.”
The human who was once filled with courage did as he was demanded.
“Why are you here?” said Voriaku.
“Eh-ugh….I—I don’t know,” stuttered Bill as he tried to compose himself. He thought something such as this could happen, but he wasn’t hoping for it; he was ill-prepared. “I was laying down on a table, being experimented on by aliens, and suddenly all the aliens around me backed away. They left me an opening right in front of me, as if they were releasing me. Not really what I thought, but I’m guessing this is a trap?”
“I would suppose so.”
“Bill?….Are you that guy from high school?” said Andrew, hanging from the wall.
“Yeah, my name is Bill.” He was speaking without moving another muscle, careful not to invoke Voriaku’s wrath. “Who are you?”
“I’m Andrew—isn’t that what you came here for? To rescue me?”
Looking up to Voriaku, Bill said, “Could you let me get a close look at him?”
The Selentor moved his body out of the way, but the blade was still close to his neck.
Andrew and Bill stared at each other for a while. Andrew had no problems recognizing Bill once he announced himself, but Bill could not reciprocate. The human hanging on the wall before him was a hairless pink body, covered with blood in several areas. His muscles were uneven, with the torso being muscular while the arms and legs were scrawny. Even his facial composition was different. He was not the guy Bill knew several years before.
“….I’m sorry,” Bill said quietly, “I just don’t see it.”
“I’m not surprised,” interrupted Voriaku. “He is a being who’s had several genetic procedures done along with a few other features, such as muscular conditioning and a shaved body. I was disgusted to see all of that hair.”
“What? I have no hair?” inquired Andrew. “Even on my head?”
“You have no hair anywhere now. We shaved it off because you didn’t need it.”
“But the AOIB didn’t do that. My hair was intact with them.”
“They probably didn’t see it as much of an issue as I do. I’ve known other species with hair on their bodies, but species such as myself never had hair, nor do we want it. Aren’t facts fun?”
“This isn’t funny,” said Bill, “you are literally torturing us here!”
“I’m not torturing you or even this other Earthling here. I’m just changing the way things are about you two that I see fit.”
“There’s no fucking difference….especially when you’re killing us.”
“You say the word ‘killing’ as though every form of it is unforgivable.” Voriaku tilted his head back slightly as he kept his eyes on Bill. “Did you see some of your friends get killed?”
Andrew jerked as he heard this idea. “Bill! Did anyone else get abducted along with you?” Bill did not answer immediately, which provided him to ask another question: “How did you get abducted in the first place?”
“….there was Drake, and there was Keith and that one girl….I think she was Keith’s girlfriend….”
“Was she someone I knew?”
“….I think she was called Marlene.”
Andrew thought about this for a moment. He didn’t really know any “Marlenes” that he was friends with, so that didn’t matter.
“We were trying to see what happened to you….and then in broad daylight we got captured by these guys….I don’t know what happened to them, but I think I’m the only one who escaped. I heard screams in the other room.”
“Your friends are just test subjects,” said Voriaku, “and we have no need to torture you. If anything, somebody chose not to use anesthetic.” The Selentor paused for a couple seconds. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. After that incident with Andrew and the AOIB, we realized we were heading into a war that would begin very soon. Humans are going to be in high demand by that time.”
“What?!?” The surprise was explicitly shown upon both of the humans’ faces.
“What? Didn’t you realize that the moment you humans revealed yourselves to us Selentors and the AOIB, you’re no longer protected? Everyone’s going to want to take Earth for themselves!”
“You have got to be shitting me!” exclaimed Bill. “Like hell I’m going to let you take our planet!”
“Why not?”
“Because we like our planet!!!”
“I suppose the better question for me to ask was, ‘How?’” Voriaku looked back up to Andrew, hanging on the wall. “Do you have any ideas?”
Andrew stared silently. Tears came out of his eyes, then he closed them.
“You cry too much.” Voriaku stepped up to him and grabbed a syringe from his uniform.
“STOP!!!” yelled Andrew. “Don’t move a single fucking muscle!”
The Selentor stopped in his tracks.
The human hanging on the wall, once covered in pity, now exhibited a look of fury in its eyes. Voriaku looked at him for a few moments, then he moved the plasma blade away from Bill. The alien struck, and Andrew’s feet were cut off again, but he had handled the pain far better than before. The look of rage still existed in his eyes, even after the feet had been thrown into the chute and a new pair had been given.
“Interesting,” said Voriaku. He looked back at Bill, who was shocked to see the foot-chopping act for the first time.
“Did—did you just chop off his feet and chuck them into the garbage???”
“Not garbage. It goes to the meat locker.”
“Oh, God!”
“Complain all you want, I don’t feel like explaining it to you. I only have enough energy to explain what I can to this guy here on the wall.” Voriaku faced back towards Andrew. “So, what’s this look of anger and vengeance we have here in your eyes, hmm? Did this friend of yours inspire you to live? Or was it the idea—actually, that sounds better. You don’t want your planet to come under our control.”
“Maybe before you try to control other species,” said Andrew, glaring at the Selentor, “you should take control of your own damn selves.”
Voriaku did not take this comment lightly. “What was that?”
“You think your species is the best in the universe, and you just eliminate everyone that disagrees with you or you just force them to think like you. You’ve had millions of years more experience than humans, but even we know how to cope with differences. But you, who can’t even deal with hearing some other opinion? That’s just childish.”
Voriaku tilted his head downward, keeping his eyes upon Andrew’s, and said, “What did I say about being too cocky?” He took out the plasma blade and raised it up towards the ceiling. Andrew’s expression changed a little from fear, but not so much to lose all of his confidence. Then, Voriaku lowered his blade, not touching the human on the wall. He appeared to calm down, but why?
“Heh heh, I guess killing you right now wo
uldn’t do much good, would it? And maybe you are smarter than I thought. I have a proposition for you—both you and your friend here.” Bill perked up, then his expression changed from curiosity to fear as Voriaku set the blade back up to his neck again. Bill rose up his hands as a sign of surrender. “I’m going to let the both of you try to fight me. If you win, then you’ll have a chance of getting off the ship. If you lose, then that’s just death, and it will prove that you and all the other humans on Earth are mere savages.”
“We are not savages either way,” said Andrew.
“Then prove it. Once I let you down and I say, ‘start,’ you may begin the battle.”
“How do I know you’re not just going to cheat?”
“Have I lied yet?”
Bill in the background looked anxious. “Andrew, you shouldn’t do this. It’s obvious he’s just gonna kill us both!”
Andrew was silent for a couple seconds before responding, “Well, it’s better than dying from getting my feet cut off over and over again. Might as well die trying.”
“Oh my God, I can’t believe we’re going to die here in the middle of space….”
“Well, you’re surely going to die if you feel as though you are,” said Voriaku.
“Bill, if I fight, then you fight with me. It’s two against one,” said Andrew.
“I can see that,” said Voriaku.
“Uh….alright….” muttered Bill.
Voriaku pressed his finger onto the wrist-device, and the tractor beams holding Andrew onto the wall disappeared. He fell to the floor onto his feet and then his hands, finding that he could hardly stand up. Voriaku loosened his grip on the plasma blade, turning it off, and put it back into a pouch on the side of his suit. Bill leaned forward and put his hands onto the floor, feeling relief throughout his body. Andrew, on the other hand, was having issues; his arms were numb, his legs and feet were very sensitive, and the rest of his body felt heavy. He thought it was a challenge to even lift himself up. He crawled to the wall, fixated himself into a sitting position, and attempted to squat.