by Maia Starr
I held the knife tightly in my hand and thrust forward to cut the bundle of nerves at its core. Suddenly, the creature’s jaws slackened beneath my feet, and I began to tumble down the steep slope of its tongue until I found myself falling over the sharp edges of its teeth and down to the ground. The creature was swaying dramatically, and I knew that if we didn’t act, it was probably going to fall and the land on the human and break the platform, potentially destroying us both.
“Zern, you’re all right!”
I barely had time to heed the human’s relief. Reviewing all of my options revealed that if we followed the slope of rock up the face of the cavern walls, we would be able to find a way out this forsaken dungeon and escape once and for all.
The Erksha let out a deep moan that shook the Earth around us, and I grabbed the human, pulling her to her feet and leading her forward. She was almost too afraid to move, so I lifted her up and carried her as I ran toward our only chance of escape. There was no telling what would happen when the full weight of the Erksha landed on the unsteady platform of rock that had been formed above the magma. The human seemed weak, not only from fear, but from the extreme heat in the area. It was clear that humans were exceptionally vulnerable, and I had to do whatever I could to make sure that she got out of this alive.
She held onto me tightly as I ran, occasionally meeting my eyes with her own. They seemed to be asking a million questions, but there was no time to give her any answers. I knew that she hadn’t expected me to come and find her. In fact, it had been quite the surprise for us both. And if I didn’t get back soon, then I was going to lose the only chance I had of getting off of this prison planet once and for all.
Once I finally made it to the corridor, put the human back down on the ground and we walked slowly together toward the end, where the room I had been staying in overnight was hidden. What I wanted to do was to get to the entrance of the underground tunnel as quickly as possible so that I could make sure that Lila was able to escape this hellish prison.
My chest was tight as we made our way, and I could see our escape clearly. There was nobody guarding the door. It was as if we were destined to get out of this horrible place without any further consequences.
“Wait, where are we going?” Lila said, her voice wavering. “There are other girls down here. Humans. We can just leave them here. There are innocent women who deserve the same chance that I’m getting now.”
I gaped at her in disbelief. I had nearly lost my life to save hers. There was no way that I was going to let her talk me into getting us both killed.
“You need to lower your voice. Better yet, stop speaking entirely. There is danger here, and I need you to go up this ladder and out that door and never look back. It doesn’t matter whether there are one million humans in here. We got you to safety, and that’s what matters the most.”
“You are such an asshole,” the human said, shoving away from me and turning on her heel. She looked disoriented for a moment, as if she were trying to figure out the best course of action to take and she was suddenly very confused about where she was going. Any hesitation was going to cost her the freedom that I had risked my life for. And that was unacceptable.
Without another word, I lifted her once again from the ground and slung her over my shoulder so that I could climb out. She struggled and squirmed, not making a noise except the sound of her fist against my flesh. I didn’t feel anything much and ignored her as I did my best to escape from the pit as quickly as I could.
But it was a long way down, by the time I was about two-thirds of the way up the ladder, a familiar scent made my stomach churn.
“It is funny that you think that you can escape from this place. Sure, you may have been smart enough to overcome the Erksha, but I doubt that you will be any kind of match for your own kind, Captain Zern.”
I froze, realization dawning suddenly upon me. I knew now where I had heard that voice before. The man that had abducted Lila was the right-hand man to one of the most dangerous criminals that the planet Yala had ever seen. They had gone quickly from my mind after they had been imprisoned on the planet Hexa, because as far as I was concerned, I no longer had to worry about either of them.
And yet, here they were. Making our lives a living hell.
“Captain, you are not going anywhere with this human. She is mine. I am staking my claim upon her, and that is final.”
The voice of the Raither in charge chilled me. Both Parra and Marx were standing at the bottom of the ladder, holding up what appeared to be laser weapons. But when they fired, I found that they were actually simply doctored into primitive weapons that cast hard pellets at my body. Regardless of their lack of life-threatening danger, the constant assault on my hands and legs was too much, and I couldn’t help but lose my grip.
The human and I tumbled to the ground, and I fought against the nearly superhuman strength of the Raither leader and his goon. They seemed amused by the effort and quickly ended their attack with a swift blow to my head.
“Zern!” Lila shouted. “What the hell is wrong with you guys? He hasn’t done anything wrong!”
The Raithers cackled at her words and struck me again. The world went suddenly dark, and I was left unconscious, my final thought being concern for the human’s welfare.
Chapter 6
Dr. Lila Andrews
The small ray of hope that I had suddenly allowed to blossom in my chest curdled into a sad cloud of defeat. I hadn’t expected for Zern to come after me. In fact, I thought that he would be hard at work disassembling the ship and making any thought of escape that I may have had completely impossible.
Instead, he had just saved my life in one of the most dangerous ways possible. When he had disappeared into the terrifying worm creature’s mouth, I thought that I would never see him again. It seemed so uncharacteristic for him to just stand there and allow himself to be engulfed by the creature, but as soon as its face went slack, I started to realize that it must’ve all been a part of his plan.
I hadn’t allowed myself to feel hope again that I would see him, until he tumbled out of the creature’s mouth and stumbled toward me, saving me once again from the creature’s heavy body as it fell onto the platform and destroyed what was left of it. If we had waited just a few moments longer, both of us would have gone down into the magma along with the monster’s corpse.
“So the Erksha did not quite teach you the lesson that the Bardans were expecting it to, did it?” the tall Raither who referred to himself as Parra asked.
He was the one in charge, the one that all of the others were taking orders from. He had his hand heavily on my shoulder, and I couldn’t help but feel extremely uncomfortable with this unwanted attention.
Even if I had wanted to reply to Parra, my voice was caught in my throat, and I simply continued moving forward. The other Raither was dragging Zern behind us, his body limp and a rope wrapped around his thick, muscular legs. I felt horrible for getting him into this position. If I would’ve just listened to him and allowed him to lead me to freedom rather than worrying about the other humans, this might not have happened.
And yet, my scientific mind was already rationalizing everything that had happened. I had been in shock. There was no way that I could have acted any better than I had at the moment. I wasn’t entirely in control of myself. And although that happened rarely, I had to accept those brief moments when it did happen and do what I could to learn from them.
“I do not think that you will do anybody much good staying with the other humans. It seems that Captain Zern already knows where you and the others have been held. The last thing we need is another attempted jailbreak. The two of you need to stay far apart. You are going to come back to my chambers, where we will not be disturbed by anybody. Is that understood?”
I froze. The thought of being stuck in Parra’s chambers was terrifying. Even though he was a Raither like Zern, there was something incredibly inhumane about the way he conducted himself. I could tell by
looking into his eyes that he lacked all empathy and conscience. The thought of being near him for any extended length of time made me sick to my stomach.
“I said, is that understood?” Parra demanded.
I nodded quickly and turned away, my face red and probably betraying my revulsion.
“Good,” he said. “Make sure that you take care of Captain Zern. I am taking the human to my chambers now. You had better secure him. I have heard things about his strength that do not make me confident about our confines. Once the human is secured, I will come and begin the interrogation. There has to be a reason that Zern is here. I refuse to believe that he simply came in order to rescue a lowly human. There has to be something else. And not only that, but a reason why he is on this planet. If he got here, chances are he will have a way to get off as well.”
“Of course, sir,” the Raither that had kidnapped me said, bowing to Parra.
Parra turned his cold, metallic eyes upon me and his face contorted into what I could only assume was a smile. I wished I had never seen the sight, and knew that it would probably haunt me for the rest of my life.
“All right. Come then, human. It is time to make you a little bit more comfortable.”
***
Parra’s room was surprisingly posh, considering the lack of resources that they had to work with. I was beginning to understand that the Raithers were a very resourceful bunch, and whenever they had a need, they would figure out a way to fulfill it, no matter how limited their materials might be.
He had me sit down on his bed: one that looked as if it were taken from the ship that I had been squatting in for the past few months. However, it was a little bit different, and I had to wonder where it had come from. All of the beds in our ship were intact.
“Have a bite to eat,” Parra said, coming to me with a small tray of dried fruit. It was actually quite delicious, and I ate slowly, hoping that trusting this man’s food was not a mistake. However, before I could determine whether or not he was going to take advantage of this particular situation, he was suddenly summoned by one of the alligator men.
“Excuse me, sir, but we have a little bit of a situation with the Raither. He is waking up and has put up quite a fight. We need something to restrain him.”
“What happened to the ropes? Those took us quite a while to make from the fibers of the plant matter around here. Don’t tell me that he destroyed them already?”
“Unfortunately, that is the case. You said yourself it was a gamble. We have been unable to try again with the others. It seems pointless, considering he already broke through the ones that happened to be our strongest. It would be a lot of work for nothing to waste the weaker ropes on the likes of him.”
I couldn’t help but feel the surge of pride for Zern. He was proving to be quite a difficult opponent to face up to. The only reason they had compromised him to begin with was because he had been outnumbered. Even that wouldn’t have stopped him had he not been knocked unconscious. I had full faith in his abilities. He was the most incredible man I had ever known. And yet he wasn’t a man at all. How could I allow myself to have these feelings? We weren’t even the same species.
“This is absurd. Human, you stay here. Don’t even think about trying to escape. The consequences will be dire. And as for you,” Parra said, referring to the Raither that had come with the bad news. “Stand watch outside the door and make sure that nobody comes in or out of this room. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir. Of course. Don’t worry about a thing. I will make sure that all goes well here while you take care of Commander Zern.”
Parra nodded, and I was suddenly shut into the room and left alone.
***
As much as I wanted to get out of there, it was obvious that there was no way out. My first plan of action was to look around and look for something that I might be able to use as a weapon. It would have to be small, so that I could get away from my captors without them suspecting that I had any means to defend myself. And yet I knew that if Parra came back and found that I had been going through his things, I would be in mortal danger.
I could not allow that to happen, and so I began searching quickly and very carefully, making sure that I put everything back exactly as I had found it. This man was obviously ruthless, and if I wasn’t careful, it could cost me my life. That was something that I wasn’t willing to risk twice. The danger just wasn’t worth it.
I gazed around the room, frustrated when I found nothing of use anywhere. There was the bed of course, and the small hutches that had been made of wood and wooden pegs. Inside, I had found nothing but a change of clothes. It was quite discouraging, to say the least. I was just about to give up hope when a little gleam flashing from the doorway caught my eye. I ran to it, my heart pounding. I wasn’t sure I would be able to handle another setback. But there it was: a small knife wedged between the door and the wall. I looked at it and took it carefully from its hiding place, slipping it into my pocket quickly.
It was made of the same metals from the ship that all of the other tools had been made of, and I yelped in surprise when the cold metal began to drag down my leg. It had cut a hole swiftly in the fabric of my pocket, and it was slipping. I reached down to grab it before it hit the floor and gave me away, but as soon as I did, the doorway creaked open. I gasped and scrambled backward, surprised to see the Raither man that had been put in charge of my safekeeping.
“Hello, human,” he said, leering at me. I froze in terror. If he saw the knife fall to the floor, I didn’t know what I would do. Not only would I be persecuted, but what other twisted punishments might they find for me? Another magma worm?
“I don’t think that you should be in here. Your boss was pretty clear about nobody coming in or out of the room,” I said, sinking slowly down to the floor and drawing my legs together until I was sitting comfortably and staring up at him. I slowly moved my hands to the hilt of the knife and waited for the Raither to approach, gripping it tightly in my hand, readying myself mentally and physically to strike.
“What the boss doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” the Raither said, sneering. “And you should probably know that if you are thinking about doing anything stupid, there is going to be a world of hell for you to deal with if you do.”
I wondered briefly if he knew that I was holding onto the knife. But I could not let my paranoia win out. He had no idea what I had been doing in there. In fact, he had come in with ill intentions, and if Parra knew, the hell would not be on me: it would be on the intruder. I knew enough about the Raithers to understand that much. The man’s boss had claimed me, which meant that he would risk life and limb to ensure that no other Raither male had any contact with me whatsoever.
“What do you want with me anyway?” I asked, not budging from my spot on the floor. “Don’t you have a whole cell full of women that you could choose from? Why me?”
“Well, on my planet, I followed orders from one man alone, and that is the man who abducted you initially. Marx. He told me that he wanted to claim you, not Parra. I’m supposed to take you to him, and the two of you are going to make a break for it. Marx is tired of dealing with the boss. I don’t mind it so much though. But still, I respect the guy. I’m going to do what I can for him.”
“You know that your boss isn’t going to like that,” I said, doing my best to keep the conversation going for as long as possible. I didn’t want the Raither coming anywhere near me. All I could think about was Zern. What were they doing to him? They wanted information from him. Were they willing to torture him to get it? Of course they were.
“I don’t really care what the boss likes,” the Raither said, taking a step forward and fixing a cool smile upon me. “I don’t even know if his plan is going to work or not. Sure, it’s pretty cool to have an underground tunnel system and all. A lot of the guys around here respect that sort of thing. But truth be told, it doesn’t do much for me. There isn’t anything very special about it. I could do the same thing myself somewher
e else and not have to deal with taking orders from a gredding asshole like Parra.”
“So if he finds you and kills you for letting me out of your sight, then it’s no harm, no foul right?” I asked, raising my brow at the Raither. He didn’t seem to be a very forward-thinking kind of a man. But he did seem like a good mook.
“First of all, he probably wouldn’t kill me. I have a plan. If he doesn’t, I could always just escape with you and my real boss and stop worrying about this underground city entirely.”
“City?” I asked, unable to keep my curiosity out of my voice. So they were trying to build a city underground? Is that what we were doing? That seemed pretty ambitious. And also, a little bit pointless. It was smart, in a way, until you started encountering the magma worms that had nearly destroyed myself and Zern both.
“Well, nevermind. That’s not what’s important. It’s time for you to get going. Technically, Parra can’t claim you as my commander already has. He is the rightful owner of you, not Parra. We will have to make sure that the rest of the world knows that.”
“You mean I don’t even get a say in any of this? Once some guy claims me, that’s it?” I asked, shaking my head. “No, no, no. That doesn’t sound right. In fact, it’s primitive and archaic, and I refuse to take part in anything so misogynistic. You guys are just going to have to find somebody else to fight over. Because I’m not playing this game. Not with you and not with anybody. I don’t care what you have to say about it.”
At first, I thought that the Raither would be angry, but instead, he laughed heartily at my refusal to comply. “I was kind of hoping that this would get messy. You look like a lot of fun. Come on; let’s show each other what we are made of.”