by Maia Starr
Chapter 3
Bridget Thomas
I could not stand him. He was getting on my last nerve. Even his flowing silver hair and startling blue eyes could not overshadow the fact that this alien was downright rude. Maybe I would have been better off on my own since he barely spoke anyway. He was not one for conversation, and it was all that we had when we were stuck in the middle of an unknown planet.
I often talked when I was nervous or scared; it helped to relieve the anxiety that I felt. But he was not being friendly, and it pissed me off. I hated my body for responding to him every time he did something that turned me on.
Even the way he tracked footprints in the sand was sexy. I had a scientific mind, and he was definitely a fascinating science specimen, but he was brash, frustrating, and I wanted to slap his arrogance off his face. He seemed to hate humans, and I didn't understand that. If he hated us, then why the hell did he take us from Earth? Although this creature was blue-skinned, extremely tall, and physically well sculptured, there was something that he had in common with men from Earth; he was a jerk. I would have to come to terms with that, and I only hoped that we found the others soon. I did not want to spend another minute with this alien. For the time being, I trailed him through the desert following these tracks, whatever made them.
“Stop,” he said suddenly. He stopped as we followed the trail of tracks. I stopped and looked up from the sand. He was looking off into the distance. I followed the direction that he was looking in.
“What is it?” I couldn't see anything but the horizon.
“There is movement out there. I can see it. It is heading in this direction,” he said. I looked again; I didn't see anything. But maybe these aliens had better vision than humans; their bodies were certainly superior to ours, and he was much taller.
“I don't see anything. Are you sure?” I asked.
He turned and looked at me, giving me an angry look. Even with anger on his face, he still looked incredibly attractive.
“I said I saw the movement, human. Do not doubt me. We need to get off of this trail and out of you,” he said looking around.
“I was only asking because—” But he didn't let me finish.
“There. That wall of rocks will do for now. Come, human,” he said.
I sighed and followed him as he walked to a large rock wall and boulders about five hundred yards away. I didn’t like that I was not part of the process of making decisions. It was pissing me off even more. I turned back in the direction of the movement and still did not see anything.
“Hurry, human,” he said. I jogged a little to catch up with him. He was walking very fast. Soon we reached the rock walls. He walked around very quietly. He kept turning in the direction of the movement. Now, I could see a little clearer. He was right; there was something out there, but I still could not see what it was.
“Shit. It is worse than I thought,” he said.
“What is it?”
“Cyborgs.”
“What? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“We have to hide,” he said. He frantically began to look around the walls. I could not believe it. He couldn't be serious. Did he really mean cyborgs? Maybe that word meant something else to him and the Kynon. It couldn't mean what it meant on Earth; we didn't even have them for real on Earth. But then again, I had never known there were aliens out there.
“Do you really mean cyborgs? As in half man half machine?” I asked.
“Here. Come; there is a crevice,” he said, not answering my question. He disappeared into a crack in the wall; it was very large. I followed him into the darkness. It opened up into a small cave. It was cold and dark. It smelled fresh. Suddenly the cave lit up with a soft green glow. I saw that his arm was glowing. It was his armband cuff. It had a small light on it. He was using it to look around. I was impressed. What other interesting gadgets did he have on him? I looked around at the walls and touched them. It was wet.
“Water! See! I told you so! I was right. I was right. This water is coming out of the walls.” I said, excited to be right.
“Quiet, human!” he whispered loudly with a stern tone. “Do you want the cyborgs to find us?” he said.
“You just can't admit that I was right, can you? There is water here. If we had something to catch it in, we could have a drink. Can't you at least thank me for being right for once?” I said narrowing my eyes at him.
He sighed. Then he pointed his wrist at his belt to give off light. He opened a small compartment on it. He pulled something out. I watched as he unfolded a silver piece of material. It folded out into a canteen sack. “Here. Catch all the water you want, just do it quietly.”
I smiled. He wasn't going to admit verbally that I was right. But him handing me this let me know that he was at least giving in to the fact that I had been right about something. I pressed the opening of the canteen against the walls dripping with water. It slowly started to fill up. When it was about halfway full, I took a small sip. It was cool, refreshing, and delicious. Maybe some of the purest water that I had ever drink.
I handed him the canteen in the soft glowing green light.
“Here.”
Grabbed it out of my hands and mumbled, “Thank you.” He took a drink.
“What? What was that?” I said wanting to hear him say it louder and mean it.
“I said thank you,” he growled as he pushed the canteen back toward me.
“You don’t have to be a dick about it,” I said.
“You don’t have to—”
“There! Over there!” something shouted from outside. In seconds his hand was over my mouth again. The space went completely black as he turned his light off. We could hear the computer-like voices from a group outside the rocks. I knew that it had to be the cyborgs. What else would have a digital-sounding voice like they did? I was quiet as I breathed against Vnor’s large blue hand. My heart was pounding. I was terrified. I did not know what these things were, but I knew that there were more of them than us two. They knew that we were hiding, and it wouldn’t be long before they found us. I was glad that I wasn’t alone. Even though I hated this attractive alien, at least he was a companion in this.
Chapter 4
Lieutenant Vnor Gin
She was the most stubborn female I had ever met, human or not. She constantly talked, even if we were in danger. She was driving me absolutely crazy. I had spotted the group heading toward us on the horizon, but she did not believe me. I realize that maybe the humans did not have the same vision capabilities that we Kynon had. Nonetheless, she should believe me and trusted me. But she was constantly questioning, over and over.
I knew that she was an intelligent human, but she wanted more from me. She wanted me to be friends; I wasn't looking for friends. I was on a mission, and right now that mission had changed from taking humans from Earth to my planet to finding the rest of the crew and humans and getting off of this unknown planet.
But when I saw the cyborgs, I knew we were in danger. I wasn't counting on this being a cyborg planet, but I knew that they were out there. It was just our luck that we had crashed on one of them. Now it was better to get out of sight than try to confront them or seek help from them. But getting to a safe place and hiding wasn't easy when I had a human female with me that made my blood boil.
Now I stood with my hand over her mouth trying to keep her silent. We did not move. But I did not know if this mattered at all. They could have heat x-ray capabilities going right through the walls to see heated bodies hiding within. But we could at least try.
“In here,” I heard a cyborg say at the end of the opening. I could feel the human female breathing harder against my hand. She was frightened. Suddenly a bright light was in our faces. I couldn't see the cyborgs, but they had found us.
“Two creatures in the cave. I have never seen the like of them before. One is blue, and one is pale,” the cyborg said. It was obviously talking into a radio. The response was, “Bring them out.”
“You two. Step this way. Do not shoot or you will be shot without question,” the cyborg waved the light at us.
“I will not shoot. We will come out peacefully,” I said. There was no point in trying to fight my way out. There were too many of them, and nowhere to go when we got outside anyway. I knew the human female wouldn't be able to keep up with me either. This was the only way to keep both of us alive. I took my hand off of Bridget and grabbed her hand. I let her toward the light and out of the cave. When we got out, there were twenty cyborgs standing with guns aimed at us.
“What are you? Where do you come from?” a cyborg came forward asking us. I could tell that he was the leader. His mechanical parts were a shiny chrome and seemed to be more polished than the others. He looked almost human, but with more machine than man.
“We do not mean any harm. We are only looking for a village with a transmission station and a port. My ship crashed on this planet with my cargo: this creature,” I said looking at Bridget.
The cyborg walked closer to us. He walked around us in a circle; he was sizing us up.
“What are you called?” he asked me.
“I am Lieutenant Vnor Gin. I am a Kynon from the planet Xeion,” I said.
“Xeion? I have never heard of this place. Nor have I heard of Kynon. How do I know that you tell the truth?” he asked.
“You don't. But why would I lie?”
“And what is this cargo? What are you called?” he looked at Bridget and put his finger on her arm. He slid it down her arm. I tensed up. I didn't like him putting his hands on my goods.
“Don't touch me,” she said with anger. I almost laughed at her bravery toward this cyborg.
“I have never seen anything that looks like you. I like the way you look. You are not a Kynon like him. You are almost like us, but different. There is no machine to you,” the cyborg said.
“That is because I am a human. I am not like you,” she said.
“Put them both in chains,” the cyborg said.
The group of cyborgs moveed towards us. I was angry, but there was no point in fighting. Cuffs were put around my wrists and ankles. The same was done to Bridget. But they didn't stop there.
“I am called K6R. What should I call you, human?” he said standing in front of her. Her wrists were clasped together in front of her.
“I am called Bridget.”
“Well, Bridget, I am very curious about how you look,” he said. As soon as he said it, he grabbed her shirt. She gasped. He pulled it up to her neck revealing her ample breasts. I thought that she would scream and protest but instead, she stood there, stone-faced. She had hatred in her eyes for him, but she did not move. She stood up tall and proud. My eyes moved directly to her breasts. She was beautiful, but I could not enjoy it. I was pissed off. How dare he treat my goods in such a way.
“Leave her alone,” I said.
“I will do what I like. This is now mine,” K6R said. He put his hand on one of her breasts. My blood boiled.
“Don’t touch her!” I shouted.
He took his hand off of her and looked at me. “This one is going to be a problem. I can already tell. Let’s take them back with us,” he said to his group of cyborgs. Then he lowered her shirt. I could tell that she was holding back her trembling response. I was impressed with her, and I was in rage with him.
“Move out!” K6R shouted.
Our chains were pulled on, and we were led down the rocks into the desert sand. Bridget was quiet. For the first time, she was quiet. I missed hearing her constant chatter, but something had changed inside of her. She was wounded, and I suddenly felt guilty for not protecting her. Damn this human, why did she have to find me? I would rather be going through this alone than having to protect a fragile human female. I could do it alone.
Chapter 5
Bridget Thomas
I did not think that things could get worse than being trapped on an alien planet with a rude alien, but I was wrong. Things had become worse in a way that I was not expecting. These cyborgs were worse than the Kynon. If I thought the Kynon were rude, the cyborgs were completely void of any emotion.
So when this cyborg leader pulled up my shirt, I was mortified, but I wasn't going to let it show. I was strong, and I was not going to give in to humility. I could have killed this cyborg for pulling up my shirt and exposing my breast to him as if I was goods to be examined. His cold machine hand on my breast made my blood run cold. But what could I do? I was in chains. I couldn't run; they would catch me anyway. So I wasn't going to scream or cry; I was going to stand my ground and let these cyborgs know that I was not weak.
Now we were being pulled across the desert in these heavy chains. The cyborgs did not speak much. Beside me was Lieutenant Vnor Gin; he was being pulled in chains as well. He was silent and shut down as always. He probably blamed me for being captured, the jerk. He had absolutely no empathy. He had called me his cargo, something that pissed me off. He had a wall up around him, and I didn't know if it was simply who he was, or if all Kynon were like that. I did not expect him to rescue me, but he didn't even try to fight these cyborgs. Maybe he was a coward. He would rather give in than fight. I hated him even more because of it. When he shouted for the cyborg not to touch me, I knew it was simply because I was his cargo. He didn't want his cargo to be damaged.
I looked at him. He was stone-faced. He looked straight ahead and didn't bother to turn to look at me. He was not going to take matters into his own hands. But I couldn't deal with this any longer. I had already been manhandled, the cyborg touching my naked breasts. I wasn't going to just lie down and let the cyborgs run all over us.
“Where are you taking us?” I shouted to them.
There was no response. I saw the leader, the one called K6R, turn over his shoulder and look at me. Then he turned back around. He was not going to give me an answer. I looked at these so-called cyborgs. They were very strange looking, but what could I expect on an alien planet? Their faces were half-covered with a chrome plate, and the other half was almost like a man.
Their arms were covered in chrome all the way down to his hands. The tops of their shoulders down to their abdomen was organic. Then from the waist down, they were covered in material with boots, and I could not tell how much of that was mechanical.
We walked for half the day into the evening. I was tired. I’d had enough of the desert, so I was pleasantly surprised when it suddenly turned to hard dirt. It was cracked land as though there had been a lake that had dried up. Then on the horizon, I saw something that surprised me: very tall buildings. I was relieved. I could do with some shelter over my head and some sort of civilization after being in the desert for so long.
About thirty minutes later, we were entering this city. As I got a closer look, I could tell that it was only remnants of a once-great city. I looked around. As though sensing my questioning nature, K6R began to speak to us.
“Gronta. This is my city. As you can see, it has many battle scars. There were more buildings standing before. But she has survived,” he said. I knew this meant that the cyborgs had enemies.
“It is not as big as my brothers city, but my brother K8L is not as powerful as I am. Though he thinks he is. We do not get along, as you can see,” he said. It was then that I realized the battle was between cyborgs.
I looked around at the buildings. Some of them were in ruins. Others were still standing and looked completely untouched by battle. There were at least fifty buildings still standing surrounded by rubble. There were many cyborgs moving about this city. It was a scary sight because I did not know how I could ever escape so many of them. Suddenly we stopped moving when we came to a very large white building. It was cleaner than the others and did not have smoke stains or signs of battle on it.
“K6R, you are needed in the communications center. We are receiving transmissions from Cantu,” a cyborg game over to him to report.
“I have only just arrived and already have problems. I will be right there. Take this blue cr
eature to the prison cells. He will be put to death at some point,” he said.
“No! Don't! Don't kill him!” I shouted and struggled against my chains.
K6R turned to look at me. A smile came across his face. “But take this fiery pale creature to my own living quarters. I will keep her for myself.”
“No! You will do no such thing. I am not yours. I do not belong to anyone. You will let us go!” I shouted at him.
He smiled again and looked at me up and down. “You are intriguing, pale one.”
“Go,” he said to the other cyborgs. Suddenly I was pulled away in one direction, and Vnor was pulled in a different direction. He was still stonefaced, not showing any emotion even though he was just told that he would be executed. I was the only one acting out. Why wasn’t he even trying?