by Maia Starr
“Come, pale one,” the cyborg that had my chains said. Then I watched as Vnor went out of sight and K6R walked deeper into the city. I was led into the white building and up several flights of steps. I was pushed into a room.
“Hold out your hands,” the cyborg said. I held out my hands. He unlocked the chains and took them off. Then he took off the ones on my feet and threw them in the corner. Then he walked out. I heard the door close and lock. I waited a few seconds, listening to his steps walk down the hall, and then I tried to open the door. “Locked. Shit.”
I turned to the room. It was a simple room but technologically advanced. It reminded me of being on the spaceship. There were blinking lights on panels on the wall, and I did not know what any of these buttons and switches did. There was a large bed in the corner, but it didn’t look like a bed from Earth. This was a large round structure with a tightly pulled cover over it in white. I sat on it. It was soft. “Obviously a bed. I’m surprised these machines sleep.”
I walked over to the window and opened the panel. To my surprise, the panel automatically slid open. I was excited. I looked out. I was very, very high up. “Guess I’m not getting out this way.”
But at least I could see the city and know where I was. Then I walked along the wall pushing buttons on the panel. Suddenly a cupboard opened, and a counter slid out. There was a tank of water and cups. “Yes!” I quickly filled the cup with water and drank it, then another, and another. I could only hope that one of these buttons opened a panel door to a bathroom with all the water I was drinking. On the counter were small squares. I pushed the lid open, and the smell of food hit me. I cautiously tasted the items, but I was so hungry that I could not wait. I ate the strange fruits and vegetables until my belly was full. I stood at the window. I wondered where the prison cells were. I didn’t know why I reacted in such a way when they said they were going to kill Vnor. It just burst out of me. I hated him, but I didn’t want him dead. He was my key back to the others, to Vicki. But I didn’t want to admit that maybe there was another reason why I reacted so quickly to defend his life. I had come to like the arrogant jerk. Damn it.
Chapter 6
Lieutenant Vnor Gin
I was lead through the cyborg city. I was looking around, taking in everything that I could. I was absorbing information. I had never seen anything like it in all of my travels. It was a ruined city, with lots of buildings in shambles. That was good. There were plenty of places to hide. It was growing darker; the sun was setting. The cover of darkness would be good.
“Hurry, blue scum,” the cyborg that held my chains said. I quickened my pace, not wanting to give him any reason to give me a blow. I would need to be in good condition for what I had planned.
I wondered where they were taking Bridget. I knew that K6R wanted her in his chambers. Was that inside the white building that we had stopped in front of? When he said he wanted her for himself, I couldn't help but feel extreme anger. How dare he take what was mine. But was it more than that? Was it possible that I was feeling some sort of jealousy for the first time in a long time? No, that wasn't possible. I had no feelings for these damn humans. It was just a mission. My feelings of anger and jealousy were simply because she was our goods and I needed to get her back to Captain Alicron Qinov. It was my mission. That was the only reason that I felt such rage when the cyborg claimed her.
“You will stay here until your execution,” the cyborg said as he led me inside of a long warehouse-like building.
“That is unfortunate for me. You are ruining my trip to the village,” I said.
“You were trying to get to Cantu? That will never happen. It is almost a hundred miles to the north. You never would have made it on foot. You should count yourself lucky we found you and are going to put you out of your misery,” he said.
This was good. I did not even know there was a village anywhere on the planet. But I was tricking him into giving me information. Now I knew that there was a village. Now I knew the name of the village. And now I knew that it was one hundred miles to the north. I would need transportation. This machine was dumb, bleeding information to me that was vital.
We entered the building. Prison bars lined the hallway. I was pushed into a dark cell. But he did not take the chains off of me. Shit. He closed the door of bars and locked it. Then he left. I could hear him leaving the building. I was surprised that there weren't any cyborgs on guard. Not even at the entrance.
Well, I had to figure out how to get myself out of there and how to get Bridget back. I looked around the cell looking at the way it was constructed. I had to do this before they sent for me to be executed. I was lucky in that they did not take my tool belt or boots. Obviously, they did not know that it was everything to a Kynon soldier. It was where we kept our resources. But to the untrained eye, it just looked like boots and a belt. I was about to open a compartment on my belt to take the chains off of me when I heard a voice.
“You are a Kynon.”
I looked around. Suddenly a figure appeared in the darkness in the cell next to mine.
“I am. Who are you?”
“A friend of the Kynon. I am a Lana,” he said.
I knew of the Lana. I knew it was a race of alien that had been an ally to the Kynon in the past, but I had never worked directly with one.
“What are you called, Lana?” I asked.
“I am called Nippara. And you, friend?”
“I am Lieutenant Vnor Gin,” I said.
“I am glad that you are here. Though it is unfortunate for you. But if I am to be in prison with anyone, it should be an ally,” he said.
“Yes, it is unfortunate. The entire obstacle of crash landing on this planet is unfortunate. Tell me how you came to be in this prison,” I asked.
“I was on a short mission from a trading village near here, to an outpost carrying goods. Just your regular merchant mission. I was shot down by the machines. They took my speeder, and my cargo. They put me in chains and brought me here. But it is not shocking; this is what they do to anyone that ventures out of the cities. Sometimes they even go in and take within the boundaries of villages and cities. They are machines. They do not think the way we do.”
“They took my cargo as well. A human. I must get her back. Then I have to escape from this place. I have a crew on this planet that I am looking for. As well as the other humans. There were twelve in all,” I said.
“Humans? I have heard of these humans,” he said.
“What? What do you mean you have heard of humans?” I asked intrigued.
“It has been rumored that two human females were captured by K8L.”
“Is that so? And who is this K8L?”
“He is the brother of K6R, another cyborg. He has a city hundreds of miles from here called C2. The brothers do not get along. They are constantly at war with each other, a cyborg civil war,” he said.
“And C2? How many cyborgs? Would I be able to get in there to release these human females that are my cargo?”
“You would need a team. I would advise that you go to the trading village to hire a group. Only then you might have a chance. A very small chance as C2 has triple the number of cyborgs that are here, but it’s not impossible. But why even think of that when you are imprisoned here?”
“Because I plan to get out of here. But I am waiting,” I said.
“Waiting for what?”
“I am waiting for the cover of darkness. I am waiting to know more about this place. I cannot get out of here if I don’t have a plan for after I leave this building. I will just be caught again.”
“You need information. What do you need to know? I have been here for a while now as a prisoner, and I have been here before many years ago during the Battle of Igint,” he said.
Good. This Lana could be useful. Even though I did not know him, I knew that the Lana lived by a code. It was a code of honor, just like the Kynon. If this Lana made a pact with me, he would see it through. It was their way.
“
For starters, I would need to get from this building safely to the living quarters of K6R. That is where he's keeping my human. I would also need weapons, but quiet ones, so as not to rouse too many cyborgs. Then I would need a speeder to transport me and the human to this trading village of Cantu where we could disappear into the crowds. That is what I need,” I said.
“I can help you with all of that if you get me out of here too. We have a better chance at success if we work together. I know how to get from here to K6R’s living quarters, and I know where the speeder port is and can wire one to steal.”
“I like the sound of this plan.”
“But how do you plan to get out of these bars? I have tried for days to remove them by force. The machines only come in once in the morning to leave food and water, and that is all. They do not unlock the bars, only slide it under. So how can we get out?”
“Do we have a pact? You honor this pact to help me rescue the human and get a speeder to Cantu?” I asked.
He held up his hand in the Lana salute. “I honor this pact. I will get you to your human, to a speeder, and get us all to Cantu, or die trying. It is better than dying at the hands of the machines without fighting.”
“Good. Then I will get us out of here. But we must wait until darker and the middle of the night when the city has grown quiet. There will be fewer machines to deal with.”
“Yes, it is quieter in the middle of the night around here.”
I opened a compartment on my belt and pulled out a tool. I stuck it in the cuffs on my wrists and wiggled it around. The chains fell off. Then I did the same to the ones on my feet.
“I need to get me one of those belts,” Nippara said.
I laughed. “Now we wait. When the time comes, I will open the locks on our cells and to your chains.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me.”
Chapter 7
Bridget Thomas
I waited. I did not know what else to do. I was too terrified to sleep. The sun had gone down a long time ago. I could hear that it was much quieter outside in the city. I had eaten and drank plenty of water. I even laid down for a bit to rest my body, but I could not fall asleep. I did not want to wake up to that terrifying cyborg in this room.
I walked to the window and looked out. There were very few cyborgs walking around, so much less than before. I found it interesting that they slept. They seemed more machine than organic, but I guess they needed sleep as well. I wondered if Lieutenant Vnor Gin was still alive. I hoped that they had not taken to executing him. Was he still out there? Would I ever see him again? Was I now in this alone? I really did hope that he was alive. Even though he was a jerk, the jerk had grown on me. I did not want harm coming to him.
Suddenly I heard a sound outside the door. I backed away from the window and put my back against the wall. The door opened. My blood ran cold when I saw K6R enter. He closed the door behind him.
“Human. I am glad to see that you are awake. I have kept you waiting too long. But you do not need to wait any longer,” he said.
“Don't come near me. Get out of this room,” I said.
“This room... This room is a room that I own. It is part of my living quarters. I will not leave my own room. Why do you think you can tell me what to do, human? What planet do you come from?” he asked.
I knew that I had to keep him talking. Keeping him talking meant he wouldn't be doing anything else. While I had him talking, I could figure out how to defend myself from this machine. But it would be hard. He was practically covered in metal. How could I hurt something like him?
“I come from a planet that you have not heard of. It is called Earth. I am a human; on Earth, we are the ones that rule the planet. We do not have creatures like you. What are you anyway?” I slid with my back against the wall, slowly, toward the food area. Did I see a knife there earlier?
“I am a cyborg. I am part machine, as you can see. But the rest of me looks almost like you. That is as far as what I have seen. But I am here to see the rest of you,” he suddenly moved very fast toward me. I pressed against the wall, scared. His chrome hands were grabbing at my clothes.
“Stop. Don't do that!” I shouted as his hands pulled my shirt off of me completely. He was so strong that I could not fight him. I pressed against him trying to push him, but it was like pushing against the wall. Then his hands went to the waistline of my jeans and he began to tug them down. The button and zipper gave way and he pushed my jeans down to my thighs.
“I see that you are very much like us,” he said as he put his cold metal hand right on the center of my slit. I screamed! “Stop! No get off of me!”
He moaned as his hands slid up my naked body. I was frantic as I moved my hands wildly, trying to punch him, but it only hurt my own hands. Then I felt his mouth on mine. He pressed his lips against me and shoved his tongue into my mouth. I tried pushing him off. I struggled and screamed a mumbled scream into his mouth.
Then I heard a loud thud. “Get off her.”
K6R stopped kissing me. I opened my eyes just as Vnor was pulling him away from me. I was frozen against the wall. Vnor threw the cyborg down onto the ground as an alien I had never seen before aimed a gun at K6R’s head.
K6R smiled. “I see I underestimated the blue one. I should have had you killed on sight instead of waiting. Does not matter; you will be killed in a few minutes time.”
“Not if I kill you first,” the other alien said.
“Are you alright, Bridget?” Vnor said walking over to me. I was trembling. “It is alright. I am here,” he said as he picked up my shirt and gave it to me. I pulled my jeans up and pulled my shirt on. I couldn’t believe that all of this was happening.
“Knock him out,” Vnor said to the other alien.
“But I prefer to kill him,” he said.
“No. We’ll knock him out and tie him up. Do it,” Vnor said.
“Shit,” the other alien said as he hit K6R in the face with butt of the gun, very hard. It did the trick. Vnor looked at me. “Get what you need. We are getting out of here quietly,” he said as he went to the corner and grabbed the chains that had been on me. He put the wrist and ankle cuffs on K6R as I zipped my jeans and tied my boots. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and stared at the other alien. “Greetings,” he whispered.
“Yes same to you,” I said.
Then Vnor tied the chains to the bedpost. “Alright. Your move, Nippara. You know where the speeders are kept. Let’s go,” he said as he held his hand out to me. I put my small hand in his large blue one. I felt safer having him hold me. It was a good feeling.
“Yes, stay low and follow me quietly,” Nippara said. We walked out of the room, and Vnor turned off the lights and closed the door.
I found myself quietly following these two aliens down a maze of hallways, down empty staircases and out the back of the building. We crouched down, running quickly from one pile of rubble to the next. We would crouch and wait until a couple of cyborgs walked by. I held my breath. Then we ran to another pile and another until it felt like we had come to the edge of the city.
“Ready? I see a speeder. It is unguarded, and I know how to fly that model. But I will need you on guns as soon as we get in. If anyone tries to stop us, it could turn ugly,” Nippara said to Vnor.
“I am ready. Let’s do it,” Vnor said.
Then we ran to a small ship. I had never seen anything like it before. It looked like a long narrow triangle. It was black and very technologically advanced. I watched as Nippara opened the side door. Vnor picked me up and helped me climb in. Then they climbed in and closed the door.
“That was good. Better than I thought. Let’s hope it’s a silent ship,” Nippara said as he worked the controls.
“Buckle into your seat,” Vnor said to me.
I sat down and buckled in. I held my breath. I was so tense. These cyborgs could blow the ship up and all of us with it. I didn’t know what was going to happen.
“Ready?” Nippara looked at Vnor.
“Go,” Nippara said as he pushed a lever forward and the ship shot straight forward.
“To Cantu,” Vnor said.
“Yes, on it. I’m hitting it hard and fast. Putting as much distance between us and the city as I can. I don’t see anyone on our tails. We might have done it,” he said with a smile.
I sat buckled in for about twenty minutes quietly watching the two aliens get us across the nighttime desert and to some village they called Cantu. I could tell they weren’t as tense.
“I am going to the panel to disable any tracking the ship might have,” Vnor said as he got up from his seat.