Jak Phoenix

by Matt D. Williams

  ***

  Cyan woke up on her back on a cold surface, but did not open her eyes, as she could feel the presence of someone near her. She immediately noticed her wrists and ankles were bound to whatever it was she was lying on. The air smelled of strong unknown chemicals.

  She opened her eyes only a crack, hoping, like a child pretending to sleep in front of her parents, that she could see out, but they could not see her eyes and tell she was faking.

  She saw the side of an ugly old man’s face with messy grey hair. He was intently analyzing something he was holding, which looked like some kind of computer readout. As he turned to face the other side of the room, Cyan caught a glimpse of a horrible cybernetic eye and other intrusive electronics around the other side of his face.

  As he swivelled around, Cyan returned her eyes to a closed state, trying desperately to somehow remember how tightly they were closed before she opened them. She fought to control her heart rate, not wanting to draw attention to changes in her body.

  When Cyan was confident she could hear the old man behind her, she opened her eyes to survey her surroundings. Recognizing a device which looked like a microscope, she figured she was in what looked like a scientific laboratory. Scattered through the room were many rather menacing looking devices with arms tipped with various clamps, claws and needles.

  The lighting was as cold as the metal that was used on the tables, walls, tools, and on the slab she was strapped to.

  Turning her head ever so slightly, she realized she was not the only one lying down. On a steel slab beside her was a man who she found herself hoping would be Jak, until she saw his condition. This man was clearly beaten badly, with bruises along the side of his face and most of his clothes either torn up or missing. Through the dried streaks of blood on his face she could only make out a thin moustache. She assumed he was unconscious, unless of course he was pretending as well.

  “Professor, could you please meet me on the bridge.”

  From the announcing beep and compressed voice, she could tell it was coming from an intercom. Behind her, the old man answered with a quick ‘Yes, sir,’ and put down his work.

  “Have you heard about the female?”

  “Yes, professor,” continued the calm, yet clearly dangerous voice on the other end. “Before you run any tests, I would like to speak to you regarding our plans.”

  “I will be right there.”

  The old man scurried toward the door where he met up with what sounded like two or three individuals in the hallway. She strained to block out all other noise and focus on what they were saying, but they were just too far out of range. She deciphered something else regarding ‘the girl’ and one other word that made her heart pound. Cartrite.

  One way or another, she needed to get out of this nightmare.

  As time passed, she realized she was helpless to get out of the restraints. They were tied tight and made out of a strong material she could not break. Attempts to wake the man beside her had failed. He was out cold. Only the faint rising and falling of his chest told her he was even alive.

  After a while, she heard the noise outside the door return, and again put on her sleeping act. With dread, she could hear the voices of men outside chattering as the door slid aside and they entered the room. The door slid shut behind them and they noisily approached the table where Cyan was strapped down.

  “I’m sure she won’t mind a bit of fun while she’s out,” said a raspy voice. She tried her best to keep up the appearance of unconsciousness even as she felt a slight touch on her thigh.

  “Hey!” The touch disappeared when it sounded as if one of the other men bluntly hit the other. “You heard what Voth said. If you touch her again, I’ll kill you and Cartrite’ll cut you up into little pieces. Got it?”

  “What do you care?”

  “Because I don’t wanna be on the hook if anything goes wrong. Besides, Voth says we might be able to have our way with her after they’re done.”

  “Alright, alright.”

  Cyan’s entire short term plan was organized, calculated and readied the moment she felt the man on her left loosen her wrist restraint.

  She had to fight her reflexes to stop herself from leaping the moment the first strap was released, reminding herself that it would be far more strategic to wait until all of the bindings were loose. Instead, she focused on slowing her breathing to continue to appear unconscious.

  As soon as the fourth and last strap was unbuckled, Cyan acted as limp as possible while the guard peeled her up off the table and slung her body over his shoulder.

  Since she was in such an optimal position, she wasted no time in clenching her arm around the man’s head and twisting sharply, snapping his neck. She imagined he was the disgusting filth who had suggested violating her vulnerable form in order to find peace in the gruesome process.

  Cyan pulled the pistol out of the guard’s holster as she fell to the floor with the lifeless body. She spun, blasted a second guard in the face and dropped behind the metal table, as an energy blast, fired from the third and last man, deflected off the thick surface of the table and burnt a hole in the wall.

  “Get out from under there and I might let you live,” spat the man. Cyan had noticed his dirty and unshaven face before she had dropped down below. The guards were all dressed in scraped and worn black armoured suits with green highlights. These men were free thinking people, unlike the automatons who had attacked them aboard Murdock’s ship.

  “Come on out and I’ll promise to go easy on you, sweetie.”

  Cyan’s skin was crawling. If she jumped up and shot him, she’d probably prevail, but she didn’t want to take the chance since he’d still have the upper hand.

  “Security to the lab—” He released the communication button on his radio at the same time the laser blast from Cyan punctured his chest.

  That minor lapse in his concentration had given Cyan the split second she needed. But it might have been too late.

  She took a quick inventory of her surroundings as she moved cautiously toward the door. The door did not open as she stepped near it. She tried the control panel and nothing happened. The door was clearly locked and it appeared to be extremely thick.

  She stood back a few steps to gather her thoughts and something a few steps away caught her eye. A deep red coloured chest with tarnished bronze trim sat on a table near the wall, out of place with the lifeless surroundings. Cyan rushed over to the table, placed her hands on each side of the bulky case and opened the top lid.

  Inside was the goal of her quickly failing mission. An assortment of circular stone tablets, which had belonged to her people, long ago. She picked up one of the stones and examined the top and bottom. There were markings on either side and Cyan swore she could see an ever-so-faint glow in the deeper grooves. She estimated there were twenty or thirty of them in the crate, all seemingly identical.

  As expected, she heard a commotion growing outside the door. She dropped the stone back into the chest, shut the lid and pulled out the gun she had taken from the guard. The door slid aside before she could make an effort to hide.

  The first man in through the doorway was dead before he saw her. The next man was luckier than the first. As she pulled the trigger on the pistol, only a dull beep sound was emitted from the gun. It was dead. It was quickly kicked out of her hand as an agile fighter attacked her.

  She caught his next blow with her hands and twisted the man’s arm to her right. She followed with a kick in his leg, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor. He returned the favour by kicking out her legs as he stayed low to the ground, making Cyan to lose her footing as well.

  As the greasy mercenary tried to grab her, Cyan quickly slipped out of the way. As he tried to get to his feet, Cyan was already behind him. She grabbed his head and smashed it into one of the empty metal tables. He pushed back until Cyan forced him into the table again. This time, she felt the man’s body relax before she dropped him to the floo
r.

  She quickly spun around and absorbed the hopeless sight of a dozen soldiers, like the ones who had abducted her, standing with firearms pointed in her direction. In front of the group of matched thugs was one man who was far more threatening than the others combined. He stood almost a foot taller than the other men, holding no weapon, with his gigantic bare arms crossed.

  “Are you finished?” he asked in a deep authoritative voice.

  Cyan replied, “Yes,” in between deep breaths, only because she felt like she hadn’t spoken to anyone in ages.

  The huge man stomped over to her, grabbed her and spun her around effortlessly with his thick and hardened hands. He pushed her face down onto the metal table roughly. “If you try anything like that with me, I’ll snap you in two.”

  With one hand he held her head down and with the other he slapped on a pair of cold steel cuffs around her wrists.

  She tried her best to remain calm and composed. It would be very important now to pay attention to every detail in planning for her next attempt at escape. She wondered what had happened to Jak and if he was faring better than her.