by N. W. Harris
General Athos led the way toward the cages. The soldiers in his path stepped aside and assumed a position of attention, saluting the general as he passed by crossing an arm over their chests. In his wake, they dropped their salute and studied Kelly and her friends with wide, cautious eyes. As far as she knew, the rest of the Anunnaki recruit ships had been destroyed. These aliens probably concluded the humans had killed their comrades. Were all the soldiers gathered in the chamber just in case Kelly and her two friends got out of control?
When she passed one of the Anunnaki dressed in white, the woman recoiled a couple of steps. Perhaps humans inspired even more fear in the aliens than the Jurassic wolves did in her. It wasn’t the way she was raised, and she was plagued with guilt because of the dark yearnings, but she couldn’t help wanting the Anunnaki to suffer, to endure painful and nightmarish deaths. They were responsible for unimaginable atrocities and had murdered so many good people on Earth. She knew from Lily’s history lesson that the aliens had committed similar crimes on numerous other planets. They were greedy, horrible creatures who enjoyed watching people suffer. She hoped there was a special place in hell reserved for this evil race, and she couldn’t stand the notion that humans inherited a large portion of their DNA from them.
The growling sound continued at the same volume and rhythm as they approached. The last few Anunnaki cleared out of the way, and she got a view of the cages. It was worse than she expected. The furry mountains of muscle lay with their thick legs folded beneath them, their long snouts resting on the floor.
“We keep them sedated while they’re in their cages,” Athos said, continuing past the animals toward a door in the corner of the room.
The beasts growled with each exhale, and Kelly’s teeth chattered from the vibrations their snoring sent through the metallic floor of the chamber. They had three sets of canines pressing their lips open, each tooth as thick and as long as one of her legs. The nostrils on their sweaty, black noses were big enough to crawl inside. The beasts looked designed to hunt dinosaurs. Either the Anunnaki had way too much faith in the humans’ physical abilities, or else they intended to watch her and her two friends become a quick snack for their hideous pets.
Her skin tingled, and the hair stood on the back of her neck—her alter ego was terrified as well. But the enslaved Kelly said nothing, walking stiffly along behind the general like she believed he wouldn’t make her fight the beasts unless he knew she would win.
She passed in front of the first wolf, and its hot breath blew her hair to one side of her head. Kelly stumbled, bumping into Lieutenant Pelros. He grabbed her arm, stabilizing her. When she looked in his eyes, it shocked her to see what she thought was a hint of disappointment and maybe even dread. He seemed to know she and her friends were going to die, and was less capable of hiding it than the general. But why did he care? She expected they’d all be excited to watch the humans get torn to shreds. A look of disgust overtook the younger soldier’s expression, and he released her and quickly looked away, his face stoic once again. He discreetly rubbed his hand on the side of his armor, like he worried touching her had contaminated him somehow.
She’d always been good at reading people, and her mother used to jokingly say she was telepathic. Had she misread what she’d seen in this soldier’s face? Having been looked at like she was a prized possession by several of the other alien soldiers, she concluded Pelros feared losing Kelly, Jules, and Ethan like a kid might fear losing their favorite toys.
There was no time to dwell on it. Athos led them into a quiet room with three suits of red armor hanging on one wall and three long, silver staffs hanging on the other. The center of the room had a bench on it, and the opposite wall had another exit. Two Anunnaki in white clothing stood off to one side, their hands clasped behind them.
“That door,” General Athos said, his tone calm and reassuring, “leads out into a large stadium. The arena is surrounded by bleachers, which will be filled with the passengers on this ship. Each of those passengers, all citizens of Anu, will get to vote as to whether we help your people or not. They’ll not make the decision lightly. If they agree to give their support, some of them may die alongside you in battle. You must be brave and fight with everything you’ve got to earn their allegiance. The survival of your species is dependent upon how you perform in the arena. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Kelly, Ethan, and Jules replied in unison.
“Good,” Athos replied, a satisfied grin rising on his face. “Now have a seat.” He pointed at the bench. Kelly and her two friends obeyed.
“These are the weapons you’ll use against the wolves.” Lieutenant Pelros spoke for the first time. He pulled one of the eight-foot-long staffs off the wall. “One end has a blade that is extremely sharp and can easily penetrate the animals’ thick hides. The other end is a prod that will deliver one jolt of high-voltage electricity. The prod end will only frighten the wolves off for a moment and stun them; it won’t cause any permanent damage. You’ll have to drive the bladed end of this weapon into the wolves’ hearts or brains to kill them.”
“I recommend you go for the heart,” Athos added. “Their skulls are very dense, and their brains are not much bigger than my fist. The only way to stick a Stilapian wolf in the brain is to go through its eyes, which are relatively small. The heart can be pierced through the animal’s side, just behind its forelegs.”
Kelly’s alter ego listened intently, her eyes focused on the weapon. She could sense her enslaved persona’s anticipation. Her pulse raced, and her brow was moist with perspiration though the air circulating in the room felt cool.
“When those doors open,” the general said, his eyes narrowing, “you must go out there and fight with everything you’ve got. The wolves will work as a pack to try to kill you, and you must stick together and operate as a team if you are to defeat them. I have the utmost faith in your abilities; it is time for you to prove to the rest of my people that my faith is well founded.”
“These technicians will help you suit up, then you’ll receive a neural upload with the training required for this fight,” Pelros explained.
“May the gods be with you,” Athos said and then left out the back of the room with the lieutenant on his heels.
With the exception of whispered orders from the white-clad Anunnaki technicians, the room was silent. While the three friends sat on the bench, the techs put on the armor that covered their arms and chests. The two aliens worked quickly, seeming nervous about being alone with the humans. Their fear was well founded. Kelly would kill them in an instant if she could. When each section of the armor was added to her body, it emitted a click as it locked into the other sections, then a soft whir as the muscle enhancement and computer systems came online.
The red armor was lighter than the standard Anunnaki uniform, and, much to her dismay, it didn’t have a helmet.
“Just don’t stick your head in their mouths,” Ethan mused as if he’d read her mind, sounding much like his normal self.
“I’m not sure this armor could take a bite to the body from those monsters,” Jules dismally replied.
“Don’t worry so much about getting hurt,” Kelly’s alter ego scolded. “Worry about killing the wolves. The masters wouldn’t send us out there if they didn’t think we could win. We’ll do fine.”
Kelly’s slave persona was obviously programmed to take charge, though she assumed Ethan would be the natural leader in the room. Who knew skills learned as cheerleading captain at Leeville High would be so handy? She wanted to laugh. Her life was so blissful before her parents died, and she used to get herself wound up over things that seemed stupid now. It broke her heart that Nat would never be able to stress out over petty issues in this harsh, new world. She was young and would probably forget most of her life before the adults died in a few years. Kelly couldn’t allow that to happen.
The technician told her to stand. He put armor on her legs, and she tried to focus her
mind on the situation at hand. The general had picked the three highest-scoring human slaves in the command barracks, leaders of leaders, to fight the wolves. Now, she was to be in charge of the other two in the battle? It seemed unlikely, but all she could do was sit back and hope her slave persona could handle the situation. Trying to regain control would do more harm than good with wolves out to eat her.
Further reflection eased her nerves. Kelly and the others might have a better chance than she realized. Would the Anunnaki sacrifice the best recruits just for entertainment? She doubted it, and Athos had mentioned the beasts from the Jurassic world didn’t have much in the way of brains. She’d face the terrifying animals and endure little remorse for killing them to save her and her friends’ lives. What lay beyond the defeat of the wolves scared her more than the possibility that she might be eaten. If she lived through the day, she’d end up the slave-in-chief to the army of kids on this ship and be forced to return to Earth to capture the rest of the survivors.
After the teens were suited up, they were ordered to sit on the bench again, facing the doors that led into the coliseum. The first time she’d toured an Anunnaki recruit ship in the simulation during training, she’d been horrified at the sight of the coliseum. She’d even had a couple of nightmares where she and her sister were in the arena, facing down a bunch of hungry lions with thousands of Anunnaki cheering for their blood. Now half of the nightmare was about to come true.
The technicians exited the room, and the lights dimmed. A slight ringing in her ears broke the silence, and then she experienced a blinding flash of light. A minute later, her brain had been uploaded with training for the long staff she was to use and volumes of information about the wolves. She knew their anatomy, vulnerabilities, and blind spots. Her confidence growing, she sensed her hunter’s instincts were available to her alter ego as well. With the new information, she also learned that their chances were slim at best. Her earlier presumptions had been wrong. The Anunnaki must’ve chosen them because they’d put on the best show and didn’t care that they might lose some of their best recruits. It was likely one of them would die in this fight, but she hoped her enslaved persona was as determined as she was to keep them all alive.
“Retrieve your weapon,” Kelly ordered.
Followed by her two friends, she pulled a staff off the rack on the wall and stood in front of the door that led into the arena. Ethan and Jules took up spots on either side of her and waited in silence. Kelly’s mind raced, planning the fight. A surge of panic overtook her when she remembered she had no control. The adrenaline kept making her forget. She had to sit back and hope her alter ego did everything right.
Kelly calmed herself and listened to her breathing. It was slow and controlled, almost meditative. As far as she could tell, her enslaved persona had access to all the training and experience Kelly had. She’d do as good a job as Kelly could, and perhaps she was more relaxed because of the slave gene’s influence and her belief that the Anunnaki were ultimately trying to help her.
The doors slid aside, and the roar of thousands of Anunnaki spectators crushed the silence in the room like the ocean rushing into the belly of the Titanic. Certain she was about to die, Kelly said a quick prayer for her sister’s safety.
“Let’s do this!” her alter ego snarled, leading the way out of the dark room into the bright sunlight bathing the coliseum.
A single bulb lit the basement hallway, providing just enough illumination to keep Shane from tripping as he made his way down the staircase. The steps creaked under his weight, and he looked down the hall to see if any of the rebel clones would step out of a room to stop him. He wasn’t sure if Jones and Lily wanted to keep him from talking to the captured Anunnaki, but he figured he was better off not asking for permission.
At the door that led into the room where the alien was being held, Shane paused and took a deep breath. He stood tall, mustering his idea of an authoritarian demeanor. Opening the door, he stepped in and scanned the room. The blonde Anunnaki woman was tied to her chair. She looked up at Shane with groggy eyes as if she’d just woken up from the sedation given to her earlier. One of Jones’ clones leaned on the back wall behind her, a surprised expression on his face though he didn’t move from his relaxed position.
“Captain Jones wants you to pack up everything in the basement,” Shane ordered, giving the clone a stern look. “We’re leaving this compound tonight.”
The clone raised his brow, as if he was uncertain if he should follow his command. Shane didn’t look away, opening his eyes wider as if to challenge him to respond. After a moment, the clone seemed to decide he should do what he was told. He nodded at him and walked out of the room.
Shane closed the door behind him. The alien raised her head slightly, her eyes opening wider as they fixed onto him.
“So it was the rebels who helped you,” she said, her words slurred as if she were drunk. “How’d they get here?”
“You sent them, on accident,” Shane replied, walking closer before squatting down so he was on her level. He used his rifle to steady himself, keeping it between him and the alien to intimidate her. “When you defeated the rebel army, you created a temporary wormhole.”
“Ah,” she replied, chuckling. “I always knew those gravity weapons were a bad idea. We’re lucky we didn’t destroy Anu when we used it.”
“Have you come here to enslave us?” Shane hoped the sedation she was under would act as a truth serum. He wanted some direct answers from her. He didn’t know what he expected to learn, but he’d only heard the rebels’ story and wanted to see the other side of the coin.
“No,” she replied, looking him in the eyes. “As I told you before, we picked up the radiation signature of a dangerous weapon that was active on your planet. We came to help.”
“Damn it,” Shane growled, standing up and glaring at her. “You have to stop lying to me. Why would you cause all the kids to come to your ships, give them armor and weapons, and then have them turn on each other when your little harvest went wrong? What you’re saying doesn’t make any sense.”
“You’re making a lot of assumptions,” she replied, not sounding intimidated. “We may have caused the humans to gather at our landing sites, but how can you be so certain the homicidal behavior they are exhibiting now is our fault? The rebels have one goal, to take control of Anu. They were here when your parents died and they are here now, pulling the strings on this puppet show of death. They’ll do whatever is required and will use any resource they can to overthrow our government and take control of Anu. On our home world, they turned on their friends and family. They murdered their own parents. What makes you confident they didn’t murder yours?”
Shane ran his hands through his hair and walked around behind the alien so she couldn’t see his face. “You’re implying the rebels are making kids go crazy? Why would they do that?”
“Think about it, Shane,” she said, turning her head to the side to try to look at him. “Why did they tell you we were coming to enslave you?”
“Because you need soldiers to fight in your wars,” he replied, keeping his voice as calm as possible.
“And you don’t think the rebels might instead be trying to recruit some soldiers to fight for their cause?”
Shane didn’t reply, staring at the back of her head. His brain ached, trying to decide if there was any truth in her words.
“But,” he objected, “why would they want to kill off most of the kids on Earth? If they wanted soldiers, they would’ve kept us all alive.”
“They’re rebels, Shane,” she said with frustration in her voice. “They don’t want a massive army. They don’t have the resources to support one. All they need are a few elite soldiers, the best of the kids, to fight for them. They need you to be motivated; that’s why they’re killing the others, and it’s why they killed your parents. They want you to hate us so you’ll be fully committed to fighting us. Revenge is powerful motivation. And they need
a ship that is capable of interstellar travel. Do you think it was really a coincidence that only one ship survived?”
“How could you know that?” he asked. He didn’t imagine the rebels had told her anything about the destruction of the other Anunnaki ships. Why would they?
“It was just a guess,” she replied. “But it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?”
Shane paced back and forth. She filled his mind with questions, confusing him. Perhaps that was what she intended to do. He decided to attempt some indirect questions, hoping he’d get her to slip up.
“What are they doing to the kids who are in the ship that escaped?”
“They’re training them,” she curtly replied. “They’re preparing them to retaliate against the rebels who have taken over your planet. They’ll land the ship again soon and start a campaign to try to save you. If it isn’t too late.”
“I’m not buying it,” Shane replied.
“Then you’ll be killed along with the rebels,” she gloomily replied. “We can only hope they haven’t brainwashed too many of you. A tragic number of humans have died already; we’d hoped we could save more.” She paused, shaking her head. “Gods curse the rebels. They have no respect for life,” she added under her breath.
Shane stopped directly behind her. His frustration transformed into rage. He wasn’t convinced the rebels had any ill intentions. Everything that had happened pointed to the Anunnaki as the bad guys. But this alien kindled his suspicions. If the rebels were the enemy, then he had to be cautious about working with them to save the lost team. They might not even care if they saved them.
The door opened, and Jones stepped into the room. He looked at the prisoner, and then at Shane.
“What’s going on in here?” Jones asked. “You shouldn’t speak to her without one of us around.”