by C. F. Harris
I'd assumed they were recording everything. They wouldn't be very good captors if they didn't record everything their captives were saying. I'm sure they were hoping to get all sorts of juicy intel from us.
So for all this guy seemed to understand the nature of our captivity, he also seemed slightly naïve. After all, if they had microphones in here then who was to say they didn't have microphones that were sensitive enough to pick up on our conversation even if we were whispering?
I opened my mouth to say just that and thought better of it. After all, he'd been here longer than me. Maybe he knew something I didn't. I was going to have to get more information if I was going to make my own escape, though unlike his boasting I had no intention of taking my cellmate with me.
He seemed entirely too… Volatile. Entirely too much of an unknown quantity, and that meant he’d be a danger during any escape attempt.
I figured I could tell him a little bit about me though. A little bit about humanity. That was probably safe enough.
"We call ourselves humans," I said.
Kir laughed. “Humans? That's an odd name."
"Oh yeah?" I asked. "And what does your species call itself?"
“I come from the Torvask Dominance,” he said.
“Dominance?” I replied. "So you’re from an empire or something?"
Kir snorted. "I have no loyalty to my people or their empire, and it's been dwindling system by system ever since we ran into the Kliks. They've proved themselves quite adept at military takeover on a galactic scale."
"Interesting," I said. "They've never seemed interested in more than the occasional raid against humanity. Every time a ship goes out into the unknown they disappear, and the occasional colony world on the outskirts gets raided for supplies. Nothing large scale like an invasion though. It probably helps that every time they’ve pulled one of those raids we’ve spanked them like the naughty alien bastards they are.”
Yet I felt a chill thinking about the Kliks out there preparing for an invasion. What if the reason they hadn’t invaded humanity’s space was because they were busy digesting another empire? What if they planned on turning around and giving humanity the same treatment they gave these Torvask as soon as they could free up the resources?
It was a sobering thought, and all the more reason for me to get the hell out of here so I could report back to my people.
"That's very interesting," Kir replied. "They had no problems invading and taking over world after world from my species. You should count yourself lucky, or perhaps they fear you in a way they don't fear us. We’ve never been able to push back one of their invasions, but these are more than raids.”
He said that last bit with a bitter twist to his mouth. Like he didn’t like the thought that there was another species somewhere in the galaxy that had pushed the Kliks back, even on a small scale, and he was reaching for excuses on behalf of his species.
"Hard to say," I replied.
That gave me something to think about though. Maybe the Kliks were afraid of us. It was too much to hope, but there were a few theories I had about how humanity’s weapons would stack up against the Kliks in a pitched battle that I wanted to test.
Though again they were tests I would have to be free and in my ship to run. Damn it.
“Tell me more about your people,” Kir said. “I’m interested in anyone the Kliks fear.”
I shrugged and figured I’d leave out the bit about how I wasn’t sure they feared us so much as they were too busy killing his people to come after mine. That didn’t seem like a great conversation starter.
"Humans are a species from the western spiral arm of the galaxy, though that probably means nothing without one of your star charts for reference," I said.
“Of course it doesn't mean anything to me," he said. "But it's a start."
“My species has been spacefaring for a couple hundred years. In the first hundred years or so…"
Kir held up a hand to stop me. I glared at him. I was spilling despite my reservations, and he tried to stop me? What was with this guy?
"I think I can fill out that story for you," he said. "You expanded out into the stars for a good long while. Thought everything was going just great. There was a heady sense of expansion with your people, as though you owned the galaxy. Then the stars started to push back. You started to have ships disappear? Maybe even whole colonies?"
“Not whole colonies, but I already mentioned the ships and the raids,” I said.
“The same thing happened to my people," he said, laughing without much amusement. "We thought the stars were ours. We thought the galaxy was ours. There were some who said the lack of signals from alien species meant we could possibly be the first intelligent species to rise in our galaxy."
There was a tone of defeat in his voice that sent a chill running through me. The echo of what experts on earth had thought before we reached for the stars was even more chilling. It was like I was hearing the story of humanity, only his species was at the end of the story and I didn’t care for that ending.
Talk about a solution to the Fermi Paradox I could’ve done without.
"You were wrong?"
"We were wrong," he said. "It turns out we weren't the only intelligent species in the galaxy. The problem was the moment any intelligent species starts expanding into the stars the Kliks eventually find them and enslave or destroy them.”
I swallowed. I knew there'd been debates on earth about the nature of the Kliks. Whether or not they were the answer to the Great Filter. Still, it was a slap to the face to hear those debates being confirmed in such frank terms from an alien who’d lived the painful experience of having that theory confirmed.
"So they attack any species that reaches for the stars?"
“Yup,” he said. "Right now they're destroying my people, but maybe when they're finished with that job they'll do the same to your species. Or maybe they really are afraid of you. Hard to tell.”
I let out a growl of frustration. I'd spent so much time looking for the Kliks, and now that I'd found them I’d learned my species might be next on the chopping block and their war with Kir’s people was the only reason we hadn’t been hit hard yet.
It was a sobering thought, and I wouldn't take it.
"No."
Kir blinked. "No?"
"I won't accept it," I said. "They have a neat little trick they can use against our ships if they catch us with our pants down, but if just one person figured out how to beat that weapon and got free…"
Kir smiled again. He reached a finger up and pressed it against the side of his nose. “That's the trick isn't it? No one has ever escaped. They’re too good at sneaking up on people and keeping a stranglehold on the jump lanes. The only escape is death."
I schooled my face to an impassiveness that I certainly didn’t feel. No, the fluttering in my stomach this time around had nothing to do with how damn sexy Kir looked and everything to do with what he’d admitted.
The jump lanes. His people didn’t have faster than light travel either. They were fighting the Kliks on a level playing field, but we could upend that playing field with our tech if we could just find the will to use it.
Okay, so maybe a little of the fluttering had to do with how hot he looked, but only a little.
"Well we're going to have to change that, aren't we?" I said, lowering my voice to a whisper.
"We?" he asked, lowering his own voice to a whisper. "Are you sure you plan on taking me with you if you ever manage to make an escape, my exotic alien beauty?"
I blushed. Both because of the comment about exotic alien beauty and because his words were a mirror of my thoughts of abandoning him at the first opportunity so I could break free and warn humanity. I wasn't sure which I was more embarrassed by.
"I need to get out of here," I hissed. "I don't care how I do it, but I think I know how to beat them."
"You may grow old waiting for that day," he said. Then he leaned in closer. "But if you're serious y
ou need to keep it down."
I blushed, realizing that my voice had been rising. Damn it
"Sorry," I said. Then I lowered my voice. "So why did they throw us in here to begin with?"
His voice lowered to a whisper as well. He motioned for me to move in closer, and I did even though I suddenly had the feeling I was going to regret it.
"You don't have to whisper for this conversation," he said. Then he turned and glared at the ceiling, though there was no obvious recording device in evidence.
That didn't mean they weren't there though.
"I should think it’s obvious why we've been put in here together," he said, his voice rising. “We’re part of one of their “experiments.” Different alien species thrown together in a terrarium to see who can mate!"
A wave of queasiness hit me. I looked at him in a whole new light. Under different circumstances he was hot enough that I wouldn't mind a bit of mating, but the circumstances were what made all the difference.
In this case the circumstances weren’t good.
"Well there's not a chance in hell that's going to happen," I said.
He turned and looked me up and down in a very considering look that said he’d thought about it, but his next words were like a slap to my face.
"My dear," he said, his voice suddenly smooth and silky. "What makes you think I was interested in the first place?"
Asshole!
14
Kir
I leaned against the wall and winced. There was something about the cylindrical shape of this cell that wasn't terribly comfortable on the best of days. Now I didn't even have all of my cot to keep me comfortable.
Not at all like the days when I had command of my own ship. When I could order men around. When I could snap and expect them to jump to follow my orders. When I was feared throughout known space.
I sighed. I really missed those days.
"Is something bothering you?" Dalia asked.
I look back at her with perhaps more interest than was proper. I was interested in her, for all that I’d been unable to resist that jab. She was probably interested in me. It was pretty obvious that both of us knew the other was interested, but at the same time that didn't mean either one of us were going to cop to the fact that we were interested and trying very hard to look like we weren’t.
That would ruin the fun of the game, after all.
"I was thinking of my former life," I said.
"Really? What did you do?" she asked.
I smiled. She struck me as the studious type. The type to sign up for the military, the fleet, or whatever the hell they called it in her species. The kind who wouldn't like my line of business. The kind who’d just as soon put in a cell if we were ever to meet in a professional capacity.
Of course I was already stuck in a cell and it’s not like either of us were meeting in a professional capacity, so what was the point in lying?
"I was involved in trading."
"Sounds boring," she said.
I shrugged. "You could say I operated with goods that were in a legal grey area when it came to importing and exporting."
“Sounds like smuggling,” she said.
I grinned. “Maybe, but it wouldn't be much fun if the goods were legal, right? You said it yourself. Boring.”
She leaned back against the wall as best she could considering its odd cylindrical shape and closed her eyes. It looked like she wasn't all that comfortable either.
"I got my start in the Fleet on a vessel that tracked down pirates and brought them to justice," she said. She opened her eyes and looked at me with a grin of her own. “The ship I was on was very good at what we did."
"I don't doubt it was," I said. "Once upon a time we had a fleet that did things like that too. They were all pressed into the war effort and destroyed pretty quickly though. It turns out fighting off spottily armed civilians trying to make ends meet the best they can wasn’t good training for going up against the Kliks.
That earned me a frown. Oh well. It was time she learned the universe was a cold and uncaring place. That there was nothing special about her species keeping them safe other than the simple fact that the Kliks were busy destroying my people before they moved on to hers.
That had to be what it was. The Kliks were relentless. I had to believe there wasn’t a species out there that could fight them. I had to believe they would turn on her species the moment they had an opportunity.
Admitting anything else would be admitting that my people had been measured in battle and found worthy of nothing but slavery and extermination.
"You're full of sunshine," she muttered.
"The thing I've noticed about sunshine is there are bright and shining spots of it in the galaxy, but mostly it's darkness out there. Lots and lots of darkness," I said.
“So how long do you think they're going to keep us in here before they get bored?” Dalia asked.
I shrugged. "I have no idea."
That was the truth. This was the first time I’d shared a cell with a female of any species. My refusal to participate in their games had assured that. Now that I had a female in my cell I wasn't so sure that I didn't want to go back to the old days when it was just me, though it didn’t seem there was a chance of that happening.
As though in answer to her question the familiar hum of the forcefield went out. The armored door hissed up to reveal one of the researchers. The thing scuttled in, making an odd hissing noise as his pincers clicked and the little tentacles that came out of those pincers wiggled in irritation.
Though of course I had no way of knowing if that was actually irritation or if the Klik was exhibiting some other emotion. Klik emotions and the body language used to express it could be weird.
The Klik looked at the two of us and hissed again in its language. I shook my head. Damn. I guess they really were listening in on us if it knew we could understand that language.
So much for that advantage.
"What do you want?" I asked.
The thing regarded both of us with one of its eyestalks. Then it turned to me. “Why have the two of you not mated yet? Are you incompatible?"
That one was in my language. Dalia looked to me and then to the alien.
"What did it say?" she asked.
"He's asking us why we haven't mated yet," I said.
Her reaction was immediate and priceless. She threw herself across the room at the Klik, and it reached out and casually backhanded her. Though I guess it would be more accurate to say the thing backclawed her.
Either way, one of its pincers slammed into her face and she went sprawling back and slammed into the wall before falling down. Only she got up again and looked like she was ready for a fight despite the bruise that’d appeared on her cheek.
I tensed, ready for a fight. There were no guards in here pointing their weapons at us to keep us from doing something that might get us killed under other circumstances.
All three of the thing’s eyestalks turned to face us. Damn it was creepy when they did that. It was obvious the giant crustacean had realized it was in trouble. That it might’ve made a mistake coming in here without armor or an escort.
It’d let its irritation get the best of it, leaving itself open for one hell of a beating. I grinned. It was time to take out some of my irritation on this thing.
"Oh boy did you make a mistake," I said.
My fist tensed. I was furious that it’d hit her so casually. All the anger I felt towards the Kliks during my captivity was bubbling to the surface. I knew what that feeling meant. I was about to do something monumentally stupid. Oh well. I was overdue for doing something stupid.
I didn't think. I just acted. I threw myself across the room at the thing. The impact was enough to send both of us rolling out into the room beyond.
I had just enough time to see people of my species coming to their forcefields to have a look before the Klik started to fight back, and it couldn't fight back for shit. The thing flailed around trying to b
reak free, and it wasn’t doing a very good job of it.
Thankfully there were no guards in here. This bastard really had made a hell of a mistake coming into our cell.
One of the thing’s pincers slammed down on my leg, and even without power armor the thing was strong. I bellowed in pain and reached out for one of its eyestalks. I gave that eyestalk a good tug fueled by hatred and rage.
I was just as surprised as the Klik when the eyestalk broke off. Warm green goo flew out of the broken end. I looked down in disgust as the stalk wriggled in my hand, but I figured I had to use whatever I had at my disposal.
So I used the remains of the eyestalk as a whip and started lashing the Klik.
Hey, it wasn’t elegant, but it was all I had.
The Klik let out a high pitched screeching noise. Oh yeah, this bastard was in pain. I tried to grab another one of its eyestalks, but it pulled them out of the way whenever I got close. That was one lesson it’d learned the hard way.
"Come on you oversized crab!" I yelled. "I just want to have some fun! Why are you trying to get away?"
Something tugged at me. I looked over and saw a Klik senior researcher reaching for a communication device. Then I looked to the side and realize the thing tugging at me had been Dalia moving past me at full speed in a desperate bid to reach the Klik before it could reach that commlink.
She almost made it.
It was a damn shame. For a moment I'd almost allowed myself to think we might escape, though overpowering a couple of researchers was a far cry from escaping through the rest of the ship.
Unfortunately Dalia was only halfway to the senior researcher when the thing screeched into its commlink. The response wasn’t immediate, but it was close enough to immediate as made no difference. Doors opened all around us shortly and Klik security forces in their damned power armor streamed into the room.
I didn't care. I continued beating on the Klik that’d been stupid enough to come into our cell without protection. I figured this might be the only chance I’d get to have a little bit of revenge on the damn thing!
