by T. J. Quinn
The steps stopped in front of her cell, and a gruff male voice spurted a few words she couldn’t understand.
Forcing herself to open her eyes, she looked at the creature but quickly wished she hadn’t. She hadn’t imagined the dreadful being that had imprisoned her back on the ship.
His tall, sturdy body almost covered the whole entrance of her cell. The four tentacles coming out of his back covered the rest, as they swayed restlessly up in the air. He wore no clothes at all, so she was able to see in detail his whole disgusting body. His grayish skin looked slimy and wet, his arms seemed too long for his height, and his hands only had three fingers that ended in what looked like dangerous long, black claws.
If that weren’t enough to scare the shit out of her, his head would certainly do the trick. Hairless, three hard, sharp crests adorned his skull, starting on his forehead and ending at his nape. His eyes were two black orbits the size of her fist, and his nose was nothing but two small holes right above his lipless mouth that showed two long rows of sharp, deadly looking teeth.
Arantxa covered her mouth to hold back the scream that struggled to come out as she stared in disbelief at the creature in front of her. She had never seen anything like it, and she couldn’t believe a creature so awful wasn’t just a product of her unbridled imagination.
The creature mumbled at her again in its strange language, impatiently.
Fearful, she shook her head. “I… I can’t… understand what… you’re saying,” she said, doing her best not to enrage him… her… it… there was nothing in the creature’s body that hinted its gender, though it sounded like a male.
Roaring his impatience, he pressed a small button at the base of his neck she hadn’t seen before.
“What species are you?” he asked, and this time she understood him.
“I’m a… human female,” she managed to utter the words.
His black eyes seemed to shine brighter. “Human? From planet Earth?” he asked, looking for confirmation.
“Yes… that’s right,” she nodded, doing her best to hide the way her whole body trembled in fear and cold.
As far as she knew, her planet didn’t have any enemies, so with luck, whatever grudge they had against the males on her ship, would not extend to her.
The creature let out what sounded like a victorious bellow before he walked away.
Somehow, that bellow didn’t sound like good news for her. For some reason, discovering she was from Earth meant good news for the creature, and her instinct told her that couldn’t be good for her.
Wishing she could cover herself, she cuddled up against the wall even more, while rubbing her arms and legs, trying to warm up.
She was still in that position, when the creature came back, holding what looked like a flogger.
She stiffened and waited, her heart drumming faster in her chest.
He pressed the button on his neck. “Come. The boss wants to see you,” he grunted, as he opened her cell, waving the flogger menacingly.
Resisting would be foolish at this point, so she slowly got up and walked towards the door.
One of his tentacles grabbed her wrist and forced her to move faster, as he dragged her out of the huge room, filled with a few other cells like hers, some of them empty and others occupied by some of the crew members from her ship. She recognized Vulk.
She gasped in surprise, but she couldn’t even utter a word since the creature kept dragging her out of the room and down a dimly lit hallway.
The disgusting creature kept dragging her until they reached a room where a few other creatures like him were gathered. He dragged her to the middle of the room as he spoke to the other males in the room. Using his tentacles, he held her tight, while he tied her up, spread eagle to a metallic frame.
The damp touch of his finger on her skin sent shivers of dread down her spine, and she struggled not to show her disgust, afraid of his reaction.
One of the males separated from the small crowd and walked over to where she was, exposed and helpless.
“My crew member tells me you’re a human female. Is that right?” he asked her, in a harsh voice, as he pressed the button on his neck.
“Yes, that’s true,” she replied, trying to stay as calm as possible.
“You’re far from home. What were you doing with the Krackians?” he asked, with a slight frown.
“Who?” she asked, confused.
“The males you were with,” he explained, impatient.
“I was traveling to Valkyr, where I was supposed to meet my future husband, Citizen Biurk,” she explained.
The males burst into laughter at her words.
“Biurk is mating you?” he asked, clearly mocking her.
“Yes… why does it surprise you?” Arantxa asked, with a frown, tugging at her restraints, wishing she was somewhere else.
“It doesn’t matter anymore since he won’t get his clutches on you,” he said, with dark satisfaction in his tone. “When we attacked his vessel, we were going after his merchandise, which we got, but finding you, was certainly an unexpected bonus,” he said closing the distance between them and grazing her cheek with one of his fingers.
Arantxa flinched back. She couldn’t hold back her instinctive reaction of disgust to the ugly alien’s touch, and he noticed it. With a malicious grin, he grabbed her chin and pulled her even closer.
“Disgusted by my touch?” he asked, the stench of his breath almost making her throw up.
She struggled to free herself from his grasp, but despite the slime on his fingers, she couldn’t pull away.
“Well, get used to it. I plan to have some fun with you before I sell you as a sex slave,” he added, with a nasty grin on his hideous face. “You’ll make us a lot of credits.”
She gasped, terrified at the idea of being sold off as a slave to God knows who, but he didn’t give her that much time to dwell on that idea. Before she could do anything, he had slammed his fist against her stomach, forcing the air out of her lungs.
She let out a muffled cry as pain blasted through her abdomen, and she was still gasping for air when his four tentacles lashed her body simultaneously. It felt as if he had hit her with metal chains, as the tentacles wrapped themselves around her, causing excruciating pain.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she was lost in the haze of sheer pain, but she could still see the pleasure and rapture on the faces of the males gathered around her. They were enjoying her pain.
“Please…” she begged, asking for mercy, but her plea was blatantly ignored as he slapped her face a couple of times, laughing out loud.
The male that had brought her into the room stepped between her and her abuser.
“If you go too far, we won’t be able to sell her,” he warned him, in an appeasing tone.
“We won’t sell her right away,” the other one grunted. “She will have time to heal.”
“We don’t know that, boss. Humans are known to be frail,” he warned him, still in a low tone, as if he was afraid to enrage the other one.
The abuser hit her one more time on her stomach before he walked away. “Take her back. We’ll see how she heals during our trip to Pakly and then we’ll have some more fun with her,” the boss said. There were grunts of disappointment from the rest of the crew, but he quickly appeased them. “Now, we can’t damage the merchandise, can we? She will make us all rich.”
The males cheered his words, and in a matter of seconds, they cleared the room, leaving her alone with the guy that had brought her there.
“Let’s get you back to your cell,” he said, untying her.
She was in so much pain she almost fell to the floor, but he picked her up before she hit it, throwing her over his shoulders.
This time, she didn’t even acknowledge his disgusting touch. All she wanted was to crawl to the back of her cell and lay down, as she prayed for the pain to go away.
The following hours went by in a blur of pain and cold. By the time someone brought her
food, she was close to hypothermia, her lips blue and her skin fairer than ever, while her body shook uncontrollably.
He put down a tray with what Arantxa supposed was food next to her. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked her as he kicked her body.
“Too… cold…” she managed to utter the words, her teeth chattering as she tried to speak.
He walked away, and for a moment, she thought he would ignore her situation, but a few moments later, he came back with a furry blanket he threw at her. “Cover yourself with it. We can’t have you dying on us, can we?” he said, taunting her. “Eat all the food or I’ll make you eat it. I assure you won’t enjoy the experience,” he warned her before he walked out and locked her cell.
Arantxa wrapped herself on the stinky blanket, thanking all gods for the blissful warmth. Her whole body still ached after the boss’s beating, but the cold had been even worse. She waited a few minutes for her body to stop shaking before she even tried to eat the brown goop he had called food.
It tasted as bad as it looked, but she forced herself to eat it all, afraid he would fulfill his threat. When he came back for the tray, she had eaten it all, and she was half asleep, exhausted from the pain and the cold she had borne.
He picked up the tray and left without a word, and she was grateful for it. At that point, she wanted nothing else other than sleep and to stay still, waiting for the pain to go away.
She lost track of time. They kept bringing her that disgusting goop, and she kept eating it all, afraid they would punish her again. Using the toilet proved to be another test to her resilience since the aliens insisted on watching her as she used it, but she learned to ignore their presence, their coarse comments and their groping all the way to and from the bathroom.
Despite her pleas, they never allowed her to bathe, and she hated them a little more for that. She felt dirty and sticky, and her body was still covered with dark bruises, but they didn’t care about her comfort.
After what felt like an eternity, the ship finally landed on a planet. Arantxa and the Krackians were dragged off the ship, naked and heavily chained.
The cool air greeted them as they walked down the retractable platform. She wished for the blanket they gave her on the ship, but the male that fetched her didn’t allow her to take it with her.
Arantxa took a deep breath and decided she should be thankful the air was breathable and that she was still alive. Despite what she was going through, she still hoped she would find a way out of this nightmare.
Chapter Six
The alien vessel had landed on an isolated clearing in the dense woods surrounding them. The males dragged them along a narrow trail that led deeper into the woods. They were forced to walk for hours, before they reached a huge lair, extending deep into the rocky ground.
She dreaded entering such a place, but of course, she wasn’t given any other option. The way was dimly lit by rustic torches and apparently went very deep into the ground. They had a couple of heavily armed guards at the entrance, but she saw no security devices. Despite their huge vessel, their lifestyle was apparently very primitive.
The further they walked into the lair, the colder it got. By the time they reached a huge chamber carved into the rock, she was shuddering again. The Krackians and their captors seemed immune to the low temperatures, but she hated every minute of it.
Several aliens came out of smaller caves to greet them. There were about thirty guys that all looked alike, ugly, disgusting, and mean. A shudder of dread rushed through her body, and she wondered if she would ever get out of there alive.
She still hoped there were people out there looking for them, but she was starting to lose hope.
The aliens greeted each other with loud gibberish they didn’t bother to translate. After a few moments, all the attention was focused on her, and she shuddered even more.
All of a sudden, she was pulled away from the Krackians and surrounded by the small crowd of aliens.
Arantxa stood still, fighting the urge to cover herself as much as she could, keeping her arms down. By then, she had learned not to react to their humiliations, to lessen their pleasure. Staying still, pissed them off, so they punched and pinched her a few times, but she willed herself not to react.
The aliens around her stared at her, making loud comments. Some of them even groped her, until the guy she knew as her jailer growled and forced them all to step back.
“I know you all want to have fun with this pretty toy, but she’s merchandise, and damaged goods don’t sell well,” he warned them, using the translator, to make sure she understood what he was saying.
She pursed her lips, hating them more, if that was even possible, as she tried to look impervious to their words and actions.
“Her bruises are starting to fade. We can have some more fun with her before we take her to the slave markets,” the one identified as the boss said, as he stepped closer to her and cupped her round, perky breasts before he squeezed them hard.
Arantxa bit her inner cheek to hold back the grunt of pain, determined to resist their torture as much as she could. She knew they thrilled in hurting her. She refused to give them the satisfaction of crying out loud or letting her tears fall.
The warder’s tone came out a little softer than before as he reminded him how valuable she was. “Please, make sure you don’t go too far,” he asked.
“I won’t… tie her up to the frame and do the same with the Krackians,” the boss ordered.
The warder secured her spread eagle, to a frame, placed in the middle of the room. Some of the other aliens did the same with the Krackians, who were placed in frames in front of her.
The boss paced in front of his prisoners for a while before he started hitting them with his heavy fists and his tentacles. Arantxa felt each blow as if it were on her own skin and she was sure it was meant to be so.
The boss wanted her to see the pain she was about to receive as others received it.
When he got tired of playing with the Krackian males, he finally turned around to look at her, his tentacles smeared with the bright green blood of the Krackians.
“Your turn, female,” he said, almost purring from the anticipation, as he extended his long, forked tongue.
This was the first time she saw it, and it made her squirm with disgust before she was able to hide her reaction.
His sadistic grin told her he knew exactly how she felt about him as he slowly walked towards her, his tentacles mimicking the waving movements of his tongue.
He stopped only a few inches from her, allowing her to smell his fetid breath, as he lowered his head towards her.
“It’s a pity we can’t keep you,” he told her in a low tone. “I would have so enjoyed breaking you. I’m sure I could turn you into a lovely puppet, whose only purpose in life would be to amuse us,” he added, with a cruel smirk. "Wouldn’t you love that?”
She stood still, pretending she couldn’t hear him, though she knew that would piss him off. A punch to her stomach confirmed that.
“It doesn’t matter… I’ll have enough fun with you and the credits I get from you will buy me even more fun toys to play with,” he said, as he lashed his tentacles all over her body a few times.
He only stopped when she was crying out loud, with thick tears streaming down her cheeks.
“You’re such a weak, useless little puppet, aren’t you?” he asked, as he cupped her breasts and squeezed them hard, relishing the way she screamed.
Two of his tentacles wrapped themselves around her thighs and for a moment, she was sure he was going to ravish her. But, all of a sudden, he lost all interest in her, releasing her and walking away.
“Lock her up,” he told her warder. “When you’re done, make sure you get in touch with possible buyers. She’s too weak for us to have fun, so we better get rid of her as soon as possible.”
“Yes, boss, I’ll get on it right away.”
The warder dragged her to a cell similar to the one she had back on the
vessel, in a small cave, not far from the main chamber. This time, he gave her a blanket right away, probably to preserve the merchandise as best as he could, but she was still grateful for it.
These caves were cold and wet, even colder than the vessel. Arantxa wouldn’t have withstood those low temperatures much longer.
***
Korben waited impatiently several yards away in a dark alley on Endora while Suriak contacted his mole. He had wanted to meet the contact with his friend, but Suriak had rejected the idea.
“You’ll scare Froidun,” Suriak told him with an amused grin. “Besides, I don’t need protection. Not from a scoundrel like Froidun, anyway. You know I’m a lot stronger than I look,” he assured him.
“I know that… I just hate waiting. We’re wasting too much time,” Korben had said.
“I know how you feel, but I promise you the information he has will save us a lot more time than what’s being wasted here,” his friend had assured him.
And deep down, Korben knew he was right, but he also knew they were running out of time and that had him on edge.
After a few minutes, Suriak said goodbye to his contact and walked back to where Korben was waiting.
“Good news,” Suriak announced, waving a small memory card. “I have the visuals we need and a lot more information than I expected.”
Korben looked around. A dark alley at sundown was hardly the place to discuss such things. “Let’s go back to the ship. Then you can fill us all in about what your mole gave you.”
Suriak nodded, and they hurried back to their vessel, leaving the planet almost immediately. They had no time to waste.
Suriak displayed the footage he had gotten from his contact on the big screen in the conference room, their course already set to Pakly.
They watched the fight between the two vessels. Biurk’s vessel didn’t stand a chance against the Paklyors from the start. They were better armed, and they took little time to destroy Biurk’s vessel weapons. They could see the Paklyors extend the boarding tube to it, but they couldn’t see what happened inside the vessel. A couple of hours later, the Paklyors left, but not before they completely destroyed Biurk’s vessel.
