by Zara Starr
“What?” she snapped. Tanya detested the guards.
“I am here to escort you to the dining hall,” the guard said.
Tanya rolled her eyes, but she was hungry. She could definitely eat. She had to keep her strength up. She had to make sure that she was ready for when the time came to make a break for it.
She walked to the dining hall, with the guard following close behind her. They had quickly learned not to put a hand on her. She was snappy when they tried.
Even though they could probably overpower her whenever they felt like it, grab onto her and dragged her wherever they wanted, they seemed to back off a little and at least allow her a bit of personal space. It wasn’t much, but it was better than being manhandled every time she was supposed to go somewhere.
Chapter Seven
Mal
Mal was in the ring again, fighting. Since he was owned by Slinin, he had fought in more battles than he had ever fought in a single tournament. It was tough, but it felt good. He felt pumped up and powerful, fit and ready to take on whoever was thrown into the ring with him.
He was fighting a Mahlar, a creature that was almost half his size. Because of the size difference, the Mahlar had a weapon. It was a lance of sorts, with a strange hook at the end paired with a blade that could do serious damage.
Mal didn’t think it was exactly fair that he had to fight someone with a weapon when he had none, but he saw it as a challenge rather than a stumbling block. He would get through this. With this critter’s lance, the other option was death. The Mahlar was geared to kill and Mal could see the bloodlust in the creature’s eyes.
It was heading toward the end of the fight. The Mahlar was bleeding severely. Mal had managed to turn his lance on him once or twice. The blood loss was really what was getting to him, and it was only a matter of time before he became too weak to wield the lance.
It was time for them to start parading the woman on the stage again. It wasn’t the first time that Mal was looking forward to the parade. It was awful that the female slaves were being paraded as goods that were up for sale. But he wanted to see the human female. Tanya.
Mal had said her name over and over again after he had learned it. It was a different name, something exotic. He loved the way it rolled off his tongue.
Tanya.
He glanced up at the stage when they brought the women out. Tanya was often one of the last women they brought out, the grand prize that everyone was looking forward to seeing. She was a rare, new species. They were building hype around the human females, making them sound like something special to acquire.
One by one, the women came out. Mal only paid half attention to the women that were brought on stage. He dodged a half-hearted attempt from the Mahlar who tried to stab him again. The strange, furry creature, with arms longer than its legs, was swaying on the spot and needed more energy to stay upright than anything else.
When Mal saw the last of the women being brought out, he perked up.
A human female came out, but it wasn’t Tanya. It was a smaller female with red hair and she looked very subdued. Tanya was nowhere to be found.
Where was she? The Saithin wanted to parade their most valuable prizes to market them, to bring contestants and viewers to the fights. They wanted to sell as many tickets as possible and have as many fighters as possible.
If Tanya wasn’t there – their grand prize, the one everyone was here for – where was she? Had something gone wrong? Had something happened to her?
The Mahlar attacked again. It was a last attempt to make a difference, but it was just the last throes. Mal grabbed the lance, yanked it out of the Mahlar’s hand and turned the sharp end toward the furry creature. Its eyes were already glazed over.
Burying the tip of the lance in its heart was doing it a favor. He was just helping along what was already going to happen. The furry form fell to the floor and the crowd cheered. Slinin smiled from the sidelines. But Mal’s mind was somewhere else.
It felt like the whole day dragged on. Usually, the fights were over quickly and the parade afterward, where the fighters were given their prizes. It was a high that flew by because they were treated like gods for a moment.
But today, it all felt like a waste of time, something that was stopping Mal from what he really wanted to do – find out where Tanya was.
When he was on the podium and commended for his effort, winning his Master a big sum of Saithin currency and a rare creature – furry with round ears and eyes, only found in the highest peaks of the largest mountain range of Saitha.
“Sighting this creature is thought to bring good luck among the Saithin,” the presenter announced. “This is a good prize indeed!”
The parade was finally over. After Mal had cleaned up, he was summoned to Slinin’s office. It felt like it had taken forever. But now, after waiting forever, he was able to ask his Master the question that had burned him since he had noticed that Tanya wasn’t there.
After Slinin had praised him again and again.
“Here,” he said, handing the cage with the furry little creature to Mal. “Give this to a guard and give the order for it to be taken to my home in the capital city. But take the name of the guard, I want to know who handles my valuables.”
He took the cage.
“And when you—”
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Mal said and Slinin looked at him with a frustrated expression. “I was just wondering… did you notice that the human female you intend to win was missing tonight? I was just wondering where she was. Has something happened to her?”
Slinin narrowed his already-beady eyes. “I have no concern for the creature. As long as no harm comes to her body, I’m happy. They would have notified us if anything had changed in the prize pool.”
The speech was a dismissal and there was nothing else to be said. But Mal was still worried. Something felt wrong.
“Take care of my creature,” Slinin said. “And put the prize out of your mind. You worry for nothing. When you are ready to win the female, when we are there, all will be well.”
Mal had to take what his boss was saying. He couldn’t keep pushing the topic. His Master wouldn’t allow the arrogance and it was not supposed to be any of his concern where Tanya was and what happened to her.
The problem was, he was starting to feel like it was his concern.
Chapter Eight
Tanya
Tanya could taste her heart in her throat. The mantis-like creature that had grabbed her when she had wanted to run away was now taking her back to the labs where the chip had been inserted into her neck in the first place.
She hated it. She hated that she was being treated like a criminal, a possession. She hated that she couldn’t just go home. Damn, she wanted to go home so badly.
What were they going to do to her once they reached the lab? The other female, the one at the pool that had told her about the security protocol being changed on her chip, hadn’t been punished. Not in the direct sense. Her movements were just limited.
The same would happen to Tanya.
Which would make escaping a lot more difficult. But she couldn’t just give up.
As they walked, Tanya forced herself to focus on her surroundings. If she paid attention, maybe she could notice a thing or two that might come in handy once she found a way to get out of the prison quarters and eventually out of the gladiator dome.
Everything around her was raw and unpolished. The passages were nothing more than concrete tunnels dug into the earth, with sodium lights at intervals to illuminate the way. It was strange for a place that was so advanced, with some of the best technology Tanya had ever seen. At least, from what she had noticed until now. She didn’t have as much access to the general rooms. She was confined to the slave quarters and the labs.
Now, as she walked, Tanya realized that the tunnel she was being marched through wasn’t a windowless abyss. Narrow windows sat against the top of the walls, pressed up against the ceiling. Natural light
flowed in through them, although it was not nearly enough and the sodium lights were still needed.
That meant that these passages were located at the outer wall of the building. They had to be. And they were above ground, at least halfway.
It was something to hold onto.
It was nothing like the prison quarters where she was kept, where there wasn’t a single window in any of the rooms. The bedroom had no windows, neither did the dining hall or the pool where they regularly bathed. Tanya couldn’t remember what natural light looked like.
God, she missed the outside world. Tanya had never considered herself to be an outdoors person, but she hated being stuck inside at all times.
She didn’t allow herself to get too worked up about the windows, about the possibility of escape. Because it was still going to be difficult.
If she managed to get out of the gladiator dome, she had no idea where to go. She had to make contact with Earth, first. She had to find someone who would be able to help her escape, or she was never going to get away. They would just catch her and put her back into the prisoner camp, probably without being able to move at all.
What Tanya really needed was to be able to contact someone, and that would only happen from the communications room that the other female had told her about. The room that was completely off-limits for prisoners, of course.
Where was the communications room? Tanya figured that it had to be above ground – somewhere with windows, to make communication possible.
They reached the door of the lab and Tanya recognized it. A shiver ran down her spine. Even though she hadn’t been hurt, she didn’t think of any of the places where she was kept as anything other than cages. She hated being back here.
“You’re back,” the mantis-creature in the lab coat said. Tanya assumed it was the same one as before, but only because of what he said. They all looked the same to her. The creature in the lab coat looked at the guard. “The reason?”
“Trying to escape. Her chip needs to be recalibrated.”
The lab coat monster looked at Tanya with glassy, insect eyes. Still, it managed to look disappointed. “You can make life much easier for yourself,” he said.
“Yeah,” Tanya answered, nodding. “You try being paraded around every day and tell me how easy your life is.”
The creature turned away, without responding. Why would he? He didn’t care.
“Lie down over there,” the guard said, pointing to a gurney.
Tanya didn’t want to lie down and be cut, probed, and programmed again. But there was no other way, was there? They could easily make her do whatever they wanted.
She started towards the gurney, but on the way, she spotted a tray with medical equipment – scalpels and hooks and spikes. She shivered, but then an idea grabbed a hold of her. Tanya grabbed one of the scalpels and spun around, holding it to her own throat. She pressed the sharp end of the blade against her skin. But she didn’t press too hard, she didn’t break the skin so that she would bleed.
The mantis-creature in the lab coat and the guard both froze, staring at her.
“You let me go,” she said, looking at them both simultaneously. “Or I’ll hurt myself.”
Tanya knew that she was the grand prize. They wanted her alive and well. They wanted her in one piece, unharmed, ready to be handed to whoever would win the tournament.
“Don’t do anything rash,” the guard said, his hands up as if he willed her to put the scalpel down.
“I won’t do anything. Just let me walk out of the lab.”
The guard shook his head. “I can’t do that,” he said. “It’s my job to make sure you don’t get out.”
Tanya thought about it for a moment. “Let me walk out.”
“You know that the moment you are out of here, I am going to alert the others. Why take that chance?”
Tanya didn’t answer him. Her mind was turning. He was going to alert the other guards immediately, the moment she was out the door. She knew that. Why take the chance? Because if she didn’t, if she accepted her fate, she was going to end up belonging to someone and she would never get home again.
But the mantis would never understand that. None of them would. This was the Saithin way. They didn’t know anything other than taking slaves and using them for their personal benefit.
But it wasn’t Tanya’s way.
Carefully, she moved toward the lab door. Neither of the creatures moved. Good – as long as she had the scalpel against her throat, they would leave her alone, allow her to do what she needed to do.
When she reached the door, it hissed open and she stepped through.
The moment she was in the hallway, she dropped her hand with the scalpel and started running. She had gotten a head start, but it was pretty short. She had to get out of there as soon as possible.
As Tanya ran, she looked for signs that would tell her where to go. The first one came up only a moment later, and Tanya stopped just long enough to read it. But the language synchronizer they had uploaded to her bio-enhancer didn’t work for writing, because the signs at each corner looked like scribbles to her.
Tanya continued running in the direction they had come – toward the dining hall. But she turned down another hallway before she reached the door that led to the cafeteria. She made sure that she kept to the right, to the side where the windows were. She couldn’t afford to move back into the belly of the gladiator dome.
As Tanya ran, she noticed a couple of Saithin creatures, but the hallways were mostly empty and she was able to avoid being seen. By some miracle.
Her body ached as she ran, not used to so much physical exercise, but adrenaline pumped through her veins and pushed her forward. As she quickly moved through the corridors, her mind spun.
Where was she headed? Where did she need to go? She had to make sure that all this amounted to something – she couldn’t just be caught again, her security protocol made so strict that she couldn’t move at all.
Tanya was very aware that it was a case of now or never.
Ahead of her, she saw a panel on a wall with a smattering of white dots. She frowned and paused, even though it was costing precious time. But something about the panel looked familiar.
A moment later, she realized what it was. She recognized that they were constellations – except they sure weren’t anything like the constellations she could see from Earth. This panel was a view of the stars.
The screen on the panel looked advanced and she knew that the Saithin created amazing technology, by now. So, she pressed on the panel, pressing on one of the white dots in a consolation she did not recognize.
The screen zoomed in and planets popped up around it. It looked like some kind of computer! Tanya pressed more eagerly, playing around with it for a few seconds. She knew that it was unlikely that she would find her own solar system without knowing how to read the Saithin script, but she had to try.
One of the little white dots started blinking. She pressed on it, and by some miracle, it looked like it was her solar system. And Earth was highlighted. Her heart beat faster, excitement blooming in her belly. But she wasn’t in the clear yet.
Still, this was the start.
Three-dimensional renditions popped up on the side of the screen like advertisements. There were images of her and Amelia, smiling and waving. It was creepy as hell, a reminder of what she was doing there and that she had to get away immediately. It was the Saithin promotion of her and Amelia as new prizes.
At least, it had helped her find this page, so she couldn’t complain.
Tanya tapped on the blue and green image of Earth and a panel filled the screen with one million options that she couldn’t identify. She groaned in frustration. She wished that the buyer enhancer would have allowed her to read, but maybe it wasn’t required for the slaves to be able to read anything. She didn’t think that they would ever be asked to read by the Masters that would end up owning them.
The very thought of belonging to someone else, not h
aving any freedom of her own, made Tanya feel sick to her stomach. It made her even more determined to get the hell out of here. She couldn’t afford to be on this planet for the rest of her life, to belong to some creature who would want to do who-knows-what to her.
Tanya decided to take a chance and pressed one of the options. A radio station in French started playing. The language synchronizer allowed her to understand every word, even though she had only studied it for a semester in college.
If this was some kind of communications panel, Tanya realized that she might not even need to find the communications room. Excitedly, she pressed other icons until she heard a phone ring.
Someone picked up – a guy who spoke in a British accent.
“Hello?” he asked.
“Oh, my God! Yes! My name is Tanya Boden, you know, the Bodens?”
“Is this some kind of joke?” the man asked.
“No, no, it’s not,” Tanya said. “I’ve been kidnapped. I’m being held against my will.”
“Kidnapped by who?”
Tanya knew that it sounded ridiculous, but she started explaining what had happened, that she was on an alien planet and being held as a prize for the gladiator fighters who won tournaments.”
“I don’t have time for this bullshit,” the man said and hung up.
“No, no, no,” Tanya muttered. She pressed the same pattern again and the phone started ringing. Was she going to get the same person? She had no idea, but she had to keep trying. She had to talk to someone.
When the line opened again, it was someone who spoke to her in Arabic. Of course, she understood that too. She was about to start explaining her situation again when she heard footsteps. And they were close too.
She had to run. She couldn’t be caught. But where was she going to go? She didn’t know the corridors; she didn’t know where they were headed. To her left, there was a dead end. She was trapped.
She took two steps toward the footsteps, feverish, wondering how the hell she was going to get away. She spotted a door to her right and ran for it, pushing it open and stepping inside just before a couple of mantis guard rounded the corner. She slammed the door shut and leaned against it, breathing hard. Her head was spinning, adrenaline pumping through her veins.
