by A. G. Wilde
It looked like a cell phone, but Nia was sure that wasn’t what it was.
As the female pressed a button, a green light was emitted from the device and it moved over Nia’s face.
“Species unknown,” the device said.
The alien’s eyes focused on her again, and Nia tried to jerk her shoulder away from the alien’s grasp.
“I have to go.”
“Stay still…thing,” the female said, running the scanner again. “You aren’t leaving this ship. This thing picks up every life-form on this planet. Knows everyone, but it doesn’t know you… Why?”
Nia let out a breath.
She could feel danger looming right in front of her.
The door was almost closed now and even if she made it there on time, she wouldn’t be able to fit through the gap.
Just remain calm, Nia. Remain calm.
Lifting her wrist, she flashed the fake bracelet Riv had given her.
“Legal. See. Now release me.”
For a moment, the alien’s hold on her slackened, but then she grabbed the wrist with the bracelet instead.
“A resident here, are you?” She placed her scanner over the bracelet and Nia’s heart skipped a beat.
Shit.
It wasn’t going to scan.
It wasn’t going to frickin’ scan!
It took only a second before the alien looked back at her, a satisfied sort of look coming over her strange features.
Her nose was adorned with rings and the center of her bottom lip too. Even the tips of her elf-like ears had piercings as well.
The piercings moved as the alien grinned again, fangs flashing.
She wasn’t challenging her in any way. There was no need to flash fangs. But Nia realized quickly that, in this case, it may just be a show of dominance.
It was the first time she’d seen another of Riv and Sohut’s kind. Well, apart from that one time his friend, Ka’Cit, had visited, but she knew they had an issue with people showing them teeth.
They took it as a challenge.
For that reason, she tried to make her face impassive and averted her gaze.
She needed to get out of this quickly and pissing off the female wasn’t something she wanted to do.
“Fake identification…how curious.” The alien’s grip on her tightened and Nia knew right then that all hope for this to go smoothly was out the window.
Something told her the alien wasn’t going to let her go.
Without much of a warning, Nia twisted toward the alien and brought her other elbow down hard on the alien’s wrist.
It was a move her father had taught her, and she’d never had to use it before.
The alien female hissed in pain and released her just enough for her to make a run toward the doors.
There was a lever there she was sure would open it and once outside she was going to run like she had a million of Riv’s demon dogs chasing her.
But she never got that far.
“What are you looking at? Get the creature!”
One second she was running toward the door and another she was being knocked to the ground.
The frickin’ crewmen were fast. They held her arms and she was sure one of them was kneeling on her knees.
She couldn’t move.
“Please, this is just a mistake. Just let me go.”
She could hear the boss approach and soon, the dark leather boots were in front of her face.
“A language that’s not in the servers and a fake ID.” It sounded like the female giggled. “This has got to be my lucky day. Lock her up in one of the cells. I think hiring more of you had not been wasteful credits after all. I’ll beam a message to my contacts and we can sell this creature for some good credits.”
“No!”
But the female wasn’t listening.
Fear made water fill Nia’s eyes.
This wasn’t happening to her.
It had to be a bad dream.
As she stared at the closed door of the ship, she wished it would open and she would see Lauren or even Riv’s scowling face, but she knew the possibilities of that were low.
They had no idea where she was.
She was alone.
She’d have to figure out a way to get out of this on her own.
7
“Bring her to the holding cell,” the boss said before turning and heading farther into the ship.
Two of the aliens wearing cloaks grasped her arms and pulled her up and followed behind.
Nia shook herself, shaking like a toddler would while in a tantrum, but it was futile. Their grips were like vices and with her struggling, they held on to her even tighter—tight enough for it to hurt.
“What are you planning to do with me?!”
But the boss ignored her as she kept on walking. She knew the alien couldn’t understand her, but she spoke anyway.
“Why are you doing this? You can just let me go.”
The boss continued walking and her crew pulled Nia along. Even if she dragged her feet, their combined strength wasn’t something she could resist.
The farther they walked into the ship, the more her panic rose.
“Please…” She resorted to begging. If the ship left Hudo III, she wasn’t sure how she’d ever return to the planet. She’d rather not have to face that circumstance. “Please…just let me go. Is it money that you want?”
Nia wracked her brain.
She didn’t have money—she didn’t own anything—but if it meant she had to work to pay this female for her freedom, she wouldn’t think twice about it. As long as she was able to return to the Sanctuary.
A pit opened up in her stomach as she thought about the Sanctuary.
Just that morning, she’d been thinking about the state of her life, wishing there was more to her existence. The universe must have interpreted her wrong, for she hadn’t been asking for this.
“Listen,” she pleaded with the back of the female alien as they continued heading farther into the ship, “just stop!”
She was ignored.
In front of them, an inner door opened into a dimly lit corridor filled with levers and other things she wasn’t sure of, but the aliens holding her continued walking.
Nia struggled against the hands that held her, resisting some more. It was difficult, and she grunted with effort as she tried one more attempt at releasing herself.
“I suppose it’s begging for its freedom,” the boss’ voice drifted to her ear, just before they stopped in front of a metal door. The boss turned to her then. “You’re in my ship.” There was that smile again. The one that looked completely insincere.
The boss leaned in close. Close enough for Nia to smell a whiff of what she assumed was perfume that smelled like paprika.
“My ship. My rules. And,” she leaned in closer, her smile turning into a leer, “everything on this ship is mine…including you.”
Nia’s eyes widened a little at that, and it only renewed her efforts to release herself from the henchmen’s arms.
The boss chuckled. “You can understand me, I see. Poor little thing. I don’t know what you are, but I have a feeling you will bring me many credits.”
Something sank within Nia. She wasn’t going to get out of this, was she?
The boss stretched a blue clawed finger toward Nia and brushed the finger down her cheek.
“Don’t touch me. Why are you doing this?! Why are you aliens so twisted?!”
The boss leaned back and eyed her crewmen. “Put her in here and stay and watch her. I don’t want any…problems.”
With that, the boss strode away, barking orders to some of her other men.
The two that held her strode closer to the door, holding on to her tight even as she tried to shrug them off once again.
There were three buttons on the side of the door: a red, orange, and a yellow button.
One of the henchmen holding her reached forward and almost pressed the red button.
“No, fool
, it’s the last one at the bottom that opens it.”
The one about to press the button growled. “How are you so sure, genius?”
“That top one will shut down the room and the entire sector, idiot!”
Nia eyed the button he spoke of. It was the red one.
The alien with his hand over it paused. “You’re sure?” He turned to eye his crewmate, and Nia realized with mounting horror that she couldn’t really see anything underneath the robe.
She didn’t even want to consider what that meant.
“You’re not just trying to get me in trouble?”
The other one cursed. “Go ahead then, fool. Press it.”
The other one hesitated before pressing the third button, the yellow one, and it sounded as if he was holding his breath.
A second later, the door in front of them hissed opened.
“Phek. Herza would have had my head if I’d pressed that top one.”
Together, they pushed her inside the room.
There was a singular metal cage in the center of the room, and that was about it.
“Put him in.”
Another push at her back had her stumbling forward, and Nia turned to try and dart around the aliens. The door was still open. Maybe she could—
But the next blow was a kick to her belly that had her stumbling backward and into the cage.
It hurt enough that she doubled over onto herself, hatred boiling in her veins alongside the pain.
She was only vaguely aware of one of the aliens slamming his hand against the orange button on the inside of the room. The buttons on this side of the wall were only two. An orange and a yellow one.
The cage slammed shut and the door as well, locking them in.
Nia struggled to stand, and she held on to the bars, her eyes on the door.
There had to be a way out of this.
There just had to be.
Ka’Cit gripped on to the hull of the cargo ship and let out a sound of annoyance.
The ship was humming.
That meant the engines were on.
Phek.
Herza was leaving the dock so soon?
He gripped onto the ship, crawling on his belly as he made his way forward toward the hatch at the top.
The ship was an oval thing and getting on top of it had tested his strength, but he’d made it.
He’d been heading to a singular spot, that hatch, even as the plan he’d thought of developed in his mind.
Luckily, he knew ships like this inside and out. The hatch he headed toward would open and drop him right into the ship’s lower sector.
Crawling so high up, the wind whipped at him and he clung to the ship as he pushed himself forward.
He reached the hatch soon enough and peered down.
The interior of the ship was dim, but not dim enough for him not to see there were Niftrills in brown cloaks everywhere.
Phek.
He was hoping they’d remain solely in the cargo hold, but he was wrong.
Herza probably had them doing all sorts of jobs that required they man the whole ship.
Ka’Cit let out a breath.
This wasn’t going to be easy.
As soon as he dropped down there, they were going to attack, he was sure.
He was an intruder, and they’d be bound to protect the ship and Herza.
He had two blasters on his hip with enough firepower to get him to the human and out the ship. He hoped that would be enough.
He suspected Herza would have put her in one of the holding cells in the upper sector.
As he stared at the Niftrills down below, he tried to find the one that had the information he needed.
No such luck.
They all looked the same from overhead.
Once he went in, he just had to hope that he saw the Niftrill he needed in the process.
If not…
Well, he’d never failed to deliver on a job before. He’d find a way.
Plus, he wouldn’t think about that right now.
One thing at a time.
The ship jerked and he almost lost his balance and slid off the side of it.
As he clung on to the ship and regained his balance, a chuckle developed within his belly.
He must have a death wish.
The last time he’d hung on to the side of a ship, he’d told himself it would have been his last.
So much for keeping promises.
He could feel the vibration beneath him, a dull hum.
He didn’t have much time.
The ship was already starting to hover off the ground.
Ka’Cit pulled a smoke canister from his pocket and held it in one hand.
With the Niftrills’ poor eyesight, he could probably get away with using the dimness of the ship to his advantage, but he’d use the smoke canister anyway.
It would make his plan foolproof.
He’d open the hatch.
Drop the canister.
The smoke would fill the lower sector. He’d then have to trigger a lockdown of the lower sector and shut the Niftrills in. Ships of this make were originally built to carry prisoners. Each sector had a lockdown mechanism the guards could trigger easily. When the ships were converted to carry cargo, almost all of them kept the lockdown triggers for one simple reason—it was cheaper to do so.
The lockdown would last for a few minutes—giving him time to head to the upper sector, where he knew Herza must have put the human.
All he had to do when he found her was escape through the cargo drop in the upper sector. There was a chute there.
And the Niftrill he needed to speak to…
Phek.
He’d figure it out later.
Right now, the most important part of his plan was closing that lower sector down.
He’d do that first and think about the rest later.
8
Nia sat in the cell seething.
It must have been at least half an hour since she’d been placed in the cell—or longer. She didn’t really know.
Time moved differently in dire circumstances.
Her gaze was still on the door, but it hadn’t opened since they’d put her in and apart from the two aliens standing guard inside, no one else had entered the room.
She was still gripping on to the bars of the cell. She hadn’t moved, and neither had they.
“What do you think Herza will sell it as?” The henchman’s question seemed to echo in the small room.
“Don’t know. Felt soft when I held it. Soft and small.”
Nia watched them. They were speaking about her, she knew.
“Maybe a pleasure pet?”
The other one grunted.
“Unfair,” he finally said.
“Why?”
“We never get those things.”
“Of course not, idiot. They’re expensive.”
A moment of silence.
“Ever been close to a pleasure pet?”
The henchmen looked at each other before turning their heads back her way.
“No. You?”
“No.”
As if they had some unsaid agreement, they both stepped forward.
Facing them now, Nia realized that she could see underneath their hoods.
Their skin was dark and filled with cracks like lava underneath scorched rock and their eyes were dark too.
She shuddered a little and moved farther within the cage.
Her foot hurt—there was still that pebble inside her shoe—but she didn’t have time to take it out. Instead, she scrambled farther backward and away from the advancing aliens.
“Looks soft…” one said.
“Yes. I just said it was.”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Yes…wait, what are you thinking?”
The other glanced toward the door. “No one would know…we could do it before we arrive at Port Six.”
“What if Herza finds out?”
The oth
er shrugged. “She won’t care. As long as we don’t kill it, I think.” He paused. “Just a bit of pleasure.” And then, as if trying to convince himself, he continued. “We deserve it. When was the last time you had some fun?”
The other grunted. “Too long.” His head cocked to the side a little. “He will do.”
The other made a sound in his throat. “I am already engorged.”
Nia’s stomach turned immediately at the words that came from the alien’s mouth.
“Oh, no you’re not,” she murmured, backing up a few more paces till her back hit metal. And they thought she was male too. They didn’t even care.
“He’ll fight.”
“So?”
“Guess it’s not the first time we’ve had to use force…”
The other chuckled. “Won’t be the last either. We deserve it.”
“We deserve it,” the other agreed.
Fuck.
Nia glanced around.
The room was bare.
The cage was bare.
There was nothing she could use to defend herself if they entered the cage.
Her foot hurt as she leaned back against the cell wall and an idea popped into her head.
The pebble.
She could use it somehow.
Throw it at them?
She knew she could hit the alien smack in the eyes, she was sure of her aim, but that would only briefly disable one of them and she’d have the other to deal with. Plus, he would only be blind in one eye. He’d be fine otherwise.
Still, as they advanced, she bent and slipped her hand under her robe and into her shoe.
Her fingers closed around the pebble. The stone was warm from being underneath her foot for so long.
She gripped it and stared at them.
She didn’t know how she was going to get out of this, but she had to find a way.
The aliens glanced at each other before looking back her way and she realized, with a turn of her stomach, that one of them was rustling with the center of his cloak.
His cloak parted and she saw a flash of white in the cracks on his arm, almost like metal was underneath that part of his skin.
He took a few more steps forward.
“I dare you. I fucking dare you.” She stared into the dark eyes and the alien hesitated for just a moment before continuing to take open the lower section of his cloak.
