by T. J. Quinn
“Hi, we’re the welcoming committee,” the brunette greeted her with a sarcastic grin on her face. She was wearing a red dress that matched her tanned skin and her curled, dark chocolate mane perfectly. “My name is Alexandra, and according to the bastards that captured us, I’m a class I slave, here at the colony.”
“And I’m Hannah, a class II slave.” The blond introduced herself. She had some lovely green eyes, and a voluptuous body, that certainly would drive any man insane with lust.
“Hi… I’m Savannah. Can any of you explain to me what’s going on?” she asked, her voice still a bit hoarse, but at least she was able to talk again. She sat on the bed and looked at the other women, eager to get some answers.
“Sure, that’s why we’re here. The aliens don’t have the patience to answer all of the new one’s questions, so they usually send a welcoming committee.” Alexandra explained, pulling the chair and taking a seat. Hannah leaned against the small table and waited for the other woman to talk.
“Where are we?” Savannah asked.
“We’re still on planet Earth, that’s for sure, but exactly where, we have no idea,” Alexandra replied. “We’re in one of the Taucets’ colonies, and judging by our surroundings, I would say we’re somewhere up in the Rocky Mountains.”
“But we have no proof,” Hannah pointed out. “We have never been out of the colony and those who have tried to escape either died while trying or were so tortured they wished they had died. Either way, they have not seen again.”
Alexandra let out a heavy sigh and nodded. “Ever since they got to the planet, they have been capturing all the females they can. They want to breed with humans, but so far they haven’t been able to do so.”
“So, we’re here to be their sex slaves?” there was so much horror in Savannah’s tone the other women, gave her a faint smile.
“Yes. If you’re lucky, like me.” There was too much sarcasm in Alexandra’s tone to make Savanna believe she meant exactly the opposite. “You’ll be bought by one of them, and you’ll just have to put up with him,” she explained, and the expression on her face told her just how much she hated the situation she was forced to live in.
“In my case, I’m a shared possession of three, and though I’m usually with just one of them at a time, sometimes they decide to throw a party, with me as the entertainment,” Hannah explained, oozing all her rage and displeasure.
“Are you sure it’s impossible to escape?” Savannah asked, desperate.
“Yes, unfortunately, yes. They sometimes get an especially stubborn slave and make her cross the fences for all the rest to watch. It’s terrible.” Alexandra explained.
Savannah gasped, terrified, as she ran her hand down her face. “Are all women here slaves? What kind of slave am I?” she finally asked.
“Yes, all human females are slaves here, but we still don’t know what class of slave you’ll be. You’ll be auctioned, and then they’ll assign you to one or more masters.” Hannah replied.
“What if no one buys me?” she asked, with all kinds of dreadful ideas running through her mind.
“You become a fucking hole. That means you’ll always be naked, and everybody is entitled to have you, no matter where or when,” Alexandra warned her. “Believe me, you want to be bought.”
“This is insane. This can’t really be happening to me,” she mumbled, hiding her face between her hands.
“We’ve all been there, sweetie, you’re not the first one, and surely won’t be the last one,” Hannah said, trying to comfort her, with no success.
“How long have you guys been here?” she asked, curious.
“I’ve been here since they established the colony, not sure exactly for how long and Hannah has only been here for a few months.”
“What happens when the guy that buys you gets tired of you?” she asked, still feeling she was in the twilight zone.
“They sell you off to another one until you get too old to be attractive to them,” Hannah replied.
“What happens then?”
“You become a hard labor slave. You know: cookers, cleaners, farmers… The whole thing… until you drop dead from exhaustion.” Alexandra concluded, in a stern tone. She clearly hated talking about those things, but Savannah was sure she wasn’t asked if she wanted to do this job. “Do you have any more questions?” she asked, Savannah, as she got up.
“What will happen to me now?”
“You’ll remain here until you’re auctioned with the rest of the new group. The auction will take place in a couple of days,” she explained, with a sad smile. “Then your master will take you to his quarters. After that, you’ll be free to move around the colony, as long and much as your master allows you to.”
She nodded, dreading the whole situation, still wishing this was all just a bad dream. But, deep down, she knew it wasn’t, and she wished she had stayed home, where she belonged. It was too late now. And according to what she had heard from the guys that had captured her, that would only have delayed things, since they planned to raid her town.
They chatted a bit more but soon she was alone again, with her thoughts, for a couple of hours.
Another woman, this one probably around her mid-forties, wearing the same rags, though hers were black, brought her dinner later on that day. The woman handed her the tray and left immediately without even exchanging a word with Savannah and by the worn out look on the woman’s face, she concluded she was part of what Alexandra had called the hard labor slaves.
Shuddering with dread, she closed her eyes and once more wished she was just having a nightmare.
She had just finished eating the bland food when the door to her cell opened again, and a couple of Taucets entered.
Startled, she got up and looked at them apprehensively, but they ignored her altogether.
“This one is new, she was caught this afternoon in the woods surrounding the small town were planning to invade. I’m sure we can tempt the cyborg with her. She’s completely natural.” One of them was saying to the other one.
“That could work. He’s just escaped human control so we could use all the information he can give us on them and their positions.” The other one replied, with a wistful tone. “But are you sure he’ll want a human female? After all, he went through in their hands?”
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll love to have someone to torture and get even with.” The other one assured, with a cruel hint in his tone. “He’s one of the older models, so he must have a lot of hatred to take off his chest.”
Hearing them, Savannah slowly stepped back, trying to get as far away as possible from those two maniacs, planning on handing her to a cyborg, one that hated humans.
“You might have a point there. Get her ready. I want this guy pleased and talking as soon as possible before the other cyborgs find out he’s here and come to pick him up.” The Taucet ordered and left the room, leaving Savannah alone with the other guy.
“Come here, slave. I have work for you,” he barked the order.
Too scared to obey, Savannah ran to the small bathroom, but before she could reach it, some sort of whip slashed the air and wrap itself around her waist, causing her terrible pain. She was sure the damn thing had cut her in two, the pain so excruciating.
“Disobedient slaves don’t do well around here, slave,” he snarled at her, pulling her closer to him with the whip.
She sobbed but refused to say anything. Somehow the damn thing tightened its grip around her, and she let out a loud cry.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” the Taucet demanded.
“Yes, I do.”
He pulled the whip even tighter. “I’m your master, and you’ll address me as such, do you understand?” he snarled again.
Sobbing louder, as shots of pain rushed through her body she was barely able to utter the words he wanted to hear. “Yes, master.”
The whip finally left her skin, and she dropped to the floor, heaving.
“Good. Now get up and fol
low me. You have been assigned a master to entertain,” he announced and left the room, sure she would follow. And she did. She knew there was no escape for her.
He guided her through what felt like a labyrinth of hallways and passages until they stopped in front of another door. Inside, they were welcomed by a couple of human females, apparently part of the hard work slaves’ group. Like the first one, Savannah had seen, these two were also wearing black rags, and they were clearly over forty.
“Prepare this slave to be taken to our guest, the cyborg,” he ordered. “I’ll be back for her in a few minutes.”
“Yes, master.” Both women replied as the man walked out of the room.
“Well… don’t you just stand there, woman? We don’t have time to lose.” One of them yelled at her, asking her to approach them.
Chapter Four
Hating the whole situation, she did what she was told. The woman grabbed her arm with unnecessary force and dragged her to some sort of bathroom, though it looked more like a carwash.
“Get rid of your clothes.” The woman ordered her, and when Savannah took a few seconds more than necessary to obey her command, the woman picked some sort of cane from a nearby shelf and let it fall on her hips. “Move, I don’t have all day.”
“I’m doing all I can,” Savannah protested, pulling her dress over her head.
“Don’t you dare to answer back at me,” the woman snarled, hitting her again.
Fed up with the woman’s attitude and throwing all caution to the wind, she grabbed the damn cane and faced her. “What’s the matter with you? Does it make you feel better mistreating your own kind when you should be mistreating the bastards enslaving us?” she asked, in a cold tone.
The woman was shocked, but it only lasted her a few moments. Tugging at the cane, she freed it from Savannah’s grip and hit her again, this time harder, on her arms, leaving a red welt.
“How dare you speak to me like that, you piece of scum?” she asked and was about to unleash all her rage on Savannah when the other woman entered the room, carrying some clean clothes and a towel.
“Susan… have you lost your mind? You’re marking her,” she said, taking the cane out of the woman’s hands.
“I don’t care. She thinks she’s better than us… I had to teach her a lesson.” the woman said, with a manic look on her face.
“I don’t think I’m better than anyone. I’ve just arrived at this godforsaken hell, so forgive me if I’m having a tough time accepting this is real and that I’m trapped in this nightmare,” Savannah replied, in a bitter tone. “I’m sure you’ve been through a lot, but that’s not my fault.”
“She’s right, and you know it, Susan. You better start praying that welt disappears before Master Anion returns, or we’ll both be in deep trouble,” the other woman said, and Susan finally seemed to come back to her senses, paling at the sight of the red welts on Savannah’s skin.
“I’ll take full responsibility for it, I promise, Sally,” she said after a few moments, lowering her head.
“You know damn well that’s not how things work around here,” the other woman ranted, but Savannah could tell she was terrified.
“If he asks, I’ll tell him it was the whip he used on me a few minutes ago,” Savannah said, not sure why, but despite Susan’s attitude, she didn’t want anything bad happening to the women on her account.
“Why would you do that?” Susan asked, startled.
“Listen, this is bad enough for us. We should not fight each other. Just do whatever you have to do and let’s get this done with,” she replied, feeling tired and a bit overwhelmed. She had no idea what was in store for her later that night, but judging by Anion and his friend’s words, she might not survive the night, so why drag another person with her?
The women nodded, and Savannah noticed a drastic change in attitude in both women.
Helping her to stand underneath the shower, they activated the water springs. In a matter of seconds, she was all wet, and the women immediately deactivated the shower.
“Water is very scarce here,” Sally explained as she poured shampoo on Savannah’s hair while Susan washed her body thoroughly.
“Have you ever seen a cyborg?” Savannah asked, unable to hold back her curiosity.
Sally almost jumped, startled, as she looked at her. “Why do you ask?”
“I’ll be taken to one. I’ve seen several cyborgs in the documentaries about the advances they have done on them, but I don’t know much more about them. I have to admit I never cared much about them,” she replied.
Both women looked at each other, exchanging dark looks.
“Cyborgs are bad news for us.” Susan finally said. “They were created by us, the humans, they look human, but they’re also machines, war machines. They are taller and stronger than any man you might have known, and able to heal themselves, what makes them the perfect warriors.”
“The problem is humans forgot they are not just machines. They have hearts and souls… as far as we’ve been told. But they were treated as machines, enslaved and sent out to fight on humans’ behalf. Many have escaped, and now they’re humans’ worst enemy because they know exactly how to fight them,” Sally added.
“How come I’ve never heard about this?” she wondered, horrified with what she was hearing.
“Because no government wants to be judged by the way they’re treating the cyborgs. They excuse themselves behind the fact they are looking for the greater good of humankind,” Susan explained.
“How come you guys know about this?” she asked, still astonished.
“I used to work in a cyborg camp. It infuriated me the way generals ordered the cyborgs to be programmed, forcing them to fight until all of the energy is drained from their bodies,” the older woman explained. “I wasn’t the least surprised when they started to escape. In fact, I wish I had been able to free some of them while I was still there.”
“So, I’m in for a treat, tonight,” Savannah mumbled as a shudder of fear ran down her spine.
“Yes, I’m afraid so. If this one has just escaped, he must be filled with rage and hatred.”
“Are there many of them here?” she asked, trying not to think much of her fate and get as much information as she could.
“No, none actually, except for this one that managed to escape a couple of days ago,” Susan replied. “They usually leave immediately to meet other cyborgs on another planet they call Cyborg land.”
“Why do the Taucets help the cyborgs? They could be working for the humans,” she asked trying to understand what was going on.
“Humans would never let cyborgs go. They know cyborgs hate their guts, they just pretend to ignore it,” Susan assured her. “The Taucets just want the intel cyborgs have on the human’s positions. They go by the saying ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend.'”
“I see.” The women turned on the water springs again and fortunately, the cold water faded most of the welts Susan had left on her skin. “So… all I have to do is survive for a few days until he’s gone.”
The looks on the other women’s faces were obvious. They didn’t think she would be able to survive.
“This is the first time the Taucets are giving a woman to the cyborgs. They usually send their own females,” Sally said with a frown, as she dried her body while Susan took care of her hair.
“Why do you think they changed their minds this time?” Savannah asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
“I have no idea.”
When she was done, Susan handed her a dark blue rag and asked her to put it on. “You should try not to antagonize him. Please him as much as you can, and you might survive this experience,” she advised.
Savannah opened her mouth to reply, but Anion’s return made her shut her mouth.
“Good, you’re ready.” The man stated in a cold tone. “Let’s go, you have a cyborg to appease.”
Chapter Five
She followed him quietly, knowing she had no other choice, her min
d boiling with ideas and thoughts on how to deal with the creature she was about to meet. But she didn’t have enough time to get to a conclusion. Soon, they were stopping in front of a closed door, and the Taucet was knocking on it.
A rough voice invited them in, and Anion opened the door.
Savannah wasn’t sure what she was expecting, probably someone looking a bit like Robocop or Terminator, she had never paid any attention to the cyborgs. She guessed like most people, she had considered them war machines, forgetting like Susan said they were part-humans, with hearts and souls.
But she, sure as hell, wasn’t expecting the man standing in front of her. At least seven feet tall, with a massive body, he looked pretty much like a man, at first sight. But, once you started to take a closer look, you realized he was not. His eyes, of a striking gray, had no pupils. His skin color was not what you would call normal, shading between light blue and gray, and his hair was dark blue. She had no problem seeing him as a killing machine. He looked like trouble with capital T. He also looked as if he had come out of a battlefield. His body was still covered with dried mud and blood.
“Greetings, Khajal.” Anion said, in a subservient tone, as he entered the room.
Savannah followed him and tried to stay behind the alien, as much as possible.
“What’s she doing here?” the cyborg roared, clearly not pleased with her presence.
Savannah felt a shiver of fear slid down her spine and wished she could run out of there, but she was sure that would be worse than anything this guy could do to her.
“We believed you could use some entertainment during your stay with us.” Anion said, and even the smile on his face flickered in the face of the other man’s fury.
Savannah now understood why the Taucets preferred to have these guys on their side.
“A human female? Is this some kind of sick joke?” Khajal snarled at the other guy.
