Savage Planet Cyborg

by Cheyenne Hart

  Another thud sounded from outside, but it was hard to tell how close through the thick metal the pod was constructed from. It was designed to withstand space travel for decades and decades, plus plunging through the atmosphere of a planet. "Do you think there's any way to lock this thing?" Simone asked.

  "Believe me, I already thought of that. There's nothing I can find." Something heavy dropped down from above and landed nearby. There wasn't so much as an audible sound as a vibration. Heck, it might have actually hit the escape pod. "This does not sound good," Bree said with a flat tone to her voice.

  "No, no it doesn't. We're going to be okay though. Just stay calm, don't react unless you know for sure it's what you need to do."

  There was definitely a fight going on out there, and it sounded like there was a group of people involved. If it was that one alien man against the rest of them, the chances were that someone, or something, much more terrifying could be next to open the pod door. And the two quivering women couldn't do a thing about it.

  "Wait, you hear that?" asked Bree eventually.

  Simone squinted and tried to make her ears tune in to some hidden sound outside the metal pod. "Hear what? I don't hear a thing. Oh."

  "Exactly. They've stopped with all the noise. It looks like someone won the fight."

  The pod door opened and a dull laughter oozed into the space within. It was sinister, crackling against Simone's ears as she tried to stop herself from imagining what other types of beings might call this distant planet home. As the door swung away, there stood a woman. There was now some kind of light in the enclosed space surrounding the pod, a torch of fire being held behind this woman by one of her associates. The flames were flickering in the desert winds, but they showed a face that would have once been stunningly attractive. Now though, there was uneven scarring covering up a lot of the skin there. Her eyes were wild like the fire that illuminated her.

  As the escape pod's lights blinked on and off in their various colors, it only made her look even more unbalanced and possibly even deranged. "Well, well," she finally said after staring at the two women for some time. Her voice was like glass ground up in sunburnt dirt, but somewhat feminine. That too sounded like it was once beautiful. "It looks like we have some more hostages, boys. I think maybe some bonafide aliens will be worth something to someone, especially those corrupt pigs in Baklofer who call themselves The Sacred Council. "

  "They would never deal with scum like you," said someone from down on the floor. It was the attractive alien man, now without his backpack or gun. His arms were bound behind him with thin chains, and he lay on his stomach.

  Her high cut leather boot pressed down firmly into the center of his back, the scarred woman spat on the ground beside the bound alien. "Shut your fucking mouth, you robotic freak," she said.

  "I'm as much a robot as the idiots in your little gang," he said defiantly, which must have been hard to pull off considering that he was face down in the dust of the tunnel.

  "You're just about as much alive as Blood Bucket. Ain't that right, boys?"

  The others in the dimly lit tunnel concurred with grunting noises and single syllable answers. Simone couldn't see them, but she knew that she didn't want to get close to them.

  "Alright then," the female leader continued. "Let's get these two bitches tied up and see what's through this tunnel. If they sent their robot man here, I don't expect we'll have anyone else looking for us for a while. G'oll, Drydee, take one each and keep an eye on the cyborg. Don't assume he gives a shit about hostages, except the one he's come to bring back. You can't expect a man with no soul to give a shit about the living, and that's what makes him dangerous."

  "I don't care about your life anyway, Starota, apart from ending it," said the handsome alien—the handsome cyborg?—from the ground.

  A large alien man came around the female leader, and lunged into the escape pod. He was huge, dark greenish-brown, and had three eyes. This was like something out of a nightmare, and Simone was yanked out of the escape pod like she was a rag doll. The big alien carried her over to stand by a wall.

  A second alien man moved toward the pod next. He was more slender and agile in his movement than the green abomination, and wore a black, cloth mask. There was something incredibly compelling about him, although it was hard to figure out what.

  Bree tried to kick him as he came near her, but the masked alien was fast, and had her leg held under his arm in a flash. He then pulled back and hauled her onto the hard floor of the tunnel with a thud and a cry of pain from the frail engineer.

  "Don't bruise her up too bad or you might decrease her value," said the leader woman, Starota. Then she laughed and lifted up her boot off the handsome alien man who was tied up on the floor. "Blood Bucket! Take this cyborg's chains and don't let him escape. Follow us."

  Something in the darkness of the tunnel made a whirring noise, and then a very rusty robot wheeled forward on some kind of treads like a tank would have. It was about the same height as Simone, and looked like it could break down at any moment. But the large metal claws on the bendable arms were intimidating, nonetheless.

  5

  -Jaxxon-

  “Oh, you're probably wondering what happened to your boss's daughter. Don't worry, she is nice and safe," said Starota with her hoarse voice. She paced over toward the edge of the hole at the top of the tunnel and leaped up on some of the rubble that had been smashed down when the escape pod had crashed through.

  There was a muffled cry and then a consistent whining sound, possibly even the noise of someone being struck violently. Jaxxon had been trying to break through the chains since he'd first been knocked down and bound with them, but it was no use; they were made of something incredibly strong. The brainless robot behind him held them tightly as well, and weighed too much to pull against.

  "Don't you hurt her, you evil witch!" he shouted out, pulling forward to try and topple over the robot that held him. But it pressed a sharp claw into his back and a crackling sound emitted from its chest. "I will kill if you try again," it said in an unworldly drone that was only just intelligible through the static. The machine was clearly very old and had not been serviced for untold decades, maybe even centuries.

  A body, still alive hopefully, lowered down from above. Jaxxon immediately recognized that it was Kalyss. She was breathing; he could deduct that much thanks to his sensors.

  Starota must have knocked her out though, and now held the young woman by the legs and lowered her down while she was unconscious. "Grab this for me, will you, G'oll, and be fucking careful you idiot."

  The stupid green giant pulled along the beautiful alien who had distracted Jaxxon in the first. Her hair was golden and slightly curled, falling just short of her shoulders. Her body was curved and enticing, but her uniform was a white coat that covered brown pants, which did not reveal much of her body underneath. She was terrified, Jaxxon could sense, but doing a superb job of hiding her emotions on the outside.

  Holding his captive with just one hand now, G'oll used the other to reach up and pull down Kalyss, hoisting her over his shoulder. The feat would have been difficult for most men, but G'oll was a Brutylian. The race was known for their incredible strength, love of fighting, and incredible narrow minded stubbornness. Some would say that those things amounted to stupidity—but only the very bravest of warriors would ever dare to say such a thing in the presence of a Brutylian.

  Starota then lowered herself back down with nimble grace that was not congruent with her harsh nature and appearance.

  No one else noticed that the other pretty alien woman had been watching the rusted robot intently this whole time. It was like she couldn't care less about the rest of the group or what was going on.

  Although Drydee, the scent shifter, had been holding this other alien woman’s arms firmly behind her back, he was more interested in looking down her top and at her butt to see where her eyes were focused.

  It seemed almost like she was trying to fin
d something on its metallic form. "Override one seven nine two!" she suddenly shouted.

  The robot started to hum and spin its head around left to right, like it was looking for the source of that command. Its claws were opening and closing as it did so.

  "Uh, shit!" said the brown haired woman. She obviously wasn't fully sure about what she was doing. "Shutdown?"

  Jaxxon couldn't believe it! The chains behind him loosened, no longer being held by the robot they called Blood Bucket. He jumped forward to be sure it wouldn't reach out and sink those deadly claws into him, then spun on his heels and launched himself away from the robot, kicking it in the box-like head area. Doing this made the robot tilt backward, and it made a sickening whining sound but didn't seem to be activated any more. Being a cyborg, Jaxxon had enough power in his own legs to knock the robot over.

  He flipped backward using the momentum of this kick before anyone else could react, and landed directly on top of the scent shifter, sending him flying into the ground. The cyborg was far too quick for even this slippery asshole, and scent shifters were known for their speed. Jaxxon did not waste time. He kicked Drydee swiftly in the head as hard and fast as he could, which seriously stunned the shifter.

  "G'oll, take him down!" yelled Starota, her scarred face contorting with frustrated anger. She was holding a knife now, and had it pointed to the floor where the tightly tied up Kalyss was lying, still unconscious.

  G'oll roared, his three eyes wide open with rage. He looked liked he was about to push the white coat wearing woman aside and charge at Jaxxon. And that is exactly what he did, sending her flying with a small flex of his plentiful arm muscles. She hit the side of the tunnel head first and dropped to the floor.

  Behind Jaxxon, the downed scent shifter, Drydee, began to stir and move around. From the front, the green hulk charged forward and let out a deep roar, while reaching behind his back and pulling a sword free from its sheath.

  Without his gun, Jaxxon didn't feel entirely confident about facing the Brutylian barbarian while he was wielding that massive blade. Instead, he rolled deftly to the side, recovered swiftly from that move, and ran toward his bag.

  "Stop it or I'll kill her!" shouted Starota. But her voice gave away that she wasn't telling the truth, Jaxxon could sense as much.

  He ripped the bag open and yanked out the ancient explosive devices he'd always been sent out on missions with. The short cylinder was meant for extreme emergencies only, or in case he needed to terminate himself. He wasn't even sure if the thing would actually go off. But no one else knew that, so he pressed down the button on top of it and held his thumb there. It would not start the countdown toward explosion until he released his thumb.

  "Hold it right there, G'oll! Starota, I think you might have heard about grenades. Call off your scumbags or I detonate. And I know you're not going to kill the General's daughter. You need her a lot more than you need anyone else in this room. Now, I'll be taking the case you stole, and Kalyss. Tell your green goon to haul her out of this hole, and the case."

  "I'll rip out your fucking eyes, you piece of shit machine!" screamed Starota at him with intense hatred. He didn't know why she disliked cyborgs so much, or the people of Baklofer, but that didn't matter.

  "You've been bested by the best, so I wouldn't feel too bad you ugly hag."

  Starota was fuming with boiling hostility. She wanted to put that knife to disgustingly sadistic use, as was clear by her soaring blood pressure and heart rate and the look in her eyes. Then, a wave of sinister calm went over her. "Alright then, metal dick, let me put something to the test first."

  "What are you talking about? I will blow us all up if that's the only alternative to letting you escape. You do realize that?"

  "We'll see," she said, strolling over and grabbing the beautiful alien woman by her golden hair, and pulling her up to her feet. The poor thing was barely conscious and had a bleeding face. There was too much dust and grime now covering it to tell exactly where she was injured, but a lot of the strange red blood was flowing. Starota put the long knife's blade against the blonde alien's throat eagerly. "What do you say now? Are you still so willing to let us all die just so you can impress your captors, the people who keep you in frozen a death-like state for decades at a time, only to thaw you out when they want something dangerous done for their own gains? Do you really have any idea who you're working so hard to benefit?"

  "I know that it involves brutally killing a lot of trash like you," he replied with conviction. But then the beautiful alien woman's eyes slowly opened, and she blinked, then looked at him pleadingly. Her entire demeanor was so powerfully begging him to not end it all for them all like that.

  "Please, I don't want to die," she said while barely making any actual sound. His superior hearing was able to pick up the words, but there was no reaction from Starota, who probably would have laughed sadistically if she'd have heard.

  "Jaxxon was about to release the button on the grenade when he found himself drawn into the very soul of the alien woman through his own vision, looking deeply into her eyes. They were glowing to him, making his heart beat faster, and that cybernetically enhanced organ was capable of pumping at astounding speeds. He just couldn't even allow himself to imagine causing harm to her. So, he let go of the grenade's activation button, and then pressed it three times in rapid succession. The thing made a clicking sound to let him know that the deactivation had been successful, and he dropped it to the floor.

  "It's disarmed. Okay… you win." He felt like a traitor in many ways.

  Without warning or further provocation, the monstrous green man rushed at the cyborg and plowed a heavy fist into his head. It would have seriously injured a normal person, possibly even killed them with that one hit. But it just hurt like crazy for Jaxxon.

  "Stop it!" shouted Starota, but she clearly wasn't willing to get close enough to a frenzied Brutylian. Even one that was supposedly under her control.

  Next came the worst beating Jaxxon had ever endured. He began to fade to black after half a dozen punches, and then the green menace began to tear and rip at his flesh, pull at his hair, smash down his elbows, and choke the cyborg with his thick knees. G'oll clearly meant to beat Jaxxon to death, and there was nothing he could do about it, not after such a serious assault had already taken place.

  "G'oll! If you kill him, they will send another one!"

  How does she know that? Jaxxon thought as the beast on top of him slammed giant hammers of fists down into his chest, doing untold damage to the delicate and age-old mechanisms, not to mention what remained of the flesh, blood, and bones that were inside.

  "Huh? What do you mean?" said G'oll, finally relenting with his frantic beating.

  "If he dies, the city will be sent some kind of signal through the air. That information comes from a very reliable source, so don't kill him. Oh, shit. Look at him!"

  Jaxxon was barely even able to lift up his head now, and he began to experience what he imagined it felt like to die.

  "Get these three bitches into the tunnel. It has to lead somewhere we can hold up. And you'd better hope that he doesn't die before we get our shit together and leave, you stupid fucking Brutylian!" Starota waved her knife at him as she yelled, then dragged the pretty alien toward the darkness of the tunnel.

  Jaxxon learned that even cyborgs could fall unconscious.

  6

  -Simone-

  Simone's head and face stung like shit. There was a spot on her forehead that seemed to be getting hotter and hotter, and the air smelled like old steel. Maybe that was the creepy robot they'd brought down there, with its rusted spots. The thing looked like it could go off and kill everyone at any minute, it was so old. But obviously it was the three eyed, muscle bound alien with green skin that was the real ticking time bomb.

  Her head felt so woozy that all these thoughts were rushing to her randomly, despite how serious the situation was. The green savage stood up and looked down at the mess he'd just made of the "cyborg,
" if that's what the handsome alien who'd initially found them really was. It seemed like a total lie, it was so strange to think of. "I don't think he's going to make it unless someone tends to his wounds. "I'm a doctor," she blurted out suddenly, snapping back into the reality of what was happening. She couldn't let her would-be rescuer die because he'd tried to do something good for two starngers. "Please, you have to let me tend to him before it's too late. You said it yourself, right? You're in big trouble if you lose him?"

  "Hmm, that would explain why you're wearing that hideous clothing. Is your friend over there a doctor too?"

  "I'm a mechanic, you bitch," said Bree. That was probably a dumb thing to say, albeit a very brave thing to do.

  Simone felt a certain longing in her heart. The man who now lay on the floor had been completely fine just moments earlier. Now, he was bleeding profusely and hardly moving. When he did twitch or move, it was like he was spasming instead of making normal motions. Maybe he really was half machine like the psycho with all the scars on her face had said.

  "Get them into the tunnel before we waste the whole night standing around in this fucking hole," said the woman, the one called Starota. Even her name was so alien, and thinking it made Simone feel even farther away from home for some reason.

  G'oll, the green monster with one eye too many, picked up the dying alien man and hoisted him over one shoulder as though he was a sack of flour. With the other hand, he again took up the bound young woman who this whole confrontation been started over.

  "Drydee, keep that other lily-skinned bitch from running away, and snap her neck if she tries to say anything else to Blood Bucket," said Starota. She walked by Bree and glared at her intently. There was an obvious desire to do her harm with the long knife that the scar-faced leader held, but she instead walked over to her now powered down robot and reached around behind it. She fumbled for a while and cursed several times in the process, before finally doing something that make the robot start humming and moving around in little twitchy motions.