Nick straightened, pulled upright by the aliens, to see a human approaching, hurrying to intercede. One of the aliens said to the man, “We are make legal arrest. Don’t interfere.”
“An arrest for what?” Nick asked, bewildered.
“You are illegally on Ocean with no permit.”
He remembered what Poppy had said – what a mess. It didn’t make sense, though, and he pulled at the arms restraining him. “You never even asked if I had a permit so how can you know that I don’t have one?”
The aliens exchanged glances. “You must follow with us,” one of them said.
“You can’t do that,” the human disagreed and two of the aliens produced shock guns and pointed them at Nick and the stranger.
The alien who had spoken before smiled. “I think we can.”
Chapter Four
“I’M SO sorry,” Nick said as the aliens left him and the other human in a dank cell in the basement of a building. “It’s my fault that you got arrested too.”
“We’ll get out soon,” the man said with a confident smile. Nick couldn’t see him clearly as the only light came from outside the cell but he looked young and had brown skin and dark clothes. He removed a glove and held out a hand which confirmed what Nick had guessed from the accent: he was British. “I’m Reese Zain Kintore.”
Nick shook the offered hand, which was warm and smooth; Reese’s clothes were obviously much better at keeping out the cold than his were. “Nick Thomson of the Prince Detective Agency. I’m afraid I don’t really get what’s happening. Were the people who arrested us police officers? Will we be able to contact someone to help us?” The ship should be back any time and Poppy could come and, if necessary, pay any bail needed, although Prince ought to be the one to do that, or Sycophant Two, who was supposed to be the cultural specialist and know ahead of time about permits. There was zero chance of either of them helping him in any way, though.
There was a sound of laughter behind him and he looked around, noticing for the first time that they weren’t alone. There were half a dozen other prisoners huddled on the muddy floor, all eerily quiet. From what he could see, their ages ranged from about twenty to sixty and, from the bedraggled state of some, Nick guessed that a few of the people had been here for some time, which was disturbing.
A middle-aged human woman with greying hair caught his eye. She was smiling in a way that wasn’t reassuring in the least. “Police officers?” she scoffed and he thought, from the words he could hear being interpreted, that she was speaking Earth German. “They’re slavers. No one’s going to help you or any of the rest of us – in a day or a week we’ll be sold off and live the rest of our lives as slaves.”
“You’re kidding?” What kind of planet had Prince brought them to this time? He tried to quell his rising panic. “That’s illegal. I had legit work here.”
“No one cares about your work and you must be an idiot if you don’t know how the universe works. Every planet makes its own rules on what’s legal and what isn’t and if you’re caught on the wrong place – like here – you’re doomed.”
“We have to get away soon,” Reese muttered, his expression so full of concentration that Nick thought he might actually have a plan. He spoke to the others. “Does anyone know anything about the layout of this building? We were brought in through the front door and we were led down steps to this cell.”
“I was interrogated as the slavers wanted me to tell them where the rest of my crew was,” a younger man said. Nick couldn’t see much of his injuries, only his swollen eye and some marks he thought were bruises. “The word unknown didn’t succeed and I saw a bit more of the slave building. The corridor leading to the front place of work and front entrance also leads to several back rooms and stairs to a higher level. I was taken into a back room and questioned.”
“Did you see any back way out of here? A door or even a large enough window?” Reese asked urgently.
“I...”
Footsteps sounded on the stone steps beyond the cell and the man broke off, all eyes turning towards the sound.
One of the eight-legged aliens came into view and scanned the cell. Nick tensed as the gaze settled on him.
“You,” the slaver said in his own language, his translator leaving Nick in suspense for a second or two before he heard its words interpreted. “Out.”
Reese got up as Nick did and demanded, “What do you want with him?”
The slaver ignored him and gestured for Nick to come forward, which he reluctantly did, knowing this couldn’t be good. They weren’t going to release him according to the others, so interrogation seemed likely and – judging by the injuries of the man who said he’d been questioned – it wouldn’t be pleasant. He couldn’t imagine what they wanted to know, though, and he would love to find out who from the castle had sent them after him, as that person was likely a murderer.
The slaver held up a shock gun as he used a card key on the lock and Nick pushed the door open. He tried to get in the man’s way, thinking that the others might manage to get out too, but the man had already reached forward to push the cell door shut and Nick heard the click of it locking automatically.
He glanced back at Reese, who stared helplessly at him before nodding firmly as if to say that it would be all right.
As he was led away, Nick really hoped that was true.
Chapter Five
ALTHOUGH HE was afraid, Nick remembered what Reese had wanted to know and he concentrated on his surroundings as he was led upstairs, looking for an escape route. The front office, where they had come in, was ahead of them and the slaver pushed Nick in the opposite direction, down the narrow corridor and into a large room... that had bars on the windows. Damn.
His eyes took in the other slaver waiting there, a small woman from a different race who hadn’t been one of the ones who had captured him. Was that blood on her overall? He then saw the table covered in knives and other equally sinister implements and he froze. The slaver behind him shoved him forward again and Nick lurched into the room. Heart thudding, he turned in a panic to try and get away but the first slaver was still holding a gun, pointing it directly at his heart.
The woman spoke gruffly: “Chair take.”
He blinked in confusion and the slaver behind him shoved him roughly down onto a chair, with his hands digging into his back where they were still tied behind him.
The slimy-skin alien walked round in front of Nick, its many legs moving at speed, and said: “Tell us you where your humans slash other beings are.”
His crew. They didn’t know that his ship hadn’t landed and maybe that gave him a slight advantage. “Who wants to know?”
The alien clearly had a translator of his own as he didn’t hesitate before saying, “Me.”
“And which member of the du Lissin family do you work for?”
He wasn’t expecting the punch and it made his head swing back, nearly toppling the chair over. Shocked and feeling a sticky dampness that must be blood around his nostrils, he could only stare as the slaver said, “You answer my questions, not the other direction. Where are your people?”
“They’re already here in the town,” he said, hoping they were back by now, although he hadn’t heard the ship land. “Why else do you think we came here?”
The alien leaned closer, its four eyes filled with yellow and orange colours with no obvious pupils or white edges. “Where?”
“Were you told why we’re here? A member of the du Lissin family is dead and the government of Ocean will pay you a lot more to release us than whoever’s paying you now.”
He thought that the argument was good enough to at least get the slavers’ interest but they didn’t so much as pause in their interrogation. “Where are they?”
The man raised his hand to hit Nick again but the woman stopped him with a gesture – she was clearly the one in charge despite the fact she was half his height – and spoke for the first time. “Do what is happy for you and speak at this time perio
d. We can agony you for a period that is two point three earth hours. We can even death you.”
Nick’s mouth twitched. At least his useless translator could take the sting out of the threats. “Go ahead and kill me and then my crew will escape and the du Lissin family will murder you for failing them.”
“We can death you and still have your bosom companion to agony.”
Companion? They must have thought Reese was working with him and his heart dropped at the idea of them hurting the one person who had shown him kindness on Ocean. He tried to sound careless as he answered, “The man with me is a stranger who, like me, couldn’t understand why you should arrest someone without reason and without asking for a permit. You can interrogate him as much as you like and it won’t do any good, as he can’t tell you what he doesn’t know.”
“Then must we get the library... Library? Oh, fish excrement and illicit sexual acts...” He gave an involuntary smile at the bizarre words as she tapped her ear. “Translating sentient being or machine, tell him say I.”
Her translator spoke aloud: “Translator, tell him what I say.”
“Thanks,” he said, hearing the interpretation of his word being given to her as he spoke this time. He told his own translator to switch off.
The alien spoke and the woman’s translator said, “Stupid tourists with their cheap technology.”
“What do you expect from people dumb enough to come here, of all places, illegally when they could have gone somewhere hot and exotic?” she responded, before turning to Nick again. “If you don’t answer my next question, I promise I’ll hurt you badly. Now, for Poseidon’s sake, where...”
The door opened and another slaver poked his head round. “We have a human with a slave to sell but we don’t have enough money and he has a load of questions about future captives.”
Nick straightened as he glanced at the woman, waiting to see her response. She huffed out a sigh and said to the first slaver, “Take him back to the cell while we deal with this. We’ll carry on in a little while.”
“Venna fish! Yes, yes, all right.”
Overwhelming relief and the ridiculousness of the conversation caught up with Nick and he tried to smother his laughter as he was led away again.
Chapter Six
“NICK, ARE you all right?” Reese asked, looking him over in a worried manner as Nick was led back towards the prison cell.
Nick smiled to reassure him, warmed by the concern. “I’m good. They were interrupted before things could get nasty.”
The slaver unlocked the cell and pushed him back inside. Without the use of his hands, he nearly tripped and Reese caught and steadied him before winking and patting his arm. Something was different: Nick looked down at Reese’s hands.
Behind him, the slaver said, “You’ve got your hands untied.”
Reese lifted his hands and waggled them at the alien, who glared at him, its pale slippery skin having a phosphorescent brightness in the gloom. The slaver took a step forward, before changing its mind – clearly recognising the danger of entering a cell with eight prisoners – and turning away.
“Hey!” Reese called to it. “I have something to tell you.”
The slaver looked over its shoulder, paused again and then, clearly curious, it approached the cell. Reese walked over to the bars and leaned forward. Nick followed, hoping Reese had thought of a way to free them but, instead, heard him say, “I can get you far more money than you’d get from selling us.”
“Forget it.” The alien made a dismissive gesture and left, clomping up the steps and out of view.
Disappointed, Nick said to his new friend, “I tried that earlier.”
Reese held something up. “But you didn’t try this.”
“That’s the key to the cell!”
All the other prisoners froze and stared at Reese, their misery changing to dawning joy. “How did you do that?” a man in a long red coat asked.
“I pick-pocketed him,” Reese said calmly, as if this was an everyday skill.
Nick’s spirits lifted and then immediately fell again. “Wait. The interrogation room had bars on the windows and I didn’t see a back door. I’m not sure we can get out that way and there are at least three slavers in the front office with someone who captured another person.”
A few people grimaced and Reese looked upwards, as if considering their options.
“It’s a shame you didn’t pick-pocket his gun,” a woman said and Reese looked over at her, his lips slowly turning upwards into a grin.
“That’s a good idea.” He hurried to the door, holding a hand up when everyone else surged forwards. “No, you all stay there and make a commotion. Get someone down here.”
Nick saw the other prisoners glance doubtfully at each other as Reese let himself out of the cell and hid behind the underside of the staircase, before nodding to the waiting group.
“Er, I’ll kill you for that,” Nick shouted and gestured for the man in the red coat to speak.
“Well, I’ll kill you too,” he yelled back with a helpless gesture that suggested he didn’t know what else to say.
“I’ll kill both of you if you don’t shut up,” a woman shouted and Nick nodded gratefully to her.
“You’re both...” He paused at the sound of the upstairs door opening. He looked over at Reese who motioned expansively with his hands. Glancing at the stairs, Nick shouted, “You’re both, er, dead now. I can’t take your insults and, er...”
The alien who had just brought him back here came into view and marched towards the cell, gun in hand, saying, “What are you...”
Reese grabbed the slaver from behind and tossed it head-first at a wall, which it hit with a painful-sounding thud before collapsing on the floor. Reese knelt down beside the alien and pulled the gun out of its slack fingers. For an instant Nick saw a violent side beneath Reese’s outgoing manner and wondered if he should worry about it.
One of the prisoners slapped Nick’s back, knocking the thought away, and a couple of others hugged each other as Reese returned to them and unlocked the door. “Okay, I’ll keep the gun on the slavers while the rest of you go out of the front entrance,” Reese said in a low voice as they piled out of the cell. “We should split up into groups of not more than two when we’re outside. Shall we stick together, Nick?”
“Yes,” he agreed at once, his half-formed doubts fading. Reese had already proven himself to be fair-minded and resourceful in their short acquaintance and Nick would be a fool to turn down help when he so badly needed it.
The prisoners conferred with each other about where to go and Nick said to Reese, “My ship must be back by now and you can come with us or I’ll help you get a permit so you can legally stay here.” He wasn’t sure how he would convince the captain but he owed this to Reese.
“Leaving together sounds good – I’ve had more than enough of this planet.”
When the group had finished making their whispered plans, they followed Reese, creeping up the stairs as quietly as half a dozen people wearing shoes could manage on a stone floor. They burst out from the corridor into the front office and Reese flourished his stolen gun.
The slavers swore and raised their hands while the civilian with them shrieked and fell to the floor, curling up with his hands over his head. The boy with him – presumably the one he had intended to sell into slavery – backed away and took the opportunity to run outside, followed by the other prisoners.
“Where’s my hyper phone?” Nick asked and a slimy alien opened a drawer below the front desk, which was filled with confiscated items. There were a variety of travel bags thrown on the floor beside the desk too. He and Reese gathered up their belongings and Nick picked up two shiny pads with strange writing and signatures on them. “These must be the permits.”
Reese grinned at him while putting a backpack over his shoulders. This was Nick’s first clear view of him and he couldn’t help but notice that Reese was one of the most handsome men he had ever seen. “They could be
useful.”
Once they were back aboard the ship they shouldn’t need the permits but, given how unreliable the captain was, Nick felt better with a back-up plan and pocketed them. He never wanted the fear of a life of slavery hanging over him again.
“We’ll just come after you again,” the short female alien who had interrogated him said.
“No, you won’t.” Reese gestured with his gun. “Go down to the cell. You too.” He kicked the man on the floor.
“Me, no, I’m no one. I’ll just...”
Reese pointed the gun at his head and the man’s mouth closed and he slowly clambered to his feet, before following the slavers who were reluctantly heading downstairs. Nick and Reese went after them and Reese locked them in the cell, which seemed like a particularly just fate. Reese got their keys and then shot the door lock.
The sudden loud noise made the civilian shriek and cower again and the four slavers glanced at him with disgusted expressions.
Reese checked the door, pulling on it and then nodded to Nick. “Let’s go.”
“This is why no one likes humans,” a slaver yelled after them. “Duplicitous creatures!”
That was rich, coming from them. Nick watched with amusement as Reese glanced back and blew the alien a kiss.
They jogged upstairs and out of the door into the cold evening air. He immediately dialled Poppy’s number on his hy-phone but, like before, he couldn’t get a connection. “There must be a fault with my phone. The ship should be over here.”
He led the way out of the town, trying to ignore the growing feeling in his gut that said he should have heard the ship land, even in the prison cell. When they got beyond the groups of semi-circle-shaped buildings to the open land beyond he found exactly what he had feared: nothing.
“You know about the time difference, right?” Reese asked him.
“What are you talking about?”
“Time moves more quickly down here than out in space or on other planets. When did your people say they’d meet you?”
No One Likes Humans Page 2
