by Laura Watson
Mikel was like that though. What Sarah realized as years were only moments in time for Mikel.
Sarah wondered, but only for an instant, how in the world did Mikel know I was here? . She was more concerned about getting out of this creepy hot cocoon the Grays had put her in. “Mikel!” she cried silently to him, “Help me!” “Don’t touch that or you’ll anger them!” Mikel warned her quickly, as she reached her hand out to touch the smooth panel covering the chamber.
Sarah snatched her hand back as if the covering were white hot. “Don't touch the pod either,” Mike said as she looked up at the orb hanging above her. It was swollen with a sickly yellow colored fluid, that changed to orange at the bulbous base. “What is it Mikel,” Sarah asked timidly. “It is a plant,” Mikel replied softly.
“From the planet Kryox. All of the chambers in this area have one.” “A plant?” Sarah asked in wonder, staring at the bulbous orb. “The entire area you are lying in is a plant, Sarah.” Mikel replied. “It feeds on the remains of beings placed in here. It absorbs them.”
he continued, “The plant creates the toxin that the Grays use in their barbs.” “You mean that thing they stuck in my arm? Sarah asked. “That was the Gray's tail, Sarah.
It drew the toxin out of the top of the plant, where the color is lighter. The darker the color, the more potent the toxin.”
Sarah noticed how the color of the bulbous orb changed in shades of dark orange to an almost clear yellow as she looked at it from the bottom up. “Don't touch it,” he warned her again. “The orb's membranous covering is delicate and thin. Some are known to burst from the slightest pressure on them.” “If it bursts, Sarah,” Mikel continued, “I cannot get here in time to save you. The toxin is too deadly.” Sarah edged away from the toxic orb, and sat against the side of the chamber. “You have to lie back down now Sarah, Mikel told her quickly, “I can't get back under that thing!”
Sarah screamed. “You have to Sarah,” Mikel told her sternly, “the Grays are returning. Calm yourself and do as I say. Now!” Mikel's voice was hard and firm. He never used that tone unless it was imperative that she listen. It was the only tone that she instantly, and without question, responded to.
Sarah quickly regained her composure and
carefully slid back under the warm glowing orb that hung down from the top of the chamber. Mikel, her old friend, told her that he would help her but she had to listen to him very carefully and do exactly as he said.
“Lay perfectly still,” Mikel told her, “close your eyes and pretend that you can't move.” Sarah laid as still as she could and closed her eyes, wondering if that orb would burst as she lay there underneath it. Her heart hammered in her chest. It's pounding beat sounded dreadfully loud in her ears.
She heard the wet sucking sound again. She remained motionless, her eyes closed. She held her breath as the Gray's head appeared, once more, through the chamber’s thick, symbol covered, panel.
It stared at her. It stared with those intense, cold, horror eyes it had. She could feel its' horrible gaze crawl over her face, her arms, her whole body, like a physical touch. A cold, slimy, physical probe.
Sarah silently prayed for it to leave, instinctively reciting a prayer that she had just learned in her Vacation Bible School class. “Let your light so shine before men...” she silently repeated over and over. She had memorized it. Matthew 5:16, the verse was the same as her birthday, May 16th. The Gray stared at her.
What was it doing? What did it want? Sarah's mind yammered in fear.
“I heard you move” it hissed in her mind, as if in answer to her silent question. Even the words in her mind felt cold. Alien and cold. It peered at her, waiting for a reaction.
Sarah's chest fell slowly as she carefully exhaled.
The Gray waited to see if her breathing became faster.
Sarah did as Mikel had instructed. After exhaling, slowly, she kept her breathing even and regular.
Seeing no indication that Sarah was conscious, the Gray retreated back out of the hole it had appeared through. It left no mark or tear in the thick panel.
The panel made that wet sucking sound when he entered or exited it. It was the sound of a foot being pulled out of thick mud.
Sarah didn’t open her eyes, even after she was sure the Gray was gone. She was scared shitless and her sanity only hung by the barest of threads. She was desperate to get out of there and pleaded to Mikel to help her. “I can't help you get out of this chamber, Sarah, Mikel replied, “until I have permission from my Commander.” Sarah cried silently to Mikel. She felt her mind unraveling. Each thread loosened with each new horror. Mikel lowered his voice to a soft, soothing tone.
“There is still time left”, he said calmly, “they do not want to kill you Sarah. They are waiting for you to die, but you aren't going to die, are you Sarah?” Sarah felt the soothing medicine of Mikel's voice on her mind like a cool compress on a fevered forehead. “I won't die in here,” she replied, her mind soothed and calm. He assured her that he would think of a way to get her out of there. “And then”, he said, “we will go see one of my Commanders together.”
Sarah trusted Mikel. If any being besides God could or would help her, it was Mikel. Sarah was able to calm down and think more coherently after she talked with Mikel.
Mikel had a way of sharing his great clarity of thought and mind with her. From this sharing, Sarah could understand things that were beyond her understanding. Her senses were heightened. They were sharpened and honed.
What would happen to her had to be decided at a higher level than Mikel’s. If she had known about it then she could have almost compared it to a military chain of command. But that, still would only be the loosest resemblance to what their hierarchy really was.
Mikel's race of beings, the other beings on board, and the Grays, existed in a strangely stratified hierarchical structure with upper level echelons and lower castes of beings. They were all accountable to one Being who transcended time itself.
In every Universe, every Galaxy, every Planet, every life and the great void of space, this Being existed and was known by an infinite number of names. He was the God of mankind as well.
This Being existed where no being could ever venture unless invited. The very fabric of existence itself entwined into perfection by this Being's Word.
It was a strange hierarchy that, while resembling a long held belief by humans as to the order of life, was in fact much more complex with its' inner structure, the rules and the rituals.
Each being in this hierarchy possessed only as much knowledge as their position allowed them to have and only as much authority. To deviate from this established order was unthinkable and punishable by death.
This ship, that Sarah found herself captive on, was a Patrol vessel, piloted and Commanded by Mikel's race of beings, and not the Grays, as Sarah had first assumed.
“The Grays are allowed their own provisions on the ship.” Mikel said. Sarah was only one of countless other humans that had been caught and placed into containers for later meals.
The Grays, while on board another race's vessel, had to follow the orders of those that operated it. If Mikel objected, which he did, in Sarah's case, to something that the Grays' had done, it would ultimately be the Commander of this vessel's decision about what to do with her.
“I've just got to get you out of here first, Sarah,”
Mikel said, a note of worry tinging his voice. “We can talk to one of my Commanders after that”
It was a precarious balance of power and the matter of Sarah's capture and subsequent release was a weighty one. If it wasn't handled correctly, it could cause a division among the two races, and spark a conflict that neither race desired.
Mikel told her it was no easy choice for any Commander to face. Harmonious relations with all beings in their Great Hierarchy, and the Great Order of Beings must be kept at any price. It was one of the few precepts that every single living being there was mandated to uphold.
&nbs
p; Sarah was an outsider to this Order, to this Hierarchy. Her planet had not evolved to even the lowest caste of these beings. Humans were more akin to what Sarah thought of as a pet, in their greatly evolved minds. Mikel would plead Sarah's case before Serel, third in Command of this ship.
Sarah fascinated the Grays. They didn't
understand how she was keeping them from reading her thoughts. She was only a beast from a tiny, horribly bright planet. She had no mind, no abilities such as they possessed. She was inferior, she was their food. How could she be blocking their minds out. What was she thinking? How did that wall appear there in her mind?
Why couldn't they get past that wall? Was this some new form of life? Had the humans evolved ? Did they now possess a defense against them?
It was of no real importance to the Grays, there were many ways to disable a human. These beasts were easy to overpower. It was, however, a curiosity to them.
They looked and probed and peered in at Sarah with their remorseless, relentless black eyes. They did not sense Mikel’s presence in there. He remained silent.
He was adept at blocking them out.
They peered in at her. She could feel them staring at her, hating her. She stayed still and kept her eyes closed, the way Mikel had instructed her to do.
When they left, she ate pieces of the spongy material on the wall where it wouldn’t be noticed. It tasted like raw mushrooms and Mikel had assured her that it was organic and safe for her to eat. She caught the dripping moisture in her hand and drank it to keep her throat moist.
She had been in there for about a week although, it seemed like much longer. Time stretched and bent and stood still in that cocoon.
She slept. She lay awake looking at the strange orb that hung just inches from her face. She talked to Mikel in her mind and she sang silent songs. She moved only when she had to, pulling the spongy substance from the wall in places that she thought the Grays wouldn't see. She bent her knees and flexed the muscles in her legs and in her arms to keep from getting so stiff and sore, but she always did this while she was laying flat on her back in case the Grays appeared.
The Grays checked on her frequently now, to see if she was dead. If they had been aware that the neuro toxin they had injected into her neck to paralyze her had long since worn off, they would not have risked letting her live to escape the confines of the death cocoon.
Mikel explained it to her while she lay there listening to him talk about a far away planet called Zeteron where the moon shone a turquoise blue in the daylight hours and blazed orange light at night.
She had interrupted his tale by asking him why she had to lay still when the Grays came to check up on her. “You are supposed to be paralyzed Sarah,” he stated matter of factly. “You aren't supposed to be able to move.” Hr rephrased his statement when she asked him what “paralyzed” meant.
“They weren't sure of how much neuro toxin to inject you with because you are so small, so the dose they gave you wasn't enough to permanently paralyze you like it did the others that are here. The neuro toxin wore off,” he added, “and it's lucky for you, Sarah, that they don't know that much about children, or you would certainly never walk again, and would probably be dead already.”
If nothing else that had happened up until that point had convinced Sarah that she was in mortal danger, that did. It hit home with a sharp, dagger-like precision. Sarah's blood turned icy cold and she shuddered despite the warmth of the enclosure.
The Grays were accustomed to catching adults.
Men or woman who were outside, alone, and
vulnerable. They normally picked them off one at a time, but they often found couples out together in remote areas.
Humans were relatively easy to subdue, to
overpower and to capture. “Yes”, Mikel asserted, “adults are their regular fare. You were just a lucky find for them,” and then he added, a little hesitantly, as if the very words repulsed him, “The young are usually reserved for the Elect among their race.”
On their visits now, the Grays jabbed her arm with an instrument that resembled a crude fork. The first time the older Gray poked her with it, she almost yelled out in hurt surprise. “It’s never going to be done!”, the younger Gray screeched pathetically. As it screeched, Mikel interpreted the screeching language into her mind. “It isn’t even dead yet!” It sounded pitiful.
“It will take weeks for it to finish,” the younger one moaned, “let’s kill it now.” “No!” the old one screamed. “You know if we kill it now it will spoil the meat! It won't be any good to eat!” They withdrew from the opening and left Sarah alone once more.
Sarah lay there, her mind in a torturous fight for sanity. The hours dragged by with no clear sense of passing. The days felt like weeks, time was so distorted, so nonexistent in that humid death cocoon.
She laid there in the humid chamber, alone and afraid. She was growing more and more afraid that Mikel would just forget about her. Sometimes days passed by with no word from him. Was she really going to die this way?
Mikel watched the Grays closely and followed them with his mind. He saw everything they did. He knew every thought they had.
Mikel finally entered her mind once again and told Sarah what they were planning. Sarah listened carefully as he gave her new instructions. They weren’t going to wait any longer. The two Grays had agreed that she might not ever die in there. They would have to kill her.
Sarah waited in the deafening quiet of the cocoon, her face a mask of horror and fear, her muscles taut and straining to leap from the enclosure. Her survival instincts were kicking in and attempting to take control of her conscious mind. They fought desperately against her will to lay still, to stay calm, like Mikel told her.
Mikel's voice, in her mind, calmed her frayed nerves, and reassured her that he would get her out of there. “Just lie still Sarah, be patient, be calm. I will not let you die in there.”
Sarah lay there for a few hours, that stretched into days, before she heard the sucking sound again. The old Gray jabbed her with its' instrument but she didn’t cry out. She bit the inside of her cheek to ward off the pain.
She hadn't screamed, not even after the first time they had jabbed her arm, even though the scorching pain nauseated her.
“Clench your teeth,” Mikel instructed her. “You cannot let them see that you feel the sting of the probe.
They will realize that the neuro toxin has worn off.
Don't let them see you flinch, do not cry out. Stay absolutely still. I can help you to appear unconscious to them, Sarah, but you have to lie still and keep your eyes closed.”
Sarah had a high tolerance for pain. She had always had scrapes and cuts and bruises from playing outside or rough housing with her brother, but this pain was a lot harder to ignore. This pain shot straight into the muscle of her arm, making it contract and expand in exquisite agony.
Her vision behind her closed lids blared in bright white pain, fading to a dull red as the pain subsided.
The right side of her face was turned away from the Grays as they peered in at her and stuck her arm with the probe, and the most effective way she had found so far to disengage from the pain was to bite the inside of her cheek as hard as she could. For some reason that even Mikel couldn't explain, it caused the pain to dull enough so that she could bear it. She had tried clenching her teeth the way Mikel instructed, but it did nothing to ease the pain, and she vomited.
The Grays watched her coldly as she lay there with vomit pooled in her mouth, waiting for her to swallow, waiting for any reaction that was a voluntary reaction. How she kept from strangling on that vomit, Sarah could never really figure out herself, but she didn't. She lay there with it in her mouth until the Grays left a long while afterward. Once they had been gone for a reasonable time (by Mikel's reckoning), she swallowed the foul mess in her mouth, nearly choking on it as it slid back down her throat.
The Gray always stabbed her hard enough to draw blood, and when the old Gray
saw that that fresh blood was still oozing out of the wound it had inflicted it got very angry.
It screeched loudly and began speaking to her in its' strange guttural speech. Sarah heard, the now familiar, sound of buzzing in her mind.
When the Grays were angry, a metallic, insectile buzz emanated from their minds that she picked up on instantly. Although she couldn't read their thoughts unless they directed them into her mind or if Mikel translated them into her mind for her, she could hear this noise their minds made.
It sounded like bees, hundreds of metallic bees buzzing, and there was no escape from that sound.
Sarah heard it until they calmed down again. They made that noise without being aware of it. It was just a side lobe of their agitated thoughts.
The old Gray one started stabbing her arm again and again, screeching and speaking its' weird unintelligible language. Sarah was close to screaming in pain and she knew this time the Gray horror would kill her. Suddenly the other Gray stuck its' head through the covering and shrieked loudly.
The two of them disappeared back through the panel and moments, maybe hours, later Mikel whispered in her mind. “Now!” , he whispered. She moved as fast as she could. Her limbs were stiff from laying in there so long. She leapt clumsily to the panel that covered her coffin and thrust her hand against it. It didn’t open. It only stretched and sprang back.
“Pull it apart!” Mikel shouted in her mind. Sarah grabbed it with both hands and pulled as hard as she could. A ragged hole large enough for her to get through appeared ,and she scrambled out...into nothing.
Sarah didn’t fall, although the chamber that she had been in was near the top of a tall column of chambers that stretched out below her for about twenty stories. The towering rows of chambers were tightly packed together about the width of a football field across.
Sarah was buoyant, but slowly, very slowly, she drifted down. She thought the direction was down. It was impossible for her to determine up from down in that place. “Move faster!” Mikel shouted. “They are coming back for you!” Sarah moved her arms and legs and propelled herself to the opposite wall.
