by J. C. Diem
Gesturing for us to precede him down the final hallway that led to our temporary bedrooms, Robert left for a destination unknown. Choosing an empty room halfway down the hallway, Luc and I climbed up on the bed but didn’t lie down. The beds reminded me of the time I’d been taken to a mortuary to be dissected. The tray I’d been placed on when they’d tucked me into the meat locker had been a smaller version of the bed I was sitting on now. It wasn’t a pleasant memory and added to the general creepiness of the room.
Luc cocked an eyebrow in invitation. My response to his unspoken suggestion that we get naked together was a grimace. Only Geordie had succumbed to sleep. No doubt everyone else was worried about our predicament. Also, they’d been in a frozen starvation coma for weeks or possibly even months while we’d drifted helplessly in space. They were too unnerved to attempt to sleep just yet.
“If we’re not going to use this bed then why don’t we go for a stroll?” Luc suggested.
Snooping around without the droid watching our every movement held a certain appeal so I nodded and jumped to the ground. The bed was a good two feet higher than I was used to and it was a longer drop than normal. At least they have beds, I thought as the door automatically opened for me. Being aliens, they might have slept in cryogenic tubes or on hooks that were suspended from the ceiling or something even worse. So far, we had yet to see anything truly strange, apart from Robert. Something told me we would stumble across something weird or maybe even horrible soon enough.
.~.
Chapter Seven
Taking a different route from the ones Robert had taken previously, we found corridor after corridor of unrelenting silver. Sometimes we didn’t even know we were near a doorway until it swished open.
Pausing each time a door appeared, we saw little of interest inside. Most rooms were empty and the ones that weren’t mainly contained metal tables, chairs and cabinets. Finally, we came across a room that made both of us stare in wonder.
Luc entered first, wide eyed at the sight of cities that had been reduced to ruin. Dozens of rows of monitors hung in mid-air. Razor thin, they were nearly invisible to the naked eye when viewed from the side and were identical to the one from my dream. Walking around behind them, I couldn’t see anything holding them in place.
Returning to Luc, I slid my arm around his waist as we studied each monitor. It quickly became apparent that we were looking at many different cities. Each one would have rivalled some of the largest cities on Earth in size. What was left of the buildings were strange and seemed wrong somehow. For one, they were all the same uniform sandy-yellow colour. That was probably due to dirt coating them from the storms as well as the toxic atmosphere. Then I realized none of the structures had windows. With the Viltaran’s allergy to sunlight, I could understand why they wouldn’t want to expose themselves to possible danger.
Luc pointed at something he spied on one of the screens. Moving closer, I made out a shape walking away from the ruins. From its jerky movements, it had to be a robot. Something was tucked beneath its arm and was struggling weakly. My one true love opened his mouth to voice a question but I shook my head. I didn’t want Robert to know we had stumbled across this room. For all I knew, he was in another room watching similar monitors but of the underground area instead of the cities. We could be featuring on one of the screens right now. Grabbing Luc’s hand, I hurried out of the room before my paranoia could spiral out of control.
I wasn’t sure if Luc’s flesh hunger woke mine or if it was the other way around but I was suddenly struggling not to rip his pants off and have my way with him. Hurrying further down the hallway, we stopped at the next door that suddenly slid open and ducked inside. Completely without furniture, it didn’t have much romantic appeal but that was fine since romance was far from our minds.
Far enough away from our friends and allies that they couldn’t overhear us, my inhibitions faded as my hunger took over. Our clothes went flying then we were on the floor, grappling for supremacy. Pinning me down, Luc kissed me hard, stealing the breath I didn’t have. Sliding down my body, he took one of my breasts in his hand and closed his mouth over the other one. Biting me almost hard enough to break the skin, he gently tweaked my other nipple. The combination of gentleness and near pain brought my pelvis off the ground, seeking his.
Putting me out of my misery, our bodies joined and I gave a groan that came all the way from my feet. It had been far too long since we had been able to feed our flesh hunger. Although our minds had been inactive while frozen, our bodies seemed to know they’d been denied pleasure.
Luc moved hard and fast, just the way I preferred it. My body would have been mangled beyond recognition if I’d been human. When I reached my utopia, light burst from my eyes, bathing the room in a rosy glow. It was so bright it reflected in Luc’s eyes before he reached his own peak then rolled onto his side.
We didn’t need to regain our breath so he was able to comment about our sexual episode straight away. “Something has changed.”
“It felt pretty much the same to me,” I argued. Unbelievably awesome as usual. My smile was wide and satisfied.
“Your eyes are no longer orange. They have turned red.”
My smile disappeared and I brought a hand up to my face. Sure enough, the glow reflecting off my palm was scarlet. “I guess drinking the Viltaran’s blood must have triggered this change,” I said uneasily.
Showing no discomfort at lying on the cold floor beside me, Luc frowned. “I wonder what reaction the rest of us will have?”
Reaching for my clothes, I dressed quickly. I had zero body heat and would soon begin shivering. “You drank more than the others,” I advised him since he might not have been aware of that fact. “Do you feel any different?”
Zipping his pants, he tugged his black sweater over his head. “Not that I’ve noticed,” he replied to my relief. “Except that none of my bones broke this time.”
I’d been so wrapped up in my own pleasure I hadn’t even noticed his lack of pain. “Thank G-G-G.” Giving up on trying to utter a word that was forbidden to our kind, I forced out a sigh.
“You will get used to being unable to say the Lord’s name one day,” my one true love said with only a touch of amusement at my stuttering.
Linking arms, we left the empty room and worked our way deeper into the silver hallways. I was confident we would be able to find the way back but some breadcrumbs would have come in handy. Hearing a strange sound in the distance, I cocked my head to the side. “Do you hear that?” I whispered. My instincts were telling me to be careful and I wasn’t about to ignore them now that we were on an alien planet facing unknown dangers.
Turning his head slightly, Luc nodded. “It sounds like birds.”
Creeping closer to the noise, we found a corridor that was different from the others. Rows of doors with windows I would have to climb up to look through marched into the distance. Picking up on my nervousness, Luc moved forward slowly. Even he wasn’t tall enough to look inside the window to the first cell. Hoisting himself up by his fingertips, he took a quick peek inside then dropped lightly to the ground. The chirping ceased at the slight sound he made and silence descended.
Waiting for the chirping to restart, it was my turn to take a peek. Luc motioned me over to the door and put his hands around my waist. He lifted me just high enough so I could look inside. Just as I’d expected, dozens of two and a half foot imp clones filled the cell. Some were sleeping, curled on their sides just like they had in my dream. The rest seemed to be waiting for something. A panel on the wall directly across from the door slid open, revealing a trough set at ground level.
“Food?” one of the little monsters chirped.
“Food!” another declared. The demand came from hundreds of throats in the cells around us. All slumbering mini imps woke and gathered at the trough. With a wet, splattering sound, food was suddenly pouring into the trough from chutes. Tiny dark brown arms, legs, torsos and heads disappeared into the maws of th
e imps. Sickened by the sight, I motioned for Luc to put me down.
He waited until we were out of earshot before stopping me. “What were they eating?”
“I’m pretty sure they were the Kveet Robert told us about.”
“How could you tell?”
“Their skin was dark brown instead of grey but they looked similar to the imps.” Fortunately they had been killed and pre chopped up before being fed to their former kin.
“Do you think the imps are aware that they are cannibals?”
“I don’t think they would care even if they did know.” Ravenous, they would probably eat almost anything, alive or dead. I was surprised Robert hadn’t blocked off access to this area since he professed to be concerned about our welfare.
“Just how extensive is this underground structure, I wonder?” Luc said.
“I don’t know but I can’t wait to get out of here.” This place was starting to give me the creeps.
“I wonder how secure this area really is since Robert led us to it so easily.”
Stopping him with a touch on his arm, I put a finger to my lips to indicate we should be very quiet. “What are you getting at?” I asked, speaking at barely above a whisper.
“We’ve already seen another robot on the monitors,” Luc explained just as quietly. “Who knows how many mechanical men are in the employ of these Viltarans?”
“If one of them knows about this place then they probably all do,” I concluded.
“We need to leave as soon as night falls.”
“How do we know that Robert won’t lead us right into a trap?”
“We don’t,” was his less than comforting response.
.~.
Chapter Eight
We weren’t the only ones who were anxious to leave. As soon as we felt the alien sun tucking itself away for the long night ahead, my kin emerged from their bedrooms. I was surprised to see Geordie already awake and at Igor’s side. It usually took him a few minutes to wake up after the sun disappeared.
Sidling over to me, the teen wrapped a skinny arm around my waist. He was picking up on the tension we all shared. “Are we leaving soon, chérie?”
“We’ll go as soon as Robert arrives. Has anyone seen him?” I asked.
“I am here, Natalie,” Robert said as he rounded the corner. “If you will all follow me?” Without waiting for a response, he continued to the end of the hallway and turned left.
We walked for a few hours beneath the ground along corridors that all looked pretty much the same to me. Only the sense of direction I’d gained from my time spent in Ishida’s mountain lair told me were moving roughly eastward.
Speaking of Ishida, he had revived some more and had shed a few years from his advanced age. He walked unassisted between Kokoro and Gregor now. The pair looked even more like his parents as they exchanged conversation over his head. Not that Kokoro was much taller than the teen. It was still weird to see her with black eyes rather than her usual white orbs.
Walking beside me, Igor handed me the weapon I’d stolen from the droid. He shook his head when I lifted a brow in silent enquiry. Either it was too sophisticated for him to be able to figure out how to use or it couldn’t be used by our kind. I slipped it into my pocket, fairly certain that I’d never be able to figure out how to operate it either.
Up ahead, Robert came to a stop when a door stubbornly refused to open for him. “This is the only way to the city using the underground facilities,” he said when we all caught up to him. “It appears we must go the rest of the way on the surface.” It was hard to tell but he didn’t seem particularly happy about that.
We took a short detour to a set of stairs and Robert opened a portal to the surface. Winds howled across the ground, whipping dirt into our eyes. Geordie opened his mouth to complain and promptly shut it again when flying soil coated his tongue. Huddled together, we kept our heads down and followed the robot almost blindly.
After an hour or so of trudging along, the wind suddenly lessened. Gigantic trees, petrified by age, blocked the windstorm. Tilting my head back, I couldn’t see the tops of the trees. Each one would have taken fifteen men linking arms to encircle it. The bark was smooth and completely devoid of life. A branch broke off somewhere high above and crashed to the ground nearby. It smashed to pieces like shattered crockery. One of the shards was as long as my arm.
“They must have had some kind of nuclear war to wipe out all life on this planet,” Geordie said as he negotiated his way around the fallen branches and over large cracks in the ground. He’d pulled the hood of his sweater over his head and it put his face in shadow.
“Your kind has developed weapons powerful enough to destroy all life on your planet as well?” Robert asked without turning around.
“You wouldn’t believe some of the weapons humans have developed over the past century,” the teen replied dryly.
“Do your people war with each other often?” the droid asked. His steps were longer than ours but he had slowed his pace to match ours.
“We’ve had a couple of wars where a bunch of countries all got involved but once the Americans bombed Hiroshima, things settled down a bit,” Geordie replied.
“What happened to this Hiroshima?” Robert turned to face Geordie to ask the question.
The teen mimicked an explosion with both his hands and mouth. “Absolute devastation.” His expression was solemn rather than mischievous for a change. “The humans realized they had created a weapon so awful that to use it could end their civilization and possibly destroy the entire planet. They haven’t had an all-out world war since then.”
“Fascinating,” the droid said and returned to leading the way again.
Our guide’s movements were becoming jerky as he began to seize up. His joints started to squeak and protest against the corrosive dust finding its way into his nooks and crannies. My nooks and crannies weren’t very happy about being exposed to the winds either. I hadn’t had this much dirt in my butt crack since I’d been to the beach one weekend a couple of years ago. It had been sand rather than soil but the sensation was just as unpleasant.
Our group began to pass the robot as his pace slowed even further. Reaching the edge of the petrified forest, we came to a halt. The storm continued to howl, obscuring our vision and making it impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. Shading my eyes from dust, I scanned the horizon. When the wind dropped briefly, I caught sight of the distant city. It was still too far away to make out much about it. It would take us hours to reach it at this pace.
“You will have to go on without me,” the droid said as he caught up to us. “I will only slow you down.” He sent a sharp glance at Ishida and Geordie when they unsuccessfully attempted to smother their sniggers. “You find it amusing that I will shortly cease to function?”
“Of course not,” I replied on their behalf. “They find your choice of words to be amusing.” At his blank stare, I elaborated. “That line is often used in movies where we come from.”
“Movies?” He said the word like I would have said ‘rabies’.
“Movies are people acting out stories for other’s entertainment.”
“I do not understand.”
“I guess Viltarans don’t have cinemas,” Geordie said to Ishida.
“Their form of entertainment is probably to tear off someone’s arms and legs and watch them bleed to death,” the child king responded.
“That practice fell out of favour many millennia before the fall of our world,” Robert said. Geordie and Ishida shared a disturbed look when they realized the droid wasn’t joking.
“What is your plan?” I asked the robot.
“I will remain in the forest until the winds die down then continue the trek to the city. You should continue on and seek shelter. I will find you when I arrive and we can attempt to locate the Kveet together.”
Exchanging glances, we silently agreed to go ahead with the plan. Not that we had much of a strategy beyond finding a food source. We mi
ght still have around nine or ten hours of nightfall left but none of us wanted to stay in the forest when we could possibly find a building to hide in instead. A nagging sense that something wasn’t right tugged at me but we had little choice but to proceed.
Staying together and moving in a cluster, we left the trees and braved the wind. Our vision was instantly obscured and we huddled even closer together so we wouldn’t become separated. We made it about two hundred yards away from the forest before the ground fell out from beneath us.
Clutching Luc and Geordie instinctively, I barely had time to look down before we landed. Staggering on the unsteady ground, I lost my grip on both of them and landed on my butt. High above, the door that had opened beneath us slid shut and sealed us in. My eyes quickly adjusted to the lack of light and I examined what I’d stumbled over. A badly weathered skeleton glared at me through eyeless sockets. Judging by the size of the skull, it had once been a native of this world. Several more fleshless bodies still clad in tattered black clothing hinted strongly that this was a death pit for naughty Viltarans.
Luc extended his hand and helped me to my feet while Geordie stared at the jumble of bones. His hood had fallen back to reveal his face. Wide eyed, the teen was on the edge of panic. “What is this place?”
Well aware of what we had fallen into because he’d had one a lot like it on his former island, Ishida answered the question. “It is a death pit. We will be imprisoned here until the sun rises. When it does, the door will reopen and the sun will kill us all.”
“I knew we couldn’t trust that robot,” I muttered, brushing dirt and flakes of dead Viltaran from my clothes.
Geordie opened his mouth but I held up my hand to stop him when I heard squeaking joints and footsteps above. “They fell for my deception, master,” Robert said in the Viltaran native tongue as he came to a stop beside the sun trap. “All are held captive in one of the pits and will be dead within the hour.” If he’d been human, he would have followed up that statement with an evil laugh. Instead, the droid simply walked away. The sound of his creaking joints rapidly faded as he moved out of our earshot back the way we’d all come.
