“Sure,” Jet heard him say. “We can start there, if you like.”
The Nirreth said something else.
That time, Richter gave him an irritated look.
“Does she look prepped to you? She knows nothing, I told you...now stop worrying...”
Jet swallowed a bit, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, not liking the eager expressions on all of the Nirreth's faces who stood around her. None of them stood particularly close to her, but she felt crowded...almost claustrophobic when they didn't do anything but stare at her. They hadn't given her her sword back, and one of her wrists was still chained to her ankle on the same side. Luckily, the chain was long enough that she could stand upright, but it still felt heavy, in the way and distracting.
Moreover, the metal links between her two limbs threw off her balance, enough that Jet was trying to get a sense of how much she might need to compensate if whatever came next involved her needing to move out of the way quickly...as it undoubtedly would. Jet had yet to be in a fight that didn't depend in large or small part on speed.
Usually speed was everything. She had to decide how much of that she still had...hopefully before they threw whatever they planned on throwing at her. While Jet continued to scan faces in the crowd, she tried to decide how she might be able to use the chain to her advantage, too.
She found herself distracted when she saw more humans in the group staring at her.
Humans besides Richter, that is. Humans who weren't servants.
One was a woman who looked to be in her thirties. Like Richter, she seemed to have some kind of 'in' with the Nirreth. She stood among the tall, midnight blue-skinned aliens at perfect ease, wearing clothes similar to those of the richest-looking of the Nirreth filling the hall. She held a pink-colored drink in one manicured hand that had nails decorated with dark-blue fingernail polish, so she even matched their skin...more or less.
The drink she clutched lived inside a narrow glass bauble, and her hip-jutting posture and raised glass reminded Jet of cocktail parties on old Earth.
Well...at least cocktail parties according to the old movies Jet had seen, back at the settlement. A few old-timers still had beat up copies of old Earth movies, some of which showed humans in fancy dresses and suits drinking drinks in thin-stemmed glasses and laughing. The women always had hair that looked shiny and fake; it was often done up on their heads in elaborate designs and held back from flawless faces with metal clips with shiny stones or bits of glass. Their eyes and lips were always painted with makeup, their mouths red or pink and the eyes darker, usually smoky and with long lashes and arched brows. The men usually had shiny hair too, slicked back and contrasting their overly toothy smiles and dimpled cheeks.
Everyone looked like a doll being manipulated around an overly clean room as if on puppet strings. Everyone looked clean, and well fed, and their muscles looked more for show than like they used them for anything real.
The Nirreth luncheon was the only thing Jet had ever seen in real life that looked almost like those movie parties. The furniture was all wrong of course. The room itself with its winding canal and trees with birds and lack of pictures or windows or other decorations was wrong, too. Most of all, the make up of the party itself was wrong...in just about every conceivable way. Even the clean humans here, like Richter and that woman, had a feral quality to them, like the cleanliness they wore was more of a mask than the reverse, like those movie humans and their fake muscles and pretend hungers and problems.
In the movies, of course, there were no Nirreth.
Only humans went to those parties, and they looked happy, almost childishly at ease. Their problems always struck Jet as a child's problems, too...generally about hurt feelings or jealousy or insecurities about being liked or whether they looked as nice in a dress. She liked the spy movies best of all, because then at least she could muster up enough excitement about the outcome to enjoy watching them shoot fake guns back and forth with the human villains, or running away down dark streets to avoid the police.
No one ever worried about food. Only in the spy movies did anyone worry about being kidnapped, or a loved one dying. Even then, it was jail they feared normally, not death.
No one worried about poisoned water or rabid dogs or being eaten by their captors after they were locked in a cage.
The cocktail parties represented a whole different reality to Jet, one of make-believe and wishing on birthday cakes and driving a car simply to be seen on a lawn-filled street or in front of a soda shop or by a movie theater.
It wasn't only a world where the Nirreth didn't exist. It was a world where the very idea of the Nirreth was impossible. A world where all humans were safe.
Jet knew from some of the old timers that the reality depicted in those movies hadn't really been true for most people even then. Humans had done terrible things to one another well before the Nirreth arrived. They died of diseases and in childbirth, just like they did now. They died in wars, and there were people all over the world who didn't have enough food.
But the myth was intact, at least for those who didn't know better. For some people, the life in the movies was close enough that they could believe.
Jet knew she was distracting herself though, thinking about this.
She couldn't really afford the distraction, either.
Even as the thought crossed Jet's mind, she heard it.
The crowd parted around the sound, creating an aisle on either side, almost perpendicular to the canal. Jet tried to see past the legs and bodies, but she was at an angle to the gap in the crowd of Nirreth and people. She only saw Nirreth heads turning to watch something approach, and heard the Nirreth's excited voices raise a few octaves as they watched whatever it was get closer. She heard more murmurs in that odd, lyrical language of theirs, too, as they spoke together in low voices, heads together. Some held up fingers, as if indicating numbers. She also heard a few laughing in that strange, barking way of theirs...and a few gasps of delight from those closest to the gap through the partying lizard-skins.
Then Jet heard another of those low, strangled-sounding growls.
It was followed almost immediately by an angry hiss. Jet didn't recognize either sound exactly, but she felt her pulse rising regardless.
Whatever it was, it was definitely some kind of animal.
“Give me my sword,” she said, turning to Richter. “I need my sword!”
Richter chuckled. “You won't need it for this, little girl.”
She wished she had that woman's bell-shaped glass, if only so she could throw it at his head. She hated the smirk on his face even more than the condescension in his voice.
“I can't fight like this!” Jet said angrily, shaking the hand and wrist with the chain.
Richter only smiled, glancing at Laksri next to him.
Laksri was staring directly at her face, his dark eyes concentrated. He seemed to be studying her every move, but Jet couldn't tell if it was because he thought she was in danger, or if he just found her fear fascinating for some reason. Either way, he didn't attempt another of those imitation smiles that made his face look like it was contorted.
“My sword!” she demanded, looking at Laksri this time and holding out her hand. “Give me my sword!”
The blue-skinned giant's expression didn't move.
“You'll fight,” Richter told her. “...Never fear.”
“I won't...” Jet began, but Richter went on, his voice just as smug, speaking as if she hadn't said anything at all.
“...You'll fight, or we'll skin your little boyfriend alive. When he's good and bloodied, we'll feed him to their pet when you're finished...then bring out another one for you to fight again. They'll never run out you know, Jet...”
“You wouldn't kill him!” Jet retorted. “Once he's dead, you'll have nothing on me...”
“After you're sold I won't need anything on you,” Richter retorted. “Don't test me, little girl. Whatever else you think of me...I don't make id
le threats.” He motioned towards the aisle, his mouth quirked in another half-smile. “...And anyway. You'll want to fight some. Unless you've got a death wish. Just do what comes natural. Like you did with my boys...”
Jet felt the back of her jaw clenching until she couldn't answer.
Anyway, her eyes had followed the motion of his hand, and now she couldn't look away.
Four Nirreth held a tall, bipedal creature on a number of thick chains...and it wasn't one of them. Whatever it was, it was taller than they were, and it wasn't midnight blue but a kind of greenish gray with streaks of red and yellow. They had it chained at the neck, and also one of its massive hind legs, forcing it to shuffle as it walked. While it walked along with them as if used to being led, it didn't exactly strike Jet as a pet.
It didn't even seem to live in that inbetween place, like a farm animal...something that could still have its own will but for the most part remained 'domesticated.'
Whatever this creature was, it followed them more like it saw its chances of escape better later on down the line. Like it tolerated the chains, knowing the real action would take place once they came off. For that reason, it led them almost as much as they led it.
As far as the exact type of creature it was, Jet only knew for certain that she had never seen one like it before. Nor had she seen a picture of one like it in any of the nature books strewn around the settlement or tacked on the walls. She couldn't recall ever having heard of one like it, either, described by any of the old-timers or rebels. Those few rebels who claimed to have knowledge of the Green Zones and even of the Nirreth's home world had never mentioned a creature that looked like this.
But that had to be it, Jet thought to herself.
It had to be alien. There was no other explanation.
Still, there was something strangely familiar about the thing that made her doubt that perception, too.
It looked too much like...
The thing hissed then, letting out another of those strange, barking cries before it lunged agains the chains. Jet could swear it lunged at her, pretty much the second she'd lowered her hand. It seemed to know, somehow, that she was its final destination.
Perhaps because it had eaten slaves like her before.
“What is it?” Jet said.
She directed the question at Richter, though she didn't look away from the bipedal creature with its large, craggy head. That boulder-like skull swiveled on a muscular neck, oversized and seeming to nearly throw the beast off balance. Jet watched muscles slide under thick skin as it balanced on those two strong hind legs.
Once more straining against the chains, it gave another of those barking cries, turning its head slightly to stare at her directly.
“What is it?” she said again, louder.
Her voice trembled a little that time. She heard it.
Even though she didn't look at him, or at anything but that creature's rock-like head, Richter seemed to know her words were meant for him.
“Same thing you ate for lunch, sweetness,” he said. He laughed when she turned, winking at her when she gave him a brief stare. “You should feel lucky, sweetheart...they obviously think a lot of you. That's a bona fide T-Rex you're looking at. A baby, of course...but still. Nothing to sneeze at. That was the king of the jungle long before humans made their appearance...”
Jet only stared at him, unable to find a context for his words. If he noticed her puzzlement, he didn't bother to comment on it.
“...They figured out how to clone from some of our bio samples a few years back,” he explained, as if that was all she needed to know. “They've got all kinds of extinct animals running around their sanctuaries. They raise the ones they like to eat...use others for sport...” Grinning, he inclined his head in a shrug. “Turns out, Rex here is good for both...”
Jet stared at the thing, which stood at least two heads taller than she did.
“What is a...”
“T-Rex,” Richter smiled.
“What is it?” she said, ignoring his humor.
“Stands for Tyrannosaurus Rex, darling. This is a baby, like I said. They knocked all its bigger teeth out so it can't hurt you too bad...but I'd look out for that tail if I were you. Oh...and it likes to head-butt people, too, if I recall. That got a bit ugly actually, the last time they used one of these for a demo. So you might want to watch that...”
“It's a...a...dinosaur?” Jet mouthed the unfamiliar word, still staring up at the bipedal lizard-looking thing. She felt a bit faint-headed. “Like in story books?”
“Story books?” Richter snorted, his voice turning disgusted. “Jesus. What the hell kind of education have you had, girl? They have witch doctors teaching school in that skag pit where you were born?”
Jet didn't waste the mental power on trying to answer that.
Her eyes were back on the T-Rex, watching its tail whip around, nearly catching one of its handlers by surprise. That Nirreth leapt out of the way even as the Nirreth holding the chain on the other side yanked on the baby T-Rex to throw it off balance. The creature turned, hissing at the one who had pulled it back, as if angry it had spoiled its fun. Then it swiveled its head back to hiss at another Nirreth when the third one handling its chains yanked at its head.
Between the four of them, they got it under control again. Once it was calm, they walked it deeper into the room, controlling its head with the use of long, metal rods.
They led it to the center of the clearing where Jet stood.
Without being told, the ring of humans and Nirreth widened, giving the baby T-Rex and its handlers plenty of space in the high-ceilinged room.
Jet was about to ask Richter something else, when the four Nirreth guards stopped, pulling the chains and the metal poles taut. They halted in a near formation, all equidistant from the baby dinosaur, with the one closest to its head pushing forward so the top-heavy creature was forced to aim its massive jaws slightly up, towards the ceiling. It seemed to throw the creature off balance once more, and make it hard for the T-Rex to follow its handlers with its eyes.
At some kind of signal, they each released their end of their pole and leapt back, rejoining the ring of Nirreth and humans around Jet and the dinosaur.
The instant they reached safe distance, the poles and chains came undone, falling to ground beside the dinosaur's muscular hind legs. Jet watched a blue, sparking light rise up from the floor. It rose rapidly up to the ceiling, gliding up like water, yet letting off a charge of current that raised the hair on Jet's arms. She looked at Richter a last time, but he only shrugged.
Lifting his glass in a toast, he quirked an eyebrow, pointing meaningfully at the dinosaur with the same hand holding the glass.
“Go get 'em, tiger,” he smiled.
The dinosaur picked that moment to let out a honest-to-goodness roar.
Maybe because Jet was now trapped with it, inside what looked like a high-voltage security cage, that roar sounded a lot more menacing than the barks and growls she’d heard before.
Before she could second-guess the reflex, Jet's eyes slid up to take in the size of the thing.
It looked a lot taller up close.
That had been true of the Nirreth, too, but she'd still been able to fight them off, she reminded herself. She might have even made it to the culler ship's open door if it hadn't been for their poison tails. This thing was huge, but it didn't look like it had any kind of stinger. The thought was reassuring, but only a little.
She noted its defensive and offensive weapons even as she thought it, as much in reflex as anything. The T-Rex didn't appear to have many teeth in its mouth, as Richter had said, but she could see the weight of that skull clearly enough, which he'd also taken the time to warn her about. Strange, useless-looking hands hung in front of its body...almost like cartoon claws or a cripple's shriveled limbs. Those hands had ugly, swollen fingers with claws at their ends. The claws looked like they might have been blunted, too...or else they hadn't been overly sharp to begin with. But
the claws on its hind feet looked functional enough, and those were the legs she was a lot more worried about.
Despite the lack of teeth and those weird, useless-looking hands, the thing's size alone was enough to give Jet pause. It was large...impressively large. Jet tried to guess its weight and had to guess at maybe eight hundred pounds. Maybe even more. If nothing else, at that weight it could simply step on her and kill her. One of those massive feet would crush her bones to powder.
One whack of that long tail would easily break her spine.
Jet took a last glance around at her audience.
She saw them all watching her, a great deal of interest on their faces. Jet also saw Richter talking to one of the Nirreth again, seemingly arguing with the tall male about something through Laksri. She couldn't hear any of the words though, not anymore. The force field let out a crackling kind of hum that muddied the sound, in addition to pushing the audience further away from her than they had been, even right before the dinosaur had been unchained. Jet could still hear, just not clearly. She heard a muffled murmur as the T-Rex took a step towards her.
When she turned, it was lowering its head so that its body was nearly horizontal, its tail making low, slow sweeps behind it, possibly for balance, or possibly because, like a cat, it just liked to do that before it crushed one of its opponents.
Jet wondered if the Nirreth bred the T-Rexes initially because they had tails, too. Maybe they got off on seeing something that could have been one of their ancestors beating up on the ancestor of some kind of tree monkey. Otherwise, why resurrect something from so long ago...versus one of the big cats from old Earth, or maybe a bear?
Whatever their reasoning, it didn't matter.
Jet's immediate problem was standing right in front of her.
It was staring directly at her, in fact.
When Jet took a step backwards, it leapt.
Jet reacted without thought, throwing herself down on her back and rolling.
She moved so fast she didn't have time to feel relieved when the T-Rex hurtled overhead. She heard muffled cries, shouts and hisses through the force-field walls, and laughter after the T-Rex crashed into the force-field wall behind her. It collided with the blue and white energy field with a cracking, sizzling sound. Jet imagined she even smelled the faint odor of burnt dinosaur skin. The baby dinosaur let out an angry, barking cry as it landed back on its feet and backed away from the wall in fear.
Alien Apocalypse: The Complete Series (Parts I-IV) Page 11
