by N. W. Harris
The elevator door opened to two fully armored Shock Troop soldiers guarding the bridge. They saluted and stepped aside so the general could enter. Athos walked past the soldiers and scanned the control room. The officers rushed to-and-fro, the atmosphere as frantic as it was just after the other ships were destroyed.
“Where’s the admiral?” Athos asked a lieutenant as she passed him.
“In his ready room,” she replied, her furrowed brow expressing her anxiety.
Athos crossed the bridge and entered the admiral’s ready room. The young ship’s commander and several of his senior officers sat around the conference table, their eyes wide and their jaws loose, like they were at a loss for what to say to each other.
“General Athos,” the admiral said, standing. “I was about to send for you.”
The admiral appeared to be beyond panic. His skin was pale, and his eyes drooped as if he were going into shock. He wasn’t the only one; the rest of the officers wore a look of stunned horror on their faces as well.
“What happened?” Athos prompted after the door closed behind him.
“This was transmitted from the guardian probes monitoring the wormhole that brought us here and…” The admiral drifted off, shifting his attention toward the monitor.
Athos had been in more dismal situations than he could remember. Losing the entire fleet on Earth had trumped them all. Now however, it seemed their bad luck had just begun.
A globular sphere of distorted starlight floating against the backdrop of black space illuminated the monitor. A golden spot pierced through the bubble, the bow of a cylindrical ship passing through the wormhole that led from the Anunnaki’s home solar system.
“That’s an Anunnaki Star Fighter,” Athos said, worried that someone had sent a transmission to command. They would send more recruit ships and ruin his plan to have the Pegasus complete the harvest by herself. “What are they doing here?”
“There’s a transmission from them,” the admiral replied, his tone so dismal it gave Athos a chill.
The screen split into two images, one of the wormhole with the ship slowly passing through and the other from the bridge of the vessel. The captain of the ship sat in her chair, her face blackened as if she’d been too close to an explosion. Her white uniform was bloodstained and in tatters.
“Earth Expedition,” she began, her voice frantic, “Anu is under attack. We have orders to destroy this wormhole with hopes that you will be spared.”
“Captain!” a sailor seated at the control panel in front of her cut her off. “The enemy has breached the gateway.”
On the other side of the screen, Athos could see what looked like a flat, disk-shaped concentration of green energy passing through the wormhole alongside the Star Fighter. Tendrils from the glowing disk extended into the Anunnaki vessel. The image of the charred captain and her bridge pitched.
“Detonate the ship’s reactor,” the captain shouted. “Destroy the wormhole!” She returned her attention to the transmission. “Earth Expedition, we die so that you can live. The future of our great people is in your hands.”
Both sides of the screen flashed white. Then the split screen returned to a single image. The cameras on the probes recorded empty space where the wormhole and two ships had been.
Athos stared at the screen, his mind unraveling the meaning of what he’d just seen. Shock threatened to overtake him like it had the rest of the officers in the room. He glanced at them, recognizing that someone had to step up and arrest the chaos that could ensue from this horrible information.
“Has anyone outside the room seen this message?” Athos looked around the table, his eyes stopping on the young admiral.
“Just the sailors on the bridge,” the admiral replied, his voice hoarse.
“We should keep it that way,” Athos said. “Swear everyone on the bridge to secrecy, at least until we decide the best course of action.”
“We decide?” Commander Mordo asked. He was an older naval officer who didn’t have the pedigree to make it higher than his current rank. “Shouldn’t this information be revealed to the council immediately?” The commander had been on missions with him before, and Athos had a great deal of respect for the sailor.
“That is what protocol demands,” the admiral added. His skin remained pale and his voice trembled.
Athos looked at each of them, hoping they’d come to the same conclusion he had after watching the message. They fixed their wide eyes on him, their expressions begging for guidance out of the thick fog of hopelessness that had settled on the ready room. He could barely comprehend the implications of what they’d just seen, but he knew this was no time to succumb to paralysis.
“Look at us,” Athos said. “We’re seasoned officers. This message has made our knees shudder and our minds turn to mush. What do you think it will do to the nobility and to the rest of the citizens on this ship?”
The officers looked down at the table and at each other, as if processing what he’d just said. Athos waited for someone to say something, but they all ended up staring at him again. Several of them nodded.
“What do you propose?” the admiral finally spoke. “Martial law?”
“We stay the course,” the general replied, shaking his head. Martial law had never been declared on a SRS. The Slave Recruit Ships had always ultimately been under the control of the royals and the citizens. “We need to gain control of Earth. Without a wormhole, it would take lifetimes to reach the next habitable planet and millennia to make it back to Anu. The enemy may not stop with our home planet. They could reopen the wormhole and come after us. Our most pressing issue is amassing as many soldiers as we can to defend against such an attack.”
His words struck a chord. The officers seemed to simultaneously come to terms with the conclusion that the home world may be gone. The wormhole’s entrance had been in the Anu solar system, so chances were the enemy had overrun their home. The passengers aboard the Pegasus may be the only future for the Anunnaki people, and their new home may have to be on planet Earth.
“It seems the gods have spared us for some great purpose,” Commander Mordo mused, his brow sinking over his eyes.
“It seems they have,” Athos agreed. “Perhaps to prevent the extinction of our species.”
The curved sword hung in her hands, blood dripping off the blade onto the white sand of the coliseum floor. Her eyes clouded with tears, her slave persona seeming to experience remorse. Horror strangled Kelly. Watching her alter ego fight the wolves and having to standby and hope she survived had unnerved her. Then the order to kill Ethan came.
It was clearly a test of their slave personas’ willingness to obey, and both she and Jules had passed with flying colors. They attacked without hesitation. Ethan resisted, but they’d overwhelmed him. Now his head lay face up on the ground, separated from his body. His death-stare leached hope from Kelly, sinking her into darkness. Her mind felt like it would implode upon itself, and grief and guilt assailed her like pit bulls trying to rip out her throat.
In the last second of his life, Ethan’s eyes seemed to question her. It was as if the decapitation suppressed his slave persona, and the real Ethan was freed just before death. “How could you do this to me?” his dying gaze demanded.
She looked up at Jules, who stood near the body. Distress painting her face, Jules’ slave persona seemed as distraught about what just happened as Kelly was. The ember of humanity the slave gene could not suppress flashed into a blaze that might undo the belief that the Anunnaki acted in their best interest. Kelly screamed inside her prison, trying to make her body turn on their captors and use the sword against the aliens who entered the arena and ran toward her and Jules.
“Move them to the holding chamber.” Lieutenant Pelros, the young soldier who’d accompanied General Athos earlier, jogged onto the arena floor. “Hurry.”
Soldiers in full armor encircled Kelly and Jules. After retrieving the weapons from their han
ds, they took them by the arms and guided them across the sand at a brisk walk. Kelly glanced up just before they went through the door. She caught a glimpse of thousands of Anunnaki, on their feet and cheering. Tears dripped off her chin when she lowered her head and entered the relatively dark room.
The door closed behind them, and Kelly wanted to scream. She wanted to bust out of the chamber and rip each and every one of these aliens to pieces with her bare hands. How could they force her to kill Ethan in cold blood? How could they be so evil?
“Sit down,” the young officer ordered.
Her slave persona looked at him, tears blurring her vision. Was she as angry as Kelly? Kelly pressed her mind out into her body, trying to move her limbs. She wanted to take three steps toward the officer and thrust her fist into his throat.
“Sit down,” Pelros repeated with more firmness in his tone.
Her slave persona hesitated. Kelly could feel the muscles in her arms and legs contract, as if she was getting ready to pounce. The soldiers standing near the wall raised their weapons, taking aim at her and Jules. She stared at the officer, and Kelly was sure she was about to attack. Pelros gazed back. His face was stoic, but his eyes harbored a glimmer of fear. He knew he wouldn’t survive if she could get her hands on him. After a moment, her slave persona obeyed, and she settled on the bench. As if she’d been waiting for Kelly’s cue, Jules sat down next to her. The young officer let out a nearly imperceptible sigh, and his shoulders dropped.
“They’ve pushed you too far,” Lieutenant Pelros said, an unexpected hint of compassion in his voice. “Do not worry, I’ll make you forget.”
Technicians put a helmet on Kelly’s head, and in the periphery of her vision, she could see them do the same to Jules. Pelros turned his attention to the technician who stood by a control panel on the wall of the chamber. The tech’s fingers danced across the panel.
“This will take the nightmare from your minds,” Pelros promised. He looked toward Kelly and Jules, and then nodded at the technician, who tapped the screen one last time.
All of Kelly’s senses were overwhelmed at once. Her skin burned, a shrieking assailed her ears, and blinding light flashed in her eyes. She struggled to maintain consciousness, afraid the memory wipe would erase her as well. After a long moment of excruciating pain, the symptoms faded.
Her vision and hearing returned to normal. Kelly noted the muscles in her arms and legs had relaxed, and the tension crinkling her forehead was gone. Her slave persona had forgotten about killing Ethan; she could tell by how calm she suddenly felt. Kelly hadn’t forgotten anything.
The hate she felt toward the Anunnaki for killing her parents, for causing the death of all the adults on the planet, and for turning the world upside down, was amplified. The Anunnaki had cheered with such lust when she’d killed Ethan, and now they’d simply made her forget him. They didn’t deserve any compassion. They all deserved to die.
The medics used healing pens to treat hers and Jules’ injuries. Every time he stepped into her field of vision, she stared at Pelros with vehemence, though she could tell her slave persona had lost all animosity. She was subdued, ready to obey the Anunnaki’s commands. Kelly was trapped inside this body that would be forced to do horrible things. How much could she endure? The sense of helplessness corroded her sanity—the anger and frustration eating away at her like a slow-acting acid.
“On your feet,” Lieutenant Pelros ordered.
Kelly and Jules stood and followed the Anunnaki out of the room, back through the larger chamber where the wolves were held. There were only two of them in the cages now, asleep as they were before, their wounds healed. It didn’t bring her any joy that she’d been able to kill the third beast. The animal didn’t deserve to die any more than Ethan did. It had suffered for the entertainment of these aliens. If she had her way, she’d release the surviving wolves in the ship and watch them devour the Anunnaki.
The officer led Jules and Kelly to the elevator. Kelly’s alter ego seemed fully compliant again, no hint of the emotion she’d experienced on the arena floor. Kelly’s rage blinded her and made it impossible for her to think. It felt like she was being crushed, her anger pressing in on her from all directions, and, at the same time, threatening to burn her from the inside out.
The elevator door closed, leaving Jules and Kelly alone with Pelros and the other soldier.
“Your courage and strength exceeds all expectations,” Pelros said, his voice calm. He turned and looked at Kelly. “You did a great honor to your people today.” It sounded rehearsed, part of the manipulation to further bond the slaves to their masters.
“Thank you, sir,” Kelly replied. “But I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t,” the officer replied. “And it’s better you didn’t. Just know that we are now and forever your allies. Your enemies are now our enemies.”
The elevator door opened and the officer pivoted away from them.
“Attention on deck,” one of the Aussie boys yelled.
The slave soldiers in the room rolled out of their racks or stopped what they were doing. They stood tall and stiff, with their eyes pointed forward and focused on nothing. Pelros stepped aside and allowed Kelly and Jules to enter the berthing.
“Get some rest,” he ordered. “I’m certain your first mission will begin before you have a chance to become bored.”
“Yes, sir,” Kelly and Jules replied.
It made Kelly sick to hear the zeal in their voices. They sounded so willing to serve these horrible aliens. The officer looked back and forth at each of them a moment longer, his gaze analytical. Perhaps he was studying them to make sure nothing remained of the trauma that had occurred in the arena. He nodded, seeming satisfied. The doors closed, leaving only human slaves in the berthing.
Her body relaxed, and she turned away from the elevator. The rest of the teens climbed back in their racks or went about their business. No one spoke or interacted with each other, and no one asked why they’d returned without Ethan. Kelly fumed inside her prison of flesh. It was bad enough that Ethan died, and now no one would pay him the respect of mourning him. He’d simply ceased to exist.
She tried to calm her mind, as she needed to find an opportunity to try to reconnect to her body. Having failed after Ethan’s slaying, she decided it best not to make another attempt until her slave persona was asleep. It had been foolish to make such an aggressive effort earlier. Had she succeeded, her slave persona might have complained about the experience to the Anunnaki. Although she’d managed to make it through all their scans, it was likely these aliens were advanced enough to figure out the real Kelly was aware and alive, hiding in this slave’s body. They’d erase her like they’d erased Ethan’s murder from her slave persona’s mind, or they’d just kill her outright. She had to retake her body in a subtle way, and she had to regain complete control before she attempted anything while her slave persona was awake.
Her plan gave her clarity and helped to focus her. But hopelessness lingered like a deadly fog. If she couldn’t regain control, she knew she’d go mad watching her body perform heinous tasks for the Anunnaki. The same fears kept returning to her again and again. What if they found Nat? What if they forced her to hurt Nat and the other kids hidden at the base? That would kill her. Kelly pushed the thoughts aside. She had to keep her mind calm and clear, or she expected it would be impossible to override the willing murderer in charge of her body.
Kelly went into the bathroom and showered. She could feel everything her slave persona felt, and the hot water flowing over her body helped her to relax a bit more. She couldn’t get the image of Ethan’s gruesome death out of her head, but did her best not to think about it. She’d recall the memory when it was time for vengeance. One day, she'd make the Anunnaki pay for what they’d caused her to do to the courageous Australian boy.
Her thoughts turned to Pelros. She’d been so angry after the incident in the coliseum that she hadn’t paid close
enough attention to his behavior. He’d seemed at least mildly upset about what had happened. Maybe he didn’t approve of the bloody trial the humans had been put through. Captain Jones and Lily had been a part of a rebellion that resulted in a civil war. It hadn’t occurred to her that some seeds of that rebellion may still remain amongst the Anunnaki people.
There might be others like the rebels—Anunnaki who didn’t believe it was right to enslave the humans. If Kelly could get to them, sway them to help her and the other slaves, the chances of them regaining their freedom would increase a hundredfold.
After showering, she returned to her rack and lay down. The room was quiet, the slave soldiers already in bed. The lights went out, and her slave persona closed her eyes. She fell asleep in a few minutes, obviously not troubled by Ethan’s murder. Kelly waited until her slave persona’s breathing grew slow and regular. Exhausted by all that had happened, she wondered if she would need to sleep inside her prison. She could hear the other teens’ deep breathing and snores. Everyone in the berthing slept. Was Jules aware inside her slave body, listening to the same things Kelly listened to and reliving the horrible day over and over again in her mind?
Only her vision was cut off. She felt the bed pressing against her back and could smell the cool, clean air flowing into her nose. Kelly envisioned herself, a small sphere of consciousness trapped inside her brain. She extended that awareness into her face, down her neck, and into her torso. Then she pushed out into her limbs, focusing her attention on her hands. Kelly attempted to clear all other thoughts and make her pinky finger move.
