Page 395 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Zhu Manyin

A year ago, I was on a dig in Cairo, living out my girlhood dream. A week ago, I’d been cutting veggies every day in the human compound kitchen on an alien planet called Ker. And today? Today I was sneaking onto a freaking spaceship and hoping for the best.

I curled my arm around my middle, like that would help to hold in the churning nausea in my stomach.

This place was enormous and daunting. It was nothing like the nice quiet compound on Ker, where an alien species called the Kertinal had offered asylum to over a thousand displaced humans, just like me.

Every night in my tiny bedroom, I went to sleep wishing I’d wake up back on Earth; I never thought I’d be homesick for the compound.

Half an hour ago, I’d sneaked out of a crowded tunnel and onto this bizarre platform. That’s when I realized I was on a space station. Again, like a macabre repeat of last year when I woke up in space after my first abduction.

The platform stretched out like a long arm, so big that I couldn’t see the end.

It was encased in a transparent shell that gave me an uninterrupted view of space beyond it.

Nobody ever tells you just how bright and clear stars are once you’re out of the atmosphere, but they are.

It’s beautiful, and it made my head spin and my stomach churn.

I didn’t think I had a fear of big spaces or anything, but standing on that platform made me feel so tiny that it scared me.

And what if that shell, that wall of glass, broke?

What if someone accidentally knocked a hole into it?

I could vividly picture myself getting sucked out into space, dying a horrible death in absolute zero without oxygen.

Spaceships, coming and going, ringed that platform, which was itself a hive of activity.

I saw more species of aliens than I had ever imagined might exist. Although, admittedly, I hadn’t considered aliens existed much at all before I somehow ended up hundreds of years in the future on an alien planet.

I was an archaeologist. My focus had always been on history and the past.

This had to be a dock or something, one of many such arms sticking out of a huge central hub.

Somewhere in the distance, I could see this huge debris field drifting in space, and hundreds of little ships darted in and out of that massive cloud of broken ships.

Scavenging, scuttling, they were breaking up the wrecks to salvage and bringing it all here.

I didn’t want to get too close to any of the ‘glass’ walls, not that I believed they were made of glass.

Still, from where I was darting from one shipping crate to the next, I had plenty of opportunity to see the other arms sticking out of the space station.

They were building ships there. I saw dozens of them in various stages of progress hanging from one such arm.

Aliens in mech-suits crawling all over them.

I needed to get out of here and I needed to get back to Ker and the compound.

The one place in this universe where I knew I’d be safe.

Then I shook my head and bit my lip. That wasn’t true either, was it?

Some people had broken into my room during the night and stolen me right out of my bed once again.

A dockworker passed me on my left, an alien creature that walked on two legs but also had spindly things sticking out of his back that looked suspiciously like spider legs.

They even twitched and wriggled. Yuck. Eight black eyes lined his forehead, his face disconcertingly human-shaped.

I vaguely wondered if he was even male; how could I be sure?

He turned his head as he passed me, staring at me, but I had no clue how to read his expressions.

Was that interest, disgust, or just plain curiosity?

It didn’t matter. I needed to leave this place and my best bet was to hitch a ride on one of these spaceships.

Right now, I was pretty sure that anywhere else was better than here.

I eyed my options, noticing that two of the ships were just small ships like the ones scuttling outside in that debris field.

Those were out of the question, as they probably never left this station for long.

The next option was a bigger ship, something that made me think cargo vessel.

But the one after that caught my eye. It was sleek and black, deceptively large, and somehow understated; like it could fly under the radar whenever it wanted.

There was a large stretch of empty space between myself and the nearest option for cover next to it that I’d have to cross.

Some kind of tunnel hooked up from the ship to a gate set into the glass, but that was not the only way in.

They had a larger section opened up at the side, where a force field of some kind shimmered protectively around it.

It gave access to the opened cargo area and dockworkers were loading stuff aboard it.

I spotted an alien leaning up against the glass right next to the force field with a bored expression on his face.

He wore sleek black armor, cradled a rifle of some kind in his arms, and didn’t seem at all concerned with how little separated him from the vacuum of space beyond that glass.

He looked shockingly human, with a normal tan skin tone, and even, attractive features.

But I seriously doubted that he actually was. Humans were a rare commodity out here.

As if thinking about my ‘value’ on the market had summoned them.

I heard a voice in the distance that made the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

I recognized those deep, sub-harmonic tones.

That was the Kertinal male that had stolen me from Ker.

He had smuggled me out of the compound and off the planet like I was contraband.

They’d only stopped at this huge space station because they had engine trouble with their junker spaceship.

I needed to get out of sight and onto that ship.

They wouldn’t be able to search for me on someone else’s vessel.

At least, that was the theory. Luck would have it, that the airlock swished open and a whole host of people started exiting the black ship.

I barely looked at who or what. I just darted from one point of cover to the next, then holding my breath as I ran that open stretch and hoped they didn’t see me.

The airlock remained open, and at least six huge bodies stood around in front of it.

They were talking and laughing loudly. I caught the flash of blue on one of them, another Kertinal, and I didn’t much feel like getting in contact with anyone from that species right now.

There was a handy crate about a dozen feet from the airlock, and nobody noticed me when I reached that.

They were all occupied with talking. There was a guy who looked so much like a shark on two legs that it made me wince back.

But it was his uproarious laughter that provided me with cover as I raced behind them and directly into the airlock.

I nearly tripped over something long, scaly, and black as I crossed the threshold, but I didn’t check what it was.

The airlock was just a long tunnel with no hiding places.

If anyone happened to glance over their shoulder, they would see me.

I had no choice but to run as fast as I could and burst through the door.

I could only hope that nobody was on the other side when I reached it.

At least it moved smoothly, making no sound as I yanked the heavy metal panel.

It led into the actual airlock, a smallish room with another door on the end.

Everything was sleek and black and super clean and polished.

It was a world of difference from the spaceship I’d been stuck on for the last couple of days.

My luck was holding. There was no one there, and no one was in the hallway beyond the second door either.

These corridors were well lit and utilitarian, with handholds at intervals along the wall and strips of light on the floor and the ceiling.

I picked left at random and jogged into the ship; what would be a good hiding spot?

Three winding corridors later, I still wasn’t quite sure where to go or what to do, and I was starting to get worried that someone might notice I was there.

I was pretty sure I’d seen dozens of cameras along the way.

Was someone actively watching surveillance feeds?

No alarm was blaring; that had to be a good sign.

My mouth was dry, and my heart was pounding five minutes later.

I was thoroughly lost inside this maze of a ship, because everything looked exactly the same.

Why was everything black on the inside as well as the outside?

This place was depressing, even though it was clean and meticulously maintained — a part I liked.

Just thinking about the rust bucket I’d arrived in gave me a panic attack.

Feeling extremely exposed, with nowhere suitable to hide, I resorted to trying doors.

My heart was racing with the fear that I might open a door and find someone inside.

Most doors didn’t even respond to my palm touch on the panel next to it, and when I tried the manual handle, that didn’t work either.

Until it finally worked on one door, the panel sliding open soundlessly to reveal an unlit room beyond.

I darted inside without pausing, relief rushing through me.

That darkness probably meant no one was home, right?

There was a window set into the furthest wall, letting in just enough light from the stars and the space station that I could tell this was some kind of apartment.

There was a couch and a large pillow-like thing, and beneath that window a huge round bed with raised edges.

Beyond an open door was a bathroom with an enormous bathtub inside, so big that you could easily fit ten humans in it.