Page 27

Chapter 27

Lynn

B eing imprisoned was more boring than actually frightening. After locking me and Charlie up in here, no one except a tiny robot on wheels came in, and that only did so to spit out small packets of crap that turned out to be food, along with a small bulb of very plasticky, stale tasting water. The other two prisoners ate the disgustingly dry wafers inside and didn’t keel over and die, so I chanced it. They tasted gross and made me fart, which was embarrassing, but that was all. Poor Charlie couldn’t open the packets however nor use the bulb, a fact I tried to tell the little robot, only to be ignored.

They'd fed and watered us with far too little eight times when eight of the armored soldiers came back, this time three of them holding sticks with a glowing end. The fox-like man leapt at them, flashing sharp teeth and claws, only to have the stick pound into him. I heard a crackle and the sight of electricity dancing from where it made contact, then the smell of singed flesh and he fell, clutching his side with a barking cry.

“It’s going to be alright,” I whispered to myself. “Either the Fleet or someone from the alliance will have heard the distress signal, come looking, located the pod, and will soon be coming for me.” I knew this deep within my soul. Yorix would not leave me willingly and would do whatever it took to rescue me. I simply had to be patient.

They hauled Fox Man to his feet, cuffing his hands and slinging him between two of them, before unlocking the other prisoner. He came out willingly, hands out and they cuffed him, moving him to stand next to Fox Man. Next they did me, and I mimicked the second guy, holding my hands out like a good little prisoner. Now they went for Charlie, who was not a happy camper, but also obviously not feeling so good after what must be going on three days without any food or water. One of the soldiers managed to grab him by his tail and I winced as he held poor Charlie by it before stuffing him into the backpack and carrying it out by the ruined straps.

We were then marched back through the strangely laid out ship, exiting into what had to have been a hangar bay. It was not a very good one, however, as I could see interior wall panels had been removed for goodness knows what reason, exposing wiring, pipes, and insulation.

More robots zipped about, but the soldiers paid them no mind. They took us through a door into a corridor with lights that flickered with uncertainty. The entire place was devoid of people, it seemed, except for our party. It was us, the zippy robots of various sizes, and a lot of dust. Wherever we were, it appeared to have been abandoned long ago, so why were we here? We came to what looked like an office and they pushed us onto some chairs, cuffing us to them, then left.

After what had to have been several minutes passed, I called out a tentative, “Hello? Anyone here?”

I didn't get an answer, but surely despite the fine layer of dust filming everything, someone had to be here, right? I mean, they left us here as if expecting someone to be here in the office, or who would arrive. I took a deep breath and tried again.

“Hellloooooo!” I shouted.

“Hellooo!” I heard a familiar voice bellow back.

Was I imagining things?

The door flung open and there stood a sight for sore eyes.

“Yorix!”

He rushed over to me, looking me over. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, but Fox Man there isn't so good. They zapped him pretty bad right before they took us off their ship. Where are we, anyway?”

“On a long abandoned space station,” he replied, pulling a dagger out of his boot and using them to try to pry off my cuffs.

“You got pants,” I observed, feeling oddly pleased about that..

“Yes, my new friends gave me a pair. I think they were intimidated by the size of my cock and it’s fine showing of scales.”

“You had scales all over you,” a cat looking male said from the open doorway, his voice saying one thing, with the translation coming through a box he wore on a utility belt.

“My battle form emerged,” he told me, looking shyly proud.

“I know. By the time we were halfway to the escape pods, you were practically a dragon.”

“I should have defended you better.”

“Shh, just get these off me and let’s go home.” I was done with exploring for a while. I wanted to get back to the Fleet and enroll in my course after taking a few weeks off to decompress. Hopefully we didn’t go anywhere remote for quite some time. After I graduated, I wanted to study stars and planets well inside Galactic Alliance space, thank you very much.

“His extra scales all but disappeared once he knew we’d find you here and that you’d be fine,” cat dude said.

“I see. Um, and you are?”

“I am Hreskuk of the Narldu Cohort,” he replied, examining Fox Man. “His wound needs tending to, but he should be fine. Their programming must be really starting to go awry. They’ve never done anything like this before.”

“They don’t usually hold burning sticks of electricity on people?”

“They’ve shocked people, yes, but usually it’s a quick poke to simply jolt them.”

“Like a taser then. Wait - did you just say programming?”

“They are bots,” Yorix explained just as my cuffs pinged open. “Remnants of a people who all died in a long forgotten war.”

Fuck. We’d been left waiting for people who would never have come. That was a truly horrifying thought.

“Like how long dead?”

“Help me carry him,” Hreskuk said to our third prisoner buddy, the one I’d taken to mentally calling Mr. Komodo, using a tool off his belt to cut through the cuffs. The male nodded, and together, they carried out Fox Man.

They hadn’t fastened Charlie’s backpack to the chair so I picked it up, following them out, Yorix’s hand a reassuring presence on the small of my back.

“How long dead?” I repeated insistently.

“Millennia. Those little droids scavenge parts from the station and ships the droids capture and leave here to keep this place running, and presumably to repair the Ghost Fleet’s ships.”

I shivered, hurrying my steps. Millenia? This place was basically a tomb! Ghost Fleet sounded about right.

“What if they come back?”

“We have friends who came along to blast them into eternity,” Yorix replied.

We reached the docking bay and there in all its glory was the ship Yorix and I honeymooned in, droids already advancing upon it. Yorix growled, running towards them, sword swinging.They squealed, skittering off. Yorix grinned at me in manic satisfaction, opening the hatch, which was damaged.

“Let’s see if that compromised integrity,” he said, going in. I ran in behind him and the hatch closed slowly behind us. Far too slowly, so in obvious need of repair.

“If it wasn’t for the fried systems, I’d have risked it,” he said, walking over to a panel beside the door, opening it, and pulling down a handle that turned out to be some sort of emergency door release.

“It’s still dead,” he told his new friend.

“We can tow it and wait by the buoy you mentioned,” Hreskuk replied, striding over to another vessel. “Come on, let’s go. This place always feels like someone is watching.”

I shivered, not liking it either. I followed Yorix down the ramp and boarded the other vessel behind Hreskuk and Mr. Komodo as they carried in Fox Man.

“Let me drop him off in the medi-bay and then we can go. Strap yourselves in, in case it gets bumpy,” Hreskuk said.

I didn’t have to be told twice. Yorix led me to a seating area behind a cockpit where another of Hreskuk’s Cohort sat at the controls.

“I see you found Lynn,” the male said, surprising me. “I am happy for you, my friend.”

“Yes. Hreskuk and another prisoner are putting a wounded male in the medi-bay.”

“Well, I’m not hanging around any longer. Those blasted droids have already approached our ship twice now.” He began flicking switches and touching screens. Engines rumbled to life. Thankfully their harness system worked more like the five point ones we had back on Earth, so I'd easily done mine up.

Hreskuk and Mr. Komodo returned, quickly sitting down, Hreskuk in the seat next to our friendly pilot.

“Alright, let’s get the Jurtiop out of here!” our pilot shroud.

“Tractor beam locked, so punch it!” Hreskuk replied gleefully.

I was never so glad to leave a place as I was that station, though the Ghost Fleet ship was a close second.