The sentinel forces his way into the room. Faster than anyone can react, he hits a button on his uniform, signaling an alert of some sort.
“Scanning initiated.”
Now that I can see the sentinel clearly, I can see why they warned me to keep my eyes down. The alien’s eyes are hollowed out, replaced with a mask that seems to provide artificial sight.
Its voice slithers slowly like a python. “A female...”
With all eyes on me, I inch backward. My spine hits the wall.
Rekker bows, breathing with urgency. “Sentinel, we have strict orders to bring her to Slain,” he says.
The sentinel laughs, but his mask does not move. He scans them with his eyes. “I do not have to ask for your holodex to know you have no such orders.”
Lök gulps. “How much do you want?”
The sentinel ignores him, walking toward me. “I want to talk to her,” he says.
“N-N-No,” I murmur.
I thought my captors were bad, until I saw this planet. Now that I’ve seen the inhabitants of this world, they look like saints.
Too scared to speak, I hesitate and latch onto the table in front of me. I push it over, attempting to block him, but he easily grabs my neck.
He scans my body, eyes shooting red lines over my skin. “Newly installed identification chip. You have broken four different intergalactic laws,” he hisses.
Akron backs into the opposite corner. “Listen, I had nothing to do with this.”
I choke as the sentinel lifts me. The tone of his voice drifts. “Filthy cunt.”
His other hand grabs my inner thigh.
“Please,” I whisper. “Don’t touch me.”
A soft chuckle near my ear sends chills down my spine. The sentinel clicks a button on the side of his mask. Automated appendages make a noise before unlatching.
Slowly, he slides the concealment away, revealing his hideous face.
My heart shocks me to action. I jump away, only for him to grab my ankles, lowering me onto the table.
His jaw is completely missing. His skin is scarred so badly I can see some of the ligaments in his jaw. Half of his tongue is missing.
I don’t want to look at him. I don’t want to hear him speak.
Help...
He slithers over me. “We don’t have to tell anyone about this infraction,” he says, arching his hollow face over mine. “Just give me the cunt. My department will share her, and you will go without punishment.”
“Take her,” Akron says. “Just leave me out of this.”
The sentinel breathes near my neck. He lowers his green and slimy tongue. I close my eyes and tense, shaking so hard I figure I might explode.
The aliens aren’t saying a thing. He’s going to take me. I’ll be tortured and used by a room full of sentinels.
“No.”
Lök stands, pistol stretched toward the sentinel’s head.
The sentinel is astonished. “What?” he cries.