Like the sleeping human, I’d been placed on a horizontal platform with thick bands holding me still, sticking to me and preventing me from slipping out. They must have perfected restraining me from their experiments on my crew.
The Poker leaned over me, the predatory smile wide on its face. Its breath still smelled of death. Had it eaten part of the shelled animal killed by the Artist? The smell enveloped me while the monster gloated about my predicament. My escape attempt might have delayed my fate, but it couldn’t prevent it. The poker waved its Lightning Stick over me, repeatedly flicking it on, letting the lighting crackle.
Just as its arm rose up to slam the weapon into me, the door to the chamber opened. The Poker stepped away and gurgled something at the newcomers. It blocked my view, but they smelled familiar, even the fear that wafted off them. The couple from the sleep chamber, I realized. The Poker brought on their fear. That I understood. It was the scariest of the monsters I’d seen.
I wished they all had translation devices so I could understand them. Rage came from the Poker, maybe for interrupting its fun. The others spoke in hesitant but insistent tones. Finally, the Poker yelled, and I half expected it to attack the other two. Instead, it lowered its weapon and walked to the chamber door, muttering things that sounded unkind, more unkind than the rest of these human’s guttural language.
Once the door closed, the couple stepped forward. I’d seen them with only their sleep coverings before. Now they both wore the same white wrapping as the researcher from the wheel chamber. A small smile grew on the face of the one with long hair, not predatory like the Poker’s. It would have put me at ease had I been able to move.
It leaned forward and spoke a few words, barely above a whisper. I hadn’t realized these humans could vocalize so quietly. The other added a few words of its own and the long-haired human shook its head, its eyes rolling.
Without another word, the short-haired one stepped behind me and pushed my platform toward the door to the Undercage. Was this it? Were they taking me to my torture and death, just like the rest of my crew? I’d been fighting my restraints since I woke up and I continued.
They wheeled me into the empty hallway and down the direction I hadn’t gone before. The further down the hallway they took me, the stronger the scents of pain and fear grew. Old scents, those of my crew.
I gave up all pretext of hiding my attempts to break from my restraints. The long-haired human placed its paw on me, whispering words I didn’t understand. From their body language and scent, it didn’t seem like they meant me harm, but that didn’t mollify me much.
They continued to wheel me down the hall, the scents of my crew’s pain and terror growing. With it, came my recrimination. I’d failed them and now I’d share their fate. When these humans cut me up, they’d more than likely trigger Plan B.
We reached an area where the scents of my crew became overwhelming. The wall of the hallway turned see-through. Beyond it, several humans in their white covers worked at long tables strewn with pieces of my crew. The trunk-like leg of one of the guardians lay in front of a human who dug into a large wound o
n the top of his knee. Behind that human, another sliced open the stalk of one of the ship tenders. I almost triggered Plan B right then and there.
Instead of pushing me into the room where their ghoulish researchers picked apart my crew, they continued down the hallway. The one pushing me kept looking back as if expecting someone to follow us.
Finally, they stopped the cart and both of them began to undo the restraints. Whatever kept them sticking to me, ripped some of my outer layers with it when they pulled it away. With all the pain I’d been in and the shock of being released after seeing my crew’s grisly grave, I felt nothing.
The short-haired human pulled the last restraint away and jumped back, pulling the long-haired one with it. I stretched and rolled off the platform, shakily standing. The humans flinched back, their wary eyes following my every move. The long-haired one pointed behind me at a smaller door with rounded corners. It waved its hand as if shooing me toward it.
The door led to a small circular chamber with several seats, each with restraints hanging from them. At first, I stood my ground before noticing a tiny round window at the far side with distant stars twinkling through it. These humans were giving me a way to escape.
“Thank you,” I said, before holding one of my stalks forward. Their leader and humans like the Poker might have been monsters, but not all of them were, not these two. Despite what the other humans did to me and my crew, I had an opportunity here to make a connection.
The long-haired one stepped forward, shaking off the restraining arm of the other. It extended its paw, shaking while fear filled the room. Not just it or its companion’s, my own fear joined theirs. I wanted to trust these two but looking past what happened to me seemed impossible.
Its paw reached my stalk and its fingers wrapped around it, shaking it slowly up and down. It replied to my thanks, maybe repeating my own words in its strange language. I snaked my stalk around its hand before pulling it away and stepping through the door. The long-haired human nodded and waved its paw at me before closing the door with a loud click. An explosion sounded and I slammed against the door I’d just stepped through. The tiny ship they’d placed me in shot away and I got my first look at the human’s ship, all gleaming silver with blinking lights.
I couldn’t see our ship anywhere. Hope blossomed inside me. Had it escaped? Could it find me? If it did, would I be able to get us both home? What would I tell the Standing Ones about the humans? How could I show them that they were more than just monsters, at least some of them? I didn’t know the answers to those questions, but I was free and at the moment, that was enough.
A Word from The Author
I hope you enjoyed the adventure of our protagonist, the twist in the high stakes action climax and the glimmer of hope at the end of the story. Let me know what you thought about it, and did you figure out and have an idea of what the monsters were? Send me a message by joining my mailing list and let’s chat about it, I always love to hear from new readers and fans.
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I’ve also attached a preview of my SkyLine series. This is the first episode, the Dragon Commander. For being an awesome reader, I’m giving you the chance to either purchase it on Amazon http://mybook.to/skyline1, or you can get it for free by joining my mailing list as well https://bookhip.com/WHNNLW. You get a great story and even more awesome recommendations from me. It’s a win win.
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Yours Truly,
Kennedy King
Preview of SkyLine - The Dragon Commander
Chapter One: Colliding Worlds