Chapter 7
A Pressing Need to Escape
James was picked up under both arms and dragged away. After a few minutes he regained the feeling and proper movement of his legs, but by then the aliens holding him had taken the paralyzing device off his head and shoved him into another cell. He was sealed in by bars that came down from the ceiling.
James stumbled onto a bed, which was little more than a smooth shelf jutting out of the wall, and sat down.
He had trouble keeping his eyes open and his head up so he just rested on the shelf and let his eyes close. He reached for the pockets of his jacket, which he had worn since being abducted. It still had the mud stains on it and he had slept in it for the past few days so it was a little sweaty, but he found what he was looking for, a packet of chewing gum he had brought at the bowling alley before being thrown out. He placed one strip in his mouth and started to chew. It was the only luxury he had left.
‘What’s that?’ a croaky voice said.
James kept his eyes open for as long as he could and another alien slid into focus. This one looked like the kind of creature you would get if you took a tortoise out of its shell. It had a long neck with a beak for a mouth and had dull grey skin. It wore robes wrapped around a plump body. Like tortoises on Earth it wore an expression that conveyed it was thinking deeply about something, however its eyes, which had the normal vertical slits like a reptile, rotated in the sockets. The slit like pupils keep flipping from vertical to horizontal.
‘It’s called chewing gum,’ he answered, surprised that he was not surprised to see a “naked” tortoise in front of him.
‘Can I have some?’ the tortoise asked.
James took out a stick of gum, looked at it wondering whether or not to give it away. He realized it might be best to start making friends so finally handed it over.
A long fingered hand reached out slowly, shaking slightly and took the gum. The alien tested it between its fingers before final plunging it into its mouth.
‘Chew until it releases flavor, if you eat it will be in your stomach forever,’ James mumbled through almost useless lips.
After a few seconds the alien spat it out, and James wished he hadn’t given it away.
‘Sorry I always try new things when I can and that was the first for five years,’ the tortoise said. It then, in a very frail manner its limbs shaking all the while, got up from its own shelf and walked to the bars of the cell and looked through.
‘Five years?’ James asked.
‘Yes ever since the fall of the Amorosians,’ the alien said from over its shoulder.
James had no idea what the alien was talking about, nor did he care, there was more important things on his mind.
‘What happens now?’ he asked.
‘What do you mean?’ was the response.
‘I just got abducted, brought across the galaxy, scanned and shoved in this cell, I want to know what’s next,’ James said.
‘You’re a slave, this is the slave quarters,’ the tortoise answered.
‘What’s your name?’ James asked.
‘Colmash,’ the alien replied.
James tired hard to think of something to say next. A part of his mind was reminding him how absurd this situation was, that he was talking to a tortoise. Other parts of his mind were louder and told him to accept it.
For once James finally took stock of his situation
He felt like crying.
He was all alone, in a very strange place and no one was there to help him.
Why couldn’t they have abducted someone else?
He actually wanted to cry, but he couldn’t, his mind forced him to push on. He knew that was Mede and Isto’s doing, they made sure he could take all these emotions and seal them away so they wouldn’t bother him. They were still there though, festering beneath the surface.
He hated them for that more than anything.
‘I’m so tired,’ James said and he lay down on his bed and drifted off.
The cell then flashed red and a siren went off.
‘What is that Colmash?’ James asked.
‘It’s time to work,’ Colmash replied.
James screamed. It was too much to accept.
●
James marched with a group of slaves to somewhere else in the space station. The screaming had made him feel better and his enlarged brain had forced him on regardless of his feelings.
There were no windows, James had no idea where he was in the space station and he had no idea where he was being taken.
Along with Colmash and a group of other aliens, most of them species he had already met, he was led through the station by the armed guards. James noticed that the corridors were becoming smaller and dirtier as they walked down them until they were completely covered in grime and slime. At the end of the corridor it opened out into a huge cylindrical shaft and James’ immediate attention was drawn to what occupied it.
It was a writhing mass of green tentacles oozing slime everywhere. The tentacles moved over each other and plugged into apertures on the walls of the shaft.
‘Colmash what is that?’
Colmash’s ancient body turned to him and he croakily answered, ‘it’s the computer core for the space station. Every ship and station has one, some are partially sentient. These big ones however are just living computer cores.’
‘Collect your equipment and get to work,’ some alien shouted. The group of slaves spread out and picked up some devices that to James looked like brooms.
‘It’s called a Mouss,’ Colmash said.
James noticed that no alien made to resist. Colmash merely sighed and got to work, he looked defeated and broken like all the aliens around him.
‘Why are we doing this?’ James asked Colmash as he picked up his “Mouss” and got to work. The other slaves were holding their devices to the sides of the shaft and a blue light, which was emitted from them, caused the slime covering the walls to vanish. The living computer core above James’ head continued to writhe and work, dripping ooze down the walls. ‘How do we get out of here?’ James asked. ‘Will they let me go eventually?’
‘No, the only way to be free is to escape, but that is almost impossible.’
‘You two stop talking,’ a voice shouted, and a guard walked up to him and glared at James. He saw that it was one of the fat pink aliens and that was confusing. James looked down the line of slaves and saw another pink alien, enslaved and guarded by his own kind. He didn’t understand this at all. The alien continued to glare until James switched on his Mouss and started work. The guard turned to Colmash, whose eyes, rotating like a focusing camera lens, appraised the guard.
The guard then nodded to the tortoise, conveying some sort of respect. Then it strolled away to shout at another slave.
He couldn’t believe this was it. He looked around again, the aliens were all slumped over and were severely defeated, no smiles, no hope.
‘Almost impossible?’ James asked.
‘Nothing is impossible, but it is extremely difficult and dangerous. I’m afraid we are here for the rest of our lives,’ Colmash said.
James looked at the slime covered walls, the Mouss, the slaves, not me he thought, I’m getting out of here.
●
The problem was James had no idea how to make that happen. Nothing he had learnt at school had prepared him for all this.
But, between the billions of cells in his brain information that was never usually shared before re-arranged itself, called for attention and was filed away for later use.
One word, escape, directed the flow of information.
Directed it…into action.
James stumbled onto a bed, which was little more than a smooth shelf jutting out of the wall, and sat down.
He had trouble keeping his eyes open and his head up so he just rested on the shelf and let his eyes close. He reached for the pockets of his jacket, which he had worn since being abducted. It still had the mud stains on it and he had slept in it for the past few days so it was a little sweaty, but he found what he was looking for, a packet of chewing gum he had brought at the bowling alley before being thrown out. He placed one strip in his mouth and started to chew. It was the only luxury he had left.
‘What’s that?’ a croaky voice said.
James kept his eyes open for as long as he could and another alien slid into focus. This one looked like the kind of creature you would get if you took a tortoise out of its shell. It had a long neck with a beak for a mouth and had dull grey skin. It wore robes wrapped around a plump body. Like tortoises on Earth it wore an expression that conveyed it was thinking deeply about something, however its eyes, which had the normal vertical slits like a reptile, rotated in the sockets. The slit like pupils keep flipping from vertical to horizontal.
‘It’s called chewing gum,’ he answered, surprised that he was not surprised to see a “naked” tortoise in front of him.
‘Can I have some?’ the tortoise asked.
James took out a stick of gum, looked at it wondering whether or not to give it away. He realized it might be best to start making friends so finally handed it over.
A long fingered hand reached out slowly, shaking slightly and took the gum. The alien tested it between its fingers before final plunging it into its mouth.
‘Chew until it releases flavor, if you eat it will be in your stomach forever,’ James mumbled through almost useless lips.
After a few seconds the alien spat it out, and James wished he hadn’t given it away.
‘Sorry I always try new things when I can and that was the first for five years,’ the tortoise said. It then, in a very frail manner its limbs shaking all the while, got up from its own shelf and walked to the bars of the cell and looked through.
‘Five years?’ James asked.
‘Yes ever since the fall of the Amorosians,’ the alien said from over its shoulder.
James had no idea what the alien was talking about, nor did he care, there was more important things on his mind.
‘What happens now?’ he asked.
‘What do you mean?’ was the response.
‘I just got abducted, brought across the galaxy, scanned and shoved in this cell, I want to know what’s next,’ James said.
‘You’re a slave, this is the slave quarters,’ the tortoise answered.
‘What’s your name?’ James asked.
‘Colmash,’ the alien replied.
James tired hard to think of something to say next. A part of his mind was reminding him how absurd this situation was, that he was talking to a tortoise. Other parts of his mind were louder and told him to accept it.
For once James finally took stock of his situation
He felt like crying.
He was all alone, in a very strange place and no one was there to help him.
Why couldn’t they have abducted someone else?
He actually wanted to cry, but he couldn’t, his mind forced him to push on. He knew that was Mede and Isto’s doing, they made sure he could take all these emotions and seal them away so they wouldn’t bother him. They were still there though, festering beneath the surface.
He hated them for that more than anything.
‘I’m so tired,’ James said and he lay down on his bed and drifted off.
The cell then flashed red and a siren went off.
‘What is that Colmash?’ James asked.
‘It’s time to work,’ Colmash replied.
James screamed. It was too much to accept.
●
James marched with a group of slaves to somewhere else in the space station. The screaming had made him feel better and his enlarged brain had forced him on regardless of his feelings.
There were no windows, James had no idea where he was in the space station and he had no idea where he was being taken.
Along with Colmash and a group of other aliens, most of them species he had already met, he was led through the station by the armed guards. James noticed that the corridors were becoming smaller and dirtier as they walked down them until they were completely covered in grime and slime. At the end of the corridor it opened out into a huge cylindrical shaft and James’ immediate attention was drawn to what occupied it.
It was a writhing mass of green tentacles oozing slime everywhere. The tentacles moved over each other and plugged into apertures on the walls of the shaft.
‘Colmash what is that?’
Colmash’s ancient body turned to him and he croakily answered, ‘it’s the computer core for the space station. Every ship and station has one, some are partially sentient. These big ones however are just living computer cores.’
‘Collect your equipment and get to work,’ some alien shouted. The group of slaves spread out and picked up some devices that to James looked like brooms.
‘It’s called a Mouss,’ Colmash said.
James noticed that no alien made to resist. Colmash merely sighed and got to work, he looked defeated and broken like all the aliens around him.
‘Why are we doing this?’ James asked Colmash as he picked up his “Mouss” and got to work. The other slaves were holding their devices to the sides of the shaft and a blue light, which was emitted from them, caused the slime covering the walls to vanish. The living computer core above James’ head continued to writhe and work, dripping ooze down the walls. ‘How do we get out of here?’ James asked. ‘Will they let me go eventually?’
‘No, the only way to be free is to escape, but that is almost impossible.’
‘You two stop talking,’ a voice shouted, and a guard walked up to him and glared at James. He saw that it was one of the fat pink aliens and that was confusing. James looked down the line of slaves and saw another pink alien, enslaved and guarded by his own kind. He didn’t understand this at all. The alien continued to glare until James switched on his Mouss and started work. The guard turned to Colmash, whose eyes, rotating like a focusing camera lens, appraised the guard.
The guard then nodded to the tortoise, conveying some sort of respect. Then it strolled away to shout at another slave.
He couldn’t believe this was it. He looked around again, the aliens were all slumped over and were severely defeated, no smiles, no hope.
‘Almost impossible?’ James asked.
‘Nothing is impossible, but it is extremely difficult and dangerous. I’m afraid we are here for the rest of our lives,’ Colmash said.
James looked at the slime covered walls, the Mouss, the slaves, not me he thought, I’m getting out of here.
●
The problem was James had no idea how to make that happen. Nothing he had learnt at school had prepared him for all this.
But, between the billions of cells in his brain information that was never usually shared before re-arranged itself, called for attention and was filed away for later use.
One word, escape, directed the flow of information.
Directed it…into action.
