Rafaroy looked around once more trying to find his friend, to no use. He kept sending him messages through their secret line of communication, but he wasn’t getting any answer back. He wanted to keep looking for Khajal, but his superior had called him several times now, and he knew he couldn’t keep ignoring his calls. With one last look, he joined his other friends on the vehicle that would transport them to their camp.
The common subject amongst them was Khajal’s disappearance. “Haven’t any of you received a message from him?” he asked his friends.
“No, nothing so far,” Zandar, one of the other cyborgs replied to his silent question.
“Do you think we lost him?” Ibracor asked, expressing the fear they were all feeling.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions. Khajal was ahead of us fighting the blue bastards when hell exploded. He’s probably hurt, and that must have delayed him,” Rafaroy pointed out, trying to sound more optimistic than he really felt.
They all looked at each other, praying that their friend had taken the golden opportunity they all looked for: the opportunity to escape the human’s enslavement.
So far, not many had been able to escape, but thanks to the findings of Jarcor, one of the first to escape, many others had been able to free themselves from the human’s yoke.
Though humans’ had created them as cybernetically enhanced humans, they conveniently had forgotten they were part human. They treated all cyborgs as machines they had the right to enslave and force into doing everything they wanted. The government claimed it was the interests of the greater good, in this case, fight in the war against the Taucets, or blue bastards, as they called the aliens that had invaded the planet a few years ago.
Though they were humanoids, the Taucets were quite different from the humans, with pale blue skin, with darker spots, framing their faces. The spots extended down their naked shoulders. Their faces were dominated by huge dark eyes with oblong pupils and long, thick, dark blue crests where humans had hair.
The alien creatures were like locusts that drained all the resources of every planet they invaded. The humans had been fighting them as hard as they could, but they hadn't been able to stop them from establishing several colonies all over the planet.
The cyborgs fought them following the humans’ orders, and because they knew the aliens were bad news for their planet. But those cyborgs who had escaped had found the Taucets allies they needed in their escapes, so Rafaroy knew they had mixed feelings about the blue creatures.
“Perhaps the Taucets found them,” Zandar ventured to say.
“Yes… that’s quite possible,” Rafaroy agreed. “Either way, be attentive to any message you might get.”
They all nodded and soon their vehicle was parking in front of their tents. They all abandoned it and proceeded to the disarming tent, where human soldiers took their armors and guns before sending them .to their quarters.
Every weapon was accounted for, and if by misfortune one would lose a weapon during combat, they would all be searched until the humans were sure they weren’t hiding it. Humans were quite aware of the cyborgs’ superiority. They tried not to leave anything to chance, sure the cyborgs would use any opportunity to escape their enslavement.
That night, they were all summoned at the center of the camp to be questioned about Khajal’s disappearance. General Foster, the man in charge of their combat unit, wasn’t very pleased with the disappearance of one of his best warriors.
So, he asked, countless times, if any of the cyborgs knew anything about Khajal, but he got the same answer from every one of the cyborgs in front of him: no.
Before he escaped, Jarcor had been able to modify a circuitry in all cyborgs, to allow them to lie blatantly to the humans. They had never discovered the modification, and Rafaroy was sure they never would. They were too arrogant to admit any possible failure on their programming.
After an hour of getting nothing, the man finally gave up and sent them away.
Rafaroy sighed, tired, stretching his strained muscles, eager for a good bath and a good meal, but knowing he wasn’t getting either. Food at the camp was disgusting, and they were only entitled to a quick shower with cold water they took from a river nearby.
Elena looked out the window of her coffee shop and frowned. She hadn't seen Savannah in a few days now, and she was starting to get worried. Though she wasn’t a close friend, they usually exchanged a few words every day. She was always pleasant and had been a regular customer at the café ever since she started working at the factory. Elena had gotten used to her daily visit.
“What’s the matter?” Johanna asked her, lifting her head from the cups she was putting on the washer.
“Have you seen Savannah lately? You know, the blonde girl that works at the uniforms’ factory?” she asked her employee.
Johanna frowned as well. “Now that you mention it, no, I don’t think I have.”
“Could it be possible she has fallen ill? In a normal situation, I would assume she had started going to another café…” she started saying.
“But there isn’t another one for miles around,” Johana finished her sentence.
“Exactly. Do you know where Savannah lives?”
“Yes, I do. She owns a small cabin, up on Riverside Road. She has been living there for some time now.”
Elena looked around, making sure everything was under control. “Please, look after things for me. I believe I’ll go there and make sure she is alright,” she told her employee.
“Sure thing. Things are slow at this time of the day.”
She nodded and taking off her apron, she left the café and headed down the street, to where Johana had told her the other girl lived.
It only took her a few minutes to reach the house, and after knocking at the door for a while with no answer, she decided to walk around it, hoping to see anything. The small house had French windows in the living room and what she saw through them wasn’t encouraging. The wooden floor was covered with dust as if no one had walked on it in a few days.
Worried, Elena tried the door, and as she expected, the door was unlocked, and she was able to enter the house.
“Savannah. Are you here?” she called out, as she entered the house. But there was no answer. She quickly walked around the house, but the girl wasn’t anywhere to be found. On the kitchen sink, she found dirty dishes covered with mold, which assured her the girl hadn't been at the house in days.
Worried, she left the house and headed to the factory where she used to work. Mark Johnson, the factory’s manager was a regular customer at her café as well, and she knew him well. She was sure he would see her.
And he did. When Elena explained the reason for her visit, the man frowned. “Yes, I’ve noticed her absence, and I’ve tried to call her several times, but got no answer.”
“I’ve just come from her house, and it’s clear she hasn’t been there in days. Something must have happened to her. When was she seen for the last time?” she asked, more worried than ever.
“Let me ask her coworkers. They might know something.”
Elena followed the man into the factory and heard him ask the people working there if anyone knew anything about Savannah.
“Last time I saw her, she told me she was planning to spend her day off in the woods, enjoying the nature,” Sally, one of the girls said. “I haven’t seen her since.”
They thanked the girl.
“I’ll report her disappearance to Captain Summers. He’ll know what to do,” Elena said frowning.
“You know what this might mean,” Mark warned her.
“Yes, I know. But it can also mean Savannah got hurt up there in the mountains and hasn’t been able to come down,” Elena stated.
“They won’t waste their time looking for her. You know that.” Mark stated. “They have other priorities.”
“I can’t stay still and do nothing.”
“Don’t you even think about going looking for her on your own. If the Taucets are in the area, you would only become one of their victims.” There was real concern on the man’s tone, and Elena knew he was telling her the truth.
It was well known the Taucets captured all the women they could and used them as their slaves.
“No, of course not, I don’t have time for that.” She rubbed her forehead, trying to appease her headache. “I can’t simply do nothing. I’ll inform Captain Summers, and it will be his call either to do something or not.”
“Let me know what he tells you.”
“I will.”
She left the factory and headed to the soldiers’ camp, at the edge of town. They had been there ever since the war started. But as Mark predicted, the captain assured her there was nothing he could do for Savannah.
“We’ve received reports of the presence of Taucets in the area, so it’s not silly to assume she has been captured by them.”
“Isn't it dangerous for us to stay here if the Taucets are in the area?” she asked him, not very pleased with the man’s indolence.
“They wouldn’t dare to attack a whole village. Just stay out of the woods, and you should be fine.”
Elena returned to the café and told Johanna what had happened. Like her, the other woman was furious with the soldier’s inaction.
“I wish I could go looking for her on my own, but I’m afraid he’s right about something,” she told Johanna.
“That she was most likely captured by the Taucets?” her friend asked, with a sad tone.
“Yes, and it breaks my heart to think what she must be going through.”
“I know, I feel the same way, but there isn’t much we can do.”
“There is something. We have to be hyper-alert for any suspicious activity. The Taucets are in the area, and though Captain Summers assures they have never attacked a whole town, we need to be careful,” she added, with a frown.
“What’s going on, Elena?” her little sister Alanna entered the restaurant and overheard Elena’s last words.
She turned to look at her sister, a younger version of herself, with her light brown curls and her green eyes, in a heart-shaped face. There seem to be Taucets in the area, Alanna. I don’t want you to wander around town for a while,” she explained to the twelve-year-old girl.
“You mean the blue aliens? They’re here?” there was awe in her sister’s tone, and Elena frowned.
“Yes, Alanna, the ones we’re at war with, remember?” she pointed out, in a scolding tone.
“Why would they want to come here? There’s nothing here that might interest them.” The little girl said, with a puzzled tone.
Elena exchanged a hard look with Johanna, and the woman shook her head. They couldn’t explain to the girl the aliens were after slaves, she was too young for that.
“Let’s just hope they go away,” she replied, ending the subject. “How was school?”
“The same as always, nothing happens here, you know that,” the younger girl grumbled.
“Do you have homework?”
“Yes. I’ll grab a bite and go upstairs to work on it.”
Elena kissed the top of the girl’s head. “Thank you, I’ll check on you a little later.”
“Sure.”
Elena watched her disappear into the kitchen and sighed. She was the only family she had in the world. She did all she could to protect Alanna and give her the best life possible, and she had been doing ever since her parents died in a car accident a couple of years ago.
Life returned to normal, in the following few days. Although Elena still missed Savannah’s visits to the café, she was more convinced than ever she had been taken by the aliens.