I sat in the holding cell of my old expedition ship and put my head in my hands. I couldn’t believe that after all we had been through we had finally been captured. Jessie had been carried off to another part of the ship so that we couldn’t see each other. I didn’t know where David was either. I was very upset because I knew what the outcome would be. Both of us were likely to be put to death without a trial, never to see one another again. David, would probably face charges for aiding a known fugitive, but I didn’t know this for sure. The crew members all had their turn giving me a piece of their minds, but I ignored all of their comments and tried to focus on any means of escape.

They fed me nothing but leftover rations that the crew didn’t want. After everyone had gone to sleep, Jessie’s good friend, Wendy came over to my cell and brought me fresher rations. Unfortunately, it was all they had to eat, but it was better than the leftovers that they were feeding me.

“How are you holding up?” she asked me as I looked over at her through the invisible barrier of my cell and smiled.

“As good as can be expected under the circumstances. How is Jessie holding up?” I asked her.

“She is very upset. She thinks that she is likely to be put to death without a trial and treated as a traitor,” Wendy shared with me.

“Unfortunately, I think she is right. I would free us all right know if they didn’t have me under the control of this neutralizer. I can’t use my mind control powers or telekinesis. I also can’t turn into a vapor, but at least I can get messages to the others through you. If you would, please tell Jessie that I love her and that I am trying my best to work on a plan for our escape once we reach Earth.”

“I will tell her,” Wendy said with a smile. I waited for what seemed like hours before she finally returned with a message from Jessie.

“She says that she loves you too, and that is what keeps her going. However, she is really upset and says that she is afraid of dying. She is starting to lose hope and says that if she doesn’t see you again, she will always treasure the time that you spent together.”

I stood up in my cell and took a deep breath. “Tell her that we will definitely see each other again and that I will find a way to free her and David, no matter what! Tell her not to lose hope!” Wendy nodded her head and left just in time. The human named James came walking by the cell and stopped to look at me.

“Just wait, you Karkastian. When we get to Earth, you will get what’s coming to you. If I had my way, I would have a chance to execute you myself. In fact, I am going to ask the general to allow it,” he jeered.

“I am not afraid to die. I can join my loved ones in the ether. This life is only one aspect of our existence. You don’t scare me,” I said, fearlessly.

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, but when it’s time to die, I’ll bet you are going to scream like a little girl.” He laughed at me and walked away. Wendy came back one last time to talk to me that night.

“Jessie seemed to cheer up when I gave her your last message.”

“Good, how about David? Are they treating him well?”

“They have him in a cell not too far from Jessie. They want to trial him for treason as well, but technically he is no longer a citizen of Earth, so I don’t know if they will be able to get away with it.”

“Good, I guess that one of us may be treated fairly,” I said as I shook my head.

“I wouldn’t bet on it. They have ways of bending the rules when they want something. Let’s just hope they don’t get their way. Look, Jessie wanted you to know that she will be ready when you work out your plan to free yourself.” Wendy had to leave quickly as the captain began to walk in our direction.

“Wendy, I want you to get to your station. We will be landing very shortly. I sure hope that you haven’t aided the traitors in any way. If I find out you have, there will be a hell to pay!” Captain Henson shouted.

“Yes sir,” She answered feebly and went to her station.

As we prepared for landing, I looked out of the nearest window at Earth. It looked like a beautiful blue mass with white clouds swirling above its surface. Once we got closer, I was able to see brown landmasses amongst the blue, which I presumed to be large bodies of water. I was amazed at the amount of water on the planet compared to my own. It looked like a wonderful place to live, but for us, it was a place that we needed to escape in order to keep ourselves from being executed.

Once we landed, I looked out and saw a very crowded area around us. There were raised platforms and tall, gleaming towers that were bustling with humans moving back and forth. Jessie told me that at once, the Earth cities were far less crowded. Now, the population of humans was out of control. Hover cars crowded one another, honking at one another and causing a lot of commotion.

About an hour after we had landed, they unlocked my cell and put a silver headset device onto my head. I guessed that this had to be another type of neutralizer to keep me from transforming and using my powers. They bound my hands and yanked me out of my cell.

“Move, you wretched Karkastian!” a young soldier said. I did as he told me to, having very little choice in the matter. As we walked out of the ship and onto the platform, a group of humans came over and began to shout at me. Some of them threw rocks and other items.

“You are going to get yours, you terrorist!” One of them shouted. I tried not to look at them. I kept my head down and tried to tell myself that these humans were just misguided. I knew because of Jessie and Wendy that not all humans felt the way these people did.

I was taken through the doors of a very large, rectangular building which looked to be part of a very large military complex. There were men and women coming and going in all directions, all of them wearing the same olive drab uniform. We walked up several scaffolds and through several doors until we came to a large cell block. There were aliens of every description sitting in the cells looking very dejected. I was shoved into a cell next to an evil-looking Sarceastian. He shot me a glare and I frowned at him.

I sat there for the longest time looking all around me. The cells stretched all of the way up to the ceiling and occupied several floors below me. There were no windows to reveal the surroundings outside of the prison. I tried to use my mental powers to reach out to Jessie, wherever she was, but the device made it impossible for me to do so. Finally, I sat down in the corner of the cell and closed my eyes. I wouldn’t be able to execute any plan of escape until someone opened the cell.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, I overheard a male prison guard talking to a female one.

“That’s the Karkastian that the traitor fell in love with,” the male guard told the female.

“Wow, he’s rather handsome,” she said.

“Well, have your fun with him while you can, I won’t tell anyone. He’s going to be executed tomorrow I hear,” the male told her.

The woman began to raise an eyebrow at me. She was tall with short, dark hair and very muscular. I looked over at her and began to devise a plan of escape. I smiled at her and winked.

“I never knew Karkastians could be so good-looking,” she said as she continued to look me over.

“You’re not too bad yourself,” I answered, doing the same thing.

“Since you are going to be executed tomorrow, maybe I can show you a good time. It will be better than any last request you could want.” She winked back at me.

“I would be more than happy to take you up on that offer, but I need you to take this device off of my head if you really want me to perform properly,” I told her. She looked at me skeptically but then began to unlock the cell.

“Don’t try anything,” she said as she shut the door of the cell and pulled out a laser gun. Then, she moved closer to me and ran her hand down my chest. “Wow, you really are muscular, aren’t you? I bet you have a really nice muscle under those pants.” She ran her fingers over my crotch.

“You will need to take off the device if you want me to function properly,” I said.

This female Earthling obviously didn’t realize what powers us Karkastians had so she began to unscrew the device from my head and threw it on the floor. Then, she began to kiss my neck and wrapped her left arm around me. She kept the laser gun pointed at me with her other hand. I tried my best to search her mind and control her thought patterns, but I was unable to do so. It was then that I realized that my mind control powers didn’t work on this planet, although I wasn’t certain why they didn’t. I decided to try my telekinetic powers as the female guard began to kiss my chest and worked her way down my body. I focused on her laser gun with all of my mental powers and was delighted to see it came out of her hands and into mine.

“What the...?” She said with anger and surprise as I pointed the gun at her.

“I guess you didn’t know about Karkastian telekinetic powers,” I said with a sly grin.

She glared at me and put her hands up in the air. “Too bad, I guess you’ll never know how great sex with me can be,” she jeered.

“Get in the cell. Thank you for freeing me. I hope they aren’t too hard on you for allowing me to escape.” I kind of felt sorry for the dejected woman.

“Screw you, Karkastian!” she shouted.

“You keep it quiet!” I said as I pointed the laser gun at her. “I will be leaving now.” I put the gun down and transformed into a blue vapor before her eyes. Then, I began to drift off towards the exit of the prison.

“Help” Help! The Karkastian has escaped!” she shouted. The male guard that she had been talking to before appeared in front of the cell and other guards began to run towards her with laser guns in their hands.

“What happened Gina? You need to get your hormones under control. Now look where it’s gotten you! Where did the Karkastian go?”

“I don’t know, he vanished into a vapor!”

“What? You must have taken off his neutralizer. Did they not teach you anything about Karkastians in basic training?” The other guards came up as he unlocked the cell. “I need everyone to fan out in all directions. The Karkastian is on the loose. No one will be able to come off of their shift until he is found. Look for a blue vapor traveling through the air. I want him found. He is due to be executed tomorrow and I do not want that to delayed!” he shouted.