Chapter 5
Bridget Thomas
I did not think that things could get worse than being trapped on an alien planet with a rude alien, but I was wrong. Things had become worse in a way that I was not expecting. These cyborgs were worse than the Kynon. If I thought the Kynon were rude, the cyborgs were completely void of any emotion.
So when this cyborg leader pulled up my shirt, I was mortified, but I wasn't going to let it show. I was strong, and I was not going to give in to humility. I could have killed this cyborg for pulling up my shirt and exposing my breast to him as if I was goods to be examined. His cold machine hand on my breast made my blood run cold. But what could I do? I was in chains. I couldn't run; they would catch me anyway. So I wasn't going to scream or cry; I was going to stand my ground and let these cyborgs know that I was not weak.
Now we were being pulled across the desert in these heavy chains. The cyborgs did not speak much. Beside me was Lieutenant Vnor Gin; he was being pulled in chains as well. He was silent and shut down as always. He probably blamed me for being captured, the jerk. He had absolutely no empathy. He had called me his cargo, something that pissed me off. He had a wall up around him, and I didn't know if it was simply who he was, or if all Kynon were like that. I did not expect him to rescue me, but he didn't even try to fight these cyborgs. Maybe he was a coward. He would rather give in than fight. I hated him even more because of it. When he shouted for the cyborg not to touch me, I knew it was simply because I was his cargo. He didn't want his cargo to be damaged.
I looked at him. He was stone-faced. He looked straight ahead and didn't bother to turn to look at me. He was not going to take matters into his own hands. But I couldn't deal with this any longer. I had already been manhandled, the cyborg touching my naked breasts. I wasn't going to just lie down and let the cyborgs run all over us.
“Where are you taking us?” I shouted to them.
There was no response. I saw the leader, the one called K6R, turn over his shoulder and look at me. Then he turned back around. He was not going to give me an answer. I looked at these so-called cyborgs. They were very strange looking, but what could I expect on an alien planet? Their faces were half-covered with a chrome plate, and the other half was almost like a man.
Their arms were covered in chrome all the way down to his hands. The tops of their shoulders down to their abdomen was organic. Then from the waist down, they were covered in material with boots, and I could not tell how much of that was mechanical.
We walked for half the day into the evening. I was tired. I’d had enough of the desert, so I was pleasantly surprised when it suddenly turned to hard dirt. It was cracked land as though there had been a lake that had dried up. Then on the horizon, I saw something that surprised me: very tall buildings. I was relieved. I could do with some shelter over my head and some sort of civilization after being in the desert for so long.
About thirty minutes later, we were entering this city. As I got a closer look, I could tell that it was only remnants of a once-great city. I looked around. As though sensing my questioning nature, K6R began to speak to us.
“Gronta. This is my city. As you can see, it has many battle scars. There were more buildings standing before. But she has survived,” he said. I knew this meant that the cyborgs had enemies.
“It is not as big as my brothers city, but my brother K8L is not as powerful as I am. Though he thinks he is. We do not get along, as you can see,” he said. It was then that I realized the battle was between cyborgs.
I looked around at the buildings. Some of them were in ruins. Others were still standing and looked completely untouched by battle. There were at least fifty buildings still standing surrounded by rubble. There were many cyborgs moving about this city. It was a scary sight because I did not know how I could ever escape so many of them. Suddenly we stopped moving when we came to a very large white building. It was cleaner than the others and did not have smoke stains or signs of battle on it.
“K6R, you are needed in the communications center. We are receiving transmissions from Cantu,” a cyborg game over to him to report.
“I have only just arrived and already have problems. I will be right there. Take this blue creature to the prison cells. He will be put to death at some point,” he said.
“No! Don't! Don't kill him!” I shouted and struggled against my chains.
K6R turned to look at me. A smile came across his face. “But take this fiery pale creature to my own living quarters. I will keep her for myself.”
“No! You will do no such thing. I am not yours. I do not belong to anyone. You will let us go!” I shouted at him.
He smiled again and looked at me up and down. “You are intriguing, pale one.”
“Go,” he said to the other cyborgs. Suddenly I was pulled away in one direction, and Vnor was pulled in a different direction. He was still stonefaced, not showing any emotion even though he was just told that he would be executed. I was the only one acting out. Why wasn’t he even trying?
“Come, pale one,” the cyborg that had my chains said. Then I watched as Vnor went out of sight and K6R walked deeper into the city. I was led into the white building and up several flights of steps. I was pushed into a room.
“Hold out your hands,” the cyborg said. I held out my hands. He unlocked the chains and took them off. Then he took off the ones on my feet and threw them in the corner. Then he walked out. I heard the door close and lock. I waited a few seconds, listening to his steps walk down the hall, and then I tried to open the door. “Locked. Shit.”
I turned to the room. It was a simple room but technologically advanced. It reminded me of being on the spaceship. There were blinking lights on panels on the wall, and I did not know what any of these buttons and switches did. There was a large bed in the corner, but it didn’t look like a bed from Earth. This was a large round structure with a tightly pulled cover over it in white. I sat on it. It was soft. “Obviously a bed. I’m surprised these machines sleep.”
I walked over to the window and opened the panel. To my surprise, the panel automatically slid open. I was excited. I looked out. I was very, very high up. “Guess I’m not getting out this way.”
But at least I could see the city and know where I was. Then I walked along the wall pushing buttons on the panel. Suddenly a cupboard opened, and a counter slid out. There was a tank of water and cups. “Yes!” I quickly filled the cup with water and drank it, then another, and another. I could only hope that one of these buttons opened a panel door to a bathroom with all the water I was drinking. On the counter were small squares. I pushed the lid open, and the smell of food hit me. I cautiously tasted the items, but I was so hungry that I could not wait. I ate the strange fruits and vegetables until my belly was full. I stood at the window. I wondered where the prison cells were. I didn’t know why I reacted in such a way when they said they were going to kill Vnor. It just burst out of me. I hated him, but I didn’t want him dead. He was my key back to the others, to Vicki. But I didn’t want to admit that maybe there was another reason why I reacted so quickly to defend his life. I had come to like the arrogant jerk. Damn it.