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I felt his spit drip down my cheek. I didn’t move to wipe it away. I didn’t even flinch as I continued to stare back at him. He started to fidget, clearly unused to someone like me showing even a hint of backbone.
“Fucking cunt,” he muttered as he finally turned away and left, probably to go get another Aberrant to load onto the space vessel.
“Fuck off,” I yelled in return and his spittle dripped down onto the floor. When he was gone, I wiped my cheek with my sleeve before leaning against the bars of the cage.
“That was brave. I wish I had the balls to do that to the asshole who brought me here,” a girl said behind me. I turned toward her. She was pretty, the girl next door type. She had long blonde hair that looked almost perfect, with gentle waves that looked freshly styled. Ice blue eyes regarded me with a cool respect. She was slender and curvy in all the right places.
She would catch a high price, no doubt.
“My name is Mari,” she added. “What’s yours?”
“Nina,” I replied quietly. I gazed at the other women in the cell with me. There were four of us in this particular cage. There were about two dozen women in all.
“Do you know anything about Kryoan?” I asked. I hoped one of the others knew something so that I could at least know what I could expect.
“It’s a harsh planet. Cold. Long winters from what I understand. It’s inhabited by the Atieds. From what I remember, they have a fucked-up justice system based on hierarchy. Those with higher social status are allowed to commit certain crimes while those with low social status are not. The ruling elite are even allowed to commit murder. I haven’t heard any stories about how they treat humans, but I’m pretty certain we’d be considered the lowest class of all,” Mari answered.
“Do you remember what they look like?” I muttered next, feeling my nerves resurface once again.
“They’re pale white with really tough skin to protect them from the cold. Big. Maybe eight feet tall. Two arms and two legs like us. They’re human-like but the similarities pretty much end there,” Mari said.
“Fun times. It’ll be a god damned vacation. Can’t wait,” I replied, and she laughed quietly to herself. I looked outside the cell to watch as a few more men were loaded into the cages, followed by a bunch of enforcers who boarded the ship with us. It looked they were preparing for takeoff as some of them latched down a number of crates and pieces of cargo. I heard a number of different systems begin to engage. Beneath us, the engines roared to life and the floor seemed to tremble under our feet. The door we’d entered through slid closed and I heard several locks bolt it shut. Cold air started blowing from overhead and some of the girls sighed in relief.
“Leas
t they give us air conditioning down here,” Mari murmured, and I smirked in her direction. I liked her. She had spunk.
“Do you know how long it will take us to get there?” one of the other girls asked.
“No idea. Let’s hope they decide to feed us in the meantime though,” I answered. Mari shrugged and shook her head. She didn’t know either.
After a little while longer, I felt the ship begin to lift into the air. Not knowing what it would be like to rocket into space, I sat down on the floor because it felt safer and at least a bit more secure. The others followed suit. Eventually, the others introduced themselves. There was a redhead named Vicky and a chick with purple hair named Monica. We all talked for a while about where we came from. The company was nice. It had been awfully lonely in that cell alone. The four of us were in this together and that was marginally calming at least.
The days passed fairly uneventfully. The enforcers came by twice a day with food and water that they passed through the small slot in the door of the cell. It was never that exciting. Mainly prepackaged military grade meals that must have come cheap because they certainly tasted like it. Chewing on cardboard probably would have been tastier but it wasn’t like I had a choice. It was sustenance, so I ate it just so I could survive.
Mari and I bonded the most in those days. She was a born storyteller and liked to create worlds and tales for us to pass the time. I especially liked her stories that involved pirates who sailed the seas long ago. Big, strong men who didn’t follow any rules and lived the lives they wanted to live without answering to anyone else.
They had their freedom because they’d taken it for themselves. It was inspiring.
One week passed. And then another. Sometimes one of the girls would break down. Other times, it would be one of the men.
I didn’t cry though. I wouldn’t.
I got used to the routine of daily life on the ship, so when the enforcers began to act strangely over the course of several hours, I noticed. The looks on their faces turned from abject boredom to nervous anxiety. Their movements weren’t calm or focused, but uneasy. I watched more closely, and I soon got the feeling that they were frightened. They circled together and talked in soft murmurs, too low for any of us to hear. I leaned closer to the bars and tried to catch some of their words, but it was useless. Mari moved next to me.
She could sense something was up too.
Then the ship rattled hard, almost like we’d hit something, and some of the Aberrants stumbled in their cages. I grabbed the bars to keep myself from falling too.
The enforcers looked scared.
I should have been too.
Chapter Two
Nina
“We’re under attack,” one of the enforcers muttered anxiously to another.
