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The goal was the same. It was the method that had to change. First, I needed to improve my current situation.
I was strapped to a trolley and couldn’t move a muscle.
I ordered my arms to punch but they hung uselessly by my sides as I was wheeled like Hannibal Lecter back down the hallways I’d come running up just a few minutes ago.
When I had total control over my limbs.
My head flopped forward and rested on my chest. I felt my heart fluttering and sweat roll down one cheek.
What was happening?
The scuff marks on the floors slid past like chevrons on a busy motorway. Then the trolley slowed, stopped, and turned to face a shut door.
I feared what might be behind it.
The figure pushing me along edged around the trolley. He lifted my chin with a finger so I looked straight ahead. It was Not George Clooney. Dried green blood formed an ugly gash on the side of his head where I’d bashed him hard with the wrench.
Clearly not hard enough.
“There, there,” he said, dabbing at the corner of my eyes with a dirty tissue. Then he ran his fingers through my hair and out of my eyes. “That’s better.”
Easy for him to say. He wasn’t strapped to this damn thing.
He checked over his shoulder, glancing in the direction of the door behind him.
“Listen to me,” he said. “You are safe now. We purchased you from the smugglers. If you want to be set free and returned home, you must listen to your new master’s demands. You’ll meet him soon, behind this door. He’ll make you an offer. In return, you will be allowed to return home, to your planet.”
My eyes would have bulged and I would have wiggled my fingers with joy if I could.
He smiled. It still looked fake but at least he was trying to be friendly.
“Before that can happen,” he said, “you need to do something for us, something you can do very quickly if you try. When I take you inside this room, he’s going to order me to release you. I will allow you to speak and move your face and head. But nothing else. You must be calm and respectful or he may not give you the mission. The mission is your ticket out of here. Blink if you understand.”
I blinked. It was the only part of my body I could control.
“Good,” he said. “You might be wondering why I’m being so kind to you.”
This is kind? Strapping me to this damn trolley?
“If you do not do as he asks, he will punish me,” the creature said. “It’s my job to find you. You were not easy to locate. If you cannot do the mission…”
He shook his head. And if something bad would happen to him, I dreaded to think what would happen to me.
For now, our destinies were entwined.
“Are you ready?” he said. “Blink if yes.”
I blinked.
He took a deep breath and then moved behind the trolley. He leaned it back and pushed me forward. The door slid open and we entered the dark room beyond.
At the end of the room, perched on a throne of alien skulls, sat one of the insect creatures. It looked identical to the others to my eyes. I couldn’t have identified him in a lineup.
“S’lec-Quos,” Not George Clooney said in a booming voice that echoed in the empty chamber. “I have the girl you requested.”
The insect on the throne—this S’lec-Quos character—sucked what remained from a creature’s decapitated head and slammed it on the armrest of the skull throne, adding to his collection. He stood up and marched toward me.
Okay, so there was a difference between these creatures. This one was huge.
