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"Or what?"
Immediately, I wish I hadn't asked as I'm given a headache so painful I have to close my eyes, and I fall to the floor clutching my head. I want to beg the alien to make it stop, but I can't even think; a single thought hurts.
I don't know how long the headache lasts, but when I come to, I am on the other side of the cage I had originally been standing on. Now, there is a man next to me. He is older and has a kind face. He pats my shoulder as I sit up.
"It's best not to fight them."
"But I have my whole life on Earth," I say, thinking about Sem and my job. "I don't want to be trafficked by aliens."
"None of us did," he says. "But fate will always have her way."
"Oh, stop with that mumbo-Alliance-religion-jumbo," the woman I first spoke to says to the man. "She doesn't need to hear that." Then, turning to me, the woman says, "Look, you're young. If you don't want to end up a pet for the rest of your life, you fight to get out of here. Once we reach the Gala, you will be put in a cage with other aliens to be auctioned. You prove yourself to be dangerous."
"How do I do that?"
"You try to kill me or another alien when our captors are watching,” the woman says seriously.
"And then what?"
"They will either let me die and kill you, or they'll kill you."
"And that's your grand plan for escape?"
"If you would've led the life I did as a pet, you'd know why I advise death."
I look around at the faces of the other prisoners. "Would you all agree?"
No one answers me. Some look away.
I repeat myself, "Would you all agree?"
A few of the women cry out, "Yes. Yes. I agree. Better to end it than suffer. She's not got many years left," they say of the older woman who advised me to look dangerous.
Our conversation is interrupted by loud crashes. I hear what kind of sounds like gunshots but not gunshots. The whole cage goes pitch black, and everyone begins to scream in terror. I ask the man next to me frantically, "What's happening?"
"We've been boarded, and someone is attacking the ship."
"Why?"
"Who knows? It could be pirates coming to steal these traffickers’ cargo."
"Us?"
"Yes. We are the cargo."
"Could it be someone else?" I ask hopefully. "Any secret human organization?"
"Not humans. There's an Alliance Force on the dark side of our moon that is supposed to protect humanity from alien abduction. It could be them, but they're understaffed and apparently only catch a fraction of pirates."
"They can't be very good if you all were abducted before," I murmur. Before the man can say anything more, we hear horrific screams from inside the room where are cages are. Then, more weapons fire and shouting in a foreign language.
I whisper to the man, "Do you understand that alien language?"
He nods. "It's Alliance, but that doesn't mean we're saved. There are Alliance traffickers too."
A few of the women cry out in the alien language. I don't know what they're saying, but it makes a few of the others really angry, and fights break out in the darkness. I try to move to the edge of my cage to stay out of it. Soon, our cage goes from black to light, and it takes a minute for my eyes to adjust.
I see men in black uniforms and black reflective helmets carrying guns looking at us. They begin speaking in their alien language, which most of the other humans seem to understand. Some of the humans get on their knees as if they are praying, and others smile.
