Chapter 3
Atem
The females were up to something.
Each breath was difficult to draw in and caused a wet rattling in his chest as he struggled to fill his lungs. The crouched position didn't help as it limited the movement of his ribs. Lifting his head, and thus his eyes, did nothing to ease his efforts.
But he had to know what they were doing. He was worried they were about to hurt themselves.
One of them was making marks on the wall with her nail, digging into the layers of coated grime to make small, even lines, keeping tally of something. He realized only after many marks passed that she was keeping time.
Two of them – one with light brown hair and one with yellow – were pacing. The light brown haired one looked uneasy; the yellow haired one looked like she was about to snap. The one with blood colored hair watched them both without comment.
The green eyed one, the one his upper eye couldn’t look away from, came to check on him again later. She smiled kindly, said something in a low voice he couldn't understand, then went off to sleep in a corner with the others, leaving the one with blood red hair to keep making marks on the wall.
If they had been his prisoners, he would have already come down and stopped them. They were clearly waiting for something. Planning something.
But either the ratchi that owned this ship were completely inept or they sensed no threat from these delicate creatures, because nothing happened.
It might be a bit of both, truthfully, but he wanted to believe that the group that caught him weren’t absolutely incompetent. It might ease his humiliation somewhat.
He stayed awake, a difficult task due to his general exhaustion and the pain that continued to wrack his crouched form. He had to watch over the females as they slept.
Especially the green eyed one.
The one that he couldn’t look away from. The one that made something in his mind burn with longing. The one that offered him water, though her own eyes were sunken with fatigue and starvation. The small amount of food and water she got wasn't enough even for her.
But she offered it to him anyway.
He kept his upper eye on her even as his lower eyes moved around the room.
For the first time, he was clear headed enough to take stock of his environment.
He was healing – poorly due to the lack of nutrition, but it continued nonetheless.
Now, with that small amount of water, though his head still hurt from needing more, he could at least look around.
The hold they were in was tiny, probably only long enough for two of the females to lie down head to toe from one corner to the next, and they were so much smaller than him.
It looked old and like it hadn't been cleaned since this ship began operating.
A hole in one corner served as a waste eliminator.
His own body was straining and painful from being unable to release his waste, but he was Dominani – he would hold it in until he poisoned his own blood before he released it on himself.
The flare of pride was a relief, because it meant that he truly was healing.
A few marks after the other females went to sleep, the heavily yawning, tall female with blood red hair woke one of them – the one with riotous, black curls and the darkest brown skin.
She started speaking to her. The other joined her, chanting something he didn't understand.
But the steady beat told him that they were keeping track of the same thing.
The blood haired one finished, but the black haired one continued as she crossed the room to the hash marks.
She stopped chanting, but her head bobbed along with the same beat.
They were counting time intervals, he realized watching them. Keeping track of it so faithfully that they were willing to sacrifice sleep to make sure they did it perfectly.
Either their species was obsessed with marking time passing, or they were waiting for something they had no way to time other than counting.
He had an idea which and it didn't sit well in his gut.
Were they going to attack the ratchi?
Dread hardened in his throat. They were so small.
A single ratchi probably weighed three of them combined – unless they were somehow far denser than their bodies suggested.
He highly doubted it. And even if all five attacked at once, they weren't going to do any damage to their captors. None of them had claws or even proper fangs, they certainly didn’t have weapons.
If they attacked, he would be forced to watch as they were ripped apart. It would destroy him to be unable to protect these delicate females.
Especially pretty green eyes.
His third eye never moved from her. She slept fitfully, snuggled up against the softest female with long, light brown hair. Even in sleep, her cutely tufted brow was drawn with unease.
He wanted to stroke away that tension. He wanted her to know she was safe.
This female that had nothing and still offered to share everything with him. He would die for her for that honor alone.
If she was hurt trying something foolish...?
The idea curdled in his gut like poison.
But he was helpless to do anything but watch them.
Sometime later, the bushy haired female, after making another mark, went over and shook the shoulder of the soft, light brown-haired female. She woke with a groan, but a single look at the other one's face made her nod her head in that strange gesture they made towards each other.
It was beginning.
Green eyes was woken next. She yawned, but cut it off quickly as she stood, stretching her arms high over her head. The dirty red she wore lifted, revealing the soft, slightly rounded skin of her belly. Atem stared at it, fascinated by the smooth expanse of flesh, before it was covered again.
She walked from the sleeping pile of the others’ bodies and crossed the room to crouch in the corner. She was beside the door now, opposite of where the black-haired female stood in front of her hash marks. The blood haired female was awake now as well, standing by Atem's cage.
The brown-haired female didn't stand. She was sitting beside the yellow haired one who remained still, her head cradled in her arm as she lay on her side. She pretended to sleep, but Atem could tell by the new tension in her body, even compared to a moment ago, that she was not.
Black hair made another mark.
Green eyes stood into a low crouch, increasing his nerves.
He wanted to beg her not to do anything foolish. But not only would she not understand him, he might even ruin whatever they were doing. He could only hope that it wasn't something that would get them hurt.
Blood hair nodded to brown hair.
She took in a breath and made to stand-
-and promptly fell with a small squeak on top of yellow hair.
Who yowled like a wounded beast. Both of them got to their feet and immediately started yelling. Their voices covered one another, echoing off of the low walls in a mixed cacophony that he couldn't imagine would make sense even if he could understand their tongue.
His eyes widened with shock when yellow hair struck the brown haired one. Smacked her with an open palm across her face. Blood and black hair let out loud gasps. Brown hair cried out and immediately launched a counterattack.
A rather unskilled, ineffective counterattack.
Atem's concern that had morphed into surprise now faded into confusion.
He didn't expect either of them to be particularly talented fighters, but even for such delicate creatures, they didn't appear to even be trying.
They smacked at each other, almost no power in their blows.
They pulled each other's hair but let go after a moment.
The others didn't even try to help or stop.
All five of them just yelled. Not even speaking, simply howling nonsense.
What were they doing? Had they lost their senses? Was falling on another some kind of high insult among their kind that they must immediately do battle while the others watched, screeching like wild animals?
The large, metal doors slid apart, revealing a ratchi who carried the tray with their daily rations. He was massive compared to them, but Atem knew that he was only average for his species.
“Hey! Stop!” He ordered in a sharp, barking hiss.
The females didn't heed his call. If anything, their efforts redoubled. Yellow hair grabbed brown hair and the two of them fell to the ground, beating on each other with open hands.
“Females! Enough!” The ratchi tried again, setting the tray down and lifting his shock baton with a threatening growl.
The females were still screaming, even louder than before. Black hair was banging on the wall. Blood hair was stomping on the ground. Brown and yellow hair were snarling and spitting and thumping around on the ground. All of them were making as much noise as they could.
All except green eyes.
She was still crouched in the corner, trying to make herself as unobtrusive as possible. Those pretty green eyes focused on the ratchi male. On the belt around his waist.
No, not his belt. She was staring at the ship's manual lock control key that dangled from a chain. Atem suddenly knew what they were doing.
His respect for these small creatures tripled.
They knew very well that they couldn't fight him. They weren't going to try.
The ratchi, cursing, took a single step into the small room, reaching for the fighting females.
He didn't bother to use his shock baton. He grabbed their shoulders, trying to pull them apart. They grabbed each other’s hair and pulled, kicking and screaming as they tried to come back together.
The ratchi had to pull harder, still barking at them to stop.
All the while, green eyes snuck up behind him. Her little fingers were steady as she grasped the hook that kept the key hanging in place. Atem couldn't believe the ratchi would be so foolish. Not only did he keep it there, but he didn't even feel her over his focus on the other two.
She was quick. She snatched it, then immediately ducked back into her corner, hiding it in her palm, adding her voice to the others as they continued to scream like nothing had happened.
That seemed to be the sign the others were waiting for, because the brawling females ceased. Breathing hard, their flesh reddened from their largely harmless blows, they stared at each other. The ratchi barked between them, ordering them to be cease or he would beat them until they bled.
The females didn't understand, but all of them went immediately quiet and submissive. The change was nearly instantaneous. Suspicious. But the ratchi was obviously underestimating these creatures, not affording them even half the caution they gave to Atem.
Even now, despite his concern being on the fighting females, the green, scaled beast kept looking to his cage nervously. Atem did his best to appear as beaten down and nonthreatening as possible. He made his ragged breathing sound even worse, shivering like he was fevered for added effect.
The ratchi pushed the two fighting females apart from each other and, with a hiss of irritation, walked through the door.
It was keyed to him and opened immediately at his approach.
He stepped through and it began to close.
Atem saw him reach for his belt. His three fingered hand patted at his hip, searching for the key.
Green eyes was already up. She took the stolen key and jammed it into its receptacle.
The doors hissed as they locked from the inside and a red light immediately began to blink overhead.
She not only locked the door, she had sealed the entire room.
A fail safe every room on a starship would have in case of a hull breach somewhere.
Best of all, the manual lock would also have to be unlocked manually.
The bridge wouldn't be able to open the door from afar.
Had they known that, or were they just desperate and guessing?
It didn't matter because their plan worked flawlessly.
The ratchi pounded against the metal uselessly from the other side.
The females watched it wearily, waiting for some sign that their attempt had not been successful.
The brown haired and yellowed haired embraced fearfully, as though they had not been tearing at each other only a moment ago.
They didn't know that their plan had worked so well, which led Atem to believe that they didn't know exactly what they had done. They only sought to lock the door from the inside instead of the outside, to keep themselves separated from the ratchi. They had great instincts.
More than that, they were exceedingly clever and amazingly determined.
They had known they couldn't fight, so they didn't try.
Instead, they had resorted to trickery and deception.
Time honored and respected tactics against stronger enemies.
After all, if you could not overpower a foe, your best option was to out-think him.
Weakness wasn't an excuse for defeat – another ancient proverb.
One these females clearly took to heart.