Chapter 3
GILLIAN
Igasp, sucking in the air, pure and without dust, as if I’ve been deep underwater and finally breached the surface.
My lungs ache. My bones ache. All of me aches as I slide from side to side, attempting to work out what I can move and what I cannot.
Which is when I discover…I am naked.
Again.
What is it with aliens and a lack of clothing for those they abduct? Admittedly I am covered by something warm and soft, but even so. No actual clothing.
I’m in some sort of weird egg-shaped container. There’s the bed I’m lying on, a silvery blanket which almost seems to have a life of its own, and…nothing else. The container sides are opaque.
There’s a low farting sound and a flap opens in the side as something slides out with a noise which could be speech but I don’t recognize it as any language I’ve heard.
A waft of savory scent hits me. I inspect the container carefully and it springs open as my hand hovers over it. Inside is a selection of cubes and rolls which look suspiciously like sushi but are very much unlikely to be sushi.
Given the last aliens served a sort of beige slop which had no flavor and made me ill, this is a slight improvement, but only just.
I pick up the first piece, a roll which looks like nigiri.
I sniff it, although that doesn’t help much because it’s hardly going to smell like sushi.
I stick out my tongue and give it an exploratory lick.
It tastes a little like miso with an underlying vegetable freshness.
I decide to take a risk and pop it into my mouth.
The savory sweet nature of the food item explodes over my tongue, rich and pleasant. I drop my head back and take a moment. Even the act of chewing something is incredible.
Which is when I’m jabbed in the back of my head by the pincer.
“Ow!” I barrel away from the thing, swinging my leg around in order to kick out at it if it tries a similar maneuver. “What was that for?”
“Please,” a metallic voice says. “Take sustenance.”
“What?” I’m still rubbing at the back of my neck, just behind my ear.
“Please take sustenance.”
“Eat the food?”
There’s no reply. I try one of the other cubes, and it has a more meaty flavor and texture. After another two, I feel very full, possibly for the first time since I was taken from Earth.
“How do I get out of here?” I say in the hope whatever this thing is and whatever is speaking, given I’ve had food, has more altruistic motives than the last lot.
There’s a low rumble followed by a hiss, and the whole top part of the container cracks and is lifted upwards. I get my first glimpse of the world outside.
It’s silver and white, like so many of the places I’ve been held in. I can’t help but be a little disappointed. I mean, if you’re going to be abducted by aliens, then a little variety wouldn’t go amiss.
Although, I’ll take a hard pass on any more dusty planets with death pits, thank you very much.
I slither out of the container, which seals itself back up with a whooshing sound. Looks like no going back. I pull the slippery material around me, tucking and tying it where I can and wonder where a girl can get some clothing…wherever I am.
By the looks of things, which include flickering tiny lights running around the walls, the metal, the glass, the white, I’m on another space ship.
Oh, joy.
It’s also quiet. Something I don’t mind so much, not after the pit, open to the elements, filled with the sound of the wind, the howls of I don’t know what, and the buzzing hum which seemed to invade the planet and never, ever stopped.
So, hearing next to nothing, for the first time in a long time, I feel relaxed. It’s probably not a good mode to move into, given I’ve no idea where I am and what aliens have me this time. Although if they are wanting to keep me prisoner, they’re not doing a great job.
I’m in a room with three doorways. I pick the one closest to me. There’s no point in staying where I am, not now I’ve been let loose. I have a chance here…a chance to get back to Earth.
The one place I don’t want to be, but the one place I have to be. My mum might have gone, but I promised her…
I’m at the end of a passage which branches off left and right. I take the left turn and find myself at another open doorway, this one leading outside.
Outside? I peer out. It’s the most enormous covered space I’ve seen in my entire life. The roof is so high I can hardly see it, only getting the impression it is up there somewhere. What is easier to see are the maze-like structures which rise to about the height of a two-story house.
I can hear more noise in here. The sound of voices maybe. The occasional distant crash of something. I pull the blanket thing closer around me, more acutely aware of how naked I am underneath, before I venture further into this strange area. It’s not like my situation can get any worse.
Which is when the explosion happens, and I throw myself down on the floor, my ears ringing as I hear the pitter-patter of debris falling around me.
What sort of place is this?
“Oh my god!” Through the deafening trilling from the explosion, I hear a voice, high-pitched…female…human?
I uncover my head.
“That must be her!”
I push my hair out of my eyes to see…I blink hard…to be sure of what I’m seeing.
Two human women. One looks pregnant, and one is far too skinny for her own good. They’re clutching each other and staring down at me. They look entirely unprepared for this place.
“Quick!” I’m on my feet, the blanket still miraculously attached to me. “Come here. We need to get away before there’s another explosion.” I wave my arm at them both.
Neither moves. Instead they stare at me.
“That’s just Dante. He’ll go somewhere else,” the slimmer one says.
“Are you with Dalox?” the other asks me.
“Dalox? What is a Dalox?” I gesture to them again. “We have to get out of here, before the aliens come.”
Both of them are no longer looking at me at all. Instead they’re staring over my head.
“They’re already here,” the pregnant one says with a smile.
I’m about to say something about Stockholm Syndrome when I feel a strange heat at my back. For a brief moment, I wonder if I’m on fire and I whirl around.
To come face to face with a wall of iridescent red scales. Not just a wall. This is a chest, a heavy muscular chest which goes up and up as I lift my head until I’m looking into a pair of burning eyes, the pupils slit like a crocodile’s.
Eyes I’ve seen before…in my nightmares.
“My spark.” The words reverberate through me as they almost drop straight into my brain, dripping with coal and rust. “You are awake.”