Page 25 of Pandora: Alien Games

“Not anymore, handsome. The priests want a hybrid now. They’ll change their mind next week. Who knows?”

“Maray, help me get out here?”

“Can’t, handsome. But I will send you candles and whatever you want. Where did you find the female?”

“I wanted to bring her in. I swear.”

“Edoo, I don’t care. The more time I spend here, the worse it is and the less I believe you. I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”

“Can you please look after the other three idiots that got arrested with me?”

“Hey, who are you calling an idiot?” Hassym called from another cell.

“Maray, can I introduce you to my brother Hassym?”

“Nice to meet you, Hassym,” Maray said, smiling. She laid her hand on my chest and her lips touched the side of my face.

“I’m always glad to meet pretty ladies.”

“Such a charmer. I’ll make sure you get an extra portion of everything.”

“You weasel your way through everything,” Ramy muttered, but there was little that we couldn’t pick up with our sensitive hearing.

Maray turned and left. I was alone with my thoughts.

I would have given my left arm to be with Pandora now. I constantly felt as if I let her down and didn’t do anything for her. I left her in the cave, and then I couldn’t find my way back into her heart. I was a disappointment for her instead of being her anchor and protector.

“Edoo, you okay?” Eray called over from another cell.

“Yeah. Are you also locked up in here?”

“Yeah. We all are,” Hassym answered.

“How long do you think that they’ll keep us here?” asked Ramy.

“Who knows? Maray doesn’t know either. We’ll have to depend on Ashok and his charms.”

“Then we’re fucked,” Eray whispered. We all picked it up.

“What? I’m only being honest. Ashok doesn’t have charm. He has brawn and is smart, but when it comes to charming someone, he’d rather claw and bite his way out.”

I sank onto the floor made of stone, relaxing and ignoring everything around me. How was it possible that they knew of Pandora? She had fallen in the middle of nowhere and I know the sensors from Aralis city can’t pick up what happens in the desert. Their tech is still composed out of old stuff, bits and pieces of technology that is thousands of years old and still works sometimes and somehow. Same as the wall around our oasis. Ramy connected our crystals to it and we can enter and leave at will, but no one else can.

My world hoped to return to the stars, to do what our ancestors did. But I don’t believe that Pandora is the answer, even if her smile melts me like the suns melt an ice cube.

Pandora

Damn, my head hurts. This shit is starting to get old. I keep falling or getting attacked or some other weird shit, and I can’t take it anymore.

“I want to know who is responsible for my headache,” I called out while trying to asses my situation.

As I tried to stand, the room around me turned fast, the way me and Van would twirl as kids. I had to lay back to stop the incessant pounding in my head. My brain is trying to escape from my skull. Ugh.

“I’m afraid I’m to blame,” answered a soft female voice.

This made me jerk up into a sitting position.

The woman walked with the light behind her, but she was so incredibly tall. I couldn’t see the contours of her body clearly, which was also in part to my head pounding. I felt like puking, but that wouldn’t help at all.

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