Page 44 of Bred by the Alien Prince

The static of my comms kicked on.

“I'm Glad you made it. You’re putting on quite the show already,” the familiar feminine voice said, sounding amused.

“Elvira,” I replied. “Don’t get yourself killed. Hand over my human.”

“I can’t. You must come and get him yourself. He’s being held in the lower deck cell block D. The airlock near your landing location is opened. Good Luck.”

“Bitch,” I muttered and rushed for the airlock and entered the narrow docking tube.

The loud, obnoxious buzzing of the alarm warned the inhabitants of this great mechanical beast of my arrival. The pattering of feet rushed toward me from the distant hall. More Yogs, I bet. I could smell them as well as I could hear them. How much money did he use to buy so many of them?

Though I doubt any of them would be up for a bargain. I rushed for the corner and pulled free my blaster. The fools seemed to have graduated from the school of wasting an entire cartridge of rounds in a hail of shots in the vague hope that the enemy would just step in front and get killed.

I waited until the eventual reloading to sprint forward from cover, blasting several before charging the others and a whirlwind of kinetic energy, which sent them flying away from me. I didn’t want to rely on my jiva as I couldn’t afford to lose myself in battle now.

Lingering in that hall of fresh blood and burning flesh was not an option. I moved fast, closed the doors behind me, and bashed the control panel to keep the doors jammed.

The ship was old and damn near falling apart; I could see where the white paint had long since chipped away, exposing the metal, which had rusted as the years went by. The platform I stood on creaked with each step, making me more aware than ever of my towering size over the little green men who would take this path. Now it made even more sense why he had hired so many Yogs!

The platform must have been about fifty feet high, and below it were the whirling engines that kept this ship suspended in the air. One false move would send me tumbling to a very gruesome death.

I moved creak by creak until one railing cracked under my weight, sending it into the metal fans below.

“Fuck!” I yelled as the entire ship shook and jerked, and black smoke rose from a section of the fans. Now I needed to worry if this damned rust bucket would remain afloat!

I ran as fast as possible and sent a burst of energy with each step until I reached the second set of blast doors. I think I recognized this ship from my childhood. The plants that lined the small patches of soil were a soggy brown and withered away; muck crusted the windows so much I couldn’t see outside. Someone cracked the filthy benches. This tour ship was used to ferry sightseers through various planets containing primitive and dangerous wildlife. At one point, we Valisians were fascinated with finding planets in the early stages of life and observing the outcome. Many of these ships were decommissioned due to the waning interest in such endeavors.

However, if I remember correctly, the maps of these ships were easy to find and etched into plaques scattered about. Sure enough, there was one, covered in the muck but still easy to read. Now, I knew the location of the ship’s bridge but no sub-level holding cells.

“You should take the second elevator, but be careful. It only goes down twenty-three floors.” Her voice popped up on my comms again.

“Why are you helping me? Surely there’s no fun if I’m not struggling.”

“This is fun, but I don’t want to spend all day on this.”

“Right,” I said sarcastically. Something wasn’t right. She wanted me here for a reason. That much was certain. If it was a trap to kill me, then they were doing a piss-poor job of it.

I left the engine room, and the halls were clear. I came across two elevators and punched the call buttons on both. I pressed my back against the wall between them to make sure I had the jump on any soldiers coming in. They arrived, and a small group rushed from the right. Firing on the first two Yogs before delivering a swift kick to the third, I entered the right, opened the grate on the ceiling, ascended into the dark shaft, hopped to the left, opened the grate, and reached in to press the bottom floor. I remained outside the left elevator, and once it reached the final floor it could go, I waited to see if anyone would enter before jumping inside and exiting to a hall that was much cleaner than the area I was in. They clearly did work here. They polished the metal to shine, fresh paint applied to the walls, glass so transparent it could fool a flying beast.

“Ten more floors until you reach the sublevel.”

There was no point in asking her anything anymore. I thought of Caspian and having him in my arms again. I was a damn sap, but still, I wanted what was mine!

The sublevel was a dark and miserable place that looked as forgotten as the top half of the vessel. The belly of the beast whined a mechanical tune, and gears rotated and shifted about.

“Caspian!” I called him, hoping he would hear me above the eerie rust-colored music. Something wasn’t right, but that wasn’t the first time I had spoken those words since this entire venture began.

“He should be in the cell further down the hall.”

“Elvira…” I groaned, fighting the urge to ask her another question.

I kept my blaster ready and trekked down the long row of cages until I reached the end. Inside the last cage was not my Caspian but a frail Valisian male. Why wasn’t I surprised?

“Elvira. Talk.” I sneered, wanting to rip her through the system if I could. I imagined spraying her teeth across the room and hearing the sounds of her bones cracking and snapping under my boot.

“You now have the advantage,” she said, a slight tremble in her voice. "For I will give anything to see that man freed.”

“How kind of you to deliver your weakness to me.” If she spoke the truth.

---