Page 9 of Abalim

His phony tone belied any sincerity he tried to pull over on her.

She gave him a long-suffering glare before focusing on Abalim. “Why do I get the feeling you’re keeping something really important from us?”

“Because he is.” Adapa intoned. “It’s not just the missing women you’re worried about, is it?”

Abalim huffed a sigh. “Yeah, it’s not.” He glanced at his shoulder where JR15 rested. “Go ahead. Show them.”

The little bot quivered and opened his top eye to activate the video he’d taken at the Galaxy’s Pub.

Once the scene ended, JR15 scuttled back to his hiding place under Abalim's dreadlocks.

A dead silence laid heavy in the room.

“Damn,frukme sideways.” Adapa said out loud what everyone had to be thinking.

Life in the cell from hell turned out to be a boring bunch of nothing burgers. After Lisa got over her initial panic attack, she settled into a routine with the others.

That is until the day when the neon-red robot who’d been their normal guard unexpectedly came just hours after tossing them their daily ration of dry protein cubes.

“You will follow me.” The android's metallic voice had a sultry lisp. She raised her hand to turn off the force field, but paused before touching it. The damn thing stayed like that with its finger stretched as if to turn off the force field covering the entryway.

When nothing else happened, Lisa and the others looked at each other.

“What the hell is that all about?” Toni put her hands on her hips. The nice outfit she’d put on to attend the Exchange was fast getting wrinkled and threadbare.

Lisa sighed. What a weird thing to think about now.

“Maybe she ran out of power.” Izzy leaned close, covering her heart with her open palm.

Morgan snorted. “Yeah, we should be so lucky.”

Several days later, what Morgan wished turned into a horrific prophecy. They hadn’t seen anyone since the droid froze. Which meant they hadn’t gotten any food or fresh water lately.

Lisa stood with Althea and studied the red android. She crossed her arms and gave the robot a narrow glare. “I’m beginning to doubt it being frozen like that is a good thing.”

“Yeah.” Althea put her hands on her hips. “Well, at least she can’t take us somewhere worse, like a slave auction. Damn, if someone doesn’t come soon, we’ll starve to death. We haven’t seen anyone since that stupid thing got stuck like that days ago.” She said the last in a soft whisper.

Lisa grunted. No arguing that.

Althea sighed and glanced back at the small room. “We might as well sit down and relax. Doesn’t look like anything’s going to happen anytime soon.”

Lisa reached over and gave Althea’s hand a squeeze.

It was easy to tell how worried the other woman was. Who was she kidding? Worried wasn’t the right word to use. She might as well admit it. Panic was starting to haunt her.

She sat next to Althea on the hard floor and thumped her head against the wall. Closing her eyes, she started to doze off.

“What’s that?” Althea jumped up and raced to the open-looking doorway.

With a grunt, Lisa pushed herself off the floor and stood next to her friend. “What’s what?” She squinted, trying to see what made Althea excited. Wouldn’t it be great if something good came their way? Like a tall, hunky hero from one of her series that came from some other dimension and rescued kidnapped women from Earth. “You think a dimensional portal is being activated?” Her heart thumped. “I’ve always wanted to go through one!”

Althea’s only answer was a raised eyebrow.

“What are you guys looking at?” Toni asked from the cot behind them.

Izzy squealed. “Someone’s coming?”

Morgan, the reigning queen of sarcasm, snorted. “With our luck they won’t take us somewhere that’s gonna be better than these luxury accommodations.”

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