Page 119 of Sky Song
He tapped the controls in the panel that was hidden inside the cabinet. “The electric field’s disabled.”
Lyle made a sound of approval. His bulky form looked incongruous in the overcoat and hair cover. Despite the clown getup, he was anything but funny. Echoes of the fearless space pirate that now lived forever in Cricket’s memory popped up in front of her eyes. That pirate was coming back. Rather, the pirate had always been there, but now that her blinders had been removed, she could see the signs.
Reaching into his boot, he produced the familiar shiny device.
“Nifty gadget,” Ren remarked.
“You would know,” Lyle replied caustically, making Ren laugh, and Cricket thought wildly,How can they laugh in this situation?
“Dealt those myself once or twice. They’re hard to come by and super expensive. Where’d you get one?”
Forgoing the card, Lyle affixed the device to the door lock. “You’re not the only dealer in town.”
“I am now that my competition ended up with their heads on backwards behind Atticus.”
Lyle grunted. The shiny device began to hum like a high-voltage transformer.
“What do you think we’ll find there?” Ren mused.
“A shitshow,” Lyle promised before he pushed the door open.
The blue glow encased them as they filed in, with Lyle leading the way, Cricket close behind, and Ren bringing up the rear. The blue lights bounced off the shiny chrome walls of the narrow passage creating a surreal environment, an artificial cocoon where pale shadows criss-crossed, writhed, and bounced off each other in canned echoing silence.
They took the stairs down, just like she knew they would, and came across a second door. There, there were sounds, voices and groans, hectic thumping and deranged laughter.
“That… doesn’t sound good,” Ren said, low.
Lyle stopped and looked back at Cricket. “Stay here, sky song,” he murmured, taking in her undoubtedly pale, strained face.
“I’d rather go with you,” she admitted hoarsely. She really didn’t want to stay in this eerie blue bunker.
Without another word, Lyle unlocked the second door with the help of the magic card, and they were in.
It was a large open area, bigger than the lab, illuminated by a dim glow of lights. This light was gentle on the eyes, the walls a soft eggshell, and the sub-basement would have been serene if not for the cages lining one wall. There were cots and small desks in the barred cubes. There were chairs and porta potties. And there were occupants.
A sharp screech assaulted their ears, emanating from the nearest cage. The occupant, a small emaciated Sakka alien with sores all over his gaunt face pressed against the bars, reaching for them like a mindless zombie he clearly was. Mad. Mad and ravaged by a disease that may or may not have been an accident.
“Lyle,” Cricket whispered brokenly. She didn’t mean to appeal to him in distress, but it came out naturally.
“Stay calm, my hearts, and keep your eyes open.”
She didn’t know about staying calm, but she kept her eyes open, peering into the other cages. Not all of them were occupied, but everyone who was imprisoned now stood staring at their small party.
“Look who the aliens dragged in,” a familiar voice said. “I knew you were in big trouble, with your brain infected with alien filth. Your Earth upbringing has ruined you, and nothing can be done about that.”
Cricket blinked. “Kim?”
The woman in the cage next to the Sakka looked thinner and more haggard than Cricket remembered, but she was dressed the same way Cricket had ever seen her dress, in all-season pants and a plain untucked shirt with rolled up sleeves. Her coarse hair had grown out and refused to lay flat on the sides, making her head look like a bottle brush. Her eyes were still Kim’s eyes, burning with a bright crazy zeal.
“Kim, you’re alive!”
“Oh, don’t bother with the niceties. I know you wished me dead. Well, surprise!”
Cricket smiled despite the frustration Kim so easily instilled in most people she met. Defending herself against Kim’s accusation was a waste of time. “I’m glad you’re alive, but surprised to find you here. To find any of this here… How did you end up like this?” Cricket gestured at the bars.
“I’m suffering to protect humankind. Not that you ever cared, yourself rubbing elbows with an alien. Stupid girl, you don’t understand, you don’t know anything, blind and deaf and easily molded. But we do.”
“Who’s we, Kim?”
