Page 109 of Alien Prince's Fake Bride
But I’m starting to wonder if Vyrpy communicate with smell, because the stench is the same as in the escape pod of the Gladiux.
I get a better look at them this time. Gray and sleek, they’re wearing tight-fitting, metallic suits that cover them from the neck to their feet. Those are bare, with three splayed toes with black claws instead of toenails. They’re tall and strong, and their elongated heads have ridges that run along the sides. Either their eyes are just big, mirrored half-spheres or they’re all wearing some kind of covering over them. I can see myself in them, distorted to look like my head is disproportionately big. They’re much more alien than Khavgrens, and because I’ve never heard them speak, only scream, they’re scarier.
Without getting too close, the Vyrpy tighten the nets until Sigise and I are pushed closely together. They drag us across the metalfloor towards the exit. Dozens of them are crawling around and inside the gunship, and I doubt it will ever fly again.
“Stay calm,” Sigise says. “If all hope is lost, I will blow us both up. And most of this ship at the same time.”
We’re dragged out of the hangar and along a corridor. I don’t think this ship was made by the Vyrpy — it looks nothing like them. Everything is a dark blue, even the light, and the walls are smooth and shiny.
I take stock of my situation. Not great, but not hopeless. I still have my knife-slash-gun with its five shots. I still have my clothes on, and that’s never a given in space, as my experience shows. My morale isn’t the greatest, but it’s been pretty lacking since Mareliux left anyway. I still have some fight in me.
We’re brought into a big cargo hold lit in sickly green. It’s stacked from floor to ceiling with small cages. In each cage there’s an alien. I see Khavgrens and various others that I remember from the informational material about the Khavgren Empire.
As we pass through the big room, I look around for anyone looking like a human from Earth, but I don’t know if I should be relieved or disappointed that I can’t spot any. It’s fine — I wouldn’t want Ashlynn to be in a cage like that anyway.
The smell is nauseating, so bad it drowns out the Vyrpy’s own stench. Maybe indoor plumbing isn’t a thing in this ship.
There are intermittentzapsounds, and after each one, a different alien groans in pain.
The Vyrpy stop, cut the nets open, and drag Sigise out of it. With four of them holding her arms and legs firmly, they toss her intoa cage and slam it closed before she can dive back out. She tries, but hits the bars of the cage and there’s a hardzap.
She immediately grabs the bars of the cage and rattles them, checking the whole cage for a weak spot. “Don’t worry, Umbra. This isn’t the end.”
And she’s so convincing in her calm confidence that I half believe her. But this was never a part of any extraction plan. We were clearly betrayed somewhere along the line. Who knew about the plan? Who knew the password?
My cage turns out to be bigger than most. The Vyrpy push me in and close the door. Then they turn around, march out, and turn off the lights.
The zapping sounds continue, and every time there’s a small flash of blue light as well as an exclamation of pain.
“Sigise, are you all right?” I call into the darkness.
“Of course,” the colonel says calmly “I’ve heard of these things. You’ll get zapped randomly. It’s not dangerous, only uncomfortable. It’s to keep us from using Syntrix.”
“Which legion are you from, new captives?” a voice yells in Khavgren.
“Twenty-ninth!” Sigise yells back. “You?”
“Fiftieth,” the voice replies. “So there was a battle recently?”
“There are always battles,” Sigise says. “The Vyrpy will soon be driven out of Khavgren space.”
“Feels like I’ve heard that for years,” the voice says. “But nothing ever seems to—ow!”
There’s another blue flash as the speaker is zapped.
“We’re not supposed to talk,” Sigise says, then raises her voice. “But I want every Khavgren in this prison to know that we shall win! Prince Mareliux is right now defeating the main Vyrpy fleet?—”
There’s a loudbzztand a longer flash of blue. Sigise sighs, and she goes quiet.
“Don’t talk unless you have to,” a new voice says in the darkness. “The zaps are random, but loud talkers are punished.”
“Sigise?” I stage whisper.
There no reply.
I lift my wrist to my face. “Vera.”
“I’m here.”
