Chapter 17: Taking a Stand

The prison cell door formed, and the humans immediately gathered together and bristled in fear, awaiting the uncertainty of what was about to happen. However, of all the things they could have imagined, they didn't see this one coming.

“Eek! What are you doing here??” Nicole gasped. Eek motioned her eyes from the prisoners to the door and stepped aside.

Nicole cocked her head in thought and then glanced at her friends as she stood up. “I think she's here to bust us out!”

Charlie bit his lip, standing as well and helping Sarah up but not taking his eyes off of the strange puffy alien. “I don't know about this.” Sarah hid behind Charlie, peering over his shoulder. “I don't know about this guys. Maybe we should stay put. What if we get hurt?”

“Can we even trust her?” Charlie added. “I mean, she's a giant fluffy potato with six eyes!”

Nicole sighed deeply, facepalming at her less adventure inclined friends. “She's already saved our lives once. Besides, do we even have a choice? Everyone, let's go!”

ᵿ

The group stepped over a pair of unconscious Gorgonins in the dimly lit hall and looked at one another for support as they followed the fhuu's lead. They traveled for what felt like eternity down strange circular corridors before the alien stopped short at a corner. Nicole tilted her head. “What is it, Eek?” Charlie's eyes widened as he realized who was coming. “Trouble.”

Maita held up her stun gun with what to her must have passed for a grin.

Nicole rushed her and lifted her by the collar of her hood, pinning her against the wall. “Where is Pen?!” Maita's eyes widened momentarily before she shook her head. “You must be pretty mad.”

“Damn right I'm mad! First we're friends and then you freaking stab us in the back? Pen needed you and you let him down!” Nicole put pressure on Maita's neck and Sarah gasped, holding her hands to her mouth. “Nicole! Stop! What are you doing?!”

Maita grimaced. “It was a ruse! I'm here to help you find him!” she choked out. Nicole set her free and gestured threateningly at her. “Way to let us know ahead of time! We really thought you turned on us!”

The lavender blond coughed and stroked her throat. “I couldn't. You humans don't know how to mask your thoughts, so you had to believe it, otherwise it wouldn't have worked. I'm sorry. Well, not as sorry as I was originally.” She glared up at the raven haired girl, who shrugged nonchalantly and offered to help her up.

Sarah, hands still up against her mouth, shook her head at Nicole. “So, you believed Pen?”

Maita brushed herself off, holstering the stun gun. “I don't know what to believe anymore, but what I do know is that even if he were guilty, he's not that person anymore, and I'm not one for revenge. If there's one thing my father taught me, it's that revenge only begets more pointless bloodshed.”

Nicole snorted. “Yeah, okay.” Charlie cleared his throat and rubbed on his beard. “So, it sounds like we're on the same side here. Do you know where Pen is?”

Maita sighed, finally having collected herself. “He's alone in the sick bay examination room. Sounds like he and some of the Gorgonins are now under quarantine thanks to an unknown contagious disease Pen carried on board. Know anything about that?”

Sarah furrowed her brows in worry. “To us, it's just a common cold, but perhaps to you, it might be a deadly illness. It's highly contagious and mutates frequently. Our bodies can fight it off because we've been warring against the cold for a long time, but your bodies must not be accustomed to it. Actually, we originally came here to get your help.”

“But instead of being put into quarantine immediately, Pen has infected half the crews of enemy and ally alike. So, essentially we have a potential epidemic on our hands in addition to having to somehow escape the Gorgonins,” Maita clarified. The humans nodded in confirmation.

“Well, I do have some good news at least. I know of a secret passage to the sick bay.” Maita motioned her hand. “Follow me.”

She lead them inside of what appeared to be some sort of storage closet filled with boxes and dusty old miscellany. The nimble hanor climbed the stacks like steep stairs and opened up what was probably some sort of air shaft. “In here,” she commanded as her small and delicate form slipped inside effortlessly. Nicole squeezed in next, followed by Sarah. Charlie stumbled up the boxes and lifted his head and arms into the tight corridor, but the rest of him refused to fit. “Ugh! Wait up guys!”

Maita looked back at the struggling ginger. “Sorry Charlie; sounds like we're going to have to split up. Follow Eek. She's going to be meeting with the others. They're going to be retaking this building, so for the love of god, stay out of their way.”

Charlie hissed disapproval and continued to attempt getting into the tight air shaft. “I am NOT separating from you guys! I can fit in here! I've just gotta keep trying! If Nicole's big chest can fit, surely I can!”

“No Charlie, you're too big! You're going to get yourself stuck, and then what? How are you supposed to protect us then?” Sarah countered in irritation, even her delicate form finding it difficult to maneuver, shoulders against the top of the shaft and elbows bent, nearly touching the ground.

Charlie looked up at his best friends with his soft brown puppy eyes. “But guys-” Nicole interrupted, hardly able to breathe as her well endowed chest nearly choked her in the tight quarters. “Just shut up! Oh my god! Do what Maita says or I swear I'll beat the ever living bejeezus out of you!”

The dejected young man pulled himself back out of the shaft. “Fine, but you all take care too. Come back in one piece.” He slid back down to Eek's side, frowning worriedly.

Eek's many eyes gazed at the human. “Huu.”

Charlie shook his head. “No, don't try to cheer me up.”

The fhuu huffed and pushed him onward. “Huu!”

“Okay, okay jeez!” Charlie consented, following the lead of the fluffy potato person.

ᴥ

As the three women crawled through the tight vent, Maita began to further explain what she could, her quiet voice echoing softly throughout the tunnel.

“There are about twenty Gorgonins to sixty OmSaEe. We outnumber them, but they have far superior weaponry. Most of them are soldiers carrying the latest in reanimation nanomachine technology.”

“That's bad, right?” Nicole questioned, hoping for her to elaborate.

The hanor woman sighed deeply. “Really bad, breaks several galaxial morality codes. They'll go down, but their bodies keep fighting, reconfiguring until nothing is left.”

“That's like, actual undead!” Sarah uttered, horrified.

“Yes, it is, and even sixty of us would never stand a chance against a small army of reanimators.”

“However,” Nicole started, hoping for more. “There's gotta be a however, right?”

“Yes, you're right,” Maita reassured. “However, we have a secret. My father helped build our underground base out of this ancient ruin, and being the genius that he was, he also set up a few defense systems. There's no way the Gorgonins will know about them.”

∂

The model 22 collar tingled against Pen's neck violently as it configured its settings, a process he'd fortunately lost familiarity with up until this point. He hated to be reminded. Thoughts swirled around in his feverish mind, a few bubbling to the surface to hint at what was in the undercurrent.

No, I must concentrate. Focus. Who is Arcon? Why does he seem so familiar? Who is he? He's important! I could swear I've seen him before, but when I try to recall, there's nothing. Explosion. My fault? Don't remember. Maita, I'm sorry. Must remember. Fire. Death. No. I can't. No. Where is it? It's not there. Nothing's there. My mind is blank. No!

“No! Why can't I remember anything?!” He banged his head against the examination table in frustration, groaning at the relief it brought in comparison to the discomfort of his illness and the shocks.

Just then, a crash came from just outside of his vision. He could hear a commotion just outside, and then a door opening.

Maita approached him with a look of mild concern. “Let's get you out of here,” she uttered as she fiddled with the controls on the table.

“Maita, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,” he managed to choke out. The two human women arrived on his other side, and a tear left his eye in relief. “Nicole, Sarah. I'm sorry I got you two tangled up in this. If I'd gone alone it-”

Nicole interrupted. “If you came here alone who knows what would have happened to you? We're all doing fine and we're going to get out of this, together.” He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. “Just your presence is so reassuring Nicole,” he endeared.

“You're okay. It's okay,” Sarah affirmed while stroking his hot clammy forehead with her cold, dry hand. “He feels hot.”

“He sounds feverish. He's completely out of it,” Nicole added.

Maita frowned at the state of the captive scientist as she released his binds. “Those b******s put the model 22 back on him, even in his current state. It should only be placed on healthy subjects because it causes a lot of discomfort while it shoots test shocks through the body.”

“Test shocks?! That's despicable! Why would it do such a thing!?” Nicole grasped his hand in hers and began helping him to sit up.

“It was designed to allow control of the body remotely in order to stop violent patients from hurting themselves or others. This is unjust cruelty and I don't have the key to unlock it,” Maita informed between gritted teeth.

“Where is the key? It's still here somewhere right?” Nicole asked hopefully.

The lavender blond hanor nodded. “Yes, but it's owned by our hacker, and I'm not sure where he is in all of this chaos. We can't bring him along in his current condition. Besides, with this collar the enemy is bound to be listening in and tracking his every move, and that makes him a liability.”

Pen shook his head. “You're forgetting one crucial fact. As long as we speak this Earthling language, they won't understand what we're saying and it'll be near impossible to translate.”

Nicole looked confused. “But you both figured out English right away. I don't get it.”

“Face to face, a hanor can use their psychic skills to instantly translate just about any language. However, this collar is merely recording the sounds we make, and therefore they will not understand,” Pen explained.

“Oh, so if you were to watch Earth TV, you wouldn't get it,” Nicole pondered.

“Well, if I watched TV alone I wouldn't, but as long I was sitting beside someone who understood it and was paying attention, I'd get it instantly,” he smiled.

“Whoa, that's kinda creepy. So you can read all my thoughts?”

“Nope, but some hanor can.”

“Okay but, for the time being, is there any sort of hanor medicine that might help him feel better?” Sarah inquired as she looked around the alien sick bay.

Maita's eyes lit up. “I'm sure there's something. I'm no doctor, but we can at least help abate his symptoms for now.” She began to dig through some cabinets until she found what looked like a metal;ic but flexible patch, and she stuck it against his arm. “This ought to help against the fever and aches at least.”

Pen sighed in relief. “It's already starting to help; thanks.” He pushed himself off of the examination table and nearly collapsed were it not for Nicole and Sarah's intervention. They helped him stand. “Thanks. So, uh, allies? We're all suddenly friends again?”

“A little slow on the uptake genius? Yeah, Maita was just pretending and now we're saving you and OmSaEe from the Gorgonins, then escaping,” Nicole informed.

“That's going to be a bit of a problem. They took the PIT,” Pen returned.

Sarah gasped in dismay. “Oh no! Do you know where it is?”

“Not sure, but a Gorgonin named Arcon probably still holds it in his possession,” Pen explained.

Maita's face turned grim. “Arcon? You mean the Professor Arcon? He's here and he has your device? This is really bad news.”

“Who's Professor Arcon?” Nicole wondered.

“He's trouble. Things just got a little more complicated.” Maita stepped towards the exit. “Nicole, Sarah, I'm sorry to have to ask this of you, but do either of you have any shooting experience?”

This made the raven haired girl scoff haughtily. “Well, I was valedictorian marksman in my class.” Sarah snickered. “She's not lying either. She's a true wonder. I've never held a gun myself.”

Pen shook his head, recalling the night he met Nicole with mild amusement. “Nicole can definitely handle a gun.”

The leader of OmSaEe solemnly pulled out another stun gun and handed it over to Nicole. “I believe in the pacifist ideals my father held, but if we are to get out of this situation alive, we must take some steps to protect ourselves.”

Nicole sobered, keeping the gun hidden under her jacket. “I understand.”

Maita began to head out. “Pen, stay here with Sarah and Nicole. I'll be locking this door with a passcode. It's all I can do for you, but when I return you three better be alive.”