“Can it understand us?” Krish asks. The leader creature nods vigorously in a gesture we have learned means ‘yes’.
“It would seem so,” I reply cautiously.
“But you cannot understand it?” Davix signs. I shake my head.
The leader creature starts speaking, but it makes no sense to me. I frown, but it continues talking.
“Does it know you can’t understand it?” Krish asks. The leader creature stops long enough to nod. “And yet it speaks at you anyway?”
The second leader says something to the leader and the two make similar sounds. It sounds similar to what Alek called laughter, though it sounded different when Lianov would make the same sound. For now, I choose to ignore it. I place my hands back into the stream of liquid and hear the leader creature suck in a quick breath as I slide the chains up my arms to clean the raw and ragged flesh beneath them. It says something to the second leader who calls to other creatures in the hall. When I have cleaned most of the blood of our tormentor from my flesh, I step back and gesture toward my brood brothers. “Krish, you go next,” I say.
Krish follows my example, cleaning most of the blood and gore from his body before turning off the stream of liquid and glancing at Davix.
“I do not wish to wash,” Davix signs stubbornly.
“It is your choice,” I reply.
“Zann is right though,” Krish says. “It feels good – like the lake near the hot springs in the east of our territory.”
Davix frowns. He hesitates another moment before cautiously testing the liquid spraying machine. He steps towards our huddle far less clean than Krish or I, but cleaner than he was when he began.
The leader creature takes a small contraption from one of the others. It presses a button, and a small bright blue flame erupts from the end. It moves to one of the tables and uses the flame on the surface, cutting through the surface quickly and easily.
“What is it doing now?” Davix signs.
The leader creature gestures at second leader and says something. Second leader says something in reply but then slowly extends its arms in front of it. Leader creature passes the flame between second leader’s arms in the empty air. Second leader spreads its arms wide and then points at us.
“Is there something we cannot see?” Krish asks.
“No,” I answer slowly. “I think it means to set us free.” I stare at the leader creature in disbelief. “It means to cut our chains,” I say louder, and the leader creature nods. I cannot help it. I tip my head back and laugh long and loud.
Chapter Seven: Corrina
“I hope you know what the fuck you’re doing,” Curran says as we both watch the creature tip its head back and make a strange low-pitched, rhythmic sound. I’m hoping that’s a good sign.
“Me too,” I mutter under my breath. I move towards the center of the room with the las-cutter and wait. The tallest creature – the one who was making that strange sound a moment ago – approaches slowly, extending its arms towards me. It is far more intimidating up close, and it is fairly intimidating from a distance. I would guess its height at close to two meters, which means it towers over my 1.6 meter frame. Long, wicked-looking black claws extend from its fingers, though as I watch they retract fully until you would not know they are there. Its facial features are mostly humanoid with a wide flat nose, black pupils in dark yellow eyes, and long pointed ears. Now that most of the blood is washed away, I can tell that its skin is an olive green color with stripe-like patterns of darker green. Its relatively smooth skin is marred by scars and cuts – both old and new – and it is completely devoid of hair as far as I can tell. It is naked with no visible identifiers of sex such as external genitalia or breasts. A long tail, thin hangs behind it. One of its most striking features, however, is the double row of small, pale horns that circle the top of its head almost like a crown. As it stares down atme, I grit my teeth and take a deep breath to steady my nerves. It extends its arms slowly, and I’m proud that my hands barely shake as I cut through the chains connecting its wrists.
“Commander,” Curran calls cautiously as I slowly drop to one knee in front of the creature.
“It’s fine,” I call as I apply the las-cutter to the chains connecting its feet. The creature retreats immediately, moving and stretching. I wonder how long it has been chained like that. I wait patiently as they communicate quietly amongst themselves, and then the smallest of the trio steps forward. Smallest is, in this situation, a relative measurement. It is significantly smaller than the other two, topping out at maybe 1.8 meters but still significantly bigger than me. Since I’m already on one knee, I begin with the chain at its feet and then stand slowly to cut through the chains at its wrists. It backs up, and I wait again.
The third is obviously reluctant. I haven’t heard it speak, but its hands move quickly and I wonder if it uses those hand motions to communicate. Finally, it steps forward. This one is only slightly taller than the second, but even in its current and presumably malnourished state, it is significantly broader than the other two. It bares its teeth at me as I carefully cut through the chains at its wrists, and I try not to let the sight of those sharp fangs unnerve me. I drop to one knee as before and cut through its ankle chains. Before I can stand up, I feel one of its large hands come down on my head and I freeze. Its claws extend slowly until I can feel them just beginning to prick my skin.
“Commander!” Curran hisses.
“Stay back!” I command.
The other creatures make a noise that I do not know the meaning of, but the creature gripping my head does not let go. It tips my head back slowly but with surprising gentleness and peers down at me. We stare at one another for a moment and then it releases me suddenly and steps back. The other two chatter at it in low voices, and the tallest one grips it by the arm and hisses at it. But it continues to stare at me unblinkingly. I slowly stand and back up to the table, where I drop the las-cutter on the table and sit down heavily.
“You okay, Commander?” Curran asks, grabbing my head and turning it from side to side to check for injuries.
“I’m fine,” I reply with more composure than I feel. I bat his hands away and glance at our new friends gathered across the room. “I think that was a staring contest or something,” I say softly.
“Did you win or lose?” Curran asks.
“I’m not sure,” I respond. “But since I’m uninjured, I’m calling it a win.”
Curran stares at me for a minute, his weathered face etched with concern. He runs a hand over the dark skin of his bald head and lets out a bark of a laugh. “I say this with the utmost respect and admiration for you, Commander, but you’re either dumb as shit or the bravest person I know.”
