My boots thumped against the soft, carpeted steps of the fancy stairway. No security guards greeted us as we finished ascending the stairway, so we were in the clear for now. But the noise from our little gunfight earlier could attract guards, so it was best that we moved quickly.

One look around made it clear that this was the penthouse floor. Every hallway floor had an expensive red carpet laid over it, the walls were adorned with paintings, and I could see massive windows down the hall, providing a beautiful view of the massive city, no doubt.

An abundant amount of chandeliers hung from the ceiling and expensive looking vases bursting with flowers sat on wooden tables. The lighting throughout this floor was bright and harsh, enveloping all of my surroundings with a golden glow. This entire penthouse floor screamed “I’m rich!” The lower floors were all business, but this one was all pleasure.

I pointed at one of the paintings on the wall. “Is that Yaro?” I asked.

The painting depicted a very posh looking Aeon with scales that looked like they were made of marble. Her body was covered in swathes of white, with streaks of brown, gold, and gray on her figure. The Aeon sat arrogantly in a very expensive looking velvet chair, wearing a smug grin on her face. Golden jewelry hung from her neck, pierced through her head fins, and were wrapped around her tail in bands. She wore a revealing black dress that boasted her thick, powerful legs. Her stocky tail sat on her lap. The Aeon’s head was tilted up, to further drive home the point that she was important.

Bubbles scoffed. “Yeah, that’s her. She commissions paintings of herself and hangs them up on this floor. Probably to remind anyone who sees them that she owns this place. Yaro’s a real piece of work.”

I pulled my gaze away from the stupid painting. “Sure seems like it. Based on vibes only, I’d guess that she’s the most corrupt trillionaire out there.”

“Which way?” I asked Bubbles. “Noah’s up here, right?”

Bubbles checked his tablet. “Yep, follow me. The tracker is still on, apparently. But it hasn’t moved for some time. It could’ve been knocked off his suit or something. But I can guarantee that he’s on this floor. This is where I was kept, too.”

“Got it. Let’s go.”

Bubbles, his clone, and I started our mad dash through the hallways, with our weapons drawn. We were bound to run into some guards, or maybe even Yaro. However, with the commotion of the security breach downstairs, there was a reduced chance of that.

We ran past multiple doors as we barreled down the hallways. This place was more like a hotel than Yaro’s personal living quarters. Or maybe it was just a hotel, and Yaro had her guests sleep over. I voiced my question to Bubbles.

“Is this where Yaro lives? It seems more like a hotel to me.” I asked.

Bubbles shook his head. “This is where Yaro lets her guests rest. She throws parties and festivities here, and the guests stay in the rooms here. They sometimes travel from far away, so they just stay here for the duration of their visit. The collection’s down here, too. Yaro lives on the floor above. We probably won’t find her here, unless she’s taking a look at all of her pets or something.”

“Got it. Are there any guests here currently?”

“Shouldn’t be. We probably won’t run into anyone other than guards for now. Maybe a couple servants. This floor seems a little quieter than usual, though.” Bubbles said.

We kept running. Even after Bubbles warned me about guards, there was no presence of them, which was weird. Even if there was a security breach on the lower floors, a few guards should still be posted up here. I couldn’t put away the sinking feeling that this was a trap. Or maybe I was just nervous. There was no telling what state Noah was in currently. He’d been here for a few days already.

After a couple minutes of running, we finally reached the right room. Bubbles and his clone threw open the double doors leading into the room, with his hand cannon drawn. I followed with my gun drawn as well.

The lights in the room were off. Bubbles quickly found the light switch and flicked them on. A bright light illuminated the entire room. The source of the light appeared to be floodlights that hung from the ceiling. There were rows of racks, boxes, and lockers. It appeared as though we were in a storage room of some sort. It was a huge contrast from the fancy hallways we were just running through. This must’ve been where they kept all of the supplies for the rooms, or perhaps an area for servants to drop off their belongings.

Bubbles scratched his head. “Alright, this confirms my fear that the tracker is no longer on Noah. What is the tracker attached to?” He started rummaging through the room, searching for the tracker. He pushed away a few crates, checked a few lockers, and peered at racks.

“This is a storage room, right?” I asked. “Where’s the collection at? Noah’s there, right?”

“There’s no doubt that Noah’s there, but I want to find the tracker first. There’s a good chance that–Aha! I found it!” Bubbles exclaimed.

Bubbles unhooked a familiar blue suit from the wall and lifted it for me to see. It was Noah’s blue spacesuit, masterfully crafted by Yori. The helmet was here, too. Yaro had tossed something incredibly valuable to Noah and I into a random storage room.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

“They took his spacesuit off?” I wondered. “I guess it makes sense. You wouldn’t display a human if you couldn’t even see his face. I hope they don’t have him naked in there, though.”

“I don’t see any of his clothes here, so he probably still has them. Good thing they tossed his spacesuit here instead of disposing of it, though. We can bring this suit to Noah when we get him out. I was originally planning to use my patched up suit my clone is wearing, but having a suit that actually fits Noah is a lot better.” Bubbles mused.

I peeked towards Bubble’s clone. The suit that it wore did have the correct number of arms and legs, but the shape was just off. Bubbles was much taller than Noah, and had longer arms and legs. It would be very hard for him to move in it.

“Alright, let’s stop wasting time here. Let’s go find Noah. He’s probably waiting for us.” I announced.

“Of course. I remember the way. Follow me.” Bubbles replied.

We quickly exited the room, flicking off the lights to increase the odds that our reacquisition of the suit wasn’t noticed. We’d be stealing a human next, so our chances of staying undetected was very low. Keshi’s crew was probably still holding out in that security room, but eventually they’d have to bail out. I was hoping to have Noah with us by the time that happened.

There were no alarms blaring and no security guards stomping through the hallways, so Bubbles and I assumed that we were still undetected. The empty hallways were kind of eerie. It was exactly the same as walking through an empty hotel floor. There was a sense of monotony, and a small fear that I’d turn the corner to something I didn’t want to see. Nevertheless, I followed Bubbles and his clone as he jogged towards the collection room.

“Hey, Bubbles, isn’t it weird that Yaro doesn’t have any guests over right now?” I asked. “She just got a new human for her collection. Doesn’t she want to show him off?”

“If we were a couple days later, I’d bet that there would be a lot of guests over.” Bubbles answered. “It’s only been a few days since Noah arrived. Yaro would have to make sure that everything is ready. Knowing her, she probably invited all of her close friends and business partners, the upper echelons of the Galactic Union. And naturally, they’re all busy people. It’d take more than a few days to gather them all for a party.”

“Makes sense. It seems like every rich person is in on this poaching scheme!” I said.

“Well, it is true that some politicians and influential people have a direct hand in poaching sapients. I know there’s a politician or two with collections of their own. But a lot of them are uninvolved, and are simply invited to view Yaro’s collection because they’re important. It’s hard for them to refuse an invite. I don’t know if they’re sympathetic, but they’re not guilty. They’re not entirely innocent either, though.”

“So even if we stop Yaro here, there’s still going to be someone out there poaching humans and the like? Great.” I muttered.

“Well, that’s part of why we’re here. If we can leak the fact that Yaro and other politicians keep sapients as pets to the public, it’d cause public backlash. Most people frown heavily upon human poaching, after all. I think there would be enough criticism to put some pressure on some of these politicians. The best case scenario is that they crack down on poaching. Although, contact with human governments could also be an outcome, depending on how advanced they are. Uplifting is illegal, but if humans were able to get out of their own solar system, I think that’s enough to allow them into the Galactic Union. I’m not too sure on how technologically advanced humans are, though. We’d have to ask Noah.” Bubbles explained.

“Right. The scale of what we’re doing is a lot bigger than I thought.” I mused. “If this goes public, it could make some serious waves.”

“And those serious waves are going to help Noah and I walk freely in the GU.” Bubbles finished. “Alright, we’re coming up on it now. Prepare yourself.”

Bubbles and I threw open the heavy double doors that lead to Yaro’s collection room. It was an ugly room. It was a grand, brightly lit room, with couches, chairs, tables, and counters scattered all over the place. They were all arranged so that anyone sitting there got a good view of the walls of the room. Cubicles wer built into the walls, separated from each other and the main room with sturdy glass panels. They were obviously created so that it was easy to look in and see the specimen inside. In short, it was an indoor zoo.

Bubbles and I slowly walked into the collection room, slowly taking in the sight. The collection room wasn’t completely full of creatures. A lot of the cubicles were empty, in fact. However, I did see a sapient that looked a lot like Bubbles’s real form. I saw a quadruped with four arms and eyestalks, and a dangerously spiked tail. I saw a small hunched over bipedal alien that faced away from us, staring into the corner of their tiny prison. And I saw a familiar bipedal, smooth skinned, short sapient, who started pounding the glass panel of his prison as soon as he saw who had entered the room.

“There! Noah!” I pointed, guiding Bubbles’s attention towards where Noah was trapped.

We quickly jogged over. Once we got close enough, I could hear Noah’s muffled voice through the glass panel.

“You’re here, Saka, Bubbles!” Noah exclaimed. “How did you guys even manage to find me?”

“Bubbles put a tracker on your suit.” I explained. “But nevermind that. C’mon, let’s get you out. We don’t have a lot of time.”

I looked back towards Bubbles. “How do we open these things? Can we just shoot the glass out?”

Bubbles shook his head. “No, that’d trigger an alarm. It’d get us caught before we managed to get off this floor. We need to find a key, and a panel that controls the cubicles in this room. That way, we can open the cages with full authorization, and not trip any alarms.”

“Great.” Noah said. “Do you know where that is?”

“Nope.” Bubbles said. “But I have a hunch on where it’s at. Yaro has an office on this floor. She doesn’t use it often, but there’s bound to be a key there. I’ll go look for it. Saka, you stay here with Noah.”

Bubbles and his clone ran off and left the room after casting a glance at the cubicle with his brethren in it. They looked just like how Bubbles looked without his suit, except they were blue instead of pink.

I turned back to face Noah. “Are you okay, Noah? Did they hurt you?” I asked.

“I’m fine. Your dad and his mercenaries were under orders not to hurt me, so there was no physical harm. They threw me in a cell on their ship, though. Once they delivered me to Yaro, they got their payment and went off somewhere.” Noah said.

“I’m glad you’re safe.” I replied. “What happened while you were here?”

“Well, your father let it slip that I knew how to speak Standard to Yaro. I was planning to keep my mouth shut because I thought it’d cause some problems, and it did. Yaro was especially interested in me after that. Apparently, none of the humans she had before could speak Standard. They’re gone though, since before I was captured. I don’t know what happened to them. Anyway, she came here every day to talk to me about random shit. Questions about how I learned Standard, questions about Earth, how I ended up here in the first place. I didn’t answer most of her questions out of spite, though. And there’d be trouble if I told her who I was affiliated with.” Noah explained. “I did demonstrate my fluency in Standard with a lot of curse words, though.”

I laughed. “Alright, good job. Are you holding up mentally?”

Noah shrugged. “It’s been pretty bad, I’m going to be honest. Being treated like an object to be admired and watched hasn’t been great. On top of that, I was starting to become convinced that I’d be stuck in here forever. Or end up like the other humans that used to be here. I don’t know where they are, but I know it's not somewhere good. Just get me out of here, please.”

I looked over my shoulder. “Hopefully Bubbles will be here any second now.” I scanned my eyes throughout the room. “Noah, have you been able to communicate with the other sapients here?”

Noah shook his head. “Nope. Our cages are too far apart, and I haven’t seen any of them talking to Yaro. Either they don’t have vocal cords, or they just haven’t learned the language. It looks like they’ve been here for a while, though. They were all here when I got here.”

“Alright.” I replied. “We’re getting them out too. Hopefully we can communicate somehow. It’s going to be a huge hassle, though. I hope they don’t drag us down.”

“Wait, can you tell me the details on what you’re doing?” Noah asked. “I understand you made some sort of plan to get in here, right? Please tell me you have a plan to get out.”

“Of course we do.” I smiled.

I started explaining the escape plan to Noah. It’d still be a little while until Bubbles returned, after all.