I sat in a well lit hall, the lighting was bright to the point of being hostile. If I turned upwards I needed to shield my eyes or risk blinding myself and a slight fluorescent hum consumed any moments of silence.
Near me was a door leading to a large warehouse filled with seating and food dispensers, it was obviously some kind of cafeteria even if the fine details were somewhat alien.
It was also the sight of a massacre, something had descended upon the dozens of unarmed aliens in the middle of their meals and left only broken bowls and the greenish sludge that had long since dried and cracked into a spiderweb of crusted filth.
There were still no signs of the bodies or of whoever had done this. I tried not to think about it as I downed my third bowl of thick brownish paste. The only food on this ship seemed to be a dense puree that tasted incredibly sweet and salty. Hopefully its nutrients were compatible with my body and this food didn’t just come back up in a few minutes.
I chased it with another mouthful of tap water, the only drink on this ship, to rinse the salt out of my mouth.
Those hunched insect creatures continued to scurry about, this seemed to be the only nearby collection of paste based foods on the ship. That meant that as they left their holding cells every single one would make its way down to this room and collapse against the wall in the outside hallway with its meal.
Thousands of these hunched creatures trotted through the halls. Many of them limping or being carried by others in a constant stream of bodies. I watched as the bowels of this massive ship went from abandoned to overcrowded in less than an hour.
Even now, the short hunched aliens I helped free would avoid my presence. They were seated in the halls and sometimes tripping over each other, but none would step within five feet of me. A slow trickle on the opposite side of the hallway marked where they felt safe to pass me by, squeezing as close to the opposite bulkhead as possible.
I preferred it this way, while I was no longer fearful of their appearance I found them too unfamiliar to become comfortable with them. Eventually most of the creatures settled down and while some continued to pace to and fro stretching out their limbs, most silently ate their paste and took rapid darting glances at their new surroundings.
The thought of the logistics crossed my mind. How would I find a bathroom to expel my first meal since I had gotten here? Even as I had the thought my mind began to unfocus. I had overtaxed myself and slumped against the wall with an empty bowl, a cup and a scalpel. The only three things I could hold claim to. My eyes became heavy and I felt myself begin to drift.
The next thing I knew something kicked my side and I snapped awake. I tried to look up, before wiping the blur out of my eyes and shielding my face from the merciless hall lights.
“Hello.”
English. The voice was dry and monotone, belonging to something with a deep voice.
I leapt to my feet without thinking and came face to face with a horrible squid monster. I screamed and backpedaled only to trip and hit the ground hard. One of the short insect-things shrieked in alarm as I went tumbling straight onto them.
When the surprise wore off I was left flinching away from the angry bug-person and turning to the new unknown thing above me.
“Hello.”
The voice did not come from the squid monster, or rather it did. The thing held a small box and began tapping at it, causing the device to spout more phrases.
“You understand?”
I nodded before realizing that it likely couldn’t translate gestures.
“Yes I understand.” I said.
The bug thing I fell onto crawled past us both and took my old spot before slumping over once again, leaving me multiple arm lengths away from everyone but the giant cephalopod. Its skin took on an earthy tan color dotted with white dimples, and its yellow slitted eyes moved with an intelligence animals lacked.
“Efficient, it works.” The box crackled before going silent. “Why there is no Ackiyon?”
The name was foreign to me.
“What?” I asked before clarifying, “What is an Ackiyon?”
The monster shifted colors for a moment, quickly darting between red and a pale yellow before settling back onto its usual rock-camouflage.
“The species owned this airplane. They fill with green paste blood.”
Airplane was what they called a spaceship? I felt a pit form in my stomach, thinking back to what had happened. I was the only one outside of the prison when that happened, and it's likely that I was the only person who could account for the destroyed crew.
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How did I explain it?
I cleared my throat, while the aliens had been ruthless even now I could remember the way the shadow monsters moved. Untethered by physics, like a puppet being led through the gravityless ship by unseen hands. The sounds of screams and bones snapping as they were displaced by that thing stole everything from that alien.
I remembered the soft kiss on my cheek as I looked up to see an empty room.
“They were eaten by demons.” I offered, I didn’t know how else to describe it.
The octopus paused for a moment staring at the screen before typing in a new phrase.
“Definition required: demon.”
“A monster.” I said, before adding. “An evil entity, a divine being, those forsaken by god.”
The tentacle monster again darted between hues of red and blue before settling on pale yellow and eventually reverting back to the earthy tone.
After it typed for multiple minutes the device finally sparked to life and lectured me.
“This ship is not magic, those people are not magic. You are on an airplane because you taken by superior species.”
The issue is that I knew what I had seen, it was not mortal.
“I know that you are all aliens. But this thing was different it-” It smelled like death and it moved like a hand puppet. “It had no resemblance to anything I had ever seen. It didn’t move like the lizard- Ackiyon.”
The alien across from me did not change colors this time as it stared at the screen, it eventually typed in a new sentence.
“Continue describing.”
I thought back and shuttered, but I understood that they needed to know what was in this ship.
“When there was no gravity, something crawled out of the vent. It was-” I raised a hand, tall. “-this big. It had no color, like a moving shadow but it was so dark it stood out even when the lights went out. Even though there was no gravity it still walked along the ground. It grabbed the Ackiyon and ripped it apart with its hands. It moved like it had no bones.”
“Likely wear mag-boots. They destabilized the airplane and eliminated owners. But why leave? Why not take the airplane with them?”
I could understand the conclusion it came to, some sort of special forces had eliminated the crew and left us with the ship.
Its translator crackled to life once more, “Human, I have found human language translate. It incomplete. Soon crew will speak human. Now you follow me. Do not touch anything without permission. Many things deadly. Understand.”
“I understand.” I answered, clearly they had all of the faith in me that I would give a chimpanzee running lose in my home. This octopus monster seemed to be more intelligent than the insectoids around me, and was also roughly the size of a cow. It moved by twisting and shifting itself from limb to limb, stretching outwards and retracting its body to drag itself forwards.
For a while we walked in silence past rows and rows of small green onlookers that lined the edges of the halls. They laid collapsed, exhaustion and malnourishment apparent to even me despite their masks and chitinous faces. Though even now I was a unique enough sight that they would interrupt their naps and aimless wandering to stare at me, my tall and straight alien body as opposed to their own huddled and small profiles designed to keep them low to the ground.
Most were covered in some sort of carapace. A sheen that resembled plastic covering most of their bodies like a natural breastplate that left their joints bare. Though a few appeared to be almost naked.
“Why do they have so many bug people?” I blurted, “And why were they kept in those little cells? Are they criminals?”
The octopus wrapped its tentacles around the small box and after a moment I got my reply.
“This plane cargoplane. Aimed for new colony. Carrying goods. Slave laborers, difficult to produce goods. Exchange for raw materials. It scouted a few unidentified systems near its route and found your planet.”
“Why did they want to dissect me?” I asked before even thinking.
The creature typed rapidly and I got my answer relatively quickly. “Appraising you for viability of mass enslavement.”
“What-” I stumbled, “Do you think there are more ships with humans?”
“Unlikely, Ackiyon planes will betray each other over valuable treasure.” The octopus stated, “Single ships survive more.”
“So we have time before… They come back to capture more people?” I asked. “Could we… Stop them?”
“You ask too many questions too fast.” The box said in complete monotone. “We will have time before they genocide your people and steal your planet. First we must reach The United, they stand against Ackiyon.”
“The United are the good guys?” I asked, “They can help?”
“Yes.”
The United, I thought. In my mind that sounded similar to The Allies during world war two, surely they were the good guys and would help out a small struggling species on the edge of space?
We came to a stop in front of a door, it hissed open and I followed the cephalopod in coming face to face with a horde of giant tentacled monstrosities crawling around and shifting colors constantly.
Well, not so much of a horde as about two dozen of them squelching around the place. It was a huge amount to me who still was not completely over being around one of them.
I turned to see the limbed monstrosity begin blinking through two dozen colors faster than I could register and another octopus responded in kind. I realized that they may be communicating, not through words or letters but by colors. In any situation but the one I was in now it would be fascinating. Scientists would commit murder just to speak to a sentient creature not from our world.
I doubted many would kill to be abducted and experimented on.
I faced one of the octopi, this one far larger than the one I came with “Excuse me sir, the other octopus didn’t believe me, but the ship was invaded by these horrifying shadow demons that might be crawling through the vents. We should-”
It shifted a small box in its limbs as well, rapidly manipulating its smooth surface until it droned out in a dull monotone. “Your caretaker is over there. I am busy trying to run this ship.”
“Look, the things that tore the other aliens apart might still be on this ship. They crawled into the vents we should focus on getting weapons or- holy fuck don’t ignore me!” I felt a panic overcome me, if they had been in the slave quarters with the insectoids then they wouldn’t have seen those things rip into the vents. We were all in serious danger.
“Cease the distractions human.” My caretaker scrambled towards me, “And you must learn that god and evil divine beings are not real. Look, my aunt has decrypted the star charter and we may now learn where we are so that we may warn your people.”
The other octopus stared blankly at a screen, for a solid minute I stared at the unmoving octopus as it began to slowly blend into the floors and walls around it. My caretaker began blinking rapidly before her aunt answered.
“It says two.”
My caretaker paused then began blending into their environment, changing their color to match the dark grey walls and floors.
“Dear god.” My caretaker stated in a flat monotone through the speaker.
I vaguely understood that the camouflage was likely a response to fear, though I felt like I was missing context.
“Why is two bad? Are there two ships?”
“During a subspace jump we use a measuring tool to check how far we have leapt into subspace. Zero is our dimension, one or negative one is complete subspace.”
I understood immediately, “We broke through subspace and ended up on the other side?”
“Subspace is a dimension of pure energy. It would in theory require infinite energy to survive contact with the amount of energy held in full subspace. If the measuring device reached even .001 it would cause the ship to explode with the force of a supernova. We only ever travel a microscopic percentage of the way into it and stay for an even shorter time.”
“So uh. How do we get back to my home?” I asked the superintelligent cephalopod.
"We don't."