To a human the process I had to complete might have sounded difficult. There were thousands of slaves on this ship, each with different certifications and experiences. Of those thousands, dozens would be needed to properly run a machining floor. I would need to separate out those certified to work in this designated area, of those I would need to find those with experience in ship based resource extraction and then among those select those who were mentally and physically fit.
It was rather simple in all honesty. The slaves were cargo and all of their certifications were recorded in the inventory log. All I had to do was search for the cargo I needed and then
“Group 7174-87, please come this way.” The translation for this was a lot more crisp. They spoke using Ackyon script and those same aliens had spent hundreds of years developing it to near perfection.
“To start with” I began, “we will need to design a prototype hazard suit for a new species. The goal is for him to take on a minor role in mineral extraction, something such as sorting or manual object transportation would be optimal. But if you have better suggestions I am open to them.”
~
I laid upon the hard metallic floor, resting my head on my hands. The dark gray metal devoured my body heat like an ethereal predator. Slowly I brought a hand to my wounds.
The scars that were cut into me, the screams of that doctor that had tried to dissect me, the dark thing that had stood over me on that table and set me free. Mentally I had grouped them all together. These were all events that should not happen. Normal people did not get abducted by aliens and no one on earth expected to get carved up by demons.
But now I had enough distance to think clearly and I strained to put a thousand thoughts in order.
There were aliens, these were similar to humans even if their shapes varied. They stood around conference tables going over powerpoint presentations, they worked in factories and used guns.
Then there were those creatures that had killed the original owners of this ship. They were as tangible as a shadow and smiled as they tore people apart with their bare claws. They moved like a dancing puppet held up by strings, in ways that no normal person could hope to mimic.
The main difference between the two was that I understood one. The aliens were materialistic, greedy and could even be described as evil. The distinction was that they were an understandable type of evil. A human type of evil. But the shadow creatures? I dreamed of them, though I rarely remembered anything more than that when I woke.
What did they want? Why had they appeared?
And why did I innately fear them more than anything else?
They were directing me to something, but I did not know what. They spoke to me while I slept and no matter how I tried I could never remember why I rose to a cold sweat on the cusp of screaming every morning.
Of everything I had seen and everyone I had lost. I no longer saw the dissection table when I closed my eyes, I saw them and it caused a primordial terror beyond the fear of my life.
“I know you are watching me. And I know you are not here to help me. So what is your goal?” I asked the ceiling.
The ceiling, being an inanimate object, did not answer back. The small closet did not contain enough nooks for anything to hide. A single shelf filled with synthetic toilet paper and dispensers they used to hold soap covered one of the walls. A single row of foldable chairs took up most of the space in the room, affording only a small cleared walkway adjacent to the shelf.
I had been told that I could take a nap here while they had a meeting outside. The room outside had been equipped with a small projector and they had been displaying some form of blueprint or map that I did not understand.
They had begun talking in a different alien language that I was not privy to, surely discussing what was shown by the projector but that still left me in the dark.
My body ached from physical strain and hundreds of minor wounds in addition to my carved up torso. There were bruises, abrasions on my skin and scabbed over cuts on my fingers and hands. I had spent weeks on a hard metallic floor, I had pounded my fists on my cell window until my fingers were rendered bloody messes. I was missing a fingernail from when I had tried to pry one of the hinges off and failed.
If I had known that those shadow monsters were on this ship somehow, could I have saved the others?
The question rang silently through my mind. Could I have somehow negotiated with them? Or found out what they wanted and used it before the others were taken?
Why had they saved me and no one else?
I am alone.
The mental torment eventually proved to be too much. I felt my throat and eyes begin to sting as I struggled to banish the thoughts. As much as I tried I could not contain my greatest torments.
Why was I here?
What should I do?
The most simple questions repeated themselves again and again, cutting me more deeply than any blade. What should I do? What could I do? I technically knew the password to the computers on this ship, but that didn’t mean I could operate them.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
No, attempting to do anything with this ship would result in failure. The squid in charge of dragging me around did not like it when I touched things. It was unlikely that I could do anything with the ship even if I did have a plan.
What would the others have done? One of them had been an engineer, was it Diane? Or had it been Lucas? Either one would have had some idea of what was happening right now.
I brushed tears from my face but they were replaced just as quickly. I sobbed quietly for a moment, feeling the loss of everything I had ever known.
Just as quickly as they came the burning emotions passed and I rose to my feet. I did not have a plan but I knew I had to learn everything that I could.
These aliens would discover Earth. I knew that. Eventually they would come for my home, if I did not stop them my planet would be forever taken. Turned into a slave pit working for the monsters that could cut a human apart while they were awake and screaming without a blink.
I had been told to enter the closet and that I could sleep, but surely there was something else I could be doing. I searched around me and pulled out my phone, then pulled my shirt off. I held my phone towards my chest and began staring at the dark reflection of the marks carved into me.
A circle, within the circle a six pointed star, within that star was a smaller seven pointed star. Symbols aligned on each point.
Some of these markings were a computer password, so what did the rest mean?
~
“You assembled an entire fabrication department?” My aunt asked.
I drew my limbs back, shriveling slightly before puffing myself out in a display of confidence.
“I was ordered to equip the human, how would I do so without machinists and other assistants?” I asked.
The slight tinge of pink equated to what a human would consider a frown. It was a public display explaining that she did not appreciate my sass. Though it was just the two of us right now, she was considered very much superior to myself.
“I wished for you to display your personal capabilities, instead you have brought in others to perform this task for you. How can I be sure that you are capable of higher tasks now?”
“I have displayed the ability to direct others and ensure a task is performed correctly.” I answered. My aunt stared at me and upon noticing that I subconsciously receded I puffed myself outwards further to reassert confidence.
My aunt paused for a moment, considering. She glanced around the meeting room for a moment. Eyeing the table and the tablets laid upon it. The metallic floor was painted a slightly different color to signify the importance of this room. Eventually she crawled towards the side of the room and stared out the window overlooking the extraction bay.
“Permission to begin mining is denied.” She settled.
“But-” My colors flashed in our form of nonverbal communication.
I had done everything right- The words laid unspoken as she continued communicating without giving me a glance, a very rude gesture that could not allow for an argument.
“We have delayed for too long, we must make at least four jumps to minimize our chances of being caught. Mineral extraction is a continuous process and we have enough in our holds to tide the ship over until it can begin again.” The matriarch then turned to face me, “I will allow you to assist with overseeing the bay, you may be placed in charge of ore sorting once operations have begun.”
The information passed through my brains and I froze for a moment before answering, “Understood.”
“Optimal. The human is still your priority, you will learn what the symbols on his body means. It should not be too difficult of a cipher if it was meant to help us. You will perform this action in your spare time, after setup mineral extraction is somewhat autonomous. Begin production of human hazard equipment immediately.”
“Understood.” I answered, I felt a tinge of happiness reach my skin as my aunt walked towards the door and down the set of stairs that lead to this room. It had been positioned higher than the work bay to allow for management to easily see all of the worker below them. That also meant it was a good walk down.
I stood and watched her until she finally left the bay before turning to survey the room myself.
There were hundreds, or rather there were exactly one hundred and sixty seven people in here. It was a surplus and far more workers than we needed. However there was a stock of seventeen hundred total slaves trained in higher tier tasks aboard this ship. Far more than could work simultaneously given the limited amount of workstations.
Thus I had filled every position in this factory and gotten a large number of emergency replacements. We had a reserve that could replace thirty percent of the workers here if necessary, far beyond the optimal reserve limits.
The human was still in the supply closet, laying among the toiletries and extra chairs. For a moment I debated leaving to check on the prototype designs, but then decided against it. My job was to watch the human above all else. If I displayed incompetence at even simple tasks it was likely my new tasks would be ripped from me.
Even if the human learned his lesson and stopped interacting with our technology, there really wasn’t a method of ensuring he wasn’t stupid enough to try and drink bleach-
I felt my hearts freeze for a moment, surely the human was smart enough to not drink hand soap. Or chew on toilet paper and choke. What if he needed his stomach pumped due to a buildup of literal garbage?
I whisked myself towards the closet door fast enough that I almost upended the meeting table and threw the plain stainless alloy door open.
The human laid on his back observing his chest patterns, I almost flushed a relieved color but managed to keep my appearance unreadable.
“Human, is your shirt causing abrasion feelings on your wounds?” I asked, not that there was much I could do if it was.
“No.” He respond, “Visual // sight was goal.”
The translator struggled slightly with that phrase, at some point I may need to spend a few months learning their language to form a proper translator instead of this AI assisted suboptimal mess.
I turned my eye across the rows of detergents on the shelf, none of them appeared to have been opened. Likewise there were no opened containers of toiletries or shredded paper on the ground. Hopefully this meant that the primitive hadn’t eaten anything in here.
I decided that I would give him a task, and then survey the room a bit better at a later time to ensure nothing had tooth marks.
“We have begun prototyping a hazard suit for you. The machinists have stated it would be easier to collect data by building a prototype aluminum shell and then noting how your joints interact with it. Aluminum is highly recyclable and easy to cut. We can manually create proper shapes that do not hinder your body’s movements and then make a copy with more durable material.”
“Understood.” The human responded.
We traveled down the stairs to the work bay’s floor and the two of us approached my current team. One irvole stood next to a couple of the smaller insectoids. It was a large white furred creature adapted to living in the tundra of its homeworld. It was a biped much like the human.
It leaned against one of the cutting-stations, a saw blade was attached to the table that could cut through hardened alloys. Normally this would be a severe violation of work protocol, the saw blade could cause serious injury.
But the blade was not turned on and the irvole was an old experienced worker. I did not wish to start rivalries with my team over something so small. He was leaning well away from the blade and the table was not even online. The risk was minimal.
“Greetings.” He spoke in a deep growl, he did not use a translator and instead naturally produced Ackyon script via his mouth.
“Greetings.” I responded. “Has the prototype arm set been completed? Place it onto the human.”
We stood around for a moment and marveled at what we had built.
We marveled at the fact that we had built it too form fitting. The human could not properly slide his hand down the limb-tube as the wrist section was far more narrow than his fist.
“I see. We will need to either expand that section and include a thick padding to prevent the armor from shifting as he works, or we will need to include some sort of latch.”
Prototyping was a slow process.