Timothy wasn’t quite sure what material was being used to tie his hands behind his back, it looked rather like a rope but metal- it wasn’t a chain either though. It was a very confusing feeling too, it felt like a snake had slithered around his wrists and also the snakes were made of sandpaper. But whatever it was, it did its duty of bondage rather well as he practically lost feeling in his fingers from the tightness.

“I don’t want to be a bother, but could you loosen these ropes, I think they are too tight!” The boy asked, politely to his alien kidnappers. Beside him sat his three other friends, who at the moment all gave him a confused and slightly concerned stare. They two had been bound, and by the looks of things, their ropes weren’t any less tight.

Bleg couldn’t help but chuckle, “he’s tryin’ to escape, ain’t he?”

Qleg shook his little green head, “like that would ever work!”

At the helm of the ship Jenny McClain was setting the course to her destination. Her ship wasn’t a luxurious place, it was cramped and beaten down from years of being on the job. Wires and pipes poked out in awkward places, occasionally a red light would go off on a little screen beside her- hopefully, that wasn’t important. There was barely enough room for her men let alone her prisoners, who at the moment had been placed awkwardly on the floor in the corner of the craft.

The course set, the pirate captain turned to her men and crossed her arms. “We’ll be there in no time.”

“Be where?” Alex asked, making sure to add a smile.

The smile was not returned. “The Ring.” Jenny replied, promptly.

The boy nodded and bit his lip, “and… where is the Ring?”

“In space.” Qleg snorted, something weird came out of his nose but let’s not dwell on that.

“Ah, I see.” Well, that told me nothing.

On the other end of the prisoner lineup, Neil sat with his eyes closed. He was breathing in and out, an effort to keep calm that wasn’t really working out too well. Sophia noticed the breathing, mostly because it was happening in her ear, and whispered, “you okay?” Her friend shook his head and suddenly began to shake. It wasn’t a violent shake, more of a group of twitches, but it was noticeable.

“What’s wrong with him?” Said Gleg from where he was manning some sort of screen.

Sophia didn’t respond to her captor, instead, she twisted herself around on the ground so that she could reach her hands behind her and grab Neil’s arm. “It’s okay, count to ten.”

Jenny raised an eyebrow. “Your mate sick?”

All three of the little men looked at each other and quickly backed up. “Don’t tell me he’s got the Bandertrite Plague!” Shouted Qleg, covering his mouth.

“Aw, shit, we’ve brought a sickie on our ship!” Bleg shouted, cursing his dumb luck.

“No, he’s not sick!” Alex explained quickly. “He just doesn’t like small spaces, alright?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Feeling Sophia’s hand gripping his arm, Neil’s body began to calm down. It was like he was floating up into the air and needed something to tether him to the ground, he was thankful for the help. “Thanks, Soph.”

One of the green men started to laugh. “What? That’s it? He’s scared of a little ship?” Gleg belched. “I can’t believe it! Boss, I think we’s did him a favor taking ‘em! Hey, should we shove him in the storage unit, let’s see how hard he shakes then!”

Sophia’s face practically boiled over at the sound. “Don’t you fucking lay a finger on him!”

The alien walked up to him, producing his electric bat from his back. “Or what?” The girl said nothing, instead, she opted to throw her head up and spit in his face. Her aim was true and Gleg took a moment to wipe away the spittle from his cheek. “Oh, you’re gonna pay for that!” With a snort, the man raised his bat above his head- trying to decide which spot to aim for first.

“Stop!”

Gleg immediately dropped the bat to his side at the sound of his captain’s order. “But…”

“Did I stutter?” Jenny shot him a look that was filled with a lifetime’s worth of seriousness.

The little green man turned back to his prisoner and shoved a curled finger in her face. “Next time you’s done for!” He promised, going back to his station.

After he was gone, the pirate captain’s face drew dark as she looked over the group one by one. Her stare was like a shadow passing over them, it was like she was dissecting them with just her eyes- of course, she wasn’t actually doing that, she’s not a Slavarian.

“You lot.” She said to them finally. “I’ve seen my fair share of crews in my day, but I ain’t seen such a rag-tag bunch as you scrapers in a good long while. Now, I’m wonderin’, how does a group like you- no guns and no weapons- get ahold of such a massive whale of a ship?”

Alex was the first to speak. “We didn’t steal it, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Jenny waved him off. “I figured that much. So what, is one of your ma’s or pa’s some big moneymaker that could afford to give their kiddies a ship big enough to shove half a skyscraper inside it?”

“Oh no, my parent’s left me on a park bench, so they couldn’t have done that!” Timothy chimed in. “I believe we all got zapped aboard the ship when we touched those spiny Triangles!”

“Spiny Triangles?” She thought for a moment. “I suppose you could be talking about some modified Teleporters… So what’cha saying is that you got put on that ship by mistake?”

Timothy nodded. “Yes, that was two days ago for me. Well, I think it was two days, I was unconscious for an awful long while so I may not have the best grip on time.”

Jenny tilted her hat towards the roof to get a better look at the boy, her eyes narrowed. “Kid, you ain’t the brightest lightbulb, are ya?”

“I suppose not,” he frowned. “Mr. Graham used to tell me that all the time too, though I’m happy I can still shine even if I’m not the brightest!”

The captain huffed, a colorful bunch her prisoners were. From her measure, the crew consisted of a scaredy-cat, an idiot, a talker and then… the girl. Jenny turned away before her mind could wander any more, she had better things to do with her time than think of the past. Looking through the shielded windows in the front of her ship, she watched as the stars blurred into fiery lines and blended together, they’d be arriving soon.

“Hey!” Sophia called out, her voice calm but demanding. “I want to know where we’re going!”

Bleg rolled his eyes, “we’s already told you.”

“Yeah, yeah, you said ‘The Ring.’ But you should know by now that we ain’t got a clue what that means. So, what is it? Is it a planet, another ship, maybe a gambling ring? That’d explain the name, I guess.”

“Oh, Mr. Graham had one of those!” Timothy couldn’t help but cut in. “He never really told me what it meant though.”

“We ain’t telling you shit!” Gleg spat, still aching from his embarrassment.

“The Ring is our little base of operation, so ta speak.” Jenny replied, shooting a dirty look at her alien crewmate. “It’s a place for people who share our line of work, a mingling place if you catch my drift.”

“So, by ‘people like us’ you mean pirates,” Neil replied, sounding tired but finding his voice. “And by ‘mingling place’ you mean a black market, right?”

“Hey, twitchy over here ain’t as dumb as he looks.” Bleg barked.

“Why are you taking us there, huh?” Sophia demanded. “What’s your goal, doing all of this?”

Jenny chuckled, “you’ll see soon enough.” She waved to her men and smiled at something in the distance. “We’re here, boys!”