Kiri's eyes had barely closed. She had hardly gotten any sleep over the last few days. Even for the brief moments when her torturers would leave her alone, the echoes of clanging machinery and shrieking construction gear wouldn't let her be in peace. The acrid stench of rust and decay was no help either.
But her dehydrated, exhausted body was bleeding from numerous wounds and it could only bear so much. So as she stared at the growing pool of grime and blood on the cold concrete floor below, the world gradually got darker and blurrier.
Alas, this reprieve too was short lived. Unnoticed, two figures fully covered in long white suits silently emerged from the doorway, and a switch on the control panel in the corner was flipped on. The effect was instantaneous - a sharp bolt of electricity coursed through Kiri and her eyes shot open. With a piercing scream, she pulled on her chains as her body convulsed and jerked, the links biting into her fragile flesh. Her limbs, extended and bound by rusted iron chains, spasmed for next several minutes, every muscle clenching and unclenching in a futile attempt to escape the agony.
"Can you... please... fucking ... stop this!" Kiri yelled. "I have already told you everything."
"I don't believe you." The husky female voice shot back. "This will not end, Kiri. Not until you tell us the truth. Where were you between 5th to 10th of July."
This had been Kiri's routine for the last several days. She had long lost the exact count of days passed in this dark chamber, where the only light came from the ominous glow of the one single bulb, which casted long, twisted shadows that danced upon the cold, damp walls.
"Again." The woman clad in white addressed the figure accompanying her. Kiri had heard the man speak only once. Also garbed in an identical suit, even though this man sported a seven-foot tall stature and an immense muscular frame, somehow the lithe woman still managed to have a more terrifying presence. Every word, every motion of her body marked her a predator.
As the man adjusted the wires attached to the metal probes, the air began to crackle with an electric charge yet again. "You can't keep doing this," Kiri pleaded, "The Protectorate would be looking for me. The Academy would have noticed my absence by now." Getting every word out was a struggle, and by the time she finished, she could feel her fatigue reaching its limits.
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"Yes, indeed." The woman's words were laced with anger, "How do you think the Protectorate will react when they hear about your association with Helicon rebels." Kiri's heart raced as the ominous hum of the generator picked up again, its menacing rumble growing louder with each passing moment.
"What?" she gasped, her throat choking.
"Yes, we know about your past."
This should not have been possible. Kiri's sponsors had spent an insane amount of money to ensure that she passed through the extensive scrutiny of the Illustrious Academy. And she had.
"I know what you are wondering. We have deep pockets, Kiri." The undertone of satisfaction was now evident in her voice. She was close to cracking Kiri and she knew it. "We have enough resources to dismantle your entire stupid rebellion. We just haven't had a good reason to look in that direction yet."
She grabbed Kiri's chin and lifted her up. She could now make out the outline of her assailant's face behind the dark glass mask. The enraged eyes bore into her. "We are not interested in you. Your stupid ambitions mean nothing to us. We are only interested in the murder."
"What murder?" Kiri whimpered.
The response was a straight punch to her stomach. A swift and brutal motion that knocked out her breath and sent out a fresh wave of agony through her already battered body.
"Did you really expect us to fall for that fake setup? Yeah, it was elaborate, I'd give you that. But it wasn't enough."
The words seemed more and more distant, and Kiri felt her grasp on reality slipping. She had no idea how things had gone so horribly wrong. Her vision was increasingly blurry and pain was ripping through every inch of her existence.
"No, no... You don't get to pass out on me." The woman yanked her arm, and forcefully injected a vial into her vein. "I need you sharp."
She backhanded Kiri's already bruised jaw in one savage motion. The air was once again filled with the guttural sounds of Kiri's anguished screams. "I need you to tell me what exactly happened."
Kiri could not resist anymore. Her face contorted in an expression of sheer torment, her eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to block out the relentless onslaught of suffering. She had no idea who these people were, but if they already knew about her past, she didn't know what she was fighting for anymore. If this woman said that she could dismantle her rebellion, Kiri believed her.
"We found a planet." Kiri submitted to the torment. "Uncharted."
The woman grabbed her face with an iron grip. "What planet? What was there?" The layer of insulation on her hand offered no comfort in the way of padding.
"Nightwyrms." Kiri forced through clenched teeth, and her body slumped.
Those golden eyes, inches away from her face, would continue to haunt Kiri for years to come. But nothing could match the terror incited by the eldritch horror she had faced on that unnamed planet three months ago.