The Cage

Haunting screams snap Yumi awake in Genji’s arms. She locks eyes with her husband, then sits up on the king-sized, memory foam pad about six inches thick.

“Jino,” she says.

Genji shift over so she can see their son sleeping beside them. Yumi also notices that their clothes have been replaced with loose-fitting, yellow attire made of a synthetic alien fabric akin to rayon. Yumi motions to her son, but Genji gently prohibits her from disturbing him.

“He kept watch over us,” Genji says. “Let him rest.”

“You should’ve let us rest in peace,” Yumi replies.

Ignoring the large plate of yellow goo beside the foam pad, Genji instead grabs the bowl of water and helps Yumi take a few sips.

“I sorry, Yumi. I just couldn’t do it.”

She looks around their open, doorless, transport cube with dark walls to their right and left and a dark rear wall with a toilet and sink attached to it. Yumi looks around. Genji places the bowl down and and grabs the plate of goo. He puts it in front of her, but she slaps it away.

“You can’t kill us, but you’ll fatten us up slaughter?” Yumi asks.

“Mama?” Jino asks.

Yumi crawls over to Jino.

“Right here, Gee-Gee,” Yumi replies.

He hugs and kisses him.

“You’ll need your strength when the time comes,” Jino says.

“Time for what, baby?”

“Our escape.”

Yumi turns to Genji.

“Whatever you’re feeding him is worse than that crap,” she snaps.

“As long as we breathe, there’s hope,” Genji reasons.

Genji hands Jino the bowl of water. Jino takes a sip before passing it to Yumi, who does the same. She then passes it to Genji, who finishes the bowl.

“Are you hungry?” Yumi asks Jino.

“I ate while you were sleeping,” Jino says. “It’s not that bad, actually.”

Yumi grins.

“Sounds like the lady has more sense than the both of you combined,” their neighbor to the left yells.

Yumi turns toward the voice.

“Don’t mind Nelson,” Jino says.

“Nelson?” Yumi replies.

Yumi looks at Genji.

“He says he’s a pilot,” Genji says.

Yumi looks back at the Australian male who returns a half-hearted salute.

“Flight Lieutenant Nelson Andrew Thomas, Royal Australian Air Force, at your service! Least I was ‘til humanity was relieved of command.”

Yumi stands with Genji’s help. She gently waves him off and walks toward the invisible wall between them and their neighbor.

“Australian?” Yumi responds as she walks closer to their demising wall.

“As I told your guilt-ridden hubby and well-mannered boy, my Solbird went down outside of Hokkaido. I hoofed it back to Tokyo to find a quarter of my homeland swimming to shore. You know how the rest of that story goes.”

Jino walks toward the front wall and presses his face against it as he tries to see how far the room extends on each side of them.

“Is this where they turn us into food?” Yumi asks.

“We should be so lucky,” the Aussie pilot chuckles. “From the looks of things, I’d say we’re in some sort of kennel.”

“Kennel?”

“Me and few other resistance fighters we on reconnaissance when the Xenos nabbed us outside of Chikuma.”

“Resistance?” Yumi chuckles as Genji walks up beside her.

“Can’t blame a mate for trying, right? So, to finish my previous thought, if they’ve taken Matsumoto, the buggers now control half the country’s real estate.”

“If they’re not gonna eat us, then why are we here?” Yumi asks.

“So they can pick our brains, of course. See what makes us tick.”

Shaking her head, Yumi backs away from the Aussie pilot.

“I can’t do this,” Yumi says.

“Don’t kill the messenger, love.”

Genji embraces Yumi who cries in his arms.

“Ignore him,” Genji says.

“Why?” she asks.

“Being an entrée ain’t so bad now, is it, mister computer engineer?”

“Thank you, Nelson,” Genji responds.

A drone floats by their cage from the opposite side and scans the cell. It continues to the Aussie pilot’s cell, stops, and scans. It beeps and flashes lights.

“Showtime,” the Aussie pilot says.

The surrounding screams reach fever pitch as a giant, four-armed silhouette stops in front of Genji’s cell for what seems like forever. With skin that could only be described as a frog’s underbelly with patches of hair akin to a balding lion’s mane, the unidentifiable Lorian stops beside a floating drone.

Genji studies the monster’s four arms extending from its back. A yellow, puss-like substance drips from the alien’s orifice to the floor. A large, mechanical hand lowers from the ceiling as the Aussie pilot’s cell fills with orange smoke.

“Shi’ne, ya cunt!” the Aussie pilot coughs with both middle fingers up.

Engulfed by an orange cloud, the Aussie pilot passes out. The large mechanical hand retrieves the Aussie pilot’s cage and carries it off. The Lorian and floating drone follow the cage toward the exit.

Genji walks over and presses up to the transparent wall, and just catches the back of the Lorian and his drone. The screams subside once the alien and drone are both gone. Genji makes eye contact with Yumi and Jino. Yumi walks up to him.

“Whatever happens to us is now on you,” she says with teary eyes.

“I know,” Genji’s replies. “I know.”

Jino walks up to his father.

“Don’t worry, papa,” Jino whispers. “We’ll find a way out. I can feel it.”

Genji embraces his son then locks eyes with Yumi.

Noose

An orange sunrise pierces a hazy sky, brightening the Lorian industrial complex. A few miles from the main gate, Nooz sits under cover of a condemned freeway overpass. Sitting beside him, his mechsuit’s helmet visor projects a holographic rendering of his drone’s internal systems. Nooz uses all four grapplers to virtually run a series of diagnostic checks on the drone. Once satisfied, he reactivates the drone, and it levitates. Nooz initiates a series of simple instructions that the drone completes with ease when it detects an incoming, encrypted transmission. He transmits a series of Lorian symbols to the drone, decrypting the audio file. Nooz scans the surrounding area to make sure he’s alone before pressing play.

“The Council has granted our request. Construction will commence within three revolutions,” the Lorian known as Hyfor transmits. “We await your reply.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

The transmission ends, and another prompt appears. Nooz enters another set of Lorian symbols that wipe any trace of the audio file from the drone’s storage drive. He looks up at the rising sun as the tiny silhouette of a Lorian starcruiser slowly cuts in front of it. Nooz then looks down and opens a small pouch attached to his mechsuit. The giant alien retrieves a dried block of various Terrans fused together into a jerky-like substance. He studies the tiny, dark holes once filled with eyeballs before taking a bite. Chewing, he looks up again as the starcruiser disappears into the haze. Nooz’s mechsuit beeps while the visor display flashes a prompt to return to work. The Lorian puts his helmet on and commands the drone to attach itself to the pack on his back.

The drone complies, and Nooz walks back to the industrial complex. Halfway to his destination, he passes by the ruins of a large, roofless, Terran warehouse. Beside it, two Lorians wearing similar uniforms huddle. One’s covered in hair that protrudes through spaces in her rusted mechsuit. The other has yellow tiger stripes on his exposed white skin. Affixed to Nooz’s back, the drone secretly records the two Lorians, capturing footage of them taste-testing both living and deceased Terran scavengers. In addition to recording the two aliens’ apparent enjoyment, the drone also captures a series of faded Japanese characters along the side of the large warehouse wall:

木下

Both Lorians pull four grapplerfuls of fresh Terran bodies from a container and playfully squish two of them into a large ball of flesh and bone. The tiger-striped alien chomps down on his Terran ball, splattering blood on the side of Nooz’s mechsuit, covering part of the drone’s lens. The drone stops recording as Nooz and the two Lorians engage in an awkward ocular staring contest.

“We brought these from home,” the tiger-striped Lorian blurts out while extending a Terran ball to Nooz as a peace offering.

Nooz roars at the two Lorians, prompting them to high-tail it in the opposite direction as he continues toward the industrial complex. Stopping at the main gate, Nooz places one of his four grapplers onto a panel that scans his genetic signature. The gate opens, and he enters before it slides shut behind him.

Inside, Nooz clears a second security scan without issue, makes his way through the enormous complex, and enters a locker room. He walks over to his locker, submitting to a retinal scanner on its door. The retinal scanner confirms his identity, and the locker door opens. Nooz detaches components of his mechsuit, including the back with the drone attached, and gently places the items beside him, leaving only the lighter and more versatile protective metal on his body. He retrieves a portable cleaning device from his locker and removes as much of the blood splatter as he can from his uniform and equipment. He places most of the components beside him on various locker shelves, except for his drone, which he reactivates after cleaning its lens.

The drone detaches from the mechsuit back and floats above him. He then puts the mechsuit’s rear armor on the bottom shelf and retrieves a few smaller metallic components from the top shelf, including a spy camera disguised as a part of his mechsuit. He strategically affixes the spy camera to his body. Nooz checks a display on one of his arms. The display flashes instructions for his next assignment. Nooz closes his locker and exits the locker room with his drone hovering close behind. Nooz turns right, continues down the hall, and stops in front of a secured door blocking his path. This door automatically opens, and Nooz leads his floating drone into a massive, metallic courtyard that resembles a Terran junkyard.

Nooz shuffles past a Lorian wearing a specialized medical mechsuit sitting in the courtyard. He stops at the opposite end of the courtyard to allow the other motion sensor door to open. Nooz and his drone re-enter the building.

Inside, Nooz walks past a room where a Lorian scientist studies a cylindrical, force field tube containing a naked hominoid male, beside another tube with a naked Terran male inside. The thin, muscular hominoid male has a series of tiny holes in his head where the halo would normally go. The thinner, frailer Terran male has small metal rods protruding from his head. Both covered in similar implants, the sapien test subjects shiver and drool as their tubes slowly rotate in place.

The Lorian scientist types commands into a console that forces the screaming guinea pigs into synchronized movements. To the alien’s surprise, the Terran male momentarily regains control of his body and refuses to comply. The Lorian scientist belts out a ferocious growl before slamming two of its grapplers on the console, causing the Terran male’s head to explode. The tube’s force field prevents the splattering of blood and brain matter from escaping. The hominoid remains emotionless.

Nooz enters the room and walks toward the back. He stands over a small transparent cube which contains a naked Yumi, now catatonic and adorned with fresh implants around her neck and down her spine. Nooz’s drone scans the cube and lights up. A mechanical claw lowers from the ceiling and retrieves the small cube. It then lifts the cube up toward the ceiling and exits the room with Nooz and his floating drone in casual pursuit. Nooz continues down the hall and turns a corner. He reaches the end of the hallway and stops at a large door with a motion sensor. As Nooz approaches, the large door slides open. The wave of collective screams momentarily stops him in his tracks.

Nooz’s drone floats ahead of him. He follows it into the main kennel filled with transparent cubes stacked on top of each other. The drone scans the transparent cubes is passes while searching for its target. Those with the strength back away as it passes their cell. The screams continue as Nooz walks past them next.

The drone’s scanners transmit data on prisoners at various stages of experimentation, including a male and female Terran whose heads are replaced with small, metal boxes. Wires protrude from their bodies as they engage in involuntary intercourse. The drone’s camera then scans the cage of an adult female hominoid wasting away in solitude. It also scans one containing a young Terran male with various implants all over his body, yelling and banging on his transparent wall.

Nooz walks toward the drone as it hovers in front of their targeted cube. He stops in front of the Aussie pilot’s invisible cell. Now bald and armless, the poor Aussie pilot also has metal rods protruding from his head and implants fused down his spinal cord.

The mechanical claw lowers Yumi’s temporary cube near Nooz’s drone.

“Okaeri!” the Aussie pilot mouths before puking.

Inside the smaller cube, Yumi, now fitted with strange implants on the sides of her neck and down her spine, stands motionless. Two of Nooz’s oculars study her as the mechanical claw connects her small prison with her family’s larger cell. A portal opens between the cells. Wearing only underwear made from their prison attire, Genji, holding a small blanket, and Jino race through the portal to retrieve a frozen-stiff Yumi. They carry her to the center of their cage and rest her gently on their dirty foam pad as the intercube portal shuts. Genji covers Yumi in the prison fabric.

The drone rises and hovers in position while the mechanical claw carries off the smaller cell. However, four of Nooz’s oculars remain fixed on Jino as he slowly approaches the transparent wall.

“Jino!” Genji barks while tending to his wife.

“Fuck me dead,” the Aussie pilot mouths while standing beside a pool of vomit.

Nooz uses all six oculars to study the boy’s face.

“Please let us go!” a teary Jino pleads.

Nooz lowers all four arms and slowly steps back. It looks around, then back at Jino. Nooz growls, then quickly exits down the hall as his drone dutifully floats behind him. The kennel door shuts behind them.

“Nooz!” a Lorian authoritatively growls.

Nooz turns to see the Lorian supervisor with his own floating drone hovering behind him.

“Supervisor Minto,” Nooz replies with a nod.

Both Lorian drones hover beside their masters, mirroring each other. Yellow goo from both aliens drips onto the ground as smaller maintenance drones collect the mess and haul it off.

“Next shipment arrives in four cycles,” the Lorian supervisor says.

“So soon?”

“There’s been a significant breakthrough in one of our projects. One that our leaders wish to exploit while we have a budget.”

“We are currently at capacity.”

“Then we will cull the expendable. You have one revolution to prepare a termination list.”

“For Loria!” Nooz says while saluting.

“For Loria!” the Lorian supervisor reciprocates.

Nooz and his superior continue past each other, followed by their respective drones.

Day 79

Wearing underwear made from their prison attire, Genji and Jino quietly share a plate of yellow goo and a bowl of water. In addition to the usual crying, screaming, singing, and praying among the prisoners, there’s also communicating. Genji studies the four small implants along his son’s left arm from shoulder to elbow.

“Papa, what does it mean if I can’t even smell it anymore?” Jino asks.

“It means it’ll be that much easier to stay focused,” Genji replies.

Genji glares at his son, then cracks a smile. However, Jino doesn’t bite.

“I can do it, you know,” Jino says.

“Do what, son?”

“Look at her, Papa.”

“Son…” Genji trails off with a quiver in his voice.

Terran screams increase.

“One last story,” Jino says. “For old time’s sake?”

Father and son smile at each other.

“By the time we decided to treat each other as true equals, a third of the planet was already overrun,” Genji says. “Matsumoto was the first time I truly felt equal, and not just some hāfu. I did what I had to do so we could survive. And, do you wanna know a secret?”

“What?” Jino answers.

“The day of the attack, I going to surprise you and your mother with a new two bedroom apartment I managed to-”

The screams around them hit a fever pitch as Nooz’s drone appears, and a mechanical claw from the ceiling lowers a smaller cube with someone inside it. Nooz suddenly appears beside the drone, stopping in front of the now bald and armless Aussie pilot’s transparent cage. The poor Aussie pilot also has metal rods protruding from his head and implants fused down his spinal cord.

“G’day,” the Aussie pilot pukes out. “Mate.”

Inside the smaller cube, Yumi, now fitted with strange implants on the sides of her neck and down her spine, stands motionless.

Genji looks up to see two of Nooz’s oculars fixated on his wife. The mechanical claw connects her small prison with her family’s larger cell. A portal opens between the cells. Genji grabs a large piece of torn prison attire. He and Jino race through the portal to retrieve a frozen-stiff Yumi. They carry her to the center of their cage and rest her gently on their dirty foam pad as the intercube portal shuts. Genji covers Yumi in the prison fabric. The drone flies away while the mechanical claw carries off the smaller cube. However, Nooz spies on the family until Jino approaches him.

Jino stares up at Nooz’s six oculars.

“Jino!” Genji calls out to his son while tending to his wife.

“Fuck me dead,” the Aussie pilot says while standing beside a pool of vomit.

Genji looks down to see Yumi returning a blank stare.

“Please let us go!” a teary Jino pleads.

Nooz lowers all four arms and slowly steps back. It looks around, then back at Jino. Nooz growls, then quickly vanishes with his floating drone speeding behind him. The screams lower, but continue. Jino rejoins his parents on the foam pad and inspects his catatonic mother’s alien implants. Yumi blinks and smiles at the sight of her son.

“Gee-Gee,” she whispers.

“Mama?” Jino sobs.

“I saw a pregnant woman floating…in the air. No arms. No legs,” she quietly sings. “Head…less people…ha…ving sex.”

Genji wipes away her tears and caresses her.

“Okay, baby. Okay.”

Genji and Jino look at each other as if trying to share strength.

“Can we go home now?” Yumi murmurs. “I wanna go home.”

Genji looks down at her.

“I’ll take you home now, baby,” Genji sobs.

Yumi wipes away her husband’s tears.

“My love.”

“My love.”

She looks over at Jino.

“We’re so proud of you, Gee-Gee,” she says.

“I know, Mama.”

Shedding a few tears of his own, the Aussie pilot silently observes Genji and Yumi kiss. Genji slowly wraps both hands around his wife’s neck when the Aussie pilot spots orange gas spills into their cell.

“Hate to interrupt this tender moment,” the Aussie pilot interjects, alerting them to the orange gas.

Genji and Jino look down to see the orange gas filling up their cube.

“Do it,” Yumi begs with tears.

“Papa, do…” Jino says before passing out on the floor.

Genji tightens his grip. It seems the harder he squeezes, the brighter Yumi’s smile. Genji screams before passing out on top of Yumi.