Renegade Runner by Nicole Conway (ebook reader with highlight function .txt) 📗

What now?

Before I could ask, my cube spiraled into motion. Enola yelped in surprised and I slid along the floor, bouncing off the back wall of my cell. My head spun, splitting with pain from the spot where my ling-con had been implanted. My vision swam as I scrambled into a corner and pinned myself there with my hands and bare feet braced against the glass. My pulse thrashed as I tried to blink away the delirium. Focus, Brinna. Whatever happened next, I wanted to see it coming.

I would fight back.

“It’s a new arrival.” Enola gasped as she suddenly appeared on the other side of the glass wall right next to me. Her narrow frame heaved with panicked breaths as she stared around wildly, tense and terrified like a cornered lizard. The sticky pads on her hands and toes made it much easier for her to stay in one spot as our cubes cycled downward, finally gliding to a halt.

“What? Where?” I stared around at the other columns of cells. The rearrangement had stirred everyone up. The other captives snarled, wailed, and beat against their glass walls. Not that it helped. Whatever these walls were really made out of, it must have been way tougher than regular glass.

“There!” Enola pointed upward to where a circular bay door slid open without a single sound.

Far above, a pattern of blinking blue lights spread along the cylindrical walls like the ripple of a wave, following the path of a new cube that floated into the chamber, guided by a pair of smooth, cigar-shaped drones that hovered soundlessly in midair. They used a trio of slender-looking metal arms to gently grasp the cube on its corners and guide it into position at the top of our column. Their movements stayed completely silent and chillingly precise, something that might have been beautiful … if not for the fact that they were adding yet another abducted victim to this ship’s already sprawling collection.

But this “new arrival” wasn’t going quietly.

Railing against the sides of his cell, the alien beast trapped inside let out a thundering cry like the roar of a tiger as he beat his fists against the walls. He was too far away for me to see the details of his facial features, but there was no question in my mind that this was definitely a guy. It had to be. He was huge, much bigger than Enola or me, with a brawny frame, powerful shoulders, and narrow hips. His corded arms tensed and his torso flexed, his broad chest heaving against the white bodysuit with every growling breath.

Yikes.

I’d never seen anyone built like that outside of superhero comics and fanart. They always exaggerated people’s physiques in those. The sight made my breath catch, wondering how they’d managed to capture a creature like that in the first place.

“Oh no.” Enola whimpered as she studied him. She swallowed hard and crept down closer to me, as though afraid. “He’s an Unciathris.”

I steadied myself back on my feet. “A what?”

“Another Alzumarian-farmed species, like us. They’re considered borderline intelligent as well, but their cultural beliefs and standards are a bit more primitive. More along the same scale as humans, actually.” She hesitated, shooting me a sheepish, wincing smile that showed some of her tiny, pointed teeth. “Oh! Um, not that you’re primitive! I just … I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to keep apologizing.” I mean, obviously she was way more intelligent than I was, especially when it came to all this stuff. I couldn’t exactly take offense to the truth, right?

I paced to the opposite corner of my cell for a better look at him. He was still pitching around like a wild animal, bellowing and snarling as he beat his fists against the glass. Good god—he hit with such force. Every impact made me cringe. I could feel it rattling my teeth like a shockwave in the air.

All those muscles weren’t just for show, apparently. Easy there, Hulk.

“Can he, uh, can he actually break out of there?” I asked.

Enola shook her head, but her expression held a crinkle of concern. “Oh, no, absolutely not. Unciathris are uncommonly strong, sure, but these containers are solid kitharantium. They could probably withstand a small nuclear fission rea—”

A loud, piecing crack rang out through the cylindrical chamber.

Enola and I watched, gaping at the same incredible, horrifying sight.

That guy, the Unciathris, slowly drew back his fist from a fresh pattern of spiderweb-shaped cracks in the wall in front of him. I could have sworn I spotted a smug grin curling over his mouth as he reared back, ready to make another hit at that same spot. His biceps went solid. His shoulders flexed; his arm cocked for another swing.

He never got the chance.

In an instant, the lights around us flashed red and a series of high-pitched alarms wailed. I covered my ears, the screeching sounds so intense, they brought me to my knees.

Enola crumpled, too. Around us, all the other captives collapsed into trembling heaps one by one.

I was barely aware of it when the whole chamber filled with a curling purple fog. It drifted into our cubes one by one, leaking in from the nearly invisible, hair-thin vents on the top of each cell. Chemicals?

Oh no, were they gassing us? Killing us?

I choked and gagged on the sickly-sweet mist, noticing right away that I’d already lost the feeling to my arms and legs. Somewhere nearby Enola screamed and cried out my name.

I couldn’t see her. My eyes—they didn’t work. Everything skewed between gray and a chaotic smear of too-bright colors.

It only took a few seconds for me to flop helplessly onto my back, staring up at the ceiling as everything faded away.

5

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

So far, my experience with aliens, abduction, and interstellar travel was going pretty terribly. A firm 0 out of 10. Would not recommend.

It wasn’t until I managed to open my eyes and take in a few choking, wheezing breaths that I realized I wasn’t