Page 5 of Meteor Storm

I watched as tiny seams at the bottoms of the walls opened up just enough to suck the water from the floor and out of the cell, leaving it mostly dry once more. I was still soaked and now the air was chilly on my skin. I hugged myself and started to shiver, but then the big mirror suddenly split down the middle and parted before me.

I backed up against the wall in anticipation of whatever might come through that door. When a tall, lanky bipedal figure stepped into the small cell with me, my eyes rounded with shock. It was human-like only in that it had four limbs, but its face was long and slim. Too slim. Its arms and neck were equally lanky and thin. It had eyes too large for its head and a scalp full of sharp, bony spikes.

I wanted to scream, but my throat was dry. Instead, I just stared, dumbfounded and hoping I’d finally just wake up in a hospital bed to people crying because I finally came out of my coma.

That didn’t happen.

The alien strode toward me, speaking words in short syllables and throaty sounds. I couldn’t understand a damn thing.

He… it… tossed something at me. A pile of fabric. It was rags, really, but anything I could put on my body was more than I had. I would have put on a potato sack at that point.

What I got was a loose, sleeveless, white dress to pull over myself. The sensation of being covered calmed me more than I thought it would. I immediately felt more at ease, despite the material being thin. It reached just past my knees, and the neckline plunged a little low, but it was better than having my tits out.

My hair instantly dampened the fabric down my back, but I didn’t care. Once I was situated, my captor said a few other aggressive things in his weird tone and grabbed my arm. I tried to tug out of his grip before he slapped a pair of cuffs on me. They were quick, like snap-on bracelets. They locked in place, one on each wrist. I wondered what the hell my new jewelry was good for, but then the insides lit up blue and my wrists were pulled together like magnets. They were stuck like that, uncomfortably tight and awkward as the alien tugged me out of the cell.

It was then that I realized just how weak I’d become in that little box on a very limited diet. My legs felt wobbly and my eyes had trouble adjusting to the new light. The hall we were walking down was dimly lit and narrow and along it were other cells. Other windows into white boxes, all lit differently. Each one held something different. Creatures of all shapes and sizes occupied the spaces. Some didn’t even look like intelligent beings but more like ferocious animals, pacing like dogs in cages.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked, feeling that demon of anxiety clawing its way through my calm again.

My captor spoke, but of course I couldn’t understand. He kept dragging me down the hall until we reached another room where two other figures, seemingly of the same species, stood waiting. There was a silver table in the middle that looked like something medical and immediately I felt my spine stiffen up.

I tried to pull away, knowing very well that I was in no condition to fight off any of the three larger creatures in the room. They exchanged words with each other before the guard who’d retrieved me practically threw me on the table. I struggled as hard as my fatigued body could as he and another spike-headed alien held me down. The third hovered over me with some sort of metal disk that scanned my neck with a visible blue laser.

“What are you doing? Get off me.”

The third alien left and returned once more with another silver device. It was small but curved just enough to fit against the front of my neck. As soon as it touched my skin, it expanded into a full-on collar that spanned the entire circumference of my throat.

“What the fuck!” I shouted.

Hands started to poke and prod at every inch of me. My legs. My stomach. My breasts. I was scanned again with another little device from my head to my toes, and all the while I was screaming for them to stop.

Finally, the skinny guards pulled me off the table and I was forcefully led once more into another room. That time, it was lined with what looked like white pods. I didn’t have time to truly take it all in before I was shoved into one of them. It was barely large enough for me to extend my arms to either side. I spun to face the guard, hands balled into frustrated fists, when he tossed something thin and metallic on the floor at my feet. I had only a moment to look down and realize it was a knife, crude and dull by the looks of it. I glanced back up at the guard for a split second before I bent to grab it.

Fuck it.

I picked it up with my cuffed hands and lunged only for the front of the pod to slide closed between us. I hit the barrier and screamed in anger.

He smiled. Or at least, it was something akin to a smile. His thin lips curled up, showing rows of teeth far too big for his small head. Then the magnets on my wrists disengaged and my hands fell to my sides. The cuffs remained, however, ready to snap back together at any second.

I took the tip of the knife and started prying at them, testing their durability. When they didn’t budge, I started on my collar, studying it with my fingers. The moment I tugged on it, a small jolt of electricity shocked my hands, warning me away.

I was a goddamn prisoner.

When the pod started to move, I braced myself, my heart beating out of my chest at the idea of what I might face when the door opened again.

Moments later, it did and light flooded my vision. I shielded my eyes, hesitant to move until I could focus. When I finally could make out my surroundings, I saw dirt ahead of me. Dirt, rocks, and strange, black trees that made a thick, menacing forest ahead. The sky was orange as if it was late in the afternoon, but I couldn’t see any sun. There was a gentle breeze that blew the dust about and at first glance, I could have mistaken the place as Earth.

But I wasn’t in that much shock. I knew very well that wasn’t where I was and I knew even better that no one was coming to save me.

3: Penny

I was beyond panicked. Even my breathing exercises weren’t doing much to calm my nerves. I stepped out onto the dirt with my bare soles. It was warm and fine, thank God. The wind blew my dress about, making it stick to my legs and breasts. To my left was a tall, slender figure. A valerian by the looks of her. I had never seen one without their helmet in person, but I knew their figure well and I’d seen a picture or two. I wasn’t sure why I was relieved to see one there, but I was. Behind her was a species I didn’t recognize. Of course, outside of humans and valerians, I didn’t even know what else existed in the galaxy. Humans had only ever associated with one species of aliens.

On my right was a thick, tall figure with muscular digitigrade legs and olive-green skin. I had no way of telling if it was male or female except that the face was slightly feminine. Three tendrils of fleshy extensions grew off her scalp and reached just past her shoulders with off-green markings down the length. She was rolling her broad shoulders like she was preparing for a wrestling match and for all I knew, that was why I was there. When she looked at me, my whole body was tense and on guard.

Gek’tal. That’s what she had to be. We knew nothing about them except that they were formidable and came in pretty much every shade of green. On the other side of her was another one of those spike-headed creatures, lanky and fragile by the looks of it, but I already knew how deceiving that appearance was by how harshly the others handled me.

Twelve, I counted. Twelve figures stood in a row paying very little attention to each other. They were all extremely focused, staring out into the desert landscape like they were about to race to the other side.