Page 5 of Bonded

I might have no memory of how I got here, but I know this place was not familiar.

I choked down a sob. This was not the time to panic. I pushed against the top of the pod, expecting to meet resistance. Instead, it opened with a gentle tone.

I sat up as the surrounding room gradually illuminated. It was a stark medical bay, a lot larger than the carrier that they had transported me in. A screen looked to have a readout of me. I couldn’t read what it said, and I had the feeling that even if I could understand the words and numbers, I still wouldn’t be able to comprehend more than the basic medical jargon.

Poring over the scholarly research for my blog was the closest I got to the biology degree that my mother wanted me to have. Even then, the scientific literature I uncovered was so dense in both the terminology and partially redacted government phrases used that I’d needed at least six reference resources to give me definitions. It took me hours to unpack each research abstract to ensure I understood the analyses and findings.

Humans would always be second-class, maybe even third-class citizens within the Intergalactic Republic. The Legion’s favor didn’t help us. Sometimes, I almost felt like it was a hindrance since it made humans, especially females, a target.

It was easy to antagonize the ones in power when they showed an obvious soft spot for humans.

Images of females slotted in cages and pods flicker through my mind. Transport. I—we—were being transported. Where? I couldn’t say.

My feet swung. These pods were made for larger creatures. As I saw no cages, I couldn’t be in a prison transport. Was that all part of some intense dream?

I remembered there was an attack. Maybe the ship we were on was damaged? Or under duress?

Well, wherever I was now, it was a few steps above where I had been. They clad me in a huge suit with the cuffs rolled up at the sleeves and ankles and I was left alone in a healing pod. I didn’t know if I ought to be suspicious or thank every divine being I knew I was safe. Then again, the alien slave traffickers set the bar pretty low regarding how they treated their human cargo.

A whining noise of gears came toward me, getting louder as it approached. I tucked my feet beneath me as a rolling thing that reminded me of a remote-controlled toy car arrived at my feet. Two more followed in its wake. The lead one was slightly bigger, about as tall as my knees, whereas the other two were flattened discs on wheels that hit my ankles. They looked like ancient robotic vacuum cleaners.

The lead one rolled over to me, extending an antennae-like arm. I leaned away from it, but I wasn’t afraid. It looked…cute.

There was a little bulb at the end of the antenna, and it twisted, revealing a fringe of metal that resembled a fan. It swayed back and forth at me.

Was this little robot waving its hand at me?

I mimicked its motions, raising my hand and awkwardly waving hello like some sort of frozen beauty queen.

The robot burbled and honked at me, making me giggle. The other robots twirled in a figure-8 around each other, while the leader made even more excitable noises and whistles.

“Hi little guy. I take it you’re happy?”

The antenna stilled, then nodded at the bulb, causing the metal fringe to pulse back and forth like a manic headbanger in a rock concert. There was another pause, and the antenna twisted its fringes to form a passable pointer finger. It pointed to a tablet lying on the table next to the pod.

“I’m guessing this is for me?” The little robot nodded its antenna-bulb as I asked to pick it up. I swiped a finger on the tablet, and the screen lit up. It scanned my face before the screen revealed a swirl of green-blue data. What was this?

Finally, words I recognized appeared on the screen.

Hello. I am the ship.

The ship? I looked down at the robots. Were the robots controlled by the ship, too?

The words flashed to another phrase that could have been Spanish. “Wait, go back to English.”

The words paused and refreshed to English.Hello. I am the ship.

“Yes! Hi Ship. I like you know Earth languages.”

I was created to serve all known races in the archive, Terra Prime included.

“Must be nice. I barely know two languages: Bangla and English. Three if you count bad English.”

Would you like to know more?

“Of course, but I never have the time.” Oh my god, was I having a conversation with a machine?

It shall take but a moment. Please hold the tablet at arm’s length and focus your vision here.

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