Page 25 of Trak
The creep who’d abducted her looked like one of those shady figures she’d seen lurking in shadows when she’d gone out with Trak. He had taken her to a small, dark hangar where those Belka-Tu Hulks who had attacked Trak were waiting. After turning her over to the Belka-Tus, her abductor had been given payment, then slunk out like the snake he was.
The green Hulks moved around, loading storage trunks on to a small transport ship. They were in a hurry. She didn’t blame them. Trak would be looking for them. Of this, she had no doubt.
Anna surveyed the space outside her cage. The only illumination came from bright blue lights surrounding the closed hangar door and around the two exits. The doors would both be easy for her to reach. One was on a landing at the top of a thin metal ladder and the other was a set of double doors on the main level. Going up the stairs was likely the smarter bet for her. She could use her own nimbleness to her advantage if the Belka-Tus were as lumbering as they appeared to be. First, she had to get out of this cage.
“Hey!” she shouted to the closest one. “Let me out of here!” He didn’t acknowledge her and had not the slightest chance of understanding her, but she needed to test them. She needed to see what she was up against.
She banged against the bars, which were thin, but incredibly strong and rang out with abnormal loudness, like a discordant chime, when she whacked them. There was no visible latch or lock. “I need to use the bathroom!” she shouted.
The Belka-Tu turned around. He removed his weapon, a smooth, white gun that looked like something from an old sci-fi show, and slammed it on top of the cage. It let out a horribly loud ring that vibrated the cage so intensely that Anna’s teeth rattled and herears rang. The reverberation was so strong, her stomach turned. That was the trick of this cage. It looked flimsy, but it was not.
She covered her ears and cringed away, pretending to be afraid. The guard grunted and turned away, apparently satisfied that the prisoner would give him no more trouble. He clipped the weapon to his hip. It looked like it worked with magnets or something similar, and it was not that different from a gun holster on Earth. If she could get one of those weapons, she could get out.
Anna felt a surge of hope. She was the daughter of a thief, after all. She’d been one herself for a while. If anyone could get out of here, it was her.
Her father had taught her that the hardest part of any heist, or in this case, escape, was finding the patience to wait for the best opportunity. Thatwashard, especially now, watching items being loaded into the transport. Each passing moment brought her closer to herself being put on that ship. After that, her chances of escape reduced dramatically. She slid to the corner of the cage closest to the guard standing near her. She just needed him to get within arm’s reach.
Suddenly, the blue lights that lit the hangar changed to white. Anna had no idea what this meant, but the Belka-Tus loading the ship became agitated. They all started talking and yelling. The leader, who was called Giru Limpa, stormed off the ship. His fists were waving as he bellowed his fury in their language. The guard near her hollered and gestured to the hangar doors. They were in chaos, makingthisher best opportunity.
Anna pressed to the corner. She held herself still and silent. The guard was not paying attention to her. He paced, arguing with the others. Her moment was coming.
He drifted close to her cage. The weapon became within reach. Lightning fast, Anna shot out her arm. She snatched the thing off his hip and tucked it behind her.
No one realized it. Even the guard who had been relieved of his gun just kept yelling and flailing. Three of the Belka-Tus hustled back on the transport ship, leaving two on the floor.
Anna made the mental calculations. She had to get out of the cage, disable the two guards, and get out the upper door before the other three came after her with guns drawn. The likelihood of her getting out of this without being shot, or at least shotat, was low. She could only hope they were bad shots.
All this was assuming the weapon hidden behind her back worked essentially the same as an Earth gun. There was a button instead of a trigger. She didn’t exactly know what would happen when she pulled it. A hologram of a dancing clown could pop out, forall she knew.
It was now or never. The worst that could happen was they killed her, and that might not be as bad as what would happen if Giru Limpa managed to abduct her from this base.
She slipped the gun to the front, aimed through the bars at the second guard, who still had his weapon, and pressed the button. A thin, green line shot out and the guard went down. Smoke curled from the hole burned straight through his chest. Anna aimed for the other one, but the stupid gun either had one shot in it, or it needed time to recharge, because the button didnothing. The other guard gaped in shock for a moment, before letting out a guttural cry.
Another mashing of the button emitted another green laser line. This time she wasn’t aiming as well. It hit the other guard in the leg, but cut through the top of the cage. The whole front panel fell off, clanking to the hard floor with a loud, discordant chime. Anna cringed at the noise but bolted out of the cage.
She darted to the ladder and hurtled up it like a monkey. A glance back revealed the guard she shot lying on the floor, holding his injured leg and hollering up a storm. The other Belka-Tus were emerging from the shuttle as she yanked open the narrow door and threw herself through it. Whatever was on the other side was better than where she was.
Sixteen
The other side was dim, cramped, and smelled like dirty socks. There were no laundry items or anything else of interest to be seen in the dingy corridor that was probably used for maintenance. Hundreds of tubes and wires ran along the walls and ceiling. On the plus side, there was no way those green Hulks could fit through there unless they had a shrink ray. The way things were around here, who knew? She wasn’t taking any chances.
Anna reached the end of the passage, where there was, thankfully, an exit. She cracked open the heavy metal door and peeked out. A busy corridor with a high, arched ceiling lay before her. Foot traffic mixed with small vehicles maneuvered around each other. She had to hide the gun she was carrying but there weren’t many places to stow it in the tight garment. She opted to stick it down the back of her jumpsuit and let her hair cover the bump, as much as it could. She could still easily reach it, and hopefully she wouldn’t accidentally shoot herself. That would be the cherry on this day. With a deep breath, Anna slipped out and into the flow of aliens.
She walked, keeping pace with those around her, but keeping a sharp eye out for her Belka-Tu kidnappers. They may not be able to fit through the passage she’d escaped from, but it wouldn’t take them long to find out where she’d ended up. Worse, she wassoconspicuous. The aliens around her mostly minded their business, but a few stared. Maybe they didn’t know what she was, or maybe they were surprised to see a human. She would be an oddity out here in space, even if she didn’t have an abundance of bright red hair. Giru Limpa and his crew would have no trouble spotting her. She had to keep moving.
Finding safety would be so much easier if she knew her way around. The station’s corridors seemed to go on forever. If only she had a way to contact Trak. He could be anywhere. Anna’s breath caught at the sound of guttural voices. She glanced back. Sure enough, giant green aliens were moving through the crowds. Anna positioned herself so she walked in front of a large, pearly-skinned alien wearing a large red bubble on its head and carrying a tank with an attached tube. Apparently it breathed something other thanoxygen. Either way, it blocked the Belka-Tu from getting a clear view of her…for now. She’d give anything for something to cover her red hair. Her white jumpsuit wasn’t helping her to stay disguised, either.
Just then, up ahead, she saw something familiar. Anna recognized the entrance to the theater Trak had taken her to. With a quick move, she ducked inside. Staff were preparing the space for a show to begin later, and only a few guests had arrived to stand around sipping their drinks. One of the alien attendants stopped her and tried to talk to her. He had to be asking for a ticket or something. Anna did the only thing she could think of and pointed to the stage entrance. She said, “Gitza,” who was the only person’s name she knew there. “Gitza,” she said again, with urgency. The male nodded and waved her on, apparently thinking she was an attendant of the star dancer.
Many eyes turned to her when she burst into the dressing room. And by many eyes, there was one dancer whose entire upper body was covered in them. They had to have at least fifty eyeballs on their body.
Anna didn’t want to put any of these beings in danger. All she needed was a way out and a message sent to Trak. “Gitza?” Anna asked weakly.
A murmur went through the group and the beautiful, blue-skinned alien with eight arms swept through them in a shimmering gold robe. She said something to Anna and put a hand on her arm.
This language issue was a nightmare. “Trak,” said Anna, and she held up her thumb and pinky to her face like a telephone, which of course no one would understand. “I really need to find Trak.” She tried miming calling and typing, and eventually Gitza understood what she was trying to say. The dancer snapped out an order to one of her underlings and tried to get Anna to sit down.
“No,” she said. “I can’t. I have to go.” She pointed to the door and mimicked the hulking Belka-Tus and her running. Then she pulled the weapon out from the back of her jumpsuit. Everyone moved back a step, but she put it down beside her and held up her hands. “Not going to hurt anyone,” she said in her most reassuring tone, and with a smile that was hard to muster. She was so loaded with nerves, it could have been a grimace she made.
