Page 8 of My Big Scaly Alien Naga
A frustratingly gentle ping announced my programme's success.After a quick look around – all my co-workers were either watching the Trials or working – I opened the search results.
No.
Oh Glycon, no.
She was in the worst possible place in the entire station.Somewhere I could not reach her.What in the seven worlds was she doing in Jarra's quarters?
My coils constricted so tightly I had to bite back a hiss.Panic clawed at my throat, sharp and sudden.
What interest did the Prime Game Maker have in her?He hadn't paid much attention to the other Peritans – at least not until Penny and Vruhag had escaped.Maybe that was it.He might be searching for answers as to how anyone could flee the Trials.It had been impossible up to this point.Nobody ever got out of the games alive.The public thought that the few contestants who survived until the end were transported off the planet, but the truth was much darker than that.
Fuck.
I didn't know what to do.This rarely ever happened.I wasn't sure what to do with that feeling.How to cope.I wanted to go on a rampage.Slay them all.Free my mate.Kill Jarra.
But...I could not.
I remembered why I was here, why I'd signed up for this fucking job.I had lost track of that motivation over time, but now that I saw their lifeless faces flicking through my mind, I knew.It was worth it.Worth all the pretence, the waiting, the ugliness, the death.In the end, justice would be done, and I could go home.
With my mate.If I could rescue her before it was too late.
There were no cameras in Jarra's quarters that I could hack into.I wouldn't be able to fly a drone there either.I was blind.
Wait.When I'd first come to Kalumbu Station, I'd found a loophole in the code that I'd always planned to exploit, but never had a reason to.This was the perfect reason.
With the tiniest spark of newfound hope, I started typing.I kept a tight awareness of my surroundings, glancing around frequently.I was lucky that my colleagues were all captivated by today's episode of the Trials.It was a particularly bloody one.Last I'd checked, three contestants had died already.
Every room in the station had microphones installed in the ceiling, both to access the internal AI assistant and to communicate with other inhabitants.Whoever had designed the station's security systems had put a lot of effort into protecting these microphones from unwanted access, but I was not your usual hacker.I'd instinctively known I'd be able to crack the code the moment I'd looked at it.It wasn't easy and took too long – every moment my mate was with Jarra could be her last – but I persisted.The security AI was fighting me, trying to develop new lines of defence at the same time as I was writing my code.I wouldn't have long.
"...perfect.I like my contestants to have spirit."
Jarra's voice filtered through my auditory implant.I detested the male.He was a cancer that had infested not just this station, but the entire planet.Kalumbu had been beautiful once.Now it was a place of death and despair.
"Fuck you!"My mate's voice.It was the first time I heard her speak, yet she sounded so very familiar.I was glad I'd spent the past two rotations researching her language and uploading it to my internal translator.I had even learned the basics myself, just in case I couldn't fit her with an implant right away.But then the game makers had given implants to a few of the females, including my mate.Maybe that’s why Jarra had chosen her.She would understand his cruel words.
"As I said.Spirit."Jarra laughed."But now it is time for you to show me what you can do.Prove yourself and I might change my mind."
I was missing crucial parts of the conversation.What did he have to change his mind about?I hoped it was sending her down to the planet's surface as a contestant.Although...knowing Jarra, the alternative would be at least as horrible.
"Fuck you," my mate repeated.
I cheered her on mentally, yet I was also terrified of how Jarra would react.He did not appreciate insubordination and punished any misbehaviour or perceived disrespect severely.I had learned to avoid him, and if I had to interact with him, I played the perfect grunt.Jarra desired to be admired and revered.People like him were easy to handle if you knew what his needs were.
"One more time and you will suffer the consequences," Jarra warned, his voice quiet and collected, yet sharp around the edges.
This time, my mate stayed silent.As much as I didn't want her spirit to be broken, I was also glad that she hadn't given him a reason to threaten her further.
"That's better.Now we can get to know each other better."
I coiled up my tail so hard that it hurt to stop myself from screaming.I had to do something.A hundred different options ran through my mind, none of them enough.I was ready to break my cover when K=lwr, the Quentan next to me, cursed in his native language.
"The anti-fire system is broken again.A blockage.Anyone know how to fix this without sending a r’hat through the pipes?"
A new idea blossomed.Jarra was a Irridonian.The chemicals in the automated anti-fire systems were harmless to most species, but not to Irridonians.If I could release them in his quarters, blaming the broken system, it might distract him for long enough for me to come up with a better plan.
I typed furiously, hacking faster than ever before.The anti-fire systems weren't protected much as nobody saw them as a threat to the station.Deadly if they didn't work, but nobody had assumed that they could be used as a weapon.I was a lucky bastard.
"Sorry, you will have to send a r’hat or two," I told K=lwr absentmindedly.
