Page 5 of My Big Scaly Alien Naga
I was awake now.
And I would find a way out.
I touched the panel.Nothing happened.The blinking continued.This was not the exit.
My legs carried me around the perimeter of the room.I tested each panel, hoping for a seam, a lock, anything that might resemble a door.The metal was cool and seamless.The hum in the background was steady, almost soothing in a strange way.No voices.No footsteps.No hint of anyone coming.
I paused near a corner and crouched down.The floor was just as featureless up close.But something about the angle felt wrong.There was a slight dip, as if a panel could shift.
I pressed my palm against it.Nothing.
I straightened and scanned the walls again.The blinking panel drew my attention once again.Carefully, I moved back to it and tapped the surface.Then pressed my palm against it.
It flared to life, words scrolling across it in a language I didn’t know.And then, before my eyes, the letters shimmered and reformed.Suddenly, I could read them.
>>Welcome.Remain calm.Assistance will arrive shortly.Remain calm.<<
I didn’t like the repetition.I didn’t know if I’d like the ‘assistance’ that would be sent.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood there, but eventually the screen dimmed again, going back to its passive state.That was fine.I had more questions than answers, but I also had time.
I wasn’t afraid of the quiet anymore.
Let them come.
Whoever they were, I’d be ready.
And maybe, just maybe, someone was out there watching – not to harm me, but to help.
I let myself imagine it for a moment: a figure in the shadows, silent and waiting.A protector.A stranger who didn’t feel like a stranger.
The idea shouldn’t have comforted me.
But it did.
A hiss.A click.The sound of pressurisation releasing.
I spun toward the far wall, where a new panel had begun to slide open with mechanical precision.Bright light spilled in – not sterile white, but gold-tinted and almost warm.A silhouette appeared in the opening, tall and wrong and alien.
I stumbled backward.
The figure stepped into the room.
Five eyes on black fur, a tiny mouth underneath.No nose, not even nostrils.No ears that I could see among the shaggy fur.Limbs extended in unnatural directions, bending at impossible angles.The mouth opened, midnight lips around rows upon rows of tiny sharp teeth.
My breath caught in my throat.
It smiled.
“You’re awake,” it said, voice smooth and serpentine.
And I knew, without needing to remember, that this thing was not here to help.
It was here to break me.
To hurt me.
I didn’t scream.It would have felt like admitting defeat.
