John was lost in thought for whatseemed like forever. He thought it was possible to slow the shipdown enough to de-orbit it. That introduced a whole slew of otherproblems though: Does the inertial dampeners automatically kick in? How powerful were the thrusters? Could they slow the ship downenough to allow a chance of survival? How the hell do we get out ofthis stupid room? No answers came, nor would they. He simplydidn’t know.
After a while more guards entered theroom. This time they looked around the room until their eyes lockedonto Jennifer and Myra. He paused for a moment, as if he didn’tknow what to do next. One of the guards stood near the door, thistime with his side arm drawn, while the other marched directlytowards the girls.
Both girls stood up. Jennifer stoodin front protecting her daughter. The guard stopped directly infront of them. He then indicated to Jennifer she should follow him. Jennifer moved forward, but Myra refused to let her go. Jenniferturned and spoke to Myra. John couldn’t quite hear. Theguard waited patiently. After a few rounds of conversation Jenniferhugged Myra and went with the guard.
John went over in an effort to try andcomfort Myra. He really had no idea what to say, but felt obligatedto say something. He stood near Myra and tried to think ofsomething, anything to say. Finally he opened his mouth to speakand was cut off by someone else.
“So that was your mother? Manthat sucks,” a man said. He was only slightly older thanMyra, about 20 or so. He wore a sleeveless shirt and sweat pants. He was muscular, but not overly large.
“My name is Joe. You’reMyra right? How are you doing?” he said. He then moved toput his arm on her shoulder. “Don’t worry I won’tlet them take you if they come back.”
Myra gave him a look of astonishment,but seemed to be enjoying it nonetheless. Joe put his arm aroundher neck and placed his other arm on her arm. “Listen, weshould really hang out if we get out of here,” Joe said. “Infact we should start getting closer now. You wouldn’t want todie alone would you?”
At this Myra began laughing out loud. “Ok, I can’t keep a straight face anymore. You win. Now leave me alone,” she said.
“What? You bitch! You shouldknow better than to tease me like that!” he shouted, loudenough for everyone to hear. To this Myra laughed even harder. Joegave her a look of disgust and went to sulk alone at the other endof the room.
“Are you ok?” John said toMyra. “Is there anything I can do for you?” He satdown next to her making sure they didn’t touch.
“Can you get me back home?”she replied and gave him a slight smile.
“No. Not yet. I’m stillworking on it,” he replied. He looked back at her and triedto give her a smile. He then leaned back and laid his head againstthe wall.
“Can you do me a favor? Can youtalk to me?” Myra asked.
John looked at her again. “Whatdo you want to talk about?”
“Anything really. How wascollege? I’ll be starting next semester. Were there a lot ofwild parties? You know like in all those movies?” she said.
“I don’t know. I mostlyhung out in my dorm room and studied,” he said. John tried tothink of something from his college days that would be interesting,but came up blank.
“I always hoped college was likethose movies. I know it isn’t in reality, but they alwaysseemed like a lot of fun. I can’t wait to go and meet a wholegroup of new people. I mean I liked the people I know from HighSchool. A met a lot of my closest friends there, well all of themreally. So, do you think I’ll find college fun?” Sheasked.
“I don’t really now. YeaI think so,” John said.
“Yea I think so too. I’mreally looking forward to it. Well except the studying. Highschool wasn’t bad, but I heard college was sooo much harder. Was it hard for you?” she asked.
“No, not really. I mean I didhave to study more than high school,” John said.
“Excuse me, young lady,”Gerald interrupted. Michael was standing behind him. “I wassorry to see your mother taken. My name is Gerald. I just wantedto let you know if you would like to talk, or pray I’m here tolisten. I know it must be a trying time for you, as it is for allof us.”
“No, I don’t need to pray,and I really don’t want to talk about it. Thank you for theoffer it was very kind of you,” Myra replied. She gave him asmile.
“Well, why don’t I joinyou for a while? Would that be ok?” he said.
“Sure, we were just talkingabout college. I’m going in the fall,” she said.
“Well that is exciting, but youknow there are a lot of temptations for young women such asyourself. You will have to be careful, if you are to walk arighteous path,” the pastor said. He sat down on the otherside of Myra. Michael remained standing.
“Does that include beingkidnapped by aliens and tortured? If not, then I think I can handleit,” she said. At this point John decided to leave them so hecould get back to finding a way out of the room.
Myra, Michael, and Gerald continuedtheir conversation while John found a quite corner. He could stillhear them murmuring, they were the only ones talking, but theirvoices were too low for him to hear, except for the occasional word.
A half hour later the door openedagain. Jennifer entered followed by a guard. The second guard (itseems they always come in pairs) stood near the door once more. Myra was already almost on top of her before she knew it. Theyhugged for what seemed like minutes.
Out of curiosity, John got up andmoved to within earshot. “They want you to go with them,”Jennifer said. “Don’t worry. They won’t hurtyou, so long as you answer their questions.”
“Can’t you come with me?”Myra asked.
Jennifer shook her head. “No,I’m afraid not. You will have to be brave. They aren’tgoing to hurt you. Just answer the questions honestly.”
The guard indicated she should go. “Idon’t want to go,” Myra said.
“I know, but you have to,”Jennifer said. Myra took a deep breath, turned around a walked outthe door. Jennifer stood looking at her as she went out the door. When she turned around she noticed everyone had gathered around her.
She considered what she should saynext as everyone began asking questions at once. John couldn’tmake out a single question.
“Quite!” Jennifer shouted. She waited for everyone to calm down. “Before I tell youwhat happened I need let you know something. I wasn’t broughtonboard this ship by the shuttle like everyone else. I justsuddenly appeared on board. I don’t know how or why. Itseems, from what I gathered from the questions they asked me neitherdo they.”
“So that is what happens topeople when they take them away from here? They just ask themquestions?” Richard asked. He looked hopeful, as did everyoneelse.
“I don’t know about anyoneelse. I can only say that is what happened to me. They didn’thurt me at all. They were even quite respectful,” she said.
“Thank god!” Richard said. “I was convinced they were doing horrible experiments on us!” He gave the crowd a big smile, as everyone sighed at what wasapparently good news. John knew better, but figured now was not thetime to bring it up.
“That an’t true,”Michael said. “She wasn’t brought here by them. Shejust said so. It seems to me they wanted to question her to findout how she got here. For the rest of us, well they already knowhow we arrived. They won’t need to question us.”
The room got tense once more. Jennifer gave Michael a scolding look, which he brushed off. Michael continued, “And you spoke of respect. Is it showingus respect to kidnap us and throw us here? Always remember, theyare the enemy. They have not shown us respect, and we ought notshow them any either.”
The crowd gave a chorus of “yea”and “he’s right.” “Please,” Jennifersaid. “We don’t yet know what they want. The point isfor all of us to get out of this alive. We should not provoke themunless we have to. It is better to concentrate on finding a way outof here.”
“Do you have a plan then,”said Gerald. Everyone turned their attention to Jennifer.
“No not yet, but like I said, Ihave more information,” she began, but she got interrupted.
“You said you got brought hereby someone else, but you don’t know who?” Richard asked.
Jennifer looked at him and consideredhow to answer. “Yes, I have no idea how or who. It seemsthey don’t either. If I can finish my story, you mightunderstand more.” That seemed to quite everyone down. Shecontinued, “I was taken to what I guess is the captain’squarters. There I met Rogalia. She is also a prisoner aboard thisship, and acted as a translator.”
“How did she learn theirlanguage,” Joe asked from the back. Jennifer paused for amoment.
“She is another race, but sheisn’t one of them. These aliens invaded her people as well. Like I said, she is a prisoner here too,” Jennifer responded. “They asked many questions, mostly having to do with how I goton board. As I told you, I don’t know, so I couldn’tanswer any of them. However, it became clear they have no idea howI was brought on board either. It seems there is another force atwork here, hopefully on our side.”
Jennifer took a deep breath. “Regardless, I did secure one ally. Rogalia agreed to help usif she could,” she said.
“How did she agree to this ifthe guards were in the room as well?” Michael asked.
“They don’t speak English. We were able to talk a little under the guise of answering theirquestions,” Jennifer responded. She looked over the room.
“Does she know a way back toEarth?” someone asked from the back. It was an oldergentleman, with a slightly graying beard and glasses.
“No, I’m afraid we willhave to figure that out for ourselves,” Jennifer replied. “That being said, it seems to me the first step is to find away out of this room. Does anyone have any ideas?”
“We can make a bunch of noise,wait until they come inside to check it out, and then jump them,”Joe said. Everyone stared at him for a second. Then someone said“Hey that just might work. Their alien’s right? Theydon’t know all of our tricks yet.”
“I’m not so sure,”Michael said. “The way one of the guarded the door, while Iwas pummeling the other shows a degree of discipline and caution. Certainly they have something in the way of contingency for us justrushing them.”
“Besides, it appears there is noone stationed outside the door,” Jennifer added. “Bothtimes I was brought here, I couldn’t see anybody.”
“Is there anyway for Rogalia tolet us out?” a young man said from the back.
“Her room is locked down prettytight,” Jennifer replied. “I don’t know how freeshe is to roam the ship during the day. It’s a possibility weshould explore if the opportunity arises.” Progress, howeverslight, seems to have helped the mood in the room.
“Does anyone else have any otherideas?” Jennifer asked. The room stayed silent. “Ok,then why don’t we take a break for a few minutes, then we canbrainstorm on how to get back to Earth.” Everyone seemed toagree, or at least remained silent on the subject.
Jennifer went over to John and pulledhim to the far side of the room. “Listen. Rogalia said theguards occasionally let one of us spend an hour or 2 in her room. Itold her to take you tonight.”
“Why would they let us go to herroom? Wait why me?” he said, with a worried look on his face.
“I don’t know why it isallowed. There wasn’t time to get into that. I need you towork with Rogalia and find a way off this ship and back to Earth,”Jennifer said. Sensing his hesitation she added, “You can dothis. I can see it in you.” She gave him a look thatinstilled confidence in him.
“What do you mean you can see itin me? Have you been feeling ok since you got here? I’vebeen feeling, strangely better. Like the answers are comingfaster,” John said.
“Yes, now that you mentioned it. It seems my knack for sensing people’s character is borderingon supernatural. I think it is just the adrenaline,” shereplied, and turned to look through the crowd.
“That doesn’t make anysense. Adrenaline should have the opposite effect,” Johnsaid. Jennifer shrugged, so he gave up trying to explain it.
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