Angel 6.0 Episode I Concubine: Chapter 5

I woke up in a small cell located off some obscure hallway with no traffic, no Gran, no one to see or hear. As my wounds healed and I slept fitfully on the cold, hard, steel floor, I had plenty of time to think. I missed the men that had made my life worth living, my pseudo father D’Anton, and the lying bastard Carver. They were dead, and I knew this, but still I missed them. The logical part of my mind could not overwrite the emotions coursing through me as I cried for them.

I had no measure for the passing of time, but after what seemed like days, I began to consider that the Gran had left me here to waste away and die alone. No food or water. In his grand experiment to create perfection, D’Anton could not curb starvation or dehydration. The best DNA modifications of human science could not eradicate my yawning empty stomach and the horrid desperation of my thirst.

By the time I had considered tearing open my own skin to taste something wet in my mouth, one of the Warriors arrived and opened a slot high up in the steel door to stare down on me. As soon as he grunted, I smelled what he carried, some kind of weak broth. My stomach erupted with churning growling sounds.

Nope, not ready to die yet. Maybe after I got some food in me.

The Warrior opened another slot at the bottom of my cell door and slid the bowl through. I snatched it from him and slurped the salty liquid down. When it hit my stomach, I almost puked, but I couldn’t afford to lose this fluid. I fought my reaction and swallowed it to the very last drop. The Warrior stood watching me through the top slot, a smug, snaggletooth look on his face.

I slid the empty bowl back through the door and gave my best shot at growl-speak, “More.”

Surprise flitted over his face. He never expected me to speak his language.

He clicked once, the Gran indication of “No.”

I stood up on my tippy toes to see through the top slot. The Warrior looked away at something down the hallway. He growled and stepped aside. Captain Cronin came into view, with a jagged pink scar down the right side of his face. Though I hadn’t caused him any real damage, he’d remember me every time he looked in the mirror.

He leaned forward against the slot and let his eyes bore into me, playing the domination game again. I stared right back.

“You are a special human. You will breed and make more like you.”

I shook my head, an incredulous chuckle on my breath. The stupid beast had fought so hard to take me away from my home and loved ones – so he could breed me? Me. A sterile clone.

The Captain was not the smartest Cat in the litter.

I tried to form the growls to make the words I knew he wouldn’t listen to. “I no breed.” I pointed to my stomach. “No make child.”

First he was surprised that I spoke, then, slowly, my words sunk in and his lip came up in a snarl. “You will breed or die.”

I looked at him, knowing I could never give him what he wanted, even if I wanted to, no matter how hard I tried. Every human the Gran possessed was sterile. D’Anton was very clear on that – all clones were made sterile. I had accepted this fact of life, that I would never be capable of procreation.

I shrugged my shoulders and inclined my head at him in the Gran method of acknowledgment. “Yes. I breed.”

He stepped back away from my cell door and several tones and beeps issued, then the door clicked open. He and the other three Warriors standing nearby moved away, as though I should come out and follow. It struck me then, the subtle change in their behavior towards me. They feared me. Maybe not fear, maybe it was respect. I had shown them I was capable of violence. Now they were more careful with me.

I almost smiled at the thought. The fabric of my world began to realign. I had been biding my time to find a way to kill myself. Yet, if I could teach the Gran to respect me, to see me as an equal, then there might be a way to survive in some capacity beyond a slave laborer.

This was my way in. I had to find an angle to become useful, valued. Then, when they weren’t worried about me anymore, when they weren’t watching my every move, I could grab a jumpship and return to my own solar system. Maybe even visit Earthside.

I had no illusions about where the Gran cruiser was headed. Everyone at Nugene knew the Gran jumped into deep space, back to their end of the galaxy, thousands of light years away from our solar system.

Captain Cronin gestured to his right, and I walked in front of him, calm, and docile. If they wanted to hurt or kill me, they could have done it by now. I suddenly had hope I could survive and escape these creatures. We walked down the corridor and they directed me to a room that looked suspiciously like a laboratory, with tables and instruments.

A Cat wearing a different kind of clothing from the light armored Warriors advanced with a strange metallic ring in his hands. His eyes watched me warily, and he moved slow and cautious. He held the ring up to his neck and lifted his chin in demonstration.

This was my collar.

My instincts screamed not to cooperate, but the Warriors at my back growled in warning. I clicked at the advancing Cat, telling it ‘No.’ He looked to Captain Cronin with an inquiry. The Captain’s hand landed on my shoulder with a clawed grip intended to hold me still. Before I knew what I was doing, my body reacted. I twisted out from under his hand and grabbed his arm with both my hands. A hard jerk, twist and pivot sent Captain Cronin flying past me.

The Captain smashed into a table full of instruments and knocked a bunch of metallic pieces clattering to the floor. I don’t even know how I did it, but my instincts never failed me. My drive for self-preservation was all I had going at the moment. The other two Warriors grabbed my arms and tried to hold me still in their muscular embrace. They were stronger than humans, definitely stronger than Carver. No way to break their hold.

But their feet were bare, nothing but furry, clawed toes. I stomped hard on each of their feet and listened to howling-growling curses. Neither of them released me, but they did force me to my knees – almost broke my arms in the process.

I’d never been one to curse, but they brought it out of me as my left arm popped out of socket. After a few seconds of agony, my pain switch flipped and gifted me a wonderful floating euphoria.

I could smile once again.

Down on my bloody knees, bent over, I found a perverse pleasure in the moment. This was the one thing no one could take away from me – the joy of my pain.

Cronin recovered his footing and looked like he’d take my face off with his wicked claws. Poised above me for a deadly blow, he quivered as he gradually regained control over his fury. The Captain had anger management issues.

That could be useful.

D’Anton had preached to me that if you can’t master yourself, someone else will. He always had a parable handy, and I hadn’t paid much attention when he went into lecture mode, but now I understood what he meant.

The Captain, his poise regained, dropped to one knee to come face to face with me. “Fight me again, and I will feed your intestines to my Warriors while you watch. There will be opportunities to fight later, but never without my permission.”

The Captain was serious. Looking into the eyes of a creature that would do horrible things to me, I realized I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to be cut open and fed to Cats. Though I had nothing to live for beyond a glimmer of hope, I wanted to live.

I inclined my head and growled. “I understand.”

Without taking his eyes off me, the Captain held out his hand to the Cat holding the steel ring. After an awkward moment, the Cat handed the ring to Cronin and backed away. The Captain activated something on the ring, then tapped a button on the metallic banding bracelet around his wrist. The light from the ring and a light on his wrist blinked once, simultaneously.

He’d synced my collar to his bracelet. An electronic leash.

I fought every instinct in my body to keep from head-butting him or sinking my teeth into his face as he reached around my neck and locked that piece of metal in place. In the pit of my stomach I knew the collar marked a significant hurdle to my hopes of attaining freedom.