2132:Phoenix

Chapter 9

"Everyone in here is living with a male that has had some moral conflictions with their mission," she stated blandly, looking over the hushed crowd of scared women. Teens, none of us are over eighteen. "So, in order to combat that they will be heading into stasis until you all have reached an age that they can agree with. All of you will be assigned a new guardian until your partner returns from their sleep." Everyone started to whisper again. Moral conflictions? Is that what they were yelling about the other day when I was drugged up? Names were called one or two at a time and were taken off by new "Torexx guardians". I am going to die. This is it, I'm calling it.

"Alexia Carter." I stood up slowly and approached the front of the room. There were tons of other girls still in the room waiting for whatever would become of them. "Hanae Campbell." A slightly tanned girl, with silky brown hair, and a round face stood and joined me before we were led away. My eyes darted everywhere as I was led onto a new part of the ship. Hanae was openly twisting her head to view the place. She kept her strides fluid, and I tried to match them if only to keep from tripping. The Torexx leading us down the hall wasn't in the least bit interested in us, turning around once or twice to make sure we were still trailing her. She led us to a larger room with four doors breaking off from the main living space and a small kitchen like the one Calepus had in his room.

"Captain Zacheranic will return for you later. Do not touch his things until then." This room, same as many others, was plain. No art guarded the walls, but proud blades took spaces on shelves. A double-sided ax took a huge space in the center of the collection. A pale green glow emanated from the center, it almost warned you to stay away. Hanae approached it though as if she was about to touch it until the door came cascading open. Revealing a man built like a train on steroids.

His chest was wide, cut perfectly by his uniform, large biceps strained against his sleeves, and I can only imagine what his legs look like under those pants. A small scar strained as he smiled at us, entering the room to reveal sage green scales.

"Hello there, little ones. I'm captain Zacheranic, and I'll be caring for you for a while, but you can just call me captain or something else if you prefer. One of my main goals though is your health, so we'll be heading to the training room. Ready?" Hanae made her way to the door, not even questioning whatever we were doing. I was not so inclined though. Why would she know what was going on and I wouldn't?

"I understand you've been rather sick since you've been brought aboard Alexia, we'll start slow and see where you are. Come now," he decreed, making his way back out the door with Hanae and I in tow. He wasn't nearly as pushy as the other Torexx on this ship, it didn't seem natural. I thought they all had controlling tendencies, then again a command is a command whether you say it harshly or not.

Holy shit... The training room was more like a training stadium. I can't imagine how large this ship must be to have a whole place like this dedicated to fitness. All different kinds too. A pool area, gymnastics, weights, track, a football field.

"Hanae, have someone bring you back to my room when you're finished." She nodded and went off to the beams and bars and mats with other gymnasts. "And I hear you're a runner," the captain smirked and turned his full attention on me. "So let's see it," he whispered, so I bolted. Down the track and so close to another runner I almost crashed. I ran by a rock wall only to notice their worried stares as I ran from my "caretaker." Hearing his footsteps pound behind me only made it worse, causing some new burst of desperation to pulse through me as I tore over the turf-like field. Another Torexx made to stop me, so I gave myself a severe turf burn. I slid to get away from the approaching alien. Nothing wanted to move; my legs screamed in agony from the burn and my lungs screamed for air that I wasn't feeding them at the moment. Very quickly the large room became very short, I knew I'd be caught as soon as I had to turn. I made it to the opposite wall and turned to see my pursuers a few yards away with a worried expression painted on.