Submission in the Stars

Chapter 5: A Nightmare?

When Valentin awoke, the first thing he noticed was the biting cold seeping through the hard table beneath him. His muscles tensed, but it was a slow, agonizing response, as if his body were submerged in thick molasses. The sterile, white room around him was oppressively bright, the lights glaring down at him from overhead. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of the same smooth, unyielding material, giving him no sense of time or place. His breath came in shallow, slow gasps through his cracked lips, and he felt the dryness of his throat like sandpaper.

Instinctively, Valentin tried to move, to test the bonds that restrained him. His fingers wouldn't budge. He focused harder, willing his limbs to respond, but nothing happened. His mind was clouded, a dull haze blanketing his thoughts. He couldn't even muster the energy to panic, though he knew he should. The more he struggled to focus, the more he realized how weak he felt. The simple act of keeping his eyes open was exhausting. Had he been drugged?

His thoughts drifted sluggishly. He didn't have any valuable intel. He and his team had been Special Ops Search and Rescue. They weren't tasked with carrying sensitive information. The enemy already knew where their captured soldiers were; it wouldn't make sense to torture him for that. So what was this? A cruel experiment? A punishment? None of it made sense. Well, fuck, Valentin thought grimly. I'm fucked.

A soft swishing noise drew his attention. It took all his remaining strength to turn his head toward the sound. One of the seamless white walls slid open, revealing an entrance Valentin hadn't noticed before. His heart pounded as two figures stepped inside, but the sight of them made his breath catch in his throat. His first thought was that this had to be some kind of nightmare.

The two beings were unlike anything he had ever seen, even in his most vivid nightmares. They weren't human. The first figure was tall, lithe, and humanoid in shape, but her skin was an alarming shade of red, slick and textured, like the scales of a deep-sea creature. Long, dark tentacles cascaded down from her head, arranged like hair, swaying slightly with each movement. Her body was encased in a tight-fitting bodysuit that clung to her form, emphasizing her inhuman proportions—long fingers, too many joints, and eyes that shone yellow with slitted pupils, like those of a predatory sea creature.

The second figure stood even taller, its coppery, scaled skin glinting faintly under the room's harsh lights. It was reptilian in appearance, broad-shouldered, and imposing, with elongated limbs and clawed feet. Its eyes were smaller, rounder, and a duller hue than its counterpart's, but there was an intelligence in them that unnerved Valentin. Despite the alien features, something about the second creature was less disturbing to him—perhaps because it looked entirely otherworldly, without the unsettling blend of familiar and unfamiliar that the female had.

Valentin wanted to believe he was hallucinating. His mind, dulled from the drugs or trauma—he wasn't sure which—struggled to make sense of what was happening. This can't be real, he thought. Maybe I'm dead, and this is Hell. It wouldn't be a surprise. Maybe this was punishment for being a nothing, for pushing away the medics and doctors, for surviving when others didn't.

But the creatures were too real, too present. They weren't figments of his mind. He could feel the weight of their presence pressing down on him as they approached. A knot of fear twisted in his gut as the red-skinned female leaned closer to his prone form, her eyes locking onto his with an unsettling intensity. Her long, slender fingers, dark at the tips, reached out and gripped his jaw, turning his head to face the ceiling. Her touch was cold, clinical, and terrifyingly strong.

Valentin tried to jerk his head away, but his body refused to obey. His muscles strained against the restraints, but it was useless. He couldn't even flinch. A wave of helplessness washed over him, and his breath came in ragged gasps as he tried to calm the rising tide of panic.

The female's yellow eyes narrowed, studying him closely, her fingers pressing harder against his skin. With her other hand, she lifted a sensor and clipped it to one of his fingers. The soft, rhythmic beeping of a machine filled the room, syncing to the slow thud of his heartbeat. Her reptilian companion moved forward, standing at her side, passing her a blade with ease. Valentin's heart raced as he saw the sharp edge flash under the light.

The blade glided effortlessly across his skin, cutting through the thin fabric of his undergarments. He tensed as much as he could, but the restraints held him firm. In a matter of moments, he lay exposed, the cold air biting against his bare skin. He could feel his face flushing with shame and fury as the two creatures examined him like a specimen, their eyes tracing the contours of his body.

He groaned softly, trying to twist away, but the female merely placed her icy hand against his abdomen, pressing firmly as if testing the strength of his muscles. Valentin's mind was a blur of conflicting thoughts—this wasn't torture as he expected, but it was worse in a way. The indignity of being laid bare, both literally and figuratively, before these strange beings made his blood boil.

A dull ache pulsed in his arm, and he managed to glance down to see a pinkish liquid being pushed through an IV into his veins. The haze clouding his mind began to lift slightly, though his body remained stubbornly unresponsive. His limbs were still leaden, but at least his thoughts were beginning to sharpen.

The female's eyes flicked up toward his face, noticing his growing awareness. Without warning, she released his body and gripped his jaw once more, forcing him to meet her gaze. Her other hand moved slowly, methodically, tracing the lines of his face. Valentin tried to jerk his head away, but her grip was unrelenting. Her cold fingers slipped into his mouth, brushing over his teeth as if examining them like a veterinarian would inspect an animal.

Valentin's eyes flared with anger, but all he could do was glare at her, his body still too weak to put up any real resistance. She didn't seem bothered by his defiance. If anything, she looked mildly amused, her lips twitching as she withdrew her hand and moved on to the next part of her assessment, running her fingers along his skull, feeling the short stubble of his crew cut and prodding at the bones near his ears.

The more Valentin tried to make sense of what was happening, the less it made sense. This wasn't the work of any enemy he had ever known. This wasn't the kind of interrogation or torture he had been trained to resist. These creatures didn't belong to any world he understood. They were something else entirely.

A soft, hissing breath escaped from the reptilian figure as it gestured toward the beeping machine. The female responded with a guttural sound, her slitted eyes narrowing as she withdrew the sensor from Valentin's finger and removed the IV from his arm. They communicated in a language Valentin couldn't begin to understand, but their focus on him was unsettling. They weren't here to kill him, at least not yet. But what did they want?

The female stepped back, her movements fluid and deliberate, and the wall behind her split open again, creating a doorway. She nodded to her reptilian companion, who moved toward Valentin with surprising gentleness for a creature of its size. Before he could react, the restraints around his wrists and ankles released with a quiet schnick, retracting into the table.

Valentin struggled to move, but his limbs refused to cooperate. His muscles were weak and shaky, and he could barely lift his arms, let alone escape. He felt the reptilian creature's scaled arms wrap around him, lifting him effortlessly off the table. Its strength was undeniable, and despite the creature's rough appearance, the way it cradled him was almost careful, like carrying something fragile.

Valentin's mind reeled as he was carried toward the open doorway. He wanted to fight, to break free, but his body wouldn't respond. The copper-skinned creature let out a strange cooing sound, as if trying to soothe him, and Valentin swallowed nervously. He didn't know what was happening, but he was in no position to resist. For now, he had to watch, to wait, to understand.

As they moved through the doorway and into a wide, metallic hall, Valentin's eyes darted around, searching for any sign of escape, any hint of where he might be. The walls gleamed under dim lights, reflecting his pale face back at him in distorted shapes. He caught a glimpse of his own eyes, hollow and dazed, staring back from the darkened reflection. There were no windows, no view of the outside.

The sense of unreality deepened, and Valentin's mind raced. He needed to stay calm. He needed to survive, just as he always had.

But this... this was like nothing he had ever faced before.