The Distant Echo

Significant Wounds

Blood poured from significant wounds, leaving a trail as the lizards pulled him along. Violent tremors made Alex's body bounce, the hooks sinking further into him. He cried out, and it coincided with a shower of sparks erupting throughout the chamber. A thatch of energized current arced from nearby fixtures and streaked across the floor, saturating his body. Convulsing, the lizards wrenched him through a pocket of bitter smoke, tearing back meat and breaking the circuit.

Overwhelmed by intense pain, undone by hysterical terror, Alex's consciousness split into pieces. And while the larger part contended with the agony, a separate part transcended to a place of detached awareness. Because that other piece outside the pain, mindful of it but not bound by it, Alex became ultra-aware.

He studied the lizard creatures as they walked about, upright, moving like humans. They were graceful, sleek and swift, though demonstrative when stressed. Sharp claws and sharper teeth punctuated the horrible sounds that came from their mouths — those animal sounds made their movements all too feral, too predatory.

Spherical ports embedded within the ceiling released a pure but muted yellow light, casting heavy shadows along the perimeter. Massive windows encircled the room, divisions in the wall like buttresses separating window from window. Beyond that, interstellar space stretched to infinity, mesmerizing Alex with both wonder and dismay.

Twisting his neck, not able to look forward after vertebrae snapped apart, Alex saw into the heart of the room. A raised, pronounced station stood at the center, hemmed within a circular half-wall border. Four long, curved metal-stone tables arced around the center station, set in a quarters-orientation, similar to a compass leaving the four cardinal direction lines unobstructed.

Numerous lizard creatures — Reptilians, they were Reptilians! — moved about the tables, light reflecting off claws as they raced fingers through multifaceted holographic controls and hovering displays.

The Reptilian inside the center station laughed before pointing to another lizard. "Fire multiple bursts of the high-energy antiproton weapon at the lead enemy ship!"

"Yes, Second Commander."

Alex felt air form his voice. "No fool! Flank the starboard ship and drive a wedge into their formation from a lateral vector!"

They came to the end of the room, to a large opening that led into a corridor. There were grooves along the sides of the walls, Reptilian-sized openings at the front of them, and Alex knew it to be a gateway accessing an entrenched tunnel system. Thick streams of gas vented from the left side groove, dissipating like fog burned by the sun, and a Reptilian unfolded from the opening, emerging from the tunnel.

The Reptilians pulling Alex stopped at the front of the right-side tunnel. A wall panel came to life and one of the Reptilians entered a command. Fog welled in the opening, and they lifted Alex over it. He struggled against them, until one of the Reptilians whipped him in the head with its tail. The blow stunned him, and Alex fell inside.