Space Tripping With the Shredded Orphans

Chapter Six - Ophelia Saves the Day

When Ophelia came to, she could see the green canopy overhead. It was almost turning black in the gathering twilight. She felt a pain on her temple and went to touch the spot, but realized that she couldn't. Her hands were tied behind her back and her feet were also bound.

Immediately she became alert and closed her eyes again. She listened to what was going on around her. She could hear mumbled talking and rustled movement, but nothing close to her.

Ophelia opened her eyes again as small slits. She tried to look around without moving a muscle. She noticed a few other people wandering around, but no one seemed to pay any attention to her.

Around the clearing there were bundles of goods, clothing, and weapons made from sticks and rocks. Their packs were lying open on the ground and it appeared that their belongings were being redistributed.

Were they off the grid? She didn't know. They had never been to this planet before.

Feeling that the people were more interested in their belongings than in her, she felt safe to open her eyes and have a good look around.

Lix and the rest were also tied, but they were several feet away and they didn't look like they were moving. There were no electronic devices here.

Maybe they had houses someplace else or maybe they were even farther off the grid than anyone she had ever seen.

She lay there for several minutes going over her options. Nothing good was forming in her mind.

The only positive was that they weren't already dead. The best that they could hope for was that they would be left there to be found by someone, but who?

Lix opened his eyes and found himself staring at Mac's face a few feet away from him. Mac's eyes were closed and he was lying oddly on his side. Lix blinked and looked at him again. Mac appeared to be tied up.

Lix did a mental check and realized that his hands were tied behind his back and his feet were bound. He lifted his head and looked down. Around his feet was a green twisted rope that looked like it was made out of torn leaves.

He kicked his heels out, but the rope held tight. He lifted his head again to assess the situation.

Mac, Chitto, and Justice lay near him and were bound by their hands and feet just as he was. Weird, was Chitto's hair longer?

He felt panic rising in his chest. Where was Ophelia? He'd never forgive Justice if something happened to her. If he was being really honest, he wouldn't forgive himself either. Why didn't they make her stay with the Verity Aquinas? Oh yeah, that's right, you couldn't actually make Ophelia do anything she didn't want to do.

He twisted his head around and looked behind him. Relief flooded his body at the sight of Ophelia tied up by herself away from the group. Then another sensation began to flood his body at the sight of Ophelia... tied up... by herself...

"Snap out of it," he told himself. There would be a time and place to think about things like that later, hopefully, but now was not that time or that place.

Another glance around told him they were greatly outnumbered. Whoever these people were, they certainly meant business. He had been to a lot of different planets and met people from a myriad of races and this was by far the worst welcome he had ever received.

They were all very thin and wiry and most wore shapeless clothes, which looked like they could have been made out of curtains. Some of them seemed to be wearing designer clothes, but they were so badly worn and ripped that they would have been thrown out of any self-respecting store on sight.