Atlantis Hunted

Chapter 4

I was astounded by his words. Had we really been so naive to do what he said? I lay back on the cot as my brain tried to make sense of all that the human race had supposedly done. Contemplating how humans survived now made it hard to imagine our race being so careless. As far as I knew every human has adopted the re-use everything until it can't be used any longer. The water gets recycled after being filtered to be used to grow food in small green houses attached to each household. Even that water is filtered through the plants and used in the toilets which go through two channels to get purified via boiling and more filtration before being placed back into the tanks of the toilets.

Soon my eye lids made the slow slope over my eyes, drifting quietly to sleep.

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"Ellie, hey Ellie, wake up." In the distance the sound of my mother's voice had me sitting up. I was back in my room on Chronos 8. If all that was a dream then I needed to stop watching all those weird vids about space bacteria.

Jumping out of bed I rushed to the bathroom before my sister could get in there. Peeling my sleeping skin off I stepped into the shower waiting for the rush feeling I always got when being sorrounded by water. But the water never came.

Looking up as I pushed the release lever, dread filled me. Without water there was no life. This saying had been pounded into any human brain since our first day of school.  Grasping the door to the shower to slide it back a black speck fell on my shoulder. Turning slightly more started to rain down from the shower head. Pulling at the door even though it refused to budge, yanking as hard as I could.

"Ellie, remain calm," the voice was like nothing I'd ever heard booming yet quite as a whisper "allow the guizarts to do their job.  Soon you will understand." Slipping to the floor as the black syrupy goo covered me. As it got harder to breath my conscience slipped away from me, down a long tunnel with a winking light at the end.

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I sat up looking hurriedly around.  I was still in the bubble on the cot but was no longer in the white chamber.  The strange material clung to my body feeling sticky with sweat. Looking around outside of the bubble there were grey stones making up the floor rising on all sides up to the ceiling.  Taking a deep breath and swinging my legs over the side as the metal door to the bare room swung open.

"There has been a change of plans human.  It seems execution is on the ballot for you, since we cannot find why you did not die with the rest of Chronos 8." my breathing hitched. Execution, so final.  Zard put two of his fingers up and the bubble began to glide through the air towards him and through the door. The light was so bright I began blinking back tears as my eyes burned slightly.  The light source was eminating from clusters of crystals clinging to the center of a mega turret. The gentle heat was comfortable but confusing. A light that strong should have burned my flesh in an instant.

"Even the crystals have no effect on you, well there are older methods that will take care of that." Zard must have heard my thoughts even though his reply had been less than heartening.  Still following Zard into a door on the opposite side of the crystal yard I found I was not as scared as I should be.  A calm was filling me slowly, my breathing slow and deep.

The room we entered contained strange contraptions made of wood and metal. Some had boards with shackles hanging from them, others were made upright with spikes either on the front or the back. One in particular caught my eye, sitting in the corner it looked like a metal caccoon with a slit on the front where someone would be able to see out of.  The farther into the room we got I noticed the spikes of metal inside.

"That is an iron maiden, aptly named don't you think?" With a twist of his fingers the bubble burst landing me harshly on tthe ground. "But in the effort to make this quick I suggest the guilletine." Motioning with his hand to a medium sized wooden pallet with two straight pieces going up, a thin angled piece of metal hanging at the top.

"What is all this?" Standing and slightly brushing myself off. a tremor of fear had found its way into my hands.

"In what humans called the dark ages, these were considered a perfect way to get the truth from other humans.  Of course humans would think torture the only way to do this." Zard's face clouded over with disgust, even though it did not appear to change at all. "If you had just died with the use of konets you would be space dust right now, but this way maybe we can still use your body for investigations. Just like you did to us."

Two beings entered through the door standing on either side of me guiding me to the guilletine. No longer able to keep panic at bay, I pulled away from the two only to be grabbed. Each being had a leg and an arm, for being slight creatures they were strong. Being laid on the table of wood stomach down I attempted to struggle but it was no use.  As my head hung off the end looking down I heard a whizzing noise and everything was quiet.

Zard watched as her head never fully hit the floor, becoming black particals floating back up. As the rest of her head dissapated it moved quickly back to where the body was severed from the neck. Zard rushed to capture some of the particles in a tiny vial, corking it.

I sat up with a gasp I hadn't known I was holding. Looking around there was no blood my head was still on my body. Raising my hands to my neck to feel for any cuts to feel none.  As my hands traveled up for further inspection one ear felt flat on the top instead of rounded like the other.

Zard motioned with two fingers and I was back in the bubble not once looking up from the vial in his hand, the particles always sliding to the side I was on.  The bubble moved behind him through a string of stone passage ways, arriving at a large dome light room filled with many different beings.

Looking around there was a seat for each, some tiny looking like what I knew as fairies, others large hairy like a yeti. The various life forms some with wings, horns, others didnt have faces that were dicernable.

"Beings of space and time I regretfully present to you, Ellie human destroyer.  I have brought her through the crystal field and used mechanisms which endured during times when humans only killed each other.  But as you can see and feel she is still alive.  As her head was severed from her body it became this," Zard held up the vial for all to look upon "as you can see before you.  Nawm and Xial can testify that this is true." The beings stepped up from behind Zard nodding.

My stomach lurched with the idea that my head was gone from my body.  Doubling over to keep from vomitting putting pressure on my midsection. Calming the hyperventilating that was trying to break free, causing a loss of face to the beings.

"Does anyone have any suggestions?"  Zard looked slowly around, no movement betrayed by any of the beings except one.  Standing tall, a large serpant like body red and black scales interlocking from head to tail looked from me to Zard.

"Why is a human here in the first place?  Have we not agreed that as long as they inhabit no planet we would leave them alone?" The aura around Zard hardened as he gave his full attention to the serpent.

"I understand the confusion, this human was brought to me due to a bacterial outbreak on Chronos 8.  With her human family gone she begged to be allowed to follow.  I only regret I could not help her." Shock coursed through me, I wanted to say something in my defence but I couldnt. The parasite that resided on my spine had not fully been replaced along with my ear.  I felt along my neck and only half the ridge was there.

"I have heard of no such outbreak, and I monitor the border of Chronos." Another being stood, this one with three eyes on stalks leading toward a body of mass proportions made up of clear purple gelatin.

"I monitor Chronos as well, and what Zard says is true.  All the humans in Chronos 8 are dead due to a bacteria found in the water systems.  Odd though this bacteria is from Atlantis." A small insect like creature stood upon the railing of the dias.  Big bulbous eyes with a hairy body attached to wings that were thin yet clear, even with small stature compared to the size of creatures present it was about the size of my upper body.

"Interesting find Wozac, I am sure the investigation will proceed and bring to light what has caused this." Zard turned briefly to me.  I am sure if his face could make the motion he would be smirking.

"I would not have questioned that it was possible for the bacterium to find its way in space because it does need water to survive," the creature Wozac spoke a little more loudly "if not for the pure concentration of the bacterium found in the water supply."