Orphans Of Talos

The Case of the Unusual Visitors

Normally, Alex liked to wake slowly. Today, however, someone pounded a red-hot awl through his skull in place of his usual alarm clock. A scream escaped his lips as both his hands came to his head, the rest of his body writhing in sympathetic agony. The pain came in surges, pulsing in time with the beat of his frantic heart. White fire filled his mind, obliterating his ability to think. 

He lay there for an interminable age, desperately hoping for death or some other surcease from the pain. He didn't get his wish. Instead, the pain slowly became normal, his body adapting to the pain in the only way it could. Gradually, the pain faded into the background, pushing itself back to the fore each time he moved his head. Slowly, experimentally, he tested his skull with his fingers, probing for any injury or flaw. There wasn't any. 

Satisfied that, at least for the moment, there wasn't any physical injury, he warily opened one eye, expecting the pain to come surging back when the first photons hit his retinas. It didn't, a gift for which he was sincerely grateful. Instead, bright white light dazzled him, making him wince once more as his eyes throbbed, a brand new pain to stack onto the headache that lurked at the edges of his senses. Turning his sensitive head from side to side, Alex tried to check on his surroundings, knowing full well that his room didn't have lights anywhere near this strong. 

The small motion brought an expectant wince to his face, if no actual pain, but no great enlightenment followed. The bright light seemed to come from every direction, apart from the earthen floor he lay on. It was so strong that he couldn't see any of the features of the light sources that were bombarding him, just the slight shadows of a ribbed structure above. Have I been abducted by aliens? He wondered, his first really coherent thought since waking. It seemed like a good starting hypothesis. 

As he twisted round, trying to get a better view of wherever he was, he saw something that made his blood freeze, above his head, lying with her head pointing towards him, was a girl, her wavy brown hair haloing her head like the wings of an angel. It looked like he wasn't the only person who'd been abducted. 

That sight was what finally galvanised him, sending him from his back to his feet with a single shot of adrenaline. Pain flashed through him, but he shoved it away, conviction driving him beyond his natural restraints. A bag lay near the girl and he grabbed it, the weight within making it a perfect weapon. After a quick glance round, expecting an alien to appear at any moment, Alex dropped to his knee at her side. 

A voice called out at that moment, saying something in an incomprehensible, guttural language unlike anything Alex had ever heard before. He spun to see a woman approach, walking out of the bright light. His eyes flicked over her strange garb, barely noticing it as he focused on the heavy length of chain she held in her hands, its bladed ends spinning slowly. He cursed softly to himself as he tore his gaze from the strange weapon in her hands and instead noted the series of small wounds that marred her tanned flesh, far too many looking like the kind of wounds one acquired in a fight with bladed weapons. She repeated her query and Alex stepped back, surreptitiously shifting the bag in his hand. If it came to a fight, he knew he was screwed, but he'd try anyway. 

"I'm sorry," He said, holding his arms wide in a peaceful gesture. "I don't know what you're saying. I don't suppose you speak English?" From the way, she repeated her query for a third time, she didn't seem to understand his words. It was a shame. If he could only make her understand, he was sure he'd be able to talk his way out of this.

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Rose cursed as the stranger spat something in his strange tongue and stepped away from the girl. He was trying to keep his posture non-threatening, but it was hampered by his clinging to the heavy looking bag, something he was obviously planning to use as an improvised weapon. She decided not to let him.