Second Contact [Alien Nation #2] (#Wattys2019)

20

She jerked awake as her cell door opened, heart in her throat. She didn't think she'd been asleep for long, but how could she ever know? There was no day or night here; her cell remained in darkness, broken only by the little priestess and her bowls of disgusting slop.

Jules had been here for only one meal time so far, but her hunger was starting to gnaw at her so she knew she must have been here longer than it seemed. Cass had to have missed her by now, right? She tried to only focus on that, that someone knew she was missing, rather than the sheer impossibility of them knowing where to look, or being able to reach her. For all they knew, Grace had labelled her as a spy and had her shot, her body dumped in the river. She tried not to think about that. She could figure it out later, not when her life was in the hands of the creatures who had murdered Josh so brutally.

She sat up at the sound of voices from further down the corridor – agitated voices, followed by a shout and a thud, and then footsteps running towards her. She held her hand up to her eyes and grimaced as light invaded the darkness.

Two figures stood in the doorway. Instantly she recognised Rinir by the blue glow that speckled her carapace in indecipherable patterns. Next to her, her own carapace dimly reflecting Rinir's light, was Rikar.

"What's going on?" Jules said as Rikar approached, with more purpose in her stride than she had ever seen.

"There's been a change of plan," Rinir said through the translator as Rikar began working on the handcuffs. They fell away, and Jules nearly cried with relief as she rubbed life back into her stiff fingers. "The rebellion starts now."

"Has something happened?" Jules said, watching Rinir as she fiddled with the weapon slung across her back, occasionally pausing to type on her datapad, or what seemed to be the Tatiyrenk equivalent of one.

Both Tatiyrenk froze. "Rinir's grandson was given to the Void today," Rikar explained quietly as Rinir started to murmur orders into the datapad. "I think it's forced her hand."

"I'm not being forced into anything," Rinir said, her voice a low, hard snarl. "I refuse to spend another second with these monsters, biding my time – biding my time for what? No. I've made my choice. The rebellion begins now." She stowed her datapad and moved so she stood in the light. For the first time Jules noticed some changes in her appearance – she wasn't wearing armour as such, but parts of her carapace seemed to be coated with something, and the spaces between them were covered to allow for movement while protecting the fleshy parts underneath. From this angle, Jules could see a set of tiny lights around each eye – cybernetics. "You're going to fulfil your promise and take me to your people so we can negotiate. This is me fulfilling mine, and setting you free. If you survive long enough to get to the shuttle." Suddenly there was a large knife in her hand – Jules didn't see from where she produced it – and she tossed it to her, before turning and stalking out.

"Keep an eye on her," Rikar whispered. "This isn't like her. She might do something impulsive."

"Like catching a lift into an enemy city and hoping they don't shoot her on sight?" Jules hissed back. "Aren't you coming too?"

"No, my place is here. I'll try to buy you some time," she said. "Good luck."

They joined Rinir in the corridor together, but Jules caught Rikar's arm before she could leave. "What about the other prisoners?"

"No time for that," said Rinir. "Anyway, they will be safer in their cells when the fighting starts."

"Grace can fight more than I can," Jules reminded her.

"Oh, you mean the fiesty one?" Rikar said. "She's in this cell."

Before Rinir could protest, Rikar entered Grace's cell, and Jules stood back as Grace rushed out into the hall, her hands free of the cuffs.