Of The Stars

Chapter 9: Prisoners

Matt lay on the cold floor of his cell. It was dark, quiet, and cold; so cold. The unforgiving metal of the ship caused shivers to run up his body. As a prisoner he'd been stripped of his suit and put into rags, he'd also been given a small blanket but it was almost as thin as the cut off shirt he was wearing and did nothing to ward off the imposing chill. He curled in on himself, trying to conserve as much body heat as possible the crushing weight of loneliness and fear making the small cell feel even more oppressive. His dad was gone, taken by these Galra to some work camp. Shiro was stuck in that awful gladiator pit fighting for his life. And Matt? He was lying in a cold dark cell, sulking about how much he missed his mom and his sister, but mostly how much he missed Bae Bae. She was a good dog. The best dog! If Matt ever made it home he was going to snuggle the shit out of that dog.

If he ever made it home.

Ugh what an awful thought. He tried to shake it but after months of being here, pretending his leg was still hurt and he couldn't fight, it was starting to feel like he'd never leave. He'd seen some of the looks the guards gave him. They were watching closely and if he didn't get better soon they might kill him. But if he did get better, they'd likely throw him in the pit with Shiro. Matt was a scientist, an Engineer, and a techie – the gladiator pit was not somewhere he could survive.

The thing about these Galra was, even though they were clearly aliens, no doubt about that –there was just something familiar about them. The fluidity of their movements, the manner in which they held themselves, their facial expressions, and the way they talked was all so familiar. He couldn't place it; there was no reason for it to feel like this because he knew he would remember if he'd ever met a 7-foot tall purple alien before. That wasn't exactly something one just forgets.

There was a loud commotion in the hall, probably more prisoners trying to fight off the guards and make a run for it. They did that sometimes. It was foolish; there was nowhere to run. They were trapped on an alien spaceship – a hostile alien spaceship. Even if they did manage to evade capture, they would be stuck on the lamb inside said ship! It was why Matt hadn't tried to make a run for it himself. Where would go? This wasn't Earth; he couldn't just run into the woods and 'live off the land' until finding safety.

He heard some of the cell doors open, and voices speaking in some strange alien language. He'd heard a lot of alien languages at this point, but this one in particular he'd heard often enough to recognize. It was also the language the guards used when they spoke to the prisoners, but not the language they used when they spoke amongst themselves. He'd deduced that it must be a universal common language and since Earth was un-contacted, he didn't know how to speak it.

The door of his cell opened and instead of a Galra guard, there was a strange alien standing in the frame. It was a greenish colour with a tan face and large pink ... ears? Feathery-things? Ear flappies? Whatever they were – they were pink. The alien was wearing a brown hooded cloak over baggy green pants and an orange tunic. It tilted its head and stared at him, almost seeming to recognize him; but that was impossible, humans had never been this far in space before. Suddenly, it spoke.

"Matt Holt?" Ok so It was female ... maybe. She had a soft, kind voice and she had used it to say his name. HIS name. How the hell did this alien lady have his name? Matt shrugged and decided to roll with it; his situation literally couldn't get any worse – or weirder.

"Ya." He said nodding. She spoke to him in the language he was going to call SpaceTalk and he just stared blankly at her, not understanding a word. She made a strange sound that must have been one of frustration then passed him a mask. It was similar to the one in her hand and he put it on as she did. The alien tapped a button on the side of her mask, indicating that he should do the same and, once again, he followed suit.