Acquisition #6
Pant
Pant
Her heart raced, pounded as she ran through the woods, away from that horrible place she saw in the woods. She had been seen and she didn't know if the two aliens were still following her. They had been chasing her and she wasn't sure how on earth she could outrun them, but somehow she was still running. Tears pricked her eyes as she tried to breath. She stopped when she saw a good place to hide, a small hidden underground trail on the path.
She ran in and hid in the rocks as footsteps walked , loud above her. There was the sound of nasty laughter.
"Oh where are you, my dear"
"Hiding is so cowardly, little one..Come out and speak to us.."
She stayed quiet, holding her hand over her mouth.
"Hrmmm...."
"What a shame.. We lost her"
"She might have gone into the tunnel system"
"Well yes" the other said impatiently with a huff. "And we cannot fit. Either the human comes to us... " he swore.
"Human....come out."
She frowned. She was no fool. They were dangerous. She waited in silence as they argued, hurling nasty words in frustration. One of them seemed to be dragging the other begging and crying back to the house. She winced. But better him than her. Once she was sure they had gone back she continued through the tunnel, shaky.
She was still alive. Somehow.
But she couldn't erase what had been done to her.
~~~~~~~~
24-D hummed whistling as he used the loom listening to 4-J's bawdy folk tales while eating some meat and nut pies. He chuckled at the other's rendition of a drinking song.
"Man , did you listen to these as a kid?" 24-D asked.
"Oh well yes. They shared them over hot brandy in the winter. Paps didn't care much for shielding the truth from the young. He would tell things they way they were."
"Right then" he kept weaving, working on his tunic. He had learned from 78-A and old 89-A about how to improve his plain tunic into something more personalized like many of them had. He wanted to do these things, more as he watched them. He listened intently to the folk tales and learned of things from some other planets.
He wanted to fit in this world if he was going to be here.
He was learning so much.
"You knoooow" 4-J leaned against the desk. "You look damn sexy in that robe"
24-D laughed and shook his head. "I'm sure you think so." he felt 4-J's hands through his hair. "It's like spun Gaulen gold....and your eyes... your eyes are like.... Like the bright vine of the Emerle vine on a warm spring or ..theChabrine stone....."
"The wha- you can just say they're green yanno"
"Yeah but that's so boring and doesn't capture the beauty"
"24-D!" a voice called out. Both of them looked up.as a stern Aelfen wearing a monocle walked down with a clipboard and looked down at them. "4-J.. Move aside." 4-J skittered away looking uneasy.
"....w-what?" 24-D asked The Aelfen's eyebrows lowered down. "W-what can I do to help..you .. sir" 24-D hurriedly added with a quick bow.
"Come with me. The ladies of the house have business with you" Their lip curled into a haughty sneer.
"Can I just get my -"
"You won't need a tunic. Trust me" The Aelfen smiled nastily as if they looked forward to whatever the bosses had in mind for him. 24-D had had very little interaction with this person but somehow they had a burning hatred for him. 24-D got up slowly as 4-J looked to him worried.
~~~~~~~~
Her heart thundered as she kept going through the tunnel not sure how far she was , or how long it had been. But she was still alive somehow, and still going. She was able to pause for breath as she walked along unseen by others, unheard.
'How long did this tunnel even go?' She pondered how it must have got here, and how it hadn't been filled by now. Especially if it was such an inconvenience to the Aelfen.
She had heard the word spoken since she arrived to this place. It referred to both the people and the planet. One of the things she overheard as she had waited with the others in a prison. She and her family had been brought here once they were sold out by their hideout's owner. Her insides burned with anger when she thought of him. She hoped that the man would run into some great misfortune and regret his betrayal. Her family was all taken and her siblings were separated from their parents and rounded onto other ships.
She may never see them again. She felt tears flood her eyes and this time she couldn't hold them back.
What did she ever do to deserve this? She had never hurt any of these aliens. She always tried to keep to herself. She tried to push back the tears but she couldn't and she found herself starting to sniffle and cry.
She wiped her tears from her eyes when they started to flood her vision, and kept going. She had to keep going. She needed food soon.
~~~~~~~~
24-D's mouth was dry and felt uncomfortable as he followed, trying not to think about the nauseous anxiety in his body. He wondered if he could still throw up. He might with all this anxiety.
"Did I do something wrong?" he asked.
"Why should I know, I don't eavesdrop on my masters" The Aelfen overseer snapped
"I mean you see me more than they do" he said.
"Huh... well I have better things to do human. Despite what you may think, you're not the center of the universe. "
"I..." 24-D felt anger burn up in him. "When did I ever say I thought-"
"You don't have to say it. Your kind simply ooze that sense that they're the single most important thing in the room."
"...I don't-" 24-D seethed before the Aelfen turned around and looked down at him with eyes a glowing white. "Like the Helsen Empire you don't. Listen to yourself. What did I do, why are you doing this to me. Everything is about you people."
24-D shrank back.
The Aelfen simply turned around with a huff. They kept walking in silence until they reached a door of wood like material. It was a deep dark purple color with hints of blue in the grain. The doorknob was like some kind of precious mineral, a polished smoky pink color smooth and oval shaped. The Aelfen overseer knocked at the door and not long after the door opened.
24-D looked up at the woman, who he recognized as one of the beings who had him tied down. He felt the memories flood him as she smiled at him. He was rooted in this spot.
"Thank you Olwart" She said
24-D gave a snicker and a cough, not out of amusement but from nerves. Still the overseer whirled on him looking at him with hatred.
He gulped unable to speak.
"Don't worry yourself Olwart, we will be working that out of him today" Oh no. Noo no no. Olwart grinned cruelly as 24-D was pulled into the room, heart pounding.
He forced himself to speak when he got in the room. "I didn't mean to.. It just came ou-"
"Oh there will be no need to speak" A hand reached out and touched his lips, sending a painful jolt through him. He tried to cry out but couldn't. He couldn't make a noise. Why?
"We've heard you've been asking some questions,24-D."
Well yes. He wanted to know what happened to his memories. He couldn't get out speech.
"Oh, sweet one... why can't you understand" The one with bigger breasts spoke sweetly, caressing his face. "We took your memories for your own good. We don't intend you to try and dig into things that ought not be answered." He tried furiously to speak.
SLAP
24-D recoiled holding his face.
"24-D-5, you are going to learn sooner rather than later, that you need to watch what you say and where you step. And that the only way you're going to survive is if you do as we like , exactly the way we like it."
"And in order to teach you that lesson," The other Aelfen woman moved forward with some kind of old and scary looking device. "We're going to have to break you" A long pole with a fork at the end and a spark running through it. He backed up and looked to the more sweet speaking one.
_But she smiled _
And nodded
As the Aelfen woman with the thing advanced on him, he could hear screaming in his mind, and as he was shocked he tried to scream.
But he couldn't.
And the with a sudden pain to the back.
All went black.
~~~~~~~~
She was still going. She could see the tunnel coming to an end though ,and a dim light at the end. She pushed herself forward hoping that she could find, at the very least a place to sleep and something to eat. Finally. She was so hungry and tired.
She thanked her god that she was still alive at least. If she had fallen into the hands of those two Aelfen, why she'd surely be dead by now. From what she saw of their place, it was full of horrible devices they intended to try on her. She had overheard them speaking of 'what to do with the remains' before giving her something that was most certainly laced. She dumped it somewhere, pretended to be dizzy, then ran for her life as soon as she could break out.
She pushed herself ahead as hard as she could, taking a moment to sit and catch her body up once she was at the end. She found a hidden area in between the rocks, and curled up to catch on sleep.
She would rest for what felt like a night to her tired body but was really only a few hours.
~~~~~~~~
Once 24-D noticed the metal and leather restraints he started to awake from his sleep. He was strapped to an examination table with no clothes on. He felt hazy, and bleary. Everything felt a bit like a dream and everything he felt was dulled. One of the Aelfen women gave him another prod with the sparking tool but he didn't feel it
It was bizarre. He didn't want to be in pain, but not feeling wasn't any better.
And he still couldn't talk. Was this even reality, he didn't feel like it?
"He's all ready, Aervole" The stockier , smaller breasted Aelfen said, smiling up at him. Aervole, the larger busted approached with a huge sharp tool and looked over him with a careful eye.
"Oh Ofrelle...you did get his measurements , yes?"
"Yup I got 'em."
"Good...we can adjust the prosthetic to fit."
Prosthetic
24-D watched in quiet, numbed horror as Aervole came forward and cut his leg off at the knee, and then used some kind of giant metal match to cauterize the wound. He distantly felt heat, maybe an ache.
Offrelle came forward with the metal leg and started connecting nerves with little care to his comfort. 24-D's whole frame shook,wracked with shots of pain, and he couldn't scream when he finally felt them. Being without pain made the pain so much more powerful.
They cared nothing for his squirming as they hooked in his new leg.
"Take care, Ofrelle. Remember we don't want to kill this one"
'They've _ KILLED _ humans before?'
In his numb state he was panicking, looking down at the way the two lovingly acted like a couple while they tortured him. Ofrelle gave Aervole a gentle kiss before, the latter moved forward with her saw and started chopping off his fingers, and cauterizing the wounds one by one. His hands were left as stumps.
Ofrelle moved forward and injected each stump spot with some kind of liquid with a pale glow.
24-D would treated to the view of golden colored furry alien fingers growing out of his hands slowly. It was the most disturbing thing he'd ever seen. He still couldn't scream.
They modified his body as he watched in numb silence and occasionally he just barely felt a jolt go through his body to remind him he wasn't dreaming.
~~~~~~~~
_ 5 Harvests ago _
Once rested she pulled herself up and looked out to see where she was. She gave a gasp as she looked around the scenery outside the tunnel
It was beautiful.
Mountains with trees that had leaves all across the color spectrum almost completely surrounded a little valley with fields of orange and yellow 'grass' . Some was an ordinary green but the mixture of colors painted a marvelous mosaic of color. There were huge, strange furred beasts grazing in the field and perhaps a few strange looking beings, many of them looking short and stout but athletic or tall and strong. She looked at the fields of trees with odd fruits or crystals growing in them, or little colored pearls in buds
It was absolutely picturesque.
She nervously stepped out into the sun and carefully wandered around. Trying to find where she could find refuge.
She heard the sound of a woman(?) calling out. "Oh , dear! You look amess"
The human girl froze. The Aelfen came over to her with a worried look on her face. She was gorgeous and the girl tried not to eye over her, especially her chest, goodness. Another Aelfen came over as the first one cupped the girl's face.
"What happened?"
"I... two.. Men.. I think.... Had me.. They had the most horrible torture devices" She gasped out.
"Oh, you poor thing." the woman held her close. Like a mother. The girl was silent, stunned and the women embraced her. "Oh I imagine you're starving"
"A bit..."
"Yes, come with us. I am Aervole, and my partner Ofrelle" She said, holding her close and patting her back. "Ofrelle, make some nice arm cider, and make an extra bowl of stew."
Stew sounded so nice right now.
"Thank you so much for your kindness"
"Oh its nothing.."
"Alright ya bleedin heart" Ofrelle said to her partner, shaking her head and going inside. She got a pot going then went in the cabinet and started gathering the drugs. She'd need some strong tranquilizer to keep the human out while they got set up..