67
First stood before Jack flanked by the two guards. It was practically vibrating with excitement so maybe it forgot about its command for Jack to keep his eyes down.
“That was an excellent demonstration. The integration of your nervous system with the exquisitely crafted and advanced collar is remarkable! I’ve never experienced such complete immersion before!” First practically gushed.
Jack’s jaw dropped in horror. What he’d shared just now with Eve had been for them alone. To discover the sick bastard had been tagging along for the ride and feeling what he was feeling was a complete violation.
He turned his head to look at Eve but she wouldn’t look at him. She turned her face away but he’d caught the shame in her eyes. She was sorry she’d done it. Something had changed for her.
He shuddered but he knew he had to survive until his friends found him. He was going home. He tipped his head and looked at the floor.
“You understand now. Don’t you,” the Allsa Komanae said slowly with a satisfied, smug tone.
Jack wanted so badly to drive his fist into that damn cowl and smash whatever First hid inside it but… not yet. He nodded.Content provided by NôvelDrama.Org.
“Excellent. It’s time for you to meet your other companions. The Prime had very particular instructions on selecting her toys.”
Jack just waited. With a satisfied noise First turned and left. The guards pointed to the door and Eve moved to follow First so Jack followed her with the two Allsa Komanae guards bringing up the rear.
They entered a large elevator with the guards keeping an eye on Jack who noted that they completely ignored Eve. She was a known quantity.
They exited on the ground level and left the building. There was a vehicle parked outside and Eve immediately headed for the open section at the back. Jack followed and climbed on. He saw she was clinging to the bar mounted on the back of the vehicle so he took hold as well. The muscles in his hands contracted and gripped painfully tight.
“They don’t use stabilizer fields back here?” Jack gritted out quietly to Eve between his teeth.
“This is cheaper.”
“Right.”
Once the guards saw the slaves were secured they walked back into the building and First got into the passenger section. The car lifted and they were off.
Jack and Eve hunkered down next to each other to avoid the winds as they rushed across the landscape to destination unknown.
“I’m sorry.”
Jack looked at Eve in surprise. She was sorry for following an order from her master? That was major. He looked closer and saw she was crying.
“Hey! Please don’t cry! What are these tears for?” Jack leaned against Eve just a little more to bring her tighter against his body. Without his hands free, it was the closest he could get to a hug.
“I’m so confused! It- it’s never felt like that before. You didn’t know First was linked in. For you it was private so it was… honest. I’ve never…” Her eyes looked up into his and he saw her torment. “What were you doing with your mouth?”
“You’ve never been kissed before?” he asked in surprise.
“Kiss? That’s what it’s called?” Eve said in wonder watching his lips move then looked away in shame.
“Hey! Listen, I understand you were ordered to do it. I don’t blame you. Yes, I was really upset when I found out what actually happened. But as you said, for me it was an honest expression of emotion. That hasn’t changed. I like you Eve. Even if we weren’t in this awful situation I’d like to get to know you better-”
“STOP! DON’T YOU GET IT? WE. ARE. DISPOSABLE! WE CAN’T GET CLOSE!” Eve yelled in his face then turned away from him, crying.
Her outburst finally shone a light on Eve’s behavior to date. She’d been a slave for as long as she could remember. She’d survived. She’d done that while others had not. She’d seen those she might have cared for killed… for whatever senseless reasons the master’s had. She was protecting herself.
Fuck he felt awful. He really had no concept of how hard it had been for her. “I’m sorry.”
She shook her head but she didn’t turn back to look at him.
Jack gave her the space she needed.
They rode in silence until they reached the outskirts of a city. As they made their way closer to the center of the core the buildings got larger but there was a uniformity to their design. There was no thought to aesthetics. The city was ugly but functional. They reached a rather large building in the center of the city and once again the only thing that distinguished it was its size and the fact that it had a series of outlier buildings attached to it.
Their vehicle was pulling up to one of these outlier buildings. When the car settled to the ground it was met by two Allsa Komanae security personnel. First exited the car and turned to face the two still locked in place on the back platform. He touched something on the car and the muscles on their hands suddenly relaxed.
As he stepped from the deck Jack caught himself about to turn to help Eve but instead he ignored her. He couldn’t let First see he cared and he had to let Eve recover.
“She was crying. Why?” First paused to ask Jack.
“Bitch tricked me. So I had a few words with her.” Jack growled. He found himself on the ground with just the memory of an astonishing amount of pain for a brief moment.
“You will refrain from any activity that disturbs the tranquility of the other slaves. Am I understood?” First said in a sinister hiss.
Jack could only nod as his jaw was still locked up. He pushed himself to his feet and leaned away from Eve who was moving to help. He glanced at her and saw her look of confusion at his lie.
“Good.” First said in a pleased tone. “Let’s introduce you to the others.”
It led the way again and they fell into step behind it followed by the two guards. The entrance was at the midpoint on one of the long sides of the rectangular building. The doors were wide and Jack saw the inside of the building was completely open, one vast chamber. To the far left was what looked like bunk beds, obviously the sleeping area. There was some machinery straight ahead of them that may have been a gym of some kind. To the far right were the food processing machines and the bathroom facilities.
Standing by the food processing area were the others they were to meet. When they saw the Allsa Komanae they stopped what they were doing and moved closer to stand in a line looking at the floor.
Jack saw a human Caucasian man and woman, both fairly young and the woman was obviously pregnant. She looked like she was full term. The man had long black hair and a beard, his body was tall and slim, maybe a little too slim. His body was long limbed but his joints stood out in stark relief.
The woman had long brown hair and a round face. Her body, shorter than the man’s, was just a little plump all over. Jack guessed the man was giving some of his rations to her.
Next was a being whose species Jack didn’t recognize. It was tall and broad with powerful looking limbs. Scaled skin with an olive green tint. Wide jaws filled with sharp looking teeth. Menacing.
The next slave caused Jack’s body to jolt in surprise. An Altarian! Tall, probably at the top end of their height range, and a beautiful chocolate brown. He saw her nose twitching and he began to smell a spicy musk. His body, of course, responded and her eyes flicked up to glance at him in confusion then back to the floor. She was twitching as her body responded to his scent.
Jack dragged his attention from the Altarian to the words First was saying. He’d missed some already.
“… skills they have or for some other whim. We do not question the Prime. Each was personally selected so they have been gathered here for her arrival. You two will sleep here, eat here, expel your waste here, and exercise here to maintain your health. You will be given tasks to do to maintain your mental acuity. Some may entail you moving from this building to another location and back. When you are assigned these tasks you will be given permission to move along a designated route. Stray from it and you will be punished. Outside of these tasks there will be no unauthorized departure from this building. Is this understood?”
Jack and Eve nodded.
First made a sound of satisfaction and left the building with the guards.
The moment they were gone the others all looked up at Jack and Eve. The man and woman were staring at him with undisguised fear. The scaled one walked closer and stared down into Jack’s face.
“You are shaped like these soft ones but are not like them. You smell like the furred one but have no fur. What are you?” it asked in a gravelly voice.
“I’m both. A hybrid. I don’t think I have ever met one of your species either.” Jack responded.
“We do not travel beyond our world. I must go back to my mate. Once I have killed those who took me from her,” it replied.
Jack nodded. It was good to have a plan. “I’m Jack.”
“You cannot pronounce my name so you may call me Kekk.”
With that the brutish being walked away to get its meal. Jack hadn’t seen any scars on its neck. Its discipline band was wider than his but had no designs on it. Just a wide plain silver band with the V notch at the front.
“How- how can you be both human and like this one?” the tall man asked pointing to the Altarian who hadn’t looked away from him since the Allsa Komanae left.
Jack heard the accent and he thought he recognized it from TV show’s he’d watched back when he’d been a worker on Earth. They were South African. He saw no scars around their necks. Their Prime collars were much smaller and plainer than his. “How long ago were you abducted?” Jack asked.
“About five months ago.”
“My name is Jack Danner. I’m Earth’s Altarian Trade Commissioner and the Altarian Ambassador.”
“Oh my god! I’ve heard of you!” the woman gasped. “The Goat Man! Lucifer!”