Captive (Among Us Logic)

A Saucerful of Secrets

Player's cage rattled in the back of a hover-van, along with a bunch of other animals. There weren't any windows in the back, just slits near the roof where he could catch glimpses of the sickly yellow sky. The Alder hadn't loaded the other Bean onto the van with him, depriving him of anyone he could even talk to during this ride. The dry whistle of wind was soon accompanied by light city noise and people talking. Player perked up, wondering what it meant, as the van pulled to a stop.

Two Alder arrived to start taking cages out of the truck. Player squeaked when his was grabbed and swung outside into the dusty, noisy air. While being carried to wherever, he was able to get a look at his surroundings and finally reorient himself. A crowd of various alien creatures milled about a cleared-out space in the city, between decrepit tenement buildings. Booths and tents filled the space, where vendors offered food, tools, animals, and other things. It was a farmer's market! An alien and post-apocalyptic farmer's market, but one nonetheless. A smell of wood smoke and meat filled the air, reminding Player that he was hungry. Without anything he could do about it, the red Bean sulked in his cage as the space pirates set up camp next to a large military tent. The hulking wolf-like aliens (a group of insurgents scouting for rivals to take out, but Player didn't know that) from the tent seemed angry at the Alder. Presumably it was for pitching their booth close to them, but backed off once bribed with the vicious reptile creature that had harassed Player in the cargo hold.

Player glanced around dolefully at the patrons, who chatted in the local dialect (that he didn't speak) and snacked on the gross food offerings at the market. Scorpion-creatures on sticks, two-headed fish on sticks, rodents on sticks...Player was beginning to notice a pattern here. He just hoped nobody here wanted a roasted Bean on a stick.

In fact, now that such an idea was in his mind, he felt sick. Nobody here spoke Bean, so he couldn't just shout "Hey, I've been kidnapped and I'm being held against my will, please help me!" Hell, the people here probably didn't even know that Beans were sentient. More terrible thoughts crossed his mind: did other creatures farm his kind for their fur or as food, not knowing they were an intelligent race?

Player's catastrophizing left him curled up on the floor of his cage, face tucked into his fur. He was a shivering, anxious mass of red fur. Suddenly, he felt his tiny prison rattle as someone grabbed it and shook it a little. He straightened himself out in an instant, glaring at the Ald whose gross reptile hand was gripping it. But the sight of someone new distracted him from his irritation. Another alien had approached the space pirates and seemed interested in Player.

He (Player was pretty sure it was a male) had a face and body like a kangaroo. His back had a hunch to it and he sported big, wide feet. A pair of tusks stuck out of his mouth, his nose turned up at the end, and he had warm brown eyes. For clothes he had on what looked like baggy overalls and a knapsack, making him look like a country bumpkin. At the sight of Player he beamed -- not a mean smile by any means, more like the kind a person gets when they see a particularly cute animal. Because that was what he saw Player as -- a small, fuzzy little bean thing that would make a fun pet.

He asked the Alder something. They nodded and opened the cage door. Before Player could even think of making a run for it, one of them grabbed him with their lightning reflexes and held fast.

The kangaroo alien said something and patted Player on the head, making the red Bean freeze.

"You gotta listen to me," Player said uselessly, "I'm not a pet, I'm a guy from MIRA and I've been kidnapped. Please help! I wanna go home to my friends!"

Of course, the kangaroo alien had no idea what Player said, and instead seemed endeared by the cute chirps that had come out of the red fuzzball. He patted Player on the head again and looked to the Alder, asking them a question while one of them bent down to take off Player's zappy ankle-band thing. Then, of course, he got stuffed back in the kennel. They discussed something briefly before the kangaroo got out a pouch and started counting out some tiny metal chips inside. He handed the money to the Alder and they grabbed it with eager smiles. They pushed Player's cage over to him and said something that was probably "congratulations on your new pet" or "Good luck."

Not sure what else to do, Player sat on the floor of his cage and rubbed his sore ankle. At least that nasty device was off it. The kangaroo carried Player away from the grounds, towards a torn-up concrete slab that looked like an old sports court. Several hovering vehicles were parked there. He brought Player over to a blue pickup-truck. He slid the Bean into the backseat before climbing in on the driver's side. With a flick of some levers, the truck's engine rumbled to life, and soon they had passed the city limits and entered rural Haldrus.

The smog from the city lifted as they drove deeper into the countryside. The mountains of concrete turned into seas of tallgrass, and quaint farms replaced the tenements and factories. The sky bloomed pink with the setting sun, and the outline of the planet's four moons appeared on the east horizon. Player watched it all with mild interest. He would have enjoyed this trip, if he wasn't a kidnapping victim during it. The kangaroo alien rolled down the window on his pickup, bringing in powerful gusts of cool wind. The air smelled strongly of hay. Player was grateful he didn't have a ragweed allergy.

The kangaroo alien drove for a while longer, before he turned a corner and pulled into a dirt driveway, in front of a farmhouse. It was picture perfect, with red siding and a big oak tree in the front yard. The tree even had a tire swing. The strange purple ivy curling up its sides gave the only clue that this was an alien home on an alien world.

Player startled as the kangaroo picked up his kennel and set it down on the dirt. In the distance, he could see a windmill and grain silos rising up like metal trees, and a patchwork of planted fields. The alien said something Player didn't understand, but his tone seemed kindly.

Not long after, the farmhouse door swung open and a smaller version of the kangaroo alien came rushing out. This one had a high-pitched, childish voice -- Player assumed it was a she, and the kangaroo's daughter. She had a dirty shirt and grass-stained pants, and her feet were bare. She made a beeline for Player's kennel. She slid into a kneeling position, her face inches away from his. He unconsciously backed up.

The little girl kangaroo stared at Player for a few seconds, then jumped up with a happy squeal. She bounded over to her father and threw her arms around him in a big hug. A gift accepted, it would seem. The girl kept peeking into the kennel as her father picked it up and carried it into the house.

Player hoped that he could simply make a run for it as soon as his cage was unlocked, but no such luck. The door slammed shut tight with a gust of rural wind, and the latch remained frustratingly out of reach for a three-foot-tall Bean. So when the kennel door popped open, he slunk out instead, looking warily at the kangaroo family. Right away, the girl started petting him. Although the feeling of her slender fingers ruffling his fur wasn't bad by any means, it was a foreign sensation nonetheless. Usually, it was only by a Bean's family or close friends that they got pat-pats, not by strange aliens.

The front door led directly to the kitchen. Apart from the bowl of weird fruit on the table and a giant portrait of a one-eyed slime creature tacked to the back wall, it looked like any old kitchen and not one belonging to alien farmers. The dad said something to an older, female kangaroo at the kitchen counter (his wife, presumably) and she turned around, holding a large metal bowl.

"Don't eat me!" Player cried, thinking that the kangaroo family intended on making Bean salad to put in that bowl or something. Of course, they didn't understand him, and when he scrambled to get away, the dad grabbed him by the neck-scruff and plunked him back down in their midst.

The kangaroo woman dipped her finger into the bowl and taste-tested whatever liquid was inside. So it probably wasn't poisoned, Player reasoned, as she set the bowl down in front of him. He still sniffed it cautiously, though, because he'd never seen anything like it. The stuff inside was a very pale, lavender-tinted, opaque liquid with a slightly sweet scent. Milk, perhaps? Player dared a taste of it. The stuff was creamy and a bit nutty, but it wasn't bad. And he was hungry. He lapped up the rest of it. In any case, it was better to be getting something to eat than to be getting eaten.

When he was finished, the young kangaroo alien immediately descended on him with pat-pats and a big hug. And the funny thing was, Player didn't mind that terribly. If he was going to be a captive and awaiting rescue from MIRA, he figured this was the most agreeable way to be it.