Vomon Paradox

V

Frizz hurried to keep up. "Where are we?"

"A utility tunnel." Manda quickened her pace, footsteps echoing in the quiet.

Pipes extended along the achromatic tunnel, and downlights illuminated the stone, concrete and metal at regular intervals. Five minutes later, they ascended narrow steps and arrived in a corridor. Frizz's bandaged ankle throbbed, despite her efforts to minimize the load on that leg. Manda made a beeline for a door, which opened into a gargantuan hangar.

Frizz stopped in her tracks, and her jaw dropped open.

The cavernous space before her was mind-boggling—nothing like the cramped confines of the Pens she had known all her life. Three cargo ships loomed like hulking asteroids, while hundreds of vomons scurried around them. Fear jetted up—raw and visceral.

Manda paused and surveyed her. "It's okay."

Frizz gulped and nodded, her fists balled against her sides.

No one paid them any heed as they approached the ship at the far end. Its worn bulk towered over them. Several droids were carrying out repairs on the cratered armor at its front, while others unloaded boxes and crates down a ramp. More crates lay stacked nearby, waiting to be loaded—apparently, they contained supplies for vomon bases out in space.

"We—we just walk in?" Frizz asked, her squeaky voice barely audible in the din.

Manda hesitated. "Once we slip inside, I'll show you—"

"Halt," a mechanical voice commanded.

Frizz jumped, her heart skipping a beat. Manda froze.

Two droids moved towards them, while a skeletal-looking vom hovered farther away.

Manda just stood in a stiff pose. "Nox."

"Your mother would like a word with you and your friend," Nox said, his sunken eyes flitting to Frizz's hooded form. "If you'd follow me."

"I have a feeling I'm not being given a choice."

"I'm afraid so."

Nox and the droids escorted them across the hangar towards a set of industrial doors, which opened into a warehouse. Manda's face was as hard a stone, but no protests issued forth.

As she walked along, Frizz fingered the pendant at her neck while her stomach roiled and lurched. Despair weighed in, making it difficult to breathe. She realized that all her hopes now rode on the vem beside her—an irony she couldn't wrap her brain around.

They passed crates and boxes until Nox stopped at an inconspicuous door.

Manda leaned towards Frizz's ear and whispered, "if you see me reach into my bag, duck—and don't breathe."

Frizz blinked, a frown creasing her brow.

The droids ushered them into what turned out to be an office. A middle-aged vem stood waiting, dressed in a flowing, black cloak. She exuded an air of authority from her posture to her severe expression. Standing next to her were the two vomon officers she evaded in the slum district.

Nox bowed. "Madame Blair, here they are."

"Thank you," the vem said and turned to Manda. "I'm disappointed—and frankly, appalled—at your behavior. Have you lost your mind?"

Manda appeared unruffled, though she didn't relax her rigid stance. "I can't let them take her back to the Pens."

"That's not an option, lady," an officer chimed in. "This human is property of—"

"Mother," Manda said, turning to Madame Blair, "buy her and grant her safe passage to Earth. I will—"

"Don't be ridiculous, Manda." The vem's nostrils flared. "The Pens this human was kept in are the best in the city. Am I expected to buy all the humans in Nodrog and send them to Earth? Honestly, I expected you to have more sense."

Frizz clutched her head in one convulsive motion. Her friends' faces flooded into mind, the spark gone from their eyes after years in the Pens. She thought of the little she remembered of her mother—a broken soul who had no fight in her when they took her away. Something cracked inside.

Fury pummeled its way to the surface like surging lava. With a manic shriek, she launched herself at the nearest vomon officer and sent him crashing to the table. Then her wild eyes homed in on the gun at his waistband. She grabbed it.

A nanosecond later, Frizz backed away, aiming the weapon at Madame Blair, whose eyes widened like saucers. The other officer's hand flew to his gun, but indecision made him pause.

All motion was suspended as everyone held their breath and stared at Frizz. Tension electrified the atmosphere.

"Humans are unpredictable," the officer hissed under his breath, and his clawed hand curled around his gun.

Madame Blair snapped, her voice shaking, "Shoot it!"

"You zombie filth!" Frizz screamed and pulled the trigger—just when Manda leaped into the line of fire.

The red beam flashed for a split second, and Frizz jerked from the recoil. Then her frantic eyes latched onto Manda, who lay on the floor with a sizzling hole in her shoulder. She let out an agonized howl.

The officers drew out their guns while Manda yanked out something from her bag, her jaw clenched against the pain.

Through the fog of panic, it took a moment for Frizz to recognize the cue. She clapped a hand to her nose and ducked.

Smoke billowed out to fill the room, and the vomons fell to the floor, coughing.

The two droids sprang to attack mode, but Manda barked out what appeared to be a verbal code to override their systems. They stilled.

Frizz crawled towards Manda, who croaked, "I'll be okay. Get into a crate marked BB—they'll load you in. Go!"

"Thank you," Frizz panted, wiping the tears that streamed down her face.

Manda's weak voice whispered, "What's your name?"

"Frizz."

"Good to meet you, Frizz."

Emotion choked her, and she rasped, "I'll never forget you, Manda."