Caged With The Alien Warrior

25.

Aanya

I shimmied through the vent, pausing only to look out at each opening. I could practically hear my heartbeat pounding out of my chest.

I had to find Lani and get her to the escape pod. And somehow get Ronan out of the cage.

Finally, I came upon the lab that Lani was born in, the one they experimented on me in. I almost gasped. How could they keep Lani in that plastic coffin they kept me in?

She laid there asleep, peacefully unaware of her surroundings. She was unusually well behaved, but that worked out for me in this situation.

I worked the screws off the vent and tried to gracefully lower myself to the ground but I didn't have that much strength, so I ended up in a heap on the ground with the wind knocked out of me. Lovely.

Lying there, I gasped in breath.

Noticing me, Lani's eyes popped open and she let out a little wail. I couldn't do anything but catch my breath for a second.

I forced myself to my feet and scrambled over to the plastic coffin. Just like Lani's mom freed me, I got Lani out. Her cries quieted once I picked her up and held her to my chest. I murmured to her softly, more for my reassurance than anything.

I gathered up a blanket they'd left in the coffin and used it to tie Lani to my front, freeing up my hands if I had to fight off the lizardmen. Hopefully my screams would be enough, but I didn't want to use that until a last resort.

I glanced at the door, heartbeat racing. Okay, nobody was coming.

Frantically, I opened up the drawers until I found the formula they'd been feeding Lani. I gathered up a bunch of it– who knows how long we'd be travelling to get somewhere safe.

I threw the formula into a sheet, tied up the bundle and threw it over my shoulder.

As I turned to face the door, a lizardman ran in. The same small one from my earlier who'd administered the RD-5290.

Oh shit. Guess I'd have to use my vocal weapon before he could alert the others. I opened my mouth to scream but the lizardman held up his hands. "Wait! I can help you!"

Huh. Wasn't expecting that. "What the hell." I tightened my grip on Lani, holding her protectively. "Why would you help me?"

The lizardman regarded me impatiently. "Do you agree with everything your species does?"

I thought of all the stupid shit humanity had done. "... no."

"Right." He nodded, seeming somewhat frazzled. "I don't agree with these breeding experiments. It's wrong, twisting our goal of scientific exploration. I signed up to help others, not to experiment on them against their will."

"... okay." I couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth right now.

"Here, I have this data, it's proof of our experiments here. The Rhodinian warrior can bring it to the Intergalactic Alliance, show how we've broken the accords." He held out a USB stick looking thing.

I didn't understand half of that, but I got the gist of it– give Ronan the data and the lizardmen would get in trouble for all the shit they've done. Sounded good to me. Still not trusting him fully, I hesitated.

"So, take the data with you. I'll probably be dead by the time they find out I helped you anyways." He seemed resigned to the fact. "Not all the Szenists want to be a part of the Empire. We're not all horrible, I promise you. The Intergalactic Alliance doesn't know about the Empire, but they need to. It's all on here, you need to get it to the Alliance. Please."

I reached out and took the stick from his claw.

"Okay, I'll try." I nodded. "But I need to get to the escape pods and meet Ronan."

"The escape pods?" The lizardman hissed, shaking his head. "No, they're gone, we jettisoned them all after you almost escaped on one."

"What?" My voice went high. Oh shit, shit, shit. How else were we going to get out of here?

"We captured the Rhodinian warrior from a pleasure cruiser. It's in Bay 14, take that. I can show you a map of how to get there through the vents." He pulled his tablet thing from his pocket.

I squinted at him. "How did you know I used the vents?"

He sighed, impatient. "Why do you think I used the vents for the RD-5290? An injection would have been more effective, but I wanted you to see they were there. I hoped you'd be intelligent enough to use them."

I prickled at his tone, but leaned over to look at the schematic he pulled up on his tablet as he explained how to get to the ship.

Red lights started blaring. Oh shit. Ronan.

"Go." He pointed to the vent. "I'll tell the Rhodinian warrior where to find the ship."

He turned to leave, but I called out after him. "Wait, what's your name?"

"Gila." He intoned with hiss in there that I couldn't replicate, but I tried anyways. It was the least I could do– this guy was risking his life for me.

"Thank you, Gila."

Gila inclined his head. "Safe travels. Please deliver the data."

"I'll try."

With that, the left, running down the hall with his claws clacking.

I dragged over a chair and pulled myself back up into the vent with Lani and the formula.

My chest ached. God, I hoped Ronan was okay. 

✶ ☾ ✶

AUTHOR'S NOTE

What did you think of Gila? What do you think Ronan's been up to?? 

Also, how have you been doing? I'm doing pretty good– busy but good!!

Comments and votes are much appreciated.

Virtually yours,

Ro

P.S. RONAN'S POV IS NEXT!!!! WOOOOO