Heart of Gold

Chapter Fifteen - Hope

"Hello human."

The words were odd, and Sunny tilted her head slightly to the side, attempting to figure out why it was that the words from this Miotalan would disconcert her.

He stared back at her, eyes dark and empty. Kilnor's golden eyes glowed with life, whereas this Miotalan's eyes were soulless.

Then Sunny comprehended the reason his words had been so unsettling. She could understand him - he was speaking English. If that realisation was not shocking enough, the one following on its heels as the implications of that impossibility became clear to Sunny.

For this Miotalan to understand English, a language from another planet in another solar system, potentially even another galaxy, then he had come into contact with a human before, and not just fleeting contact. Contact enough to learn the language, or to warrant having it loaded into a computer chip and implanted.

She had been on his ship and in the custody of his people. Cade, Zandin and Zalon had been under his command, and he had not spoken to them of his ability to understand her. He had done nothing. In fact, it was worse than that. Sunny now suspected that he was the reason that she had remained imprisoned long after the fact that Cade had realised her position.

The sick feeling in Sunny's stomach worsened. She definitely did not like where this was going. She stared up at the dark Miotalan, her comprehension clear on her face, but she said nothing.

He laughed, and the sound was mirthless and eerie. It echoed off the stark walls of Sunny's latest cell.

"I can see you understand." The words were smug, but his eyes were still lifeless.

Sunny lifted her own chin, managing to find a flicker of defiance to straighten her spine.

"Mostly," she agreed, tone icy. What she did not understand was why he had not killed her yet, but that was not a question she wished to ask. She received an answer regardless.

"I may still be able to profit from this... situation," he drew out the word with a look of distaste, before he smiled. "The next time that door opens, it will be your future here to collect."

He then backed out through the door, living Sunny to mull over the poetic words describing her upcoming slavery.

***

The Miotalan's words turned out to be eerily accurate. The door leading into her cell remained stubbornly closed, and no effort on Sunny's part could convince the steel to open. She had not expected it to, however it would have been a nice surprise. She ignored the small voice in her head that told her she would still be stranded on a foreign planet with no available exit.

Sunny had been alone before, of course she had. But not like this. Since she had been dumped in here, she had not seen another being. She had not heard another being. She had not smelt another being. It was as if she had been dumped in this cell before the place had been abandoned, leaving her the sole inhabitant wherever she was.

She supposed that was a viable possibility. Given that the Miotalan was continuing with his plan to sell her into slavery, she would either be picked up by slavers, or she would die here alone, with no one left to question about the dead alien female locked in a cell.

The thought was beyond depressing.

Once Sunny had ascertained that there was no escape from her confines, she instead directed her attention to cataloguing every inch of space of the room in an attempt to evade boredom.

Eventually the only thing left in the room that Sunny had yet to explore was the metal bucket sitting in the corner. She touched it. Beneath her fingers it was cool but rough, textured with rust and age. It was something new, in a room where she had memorised the feel of everything, and Sunny welcomed the feel of it.