The Intergalactic Slave

Six

The days drifted together. She slept when her body needed it, but she had started to adjust to the Rexadian day that her captain kept to. So, she was sleeping eight hours and awake for more like twenty or twenty-one hours every day. The Rexadian day was a full forty-eight hours, and the captain wanted her to be as close to that kind of schedule as possible by the time they landed on Rexada.

She took in a deep breath. It was day... seven... eight? It had been longer than an earth week. She was not quite sure. But, she was running low on fuel. And food. She had been waiting for the restock to happen, and sure enough, the captain had ordered her to restock the escape pods just a few days before her escape.

"All right Katie... I need a planet to land on." She had started to talk to herself to keep company. She worried that if she did not find somewhere to land, she was going to freeze when her pod lost the last of its fuel.

She looked out of the windshield, and then sighed. She rubbed her eyes. Nothing was coming to her... and she was starting to worry that she was going to die.

"Katie... don't give up hope now. Don't you dare. You will find a place to land."

That's when she saw something else in the distance. If she could see it so clearly, it was close enough to fly to with the last of her fuel. She hoped. She adjusted her trajectory to get to the thing.

It looked like a ball. It had to be a planet. Some kind of planet. Since she was heading away from Rexada it had to be a safe...ish planet. Right?

She sat back, shivering. Her heat had died, finally. As long as she could keep the engine going until she landed. Whatever this slave trade would have meant for her, she no longer cared. All she cared about was getting back to earth.

Something told her she wouldn't be able to do that without finding help on another planet.

"Landing on planet Xyloria not possible by autopilot." The ship gave her a warning.

Xyloria... she wondered if that was the planet that originally spoke Xylorian before it became an intergalactic language, according to the captain.

"Well, if it won't be possible by autopilot, looks like I'll have to land this thing by hand." She took the controls.

She could not believe her luck. Hopefully, someone on this planet would know English or Rexadian. If not... she was going to have a hard time explaining why she was there and how she had a Rexadian craft.

"Fuel low. Crash landing imminent."

"Great!" Katie sighed. She hit her hand against the controls, and tried to keep a steady course. "Steady... steady... get into the atmosphere before I lose all control!"

She pressed the button to boost the engines.

She only needed to get into Xyloria's atmosphere. She wasn't sure what that would feel like, but she knew it was the only chance she had. The only chance to be free and get home before anyone realized what terrors were in outer space.

"Come on come on come on!"

There was a large shift in the gravity, and Katie fell against the console of controls. She grunted. Then, the ship just... stopped responding. She braced against the control console and lifted herself up.

When she looked out her windshield, the ground was getting closer. She was going to crash land on Xyloria!

She braced for the impact, pulling her seatbelt on. She then shielded her head, pulling a blanket around the back of her head and neck. It would be all she could do to protect herself in a crash.

She tried to keep her breathing calm. It would not do to panic before she crashed. It might give her a chance to get out without major injury.

Then, the pod hit the ground, and she was not ready for it. Her head flew forward, and she hit it on the dashboard. She groaned.

"Ow... ow!" The pod crumpled, and she felt something jam down on her leg.

She screamed as something shifted further, and then... the world went black.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep beep beep beep!

She squinted her eyes.

Voices surrounded her. She took in a deep breath, but it hurt to even breathe. She could not understand the words they were saying, but she knew it related to her. She had crashed. Gone unconscious. She probably hurt something more in the crash.

Her eyes finally opened.

She was on her back. A mask of some kind was over her face. Oxygen... yes, that was good. That was very good.

Something touched one of her legs. She groaned, loudly. It hurt.

Had it broken in her crash?

There were more voices, and then, she was lifted from the ground.

Someone seemed to recognize that they spoke a language she could not understand. The one voice, the only one now speaking to her, tried to speak to her. They started with what she assumed was Xylorian. She recognized the language, but she did not know anything of it.

When that did not get a response, they tried another language.

"My name is Zelian. You are on Xyloria. Blink once if you understand me." He finally hit upon English.

She was glad he did not find Rexadian first; she had a feeling that they did not have a good reputation in the galaxy because of their slave trading.

She blinked once.

"English. She is from earth."

"Earth? So far?"

"That's not an earth ship."

"She can hear us, guys. Shush." The alien – Zelian, she believed his name was – switched languages since the others seemed so intent on discussing how she got there.

She tried to say something, but she could not find the words to speak.

"Shh. Don't speak. You were quite injured in the crash. You're lucky we were so close to the site. You'll need surgery to fix some of the injuries. Blink once if you are allergic to some kind of medicine, twice for no."

She blinked twice.

"Good, good. At least your brain seems to be in working order. Rest now. When you wake, we will properly introduce ourselves."

The man's face appeared in front of hers. He gave her a soft smile.

"You're going to feel a soft pinch on your back. It's just the IV. We find it better than the crook of the elbow for these. You need a large IV. Blink once if it hurts more than a pinch when we're done. Easy, guys. Take it easy with her as we move her to the proper bed."

She felt arms under her arms, and then, she winced. Someone had grabbed her leg.

But, then, she was put onto something else, her head tilted to the right towards Zelian. She felt a pinch in her back, just as he had told her.

"There we go. Can you breathe all right on your back?"

She blinked once. It hurt a little, but she was all right now that they had let go of her.

"Good. We're going to take you into the operating room." He pulled a syringe out and let her watch as he pushed it into her IV. "This is going to put you under. It may feel cold at first."

She took in a deep breath as a shiver hit her spine. She felt goosebumps on her skin. As she let the darkness creep in again, the alien continued to speak to her gently. He seemed to be telling her a version of the story of Cinderella.

"Fairy tales... are nice..." She smiled as the darkness came over her again.