Alien Chronicles 1 - The Golden One (36 page)

“No!” Ampris cried out, and reached for him.

Another handler struck her in the stomach with a staff, knocking her off her feet.

Winded, she rolled onto her knees and wheezed for breath. She felt nauseated, and she couldn’t straighten from the pain in her stomach.

By the time she staggered to her feet, Elrabin was being forced from the pen. He fought every step of the way, panic and fury mingling in his howls. The handlers put a restraint noose around his throat and another around his arms, binding them. Still, it took three Gorlicans to push him onto the block.

“Hey, hey!” the auctioneer said loudly, his voice echoing over the speaker system. He waved his flag for the spectators’ attention. “A fine young Kelth, full-grown or close to it. A lifetime of work in his muscles, eh? Bids are open!”

The bidding went swiftly, too much so for Ampris to comprehend.

“Sold!” the auctioneer said a few seconds later. A price flashed on the information board above his head. “To Utar Dan Gladiator School.”

The handlers shoved Elrabin off the block, pushing him from Ampris’s sight. She realized suddenly that she would never see him again. She hadn’t even thanked him again for his kindness. She hadn’t even said good-bye.

Grief swelled inside her. Frantically she threw herself against the mesh side of the pen. “Elrabin!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “Elrabin!”

But he was gone from sight, already whisked away by the efficient system.

Ampris clung to the fence, still calling his name.

The auctioneer glared at her and gestured for the handlers to bring her out.

Ampris tried to run from them, but a shock-whip flicked across her shoulders. The sizzle of pain locked her in mid-step, and she stumbled to her knees with her mouth open in a silent cry of agony.

They grabbed her by her arms and dragged her upright, slinging her around and pushing her from the pen. At the steps leading up to the block, one of the handlers pushed his masked face close to hers.

She smelled his hot, fetid breath as his glowing yellow eyes bored deep into hers. Repulsed and frightened, she tried to draw back, but he leaned closer.

“You good property,” he said in a hoarse, guttural voice. “You bring good price. Walk straight. No cry. No show pain. No cause trouble.”

She quivered in his hold, wanting to spit in his face, wanting to claw and bite.

His eyes glowed brighter.“Good look. Spirit raise value.”

“You—”

But they shoved her up the steps onto the block and fitted her feet into two depressions that locked onto her with vise-like strength, holding her fast. The handlers vanished, and the spectators shouted with interest and questions.

The auctioneer’s voice boomed over the speakers: “A fine specimen of the Aaroun breed. Young enough to be trained. Strong and straight. We can certify no bones have been broken. Complete health and a high level of intelligence. Regard the quality of this grade-twelve pelt, how thick and lustrous it is. Unusual coloring, with no spots or stripes. This young female can be used to infuse your breeding stock with new vigor.”

Ampris shut out what he was saying. It was too awful, too embarrassing. Drenched with shame, she stood there before the tiers of spectators with her ears flat to her skull and her claws digging into her palms. She wanted to die.

She had never been put on display like this before, had never been stared at this way. They did not treat her as a person, but instead as a piece of property to be bought or sold. In their eyes, she was only goods, priced merchandise. For the first time in her life, she knew what it meant to be a slave.

Humiliation burned inside her. She wanted to throw back her head and roar at them. She wanted to break free of her bonds and attack the auctioneer, to bite him until he was silenced. She wanted to charge at the agents who were putting in swift calls to potential buyers over their comms. If she were grown, bigger and stronger, she thought, she could get loose somehow and make them all sorry.

Then, just when she thought things couldn’t get worse, the auctioneer activated a control at his podium and sent her turning slowly around and around like wares on display in a shop.

Both shamed and furious, she fought back tears and instead held herself proudly in defense. She reminded herself that she was the friend of the sri-Kaa. She had eaten from the Imperial Daughter’s plate, had walked everywhere the Imperial Daughter walked, had spent her life in the palace as one of the favored. She had sometimes been permitted to lean against the Kaa’s knee when he read to his young daughter. In these things, Ampris took her pride and her identity. Even if she had lost everything else, even if she had been turned against by all those whom she loved, she could at least cling to the court protocols that she had been so rigorously taught.

Thus, she stood straight and tall, holding her head high. She stared at no one, and let nothing cross her face despite the pounding of her heart and the dryness on her tongue.

Murmurs of appreciation ran through the crowd. The auctioneer beamed.

Gorlican handlers came forward to hold up Ampris’s arms, calling out measurements of reach, then of height and weight. One blew on her fur to certify its quality. Although Ampris resisted, they forced open her mouth to examine her teeth.

“None missing,” the auctioneer reported to the crowd. “None rotted.”

Then she was spun around again, rotating until she had to close her eyes to keep from getting dizzy.

“A prize of the very highest quality,” the auctioneer boomed over the speaker system. “Such an opportunity comes to the market rarely. As you know, the best slaves are usually sold through private agents. But she—”

“What is her provenance?” shouted someone.

“I certify her as a legal acquisition,” the auctioneer said smoothly. “Now, let’s open the bidding at—”

“Stop in the name of the sri-Kaa!” called out a stern voice in ringing tones.

Ampris opened her eyes as the spectators craned to look. The auctioneer’s voice faltered.

Ampris saw a squadron of Viis guards wearing palace green come striding into the market. Their captain swept one glance around the place, then trotted up the steps and went straight to the auctioneer.

The loudspeakers were snapped off. The information board went blank. Amid the buzz of speculation, Ampris went on rotating around and around. Her hopes rose like bubbles. She had known all along that Israi would find a way to save her.

“We’re in the middle of a sale,” the auctioneer complained. “Bidding is at—”

“I am not interested in your activities,” the captain said in a sharp voice. He produced a gold disk of authority, and the auctioneer froze in place at the very sight of it.

“Yes, of—of course,” the auctioneer said. “Whatever—”

“This Aaroun is the property of the sri-Kaa, wrongfully taken from the palace. She is to be released at once.”

The auctioneer’s mouth fell open. “But, Captain, I must protest this high-handed—”

“Do you dispute the sri-Kaa’s authority?”

The auctioneer quailed. “No! Not at all. Not in the least. Please do not misunderstand me. But—but are you certain
this
Aaroun is the one you seek? Her value is extremely high, and a mistake of identity could cost me thousands of—”

“I am not interested in your costs. This Aaroun is the property of the sri-Kaa. It is a Class A felony to sell her without authority. Do you wish to be arrested for theft and—”

“No!” The auctioneer made placating gestures. “Not at all. I will make no protests. Such a fine young creature, but alas, some mistake must have been made. I do not understand how she came to be here. There is no ownership earring, no means of— Please, take her. Take her!”

He said the last sentence almost as an oath, snarling as he spoke, and pushed the controls that stopped Ampris from rotating. Her foot restraints released her, and she stumbled across the platform to the captain, eager to be taken away.

“The sri-Kaa has sent for me?” she asked.

The captain’s glance was cursory. “Come at once.”

Intense relief swept Ampris. Israi had not failed her after all. She was saved.

Turning to join the other guards, Ampris saw the world suddenly tilt and spin around her. Everything went blank, and when she blinked back to consciousness it was to find herself aboard a skimmer with its siren blaring. They surged through the open traffic lane that other vehicles cleared for them.

Ampris blinked and sat up, holding her head, which felt very strange and light. She had the feeling that if it weren’t attached, it might float off and be lost. Worse, a restrictive tug of cable hampered her movements. She discovered that she was wearing a broad collar around her throat, and a wide cuff around each wrist and ankle. Restraint cables, inactivated, snaked between each point, effectively binding her.

Jerking the cable between her wrists, she sat bolt upright, fighting a fresh bout of vertigo. “What happened?” she mumbled. “Why am I restrained?”

The captain sat next to her, his cloak fluttering in the wind. His attention seemed focused on the driver of the skimmer, as though he would have preferred to pilot it himself. At her question, he turned his brilliant Viis eyes upon her. “Aside from a routine beating, what special injuries have they inflicted on you?”

“I don’t know,” Ampris said in confusion. Her head ached, and she felt terrible. “I’m hungry. I—”

The captain flicked his fingers, and an underling opened a compartment from which he produced a bottle of puriska fruit juice and a packet of wafers.

Ampris consumed the food avidly, ignoring the fact that such snacks were usually denied her. Although everything tasted too sweet, she was too hungry and thirsty to care. She licked every crumb and finished the juice to the final drop.

Only then did she happen to glance up and see the palace spires in the distance . . . behind them. Her head swiveled around in alarm. “Where are we going? Why am I bound like this? I wish to be taken to the sri-Kaa at once.”

“Silence,” the captain snapped. “You do not give the orders here.”

Ampris glared at him. “And you will treat the companion of the sri-Kaa with respect.”

His rill reddened, but his gaze did not shift from hers. “It is beneath me to argue with a half-grown Aaroun. Keep silent as you have been commanded, or I will muzzle you.”

She was already bound like a criminal. The muzzle would be the final humiliation. She had no desire to wear one. Still, she did not understand where they were taking her. Unless . . . “Am I being stolen?” she asked, backing her ears.

The captain uttered a Viis laugh, so contemptuous it cut like glass, and flicked out his tongue at her. The other guards laughed too.

Ampris swallowed a growl and glared at the passing buildings. “Where are we going?” she demanded, sitting erect in her seat. “Why do you not return me to the sri-Kaa?”

The captain’s look of amusement faded. Again he flicked his fingers, and a muzzle was taken from a storage compartment. Seeing it, Ampris stiffened and howled in protest, but the muzzle was crammed on her head and switched on. She opened her mouth, panting hard, but she could not utter a sound. Her throat felt as though it was being squeezed, although she could still breathe. Miserable and frightened, she no longer knew what to think as the skimmer flew farther and farther from the palace.

Still blaring its siren, the skimmer crossed traffic lanes and dipped beneath a congested snarl at an intersection. Looking down, Ampris saw a district of faded glory. Houses of great age, with outdated architectural details, stood crammed together along narrow streets. Clusters of shops filled little squares. Ampris saw a tiny public garden surrounded by a security force field. Viis chunen played there under the casual watch of their nursemaids.

The skimmer veered again, just as a loud boom rattled the buildings and made Ampris jump. A gleaming shuttle launched into the sky, and to her horror Ampris realized they were approaching one of the terminals. Incoming shuttles circled far overhead, and the boom of takeoffs came almost constantly.

Ampris panted harder, unable to scream her protests. She couldn’t believe this was happening. How could these guards steal her so openly? Why should they dare? Did they not fear the wrath of Israi when this crime was discovered? She jerked at her bindings until the captain glared at her and threatened to activate the entire restraint field. Glaring back, Ampris tried to stand up, ready to hurl herself bodily off the skimmer as it entered the approach-traffic channel that led into Vir Station Four, the cargo terminal that served both domestic and offworld flights.

Swearing, the captain grabbed her by her collar and hauled her back into her seat so hard it jolted her bones. “Be still,” he said, his rill a deep red. He yanked her close enough for her to see the finest pebble-grain of his facial skin, and his eyes bored into hers. “You will cause no trouble,” he said in a low, furious voice for her ears alone. “You are here because the sri-Kaa has commanded you to be here. Why she cares about your fate, no one knows, but she wishes you to have a good home with a worthy family.”

Listening to him, still unable to speak, Ampris felt her eyes fill with tears. She did not believe him. She could not. Israi would not give her away. What was he saying?

“She has braved the wrath of the Kaa on your miserable behalf,” the captain said. “She has persuaded him to relent, and she even abased herself to present a formal public apology to the Lady Zureal for what happened.”

Ampris closed her eyes a moment, awash with feelings of relief and bewilderment. If Israi had done all that, why then was Ampris here?

“Now, will you behave?” the captain said sternly. “I do not wish to beat you, but I will if you do not remember your training and act in a subdued manner.”

Opening her eyes, Ampris felt a shuddering jolt pass through the skimmer as it was locked into a tractor field and pulled through the approach channel into the terminal itself. Spans of trium alloy vaulted high overhead, supporting panels of tinted glass through which the sky looked green. The terminal echoed with noise as robots labeled cargo pods and tossed them onto moving belts.