Lives Of The Unknown Book 1: The Legend of Andrew Lockeford (20 page)

Voriaku raised his index finger as he
said, “Truth serum, or rather, speech serum. It forces you to speak
anything that’s on your mind, even if you don’t want to. You
literally cannot think before you speak.”

“Are you serious? That’s weird!” the
human blurted out.

“Too bad it only lasts a few
seconds.”

The human opened his mouth again, but
the serum quickly wore off, keeping his thoughts inside and his
mouth from speaking again.

“Well, that didn’t help out much.
Let’s see what else is on your mind when I give you a
longer-lasting dose—”

“Voriaku,” interrupted Commander Fall,
who seemed to be speaking from the ceiling, even though there were
no speakers in sight, “we have a human on the loose in the halls
and he’s heading in your direction. He may know about Andrew’s
situation, so let him stand by the door for a few moments, then let
him in.”

“You have got to be
kidding me
,” Voriaku
muttered.

Andrew, who was still hanging on the
wall by tractor beams, was curious to know who that human was.
Could it have been someone he personally knew?

Chapter 20

The human banged his fists against the
door while yelling in a masculine voice, “Open up! If you got
Andrew in there, let him out!”

“Such a moron,” Voriaku said to
himself, “and yet he’s out of containment somehow. Either this is
due to the Commander’s will or there’s some staff that need
changing as well.”

Andrew couldn’t tell who it was out
there. He had only the voice to rely on, and even then there were
plenty of people who could sound like that. It could have been
someone he recently got to know on Earth, an old childhood friend,
or somebody he didn’t know at all.

He got his answer when Voriaku pressed
on his wrist-device to open the door. It was Bill, worn and tired,
who seemed to have had some modifications already. His private
parts were missing, and his stature appeared to be tougher. He did
not have any darkened muscles, though. Andrew took a few seconds
before fully recognizing him.

Within those few seconds, the Selentor
grabbed Bill by the neck, drew out his plasma blade, and pointed it
straight at the new human’s face. Bill couldn’t help displaying an
expression of terror.

“On your knees.”

The human who was once filled with
courage did as he was demanded.

“Why are you here?” said
Voriaku.

“Eh-ugh….I—I don’t know,” stuttered
Bill as he tried to compose himself. He thought something such as
this could happen, but he wasn’t hoping for it; he was
ill-prepared. “I was laying down on a table, being experimented on
by aliens, and suddenly all the aliens around me backed away. They
left me an opening right in front of me, as if they were releasing
me. Not really what I thought, but I’m guessing this is a
trap?”

“I would suppose so.”

“Bill?….Are you that guy from high
school?” said Andrew, hanging from the wall.

“Yeah, my name is Bill.” He was
speaking without moving another muscle, careful not to invoke
Voriaku’s wrath. “Who are you?”

“I’m Andrew—isn’t that what you came
here for? To rescue me?”

Looking up to Voriaku, Bill said,
“Could you let me get a close look at him?”

The Selentor moved his body out of the
way, but the blade was still close to his neck.

Andrew and Bill stared at each other
for a while. Andrew had no problems recognizing Bill once he
announced himself, but Bill could not reciprocate. The human
hanging on the wall before him was a hairless pink body, covered
with blood in several areas. His muscles were uneven, with the
torso being muscular while the arms and legs were scrawny. Even his
facial composition was different. He was not the guy Bill knew
several years before.

“…
.I’m sorry,” Bill said
quietly, “I just don’t see it.”

“I’m not surprised,” interrupted
Voriaku. “He is a being who’s had several genetic procedures done
along with a few other features, such as muscular conditioning and
a shaved body. I was disgusted to see all of that hair.”

“What? I have no hair?” inquired
Andrew. “Even on my head?”

“You have no hair anywhere now. We
shaved it off because you didn’t need it.”

“But the AOIB didn’t do that. My hair
was intact with them.”

“They probably didn’t see it as much
of an issue as I do. I’ve known other species with hair on their
bodies, but species such as myself never had hair, nor do we want
it. Aren’t facts fun?”

“This isn’t funny,” said Bill, “you
are literally torturing us here!”

“I’m not torturing you or even this
other Earthling here. I’m just changing the way things are about
you two that I see fit.”

“There’s no fucking
difference….especially when you’re killing us.”

“You say the word ‘killing’ as though
every form of it is unforgivable.” Voriaku tilted his head back
slightly as he kept his eyes on Bill. “Did you see some of your
friends get killed?”

Andrew jerked as he heard this idea.
“Bill! Did anyone else get abducted along with you?” Bill did not
answer immediately, which provided him to ask another question:
“How did you get abducted in the first place?”

“…
.there was Drake, and
there was Keith and that one girl….I think she was Keith’s
girlfriend….”

“Was she someone I knew?”

“…
.I think she was called
Marlene.”

Andrew thought about this for a
moment. He didn’t really know any “Marlenes” that he was friends
with, so that didn’t matter.

“We were trying to see what happened
to you….and then in broad daylight we got captured by these guys….I
don’t know what happened to them, but I think I’m the only one who
escaped. I heard screams in the other room.”

“Your friends are just test subjects,”
said Voriaku, “and we have no need to torture you. If anything,
somebody chose not to use anesthetic.” The Selentor paused for a
couple seconds. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. After
that incident with Andrew and the AOIB, we realized we were heading
into a war that would begin very soon. Humans are going to be in
high demand by that time.”

“What?!?
” The surprise was
explicitly shown upon both of the humans’ faces.

“What? Didn’t you
realize that the moment you humans revealed yourselves to us
Selentors
and
the
AOIB, you’re no longer protected? Everyone’s going to want to take
Earth for themselves!”

“You have got to be shitting me!”
exclaimed Bill. “Like hell I’m going to let you take our
planet!”

“Why not?”

“Because we like our
planet!!!”

“I suppose the
better question for me to ask was, ‘How?’” Voriaku looked back up
to Andrew, hanging on the wall. “Do
you
have any
ideas?”

Andrew stared silently. Tears came out
of his eyes, then he closed them.

“You cry too much.” Voriaku stepped up
to him and grabbed a syringe from his uniform.

“STOP!!!
” yelled Andrew.
“
Don’t move a single fucking
muscle!
”

The Selentor stopped in his
tracks.

The human hanging on the wall, once
covered in pity, now exhibited a look of fury in its eyes. Voriaku
looked at him for a few moments, then he moved the plasma blade
away from Bill. The alien struck, and Andrew’s feet were cut off
again, but he had handled the pain far better than before. The look
of rage still existed in his eyes, even after the feet had been
thrown into the chute and a new pair had been given.

“Interesting,” said Voriaku. He looked
back at Bill, who was shocked to see the foot-chopping act for the
first time.

“Did—did you just chop off his feet
and chuck them into the garbage???”

“Not garbage. It goes to the meat
locker.”

“Oh,
God
!”

“Complain all you want, I don’t feel
like explaining it to you. I only have enough energy to explain
what I can to this guy here on the wall.” Voriaku faced back
towards Andrew. “So, what’s this look of anger and vengeance we
have here in your eyes, hmm? Did this friend of yours inspire you
to live? Or was it the idea—actually, that sounds better. You don’t
want your planet to come under our control.”

“Maybe before you try to control other
species,” said Andrew, glaring at the Selentor, “you should take
control of your own damn selves.”

Voriaku did not take this comment
lightly. “What was that?”

“You think your
species is the best in the universe, and you just eliminate
everyone that disagrees with you or you just force them to think
like you. You’ve had millions of years more experience than humans,
but even
we
know
how to cope with differences. But you, who can’t even deal with
hearing some other
opinion
? That’s just
childish.”

Voriaku tilted his head downward,
keeping his eyes upon Andrew’s, and said, “What did I say about
being too cocky?” He took out the plasma blade and raised it up
towards the ceiling. Andrew’s expression changed a little from
fear, but not so much to lose all of his confidence. Then, Voriaku
lowered his blade, not touching the human on the wall. He appeared
to calm down, but why?

“Heh heh, I guess killing you right
now wouldn’t do much good, would it? And maybe you are smarter than
I thought. I have a proposition for you—both you and your friend
here.” Bill perked up, then his expression changed from curiosity
to fear as Voriaku set the blade back up to his neck again. Bill
rose up his hands as a sign of surrender. “I’m going to let the
both of you try to fight me. If you win, then you’ll have a chance
of getting off the ship. If you lose, then that’s just death, and
it will prove that you and all the other humans on Earth are mere
savages.”

“We are not savages either way,” said
Andrew.

“Then prove it. Once I let you down
and I say, ‘start,’ you may begin the battle.”

“How do I know you’re not just going
to cheat?”

“Have I lied yet?”

Bill in the background looked anxious.
“Andrew, you shouldn’t do this. It’s obvious he’s just gonna kill
us both!”

Andrew was silent for a couple seconds
before responding, “Well, it’s better than dying from getting my
feet cut off over and over again. Might as well die
trying.”

“Oh my God, I can’t believe we’re
going to die here in the middle of space….”

“Well,
you’re
surely going to
die if you feel as though you are,” said Voriaku.

“Bill, if I fight, then you fight with
me. It’s two against one,” said Andrew.

“I can see that,” said
Voriaku.

“Uh….alright….” muttered
Bill.

Voriaku pressed his finger onto the
wrist-device, and the tractor beams holding Andrew onto the wall
disappeared. He fell to the floor onto his feet and then his hands,
finding that he could hardly stand up. Voriaku loosened his grip on
the plasma blade, turning it off, and put it back into a pouch on
the side of his suit. Bill leaned forward and put his hands onto
the floor, feeling relief throughout his body. Andrew, on the other
hand, was having issues; his arms were numb, his legs and feet were
very sensitive, and the rest of his body felt heavy. He thought it
was a challenge to even lift himself up. He crawled to the wall,
fixated himself into a sitting position, and attempted to
squat.

His legs turned pink as he slowly
pushed himself up with all of his energy. He pressed his hands onto
the wall for support. He found himself successfully standing,
albeit he had supported his body onto the wall and his legs were
shaking.

“Ugh, just take this,” complained
Voriaku, who handed Andrew a neon-green colored pill. “I’d rather
not have to fight someone that looks as pathetic as you do
now.”

Andrew looked at the pill for a brief
moment, then he quickly ingested it. Bill was shocked to see him
take the pill without much hesitation. What if it was poison, he
thought? A few seconds later, the effects commenced; his legs and
arms felt as though they were burning as they tore themselves apart
and repaired themselves continuously. Muscles fibers overlapped
other fibers, the skin doing its best to catch up. Eventually,
Andrew found himself in the same extraordinary physical state as he
was before the abduction.

“Damn,” said Bill, breaking the short
silence.

“Well now,” said Voriaku, “shall we
get on with this already?”

Andrew looked at the Selentor, giving
no sign of a response other than saying the word,
“Sure.”

Voriaku turned back to Bill and said,
“You too.” Bill obeyed and stood up.