“Pretty nasty. Frankly, I’m amazed he even bothered locking us up.”
“He only does that whilst he thinks of the really horrible stuff. He likes to take his time, really plan it out.” Michael didn’t recognise the voice at first, and it took him a moment to realise it was one of his opponents in the area.
“Stop it, Meggok, you’ll scare them,” said the other opponent.
“Yeah, but it’s true though.”
“Well yes, but still, they don’t need to know that until it happens to them.”
“You two are a riot of laughs,” Michael said. He slid his legs down, shifting himself upwards into a seated position. “What the hell are you doing in here anyway?”
“We lost,” Kestok said. “You lose in the arena, and well, you’re the entertainment later on. If you catch my drift.”
“I can imagine. So, when we get out of here, you guys want to join our crew?”
There was a series of squawked complaints, the rest of the cells occupants fighting for verbal dominance.
“You can’t just invite people onto our crew when you feel like it,” Aileena said, wining the audible fight.
“Oh, so we are a crew then?”
“You know what I meant. You’ve known us all of two days. You can’t exactly call us a crew.” Aileena’s voice was thick with annoyance. Something about Michael’s voice seemed to hit a nerve with her, drilling down into her mind.
“No, I can’t, but you did. Can’t take it back. Besides, we could use them. Add some more muscle to our ranks.”
“Aileena, he has a point. We can’t exactly rely on you and Brekt alone. Clearly, if we’ve learnt anything from this, then we’re short on people who can protect us. It could have come in useful,” Mellok said. “I’m up for it.”
“Yeah, it’s not a bad idea,” Brekt added. “I’m all for it. We do need to replace Vergil.”
“It won’t take from your earnings, I guarantee that.
“You know, it’s not just up to you,” Meggok said, chiming into the conversation. “We get a say too.”
“I mean, we’re going to say yes. Why wouldn’t we? It’s either that or die.” Kestok leant against the barrier, a faint humming coming from where it fizzed with his contact. He was in the cell opposite Michael.
“That’s fair. Still, that assumes they can get us out of here.”
There was a screech, the sound of metal on metal as the door at the end of the corridor opened. Michael peered as far as he could, his head rubbing against the forcefield. It tingled slightly. In the shadow of the doorway was a figure, hidden by the shadows. It stepped forward into the light. A well-pressed suit, perfect hair and wide smile.
“Oh, hello. Especially to you, fellow humans. I’m here to get you out of here.” Clive had his hands clasped behind his back.
“Nah man, that was spooky as shit. Maybe this guy is some magic saviour or something?” Kestok said. His eyes narrowed, trying to examine Michael more closely. “You did solve that puzzle, and the pit boss said you won millions in the casino. Might be something too it.”
“Wait,” Michael said gesturing to Clive. He stepped forwards towards the forcefield, his obnoxious grin ever-present on his face. “You said other humans?”
“Yes, hello? We’re down here.” It was a woman’s voice, from further down the corridor.
“Pipe down, Nguyen.” The voice was a man’s, obviously Commander Orson’s. “We don’t want to get mixed in with these fugitives. This whole thing has been one disaster after the other.”
“Fine by me, we can just leave you guys here. Or, you could swallow your pride and maybe work with us to make it out alive?” Aileena was examining her dark green nails. She was never one to turn down the opportunity to be owed a favour.
“I would recommend you make a decision soon. Ah, hang on a moment.” Clive vanished back through the doorway, returning a few seconds later with a large black duffel in one hand. He dropped it on the ground, letting out an almighty clang. He then turned and placed his hand on a panel on the wall. Clive’s eyes rolled back, eyelids flickering. The barriers spluttered then went out.
“Of course, totally normal human behaviour that,” Michael said sarcastically.
“Clive, why are you helping us, didn’t Greddog reprogram you to serve him?” Aileena was stretching her arms, rolling her shoulders around in wide arcs.
“Reprogrammed me?” Clive cocked his head, a faint but audible whir whispering its way from his neck. “Not sure what you mean. I simply felt a need to help other humans. An overpowering urge you might say.”
“Ah, good old fashioned first law,” Michael said. “He is a robot, right?”
“Oh yeah totally.” Aileena knelt, putting her hands on the bag. “What’s in here, Clive?”
“Oh, well, Greddog’s men will be here at any moment. I’m afraid stealth isn’t my best skill. I grabbed what I could.” Clive bent down too, a worrying series of clacking noises matching his movements. He placed his hands on the zipper and pulled. The bag was full of guns. Lots of large, dangerous-looking weapons covered in odd glowing parts and weird spikes.
Aileena picked one up, a large rifle that she slung over her shoulder. “Ok, well. I just want to say this is probably going to end really badly, but,” she dropped the weapon into her hand, and it sprung to life, letting out a piercing whine, “at least it looks like we’ll have some fun.”
Chapter Thirteen
Brekt pushed the rifle into Michael’s arms. The weapon was heavy, a tangled mass of green and chrome, organic shaped and bulbous. Michael could only tell it was a weapon from the trigger attached to the long hand grip.
“I have no idea how to use this. I’ve never shot any kind of gun in my life. Let alone a crazy alien one.” Michael held his arms out, trying to push the weapon back to Brekt.
“It’s easy, you just point at the bad guys and pull the trigger. Make sure the safety is off though.” Brekt touched one of the metal lumps and the green sections of the gun began to glow. There was a low buzzing noise sneaking out from under the metal. “Got yourself a nice gun there. That’s a quantum reversal weapon. It un-collapses a waveform and renders it unobservable.”
“I’ve read about quantum mechanics on Wikipedia and I’m almost certain what you’re describing is total bollocks.”
“You shoot someone, they stop existing,” Aileena said as she brushed past, pushing her way to the front. Her own weapon was clutched tight to her shoulder, ready to fire.
“That’s kind of how all guns work though, right?”
“I suppose,” Brekt said. “You might have a point there. Either way, point and then shoot. The pointing bit is important, want to make sure you’re shooting at the right people.”
“And how am I supposed to know who the right people are?” Michael was shaking slightly, the thought of having to use the weapon filling him with dread.
“I mean, they’ll be shooting at you, I would imagine. Might be pretty easy.” Brekt seemed to be taking this in his stride, maintaining his usual level of unsettling calm.
“Hey, what about these guys? We giving them guns?” Kestok gestured behind himself with his thumb at the three humans, their normally well pressed Council uniforms ruffled out of shape. “I gathered they aren’t exactly friends of you lot?”
“Us lot now,” Meggok said. “I figure we’re in a bit of a bind otherwise. I’d rather take my chances with them, rather than whatever plan Greddog has cooked up. Remember Hazzid after you beat him? They never did find all the pieces.”
“Yes, arm them.” Aileena was peering up the stairs, weapon ready. “They can shoot us in the back if they want, but then they’re just throwing away their numbers. I’m going to assume that the Council chose humans with at least some amount of common sense.”