Everybody needs a hug once and a while. =D
Sorry this took so long. I've been busy, life's catching up, yadda yadda yadda.
----
The generator was a mess. Wires jutted out of it from every open hole. Hunks of pried-off metal lie curled on the floor. Smoke stained the ceiling from the sparks and fires that had obliterated the inside.
But it still worked.
Vhern rattled his claws against the object’s side, and a plate of metal instantly fell off, clunking heavily against the floor. He stared at it for a moment.
“So its fixed?” Vhern asked critically, picking up the metal and wedging it back into place. A vykker behind him rubbed his claws together nervously.
“Its bent out of shape, but yeah, it still works.”
The vykker gulped when Vhern started writing on his clipboard. Not a good sign. Adjusting his glasses, the ship’s supervisor looked around. “And you mean to tell me that after all this time this place is still a mess?”
“Well, you didn’t exactly give us much time to repair the generator to working status
and clean up...”
Vhern tut-tutted under his breath. “I suppose running a vacuum though here would be too much of a chore?”
The vykker looked down at the floor. Hunks of metal as thick as baseballs were scattered everywhere. “I don’t even think a shop vac could clean this up... .”
“Shame.” Vhern looked up from where he was writing and cast his eyes around the room. Vykkers and interns surrounded the generator from the catwalks above their heads, drilling metal into place and connecting broken wires. The generator had created enough back-up energy to carry the ship to the airbase where they were headed; now it was just a matter of fixing it as soon as possible, incase something else went wrong.
“Well thanks, this has been...
fun.” Vhern said, tucking his clipboard under his arm with a smile. The vykker he was talking to wilted in relief. “But I have other tasks in need of completion. Get the generator up and running as soon as possible, then we can have another chat.”
“Er, thanks, Vh---” The vykker began, but Vhern had already walked away.
‘Imbeciles.’ Vhern thought, sliding a key card in the door’s lock. Nothing happened. Suddenly realizing that the door had been torn off its hinges, Vhern gingerly poked it open. Then he continued on his way, whistling to himself. It seemed ironic that Vhern made sure all intern’s mouths were stitches just so they couldn’t whistle. He himself didn’t care.
Returning to his previous location, Vhern prodded his slig bodyguard, One, in the arm.
“Open the door.” he ordered. The big slig reached back for his keys. He continued searching, confused, and eventually started walking in a little circle, trying to see behind him. Where the heck were his keys? Finally giving up, One gave a meek little shrug.
“You lost them.” Vhern said slowly, arms crossed. The slig stiffened. “Do you think I pay you to lose things?”
The slig made a face. Vhern frowned. “Well, I don’t pay you at all, so I guess I can’t lower your paycheck... just find your keys, okay?
One nodded quickly. Vhern turned to Two, flashing his startlingly oral-hygienic teeth. “The door. Open it.”
Hastily Two unlocked the door with his set of keys. Vhern stepped smartly inside and motioned for his guards to follow. He opened the exit to the foyer, moved sleekly around the operating table, and re-entered the containment room, still smirking.
“I’m back. Miss me?”
Nobody responded, except for a couple of interns, who scooted away a little. Vhern’s expression darkened immediately. Sure, he didn’t expect his workers to be as enthusiastic as Santa’s elves, but would it kill them to at least
pretend to be happy instead of scuffling around like the living dead?
Brux skipped over merrily. Vhern stared. Oh, what was he so happy about?
“The tests are back,” Brux said, waving a bunch of papers in his face. “He was positive for cylonite.”
“Positively what?”
“He has cylonite.”
“So that’s a negative thing?”
“No, its positive.”
“What’s so positive about having cylonite?”
“No, I mean, it is negative---”
Vhern scowled. “So is it positive or negative? ”
Brux ripped up the papers and stuffed them in a trash can. “He... is infected... with cylonite.” Brux said slowly. For the sake of getting back to business, Vhern decided to let it go.
“Whatever.” Vhern said dully, his claws tapping against his clipboard like a metronome. Raising his voice, Vhern said, “Right. Everybody, clear out Except you two.” Vhern looked back over at his guards. “You stay.”
The interns left without a single complaint. Brux’s claws twitched hesitantly, his cheery mood vanishing. “But, Vhern, its not safe to be in here by yourself---”
“Which is why I’ll have my bodyguards with me.”
“Oh.”
Brux left, looking crestfallen. When he was sure that everybody was gone, Vhern turned back to his guards. “One. Go turn off the lights. Two. Go get me a wrench and a bucket of water. Its time me and our intern friend here had a little chat.”
<~{.epidemic.}~>
Awareness slowly flooded Nedd’s limbs, though his mind was still half asleep. He groaned and tried to move, but gave up. Most of his body felt sore from lying on his side for hours. To make matters worse, the metal muzzle was still tight around his head, cutting off his blood flow. Nedd reached up and tried to pry the box off his face. No luck. Chains rattling against his arms, Nedd felt the muzzle with the pads of his fingers, trying to find an opening. There had to be one somewhere; how else could the air circulate?
He found a spot directly over his left eye that stuck out in a circle. It appeared to be screwed on. Nedd tried turning it with his fingers, but it was too tightly jammed.
‘Damnit.’
Cursing much more abusive things under his breath, Nedd crept to the side, unsure of where he was going. He came to a metal wire fence. He pulled on it fruitlessly, his mind racing. Where the hell was he?
Nedd heard a door open. Only then did he realize how silent things had become. Nedd fell to the floor and let his limbs go limp, pretending to still be unconscious. Maybe they’d go away if they thought he hadn’t woken up. The heavy thunking of slig’s mechanical pants rang in his ears. His mouth watered. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d tasted the salty, delicious flesh of a slig...
“Wake him up.”
Cold water soaked Nedd instantly. It was so unexpected that he gasped involuntarily. Trying to keep from shaking, Nedd remained still.
“Wow. He really is out. One, go in there and unscrew the eyehole on his muzzle. You don’t have to be gentle.”
And they weren’t gentle. Nedd felt a huge fist wring his neck and pull him up. The scent of slig was intoxicating now. It was a preferred taste, definitely, but it was
so good. Nedd heard a faint screeching sound, like a dentist’s drill, then felt a jerk as something was wrenched from the metal cage around his face. The slig dropped him carelessly and left.
“Wake up.” A vykker whispered.
Nedd slowly opened his eye. Whatever had been covering it was gone, allowing him to see.
“Wake uuuuup.” the voice said in a musical tone. Nedd’s teeth clamped together with the sound of cracking knuckles. Just who did they think he was?
“Okay, get up, seriously. I don’t have all day.”
Rage bubbled in Nedd’s chest. With a roar he threw himself towards the sound of voices, just to slam into a metal fence. He hit it so hard that a few metal coils snapped. Nedd wrapped his fingers around the metal and shook it roughly, clinking the air.
“Get back! You idiots, make him stop!”
Nedd had just enough time to see a big slig punch him in the face. His teeth chipped. Nedd screeched and crouched in the back of the cage, blood pooling in his mouth. Behind the sligs and vykker, light was coming from another room, making it hard to see. His eye had adjusted to night vision so well that he could barely see in the daytime.
“Oh, come now,” The vykker said, leaning closer to the cage. His glasses flashed in the light. “Can’t we understand each other here?”
“No.” Nedd growled. He saw the vykker jerk back in shock. Didn’t he know he could talk?
“Well,” The vykker said slowly, “Let me introduce myself. My name is Vhern.”
“Like a give a f&#@.”
‘Vhern’ stiffened noticeably. “Where’s all this anger coming from?”
‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ Nedd thought, leaning back against the wall. The shadows did a good job of hiding him.
Vhern frowned, his claws against the metal cage. He leaned in and whispered; “Look, I really don’t care why you’re destroying things. To be quite frank I couldn’t care less what you did to the ship, because right now, I have a bigger investment than airships to look in to.” the vykker smiled. “You.”
“What?” Nedd said in confusion. He had planned just to not respond to anything the vykker said, but that last comment had caught him off guard.
Vhern nodded. “Yes. You see, according to our calculations, the cylonite in your blood should have driven you insane -or worse, killed you- weeks ago. But here you are, in moderately good health. Surviving.”
“So what do you want?” Nedd asked, glaring at him through his eyehole.
“I want the moolah.” Vhern smiled. “And to be quite honest I’ll do anything it takes to get it from you.”
“Does it look like I have any moolah on me?” Nedd spread his arms the best he could with his shackles.
Vhern sighed. “I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood me. You see, you should be dead right now. But you’re not. There’s something about you that affects the cylonite in a different way, making it more of a positive thing than a negative thing.”
“So?”
“So, if I could just find out the secret to what makes the cylonite act in such a way, the possibilities would be endless. We could create bigger, stronger workers that would do twice the work of a normal worker. Can’t you imagine the profit we could make out of this?” Vhern grinned ecstatically. “Super-workers! Everybody will want them! We could charge anything for them, and people will still buy!”
‘Super workers?’ Nedd thought, his pupils shrinking slightly. “So you need me, because without me, you can’t alter the cylonite to make it a good thing.”
“Exactly.”
Nedd snorted. “Why should I help you?”
“Because you don’t have an option.” Vhern said with a smirk as he examined his claws. “We can run tests on you against your will until your no longer useful, and can stay locked up in this cage and eventually get killed by a lethal dose of cyanide. Not exactly a painless way to go. Or,” Vhern looked up, “you can come with me. My scientists will run tests on you until you die in, oh, about a year. You’ll live with no cage, no rules. Just show up for our tests and there won’t be any problems.”
“I think you’re forgetting that I killed about a fourth of the people on this ship.” Nedd growled.
Vhern shrugged. “I have methods of keeping people quiet about such things.” he said simply. “I can clear you of all charges. Think about it. When this ship touches down on the airbase, you can be either labeled as a murderer, or a scientific breakthrough.”
Nedd leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. It sure didn’t feel good to be locked in a cage. But would Vhern really be able to clear all his charges? Could he really erase what happened on the airship? Or was he just trying to trick Nedd into trusting him?
“I have you locked in a cage.” Vhern added. “No escape. If I really wanted something from you, do you think I would take the time to trick you?”
That was a good point. But in the end, Nedd still didn’t like Vhern’s plan. Nedd liked killing people. He hated to think that all the damaged he caused to the fragile airship community could just be forgotten.
“Think about it.” Vhern repeated, turning and walking away from the cage. The two sligs followed him hesitantly. The door closed, and the room was thrust into inky blackness. Nedd's pupil flickered thoughtfully.
‘Free of all charges?’