Nightfall
Chapter 4

My eyes were between trailing the humans in lab coats entering a tunnel, and the never-ending caves above the three halls. Jude was fangirling behind me.

“Are those limestone caves? Is this a limestone cave too? The floor is pure quartzite! Oh my, what if they have a diamond room? Do you?” he asked Andromeda, who remained silent, and led us through the place.

People were staring, and I blushed under their scrutiny. I gazed down and watched as the light caught the floor. It twinkled like a fractured crystal, and I guess that’s what it was. The three halls looked inviting with their carpeting in red, green, and blue, but the twinkling cavern did not. They looked as any cavern would from the outside, although from here I could see tarps on many of the entrances.

“People live in those?” I asked as we passed the first row. Yes, they had tarps over the opening as well as name plates and a number. Andromeda shrugged. It was obvious we weren’t getting answers from her any time soon. Jude stoked at my frustration as we climbed the stairs. They were as shiny as the quartz but of some other rock. Wasn’t limestone either. I turned to Jude.

“What are these stairs made of?” I whispered.

“Granite,” he replied, as we took a turn and entered one of the caverns. It was lined with metal cells and two were occupied.

“Captain!!” yelled Lana as she fought with her restraints.

“Hey, cuz! You got captured too?” said Bartholomew, as he sat slouched on the ground.

“What no Hellos for me?” muttered Jude, as we were each led to a cell and tied down. I wasn’t worried. I could break this system easily enough, but then where would I go was the question. This cave was the easiest to spot for a reason.

“We amoebas have the capacity for higher reasoning,” said Bartholomew with a teeth-bearing grin.

Lana laughed. “What did you think we didn’t hear you, Jude?”

“Pwned,” I muttered.

“Shut it,” scowled Jude, as the others laughed.

I felt bad for his situation, but he had earned it from the others with his usual vitriolic personality. I sat back and kept a watch on the cave entrance. I had a feeling it would be a long time before we saw anyone again.

A little while later everyone was asleep except me. I was anxious. Who the heck was this council and were our lives in their hands? If so, I really wanted to have a chat with these dudes. If our life depended on such a thing, I wanted to explain our situation. In fact, that’s what I was going to do. The others could sleep, but I was escaping and getting to this council. The only thing stopping me was my own doubts. What if I screwed it up for the rest of the crew? What if I was killed or if someone else was hurt because of me? I was back trash no good for nothing except for—I stopped my thoughts there. Someone has to do this! I have the training!

Bartholomew raises one sleepy eye and gazed at my slouched posture. “What’s up cuz?” his voice hoarse from sleeping. The others stay mercifully asleep.

I smile back. “Nothing I can’t handle,” I said, giving the thumbs up.

He cocked an eyebrow but nodded and closed his eyes and I was left with the ballad of torturous thoughts again. Finally, I decided on an action and begin to undo the knot that tied my wrists close together. Once that was off I took out my bag of toys, and take out a magnet. A really big one. Electromagnets were locking us in. I only had to reverse the flow of the electromagnetic field around me, thus the big ass magnet.

Everything had an opposite side, plus and negative. I only had to invert that. I turned the magnet on and it, and pointed out the connectors for the electromagnetic field. After that, it was a quick spin of the wrist 180, and walla the electromagnetic fled stopped humming around my cage. Now all I had to do was break the lock which my acid should cover.

Really? Did these people not check their prisoners, or was it they’d never had prisoners? The latter made me shiver. I put everything back in the trip sack. A small bag as big as my thumb and index finger. It opened for ultimate space. We called it Net Space and seemed to work out here, despite being in a different universe.

Strange laws of physics.

I crept out of the cavern and out onto the ledge, in sight of everyone. I sat down and wondered how long it would take someone to spot me.

It took five seconds, kind of slow. At the space station, we would be reprimanded for taking so long to spot any changes around us. This truly was a different world. I didn’t move. I sat there taking the panorama. It was truly one to see from up here. Everything was in shades of twinkling cloudy sunlit days.

I wondered if those were their colors or if they were the natural colors of this place. I also wondered how long humans had been living like this, but my rambling thoughts came to a halt when the guards grabbed me and tried to lead me back to the caverns. I wasn’t having that.

“I-I want to speak to your council,” I said, wincing as a guard hoisted me against the rocky surface. Another laughed but the third gazed at me with green eyes and put up a hand for the other two to listen I guess. They stopped intimidating me and watched this man. For that alone he had my respect.

“Take him to the council chambers,” he said.

“I was about to say my thanks when he spoke again.

“Let’s see if he can plea to our leaders,” was the mutter and the others guffawed. That didn’t encourage me one bit. Actually, it made me want to run back to my cage with my proverbial tail between my legs. This wasn’t good for my cause either. Still, I stood there and nodded as the guards grabbed me, and led me down the stairs none too easily. I almost stumbled off as we rounded the bend and went down more granite stairs.

They can’t be so bad can they?

Almost every culture was mixed into one overarching culture, Humanism, the art of being human. Culture was an almost nonexistent thing now on NR1. When humans united to make NR1 that type of racism ended and a new one began.

We haven’t learned our lesson about the equality of the species I guessed. Perfect against the nonperfect and I was nonperfect. Had always been nonperfect. My spots marked me as well as my almost normal eyes. Perfect humans had odd-colored eyes. I had regular brown with yellow flecks. You could mistake them for honey-hued in normal lighting.

I was taken up through the limestone hall with the red carpet. The place had four metal doors with a peephole, but all that was visible were empty desks. We bypassed the other doors and headed straight for two big doors at the end. The boss guard opened it and led me through. In front of me was a seating much like a judge and jury stand. A thin woman with a hawkish nose was in the judge’s seat. A tall black man wearing an army-like BDU was to the left, along with a Chinese woman with an emerald stare. To the right was a brunette round-ish woman and a I swear Vincent Van Gogh! Standing in front of them all was Andromeda, who was pleading her case with patience.

“I do not believe these people are with the symbiotes. They are as they say lost and from somewhere else,” she said fidgeting due to Van Gogh’s deep gaze.

“Well, if not from here then where?” demanded the roundish lady as she fanned herself. She too had a Spanish accent. I still preferred Andromeda’s accent. She was kneeling now that I got a wider picture as the boss guard moved to the right catching Van Gogh’s eyes. I was hard to miss after that but the council ignored me like a stale cookie.

“Taric, why are you here,” questioned the Chinese woman, her stare going through and past me to the other guards who were shaking slightly. I could tell from their shaky grips.

“Pardon to interrupt you Lady Chang, but we caught one trying to escape,” mumbled the first guard. I gave an indignant look.

“Did it look like I was trying to escape while I was sitting on a ledge right in front of your nose?” I muttered and got clocked in the head for it. I scowled and faced the council who wanted to ignore me. Well, I wouldn’t let them. My crew’s lives depended on me convincing these people we were harmless. Mostly. I tried glaring but it probably came out as a bashful. Guard two began to laugh.

“This mouse wants to talk to the council?” he muttered, poking me. I kicked him in the shin. It was lightning quick. No one was ready for the mouse to kick a little ass.

“Y-Yes I did,” I answered.

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