Nalah's Toy

Nala’s Pet

The first time I awoke to the smell of burnt flesh. My own. I tried to catch a glimpse, but my eyes wouldn’t focus. I blinked again, but a solution was covering my eyeballs, not tears. Something sticky. My blood oozing out of my eyes and mouth. I swallowed. Felt it run down my throat. This is bad. Very bad. I turned my head just in time to catch sight of a drone hovering over my body, screeching like a cat with its tail caught. The whole place was bathed in piercing white light. Like you’d been looking toward the sun, when it sears the back of your skull, makes you see spots. I saw something move toward the foot of the bed. A Squid -like alien. Never saw one before. But this one was floating in air, legs barely touching the floor. Hovering. And worse, there were four tentacle-like arms moving this way and that, applying some goop to my legs. As I raised my head up, our eyes met. I swear the squid smiled. Damn thing smiled right at me.

Shit, I thought. Cap’n going to be so pissed at me.

And then the drone hit me with some kind of spray. I passed out.

The second time I awakened, things were better. No drones. No machines. Just sort of fading in and out. Just think, big dog. Think about where you are, and how you got into this mess.

I got deployed with my unit near the Alabama border where the pod just appeared in the middle of a field. There were reports from all over the globe - thousands of them just materialized out of thin air. One second nothing. The next second, they were as thick as fire ants. Our orders were to set up a perimeter to contain and monitor. So that is what we did. Like the good grunts we are, my unit set up shop and waited for orders.

‘Cept Captain Pierce wasn’t about to wait. Son of a bitch. He was determined to kick the pods back to whatever planet they’d come from. So, when he got the orders to wait. He got mad as hell. Sent an M-1 to lob a shell straight at ‘em. Well then, all hell broke loose. The ground started to shake and roll under our feet. I saw the M-1 go up in smoke without anything even touching it. Heard the screams of half my unit being pulverized. Saw the Captain running toward the pod barking orders like some crazed John Brown. And then came the splitting headache. Felt sharp pain in my gut and saw the brown blood flowing down from my legs. As I glanced down, I saw the heart-shaped locket my wife had given me. Just lying in the dirt. I reached for it, tried to pick it up, but passed out. Next thing I knew I was lying in this freaking alien hospital.

The squid doctor came over to my bedside, punched a few numbers on his pad, and clucked a couple of times. More of a cluck and a whirring sound. You are ok. I heard a sort of growl inside my head. You need more sleep before we teach you to walk.

A pause and then the growling. You have severe damage to almost 70% of your organs. Most of the vital issues we have repaired. Heart. Digestive. Lung function. Our knowledge of nerve to brain synapsis is limited. We did best.

I went back to sleep. About an hour or a day later, (not sure of time here), another squid came over to the bed with a drone trailing him (her). The drone sprayed some kind of moist compound, and I reacted with a start.

This time the growl in my head was softer. Adrenaline. Help you get up.

I sat up fully awake. I thought about trying to fight my way out, but I didn’t. The second my feet hit, I fell into a heap on the floor. Shit. I thought. What good am I without legs?

But the squid lifted me back up, steadied me and off we went. Not walking as much as hovering. Weirdest shit I seen. You’ll get used to it. The alien said. By the way you can call me, Nalah

Alex. I responded without even thinking. Oh, shit. The squid can read my thoughts.

As we floated out the door, I notice that the hallway was the size of a driveway. Somehow the math wasn’t right. The pods we’d faced couldn’t have contained any long hallway of that size. She floated us over to the wall and punched a button with her tentacle. As the panel raised, I realized why the math wasn’t making any sense. I was on a larger ship. Hovering in a geo-orbit above the planet. Damn. The whole planet was surrounded by a connected web of smaller pods sort of like a large piece of bubble wrap.

We had no choice. The alien stammered almost apologetically. We had to neutralize the threat. Keep from happening again.

How many of my kind are left? I asked.

Few million. Your species will work for us – harvesting.

The hell we will. I blared back.

The squid must have sensed my anger. You will. In time. You will.

How do I get off this ship? I wondered. I need a plan. Captain Pierce would have an escape route already.

You’ll leave when I say you are ready. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn to like it here. I thinking about keeping you. Nala voiced

The word was ringing inside my brain.

Pet.

I was about to become the squids toy poodle. I vomited. Right there all over her.

It’s okay Alex. She telepathed. You’ll learn to be a good boy.