Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 42969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
These words were spoken by the woman with the pink skin and flowers growing from her knees and elbows. She had deep hazel eyes and a serene look on her face. She came right up to Sylvie and smiled at her.
“Welcome, child. We will do our best to make your captivity bearable. We all support each other here.”
“Speak for yourself, Clemina,” Hersha said dryly. “Nobody’s captivity is bearable. It sucks corshu dicks no matter how many ‘nature rituals’ and ‘healing chants’ you do.”
“I understand that our circumstances have made you bitter, Hersha,” the woman with pink skin and flowers said. “But—”
Just then a section of the wall opened and a humming sound could be heard.
“Shit!” Hersha exclaimed and backed away from the circular opening. “Again?”
“Again, what?” Sylvie asked nervously but no one answered. The other women just huddled nervously together by the row of cots on the far wall of the room.
Through the round opening in the wall came a floating droid. At least, Sylvie assumed it was some kind of droid. It was a silver sphere about the size of a basketball with a smaller silver sphere on top. There were unblinking red lights that looked like eyes in the top sphere. It must have some kind of antigravity device in it because it zoomed effortlessly through the round hole in the tree trunk wall.
“What…what is that thing?” she asked, wishing her voice wouldn’t shake so much. A simple silver ball shouldn’t exude such an air of menace yet somehow this thing did.
“It’s Barbarous’s collector,” one of the goat-women whispered. She spoke in a low voice, as though she hoped that the silver sphere droid wouldn’t notice her as long as she didn’t draw too much attention to herself.
Immediately reacting to her words, the silver droid turned towards her, humming and hovering in mid-air.
“Silence!” the voice that came from the top sphere was tinny and artificial. “You have not been authorized to speak.”
“Fuck off, you silver fucker!” Hersha snapped. But when the droid flew in her direction, she shrank back from it, a look of fear in her slotted golden eyes.
Sylvie wasn’t sure what was going to happen but she found out soon because the silver droid pivoted and flew over to her instead.
“Hold out your arm,” it said in its tinny, mechanical voice. “I must collect specimens from you.”
“What? What kind of specimens?” Sylvie drew away from it nervously.
“All kinds,” the top sphere informed her. And then the bottom sphere opened and a silver mechanical arm extended towards her. It was tipped with a long, sharp needle.
Sylvie’s heart started pounding. As a scientist, she had collected biological specimens of all kinds—including blood at times. But she didn’t like the idea of the floating silver droid stabbing her with a needle—not one bit!
“You’d do best to hold still and let the collector take what it wants,” Clemina advised her in a low voice. “The punishment if you don’t can be…extremely unpleasant.”
“More unpleasant than a needle in my arm?” Sylvie demanded.
“Much more,” Hersha said. “Take it from me, newbie—don’t try to resist.”
Feeling sick with apprehension, Sylvie at last extended her arm.
“What are you going to d—?” she began, speaking to the droid.
But before she could finish her question, the collector zoomed forward and stabbed the vein at the crook of her elbow with the needle.
“Ouch!” Sylvie jerked involuntarily, dislodging the needle.
“You must hold still. You must not resist. Punishment will occur if you move again!” the droid warned her in its tinny voice.
“Sorry!” Sylvie held out her now-bleeding arm again reluctantly. “I just…wasn’t expecting you to—”
But again, the droid didn’t let her finish. It darted forward and stuck her in the vein again.
There was another sharp pain but this time, she managed to hold still as the blood was sucked out of her arm. It seemed to take forever and she wondered how much it was taking. At least as much as the leaches had drained on her last mission to Minerva Twelve, she thought.
Thinking of that made her wonder about Kross. Was he also enduring the same thing? If so, she wondered how much he hated her for it. After all, this was all her fault. If she hadn’t insisted on going to Gim’bab Orious in the first place and if she hadn’t run away from him they wouldn’t be in this situation!
My fault, she thought as the collector droid sucked what felt like a gallon of blood out of her arm. All my fault. Kross must hate me and I don’t blame him!
Finally the needle was withdrawn but not before the droid squirted something sticky on her arm, presumably to seal the wound it had made.
Sylvie thought the ordeal was over but then the tinny voice commanded,
“Open your mouth and push out your tongue.”
“What? Why?” she asked, feeling more anxious than ever.