Chapter 23

When the great event comes to pass,
There is no belying its coming to pass --
Abasing (one party), exalting (the other),
When the earth shall be shaken with a (severe) shaking,
And the mountains shall be made to crumble with (an awful) crumbling,
So that they shall be as scattered dust.
-The Holy Koran-

Angie knew that Marty was upset, but she couldn't get through to him how important it was to get back to Earth. She knew what he wanted to do, and it was killing her inside.

"All I need is one fighter, Ninja, and two Drak females," Marty said. "I won't risk anyone else."

"You don't even know where they've taken her," Angie said. "You'll have to search for months and by that time she'll be gone."

"Please, Angie, I have to try. She was under my command. I owe her. I would do the same for anyone else on this crew."

"It's a suicide mission. You'll be one fighter against thousands of Dragons. There's no way that it can succeed."

"Please, I beg of you, let me do this. If I don't I'll never be able to live with myself. Please."

Angie sighed. The look on her face was one of immense pain. "Oh all right, but you had better get back here in three days or you'll be left behind."

"I will. I promise you." Marty looked at Ninja and his buddy got up and joined him. Ninja had chosen Taka and Mara to accompany them because they were his best soldiers. Neither Drak female showed any sign of doubt. They were committed to fighting Dragons.

Angie watched them leave the command deck and resigned herself to the fact that she would never see him again. It left her with an empty feeling, and she knew that it could never be assuaged.

Marty wasted no time in getting the X-402 out of the hangar and on its way.

"Where are we going?" Ninja asked him.

"I have a hunch," Marty said. "It's something that the last aliens said about a star near theirs. It's the only thing I have to go on, and I hope to God that it's right."

Ninja did too, but it was because he was ready to fight.

###

The Dragon commander came to the building in which Uma was housed and ordered all of the humans to get up and go line up for inspection outside. According to the captives, this was a regular morning routine. After all had been accounted for, the commander had his soldiers force the captives to run around and do calisthenics. This usually went on for at least an hour, and by the time it was done, everyone was exhausted and sweaty. So, it was off to the showers and then to breakfast.

"The food here is very good," a young man said. "They make us exercise a lot, but they feed us well."

"They must like lean meat," a woman said. She looked Chinese, and she reminded Uma of Lia.

The young man looked British. The humans here were from different countries and represented many different races and cultures. Some looked as if they had come from nowhere. They were of mixed race and did not speak.

"Don't you feel horrible about being held here like cattle to be slaughtered?" Uma asked them. "Doesn't anyone ever try to escape?"

"Where would we go?" the young man said. "We don't even know where we are. There's no place to hide. Besides, those that have tried to escape were brought back and then immediately taken to the house of pain."

Uma frowned. "House of pain?"

"That's what we call that building over there," a woman said, pointing to a concrete structure standing in the center of the complex."

"Have you heard screams from there?" Uma asked.

"No, but these ugly bastards have told people that they will suffer when they go there."

"Why don't you rise up against these ugly bastards?" Uma said. "Why do you tolerate this inhumane treatment?"

"People who have done that have met a very horrible fate. There is nothing we can do."

Several Dragon soldiers came into the place where the humans were fed and made them get up.
"Go out," they ordered.

The humans lined up again and then were forced to run around again. This went on for another hour before they were given water and allowed to rest.

"Is this all you do every day?" Uma asked them.

"Not every day," a man said. "Some days they make us dig. On other days they leave us alone."

"How often do they take people into the house of pain?"

"Usually, they take two or three a day. There'll be more to take their places though. A new group of people arrives every week."

"We were originally in a different camp where there were all sorts of people," another man said. "There were lots of children and babies there."

"Were these offspring from married couples?"

"Oh, no," a woman said, smiling. "There wasn't much else to do there. A lot of people have sex on a regular basis."

"That's disgusting," Uma said. "All they're doing is making more people for these bastards to harvest."

"I suppose that you're right, but people will make do with what they have."

"Are you the only people here?"

"We think so, but there could be more camps at other locations. We don't know."

Uma scrunched her nose. "What I can't understand is why nobody on Earth has wondered what happened to people like you. Don't your families miss you?"

"There are thousands of disappearances every day," a man said. "They just never find us, and I guess that they eventually quit looking. How would they know that we've been taken to a planet on the other side of the galaxy?"

"Get up," a Dragon ordered them.

They were lined up again and then forced to walk into the forest nearby. Uma assumed that this was a hike, but they soon came to a quarry. The rock formations were an arkosic form of sandstone with high feldspar content similar to granite. Each human was given tools to work at cutting stone. Under a hot sun, the work was exhausting and boring, but nobody complained or slouched off. It was obvious that these people were resigned to their lives and deaths here. She found it totally disgusting.

###

Three days after arriving, Uma watched the Dragon commander enter her building and go directly to her. "It is your turn to be processed. Come with me."

Uma looked at the others before getting up. She had no idea if she would ever see another day. Actually, she was certain that her end was at hand. The others looked back at her, but they could do nothing to save her. They all knew that they would eventually be going to where she was.

"What happened to the two Drak females that came with me?" Uma asked.

"They were processed. They are not as delicious as you will be, but they have lean meat that cooks well."

The thought of that sickened Uma, but down deep she knew that he had lied. They would not have died without a fight. She felt sorry for them, but now it was her turn to die. She was not ready to go, but this idiot Dragon had no pity for her. All he considered her for was a meal.

Uma was taken to the house of pain where no one had ever returned. She was handed over to female Dragons who stripped her, shaved off all of her hair and placed her under a shower and ordered her to bathe. A female Dragon helped her in this necessary task, scrubbing her back and bald head.

The female Dragon seemed docile and gentle, unlike the males. Uma took the opportunity to ask her questions.

"Do you like to eat us?"

"I eat what is given me to prepare," the female said. "We definitely prefer your kind for food. There are many recipes for preparing your meat."

"Recipes?"

"Yes. There are recipes for roasting, frying and grilling. There are many good marinades and basting mixes. I prefer a marinade that contains what you would call alcohol. It makes your meat very tender."

"I don't want to die," Uma pleaded with her. "Please allow me to get out of here."

"I would be severely disciplined if I did that. I can tell you that I will be the one preparing your meat for meals."

"If you're trying to console me, it is not working. Please have mercy on me."

"I am sorry. You must come with me to be processed."

"Please don't kill me. I don't want to die."

"Come," the Dragon female said, pulling Uma by her arm. "You must be processed before we can eat you."

Uma bawled.

"Do not cry," the female Dragon said. "Just think of how many of us your body will feed. Think of it as the main purpose of your life: to provide sustenance and nourishment for others. We and our children will enjoy a very delicious and fulfilling meal from the meat that we obtain from your body."

"Yes, but I will have to die first," Uma cried.

"We all must die, but your death will serve a good purpose. We appreciate the sustenance your body will provide us. Your death will give us life."

Uma cried out. "You will have life, but I will not. That is not fair. Why must I be killed to give you life?"

"We are not killing you; we are processing you. If we simply killed you, your body would go to waste. When you are processed, every part of your body is utilized to good purpose. Your skin will make a fine garment. Your bones will be ground up to be used as a tasty paste to provide calcium. Your flesh will become a wonderful food. Nothing will be wasted."

"Please, I beg you. Don't process me. I don't want to die."

"You must. It is your destiny."

Uma bawled.

Uma was taken to a cold room and injected with something. After a few minutes, she could no longer move. Fully conscious, she saw her feet swing up and her body suspended upside down. She could see and hear but could not move a muscle. She was still able to breathe and feel the pain of being suspended by her feet.

After several minutes of discomfort, the Dragon leader came over to her and inspected her body, running a hand-claw over her skin and pinching her several times.

"You will make a very delicious meal," he said. "I will enjoy processing your living body."

Uma wanted to scream, but she couldn't. She felt completely helpless. All she could think of was what it would be like to die in such a terrible way. Her body would be consumed and the essence of her, her very identity, would be lost. No one would remember her. What a waste.

What she really hated was the fact that this stupid Dragon commander had taken a liking to her and was bound and determined to make sure that she was aware of what was going to happen to her. He was enamored with the idea of tormenting her before he killed her.

"It is your turn to be processed," The Dragon said. "First, I will remove all of your skin. You will feel the pain of its removal, but you will not be able to vocalize your suffering." He showed her a tool that resembled a large shaver with a thin sharp blade. "I will use this to peel your skin off in sections. This will require much time to accomplish and you will feel its removal for the entire duration of the process. When your skin is removed, much of your blood will seep out from the dermal layers underneath. For some, this results in death, but many survive this and are able to watch the next step when I will carefully remove your intestines. I have had a few make it to the removal of their stomach and liver."
At this point Uma was screaming and yelling inside. Her head ached and she wanted to throw up but couldn't, adding to her torment.

Her heart rate shot up when she saw him raise the instrument. He held it up at her abdominal region, and she watched in horror as he slowly scraped down her belly and carefully pulled a three inch wide section of her skin away. She tried to scream but nothing came out.

It felt like a bad burn, and it only got worse when he scraped another section of her skin off. She wanted so desperately to escape her torturer but she couldn't move a muscle. She was doomed to a slow painful death, and there was nothing she could do about it.

He raised the instrument to remove another skin section, but before he did anything, she felt some sort of gooey liquid gel splatter against her leg, and she saw gushes of blood shoot out onto the floor. The Dragon who was skinning her had collapsed to the floor.

Next, she saw the face of an angel of mercy.

"Have the Draks secure the perimeter," Marty told Ninja. "I'll cut her down."

"Yes, Martin."

When he got Uma down, Marty injected Onuki's antitoxin into her arm. Soon, she was able to move her arms and legs. He applied a burn patch to her belly and gave her a morphine shot. He also placed the two sections of her skin in a stasis box for Onuki.

When her mouth finally worked, she cried. "Oh, Martin, I love you."

Marty held up a one-piece suit. "Stop crying, Uma. I'll help you into this. We have to get the hell out of here as soon as possible."

"There are twenty-six humans here. Please rescue them. They do not deserve to die like this."

He handed her an assault rifle. "Here, you show us where they are and we'll get them out."

Uma took the gun and led Marty, Ninja and the two Drak females out of the butcher shop to a building nearby. When they entered the structure, the humans inside were very happy to see them.

"Let's get moving, people," Uma said. "We have to get out of here."

They needed no prodding. Halfway to the fence, a squad of Dragon guards intercepted their escape. Some of the human captives were hit and fell, but Marty could do nothing to administer to them. He was too busy firing back at the enemy. The two Drak females fired rocket-propelled grenades into them, killing all. Marty ordered Ninja to fire plasma mortar rounds back at the main Dragon barracks. The resulting explosions lit up the night sky as if it were daylight. On the way out of the camp, they shot several more Dragons and fired two more plasma rounds back into the compound.
After all of the surviving humans and crew were safely on board, Marty flew the X-402 up out of the atmosphere, but two Dragon scout ships immediately jumped them. Ninja's accurate fire destroyed them both before they could do any damage.

"Take us up to jump speed, Delphi."

"Yes, Martin."

"I have detected many Dragon ships coming out of jump," Ninja said. "They are blocking our way out."

"Please arm Nova devices in aft tube one and two, Delphi. Turn us around and fire them into the Dragon fleet, and then take us to maximum acceleration.

"Yes, Martin."

"Things are going to get rough, people," Martin said to the humans. "Just hang tight and pray, if you are so inclined."

The Nova devices flew into the enemy fleet at a quarter light speed. When they detonated, a blinding light would eventually be visible as much as a parsec away. On the X-402, Marty and his people braced for the impact of radiation and gravity waves. There was a twenty-minute delay, but when the main screen went white, the radiation hit like a sledgehammer, plunging the command deck into darkness. Several people cried out, but there was no panic. Slowly, lighting and power came back on line.

"Turn us around, Delphi. Take us up to jump speed."

"Yes, Martin."

"I am detecting some surviving enemy craft," Ninja said.

"We'll just have to blast our way through them," Marty said. "We have no other choice. If we don't get back to the X-4001 on time, we'll be alone out here. Prepare to fire all weapons at maximum."

"Yes, Martin."

On the X-4001 command deck, a pensive and moody Angie sighed. She had already ordered the X-3001 to return to Earth. She was running out of time. She could no longer stay here by herself for much longer because she had a ship full of rescued humans and did not want to be accosted by a Dragon fleet. She had no other choice, and it was a choice that she would regret for the rest of her life.

"Take us up to jump speed, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

The engines screamed to life, and to Angie it was a last primordial scream of frustration and defeat.

"I have a COM request from the X-402, Angie."

Angie's heart rate escalated to maximum. She was almost unable to speak. "Open it, Delphi."

"Hey, Angie, could you slow down a bit. Our engines are not operating at full efficiency."

She blew out a ragged breath and her whole body felt as if a heavy weight had been removed from it. She felt sudden warmth in her genitals and it made her ashamed, but she could do nothing to stop it. The very hearing of his voice aroused her as she had never been before.

"Bring us to a stop, Delphi," Angie said, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh, yes, Angie."

"Oh, Angelina, those dirty bastards shaved all of my beautiful hair off. I am a bald biscuit."

"Praise Allah for He is merciful," Ferris cried.

Others cried out with joy and relief.

"I've seen that term before," Honey said. "A biscuit is a bakery item. How can it be bald?"

Angie laughed and cried at the same time.

A/N This is the end of the second book in the Space Chronicles series. The third book is coming soon.