Enslaved By Grays In The Center Of The Earth (Part IV)

“Hnau!” came the familiar voice of the strange woman.

David turned and saw her walking toward him. He went to her and she took him to one of the larger buildings. She beckoned him inside and he hesitantly went in. He found himself in a large common room, dominated by a great table. At the table, were several demi-humans, including the frog-man from earlier, a frog-woman, a woman with the lower body of a snake and the torso of a human, a female minotaur, and a male centaur, straight from the old Greek myths. All the women wore robes, but the men were all in loincloths. The frog-man pointed at David and everyone turned to look at the newcomer. David tensed up, aggravating his long-suffering muscles. He looked into their eyes, trying to discern if there was any malice. He saw none, but he wondered if he could judge these demi-humans by the same standards as humans.

As if reading his thoughts, the woman gently pushed him to an open chair. David sat down cautiously. She gently nudged him and handed David a bowl of soup with several small mushrooms in it.

“Thank you,” he said. Even though she could not understand the language, his sentiment came through and her feathery tail wagged joyfully.

He inhaled the aroma and felt a little warmth ease his hurting body. She sat down next to him with her own bowl and began eating. He followed suit and the spicy flavor made his eyes water. It was delicious, so he continued eating the mushroomy stew. The others were all chatting and once again, David found himself unable to communicate, so he focused on eating.

Once everyone finished eating, the woman began to collect the bowls, as everyone went into the various rooms adjoining the main room. David decided to assist her by stacking. No one else was helping her. She exited the building out the back and David followed. A small stream of crystal-clear water ran just behind the building that she used to wash the bowls. David squatted down next to her and scrubbed out a bowl.

“David,” he said, pointing to himself.

“Mira,” she replied, mimicking his gesture. As they washed bowls, he pointed at various objects and she told him the word for it. Bowl. Building. Stream. Slave collar. After about fifteen minutes, the bowls were all washed and dried. The language lesson ended with David putting the bowls away in the new word he learned, cabinet.

Mira guided David inside and took him to his room. It contained little more than a cot and a stool, along with a small crate containing a couple of spare loincloths. The strangeness of his day finally overwhelmed him and he fell into a deep sleep.

The morning was a blur to David. He awoke to his collar warming up enough to be uncomfortable, but as soon as he got it out of the cot, it stopped heating up. A quick breakfast of raw mushrooms and then the frog-man was pushing him out the door. Another day of chopping and hauling ensued. David soon fell into a rhythm, working in the day and learning language at night with Mira.

Over the next few months, the only change in the monotony of his daily life would be the occasional visit of a hovercraft, piloted by a different Gray, from across the lava sea. Upon the hovercraft would be another slave or two, so the slave village slowly grew.

The constant labor was better than going to the gym for David’s physique. Soon he and the other “lumberjacks” were meeting their daily quota earlier in the day. David had learned enough to speak with the others and learned their names. The foreman, the man-spider, was named Arakh and the frog-man was Pol.

“Pol, how is Shadi coming along?” Asked David.

“She is well. The tadpoles are swimming well and at night, I can sometimes feel them wiggling when I hold her,” said Pol, “However, I may regret bringing them into this world.” He tapped his collar.

“We will end this somehow,” David started, “Your children will not have to endure the yoke of-”

“ENOUGH,” roared Arakh, ending the conversation.

“No,” said David firmly, dropping his axe as he walked over to Arakh, “We will not stop. Of all the freedoms that we have lost, hope will not be one of them. There is a way to be free and I will find it or I will perish.”

“You are wrong,” said Arakh as he reared up to his full height, a good two feet over David, “The Masters cannot be defeated. Do you know how I lost my leg?” Pol stopped chopping the mushrooms and watched the argument with rapt attention.

David said nothing.

“I was once like you. Idealistic, burning with a passion to be free,” began Arakh, “When I was taken from my people, I thought I could get free. Rally the others fight against the Masters. But they cannot be beaten. Their minds are stronger than flesh. I gave scars to one of them, but those heal. My leg will not grow back.”

“We can plan better. We outnumber them. Surely-”

“You are not listening David” yelled Arakh, “We are slaves today and we will be slaves tomorrow. The Masters have a power beyond what you can imagine and as long as we are useful, at least we live.”

“There is more to life than mere survival. All beings should be able to chart their own destiny, free to make choices, whether good or bad. All else is an abomination.”

The collars warmed up. Arakh looked around at the felled mushrooms. The quota had not been met. He glared at David and all eight of his eyes narrowed.

“This is your fault.”

“I will accept the blame,” David said defiantly.

The group hauled their smaller-than-usual load back to the dome. As usual, the claw came out and took the stalks. However, after the claw went into the dome, a small door appeared at ground level and the three Masters came out: Alpha, the leader, who was half a head taller than David; Beta, the scarred one that David first met; and Gamma, the hovercraft pilot, with its ever-present goggles on its giant forehead.

< QUOTA NOT MET > came into the heads of each slave, < WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? >

“I am,” David said. As soon as the words left his mouth, the collar became unbearably hot and his entire body was paralyzed. His balance remained, but the slightest push would knock him over.

Alpha closed its eyes and soon, everyone came out into the clearing around the dome. Arakh drove two posts into the ground and tied one of David’s hands to each one, stretching his arms out. The paralyzation left David, but no matter how hard he struggled, he could not free himself.

< THE FATE OF THOSE WHO FAIL US > blasted into David’s head.

Alpha waved both of its hands and yellow energy beams came forth from each one. They wiggled and waved like a snake charmer’s snake. The Gray shot his arm forth and the energy snaked out toward David’s unprotected back.

David’s back blistered as the energy tore at his skin. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes to hide the tears. Pain snaked up and down his spine, his skin turned crimson and bubbled, but he tried to stay quiet. He briefly opened his eyes and looked at the crowd. He only recognized a few of those assembled, but once he saw Mira, he locked eyes with her. He would be strong. For her.

Another strike from the energy made his legs buckle under him. Only the cord around each hand kept him upright. He grunted, but refused to cry out. Alpha assaulted him with the energy beams again and again, but David took the beating without screaming or weeping.

Finally, Alpha relented and the three walked back inside the dome. David hung limply and the crowd slowly dispersed. After a few minutes of silence, the cords binding each of his hands were released simultaneously and David fell to the ground. Gentle hands picked up David. He turned around and saw Mira standing there with Arakh.

“You took your punishment. I hope you learned your lesson,” said Arakh, before walking away. Mira came over and helped support his weight as he limped back to the dormitory.

“Are you hurt badly?” asked Mira, with concern in her voice.

“I’ll live,” David replied.

Mira’s eyes bored into his soul. She stopped him outside the door and would not open it for him.

“You do not have to keep up the tough guy act with me. You are stupid and brave to take a beating like that. You realize that your back will take quite some time to heal and the Masters still expect the quota tomorrow. No rest for the wicked.”

“The ‘tough guy act’ is a necessity. It gives everyone hope. And hope is our only weapon against the Grays right now. You know what everyone saw out there?” David replied, “They saw me hurt badly. I did not cry out and I did not beg for mercy. I am injured, but I am not broken.”

“You are a strong willed hnau,” she said, “I hope that spirit is never crushed.”

“What precisely is a hnau?” asked David.

“A hnau is a…a…being that has the spark of Creation in them. We have many shapes and types, but we all have the same spark in us.”

Picture Credit: "Lake Cave" by thinkrorbot is licensed under CC by 2.0

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V