Cutlass Sharpened (41 page)

Pushed and shoved disorientated Oliver, but
then all of a sudden everything stopped. Restraints dropped and the
collar unlocked.

Gradually he lifted he helmet to find himself
in an empty concrete room barely large enough for outstretched arms
to reach. On the far wall was a dull sign that read ‘Change into
prisoner uniforms. Discard all personal items. They will be stored
till you are released. Then proceed to scanner.’

Oliver knew there was no
recording in the changing room, but the next would scan for all
prohibited things. The thing is, he couldn’t take off the vambrace,
nor the armor. It bonded and nothing Stephanie tried could remove
either. An ingenious idea arrived in a flash. He lifted the orange
jumper and made his armor transform to an near exact copy. The
vambrace then consumed the clothes into a compact ball and it
squeezed it like a black heart before spitting out a cotton copy of
his black and silver armor.
I just hope the
scanners don’t detect anything.

He entered barefoot into a bindingly bright
room. The door slammed shut behind him. Oliver feared the telltale
warning that he carried something. Another stretch of time was
actually ten seconds. The green light came on and he sighed as the
next door slid open. He came out into a cage, trying to pull the
psionic lever and gather, but the joints were frozen all over
again. He was alone for several minutes till another door to the
massive cage opened and in walked Renee in a jumper too.

Before either could get close enough to hug
there opened a third door.

In walked a man who clearly
went to Splicers to be inhumanely more intimidating and did a fine
job with the results coming through that solid steel door. The man
was at least three hundred and thirty five centimeters tall and had
bulging muscles larger than a human head. The man’s physique was
daunting enough without showing glowing blue eyes to taunt his
psionics worked while theirs were useless somehow. To top it all
off he carried Oliver’s sword. A gravelly voice akin to a snorting
bull with a human face spoke “If today isn’t my
lucky
day. I get to play with bombers.
To top it off I can finally get my revenge.”

“
What the hell are you
talking about? Who are…” Renee was suddenly hit by a crack of
lightening and flung back. Oliver caught her before slamming into
steel bars, but there was no room to fully shield her. He turned to
the man and went to kill him, but sopped as the plasma rolling in
his palm was clearly meant to kill. It gave Oliver pause and made
him feel impotent in the situation. If he attacked, Renee would be
hit.

“
Prisoners don’t backtalk.
I’m Warden Wrangler. And we agree, we’ve never met, Bitch. Too bad
Jake will never see his
precious
daughter again.” He smugly remained in place,
playing with the ball of electricity.

“
Why? Why did you…” she
stopped, but it was Oliver who cried out as he took her next shot
with his own body.

“
Oh, you’re curious… you
see, Jake Dorgen and I go back a few centuries when he took
something precious from me that I’m trying to get back. He’ll never
know his only spawn is under my care till you kill yourself. You
and an elder Hunter are too good a prize to ever release and spill
my secrets. Since no one has ever escaped my prison in the three
centuries I’ve ruled… and all documentation of the trial and your
transfer have been expunged… he’ll never figure it out. Officially,
you died in the failed bombing you orchestrated. So
very
sad. I wish I could
laugh in Jake’s face all the while I have two new pets for my
experiments.”

Warden Wrangler’s eyes unfocused for a bare
fraction and the cage turned out to be an elevator. Renee was
broken right then as she touched the back of Oliver’s neck and came
back with sprinkles of blood. His nanites were already clotting the
unprovoked attack, but the faint scent of burned hair and flesh
told the wound wasn’t very large. The spliced giant gloated as they
dropped from Level One to the infamous Level Four no one ever left
from, except in a bag. A place where criminals were legally
tortured for crimes against all humanity before finally being
disposed of.

Reaching the bottom Renee
yelped as she and Oliver were telekinetically lifted and thrown
over a hundred meters in a massive cell to roll and cry out in pain
as the warden laughed at their helplessness. His voice carried as
he walked off the elevator that worked by gravity. With a
resounding boom the cell slammed shut. Level four was a smooth
cylindrical pit no one could climb out of. Not only from greater
gravity, but the slick walls which were over six stories high.
“Take a nice look. This is the trophy case. See it and know that no
matter what you do, you can’t get your toys. Even if you can, it
won’t do any good.” He opened it and displayed Oliver’s black
sword. “Not that that decoration can do anything other than look
pretty. It’s a dull blade. An elder carrying a dull blade. Never
heard of
that
before. See you tomorrow children. Daddy’s got a little work
to do before he can come down and have time to play.”

The man took the unattached elevator up and
out of the bottommost level.

“
Re… Renee?” Oliver asked
between a cough that expelled some blood from biting his own
tongue. “Renee?” he groaned in a great deal of pain as he rolled
over and crawled to her side. He also felt seven and a half gees
holding her down.

“
Olly? Help… my hip’s
dislocated.” She called and he felt it. Her eyes were squeezed
closed to moan. He made sure it was a simple dislocation despite
the pain it caused. As she breathed in he couldn’t hear the socket
being replaced as her blood curdling scream ripped from her throat.
He felt it go in again as she groaned in great pain, her hands
fisting his front clothes as she clung to him for
safety.

Oliver didn’t know how long he held her all
the while imagining all the ways to kill the ruthless sonofabitch.
But then he caught a rather peculiar scent and stiffened as
realization hit that they weren’t alone. Slowly he looked left from
the middle of the cell to find a pair of completely blue glowing
eyes too far apart to be human. And by glowing, they were bright in
the darkness. The difference was a faint glowing mist seeped away
from the eyes a few centimeters before disappearing into the
darkness the rest of the creature was cloaked in.

He didn’t bother whispering. “Renee, get
behind me. We’re not alone.”

His words and tone had her pain and misery
lowering so as to look through watery eyes. She watched him stand
with an ease that was hard to even breathe for her in enhanced
gravity. Then her eyes fell on the glowing pair in the darkness.
Her breath left her as she grabbed Oliver’s ankle. “No Olly, don’t!
Don’t do anything. Forget the pain and look at the eyes… it’s a
Creelin.”

Just as smoothly as Oliver stood, so did the
eyes rise. The eyes tilted in a slant of curiosity.

“
I don’t care. Creelin or
not, I’ll kill anyone who touches you. Do you hear me, Creelin? You
will not touch my woman without going through me.” Oliver clearly
meant it as his muscles seemed to grow.

Out of the shadows stepped the Creelin.

Skin the color of grey-blue evenly coated the
obvious male Creelin. Like human women, Creelin women were much
smoother, had round breasts and they didn’t have ridges on their
sloped back forehead. This male’s ridges were extremely pronounced,
the ridges looking more like small pointed mountains. His physique
was thin, but fast. An obvious physique of a Creelin warrior.
Hair-like black antennae flowed down from the back of his head.
Three fingers and a thumb each had fingernails thick enough to be
and were sharpened into claws. His lions were covered in a pale
blue cloth. Humanoid legs were normal till it got down to two
thick, mostly flat toes excellent for sudden acceleration and rock
climbing. The face though was more narrowed. Two teardrop holes
directly between the glowing eyes expanded and contracted to smell
and breathe, but where one would assume a mouth to be was a pointed
jaw and no other slit. Oddly, it was clean despite the cell’s
conditions of old hay laced with bugs.

“
Oliver… Don’t… please…”
Renee’s plea was heard, but his stance didn’t alter.

“
For all I know that fucking
sociopath only has a grudge against the captain, but this guy may
be here for a real crime.”

The Creelin held still, merely observing.
Keeping those long clawed fingers down. Renee though said “If his
people knew he was here they would get him. Our treaty with them is
broken to imprison… but look at his stomach. They’ve been torturing
him for years. Creelin aren’t human. Never have we found a hint of
any criminal ways in their society. And what’s worse… look at his
eyes… see the mist seeping? He’s a Zeelin warrior of immense power
and likely of high rank… oh no… look at his hair… Stars… this is
not good…”

Oliver’s gaze turned to the bottom of the
hair to find about a hundred or so cords plugged in the black ends
attached to the wall. It became clear then. “So that bastard
Wrangler weakens you? I read your hair is extremely sensitive and
to yank on even one will knock you out? Is that right?”

The creature was several centimeters shorter
than Oliver, but not by much, nodded solemnly. Then to Oliver’s
surprise the Creelin lifted his hands and quickly began using
them.

“
What’s he doing?” Renee
asked as she groaned to roll on her stomach, one hand on her
throbbing hip.

Oliver blinked as he began to recognize the
movements. “He’s using sign language.”

“
What?”

“
Before the immortal and
psionic chromosomes were discovered and all cures were not
discovered, many humans were deaf… they used their hands to
communicate. I read about it during my history lesson.”

“
What’s he saying
then?”

“
He’s saying his name is
Nay-tool…” the hands quickly changed. “N. E. T. U. L. Sorry. He’s
also vowing he means no harm if we honorably show the same
kindness.”

“
We agree… Netul, can you
hold any power at all?”

The Creelin shook his head.

“
Fuck, neither can I. My
link to Sparky is barely there too.”

Netul looked to Oliver and made quick
gestures. “Sparky is a Drake and she is his rider… Class twelve…
Yes, that asshole threw us in for something we were innocent of,
but then wiped our existence here because of a grudge with her
father and sent me along to join her because I’m sure he hates
Hunters too… her first then. One condition, let me hold one of your
antennae to make sure that’s all you’ll do.”

Netul’s nose took a deep breath and carefully
passed one strand over and Oliver gently gripped it like a rope.
Renee showed no fear as the Creelin knelt beside her and carefully
kept his filed fingernails from slicing her skin as he began
examining her face then opened her jumper to bypass her underwear
and check her ribs, abdomen and hip. As he examined she said
“Netul, I feel my nanites still working. I’ll need a good three
hours before my hip is fine, but this constant gravity is hard to
survive long.”

He finished at her feet and stood to look at
Oliver to translate. “He says you are lucky that your nanites
remain. The way you landed would have perforated your liver and you
would have died without them. He says you must rest and recover.
The gravity would have killed you if you weren’t suited to heavier
worlds already.” Oliver then let go of the strand. “No don’t worry
about me. Aside from getting zapped in the head and biting my
tongue, I’m fine.” Netul’s eyes narrowed slightly as he took a deep
sniff and Oliver did the same. “Though I don’t know what your scent
is like angry, I don’t think you are a danger.” Netul’s hands
quickly gave warning and Oliver was ready as the Creelin’s alight
eyes turned to murderous red rather than calm blue-green. The scent
change was as profound as the eye color. “Yeah, that was clear
enough. Let me return the favor.”

Netul stumbled back as Oliver’s scent
likewise was no longer protective, but intended death to all who
got in the way. The red eyes soon went back to calming blue as
humor seemed to silently shake the being with mirth. He signed
‘Take care of your match. We can converse openly and have time…
probably.’

Oliver no longer feared the warrior for some
reason. Probably because he had willingly offered his species’ one
true weakness willingly. Risking immense pain just to help did go a
long way. He dropped to his knees as worry lines wrinkled his brow.
Renee tried a little light humor as she willingly let him put her
head in his lap. “Relax. Still, this has been better than some of
my other dates.”

“
Red, why does that
sonofabitch hate your father? Just who is he?”

“
First, I don’t have a clue
why he wants to hurt Papa through me… if Papa learns of this… the
Creelin armada will be the least of our concerns. Wrangler has lost
his fucking mind jailing one… and a Zeelin warrior no less. Netul
could blow up the facility and not need to blink if he wasn’t under
the electrical suppressor. It’s a damn good thing nanites are
crystal or old digital nanites would have been fried. You know
psionics create electromagnetic pulses right?”

“
Your stalling.
Who
is Jake
Dorgen?”

Renee’s sparkling green eyes showed how much
she hid the pain. “Sorry, Idiot. A girl must keep her secrets.
Besides, Papa doesn’t like anyone talking behind his back. And stop
wrinkling that forehead. The brooding look isn’t sexy. At least
we’re locked up together.”