I Am Warrior Read online

  I thought about the two people standing next to the Queen. They both had on suits, one a suit and mask. “Were they a part of the other group from earlier?” I wondered in the dark truck. I did not contemplate on it too long before a small peak of light opened on the vehicle’s back end.

  Before the flap closed, I caught wind of what might be clothes. Making sure to keep with the Queen’s orders, I proceeded to get dressed in the dark, feeling out what went where. My eyes had slightly adjusted to the dark with the help of the random specks of light coming through from tiny slits. The pants fit just right. After putting on the last boot, they were very snug. A little small. The top just went over my head and arms.

  So now, my arms were under the top still in the restraints. But I had little option of how to fix it. At least it was long enough, past my waist, even with how my hands were positioned. I went back to my position, sitting and thinking, and felt someone pulling at my feet. When I opened my eyes, a younger woman resembling the Queen was looking back at me.

  The only difference was she had a dimple or some type of cleft on her chin, and she was much less muscular, and shorter. “I can leave them off if you’re uncomfortable. Would you like to keep them off?” When she spoke, she seemed genuine, with concern.

  This was different from the Queen as well; the Queen always seemed to have purpose in her questioning, almost as if every single aspect of you was being judged. This girl seemed to actually care for my comfort. I gave her a nod but did not speak. She threw the manacles to the side.

  She looked like she wanted to say something else, but we heard screaming outside of the truck. Her eyes got big and she ran and jumped outside of it. I followed behind her but much more slowly and with thoughtful steps. I went outside the truck but stayed near it like an anchor.

  By now, the sun had completely vanished but now the people around the camps had their own lights. Some had lamps attached to their heads, some carried them, others wielded torches, and then there was a fire in the center.

  Most of the lights were focused on the person in the suit with the breathing device, the one screaming. Everyone kept a respectful or fearful distance. People were moving around uncomfortably, and every once in a while, someone would stand in my way and I would move my head or adjust slightly.

  The unbearable screeching coming from the man sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before. He was ripping at his suit. The more he tried to remove it and did not succeed, the harder he fought. Soon, he did manage to pull the mask off and rip the top of his suit off from his head to just under his chin.

  He was a white male and looked like he could be a teenager. For a second, he looked like he was feeling better and breathing normally. Just for a second. Then he began grabbing at his throat as if trying to create a hole or grasping for something that did not exist.

  The girl walked up to him, but the Queen stopped her before she could get any closer than a few feet. He hit the ground, already dead, but his body kept slightly twitching, still trying to fight for every second. Once the twitching slowed, the Queen stepped forward and opened his mouth. She shook her head and looked up around her.

  She noticed me, for the first time. “Did I give you permission to be here? Strike one.” She nodded her head as I was about to go back to my place in the truck, but I was hit on the back of my neck first. I hit the edge of the truck and landed on the ground. I was hit again on the back of my head, and my world went dark.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The pain in the back of my head woke me up. I was a bit dazed. “It’s up!” I heard someone say. When I opened my eyes, I could still see a few white spots and tried to center myself.

  My body practically tried to push itself upward, but the chains to my arms, legs, and waist held me back. I threw up again with another involuntary spasm throughout my body. Most landed next to me, some on me. “I am tired of this body,” I whispered to myself and loathed the fact I’d woken up here.

  “Hey,” a deep voice called out to me. “Hey, I knew there were extraterrestrials. Are you alone?” He seemed excited and childlike. “You look like us. Are there others here like you—who look like us?”

  “Queen Lisa said no one was to speak to her man. Let’s just give her the food and leave.” He sat the food down and headed toward one of the doors. “Rance, come on.” He looked at me and smiled on his way out. Alone again.

  This new place was not so bad, well, sans the chains. I thought I must be underground and could hear what sounded like stomping over and over again above my little enclosure. I could only see far enough to where the food was placed.

  Looked around, I noticed I could lengthen the chains. They were just wrapped around the upper portion of the apparent bed I was on. Well, bed was probably an overstatement. It was more of stone slab with a thin layer of fluffy material. There was nothing else in the rectangular-shaped confinement.

  Behind me, I felt a warmth on my back. I turned to touch it, and it was a stone wall. The other three sides looked plastic, or maybe glass.

  I could not get close enough to touch it to know for sure, and unwound the chains to have more room to move comfortably. I stood up to stretch a bit as I moved over toward the food; the chains were just long enough to get to the food, but not standing.

  I had to go down to sit on my butt and reach a foot out to get my toes through the handle of the right side of the tray, all the while wondering if they were watching me. I felt like I was a part of similar experiments we placed humans in to see how they’d interact and what type of decisions they would make. It would be ironic, would it not?

  When ZNFKW made their selections for us to come here, they would often have us think of this planet as a type of formicarium. They are after all, social and live together in organized colonies.

  Those of us selected, number around fifty in total, each skilled in our own right, and sent all around the globe. A joke was made during training once about how the simple creatures thought what they were doing every day served some sort of purpose for themselves, and how it would be easy to infiltrate such a simple system.

  They quickly warned us that taking on a human form would make us more susceptible to many things, including limited vision and caring about their day-to-day lives. Things appeared different when you could bear witness to time, versus when you were in the thick of time. Now I knew what they meant. Already, I did not know how long I’d been here, but I was feeling more and more desperate for a drink of water.

  While in the middle of eating my food, two more people came in. Male again, without breathing devices. They spoke to each other but it was as if I was not even there. The previous two did say the Queen had told them not so speak to me. I was content to listen to their conversation instead.

  “Do you think the Queen will approve of the birth of the child?” Both males were facing me with their backs to the door, but were more focused on each other. The male who asked the question was a few inches shorter.

  “I hope so, but what if it comes out with my complexion? It would be no use to the clan.” The taller male was extremely white, not having been exposed to any natural lights in a long time.

  “You’re a valued member; surely the Queen would make an exception.” The way he said it though, sounded far less hopeful than the statement suggested.

  The taller male looked at me but spoke to the other one. “I heard it came down in a ball of fire.” He was tired of the subject or maybe the thought of it was too painful.

  I finished eating and went back to the stone bed. I did not lie down, but sat up straight against the warm brick walls behind me, put my legs in a butterfly position, and closed my eyes. They were keeping me alive for a reason. As long as they wanted something from me, I could continue my mission, but I needed to get out of this cage and above ground.

  People were in and out over time but never ever spoke to me except for the one called Rance. He would sneak a comment in each time, but I never responded to his fishing. I never replied or acknowled
ged anything anyone said around me either. When I was not eating, I was sitting, standing, or lying down with my eyes closed.

  I used the time to rehearse scenarios in my head, and to plan.

  One day after I do not know how long, Queen Lisa walked in with a woman who followed along with a chair. She sat the chair directly in front of me on the other side of the see-through wall, then left in haste. The Queen sat in the chair and looked at me.

  Under the scrutiny, I did not turn away. I mimicked her posture. I mimicked her observations of me. I only relaxed when she relaxed. I lost the silent of battle of wills when I heard a bang overhead. Her way of accepting her win was by asking me a series of questions to which I readily supplied answers, even though she could not understand me.

  “What are you?”

  “‘JHS.”

  “Where are you from?”

  “NGNBM.”

  “What’s your name?

  “‘JHS.”

  She paused and repeated the first question, “What are you?”

  “‘JHS.”

  Do you know where you landed?

  “O’IDN.” I nodded.

  “Where?”

  “‘ND.”

  “Are you here to attack us?”

  “NPH.” I moved my head with my answer again.

  She stood, but I stayed relaxed. “Turn around and let me see the back of your head.” I did as she said. “It healed nicely.” I heard the door close and turned back around but all that was left was the chair.

  More time passed. The loneliness did not bother me. It was the constant movement from above and the whispers I could hear on the outside but never quite knowing what they were saying that I felt was driving me mad. I had self-control though, and stayed pretty good at feigning indifference whenever people would come in. One day, I finally heard the Queen’s voice again accompanied by another woman. They took several minutes before they came in.

  I stood in a corner trying to appear relaxed. She may have had control over my situation, but she did not have control over me.

  “What does it do all day?” This voice sounded familiar.

  “Now, that wasn’t the deal was it?” The Queen said in a harsh tone.

  “You’ll take all the children then? And the parents visit anytime?” the woman said, trying to sound like an equal.

  “No. You provide us with the speech expert. The children who have parents willing to part will be spread throughout my region. They visit when the invitation is sent out at random points throughout the year, but no more than three times annually.” It was the most the Queen had ever spoken before and she almost sounded annoyed she’d had to say this.

  I guessed the terms were discussed prior to it and she did not enjoy repeating herself. Or maybe she did not enjoy that it was happening in front of me.

  The woman sighed long and deep. “I will return within twelve days’ time with the children, escorts, and the specialist.”

  I opened my eyes. They were both looking at me. Then, the Queen looked over and her features softened. “Kellyann. I will keep your children here at this compound as a sign of good faith.” Neither of them spoke again that day. We all stood in silence for a bit longer until they left.

  By this time, I had gotten used to the rhythm of the clan above me and was counting the days in hopes of overhearing the people who came in and out of my enclosure discuss the upcoming exchange. I could tell something like this rarely happened.

  Even underground, I could feel the tension and excitement from above. People were moving differently, sounding different, and training louder. The more days that passed, the more above ground started to sound like rolling thunder.

  The twelve days came and went. But somewhere around the twentieth day, I heard lots of movement late into the evening. Then, a bunch of shuffling and rustling. I was listening so intently but not hearing much of anything above ground, that I was taken by surprise when the door opened.

  Three women entered—the Queen, Kellyann, and a new woman. The Queen was still in her sparing outfit, while Kellyann and the other woman were in their suits, but Kellyann had the top half hanging down over her waist. She looked at the other female. “Vicki, you can remove the suits if you want. It’s perfectly safe down here.”

  She looked over and began to remove the entire suit. She had on a simple cotton long-sleeved shirt and pants. “Can I talk to her?”

  Queen Lisa looked to me and then to Vicki, “You’re the expert. I’ll leave you to it.”

  Queen Lisa turned to leave as if to signal the transaction was done. Kellyann called behind her. “Queen, if you could teach one of my people how to construct these underground facilities.”

  The Queen turned around fully. “No. That is not the deal.” She turned back and continued to walk out the door with every confidence Kellyann was following her. Kellyann, I was sure, realized she did not have much to bargain with, so she accepted and began to follow behind the Queen. On her way out before the door closed, I heard her speaking. “My people won’t survive much…” It was all I heard before the door shut completely.

  That left Vicki and me. “What language do you speak?”

  She was my best hope to get out of this box, it seemed. Here goes nothing, I thought.

  “HGL.”

  “Hum, can you read this?” She wrote something down in her book and showed me.

  “NPH.” I shook my head from side to side.

  She smiled. “Okay, so you understand spoken language but can’t read?”

  I just looked at her, feeling like this was more of a rhetorical line of questioning and she was thinking out loud. “Has anyone tried another language with you?”

  “NPH.”

  “Give me a quick second!” She was very excited, hurrying to put her suit on and leaving the room for a while. She returned with a woman of what looked like Asian descent. Her perfect brown skin looked like she’d just come from outside. She also looked very tired. I briefly wondered what time of the night it was.

  “So, what do I say to it?” she asked in a very sleepy voice. Vicki replied with a whisper in her ear.

  “Ang pangalan ko ay Ramirez. Ano ang pangalan mo?” she said.

  “NJ-GNL-N-‘JHS.” I introduced myself and looked to Vicki, who smiled and whispered in the woman’s ear again.

  “Ilang taon ka na?” She had fully awoken from her sleep now and took a real interest in what she was doing.

  “FGNP.” Or less. I really did not know to be honest. Ramirez looked intrigued. Vicki looked like she had been waiting her entire life for this moment.

  Vicki turned to look at Ramirez and put a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you so much. Sorry for disturbing your sleep. You can go now.” Ramirez hesitated for a bit. I think she wanted to stay now. She smiled for the first time on her way out. “Wait until I tell the others about this.”

  Vicki smiled again, “You’re a polyglot, aren’t you?” Another rhetorical question.

  Vicki was nice enough. To be honest, I think she was sort of relieved to not have to worry about getting in and out of the suit constantly, also excited about the prospect of learning a new language and meeting the challenge of our barrier.

  We went well into the night, a few hours until Vicki could not think straight. She had been traveling for a few days and jumped immediately into her assignment.

  I said it was late into the night, but it was more like very early morning. I heard shifts change when I closed my eyes. When I opened them, it was because I heard the door open and Vicki came in with her notebooks and a toy. The girl who resembled the Queen and was nice to me in the back of the truck followed behind her with food. “Good Morning! Are you hungry? We have a lot to eat.”

  Vicki looked like she had not seen food like this in a long time. She took some bites before remembering why we were all here. “So, the Queen has instructed Princess Marriah to accompany us while we learn to communicate. She wishes the Princess to have linguistics as another field of study.”
The Princess made up a plate for me and pushed it through the feeding hole.

  We all ate in silence. Well, it started in silence, then Vicki started setting up things. She put two mats on the floor right in front of me. She opened several notebooks and took out blue and red balls. She began thinking out loud again. “So, first I want to establish you actually understand several languages before I make the assumption based off yesterday.” She picked at her lips and sat on the mat. “The Princess—”

  She was interrupted. “Please, just Marriah. No need for formalities.”

  Vicki smiled again. “Marriah’s been studying a few languages. Let’s start with that.”

  She handed Marriah a paper. Marriah first read the slip, then looked up to Vicki and nodded. She then looked at me.

  “妳喜歡這食物嗎？” Marriah looked to me with her head tilted to the side.

  “O’IDN,” I said and finished chewing my food lingering in my mouth. I was almost done.

  “妳最喜歡的食物是什麼?” She looked over at my plate and smiled. She could tell what I liked the most from what I was eating.

  “GO’U.” As I answered her question, I lifted the food and then ate it when I was done.

  “¡También me gustan los champiñones rellenos!” I noticed she was out, looked at my plate and slid it over past the opening for her to share mine.

  “Gracias.” She thanked me. Vicki showed me her paper. I did not know what it said.

  We went for a few more hours like this before it seemed the energy was drained from everyone involved. Vicki sent Marriah for a break to get fresh air. She sat scribbling in her book. We started using her blue and red ball for yes and no questions. She was intrigued by the fact she could hear me speaking, but when she tried to mimic the HGL, nothing would come out of her mouth.

  When Marriah came back, she was not alone; the Queen followed along behind her with another person, a male this time. Vicki did not looked surprised to see them all, so I guessed it was also on the paper she’d given to Marriah earlier. “Marriah says you’ve already made progress?” the Queen asked. She appeared busy and distracted; her visiting here almost seemed a nuisance.