Episode 7 of Broken Chains

Orders

(AI generated photo, copyright Flaat Library)

Carter arrived at the base to find General Cruft waiting for him in the training room. A small group of five human men stood at attention behind him.

“Carter,” the General greeted him with a handshake, “meet your team.” He turned to reveal the five men, all slightly older than Carter. “These men know their job is to follow your orders. Are you ready for what they are?” The General spoke in a strange tone that made Carter suspicious of what his actual job was.

“Yes, sir.” He stood at attention awaiting orders.

“Good. Your first job is to train these men to shoot as you do. You will be snipers and are in charge of extinguishing any human that attempts to attack us and the voyage while we are away.” The General paused and examined each man’s reaction. Carter remained at attention watching his new team members, none of them flinched at these instructions. “Good. We will begin today.” The General concluded and walked out of the training room.

Carter remained at attention taking in the instructions of murdering humans, which he was not expecting. The men broke attention and began whispering to each other as Carter stood there in thought.

“What does he mean by extinguishing humans… are we to kill our own kind to protect their kind?” One man said, the others responded with like statements.

Carter broke his thoughts to get them quiet. “Enough.” He spoke with authority. The men stopped talking and laughed at Carter.

“You, telling us what to do?” The man laughed. “You weigh what, 115?” A second man with large broad shoulders and a thick Russian accent probed. Carter remained emotionless, which only made them egg him even more.

A tall muscular man approached Carter, circled him, and got close to his face. “You think you’re capable of taking charge in this place? How long have you been here…boy?”

Carter quickly grabbed the man by his arm, whipped it around to his back, kicked the back of his knee, causing him to fall. Carter kept his arm wrapped tight behind him and a knee in his back. Carter bent down close to the man’s ear, “I don’t give a shit who you think you are, where you come from, or what you think you can do. I survived in New York, on my own since I was twelve. If you ever question me again, I will not hesitate to take you out.” Carter released the man who fell to his hands, breathing heavily. The other men returned to attention. Carter stood for a moment while the man regained himself and stood with the rest of the group. “Now that I have your attention,” Carter began, “Listen carefully.” He stood a foot away, giving orders. “You will not speak ill of this planet, the occupants, or question their orders for us. You will only listen and act upon what I tell you to do. Is this understood?” He pulled from the energy of the General as he concluded. Although he hated the words coming out of his mouth, he knew they were being watched.

“Yes, sir!” The men shouted in unison.

“The first thing we will work on is holding your weapon. Go get them,” Carter demanded, and the men immediately followed instruction. For the remainder of the day, Carter explained how to hold the rifle, how to aim, and took a few practice shots. The whole time, Carter felt eyes on them. He knew the General wasn’t far, watching their every move. This was the first human team in their ranks, and he knew they would need to be impressive if he was to ever get away. As the day concluded, his group went to eat dinner in the cafeteria. Carter gathered his things to head back to his apartment, but was stopped before he could leave.

“Where are you going?” General Cruft approached, Carter’s suspicions of being watched confirmed. “You don’t think we would have you living in the city after your promotion, do you?”

Carter raised an eyebrow, “That is where I keep my things.”

“We had your things moved here.” The General turned and gestured for Carter to follow him down a long hall. The station looked similar to the ship that brought him here, only the aesthetic was metallic instead of white. The walls were lined with white lights and technology he had never seen before. He hoped to learn and navigate their systems soon, find his family, and free them. “Here are your quarters.” The General punched a number on a digital keypad in the wall, grabbed Carter’s hand with his scaly palm, and placed it on the pad. “There, now you are the only one to enter this room, besides myself, of course.” The door opened, revealing a large room with a bed tucked into the wall, a desk facing a window with the view of the yellowish-orange desert, a bathroom with everything he needed, a couch that faced a large screen embedded into the wall, and a dresser. All of his things were placed at the center of the room. “I expect you will enjoy putting your things away, then find something to eat.” The General pressed a button on the pad, and the door slid close.

Immediately, Carter’s heart raced. He had left his journal in his apartment on the desk! Had anyone looked through it? They would know his true intentions for sure if they had. He frantically began searching the bins, finding the journal tucked into a box with his pens and books that were on his desk. It seemed as though someone had just scooped everything off the desk into the box and thrown it in the bin. He flipped through the journal, finding it untouched, he hoped. He sat back on his heels, relieved. He needed to find a space to hide it, scanning the room, the bathroom, and the bedspace. He decided on a small crack in the wall between the bed and the dresser. It was a perfect fit, and you couldn’t easily see it unless you were searching for it. With it safely hidden, he turned his attention to unpacking, showering, then made his way to the cafeteria for dinner.

(AI generated photo, copyright Flaat Library)

Human and reptilian soldiers sat at the tables. The room was large with white walls, a white floor, and no decor whatsoever. It reminded him of the school cafeteria with small windows at the far end with different menu items. Carter didn’t feel hungry, so he scanned the room. He noticed his men sitting together at one table in the corner. The men spotted his presence and stopped talking, staring at him as he made his way over. “Men,” he spoke sternly. The men stood attention, per protocol of higher ranks. “May I join you?” He wished to speak in private with them, knowing that they too hated being here. He wanted some clarity and unison between their team, and a chance to explain his strict command during training. The men nodded and sat down without a word. Carter sat relaxed and took a deep breath.  “Listen, about earlier with my aggression,” he leaned forward and spoke in a whisper. “They are watching us.”

The men looked at each other. The large man he had dominated earlier spoke first, “Okay, but you seemed to agree with them.”

Carter expected this assumption. “Exactly. I had to.” He raised his eyebrows.

The men looked at each other and sat back in their chairs grinning. A second man who was tall and thin spoke, “Smart.” The others agreed with a nod. “I haven’t been here long. I got transferred from the main city because my wife was placed in the castle as a servant. My name’s Josh.” He stretched his hand out. Carter shook it.

“Nile. I was transferred because my cousin and I ended up in the same sector. It took five days to get me here. I was originally from the beach. Believe it or not, I think this planet has every type of landscape you can think of.” A third man with a British accent raised his hand. He had red hair and freckles all over his face.

“Ben. I came here from another desert station not too far. I hated it so I started a riot. They put me here to keep an eye on me.” A fourth man, with dark skin, a bald head, large muscles, and an African accent, winked.

“Boris. From the mountain sector, hated it. Started a fire. Now I’m here.” The fifth man, who was short, stocky, with a Russian accent, folded his arms across his chest, and nodded his head.

“Interesting.” Carter took a moment to soak in what everyone had said. How big was this planet? He looked at the first man, that he had brought down, and stretched his hand out. “no hard feelings?” Carter grinned.

The man looked at the others and reluctantly took Carter’s hand. “no hard feelings, I’m impressed. My name’s Vin.” He winked. “So we all got transferred here because of our family or something we did? I started out in the military here as a punching bag. I needed to learn fast how to survive their aggressive behavior. Then I took out their biggest, and apparently they don’t like humans who are stronger than they are.” He sat back and crossed his arms. “Guess my punishment is to be the rat who follows orders from a mouse.” Carter couldn’t help but feel as if it were a jab at him. Vin might be a challenge.

“We all have seen the shit show.” Kevin said. The others nodded.

“So has anyone ever tried to leave?” Carter asked, curiosity taking over.

The men looked at one another. Ben leaned forward. “You die if you try.” He whispered. “We are slaves to the system, Carter. There is no leaving.” He raised his eyebrows. “Trust me.”

Carter sat for a moment in silence, contemplating how to move forward with his plan with these men. He would need to find out their strengths, use them, and play the game.

“At least we have each other.” Nile said, holding his hands to his chin and batting his eyes. The group laughed.

The gloomy conversation turned into a discussion about their lives on Earth, when they arrived, and how Carter survived New York.