Breaking Away

We reached a set of stairs, heading up I could hear the sounds of battle. Not from above where we headed, but from below.

“What’s down there?” I asked, skipping every other step on my ascent.

“A distraction.” Was the only reply.

The top of the stairs was blocked by a door, Mathis pressed his palm against the scanner on the wall. The door slid open with a whoosh. Inside, bodies lay fallen on the floor. Some still in the chairs by the computer desks. Charlotte was typing away at one station. It must of been the silver furred shifters spot. The one that lay on the ground next to her, still had a headset on that was connected to the console.

“Charlotte…” Her appearance, the lupin features that I hadn’t seen before. The dark violet fur, the short bushy tail that pushed the hem of her skirt down

She turned to look at me, her amber eyes glowing brightly. She smiled. Then turned back to her work.

“Lockdown initiated. All doors will be sealed.” A computer voice informed. Suddenly the door behind me closed again, and several small explosions happened shortly after.

“What’s happening?” I had to know. So far Mathis had proven that I could trust him. But I still didn’t know what she had planned.

“I believe it’s time for us to leave. You showed me in that hallway that I can trust in you to lead us.”

“Us? Lead? Me?” No way. She had to be joking. Who was she talking about?

“Well, for now the three of us. But we’re hoping that we can find more.”

She was so forthcoming with information before. Why was she beating around the bush now.

“Who, Charlotte?” I might have put a bit of extra force into the question. But I had to know.

“The pups.”

I balked. Stumbling a little as the word shook me. Was she talking about the pup we had found on the planet? More? So there had to be a bunch of kids, shifters……kids just like me…

I suppose I always knew I couldn’t be the only one like me. Living on a planet of humans, none of which had been wolf like at all, as far as I knew. Here I was, on a ship full of them, all brutal monsters. 

Each of them were capable of cheating death blows. They didn’t fear it, so they took life without regard of consequence. Remembering how J stalked back after each time I thought I had killed him, my brain began to spiral with emotions.

“Wait, Charlotte, what happens if I die?”

She looked at me with such a sympathetic smile. Her eyes shown of sadness though. I knew the answer before she spoke.

“You die. I’m afraid you don’t have a body to reincarnate into… it would just be death.”

“Warning, containment breach. Oxygen levels depleting.”

That damn computer voice again. This time it sounded like the worst warning it had given yet. Charlotte spun around and started hammering away at the keys.

“No! Not now!” She hissed. “Fenrir go to the red box on the wall. There’s a bottle and mask there. Use it.”

I followed her command. The small latch was locked, but I found it easy to pull and snap apart. I opened the box, a green bottle inside had a plastic tube attached to the nozzle on it, with a u shaped mask on the end of the tube.

I held the mask to my face, opening the nozzle slightly with my other hand. 

“Alright, what now?” I asked. Charlotte still blasting commands into the computer. Suddenly the whole floor felt like it was moving.

“We leave, in a hurry.” Mathis chipped in. His presence had been muted since I saw Charlotte. I had almost forgotten he was with us. Now he was sitting at a desk, throwing a couple levers.

“The gates in range, if we can jump onto the star way before the other ship can target us we should be fine.” Charlotte announced.

“And if we can’t? And what’s a star way?” I felt the questions were important. But Charlotte didn’t answer. The glass that covered most of the ceiling, and the front half of the room, was covered in computer readouts. One panel in the center of the front showed a blank void in space.

A small white ring became visible a few heart beats later. It grew and grew, as we got near it.

“Fenrir, you might want to sit. Take that tank with you.”

I pulled the green tank from the red box. There was an empty seat down by the front glass. I had a perfect view of the gate as we closed in on it. The soft chair was surprisingly comfortable, for what I considered an ominous ship.

It was huge. The closer we got, the more I could see it would swallow this ship.

And as the giant white pillars passed out of view around the sides of the ship, light flashed, the force of the sudden movement forced me back into the seat I had taken. Within seconds the pressure subsided.

The space around us was totally different. The deep purple background and disappeared. Replaced with a scene of what I could only think to say was rush hour traffic. Ships of all shapes and sizes littered the sky around us.

The planet below had three large needle like protrusions. The black and grey of the steels, bleed away to the slight blue hue that I recognized as the adamantine chains J had wrapped me in before.

“We’ll have to ditch the ship here. Mathis, clear us a boarding cell. Make sure they don’t think we stole this.” With Charlottes command, the male rose and walked over to a microphone. He started chatting with the landing dock.

My head was feeling foggy. My vision started to black out slightly. My oxygen must be almost out. Charlotte stepped up next to my seat. She laid a hand on my shoulder,

“You’ll be ok. Just try to take long breaths. Hold it in, we made it away for now.”

I closed my eyes and focused on breathing. Long breath in, hold….I began to think about what had just happened.

Release the breath. I had killed so many, brutally and without mercy.

Long breath in again, they deserved it. They had kidnapped me, and probably so many more. I wonder how many of them were being forced to follow along.

Another breath. A part of me knew that the shifters I had killed, weren’t really dead. They had probably all woken up in new bodies already.

“All life support systems restored. Main hanger power has been connected.” The computer voice chimed. We had just crossed the boundary into the metal spike coming from the planet.

Letting my breath out again, I opened my eyes. We had already come up to the docking bay. The ship set down with a small bounce. Not enough to shake me, but enough that I felt the jolt.

“Where are we?”

“A space port. We can find a place to stay for awhile here. Then get a new ship and move on. We can’t stay here long. Otherwise one or the other will catch up to us.” Charlottes concern made me wonder. Who had attacked? And in such perfect timing to help us escape.

“Who was that? Why did they attack? And what happened to J?”

“I’ll tell you when we get somewhere safe.”

“No! I need to know now.” I wasn’t going to just go off without knowing. How could they be so calm right now?

“Fen, dear, that was your father.” Her smooth voice had as much placation as she could force into it.

I felt like I was going to pass out. Oxygen tank or not, I felt light headed. The gravity that kept me in my seat seemed to be failing.

My father? Had he come to kill J?

Did he know I was on that ship?

Would he even care?

“How….how do you know?” I asked meekly.

“All in time, Fenrir. Please, just focus on right now. I will explain everything when we get away from this ship. Right now, we need to salvage anything useful to us.” Her calm voice changed when she started talking to Mathis. “Mathis, go grab the capsules from my room please. I won’t be able to move them into another ship without the command module from the computer. I’ll get that transferred to a remote drive.”

Mathis jumped at her command, going back down the stairs we had taken to get up here. Charlotte went back to typing away at the computer.

I sat in silence. It was all so much to take in. It had all happened so fast that I wasn’t sure if it was real, or if I had been dreaming.

I smacked my cheek lightly. Hoping I would wake up and still be in that pile of warm blankets. Charlottes scent wrapped all around me.

Nothing changed, so I hit myself harder. All I felt was the light sting from my hand on my face.

“Are you ok?” Charlottes concerned voice reached me. I didn’t know how to respond though.

Was I ok?

I had been stolen from my home. Missed my eighteenth birthday. Saw people I knew killed. I had been bound and tortured for weeks.

How was I supposed to be ok?

True I had been shown kindness by Charlotte. And she seemed to be orchestrating our escape. She had apparently, somehow managed to time everything so perfectly. The destruction of J’s body right after hers. The attack by my fathers ship right in the middle of my rampage.

Looking up at her, she seemed sad.

“I’m just, tired, and a little confused.” I couldn’t think of what to say. She had told me to be patient and wait for her to tell me things.

“We’ll get a good meal and talk over that ok.” She kept clicking away commands in the computer. I just nodded.

Mathis came back up a while later, he had slimmed down. His human form was still pretty massive by my standards. But he was about a foot shorter, and could fit through the door without having to turn sideways now.

“Everything’s ready. I moved everything to the loading bay. When your ready we can unload our cargo.”

“And the space authority?”

“We’re clear. I told them we were attacked and that we managed to escape with this half of our ship. That we need a place to unload some goods that could expire without the proper storage facilities.”

“Did you manage to find any facilities that we can use?”

“I was given the location of a warehouse. It has both the capsule storage functionality, and an area for us to live temporarily. They did say it’s a ways down the spear, but theres a freight elevator that goes right to the level it’s on.”

“Good. Thank you, Mathis.”

The whole time she had been conversing with Mathis, Charlotte had continued punching in commands to the computer. Her typing was rhythmic and fast paced. I had been watching absently, the screens on the wall and ceiling a buzz with activity. The computer acknowledging commands and bringing up information as it was asked for.

“Delete all files. Are you sure you wish to proceed?” It finally asked.

Charlotte pulled out a black box. Unplugging it from the desk she sat at.

“Confirm action.” She said. The computer blinked green then red.

“All files deleted. One moment…. Rebooting. Software installing. Welcome. Please enter pilot command protocol password.”

“There. The ship is reset to factory. Any one who searches will find nothing but blank memory’s here.”

And with that, we left. Going to the second alien world I had ever been to. I guess we weren’t actually going to the planet surface, but I figured this was close enough to count.

We all walked down the loading ramp together. There were, people, creatures, life forms? Wow. I suddenly didn’t feel so different when faced with the crazy amount of different humanoid figures here. I had always hidden my differences because no one else was so erratically unique. Here though, there were so many unique looking creatures, that the normal humans from my home would be the odd ones.

Even the three of us looked pretty plain in comparison. With us all in our human shapes, we barely even registered on the crazy meter here.

A giant purple, scaled, lizard looking man was signing some papers with Mathis. He shook hands with all of us, welcomed us generously, then left.

We pushed our cargo to an elevator, the wide doors easily accommodating all of us and our stuff.

Charlotte pressed a button, then two more. The door closed and we began a rushing descent. I had flipped the hood of the blue sweater up over my head when we left the ship. Now, I had to take it back down. It got in the way from being able to see as we went passed level after level. I was amazed, each level might as well have been its own city. Huge buildings and thousands of people flew by as we went. A flash of city, blackness, another flash of city.

“Ding!” The chum went off just before we stopped moving.

The city scape in front of us was industrialized beyond anything I had ever seen before. We stepped out to a bustle of people. All different types of creatures lived here as well it seemed. Some going from one place to another with importance. Others lounging and lazily wandering as if time didn’t exist to them.

“We have about six blocks to walk. This way.” Mathis said. He had pushed the giant cart with the two capsules and a bunch of crates out of the elevator. Charlotte and I followed. I pulled my hood back up. At this point being in a crowd made that an instinctual reaction.

As we walked, I kept looking everywhere. This was so much to take in. I felt like ever since I had been abducted, every day was more and more to deal with. New information kept coming at me like a flood.

I looked up at Charlotte. She was walking so calmly.

Then at Mathis, pushing the cart he seemed perfectly at ease. We had just run from what I saw as the most powerful and evil creature ever. How could they both be so indifferent about it?

“This is it.” Mathis had stopped outside a rundown and beaten up building. A single walk in door out front. An alley way leading around the side. I looked up and down, back and forth. This was a crappy little shit hole. The walls looked thinner than cardboard. Both windows had been shattered. Mathis opened the door without even unlocking it.

How was this supposed to be safe?

“Uhm. Are you sure?” I was hesitant to ask, but I was far more concerned with actually having to go in. My senses screamed not to trust this place. Now that the door was open I could smell the mold. No way did I want to stay here.

“Yea. We don’t have much choice. No other options for fugitives who don’t want to, or can’t, produce galactic identifications.” Mathis turned and said, pointedly looking at me. I guess we couldn’t just register with our real identities. Not for planets that weren’t my own anyway. I hadn’t even been allowed to get a drivers license at home.

“This place smells foul.” I protested once more. I absolute did not want to go in.

“Fenrir, please, this is only a short stay. Something we can not avoid. Soon we will find another ship, and a new destination…”

“My world, I want to see what happened there.” I cut her off.

“Uhm. Well, maybe, but…”

“No butts.” I wasn’t going to let her keep me from seeing the aftermath. Someone had to be investigating it. A whole city was wiped off the map in a single night. That wasn’t normal, and maybe they figured out I was missing. There could be someone searching for me.

“Time. Please, Fenrir. We need some time. Then we can make a quick stop to show you your world. But you must promise it will be a discreet and quick encounter.” She’s placating me. I can tell.

I heaved a big sigh. Why was this starting to feel more like just another foster home? I wasn’t being chained or locked up, but not being able to control my own future still sucked. A lot.

Reluctantly I followed them inside. I still didn’t like this place. I found myself stepping lightly, being careful not to bump into anything, and I even noticed myself examining shadows, seeing spots that would keep me hidden.

It felt like at any moment something would pop out and attack me. Strangle me, or break my bones again. I was getting paranoid. There were three big rooms. All attached by a single hall from the main door going down the center. One room sat to the right, another to the left. The third in the rear.

Mathis had pushed his cart to the left side room. Charlotte had brought her black box to the back room. I lingered in the hall for a moment before checking out the right hand room.

A few bunks against the far wall, a couch was set up in front of an entertainment center. It’s sections forming a half moon. I thought the box next to the doorway looked like a fridge, maybe. A sink with a water faucet was on the counter next to it.

I flipped on a switch I found on the wall. Three lights buzzed on. The walls were a drab grey. I felt like I was back on the ship. Just in better lighting. I walked back out of the room, heading for the back to see what Charlotte was doing.

Computer towers and wires were hung all over the place. The warmth and whir of fans were noticeable as soon as I walked through the door.

Metal cages housed more electric components that I didn’t know the names for. Soft white light was illuminating the floor, red and yellow blinks from the computers gave splashes of color at random intervals. 

“Need a hand with anything?” I ventured, I didn’t really know what she was doing. But maybe she needed something moved or organized.

“I’m actually about done already. I was hoping we could go find some food and drink. Mathis might not want to come out, but his presence might be necessary to answer all of your questions.”

Charlottes head popped up from behind a mess of wires. The colors all bleeding together. Tangled and running every which way. Her amber eyes a soft spark amongst it all.

“Should we go get him then?”

A grunt from behind me was all I got in return. Mathis had just walked in the door behind me.

“I guess that means we’re good to go then?”

Charlotte nodded. She walked through the maze of computers to join us by the door. We all looked at each other for a long moment. I was starting to feel awkward. Mathis nodded and turned to walk back to the front door. Charlotte smiled slightly, and I could swear it was with a small laugh.

“What? Why doesn't he talk? Just grunts and growls.”

“You get used to it.” Her voice accented by the giggle she was suppressing. “Come on. He found a place just down the road.”

“Huh? When did he do that?”

“On our walk over. I saw it too, you’ll get used to picking out places on instinct. We’ve spent years living underground and running from planet to planet. It’s not easy, but it is possible.” She was leading me down the hall. 

We went back up the street we had come from after leaving the building. Passing people and creatures of all sorts again, we stuck to the edges of the crowd. I kept myself as close to Mathis’ back as possible, Charlotte was hovering to my left, inches away. 

“Here.” Charlotte pointed out the door to a small building. Small in that it was only half the size of the other giant warehouse.

Inside, small tables and booths lined every wall and created small alley ways between them.

“Keep your hood up. The less attention we get the better.” Charlotte whispered in my ear. I pulled the hood up as far as I could. It came down just over my eyes.

“How can I serve you three this evening?” A short female looking humanoid asked. She had bright yellow skin, and deep blue colored tattoos running all over her body. They almost seemed to blend seamlessly with her clothing.

A sharp swirl came down over each shoulder and just barely hid her chest in a sea of blue so dark, it would be mistaken for black at a distance. Three swirls wrapped from each of her sides, the first just below her arms. The second level with her navel. And the third was coming up from her butt cheeks, turning upward sharply at the wide parts of her hips. They all linked together at her belly, running straight up her front.

Everything about her was screaming, look at me. Even her jade green eyes. The purple on her lips was just barely an outline. I wasn’t sure if her twin pony tails were hair, or horns. They matched her skin tone and were bent back from the top of her head.

My stare was interrupted by Mathis stepping in between the waitress and I. Unexpectedly I let out a soft growl. I hadn’t even thought I was doing it. Not until Charlotte and Mathis both turned and looked at me.

“We would like a quiet booth, if you would please. We’ve had a long and hard journey.” Charlotte said with a smile.

“Of course!” The waitress bounced happily. She led us towards the back of the building.

Charlotte followed, and I fell in step behind her. Mathis’s giant shadow swallowed me as he walked up behind me.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

Sorry for what? Huh? My eyes blinked and my mind went blank for a second. Why would he apologize? What had he done? Was it because I said something to Charlotte about him, and she had told him about it in turn?

“I will be happy to take any orders for food or drink. Just let me know of anything you would like!”

I was starting to lose interest in this way to bubbly girl. She may look unique, but the happy, perfect attitude was a little stale for me.

The round table was in a blocked off corner. We by no means had the walls near us, but the walk ways and booths all had big dividing walls in between them. Charlotte slide into the middle, leaving me and Mathis on the ends.

“Two of the house brew please. Fenrir, would you like something to drink as well? Anything you’d like, I’m buying.” Charlotte ordered for her and Mathis. 

But what did I want? What alien goo was I gonna end up with if I just said bring me whatever they had? I looked from Charlotte to the waitress. She smiled and waited patiently for me. Looking back at Charlotte I said,

“I don’t know what to order…”

“Just make it three of the same, darling. I’ll drink it if it’s not to her taste.” Charlotte saved me with that one. I guess I could’ve said water. I still wasn’t thinking clearly apparently.

“I’ll be right back with those!” The cheery, yellow skinned female said, before she spun and walked away.

God, every time she opened her mouth, I felt like I was getting more and more annoyed. It clearly couldn’t be because of her though. I didn’t know her. She was being polite. Just as a customer service person should be.

But I just started to loathe her spunkiness.

It reminded me that every one here was happy and going about life. All without knowing the traumatic experience I had just left behind. No body cared. No body would ask why. And no one was gonna wake me up and say I had been trapped in a nightmare my whole life.

“So I think you both should start catching me up a little. I have very little information about all of you. And yet my life was nothing more than a plaything for that beast.” My emotions were boiling out in my words. I was having trouble keeping calm.

“Of course. I told you we would explain. And I will tell you anything you want to know. So long as I myself know it.” Charlotte began. “What is the most pressing thing you want to know?”

I sat motionless for a moment. What was the most important thing I needed to know?

“Who am I? Who is my father?”

The answer to that, would answer a lot of other things, I wagered. Knowing who I was and who my father was, should also tell me why J thought kidnapping me was a good idea. And maybe why my father attacked him. Was it to save me? Or just to kill a rival?

“Well you definitely don’t pull punches. Not with your fists, or your questioning.” Charlotte fidgeted in the booth. Mathis had closed his eyes and was just listening. “To answer that, I have to tell you who birthed your father first. Otherwise I don’t think you have enough knowledge of our universe to understand properly.”

“Ok, so, who’s grandpa then?”

“Grandma…. would be more suitable. Your fathers mother, she is the start of a lot of stories in history. And this one is similar to the rest. But this one is the story, of her most ferocious creations ever.”

Charlotte paused as our drinks were brought out. The waitress setting them down and giving each of us a broad smile.

“Did you want anything to eat?” She asked after setting down the last tall mug.

“Three red meat specials please. And please don’t over cook them.” Charlotte said with a smile and small tilt of her head.

“Of course!” The waitress beamed at us all again and left.

Charlotte sighed. Her smile was gone that quick.

“Why bother telling her that story?” Mathis huffed out.

“Because. Told truthfully by the correct person. It’s more of a history lesson than fantasy. I know you don’t like the bed time stories, but your a brute. All muscle and very little open thought.” Charlotte gave him a slight jab with her elbow. Mathis just turned his head towards the rest of the people around us.

“Now then. The start of the story, is shortly after the start of time.”

“Whoa whoa whoa. No. Wait. What?” I protested. Not giving her a chance to start some day dream story.

“Yes dear. And please if you are going to interrupt, I won’t tell you it all. Then good luck guessing at all of the random pieces.” She was glowering at me.

“Fine. But no crappy, kiddy, bed time stories.”

“I will keep it as factual as possible. But there is some parts that you may find to be a bit, uhm, out there.” Charlotte took a large drink, the golden liquid in her glass draining fast. 

I looked into her amber eyes, nodded, and got ready for a crazy tale.