Deleted Prologue for Bonded

Priya

The ship lurched, the bolts in the metal seams shuddering from some outside force. With the right pressure, I might be able to get this cage unbolted from its tether.

“I think these fuckers are under attack.”

“Good. Serves them right.”

“Dude, how? If they go down, we go down.”

“I don’t see how that’s a bad thing.”

The three girls penned together continued to bicker. It was I who noticed first that the ship was silent once more. The ship’s crew must have fixed something with the ship, unfortunately.

Sometimes I prayed that someone would stupidly lean against a self-destruct button.

Finally, the other girls realized that they were being louder than the ship’s internal hums, and lowered their voices to barely a whisper. No one wanted to attract any attention from the guards.

I was alone in my own pen as it was smaller. There were a few girls in the cryopods. They must be going a long way if they were supposed to be in hyper sleep.

I preferred the pens to the pods, though it wasn’t much of what I would call accommodations. At least this way, I didn’t have to worry about what our “escorts” would do to me while I was unconscious. 

Since I was closest to the cryopods, I knew what happened to the cargo when the guy in charge was off shift. Three of the guards would take turns being on watch while the other violated one of the sleeping girls. They were unconscious and so were quiet and created less fuss.

Not that noise ever bothered them. The guys had no problems punishing the unruly prisoners, either, though it was only when the head guard sanctioned it.

I always curled into a ball, pretending I knew nothing and heard nothing. Tiny and small and insignificant. Some of the guards have tried to get a rise out of me. Poke me in the back with whatever could reach me. Thankfully, I never rated much more than a few leering whispers.

I might not understand alien language, but certain things—like oppression and harassment—were universal. I should know. I ran a blog that criticized the government’s inaction against protecting refugees. My peers thought it was foolish of me to be so vocal while at the same time encouraging me to do more.

I went in for a routine medical check-up a few days ago, and then in the middle of the night, a tactical squad raided my home, yelling about warrants.

Somehow, I was labeled a terrorist with a list of crimes I could barely fathom, including treason and being flagged as an enemy of the state. Even though I had been careful, masking my identity and servers under multiple aliases, I was still targeted and found. Someone had wanted to shut me up, and this was the most convenient way to do it. 

After all, who would care enough to investigate one irrelevant human’s disappearance from a colony? One the central planets, it would be more difficult. The Legion’s influence in the Intergalactic Republic allowed for that.

But, in the outer rim of the galaxy, order and civility were flexible, especially when money changed hands.

I might have chalked all of this up to really horrible luck, except the other girl in her own pen—Ryne—had a very similar story to my own. From the little she shared, she had been an office drone and was now on her way to a triple max prison on one of Jupiter’s satellites. Triple. Max.

Only the most depraved and vile offenders went to one of those.

It sounded to me that she was somehow bamboozled here, too. After all, there were too many stories that didn’t make sense, where the punishment didn’t fit the crime, if there was even a crime in the first place.

The big question that keeps pounding in my head is, why? Why us? Why here? Why now?

One thing was clear: There were too many of these aliens, and not enough of us. Though given the size differential, it wasn’t like we could put up much of a fight even if we were able to somehow get free of our cages.

At this point, death was preferable to any alternative.

I didn’t want to know any of the other girls, but it helped to keep me sane after a while. Ryne was my quick favorite, equal parts sassy and sweet. There was a quiet girl, Zahra. She had a gentle nature, with large, liquid eyes that observed everything, but something told me that she had a spine of steel.

I didn’t know any of the others; Ryne and Zahra were just the two nearest me. We shared a little of how we were here, but not too loudly. Whenever anyone got a little chatty, a little too comfortable, that was when they would come for us.

I was careful. Very careful. I only shared my first name, and after, barely said a word.

So when the alien creeps came in with a little more swagger to their long-legged stride, I knew they were coming for one of us. Specifically, they were coming for me. I could tell by the way their beady little eyes focused on me, gesturing toward me with those reptilian-looking hands.

A million tiny memories floated in my head. None of them told me what I’d done to deserve any of this.

A flash of movement caught my eye, and the look on Ryne’s face was near-feral. I couldn’t let her get involved. If she moved against them now—if she made any noise at all—that would be enough of an excuse for them to take her, too.

I would not let that be on my conscience.

“Look away,” I said. “Stay quiet. Stay small. Or they’ll come for you next.”

I thought I would at least get some digs in. But in the end, they didn’t even have to drag me out.  Instead, the lead guard pointed a remote-control device at me that restrained all my movements by some invisible force.

Damned tech, ruining my plans to go out in a blaze of glory. I wanted to at least be able to get a swipe in before they broke me. These creeps didn’t even break a sweat.

I was placed inside a pod in the medical bay. Immediately my hands were bound and pulled above my head, tight enough to strain my shoulders. No sooner had I thought to fight against it, my ankles were similarly bound. A pneumatic needle pressed against my neck. One of them petted my hair, and I contemplated shaving it off. 

It was the casual touching that nearly broke me, as if they had any right to my body. They spoke as they did. I couldn’t understand them, but I knew it was about me. Guard One said something that was funny, and Guard Two answered by squeezing my nipple. I bit down on my lip, muffling the sound of my pain. They laughed at my reaction, which goaded Guard Two even more. He was the one who always poked me in the back in the middle of many nights, hoping to get a rise out of me like he had done to many of the other girls.

Here I was under his mercy, now. He cupped my sex, and there was nothing I could do about it but endure. He pinched the lips together, cruelly rubbing between them, and then shoving his fingers inside of me.

I couldn’t even push my legs together. Tears streamed down my face as I endured this torment, unable to even squirm or fight restrained as I was. They laughed in that hollow metallic way that their language sounded.

Though they weren’t human, they were still made like the average male, with an unfortunate cock that sought to be someplace it didn’t belong. Me.

Something rocketed against the ship. Tremors ran through the metal. Guard Two still held me down without any effort. Meanwhile I fought with all my strength against his hold.

Some other alien race I’d never seen before dashed into the room. I couldn’t understand their words, but their high-pitched tones sounded urgent to me. With a growl, Guard Two backhanded me. While I was dazed, he moved away, pressed a button and the entire pod covered me. I was fighting the dizzy spell, when a great shuddering rumble shook me, and then I felt a giant tug, and then I was surrounded by an explosion of stars.