Elkay watched as the little biomechanical robots clinked into the room through a small grate, sucked up the puddles of vomit off the floor then inserted the fluids into test tubes, before disappearing again. The forced injection of emetic drugs and Elkay’s subsequent vomiting hadn’t been pleasant in the slightest, but that wasn’t even close to being the weirdest thing he had seen that day.
Really, when Elkay had offered himself as prisoner in exchange for the millions of innocents back on Vreka 1, the last thing he expected was to have vast amounts of fluid and DNA samples taken from him. Between the procedures though, there had been nothing but almost endless, utterly boring silence. He had expected torture, pain and suffering, but not this.
The cell itself wasn’t too strange, apart from the pulsating, flesh-like walls. There was a small bed, a toilet and a sink. But there was also several large, yellow-tinted windows through which Elkay could see the rest of the strange facility. Not that there was much to see except other cells, all of which were empty. One window to his right allowed him to look directly into the next cell, but there was no one inside. It seemed that Elkay was almost entirely alone in this strange prison.
The small grate from which the robots had come through opened up again. But robots didn’t come through this time. Instead, a small package was slipped in, coated in a ribbon made out of skin. There was no one around to deliver the package, it just appeared. Elkay decided to open it, out of curiosity, only to find that it contained two small tubs and… a Skyavok porn magazine?
Elkay gagged a little. He knew that the Allbirther had been gathering various fluids, but so far she had taken everything by force, watching through a small camera in the ceiling, her laughs echoing through a speaker during the more painful procedures. She had talen saliva, blood, urea, possibly even spinal cord fluid and other hard-to-obtain fluids, considering the needles that had been stuck into Elkay’s back. Did she really want reproductive fluids delivered… manually? Even then, did she not know that Elkay was both dry and very obviously not a Skyavok?
Before Elkay could continue that horrific trail of thought further, something banged and crashed. Elkay squinted through the yellow windows, to see movement.
“Ah you’re still conscious!” the Allbirther beamed as she slithered into the main hall. “And I see you’ve gotten the gist of what I want you to do!”
The cell next to Elkay opened up and the Allbirther threw something heavy inside.
“You did everything else-”
“Yes, I know. But I like to watch.”
“I have no idea how you expect me to-”
“That’s why I brought you a friend! Enjoy!”
Before Elkay could say anything else, the Allbirther was already gone. Elkay got up and peered into the other cell to see who was inside.
To his surprise, the cell contained the unmoving body of the Thantophor. A lifeless husk, drained of much of his normal bright colourings. Dull grey skin and ivory armour had replaced the deep black and yellow colours the Thantophor normally wore.
“Arkadin?”
Elkay wasn’t sure why he said that out loud. The Thantophor clearly wasn’t conscious. But maybe…
The General closed his eyes and opened his mind, trying to communicate with the fallen god via telepathy. It was something Elkay rarely did with non-Rethan beings. The Rethavok’s hidden low level telepathy was their kind’s biggest kept secret. Only a handful of non-Rethans knew, one of them being the Lord of Death.
“Arkadin, are you… there?”
“Not really.”
The reply wasn’t what made Elkay shudder. It was how Arkadin replied. Not as the being Elkay knew. Arkadin used Elkay’s own voice to answer.
“What happened?”
“Mind control.”
“How?”
“Corruption.”
“How do I fit into this?”
“You don’t.”
Arkadin’s body twitched a little. He was trying to move and failing.
“She wanted to hurt me through my friends. You were the last one I spoke to. We have a lot in common. She knows exactly how to hurt us. Do as she asks.”
For a moment, Elkay felt weird. As if he was… floating? The feeling quickly fled.
“I am a bad friend, Elkay. I am sorry I dragged you into this.”
Before Elkay could respond, Arkadin fell silent again, pushing Elkay out. He tried to reach out to Arkadin again, but was met with nothing but static.
With a sigh, Elkay wandered back to his bed, taking the package with him. At least now he had something to read to break up the boredom, even if it was a sleazy porn mag.