Alien Freak - Calista Skye Page 0,82

don’t think making a wish will get me out of this.

The ladder trembles a little against the rock.

Fuck. They’re on the way up.

All right. I’ll go down fighting. Pulling the broomstick back, I tense up.

The gray back of a Bululg head appears right below the opening, saggy skin hanging from the skull.

I wait until the whole head and the thin neck are above the edge. I’m behind him, he can’t see me. If he now just goes back down…

The head turns and big, black eyes are staring at me, widening.

I whack the broomstick across the slaver’s face as hard as I can. The Bululg’s eyes roll back, he loses his grip on the ladder, and tumbles down again, giving off a pitiful whine the whole way down.

That gave them something to think about. I do believe that guy lost consciousness for a second. Well, now they know I’m here. I should have probably hit his neck, tried to crush his throat. That would have kept him from telling his friends that I’m here.

There’s a flurry of thin, excited squeaking from below, but the ladder doesn’t move anymore.

I can’t hope that this was it, but it was incredibly satisfying hitting a Bululg right in the face, the hated invaders and occupiers and oppressors.

And harvesters.

My mind goes cold. This could be the end of the road.

I fiddle with the bracelet. It might be the time to try it against a living thing.

The thought isn’t even finished before I’m blinded by dazzling white light from all directions at the same time. I can’t tell what’s happening, but suddenly there are creatures coming closer from all over, their metal-soled boots clicking on the rock.

My knees shaking, I stand up, clutching the broomstick. “Get the hell away from me!”

They’re all Bululg. Twenty of them, at least. None of their servant species, just the slavers themselves. Almost surrounding me, guns in hand. One of them holding a net of the same kind they used to catch Donna and the other girls.

I back up, down the slope of the roof. “I’m not getting in there!”

“You are our property,” one of them says, I don’t know which one. I’m pretty much blinded.

“We will sell you, as is our right. Where is the poacher? Respond!”

I swing the broomstick at them, but they’re wise to my tricks and cut it in half with a plasma bolt that blinds me even more. Or it could be the sour tears of defeat and panic.

The edge of the roof is coming closer. “Leave me alone!” I wheeze with a sore throat. “You don’t own me!”

“You know we do. Now give up, and we may only punish you mildly.”

I focus on the head of the Bululg holding the net, wishing destruction on him.

He flinches just barely, but that’s all. It’s hard to wish death on one anonymous member of a mass of people. I don’t hate that particular Bululg enough, I guess.

A draft is blowing my hair up from behind me. I must be at the very edge of the roof.

I glance to the side.

Oh fuck. In the moonlight, I can see the ground. It’s far.

But this has gone on for long enough.

I dry my face with the back of my hand.

Looking up one last time, I see nothing up there that might be able to save me. Just that strange shooting star, a slow streak across the sky.

Zaroc must be halfway across the galaxy by now.

The Bululg come closer, opening the net wider in preparation. One more step, and they’ll get me.

“You have no right to do any of this, and one day you will pay the price,” I calmly state.

Then I let myself fall backwards.

34

- Zaroc -

There are enemy ships in this system.

The coldness spreads in me. I had not expected that, and it’s a bad sign.

An even worse sign is that they attack me the moment I appear from hyperspace, and then they score a lucky hit right away.

“Cursed Fate!” I fight with the controls, while warning buzzers and alerts fill the cockpit with an unholy cacophony. Nothing works, and anyway it’s too late. The ship enters the atmosphere at the wrong angle and immediately starts to glow with friction heat.

I keep trying. At this angle, I’ll burn up before I get even halfway to the ground. The controls are still responding, and they get more effective when there’s a gas to work in instead of the emptiness of space.

At least the heading is good, and if I manage to land