Chapter 7
Finally, Greedvus' metallic voice orders the slaver ship to turn around and change route.
- At the first point, hand over your captive to my people, I want to meet her as soon as possible! Now I will send the exact coordinates to the onboard computer. After that, return to the previous course and follow the approved route.
- But, Gran Gridvus! - exclaims the ship's commander, looking at the incoming message, - we will end up in the shadow square in less than a quarter of the minimum turn.
- Exactly! There's no one there. All the space marine crews are far away, and you won't be tracked in the shadow sector. So you'll quickly enter and just as quickly leave it, and then return to your old course. Until next time.
"Crew, prepare for cyber-space jump" - an indifferent female voice from the onboard computer interrupts the ship's commander's communication session.
- Cancel command. Change course. - Khroops dryly gives his order.
"End of connection!" he barks, although the mysterious Gridvus has already disconnected himself, without waiting for goodbyes.
My two kidnappers sit silently for a while, then suddenly come to life and start changing the route parameters, hitting the control panel keys at breakneck speed.
Gweiz is the first to speak up:
- Maybe let's take the jumpsuit off her and give it to me? We'll tell Gridvus that she died. We can even show her the corpse, or whatever's left of the little man. It's hard to cope with the overloads without it, especially in the shadow sector! - He complains.
- You brought her, you enjoy! If she dies, then we will all die after her, and in agony. And our families too. Gridvus is a Valgarian, he will not tolerate his order not being carried out exactly as he said. The only ones worse are the Emiri, who are taken into the Space Marines. Aggressive, cruel creatures, fast and ruthless, natural fighters. They say they reproduce faster too. Females give birth to triplets at once. Rarely - twins.
- Yes, I know, - Gweiz answers, still tapping the control buttons and setting the spaceship on a different trajectory, - females are rare among them, they are born infrequently. But at the same time, they don't want slaves, they probably disdain them. They only need their own, they don't even look at others. Can you imagine. Chroops? They could have sold it to a human and gotten rich. Why did you report the com to Gridvus? - Gweiz changes the subject.
- You'll get rich with two Sherza! What fell into Gridvus's clutches is unlikely to escape him. He'll sell her into slavery himself, or he'll put what's left of her somewhere. I don't even want to imagine how he'll interrogate her. Especially since he said to deliver her not to one of his residences, but to the shadow square.
"By the way, if we change the route, then we need to stop modifying the females for now," Gweiz recalls about the unfortunate kidnapped girls.
- Well, yes, - agrees Khroops, tearing himself away from the remote. - Good thing you remembered. Tell Drisk to stop for now. First we'll take this one, and then we'll start delivering the orders.
The onboard computer notifies everyone present: "Attention. The ship is entering the shadow square. The maximum time spent in the shadow zone is one minimum revolution."
- The shadow sector is always a problem, visibility is difficult. We can run into anyone! This female is nothing but trouble! - says Khroops with hatred in his voice.
- Who are you afraid of, Gran Hroops? Gridvus promised that everything is clean. Let's quickly hand this over to his subordinates and get out of here. Maybe we should give her to the guys to play with for now? They're young, they're interested. There won't be much left of her after Gran Gridvus's interrogation anyway.
Is it just me or does he really sound regretful? It's unlikely, though, that he feels sorry for me; rather, he's sad about his lost opportunity.
Chroops does not react to Gweiz's words, looking closely at the control panel instruments. Gweiz interprets this silence as consent and continues:
- He won't notice anyway! And I'll tell the guys to be careful with her and quickly. She's under the psi-film anyway, she won't resist!
Horror grips me. What are they planning? My heart leaps into my throat, fluttering in panic.
Gweiz gets up and does it to me again: Mentally commands my body to rise from its place and begin moving towards the door of the cockpit against my will.
The door petals move apart in front of us in different directions. We come out into a corridor, branched into three parts: straight, left and right. The white covering of the walls, floor and ceilings sparkles just like in the pilots' office, blinding the eyes with the multiple reflected light of bright lamps.
But before we can take a single step, a loud voice is heard throughout the entire corridor and the pilot's cabin, echoing throughout the ship:
- I order you to stop and show your permit to be in the shadow sector.
Gweiz pushes me back into the cockpit with all his might. I can't stay on my feet, I fall, and hit my head on the floor of the captain's cabin with all my might. And everything goes dark.