The Interstellar Slave

Chapter 4: In A Cell

Bituin looked around her, panicking deep inside. She immediately saw the small barred cell she was in. The stainless round bars definitely looked threatening.

What’s going on? Why am I here? How did I get here?

When she moved her head again, she felt something around her neck. Her forehead creased in confusion. She touched it and felt the cool high-tech titanium neckband, which had an inch width. Her eyes widened.

What’s this? What’s the meaning of this?

She sat bolt upright, realizing she could now feel her legs again. An excited exhalation left her mouth. Amazement and disbelief then filled her entire being.

“Oh, God! I can move my legs!” she whispered with exhilaration. She swung them down the metallic bunk she was on. She felt the cold floor beneath her feet. But it didn’t matter. What was important now was that she could feel her legs. She could stand and walk again. She almost jumped with joy, feeling alive more than ever. She even felt stronger than she could remember. She knew it was because of the nanites in her system.

She thanked Dr. Smith in her mind.

But how did I get here? Confusion still reigned in her brain.

“Dr. Smith?” she called out. “You can let me out of here now! I-I’m good! I feel fine! I can stand and walk again! If you let me out of here, I know I can run for miles!” she added animatedly.

Her voice slightly echoed. She looked up. The ceiling that was about ten feet or so high was made of metal with silver color. The lights were bright enough to not hurt her eyes, but she couldn’t see the bulbs or where they came from. The surroundings just appeared to have the mysterious bright glow. There was nothing else she could see or hear. It was like she was all alone here.

But this is impossible! her mind said pointedly. And her heart drummed loudly inside her chest.

She suddenly heard something like a metal sliding to her left near the bed. A food box like a bento and bottled water and juice were there, together with some cutlery. Just when she caught sight of it, her stomach growled like an angry monster.

Still confused, she checked it out. She could not see the hole the tray came from though. It was just gone.

Or sealed well, she corrected herself. She felt the smooth wall with her fingers. There was no dent or little gap.

Although hesitant to get the food, her hunger won. Her body did demand replenishment. She then took the tray with food and drinks and consumed all of it while sitting on her bunk. She noticed she had more appetite than ever. Perhaps it was because she had not been eating well since she became paraplegic. She didn’t like to eat so much, thinking of the miserable state she was in. She had lost hope. But now, she was all good and new! She must thank Dr. Smith for fixing her.

But where is she? Why is there no one attending me here? And why is this room like a cell as if I’m a prisoner?

She later on put back the tray where she took it, after eating and drinking. Automatically, the tray was swallowed by the wall and was sealed again. She was weirded by all this.

“Dr. Smith?” she called out again.

Still, there was no response. She began to worry and paced in the small modern-looking cage. What if she was kidnapped after being treated and had no recollection about it? What if she was abducted and her parents were asked for ransom? She knew her parents had money but not much to her calculation, especially that they paid a lot for her therapy and everything. But if this was not for the money, then what was the reason for her to be here? There were no exact answers she could think of.

Except human trafficking.

She held the bars and shook them mightily as she could. However, they didn’t budge. They did not even make a sound no matter how hard she shook them!

“Gah!” She was frustrated.

She kicked the bars and saw that they were bent. However, she was amazed when the bar self-healed in just a matter of seconds. They were back to their perfect straightness.

“What the—?” Her eyes went round.

She knew it wasn’t magic. For some reason, this facility or whatever this place she was in had high technology that no humans had invented yet.

Her breathing started to go fast. This was more alarming than she felt earlier. There was no way she was in some kind of an alien experiment! American or whatever government it was be d*mned!

She looked around her with urgency, wanting to escape no matter how or hard it might be.

She climbed the bars and punched the ceiling. But she hurt her knuckles instead that she groaned. She decided to use her feet then. Upside down, while holding the bars to support her weight, she kicked the ceiling hard. Nonetheless, it was all for naught.

She gritted her teeth. Thoughts were in reel while thinking how to get out of here.

In front of the cell was just a hallway of about two meters. Just like earlier, there was no one there. Not even guards. That was if she was abducted indeed.

Maybe they are guarding at the end of the hallway or somewhere, she thought miserably as she climbed down. Everything she did was futile that left her exhausted for a minute.

She sat down back on her bunk, thinking hard.

Is this another experiment that Dr. Smith failed to tell me? Or maybe she deliberately did not tell me at all!

Bituin cursed in her head. She shouldn’t have trusted that woman. Maybe she would hurt that researcher if and when she saw her again. Next time. If there was any.

She pressed her back against the cold wall, folding her knees in front of her. She sighed in resignation. She decided to just wait what was going to happen next. Maybe she should just reserve her strength for now. Still, she seethed and worried for being inside this cage.

Her thoughts went to her parents. They had no idea where she was. And she had no clue whether or not they were trying to search for her now, since she could not tell how long she had been out after Dr. Smith injected her.

Who knows if I’m already here for days?

She pulled her short pixie black hair and went still when a female AI voice spoke, “We are now approaching Forttishuq planet in the Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy.”

What in the actual hell? Her mind screamed as her eyes went to the speaker that appeared on the top right corner of the cell.