[Flashback] The universe does not sing; it hisses

[Silen]

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Location and timing: Var.

Description: The story begins on a planet called Escarix, where a pair of nagas accidentally meet amidst the industrial surroundings of the spaceport

Участники: Raminah Naya and Silen

Discussion thread

[Silen]

It didn't feel right, if you ask Silen. Redhaired naga was making his way, crawling down the cramped alley of cargo containers in a yard of a former Customs Administration, now-abandoned soon to be cleared, of a local spaceport. He had passed the office building and was reaching a prison block - his objective from the start. How convenient it was for those bastards, to have a whole private, hidden prison where they could keep a hostage and nest in.

In truth, Silen didn't really understand the whole story. Were they trying to trade him or her for a ransom, or were scheming something different, the details were unclear to Silen. But the cause seemed worthwhile, the task wasn't too challenging and a coin - credits they called it - was decent, halfly amounting in his pocket already.

Young snakeling lifted himself up and climbed onto the roofs of those containers, to avoid the external surveillance. Also, this path led straight to the third floor window, where the cells and the prison control room were expected to be located. Silen checked his watches for the last time - thirty seconds left before the breaking in. Perfect timing.

The acid he was equipped with, housed in a glass aerosol container was, probably, the most disturbing part of his gear. Taking all the precautions he applied it to the old and rusty metal bars, blocking his way and leaned back, as the reaction fumes rose into the air with a hissing sound. Naga had to wait, until the bars melted enough to provide him a hole to slip through and then he busted the glass - an unavoidable noise.

He dived into the long dimly lit corridor, landing on his hands, pulled the rest of his long body in, unscathed and rushed forward, wielding a weapon. The cells block was right in front of him - in a single left turn led to a gallery of four-by-two large rooms with multiple empty bunk beds and automatic doors, to be opened in some other room nearby. Silen had his reasons to doubt that the acid could melt those doors too.

Surprisingly, the prisoners were numerous, so he stood in a place, confused. An distant alarm sounded, as a response to his forced entry, and Silen snapped himself from his stupor.

"The control room!" - he hissed, turning his head to the nearest cell inhabitant. "Where is it?!"

[Raminah Naya]


The last thing Raminah remembered was the bar. Her drinking buddy's face was in a drunken haze, but he looked handsome in the bar. After that, darkness fell. 



A couple of times, Raminah came to herself with a headache and a hangover. Her hands and tail were tied, her eyes were blindfolded. No one answered her questions. It was cold and scary. She was angry at herself first of all. What the hell did she go to that bar? She knew that the nagas were good prey, and she ignored the danger. Her friends didn't know where to look for her. She need to get out on her own.




The last time she came to herself, she was already in a cell that was packed with people and nagas. There were more prisoners than beds. It was cramped and cold. It was wery cold again. She and the other prisoners didn't understand what was happening. Most of them had been kidnapped just like her from different places in the Independent Space Sector. She listened to the conversations, but didn't participate in them. Learn more, tell less about yourself. Be invisible and hope that if you manage to escape, the kidnappers will not immediately notice the escape. It was difficult being invisible for a beautiful girl of an exotic race, but there were many girls like her. 




The alarm sounded like a call to action. Raminah was one of the first who jumped to the bars. The red-haired naga brought a joyful smile to her face.

He was opposite her face when he asked about the control room. Joy turned to fear. Raminah hoped that the guy knew what he was doing, but he himself needed help and could be caught.




“I don’t know,” she answered confusedly. 




A huge guy from the neighboring cell came to the rescue.


“There, around the corner,” he pointed in the direction. “Hurry up, guy, if you manage to open all the cells at once, we will not let anyone hurt you. I know where they keep the weapons. The escape will be great!”

[Silen]

The number of pairs of eyes that turned to him from within the cells was unsettling. Silen had been told there was a single prisoner here: get them out, use the distraction caused at the other entrance by those who hired him, and leave before things got worse. Now, this was beyond any of his expectations. Whom, exactly, was he supposed to help here? He didn’t know, hadn’t a clue. And he was too short on time to figure it out.

A smiling face of an attractive woman caught his stare and even before Silen spotted the coils of her gorgeous tail, he already knew: he was talking to another naga. Was it her? Did it make sense to send one naga to help free another, trapped in this jail? Could be, could be not, and Silen could improvise. A louder, rougher voice of a human male broke in with an answer.

"Roger," the snakeling responded, breaking his gaze from the girl. "Prepare the others, stay steady". He nodded to the man and quickly slithered forward.

The alarm was pounding already, and as he checked the corner, Silen spotted a man rushing from a side door with a WC sign, trying to zip his pants while running. The guy only had a guard's baton on his belt, and he headed toward the existing entrance down the corridor. He faltered, failing to use a code lock on the first attempt, providing an extra second for Silen to reach him at the same moment as the green light flashed. The man yelled and tried to pull his baton out as Silen grappled him and opened the door, using him as a living shield.

The control room was empty. Equipped with a control panel and a cluster of old, inoperative surveillance monitors, it looked messy with pizza boxes and beer cans piled in corners.

"Open the cells and leave unharmed," Silen proposed, but the guard swore, trying to wrestle free from the grapple.

"You're a goner, worm," he hissed, sounding as if he were a snake himself, while Silen dragged him toward the panel. It wasn't too big, but Silen was bad at reading, and most of the writings looked worn. Still, he spotted that the man was trying to pull himself away from a big black rotary lever.

"This?" he asked, dropping a loop of his tail over the man's neck and strangling him down. Humans are fragile, a little pressure was all it took to drop one unconscious. As he turned the switch, a clear clank sounded in every cell, signaling the doors unlocking.

[Raminah Naya]

Raminah looked back at the girls locked in with her. They were scared. She was scared too. But they had a chance to escape. There would be no second chance. They had to use this one.

«Listen to me» she said. «After the doors open, we will leave here. No panic. No screaming. We have time. There are few guards here. There are many of us, we can handle it. If we don’t panic, no one will be able to stop us».

Raminah hoped that the girls understood her. The huge guy in the next cell was discussing something with the other guys who were next to him. Raminah did not hear their conversation. She was getting ready to lead the girls out.

When the cells opened, the huge guy led the strongest guys to rob the armory. Raminah wanted to know who he was and why he knew this prison so well, but there was no time for conversation.

She tried to find the red-haired naga and bring the frightened but obedient girls to him. Raminah saw which way he went and was soon at the control room doors. The alarm were annoying. Raminah wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.

Raminah looked into the control room and saw the naga and the unconscious guard.
«I don't know who you are, but thank you», she smiled at her savior. «I brought the girls. Most of them don't know how to fight. I know, but I'm not a very good shooter. I prefer cold weapons. The guys went to rob the armory, it will get hot here soon».

Soon, screams and shots were heard from the corridor. Reinforcements arrived, but the guys had already seized the weapons and the fight began.

[Silen]

The green light flashed on the control panel next to the lever Silen had just activated. He moved toward the door, witnessing a group of tough men rushing down the corridor, following their leader. Silen nodded to himself and returned to the unconscious guard, searching the body —keys, weapons, anything possibly useful. He took only the baton and a silent walkie-talkie, just in case, and left the control room.

He still had no clue who he was hired to help with the escape. As the whole situation unfolded, the naga began to realize he had been tricked into this mess. Maybe there never was a single hostage to release. Whose den was this in the first place? Kidnappers? Slave traffickers? Was a naive hireling used to provide a distraction while a rival group of criminals dealt with the competition? Probably, but it would be hard to verify anytime soon.

As Silen moved, he immediately ran into a group of women prisoners, led by the same naga he had seen in a cell earlier. Despite the chaos around them, he could not help but spare a thought for the rare beauty of one of his kin. Snakeling was much more accustomed to seeing humans or elfs, making no comparison in how they moved. Now the contrast felt striking. She moved with a fluid grace, far superior to the to the clumsy stumbling of two-legged females around her, imbued with royal elegance, radiating poise, mesmerizing, as a naga should. Her every motion exuding the same grace he himself carried.

Silen cursed under his breath. He, probably, needed to see more women of his tribe, to stop having his will paralyzed by such a mundane scene of a naga-girl rushing to escape the captivity, surrounded by other prisoners.

"You brought the girls," he repeated. "Why?"

That was a stupid question, he realized. For some reasons, she was expecting him to protect the whole frightened flock.

"I have to find someone." Silen muttered. "Is there another prison block? Any other place to keep a hostage?" He glanced at the women questioningly. One of them shook her head.

Distant sounds of gunfire and screams reached, confirming that the naga was right.

"All right", - Silen shoved the guard's baton into her hands. - "Follow me." And slithered back to the prison hall, leading them towards the window he used to break in. "You all'll have to help each other..."

Yes, he felt uncomfortable agreeing to share the responsibility to get them all out. He didn't even wanted to. But there was no time to argue about it now.

"I wouldn't trust the damn snakes," - one of the woman said loudly.

"Than you're free to find your own way," Silen suggested. She shut her mouth, hearing the shooting echoing in a distance.

[Raminah Naya]

“Why?” Raminah asked, surprised. “You came to free us, didn't you? Then why are you asking? They are scared. They don't know how to fight. We have to get them out of the prison. They won't be able to escape on their own. They will be caught and brought back. We have to show them where the exit is”.

Naga looked confused. Raminah didn't understand why.

“Someone? Who should you find? I don't know anything about this prison. I don't even know what planet I'm on. But you came to help. I am very grateful to you for that. But I have to get these girls out. No one else can protect them. The guy who led the other guys to the armory knows the prison best. I don't think he will have time to talk to you now”.

Naga seemed to understand her. He gave her the guard's baton. Raminah nodded and clutched it tightly in her hands.

“If you want to gain freedom, you will have to trust us,” the naga said to the girls. “I was a prisoner, just like you. Now I promise to get you out of here, but you must also behave sensibly. We must leave without panicking. We must help each other”.
Under Raminah's leadership, the girls began to climb out the window and run in different directions. One by one, the former prisoners left the prison. Raminah helped the last girl get out and looked at the red-haired naga.

“Thank you,” she said again and smiled. “I do not know who you came for, but as gratitude for my release, I’m ready to help you find him. But first, I want to know the name of this planet, and can the police be trusted here? I would not like to meet the police, but if this prison is illegal, then the other girls will have a chance”.

At this time, a fight was going on in the corridors. There were more former prisoners than guards, and the balance of power was on their side. The boys broke free. Ramina could tell by their screams.

“Looks like they did it. It's time for us to leave too. What is your name? Will you take me with you?”

[Silen]

Oh, Lord, Silen had never planned to save a crowd of women from captivity. He bit his tongue, figuratively, holding back the argument that meeting numerous prisoners surprised him deeply in the first place.

"Huh?" naga glanced at his ally. "That's Escarix." - he said, naming the planet as they moved down the corridor he used to break in. Barely was it the most convenient path for females, yet it was the best and the safest he could offer.

How could it be, neither she nor any of her fellow prisoners could tell where they were. This overwhelming disorientation somehow touched him. "Where were you last?"

Once they're out, they're on their own, he promised himself. Women looked, in his judgment, healthy and adult, which was enough in his eyes to take care for themselves and, maybe even someone else who comes along. As this naga, quietly slithering next to him.

He was the first to climb out and, as he grounded back to the roof container, Silen raised himself up, balancing on his tail and started helping the women to get out. He could imagine they were scared, but the scent of the freedom they felt was powerful enough to calm their fear, at least to some extent.

The routine of helping them out gave Silen a minute to collect his thoughts, even as he heard the shooting on the other side of the building. Unaccustomed to such things as police attention to gunfire at an unreasonable distance from the space port, he didn't expect any third party to intervene. And, looking forward, even if the conflict was spotted by any public guardian service, they would understandably hesitate.

Soon the last of the freed girls touched the ground and rushed away from the prison. Silen turned to the dark haired naga, hoping that it wasn't quite obvious that the her smile was melting his brain. He wasn't too sensitive, nor was it love at first sight. Simply, she was the first female snakeling he had ever met since reaching conscious age, and an attractive one at that.

"Move. I don't think it's safe for you here," - he said, reached out to the window from the outside and offering her help to climb out. "I'm Silen and it's Escarix." - he repeated tha name of the planet patiently. "You got a name?" He had already come up with the idea that he was tricked into making a distraction and mess a little bit. "The police? Like, the city guard? I have no idea. Let's leave. I was told there is one hostage to release, and it seems like I've overachieved."

The gunfire approached, and Silen, grabbing naga by the hand, pulled her into the maze of old container stacks in the yard, heading away from the territory.

"Take you with me? Where?" Her new question caught him off guard again.