“Screw you, Perkins… if I wanted advice, it wouldn’t be from a lowlife, redneck hillbilly like you…”
Cuddly glanced back at Jackie. She said, “I think I know that voice. That’s Tony Bone.” They slowly approached what he figured was the ship’s primary corridor. Twice as wide as the one they were now in, it formed a T-junction. He peered around the corner, to the left. All clear. Then, looking to the right, his breath caught in his chest. The AI orb was lying down on the deck. Several blackened scorch marks made it clear what had happened. One of the orb’s articulating arms was outstretched, while its other one was awkwardly curled underneath. As quietly as possible, Cuddy stepped closer and, kneeling next to it, found several tiny lights still blinking. Carefully, he took hold of the extended arm and lifted the orb up from the deck. Rising up, he held the orb an arm’s length away.
“Is it… dead?” Jackie asked.
All of a sudden, Cuddy’s mind was filled with a slew of bright flashes—incongruent images. Unbalanced, he swayed back and forth, as Jackie helped to steady him, looking concerned. It was as if his mind had been hijacked. He realized he was seeing through the eyes… eye… of the AI orb! He watched its two articulating arms—both extended out in front—fire continuous, bright-blue energy bolts. And he realized he was viewing earlier events that transpired outside on the road, when the orb was beneath the ship. Cuddy inwardly watched the orb’s battle with the Howsh. The speed in which the orb maneuvered—dodging this way and that—was breathtaking. He felt nauseous trying to track the course of those events. One by one enemy Howsh were vanquished. Cuddy watched as the orb moved up the ramp and into the bowels of the ship. Unknowingly, he and Jackie had followed the same route inside as the orb. And then, apparently, the orb met its match. Cuddy watched as a Howsh alien came into view, wearing a red sash. Worn on a diagonal, the sash crossed from shoulder to the opposite hip. The alien didn’t move like the others. He was fast; seemed to instinctively know where and how to move to avoid the orb’s plasma fire. He fired his weapon at the orb only once. And then, just as suddenly, Cuddy’s inner visions ceased and he found himself gazing into Jackie’s concerned eyes.
“Where did you go?” she asked.
Chapter 27
Cuddy still had ahold of the orb’s outstretched articulating arm. He lifted it higher and noticed, at the sphere’s apex—within the concave circular section—the aperture still emanated faint blue light. He held it up like a dead chicken, letting it sway back and forth under its own weight.
Jackie said, “Come on, maybe you can bring it with us.”
Cuddy lowered his arm. He had no intention of leaving the orb behind. Squabbling voices could be heard ahead as he and Jackie hurried across the wide, perpendicular corridor to the other side. Continuing on, and noting an open entrance on the right, Cuddy edged up to the corner and peered in. He quickly pulled back, wide-eyed and disgusted, staring blankly at the opposing bulkhead.
“What is it? Let me see!” He moved aside so she could take his vacated spot, closer to the entrance. Looking in, Cuddy heard her quick inhalation of breath. When she pulled back, turning toward him, in barely controlled hushed tones she exclaimed, “That’s horrible! They’re just hanging there… like sides of beef!”
The vivid mental image of the havoc in the adjacent compartment was all too prominent in Cuddy’s mind. No less than twenty people, almost half of them naked, were strung up, hanging by their feet, their bodies swaying back and forth. Among them were Sheriff Bone, shirtless Officer Plumkin, Tony Bone, and—closest to the entrance—his brother Kyle. Also others, who were dead. Their blackened, malformed corpses showed they’d been terribly beaten, beyond anything he could imagine.
He wanted to rescue Kyle. Rush in there and help them all. But if he and Jackie weren’t extremely careful, they too could end up in there, hanging upside-down, like the others. Cuddy was having a hard time controlling his breathing. He didn’t think he’d ever been this scared. Too scared to move, like he was again seven years old.
“Hey… are you doing okay? We just need to stay calm… at least try,” Jackie whispered.
He shook his head. No, he wasn’t okay and wondered how she could even ask such a question.
“Well, stay here. Keep guard and let me know if anyone’s coming.”
“What are you doing? We shouldn’t separate,” he said, aware desperation was in his voice.
“Just stay here.” Raising her weapon, she then slipped around the corner.
Standing alone in the passageway, Cuddy looked left and then right and saw a lone figure approaching from the distance; one clearly armed with a rifle. He wore a narrow band of red—a diagonally draped sash. A Howsh, he was casually walking forward as if he hadn’t a care in the world. Cuddy felt a vibration in his right hand and, glancing down at the orb, noticed it was moving, trying to release itself from his grasp.
The Howsh walked right up to Cuddy, appraising him from head to toe. He was taller than he was by half a foot. Close to seven feet tall.
The orb was frantically jerking around in Cuddy’s hand so he let it drop to the deck. Paralyzed with fear, he wanted to yell out and warn Jackie, but he couldn’t speak.
A dank odor wafted around them as the alien pivoted his head about, as though trying to figure something out, then spoke in a mixture of a growl and a language Cuddy didn’t understand. The Howsh bared his teeth and raised the muzzle of his weapon and then there was searing pain in his chest—everything went black.
Cuddy awoke with an upside-down view of the same horrific compartment he’d earlier glimpsed. He was less than five feet away from his brother.
Kyle, now looking back at him, said, “Hey there, little brother.”
“Hey Kyle.”
“So… you two were what? Trying to rescue us… huh?”
Cuddy found it hard to think, even harder to speak, with so much blood throbbing in his head. “It gets a bit easier… in time,” Kyle told him.
Cuddy heard another voice, nearby him but out of sight, ask, “Who sends the village idiot to attempt a rescue, anyway?”
“Shut up, Tony!” Kyle barked.
“Are you okay, Cuddy?” Jackie asked. Hearing the concern in her voice, he tried to jostle his body around to see her but couldn’t make it happen.
Cuddy asked, “What is this place? What’s happening…”
“Just look around, dip-weed,” Tony said. “We’re in some kind of alien laboratory. Look up… they have all kinds of nasty equipment to fuck us up with.”
“I told you, Tony, knock it off!” Kyle said.
Cuddy, struggling, looked up toward his tightly bound feet. Separated into stand-alone stations were all sorts of hanging metallic devices, along with a variety of attached hoses. He didn’t want to think about their uses.
“Shit… he’s coming back,” Tony said.
Moments later, Cuddy sensed the evil presence of the Howsh within the compartment—somewhere behind him.
“Don’t touch me!” Jackie yelled.
Cuddy jerked and squirmed until his body, pendulum-like, finally spun around. The Howsh, he noted in alarm, was touching Jackie’s hair—leaning into her and inhaling, while making a sniffing noise. He could see Jackie’s anger turn to fear, and he shouted, “Hey! Leave her alone… get away from her!”
“You don’t want to say that, Cuddy,” Kyle said, in a lowered tone. “He’ll punish you.”
“Yeah, he’ll hurt you something bad, boy,” said Officer Plumkin.
Cuddy focused his attention beyond Jackie, then toward a swaying, shirtless figure whose big belly hung down onto his chest. His face was bruised and one eye swollen shut. He noticed the sheriff was hanging next to Plumkin. “Is the sheriff all right?”