Recap In the last installment, Quim, Lags, and Fretis flew into the large cave entrance, only to find that there was a huge subterranean fortress built inside it. The three of them left their ship and were soon discovered, but, instead of being shot and killed. They were hit with tranquilizers of some kind and one by one, each of them was knocked unconscious.
Falling in and out of consciousness; Quims eyes would open, only to close once more against his will. He could hear distinct and distant voices echo through his mind. It felt like a dream. A dream that he was awake for. One that he was experiencing. One that would become more real with every passing minute. Quim was laying on his side, looking out at a small room, the ground was cold and hard. He could see Lags the Eye, but the Raw who was here with them was gone, his eyes closed once more and his surroundings had changed slightly. After blinking he saw some Trisken soldiers standing above him, they were inspecting some weaponry. If he wasn't mistaken it was his own. All he could do was stare up at them, it was then that one of them noticed him watching them. A quick kick to the ribs diverted his eyes, not that Quim was fully in charge of where he was staring. He closed them once more. They opened once more to the sound of screaming.
Feeling like he had a bit more control over his body, he looked around to see where he was. Still the cave? The cell? He thought, even his inner voice was slurring. Quim had done his fair share of partying but this was different than anything else he had ever been on, clearly, they were tranquilizers of some kind, powerful ones at that. Most likely not made for humans. "Quim. Are you awake?" He heard the familiar voice of Lags asking him hesitantly and in his usual, quiet voice. Quim couldn't respond, even though he tried. Some gargled speech fell lazily from his mouth and his tongue flopped around like it had a mind of its own. He blinked once more and everything went dark.
His eyes opened and Lags seemed to be in mid-conversation. Maybe Quim was already awake, maybe he was talking in his sleep. It was hard to say really. But, the final words of Lag's sentence said everything he needed to hear. "They killed Fretis. He was the first to wake up, they came and took him away. You were waking during his torture, but, you didn't stay conscious for long. You're lucky, it sounded rough, no matter what I tried, I couldn't drown it out and there was no going back to sleep." Quims eyes widened at the news and he managed to push against the ground and sit up. He felt like it was a bad idea to even try to stand, so he didn't attempt it. His arms, legs, and neck were numb. His head managed to stay straight, but his arms just dangled by his side. He could just about move them, not that it made much of a difference. While he sat there, looking out at the cave he noticed for the first time the cage at the entrance right ahead. Even if he had the strength to move, it would be hard for them to even attempt a breakout. They had no choice but to wait, helplessly wait. For what exactly? For some Trisken reptile to come and take them away. Where? To the torture room no less, or perhaps to another cell. The regret Quim felt for coming here came upon him like a ton of bricks, the losses they sustained during their mission and all of it for nothing, nothing but this. To wind up in a cell on some alien world, while the entire might of the Confederation hung above them; orbiting this rock. Their leadership could have ended this a lot sooner than they had. Sure, they would have sustained a lot more casualties, but, would that have been better?
Broken thoughts and random visions filled his mind, what was once a plethora of vibrant colours and streaks had become little more than a black-and-white reflection of itself in a dusty mirror. Nothing happened as it should have, everything was wrong, life as he knew it was going to get a lot colder than this dank cave and in a way, he was happy about it. Quim made a mental note not to rejoice too much and to hide his grim for as long as he could. He didn't have a whole lot of faith, so a small whisper in his mind told him to prepare for The Big Blank. A group he used to watch holo-vids of used to describe the "afterlife" as nothing more than, well, nothing. He was raised to believe in something though, the same as his parents. They had thought him about the paradise beyond, where we would become all-knowing, sharing the experiences of everyone who has ever lived. His act of rebellion as a teenager was going against that philosophy. He decided to go against their beliefs, replacing them with what? The Big Empty, The Big Nothing. The Big Blank. Staring into an abyss wasn't for the faint-hearted. He never thought about it this hard before, but now that he may have been coming face-to-face with it, it seemed pretty scary.
His thoughts rushed around his mind, bouncing off the walls of his skull rapidly, it was hard to stay completely on track as one seemed to lead onto another and before he knew it, his mind was elsewhere. Then some shuffling and shifting along the halls of the cave distracted him from his thoughts, then he could hear the laughing of some Triskens. He couldn't understand what they were laughing about, but, he knew it wasn't good. They reached the entrance of the cave and they both walked in, silently they stared at their prisoners. One of them pointed at Lags and the other obliged. Lumbering over to him, he reached out and grabbed Lags by the throat, dragging him to his feet. He resisted and the other ran over. Quim did his best to get to his feet and help, but instead, he landed flat on his face and could only shift on the ground and watch as they knocked Lags to the floor. The two of them put an end to his fight, leaving him on the ground squirming slightly. Then they grabbed the scruff of his collar and dragged him to the entrance of the cell.
"We came here to kill Herzart!" Quim shouted and the two Triskens stopped in their tracks and turned to stare at him. "That was our mission. We came here. To this base to finish it, because we knew that he was here." The two Triskens started to laugh as he finished speaking and one of them shook their head. "It would be fun to watch you try, human." One of them said.
"Get him and we'll see." Pushing against the ground once more, Quim got himself into a sitting position as he stared at the two Trisken soldiers at the end of the cell.
Alarms started to blare throughout the cave which put an end to their standoff and the one holding Lags stared down at the prisoner and looked back to the other Trisken who jumped to attention and charge through the cell opening. The one holding Lags looked back at him and furiously hissed in his face, only to drop him to the ground and follow the other one out the gate. Quim could hear the metallic crunch of the rusted lock turning and the two Triskens took off running, leaving only shadows dancing along the walls of the cave until soon there was nothing left. Apart from him and Lags and the sounds of blaring alarms.
"What do you think that is?" Lags asked as he rolled onto his back. "No idea, but, you're lucky." Lags started to laugh at that one. "Yeah, I feel real lucky, Dert bird." He winced in pain after replying.
