Sett’s eyes snapped open suddenly. He stared at the bleak ceiling for a few moments, disoriented from the sleep. He hadn’t expected to fall asleep when he was dragged here after his visit to the medical bay, but the events of the day had drained him entirely. He was grateful it was a dreamless sleep, he dreaded the faces he’d see if he dreamt again. He sat up before he fell back into sleep.

  He was in a smaller hall similar to the chamber they were kept in, in the ship that transported them here. It was similarly packed with the wretched who’s fate he shared, and he was currently surrounded by a dull cacophony of snores, sobs and groans. From what he could gather, at least half of his sleeping chamber’s inhabitants were from Mupnal, and the other half were mostly human, spare the occasional inhuman feature here and there.

  He hadn’t seen Croh since his arrival, and he invested whatever little hope he had into reuniting with his only friend. He began plans of searching through the slaves for people he recognised, but he quickly abandoned that idea until he had an idea of how his life here would be. He knew he had to try to strike up conversation with the people from outside of Mupnal to gather information, but he had no energy to be social at the moment.

  Sett’s lamentation was interrupted by a shrill whistle that cut across the room so loudly he could feel the vibrations. The chamber erupted in screams that were blocked out by the piercing alarm. He held his ears in pain for a whole minute before the sound stopped. The room stirred, its inhabitants sitting up with shocked faces. The sliding door opened but no one walked in.

  The slaves who had been here from before Mupnal slowly got up and began filing out of the room, prompting Sett to bring himself to his feet. He guessed the sound was an alarm, and he dreaded hearing it everyday. As he left the room, he noticed a display above the door showing numbers in Universal Common, probably a clock of some sort. He committed the number to memory, resolving to learn his schedule before devising any plans.

  The chain in the hallway outside his sleeping chamber led him to another chain, and another, across a series of intersections and through the main hall, before dropping him off outside an open door along with the rest of his cohort.

  He walked into the chamber that was bigger than the one he slept in, but much more crowded. The floor was littered with people sitting down, holding misshapen plates filled with a sickly yellow paste and a single roll of bread. To his left was where they collected their food, as Sett noticed a line of slaves filing beside a series of dispensers that dropped the viscous mess and bread onto their plates.

  He joined them and filled up a plate he picked up from a pile next to the dispensers, before looking for a spot to sit. His eyes widened and he limped as fast as he could to an older, ovaloid face that was sitting despondently against a wall.

  “Croh!”

  The man looked up and beamed, the only hint of happiness either of them had felt since the dark clouds gathered over Mupal that fateful day. He jumped up with energy no one here should have and hugged Sett tightly.

  “Oh my boy! You’re alright! I dreaded I’d never see you again!”

  “I’m glad to see you too, Croh!”

  They sat down together, and Sett studied his new friend. The man’s face had become more gaunt than before, and the bags under his eyes seemed to have grown. His glasses were still there, though another small crack had been added to them.

  “Where were you? Did you go to the medical bay? Did they..?”

  “Yeah I did. The doctor bandaged me up. She noticed the knife but didn’t report it. I was so stressed, man.”

  “I was worried about that too. I’m glad you got some proper treatment for that leg. Where do they have you sleeping?”

  “Pretty far from here to be honest. I switched those chains five times.”

  “Yeah, they’re called Transport Chains. They drag slaves to where they need to be.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The guard who searched you yesterday told me. I think he was frustrated about the slaves not understanding him, so he was pretty talkative with me.”

  “What happened after they called for people who spoke Universal Common? I was very anxious when you were gone, man.”

  “They took us to the bridge of the transport ship and asked how well we spoke the language.”

  “Us?”

  “Yeah there were a number of us who were fluent in Universal Common. The guards questioned us. There was a genuine D grade there too. I think the transport vessel they used was D grade. The one we’re on right now must be C grade. Anyway, they made me make the announcement. Once we landed, they sent us to as many of those interrogation rooms as possible. I was there for so long. So many hours. Once we were done, they cuffed me up like you and sent me to my sleeping chamber.”

  Sett remembered how haggard Croh had looked when he’d gone into the room. The man could barely stand.

  “What else did the thing that molested me tell you?”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Croh sighed and looked around.

  “He told me where we’re headed. He said it was a little gift for being a translator. Apparently, we’ll be making a Spacefold Jump through the Krakar system’s jumpgate in a few days to a much busier system with an asteroid field. It’ll take a lot more jumpgates and jumps before we reach where we’re finally headed, though he didn’t say where that was. Just grinned, that bastard. Anyway, he said it’ll take a lot more time to get the permission to use the jumpgate from there, so they’ll be sending us to mine in the asteroid field while we wait.”

  Sett sighed. Making a Spacefold Jump was a small dream of his, but the manner in which it was granted was cruel beyond measure. It also meant he’d be taken much further from home, and then even further, and further still until he was hundreds of thousands of Truewing Years away with no way back.

  “So they want us to mine asteroids?” He asked after the melancholy set in.

  “Apparently. We’ll find out soon anyway. I’ve also been talking to the ones who’ve been here for longer, to find out what it's like.”

  Sett sat up, placing the untouched plate to his side.

  “They need a portion of us to power the engine every day. I don’t know how that works, starships I know are powered by either Ether stones or the crew themselves, but apparently this one is powered by us. I think it involves pulling a giant wheel or something. The rest of the time, the Transport Chains drag us around the ship randomly for no reason. Maybe to stop us from getting idle. Or they make you clean the place. If you’re useful in other ways, they’ll put you to use. I may be called to translate or like that doctor you saw. One Sauri I spoke to had been here for a while and said they sometimes stop at mining colonies or other places that need manpower, and we’ll work there for a while before coming back. Probably what’ll happen in the next system.”

  “What’s a Sauri?”

  “They’re a species that look like lizards. It’s difficult to hear them when they speak. They unsettle me a little.”

  “Oh the doctor here is one. How long has the one you spoke to been here for?”

  “Years, he said. He didn’t want to elaborate so I didn’t push the matter.”

  Sett could feel the dread building up inside him, but he suppressed it. The situation was hopeless, and the only goal he had for now was to find someone he knew. He glanced at the sickly gunk on his plate and shoveled some into his mouth with his fingers. He wasn’t hungry but he knew he needed the energy. It was bland and tasteless, which was better than what he expected. The bread was stale but not mouldy, unlike the pieces he was given on the transport ship.

  “What happens if we try to get more food from the dispenser?” He asked after a few minutes of eating in silence. Croh grimaced, remembering a horrible sight.

  “One guy tried that a bit before you arrived. The chains he was wearing were suddenly attached to the wall behind the dispensers and he collapsed in pain. He screamed for so long, Sett.” His voice shook as he recounted the incident, and Sett shared his grimace. He finished the rest of his food in silence.

  “Can we continue learning Universal? I want to talk to the people here too.”

  Croh opened his mouth to reply but the shrill whistle that woke them up in the morning cut him off. The more experienced in the crowd immediately dropped their plates in a large bin and hurried out of the chamber. Sett and Croh took the hint and prepared to leave.

  “I’ll teach you whenever we get the chance to speak. Take care Sett. Stay alive.”

  “You too Croh”

  With that, Sett let himself be dragged to wherever the transport chains needed him to be.

  ****

  After what must have been hours of being yanked through the starship’s countless hallways, chambers and corridors, Sett was deposited in front of the cafeteria again. His leg was screaming in pain at the unceasing movement, including the excruciating task of climbing up stairs. He guessed this was the random travelling that Croh mentioned.

  While the exercise was exhausting, Sett kept his brain running throughout, taking in the layout of his prison, and the faces that populated it. He rarely saw a guard, only outside certain doors or occasionally patrolling the halls. They were all E grade, which might explain why they seemed so scarce.

  The starship he was in was enormous. He had been made to walk dozens of kilometres, and he still felt like he barely scratched the surface. He had noticed a few vaguely familiar figures with downcast faces walking around like him, but most of the slave population weren’t from Mupnal. Being constantly on the move like he had been made it impossible to strike up a conversation and gather information, but just knowing he could see the face of someone he knew was enough.

  He entered the cafeteria on the verge of collapse, dreading the labour that would come after this meal. He expected his turn to power the engines might come soon.

  Sett scanned the crowd for Croh but couldn’t find him. Worry began building up inside him, as he filled up his plate and limped around the room, calling out his friend’s name. Many tired eyes turned to him but not a single one with cracked glasses. Sett’s exhaustion caught up to him and he sat down after nearly falling, his face morose. He hoped nothing had happened to Croh as he finished his food and waited, scanning every face that walked in. When the siren finally rang, Croh still hadn’t come.

  Sett was led, along with many others, towards a door flanked by two guards he had seen earlier. The doors opened into a platform surrounding a giant, almost cylindrical structure with strange runes all over it in the center. The structure extended both below the floor and above the ceiling, possibly surrounded by more platforms with more slaves across floors. The sinister purple pillar had scores of black beams jutting out from its walls. The room’s walls were also filled with runes and carvings similar to the pillar, symbols Sett could not recognise from what he learnt in the smithy.

  A dozen or so guards stood in full armor near the walls of the room as Sett and his cohort walked in. Another door on the other side of the room let in just as many slaves, giving the room a crowded feeling with over 60 slaves and the guards watching them. Sett could hear the drumming of confused footsteps walking around the ceiling above him.

  The slaves from outside Mupnal began approaching the pillar in the centre, and Sett watched as their chains shot up towards the beams protruding from the structure.

  “Move!”

  The guard’s bellow was all he needed as Sett moved close enough so that his own chains could be connected to the pillar, the force yanking his arms upwards. Once everyone had been integrated, the guard barked an order and some of the older prisoners took a few steps forward, stretching their manacles taut above their shoulders. Sett copied, and eventually the ring of slaves began turning the pillar in circles, a little out of sync at first but gradually moving as one.

  The runes on the walls and the spinning structure itself began glowing, illuminating the room in an eerie purple glow. Sett felt his Ether churn inside him, slowly drifting out of his body and towards the pillar. He could feel his leg complaining but he steeled himself, applying all his strength on pulling the chains and putting one foot in front of the other.