Aaidan

It was a hot day in the Bubble, and I cried out in pain as Xanda broke my arm in two. Two of his hands grabbed my neck, and I gasped for air while my remaining arm punched him repeatedly in his ribs. After a brief struggle, I glanced up at the Princeps, who scratched his forehead with his left paw.

My palm slammed the dirt twice, and the crowd roared.

Xanda's hands immediately let go of my throat. I tried to get up, but the pain from my broken arm had made me woozy. The red sun swam before my eyes. I vaguely felt my body being lifted into a stretcher before my vision faded to black.

****

I shivered and tried to burrow myself deeper into my sleeping bag. My younger brother looked over at me and smirked before staring back up at the stars.

Darryl had just finished college and somehow believed the best way to commemorate this occasion was to take a week-long trip in the wilderness—which is how I ended up lying on a field in the middle of rural Scotland.

"That one's Ursa Major," he pointed. "Do you know what that one is?"

"Orion?"

"Yes and no. While it is Orion according to the modern set of constellations, in the traditional Chinese set, it made up the front of a large White tiger called Baihu."

"Smartass."

I ignored my brother's laughter and stared back up at the sky.

"Wait, aren't there supposed to be three stars on Orion's belt?"

"You mean the tiger's fron—No wait, you're right!"

A fourth flickering light was rapidly growing in the sky. Within seconds, it had covered the rest of the constellation. Darryl gasped.

"Sue, there's no way a weather balloon would fall that fast. It's got to be a UFO!"

I laughed nervously and was about to call him an idiot when the light grew even closer and revealed itself to be what could only be called a spaceship. I gasped and was about to reach for my phone when a beam of light from the spaceship hit us, completely immobilizing us. I could do nothing but stare in horror as the spaceship slowly descended, a low hum resonating in the otherwise quiet night.

****

I woke up to the calm green light of the Bionic. After every fight, the cylindrical chamber flooded itself with a breathable lymph-like fluid, before scanning my body and healing any injuries in minutes. The sensation of a thousand nanites scuttling across my body was incredibly frustrating though, like an itch under your skin that you just have to scratch, which is why my hands and legs were tied to either end.

I was Houdini with an audience of one—the doctor, who was at the other end of the room, running tests on a sample of what seemed like my blood.

The Togras doctor was a man of few words. His pristine coat clashed with his greying orange fur, which seemed to be coming off in patches. His yellow eyes were deep tunnels that revealed no hint of emotion and had been unmoved even during the one time I was thrust into the chamber with three ribs sticking out of my chest.

I winced as nanites finished putting my arm back together. This was my seventh time in the box. The doctor casually checked my vitals on a holographic screen before draining the box of fluid.

My restraints came off and I flexed my arm. After a series of quick tests, the doctor said I was good to go, so I left the green glow of the Bionic room for the red glow of the hallway.

****

A couple of days after our abduction, I found myself in a dull room with a single red light. A face stared back at me. Golden eyes surrounded by striped white fur and whiskers, wearing a white cloak embroidered with gold.

"You—you're a tiger!"

"Togras," he corrected. "Me, specifically, you can call the Princeps. Welcome to the Bubble!"

"What is this place?"

"It's an arena." He beamed. "A beautiful spectacle of events run by yours truly, for every Togras in the galaxy to watch!"

I blinked. It was a lot to take in. "Where's Darryl?"

"Ah, I'm afraid your brother was sold to someone else. He could be anywhere in the galaxy right now."

"Sold? Wait—You bought me?" I lunged at him, only to wince as the bands tied to my limbs pulled me back. The Princeps frowned, and I cried out as electricity coursed through my body.

"Indiscipline will not be tolerated."

"You were worth your weight in gold," he said, the smile returning to his face.

"And don’t worry—I'm not going to kill you. You can have a life here! All you need to do is behave."

****

My cell was one of two large translucent boxes at the end of a long hallway at the end of the Bubble. Metal doors flanked the hallway's sides, but any questions I asked the guard about their purpose received no response. 

About 20 feet from the end of the hallway, the guard stopped and asked me to go on myself. The cells were the only part of the Bubble with white light—and the Togras seemed to really dislike it. Instead, multiple CCTV-like devices watched the two cells round the clock.

I got into my cell and the door automatically shut behind me. I looked over at the neighbouring cell, where Xanda lay against his bed, reading a book. Watching him engrossed like that made him seem human, even with his red skin and the extra set of arms.

Xanda noticed me looking at him and clutched his sides.

"You hit me pretty hard. It still hurts."

"You nearly took my arm off, you asshole!"

"You broke my leg last week!"

We glared at each other for a few seconds, before bursting out into laughter.

"They came in with food while you were getting your arm fixed."

I went over to the food tray that was left on the floor. It was the usual—a tasteless lump of maroon sludge, with a pile of what looked like fried blue insects on the side. And a thin triangle of bendable metal, standard cutlery on this side of the galaxy.

I grabbed the tray and started eating, trying to ignore the sounds the insect legs made in my mouth as I chewed them.

****

The night I was thrown into my cell was the first time I met Xanda. I'd been crying for nearly an hour trying to ignore the world around me when his curious face stared at me through the wall joining our cells.

"You aren't dead?" he asked, with curious green eyes.

"Dead?"

"My species cries only once—when we are about to die."

"Oh. Humans just cry when we're sad."

His voice was comforting.

I found myself telling him about Darryl. About our trip in the country. How much I missed him.

He was silent for a while.

Then—

"I had people too, like your brother Darryl. The word we use is Aaidan."

He started telling me his story. About being a farmer on a planet near the centre of the galaxy, easy pickings for the Togras. Children born in the same year were grouped up into batches of four and raised together.

"When we came of age, the four of us were asked to kill an animal to prove our strength. We could have killed a Zuraaka or a Xelia. But we wanted to prove ourselves, so we killed a wild Oronbasu. I still remember the looks of shock on everyone’s faces!" He chuckled and pointed to the white stripe on his forehead. "This binds my Aaidan and me together, a mark to show our pride."  

His face turned sorrowful. "But now I am the only one left."

****

We never saw the packets arrive. All we knew was that one morning we woke up to find them in our cells. Our cell doors were open, and the lights were still dim.

The packets contained a tiny device to deactivate our shock collars and a map of the Bubble. Directions to an exit were marked out, where there would be a ship to take us away.

We were out of our cells in seconds. The long corridors were filled with flashing blue lights and shrill sounds, but strangely devoid of the living. The few guards we did encounter seemed to be fast asleep, with not even the shrill sound of the alarm rousing them. I thanked the saint who had helped us out from the bottom of my heart.

Until we approached the exit, where we saw the Princeps smiling, a gun pointed at the doctor. 

“It was today’s food, wasn’t it? The drug was a good choice. Unfortunately for you, I only eat what I cook myself.”

The doctor glanced at us in fear, which prompted the Princeps to turn around and smirk.

“Oh, and what do we have here? I see you’ve managed to disable your collars.” 

He looked at me. “I’m afraid I’m at the end of my patience when it comes to you.”

He turned the gun towards me, and I froze. Xanda tackled the Princeps to the ground. The gun fired.

The Princeps lay on the ground, neck broken. Xanda looked up at me with blood spurting out of his chest. “Got him,” he said weakly and grinned. Then he collapsed.

I rushed over to him and pressed down on the opening in his chest, trying to slow the blood flow.

"Don't worry, I've got you. The Bionic isn't far from here. We have time—" 

He grabbed my arms.

"No."

One of his hands cupped my face.

"You have someone you need to find.” 

“But . . . No!”

“I’ll see you again one day. Somewhere amongst the stars, Aaidan," he said, his green eyes tinged with red.

Then he began to cry.

****

The doctor was quiet as he led me to his spaceship. He strapped me in, and we shot up into the sky at an incredible speed. 

As the ship rose up into the stars, the world outside the ship turned dark, and I saw my face reflected in the window. A red stripe of blood was smeared across my forehead.

The silent hum of the ship did nothing to cover up the sound of my sobs.