 Jet Dixon |
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 Dawn Revere |
Chapter 20 - Dutiful Slaves
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Jet Dixon |
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Dawn Revere |
Once Dawn and Dr. Harkov had been escorted away to perform their new tasks in service of Archaeopolis, Queen Jara ordered all of her Wingwomen from the throne room. That left her all alone with Jet.
"So, Earthman," Jara said with a soft conniving voice. "It seems that we are alone at last."
Jet looked around the room, pretending that he had not noticed. "Yeah, I guess we are, at that."
"As I mentioned before," Jara continued. "You are quite pleasing to the eye, despite your lack of wings."
Jet smiled with fake humility. "I thank you for the compliment, but I find it hard to believe that you could look favorably on someone who does not have such beautiful plumage."
Jara walked over to Jet. She ran her fingers over his body as she circled around him. "True, but the men of Archaeopolis are such weaklings. You are strong, with such a noble bearing."
"Strong, maybe," Jet chuckled, "but my friends at Princeton might argue with you about the noble part. Most of them thought I did not have any class."
"I do not know what this Princeton place on your world might be, but they must have been fools not to recognize your greatness," Jara countered. "You have traveled across the void to come here. Where are they?" Her body was pressed tightly against his. He could feel her feathers scraping against his clothes.
"Probably living a lot safer than this flyboy." Jet thought. This royal birdwoman was making a play for him, and it was making it downright uncomfortable for him. But what could he do? If he antagonized her, she could order Dawn and Harkov to be harmed. He put on a very big smile. "They're not lucky enough to be here with you."
Down in the energy plants, Dawn's clothes had been exchanged for the protective gear of a energy plant worker. The suit would help protect her from the radiation being emitted by the generators, but nothing save a solid lead wall would block out all of the radiation,. While the overseers issued commands from behind those protective screens, Dawn and the other workers were forced to work on refining the 'energy rocks'. Machines could not be used to do the refining, the radiation from the fuel in its unrefined form would incapacitate any mechanical device.
Inside of her suit, Dawn was sweating from the hard work. She had learned a little bit from her co-workers during their all-too-infrequent breaks, but most of them did not want to expend the meager energy that talking required when they were resting. Some had been working in the plants for a while now, and the wear was showing on them. Dawn wondered how long her own body could hold out. She had to trust that Jet would find a way. She knew she was in good physical shape, but who knew what kind of toll this radiation would take on a human body? Dr. Harkov probably knew, but he was in no position to answer or to help her.
Dr. Harkov had been taken to the research laboratory high atop the city by a detachment of Wingwomen. Once they arrived, they pushed him through the tall metal doors and locked them behind him. He tried vainly to open the doors for a few moments before turning to see the interior of the laboratory.
It was a vast space, filled with gigantic machinery whose functions he did not have an inkling. There were dials and levers and gauges arrayed everywhere. The very air resonated with a electric hum from all of the equipment. One machine garnered his attention. It was by far the largest of the lot, and it extended through the ceiling to what Dr. Harkov surmised was the uppermost tower of the city.
His scientific instincts told him that this was a machine that would bear investigating. Perhaps it was the source of the electromagnetic field that encompassed this world and threatened the Earth. However, studying this machine would have to wait for the moment. The native Archaeopolitan scientists were gathering around him, and glaring at him with some scientific curiosity marked with a large dose of disdain.
Dr. Harkov sought to get on the good side of his new colleagues. He turned back towards the locked door. "I guess they lock us in to make sure that we're working," Dr. Harkov said in half-hearted jest. "When do they let us out for the night?"
"They don't let us out for the night," one of the Archaeopolitans replied grimly. "They don't ever let us out."
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Bob Gansler
10-Oct-00