7 Rings

“How old are you?”

“You don’t need to know that, Gatrina. But you do need to see this. Come.”

Trix walked over to the window and she pushed the slats open, letting the sunshine in. She rested on the edge of the pane and stared outside with a smile on her face.

“Come on, unlike my brother, I won’t try to kiss you, and don’t worry, I’ll keep my hands to myself as well,” the little alien said with her hands in the air.

Gatrina slowly walked over to the side of the window, just watching the little girl with so much suspicion. When she got to the hole and saw what needed to be seen, she was truly astounded by the view and became in awe of how beautiful New Lagos really was.

After living most of her life underground, she hadn’t seen the city from this high up. Yeah, she had climbed several buildings before, but nothing as high as this. It was the Royal Palace and it was literally a mountain with rooms in it. She could see the entire city, and she got lost in all of it, just a little bit.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?”

“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,”

Her stomach decided that now was the best time to remind her of its emptiness, and it growled. Krugs had a high sense of hearing, but even if they didn’t, Trix would have still heard Gatrina’s stomach crying out for sustenance.

“Damn, girl. Here,” she took a snack from her purse and gave it, “...before you slump to your death. You are quite skinny, and frail-looking.”

“What’s this?”

“It’s called Seven Rings. It’s real good. I produced it myself. Take it,” Trix cut a piece and ate as well.

Gatrina took the rest of it and after putting it in her mouth and biting, she instantly recognized the snack as the most delicious thing she had ever tasted, and she devoured the rest of it. She didn’t know what was in it, but she was feeling so much better now that she’d eaten.

“Fascinating,” Trix remarked, her eyes were fixated on Gati.

“Thanks,”

“You can thank me by behaving yourself,”

“Excuse me?” Gatrina raised a brow.

“I see you, Gatrina. I can tell that you’re troublesome, and I don’t like it when things trouble my brother. This place is a technological marvel, a definite upgrade from what you’re used to, being from the Underground. Appreciate what you’ve been given, and don’t be a nuisance,”

“Or what?”

Trix moved closer to Gatrina, and the latter held her ground. The princess had pink eyes. Gati had never met anyone, human or Krug who had pink eyes. They were kind of the scariest eyes she had ever seen, but she stared at them anyway.

“Just do as my brother tells you, and you’ll be fine. If you are insolent, you will suffer the consequences.”

The little Krug raised her index finger, and as it started to glow up, Gatrina quickly covered her eyes with her hands, causing the girl to giggle, until the sound of her laugh subsided.

Gatrina slowly opened her eyes and when she looked around, she was alone. The door suddenly burst open and two human women walked into the room. When she saw them, she felt relief and ran to them, hoping they could help her escape.

“Please, you must help me,”

“Indeed, my lady. The Prince has instructed us to bathe you thoroughly and dress you, before you dine with him. Please, follow us to the bath chamber so we may begin,”

She realized now that these women couldn’t save her or help her escape. They were slaves of the palace and they looked…broken! She could only do as they said, and so, she followed them to the bathroom.

The women immediately undressed her, and as they placed her into the bath, Gatrina almost flew out of her skin when she felt the temperature of the water.

“Are you girls trying to kill me? This is way too cold.”

The maids looked at themselves before the eldest one spoke.

“This one is already starting to demand luxury,” she said in Igbo, a language Gatrina couldn’t understand, for she was Yoruba.

“She won’t last. None of them ever do. Let’s just give her what she wants,” the younger maid replied using the same language.

“Forgive me, my Lady,” she switched back to English, “We’ll heat up the water for you.”

.

.

.

Morgan and Gary had spent all of last night snooping around top-side, looking for any clues that would lead them to Gatrina. The Krug police were now at the scene of the accident, trying to clear up the rubble, and they had to change their location, to avoid being spotted and captured.

They checked around for anything they could find, and after a while, they had to find a safe spot to sleep in. It was morning now, and they needed a new approach if they were to stand a chance at finding Gatrina in the huge city.

“We need some intel on the aliens that had the accident. Maybe if we can find out who they were, we can find out what happened to Gati. someone must have seen something,” Gary said to Morgan.

“How are we going to find that out?”

“I have my sources. It’ll be risky though, but it’s nothing I haven’t done before. Let’s go."

Just as they were about to leave the alleyway and head discreetly into town, they got surrounded by a squad of cops. Morgan held her knife by the handle, ready to use it, while Gary took out his blaster to defend himself, but even he knew it was no use.

“Humans, put down your weapons and you won’t be killed,”

“What do we do now?” Morgan whispered.

Gary counted the aliens. There were seven of them, and they all had automatic blasters, ready to fire. He considered taking them on, trusting that his skills were enough to get them out of their jam, but with Morgan present, he wouldn’t be able to do so conveniently. It was too risky and he didn’t want her to get hurt.

“We don’t have a choice. We have to surrender,"

“How are we supposed to find Gatrina now?”

“First, we need to worry about ourselves,” he put his gun down and she did the same.

They both fell to their needs and the police swooped in and placed them in handcuffs. The aliens took them away for processing, but due to them being human, our duo knew they weren’t going to jail or a prison cell; they were going to be enslaved, one way or another.