No Meal, No Mercy

Jag was thrown back into his steel cage in the Irikan space gladiator barracks by the Ungarian guard. A massive, green-skinned humanoid race with muscles like boulders. “You better think over what you’ve done, earth scum. They’ll be here soon.”

“What happened? Gix asked. “What’d you do?” Gix was his partner in crime, his cell mate since the beginning. He was an urad, a bug-eyed blue-skinned man with a voice as loud as a megaphone. Not a surprise that most species would evade them, but GIx was good company.

Jag scrambled up, weakened from the fight, and the beatings thereafter. “I didn’t mean it...I didn’t want to kill anyone. How was I supposed to know his brain was where my stomach is?”

“Oh no. That means…”

“Yeah. They’re putting me to the beam.” Jag feared it, the beam. A supercharged laser, able to vaporize a being in milliseconds, but rumour was you could feel the pain well after death. “Damn Irikans, they should inform me of what I’m fighting. Humans are still bound to earth, I was stolen. I don’t know anything about the infinite races of the galaxy.” Damn them. White-skinned, horn-headed bastards who enslaved all they could find.

“It’s too bad, now I’ll have a different cell mate, I don’t want that. Human’s are simple, and you’re patient.”

Jag laughed. “You’re a funny guy, Gix. Too bad they don’t allow for honest mistakes on this planet, wherever the hell it is.” Jag sat, melancholy. He felt nothing, no fear, no sadness, no regret, yet he would miss his friend. He missed Earth too, but that was a dream four years gone. He would be free of slavery, but he would miss Gix, his lovable friend who fights like a gorilla on steroids. So kind, but not to be on the wrong side. Urad’s could expand to three times their size at will.

“All right, scum. It’s time to go.” The guard returned and commanded him up. Jag was taken away, nodding at Gix, who nodded in return, a tear forming at the corner of his eyes. Then, Gix was gone from sight, and the arena came. A massive, neon, ethereal blue stadium with huge stands, seating thousands upon thousands of people. The Ungarian threw him into the centre.

“Welcome everyone! This human is charged with killing a man in the arena! We have found him guilty, sentenced to death by vaporization!” The crowd stayed silent. “Any last words, human?”

“Yeah, when do I get my last meal?”

The Irikan spat forward in disgust, “Peh.” bringing his hand down with an almighty fist, the large cannon above him shooting a beam of light at Jag, disintegrating him into black dust.

Future's Havoc

Justin stared beyond the crevice of gnarled steel and flame. No man dared go beyond it; luscious trees, glittering lakes, rough rock mountains and more sat before his longing eyes. “Why do you think they stop us?” Justin asked his friend, Tom. They were eight years old, barely strong enough to help lift the metal for the welding of their shelters and pulling of plows in their inner-city dry corn farms.

“They say we killed the world,” Tom said sullenly. “Years ago. My dad told me we created them ‘cause we wanted help. Too many people, they were going to help.”

Justin stared back into the city, wrecked buildings seemed if they were to collapse at any time, destroyed by gunfire, missiles and explosions. Justin didn’t fully understand why they were sent into such poverty, all he knew was he lived here, and they were out there. Robots, created to automate the world, saw humans as destroyers, drawbacks to civilization, but were not brutal enough to commit genocide; they had some form of morals, so humans thought.

“I want to go.” Justin said. “I hate this place. We can’t do anything, we have nothing but garbage, out there there is so much more!” He longed for the whispers of wind, the sound of branches, the taste of river water. He had only heard about it, and he wished to experience it himself more than anyone.

“We can’t, Justin. What if something happens to us?” Tom’s speech sped up, panicked.

No one had gone outside the walls in 15 years, he heard. What if nothing happens? How would they even know? “Tom, no one really knows. What if the machines change their mind? What if we’ve learned our lesson?” Justin pleaded. The machines took over, isolating the humans to large cities, disallowing them from interacting with most of nature, out of the danger that humans would destroy all biological life out of their own selfish desires.

“I’m telling you, it isn’t a good idea. Your parents would be so angry!” Tom said. “Think about it!”

Justin considered his options. Should I stay, or go? He knew his parents would be immeasurably angry with him, but he truly wanted to see the world. It’s only for a little bit. Just beyond the trees to the north, through to the sweeping lake, seeing the flutter of leaves, the smell of flowers and the taste of fresh, natural water. “I’m going to see the world. I’ll be right back, promise!”
    Tom attempted to grab his hand, but missed as Justin escaped the metal divide.

Justin laughed and hollered, free from the clutches of the machines. He felt freedom finally, he felt alive. The grass beneath his feet, dirt from the ground kicking up as he ran.
A high pitched sound emitted from a nearby mountain. A blue stream of lightning-like energy struck Justin, causing him to expand and explode into billions of tiny crimson bits and bubbles. Tom’s scream echoed throughout the city, blood-curdling sounds alerted the nearby homes and individuals, all saw the smoking black pile that was once a young boy.

The clutches held tight; there was no escape.