The room was dark. There were windows, but the closed blinds barely left any light inside. It was suffocating. It gave the sensation of being trapped on a concrete box without escape. The government official swallowed. Had the mouth dry. He broke in a cold sweat and the uniform was bothering him. Four of his people were on the floor, leaving only him standing. His gun was on the floor. It was useless now. A piece of metal that could not face the thing he was looking at.

He had captured the alien, as ordered. Had thought that it was a golden chance, so he tried to bargain for more than what was established before, refusing to hand him over until then. It had been a mistake.

They have sent what he had jsut started to call a Death Sphere. Of a metallic blue, it made small high pitched noises every now and then, with weapons that we're so small he could barely recognize them as such, but that had dealt with the other four people that had come with him in the blink of an eye. The bullets he had shot didn't pierce it, and it floated like a ghost. Killed humans like insects.

He was next.

"Do not make this more complicated than it needs to be." A voice from the sphere was heard. It was pure machinery, like gears and springs that made words with their creaking and scraping, and the noise resounded in the official's chest and hurt his ears. "You were asked to fulfill a task in exchange of appropiate compensation. After capturing the individual known as Kraussen, the compensation shall come once you have given him to us. Asking more than that is illogical and irrational."

The official thought carefully about his next words.

"I...I apologize...I..."

"Your apology has been accepted." The voice cut him. "We shall come for the individual known as Kraussen as soon as possible. you are tasked with keeping him under surveillance until then."

"...Yes."

"Your answer has been accepted."

Without saying more, the sphere floeated until it reached the ceiling, went through the solid material and dissappeared.

The official feel to his knees, his heart almost about to stop. That damned alien doctor... He was supposed to be a golden egg chicken, and everything it had been until then was an almost one-way ticket to dying. He better started playing the part as something valuable if the people from his own home planet were this adamant about getting him back.

He stood up. He would've preferred to stay on the ground for another couple minutes, but he couldn't. He needed to call someone to clean up the bodies.



To be continued in Volume 2