The Captive (Chapter 2)

Matthew gets to close

Linda and Cindy entered the party and Linda immediately searched the room for Matthew. She saw Pete over in a corner talking to a group of girls. She looked to see that Cindy was already in a conversation with a boy who she had met while studying in the library. Linda made her way over to Peter still keeping an eye out for Matthew. Peter noticed her and excused himself from the group of girls he was talking to. “Where’s Matthew?” She asked when he was close enough to hear.
“He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Something came up at the club some type of sighting or something he went to go check it out.” Linda felt the blood drain from her face at the news. “Are you alright Linda?”
“Yeah I’m fine. If Cindy asks tell her I went to meet Matthew at the astronomy club.”
Pete looked slightly surprised but quickly recovered and nodded as she headed toward the door.

That night at the astronomy club Matthew was looking in the big telescope against Linda’s warnings. He saw something fly quickly by the telescope. He followed it and sure enough it landed on Mars. Another thing flew off the planet and came toward Earth. As it got closer he could see that it looked somewhat like a spaceship and it was going to land on earth. “I can’t believe it” he almost shouted. He looked around no one had heard him except a strange lady wearing a hood over her face who had come in about 15 minutes ago and had been watching him ever since. A shiver went up his spine but it was soon gone he was so excited that nothing could get him down for long.
He suddenly heard a voice from behind him and turned to see Linda. She was wearing torn up jeans and a hooded sweatshirt and her bangs were covering the entire right side of her face. He jumped up and ran to her side, grabbed her hand and pulled her hurriedly over to the telescope.
“What is it Matthew.”
“I’ve found it Linda,” He gasped excitedly, “I found real live aliens.” She looked at him doubtfully and he pushed her toward the telescope. Reluctantly she looked inside and after a minute she stepped back and shook her head.
“I didn’t see anything Matthew. Look I didn’t come here for this I came here to get you.”
He slapped his hand against forehead and groaned “The Christmas Eve party I completely forgot. I’m sorry Linda.” He gathered his stuff, picked up the cup of water to take a final drink and then hurried out the door holding firmly to Linda’s hand as he went. He was going so fast that he bumped right into the cloaked lady as he went. “Excuse me” he said
“It’s quite all right.” She said he still couldn’t see her face but she sounded slightly British. “What did you find in that telescope that was so interesting?” he could hear the smile in her voice but also a hint of skepticism.
“Well,” he was about to tell her but Linda was tugging impatiently on his arm. “Um, nothing much I’ve got to go.”
Matthew followed Linda, only once did he look back to see that the cloaked woman was still watching him something about her seemed very scary and yet familiar at the same time and he had to wonder who she was. But Linda’s voice cut through his thoughts “Matthew look out.” Suddenly the most terrifying creature jumped out of the bushes teeth bared. It was green and scaly and had long sharp claws. It grabbed Linda and held its claw to her neck and hissed something in another language that he couldn’t understand.
“Don’t hurt her.” He said holding both his hands above his head “you can have whatever you want.” The alien nodded to something behind him and two more aliens came and grabbed him
The aliens pulled him and Linda into the bushes and tossed them into the space pod and climbed into the ship. He turned and looked out the window as they whizzed through space. Watching as earth disappeared behind him and trying to work through what had just happened and how in just a matter of minutes he had ended up a prisoner of an alien species. And most of all would he ever escape?

Soon they arrived on Mars. The aliens led him and Linda to the palace where an alien whom he figured out was named Jenaa entered and went inside to talk to the High Kong. Matthew and Linda stood outside in the hall waiting for her return. “Are you all right?” Matthew asked but the alien named Giglo gave him a swift rap on the head that quickly silenced him.
He didn’t say anymore but instead set to looking about his surroundings trying to learn everything he could about these aliens he couldn’t believe that he really had found aliens. A couple minutes later Jenaa left the throne room and walked over to Giglo a frown creased her face Matthew was on the other side of the large hall looking at a statue of a sharligergater a striped fish with legs and a mane he could still hear the conversation but as was expected he couldn’t understand the language.
They spoke for a moment longer and then Jenaa came over to them she seemed very upset and looked worried but it all faded away when she said “The Kong can’t see you tonight.” It was the first time one of the aliens had talked directly to him and he was surprised that it was in English. “You’ll have an audience with him tomorrow. Until then I guess you’ll have to stay in one of our swamp cells.” Swamp cells? He didn’t like the sound of that but what he liked even less was that it looked like him and Linda would be separated as Giglo grabbed him roughly and dragged him in the direction of a rundown hover-car.
The engine rattled and looked and sounded like it was going to break down any minute. The alien mumbled something about wishing 69he was born Imaginese instead of Martian and then took off down the marshy street.
They sat in silence while Matthew looked at the unimpressive scenery it was very dull and wet as well as swampy with trees hanging over them and slapping across the roof of the car. He also noticed that there were no roads to follow they were gliding right above the water darting between trees and rocks. Here and there, there were patches of land, they were all different sizes and each one had a house or two on it he even noticed a couple houses that were half submerged in the water and he couldn’t believe that people actually lived on this planet. Even the palace itself had been mostly underwater with only a single tower poking out above the surface.
They rounded a corner and he saw a house on a small island it was surrounded by weeping willows and looked quite dreary and like the car in need of some repair. Matthew had just barley stepped out of the car and onto the soft ground when the door slammed automatically and the car dived under the water.
As soon as he was gone Matthew felt quite lonely he was in a strange land and the one and only person he knew on this planet had been brought to another cell. He was just glad that everything would be explained tomorrow and with that he decided it was time to get some sleep.

Trine was the king’s most trusted servant she was the one he sent on his most important assignments she never failed him and the earth boy was no exception her people had always been worried of him but once he began college and started in with that little club of his it had been too much and Trine had been sent to watch him more closely the king had told her to get close to him. And it was her job to keep their planet protected at all costs even kidnapping. Now Trine sat passing back and forth through her under water house. She laughed to herself as she thought of Matthew attempting to get off the island. This of course was impossible. Even if he had wanted to she had a swarm of her finest gators surrounding the island, he was trapped. Sphyco was her favorite of the gators and her best as the creature lay curled up at her feet. Gator was not short for alligator as you may be thinking, no gator was short for sharligergater with rows of sharp teeth and beady black eyes that searched for their next prey they were deadly and with their stubby little legs they were as much a threat out of the water as in for they were fast and the gray and green markings helped them stay hidden in the murky water that made up Mars.
Trine sat down on a chair made of gator hair. But as much as Trine loved the feel of the chair the animal itself felt much better she reached down and stroked Sphyco’s mane, contemplating another mission the king had placed her on the mission that was most important much more important than some earth boy saying he found aliens of course as Matthew had well seen earth was much more civilized than Mars but it didn’t matter because Mars had some of the best soldiers, they had never lost a fight. In fact the few bits of technology they had on this planet had been stolen from other planets. Now that the boy was out of the way she had to get back to her original assignment the search of Su Kutcha it was the hardest assignment she had ever been on. There was a buzz signaling that someone was in the airlock. She stood to see who it was. Sphyco stood and yawned and then seeing that his master was only going to the door he curled back up and went to sleep. She opened the door to let in the pale green figure it was Jenaa, Trine herself was a sea green
“What is it?” Asked Trine hopefully. Jenaa being the king’s own daughter and one of Trine’s good friends Jenaa always had some news about the king. A new assignment or something equally pleasing.
“It’s Hamol.” Trine’s face darkened she knew as well as the next that the king’s son Jenaa’s brother had gone crazy after returning from a battle with Saturn.
“What’s the matter with him?”
“He’s gone.”


The next morning Matthew awoke early his stomach was growling and he realized he hadn’t eaten anything since the fries he had gotten at the club he usually grabbed a burger or something on the way home but he hadn’t gotten a chance yesterday now he was starving. He made a quick search of the house there were a couple things but barley anything that was edible most everything was spoiled. He recalled seeing fish in the water when he was in the hover-car. He started out of the house but stopped suddenly on the rickety old porch. There on the shore sat an ugly creature staring at him hungrily. Mangy hair hung around its face its teeth sent shivers racing up his spine and its beady black eyes felt like they had pierced through to his very soul. He retreated back into the house. He found a back door and started for the water he bent down he started to wrestle with a makeshift pole he had made. He and his dad had gone fishing once or twice when he was younger and his dad had taught him how to fish he gazed into the water to look for a fish that he could hook. But instead of finding a unexpecting victim he found himself staring into beady black eyes they held his stare he looked to see that the water was filled with the creatures he turned and ran back toward the house slamming the door behind him he was surrounded and trapped he sure hoped Jenaa or Giglo would hurry up before those creatures got real hungry and came out of the water after him.
He didn’t have to wait long for soon a hover-car pulled up chasing off the creatures he went out to greet his rescuer, Giglo sat in the front seat and Matthew climbed in hurriedly so he wouldn’t make the creature upset.
They soon arrived at the castle there were people everywhere many more than the night before. Something was going on he just didn’t know what. People were talking in groups in frightened whispers but they were naturally talking in their own language so he couldn’t understand them.
They soon entered the throne room the king sat on his throne he was wearing rich clothing that looked expensive enough to rebuild the entire kingdom. Beside him sat a beast of large proportions the creature stirred and turned to gaze at him his heart froze as he stared into the beady black eyes of the sharligergater a shiver ran up his spine but the thing Matthew found most interesting was the king he was thin and beady eyed himself and beyond that he was a greenish blue, his hair was more like seaweed, his hands were webbed and in place of ears he had holes on the side of his head. As Matthew thought about it he realized that all the people in the halls had looked slightly like this in fact none of the people looked like they were the same species. As he was thinking these things Linda who had already been in the room when he came in spoke. “You’re majesty my task is done and if you don’t mind I would like to go back to my old task.”
“Thank you very much Trine permission granted you have done your task well.”
“Thank you you’re majesty.”
Matthew sat there totally lost “You may go now Trine.”
“Wait Linda.” Matthew spun around.
“Fool!” said Linda with a cruel smile. “Only a human would fall for such an obvious trap.”
That’s when Matthew noticed the six ugly slits three on each side of her neck. Linda smiled and slowly the human façade began to melt away and in her place was an ugly sea green alien with webbed hands and slimy scales just like the rest in the room.
“You tricked me Linda.”
“A boy in love is always easy to trick.” She smiled wickedly again and laughed a horrid laugh. “Sorry to break you heart, boy”
Matthew could feel his heart tearing right down the middle. He felt the soldiers grab him and snap something around his neck and then lead him down a hall and throw him into a cell but his mind and heart were somewhere else as the feeling of betrayal began to settle over him. Matthew cuddled up in a corner and did something he hadn’t done for a long time, he cried
For how long he sat there he had no idea but when he stopped crying he started to think, he was more confused than ever he wasn’t even sure who Linda was anymore was she really the girl he had known her as trustworthy, confident, friendly, worried, secretive. Or was she really an alien someone who had been assigned to get close to him to keep him away from her people and who warned him to stay away and when he failed took him away.
Either way he should have listened to her. He thought of all the things that had happened from the time he had first started watching Mars. It had only been a couple of months. And he hadn’t even gone to his club since he had first met Linda some how she had always kept him away from it wither by alien powers or something else.
Then he began to think of the British woman he had met at the club. There was something strange about her but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Why had she been watching him and why was she so curios about what he had seen in the telescope? what did she want? Just then a scuffling from the back of the cell broke into his thoughts someone or something cleared its throat Matthew could hear is sit up and yawn as it stretched but when he looked there was no one there.