Time Traveler: E238. Captive (Part 2)

Previous: E238. “Captive” (Part 1)

“Please, tell me I’m not one of them,” Robin pleaded inwardly. “Or maybe I am? Is that the reason for the changes I’ve been going through? The reading minds, the self-healing, is all that because I am…? There’s no way,” he thought, his mind a sea of fear and confusion.

Outside, the conversation continued:
“So what do you plan to do with the subject? “

“We have to let him go; if we don’t, we’ll get in trouble with the Order and, of course, with the captain.”
“Silverfox, a hero to some, a pain in the a** to others.”
“The captain wouldn’t like to hear that.”

“I don’t give a f*** what Silverfox thinks, he’s not my boss anymore. Now, who’s our guy?”
“A young man from Aurora Skies.”
“From Earth? Didn’t you just say he’s one of your kind?
“Only 40%. Which is enough to set him free.”

Robin’s heart jumped again.
“I’m getting out of here! But…40%? Of what? Alien? God, please no.”

“I don’t care what percentage he is. My job is to check if he broke any laws to take him to the precinct.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Cause he’s not a criminal; he’s here by an accident. And he’s one of us, he’s family, okay?”

Robin’s stomach churned.
“Family? I can’t be related to those people,”

“Family or not, I gotta make sure he isn’t a wanted felon. So cut the crap already and open that door, Galad.”
“Do you have a warrant?
“Of course I don’t, I’m not the stupid police.”

“Exactly. You’re just a bounty hunter, your ‘job’ is to hunt down criminals, and this guy isn’t one. Besides, the Treaty strictly prohibits you from chasing alien people.”
“But you just said he’s 40%, so he’s not really alien.”
“Well, he may not be a full-blooded alien, but he’s still one of our own.”

Robin’s stomach churned again, this time violently. He would have thrown up, but he restrained himself. First, because he didn’t want to give himself away; and second, because of his curiosity to keep listening.

He took a deep breath and went back to eavesdropping:
“We bounty hunters are authorized to hunt down anyone, no matter what species. That’s how we keep the galaxy free of scum. And your subject might be one, so, open the f***ing cell right now, or I’ll report you to the syndicate.”

“Okay, I don’t want trouble with the syndicate. I’ll let you in, but I’m warning you: no violence.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll only use it if I have to,” the bounty hunter scoffed. “Now, can you open the door once and for all?”

Galad the alien let out a sigh, pressed the button on the door controls, and he and the bounty hunter stepped inside the cell.

Robin moved back as the door swung open and the faces belonging to the voices behind it appeared in front of him. The first was a young alien guy with a worried look. The second, a middle-aged man with a rough appearance, who strode over to him to inspect him from head to toe.

“So you were last night’s lucky guy”, he mocked.
“W-who are you? Why are you keeping me here?” Robin asked.
“Uh, hi. I’m Galad Hahn, head of the Alien Research Center, and this is David Karstark, he’s…”
“Let’s skip the introductions.” Karstark cut him off, fixing his gaze on Robin. “Now, what is your name, kid?”

Robin was speechless as he stared in terror at the alien before him.
“You have nothing to fear, you’re here by a mistake, we’ll send you home soon,” Galad hastened to say.
“We’ll see about that. First, tell us your name.” Karstark insisted.
It was a simple question, except that Robin couldn’t remember even the first letter of his name.

“My name? I-I don’t remember,” he stammered.
“Seriously? Did you hit your head or something?”
When Robin failed to respond, Karstark turned to Galad.

“What’s his name?”
“We don’t know, either”.
“Didn’t he have any ID on him?”
“All the test subjects’ belongings go to the burner. His ID probably ended up there.”
“But you must have checked it before doing the procedure.”
“I don’t take part in that. I just supervise the subject’s transfers afterwards.”
Karstark shook his head and turned back to Robin.

“Do you really not remember your name or are you just trying to play smart with me?” he asked, visibly annoyed.
“He’s telling the truth. We partially wipe the subjects’ memories, so they don’t remember the, um, experience“.
“Really? How thoughtful of you.” Karstark mocked.

“The wipe is just temporary,” Galad replied. “He’ll get his memories back in a few hours. And the procedure wasn’t really applied to him since he’s…”
“One of your kind, yeah, you’ve already told me that a million times,” Karstark snapped, making Robin nauseous again.

Then he stepped closer to him and gave a wry smile:
“Nice catch, Gal. I see your taste has improved.”
Robin clenched his fist and took a step back; Galad hurried to answer.
“I had nothing to do with his abduction. My Center doesn’t do that anymore. Again, he’s here by an unfortunate mistake.”
“Sure… Though with subjects like him, I might reconsider,” Karstark smirked.

Then, studying Robin’s face once again: “I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere; in fact, you remind me of someone, I just can’t figure out who.” And then back to Galad: “See if you can retrieve his ID.”
“I doubt anything can be recovered from the burner.”

“Then check last night’s abduction list, or the database. Use your imagination if you have any, just get me that ID. Meanwhile, I will interrogate him.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but I’m warning you…”
“I know. No violence. Don’t worry, I’ll just have a quick chat with your boy.”
“He’s not my boy”.
“But you wish he were, don’t you?”, Karstark chuckled. “Now go do what I asked you.”

“Ok, I’ll be right back. Sorry, but I’ll have to lock the cell.”
“Yeah, whatever. Just go already,” Karstark urged him on once more.

Despite the natural fear Galad’s presence instilled in him, Robin felt much less safe once he left the cell. From the alien’s hesitation to walk out, he sensed that David Karstark was not someone you could trust.

When the door closed behind Galad, Karstark turned back to Robin.
“Okay, do you even know where you’re from? Not from that frozen-over little mouse hole Aurora Skies, right?”
“That’s none of your business,” Robin snapped.
“Oh, you’re being cocky now.”

“That won’t get you very far here, you know?” Karstark sneered as Robin moved away. “So I’m going to ask again: ‘Where-are-you-from?’ We already know you’re not entirely human, so what are you? Jupiterian? Saturnian?”

“Or are you just a common Lunarian?”
“I’m human. From Planet Earth,” Robin replied.
“The mark on your hand proves otherwise. In case you didn’t know, it’s how the aliens identify their own, to prevent them from being abducted again in the future.” Robin couldn’t help but gulp upon hearing that last part. Karstark continued: “Now, where exactly on Earth are you from? Could it be by chance Oasis Landing?”

The shock in Robin’s look and the paleness that washed over his face, gave him away.

Karstark’s question had triggered a flood of memories inside his head, most of them of his escape from Oasis Landing.

He brought his hand to his forehead, as if that would help him hold those memories back.
“That rings a bell, doesn’t it?” Karstark chuckled.

“Now I remember where I’ve seen you before. You ran away from the Oasis, didn’t you? Yeah, your face is on those posters all over town.”

“You’re one of the Council’s most wanted offenders, isn’t that so… Robin Crane?”

(To be Continued)

Credits and thanks for the poses in this episode:
Emotions – Body Language, Conversation Poses Set 3 (Convo Set 3), Convo/Emotion Poses Set 2, Adult Walk and Talk, Walk and Talk Set 2, Convo Set 4, Emotion – Male Adult Poses, Vomit. All of them by Bee. You can find them all at Poses by Bee (WP) and/or Poses by Bee (Tumblr). A million thanks, Bee! 🤗❤️

Note: Episode 238 “Captive” is a particularly long installment, so I’ve divided it into three parts. This was difficult to do without disrupting the continuity, so I’m including a link to the previous part (Part 1) for those who are either new to this episode, new to the entire series, or simply need a refresher to remember where we left off two months ago. A series of circumstances, both within the gaming universe and real life, have made it difficult or delayed the release of “Time Traveler”, but I will do my best to continue publishing it until it is finished. Thank you all for your understanding.

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