Flight, Fight or Freeze

As soon as I agreed to the unknown voice in my ear, I could feel the metal cuffs binding me to the bed release, giving me my first bit of freedom in God only knew how long.

"Any idea how long I've been here?" I asked as I gently sat up. A little lightheaded, a lot weak, but so far, so good.

"By the Earth calendar or the Alliance calendar?" came the disjointed voice from my earpiece. It seemed more distracted than before, but I assumed that would be normal if you were planning a prison break all by yourself.

In this case, I was definitely the brawn… I would leave the thinking to the one in control of the electronic locks.

"Since I am not aware of any Alliance that would have their own calendar, let's go with the Earth calendar," I said, gingerly putting first one foot down and then the other. Seeing my legs being able to take a bit of my weight, I slowly shifted myself off the bed into a standing position. Looking down at the hair on my legs I cringed to myself. A spa day was definitely in order… this was worse than the after-winter growth.

"You have been here for 2 years 10 months and 51 days," his voice was still distracted as he gave me that piece of news. My legs shook, threatening to send me to the floor if I didn't put some strength back into them.

"Any idea of the date?" I asked. I might not be able to experience all the emotions a person was supposed to have, but I think that I was well within my right to feel shocked.

"October 18, 2239."

"Huh," I said thoughtfully, looking around for something that I can wear. "Happy Birthday to me I guess." Apparently, I was no longer almost 20…I was officially 22 as of today. I wonder if they have any cake here? "Do you know where I can get some clothes? Of any kind?" I asked, the chill coming up from my feet, caused me to shiver.

"There should be some in the cupboard," the voice said and a small light came on in front of me, lighting up a cupboard that was almost hidden in the wall. "Your mammary glands might be too big though. The scientists could not figure out what they were for. Does everyone on your planet have them?" the voice continued in an almost curious tone.

My eyebrows shot up into my bangs. "Mammary glands?" I asked shocked, double checking that that was what he actually said. Look at me, going through all these emotions in one day. Maybe they were wrong about me being a psychopath.

"You mean my breasts?" I continued, looking down at the aforementioned glands. They were also protesting the cold and lack of clothing just like the rest of me was. "No, only female mammals on my planet have them," I said in a deadpan voice.

"Fascinating," came the voice again as I rushed as fast as my weakened legs could carry me to the cupboard to throw on some clothes. They didn't fit, but beggars couldn't be choosers as far as I was concerned.

"Alright," I said as I made myself as presentable as I could. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?" I asked, heading to where I knew the door was. It was still pitch black in the room, but since I had been in here for apparently almost 3 years, I would like to think I knew my way around…

"What show?" came the male voice in my ear, clearly confused.

I sighed to myself. I needed to remember that I was dealing with an alien and not a human. "There is no show… it is just a figure of speech to say… 'let's get on with this'."

"Ah," said the voice, his tone that of understanding. "Then… let's get this show on the road," he continued as the door in front of me slid open with a hiss. It was one thing to know that you had been kidnapped by aliens, and it was quite another opening a door and seeing the gleaming silver hallway of what could only be a spaceship.

I looked to my left and then to my right as I quickly stepped out into the hallway. "Which way?" I whispered.

"Right," came a more distant voice. He seemed distracted, maybe even a bit stressed.

"Is everything ok?" I asked as I turned right and started to walk forward. There was no point in even pretending that I was one of the staff aboard. I am pretty sure even the meatheads could tell the difference between a 5'2 human female with pale skin and long black hair and a 6-foot-something lizard.

"Yes, someone is trying to break into the protocols that I have installed," came the voice again, this time back to being more electronic than it had been before.

Clearly distracted.

"Is that going to be a problem?" I asked, continuing straight. Coming up on a four-way intersection, I paused for a second. "Direction?"

"Straight. And no, it won't be a problem… once I am free," he said, this time sounding more human.

"Oh? Why is that?" I asked as I continued straight, making sure that there was nothing in the hallway on either side of me. It didn't seem like this ship was heavily manned, but what did I know? Maybe this was considered a normal crew.

"Why is what?" he answered, sounding confused.

"Why won't it be a problem once you are freed?"

"Because right now, I cannot harm them. Once I am free, I no longer have to obey that rule," the voice coming out of my earpiece right now sounded sinister, like how a movie villain might speak. It might freak some people out to have those words hissed in their ear… but I think I had already established that I was not like most people.

"Well, then, let's get you freed, shall we?" I asked, picking up my pace. Coming to the end of the hall with a tube going up and down I paused. "What now?"

The tube quietly opened, revealing what every sci-fi tv show and movie has shown me to be an elevator of some kind. I stepped in and felt my stomach hit the back of my throat as I was hurtled down. "A little warning next time," I grumbled, trying to get my internal organs back to where they belonged. Who knew if I even had them all after all the experimentations?

"Sorry, they breached the first wall," came the disjointed voice. "We have to hurry!"

"Understood," I said, cracking my knuckles and stretching my neck. I would be prepared for whatever I needed to be once this door opened.

Crouching low, I was jarred when the tube came to a sudden halt and the door slid open. Once again looking left and right I waited for the next direction. "Left."

I sprinted left, still thankful that I had not met up with anything yet. "You won't meet anyone here," said the voice as if reading my mind.

"You can read minds?" I asked as I continued to run as fast as I could down the hallway. I figured he would keep me up to date with where I needed to go next.

"Right," came the sudden command and I quickly turned right. "And no, your brain waves as well as heart rate and breathing increased in what can only be determined as fear. I assumed you were worried about being found. Left."

I veered left. "Huh, too bad my psychologist couldn't have those readings. The fucker said that I was incapable of feeling emotions."

"Fear is not an emotion. It is a chemical change within the body to react to certain situations that could or could not determine the possibility of survival. Left. I can only assume that because you don't have any natural defenses, this chemical is what has kept your species alive as long as it had. Straight."

"Fight, flight or freeze," I huffed, happy that before my capture I liked to keep up with my exercises but after three years of being strapped to a table? Yeah, I couldn't keep this up much longer. "How much further?"

"Freeze!" The voice screamed in my ear and I stopped dead in my tracks, barely breathing. "Sisalik," hissed the voice. I had no idea whatsoever what a Sisalik was, but running into one was definitely low on my list of things to do today.

I crouched down and took a brief glimpse around the corner. There was a lizard standing there, clearly guarding a door. "I'm going to guess that I have to get into that room he is guarding," I whispered, trying to figure out just how I was going to be able to do just that.

"Hide!" Obeying the voice of the person, place, or thing that I did not know, I found a darkened section of the hallways and crouched down as much as I could to hide in the shadows.

I didn't have to wait long before I heard the heavy footsteps of the lizardman walking by me in a quick manner. "I gave him a command from his superior, but this won't keep him away for long. Hurry!" I quickly stood up and bolted down the hall and into the room. The voice probably managed to open the door from his side.

"Okay," I said, looking around the room. "What next?"

"Free me!" the voice replied, somewhere between a hiss, a moan, and a scream.

Looking around the room, I had no idea what I was going to do next.

"Yeah," I said. "And exactly how am I going to do that?"