Chapter V

The grenade lands on the ground like a pebble. It was thrown by Mr. Garcia, its motions stopped between the group of fortune hunters (you are not sure how many) who ambushed you, the shrapnel let loose right away, as it was held back a few seconds prior.

As for why your attackers didn’t start the show with a grenade: You are not sure. Perhaps they were tasked to preserve the statue. Perhaps they only wanted to kill Mr. Garcia, so you would end up among the spoils of conquest. Nor do you care too much about it to be honest. What matters is that the grenade, your grenade, worked, and most of the guys who attacked you were taken out as a consequence. And now as Mr. Garcia started shooting... You find that the amount of your opponents left on their feet became zero.

"You okay?" you hear Mr. Garcia.

You nod.

One of the men, the one you presumably knocked out, starts to crawl on the ground. Mr. Garcia jumps up to him like a lion, he rips his gun from his hand, then puts the plasma against his temple.

"How many on your ship?" he demands. The final word gets you as a surprise. You are not sure if they have their own vessel. But Mr. Garcia is, and he was the one who asked the question.

"One. The pilot. James," the man mutters with tears in his eyes. "The ship is at the end of the canyon, the next point of the star on the right. Ramp code: 0-0-0-0. Launch code: A-T-X-4-9-9-9," he adds in quick succession, in the hope that he could prove to be useful enough to be kept among the living. He is not.

"What’s your name?" he asks.

"Mike," he answers. "Mike Straus."

"Thanks, Mike," he says, then he shoots Mike in the head.

You shudder to you lay witness to Mr. Garcia’s brutality. You recognize that with you, he was actually gentle. But this is something that also turns you on to an extent. Why am I like this? You follow him with your eyes as he dresses down and puts on Mike’s clothes. They fit him perfectly. He also puts a helmet from another soldier and he covers half his face with a rug that got blooded in the shootout.

This could work, you think to yourself as you get going. You also realize that once it works, you can actually get your chance to turn the tables. Therefore you are pretty eager when he says "We are going," and he starts to escort you forward.

You don’t think he intends to speak a word to this James. Why would he? And your suspicion becomes true, once you find the ship in the canyon, and he walks up the docking ramp, the hatch opened by the code that Mike gave you.

"What happened, Mike?" James asks, a young guy in his twenties, wearing a shirt and boxers. And for the record: You almost feel sorry for him.

"It’s just business," Mr. Garcia says, then James freezes, looking at Mr. Garcia with wide eyes as he lifts up the plasma gun and shoots a hole through his head.

He could have at least waited if the codes are true, you think to yourself. But again: you are not running the show here. As you recognize the heat from the plasma guns barrel against your back, you also find yourself surprised for once.

"Come on, we both know you are planning to take advantage of the situation here," Mr. Garcia says. "Now let’s see what they have for you in the cargo hold!"

The plasma gun pointed to your back, it is actually you in the lead, as you find and search for the said cabin. But once you arrive you realize that it is game over.

The first thing you see is a slave cage, rectangular, barely able to keep a person in a sitting position. But what you see next is the true instrument of your horror: It is a latex straitjacket, laid out on the surface of one of the crates, a slave collar and a remote.

"Time to suit up!" Mr. Garcia says. And due to the fact that he has a gun held to your back at the whole time, you have no choice but to endure as the ropes holding your arms are removed, and you are dressed into a straitjacket that everyone deems inescapable.

"And now this!" he says as he gets a slave collar in his hand. "Hold still!" You hear the words and you obey, waiting patiently as the slave collar gets secured around your neck.

What comes after that is nothing but pure symbolism: You being shepherded into the cage with the lock shut while you are on the wrong side of it. In reality your fate was sealed already.

"I will get this bird in the air, just in case there are others. But I will be back to have some fun with your in due time. Don't worry!"

He says, and he leaves you alone in the cargo hold. Your only option left to sit in the cage as the ship begins to gain altitude, and contemplate on the fact that you lost.