Operation Martian Rescue

Chapter 3: A Possible Alliance

Kess woke up surrounded by prison walls. Her arm felt weak, and they must've landed. She stood up, putting her claws behind her back and pacing. Her tail dragged on the ground a little. The muzzle was gone; replaced with a collar chained to a post in the middle. The chain hummed and crackled as she paced around the post.

She reached up to scratch her head, but something intercepted her.

Her horn! Charlotte must've repaired it.

Kess cooed softly, reaching around it to rub her scales. Thank you, Charlotte.

Kess, are you there? A message played in her left ear. It sounded like Charlotte, and she realized happily that it was.

"I'm here, yes," she whispered, not trying to make a commotion.

We can't teleport you until they unchain you. Hang tight. According to the keepers, you're special. They've been studying you very closely.

"Why?" She chortled.

Your scales are just an unusual color. Nothing on Mars is green, and yet your scales are. Myself included, nobody's ever seen it occur. I'd love to study you - the proper way - when we bring you here.

Kess heard footsteps echoing through the plated halls. She pressed her ear against the door, tugging on the holographic cord. It buzzed louder as it went as tight as possible.

"Stop it!!" Somebody called in Martian. Kess thought it was somebody who was also taken from his home, caught at night wandering the streets. "Haven't you heard of scanners?! What is this, the sixteenth centry? Let me go!" His voice stopped echoing. Kess sighed. Hopefully that wouldn't happen to her.

She realized that the footsteps were getting closer. Apparently, they wanted more than one. Kess listened as they walked past her cell, and to the one right next door.

The Martian Dragon there didn't struggle. All she heard was his claws click against the floor as he walked.

Kess curled up in a circle and waited for her turn. It was the only thing she could do at this point.

It wasn't long. It was like Charlotte said: they'd want to study her unusual scales.

The door swung open and two humans stormed in. One of them reached out with his hand, and the chain unlatched and hit a glove on his hand with a clunk. The moving of the chain threw Kess off the ground and closer to him.

They haven't taken off my chain, she realized. The human tugged on her, forcing her to walk to the next cell.

The second human entered alone, grabbing the Dragon's chain the way the first one grabbed hers. Kess knew someone who would've loved the technology, but, she on the other hand, couldn't care less.

Kess immediately noticed what was taking so long. The Dragon was regenerating one of his legs. It was so tiny, so he had to jump up and down to move.

"Move on all fours, ya salamander," the guard snapped, messing up half the syllables in Universal. Kess rolled her eyes out of sight. He listened, still limping on three legs.

They walked down the reinforced halls, twisted and turned through more, then finally, reached a wonderful, metal door.

What variety.

They opened the door and tossed the chains on the floor, slamming the door and shaking the structure as they went.

Kess felt herself start to dematerialize...

"Wait!" She yelled, and the teleporter stopped. The other Dragon looked at her weird. "There's someone next to me who's unchained. Can you grab him too? His leg isn't fully regenerated and I bet he hasn't been eating the proper food to help."