Sequence by Adam Moon Page A

kind. I put her in a mech to help us offload the cargo. I apologize if I’ve made an error in judgment.”
    The female god paused for a frightening few seconds and finally said, “As always, your judgment is impeccable, Captain. Good work. I’m sorry to hear that you lost your number three during the mission.”
    “Thank you, miss.” The captain kept his head bowed as he took a step backwards.
    The god looked over Chris and Samda one last time and then moved on down the line.
    Once she’d walked the length of the hangar , she turned and said in a booming voice, “Numbers eleven through thirty-five stay here to help categorize the specimens. The rest of you will return to your barracks until the experiment is ready.”
    Most of the mechs walked towards the back of the hangar. The captain ushered Samda and Chris that way too.

Overdue Reunion
     
    As they walked, a couple of mechs made their way towards the captain. One of them conspiratorially said to him, “It’s good to have you back. How was the trip?”
    “It was a long one , but at least I got to get away for awhile. How were things here?”
    “She’s gone completely insane. She killed off a lot of us when she decided she didn’t need so many slaves. She gets bored and easily upset, but you already knew that. I’m just glad you’re back and that the mission was a success. Maybe when she’s done she’ll let us all go.”
    “I hope y ou’re right. It’s been a hundred thousand years since I felt my own skin, breathed through my own mouth, tasted food, or felt any kind of physical sensation. Sometimes I forget that I’m alive.”
    “We all feel the same. There are rumors that she destroyed all of our bodies a long time ago , but I don’t believe them. She knows we need them to give us hope. Without the bodies as leverage, most of us would’ve given up a long time ago.”
    “The worst thing we ever did was to try and save God.”
    “She’s not the god we hoped for, sir.”
    “I know that. Hopefully the upgraded god will be a lot kinder to us.”
    “That’s what we’ve been praying for too.”
    “Have our cousins, the Grays, tried to attack the planet?”
    “Only just as you landed. They must’ve followed you here. Until now, they didn’t think to look for us on such an inhospitable world. If you remember, this outpost was abandoned half a million years ago because it’s worthless. They couldn’t know that the bitch would put us in these robots so we wouldn’t need to breathe or be fed. They couldn’t know she’d be so cruel.”
    The captain nodded sadly and said, “Well, our ship came under attack. If it weren’t for you guys being held hostage I would’ve given up or let them destroy the ship.”
    “I know how you feel. This life has been longer than our psyche’s can handle. We’re not built for such prolonged monotony.”
    “Well I think that’s about to come to an end very soon. I just hope it all works out in our favor.”
    “Life owes us that much. We’ve sacrificed too much to be dealt another blow.”
    A different, strange mech whispered to Chris, “I hear you’re an Earthman. I thought you insects were deemed too inconsequential to be included in this grand experiment. I guess you must have evolved a little since then.”
    Chris didn’t know what to say to that so he shoved the asshole mech gently away from him and tried his best to ignore it and zero in on the captain’s conversation again.
    The mech shoved him back, but harder, and said, “Don’t you ever touch me , you pond scum lowlife.”
    Samda stepped up and grabbed the jerk by the tentacle. She pushed on his back with three of her tentacles and said, “I understand you’ve been through a lot, but none of that is our fault. Take your frustrations out on someone that deserves it.” Then she pushed him forward so that he was again moving with the crowd.
    He didn’t look too pleased , but he must have decided against further instigation when none of his