“You there! Stand up and surrender your weapons,” one of the invaders said.
Adam held the flash rifle above his head with both hands and then tossed it aside. The others followed suit. Then they all slowly rose to their feet, their hands above their heads. They were covered with white dust and pieces of wallboard and ceiling tiles; Sherri coughed.
The armored troops all had clear masks over their long heads, with great manes of light green hair cascading down their backs. Adam had only seen these creatures in videos, but he knew they were Juirean Guards. And there were nine of them standing in the room. He was not even aware that there were nine Juirean Guards total in the entire Fringe.
“Jaoger, your squad take these three to the staging area. The rest of you scan for others,” their leader commanded. Then three of the Juireans stepped forward and began to prod the Humans toward the hallway.
They were led outside the building, past considerable debris and damage and placed in a holding area surrounded by more Juirean Guards, as well as least a hundred Rigorians. Troops came forward and placed handcuffs on them and told them to get in line. There were easily two to three hundred other creatures in the holding area, some looking perfectly clean, just confused and scared, while others were bloody and barely able to walk.
Looking up at the building, Adam saw that nearly half if it was gone, having collapsed in on itself. If it had been any taller than four stories, Adam was sure they would have been crushed in the collapse.
The three Humans stayed as close to each other as they could as they were herded forward toward a tall Juirean standing next to a much shorter creature with a smooth, featureless face, yet with a strange shimmer to his skin. When they came forward, the featureless being held up his hand.
“You are not Silean,” he stated, glancing down at a datapad. “What race are you?”
Riyad was in the lead, so he answered, “Humans. We’re Humans.”
“What was your business in the building at this hour?
Sherri spoke up. “We were just there on a trade mission when all of a sudden everyone started shooting.” She batted her eyes at the alien and hoped he could comprehend the sincerity in her voice.
“You were armed,” the alien stated.
“We were just trying to defend ourselves.”
The alien tapped on the datapad, then turned to the Juirean. “Have these three segregated from the Sileans until we can verify their story.”
The Juirean nodded, and then called for another squad of Juireans and Rigorians to load them into a transport.
The Humans didn’t say a word to each other during the ride into the city center and to the government facilities, but their eyes communicated a lot; they would lay low and keep up the facade Sherri had begun until they saw a chance to escape.
At the central prison building, the three were taken into a formidable looking building with thick stone walls and thin-slit windows. Their handcuffs were removed as they were placed in a cell with a single secure metal door and a small window set in it — no metal bars in this cell. The door slammed shut and they heard a sold metal bar slide across the outside. The Silean’s are much more serious about their jails than were the Nimorians, Adam thought.
“Oh no! Not you!”