Free Alien Chronicles 3 - The Crystal Eye by Deborah Chester

of it?”
    “No,” came the voice with too much haste. “I saw the messages. I heard the slogans, but nothing came of it. In the end, there was nothing to fight for. There never is.”
    Her pessimism annoyed Ampris, who glared at them all. “The Viis were lazy and disorganized when I lived among them. I can’t imagine they have improved. You could be free anytime you want.”
    “That is a lie,” Kuma said flatly.
    Ampris’s ears went back flat against her skull. She glared at him through narrowed eyes and bared her teeth. “If you remain a slave, it is because you wish to be.”
    His mouth fell open, but it was Moska who jumped to his feet in outrage. “Not true!” he said shrilly, holding his throat. “We didn’t choose to be slaves.”
    “Then what have you chosen to be?” Ampris asked him.
    He snarled at her. “You make fun of us. but you are prisoner too. If you value freedom so much, why don’t you take it for yourself?”
    “I will,” Ampris said.
    As though she had been overheard, a spotlight stabbed through the darkening gloom and illuminated the pen with blinding force. Ampris squinted and put her hands to her eyes to shield them.
    “Attention, slaves!” came a Viis voice over a loudspeaker. “Move to the rear of the pen now. When the gate is opened, you will come out one at a time with your hands on your head. Obey now.”
    In silence, the slaves moved to do as they were ordered.
    Ampris squinted past the blinding spotlight at the figures silhouetted in black. She could smell the sour Viis stink, and her nostrils wrinkled in repugnance.
    “You, Aaroun!” came the harsh voice over the loudspeaker. “Move back with the others.”
    Slowly Ampris backed up. Her fur bristled on her neck and stood up in a ridge down her spine. She kept her jaws closed, but a constant growl rumbled in her throat.
    Kuma reached out and gripped her wrist, making her jump violently. She turned on him with a snarl, but he glared at her, close and furious.
    “Make no trouble,” he said in a low voice. “Bring no harm to us.”
    It was death for any abiru to strike a Viis. Ampris knew that if she attacked and was defeated, the slaves would all be executed as accomplices. At least that would be the official word put out on the planetary newscast, but in reality the slaves would be sold for whatever profit the patrollers could get.
    She met Kuma’s eyes, trying to find some spark of defiance or courage in their depths. “There are four patrollers, armed only with stun-sticks. Their side-arms are not drawn,” Ampris said softly. “We number twenty-three. We can take them.”
    His grip tightened on her arm. “No! You will get us killed.”
    “It’s dark. We take them, put out the spotlight, and slip out through the back gate of the compound. By the time we are missed by the others, we can be well-scattered.”
    “Their scanners will find us in minutes,” he said.
    “Ah.” She drew in her breath with a sharp hiss. She’d forgotten about their implants. “Some of you will get away,” she said. “They won’t have time or fuel enough to hunt down everyone. It’s worth a try, Kuma.”
    “No.”
    “Kuma!”
    He snapped at her muzzle, making her jerk her head back to avoid a bite. “No!” he said fiercely.
    The fence buzzed, then went dead. The gate swung open with a shriek of rusty hinges. “Everyone, out,” one of the patrollers ordered. “Single file, hands on your heads.”
    Ampris hung back when Kuma stepped forward. He was the first one out of the pen, and Ampris heard rather than saw the click of restraints being locked onto his wrists. Past the spotlight, she saw him walk up the ramp into the belly of the large shuttle. Regret filled her. She wished she had worn her Eye of Clarity today. Perhaps it would have helped her make these slaves understand what freedom could offer them. But they were afraid of uncertainty. They did not know how to take risks or turn dreams into reality. Wishing, by itself,