Free Damage Control - ARC by Mary Jeddore Blakney Page A

on, she now felt a disproportionate sense of loss. Aside from
her body and thoughts, her clothes were all she'd had left from
home. Now even they were gone. She took a deep breath and told
herself to be reasonable. Probably they were just out for washing
and she would be back inside them soon.
    She picked up the gray clothing and found
that it was all one piece. A pair of tall boots stood on the floor,
and leaning against the wall was one of those things Zuke had
called armor. She didn't see any undergarments anywhere.
    It took her a while to figure out the alien
garment, but she got it on, eventually. The boots were easier, and
strangely comfortable. The armor was too confusing, and superfluous
anyway, so she left it in the corner.
    She heard footsteps, and Laitt came in
without knocking. “I was delayed. I will show you how to wear the
faltoopp.” She picked up the armor and handed it to Jade.
    “So this is called a faltoopp,” said
Jade.
    “Yes. Hold it here and put your head
here...fasten this...pull this.”
    Now Jade was dressed in a Chuzekk soldier's
uniform. She wore a catsuit, knee-high boots and the faltoopp.
Besides size, the only difference between her outfit and Laitt's
was the markings on the faltoopp. Zuke had said they indicated
“rank and command.” Embossed on her own faltoopp was a sort of
rounded rectangle. Laitt's, like Zuke's, was more intricate,
bearing a pattern made of many circles. Both Laitt's and Jade's
bore identical symbols that Jade didn't like the look of: a claw or
talon appeared to be in the act of putting out an eye.
    But the markings were not important right
now. She turned to Laitt. “What am I doing here, anyway?”
    “Dressing.”
    “No, I mean why am I here? Why was I
captured?”
    “I don't know. Were you captured with others,
or was only you captured?”
    “Only me, I think. I was at my aunt's house.
A lot of pods landed. They had us surrounded.”
    “I think someone ordered your capture. But I
don't know who or why,” said Laitt. “You should eat. The door
guards will take you to the cafeteria. You can order food from the
round pillars. They understand English. My workday is ending. I
will go home now and return tomorrow. My husband's workday is
ending, also.” She smiled confidentially. “He is an interrogator.”
She watched Jade's face for a reaction, and when she saw none, she
explained, “Interrogators are the best lovers.”
    For a moment, Jade said nothing. A lover who
made a living torturing people wasn't Jade's cup of tea. She
wondered if Laitt's husband would be her own interrogator. She
wondered if she would survive the interrogation or if he would
realize too late that she had no information that could be useful
to the Chuzekk side.
    "Listen," she said, "I've tried to be very
reasonable. I know it's not your fault and all. You just work here,
you don't make the decisions and all that. I get it. I really do.
But there's a lot more at stake here than just some stupid job,
alright?" She was yelling now. "I'm not just another day at the
office. I'm not some case of hairspray that got shipped to the
death chamber instead of the beauty pageant. I am a Human being and
I need to get home. NOW! TONIGHT! So do whatever you have to. Crack
a few heads together, I don't care. But I need to be on a flight
home TONIGHT!"
    Laitt listened to Jade's whole speech with a
look of professional courtesy, then nodded and walked to the door.
"You will stay in your room now," she said. "The guards will take
you to the cafeteria later, if you are calm." Then she stepped into
the hallway and closed the door behind her.

9
the cafeteria

    T he cafeteria was
huge and crowded. There must have been thousands of Chuzekks there.
Most were in uniform, but some, both male and female, wore dresses
or shirts and pants. Jade saw two or three pairs of blue jeans. The
guards took her to the door but didn't follow her inside. The
food-dispensing pillars were easy to spot and she began to make