She groaned and blinked a few times as her awareness returned. It took her a few moments to realize that she was being carried, but she couldn’t see who was carrying her. Not to mention it was so dark that she could barely see a few centimeters in front of her face. Normally she had excellent dark vision, which meant that there was likely very little light here. Using a couple of limbs she began to grope around. She quickly found something soft, and when she squeezed it she was rewarded with a feminine gasp. Then suddenly her limb was grabbed with an iron grip and forcibly separated.

Then someone spoke, “Keep your tentacles to yourself or I will put you back to sleep.”

She didn’t like the attitude and reached out with her mind. Only to find that she was being blocked. It was like slamming full force into a mountain, and she recoiled in pain. Her tentacles clutching her head from the backlash. She was thoroughly confused about that, as she had never met resistance like it. Others of her kind could resist, but when faced with a stronger mind it always felt like being pushed aside. Outside her race, she had never met anyone that could resist her mind powers. Just as the pain was receding, she was met with bright light.

It took her eyes a few moments to adjust, and when they did she took in the scene around her. Her view was kind of limited thanks to the way she was being carried. Most of her view was blocked by the bust of the girl carrying her. Looking away she could see another girl, with one of the girls she had inspected earlier slung over her shoulder. The scene looked comical given that the girl she was carrying like a sack of potatoes was larger than she was. Then it hit her that she was being carried the same way, and she was positively incensed at the indignity of it.

She angrily demanded to be put down, and may have colorfully weaved in some foul language. Her response was to be almost thrown to the ground, and before she could get her bearings, someone had grabbed her tentacles. Despite her trying to fight them off, her tentacles were easily restrained and tied up. Next thing she knew she was being prodded to walk down a tunnel, but at least she wasn’t being carried.

As she walked her mind tried to figure out what was going on. She remembered walking the streets of the Neku city doing the monthly inspection, and then...

She glanced down, as she remembered the flash of light. After that was nothing, and she realized that it must have been some kind of stun device. Someone had been bold enough to abduct her and her sister in broad daylight. She didn’t have long to consider the implications of this when the tunnel widened.

In front of her a dozen alien females, clearly not Neku were waiting. She found the uniformity of their figures and height to be rather disconcerting. It didn’t seem natural, and that was not a good sign. Behind the girls was an alien hull. A long sleek and enclosed ship floated in the waters of the underground chamber. It looked almost organic in appearance, but the sheen of the hull indicated otherwise. It was colored various shades of blue, green and blue-green blended into an organic scale-like pattern.

She was not given much time to study the alien design, before she was prodded towards the aliens assembled in front of it. What followed could only be described as a handoff. Her sister Irini was still unconscious, and one of them used something to wake her. She was also quickly restrained, and she noticed the Neku girls were given the same treatment.

What followed was mostly a blur, as they were loaded aboard the vessel. They were led below, and each locked into a cell. Well, she called it a cell, but it was a small room with no discernible exit. If she hadn’t been tossed in she wouldn’t have known that the wall opposite the bed was the exit. As for the cell itself, it was tiny. There was barely enough space for the bed, and it didn’t take long for her to find the bathroom, and opposite that was a room with a small table and chair. Both rooms were even smaller than her tiny cell. It wasn’t easy finding them though given that no one had removed her restraints before tossing her into the cell.

With nothing to do, she settled onto the bed and leaned against the wall. She had no idea who her captors were, and without more info, she couldn’t figure out their motives. Calming her mind she reached out trying to contact the others, but quickly found that she couldn’t even touch her sister's mind. It was becoming very obvious that these aliens knew how to block psionic powers which explained why they were so bold. They hadn’t been worried about her waking up because they could block her psionic signals. She was now regretting that she hadn’t tried to contact the others earlier, but it was too late for that. Although given that they weren’t worried about her waking up earlier, they might have been able to block her then as well.

She realized that she was making excuses, but it helped. Leaning against the wall she waited out the trip to wherever they were going. She didn’t think these aliens had a pleasant fate in mind for her.

It wasn’t long before someone came to open her cell. A pair of alien girls escorted her out of her cell, and she noticed her sister just ahead of her. They were forced down the hall, and towards the exit of the ship. She ended up following a pair out of the exit and into a large chamber. The young girl couldn’t help herself, but gasp in awe at the sight outside the ship.

They were clearly in some kind of sub pen. As she was now certain that the ship that brought them was a sub. The only water in the chamber was in the center of the room, but she couldn’t see any way for the ship to enter. Then again these aliens had already demonstrated an ability to make doors look like walls. As for the walls they seemed transparent. Outside was just endless dark, and occasionally massive sea creatures swam by. It took her moment to realize she was watching a sensor projection. It was the way the creatures seemed to glow that gave it away.

It was one of the Neku girls that spoke first, “Where are we?”

One of the alien females with pink hair answered, “The Neku Prime Stargate Complex. This is our last stop before our destination. Now move along no point keeping Mother waiting.”

As they were prodded towards an arch in the distance, she came close to her sister. Who had went wide-eyed at the mention of the word stargate. Seeing she was close she asked her, “Do you know what a Stargate Complex is?”

She nodded and shuffled forward to avoid being prodded again while saying, “Yes the precursors build a number of structures on various alien worlds. Most are no longer functional, but a few were restored. The cost to operate them is enormous, but they allow near-instant travel between any two of them. However I have never heard of a precursor structure on Neku prime, but given how we got here I think that is because we are at the bottom of the sea.”

That was worrisome, but she was glad that her sister had an interest in the precursors as otherwise she would have been lost at the mention of a Stargate Complex. The others though were clearly unfamiliar with the term. “Guess that means our captors here must know more about gates then we do.,” she replied just before she was prodded from behind.

Now seemed to be a bad time to have a conversation, and she focused on moving to avoid being prodded. They were led through the arch, down a corridor, and into another chamber. It was a massive dome, and in the center was a massive metal arch. Just as they entered, the arch flashed and a blue-green vortex swirled into existence within the arch. The closer she got to that arch the more she felt like she was approaching her doom. She knew if they passed through that her chances of rescue would drop from slim to none.

A part of her however already knew she wasn’t going to be rescued, and that the only way out was to escape. Prodded forward the portal inched ever closer, and she felt her need to escape rising. She just didn’t know, how. Her captors were stronger than her, and her best weapon was useless against them. Speed wasn’t an option either for multiple reasons. The immediate issue was that all of the aliens she had seen so far carried some kind of pistol on their hip. Even if she could somehow escape them without getting shot, which she felt was unlikely, there was the fundamental problem of being underwater with her tentacles restrained. So she would also have to get free of these and hope she could operate the controls of the ship that brought her here.

On top of all those problems was that she didn’t really know how her own abilities stacked up against those of these aliens. The more she thought about the more she felt she needed more info to plan an escape that actually stood a chance. Now would be a bad time to make said attempt. There were too many variables, not to mention that she was restrained, and outnumbered. Looking up she suddenly realized she was right in front of the portal. Close enough to reach out and touch it. She panicked, and tried to recoil, but was then shoved through the vortex.

She felt an electric tingle wash over her skin, and her vision swirled. Then she was in another large chamber. Unlike the last one this one had floating buildings, and something was floating over the arch. None of which she really focused on, for instead her focus was on the winged woman in front of her. She was practically tiny, but she carried herself with dignity. It was obvious that she was in charge here. The winged alien smiled, and said, “Welcome aboard! I have some questions for you, but we can cover that later. Escort them to the medical bay.”

She didn’t like the way that sounded, but before she could even ask a question she was being forced away from the gate. What followed was a maze of corridors. Given all the twists and turns she was under the impression that they were trying to confuse her sense of direction. Unfortunately, it worked as by the time they reached the med bay she had no idea where she was in relation to the gate.

The med bay was filled with strange, and vaguely familiar equipment. As she stumbled through the doorway she heard a buzz behind her. Looking back she saw a force field had sprung into existence behind her. Then she heard her sister shouting and looked ahead of her to see that her sister was being strapped belly down onto a table. The Neku girls ahead of her were also being strapped to tables, but they were being made to lie on their backs, and not their bellies. Then a pair lifted her up and started taking her towards a table. She panicked and started shouting and struggling against them to no avail.

She was easily strapped down on the table, and then there was a tingling sensation in her neck. Next thing she knew she was having trouble moving her limbs, and her body was going numb. It wasn’t long before all she could do was stare at the pillow her head was resting on, and listen to the sounds of alien machinery.

She felt something near the base of her neck shortly after the injection, but she had no idea what it was. Those sensations ended after a few minutes, and then she found herself being rolled over. She noticed her restraints were undone, but that didn’t do her any good. As now her body was no longer responding to her wishes. She was completely paralyzed, and with her new viewpoint, she could watch an arm approaching her belly.

A beam lanced from an emitter on the arm and she helplessly watched as the alien device opened her up. Contrary to her expectations all she felt was a slight tickle as the beam sliced her open which made this even more terrifying. As that meant they could have done just about anything to her, and she wouldn’t even feel it. Not feeling comfortable watching alien machinery root around her insides she closed her eyes. Wishing that when she opened her eyes again that she would be through with this nightmare.

Like a teenager seeing something they shouldn’t for the first time, she couldn’t keep her eyes closed for long, and opened them. Just in time to see an arm removing one of her organs, and she immediately closed them. She hadn’t even felt anything, and if she hadn’t looked she wouldn’t have known that an organ was removed. A fact that filled her with dread, and yet left her oddly curious about what they were doing to her.

She wasn’t sure how long passed, but eventually, the machines put her back together. Then she had drifted off to sleep suddenly, and she woke up in a cell. Her belly hurt a bit, and she had minor pains elsewhere, but was otherwise fine. Seeing as she was alone she took a look around.

The new cell was remarkably like her last one, but it was a bit bigger. Still puny, but there was a little more space to walk around in. After the brief tour, she lay down on the bed and thought about what had just happened to her. She was utterly terrified of what new horror was waiting for her. The only thing she was grateful for was that she didn’t have to feel the pain of being dissected alive. She knew there was a word for that, but she could remember what it was. The one thing she was sure of was that she had been in the odd position of watching herself get dissected. It was not an experience she wanted to repeat, and her thoughts quickly drifted from the experience to how she was going to survive here. Curling up on the bed, and lost in thought she soon drifted off into darkness.