After Stable had receded deeper into the cave, I sat there in silence. I had just been told off. Stable had just shown me who was the ruler of our relationship. I had thought we were friends due to the way we talked, but that was the human way to views things. Among aliens, I guess small talk meant nothing of friendship. The bleak cave fit my mood.

The hostage that was sitting 2 feet from me, Gale, tried to console me.

“Trust me, dude, I’ve been through the exact same thing” he smiled. “The whole getting verbally annihilated? The pain goes away after a while. Besides she's a species 6798T.”

Man, I had hit a new low. Getting consoled by my own hostage.

Gale continued. “Listen the gang I worked for was one of them matriarchal ones. Y’know all lead by women and stuff.” He winced as he continued his words. “Nothing hurts more than being yelled at by powerful women. They tear into you, man. Like, mentally. ”

I looked at him confused, “Why are you complaining? You chose to be in a matriarchal gang.”

He grew a smug expression as he leaned closer towards me. I warily moved slightly back.

“That’s the thing,” Gale said, “A man doesn’t choose to be in the gang. I was forced. Captured.”

He leaned back and laid his back on the cold cave floor.

Well, that explains why he had been unnecessarily lax. He hadn’t put up much of a resistance to being captured. But that still didn’t explain one thing….

“Why did they let you go by yourself?” I asked.

Gale sprang back up and pointed with his chin to the emerald button that was right in front of me.

“They can like, track my button.”

He immediately went back to resting on his back.

What. Did I just mishear something?

“Um, Gale. Do you mean track as in they can find where you are?” I asked nervously.

Gale answered as he was seemingly was drifting to sleep. He responded with a slow “Yah”

I crazily grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Gale, you don’t think to tell me this before?! This is not something that can be summed up with a ‘Yah’.”

Gale looked drowsy. “You never asked. I’m a prisoner with you or the girls either way. At least the girls let me breathe.” He holds up his muzzled hands.

“I normally breathe through my hands, remember?” Gale ripped himself from my grasp and fell back on the floor. “I didn’t want to break up your lover’s quarrel though, so I said nothing. I’ve been mouth and nose breathing for too long.”

Gale’s voice grew less energetic. “We’re both dead dude. I wonder if I’ll see you once we both become slaves for the gang.”

I looked at him fearfully. “Don’t worry, Stable will–”

Gale cut me off with his laughter. “Yeah, let your controlling girlfriend hear about a gang that’s chock-full of other controlling girls. I’m sure she’ll choose your weak self over a highly structured organization. She’d honestly fit right in.”

This guy was infuriating me, but I shut up because what he said had an ounce of truth. Realistically, I had known Stable for about 5 days. She was still unpredictable to me. And as I had just seen earlier, She obviously didn’t think of me as anything other than an asset.

A voice emerged from behind me.

“I assume you’re a part of Queen?”

It was Stable. My spine straightened in fear.

“Stable, Ho–”

She cut me off as she tapped my new shirt.

“When I synthesized your shirt, I implemented voice streaming tech.”

“Daym, She got you good!” Screeched Gale.

Stable focused her attention on Gale, her voice like daggers.

“The gang you were a part of was Queen, wasn’t it?”

Gale replied. “Finally noticed me huh? I was really–”

Stable grabbed his neck and lifted him up. “Are you a part of Queen?”

“What’s it to ya?”

Stable squeezed harder

Gale quickly threw away his sarcastic tone, and in a strained voice said,

“Yes, that’s the gang”

Stable dropped him to the floor, as he coughing and gasping for air. His sounds echoed across the cave.

This wasn’t the Stable I knew. She had grown colder, and less caring. What happened to the Stable that was terrified when we fought Gale?

I guess Gale built up the courage to fight back. Through his coughs, he criticized the plan we all knew Stable was hatching.

“Earlier I was just joking” He wheezed. “The gang won’t just let you in cause you’re a mean girl! Besides you're a species 6798T! It's absurd to think they'd let you in.”

Stable crouched with her new prosthetic legs to reach Gale’s level.

“I know, I saw their gang sign at the rest-town. I was scared then. Who wouldn’t be of the notorious Queen? There’s a 40% chance the winner of the Shanty is a member of Queen.”

Gale stopped coughing in favor of heavy breathing. I sat there frozen in fear.

Stable continued and she stood back up. “But I forgot to consider my bargaining chip.” She pointed at me. “What gang wouldn’t want a Gambit species as their henchmen.”

My heart sank.

This was bad, this was bad, this was bad, this was bad.

I needed to get out, I needed to get out.

No matter how much I thought these words, my body wouldn’t move. I was in a state of cognitive dissonance. My body wasn’t in sync with my mind. My face stood emotionless as tears started rolling down my cheeks.

Stable kicked Gale in the stomach, and he let out a wail.

“Tell me where the base is located”

Gale started to say something, but I didn’t hear. Once again this alien world had shattered. Just when I was thinking something would go right, it went terribly wrong. The world started not to make much sense. What chain of events led to this moment? Why did Stable have such a change of heart?

I snapped back into reality as I felt Stable lift me onto her back with her right hand, dragging Gale with her other. I quietly wrapped my arms around Stable’s shoulders as she started walking.

“C’mon Boys, let’s get going”

For a moment her comment sounded like the old Stable.