When I slowly opened my eyes, my naked legs had started to flatten from leaning against the cold metal. My hands were tied behind my back, and my clothes, save for my underwear, had been stripped off. I was sitting with my back against the wall inside a metal cell.
If it weren't for the electricity humming around the iron bars of the metal room, I wouldn't have been able to see anything in the darkness. Thanks to that current, my blue-tinged room gave me a clear view of my surroundings.
How long had I been faking sleep? I don't know... Probably two or three hours. It had taken this long, purely instinctively, to be sure that Hank and his engineer friends had abandoned the colony, and that most of the other engineers were asleep. I just hoped Velsil and Goma could execute their part of the plan.
I slowly straightened up and looked toward the door. I saw a young girl stretching a yawn. From her blonde hair and skinny frame, I immediately recognized her as Cheri, the girl our Kael had a crush on.
I shuffled slightly along the ground towards the door and whispered: "Psst!" I hissed. "Could you look over here?"
The young girl jumped slightly, startling, and swore: "Holy shit!"
"That's not very nice..." I said dryly.
As she put a hand on her chest, trying to calm herself, the girl asked me: "You... how are you awake? That drug was supposed to keep you sleeping for at least a week until we woke you up."
"Forget about me! You must be Cheri, right?"
"Yes... How do you know my name?"
"Kael told me..."
"Kael?" The young girl averted her eyes.
"He likes you, you know?" I asked.
"Likes me?" the girl said angrily. "I highly doubt it."
"That's what he told me..."
"Then he lied to you. He's just a horny, spoiled, and disgusting kid..."
"Well... He definitely looks like one. But he's definitely upset about your current situation."
"My current situation?" I could see her eyebrows rising and falling with fury. "What do you mean? Ah... wait a second... I can guess more or less how that idiot Kael told you the story. What did he say about me..."
"Well..." I made a face. "I really don't want to say it, but if you push me, I might let it slip."
"Assume I'm pushing... What did he say about me?"
"He said you were a slut."
"Get the hell out of here!" the girl exploded. "There... that's what a real idiot looks like. What do you expect from that damn working class?"
"Judging by your reaction..."
"I'm not a slut, you idiot! These damn laborers think that we engineers up here are having sex parties and acting like drug addicts... Why? Because they are the drug addicts, and they're jealous of us engineers. They kept spreading rumors to that idiot Kael about me becoming a slut after becoming an engineer."
"Rumors?"
"Rumors, of course... There's no sex party going on here, you fool. Can't you see? Everyone here is a pathetic engineer. We're all, so to speak, losers! We barely know anything other than studying and working. The last time two people kissed was a week ago, and we're still talking about it."
"No way..."
"Yes... They kissed, can you believe it? And before getting married, too."
"No... What surprises me is that there are no sex parties. Especially with so many beautiful girls around." I said.
"Could you be just as disgusting as he is?"
"Maybe..." I thought for a moment.
"What... what was I talking about? That idiot Kael came up to me after hearing the rumors. I liked Kael, so I was excited to meet him. But Kael, after hearing the rumors, suddenly jumped on me and tried to grope me."
"What did you do?"
"I beat the crap out of him. I swore, spat in his face, and stopped talking to him. He walked away, calling me a tramp and swearing."
"Damn it..." I rubbed my forehead. "...could this Kael be even dumber than I thought? And then, after becoming the subject of ridicule, he left the colony, I guess."
"Wait a second!" Cheri exclaimed in a startled voice. "Weren't your hands tied?"
I looked at my hands. Accidentally, I had untied my hands, which were bound with a plastic cord. A simple, strong human could have easily undone them, and I was an enhanced.
"Oh, for Christ's sake..."
"How did you break them?"
"Break them? No... I think you just didn't tie them well."
"It doesn't matter," Cheri said confidently. "Because it's impossible for you to get past this door."
"Because of the electricity, right?"
"Yes..."
"And what happens if I touch the electricity?"
"Don't worry, you won't die... We adjusted the voltage and frequency so that it only knocks out anyone who touches it."
"Very good..."
I stood up and started walking toward the electricity. As I tightly gripped the metal bars, electricity continuously flowed through my body. I could feel my enhanced organs inside me moving like a thoroughly heated pressure cooker.
"What are you doing, you maniac?" Cheri shouted.
Just then, I bent the metal bars wide and pulled myself out. Cheri was about to scream when I touched her with an electrified finger. She collapsed instantly, and I caught her in mid-air and gently lowered her to the floor. Now, all that was left was to perform the stealth mission. "Good night, Cheri..."
I was stark naked. So every time my bare foot touched the ground, it made a "slosh-slap" sound. Therefore, even though I could be as invisible as I wanted in the darkness, I was definitely not silent.
The engineers had all retreated to their rooms. But one man, with a coffee cup in his hand, was half-asleep, messing around with a computer. This man was under the wing of an aircraft in the engineer's room. If I wanted to get to Old Jack, I had to pass through this man's field of view. So, there was only one thing left to do. I had to neutralize him.
Slosh... Slap... Slosh, Slap...
The man looked around to figure out where that strange sound he heard while drinking his coffee was coming from. Just then, a "slosh-slap" sound came from right behind him again. He immediately spun around. First, he looked at his coffee. To make sure he hadn't put anything in it. He heard the slosh-slap sound one more time, and when he looked there, he saw a shadow passing by. He reached for the weapon on his belt and stood up. He swallowed... I could swear he was thinking what kind of thing was making a sound like that. Then, suddenly, a small slosh-slap sound behind him.
In an instant, two hard blows struck the man's neck, and he collapsed to the ground. I took off his clothes and put them on. I placed the guy inside the wreck of the spaceship that, despite being shredded, still had a fuselage.
The engineer clothes I put on gave me a sense of peace. They reminded me of the comfortable clothes I used to wear as a dust collector.
I immediately went to the window in the engineer's room. I opened the door and stepped onto the spaceship platform. I had left the communication device inside a plant pot on the edge of the platform. I put the device to my ear and whispered:
"Ladies... Are you there?"
"We're here, Weisshafen!" Goma shouted. The loudness of the sound made my ear ring in the quiet of the night.
"You don't need to put the headset right up to your mouth, Goma!" Ilya snapped.
"Sorry!"
"What's the status of the plan?"
"We caught them, Aldoux. Eleven people in total," said Velsil.
"It was easy," said Goma. "We used knockout gas. The only problem is that Kael got knocked out too."
"It doesn't matter," I said.
"And how are you?" asked Ilya.
"Right now, nearly the entire colony is asleep. I put on engineer clothes and camouflaged myself. I'm heading to Old Jack."