Prisoner of the Amulet

CHAPTER 17

"Sit." one of the battle vards said, pushing Sanomis towards the sole, metal chair, standing in the middle of the room.

The interrogation room as the admiral Sariyk called it, was a lot smaller than the one before. It was some six meters wide, and almost ten long. And was a lot brighter. Perhaps even too much. But if nothing else, at least Sanomis could observe it better.

To the right of him, hugging the wall, were two tables with built-in drawers and compartments below, and holders for various tools above. Several positional lights were lined over the tables, but were shut for now. One table was empty, but on the right one, Sanomis spotted a couple of boxes and at least a dozen protective gloves and masks.

To the left, the wall was covered with the shelves, completely filled with translucent containers, holding the specimens of various creatures. Some of them, Sanomis realized, were still showing the signs of life.

Behind the chair was a console, holding a control unit in its exact center. It was a sphere, about one meter in diameter. It was perfectly smooth, with pronounced front, housing dozens of slots. Sanomis never saw such a device. But his experience was telling him it must've been a part of the interrogation device.

"I said sit!" The battle vard forced him on the chair.

Even if he wanted to, Sanomis had no chance of resisting. Battle vard was at least ten times stronger than him. The chair wasn't uncomfortable, as it seemed at first glance. He realized why as soon as he sat in it. It moved, changed and reshaped itself, binding his arms, legs and his torso. The chair was made from a smart metal alloy. It was programmed to keep the prisoner imprisoned.

There was no escape from the chair. Sanomis knew he could not force his way out of it, even if he tried his hardest. Only thing left was to sit and wait. He didn't have to wait long. Only two minutes later, Naarbul Sariyk followed by the captain and the overseer appeared in the room. It was a sign for the two battle vards to leave. No one said a word. They had no need of it, Sanomis concluded. This wasn't the first time they were doing this.

Nharsia went by Sanomis as if he wasn't even there. She was heading straight for the console behind his back. The geologist was now even more interested in this device. Never mind the predicament he found himself in. He was interested in its functions and the ways they were using it. He was interested to learn if it could be used for something else. He could probably find a thousand new means for it.

But that was just a wish of a fool. He could not even look at it, let alone touch it. He could only listen. Only that led to nothing. Beside the characteristic, silent hum, he heard since the device powered on, nothing else gave away Nharsia's actions.

In the meantime Avena approached the tables, wanting to closely examine the content of the containers. First few of them clearly weren't holding anything of value. But as soon as she began pulling a few of the bottles and vials out of them, Sanomis' attention turned to her. Quite soon, the captain had ten of them separated from the rest. She proceeded to split them into three groups, before starting to mix them together. Sanomis had no clue what mixtures. He was too far away to see. But since she planned to use them on him, he figured these serums couldn't contain anything good.

The admiral on the other side spent the entire time observing that collection of strange creatures, displayed in see-through boxes. He carelessly paced from left to right and back again. He occasionally stopped in front of those that peaked his interest. He even knocked on the couple with his long, pointy finger, trying to provoke some kind of reaction. To startle those creatures into movement. Their reflex, awkward movements apparently offered him joy.

"Ready." Nharsia suddenly spoke.

Sanomis immediately realized the supervisor will remain behind him. The device she powered on, was important for their interrogation.