One World

Part 8

Gabriel sat in his cell staring at the food that had been brought to him.

The room he was locked in looked better than anything he'd been hiding in for the past few months and offered a comfort he could only have dreamed of.

The wide bed in the corner invited him to take a long rest, the covers were clean and smelled of a strange fragrance that for some reason reminded him of lavender crossed with peppermint.

The illusion of perfect comfort was spoilt by the fact that the place was quite cold. Even Gabriel, who was used to harsh conditions, found it rather chilly.

But that was to be expected. The Ardanians had a hard time tolerating not only direct sunlight, but also high temperatures. The climate on their home planet must have been far more frigid. Not surprisingly, their underground base, where Gabriel had been taken, was also unusually cold.

In the miniature bathroom next door, though, he discovered a shower with hot water.

However, this was the only room he got to see from inside the enemy base. The offworlders had taken great care to ensure that his blindfold would not be removed and all he knew for sure they were somewhere near the ruined city where he had tried to kill Rag'ell.

He looked again at the exotic food on the small table and the clean clothes that had been prepared for him.

Gabriel hadn't touched any of it. Even though he was extremely hungry and the spicy aroma of the food tempted him, he resisted.

He wasn't going to eat any of the alien food, and he certainly wasn't going to put on the Ardanian uniform worn by Rag'ell's soldiers, a light blue garment with their emblems and symbol. Did they really expect him to wear something like that?

He would rather stay in his tattered air force uniform.

Then he wondered if there was a camera somewhere in the room, if his captors were watching him right now, waiting to see what he would do.

His thoughts were interrupted by the hydraulic door opening.

And the Supreme himself stepped in.

Unescorted, in simple clothes, no shield, no weapons. In all his arrogance, was he not the least bit afraid of him? What if the imprisoned rebel tried to kill him again? For some reason, Gabriel felt insulted.

"Don't you like our food?" The silver-haired Ardanian opened the conversation and approached the table. "Or are you afraid I'll poison you?" He took a single orb of an unfamiliar fruit from a small bowl that resembled orange-coloured grapes and put it in his mouth.

"This is hakkri. I love it, it was brought all the way from Ardana, our home planet, just for me," he plucked another and offered it to Gabriel. "Try some."

The latter ignored his outstretched hand and shot him a hostile look, "What does that mean? Have you come to talk? Are we friends now?"

"You should understand that resistance is futile," Rag'ell replied calmly, eating the offered fruit himself. "And you should tell that to the other Earthlings as well. For their own good."

"If you expect me to betray Earth, to join your side and help you enslave my people, you are deeply mistaken."

"But you are already defeated. You will live with our domination one way or another, defiance is futile. These rebellions of yours will only cost more lives. But you can stop it, they will listen to you. Think of it as an offer of a truce."

"You didn't want a peaceful settlement when you attacked us, destroyed our cities and killed millions of people," the dark-haired man retorted hatefully.