"Get up," comes a voice from outside my cage.
"No thanks," I murmur back, trying to look relaxed laying back on the floor but internally resisting the order with everything I've got.
I glance up just in time to catch an intimidating-looking guard with rough features and an unshaven face glare down at me. His eyes were hard as stone. Just once I wish they'd send a guy who didn't look like he'd just had a fight with his wife and wants to take his problems out on me for his having to spend the night on the couch. What a grouch.
I also have to wonder why I even know what a couch is. Or a wife, for that matter. Must be stuff they 'programmed' in me. Or stuff I knew before I got here. My earliest memory is waking up in a box, then everything else is just tests and orders and cold steel floors. This place is so sterile and unimaginative. At least they let me have clothes--They almost didn't when I first arrived, but some of the guards didn't like the way my bad leg looked. Seriously, the leg was the problem so they gave me some pants. Then later a shirt when the heat broke that one time--something I refuse to give up. I always have to wonder why they never fixed my leg properly. We have the ability to genetically splice people with whatever the hell they want, why can't they clone me a new leg or something? Or build one if I'm the android they think I am. Maybe they don't think it's worth their time.
The guard is still glaring at me. Why isn't he saying anything? Is he waiting? Seeing how long I can resist? I try to remain looking as relaxed and laid back as possible--but I'm getting agitated. Damn it, he's going to win, isn't he?
I can't take it anymore. That nagging, stressful feeling is back. It happens whenever I try and resist an order, especially such a direct one. I try to hold back, but I'm already starting to stand. Wonderful.
"Still some resistance..." the guard mutters, seeming annoyed.
I narrow my eyes at him. "You're damn right I'm re--"
"Shut up!" he cries, slapping me across the face. Immediately I stop. I try to speak again but the order was too strong this time. I have to take it. "Alright," the guard continues. "stand perfectly still. Do not flinch."
Always a good sign when they say 'do not flinch'. I brace myself, but am forced to do as he says. He raises a fist. I see it coming, I know what he's going to do but the second he hits me, I can't even stumble back. I can feel it too. Right in the nose... hurts like hell, but they never believe me when I say so. They assume I'm lying to seem more 'human'. But I'm not. It actually freaking hurts.
The guard nods. "Good. Much better." He seems satisfied. These guys always come by when they have free time. They don't really care if I react or not, they just like to come by when they feel like hitting something. He started to turn away, then quickly whirled around, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me down, forcing me to double over as he knees me in the stomach. I want to at least gasp or something, but I can't react. He ordered me not to.
"That's for resisting the first time," he snapped, then let me go. "The order is complete. Resume as you were."
He quickly heads out of my cage and locks the door behind him. I immediately sink to my knees. Damn it that hurt. According to them I shouldn't need to breathe either--but I do anyway and that really knocked the wind out of me. At least he didn't go for my groin. For the record, whether I am an android or not, that still hurts, and yes I'm anatomically correct.
When I've caught my breath again, I look around the room at the other cages. So many of us 'experiments' in here... so many sapient beings treated like defective machinery and dangerous 'pets' nobody wants anymore. It makes me sick.
And that's why I'm getting out of here. When the guards come back tomorrow, chaos will be there to greet them. I can hardly wait.
They're tormenting the android again. They seem to love doing that. They give him orders and he obeys, it's the easiest thing in the world to take advantage of. I've seen him coming back from 'tests' before looking perfectly stiff and obedient and unharmed--and then the second they tell him to relax, he collapses. I have to wonder what they do to him there, and how hard they think they can push him--and what his limit is.
And then I wonder if it matters. It isn't as though we could simply get out of here. Even if we got out of the cages, there's still the guards to worry about, and the fact that I am fairly certain we are on a space station of some kind. So how do we get off? Where do we go? There are simply too many factors to consider.
And even if we did steal a ship... what planet would welcome things like us? And how would we hide the bright orange collars with our numbers printed on them? I've tried everything to get mine off but the material just won't budge.
Sighing, I lay back down. Doesn't look like they plan on feeding me today--which I've begun to understand is how they're keeping me in this form. It takes a hell of a lot of energy to maintain human form and half starved as I am, I can't even manage a hand right now. Currently, I'm trapped in an animal state--a cheetah to be exact. And an albino one, as if I didn't stand out enough as it is. My mind is perfectly human, and I would love to keep it this way--however, the guards seem to think that's stupid, and they're constantly trying to 'train' me. Of course, you can bet they're using negative reinforcement. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of running on that stupid treadmill. I'm sick of being shocked, sick of being tested on, sick of the numerous unknown shots they keep giving me. I just want to rest, but I can't even do that properly as every time I try to sleep, I'm woken up half-way through the night by partially realized nightmares I can never remember in the... 'morning', or whatever it is that passes for morning here. I don't know. It's always dark in the cages. Always. I suppose that's fine, though. As an albino, my eyes are sensitive to light anyway. Still, just once I wish I knew what time it was. Even if time is an abstract concept in space.... I'd like to know what time it is somewhere on Earth--pick a place, I don't care. Just stick to it.
Well, whatever. It doesn't matter in the long run, as I'm going to be trapped here for the foreseeable future. I wish I could at least communicate with someone. Anyone would do. Even that crazy android in the cage next to mine. I don't know why he continues to try resistance in such a hopeless situation. I'd like to ask him... if I had a tongue that could do anything other than lap up water.... and higher developed vocal chords. I really hate this animal state. Okay, sure, I run fast. Big whoop. Humans can speak and sing and write and draw and play instruments. What good is a sapient mind if your body won't allow you to make full use of it?
I decide I might as well try sleeping again. What else is there to do? Maybe this time I'll remember the nightmares....