When the Elite released me, you could say I was in utter shock. I had expected him to kill me--but he hadn't. He had stepped away from me, but kept the rifle ready to fire, placing it just below my ribcage, before placing a painful electric collar around my neck.
"Precaution," he grumbled to me, holding up what looked to be a control for the collar.
There has yet to be a time that I feel more like a dog than I did at that moment.
He allowed me to walk back to the washroom, but still, the rifle remained trained on my backside. Funny, how strong the senses can be when one is in danger--I knew that the gun was there, even without seeing it. When I reached the washroom, I obediantly got into the tub. He gave me a puzzled look when I did so.
Clearly it worked differently than a human tub.
After a moment of confused silence between the two of us, my Elite stepped forward and made a circular movement with his hand. The tub transformed into a platform, from which it became a dark cylinder. I immediately stood up and tried to keep my balance as the cylinder rotated rapidly for a few minutes. Nausea overcame me, and I was overjoyed when it stopped spinning. When the sides lowered, I stepped out, and found my skin to be almost radiant.
My cloth had disappeared sometime during the rotation, but I was nude only for a brief moment. My Elite immediately placed armour like his own upon me, though it was pink, rather than the golden-yellow like his own. The helmet was heavy, and he wound up removing it when he saw that I could hardly hold my head up. I silently thanked him that I didn't have to wear it, for it did not follow the shape of my head, but the dinosaur-like head of an Elite.
He gave me a quick nod of approval before motioning to me to preceed him to yet another area.
We came upon a seemingly endless corridor, lit by dim red lights, giving it an eerie air of importance. My Elite stopped somewhere along the walk and again placed the handcuffs on me, but he did not place the rope around my neck as I expected him to. He then moved to walk beside me, and a large door, possibly made out of iron or some other metal, opened in a rotating pattern. What I saw beyond that door put my heart in my throat.
The Covenant.
Hundreds and hundreds of Covenant soldiers, all seated in what appeared to be an extremely large auditorium. The only difference that I could see, was the fact that instead of a stange, the front of the room was much like a court. There was a raised seat in the center, and to the left and right were two more of the same, each lower than the last. On either side of them, there were three seats at normal height, each with what appeared to be a small podium in front of them.
Sitting in the highest three seats, were three Covenant leaders--Prophets. And in the podium seats, were five yellow armoured Elites. One of the seats was empty--I assumed it was for my Elite. He led me forward to stand before the Prophets, in the very center of the room--I tried not to show my fear of the beings around me. So I instead stuck close by my own Elite. We stood there for what seemed an eternity, before four other Elites appeared, dressed in red and orange armour. Their helmets had what appeared to be wings on them, and they were yellow and red. One of them gave me a look and snorted in disgust, only loud enough for me to hear. They each held long sceptors in their left hand, and purple energy swords in their right hand.
Honor Guards. Known for being most unfriendly with humans--and here I was, practically defenseless, with four of them around me. My only hope for protection was my Elite. I shifted nervously, and at that moment, the Prophet in the highest chair began to speak.
"Leghilorn," the Prophet said in an old, wise-sounding voice. My Elite gave a short bow of respect. "You stand here today, before the High Council, bearing a human at your side. What is your name?" He had addressed the last question to me, and seemed surprised, along with every other member in the High Council, when I also gave a short bow and said in a quivery voice, "Arisa Ton-ustel Delclair Ser'skel."
The Prophet nodded his oddly shaped head, before turning his attention to my Elite--Leghilorn. "Leghilorn--The arrival of this...Arisa, could have devastating effects on our homeworld--as I am sure you realize...?"
He nodded. "My reason for her capture was only to prevent her kind from infiltrating our storage facility. I gave no instruction for her to be brought to Tarsius."
"Still, Leghilorn, she is a danger to our homeworld's safety and well-being. I do not assume she was scanned for viruses of any kind. Should she be infected with any type of disease, an epidemic could be created and it is possible that our entire style of life would shift."
"I myself made her drink a flask of the liquid used for our soldiers. Any viruses or diseases will be supressed and contained within her until she can be properly screened. There is not threat of infecions or epidemics."
I stood there, shaking visibly, wondering if I would get out of this alive.
A special thanks goes out to all of my reviewers--sorry for the late update. I had major writer's block and couldn't decided where to go next with the story. I realize this chapter may seem a bit rushed--but I wanted to finish and post it before I went to school--two hour delay today--YAY! But I need to finish an Earthscience lab writeup, and even though my teacher PROMISES he isn't going to grade it too hard, he's told me all these things I need to do to fix it...and yeah--thanks again!!!
Rusty and the Rubix Horse
