A whimper, the first sound he had made since the beating had started, he had tried to hold it in but the tiny sound had escaped his lips before he could catch it.

"I told you to be silent Kluge!" the Uber shouted before kicking him hard in the back.

Harper closed his eyes and tried to think of something, anything to get his mind off the pain, his thoughts drifted back to when he was just a small boy to how his parents always did their best to keep his life a happy one, how his father would play games with him and how his mother would make him a special treat on his birthday. His mother had always been good at telling stories and Harper had always loved to hear them. His favorite were ones about brave knights who fought off dragons or heroes who sailed through the stars battling Nietzscheans and saving people. She had taught him to read when he was eleven so that he could read some on his own. And last year, when he had turned fifteen she had made him a book full of blank pages for him to fill with his own heroes and adventures.

"Seamus, I remember when you were little you would always tell me how much you wanted to write an adventure all your own. One that would be so captivating you could hardly wait to turn the page to see what would happen, I am sure that with your wild imagination your story will be all that and more." Those words filled his head every time he looked at the book, he hadn't written a single word in it though, his stories would never be as good as the ones his mother had told him. He often wondered if she would be disappointed, if she would even like the story, so he had decided to leave it blank until a time came when he hade the perfect story to fill its pages. He had made a point to always keep the book with him, hidden under his fraying clothing so that no one would steal it from him and so he would have it with him if ever he found that perfect story.

His mind was suddenly snapped back to the present by a sharp blow to the face, he felt the hot blood running down his cheek as everything turned black.

Groggily he opened his eyes, looking for some clue to where he was or how long he had been there. It was dark and he was very cold, he had to get home before he froze to death, he could figure out what had happened once he was safe. As he tried to role over onto his back sharp pains shot through him as he quickly remembered what had happened. Harper lay there for a few minutes catching his breath and gathering his surroundings, he was no longer in the ally. Panic set in full force and he jumped up despite how much it hurt. He was on a ship, and it was moving. Where was he going? Who's ship was this? He was thrown against a nearby bulkhead as the ship stopped abruptly. Harper felt the blood drain from his face as the door slid open and a shadowy figure step into view.

"Hello there, Seamus,"

"Honey it's getting dark, what if something has happened to him?" Arlana said her voice panicked

"Well then next time maybe he'll make it home before curfew." replied her husband in a cold voice.

"LIAM"! She screamed "don't you care? I mean he's your son for God sake!"

"Seamus needs to learn to take care of himself, if he chooses too brake the rules then he deserves to be punished for it, a few broken bones and he'll remember."

"What happened to you? You used to be so close-"

BANG!

The two fell silent at once,

BANG!

"Open up kluge we know you're in there,"

BANG! BANG!

Hesitantly Mr. Harper stepped forward and opened the door to their home,( if you could call it that, it was a small run down shack with boarded up windows.) behind the door stood a small group of Nietzscheans.

"Seamus Harper, where is he?" said one of the Nietzscheans in a ruff voice

"We don't know, we haven't seen him since this morning" Mrs. Harper replied from her spot beside her husband, the Nietzschean gave her a faint smile as he took a steep toward the two humans,

"Do you really expect me to believe that? Now tell me where he IS!"

The two remained silent. After a moment the Nietzschean signaled to the rest of his group to search their house. Within minutes the small home lay in ruin, scattered papers, broken glass, and an overturned table line the floor.

"You see? He is not here," Mrs. Harper said her voice shaking.

At this the Nietzschean turned to face the pair of humans, who were huddled in the corner,

"I see," he said giving them a twisted smile, "that you are hiding the boy somewhere else, and I am tiered of this little game of hide and seek, now tell me where he IS!"

"Why would we hide him? What has he done?" asked Mr. Harper.

""I am no fool!" shouted the overgrown Nietzschean thrusting a paper into Mr. Harper's hands. The page was a pail yellow with small black print, it read:

Seamus Harper

Wanted alive for: theft, arson, destruction of Nietzschean property and vandalism.

Seamus Harper was last seen 42 hours ago fleeing from the seen of a burning Nietzschean supply ship.

Reward: 5000 gilders.

They were shocked at what their son had done but were somewhat proud at his little rebellion. They knew that it was useless, no matter how many times they told them that they didn't know where there son was they weren't going to believe them.

"No." Arlana said her voice barley a whisper.

"What?" asked the Uber sounding surprised.

"No." she spoke again her voice stronger this time, "we are not going to tell you anything."

Her eyes never wavered as the Nietzschean stepped forward and a sharp pain spread across her face.

"If that is how you feel then you are of no further use to me."

The man gripped his sore arms and dragged him out of the ship and into the night. An icy wind whipped his face and stung the open gashes on his battered body, but surprise pushed that out of his mind. They were standing outside his house, the Nietzschean smiled at Harper's confused happiness.

"Don't look so happy kludge," he said as he began pulling Harper roughly towards the house. There was an eerie silence in the house that sent chills down his spine that was broken only by their footsteps. Harper was just beginning to wonder if they were alone in the house when he heard a man speaking,

"If that is how you feel then you are of no further use to me." The voice was harsh and made the hair on Harper's neck stand up. Seconds later Harper and the Nietzschean were in the door way to his living room. He looked around the room cautiously; his parents were standing close together at the far side of the room looking anxiously from the small group of Nietzscheans standing off to the side, to one who stood alone in the center of the room. He was a very tall and muscular man with short brown hair and pale skin. Before Harper could even make a sound he pulled out the gauss gun that he kept at his hip and shot his mother followed by his father.

"No!" Harper screamed and lunged for his parents' bodies. The Nietzschean that had been dragging him along was faster then he was though and grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Seamus, how nice of you to join us," said the large Nietzschean who was still standing in the middle of the room. His face was calm as if nothing had happened. But Harper wasn't looking at him his eyes were fixed on his parents who were lying in a pool of their own blood.

"We were just talking about you," he continued as he gestured to the bodies lying lifelessly in front of him. Tears were streaming down Harper's face. He could hear the hum of the man's voice as he continued to speak but couldn't make out any of the words. He was struggling fiercely against the man who was holding his arms tightly.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you Seamus," he said grabbing Harper's face forcing it upwards and away from his parents. The mans eyes were cold,

"That's better, I was just asking your parents where you were, you know they should have thought of better lies then 'we don't know where he is', pathetic.

Kludges who disobey deserve to die; it's an improvement if you ask me, two less kludges to worry about."

Harper had managed to free one of his arms and with all the strength and hatred he had punched the Nietzscheans jaw. The four men who had been standing in the around leapt forward and restrained him. His arms were pulled behind his back and he was forced upright. There was blood running down the Nietzscheans chin and dripping onto his shirt, he smiled as he wiped it away. One of the other's came over and kneed him in the stomach. Harper felt his knees give out as the air was ripped from his lungs. The next blow landed hard on his own jaw with a sickening pop.

"That's enough, let him go," ordered the man who he had hit.

"But Thadeus-"said one of the men surprised.

"I said that's enough!"

Before Harper could get his feet back under him the men who were holding him up let go and he landed painfully on his knees. He knelt there breathing hard, once he had gotten his breath back he moved to go to his parents. Thadeus seemed to have been expecting this as he moved in front of Harper blocking his path.

"Temper, temper," he said crouching down to face him. "Were they really worth that?" his eyes glistened with amusement as he spoke.

Harper spat in the mans face and was knocked to the ground by a sharp strike to the mouth.

"To think your parents died to save your pitiful excuse of a life, look at you your barley skin and bone. If you had been man enough to face your punishment they might still be alive. Your parents died because of you!"

As he finished Thadeus rose to his full height and walked out of the room. The Nietzschean who had brought him here walked up to him and kicked him hard in the ribs.

"You're lucky he has a soft spot for kids," he said as he tied his hands behind his back and began dragging him back to the ship. Harper fought madly against the ropes, he knew where he was going. He knew no one that was led away by Ubers ever came back. He was going to be made a slave the one thing he feared more then the Ubers or the maggog, and that was how he was going to die. But what did he have to live for anyway? His parents were dead and what little freedom he had had was taken away, he had nothing and it was all his fault. At this thought Harper slowly surrendered to his fate. A few more tears slid down his cheek as the sight of his parents falling lifelessly to the floor played over and over in his mind.