The police came faster than I imagined. Upon arriving, the officers quickly subdued the two of us, handling Thrack with extra care.
"Are you hurt in any way?" One of them approached and began asking me questions. He did so nervously, as it seemed as though he had never seen an alien like myself before. I couldn't blame him, I would have reacted the same way if a completely different species unlike anyone suddenly showed up on my home planet.
I shook my head in response. "No. No, officer." Although I was exhausted, I doubted that they could do anything about that. "Not really."
"Well, if you can walk, we can lead you over to the station where we will ask you about some of the things that have happened regarding you and that man," the officer told me according to a certain procedure.
From there I followed the officer closely until we ended up at another shack. A few miscellaneous rooms later I was seated inside of a cold chamber. The officer took care in his departure, ensuring that I was not going to escape at the last second. I had no intention of doing so, though, and I thought silently to myself until another alien entered the room with me.
"Hello, how are you?" He asked, wearing the same surprised expression I saw everyone displaying when they looked at me.
"Good."
The alien looked over a page of sloppily written notes, then peering over towards me. "So you are in quite the predicament, yes? First, you attack two defenceless men and attempt to run away from them, eventually causing one to get burns from sliding on the pavement?"
I gulped. Thrack probably made up a story to frame me and have him portrayed as a victim. "No, sir. They kidnapped me, forced me to work so they got money-"
"They kidnapped you?" The interrogator's face melted from a professional neutral expression to a slight frown. "Sorry, go on."
I continued, the start of my explanation discombobulated from the slight interruption. Some time passed before I was able to explain the entire situation that I was in, including the field trip and the mistake that eventually led to my capture.
At the end of it all, the alien had his head tilted to one side. "Hmm... Interesting." A pause ensued before he rose from his seat, collecting the unnecessarily excessive amount of things he had brought. "I'll get to asking the alien you supposedly defeated. Sit tight and we'll get you soon enough."
Once again, I was alone with my thoughts. Moments passed and I resorted to pacing around the room for some mental stimulation. Meanwhile, I thought about the class. Now that I was in police custody, would they know that I was here? Were they even heading out to search for me, one of their students? I shook my head. Of course, they would have at least noticed by now, I had been gone for nearly one day.
"Okay, follow me." I was startled by a sudden visitor to my isolated room, one that I was pleasantly surprised to see: the interrogator. Perhaps a little too eagerly, I followed him through several more corridors in the police station until we came upon some cells. They didn't house anyone and seemed to be fairly sanitary. "You'll stay in one of these cells until further notice. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long."
I politely nodded and investigated each of the cells. They all seemed to have the same level of cleanliness, but one didn't have as much dirt present. I assumed that this was one of the least used ones, so I picked it. Inside was nothing special: A suspended wooden plank with a mattress on it for sleeping, a wooden chair and a suspended toilet with a screen in front of it.
It was tough to force myself to wait in the cell for so long. I would constantly wonder about what was happening outside, how the search for me was going, how Thrack was being treated, if Ittisk had ventured out of the shop among other things. I would constantly pace around the cell, investigating nooks and crannies, sitting or lying down on the mattress or looking out of the thin metal bars that kept me secured from everything else. I sighed. At least it was far better than being at the mercy of my captors.
It was tough to force myself to wait in the cell for so long. I would constantly wonder about what was happening outside, how the search for me was going, how Thrack was being treated, if Ittisk had ventured out of the shop among other things. I would constantly pace around the cell, investigating nooks and crannies, sitting or lying down on the mattress or looking out of the thin metal bars that kept me secured from everything else. I sighed. At least it was far better than being at the mercy of my captors.
My stomach had begun to rumble as a guard approached my cell. "Come with us," he simply stated, twisting a key inside of a small keyhole. Within a few seconds, I was now suddenly able to walk around. Eyeing me, the guard elected to handcuff me once again just to obey a certain procedure.
He sparked another conversation as we walked through the numerous twisting hallways. "You have a visitor. Says you're one of his."
I had a glimmer of hope. "What does he look like? Are they a 'he'?"
The guard nodded. "Yes. And he's elderly. Speaks in a rough but firm tone. Do you know him, by any chance?"
"I think so." I could barely contain my excitement. I didn't doubt that the guard knew that it was leaking through my mental barriers.
With that, we fell silent. A few tens of seconds later, we both came upon a familiar face; it was my teacher, he had finally shown up. The instant we saw each other he let out a sigh of relief. "Yes, officer, that would be him."
Behind me, the police officer nodded and I was almost shoved next to my old teacher. This was after he unlocked my handcuffs, of course. Turning around, he had a stern look. "Listen, kid," he lectured. "You might have gotten away with injuring our people once, but remember that you can't do that to everyone willy nilly and expect to get away with it."
It seemed like I had no choice but to reply affirmatively with a nod. My teacher, though, seemed to recognize a discrepancy. He excused us from the building, thanking the officer for finally reuniting me with him, then pulled me aside. "How do you know?"
I was confused. "Know what?" My teacher was now suddenly glaring at me with concerned eyes that were uncharacteristic of him.
"The language, of course!" He now grabbed my shoulders. "How do you know this language?"
I gasped in realization. Yes, I would normally have no clue what everyone was saying without the new translating device I had acquired from Ittisk and Thrack. Slowly, I began to explain the situation; that after I was separated and taken in by Thrack, Ittisk had shoved the device into my ear.
"Ah." My teacher's irritated expression dissipated. "I'm sorry. Come, let us go back to the hotel and perhaps I can extract that."
It didn't take much time to make it back. Rather than walking like I would have done, my teacher simply led us out of sight and created a portal. When we both stepped through, we were suddenly back in the lobby.
While I would have expected everyone to be out and about listening to Slith explain the civilization we were inside of, all the students seemed to be inside the hotel. My teacher swiftly stepped into my line of sight once again and began to explain. "We had to call off the tours today. We couldn't risk any more innocent students getting abducted."