Collective clicks invaded Relda and her crew's space.
"Should I kill them?" A voice cracked.
He spoke from a place just under Relda's shoulder.
"No, son," his comrade said. "Wait a moment."
Another shock induced a scream. Tears gushed from Kylen's eyes.
"Please! Stop!" She begged.
"Kylen," Annika cried.
She propped her forehead against the wall.
"You don't know her," Shilah pointed out.
"She's coming home with me," Annika said. "I can tell I'm supposed to adopt her."
"Treatment of subject complete," a femine, cheerful recording echoed overhead.
A Dialorian let himself in through a back door, entered a code on a pad, and the electric bolts darkened. He released a moaning, limp Kylen from the straps. The medic grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her against the aluminum flooring.
"Where are they taking her?" Annika demanded.
The medic had already started toward the exit, pulling Kylen behind. She yelped as he towed her by her hair. Annika covered her eyes.
"Where are they taking her?" She snapped at the guards again.
"How should we know?" The young one replied with a shrug. "We're just dumb guards. They don't tell us stuff."
"They say we're too dumb to know anything." The older one added, taking a soft, vulnerable tone.
Attentions shifted to him.
"Maybe not dumb," Noah said, "but soft."
The older Dialorian shoved his hands into his pockets.
"I'm Maurian," he introduced himself. "That's my nephew Orz. And your names?"
"Later," Relda said, making a vague gesture toward the passageway opening. "Too many of us?"
Orz jerked his head in the same direction.
"Well, you want to know where they are taking her?" He said. "We might be able to get info out of someone."
They power-walked, and then sped up to a jog.
"I'll be there soon, Kylen," Annika said. "Mama's coming."