The aspic tasted exquisite. Sam also took out something resembling a plastic spoon from his ration pack, which, for some reason, was quite long and thick. Scooping up a piece of the jelly along with a bit of meat, he sampled the dish.
The tender juice of the meat spread across Sam's mouth. The jelly melted on his tongue, making his taste buds roar with pleasure. The meat was tender, unlike anything Sam had ever tasted before. The ancients ate such delicacies every day, and now he understood why they were considered a mighty civilization of the past.
He slowly savored the aspic, occasionally glancing at the girl, whose face reflected genuine enjoyment. Well, it seemed anyone would devour such a dish with incredible appetite after such a long period of enslavement. Sam decided to break the silence with a bit of conversation.
"So, how is it? Tasty, right?"
The girl, her mouth full, looked at him and nodded quickly. This amused Sam, and he continued stuffing his cheeks, though he didn't stop talking.
"Anyway... What I wanted to say. Oh, yeah! Where do you think we should head next?"
Sam had already accepted that they were a team, even though he still longed to hear a proper request for it. Alas, he had to make do with the situation. The girl stopped eating and seemed deep in thought, sitting quietly as she chewed her food. After a moment, she spoke.
"To be honest... I don't know. It's probably best for us to head to the nearest city. There, we can find out how to leave this planet."
Sam was surprised. He hadn't expected the girl to decide to go with him... that far.
Yes, his plans ultimately involved leaving this planet and getting as far away from it as possible. But he had no idea what the girl's plans were or what she wanted.
"Didn't you laugh when I talked about that earlier, in the facility? I didn't think you'd find this amusing idea something you'd want to turn into reality."
The girl tilted her head slightly, looking at him in confusion, but after a few moments, as if remembering what he was referring to, she smiled.
"Well, you just sounded... too funny? Sorry if that offended you."
All Sam could do was sigh heavily. He didn't see the humor in it. It was a perfectly realistic desire—slaves need to dream about something... No, not a slave anymore. He was a person.
"Well, if we're being serious—this is just beneficial for me."
Sam raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Oh, really? And how so?"
The girl brought a finger to her lips, wiping away the remnants of food and licking it, then looked intently at Sam. She didn't take her eyes off him for a full twenty seconds before she began speaking.
"Because I want to see the world, learn more about technology, and live freely. To live the way I command myself, not anyone else."
Sam realized that the girl had very similar goals to his own. She was also a free spirit, someone who didn't want to be told what to do. The reason was simple. Every slave wanted to feel, at least once, what it was like to be free. Sam was luckier in that regard; he had been free in his past world, doing what he wanted.
But if you think about it... was he really free back then? He had many obligations. He depended on his label, which constantly dictated what kind of music he should make. He was chained by the desires he had back then—the desire for a luxurious life.
You see, when you're popular, you have to stop doing many of the things ordinary people do. It shows in different areas, in communication, in understanding. What he hated most were the journalists. Those rats always wanted to stir up some scandal just to make more money and gain more popularity.
He had to hide his true self. He couldn't show it to anyone because... he couldn't even dream of having a family or friends. He didn't have any; he was completely alone back then.
Just like now, despite being in a group.
He still considered himself a loner, willing to use any means necessary to achieve his goal. If it meant betraying this girl—he would do it without hesitation. If it meant killing her... he'd do that too.
All for the sake of reaching the same heights as before... No, not quite. To be even higher than he was before.
Soon, the ration packs were emptied. There was still some yogurt left, and just as Sam had guessed, those packets of powder were some kind of instant drinks that even gave a bit of energy.
Next on the agenda—he and Jade needed to leave the complex as quickly as possible. They'd already lingered too long here. They could have gone to the locker room to grab some spare clothes, but unfortunately, with the shackles still on them, it was physically impossible.
They'd have to deal with that later, in the city.
High above the planet's orbit, a small station drifted. Its primary function was to monitor the activities on the desert planet below. It was a station owned by a small network of slavers, a modest operation compared to other criminal conglomerates. They had control over more than a couple of hundred thousand slaves.
In the observer's cabin sat a man who was currently sipping coffee. He lazily watched the monitors, not particularly worried that anything might happen. Emergencies were extremely rare, so he simply enjoyed his job, where he had nothing to do but watch the monitors and observe.
Of course, he also had to report to the chief overseers in the slave camps about potential weather forecasts. Whether it was a sandstorm or, for example, a toxic gas cloud—which was incredibly rare. Thanks to the fact that the camps were mostly located in anomalous fields, just like the other cities, they weren't in any danger.
"At least something is good on this planet... Ugh, I don't envy those poor souls who work every day without rest or breaks."
The man muttered to himself. Of course, he was referring to the overseers. To him, the slaves were just worms, the scum of society—too weak, which is why they ended up in such a situation. That's how many beings thought. And in his own race, slavery was considered normal.
He belonged to the race of Krelogs. He looked like an astronaut because his body was too fragile, requiring him to stay in a protective suit. But their race was also considered one of the smartest among many others. He drank his coffee through a straw that went under his suit.
He was exceptionally intelligent and, in addition... very lazy.
Suddenly, something happened on the screen that distracted him from his idle laziness. He looked closely at the monitor and saw that the tracking mark on one of the human boys had disappeared.
The man quickly double-checked the map to see what was going on and realized that there was a storm there and also... that two overseers and five slaves were present. It was the recently discovered underground complex of the precursors, discovered by one of his colleagues. They even gave him a bonus for it.
The problem was that the signal had completely vanished. During storms, the signal still worked, though very weakly. But here, the signal had completely stopped—which could only mean one thing.
"Could the complex be dangerous? But that's impossible... Lawrence couldn't have made a mistake; this complex is classified as Type C, completely ordinary, nothing special. Maybe one of the overseers went overboard?"
In the end, the man decided not to do anything for now. He waited and watched as, an hour later, another tracker disappeared, and then another... until they had all vanished, except for the two overseers.
He was nervous; this situation was quite strange and surreal. The overseers had been ordered not to kill the slaves under any circumstances, as they would have been replaced. Not to mention, they even had built-in implants that could completely stop their bodies if they truly intended to do so.
Intimidation didn't count; they were even encouraged to do so according to protocol.
But how was this possible?
The man decided that this situation couldn't be left alone and reached for his communicator. After pressing a few buttons, a masked face appeared before him, known to everyone working for this syndicate.
It was the head of the syndicate, notorious for his cruelty. He was a real monster when it came to his employees, but unfortunately, there was no choice but to report the situation to him.
"What?" A low, ominous voice came from the communicator's speaker.
"E-er... S-sir, I apologize for disturbing you."
"Quickly, I'm busy right now."
Other sounds could be heard from the speaker besides the leader's voice. It was... sobbing. There was another well-known fact about the syndicate leader. He was a sadist, the likes of which were hard to find.
'Damn... I'm dead for sure.'
Fear gripped the Krelog's mind. But he was obligated to report the incident.
"S-sir, we have an emergency. In sector 35-7O, five slave beacons have disappeared. They... it's like they just vanished... Yeah..."
"Hmm... Is that the place where the underground complex was recently discovered?"
"Yes, sir... Two overseers were sent with them, but they're still alive... I don't know how it's possible that the slaves could disappear... Could the overseers' implants be malfunctioning?"
"No... that's unlikely. Those implants are some of the best, so it's practically impossible. Send a scout team there, let them find out what's going on."
"S-sir, right away!"
The Krelog hastily shut off the communicator and breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't as bad as he feared. But now, new problems loomed on the horizon. What had happened to those slaves? And would the scout team be able to find anything in that storm?