ankles, unable to defend himself. A thousand curses rang
through his head, but none were bad enough for how he felt
about the Graali right now. His hosts watched calmly from
the corner of the room as the robot lifted its heavy metal
arm for another blow.
Up exhaled from the pain of it, determined not to give
them the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. The bastards
had been lying through their pointed teeth the whole time
the Cazadora had been there. It was no wonder they hadn’t
wanted G.L.E.E. technology – the robots had given them
ships, weapons, transporters, for dead God’s sake. They
had appeared in his quarters, slapped a mobile transporter
on him, and had him back on Graali before Up knew what
had happened. He doubted the crew would have even
realized he was gone yet. He wanted to hit someone. Why
had they been so unprepared?
“You humans are so cute,” said one of the Graali, a
female with grotesquely glowing eyes and two small horns
pointing from her head. “So trusting.”
“And you’re a two-faced bitch, Senator,” Up said,
grimacing. “Let me up and I’ll show you how trusting
humans can be.”
The robot looked at the Graali Senator. “Should I hit him
again, Sen-a-tor?”
“Oh, maybe a few more,” she said, smiling and showing
her teeth. “I have a feeling that brute strength won’t break
this one.” She bent down, her face inches from his. “But
there are other ways to break a man, Commander. Humans
are just so weak.”
She straightened and gestured for the robot to continue.
Up braced himself as the world exploded again.
Taz and Pedro were crouched in a pink bush of
enormous lime green flowers, awaiting word from the