Another Chance

Excellence Award in the 'Write Along 2018' competition

He stared into the inky cosmos from the low-lying plains of the planet Quanturn 94, where he had never wanted to escape from more. He could feel his chains bite into his skinny arms as his calloused, blistered hands fingered the seeds that sifted through his fingers. It had been six long years since he and his brother had been seized from his family. Though they never saw each other, sometimes he still tried to remember his parents, his school and his cricket team. Whenever he did, he felt a sick, burning anger in the pit of his stomach to the creatures who had this to him and so many others.
He had been imprisoned here for so long that he had forgotten his own name. Trapped by the Scorchtalon alien race, he was now referred to as HXQJ-54, but this only fuelled one portion of his hate towards these aliens. They possessed fierce orange and gold feathers, which covered a scaly body and head. Their face, possessing vivid eyes full of hatred, ended in a cruel curved beak, used for tearing the flesh of their prey. He and many other human children had been abducted, used as slaves and were considered disposable to the Scorchtalons.
Mostly, they were used to farm the land for sousma grain, so he was working in a barren field, where the dirt was gravelly under his tired feet. Scorchtalons patrolled the area constantly, threatening to kill them if they did not work hard enough. A spaceship, designed by the finest Scorchtalon architects, was perched on a rocky outcrop looking over the dismal grey plantation, where if he looked closely, his blurry eyes could see Scorchtalon silhouettes shuffling around behind the control panel. Blearily, he continued the monotonous task of sowing the fields. He had, over the years, become accustomed to withstanding emotion. It got in the way of work, which resulted in death. He had seen many peoples have themselves torn apart by the Scorchtalons when they could not hold back their emotion.
A desperate idea, a plan which was almost certain to fail, came creeping into his mind. Unable to only think, not act, for so long, had resulted in a desire to channel his anger. Without pausing to think, he started to run. The terrifying sound of a Scorchtalon’s screech pierced his ear drums, and within a split-second, a Scorchtalon was upon him. From that point forward, he could remember nothing until finding himself in the spaceship with unconscious aliens surrounding the ship, and somehow knowing he had caused it.
As he glided through the thin atmosphere, he looked below and could see hundreds, if not thousands of children slaving away for these beasts, and as he realised that his brother was down there somewhere, he made a vow to return. He would give every single child another chance. Another chance to build their life.

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