Wordmongers' Masque
Limbo.

"If you tell us where your base is we can end the pain." The voice grates in my skull. Not my ears. That's not where it comes from. Another bit of knowledge that I wish I could pass on to the others.

I wonder how much longer it will be before I die.

Death is the only hope I have left. For the first few days, I let myself consider the idea that a team could get me out. And then I realized the insanity behind that thinking.

They'd probably already decided that I was dead. Even if I wasn't, they couldn't take risks to get me back. One man was not worth the loss of a dozen. We all knew the rules when we volunteered. Being captured was an instant declaration of death.

See, each of us was given a false tooth. Filled with a poison that guareented we wouldn't be able to spill any secrets.

Easy way to keep base safety.

If we take them...

"We can keep you alive for as long as we need to. We are quite interested in the amount of pain a human body can withstand. And, even more peculiar, is the length of time that the mind remembers that pain." Trying to ignore the voice is useless. Trying to shut it out is useless. All I can do is take it.

I should have bitten the damn tooth. I get that now.


"And what are you to do if ever captured, upon the first realization that you have been apprehended?"

"Break the tooth."

"Andrew, I want you to look me in the eye when you say that. I will not have you or anyone else, for that matter, risking everything we have here by not ta-"

"Michael-Sir," I focus my eyes straight to his, "I will break that tooth."

A soft smile comes to his lips and he nods. He turns to walk away.

"And one more thing, Andrew. Stop with the sir thing. It's just Mike..."


So I'm weak. I get that too.

Who wouldn't be?

I couldn't kill myself before the Krags got to the tooth.

That's why I'm not going to break. Then everyone would know. Then everyone find out that Andrew broke. They'd remember that it was me who forced an evac.

"Tell us something, Andrew. And we can stop the pain."

As he speaks my body seems to explode. Fire covers every part of my body and instead of trying to manage it, I just let myself go.

Fade to black


"What is your name?"

Names are inconsequential. Give them that. Stop the pain.

"Andrew." Andrew. Just Andrew. Just one name.

"Excellent. Andrew." They lessen the pain and I'm able to think again. "And what is your mission?"

"I am-" my throat constricts and I begin choking. One of them comes over to me with water. They pour it into my mouth. A smile reaches my lips. "I am here, you pieces of shit," and I spit the water back in their face, "just to piss you off."

A fire of pain consumes my body and I just stop trying to fight it. I can't hear anything but my own drowning screams.

It all fades to black.


I awake to find myself being thrown onto a hovercycle. Normally, it would hurt. But I can hardly feel my body anymore. I flex my hand to make sure it's still there and, sure enough, it moves. At least that's something.

"Unable to attain information of any use. Subject has withstood all extraction techniques. Take to processing plant."

I don't dare say anything, but a smile touches my lips. I won. Damn right you bastards are unable to get anything out of me.

And then a sad realization hits me. I'm not leaving this ship to go back home. I'm actually goin-

An explosion rocks the entire ship and I brace myself against the hovercycle. The entire room shakes and I realize that one of the walls has been hit with something. Something big, as the wall crashes inward and kills a couple of my Krag guards. The only reason I'm not hit is the hovercycle's metal plating keeps the debris away from me.

The rest of the Krags are frantically trying to get to consoles. Not one of them is fixated on me.

I climb into the front seat. I have no clue how to work this machine, but I'm not sure I care. After looking frantically for any sort of buttons, I sigh. Nothing at all. They speak with their damn mind, they probably navigate with it to.

After slamming my fists against the front of the machine, to no effect, I calm myself. For one, the moving just hurt. For two, maybe I can move this beast forward.

And suddenly, responding to my very thoughts, the hovercycle glides forwards. I think right and it floats right. Normally, this would be a game. Right now, it's get out alive time.

I manage to escape the ship and navigate my way to the ground. Behind me, the Krag ship is crashing to the ground. At first it looked like they were going to continue just fine, but a rocket or something hit the ship and it begins to spiral towards the ground. Rockets. Haven't seen those in years.

Before I can see what's happened, everything fades to black again.


"Andrew, damnit. Get up!"

The voice is familiar. I'm obeying before I even realize who it is.

"Mike! Sir!" I jump up, not even feeling the pain that was so involved before. A quick glance around and I realize that Suthers is laying on the ground near me. Part of the hovercycle is crushing his leg. "Sir, are you... Can I?"

He shakes his head at me and smiles. Something isn't quite right about it. I sigh, realizing he's probably in a lot of pain.

"No... Listen, Andrew. I'm stuck here. But the Krags think I'm gone. Which should buy you enough time to get back to base and get a team out here." He winces as he speaks and takes a deep breath. His voice sounds hollow and strange.

"Oh. Uh... Yes sir! I'll be as fast as I can." I nod my head and stand up to go. I give him another glance and an uneasy feeling falls over me. Ignore it, my mind says. And I do.

I'm not positive about where I am, but I recognize some of the bigger landmarks. It takes me five minutes to get my bearings, but I start out running.

Suddenly, it all hits me. The ease of escape. The flying of the hovercycle. Finding Suthers.

It was all a set-up. God no. It was all a damn set-up.

"No. NO. NO! NO! NO!" I scream and beat my fists against the ground. It hurts, but I ignore the pain. "THIS ISN'T REAL," tears roll down my face, "but I won't tell you a damn thing. I won't give them up. I won't." I don't even have the energy to hold them back.

Bright lights flare up and reality fades back into place. I am still in the cell, looking up into the eyes of a Krag. The now familiar pain floats back over my body.

"So be it, Andrew. But we've got a thousand other methods and nothing but time. We will break you."

I wish I'd taken the poison.

The need for masks seems to be universal, around the globe and throughout time.
David Bishop