Chapter 161: Drane Patrol

"All of you shut up, no one says a word, not until it's safe," a voice hissed from the gloom of the darkened room. 

It took my eyes a minute to adjust, but when they did I was almost repulsed by the sight of the scraggly man before me. 

He was thin, as thin as a rake, with a tattered white jacket hanging off of his shoulders, the middle of it unbuttoned to reveal a mass of flesh and metal ribs, a glowing green heart pulsing at the centre of it all. 

One arm looked normal, human, but his other was a lattice of fragile metal, ended in a clawed hand and coated in glowing wires. 

He looked disgusting, and yet, I also got a distinct impression that he wasn't looking to do us any harm. 

We sat there for a few minutes, silent in the dark until a whirring rumble built up overhead. 

"Damn it," the skinny cyborg spat under his breath, "Hide, all of you, hide, hide." 

He shoed us away with his human arm, pointing toward the back of the room where a large counter blocked the room off into two distinct segments. It was clear that he wanted us to hide behind it. 

I wanted to stay, to deal with whatever threat was going to come through those doors but… the predator had been just as strong as I had been, and these people lived on this planet every single day. There was nothing to say that they wouldn't be just as strong, if not stronger. 

<That wouldn't make any sense, Jacob, they're humans!> BB said in my mind, <And I don't mind human like you, either. I mean baseline human, not super god-powered human.>

That may have been the case, and I may have even believed it if we were back in the galaxy that we had come from. But this was the milky way, a new galaxy, and that meant new rules. Rules I was going to try to play by. 

Dan and I scampered over to the counter with the predator carrying Yr'Arl close behind. There was a door next to the counter which was unlocked, so we all went through and ducked down behind the countertop. 

Just in time, too. 

The front door to the building came open with a solid crack of wood on stone, followed by the heavy thudding of boots on the floor. 

"Hu… Hello, officers," came the voice of the cyborg, he was almost snivelling in fear. 

"We attend at the reports of a disturbance to the mandated curfew," A sharp, female voice said in response. At least I thought it was female, it was hard to tell. The voice sounded like it was being synthesized artificially somehow. 

"Dis… Disturbance? No disturbance here," The cyborg replied, "Just me, in my shop, waiting for the day cycle hehe." 

If I were a police officer there was no way that I would believe someone who sounded like that. He sounded just about as suspicious as someone could possibly sound. 

"Ah, if that is the case, then you will not mind if my drane search the premises," the synthesized voice responded.

"Drane? No need, no need for the drane," The cyborg said, he was sounding panicked now. 

I shot Dan a look, his face was pale and he was shaking slightly. Terror. He looked at the picture of sheer terror. Whatever these drane things were, they weren't something to be trifled with that was for sure. 

"Oh please, Doctor Kreen, if you have nothing to hide then you should not be worried about the drane conducting their inspection," the officer said, her voice sounded smug and knowing. Our cyborg protector hadn't done a good job of hiding his deception in the slightest. 

As the officer finished her sentence there were more footsteps, those these clunked heavily on the ground with the sound of metal. They weren't normal footsteps, that was for sure. I was starting to get seriously nervous. 

"Of course, of course, inspect if you wish," Doctor Kreen said, though from the way he said it I had a distinct impression that the jig was up. 

I was ready to jump back over the countertop, to take on whatever these drane things were in combat, but just moments before I could make the leap a piercing screech sounded outside the building, echoing across the walkways of the underground megacity. 

"Disturbance detected, investigation initiated," two new voices sounded out, these were much deeper than that of the Officer but were clearly just as synthesized. 

The dranes ran off, their heavy footsteps clunking off into the distance until they couldn't be heard any more at all. 

"Looks like you were telling the truth, after all, Doctor Kreen," the officer said lightly, her voice almost cheerful, "Perhaps you should try being a little bit less suspicious, good Doctor. Enjoy the rest of your night cycle." 

Her footsteps echoed much quieter until they couldn't be heard at all. 

I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding and relaxed against the countertop. 

"Feel like that was probably a close one, eh Dan?" I said with a chuckle. 

"Yeah, you can say that again. You never want to cross a drane, they're not… nice… creatures," he said, clearly shaken. 

There were more footsteps, shuffling across the stone floor of the doctor's shop. These were the footsteps of the doctor. 

"Get up, get up, you're safe now," Doctor Kreen said, "The patrol has moved on, something else attracted their attention. You are… incredibly lucky individuals. If they had investigated there would have been nothing I could have done, they would have slaughtered us all as if it were nothing." 

I stood, "then I thank you for your help in keeping us safe," I said, and extended my hand to him. "My name is Jacob Lyre, Squadron Leader of the Guard, it's a pleasure to meet you… can you help my friend?" 

Doctor Kreen peered over the counter, a green glint coming from behind his glasses. 

"Yes," he said, "I can help this friend."