Breakout

The aliens caught me.

I tried to get away, I really did! I ran, I hid, I ran again, I tried camouflaging myself. It was all for naught; their technology is better than ours. I was scooped up and taken to their ship.

It was all the fears your parents tell you about, like they're stories encoded in your genes. The alien mothership, the ray picking you up, the probing, aaahhhhhh the probing!

No, I was not returned! I had to escape!

It would be tricky, I knew that. We're known for wiliness, but those otherworldly beings possessed tools and skills I could only guess at. We so rarely go into outer space; they come from it. I mean, can you imagine? Traveling surrounded by a substance that kills us? Having to figure out a way to take your atmosphere with you, to keep you alive?

That's what gave me the idea, in the end.

We're known for our brains, aren't we? That amazing ability to figure things out... Well, that, and our arms. And the ability to grasp, that most creatures cannot. Time to use my wits.

I was still sore and in pain from all the probing, so I curled up in a corner of my cage. They cut pieces of me away! They zapped me, injected me, shone too-bright lights in my eyes! I had a headache for days! I hurt so much I stopped responding to them. Not even food wiggled at me on the end of a stick, like I'm some dumb animal. I guess they felt badly about their treatment of me, because suddenly I was carried to the control room and treated more like a pet. Or perhaps a mascot. You can't tell with aliens.

I have eyes. I have brains. They were in pain, parts of both were missing, but I watched. I learned.

I hatched a plot.

The only drawback – how to keep from dying in a poisonous, alien atmosphere?

I had some clothing I was able to retain when I was taken. There's a way to fashion it into something like a backpack, and keep extra breathable air in it. It's tricky, but I could do it. I just needed to do it quietly, when they weren't looking at me. Or tapping on the cage. Ugh! I'm not your trained domestic being!

Then I waited till their sleep cycle was well under way. They have a thing that runs the ship without their manipulating it. So I waited.

When the last one went off shift (Ugh! Stooooop tapping!!!), I popped the latch, and took off!

See, I watched when they plucked me out of the cage room and took me to the bridge. I knew how to leave the ship. From my position, it was simple.

But first, a bit of sabotage.

I felt very bad for the helpless ones still trapped in the hold. My plan would surely kill some of them. Some I had never seen before, so I don't know if they're even from the same world as I am. But some were very familiar to me – some were food I recognized, some were dangerous and avoided, and some were outright poisonous. I hoped what I planned would at least give them a chance.

So, with the latch open, I scooped and scooped, and flung water from my dispenser into every circuit I could reach.

Things were buzzing, but no sirens yet, unless they were silent? I aimed the most liquid at the big lever they spent the most time around, and got lots into the console.

I left when things started sparking dangerously. I'd had enough probing, thanks all the same, and I wanted to go home.

I heard groaning coming from deep within the ship; I could feel it through the floorboards. Something boomed, and there was tilting, and my cage tipped over and crashed into more circuitry than I could reach before.

I waited behind the door till it crashed open, thudding alien feet tramping inches away from my hiding spot.

I slithered out onto the open deck.

It's terrifying! My oculars rolled in terror, but I reached, and reached, and reached again, huddled in my wet suit. The rail was barely above the water. It was designed to keep aliens from slipping, but it was no barrier to me.

I jumped into the blissful heaven of home.

Tasting the currents, I realized I wasn't that far from my coral reef. So they were still collecting specimens, I assume. I jetted away, dropping the stale water from my pallial cavity like the makeshift pack it was. I didn't even need to use my ink to keep them from pursuing me.

I heard the ship crashed farther down-current near the reef, and our cousins had a good feast on alien flesh. And most of the other captives got out through the broken glass and flooding cabins. I suppose that's all well and good, I've had about enough of the aliens attacking us.

They took some of my brains when they cut off my tentacle, but I shall re-grow it. In due time.

I also took from them, and they did from me. Kletpogenetics is an amazing skill to have, and I snipped a sample painlessly when they handled me bare-digited. I shall study their makeup as they did to me. It's only fair, after all. I shall learn about their kind, to protect my children. And yours.

Want a sample? I can share.

If any of you get taken by another research vessel, please use my story of survival to win back your freedom.