When Earth Reigned Supreme (The Human Chronicles Saga Book 12) by T.R. Harris

and hands were secured in the front with the same binds.
    They were frisked and then moved further into the room and placed on hard mats that rested along a twelve foot long bench, the Sol-Kor equivalent of a couch.
    To Adam’s surprise, neither of the aliens put up the slightest resistance, nor did they express any shock. They simply complied without any emotion at all. Adam grimaced, thinking they were probably mindless drones, maybe not even capable of speech.
    “Do you understand me?” he asked, after removing his mask, his voice still that of a Sol-Kor.
    “Yes,” the two creatures said in unison, also in Sol-Kor.
    At least that’s a relief, Adam thought. “You’re not Sol-Kor. What race are you?”
    “We are Salifens,” they said again, also in unison.
    “Only one of you speak at a time…you.” Adam pointed to the alien to his right. “What planet is this?”
    “Kor.”
    Adam looked over at Riyad and smiled. Then he turned his attention back to the alien. “Where is the Queen?” he asked, wanting to cut right to the chase.
    “The Queen?”
    “The Sol-Kor Queen.”
    “I do not know such things. My tasks exist within this complex most of the time.”
    “What do you do?”
    “I carry things. The Salifens are stronger than our masters, so we carry things.”
    “Your masters are the Sol-Kor?”
    “Yes.”
    Adam frowned. He was under the impression the Sol-Kor ate every advanced race they came upon. This creature could speak and form coherent sentences, making it intelligent enough for the Sol-Kor dining table. So why were they not consumed?
    “How is it that the Sol-Kor have...slaves? Do you understand the concept?”
    “Yes. We are subservient to our masters.”
    “Why haven’t they eaten you?” Riyad asked, giving in to his own curiosity.
    “On occasion they do, yet I understand we are not to their liking, not unless there is no other food available. Otherwise, we carry things.”
    “Why aren’t you carrying anything now?”
    “We have already carried boxes to our destination. We are now returning to carry more.”
    “What do you carry?”
    “Boxes, crates.”
    “What’s in the boxes and crates?” He already knew the answer before he asked the question.
    “I do not know. That is not important.”
    Adam and Riyad walked away, out of earshot. “Dumb as a rock, both of them.”
    “They may know more than they realize,” said Riyad. “They’ve seen things, even if they may not know what it meant.”
    Adam nodded. They returned to the aliens.
    “The structures on the hill, is that where the Sol-Kor live?”
    “Yes, most of them.”
    “Is there one of the structures that seems to be more important to the Sol-Kor?”
    “More important?”
    “Yes, do they travel there more often than to the others?”
    “The one in the middle,” offered the other alien, speaking for the first time. The other creature nodded.
    “Have you—either of you—ever been there before?”
    “Yes,” they said in unison. And then the main alien, having sensed the course of the inquiry, said, “I carry things there and back.”
    “Of course you do. Can you show us how to get there?”
    “Yes.”
    Adam turned to Riyad again. “That was easy.”
    “If we want to get in through the front door.”
    “It’s a start, and we already know where the spaceport is if we can’t locate a portal inside the pyramid.”
    “Did you see the size of that place—and the spaceport? You are one fatal optimist, Mr. Cain.”
    “It pays to keep a positive mental attitude.”
    “Since when…and especially coming from you? I’ve known you for far too long to fall for that bullshit.”
    “It’s a start,” Adam conceded. “But we are still going to need a Sol-Kor hostage eventually. These guys will only get us so far.”
     
    ********
     
    Fifteen minutes later, Adam and Riyad were huddled over a video playing on a small tablet computer. “Does any of this look familiar?” Adam asked.
    Riyad studied the line of