City of the Reptilians by Xaiver Morden

  *****

  Bruno entered the laboratory. Oronna seemed very busy in his white and long dress. He was working on something with excitement.

  "Hello, I'm here," the old bearded man greeted him.

  "Hello to you too Bruno," the reptilian answered in a hurry.

  "Look what I'm working on!" he started talking excitedly.

  "This headband placed on the body and tuned to the wavelength of a given species makes them believe that you are one of them. Like we can convince you that we are humans too, but this device can mislead more intelligent races too. I cannot wait to try it."

  "It is great, sounds very useful," - the man was rubbing his beard.

  He had some strange thoughts stuck in his mind. What a great device. If it is really going to work, we will be able to convince them, that we are one of them and then we could probably escape from here!

  "It will soon be ready and you will be my first lab rat. You will put it on, I will set it to our wavelength and in theory and we will perceive you as a reptilian."

  The reptilian scientist was ready in a few hours. He carefully put the headband on the man's head and activated it.

  "Let's see if it's working."

  The shape of Bruno began to change gradually and in a matter of a few seconds there was a reptilian standing in front of the scientist.

  "Well, is it working?" the man asked.

  "I haven't felt any change on myself."

  "It is working indeed!" Oronna cried out happily.

  "I am a genius," he was shaking his fist.

  "I have been working on this development in secret for months. Now I can see my theory become reality at last. This is amazing, I have to make a few pieces and test them on others too."

  The rest of the day was spent with routine experiments, nothing interesting happened. But Bruno was thinking about this device that could be the key to their escape. How could he convince Oronna to give it to him? They would need at least four of them so they could all get one. As the day was over and he finally met the others, they took their usual walk to discuss the good news.

  "Something really interesting happened today," he started impatiently.

  "Oronna, the reptilian scientist I've been working with for a long time, has developed a fantastic device. Wearing it makes every race believe, that you are one of them. According to him, I was completely transformed into a reptilian. At least this is what he saw. With the help of four of these headbands, we could disguise ourselves and get into places we haven't been able to get in before."

  "That is good news Bruno," Steven was patting his back.

  "Amazing, we have a chance to go back home finally," Agnessa was very happy.

  "This is the first time in two years I feel hope about being able to escape from here. What do you think, Steve?" the woman asked enthusiastically.

  "I too believe it is a great opportunity. But since we do not know their language, we could be busted easily, if we have to talk somewhere. We have to keep that in mind."

  "I haven't thought of that, I was so happy about the news, I've been here for two years. You haven't been here for long. I want to feel the sunshine as it makes my skin warmer. I want to see my home, Russia and my family. There are no words how much I miss them," the girl said sorrowfully, rubbing her eyes full of tears.

  Steven put his arm around the red haired beauty.

  "We will come up with something, trust me!" he was comforting the woman, who was still sobbing.

  "Thank you for keeping me in countenance," the distressed woman kissed the man on the cheek.

  "It has to work, we have to believe in it," Roger joined the conversation, scratching his head with a troubled look.

  "Anyway the mercy guns used on the animal farm might come handy for us."

  "First I have to get the device from Oronna. If it doesn't work out, then the whole plan was for nothing."

  "You get on well with him right? Can't you just sniff around?" the girl asked.

  "It might be possible, but Oronna is a smart reptilian and he would figure out my intentions. I could simply get it from him using a mercy gun, for instance, numbing the few scientists working in the lab."

  "It sounds much feasible, Bruno. This plan is slowly coming together," Steven looked satisfied.

  "If we are ready for all possible scenarios and think of everything, we can do it, my friends!"