A Space Story 64

            Zai, last of the Raath found a woman lying unconscious in a storage compartment.  This was the fourth woman Zai had found with Raddy Volcan’s scent all over her.  She had the same injuries, the same bruising and trauma as the others.

            Zai was not human.  He was Raath.  He did not come from Earth.  He came from a planet named Zeith.  Raath were not like humans.  Zeith had not been like Earth.  But there are some things that are the same no matter where you come from.

            Zai knew what rape was.  On Zeith the punishment for rape was the same as the punishment for murder.  Raath were not like humans.  Raath were killers.  They did not hesitate to kill beings that were different.  But it was commonly accepted that Raath did not kill other Raath.  It was also accepted that Raath did not rape other Raath.  These were heinous and unthinkable crimes on Zeith.  They did not happen often.  When they did happen the punishment was equally heinous.

            Raddy Volcane was not himself.  That did not matter.  Zai knew what he would have to do.  He checked his battle suit’s reboot status.  His weapon systems were still a long way off from being functional again.  He broke two pieces of metal off of a storage self.  He continued the hunt all the while using one piece of metal to sharpen the other.