Page 33 of Stripped By the Alien

No, the Beast would alert me if that were the case.

I frown. Would she? Or would she simply kill Nora again? She has a history of intensely disliking female crewmembers that I tried to bring aboard, so that I have to only hire males or neuters, or in some cases females like Sris, who are completely different. And even then, I know that the mood between Sris and the Beast is tense.

But still, the strength in her! Saying ‘no’ to me, a Chief Harrower! “Certainly she could have no idea what she was doing,” I muse. “She was simply groggy and confused after the spacewalk.”

But what if she wasn’t? What if she meant it, fully aware of my rank?

What if she defied me on purpose?

The idea is impossible. But for some inexplicable reason, my crotch starts to swell, to the point that the shield bulges out.

I stare down in disbelief. How is she having this effect on me? From the other side of the ship?

“Sir!” the Signals Chief calls as he comes running towards me. Still moving, he goes down on his knees to make sure his antennae are lower than mine, even when I’m sitting down. “There’s a message!”

“A reply from another Harrower?” I ask. “A reply to my query?”

“Regrettably!” the Signals Chief squeaks. “It is not that! It is a message from the Queen’s Nest, Chief Harrower!” He holds out a message tablet, keeping his head down.

I reach out and take it. Millions of tiny, orange creatures on the surface of the tablet can make out a message that can be read, governed by the Brood’s vibration signal that can carry through space.

The crewmember scurries away.

“A message from the Queen,” I mutter. “The timing of it all!”

“I don’t like it,” Sris says. “It comes right after your secret messages. I hope she hasn’t figured things out.”

“Well, let’s get clarity.” I touch the tablet to one antenna, making it vibrate in the way that tells the tablet that I am indeed Chief Harrower Krix’vorr.

The myriad of small creatures organize themselves into readable signs.

My dear Krix!

My Brood and Swarm is getting hungry. Even now I feel it in my very eggcenter. The Harvesting will soon be upon us. As Chief Harrower, you are expected to suggest suitable targets that are ripe for the Harvest by the Swarm. You are to return to the Nest and beg for an audience with Me, that I may plan the Harvest for My Brood. Now, Krix. I will allow no tarrying. My expectations of you are high after your promotion. Prove to me that I wasn’t wrong.

Szum-zic Queen

“Wither!” I curse. “Of all the times…”

“Harvesting soon, sir?” Sris asks. “It’s about that time.”

“The Queen commands my presence,” I growl. “Threatening death if I don’t deliver something good to be Harvested.”

“She says that?” Sris asks, incredulous. “Death?”

“Read for yourself,” I tell her and show the tablet.

“Oh dear,” the servant crab says. “That’s worse than I thought. Prove to me that I wasn’t wrong… these are strong words for our beloved Queen Szum-zic! They imply not just death, but painful, drawn-out death. She must have written this in a fury.”

I groan. “Our beloved Queen is often furious. And that’s when she tends to send missives like this one.”

I’ve seen enough of the Queens executions of Harrowers who have not performed to find the idea unpleasant. They are slow, ritualized deaths where each limb is slowly gnawed off, the carapace ripped from the body, the antennae cut…

“And now, before we can confirm the presence or location of Nora’s world!”

“You still have other targets,” Sris says. “The moon we found with a Crut colony. Several space stations.”

“Small fry!” I seethe. “She needs a planet! A full, rich planet our Brood can truly Devour. She won’t make me a Royal Mate because of a space station!”