AllFreeNovel
Share Us
More Tula pressed into the room, each armed with a blaster. I finally got a good look at the golden emblem pinned to the harnesses crisscrossing their chest. It was Senator’s Bila’s.It’s good. It’s all good, I said to myself.You expected this.
But knowing she owned the facility was one thing—seeing the emblem that had meant my captivity was another.
Then one of lizards shoved through the others to come to the front.
“No!” I gasped, and my hand covered my mouth.
It was asshole guard.
He gaped at me, showing off an impressive mouthful of teeth.
Anger flared in my chest. “Kirel,” I said, “can you make it so they understand what I’m saying?”
“You want me to send them the translator chip update?”
I glanced at Raxnor, and he gave a miniscule head shake. I had that same feeling of distrust. “No. Let’s not give them any information we don’t have to. Can you program my comp to translate my words into Tula?”
“Give me a sec. Okay. Try now.”
With Lila pressed to my calf and Raxnor standing by my side, I pulled out my comp and stared asshole guard straight in the eyes. “Tell the senator that her ‘pet’ demands to speak to her.” I spat the word, hoping my tone came through.
Asshole guard’s neck pouch flared in alarm. Then he whirled around and stomped through the door and out of sight.
We stood around awkwardly, waiting.
The atomic 3D printers beeped in harmony, and all of their legs drew up toward the ceiling to hang in clusters like a group of alien spiders ready to pounce. Underneath, the sheets of zurilium gleamed silver in the light, as smooth and flat as mirrors.
Tark kept looking over, as if he longed to go to them.
Or perhaps I simply projected my feelings onto him, because I sure as hell wanted to inspect the goods. A pang went through me. My idea had worked! We’d made zurilium and could easily make more with the right equipment. We had an amazing defense to use against the Grug at our fingertips, only to have it snatched away.
Raxnor shifted beside me, snapping my attention back to him. His muscles were locked rigid and the frown lines on his face had deepened into grooves. He had to be in excruciating pain—he’d taken numerous punishing body blows during the fight. At least his thigh had stopped bleeding, which would be impossible for a human, considering how deep the cuts were.
“Are you okay?” I whispered out of the side of my mouth.
He grunted. It wasn’t his affirmative grunt.
Mierda! The lizards who remained all stared at me, even the ones who were supposed to keep an eye on Tark. They muttered among themselves, too low for my translator chip to pick out words. The fact that they all had blasters pointed at us only made it worse.
Finally, some movement. A voice snapped a command, and the lizards in front of the door parted.
Senator Bila waltzed into the room, looking like she owned the place.
Duh. Shedoesown the place, Sof.
Her green scales had a rich luster the others’ lacked. And the yellow scales of her chest gleamed almost as brightly as the gold chains she wore instead of leather straps. If we’d gotten her out of bed, you sure as hell wouldn’t know it from looking at her. But what else could you expect from a politician?
“My wayward pet.”
“Actually, it’s Sofie Perez, chief mining engineer and metallurgist for theARK 1mission.” I listened hard as my comp repeated my words. My translator chip turned them into English for me, but underneath ran the harsh grunts and clicks of the Tula language.
She wouldn’t know whatARK 1was, but what mattered was throwing a title in her face. People like her didn’t respect you unless you had that kind of shit.
“Mining engineer,” she repeated, her white inner eyelids snapping shut and open.
I grinned, and it felt like one of Raxnor’s snarls. “And metallurgist.”
She ignored my verbal jab and said, “It’s certainly a surprise to see you again. I thought you’d died in the jungle. There are so very many predators on Tularia.” Cold, hard threat underscored her smooth words. “Why are you here?”
