Page 2 of Possessed By the Alien Guard
Distracted by the bird, I stopped watching where to step, and stones skittered under my feet.Stop being stupid, JJ!You’re supposed to be stealthy.
I huffed in irritation but made sure to be more careful.The alien shouldn’t be near enough to hear me, but it would be better to be as quiet as possible.We weren’t exactly sure how much better their surveillance equipment was.
The path could barely be called that, and at times, I had to jump from one foothold to the next like the weird, horned animals I saw sometimes on the security vids.We had nothing like them on the ships, but they looked like a hybrid of old Earth animals.The zoologists had given them a special name, but everyone just called them goat-lopes.
Finally, I approached the ridge that held the alien post.I hunkered behind the last bit of slope, peaking over the edge.Still no sign of the big warrior.
Speed would help now, so I stood and dashed across the cleared area in front of the building.Up close, the paint job looked even better—they’d really gone to a lot of effort to make it look just like the rocks of the mountain, cracks and grit and all.I ran a hand over the wall—it was smooth, so the effect was all paint.
The door slid open when I got close.
A grin stretched my cheeks.The cocky alien hadn’t even bothered to lock up!I knew this would work!
I stepped inside.
CHAPTER TWO
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Fin
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WHEN THE TIMER chimed, I completed the last three movements of my practice drill and sheathed my yedral blade.With one tiny adjustment, the scabbard hung true from my hips.“Computer, return the main area to its recreational configuration.”
“Acknowledged.”
A holoprojector rose from what had been a flat, featureless floor, a grouping of brown chairs rising simultaneously to make a ring of comfortable seating around it.The light panels built into the ceiling dimmed slightly, cutting the strong natural sunlight to a more relaxing level.
I stopped by the monitoring room, but the hidden security cameras I had placed around my outpost had detected little more than native fauna.The human had once again remained hidden behind her ugly plastic walls, and why should I expect any different?
Irritation ate at me.I should be out in space, searching for our true enemy, the Folri.Instead, I had been relegated to observing a solitary small human while my king negotiated with the inferior species.
The front door slid open, and I stepped outside.The storm of the previous day had abated, leaving little sign of its passage.Such weather was so common on this planet that life here had long since adapted.The mountainous vista opened all around me with gray rocky peaks thrust into the blue sky.A river rushed through the valley below, distance reducing its sound to a faint susurrus.The green of foliage dotted its banks and the lower flanks of the mountains, interspersed with bursts of yellow and orange.
The fresh, cool air temporarily calmed my ire.This new world was a jewel, one priceless enough to be well worth all our attempts at diplomacy with the humans.Seeded from the same panspermia that had created life upon Varool, it was biologically compatible.
