Alien Apocalypse by Jc Andrijeski

Author:Jc Andrijeski
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Collections & Anthologies, Alien Contact, Dystopian, Fantasy, Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic, Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, General
Publisher: White Sun Press
Published: 2015-07-15T05:00:00+00:00

THE INCIDENT

Jet stepped into the chambers of the First Son of the Royals and sighed, hands on her hips. She’d known this room in a different context before she started sharing the space with Laksri. It had been Ogli’s room once, before the little prince was sent away.

Before Jet murdered his parents.

Feeling a flicker of nausea in her gut, she pushed the thought away.

Since that time, Laksri had most of the previous furniture removed. The carpets had been changed out as well, along with most of the wall-hangings, which had been more appropriate for the child Ogli had been, not a grown male Nirreth who spent most of his adult life working the way Laskri had. Sometimes, it was difficult to even remember what the space had looked like before, with Ogli’s brightly-colored clothes and mechanical toys spread all over the carpet, and his pet otter, Scampers, sleeping in the largest of the walk-in closets.

Even so, Jet had to fight the residual images out of her mind.

She would have chosen a different room to sleep in, all in all...but the room had undeniable advantages, too. Advantages shared by no other rooms in the palace.

The big one was the lack of surveillance. Surveillance of any kind was illegal in the royal chambers of the First Son. A security team comprised of Nirreth and humans, overseen by Richter as well as Laksri himself at times, swept the chambers at least twice a day.

Jet glanced at Laksri, wondering at his silence.

He remained standing by the door, his normally unexpressive face tighter than usual. Turning away from rather than meeting her questioning stare, he began hitting through controls on one of the wall panels, pausing to scan news and security lines with a methodicalness that belied the unfocused look in his eyes. As Jet continued to watch him, it occurred to her that he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing at all.

If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was stalling.

“Laks?” She quirked an eyebrow humorously. “Something up?”

There was a pause.

He turned to face her at the end of it and his dark eyes had re-focused somewhere in that silence. She saw the tension in his body and face dissipate slightly as he studied her face, as if remembering her relaxed him for some reason, too.

Even as she thought it, he averted his gaze. Immediately, his eyes grew distant once more, and that tension slowly began to return to his posture and expression. He clenched his long jaw, his elongated features turning to stone as he flicked his tail in a rough curl behind him.

Then he walked directly to where she stood.

He moved quickly enough that Jet flinched back...barely.

She didn’t take her eyes off him as he approached. She also didn’t step backwards, even when he moved right into her space, looking down at her with those star-flecked, obsidian eyes. The lighter, blueish bits of color looked brighter than usual, and she found herself thinking it had been awhile since he’d stung her.

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