Alien Soldier's Captive: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Kenorian Warriors Book 2) by Viki Storm

Author:Viki Storm [Storm, Viki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

prowl the black

dust and soot

scowl and attack

“What’s that?” I ask. “Secret code?” I think I need my Little Orphan Annie Decoder Ring to figure this out.

“Perhaps,” Corvi says. I reread the strange missive. Felines, dust, attack.

“We ran it through encryption and came up blank,” Wilqi says.

“I don’t think it’s encrypted,” I say. I used to do those puzzles, cryptograms, where you’d have to decipher an entire paragraph written in a one-to-one code. They’re easier than they look. I almost can’t remember the time in my life I had the spare time to sit around and do cryptograms and anagram magic squares in those variety puzzle magazines. Jeeze, that seems like such frivolity now.

“Then what is it?” Wilqi asks.

“Beats me,” I say. “But you say these Phurusians are intellectuals; if so, then they’re probably trying to be cute. I’m almost positive that this is some clever way of telling us where they’re headed.”

“We already know where they’re headed,” Corvi reminds me.

“Then where their base is,” I venture. “They must have a base of operations near Earth and Lhix.”

“I think you’re right, but now the question is where?”

I look at it again. Dust and soot.

“Dust and soot,” I say. “That’s gotta be stardust, like when a star explodes and, what’s it called, there’s just all that stuff lying around waiting for accretion. Nebula!”

“Earth must have better education systems than we thought,” Corvi says.

“Nah,” I say, “I saw that when I was watching YouTube videos, Top Ten Cool Things in the Universe.” I rack my brain, thinking of that video. It was one of those things I watched on autoplay when I was supposed to be doing my homework. “Cat’s eye nebula?” I ask. “The whole feline thing fits.”

Corvi appraises my idea then slowly nods his head. “Yes, most races refer to NGC 6543 as either cat’s eye or something similar. The Kenorians call it Oculus Felid, and the Phurusians call it Eye of the Leo.”

“Then let’s go,” Zonar says. “If we know where they are, we can get to the cat’s eye nebula in a few hours, if we go into supra-light right now.”

“No,” Corvi insists. “We are still going to Ve’Dalla. Just for a few hours while the child is nursed back to full strength. Then we’ll see about this cat’s eye nebula.”

“What about the people of Lhix?” I ask. I wouldn’t want to have thousands of lives on my conscience.

“There are no people of Lhix,” Corvi says. “It’s an auto-man planet.”

“Auto-man?” I ask.

“Autonomous manufacturing,” Wilqi explains. “Factories and manufacturing plants, but everything is automated and controlled remotely. The atmosphere is too low in oxygen and high in sulfur for most organic lifeforms.”

“Lhix is, what, a robot factory planet?” I ask. I should just accept that things are going to keep getting weirder, but every time something weird comes up, I can’t help questioning it.

“Basically,” Corvi says.

“Then why is Phuru taking it over? Can’t they just hack into the systems with their superior intellect?”

“The auto-mans on Lhix don’t manufacture goods,” Corvi explains.

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