The Henderson Helios: A Sci-Fi Adventure Novella by Beatrice Crowl

Author:Beatrice Crowl [Crowl, Beatrice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Swell Creative Works
Published: 2021-05-23T22:00:00+00:00

I Don't Believe in Authentic Earth Lemurs

The building was apparently a vertical zoo, currently closed. Real animals in habitats that rose up and up along a single guest path that gave disgustingly rich people the opportunity to view “authentic Earth animals”. The top habitat was a glass jungle enclosure for something called lemurs.

One hundred percent of the time, anything claiming to be an “authentic Earth” anything was a fraud that grifted rich people who wanted to claim status as connoisseurs of Earth culture. Those lemurs? Probably native to Cloogab. Definitely not from our long-deceased Earth. I doubted anything from ye old Earth still existed.

We crawled through an access door into the jungle enclosure and landed on an employee staircase that descended to intercept the guest path. Signs advertised that the lemur habitat was open to guests, so we probably wouldn’t fall victim to a wild animal attack.

My wound broadcast its pain more loudly as the immediate danger had passed. I sagged against a sturdy tree stump and pressed my hand against my hip. I’d only been shot once before. During the war, of course. The field medic, Cha, had made fun of me for crying like a baby.

Myka was all business as she eyed my injury. “Let me see it.”

I turned, yielding to her as she pulled up my shirt. I winced when her fingers brushed against hot flesh.

“Why were they even shooting at us? I got the data tab they want in my guts.” I spat the words out.

Something ripped. Myka, sacrificing the sleeve of her luxury blouse to press against the wound. Her hands were shaky. “The people in charge want the data tab. The mercs they hire are annoyed that we’re making their job so hard.” I inhaled sharply at the pressure of her hands. “You’ll need to get this looked at sooner rather than later.”

Well, that probably wasn’t gonna happen. She wrapped cloth from her other sleeve around my midsection in a makeshift bandage.

When I turned around, she looked on edge. “That jump was the dumbest thing I’ve ever been forced into.”

“Hey, it wasn’t my idea to go to the fucking roof! Besides, it worked.” Case in point, both alive.

“It was insane!” I’d never heard her so worked up. “And if you’d let me call in Cadinoff we wouldn’t have to hide out with monkeys!”

Now her expression was so different from her expression as a kids’ entertainer. It didn’t intimidate me so much as intrigue me. She kept changing. Kept being different. “Since when does Glezos’ little sidekick do children’s entertainment?”

If she’d had both hands free, she would have crossed them. She frowned at the change in subject, then scowled. “Does it matter?”

“I just…I liked hearing you sing.”

My skin itched as the adrenaline rush kept shoving this need to keep acting onto me. Like I had to keep taking on the world, lifting all the transports, and fucking all the girls.

That last option snagged me as I looked down at Myka Benton, sweating and wide-eyed, frazzled and wearing my blood on her hands.

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