very thankful she didn’t grill her coworker for information.
“I’m sorry,” she said, hoping he’d finally move out of her way.
He didn’t.
He took a step toward her. “Why are you sorry?”
“I—” Her mouth snapped closed as she craned her neck to meet his gaze.
“You’re not sorry, are you?”
“No…”
“Don’t ever lie to me, I will know. It’s my job to know.”
Tension filled the space, and the ability to breathe left her. She was afraid of him, she realized, truly afraid. This was her dad’s murderer. She’d never been afraid of him before. Only the ending…
He now knows I exist.
“Yes, sir,” she said, keeping her voice level. “I won’t do it again.”
“Good to know.” He moved out of her way.
Alexa slipped past him as quickly as possible. Like she was moving under the watchful gaze of a gargoyle. One waiting to strike out for blood. She stepped out the door, her heart lodged in her throat.
“Alexa.” His voice was ominous.
She stilled.
“Don’t ever try and get close to me. You won’t survive it. Defective doesn’t come close. That was the briefing you missed.”
Alexa fled, taking his warning to heart.
Two
Alexa entered the menagerie to the sound of a crash and men yelling.
The whole crew was surrounding a large, wooden box on a robotic lift as she neared. Screeches were coming from the inside of it. Something banged within, and the box shook hard, rocking just enough to one side that it almost fell over.
She ran over to help the others keep the box in place.
“Keep your hands on it! Don’t let it fall,” Daniels barked. He caught sight of her. “Where have you been, Dear?” Frustration edged his tone.
“With me,” Hysterian said, joining them around the crate and saving her from yet another reprimand.
She was getting a lot of them recently.
Daniels went back to what he was doing. “Very good,” he muttered.
Hysterian grabbed the back of the box, promptly stopping whatever was inside from overturning it. “Restart the lift. We need to get it into the enclosure. Now!”
Like ants, they all scrambled. The shrieks of what was within grew by the second. Alexa rushed to the enclosure that the lift was heading for and signed into the adjoining computer. She unlocked it, and the glass door to the enclosure rose up. Hysterian lined up the wooden box to the opening, latching it. The enclosure’s door lowered to align with the crate.
His arms were straining, tense and spread wide to keep the box from falling. “Dear, when the beast enters the cage, shut the panel. You may only have a second to do so. If the locust gets out, we’ll have blood on our hands.” He grunted.
Locust? Whatever was inside didn’t sound like a bug. It sounded like a monkey—a large one.
“Yes, Captain.”
Raul and Daniels readied tranquilizer guns.
“Everyone ready?” Hysterian called.
“Yes,” they all said to varying degrees. Pigeon, the ship’s EPED liaison and mechanic, wiped his mouth, and Horace, another member of the bridge crew, placed his hands on his hips. Alexa poised her finger over the door’s trigger.
Hysterian let go of the box, jumped a top, and unlocked a mechanism. The part of the crate lined with the enclosure swung open.
Something big shot out, slamming into the back wall of the reinforced glass cage with a howl. Alexa initiated the panel door shut. Hysterian jumped off the crate and pushed it out of the way as the door came down. The creature spun around, nostrils flaring, and four meaty arms rose only to slam down onto the ground with a resounding bang.
Two large black wings popped out from its back.
It rushed for the door, crashing against it. Alexa stepped back. The glass panel held, and continued to hold as the beast pounded away. When it realized there was no escape, it lifted its head and roared.
Alexa flinched before setting the perimeters on the enclosure to muffle the sound.
Silence filled the space when the primate’s roar was cut off.
The alien creature coiled into a ball and rolled, hitting all the sides. It gained speed upon its second roll. The glass wobbled but miraculously held.
“What the ever-living fuck is that thing?” Raul asked.
“An Atrexian locust,” Hysterian answered, the only one of them completely unfazed. He moved to the enclosure’s computer, and Alexa shuffled to the side. He typed something in and a mist poured out from the top, shrouding everything inside and hiding the primate from view for a moment.
“That’s not a fucking locust. I’ve seen locusts at the zoo,” Daniels said.
Hysterian stepped back. “On Atrexia, it’s