The Terran Representative Read Free Page B

“No,” he said. “Our information led us to believe there was a weapon, but we found nothing out of the ordinary except you.”
    “And now what?” I didn’t want to be a lab rat for them now. Out of the pot and into the fire, I guessed.
    “Now you relax and recuperate,” said Wards. “We have a bit of journey ahead of us.”
    “You aren’t a weapon, but you are a key,” said Dell.
    “A key to what? It seems like no one knew I existed until earlier today,” I said.
    Dell walked over to me and patted my shoulder. “In good time. For now we’ll take you to your quarters where you can freshen up.”
    “Take a nap or a shower. Grab a bite to eat,” said Wards. She and Scort filed out of the room.
    “Just tell me now,” I pleaded. Everyone seemed to have plans for me. I wanted to be in on the decision making.
    “In good time,” said Dell.
    As Dell took me to my quarters I planned to protest my situation by not showering nor sleeping nor eating, but as soon as the door to my room glided closed behind me the bed beckoned. I’d been asleep for supposedly hundreds of years and all I wanted to do right now was fall into another deep slumber. My resistance failed, so I collapsed onto it and passed out.
    The shower after waking up felt better than any I’d had before. The water was just the right temperature. The towels had just the right fluff. Even the soap felt luxurious. Most of my apprehensions washed down the drain.
    After getting out of the shower I found an invitation to dinner with the captain on my bed with a grey jumpsuit next to it. I hadn’t heard anyone come into my room. The jumpsuit was too large in the shoulders and too short in the legs, but I couldn’t find my original clothes.
    As I sat for dinner, dressed in the ill-fitting clothes, I felt glad I’d taken some time to freshen up. The ship’s captain, Ip, sat across from me with Dell, Wards and Scort joining us.
    “I hope you enjoy the food,” said Ip. “It is a traditional Planarium five course meal.”
    I nodded. There hadn’t been anything to eat in my room. My stomach grumbled for food, but my appetite hadn’t appeared. “Dell told me when we arrived on the ship that I was a key.”
    A covered plate was set before us by lower ranking soldiers, I guessed, in crisp uniforms and white gloves. Looking around I saw that everyone around us, including those at my table, were dressed like they were at a formal event. My ill-fitting clothes stuck out like a sore thumb.
    Ip pulled the cover off his plate and moved his face towards the food, his long tongue flicking in and out rapidly. His frill rattled and his eyes closed. He sat the cover down next to him and began picking up pieces of food with his hands. The others followed suit.
    “Sort of,” said Ip. “Our probes picked up your signal. It was a broadcasted list of colonial sites. We searched the systems that your broadcast indicated you were traveling to and found nothing. When we went to your system it was dead, littered with wreckage.”
    I sighed and said, “And then the Vantagax found me and then you found the Vantagax.” It seemed every time I met someone the introductions would consist of being reminded of the fall of the Sol System.
    “No,” said Ip. He finished his dish. The servers whisked the dirty dishes away and brought the next platters out while Ip talked. “We found nothing in your system. All of the major space faring races left probes there to monitor for activity.” He shrugged. “We assumed your race was extinct until we boarded the Vantagax ship.”
    “So then how can I be a key?” I said. I hoped my frustration wasn’t coming through too much, but if I was to be a prisoner in a gilded cage then I wanted to know now. At least Roile had been upfront about the Vantagax intentions.
    Ip stopped eating, put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. The other three stopped eating. Their gazes flickered between him and me. “We found a monument on a moon in