Chapter One
Welcome Resort, Planet Ussed, 4thQuadrant
Earth Year 2437
THE BINARY SUNS shone brightly over a tropical paradise people spent a fortune to visit. Zehn understood the draw, but then, he’d been born in Ussed’s western cradle, on blessed barbarian lands. Yet even the East promised true beauty.
At the offworlders’ Welcome Resort, dense, flowering maffet trees provided a canopy around the luxury getaway. Fountains of clear water turned from lavender to blue when the wisps of clouds shifted, blocking the rays of one sun. Overhead, masses of bright color cawed as they flew by, the gentle ondi birds always a sight.
Zehn drew in a breath and sighed. The sweet scent of honeyed flowers and urgan rum tantalized guests to venture onward. He wouldn’t have minded joining them, but he had duties to keep him busy.
A multitude of visitors crowded the courtyard. They came from all corners of the Five Galaxies, some humanoid, others not. Zehn understood their many languages, courtesy of the resort’s translator subtrans education packs. He hadn’t been thrilled to use alien technology, but in order to work in the resort, he’d had no choice but to undergo communication training. And he had to admit it helped.
A giant red, slug-like creature slowly scooted by him, her eyes blinking in a rhythm that mesmerized if stared at too long. “If this isn’t the most gorgeous view! Tal, are you seeing this?”
The grumbling Felcan male with her waved tentacles in the air and snapped back, “Of course I’m seeing this, female. I have eight eyes.”
She ignored him,oohingandaahingover the landscape as she left a trail of ooze in her wake.
Another female, this one likely Venetian with her mostly humanoid appearance, green skin and overlarge eyes, ogled Zehn and his partner, Lore. “Oh,I’mtaking in the sights. Loorie, Babrea, are you guys seeing what I’m seeing?”
The women with her tittered and drew closer.
“I can die happy now. I’ve seen a real barbarian.” The redhead sighed.
Barbarians, he’d been told, were an exotic treat all their own. Zehn exchanged an amused glance with Lore but said nothing. As security for Welcome Resort, he and his partner were required to patrol, look tough, and take care of problems.
The females could stare all they wanted. Felcan ooze didn’t qualify as something he needed to handle. On cue, a discreet clean-up team hustled to wipe down the area with a purifying mist, then hurried back into the resort to make room for more new arrivals. The females gradually drifted away.
Zehn and Lore had been stationed in the visitor transport dock, where the newly arrived landed or teleported in. Personally, Zehn disliked the mass of chaotic energy from the ships and teledecks. The planet had enough vitality without needing artificial bursts from offworlder tech. Such advancements, though deemed necessary by the offworlders, didn’t do anything but pollute the planet, in Zehn’s opinion. Ussed didn’t stand for it either, as evidenced by the lack of “advancements” on the known regions of the world.
Welcome made use of an invisible dome, what they called their tech barrier, to allow technology inside the resort.
Outside Welcome, alien tech didn’t work. Meaning no phasers, vid calls, or space-jumping, thank the Maker. Though rightly called barbarians, in some ways Zehn and his brethren were far more civilized than half the creatures arriving on Ussed to vacation.
Ah, finally.Lore, sounding eager, sent the telepathic message, nodding to a hulking Earther stalking a pair of Taethen.Trouble. Something to break up the day.
Not smart of the human.Though the Earther had more muscle mass, Taethen fought dirty. Half as tall as a barbarian, strong, blue, and prone to invisibility, the Taethen were known to pull pranks on those they considered inferior.
Zehn liked them. Then again, he’d never been the butt of a Taethan joke.
“You.You stole my passkey,” the Earther shouted. “I want it back.”
“Earthling, you lost it fairly in our game.” The smirk on the Taethen’s face was clear to see. Despite his blue skin, white head feathers, and large black eyes, the Taethan had a humanoid shape. “Come now. Did our play not make your transfer to the quadrant pass swiftly?”
Thinking they’d need to protect the human from the Taethens, Zehn nodded to his partner, then watched as Lore moved to deal with the situation.
The Taethan male subtly flanking the human didn’t get far. The human turned and shot him with a phaser.
His partner looked horrified. “Youkilledhim.”
The Earther shook his head. “He’s stunned. But if you don’t give me back my passkey, I’ll kill him dead.”
Is there any other way to kill someone than dead?Lore sent him.
Zehn shrugged.Perhaps on Earth they rejuvenate somehow?He’d have to ask the new humans now part of their clan about their Earther practices.Or maybe he could ask the beauty he and his partner had been carefully monitoring for the past two months. He wondered how long she planned to ignore them and couldn’t contain a grin. Stubborn and not quite as shy as she pretended, Mandy of Earth intrigued him like no other.
Lore agreed.Yes. She’s the one.He stepped in, grabbed the fallen Taethan, and handed him to his friend, who staggered under the weight of the unconscious male. “Give the Earther back his passkey.”
