To start, I got a quick lesson in detaching myself from my creations, which conserved my energy while ensuring my shields stayed intact, even when I wasn’t around.
Aside from the Hydrassians and their mind-shields, SWOL-E was the first lucky recipient of this new trick. In the interest of giving adoptive parents and grandparents across the universe a break, I upgraded the alarm system and created miniature, andhopefullyindestructible, shields around the long-suffering nanny bot’s wiring.
My money’s still on Pedro’s two rows of fangs, unfortunately…
As we said our goodbyes, Zig politely asked Leeloo to tell him more about their common ancestor, but the Eki simply pointed to the endless stars beyond Nuclei City’s open hatch.
Much to learn, we still have.
Thatmission would have to wait. Honnor had insisted we hurry back, specifically so they could promoteZiggy to an official Astrum Force position.
Interstellar Ambassador.
He hates it, of course.
“How are you settling in at your new lodging?”Honnor breezily asked as he fed Pedro a strip of raw meat.
Despite being allergic to any mention of his hero status, Zig and I agreed the fancy new high-rise housing that came with the gig was worth the hit to his bad bitch reputation.
There’s even a roof deck!
“We love it,” I truthfully replied. “And I appreciate Ziggy getting the recognition he deserves.”
My man deserves all the kudos.
“Well, now that the Stellarian-Lacertus Peace Accord has been finalized, that humble mercenary will get another chance to earn his keep,”Bron joked as the merc in question appeared, proudly waving the bag of CSI remains he’d just won.
Looks like we’ll be dining on corpus spongiosum tonight!
“You have a new mission for me?“ Ziggy asked, and I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at the blatant eagerness in his tone.
Bron chuckled, but Honnor replied in a somber tone.“Indeed. It appears Karn is not the only planet disappearing off the map. The difference is that the others all sent out distinct distress signals beforehand.”
Yikes.
Ziggy hummed distractedly, attention already on his Celestial Cube, no doubt cataloging which weapons would be joining us for the job. “When do we begin?”
His creator huffed.“Tomorrow. I believe your stellar collision specifically asked for a date night tonight…”
“Oh, yes,” Ziggy murmured, tearing his gaze away from his cube to fix his attention on me. “What did you have in mind, Micah?”
Eek!
The full weight of three Stellarian stares almost had me star hopping back to our new apartment alone, but then I was saved by a signal from a galaxy far, far away.
“Hold that thought!” I squeaked, fumbling my buzzing phone out of my pocket, smiling when I saw who the text was from.
King of the Monsters
You know, Meeks… if I were a lesser man, I might get offended at the message you sent with that photo.
I snickered. The photo Zion was referring to was me posing with Krunk and a few otherLacertus,which I’d sent with the caption, “If you can’t run with the big dogs, you’d better stay on the porch.”
Even though I knew I was playing with fire, I couldn’t help replying with some sass.
Were any lies detected, big bro?
King of the Monsters
