Page 35 of Alien Barbarian's Little Human

My office lies on the top floor. I step into the lighted circle of the transit beam and speak my destination aloud. The beam lifts me with anti gravity tech, depositing me perfectly on the landing platform at the top.

I enter my office and Chloe stands up quickly. Her black and gold formal attire does nothing to detract from her physical beauty. My heart races at the sight of her. Those eyes penetrate through my every defense. I can’t help but reveal how I feel, and what I want.

Our subconscious minds mingle like the flames of two candles held together. I get inundated with her recent memories--leaving Earth, her orders from the IHC, something about not comparing Ishani noses to human sex parts…

That last bit makes me smile, because I feel the memory as much as see it in my mind’s eye.

Her reaction is not quite the same, to say the least. Chloe’s jaw falls open and her face turns a bright shade of pink.

What did she see in that moment when our thoughts mingled? What was I thinking of last…oh no.

She visibly composes herself, and straightens her uniform.

“I’m not sure the human body bends quite like that.”

“You saw?”

“Yes, I saw.”

She sinks to the rounded conversation pit and folds her hands in between her knees. Chloe sighs and drops her gaze to the floor.

“I don’t know what you saw in my head.”

I start to open my mouth but she holds up a finger.

“And I don’t care. Listen, this jalshagar thing, I’m not going to admit it’s soulmates or true love or any of that bullshit. I will admit, however, that it’s some kind of real phenomenon that’s been blown out of proportion by myth and legend.”

I chuckle softly.

“It’s so like you, Chloe, to try to admit something without admitting it.”

Her face twists into a scowl.

“You see, it’s creepy shit like that I don’t like. You’re talking like you know me.”

“That’s because I do. Or more aptly, my soul knows your soul. Surely you don’t think this is the first time we’ve crossed paths, Chloe? Don’t you sometimes see other faces, other places, when your mind drifts?”

She stands up quickly, her eyes filled with equal parts fear and hope.

“You have to make this thing stop. Turn it off or something. I have to meet with the Ishani ambassador, and I can’t do it if I’m a big bundle of raging hormones.”

I spread my hands helplessly.

“My dear Chloe, there is no way to turn it off. That’s not how it works.”

“Who decides how it works?”

“The Precursors. Or as we call them, the ancestors.”

“Oh, that’s right, you Ishani think you’re basically the children of the galactic gods.”

I find her reaction more amusing than insulting.

“If you like. We prefer to think of ourselves as scholars and teachers rather than deities, however.”

“And you all just float around on your own little tiny planet while the galaxy burns around you. Aren’t you worried that their blood and sacrifice buys you guys the right to sit around and philosophize?”

I sit up a bit straighter, a slight grin on my face.

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