Page 41 of Dreikx

The son of Loven did have a brain after all. He provided the humans with a limited amount of tech and only for a few hours. But that was enough. Taking out the phone I snagged from the dead mayor several months ago, I plugged it into the listener, a device that unpackaged the communications not by voice but by code. Uninterested in her random conversations, even those between her and the king’s son Domitay, I searched for contacts outside the range, fairly certain the king of Earth wasn’t around.

Finding a voice code matching the specific rattle of a Regha male, I plugged in Melanie’s old com unit and synced it with her phone.

“My king,” Melanie greeted.

I rolled my eyes.

Their conversation interested me very little. I already knew what they’d planned. It happened, and the Swarm lost. Dreikx would not give up the gate, not even for the Regha princess. I tracked the voice on the line. Deep and older with a specific rattle in the breathing pattern similar to the code pattern of Domins, the former Regha king, the one Tayseer overthrew. I remembered the day. I was there, left to record from a quiet place and on Dreikx’s orders. He might be loyal to the crown now, but he wasn’t always. Back then, he spied on them and so did I. Back then, we were like brothers, Dreikx and I, on a mission to take control of the gate, return to Telea, and overthrow the president.

But Dreikx saw an opportunity with the Horde and their space gate.

I did too.

I wanted to steal it.

He wanted to steal the possibilities it offered, namely travel and exploration. He wanted land for us, the Telean crew. I wanted to return to Telea and overthrow the president.

The voice codes of Utay and Domitay matched the late Domins’s, but with a slight difference. A Regha male’s rattle was akin to a thumbprint when examined in this precise way. Genetics played a part, and now I knew for certain I was listening to the king of Earth.

Again, I cared not about the content of the conversation. I could listen to it later if time allowed.

Someone knocked on my door.

I couldn’t disrupt the communication now. In fact, I should’ve destroyed the evidence. I’d kept it hidden for too long, risking detection.

Dreikx walked into my office inside the Stronghold. He held two cups of inder. He placed mine on the desk. “Etilo Rei.”

“Morning, Dreikx.”

My nerves danced. Any second now, I could be discovered. But I couldn’t cease the transcription search I’d initiated for the king’s location. I must find where the king’s voice came from. The number he called from was unidentified and protected, but his primitive masking wasn’t a match for my skills. As the head of communications, I was the very best, even better than Dreikx in this arena.

“Reports on surveillance,” Dreikx said, and handed me his holo. “Scan it for com in the girl’s house. She’s made phone calls.”

“Girl’s?”

“Tabitha Park. Tabby for short. Give me everything you can.”

“Do you suspect her of something?”

“Of course. I suspect everyone.”

“Indeed.” Did he suspect me? My jaw clenched, and I suppressed the urge to flee. If he discovered me, Raven would strap me to a pole until I died. The prospect of this kind of torture haunted me. I hated the Alphas and everything they did. I especially hated Dreikx for betraying me and every one of our crew members. The original crew had grown older, and the few Teleans we’d recruited in the years we’d been on Earth were all con artists exiled from Telea. We’d become the sanctuary of degraded Telean youth, some of them so stupid they couldn’t even multiply a seven-digit number by a three-digit number in their heads.

“Mike?”

“Yes, sir, right away.” I glanced at my screen where the voice-over location search revealed snow-covered mountains and small homes bunched together on a vastness of snow-covered valley.

Dreikx stepped behind me.

I gulped, expending energy on calming my heart rate so he wouldn’t detect foul play.

“Switzerland?” he guessed.

“Canada,” I countered.

“Zoom in.”

I hesitated. If I zoomed in and he saw the Swarm males walking around, if they walked around those streets at all, my mission to secure a place with the king of Earth ended here. I’d spend the rest of my life pretending I loved working for the Little Prince.

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