Page 40 of Heart’s Prisoner

Lana straightened. "Yes, I would say so."

"And you trust it?" he asked.

"Yes," Lana said without hesitation.

The generals nodded as they ate and sipped their champagne.

"Well, that's a good sign then," said General Williams as he cut into his steak. "I trust then you believe that the incident with the bot was just a bad misunderstanding?"

She chewed on a sliced golden potato and swallowed before saying, "It was. I assure you such an incident won't happen again."

General Williams raised his brows and nodded again but said no more.

"I heard it looks like a cross between a lizard and an insect, that true?" asked General Vearez.

Lana pursed her lips. "I don't know about insect, but the lizard part...yes."

The older generals frowned as if they were a bit put off, General Holk seemed fascinated.

"I read through some of your reports. Is it really as intelligent as you say?" Holk asked.

"Even more so, General, I believe even more than an average human."

Somehow the generals seemed even more put off by this.

"More intelligent than a human?" General Vearez laughed. "Hard to believe if it got itself caught, eh?" he said more to the others than to her.

Heat rippled in her chest and filled up her neck and face as the others laughed. A memory of her first encounter with Xerus flashed in her head.

"Didn't you say, General Hartin, that the day it was caught it practically led itself into the trap?" General Vearez asked. "What creature could be that intelligent if it just let itself get taken like that?"

Wide-eyed, Lana looked to Jacob, who merely shrugged and smiled. "Maybe it just got confused. Even smart-asses like yourself get confused every so often, especially when you're down a few gin and tonics."

The generals laughed and, as if on cue, took long swings of their drinks. Lana blinked as if she was confused herself. Jacob had never mentioned before about Xerus' capture. Never mentioned that the alien had given itself up.

Why? Why would Xerus do such a thing?

She felt a hand on her knee and when she looked over, Nicole smiled at her assuredly. Lana gave her a quick smile back, but deep inside she wanted to scream.

As dinner ended and dessert and coffee were being distributed, another spokesperson went to the stage.

"As a thank you to all of you for your dedication and service to the base, we present to you these special gifts sent here from earth. We know how many of you have been away for a long time and hope this will serve as a reminder of your home and how far we have come. Thank you."

The gifts were sent round by servers, small blue boxes with the Lazris star engraved on top. When Lana opened hers she found a silver bracelet with two charms dangling from its ends. One of the Lazris stars in onyx and one of earth cut from emerald.

"Ooh so pretty!" Nicole exclaimed. "The green almost matches your eyes, Lana."

That seemed a bit of an overstatement, but Lana took the compliment.

"And looks like thek men got watches. How nice." Nicole said. Lana looked over and saw them oohing and ahhing.

"Here let me help you put it on," Lana said as she saw Nicole struggling to link the chain around her wrist. Nicole gladly gave her hand up so that Lana could put the bracelet on her.

"Here let me help with yours," Nicole said as she let her bracelet slide down her arm.

Lana wasn't much of a jewelry person but she allowed Nicole to put it on her. She turned her wrist both ways and pretended to admire it.

As dessert ended, the music, which had been a soft melody in the background, grew louder, indicating the dance floor was opening just below the stage area. Couples made their way over, hand in hand while others got up to mingle. Nicole found a few of her other friends and introduced them to Lana. They talked for a while until Lana had to excuse herself for the bathroom. When she came out and looked around the vast foyer she couldn't help wondering what Xerus would think of all of it.

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