Page 3 of Veras
CHAPTER 2
The supreme shuffledout of the room and handed me off to one of his guards. The head Aavvee kept a tight hold around my collar, his long talons scraping my neck as I lurched alongside him.
We walked through familiar tunnels. My home these past years. The inside of the mountains consisted of flaky black rock lined with phosphorescent gold. The Oro thrived in every mineral, plant, and living being on this planet. Yet the Aavvee put it through a lengthy process to make it much more potent.
My thighs shook as I shuffled down the path. I was tempted to stand up straight and fuck the pretense. Just blow my cover, punch the guard in the mouth—the alien equivalent of a kick to the balls—and make a break for it. Except I’d worked so hard for the tiniest bit of control in this hellhole. Plus, I’d die. Almost immediately. There was nowhere to escape.
Calm down, boba. You can do this.Yes, the supreme may eviscerate me on a whim, but I hadn’t survived this long by giving up. I needed to do what I did best. Plan my way out of this. These Aavvee didn’t know it, but the timid little human, the one they laughed at and described as weak, soft, andstupid, had a plan. In fact, I had two.
The first was to find a way home. If they brought me here, they could bring me back.
The second plan—and to be honest, I hadn’t made even the smallest dent in achieving the first one—was to take over the planet. Total world domination. I was smart and capable, and so underestimated it was laughable. Most of the aliens assumed Icouldn’t even speak, let alone plan, or plot, or own their asses. It didn’t matter how long I fought. I was determined to succeed or die trying.
The group came up to massive outer doors made of an eerie silver metal that had the consistency of butter but was somehow impenetrable. The last barrier to a giant arena turned auction block, housing every exotic creature the universe could conceive.
The guard paused and tapped his five-foot staff on the ground. All the guards carried them. The long metal canes operated simple technology like locks and food dispensers. But they were also deadly weapons. This planet was an odd mix of sophisticated and basic.
As predicted, the guard couldn’t maneuver the complicated staff. Most of them were hopeless with advanced technology. It was a puzzle I’d flipped over in my mind, day in and out, and the only thing I could come up with…this wasn’t the Aavvee’s home planet either.
I didn’t belong here.But neither do they.
Unlike the Aavvee, I couldn’t afford to skate by. It had taken me six months to figure out how to operate the blender, where I liquified all of the aliens’ food. However, only three months after that, I’d mastered the staff and door locks.
Not that I’d let any ofthemknow that.
Inkonexo stomped over and grabbed the staff out of the guard’s hand. He kicked the alien’s knee out and ran his fingers down the device so quickly and smoothly, I almost couldn’t track the movement with my eyes. This alien…he wasn’t like the other girls. He was a special snowflake I hadn’t figured out.
The massive doors melted open. My jaw dropped. The foreign sounds and smells were so intense, I couldn’t process them. The background chirps and trills, and the roars all blended together. The paltry amount of Oro in my system onlyprocessed individual conversations, so in a crowd this size, I was lost.
Caged animals screamed and pawed, butting their heads against invisible walls. They ranged in size from house cat to elephant. A hooting bunch of monkey-sized creatures with silky, black fur lined in gold—the exact pattern of the surrounding mountains—hooted and fluttered wings far too small for their roly-poly bodies.
I fell in love. Instantly.
Another yank on my collar kept me looking ahead.
Shoomp. Shoomp. Shoomp. The sound rattled my eardrums.
“Look-look. Our people arrive. To-towatch my triumph.” The supreme clapped and tip-toed toward the stage.
As we got closer, theshoompsincreased in volume, and I saw spiraling holes suspended in air. No, not holes, neatly lined up ovals floating in the sky, like twisted looking glasses. Aavvee, dressed in multicolored capes, popped through in rows of tens.
These bird-brain aliens traveled through portals! Travelling inside the planet to serve the supreme, I’d encountered a few portals. But until today, I’d never been let outside, never been given the opportunity to see how the Aavvee arrived on the planet. Never realized they reached off planet.
Before I could jam that piece of information into my loosely formed master plan, we came to a giant stage and were hustled onto floating platforms that carried us to the top of the massive dais. The guards shoved me to the side, and the supreme paced the large space. He lifted his hands, and his personal harem of Aavvee surrounded him. About twenty of them. There was no real way to know if they were male or female unless they opened their mouths, and even then, I wasn’t quite sure about the anatomy.
The harem fawned over the supreme, running their rubbery tongues over his arms and stomach. It was a show of power. TheAavvee streaming through the portals paused to watch the show, while others examined the caged beasts. In a matter of minutes, thousands chirped and trilled, surrounding the stage.
My heart slammed in my chest. I couldn’t take a full breath. On earth, I’d fashioned my life around order and control. I was an administrative assistant by day and an MBA student by night. I loved organization. I’d tried to create some structure in this world,anything, but it was virtually impossible.
For years, I’d lived inside dusty tunnels, scraping and begging for every opportunity. And now, being outside could be a real chance tolearn something new, but I was too overwhelmed to do anything. Too confused to think. Should I hover near the supreme in case he needed me? Should I stay away? Was this my chance to escape? But how? The stone stage was several stories high, and I had no way to operate the floating platforms without a staff.
The all too familiar stench of the Aavvee’s dick-mouths, along with the sheer number of aliens, overwhelmed me. I couldn’t breathe. No matter how much air I sucked in—it wouldn’t pass through my closed throat. My lungs felt like they’d burst.
I’m going to die.
I’M GOING TO DIE!
Right before I collapsed, a soft breeze tickled my cheek. I bit back a sob. With the supreme busy with his harem, no one noticed me crawling to a corner of the stage. I held up a hand and let my only friend on this filthy planet caress my fingers.
