Page 43 of Fresh Flesh

Lurg

I leavethe communication chamber and rush back to our home, shoving the door open with my shoulder and leaving it standing open behind me. Mlarx looks up from the sword he is sharpening and catches my grim expression.

“You have news?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say. “And you are not going to like it.”

His eyes widen.

“Is Maisie hurt? Or…”

He can’t bring himself to ask the question on both of our minds.

“I don’t know,” I reply honestly. “I really don’t know. I have had no news of her, only by proxy.”

“By proxy?”

I take a deep breath, because I’m going to need it to relay all of this information.

“Joras took Maisie to California.”

“What? Why did he take her to the west coast?”

“I’m still not clear on that myself.” My eyes narrow. “However, if you are asked—and you most likely will be—Joras was tracking Maisie with every intent of bringing her back to the farm.”

Mlarx nods. He’s quick on the uptake in spite of his sheer brutality.

“I understand. What happened?”

“It turns out that Maisie led him right into a camp of humans…and not just any humans.” I sigh. “These humans were working with Grengorans.”

“What? Working with them? Impossible.”

“Apparently not. Most of the group escaped, with the exception of a few Grens and humans. And of course Maisie and Joras.”

Mlarx’s jaw sets hard.

“Joras should have brought her home immediately.”

“I agree, but what’s done is done. Now the two of us have been ordered to the west coast for a debriefing by Tolex himself.”

“Oh, that windbag,” Mlarx growls. “Wonderful.”

We get into a shuttle and depart almost immediately thereafter. I take the shuttle up into the Jetstream for a burst of speed. We’re both desperate to find out what happened to Maisie. To a lesser degree, we want to help Joras get out of the jam he’s gotten himself into.

The trip is mostly silent. Both of us brood on what’s happened. We’re both worried sick about Maisie. A couple of times we go over our story just to make sure it matches up. It’s pretty simple so there’s not many details to remember.

When we arrive at the base, the sun is just rising. It casts red gold light over us as we make our way inside the main admin building. As soon as we enter, I feel a mounting sense of foreboding.

I drop our names at the receiving desk and we’re immediately ushered into an audience with Tolex. The Commander doesn’t seem happy to see us as in at all.

“So,” he growls, “you are the ones who are party to a traitor?”

“Joras is no traitor, sir,” I reply. “He was on a mission to retrieve an escaped human and stumbled onto something greater, from what I understand.”

“So neither of you have any knowledge of this ‘Project Change’ nonsense?”

“None, sir,” I say honestly.

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