One Big Bite by Michele Mills

15

Roxy was trying to sleep next to her sexy new husband and awoke to an announcement blaring through the domicile.

“To the residents of the Fever Brothers’ Compound, this is the Minecorp Peacekeeper Department, come out with your hands up.”

Holy gods. It was barely sunrise.

A fist pounded against their bedroom door. Chief’s deep voice yelled, “Arm yourselves and meet in the front room. Blasters on ready.”

Roxy and Cannibal both rolled out of bed at the same time. He yanked on trousers and shoved his feet into his boots. She pulled on a shirt and pants and pushed her feet into her slip-on shoes. Cannibal strode over and banged open his Cabul and took out his blaster. He also grabbed two more deadly weapons. “I have my favorite beheading axe and here is a stealth blade for you to handle.”

“What is happening?” she asked. “Are the Lurks here to take me? Is this my fault?”

He bent to strap her weapon across her chest then he placed a claw over her lower stomach and gave her a deep, possessive kiss that caused her toes to curl. “This could never be your fault,” he rasped, “and no one is taking my Bride anywhere.”

Then her new husband turned around, with two different weapons strapped to his bare chest, his long braids trailing down between the undulating muscles of his sleek golden back, and opened the door. He took her hand—no gloves between them now—and they joined the flood of enormous Xylan miners who were making their way down the hall and into the front room.

Claws looked enraged as he carefully guided his pregnant Bride down the hallway. Roxy pulled back on Cannibal’s hand, causing him to slow down so she could grab onto Lila’s other hand. “I’m not leaving your side,” she said to her new friend, and recent sister-in-law.

Lila squeezed her hand and gave her a watery smile.

They all stood inside the front window looking out at the array of military vehicles and important-looking Xylan officals lined up along the dirt road in front of the compound. A whole line of Xylan peacekeepers dressed in shiny black armor was on bended knee with large blasters aimed directly at their compound.

“Wow,” Roxy breathed. This couldn’t be good. And then she saw something that really freaked her out. “The Lurks are here,” she squeaked. “They’re standing in a group behind the last vehicle. They think they’re hiding but I can see their heads above everyone else.”

“Come outside with your weapons down and your claws up,” a deep voice again ordered through a voice amplifier.

Chief opened the front door a crack and yelled out, “We have two different pregnant Brides with us, one of whom is a female of royal pigment. Put your weapons down and we will put ours down. Only then will we come outside to talk.”

Claws was breathing heavily, and his “Claws” appeared elongated. Did anyone else notice this? “Cannibal…Cannibal…” she whispered and pointed at Claws.

Chief opened the door again and added, “One of our pregnant females belongs to Claws and he is about to turn berserker at the idea of his Bride and unborn offspring in jeopardy with a line of blasters pointed in their direction.”

The Xylan peacekeepers all immediately stood, lowered their weapons and backed off. “We have no weapons trained on the compound,” a very dark-skinned and official-looking Xylan male yelled out with his claws up. “Everyone in the compound must step outside. We come to the field ready for productive talks. A Margol Judge has just arrived.”

“Perfect,” Scar grinned. “And now all the pieces are in place. We’re ready.”

“Weapons down,” Chief ordered the crew. “Everyone outside, including Brides. Protective formation.”

They all stepped out front, down the dusty porch and onto the tangled vegetation of the front yard. This was the first time Roxy had seen the front of the luxurious domicile she’d spent the night in, and she was surprised at how rundown the outside looked. It was no wonder Lila had originally thought this place was abandoned.

Three beings stepped forward to join them: The Xylan, an older Margol Xylan female in a long red robe and one of the tall, long-limbed Lurks.

“Grytel,” Chief acknowledge with a curt nod.

“Bayzon,” the CEO of Minecorp responded. “This is Judge Uriana of Nineteen and the Lurk Commander, whose name is…is…?”

“Commander,” the Lurk answered.

“Your name is ‘Commander?’” the CEO sighed.

“Yes,” came the curt response.

“Okay, we are here because—”

“We are here to take this human,” the Commander pointed at Roxy, “back with us to IHO headquarters for prosecution. She is a traitor to her scientific oath, and she has provided critical information to our historical enemy, the Yurds.”

“What? I did not,” Roxy blurted out, suddenly outraged at this crazy lie they were making up about her.

“How did she get into the mine then?” the Lurk asked. “No one can do this. She has to be a traitor with some sort of illegal insider information.”

They all turned to stare at her then, waiting for an answer. The CEO and the Judge were gazing at her with curiosity. “I…I think the crystals network and talk to each other. When they are mined and leave here, they do not lose contact with the other crystals.”

“This can’t be true. We have been mining here for generations,” the CEO said, “this would have been discovered before now.”

“I think they’ve been hiding it from you,” she whispered.

“How can this human have such a powerful bond with the Illibrium?” the Lurk barked. “She has to be lying.”

Roxy bit her lip. Should she tell them the truth? She glanced over at Cannibal, her husband. He gave her a nod of encouragement. Well, he knew these beings better than she did. If he thought it was safe, then it was safe. “I have Aleksander Petrov’s nanobiotic solution in my body. I think it changed me. I think I’m sort of super attuned to the Illibrium.”

The Lurk’s eyes narrowed with avarice. And now he knew exactly where the Serum was. Darn it.

“I’m not a traitor. Petrov administered the shot to put the serum into my veins and he tasked me with getting it to IHO. I want to be able to contact my old team and apologize for how I left and let them know the real reasons for how and I why I left. I had to pretend that I was leaving because I was scared of the med scan, well I was, but not for the reasons they think. The Lurks want to take me dead or alive so they can extract the serum from me to recreate it in their labs. My former lab team will be so excited to know that the serum survived and that it got to IHO headquarters. In fact, I bet a lot of them will be transferred to IHO to work on the serum there. I’m hoping they’ll eventually figure out who the mole was.”

“Mole?” the Judge questioned.

“Yes, there was a mole on the team, but no one—”

“Will everyone who takes this serum become increasingly attuned to Illibrium?” the CEO wanted to know.

“I don’t know. But it’s definitely another reason to make sure it doesn’t get into the hands of the Lurks.” She had no idea what they should do. Even she could see that having a population that was attuned to Illibrium could be dangerous and chaotic. This meant that the solution would need rigorous study before it could be disseminated universe-wide.

The CEO turned to the Judge, “And what is your decision in this matter.”

Judge Uriana eyed Roxy, “You are human, therefore the Law forbidding the testing of mating compatibility between Margol and royal pigment is null and void. Precedent was established in the case of the Margol Joyzal and his human Bride. Gorzan of Forty-Five’s claim is good.”

Grytel turned and announced to the Lurk Commander, “We cannot give a mated Xylan female of royal pigment to you. It is against the Scales of Xylan Law.”

“But she is human,” the male sputtered.

“She is of royal pigment and a Xylan citizen,” Grytel intoned. “Also, we have learned that this female carries within her blood the serum that Aleksandr Petrov pioneered.”

The Lurk’s jaw clenched.

“The Xylan Imperial Military is personally escorting this female and her mate to Salo and then back to her home here at Timbur, so that the scientists of the IHO can safely sample her blood and recreate the serum in their laboratories and continue Petrov’s work.”

“This is not right!” the Lurk Commander shouted.

“It is our final decision,” the CEO responded.

“The Lurks killed Aleksandr Petrov and his daughter, Sofiya Petrov. They must pay for what they’ve done,” Roxy hissed.

“I will bring this exact point up to the Four Sectors Judgement Council,” Judge Uriana said. “I belong not only to the Xylan Council, but I am our representative to the Four Sector’s High Council. We will create a special Council just to look into this matter.”

The Lurk stepped back, his eyes wide with sudden fear.

“Thank you,” Roxy said.

“You’re welcome, human. It is my pleasure,” the female answered with a genuine smile.

Then suddenly her husband had his arms around her tight and he was kissing her in front of everyone and she was so happy she thought she might cry. “I love you,” she said against his lips.

He buried his face in her neck and inhaled. “And I love you, my Bride.”

And then suddenly there were more arms holding her and she realized the entire crew was giving her a group hug. And then she really started to cry tears of joy.

Because now she not only had the love of a good man, but she had a family and home. And now she had everything.