Page 62 of Stripped By the Alien

"Every creature leaves traces," I state with more certainty than I feel. “Surely someone must know where the Gzet live?”

“That’s just it,” Krix’vorr rumbles. “They really are experts at vanishing. My Brood has searched for their base for a long time, but it hasn’t yet been found. We don't even have a clue. Not one.”

Before I can ask where they’ve looked, a pulse moves through the entire chamber.

The change is immediate. Conversations stop and crewmembers freeze in place. Several antennae flatten against skulls.

The sudden silence takes me a moment to understand. Nothing visible has happened, yet every locust in the room reacts as though something enormous just entered the chamber.

A crewmember drops to both knees and raises a tablet above his head. "Chief Harrower!" His voice carries an edge of tension I haven't heard before. "A Royal communication has arrived!"

The atmosphere changes again. I don't know much about locust society, but I've spent enough time among them to recognize fear. The crew aren't afraid of Krix'vorr. They're afraid of whoever outranks him.

Krix'vorr takes the tablet from the kneeling crewmember. For the first time since I've known him, his expression becomes completely unreadable.

He touches the device to his antennae and begins reading. Nobody speaks. The crew remain motionless. Even Lucius seems to sense that interrupting would be a mistake.

Krix'vorr reads the message once. Then again.

The silence stretches long enough that my imagination begins supplying possibilities. Maybe they've discovered Earth. Maybe the Queen wants information about me. Maybe she's already decided what to do with me.

Finally I step closer. "What is it?"

His gaze lifts from the tablet and settles on me. "It's from the Queen."

The words send a ripple through the room. Several crewmembers drop to their knees and the others lower their heads even further.

I look around the chamber before returning my attention to him. "That's clearly important."

"She wants me at the Nest immediately," Krix’vorr says.

I feel my stomach tighten. "And?"

"And I will bring you with me."

The words hang between us. Around the chamber, nobody moves. Nobody speaks.

For the first time since finding Sophia's wreckage, I find myself thinking about something else entirely. The Queen.

And whatever kind of creature could make an entire room full of giant alien warriors look nervous.

19

- Nora -

The atmosphere in the command chamber never fully recovers after the Queen's message.

Crew members continue carrying tablets from one station to another. Reports continue flowing through the chamber. The Beast continues her journey through the stars as though nothing has happened. Yet every locust in the room seems aware of an invisible weight pressing down on them. I don't know enough about their species to read all the signals, but I can feel the tension.

I notice it most in the way they behave around Krix'vorr.

Nobody questions him. Nobody hesitates when he gives an instruction. At the same time, something has changed. Antennae remain lower than before. Crewmembers glance toward the tablet that delivered the Queen's message and then quickly look away again. Whatever the Queen is to them, she clearly isn't someone they think about casually.

Krix'vorr finishes reviewing another report and hands the tablet back. "Continue examining the enemy records," he says. "If anything concerning the Gzet appears, bring it directly to me."

The locust bows and retreats. Others immediately move into place to replace him, carrying more information. Krix'vorr deals with them one after another until eventually the flow slows. When the last tablet leaves his hands, he remains standing where he is, studying one of the larger viewing lenses.

Stars drift across its surface. Somewhere beyond them lies the Nest.