Read Online Parallel by Anthony Vicino - Free Book Online Page B

slowly. Memories flooded into place.
    “Hari, what happened?” she asked, following the line of blood slithering down the human’s cheek. “Where are we? Where is Gerald?”
    She loosed the questions quickly, but stopped when it became clear her words had caused the man pain. Hari wiped a tear from his cheek, which only served to smear blood across his face. Light cascading over his nose and cheeks cast long shadows, making Hari appear an older, hollower version of himself.
    “Gerald’s dead.” Hari’s soft voice barely broke the silence. Ryol strained to hear. “The bloody idiot sacrificed himself so we could escape.”
    “I am sorry for your friend, Hari.” Ryol placed her hand atop Hari’s, touching this alien species for the first time. Hari did not recoil, only chewed his lower lip and nodded.
    Ryol wished she could manipulate Hari’s feelings to alleviate his suffering, but she had not yet regained control of her own. So they sat quietly, alone with their sadness.
    “Have we escaped?” Ryol asked, becoming aware of her surroundings for the first time. Without Aurora’s subconscious aid she discovered she would have to be more intentional about her observations.
    She lay on the floor, legs tucked to her chest in a tiny room barely large enough to accommodate the two. Hari squatted, taking up the sliver of space left unoccupied by her sprawling body. With a hand against the cold floor she twisted into a similar squatting position.
    “No, we haven’t gotten away.” Hari steadied her with a sweat-soaked hand on her shoulder. His warm flesh carried with it a connection to a world outside her own. “Unless a broom closet constitutes an acceptable hideout.”
    Hari clutched a shaft of wood between white knuckles. The end of the stick, simultaneously jagged and blunt, came to a fractured point. The head of the mop lay in a corner like the tentacled carcass of a jellyfish. The makeshift spear did not look like it would be particularly effective against the Graesian armor.
    Ryol sat silently, reconstructing lines of thought that might help them escape.
    “Listen, right about now would be a good time to tell me what the hell is going on,” Hari said without dulling the edge in his voice.
    “I’m afraid by coming here I have inadvertently put your world at terrible risk.”
    Hari nodded with pursed lips. “What are those things?”
    “Graesians. Oath breakers to the Alliance. They have betrayed themselves and my people. In their desperation to save their planet, they have resorted to murder.”
    “Can’t you call for help or something?”
    “Something has disrupted my connection with Lenora.”
    “Won’t somebody notice you’ve gone off the radar and send help?”
    Ryol rolled her mother’s cold and unfeeling computer implant in her palm. No longer a thriving entity merged with a living host to create a symbiotic relationship of unrivaled computational ability. Now, it was dead like her mother.
    “Nobody can help.” The loss of hope burrowed like a sliver into the deepest parts of Ryol’s heart.
    Hari’s mouth drooped in understanding. “What do they want?”
    “They want your planet’s resources.”
    “We’re kind of attached to those,” Hari said, scratching his head. “Isn’t there something we can do to stop them?”
    “I don’t have an answer for that. Perhaps if I could return to Lenora, but the Graesians are blocking the Inter-Dimensional Portal.”
    Hari held up a finger to silence her and shivered.
    Click. Click. Click.
    The abrasive scraping of chitinous claws on tile grew louder. Ryol flinched away from the buzzing that swarmed her thoughts, uprooted her calm, and undermined her courage. She wrung her hands in her lap, resisting the urge to cover her ears and drown out the white noise. She’d need access to all her senses if she hoped to survive.
    “They’re coming.” Hari rose slowly with his makeshift spear clutched to his chest.
    The clicking and buzzing stopped. Ryol