Sahra gawped. This place was so… white. And everything that wasn’t white was shiny. And everything in-between had lights in them.
“Sit it in the examination bed,” said the Barba. It was a surprise to see a male’s crest down their tail. Males didn’t get to the higher ranks, most of the time.
The Matrach patted something that looked like a bed. “Sahra,” she cooed. “Hup!”
Sahra scurried to obey, watching her feet the whole way and watching her hands when she was climbing up. No wonder the Matrach wanted her clean. This whole place would show up dirt like crazy.
“Lie straight like a rod,” instructed the Matrach. “Head there. Good girl. Stay still.”
Sahra froze again. She closed her eyes tight and listened to the machines making noise and the masters talking.
“I was almost ready to believe the instruments used were defective…” said the Barba. “But this is the fifth, and it went the closest to the epicenter.”
“May I humbly submit, Barba, that this might be an unsafe mystery. Something that can wait for better instruments?” The Matrach sounded a lot different, now. Scared.
“The Majestrix herself, long may she reign, asked us to gather as much data as we could without loss of life.”
“All our previous data from ore processing mishaps include dangerous radiation levels,” said the Matrach. “To exercise all caution, we must wait for better ways to gather data.”
“These children should be suffering radiation sickness. This one should be dying. Yet she had the appetite for a cup of mealworms, and ate the cup.”
“Ate… the cup?”
“It was paper.”
“…Gods of Wonder… Yoomins will eat anything.”
Hevun’s Rebel. Coming soon to all good eBook stores everywhere.
