Jade
I should have known.
I should have known, like really, I should have.
Can you really trust someone without a face?
Maybe you can't. But I did, anyway. And that was why I my decision was stupid. And that was why I was done.
My mind slipped into a heated debate.
Relax; Mesmer seemed confident at the plan. And she is a spy, for heaven's sake! The angelic part of the brain assured me.
Mesmer? Mesmer Zircon? What does she care about you? She'd laugh at your funeral. The devil scoffed.
For once, I knew the devil was right.
'Don't worry,' the voice said, as if it had read my mind. 'We are not enemies.'
'I never said you were,' I barked.
'Some things need not be expressed in words.'
'I hate blundering around in the dark,' I complained, to keep my head on the lighter side of things.
'Hmm... how does a sunny meadow sound to you? Breezy, with a stream with sparkly mineral water and... spotlights?'
'Are you being sarcastic?' I asked, annoyed.
'No. I just checked if you liked it,' the voice said tonelessly.
'You said I. Not We. That would probably mean you were sarcastic,' I mumbled.
'You're smart for a human.'
'I am smart for every other species in the Universe.' I retorted.
The voice chuckled quietly, and to my surprise, it was a very human sound.
It surprised me even more that it didn't helps my nerves one bit.
'Stop,' the voice ordered, suddenly steely.
'What?' I demanded.
'They're here. They're waiting.'
'Who the –'
The lights went on.
Finally.
My eyes took a while to adjust to the sudden brightness. When I could finally make things out, my jaw dropped.
It was like the Colosseum, only a thousand times larger. There were tiered seats all around, but they were empty. Right ahead of me, there was a magnanimous screen, like a super-huge plasma T.V. I finally understood what the voice-dude told me about breezy meadows and stuff. The arena must've been a couple square miles, and yes, most of it was a meadow. Even the stream part was right – but it looked wrong. It was too sparkly, almost like it was littered with glitter.
'What the hell is this?' I murmured.
'The arena,' the voice said casually. Suddenly, I thought the voice sounded more real. I turned around.
There was the android on the ground, lying flat on his back and looking switched off.
And there was this boy, maybe fourteen or something, with long black hair so black it was blue, and eyes of the same colour. He was wearing plain old jeans and sweatshirt, but still, there was something that screamed alien.
'Oh,' I mumbled.
'My name is Cobalt,' he said formally. 'I'm your negotiator for today.'
A negotiator in my head looked nothing like Cobalt, that was for sure.
VOUS LISEZ
Beyond the Stars
Science-FictionI woke up in a metal cell, wearing some kind of black jumpsuit and bulletproof vest. It was strange that I knew the room was metal, or it was a cell, when I couldn't remember my own name. Or where I came from or what I was doing here. The room was t...
