‘…mate.’
Te’rnu, realising what he had just said, fumbled his hand around a button by his visor.
‘Incapacitate,’ I could just about hear the suit’s in-built voice announce.
A wave of electricity shot out of the helmet and into the guard, rendering him unconscious.
‘Sorry,’ Te’rnu mumbled.
I said nothing, only shook my head in exasperation.
‘At least we know now what those sparks were doing coming out of the guard’s helmet. Back when I stopped you being killed.’
I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t help myself from smiling. ‘OK, yes, you saved me. Point well made. Let’s just not give the game away again, huh?’
I thought that Te’rnu was going to question the phrase “give the game away”, but he let it slide this time.
In front of us, next to where the Iyr guard had been standing was a translucent door, an electronic panel to one side. This could only be it - where the prisoner was being kept. I pounded on the glass-like material.
‘Hello? Anyone in there? Melonaitopila?’ I asked.
Silence.
‘If there is… I’m not an Iyr! I’m here to save you! Your dad hired me!’ I pleaded.
‘…he did?’ a voice asked from behind the door. ‘Who are you?’
‘My name is Syl Raynor. I’m an investigator. We’re-’
‘Oh!’ Te’rnu said, suddenly, ‘Why don’t we just press this?’
I had only just enough time to shout, ‘No!’ before Te’rnu selected the “Open Cell Door” option.
‘Oh,’ Te’rnu replied, ‘Why not?’
His question was answered by the alarm springing into life.
Both Te’rnu and I turned to face the door to the corridor, from which direction a stampede of footsteps fast approached.
We glanced at one another, and Te’rnu’s hand once again returned to the buttons on his suit’s visor.
‘Activated: instant kill.’
14
The Diplomat’s Daughter
Six Iyr guardsmen stormed the room, all armed with phase rifles - which they promptly pointed at me.
I threw my hands up in the air. ‘Alright, don’t shoot, I surrender! We don’t want an intergalactic incident on our hands, do we?’
The guards suddenly noticed Te’rnu - and all stood to attention. My friend, realising quickly that his cover was still - at the moment, at least - intact, pulled his hand back away from the buttons on his visor.
Quite handy, this disguise.
Te’rnu stood up straight, assuming the role of Iyr Head of Guard. ‘Thank you, soldiers, for the reinforcement. I was just in the process of arresting this… intruder.’
He was putting on a lower, deeper tone, pretending as though he had a voice to match his high rank.
‘She-,’ he began - and then restarted his sentence. ‘They already knocked out one of the guards. You!’
Te’rnu pointed at two of the Iyr.
‘Take this one to the medical bay.’
‘Yes, sir!’ the pair responded, and then picked the unconscious Iyr up by their arms and legs.
‘That looks comfy,’ I murmured, not quite being able to help myself. The remaining guards, enraged by my throwaway comment, picked their phasers up and pointed them at me once again. I was really starting to get used to looking down the barrel of an Iyr phase rifle.
One of the guards slowly moved their hands up to their visor.
‘Wait, what are you-’ I began to ask.
With the press of a button, bolts of electricity shot out of the Iyr’s helmet and into my body, enflaming every nerve in my body, and putting me in excruciating pain.
I screamed like a young child and fell to the floor, barely able to move. The guards approached and grabbed me in much the same way as they had their colleague.
‘That’s not much fun…,’ I mumbled.
Before I knew it, I was thrown into the cell, and the door closed firmly behind me. In one corner of the white, agonizingly-bright room sat a young Itagurinatipilazutinafi woman - Melonaitopila. I forced a reassuring smile in her direction, but in my lingering pain, it came out instead as a distressed snarl.
‘Sir, what should we do with the prisoner?’ I heard one of the guards ask outside the room.
‘I…,’ Te’rnu began to reply, ‘I will deal with them later.’
Good thinking, Te’rnu. Use your disguise while you still have it.
‘Of course - your meeting,’ another guard responded. ‘It started a few moments ago but I am sure they will understand your delay… given the circumstances.’
‘I… err…,’ Te’rnu started, stumbling over his response. ‘Yes! You: keep guard here. You three, please escort me to the meeting.’
‘I do not mean to question your orders, sir, but should we not keep more than one guard on this post, given the security breach?’
‘It is all resolved, is it not?’ Te’rnu replied. ‘The damage has been contained.’
‘Of course, sir.’
I heard the whoosh of a door opening and closing, and Te’rnu was gone.
I didn’t like that he was out there alone; his cover could get blown at any moment, and I had a feeling I knew what the Iyr would do to him when they found out…
And if he got caught, what hope did I have of escaping?
I turned to the cell’s other occupant and flashed another smile at her - which I felt went much more successfully this time.
‘How are you feeling?’ I asked Melonaitopila.
She looked at me with incredulity, put her hands up in the air as if to say “what the hell do you think?”
‘Sorry, stupid question,’ I followed up.
Melonaitopila shook her head. ‘No. It’s not. I’m sorry. It’s not been a good few days. Or weeks. Hard to tell, from in here.’
‘Week and a half, yeah,’ I clarified. ‘You’ve been in here all this time?’
She shrugged. ‘Pretty much. Since the evening after I saw it.’
‘Since you saw the face of an Iyr, you mean?’ I asked.
Melonaitopila nodded, her eyebrows twisted. ‘How did you know?’
‘I told you - I’ve been investigating,’ I replied, and, then, filling the silence that followed, I tried to ask, ‘What did you see, Melona- Melonat-,’
‘“Mel” is fine,’ she offered. ‘Any name would be fine, now, to be honest.’
I flashed her a smile. ‘Thanks. Oh! I’m Syl. Guess
