“Jane, get me Morty on the link now!” King Christopher demanded when his aid’s sweet voice piped up on the other end. “Tell him that this is a matter of extreme importance and urgency, and that not one second can be wasted! Now!”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Jane said over the com link in a nasal-sounding voice. Her actual voice was pretty, but the distortion of the com link often put it out of whack. “Locating Morty as we speak.”
“Good,” Christopher replied in an all-too uptight tone as he stomped his foot on the ground. “You know, Jane. You’ve been a real help to me this past little while, a real good servant. How about you take a two-week vacation to Druuk starting tomorrow as repayment? The palace will pay for everything.” He grinned at her, not that she could see it.
“That would be the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me, Your Highness,” Jane replied, not even the distortion enough to hide her obvious excitement. “But I am not worthy of such a gift. Please give it to someone else instead. I have not been that good of an employee.”
“Nonsense!” King Christopher rebutted. “You’ve been the greatest help to me out of any of my servants, at least lately. I hardly have to wait to talk to anyone! Please, take the trip. My treat. In fact, go right after this call is over. Just, be sure to get a good replacement for me so I don’t have to wait very long to talk to people, okay?”
“Well, Your Highness, if you insist, then yes, I’ll go! Thank you very much, Your Highness! If I could hug you over a com link, I would.”
“That’s sweet, but there’s no need. Just go.”
“Yes, sir. Oh, here’s Morty for you. Sorry for the wait, transferring . . .”
“Is the hired help gone?” a voice on the other side of the com link said. It sounded very dark and sinister.
“Yes, I put her on a long vacation. I just hope it’s long enough.”
“Well that’s a good thing,” the other voice told him, chuckling. “So what’s this matter of great importance?”
“Oh, nothing much. I have a surprise I want to whip up for the peasantry come the day of my birthday celebration, and it requires your kind of expertise,” he explained.
“You have gained my interest, Your Highness. Go on.”
“Well, first, I’m going to have to teleport you over here to work on the props. They need immediate attention. Oh, and worry not, you will be paid very well. Then, I’m gonna need to unfold a little extra surprise . . .”
* * * * * * * * * *
“Oh, King Christopher will be so pleased with my results, he won’t know what to do with himself,” Adam told himself after his liege lord had left. Gingerly, he placed the testing solution into the DNA scanner and waited for the results. It wouldn’t be long now, and Adam could hardly stand the wait. “Why, I bet he will give me a key to the Royal-”
Adam stopped short. The machine had spit out a result, but it wasn’t at all what he’d expected. His jaw dropped open when he read the words the machine had given him.
“That can’t be!” he rubbed his chin. “I must have made a mistake. It must have gotten ruined when I spilled some of the liquid on myself. Yes, that’s it. I must try again, and this time be more careful,” he said, not willing to believe what the machine was telling him. “It’s just impossible.”
Before doing anything else, Adam decided to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Then, when he was ready, he took a fresh sample, using up what was left in the bottom of the chalice. Then, he picked up the chemicals and measured out the exact amounts of each, taking much greater care than he had before.
“I was careless, is all,” he muttered, shaking his head. When he was satisfied he had used the right amounts of each fluid, he mixed them together in a fresh vial, very slowly and in the exact right order. Once he was fully satisfied that the mixture was ready, he put it on the heat under a cover so no dust could fall in. Then, he gingerly placed the vial in the machine and let it do its work.
It was an agonizing wait. Though in reality it was only a few minutes, it felt like a good hour. The machine finally spit out a new answer. Adam snatched it up quickly and read the results.
“Phew, it’s different,” he said, wiping the sweat off his brow. “I knew it couldn’t be our beloved General Talon.”
Adam relaxed for a moment and looked at the results again. They didn’t mention a specific name, meaning that that person’s structure signature was unknown. Still, someone may know it. And now that he had a positive result, it could be compared with others to find the killer’s true identity.
“King Christopher will still be happy with this. I just better keep the results and the vial safe until the appointed time. I don’t want anyone tampering with it.”
Adam clutched the vial close to his chest and rocked back and forth. It was still several hours until eight. Then he would finally be free.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Eight o’clock on the dot,” Christopher said as he sat in his bedchamber, waiting for Adam, who was late for once. It bothered him, but he let it slide. Adam was never late. “Oh well. He’s probably on his way now,” he said with a shrug.
“Aaah!” the king heard ring out, not far from his door.
Even through the padded and nearly-soundproof walls of his room, the young king could hear the kallor-shattering scream loud and clear. Morbidly,
