The Joining: The Cycle of the Shards Book One

39: Critock and Pt'ron

     "Well! Look at all of you." Pt'ron looked down upon Critock and his group with a smirk. "I'm honored that after all this time I still merited an entourage from the mighty Marconian Empire. How many?" He sneered at them, Tom hovering behind Critock even though Pt'ron's human eyes wouldn't be able to see him. "How many soldiers and loyal servants did the Qua'roti send for me? What am I worth after all this time? I see you, 'Kyle'. Who else?"

Critock stepped forward, his voice not quite sounding like the teenager's but still masking his identity. "Just me."

Pt'ron scoffed. "Really? One lonely hunter all the way across the universe? Which means..." He started laughing again. "You've...had nothing to rely on but humans? This lot? I'm amazed you're still alive! HA!" He paced back and forth across the top of the stair. "So, how is the Empire these days? Alpha still running the show?" Critock didn't answer, nor did Pt'ron expect one, and continued with another question. "So, what do you think of my home?"

Critock couldn't help himself. "Your...home?"

"Well, I've been here for a thousand cycles...Oh hell, TWO THOUSAND YEARS! I've fought so hard to keep from going native. But it's not been bad. Oh sure, the people and science and religion and everything are so rudimentary they might as well still be monkeys for all they're worth, but there is a certain charm it takes a hundred years or so to figure out."

Phelps was seething, and had to yell out. "I like to think we've worth a little more than a monkey! Considering you had to pretend to be one of us for so long!"

Pt'ron rolled his eyes. "Pathetically easy. I'd assume 'Kyle' here wasn't exactly top of his class. First rule. Blend in means you actually try and blend in. Don't pick a fight with the biggest bully in the school your first day in. A spy you are NOT!"

"Why him! Why Daniel!" Shanna yelled angrily at their adversary.

"Why indeed? Why not. Oh, I've been so many different people! Done so many things in so many lives. Did you know how easy it is to maneuver yourself into power on this planet? Just control the right person and presto!" He slowly started walking down the stairs, as Critock and the group held their ground. "I've been dictators, I've been Presidents, I've been soldiers and I've been slaves. And now when the time has finally come, there's no place quite as easy to hide as a child."

"You're sick." Critock spat.

"I'm smart! There's a difference, my dear hunter. Children here are supposed to be different from one day to the next. So many emotions and hormones and medication running through their bodies. So easy to manipulate. Nobody notices a bully changing his stripes to become respected. Why should they? It's 'all part of growing up!' Nobody actually tells you what that's supposed to mean, so you can get away with anything! There's no discipline, no order, just a loosely controlled chaos held together by strings of respect that those in power have in no way earned!" He stopped on the middle step, and Shanna let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding. "My God, it's beautiful here."

"So you come here and hide with your little toys. It's done! Why not leave!" Phelps yelled up, already realizing that his life was forfeit when faced with these otherworldly beings.

"Well, you kind of get used to the smell. I've been here a long time. Even with TWO Shards, the Empire only sends one man to face me. Or woman. I'm sorry, I don't know who you are under there." Critock stood silently, only giving his old friend a hateful glare. "Nobody out there will appreciate me, at least as I am now. So I will rule. I'll bring this blight of a planet up to a scale it wouldn't reach in another million years! This world will become the engine of my new Federation. We'll gather the dregs of the universe, those the almighty Marconians have forgotten in their quest to be the only power worth anything. And then the Empire will fall! The Mandragora will fall! The new order of the Universe will begin right here, just as it was in the great War of the Shards!!"