Zack: So, are you guys, like, your own little unit?
Colitas: I don't know what that is, but we're a family.
Cuquin: Yeah, all of us. Even Tomato and Ghost. Those are our pets, a dog and rabbit.
Zack: Wow! Being a family must be so awesome!
Colitas: Do you have a family, Zack?
Zack: Yeah, there's Cyphid and Rough-Pound, Slee-Kor, Grabblenacht, who's still a jerk by the way, and the Admiral! There's also Lord Eyezak, who's, like, the guy who invented Eyezakorp, but I've never met him! I think he died...
Pelusin: Hold up, dude, what about your parents?
Zack: What are parents?
Colitas: Grown-ups who take care of you.
Zack doesn't know what a grown-up is either, so he shrugs.
Zack: I don't have any of those. Oh, but Cyphid and Rough-Pound are always taking care of me! Does that count?
Tete enters the conversation.
Tete: I'm afraid not, Zack. Those are more like guardians.
Pelusin: So... You don't have any parents either?
Zack shakes his head.
Colitas gasps.
Colitas: That means you're an organ, just like us!
Tete chuckles.
Tete: You mean, orphan.
Colitas: Oh, right!
Zack: Orphan?
Pelusin: A kid who doesn't have squat.
Cuquin: Like us. {sighs} All alone in this... cruel world.
Zack: Wait, but you said you guys are family.
Tete: Not by blood.
Colitas: We were left to rot in this... orphanage, with no one to take care of us...
Cuquin: It really sucks.
Zack: Oh, geez, I'm sorry, guys! I wish there was something I could do!
Colitas hugs him.
Colitas: You being here is enough!
Zack: Yeah, I have to say, this is so much better than staying in that lame ship all my life.
Pelusin gasps.
Pelusin: Wait! Are you an alien from outer space?!
Zack: I am from outer space!
Pelusin: Sick! I'm standing in the same room as an alien! But I thought you'd be a lot scarier...
Zack: Well, Eyezakorp has a bunch of scary creatures, but they're actually really nice.
Pelusin: Well, with Cleo around, she's enough.
Tete: Pelusin, cut her some slack.
Cuquin looks around and realizes Cleo's nowhere to be seen.
Cuquin: Where is Cleo, anyway?
Colitas: Oh, yeah, I haven't seen her. Ooh, I hope she's okay.
Cuquin: We gotta find her!
Pelusin: Do we have to?
Cuquin: Um, is that even a question?!
Zack saw Cleo leave earlier and knows where she went.
YOU ARE READING
The Telerin Force: Beginning
Science Fiction11-year-old Zack belonged to an organization known as Eyezakorp, run by Admiral Ove, a cruel monarch who wants to enslave the universe by creating her new army, the Soldiers of the Shadows. But after crash-landing on an unknown planet and meeting a...
