Dr. Dmitri Erland perched on the edge of his hotel bed,
with the worn cotton quilt polling around his ankles.
All his attention was on the battered netscreen on the
wall, the one where the sound cut out randomly and
the picture liked to tremble and flicker at inopportune
moments.
Unlike the last time a Lunar representative had come
to Earth, this time the arrival was being internationally
broadcast.
This time, there was no hiding the purpose of the visit.
Her Majesty, the Queen, had gotten what she wanted.
She was going to become empress.
Though Queen Levana herself would not be arriving
until closer to the ceremony date, Thaumaturge Aimery
Park, as one of her closest lackeys—er, advisers—was
coming early as a show of "goodwill" to the people
of the Commonwealth and planet Earth.
That, and to ensure all wedding arrangements
were being made to suit Her Majesty's preferences,
no doubt.
The shimmering white spaceship with its decorative
runes had still showed no sign of opening.
A journalist from the African union was droning on
and on in the background about trivial wedding and
coronation details—how many diamonds were in the
empress's crown, the length of the aisle, the number
of expected guests, and of course, yet another
mention that Prime Minister Kaman herself had
selected as the ceremony's officiant.
He was glad for one thing to result from this engage-
ment, at least.
All this ballyhoo had taken the media's attention
off Miss Cinder.
He'd hoped that she would have had the sense to
take this serendipitous distraction and come
find him, quickly, but that had not yet happened.
He was growing impatient and more than a little
worried for the girl, but there was nothing he
could do but wait patiently in this forsaken desert
and continue with his research and plan for the day
when all his hard work would finally come fruition.
Growing bored of the broadcast, Dr. Erland removed his
spectacles and spent a moment huffing on them and
YOU ARE READING
Cress
Teen FictionTheir best hope lies with Cress, a girl trapped on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she's being force to work for Queen Levana, and she...
