Antigravel Omnibus 1

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“Put these on,” the liaison said. It was hard not to stare at his red skin, but Guillermo was a professional so he controlled himself.

They were in a large fitting room that could easily dress up every theatre in France. An excess of frills, Guillermo laughed at his own thoughts.

“What’s wrong with my suit?” he asked.

Pollux opened his palms and frowned. “It doesn’t shift colour,” he said, as if to a child.

“Of course,” Guillermo said and put on the jacket. The fabric wasn’t tailored to his body, but he could make it work. Class wasn’t a problem for him.

Then the jacket squeezed around his body and became a perfect fit.

Guillermo choked a terrified scream, and composed himself. Aliens. Right.

Pollux tapped his wrist and both their jackets turned yellow with greenish stripes. He must have seen the questions in Guillermo’s face, so he explained, “It’s our national colours.”

“Fine colours indeed.”

The alien liaison raised a device, that looked medical. “Now for the translator microbes.”

Guillermo politely stopped the man. “I’ve already been injected. It became useful for the international circles my work takes me.” He snorted at that. Useful doesn’t even begin to cover it. It was the single benefit he had personally seen from First Contact, and the single most cost-effective expense in his life, trading years of learning languages with instant understanding of everything.

Pollux moved in to inject him. “No, those are the old ones, these are a newer breed that includes-”

Guillermo pulled his arm away. “Please. I understand the necessity, but I’ll ask our human expert if there is a need to inject again.” He was firm. He was in no mood to let aliens inject him with unnecessary stuff.

Pollux seemed annoyed by that. Then again, it might be a different expression in their culture. But he backed down. “Of course, you should consult your experts.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, the translator microbes seem to work just fine, my words are in our language.”

“They are? Yes, I hardly noticed the shift.”

Pollux clapped his reddish hands together. “Excellent! Now let’s go over the protocols, shall we?”

This was the important bit. Guillermo had a sudden flashback of his teacher, teaching him royal protocols again and again until they were drilled into his brain. The alien had his full attention.

“When the Princess enters a room, you need to stand up and be as photogenic as possible. Chin up, gut sucked in, lips smiling.”

Guillermo raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, I’m serious. The Princess is holographed continuously, and she likes to have her surroundings presentable at all times. Her beauty and presence outshines all of us of course, so no matter how much we try to look good, she will always look better.”

“Of course.” Guillermo studied the man’s eyes. There was something underneath his words. He felt something powerful emanating from the man, but it wasn’t just devotion. Surely it wasn’t something lost in translation, this was his gut feeling talking.

Or was it just the unease that the man carried the Ekrignontes gene and could take him with him to the grave?

Perhaps.

Pollux’s sleeve chirped. “Oh, Her Brightness has posted a picture of herself. We must see it at once.” He fished out a comm from his pocket and angled it to Guillermo.

She was stunning.

A perfect button nose. Juicy lips that barely smirked. Powerful eyes. Bright red skin. Hair like a white star.

And her body…

Pollux bit his lip, then quickly typed a comment, ‘Your beauty and presence outshines this nearby star.’

Guillermo saw the adoration count rise. His eyes glazed. That number couldn’t be real, could it? “Simply astronomical,” he whispered.

Pollux let the image of the princess float around them in augmented reality. He quickly explained, “It is by royal decree that we must all witness Her Brightness’ for at least ten minutes.”

“Uh-huh. Excuse my straightforwardness, but we don’t have time for anything else. Am I to understand that when the Princess posts a selfie, all her subjects are expected to stop what they’re doing and adore her for at least ten minutes?”

“Yes,” the alien man said, clasping his hands together. “All four trillion of us.”