Dawn by Eleanor Porter (best finance books of all time TXT) 📕

blade again, the man hammered down his rock fist and drew blood with the rough skin. They erupted and pounded their champion on the back as cheers went up and credits were exchanged. Jessie shook the pain out of his hand and didn’t remember the game being quite so brutal back home but it was better than being impaled by the spikes.

“Well played, Human.” The Queen said as the guards made their way back to the walls with excited chatter and started playing the game with each other.

He gave her a nod.

“Thank you, your Highness, but I lost.”

“No, I think you won.” She said. “It was obvious he was going to play rock again. Go see Sharaal in the city. He will take care of your needs easily enough.”

She watched the guards play for a few moments then left the throne room from a side entrance. Jessie went back to Maddy and they started down the long staircase.

“That was just weird.” Jessie finally said. “It was surreal. I’m not even sure what happened but the Queen was kind of creepy up close. She seemed a lot older than she looked.”

“I’m sure she is.” Maddy said. “She has a data hacker here that can reprogram the bracelets. She is probably hundreds of years old and can rejuvenate into any number of bodies. Today she chose to be six.”

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they passed the man in the flowing robes hurrying up them again, another glass tablet in his hands.

“Whoa.” Jessie said. “I thought you were dead. She dropped you through the floor.”

“Yes, she does that quite often.” He said, completely unconcerned. “It’s a little game she likes to play when she’s being a child. She tries to catch me unprepared.”

He flashed the ring at them as he swept by.

“But it’s automatic. It activates the anti-gravity sensor for the wearer once you’re about halfway down.”

Jessie looked at his own ring with new interest. He’d thought it let him walk on the invisible floor. The technology was amazing.

“But don’t ever cross her.” He said over his shoulder. “She can turn yours off and can be quite unpleasant if she is truly angry.”

They strolled around the small city and it was nothing like they had expected. From the stories, the Queen was a cruel tyrant who ruled a criminal empire. He had supposed there would be black clad Nazi wannabes kicking around helpless peasants dressed in rags. The city would be one of misery and suffering, dark and foreboding. It was bright and clean and if he squinted his eyes, he could almost imagine he was strolling through a small beach town in California. She may have been a ruthless pirate at one time but that had been a few lifetimes ago. She had spent many decades terraforming the moon at the end of the last jump gate into a private paradise.

It took them a while to find the data hacker. He was a tall, six fingered man with a smooth, hairless head and oversized almond eyes. He was at a sidewalk café that overlooked the ocean, relaxing and enjoying the breeze. He was sipping a cool drink, nibbling on some sort of pastry and scrolling through his data glass. He would have been right at home in any Starbucks.

He introduced himself as Sharaal, invited them to sit then listened to what they wanted. He spoke softly, asked questions and eyed them kindly. At least Jessie thought it was kindness. He kept his hand near his blaster in case it wasn’t. The man’s eyes kept changing whenever he blinked, which wasn’t very often. It was like he was switching contact lenses and it was a little creepy.

“And what is it, exactly, would you like for me to do with these bracelets? Surely it isn’t simply reprogramming them with your signatures, it would have been easier to simply pay a rejuvenation clinic than risk coming all the way out here.”

Jessie and Maddy exchanged a glance and before he could come up with a plausible lie, the man spoke again.

“I know you are from a previous age.” He said and indicated Jessie with a long, gray finger. “You’re mostly human, ancient human but with something alien in your blood. Probably from one of the lost colony ships but your compact muscle structure and bone density suggest planet side living for many thousands of generations. A planet with strong gravity.”

He blinked and a different lens slid over his eye.

“You have been wounded many times, some of them should have been fatal but you are not incapacitated in any way. Very curious. I could learn much analyzing your blood.”

“I don’t have any to spare.” Jessie said.

“Understandable.” He said, undisturbed, then turned his gaze to Maddy.

“You are an anomaly.” He said but not with malice. He steepled his fingers and clicked through the eye lenses, settling on a different one for each. “You are a collection of cells, all of the exact same construction, each working in perfect conjunction with the rest. Mimicking cells. A hive. A highly advanced machine, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. You have a pulse, I see the vein on your neck keeping perfect rhythm with your heart. You breathe in and out normally enough but you just traversed a long flight of steps up from the water. Your heart should have been accelerated, your breathing a little heavier. You are very good, my dear but you didn’t fool me and you can’t fool a bracelet. I’m sorry but I can’t reprogram one for you.”

Jessie’s hand rested on his knee, a nanosecond away from his blaster if it was needed.

The man turned one of his eyes to him.

“No need for violence, young warrior.” He said. “I am merely assessing my customers so I can give them what they desire. My Queen has ordered it and it will be done. She does not tell me her secrets, I do not tell her mine. If I were to guess, I would say