Thrissko

"Are you ready?" Papa asked me.

"Yes," I said. Sally - the human child - placed her palm on top of the barbs of my hand. The wetness slid along my barbs as she cut herself and the blood ran out. She did it on purpose. She had started doing it when the miasmids told her she had to stop cutting herself with her knife if she wanted to go with me into space.

None of us - including the miasmids - cared if she cut herself, but she got strange looks from the regulars when we went out. The miasmids told us we needed to be careful not to be discovered. Our mission was important.

We stood with hundreds of others who had the miasmids inside them. We were at the docks - empty except for us. Those who were stationed here already had the miasmids inside them. Some still screamed, but they would join us soon. Two great ships were behind us. Soon we would command more.

"Sally, are you ready?" Papa asked her.

She stared up at him which we all took to be an assent. She never spoke.

"Good," he said. He coughed. His large shoulders hunched forward.

When he finished coughing he said to all of us standing at the base of the ships, but especially me, "I'm relying on you. The miasmids are relying on you."

Pleasure spread throughout me, tingled everywhere as the miasmids inside me agreed. I'd do anything for them. Even kill my bestfriend. A smile touched my lips when I remembered the satisfying crunch as Vai's bones broke, as his skin tore open when my barbs cut the flesh. The pleasure increased.

"You'll get your chance to finish the job," Papa said as if he read my thoughts. Maybe he had through the miasmids.

"Yes," I said.

"The G.E.F.'s itenary has already been programmed into the ships. They'll be making a lot of stops. You'll have time to catch up," Papa continued. "We'll use this opportunity to cripple their fleet. We will get revenge for the miasmids. There won't be a repeat of the K'thaktra war."

I smiled. Sally smiled.

"Be the miasmids's warriors," Papa said. "I know you will be the best warriors. The Gathering will bow to us."