Species Traitor: A Science Fiction Dystopian Novel by Kate Mary (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📗

in the District, it was small and squat, little more than a big box with a door and two front windows. Not that my own home was better. It was bigger, yes, but old and dank in the evening after the sun had gone down and the desert chill invaded the city, and in desperate need of too many repairs to name. It showed its age in the cracked walls and chipping paint, and in the yellowed and peeling wallpaper adorning most of the rooms. At least in the District the houses looked taken care of.

I knocked twice before turning my back to the door.

The hot sun beat down, making me squint as I scanned the District. All across the pathways, Veilorian men and women went about their day, their interactions with one another so similar to humans it was difficult to remember we weren’t the same species. Only two walkways over, a little girl of about five stood with her mother, and just like with the man before, I instinctively knew she was only part alien. A second later, her father—a human—came into view and swept the child into his arms before turning to his wife. She was more than a head taller than the man, but when they looked at each other, all their differences paled when compared to the love exuding between them.

Being this high meant I could see over the fence surrounding the District, and after only a few seconds of watching the couple, I found my gaze drawn to the desolate nothingness beyond the city. Out there, the landscape was brown and barren, a result of the wars and droughts we’d suffered over the centuries. Here and there, remnants of the old world were visible in the form of crumbling buildings, which were now little more than shells. Trunks of old trees, too, jutted from the sandy ground, their lifeless limbs reaching for the sky like they’d died begging for mercy. It looked the way I imagined death would. Dried out and abandoned, nothing but a reminder of a life that no longer existed.

The only bright spot in the otherwise barren world was the ship. It was more than a mile away, but still looked huge. The bright sun shone off the sleek metal body, the years of dust and dirt that had collected on the surface doing little to dull the reflection, and I found myself lifting my hand in an attempt to shade my eyes. As far as I knew, no one had visited it in years. It had lost power around the time the District was built, so that even if the Veilorians were allowed to leave these walls, there would be no point in returning to their ship. They’d salvaged everything they could from it, anyway, or at least that was what I’d been taught in school.

The door to Rye’s house opened, giving me a start, and I turned to find Ione standing there, her face radiant with happiness and her eyes twinkling.

“Ava!”

My cousin threw her arms around me, nearly suffocating me with her dark, unruly curls, and I laughed. After my mother’s earlier tirade, part of me had wondered if I’d arrive to find Ione sobbing, and seeing her smiling face with my own eyes was a relief. She didn’t act like someone who’d lost everything. The opposite, actually. She acted like a person who’d just gained the whole world.

“I brought your stuff,” I said when Ione released me.

“Thank God.” She shoved the door open wider and waved for me to come in. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find pants to fit me in the District?”

“I can imagine,” I said with a little laugh.

Inside, I handed Ione the bag, and she tore into it with a fervor that rivaled a starving man getting his first meal in weeks while I looked the place over. I’d been to Rye’s house more than once, but its simplicity never ceased to amaze me.

Veilorians didn’t put a lot of emphasis on material things, and their homes were sparse compared to how humans lived, furnished with only the necessities. The living room was compact and contained nothing but a ratty couch, two scratched end tables, and a dinged-up coffee table, as well as a little viewing screen some human had cast off after it had broken. An old, round table sat between the living room and kitchen, which was tiny but functional, and beyond that were two small bedrooms and an equally miniature bathroom. It was simple but comfortable and much more relaxing than the home I’d grown up in.

There was very little in the way of decoration in the house, which made the fist-sized rock sitting on one of the end tables stand out. I’d noticed it before but had never bothered with the thing, and its heaviness surprised me when I picked it up now. The surface was jagged but not sharp, and almost cool to the touch.

“What’s with the rock?” I asked Ione, holding it out.

“It’s a Veilorian rock. Well, that’s what I call it. I’m sure it has another name, but I don’t know what it is. It’s from their planet and has some kind of significance I don’t really understand.” She shrugged and went back to organizing her things. “I just know every house in the District has one.”

“Weird,” I whispered, staring at the rock for a second longer before setting it back on the table.

I’d just put it down when the front door opened. My cousin’s smile grew, and I turned, expecting to see her new husband. He was there, towering over me like a goliath at nearly seven feet tall, but he wasn’t alone. Behind him stood the half-human guy I’d seen on the walkway only a few minutes earlier, and he was staring right at me.

Chapter Two

Rye’s smile stretched across his broad face as he crossed the room, his pale, purple eyes focused on his new wife