Matt heard the shit-talking fest on the radio and wanted a peek at the action. He made his way to the train when he bumped into the tall alien guy he noticed walking around Iona. Six said his name was Tumu. The aquatic blue man without a nose scanned Matt from head to toe.

Passing, Matt spared the alien a nod when the deep voice called out to him, “Hey. Where’d you get that nacre?”

Had he heard that right? Nacre? Wasn’t that what the Progeny went to Enki for? Brows drawn in a frown, the ginger human checked, “I’m sorry. What?”

Tumu crooked his alien head to the side. “What’s your name, Gingersnaps?”

“Matthew Anderson.”

The stare from those voids bore into him. “How did you get a nacre?”

Matt shoved his hands in his pockets and then thought of something. He licked his lips, trying to think of the least incriminating way to ask this. “Is a nacre a pearl thing inside the Icari?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The Tritan nodded, slowly.

“I found one on Invasion Day. But… I don’t know where it is.”

Tumu pointed to his breastbone above his heart. “It’s right there. Did you swallow one?”

Matt shook his head insistently. “No. That never occurred to me. I slipped it in my pocket—”

“For how long?”

Distracted for a moment, wondering what a Tritan looked like on the inside, Matt bounced back to the conversation at hand. “What?”

The blue man stared with an expression Matt couldn’t read. “How long was it in your pocket?”

“Half a day, at least.”

Tumu’s eyes widened as he gaped, “You mean you absorbed a nacre and didn’t notice changes in yourself?”

Matt shrugged. “I was in a weird place at the time.” This explained why he handled the CoN initiation so well. Why he survived the heat stroke. Why he hardly knew hunger, thirst, or exhaustion. How interesting. Unsure of the direction of this conversation, he asked, “Look, am I in trouble?”

The alien shook his head, incredulous. “No. I guess not.” He threw his hands in the air before pointing a finger in the human’s face. “Don’t tell anyone about this, okay? I’d have to report you to our Tribunal, and I already have too much paperwork to do.”

Tumu walked toward Iona, muttering about humans and nacres absorbed into their ass cheeks.

Matt looked back to his car where Lucy unloaded CoN archival documents for research. Her long legs extended from her short-shorts as she bent into the car. Thoughts and ideas occurred to him.

Brave. Smart. A woman on a mission. His Lucy.

Swallowed. Absorbed. How interesting.