The alarm blared louder than the mating call of a Saturnian ultra-cat in heat. In mere moments, Captain Keith and C'ia of Mars would be awash in a sea of ice demons, all of them seeking the honor of destroying the most famous Space Explorer of all time.
Captain Keith's brow wrinkled in an incredibly rare sign of confusion. His hyper-naturally keen senses had not detected anything that could have tripped an alarm. None in the galaxy could match his stealth. He'd not been sensed by surveillance technology since he had attempted to sneak out of his crib at nine months old. And he would have gotten away then, too, if his NannyBot had not happened to roll through the room on a computer-glitch-created deviation from her normal hyper-nursery patrol.
"How in the name of B'rk'uvv did they spot us?!?" C'ia hissed.
"I'm replaying the last hour in my Mind-Theater from twelve different angles," said Captain Keith, "and I would swear by all that's Cosmic that they shouldn't have detected us."
C'ia quickly tied her hair in a thick braid and checked her ammunition. "I don't care if there be a million Ice Demons, my chork'lak. You and I will slay them all." She lifted her beautiful face and gave a throaty laugh.
Captain Keith drew her to him with his mighty arms. He looked deep into her eyes and then kissed her full, pouty lips. As her tongue ran playfully across his teeth, Keith suddenly pulled back.
"This reminds me of the time on Sirius 3, my love. When you, Professor Nargus and I repelled the Twillian invasion. We left a pile of dead Twills a mile high. Do you remember?"
C'ia smiled. "Of course, I do, my splendid Captain."
Deadly photons flew from Captain Keith's gun and blasted a hole through C'ia's midsection. Blood trickled from the corner of her beautiful mouth and her eyes widened with shock. Her jaw worked, but she could form no words.
Captain Keith slid his ZX9 Laser Gun back into his holster. "I don't know who you are, monster. But whoever sent you was unaware of the Martian diamond C'ia of Mars has embedded in her tongue. A good rule of espionage is that you should never kiss someone if you don't know what they kiss like."
As the shape-shifter slid to the ground and breathed its last, Captain Keith turned grimly to the horizon and prepared himself for the hordes of ice demons who would soon be charging toward him, blood in their eyes. "Let them come," he thought. "My will is steel and I am ready."
Illustration by Katarzyna Zalecka
