Chapter 11

Relda rubbed her eyes and touched the screen, dragging the image on it to a different view. She frowned at the sea mammal shape of the image.

“It’s the ship that stole my medallion,” she noted.

Raylay gnashed his teeth; he squirmed in place.

“Do the 3D flip on it,” Raylay instructed.

Relda stuck her tongue out in deep concentration. She flipped the photo of one side to the opposite side, revealing an emblem of three yellow stars in a vertical alignment.

“What does it mean?” She asked. “Whose is it?”

Raylay’s face drained of color. His bottom lip did a violent quiver.

“I-I,” he stammered. “It's a Dialorian ship. That's their emblem."

"Dialorian?" She questioned, pushing the viewing screen away.

"They took over our quadrant eons ago, and we're still enslaved to them. Usually the stars are scarlet. These are yellow. I need to talk to the database keeper at the border port."

“Alright,” she consented. “We’ll take it to a database keeper. Is it at that Stellan Port?”

He gave a stoic, curt nod, but his body was still trembling and his knees were weak.

“There’s one there; yes,” he said.

“Good,” she replied. “I hope I can get that medallion back soon. I need it to pay the cloner. Eyan.”

Raylay tucked the viewing screen into his armpit.

“We’ll...we’ll..be there. Soon,” he said between bouts of hyperventilation. “I’ll just...I’ll let you know. When we get there.”

Relda released a chuckle when he was out of earshot.

“Funny boy,” she muttered.

And she gathered up her cloak and made a break for the door, guided by the light of the bioscan and the touch-screen. Raylay would talk about the tiny pant suits. And all the other secrets he kept trying to mask.