Page 15 of Riv's Sanctuary

Mounting panic…

She hoped.

4

The hovercar cruised through the mushroom estate, passing more mushroom houses and their orange lawns and well-kept gardens.

It felt like she was driving through a made-up neighborhood on a movie set; it was too perfect and…amazing.

Locked in a terrarium for a year, she couldn’t help but lean out of her box as she took the sights in.

At the zoo, her terrarium had consisted of the single slab and the little stall where she could shower and go to the toilet.

There’d been no color.

Just plain white walls and that unbreakable transparent barrier between her and the outside.

She’d had no idea the world outside was so beautiful.

“What is this planet called?”

Geblit glanced at her, four eyes moving her way in synchrony before he looked ahead once more.

“Hudo three.”

Hudo III.

She’d never heard of it before but she wasn’t surprised.

Earth was so far behind in space exploration, and she’d had a year to think about this, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t the first time the planet had been invaded.

She doubted the governments of Earth even knew.

The hovercar moved smoothly down the streets and, soon, the landscape changed to singular tall white bottle-shaped houses with no lawns or fancy gardens, leaving the mushroom suburbs behind.

These dwellings were less fancy than the mushroom buildings. She could see this even as they sped through the neighborhood.

It also seemed as if Geblit was driving much faster than he had been while they were in the mushroom neighborhood.

A glance at him, and he was staring straight ahead, his four eyes slightly wide and she wasn’t sure if it was the wind causing him to widen them or if it was because he was nervous.

She’d take the latter. His large balloon at the back of his head was pulsing too.

He was nervous about this neighborhood but he’d pushed past the tall, dark aliens with blades like they were nothing?

Glancing around, Lauren’s brows furrowed a little. From the aliens she managed to see, some leaning on hovercars that looked like they were about to fall apart and others sitting on hovering boxes along the street, she could only gather that they were on the bad side of town.

Her eyes slid to Geblit.

She hoped this wasn't where this friend called Riv lived.

For all she knew, Riv was short for Riv the Pimp.

She was trying to run away from sex with aliens, not toward it.

Shit.

Was this sanctuary some sort of alien crack house?