Turbulence by Elaina John Page A

looked down at the loose mint green dress that draped
over her body. She couldn’t help but feel slighted. Her wardrobe looked fine to
her. “What’s wrong with my wardrobe?”
    Remorse reflected on Lily’s face. “It’s nice. It really is.
I love your dresses. But that’s all I ever see. You wear no jeans or cute tops.
I’m sure you have an amazing body under there somewhere.”
    Avalon didn’t particularly like what humans wore. When she
first arrived she and her grandmother had to wear what the homeless shelter
could piece together for them and it was unpleasant. Perhaps just this once she
could indulge Lily.
    “Okay. Whenever you feel better we can closet shop.”
    “I feel better now.” She jumped off the couch. Color was
coming back into her skin with her growing excitement. “I just really have the
urge to eat a pickle.”
     
    ----
     
    Greyson switch from being annoyed to being pissed off. He
had been sitting in this box of a room for over an hour and he had yet to do
any talking to anyone.
    After he and Dex left the farmhouse, they were swept away by
plane to a Homeland Security office. When they arrived they were searched,
scanned, patted down, and a bunch of other things Greyson felt violated over.
Then he and Dex were taken to separate rooms.
    Greyson kicked the chair across the table from him. Petty,
yeah. But he was tired of sitting in this drab gray room with nothing but a
table and a few chairs for company.
    He hadn’t even been offered a glass of water. Talk about
hospitality. You would have thought he was a criminal with the way he was being
treated. Not to leave out he still had no idea why he was even here. As far as Greyson
was concerned, it was a waste of time.
    The security personnel confiscated all of his stuff, so he
didn’t have a cell phone to call Avalon. He promised her. It bothered him that
he might not be able to keep his promise to her. Just as he was wondering what
she might have been up to, the door opened.
    “It’s about damn time,” he said.
    Jay Copeland walked in followed by Keith Barney. They both
sat down on the other side of the table. Barney, no problem. Copeland, on the
other hand, was a bigheaded jerk who probably took a hot shower with bleach
after coming in contact with one of them.
    Greyson smiled. It wasn’t friendly. “Why in the hell am I
here?”
    “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Copeland shot
back.
    “My mother is dead. Dad too. Now tell me why I had to get on
a plane just to talk to you assholes. I do have responsibilities like running a
settlement for aliens, in case you forgot.”
    Barney put a manila folder on the table. “We apologize for
the interruption of your duties, Mr. Kane. But a matter of serious importance
warranted your presence.”
    “If it’s so important then why are Dex and I separated? Why
did it take you so long to question me? I’m not an idiot. What am I being
accused of?” He glared at the both of them. Whatever was going on, he had the
right to know.
    Barney nervously adjusted his red bowtie. “Well—”
    “What do you know about this?” Copeland flipped open the
folder.
    Inside were black and white photographs from crime scenes.
Greyson looked through pictures of various dead bodies and destroyed houses and
buildings.
    “What is this? I didn’t do any of it.”
    Copeland folded his hands under his chin and inspected him,
searched for the lie. Greyson might have been insensitive at times, but that
stuff in the photos wasn’t on him.
    “No one is saying you did anything, Mr. Kane. Unless you
want to confess to something, hmm? I guess not. I am asking whether you know
about any of this.”
    “No. Why would I? I’m not in the business of murder and
destruction.”
    “Perhaps not,” Copeland agreed. “But some of your people
might be.”
    “They wouldn’t.” Like humans, there were good and bad
Jhetans out there. None that lived in the colony. Greyson wouldn’t stand for
it. He ran a respectful