Kyro - A.G. Wilde Page 0,1

rivers, landmasses, and forests.

Humans had complex societies and land structures spreading across their world’s surface and, despite several species living on the planet, humans had risen to the top as the apex predator.

They were intelligent too. Well...some of the transmissions in his data file would contradict that...but the species had sent probes into space for what he assumed was the search for alien life.

That implied intelligence.

Regardless, the Interplanetary Union had decreed that no one should initiate contact with any of Earth’s probes. The Union believed Earth was still too underdeveloped for knowledge of other intelligent civilizations, the collective human psyche being too fragile.

Interest piqued, Kyro leaned forward as he brought up information the humans had compiled on extraterrestrials.

Soon, he was frowning again.

It seemed humans had the general idea that extraterrestrials were small, skinny, and green with large, smooth oval heads and eyes too big for their faces.

He took offense to that.

Not all aliens looked like the Drani. He hated those little green degenerates.

Still frowning, Kyro spun his writing instrument between his fingers.

Opening a file sorted as entertainment, he scrolled down the lines of the feed, soaking up every word until he came upon a comedy show.

He loved a bit of humor.

Humor was always a good way to get a sense of what a society’s culture was truly like.

Eyes glued to the data screen; it took him about one hour to read the scripts of all seasons of a popular Earth comedy show called The Big Loud Noise.

He didn’t understand the title.

The show was about a group of science-inclined friends, not about loud noises or big loud noises for that matter.

Misleading.

Scrolling, Kyro raised a nonexistent eyebrow as further entertainment products came up.

It got worse.

Humans seemed to enjoy watching what they called “reality on television” ...as if they couldn’t get enough of...life.

Now, this was why he was having trouble understanding human civilization. His brother Yce had been right when he’d referred to humans as being illogical. The data didn’t make sense all the time.

Still, he soaked it up.

Information, to a Vorti, was like treasure.

It had been about a week since he and his brothers had returned to the Restitution’s base camp and, in that week, he had consumed so much Earth information he was almost an expert on the planet.

It was what came naturally to him.

Even now, while he was questioning his previous assumption about human intelligence, his chromatophores itched for him to test his knowledge of human civilization.

He wouldn’t even need to do much of a transformation—add some eyebrows, possibly some hair on the top of his head, change his gray skin to something more human-like...

He could do it.

But he never would.

Assimilation was a life he had to leave behind a long time ago.

This itch to change was probably not good. What he needed was a distraction.

Glancing at the door to his quarters, he wondered if he should head down to the central hexagon where all the teams on active duty would be working on mission intelligence.

He had nothing better to do, and the Restitution was always working for the greater good—rescuing slaves and bringing the High Tasqals down. As a rebel, there was always somewhere he could chip in and help in the fight.

He knew he and his brothers would get scheduled for another mission soon, but there was no telling how long that would take.

His four brothers, Xul, Crex, Yce, and Kyris, were with their human mates. He reckoned this “break” his team was taking would last a long, long time—depending on the stamina and resilience of the human females.

That’s right. He knew exactly what they were doing in their quarters and why he hardly saw or heard from them.

Not that he was jealous in any way...

He wasn’t.

But he had to admit, even though his life organ beat only to keep him alive...it must be nice, having someone.

He was alone...truly alone. The type of alone that made him feel solitary among a group of people.

It was a feeling he had grown so accustomed to, he could hardly imagine life with someone else.

Solitude was his constant friend.

He was a lone, lone soldier.

As if to prove him wrong, the other Vorti who shared his living space took that moment to pad into the room. Kyro heard the footsteps as they drew closer, and just like that, he pushed his vulnerable thoughts back behind a closed door.

“Still reading the data from those feeds you got?” Rokan glanced in his direction as he headed over to the food preparation area.

Kyro jerked his head