“To be perfectly honest, Overlord, we do not know. We have been watching her through shiny and reflective surfaces, as is usual, and this is the last thing we saw.”
A distorted looking image I could barely recognize as little one suddenly showed on my screen. One moment she was there, though it seemed she was struggling with some unseen assailant—and the next moment she seemed to just disappear into thin air.
“What is this? Where did you even get this picture from?” I demanded.
Charnoth appeared on the viewscreen again.
“She was outside at the time of her disappearance and our selection of shiny surfaces was limited. This particular image was taken using the sporting equipment some nearby humans were using.”
A picture of a long wooden handle with a shiny metal end appeared on the viewscreen.
“This is what the humans call a ‘golf club’,” Charnoth lectured. “Through it, we were able to see your former pet being abducted.”
“All right, I don’t really give a damn how you got the picture!” I snapped, trying to keep my composure. The thought of little one being abducted by some unknown and unseen assailant had me shaken to the core. “Just tell me, where is she now if she’s not on Earth?” I asked Charnoth.
“Alas, we do not know.” Charnoth shook his head sorrowfully. “Wedidtake the liberty of implanting a tracking device on her before we sent her back down to Earth, but the signal is no longer working.” He sighed regretfully. “Though it pains me greatly, I am authorized to offer you half of your last payment back. Unfortunately, a full refund is out of the question.”
“I don’t care about the money!” I snapped impatiently. “I care about finding little one! Where could she be? You say you implanted a tracking device?”
“In her left heel,” Charnoth informed me. “We were very subtle about it—she never suspected a thing. She thought an Earth insect called a ‘mosquito’ bit her.”
“Why would it stop working, though?” I said, trying to keep him on subject.
He made a rippling motion with his entire body which I realized was his form of a shrug.
“We do not know. It cut off the moment she disappeared, which may indicate she has been taken a long distance, out of our range. Or possibly, whoever or whatever took her cut off the foot we implanted the device in and threw it away.”
“Let’s go with the first option,” I said grimly. “Give me the frequency you were tracking little one on, her last known coordinates, and the device’s signal code. Let me see if I can pick it up on my end.”
“I very much doubt that, Overlord,” Charnoth said doubtfully. “We are, after all, in two separate galaxies. I am using several boosters and relay stations to even communicate with you now.”
“Just give me what I asked for,” I growled. “And tell me how long ago she disappeared.”
“One solar day ago,” Charnoth told me promptly.
“What?” I exploded. “You waited a wholedayto tell me she was missing?”
Charnoth gave his rippling, whole-body shrug again.
“We thought she might reappear. Or that we could find her signal—alas, we were unable to locate it.”
I ground my teeth in frustration—a whole day!Anythingmight have happened to little one in that time!
“Just send me what I asked for,” I told him again. “Now! This isurgent.”
“Yes, Overlord. Stand by for the information you requested,” Charnoth twittered in his high voice. “And may I wish you good luck on locating your former pet.”
I curled my hands into fists and clenched my jaw to keep back the angry retort that rose to my lips. A whole day. Where was little one now and what was being done to her?
I vowed I would find out.
FIFTY-SEVEN
ELLI
“What is this? Where am I?” I looked around the dark room where my invisible assailant had dragged me. Only he wasn’t invisible anymore.
I found myself face to face with a big, ugly, bald Korrigon who smelled like rotten fish. It was Shadrack, the Pet Finder from the F’too’sh Beta spaceport. There was no mistaking him for anyone else, mostly because he was ten feet tall with gray skin and full-black eyes. Also, he smelledterrible.