Simone stepped outside to the back alfresco courtyard of the Fast Food Tavern, where cooper and bronze metals were molded and welded together to form round tables and upright chairs of intricate leaf patterns. Mellow light was being cast from hanging jar lamps that dangled from a netted metal roof. Despite the lakionian’s distrust for their human suppressors, some of their artistic influence had seeped into theirs. Bringing a gentle touch to their war-like culture.

  She strolled through the courtyard and found Creed firing off some rounds in the gun range practice shed at the far end, behind the tavern’s staff prefab caravan area. She sat on some ale barrels near the door, to watch him practice.

  He clearly had something on his mind that was bothering him. Whenever he needed to process his thoughts, he would fire rounds from his submachine gun at the gun range. She suspected his number one bother would be Veronika, who definitely wasn’t like any of the humans he had to deal with before. Even the scientists and workers at the mine kept their distance and bias from his kind. Cretarians didn’t share the same species resentment, so were able to get along with humanity without issues. But lakionians… she sighed. It was still a long ways for those two races to be friends. Maybe with Veronika, it could be a start.

  “She’s not a bad person.” Her voice was a sweet whisper that drifted toward him: he heard it clearly.

  “Person? Huh. She’s a human clone, Simone.” Creed grumbled as he fired off rounds on a target dummy, lowered his submachine gun and sheathed it as he approached her.

  The bright blue moon cast a stark beam across his features, drawing more shimmer from his blue skin and color in his green eyes. But their usual luster was clouded from his mood.

  “How do you know she’s not working to slowly sabotage us? She blew up two mine chambers.” He toed a rock near one of the barrels she sat on. “You can’t trust humans.”

  Simone frowned and slipped off the barrel to stand before him. Her finger tenderly played with one of his amber-red dreadlocks, then gave it a hard yank. He cursed and frowned as he rubbed his sore spot better.

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  “You know very well not to judge a species on the merit of one. My father was a human, do you judge me too?” She stepped back and folded her arms across her chest, showing her frown.

  Creed looked horrified. He would never judge Simone in the same league a those shady people. Besides, her father was human, not her. His mind flashed back to their childhood of seeing her bullied and isolated from other cretarian girls, because of her human parent. He was the only person to stand up for her. But Simone had grown past that to become a young genius in her field whom many respected. And she wasn’t like those shifty humans who only schemed to steal and use others for selfish gains. Her father proved to be no different. It was fortunate she never got to know him.

  But this clone… He sighed and shook his head as he recapped what he had experience with Veronika to date. Despite not wanting to harm anyone, she blew up two chambers and nearly blew up the mine itself. The way she was quickly adapting to the field and learning weapons on the fly to be a skilled marksman was frightening.

  “I see what you’re saying, Simone. But you’re not like those humans, who can be very sly. And this clone is no different.”

  “And what about Madam Ross and Scot. They’re human too.” Simone kept pushing him. She knew the likely reason he wasn’t willing to trust in Veronika, but she needed to hear it from his mouth.

  “And I’m sure they’ll find a chance to stab us all in the back.”

  She sighed. “Creed, you can’t keep distrusting them. Sooner or later, we will have to work with them.”

  “For the greater good?” He frowned.

  “No, for a future.”

  Creed turned away and walked out of the area. He didn’t want to argue with her, but he couldn’t agree with her viewpoint.

  Simone sighed. He still wasn’t willing to speak on what truly bothered him about humans. Even if Kran was willing to give Veronika a chance, Creed was more unforgiving.

  “He still needs more time,” she said to herself, and decided to return to the tavern.