ARTIFACTS

Belinda McBride
Copyright ©2008, Belinda McBride All Rights Reserved
Website: http://www.belindamcbride.com/

Museum of Arts and Science

2317, ISCE

“Do you seriously think they’re gonna let you retire?”

Shannon Nelson gave her brightest smile to the ugly little Fedoran waiter as she accepted another glass of sweet Valoran wine. “You’re drinking too much.”

“Shut up, Theresa.”

“I’m just saying, after all the expense the Company invested in you, they aren’t gonna just cut you loose ’cause you’re bored.”

Shannon sauntered across the room, joining a crowd around the display of Old Terran artifacts. She managed to divide her attention between the smug looking Valoran docent and the voice in her head.

“It isn’t boredom, Theresa. It’s burn down. I’ve been at this too long.”

She caught the eye of a handsome lavender Somian and smiled, glancing around for his twin. They always came in pairs, and this pair had been shadowing her all evening. “It’s getting dangerous. I fucked up on the last assignment, if it wasn’t for you, I’d have been caught and ended up rotting in a jail on some bumfuck prison planet.”

She exchanged pleasantries with an attractive Gender Neutral Valoran, who was speculating on the purpose and nature of the white fountain enclosed in a high-security cube. The notes indicated it was an altar to a water deity, and that it had a small room in the ancient Terran domicile dedicated to it.
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