Another Excerpt from Isolation

I just posted a chapter from Isolation (Kid Sensation #8) here on Patreon, but I realized that it's been a while since I posted any excerpts or similar items on my website.  Thus, I figured I should put something there for the readers who follow my site.  With that in mind, I intend to post the excerpt below, but wanted to give my patrons a chance to see it first (and never fear - I will continue to post exclusive content here):

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As I had previously noted, there were no windows at the rear of the building. In fact, there was only a single door that led out to area currently occupied by a couple of dumpsters. After looking around to make sure no one could see me, I floated up into the air and onto the roof of the diner.

After waiting a few moments, I said, “You might as well show yourself. I know you’re there.”

For a second, nothing happened, and then the air about five feet in front of me began to shimmer and glow. The coruscation only lasted a few seconds, and when it was gone I found myself facing someone wearing the armor of a Caelesian royal guard. 

The guard reached up with both hands and lifted their helmet, allowing me to see their face for the first time. It was a woman, with long dark hair braided into a ponytail.

Tucking the helmet under one arm, the guard inclined her head and said, “Highness.”

Her greeting was a reminder of the fact that I was actually Caelesian royalty – something I honestly seldom thought about. However, I put that out of my mind and got down to business.

“You wanted to talk?” I asked.

The guard gave me a curious look. “Pardon, Highness?”

“Well, you turned off whatever gadgetry or tech you use to block me from sensing you empathically,” I explained, reflecting on how I had suddenly picked up on Caelesian emotions while sitting in the diner. “That means you wanted me to know you were there, which implies that you wanted to talk to me about something.”

The guard seemed to reflect on this for a moment, then asked, “Where is the princess?”

“You know where she is,” I shot back tersely. “You’ve got her tagged, outfitted with a tracker, or bugged in some other way that lets you know her exact location twenty-four hours a day.”

“The question was not meant for my edification, but intended as a reminder that the princess is your responsibility.”

“Well, Myshtal is fine – I talk to her every day. She’s with my cousin Monique and having a great time.”

“The welfare of the princess is not an obligation you can foist off on others.”

“No one’s foisting anything,” I muttered angrily. “Myshtal has to develop relationships with other people. She can’t be under my wing all the time – it would drive her crazy, and even she admits that.”

“Her sanity is not your concern. Her well-being is.”

“Aren’t you people only like two feet away from her at any given point in time? Plus you can track her within seconds to any spot on the planet. She doesn’t need me to protect her. You guys have it covered.”

The guard gave me a wary look, as if trying to decide something. Finally she said, “Some of what you surmise is correct, but much of it is completely inaccurate.”

“Such as?”

“To begin with, we are not ‘two feet away’ from the princess at all times. Truth be told, we seldom set foot on this planet. The surveillance we undertake – which is generally limited solely to the princess’ location – is done from space. The only other monitoring we do is of her vitals, which we do to get an indication of when she’s injured, in danger, or in distress.”

“Wait,” I muttered, frowning. “So you’re not always watching?”

“We perform random visual checks, but otherwise we remain distant. We don’t watch the princess to see who she’s with, listen to her conversations, or anything of that nature.”

“So,” I surmised, “you put actual eyes on the princess maybe every few days to make sure that she’s well and all your equipment is functioning properly, but otherwise you’re blind to what she says and does. What about me?”

The guard gave me a confused look. “I’m not sure I understand, Highness.”

“Do you watch me and track me as well, or monitor me to make sure I’m safe?”

“No. We have no such mandates with respect to your person. Our only orders in that regard are to make sure you have not abandoned your charge.”

“In other words, when you check up on the princess, you also scout around to make sure I’m close by.”

“Or that you are not beyond a reasonable proximity for an extended period.”

I crossed my arms. “I take it that’s what initiated this conversation. I’ve been too far from Myshtal for too long.”

“Even with your talents, it will be difficult to protect the princess if you’re nowhere around.”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “As I said before, Myshtal’s fine, but if anything happens to her, Queen Dornoccia is free to take it out of my hide.”

“Rest assured, she will,” the guard declared. “And she may not stop there.”

I gave the guard a concerned look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The princess is Queen Dornoccia’s great-great-granddaughter and her favorite. Should anything untoward happen to her, this world would find a battleship the size of a small moon parked on its doorstep in short order.”

I simply stared at her for a moment, almost certain that what she’d said was a joke – except the guard wasn’t laughing.

“Okay,” I finally droned after a few seconds, “this has been fun. Anything else I can do for you before you zip back up to your spaceship?”

“As a matter of fact, there is,” the guard replied.

“And I was being facetious,” I declared. However, getting nothing but an expectant look in return, I groaned in exasperation and said, “Okay, fine. What is it?”

“As I mentioned,” the guard began, “we can normally track the princess’ location, but there is a facility you frequent regularly that our technology can’t seem to penetrate.”

I had a sudden intuition as to what she was referring to, but merely said, “Go on.”

“Bearing in mind that this is for the safety of the princess, we have a device which, if placed inside the facility in question, will allow us to–” 

“Forget it,” I interjected, cutting her off. “No way am I bugging Alpha League Headquarters for you. Even if I was willing, you’d never get anything like that past Mouse.”

“Mouse?” she repeated.

“He’s the leader of the Alpha League, and the smartest man on the planet,” I explained, leaving off the fact that he was also my mentor. “He’ll find any kind of bug you plant before it even has time to send a signal.”

“I see,” the guard mumbled, appearing to reflect on what I’d said. “However, should you reconsider–” 

“I won’t,” I interjected forcefully.

The guard simply stared at me for a moment, then inclined her head again. “Thank you for your time, Highness.”

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