Read Jason King: Agent to the Stars 1: The Enclaves of Sylox for Free Online Page B

told it’ll be all of us packed into a two bedroom apartment. Miranda’s getting a small studio of her own.”
    “I wish they’d just let us stay there,” Heather Wilson said from the backseat, speaking for the first time.
    “We’ve been over this before, Heather,” Jennifer said impatiently. “There’s no room for long-termers.”
    “But then we’ll have to be bused to school.”
    It was now my turn to offer some insight. After all, it was all part of the service – just like hitting on the hot cousin. “You’ll be going to either the Embassy school or out to one of the Enclave schools, depending on where we find you a home.”
    Jennifer looked at me. “So you don’t have to live in the Enclaves to go to a community school?”
    “They frown on it, but legally you can’t be turned away. It’s all part of the CC&R’s – excuse me: the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions.”
    “We’ve owned homes before, Jason. I know what CC&R’s are.”
    So, it’s already come down to this?
    As a way of feeling more in-control of her rapidly shattering reality, Jennifer Wilson was going to exert her so-called knowledge and expertise over me . Yes, she may have bought and sold a few homes in her lifetime, but I’ve done hundreds. So no matter how much she believed there was an equivalency in our respective experience, she was sorely mistaken. I tried hard not to smile, something that would have definitely made our working together that much more difficult.
    “I apologize; of course you have.” I feigned my most sincere smile. “I didn’t mean to talk down to you.”
    “I’m sure you didn’t,” she said, accepting my apology – kind of – while also confirming that she felt I had.
    Just then I caught sight of Miranda Moore again in the mirror. Her eyes were laughing, not at me but at her cousin. I sent her a wink. And then much to my surprise – and relief – she winked back.

 

    Chapter 6

    Alien homes come in a variety of shapes, sizes and designs, ranging from the covered-over pits Jonk Limbor built, to nests made of flexible reeds and branches grown specifically for these structures. Finding properties compatible to Humans did limit my search, but not by much here in the galactic capital.
    Most creatures advanced enough to have developed the technological and societal requirements necessary to be invited into the Union were mammals of basically the same design, the so-called Primes of the galaxy. These were generally two-legged, two armed beings having hands with opposable thumbs. In fact, it was the similarity of the hands that were the most-common feature among advanced species. It took a certain level of dexterity to create and operate complicated machinery and other devices. This also served to standardize most operating controls found throughout the Union.
    Humans were not the most-adept at operating the trappings of modern interstellar technology, but we certainly didn’t have any problem with them either. During my time out in the galaxy, I’d run into a lot of different alien species, and I would have to place Humans within the top ten percent as the most-coordinated, quickest-thinking and even the strongest of all the races.
    In fact, it seemed that the more advanced the species, the weaker and less-coordinated they appeared to be. This relative disadvantage may be why these particular races needed to invent such advanced mechanical, electronic and other artificial devices in the first place, just so they could do what came naturally to most Humans. At least that was the King Theory of Advanced Alien Design .
    Look it up. It’s on the internet.
    The first home we stopped at was located about six miles from the Embassy, and was a three-level stacked-box structure. The neighborhood couldn’t be classified as the most desirable on this side of the city, but it also wasn’t the worst. In fact, it reminded me of some of the Burroughs of New York City, only safer.
    I used my standard