Scarier Monsters

Chapter One

When the cryo-technicians strapped me into my sleeping pod back on Aquila Major they mentioned in thick accents that animals couldn't sleep during transport. With their black probing eyes on my slender figure they said no matter how strong the cryo-anesthesia was they just wouldn't shut down. Most of the time any animal transports had to be sedated in their pods.

I had raised an eyebrow at this – did my appearance somehow categorize me as animal? They had snickered and said it was only my eyes. Said the primitive side never slept and I was facing a long journey.

Now, three days into the excursion, I scoffed under the red glow of the light above me. I guess it was true—I was wide awake and bored out of my mind.

Traveling cryo was foreign to me. I preferred to stay awake in case anything went wrong and usually it hadn't been a problem on short voyages. This was a longer hike however, and it looked like I didn't have anything to worry about since I wouldn't have been able to sleep if I tried. This was perfect knowing my luck; while everyone else seemed comfortably dowsed in slumber I was awake to the point of frustration. You'd think they'd have backups for this kind of thing. Or at least a magazine.

I looked at my reflection in the glass door of the pod which glowed in contrast to the darkness of the section beyond. Unblinking bright yellow eyes stared back at me. Under stress they always seemed to glow more than normal and reminded me of a cat's in the night.

It was something that all reapers shared.

A curtain of shoulder-length auburn hair framed my pallid face, light as silk. I lifted a lip at my complexion. I almost looked dead. I needed to feed.

Reapers were a secretive species that needed fresh energy every few days to support the delicate balance within their bodies. Operating half in the physical realm and half in the energetic spirit one, we needed constant sources to keep us firmly planted in both worlds. Humanoids happened to work well for us, a perfect cocktail of energy and feeding was akin to being intoxicated or high.

What I wouldn't give for a good suck on someone's aura right about now. Snorting at my boredom I looked past my reflection and out into the chamber beyond.

Thirty-two passengers were on board the Hunter-Gratzner, a cargo ship destined for New Mecca. When I first learned my trip was to be taken in the ass of a shit carrier I was tempted to try another way home, but the rest of the ships available were full of mercs and I didn't run with scum. My only other option was an actual passenger cruiser but I sure as hell wasn't stepping foot on one of those. The cost of the seat alone could almost pay for my own land-glider but that was beside the point– the thought of rubbing noses with the wealthy and elite made me gag.

More like a metal tube than a starship, the carrier boasted eight sections. Six were stocked full of cargo but I didn't know what the goods were. Passengers didn't need to know. Probably precious metals or pretty lingerie or some crap they could sell for way more than what they paid. The seat was cheap and came with no questions asked and that was fine with me.

The other two sections were stocked full of passengers.

The section I was in was at the back of the ship and the smallest. Sixteen cryo-tubes were stationed side by side, each with a single occupant, but I could see only twelve. I had memorized most of their faces already.

A dark-skinned holy man was just in view to my left. A delicate pair of spectacles teetered on the edge of his nose above a bristly black beard and he held a strong countenance even in slumber. Wrapped in a white cotton robe and black turban, he was the very picture of piety. His scent was musky incense and his three boys smelled similar. I wondered at the contrasts of our lives. What were their gods like? Did they fear them? Were they merciful? We reapers adhered to no god, choosing to rely only on the energies within ourselves to show us our paths.