Favors Returned...

Hey Everyone!! :-)

Here's a little bit more of the third installment in the Petri Dish Chronicles! As always, the disclaimer is that this is a draft and, as such, it's unedited and likely full of errors and is subject to revision, revamping, and being completely scrapped and rewritten. But, with that in mind, I'm reasonably satisfied with the basics of it, at least at the moment, or I wouldn't have bothered posting it. Enjoy! :-)

Excerpt from the third Petri Dish book:
Rolling her eyes, Petri said, “I know you have a low opinion of me, but at least credit me with enough sense to realize my safety, and Chessie's and Sadaka's, depends on anonymity that won’t be maintained if an entire planet is attacked by the Arcanum. I have no intention of leaving this for you to deal with. The Arcanum want to talk to me, and they’re willing to hurt others to compel my attendance. So, I’ll go. Even if only to keep others from finding out what I am.”

Daji’s lip curled. “Enlightened self-interest, as always. What about Chessie.”

Petri shrugged. “It's up to Chessie if she wants to come with us, or not." She turned to her friend. "I'll try to protect you as much as I'm able, but I don’t know everything they're capable of. I don't know if I can keep you safe."

Chessie put an arm around Petri. “You're not going anywhere without me, hun. Friends forever, right?"

Petri smiled and gently bumped her head into Chessie’s shoulder. “Friends, forever and always."

Chessie turned to Daji with a scowl. “You do realize she only pretends not to care about others because she knows you believe it and it annoys you that anyone could think that way. You could try giving her some credit.”

Daji scowled back. “I will give credit when it is earned.”

Chessie opened her mouth to respond, but Petri put a hand on her arm. “Let him think what he wants. It doesn’t matter.” Turning to Daji she asked, “How did you get here? I saw what a mess your mind was; how did you get to this planet? How did you figure out where we lived? And how did you get past Mzee?”

“They left me enough of my mind to solve small problems. I came on the Ruba, so getting to this planet was no problem. Chessie gave me the alias she would be living under, so it was no trouble using it to locate your address. And, no matter how incapacitated, I’m still Shujaa. Getting past an aging, Madudu doorman wasn’t difficult.”

“You didn’t hurt him, did you? Mzee is a good…”

Daji hissed at her. “Of course I didn’t harm the good elder! What kind of a monster do you take me for?”

Petri shrugged. “Just returning the favor.”