Lives Of The Unknown Book 1: The Legend of Andrew Lockeford Read Online Free Page B

shaped like a sideways teardrop rather than a rhombus. The safe
end of the blade—the rounded curve of the “teardrop”—was made of a
different material than the steel of the sharp end. The handle and
the hilt were very familiar to Andrew, however, since they looked
the same as most other handles and hilts on Earth swords. The steel
on the sword had rusted from old age, but not so much that it would
lose its sharpness. There was another feature to this sword, one
that was activated by a button on the handle, but Juvir had
deactivated it.
    “By the way,” Andrew continued, “you mentioned
scientists, right? Whom are you talking about?”
    “Two scientists watched your escape pod land and
they decided to take you in for analysis. We debated whether we
would even keep you here, considering you’re one of the forbidden
species.”
    “What? How am I forbidden?”
    “Your planet, Earth, is still young and full of
natural life, and we were worried that if any of us from the AOIB
had gone over there, we would corrupt the natural development of
your species. Planets ought to develop at their own pace.”
    “I don’t know what this planet looks like, or what
anything looks like outside of this room. In fact, maybe you should
just tell me everything about this place so I can get up-to-date.”
Andrew said this as though he was trying to command Juvir, though
he sounded weak.
    “Well, alright then. I’ll start with myself. I am
Juvir, Vice-President of the Alliance of Interstellar Beings, and
this planet you are currently on is named Ku-an Doel. The president
of this alliance is out momentarily, but he should be back in a
couple of days.”
    Man, Juvir really got the hang of Earth time, Andrew
thought. By the way, as far as Juvir looked, he was nearly eight
feet tall, with his legs making up about three-fifths of his
overall height. His head had no neck beneath it, making it appear
as though his head was directly attached to his torso. His eyes and
lips were wide and thin, and he just had holes for ears and a nose.
His hands looked similar to a human’s, but his feet looked just
like his hands; each of his four “hands” had seven fingers rather
than five. Finally, he had no hair at all and his skin looked like
crimson leather.
    “I myself,” Juvir continued, “am part of a species
called the miweri, but you should note that miweri are not native
to this planet. You’ll see many intelligent species spending their
time here on this planet. Ku-an Doel is one of hundreds of millions
of planets that supports intelligent life, and one of trillions
that supports life at all. It’s a big universe, you know. The AOIB
represents three hundred planets and therefore about three hundred
intelligent species. And, well, on about all of the planets that
intelligent life is found on, there is more civilization and urban
area than natural wildlife. Ku-an Doel is under strict law to keep
the amount of wildlife areas to no less than ten percent of the
planet’s surface composition. That includes deserts and oceans, as
well.”
    Andrew was absolutely shocked by the “less than ten
percent” part. If the facts were true, then this planet would just
be one big city. He rashly asked Juvir to see the outside, maybe
from a high place.
    “We’ll use the teleporters. I’ll show you where
you’ll stand at.” Juvir opened the doors for Andrew and the two of
them stepped onto a pad. The coordinates were set, Juvir pressed a
button, the area around them flashed with light for two seconds,
and they then found themselves on top of a skyscraper. There were
two teleportation caches on top of the skyscraper, and the roof was
made of a porous metal. Andrew threw up from such a quick change in
altitude. He looked towards the horizon, leaving his bottom jaw
hanging down with some stomach acid still dripping from his mouth.
The acid had suddenly disintegrated after touching the metal, but
Andrew didn’t notice that. As far as he could see, there