Alien Blues

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by Lynn Hightower


  David squinted at the television. The Elaki were tall, he could not see over their heads.

  “David?”

  String slid close, the Elaki doctor in tow.

  “What’s going on?” David said.

  “Toilet paper,” String said.

  “At the Houston Stock Exchange,” the doctor added. “Close it down one hour before time. A ton of toilet paper, dropping from the skies. Everything clogged.”

  “From ceiling,” String said.

  “Angel Eyes again?” David said. “The Guardians?”

  “You need to ask?” Mel’s voice was loud beside him.

  “Is she not wonderful?” the Elaki doctor said.

  “Childish,” String said.

  The Elaki doctor stiffened and twisted sideways, her eye stalks slanted at String. “I forget. You Izicho.”

  String said something in staccato syllables that David could not understand. It was rare for an Elaki to speak Home-tongue in front of a human, and it was only the second time David had heard it.

  The Elaki doctor answered in kind, her voice a whistling hiss. David watched them grimly. So much for the heart-to-heart he wanted to have with the doctor.

  He realized that the ER had gone suddenly quiet. He looked up and found them watching, looking from him to the television. He moved toward the screen.

  He could not make out what the reporter was saying, but the image onscreen was clear. He saw himself emerging from the dark Elaki house, Dahmi in his arms.

  He wondered if Rose was watching. He hoped she wouldn’t notice the shirt.

  Buy Alien Eyes Now!

  About the Author

  Lynn Hightower grew up in the South and graduated from the University of Kentucky, where she studied creative writing with Wendell Berry and earned a journalism degree. She is the author of ten novels, including two mystery series, one featuring homicide detective Sonora Blair and the other featuring private investigator Lena Padgett. Flashpoint, the first Sonora Blair mystery, was a New York Times Notable Book. Satan’s Lambs, the first Lena Padget mystery, won the Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel. Hightower has also written the Elaki series of futuristic police procedurals, which begins with Alien Blues.

  Hightower’s novels, which have been translated into seven foreign languages, have appeared on the Times (London) bestseller list and have been nominated for the Kentucky Literary Award, the Kentucky Librarians First Choice Award, and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She teaches at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, where she was named Creative Writing Instructor of the Year in 2012. The author lives with her husband in Kentucky.

  All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 1992 by Lynn Hightower

  Cover design by Michel Vrana

  ISBN: 978-1-5040-2125-8

  This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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