Fifteen attendants lined up on the platform.
Each would have been honored in such a way on their home world, but here they were mere servants to the new queen.
Pink light sliced the smooth hull of the ship and the ramp descended with a faint hum only the closest attendants could hear.
Later, the daughter of Omolsion’s executive would testify she thought she heard the sudden silence where a scream had been. No one knew what she meant, but all believed she meant it.
The new queen, a child with glistening cheeks, stumbled down the ramp and into destiny.