The Alien's Secret Volume 3. Robert M. Doroghazi

around. He just kept his eyes closed, tried to think about anything he could, and toughed it out. As Hoken’s brother Yarney liked to say: “He was hanging in there like a hair on a biscuit.”

      After what seemed like an hour but was barely a minute, the feeling passed. Hoken got up, grabbed the room key from the dressing table and stepped out into the hallway. He made sure to lock the door and went to the end of the hallway to use the bathroom.

      As Hoken was washing his hands he looked into the mirror. Staring back at him was #1, with that pursed-lip smirk firmly in place. Hoken looked his new self in the eye and said in a low voice, “By the Great Rankin, I am ugly.”

      But as ugly as he was, worse than if he’d been beaten by an ugly stick—pure butt-ugly—Hoken felt a surge of confidence. Although his spacecraft self-destructed and the re-entry suit vaporized, he was safely on Earth and the possession of the human’s body went perfectly. All of the intelligence data was completely accurate and dependable and with the communicator in his neck he would continue to receive all intelligence updates. The secret of his alien identity was uncompromised even after his scrape with Sergeant Wiggans and the fight with the punks in the alley. Even though he hadn’t made up any time on the trip to Earth, Hoken knew he would kill Rennedee tomorrow, just after noon, at the appointed time and place. The nightmare of the revolution would be over and Oria would be safe. The people on Earth would never know the disaster that Hoken had spared them.