B is for Blennophobia

It's time to celebrate the beautiful letter B!  Today I have a piece of flash fiction for you.

Today's word: BLENNOPHOBIA

Blennophobia is defined as the irrational fear of slime.

I hope you enjoy it!

Blennophobia

“Why would they choose an ambassador who has blennophobia?”  Yaxy looked incredulous in the way that only Yaxy’s people could.  Having three eyes meant having three eyebrows, and they all arched in unison.

Henry Archibald Armitage understood where she was coming from in her incredulity.  He also knew that Yaxy would strangle him if he ever accidentally divulged that he didn’t feel entirely comfortable with the way that triad of eyes zeroed in on him.

“Desperation, I think.” 

The last ambassador had all the qualifications anyone could ask for.  Linguistics training, negotiations experience, an unlimited amount of patience, and charm.  Everything should have been fine.

What they didn’t anticipate was what his lack of physical grace could trigger.  The stumble that wouldn’t have been hazardous at any other time occurred as they were walking past the fusion   reactor on the standard tour of the ship they’d conducted a thousand times before.  The Vinturian ambassador was vaporized, and the resulting war was brutal.

Henry wasn’t thrilled that he only had the job because every other ambassador from Earth had been killed in the war.  He was the best they had, but only because they had no one else.

Yaxy shrugged and set off down the corridor, her emerald robes swirling around her four trunk-like legs.

Henry’s stomach turned when he saw the new Vinturian ambassador making its way toward him.  The squelching sound and the trail of green slime trailing behind it triggered an intense wave of nausea.  He did his best to hold the tidal wave of vomit down.

As the Vinturian ambassador drew nearer, it became too much.  However, vomiting didn’t seem to be a powerful enough reaction to his discomfort, which was probably for the best.  Puking on the ambassador may have triggered another war.

Instead, Henry passed out.