Reborn (The Cartographer Book 2) (12 page)

Corvus dove head first away from the cat. The guards, unfortunately didn't have time to react. The cat exploded in an eruption of white light. Corvus planted his face to the ground, tasting dry, desert soil as he attempted to shield his eyes. After a moment passed he stood up and brushed himself off. Claw was untouched; fortunately he sensed the danger surrounding the cat and stayed far enough away to avoid damage. The same thing couldn't be said for his guards. There was nothing left of them but smoldering shoes. As for the cat, there was no sign of it at all. The only thing left behind was a charred circle with bits of smoldering fur.

“Very interesting,” he muttered flatly. Despite its attempt to kill him, Corvus admired the technology. It made a useful assassination tool and he made a mental note to ask Sam about it when he returned.

The sound of his communicator snapped him from his trance. With a frown, he reached down and unclipped it from his belt. When he grabbed it, he noticed his tunic was singed around the edges, still smoldering. He batted at the flames mindlessly and lifted the communicator to his lips.

“What is it?” he barked.

“
Is everything okay
?” It was Sam. “
We were on our way to base and Calypso detected strange readings from the Richat Structure. Did something happen at the portal
?”

“Something came through,” Corvus replied.

“
Reinforcements
?” Sam asked.

“Not really.” Corvus let out a dry cough and dirt fell from his lips. He swatted at the last of the flames with a grimace. “It was a cat.”

“
A cat
?” Confusion marked Sam's voice. “
What the hell does that mean
?”

Corvus ignored the question. “Two of the Lumagom are dead. I'm afraid the enemy will be coming through the portal soon. Do you have the Cartographer?”

“
Yes
.”

“What about the Consortium?”

“
A Defense Fleet contingent is heading your way
,” Sam replied. “
The rest of the fleet is outside Earth's orbit, apparently waiting for word from the group in New York
.”

“Good,” Corvus sneered. “Let them wait. We will rendezvous on Xajax. Stop for nothing or no one, is that understood?”

“
Acknowledged
.”

Corvus severed the connection and clipped the communicator to his belt. Claw chuffed behind him.

“Don't worry, boy. You will get your chance to spill Consortium blood soon enough.”

A rifle lay near the charred ground where the cat once stood. Corvus reached down and picked it up. The weapon was intact with not so much as a scratch on its surface. Pointing the weapon toward the sky, he fired. The weapon functioned normally. With a smile, he admired the ingenuity of their weapon. The cat had to have been engineered by Sam's people. Whoever sent it must have stolen it or worse, commandeered Sam's lab. Corvus wondered if it was the Consortium or someone else who tried to assassinate him. He had many enemies in the future.

“Some people are just jealous of my intelligence and ambition,” he muttered to Claw and strapped the rifle to his back.

The wolf growled in response and padded off toward the ship.

Redemption

Days passed since Sam's visit but I had eventually lost track of time. The only person to enter my room had been a five foot tall turtle-looking creature who served me stale bread and warm water twice a day without a word. The first time he brought my tray I couldn't tear my eyes from his hands. Four fingers, thicker than plump sausages and scaly like a fish, adorned each hand. When he dropped the tray in front of me, I grimaced at the sight of him. For days, I thought of him as nothing more than a servant until one day he came in with a rifle strapped to his back. That day he licked his leathery lips and locked on me with his soulless black eyes. I recalled almost soiling myself in fear, assuming it was my time to die. My fear proved unfounded. He merely dropped another tray of bread and water at my feet and left.

I stared at the crusty bread and found myself longing for even a scrap of recycled Sustanant pizza. My eyes drifted from the bread toward the lone window in the room. It was circular, about three feet in diameter and allowed me to watch the planets and stars as they passed by slowly, like the days. Sometimes the ship would pass close enough to a planet for me to make out distinguishing features. Occasionally it would be a dead planet like Mars, others had land, clouds, water and even mountains that reached the sky. We passed planets that were red, green, blue and even purple. As time passed, I rarely glanced out the window and only with passing interest as my thoughts turned to my friends. Were they still alive? What had happened on Earth? Too many questions churned through my mind.

I choked down the bread between sips of tepid water. Once I swallowed all I could muster, I crawled into bed and fingered the bracelet fastened around my wrist.
How did you get yourself into this mess, Nathan?
I should have been playing Call of Duty or World of Warcraft like the other kids in my school. Maybe if I was a less of a nerd and more of an average teenager, I would have never been in that cave. I wouldn't be aboard this ship, prisoner to a misguided psychopath.

There was a knock at the door but it sounded a million miles away. Calypso walked in and I rolled my eyes. I had just about enough of his delusions, his plans and his company. My hands fell to my sides in frustration and that was when I felt something in my pocket. When my hand located the object my fingers wrapped around it. My heart leapt into my throat when I realized what it was—one of the stun grenades Wraith handed me back on Earth. I completely forgot about them. As I sat up in bed I locked eyes with him and gripped the weapon tightly.

“Have you had time to think about what I said?” he asked, but his eyes revealed it to be a rhetorical question. It seemed he knew my response before I even uttered it.

“I think you are a deluded lunatic,” I spat, my hand tightening around the grenade, gaining inner strength with each passing moment. From what Wraith told me all I had to do was toss the grenade toward my intended target and stand back. My only concern was whether the door was locked, but when I looked past him it was slightly ajar. There would never be a better opportunity. I had no real plan of escape, I just hoped the grenades bought me enough time to form one.

Calypso ran the back of his hand across his forehead. “I'm sorry you feel that way, Nathan. I was hoping—,”

He never had a chance to finish the sentence. I threw the grenade. Wraith warned me to look away when tossing grenades such as these. He said the bright light which explodes from the weapon causes a majority of the stun effect. Even though I heeded his advice, the intensity of the explosive light surprised me and I fell backward, crashing my head on the corner of the bed. I expected the explosion would bring the attention of my guard outside, but the bomb was strangely quiet. It detonated with a hiss rather than a bang. I listened intently for what seemed like an eternity for stomps of approaching guards, but no one came. Calypso's unconscious body lay crumpled across the doorway. I stepped carefully around him and grabbed another grenade.
This one is payback for the moldy bread and sewer water,
I thought as I looked for the guard.

I pulled the door open slowly because I couldn't take the chance that a squeaky hinge would alert someone. My fears proved unfounded when the door opened, revealing an empty hallway. I was momentarily stunned at my unusual timing of good luck. I slid along the wall like a shadow clutching the grenade, ready to toss it at a moment's notice. A sign ahead marked the way toward the docking bay. I hustled around the corner when I bumped into Sam. His look of surprise was brief before he grabbed his sidearm and pointed it at my face. My fingers held the grenade in an iron grip as we stared at each other like some sort of Wild West standoff.

“What the hell are you doing, Nathan?” Sam's face was flushed and a thin veil of sweat formed above his brow.

“I'm getting the hell out of here, Sam,” I muttered. “Come with me.”

Sam lowered the weapon. “I can't do that.”

“These are bad people, Sam,” I pleaded. “You need to help me get back to my friends.”

Sam frowned. “Your new
friends
are not who you think they are, Nathan. You need to return to your room.”

His words weighed heavily on my heart. At that point I knew Sam could not be swayed. He was always bullheaded but this was an unnatural stubbornness that unnerved me. I had no choice, if I wanted to escape, it would have to be through my old friend.

“I can't do that.” I drew my hand back, prepared to toss the grenade. Before I could throw it I felt something slam into the back of my head. My face smashed into the floor and the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. The grenade rolled uselessly toward Sam's feet. Someone grabbed my arm roughly and I blacked out.

I dreamt of a great stone building towering over me. I couldn't make it out completely because the sun rose behind it, blinding me in its glare. The shadow of the building engulfed me in its dark embrace. I shivered, despite the shroud of sweat on my face. A great forest surrounded me but seemed to close in, forcing me toward the building. The sun's glare fell behind the building as I made my way closer. Several stone steps ascended toward a large oak door. Two twenty-foot granite columns flanked the entrance. Above the door a single word was etched into the stone—
Archivist
. As I climbed the steps I was jolted by an earthquake. I grabbed the stair above me to steady myself and prevent a tumble off the stairs. I surveyed the area and noted that everything was calm. Not even the leaves stirred. I shook it off and climbed the remaining stairs. The tips of my fingers brushed the bronze door handle but before I could pull the door open another explosion rocked the world around me.
Wait a minute, earthquakes didn't explode
.

I was yanked from the dream by another explosion which rocked the ship, sending me crashing to the floor. The lights in the room flickered momentarily before going out. Several smaller lights switched on and I found myself bathed in the sapphire light of the emergency lights. Alarms began blaring.

Reeeeee
!
Reeeeee
! The alarm sounded like a robotic cicada.

I hoisted myself up on one knee before a warm wetness trickled down my forehead. Alarmed, I rubbed my palm across my face and held it in front of my face.
Sweat, not blood, thank God
. I certainly didn't need to be injured and locked in a room on a hostile ship while it blew up around me. I forced myself to stand up. The door was also bathed in the eerie blue light.

Reeeeee
!
Reeeeee
! I thought my eardrums were ready to burst. The alarm weaved its way through the base of my skull and I had a feeling if I didn't escape the room I would soon descend into madness. I pressed my face to the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever caused the explosion. A planet stood in the distance and I recognized it almost immediately—Xajax. We were close to reaching the Lumagom base. The source of the disturbance was not visible through the window, and I was afraid if I pressed my face against the glass any harder I would have went right through.

Several shouts followed by gunfire brought my attention from the window to the door. I looked around frantically, hoping to secure some sort of item that would serve as an adequate weapon. Outside of the metal tray with the yellowing piece of bread, there was nothing in sight. Loud thumps came from outside the door followed by another gunshot. I swept the crusty bread off the tray and wielded it like a samurai sword. Looking back I'm sure I looked quite absurd as I stood close to the door, ready to slam the tray down on the first person to walk through the door.
Death by platter
.

A muffled thump outside the door was the final sound before the ship slipped into complete silence. I stepped toward the door, readying the tray for a fatal blow. The blood rushing through my ears was the only sound. My heart pounded like a drum and I took another step closer to the door. Craning my neck toward the door I listened to the faint breathing coming from the other side. The hairs on my arms stood at attention and I gripped the tray tighter. Who was on the other side other side of the door? Was it even a “who”? Who knew what unspeakable creatures lay within the blackness of space, ready to pounce on unsuspecting vessels? My mind flew astray and I began to envision a cosmic kraken enveloping our ship with space tentacles.

A voice called out from the other side. It certainly didn't sound like a hideous creature from the bowels of the universe. It was a male voice, deep and commanding. “I can hear you breathing.”

I stepped back. “Oh yeah? I can hear you breathing too!” As soon as the words left my mouth I realized how pointless they were.

“Identify yourself,” he commanded.

I loosened my grip on the tray. “I am the commander of the Consortium Defense Fleet! Also, I am heavily armed so I wouldn't come in here!” I had no idea why I tried to bluff the person outside. The stupidity just flew from my mouth.