Survivor Planet III (12 page)

He moved back and stared into my eyes from his great height.
Shit
, he was almost as tall as Ayres, almost as solidly built. Close up, those scars on his face made him appear deadly.
Please, let him be on our side.

I cleared my throat and began. “I know what the delay is.”

He smiled tightly. “How could you possibly…”

“Baynar's dead,” I interrupted.

He jerked his head to one side as though I'd slapped him. “What? How is that possible, and how would you even know? And why do you sound strange? Your voice, it's different somehow.”

I took a deep breath and sent up a silent prayer that he'd believe me. And if he did, that he wouldn't kill me. “My name is Amanda. I know this is Lara's body, but I've taken possession of her mind. This isn't the first time.”

When he simply stared at me, I continued.

“Over the last little while I've been popping into her head, and with the help of some friends of mine, taking control of her body as well.”

His eyes narrowed, but he remained silent.

“You may know them. Ayres, and Lourde. Kenix has been helping us too.” Seeing he was about to jump in, I rushed on. “Lourde devised a way to hack into Lara's tracker and link us. I have one too. Ayres links onto my tracker and through me, he's able to take control of Lara's body—well, her arms and legs.” I clutched the blanket with one hand and held up the other in an attempt to stop him from cutting me off. “You've seen Lara fight, that first night in the city, when she had a nightmare. You rushed in to help her and she let you have it. You can thank Ayres for that.”

“You expect me to thank him? Or you? What the hell is going on?”

“You believe me then?” That was easier than I thought.

“No. Shit. Maybe. You're talking about people you can't possibly know. And knowing Lourde, this sounds like the kind of weird shit he'd try.” Now it was his turn to hold up a hand to stop me. “But what I want to know is why? Why go through all the trouble?”

“To kill Baynar.”

His eyes narrowed more but his expression didn't change, giving me hope that he wasn't so opposed to my revelation. “To what end? Revenge?”

“Yes, but not only revenge. You know Earth will never be safe while he lives. Unfortunately, it now appears that just the opposite is true.”

He shook his head. “This is unbelievable. Where is Lara now? Is she still in there?” He tapped the side of my—Lara's—head.

“Yes, she's here, I can hear her. She's fine. What I need to know is, will you help us?”

He stared at me with disgust. “Help you with what? You say Baynar's dead. You've achieved your goal. And seeing that Lara is still locked up in this cell, I assume you did it without implicated her in the deed—which no doubt was your plan?”

I felt Lara's cheeks heat up with my guilty blush. “I admit, we didn't quite plan it through.”

“I guess not. Not if you were willing to allow her to take the blame for it.”

Boy, he was pissed. I took that as a good sign. If he cared for Lara, perhaps he'd think twice about eradicating her planet? “I'm sorry, okay? If it means anything to you, I've grown quite attached to her myself. I've been questioning the outcome of our plan and what it would mean for her. But in the end, it turned out that I was the one who killed him. Not intentionally, but I'm responsible nonetheless. Lara is innocent.”

“When did this supposed assassination take place, and where?” He snapped back into soldier mode.

“Lourde invented a device—a personal transporter. It works by way of a coin, with two pieces that pop out. He used it to escape, but lost one of the coins in the process. Baynar happened to find and activate that coin while I was holding the other piece, bringing me right to him, aboard this ship, less than an hour ago. We fought, and just as he leaped at me, Lourde activated the other piece of the coin and brought me back. Baynar came with me. He'd managed to impale himself on his dagger and was dead when he arrived.”

“Arrived where?”

“Taleon.”

Cade ran a weary hand over his head. “Damn it. He was the only one preventing…”

“The extermination planned for Earth,” I finished for him. “So you know about the so-called games as well?”

“Yes, I know. How do
you
know about it?”

“Ayres and I played the game last year. We played against the couple that won—Oro and Lissa. Lissa was on Earth and Oro traveled there to warn her. While there, Oro recognized Kenix, who has been staying in the same town as Lissa.” I could see the doubt creep into his face. “It's a small town—a very small town. Graneden. I have a cottage there that Kenix has been staying at. Lissa said she felt she owed it to me to go there, considering how she and Oro cheated to win the game. Anyway, Oro told Kenix what was going down and Kenix and Lissa traveled to Teleon to warn us. Oro returned to Calixtus to see what else he could discover. As much as I despise Oro, I appreciate the fact he doesn't want any part of what they plan for Earth.”

I let him digest this information before I continued. “Anyway, now that Baynar's dead, we're afraid the members of his council in favor of this plan will take advantage of his disappearance and go ahead with their scheme.”

“So they don't know he's dead.”

“No. His body is on Taleon with us. Right now Lourde is hacking into Earth's satellites and we're preparing to go live over the airways with a warning. Then we're equipped to travel there and help them get ready for whatever Calixus plans to throw at us. We've taken possession of some Akkadian ships and will fly them to Earth. We only have three pilots and we're hoping you'll agree to be a fourth.” So there. I'd revealed everything. If I'd thrown the lot of us under the bus, so be it.

“No.”

“What do you mean no? Are you on their side? Do you want to see humans destroyed all in the name of entertainment?” I tried to calm down, fearful Ayres would link in to protect me.

There wasn't time for that to happen. In the next instant Lara's voice grew stronger and stronger as my control over her became weaker and weaker.

And then I was surrounded in blackness.

“Is he with us, or against us?” Ayres asked as I sat up and sipped at the canteen of water he passed to me.

I shook my head. “I don't know. I got through to him though, and made him believe I wasn't Lara. He listened to me, and showed no sign he was opposed to Baynar's death, or that he sided with those bastard councilors.”

“Will he come to Taleon and man one of the ships?” Lourde asked.

“I asked him to help us. I believe he's on our side, but he told me
no
.”

Ayres stood back while Lourde moved the instruments away from me and helped me to stand. I shook out my arms and legs, still feeling jittery from being in Lara's head.

“No? Did he give an explanation?” Ayres demanded.

“I didn't get a chance to ask him, or to give him our location,” I said accusingly.

“You were freaking out,” Ayres gestured toward the monitors.

“I needed more time,” I said.

Lourde drew our attention to the equipment on the table. “Hopefully it will be enough and he'll come around. Right now, we're ready for your transmission. We need to get started as soon as possible, before they detect the signal and trace it back to us.”

He didn't have to tell me who ‘they' were. I sighed loudly. “All right. Let's go.”

Lourde fiddled with his hand-held monitor and pointed it at us. I saw that he'd rigged it up to the other equipment. “This will act as a Seer. They'll not only hear you, but they'll have a visual as well.”

But would it be enough? Enough to make the entire world realize they'd soon be under attack from alien forces? I supposed if seeing us on television weren't enough, they'd soon see us in person, spaceships and all. That should convince them, if they didn't panic and shoot us out of the sky first.

There was some static on the screen but then I saw Ayres and I in the viewer. We were live. I tried to remember the alerts I'd seen on the Emergency Broadcast System back at Lindove. All the residents would jump around like scared monkeys while the staff tried to hear the announcement. Good times.

“Please excuse this interruption,” I began.

“This transmission is not originated from Planet Earth. We have taken control of your airwaves to alert your planet of an imminent attack,” Ayres said bluntly.

“Please take this seriously,” I begged. “This is not a joke. The human race is at risk.”

“Myself and others of a similar mind are prepared to aid you at this time. Expect our arrival shortly after this transmission,” he continued.

More static appeared on the monitor and suddenly the screen went black. “What happened?” I asked.

“We've been cut-off,” Lourde informed us.

“Damn it. Did they see any of it?”

He shook the monitor and tried to regain the signal. “I think so. I hope so.”

“You're not sure?” I demanded.

Lourde stared at me warily. “The only thing I am sure of is that ‘they' saw it, and are no doubt on their way here to silence us.”

“How long do we have?” Ayres asked.

“Not long if they come right from the ship,” Lourde informed him.

Ayres grabbed hold of my hand. “We need to leave. Now.”

“Where are Kenix and the bags?” I didn't give two shits where Lissa was.

“On board already.” He began pulling me from the room and as we entered the snaking tunnels we began to jog. A crazy idea popped into my head while we rushed for the exit. Most of the corrupt council now sat aboard the Lariton. If we could end them, their plans would fall apart before they even began. But the only way onto that ship would be a suicidal attempt to dock an Akkadian craft in their landing bay. We'd be shot down from the sky, no doubt. No. The only thing to do was to get to Earth like we planned.

Outside I scanned the area for any sign of Cade. It was futile though. I hadn't had time to even relay to him our whereabouts. Taleon was huge; he'd never find us in time.

“Kenix is aboard that one,” Ayres pointed at the closest ship. “We've divided the arms and equipment equally between his ship and mine.” He pointed to the ship next to Kenix's. “If you want to take one of the other ships, be my guest.”

Lourde nodded once. I could tell by the strain in his face that he wasn't thrilled with the prospect of manning his own craft. He was more than capable, but I knew he preferred to leave the flying to others.

Kenix jumped down from the hatch of his ship. “How'd it go? Is Cade coming?”

Ayres shook his head. “No. Amanda's pretty certain he's with us, but there wasn't enough time to relay our location.”

He didn't mention the fact that Cade had told me no.

“Did you warn Earth?” Kenix asked.

“We tried,” I said.

“They shut us down almost immediately,” Lourde informed him. “I can't verify if the transmission even went through.”

Kenix shook his head but didn't appear surprised.

“In-coming!” Lourde suddenly shouted. Overhead, closing in fast, was the bright glowing lights of at least half a dozen fighter ships.

“Let's go.” Ayres, still gripping my hand, began to lead me toward the ship he'd commandeered. He looked back over his shoulder at Lourde. “You'd best go with Kenix.” He didn't have to mention the fact we were probably in for a fight.

Lourde nodded and rushed over to board Kenix's craft. Ayres and I climbed aboard the ship and strapped ourselves in. Soon we were lifting off and zooming through the sky.

My eyes were glued to the monitor, which showed the attacking fighters had split into two groups to come after our two ships. Kenix flew off in the direction opposite of us. It didn't take long for the Roamyn ships to get close enough to begin firing. Ayres dipped the craft from side to side, dropped low, and whisked up high, making my belly roll, all in an effort to keep us from getting hit. Despite his experience at flight, the fact that he manned an enemy vessel, one he wasn't too familiar with, didn't aid our cause.

“Can you lose them?” I asked, my hands gripping the armrests tightly as he dropped low again.

He dropped lower and slowed down suddenly, maneuvering us up behind one of the Roamyn fighters, letting him have it with a blast from the lasers. He eased the ship off to the right as the enemy exploded. “Two to go,” he said grimly.

After a rapid exchange of fire, the second Roamyn ship finally burst into flames, which were quickly extinguished from lack of oxygen. We were in full-on outer space now. The only light came from the front of the spaceships and the multitude of stars shining around us.

Despite the tense situation, I marveled over the advanced technology of both the Roamyns and Akkadians. Earth still had a long way to go before they caught up. Unfortunately, that left them vulnerable to attack and exploitation. Roamyns wanted Earth for themselves, the way it was in the beginning. A place where they could bully, manipulate, awe, and sway the humans they allowed to live, though be it in fear and subjugation. What games they had planned I could only imagine; swamping us with giant, alien beasts that would force us from our homes back into caves, cowering in fright? I doubted they'd subject humans to anything such as catastrophic floods, storms, or fires—which Lourde had informed me they were more than capable of engineering. No, they needed Earth to remain intact. Nor would they ravage us with pestilence or plague. Ayres assured me Roamyns were superior in matters of healthcare, but even they didn't want to be met with hordes of rotting diseased corpses when they took over. They would probably send their fiercest warriors down along with a magnitude of Seers to capture the hunt, and extermination. Gazing at the giant warrior beside me, I knew we were lucky to have him on our side. With Ayres' and Kenix's skills, and Lourde's expertise, Earth stood a fighting chance. As long as we made it there alive.