Wrath of the Void Strider (29 page)

Taryn squeezed Fogg’s hand.  With a sympathetic smile, she said, “Welcome to the club.”

Cajun regarded the AI.  “If anyone would know how to separate you from this form, it’s Father Stone.”

 “Speaking of which,” D’Arro urged, “we need to find him.”  He retrieved and checked his map.  After committing the path to memory, he took note of his surroundings.  He momentarily glanced at Fogg.  “Sorry that happened to you.”

Fogg stared at his hands, turning them this way and that, clenching and unclenching his fists.  “Your sympathy is valued.”

D’Arro led his team into the heart of the ruined megastructure.  Emergency lights cast a red glow over battered doors, broken glass and piles of bones.  In time, they reached a vast, polished dome-shaped building erected deep within the ruins.  The pathway the landing team had been following ended at a set of massive doors, curved to match the shape of the embedded structure.  As they stepped close, the doorway chimed and parted to reveal a miniature city of bubbling tanks and quicksilver vats.  Appearing exactly as he had in his file photo, the eternally youthful Benjamin Stone regarded them with a relieved smile.

“You did it,” he said.  “Soon, my people will reboot on their own, and things will return to normal around here.  While the immediacy of your heroism is largely self-serving, it doesn’t diminish my gratitude in the slightest.”  His expression hardened as his eyes befell Fogg.  “That’s unfortunate.  You merged with the hostile intellect?”

Fogg answered, “I did not do so voluntarily.”

“I will see what can be done to separate you from this host and restore you to your collective state.”  He looked to the rest of the landing team.  “But that will take time, and there are more pressing matters at hand.  If your captain’s initial time assessment was accurate, we have 58 minutes left to repair your starship.”

He followed the landing team as they hurried back along the halls.  Soon, they emerged from the ruined interior.  D’Arro dashed to the landing platform, struck the base of his signal flare against the grating, set it down and stepped back.  The canister erupted with plumes of bright orange smoke.

Within moments, the shuttle glided into view and touched down.  They raced up the boarding ramp, and D’Arro tapped the button to seal the shuttle.  However, the vessel didn’t take to the air.  Instead, Zerki called them to the bridge.

“What’s going on?” D’Arro asked as he crossed through the bulkhead.  “Why aren’t we flying?”

Zerki sat sunken in her chair, her hands pressed together at the fingertips.  “That battle station we saw outside Ixion Prime…  It found us,” she whispered.  “Their soldiers boarded the
Shadow
and took Gavin and Valerie.  Collins and Krane are down, maybe dead, and everyone else has been rounded up and moved into the forward hold.”

After a moment of stunned silence, Taryn managed, “What?”

Takeo’s shoulders sagged, and he slid down along the wall at his back.

Chapter 19

Valerie came slowly out of unconsciousness. 
I’m naked
, she thought. 
What happened
?  Her vision was fuzzy, her joints ached, and she felt groggy.  With some effort, she managed to sit up and hunch over folded knees.  To her right, she heard Gavin sputter and gasp awake.  She stole a glance and saw that he too had been stripped of his clothes.  She studied his strong, lean measure, tracing his bare chest with her eyes, down to his well-defined abs.  Her gaze lingered awhile.

“I can’t see,” he hissed, sitting bolt upright.

She cleared her throat and looked away.

“Valerie, is that you?”

She nodded, fighting back a sudden wave of nausea.  “It’s me.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.”  Her heart pounded as she looked around.  A ceiling, a floor and three black, polished steel walls enclosed them, as well as a fourth wall composed of wavering energy.  Beneath them both were concave beds bound by flared sides.  Something that resembled a head brace served as their pillows, and along where their backs had been resting, bright yellow tissue sacs whirred and pumped within a series of recesses.

Shuddering, she got immediately to her feet and urged, “Gavin, get up!”  With growing panic, she probed her back for anything out of the ordinary.

Gavin stumbled up to stand.

“Is there anything on my back?  Did they do anything to me?”

He stepped close.  “I can hardly see.”

“Just feel around a little.”

Carefully, his hands traveled her back.

“Anything?”

“Not that I can feel,” he reported.

Relieved, Valerie exhaled and felt her body relaxing.  “Thanks for checking.”

“Any time.”  His vision started to clear, and for a moment, he simply enjoyed how close he was to her.  He breathed in, savoring the spicy, earthy smell of her.  He gazed up along her bare stomach to her crossed arms as they covered her full, illustrated breasts.  He lingered awhile before realizing she was staring right at him.  Clearing his throat, he tore free his gaze.  “What is this place?”

“I’m not sure.  I don’t even remember how we got here.”  She spotted undergarments and a pair of gowns nearby, made from reflective ebon fabric.  Crouching low, she scooped them up.  After passing a pair of undershorts and a gown to Gavin, she slipped carefully into her own garments.  Her new clothing fit well enough, though she took a moment to tug and straighten it.  As Gavin donned his dark attire, she said, “Captain called Stone from the bridge, and… nothing else. The next thing I remember is waking up here, with you.”

“I don’t remember anything else between then and now, either.”

Valerie crossed her arms.  “Where
are
we?”

A sloped pane of blue glass had been mounted to a nearby wall.  Beneath it and offset slightly, a large, opaque yellow membrane had been embedded near the base of the wall, next to a glowing yellow touch plate.  Cautiously, she approached and tapped the blue pane.  Her hand was briefly engulfed in a tiny cloud that smelled strongly of rubbing alcohol, and she jerked it back.

“Maybe we shouldn’t touch anything,” Gavin cautioned.

Crouching before the yellow membrane, Valerie reached out for its touch plate.  She hadn’t quite made contact when the membrane stirred.  Before she could retreat, a golden blob of molten plastic flowed forth directly under her.  It instantly cooled, forming something resembling a lacrosse stick.  She stumbled back and away, and the membranous blob returned to its original state.  “Good idea,” she muttered.  “I’m not touching anything else.”

She studied the wall of wavering force and peered into the shadowy chamber beyond.  The room was circular, with a single steel door, and it was connected to seven other holding cells.  At its center, a large conical post stood, crowned by a slowly rotating metal ring.  A mechanical arm extended from its base and supported a small bench made of black steel.  Periodically, holographic characters appeared in the air between the bench and the post.

Gavin stepped close.  “We must be in some kind of brig.”  He probed the force wall.  “Rock hard.”  With an appreciative smile, he said, “That’s cool.  It’s an actual force field.”

“Yeah, really cool, Gavin,” she chided him, and she regarded him wryly.

“Well, it is!”  He poked the field again.  “Of course, it sucks that we’re stuck in here.”

Valerie pursed her lips.  “I can’t hear any thoughts but yours, but I know there are other people nearby.”  She shivered.  “It’s that strange hollow feeling again.”  Cupping her hands around her mouth, she called out, “Hello?  Is anyone there?”

“What are you doing?” Gavin hissed.

She glared.  “I want out of here!”

A tiny bolt of lightning snaked through the air, and an individual appeared within the central chamber, clad in lustrous black armor.  He was tall and slim, with human proportions and facial structure.  His face was handsome, light beige in color and outlined with orange and yellow spots.  His eyes were ruby red, and he had no visible body hair.  From the back of his skull, four long, ridged horns jutted straight back. 

Gavin and Valerie watched as he approached.  With an excited tone, he uttered a string of unintelligible phrases.

Valerie leaned toward Gavin and whispered, “It sounds like German.”

He nodded.  “It kind of does.”

“I’m sorry,” she said to their armored warden, “but we don’t understand what you’re saying.”

With a nod, their warden smacked his own cheek and looked toward the ceiling.  He raised the flat of his hands, gesturing for them to wait a moment.  He took a seat at the bench and rapidly spun the metal ring.  It stopped, and a bright blue holographic character appeared.  He tapped it, whereupon it turned orange, and the force wall dissolved.  With a touch of the conical post, a sloped drawer slid open, and he retrieved two miniscule ball bearings.

Gavin and Valerie watched apprehensively as he entered their cell.  Gesturing reassuringly, he cautiously reached for Valerie with one of the ball bearings held between his thumb and index finger.  She shied away, but he lunged and touched it against the side of her head.

“Hey, watch it!” she snapped as he retreated and gripped the other device.

“What is that?” Gavin asked, and he hurried close to study the ball bearing.

Valerie reached up to dislodge it, but it wouldn’t budge.  “I don’t know.”  Suddenly, it burned like an ember, and she yowled in pain.  Desperately, they tried to pull it off, but it dove suddenly beneath her skin.  The pain was gone. Furiously, she marched on the guard and demanded, “What the hell did you do to me!”

“Please, relax,” he replied, though the sounds didn’t match the movements of his mouth.  “These are translation spirits.  Whatever voices you hear, the spirits will whisper them into your mind as something you can understand.”

Valerie stood rigidly.  “I want it out of me.”

“I’m sorry, but translation spirits seldom abandon their wards.”

Gavin startled as the armored man reached out and placed the other orb against Gavin’s temple.  After an intensely painful moment, his own device had vanished beneath his skin.

“Perhaps if you offer it enough prayers, the spirit may be swayed to leave you, but you would no longer be able to understand us.”

“Who are you?” Valerie asked.

“I am Thirili’on, Relations Officer, 3
^rd
Class, of the Hallowed Ithiral Dominion.”

Gavin stood back.  “You can speak English?”

“Not a word.  You’ve both been chosen by a translation spirit.”  He grinned.  “It is a great honor!  I’m speaking Ithiral, but you’re both hearing English.  Very soon, we will teach you to speak Ithiral, but it’s best if we start your initiation with at least some basic ability to communicate.”

“That’s so cool,” whispered Gavin.  He touched the side of his head, and several singed strands of hair drifted to the ground.  After a moment of probing, he found a pebble-sized welt of scar tissue.  “If we’re both being initiated, why imprison us?”

“Imprison you?”  Thirili’on looked puzzled as he glanced at the deactivated force wall.  “You are free.  However, I would ask that you both remain in your quarters until Grand Ecclesiarch Ithiri’on arrives.  He wishes to meet you before assigning you an advocate.”  Regarding Gavin and Valerie with undisguised awe, he added, “For millennia we’ve been looking for you.”

“What about our friends?” demanded Gavin.

“They are being assessed.”

He frowned.  “What does that mean?”

“They are being assessed.  Those who are found worthy will be initiated.  Those who are found unworthy will be offered in sacrifice to the machine spirits.”

His eyes wide, Gavin swallowed visibly.  He hissed, “Take us back to the
Sanguine Shadow
.”

Thirili’on drew a calming breath.  “Farewell, most honored initiates.”

Valerie said, “Wait!”

Thirili’on’s expression flattened.  Staring blankly, he replied, “I am waiting.”

Surprised by his reaction, she said, “Take us back to the
Sanguine Shadow
.”

His shoulders sank, and his expression returned to normal as he answered, “I don’t know how.”  Immediately following, he perked up and wagged his head as if emerging from a stupor.

“Isn’t that interesting,” she mused, and she studied him for a moment.  “We’re hungry and thirsty.  Please get us something to eat and drink.”

His gaze once again blank, Thirili’on answered, “I will return with food and beverages.”  He tapped the forearm portion of his armor.  It glowed, and he vanished within a jag of blinding electricity.

“That’s very interesting,” she muttered.  Smiling slightly, she sat down cross-legged on the floor.

“What just happened?” asked Gavin as he sat down beside her.

“When he comes back, follow my lead.”

·· • ··

Aboard the
Sanguine Shadow
’s cargo shuttle, Zerki and her companions reviewed a daring plan to retake the hauler.  “I am able to communicate with Filan directly through radio exchange,” said Fogg.  “She is interfacing with the
Sanguine Shadow
, although she does not know how much time she has before she is discovered.”  His shoulders hunched.  “She assures me it is likely she will be terminated if she is discovered.”

Takeo squared his jaw.  “Then we had best act quickly.”

Zerki nodded.  “Everyone strap in.”  The shuttle lifted off and rocketed through the air.  She spotted her starship in the distance, and paled as she saw a tiny speck tumble out from the forward hold.  “What are they doing?  Fogg, ask Filan what they’re doing!”

Tears came freely to the AI’s ebon eyes.  “Captain, they have started killing the crew.  They are pushing them out of the hangar.”

“God
dammit
!” she shrieked, her eyes fierce and welling with tears.  She struck the console with her fist.  Collecting herself, she forced her breathing to steady.  With her mouth frozen slightly open, she whispered, “Let’s make it count, guys.  Fogg, ask Filan to open the main hangar.  Stone, are you still up for this?”