A Clash of Aliens (The Human Chronicles Book 13) (11 page)

“I will not be available when you do.”

“The Expansion will soon be in control of the entire Kidis Frontier. You will find no place to hide—”

“Who the hell are you?” Riyad finally asked, his impatience and frustration boiling over. “Are you responsible for destroying a Union registered starship?”

“Spare me your indignation, Riyad Tarazi. Yes, I am responsible. I am Overlord Ranor D’inos. I have been pursuing you from Formil. We both know that the mutant outlaw Panur was aboard that ship, and that his sanctioning was approved by both Expansion and Union authority. It is you who are in violation. You have sought to endanger the welfare of the galaxy with your selfish mission.”

“I don’t know what you hope to accomplish. You know he can’t be killed.”

“But he can be neutralized. His body is now a frozen mass of flesh, and soon I will order my ships to engage gravity drives and send all the debris from the wreckage on a path toward the nearby star. In time, the mutant will be absorbed into the inferno, to suffer through eternity in a prison of unimaginable agony. Only fitting for all that he has done.”

Riyad didn’t know what to say. His mission was over; there would be no rescue of Adam Cain. Now he had to worry about himself.

“So what happens next?”

“As far as you are concerned, I will leave your future up to your own people. You may not find a welcome homecoming when you return to Earth, if you have the courage to do so. Now I must take my leave. We still have mopping up to do. And as for you, Benefis Na, I will not forget. Your day of reckoning will come.”

No one had a chance to respond before the link was cut.

Sherri was just now regaining consciousness.

“What did I miss?”

Chapter
10

The four occupants of the
Najmah Fayd
were in the common room, spread out on the couch and chairs, lost in thought—all except Sherri, who was shaking her head and sticking a finger in her ear.

“What’s wrong with you?” Riyad asked, annoyed by her constant fidgeting at the other end of the couch.

“I still have that damn itch in my brain. I thought that was only because of Lila. Now I think it’s something else.”

“You still feel the sensation?” Arieel asked, sitting up in her chair and taking notice.

“Yeah, just a little, but it’s really beginning to piss me off.”

“It is the same as when you first detected my daughter?”

Sherri stopped poking her finger in her ear. “Yeah, just a little less. You don’t think…”

“She can’t be killed,” Riyad said, also sitting up now.

“What are you speaking of…cannot be killed? Who cannot be killed?” asked Benefis.

“Arieel’s daughter.”

“She cannot be killed?”

“No, she’s a mutant, too. Sorry, Arieel.”

“That is okay, Riyad. I have come to accept it.”

“Two mutants were aboard that ship? I knew Arieel’s daughter was with Panur, but I was not aware she was a mutant. How could that be possible?”

“It’s a long story,” Riyad said as he leaned over toward Sherri. “Could she still be alive…I mean still conscious?”

“What if the outer body freezes but leaves the insides still warm, at least for a while. Eventually the whole body will…you know.” She looked over at Arieel’s troubled face, though it wasn’t looking all that troubled at the moment.

“She is still alive! Maybe we can use Sherri’s Gift to locate her body? The presence should become stronger the closer we get.”

“If we can get there soon enough!” Riyad jumped to his feet. “Everyone to the bridge, everyone except Sherri.”

********

Minutes later, Sherri was laid out on the couch in the common room, the lights dim and a comm line placed around her head.

“Can you hear me, Sherri?” Riyad asked from the pilot’s seat on the bridge.

“Loud and clear.”

“Good. Now relax and focus on the itch—on the signal. I’m going to make minor course corrections. You let me know if it gets stronger or weaker.”

“Aye aye, sir.”

Riyad veered the
Najmah Fayd
to the right, moving through the asteroid belt at just under ten thousand miles per hour.

“It’s getting a little weaker.”

“Okay, I’m heading back the other way.”

A few second later: “Yeah, that’s better, a little stronger…no, now weaker.”

“Making progress,” Riyad announced. “I’m getting a heading.”

“It’s steady, maybe a little stronger. Now it’s falling off again.”

“Coming to starboard.”

“That’s better. I think it’s getting stronger.”

“There’s a huge asteroid dead ahead, about half the size of the Moon.”

“Signal’s steady, a little stronger. Hurry, Riyad.”

“That has to be it. She probably landed there and the local gravity kept her body from being sucked up by the Juirean ships. Almost there.”

The
Najmah Fayd
began a low pass over the surface of the craggy gray ball of rock. There were high mountains and countless craters, all cast in the stark light of the nearby star.

“Signal’s strong, but now a little weaker. Back up.”

Riyad spun the ship around.

“I detect metal on the surface,” Benefis reported from the nav station. A flashing circle appeared on the screen along the forward bulkhead.

“How’s the signal?”

“Steady. You would expect it to be getting stronger.”

“Perhaps the body is freezing through more thoroughly,” Benefis offered.

Riyad looked to the silent Arieel Bol and saw her blanch. “We’ll get there in time. I promise.”

“I have a visual,” said Benefis.

Riyad could see it, too—a clump of twisted metal, a section of a hull, along with strings of wires and conduit. Riyad dropped the ship to the surface with a jolt.

“Sherri, use your thing to lock out the ship’s controls once we’re outside.”

He looked at the huge Juirean. “Sorry, but we don’t have a spacesuit that will fit you, and I’m not about to leave you alone in my ship without taking precautions.”

“I would do the same, although I believe I deserve an explanation about the strange abilities some of you exhibit.”

“You’re on. But first things first. Arieel, Sherri, into spacesuits.”

********

The planetoid had gravity—weak, but it was there—yet the dust thrown up from the landing still lingered. By the time Riyad, Sherri, and Arieel left the ship, the dust cloud was only about four feet thick, which was odd. Riyad could barely see his feet, yet his head was above the cloud with a clear view to the debris from the
Pegasus II
. Tiny air jets on the shoulders of their suits kept them in contact with the surface of the asteroid.

Arieel tripped over something and fell, disappearing into the dust cloud.

“I am okay.” She suddenly popped back up.

The further they moved from the ship, the clearer their path became, and soon they were rummaging through the wreckage, looking for the frozen body of Lila Bol.

“Can you help us, Sherri?” Arieel asked out of desperation.

“The signal is strong no matter what direction I move. She’s here…somewhere.”

“Over here! I think I have something.”

The two females rushed to where Riyad was lifting away a large section of hull, incredibly light in the microgravity of the asteroid.

And there was Lila.

Sherri took hold of Arieel and pulled her away. The Formilian resisted, but couldn’t break away from the Human’s stronger grip.

Lila was entangled in a cluster of razor-sharp metal fragments. Her eyes were shut and her long, black hair was frozen in a wide cascade surrounding her face. However, what caused Sherri to react the way she did was the wide sheet of metal embedded in Lila’s side, nearly severing her body in half.

Riyad pulled away the other surrounding fragments, leaving only the one in her side. He lifted the stiff body. “Hurry, let’s get back to the ship. I’ll bring Lila.”

Through her ATD, Sherri activated the aft cargo hanger door and a ramp slid out. The trio scampered up, Riyad holding Lila’s body across his chest.

Once inside, Sherri shut the door and filled the chamber with atmosphere and warmth. Riyad placed Lila on a workbench and rushed off to the bridge.

Five minutes later, the ship had lifted off the surface and engaged the internal gravity. Riyad rushed back to the cargo hold, where the two females—along with Benefis—were holding silent vigil.

Nearly all of Lila’s clothing had been blown off from the explosion, and the remarkable similarity between mother and daughter was now evident—even in Lila’s frozen state. Although only seven years old by Human time, Arieel’s daughter had grown and developed at an accelerated rate, one of the symptoms of her mutant condition. She looked more like a woman in her early twenties.

Arieel and Sherri rounded up some blankets and covered the body.

“Is this all we can do?” Arieel asked.

“I’m sorry,” Riyad said, “but I have no experience with this. I say we let her thaw out naturally.”

“What about the metal sheet?” Sherri asked.

“Leave it. If she’s anything like Panur, there won’t be any lasting damage.”

“So Panur could be like this as well, somewhere between here and the star?”

“Unfortunately, you don’t have a psychic connection with him, Sherri. Let’s pray that Lila might.”

********

Two hours later, Lila’s skin began to show some elasticity, and that’s when the itch in Sherri’s head grew stronger.

The foursome huddled around the body, which rapidly gained color with each passing minute. They watched with fascination as the metal sheet embedded in her side slowly pushed away, her skin merging and healing right before their eyes.

The sheet clanged to the deck. The itch in Sherri’s head was becoming painful again.

“Are you going to make it?” Riyad asked.

“I don’t know. This is getting serious. It got so bad last time I passed out. I can see that happening again, if not worse.”

All eyes were on Sherri now as her face turned beet red and she squeezed her eyes to slits to fight the pain. She clawed at her head, pulling on her hair in a fit of madness. Riyad took hold of her by the shoulders. “Stay with us, Sherri! Don’t give in to it.”

Sherri broke away, fell over Lila’s inert body, and began slapping her. “Wake up, you bitch! Get out of my head!”

Arieel jumped on her, but Sherri shrugged her off.

“You’re hurting her!”

“No I’m not. But she’s killing me!”

Sherri slapped the sleeping face until her hand stopped in mid-swing and the pain in her head disappeared, transferred now to her right wrist.

That was where Lila’s hand was grasping Sherri’s arm. Her eyes opened.

“I am quite conscious now. You can stop striking me.”

“Lila!” Arieel cried out. Sherri allowed herself to be shoved aside as mother fell upon daughter. “You’re alive! You’re alive…”

“Of course I am.” Then the young Formilian turned to take in the rest of the people surrounding her. “Riyad Tarazi…and a Juirean. And Sherri Valentine. I assume you recovered my body following the explosion. Is Panur with you?”

“No, he’s not,” Riyad said, stepping forward. “He still out there, floating in space somewhere. Your attackers have steered the debris toward the star. Can you help us find him before it’s too late?”