Beyond the Stars: INEO (13 page)

I reached out to touch his hand. It was like ice. I rubbed my hands together to generate some heat and brought them back to his. “You
are
freezing, here,” I said, sandwiching his hands in mine for a moment to warm them. He seemed surprised by my gesture and even appeared to give me a brief smile. Then I realized I was touching him without asking first. A move like that could have been dangerous to my health if unwelcomed. “What is this place?” I asked while I carefully released his hand.

“You’re worst nightmare. We are on a Grulanti collection barge. They take whatever and whoever they can and sell it to the highest bidder. They are continuously adding to their stockpiles until they reach their destination. There is no telling how long we will be stuck here,” Ari said glumly.

Noah pointed to a dark tunnel that looked like a large sewer drain leaving the garage. “Where does that lead?” he asked.

“It’s another storage area. There are piles and piles of raw elements, Platinum, Tellurium, you name it. It’s a dirty mess; nothing good or useful, like a drink. I figured out that all of the craft show up in here, while raw products and smaller items land next door.”

I looked at Noah and smiled. That’s it. Gaelan and Zaric probably landed there. We both started walking towards the tunnel.

“Hold on. I’m coming with you. You don’t know how to avoid the Grulanti.”

It seemed as though he was desperate for company.

Noah winced. “Fine. We can stay together. We could use all the help we can get.”

I agreed with Noah. It sounded as though Ari could assist us in maneuvering safely through the Grulanti ship and lead us to our friends.
Gaelan, Zaric, where are you?

CHAPTER 8

TRAPPED

We entered the dark tunnel together. The passageway felt cramped, with Ari’s and Noah’s head barely clearing the arched ceiling. Refusing to give into my fear, I took the lead. The tunnel curved like a race track going around a bend. There was no telling what loomed ahead.

I was doing well until my next step caught me by surprise. I had stepped directly into a deep puddle of water. At least, I was hoping it was water. “Ahh,
yuck.
My boot’s all wet.” I stopped. The dirty liquid had sloshed up and covered my foot with its splash.

Noah pulled the flashlight from his tool belt and lit up the floor. My wet boot was covered in a black oily sludge. Several murky puddles were scattered across the floor, the largest being settled in the center of the tunnel.

Noah flicked off the light. “Walk on the side,” he instructed before he kindly went in front of me.

Explorer, I was not. Part of me wanted to turn around and run, but for what? If Gaelan was at the end of this tunnel, I had no choice but to continue. I followed Noah while the Garmite trailed behind me too closely. I was becoming annoyed. With every step, Ari’s hot breath huffed down on the top of my head. I tried to stay positive. At least I didn’t have to be first or last.

Finally, we reached the other side. The room we entered was enormous, over five stories high and twice as wide. It was also better lit, although the air looked hazy from the overhead spotlights illuminating the circulating dust. Ari was right. Dozens of heaping mounds of raw materials were spread throughout the room in pyramid shaped stacks. They were made up of everything from large boulders to piles of powder, depending on their content. Some stacks rose as high as the ceiling.

I sighed. “They could be anywhere.”

“Look for the lightest color rock. The color of Dalinova,” Noah suggested.

“You mean Tellurium, the element used to make solar cells,” I added.

“I know, Sami. I was talking to Ari,” he said, as if I had insulted his intelligence.

“Stop,” Ari warned. “You can’t just barge in there. The sensors will go off.” He pointed to the floor in order to bring our attention to faint violet streams of light spanning the area every ten feet. I hadn’t noticed them at first. Their pale hue was almost invisible to the eye. “Step over them, like so.” He demonstrated when he saw me frown.

We maneuvered our way between the mounds, taking caution to avoid the obstacles.
What a pain,
I thought, growing weary of the Grulanti mousetraps.

“Gaelan!”
I screamed a little too loudly when I first spotted him. He was sitting on the side of a mountain of rock beside Loic and Zaric. He started his way down the mound as soon as he saw me safely step over the purple sensor.

Gaelan smiled widely as he made his way towards me. “
Sami!
Thank goodness, you’re alright, I hope … are you hurt? … Zaric broke his arm.”

“I’m fine,” I replied, taking another cautious step to meet him half-way.

Gaelan wrapped his arms around me to give me a tight hug, lifting me off the ground. I savored the feeling of his body when it hardened against mine because it told me he was fine. I didn’t want to let him go, clinging onto him for a moment longer after he tried to release me. He leaned back and gave me a robust kiss, dirt and all. It felt remarkable, despite the grit. Although our troubles weren’t over, I felt relieved. Knowing he was safe and alive made me feel happy. I looked him over for injuries. Aside from his dusty clothing, he looked well. In fact, he looked undeniably gorgeous. I smiled. Only Gaelan could manage to look this attractive despite being such a dirty mess.

“We came to rescue you. Our levitron works.” I leaned up and whispered in his ear.

He leaned back and looked at me with a curious smile, asking, “How?”

“Long story.”

Loic and Zaric started to walk down from the mound to join us. Zaric was cradling his left arm against his chest.

“Oh, good, our saviors have arrived,” Loic said snidely. “You mean to tell me you can step right over those bloody things. Here we were sitting like a couple of patsies growing old. This baby won’t stop whining about his arm while I’m oozing blood from this big gash on my leg and not making one peep.”

Gaelan exhaled loudly in response to Loic’s sarcasm.

“Careful, Loic,” Zaric warned him after his feet were clumsily kicking up dirt. “You may not explode, but I still wouldn’t get dust on those sensors.”

Then, to everyone’s surprise, the flap of Loic’s bag flipped open and out popped a tiny animal head. Soon, the entire body of a ferretlike critter emerged from the sack and clung to the side of his bag. Without warning, it took a springing leap into the air, landed on the floor, then took off running.

“Sterwin, no!” Loic hurried after the critter, and before he could catch him, the animal ran straight through a sensor beam. It triggered an ear piercing alarm. Startled by the noise, the frightened slinky creature turned and ran back to Loic, allowing him to scoop it up and tuck it back inside his bag.

Suddenly, the wall to our left slid open creating a doorway allowing a Grulanti to enter. It looked robotic with two arms, had black metallic skin, and a purple illuminated ball for a head on top of its cylindrical body. There was no time to flee. I clung to Gaelan’s arm. The Grulanti approached us so quickly I barely saw it move. It had no legs and appeared to be suspended on air or hidden wheels. A purple beam of light shot out of its head and scanned us all at once.

“Halt. You are property of the Grulanti Federation. You have been misclassified. You must return to your assigned category or you will be terminated,” the Grulanti demanded in an electronic sounding voice. It lifted its arm and pointed to the door.

Zaric shifted his weight in the opposite direction. In response, the Grulanti fired a narrow laser beam out of its eye, nearly missing Zaric’s hip. He had to take a swift step to his right to avoid getting shot. A large black mark smoldered on the floor where the weapon had struck. One blast from that laser and you’d surely get fried to a crisp.

“This thing means business,” Zaric said with widened eyes.

Everyone froze to avoid becoming its next target.

Ari’s face became angry. “Look what you did. I can’t believe I thought that you could help me,” he moaned. “I should have known better than to associate myself with stupid Katarians.”

“Us?
You are in no position to judge,” Zaric snapped back.

Ari groaned. “At least I avoided capture, for days. It took you all of five minutes.”

“Come with me,” the Grulanti ordered, and led us out of the room.

Our group followed the Grulanti down a corridor. It seemed better to comply than to fight back. We already knew he was dangerous, but to what extent? We were led to a brightly lit room with dull gray walls, no seats, and no door. At least it was clean. Without saying another word, the Grulanti ushered us inside with its mechanical arm, before rotating his head and zipping away. Gaelan rushed to the doorway to leave, but was unable. He bounced off an invisible shield, causing him to stumble a few steps back.

“Ouch.”
Gaelan winced. “It shocked me.” He shook his hands in front of him to dispel the pain.

Zaric paced around the cramped room while he clenched his broken arm against his chest. “We’re finished.”

Gaelan rubbed his forehead while he thought. “We have to get out of this cell before we get to that auction. I can’t imagine it attracts anyone I’m dying to meet.”

“What auction?” I asked.

Gaelan gave me a glum look. “The Grulanti transport supplies across the galaxy for a colossal sell-a-thon. We have been aware of the events for some time, although the auctions are something we have yet to participate in. The Grulanti aren’t the most upstanding citizens of the galaxy.”

Zaric poked Loic in the chest with his finger. “This is your fault. Why did you have to bring an animal? What is
that thing
anyway?”

“He’s a minko,” Loic answered defensively.

Gaelan appeared to get upset and turned his attention to Loic as well. “What else do you have in that bag of yours? Maybe we should get rid of that creature before it gets us all killed.” Gaelan attempted to lift the flap of Loic’s bag and take a peek, but Loic pulled the sack away.

“Here, give it to me,” Ari demanded next. “I haven’t eaten. I’ll bite its head off.”

Loic’s face got angry. “Leave Sterwin alone. He just got excited is all. He’s only an animal.” Loic tucked his bag tightly under his arm for protection.

“Yeah, with a stupid owner,” Gaelan said before letting out a deep groan.

I knew Gaelan must have been growing impatient with him. In the few minutes I’d spent with Loic, he was irritating, to say the least. I walked to the doorway to study it. The transparent force field that held us in was unlike anything I’d ever seen.

“Noah, do you think we could shoot through the door?” I whispered.

“No,” Ari said after overhearing me. “Their ship renders all devices powerless,” He pulled his own gun from a holster on his hip and tried to fire it at the door, but nothing happened. “It’s totally useless.”

Noah gave me a reassuring look. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was: our Tagren would function just fine. The alien ship’s inhibitory signal would be blocked by the same force field that protected our levitron. I remembered Noah telling me that anything metal in contact with the levitron at the time of the chemical restructuring would be endowed with the same protective shield.

Ari got a peculiar look on his face. “Hey, did you just call him
Noah
? Noah, the Katarian who likes to Dual?”

Noah sighed. “Yes, I’ve been known to Dual.”

Ari gave Noah a scrutinizing look. “Wow, your reputation precedes you. You are considered the ultimate champion. So you’re the one everyone’s hoping to beat.”

“What’s Dual?” I questioned, picturing a sword fight.

“Dual is a card game,” Noah explained. “It carries high stakes. I’m good at it, except it doesn’t matter. I’ll never play again, even though I won the last game fair and square; the Garmite I challenged never forgave me for taking the jackpot.”

Ari interrupted. “You misunderstood the rules of the game, Katarian. Many times the jackpot being offered is forgiven over a barrel of Coti. But not with you. You actually went off with the daughter of Dargatz.”

It sounded like Noah had made an honest mistake in misunderstanding the Garmites’ culture.

Noah shot him a dirty glare. “That was the deal.”