Beyond the Stars: INEO (14 page)

It took me a moment to decipher his reply. “Noah, you
slept
with a Garmite?” I scolded him, unable to stop myself from jumping to conclusions.

He gave me an irritated look and shrugged.

“Ooh,”
moaned Gaelan and Zaric in unison, scrunching their faces in disgust.

“And here I thought you Katarians liked to avoid controversy at all cost. Tell me. Why’d you do it?” Ari prodded.

“Look, if you must know,” Noah said with irritation, “nothing happened. I went off with the girl, and we pretended that things got steamy. She wanted to get back at her father for making her the jackpot for the umpteenth time. I decided to help her piss him off and thought it was fun to screw with Dargatz. If you ask me, he finally got what he deserved. He’s such a wiseass.”

“That he is,” Ari agreed with a chuckle. “Still, he believes you were with her. If Dargatz ever gets his hands on you, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes …”

“That’s old news.” Noah turned to Ari while giving him a pleading look to drop the subject.

Ari shook his head. “Not to him. He wants a rematch. He has a price on your head and is offering a huge bounty for anyone willing to challenge you on his behalf.”

Noah bit his lip. “Great. Do a girl a favor and you never live it down.”

No wonder Noah took refuge on Earth. He looked upset and almost sad over the matter. If I didn’t know better, he might even be remorseful.

“I don’t know what Noah did to Dargatz’s daughter, but this isn’t the time or place to worry about it.” I wanted to break up the conversation. I pulled the Tagren from my pocket and boldly turned the weapon on, causing the men to become suddenly quiet. “Let’s see if this works on their fancy invisible door,” I said, eyeing up the barrier.

Gaelan looked at me with a shocked expression. “You came prepared.”

I thought I saw a glint of excitement cross his face, so I tried to hand him the weapon. He shook his head. “Go on, try it. Ladies first,” Gaelan encouraged. His eyes sparkled as though my assertiveness was turning him on.

“Hold on. A Tagren. You have a Tagren that works?” Loic interrupted me before I could fire. “Sami, I need a favor. Aim it at me. You have to shoot me,” he pleaded. “Please, consider it a mercy kill. I can’t go to auction. They will sell me off to the scummiest bidder. I will be tortured.”

“Ugh, no way—are you serious?” I said, repulsed that he would even ask.

We all stood dumbfounded at his odd request. I exhaled loudly and fought to ignore him so I wouldn’t
accidentally
give into the temptation. Without further delay, I gripped the laser gun with an iron fist, aimed it at the door, and fired a red laser beam with the squeeze of the trigger. I was surprised when my hand didn’t jerk. The weapon had no kick. It fired as easily as flicking on a flashlight. Three seconds later, we heard a loud pop. Gaelan walked to the opening and put his hand through the door and waved it around. The barrier was gone.

“Good job, Sami,” Zaric said with excitement.

“It worked!” I cheered.

Everyone stepped back.

“Whoa, take it easy with that, would you?” Gaelan warned, as he tried to take the weapon from my hand.

“Sorry,” I muttered. My face flushed with embarrassment. I lowered the weapon to the ground, not realizing I was carelessly waving it around in my excitement.

Loic shrugged. “Well, let’s go,” he said, and started walking towards the door.

Abruptly, Gaelan’s face took on an inquisitive look as Loic tried to step past him. Gaelan placed his hand against Loic’s shoulder to hold him back. “Loic, not so fast. You’re hiding something. Explain—
now.
First, we find you desperate to flee Dalinova, and then you get us sucked up by a Grulanti collection barge. Then you would rather Sami shoot you than risk facing the Grulanti again. What
aren’t
you telling us?”

“Nothing,” Loic said unconvincingly, his voice cracking.

Gaelan grabbed Loic by the shirt collar while he clenched his other hand into a fist. He appeared to be on the brink of losing control. Staring Loic in the eye, he said, “You’re lying. Who did you
brass
off?”

“Nobody. Zilch. I don’t trust them is all. I heard that they make you into slaves.” Loic’s lips started quivering.

“Is that true?” I asked nervously.

My palms started to sweat. Now I really couldn’t wait to get out of here.

Ari scoffed. “I say shoot him. His loud mouth is making my head hurt.”

Gaelan tightened his grip on Loic’s collar. “I thought they were only in the market for supplies,” he said under his breath.

“No, people, too,” Loic answered bleakly.

Gaelan sighed, released his grip, and backed away. He had no choice but to take Loic’s word. “We need to get past them, though I’m not sure if this will be strong enough to stop them.” He swiftly took the Tagren from my hand and looked through its sight.

“It should be,” Ari chimed in. “That’s
some
weapon you got, and the guards are both organic and engineered. If you hit them, you are bound to damage something important, maybe even blow them to bits.”

“Good.” Gaelan’s eyes filled with determination.

* * *

Zaric popped his head out the doorway and looked around. “Come on, it’s clear.”

“Hold on, Katarians; if you want to avoid setting off their alarms, look before you walk. The ship’s floor is laced with sensors. Move too quickly and you might miss them,” Ari explained.

“Go slow,” Gaelan instructed, as we stepped into the deserted corridor.

There were three passageways to choose from. They all looked alike. It was impossible to tell which one we came from.

Noah carefully started down the middle hallway with his Tagren in hand. “I think this will get us back to the room with our levitron.”

Everyone followed.

“Guys, I’m almost positive we came down the other corridor,” I suggested, while I tipped my head to the passageway on our left.

“I think she’s right. This seems a little different,” Zaric agreed.

“How can you tell? They all look the same,” Gaelan said, biting his lip.

We looked at the similar walls and tried to decipher the differences when a Grulanti entered the opening at the end of the middle passage. Together we stepped into the hallway to the left. I was ready to run when Gaelan grabbed me by the arm to remind me to hold still while the Grulanti zipped by. How quickly I forgot.
Don’t step in haste or you’ll risk touching a sensor.
Luckily, our presence went unnoticed. However, it was much too close for comfort. I knew I wasn’t the only one holding my breath, judging by the group’s exhale that ensued after the Grulanti went out of sight.

“I have been all over this ship,” Ari said. “It doesn’t matter which way we go. There is only one deck, and it’s easy to walk around in circles. However, the pathways all connect sooner or later. Most of them lead to more cargo bays, and one goes to their central command. It’s easy to tell which one it is, though. Their power core makes the area glow green, and its humming tickles your belly the closer you get.”

Not wanting to waste time or gamble on getting captured again, we decided to take the corridor Noah suggested.

We slowed our pace as we rounded the oncoming bends. Luckily, there wasn’t a Grulanti in sight. However, my assumption of it being the wrong route was soon vindicated. There were too many turns. I think the others realized it, as well. We were lost. The place was a maze. I had no idea where we’d end up. Hopefully, it would turn out to be a shortcut.

“Hold it, guys. Weren’t we just here?” Zaric stopped and looked back and forth.

“Maybe,” Noah said.

“I told you, circles,” Ari huffed.

“We should have dropped some bread crumbs,” I muttered.

Noah alone let out a chuckle, understanding my reference to
Hansel and Gretel.
Abruptly, we heard a hum growing louder from the passage behind us. Everyone froze and looked at one another with apprehension.

“I think it heard us. Something’s coming. Go,” Ari said in a huff before he broke off in a sprint, passing Noah, Zaric, and Loic.

With nowhere left to hide, we chased after him and took off down the corridor. I realized even Ari himself disregarded his warning about setting off the sensors as we carelessly rounded the upcoming bend. I thought we were in the clear until I looked over my shoulder and saw a Grulanti pursuing us. Soon, it was directly behind Gaelan and me.

“Halt! You are our possession. You must obey,” the Grulanti said in its computerized voice.

We stopped, knowing it would likely shoot us if we didn’t. The others continued to run ahead. Gaelan turned and aimed the Tagren at our pursuer. Before he could fire, the Grulanti fired a beam of light from its head at Gaelan. Swiftly, he ducked out of the way.

“Gaelan!” I screamed when I saw the near miss. The attacker responded to my voice by swinging its three-jointed arm at me. It hit me across my back, knocking me off my feet. The strike was so forceful, it sent a painful vibration searing through my spine. It felt as though I’d been broken in half. I was struggling to get up, when I decided it was better to stay low after I heard sizzling sounds and saw smoke coming from the surrounding walls as Gaelan and the Grulanti shot at one another over my head. I groaned and looked up at Gaelan. He had the laser gun in his hand and was ready to fire again, but, instead, he paused to look down at me. The Grulanti swung at him and knocked him off his feet, landing him on his back against the corridor wall, barely conscious. The blow caused the weapon to fly from his hand and slide across the floor.

“You must comply,” the Grulanti ordered while it hovered over us.

I tried to crawl away on my hands and knees. Before I could, it clinched my ankle in a death grip with its hooklike hand. It began to drag me towards it, pulling me flat on my stomach. I looked around for an escape. The others were gone. I wished I had combat training. I knew Jack would have known what to do. He was a test pilot in the Air Force and could think clearly under pressure.

All of a sudden, a strange feeling came over me. It felt as though time was moving in slow motion. A surge of energy poured into me, and my body flushed with heat just like it had on Dalinova.

“Fight back,” said a man as clear as day. This time I knew the voice was real.
Jack?
I looked around, but didn’t see where his voice was coming from. No one was there. It didn’t matter. I felt his spirit urging me on.
The Tagren.
Yes. I could see the laser gun on the floor to my right. Although it was less than a foot away, it was still slightly out of my reach. Then, in one swift yank, the Grulanti pulled me backwards, bringing me closer, right past the weapon. It allowed me to stretch out my fingers just enough to grab hold of the Tagren before it lifted me off the floor by my ankle.

Dangling upside-down, I held the weapon out in front of me with both hands and fired it directly at the attackers head. Its head sizzled with the strike and released a stream of foul smelling gray smoke into the air. It released its grip, dropping me on the floor before letting out a cry like a dying animal. I caught myself and kicked my feet against the floor to scoot back. Quickly, I dodged out of the way when it fired a laser beam from its eye that nearly struck my leg. I gasped.
Whoa.
I held the Tagren at arms length, fired again at its head, causing it to moan and die in agony. It was horrifying. Within seconds, its lightened purple head started to dim, and turned completely black.

“Whew, that was close,” said Gaelan, rubbing his forehead. “Let’s go.”

He was already on his feet. He pulled me away from the murder scene. “Hurry, we need to catch up.”

“I’ve never killed anything,” I said breathlessly as I rushed to keep pace.

“
Really?
You did well. Good shot,” Gaelan said.

I saw Loic waiting for us at the end of the corridor. “They’re here,” he yelled into the open doorway beside him.

“Good,” I heard Noah’s voice reply from around the corner.

I smiled when we saw Zaric peek his head out behind Loic’s shoulder. “Gaelan, Sami, what took you so long? Come on, hurry up. We found our way out of here. Stop pussyfooting around,” he teased, then stepped out of sight.

We sprinted to join Loic and the others. They were standing at the entrance of the cargo bay that held the parked starships.
Yes.
We found it.

“Noah’s trying to figure out how to open the door,” Zaric explained.

I joined Noah, who was staring at a huge wall-mounted panel with lighted symbols. He put his arm around me to give me a sideways hug, never removing his eyes from panel. “Work with me, Sami. We need to decipher these markings … fast. There’s no telling what these buttons control. The symbols are completely foreign. Do you see a pattern?”

Everyone stared at the wall. I wanted to help decipher the puzzle, though I was as equally confounded.

Loic leaned past us. “Why don’t we just try one already?” He tapped on a button. A white beam shined down from the ceiling and lighted up a starship below. With a poof, it vanished. It was followed by a loud, echoing boom. “What the—” he gasped with a startled expression on his face.