Beyond the Stars: INEO (22 page)

“You saw the whole thing happen. You were right in front of us and didn’t even try to help. You ran to catch up with Noah and Zaric. You’re a coward.” I scoffed.

“Oh, Sami, I am braver than you think. I have faced creatures far worse than a lowly Grulanti drone. I just learned that if I don’t protect my own hide, no one else will.”

“That’s it. You don’t play well with others. You only think of yourself. I listen to your snide remarks about the Katarian Council and how you hate their interference in your affairs. It sounds like you’re trying to run away from them; yet, you can’t get far enough away. Your present seems to be haunted by your past. You act as though you don’t care, but I can see it really bothers you.”

His eyes narrowed, and he looked at me with disbelief as if caught off guard.

“Wow, aren’t you a little spitfire. If you want to take out those aggressions in a constructive manner, I’m available,” he said with a wink.

“Ugh.
Do you try to provoke everyone you speak to?” I wanted to smack him.

“What? You don’t like talking to me?”

“I’d like you better mute.”

“Huh,” he grunted with a hint of a grin before he silently turned and walked away when we saw Maric approaching us. Maric gave him a curious look as he passed.

“Did I interrupt?” Maric asked politely.

“No, you saved me.”

Maric shrugged. “Sami, are you ready to learn how to fly?” he asked cheerfully.

I tried to calm myself down after Loic’s irritating conversation and looked for comfort in Maric’s eager face.

“I can use all the help I can get.”

His eyes flickered as he smiled. “You’re right. I felt that dip you put us in. It was
awesome.
I mean, the simulator will help you learn how to avoid doing moves like that. I know my dad and Uncle Gaelan think the simulator feels phony, but it’s great for learning evasive maneuvers and teaches you to use your mind correctly when you’re first starting out.”

“I don’t know why it’s so important that I learn to drive the ship. This is all Gaelan and your father’s idea,” I complained.

“You really should learn the basics if you’re here. If you don’t, it would be like living on the water and not knowing how to swim.”

“I never thought of it that way.”

He gave me a kind smile. “Come. Let’s get started.” He ushered me down the hall. We entered a room, which was an exact replica of the command deck, and took seats in the captain chairs facing the navigation screen. The room could have fooled me for the real thing if there wasn’t a small window leading into the next room over. I could see that it matched an inside of a levitron. “I will show you how to block out extraneous thoughts and keep your attention in two separate zones, one for the ship and the others for fluff.”

“Fluff?”

“Yes, thoughts like
I’m hungry, I need to check my program files, I loved that movie,
or
wow, she’s a babe, I wish I knew her better.
Oh, sorry, it’s something that crosses my mind a lot.”

His cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“Relax. I’m friends with Noah Peterson, remember?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “I often wonder about other people’s fluff. Noah would be one person’s I would be interested in hearing. Could you imagine?”

“No. I’d rather not. I’m already privy to the censored version. You should hear the things he says.”

His face brightened while he waited for me to elaborate.

I reminded myself that he was only a teenager and cleared my throat to show my discomfort in discussing the topic any further. He noticed my nonverbal cue and sat up stiffly in his seat. I studied the large star maps in front of us, and I fiddled with some of the large dials on the console to learn how they moved.

“Please, stop touching everything. It will modify our flight,” he warned.

If I didn’t know Maric, I would have guessed him to be much older than his seventeen years. Despite his young, lean build and flawless skin, he portrayed such a serious demeanor. At times, he appeared even older than his dad, who was always cracking jokes. He resembled Zaric with his dark brown eyes, except his jet-black hair was styled slightly wilder and longer than his father’s. He seemed to have a strong desire to prove his value to the world.

“Here’s your ear remote. It operates the simulator. Now, lift us up,” he instructed, impatiently watching me situate the device. “Go vertical at a forty-five degree angle.”

I concentrated hard. “Nothing’s happening.”

“Let me see your ear piece.”

I pulled it from my ear and handed it back to him. I watched in amazement as he carefully held it in his left hand when a tiny screw driver shot out from the tip of his right index finger and smoothly loosened the screws on the device’s cover.

I flinched.
“Ahh,
Maric!” My mouth dropped open, being startled. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, sorry, Sami, I thought you knew. I should have warned you,” he said, while he continued to lift the cover off the device and poke around its internals with another tool, this one extending from his middle finger. “Didn’t my parents tell you about my accident?” he said nonchalantly.

“Na, no.” I shook my head in denial.

“I lost my right arm and lower leg in a crash. My body’s been fitted with these amazing prosthetic limbs. I love them. They’re super strong, never tire, and come with some convenient additions.” He looked up at me and gave me a shy smile. “Yep, just what I thought, the contact was loose.” He pushed on a tiny wire with his tool. “These things are cheap.”

“Your arm looks real.”

“Well, the skin is, except at the tips, where it is woven in with a synthetic polymer for access to the tools and for periodic maintenance.”

“It sounds like you have dealt with your injuries like a champ.”

“I have, but my mother … not so much. I almost didn’t come on this trip with them. I like living with my grandparents, Colin and Miria, better. They don’t coddle me. My mother would probably be irate if she knew about
all
the things I do when they’re away.”

Maric reminded me of my son, Jackson. They were so close in age, with Jackson being nineteen. I could see how his grandparents would be any teenager’s dream guardians. They were the most supportive, open-minded people I’d ever met. They would probably support any endeavor, no matter how dangerous, if it brought their children happiness. After meeting them, I felt guilty for all the times I had lectured Jackson whenever he did anything remotely dodgy. I just didn’t want him to do anything stupid or dangerous. I still think it was the reason why he became so secretive after Jack died. He wanted to hide aspects of his life from me because he could no longer stand to hear my warnings.

“Sometimes, parents overprotect to keep their children safe. I’ll talk to your mom and see if I can get her to loosen up a little. I know both of your parents are extremely proud of you.”

“Thanks.” His eyes brightened with the compliment. He snapped the cover closed on the device and handed it back to me. “Anyway, I wanted to come. I wanted to spend more time with my father and Gaelan. I want to do the same thing Gaelan does. Take part in covert operations, explore new lands, and learn how others live.”

“Covert operations?”

How many times had Gaelan participated in these missions? I could see how Gaelan would be an excellent spy. He was so unassuming. Only those who really knew him were fully aware of the extent of his talents.

“Yes, you know, infiltrate a society without raising the awareness of the people that live there.”

“Like Earth.”

His eyebrows rose. “Yes, exactly.” He winced after he answered and appeared apprehensive in disclosing that they were spies.

I was dying to ask him more, but he quickly said, “Well, are you ready? Take us up and punch it.”

I obeyed. For almost two hours, I practiced lifting, turning, and navigating through Space debris and asteroids and, finally, landing. Maric coached me and encouraged me with every move. He was an excellent teacher. I, however, desperately needed more practice. At first, I did well maneuvering the ship. I was gaining confidence, even feeling sort of cocky, only to be abruptly humbled when Maric started talking about unrelated things. My ability to drive conflicted with my ability to talk at the same time.

I crashed the ship eighteen times, exploded it three and buried it on every landing but one. Maric told me he had never seen the ship so hypothetically embedded into a planet’s surface before. He joked that maybe we would come out on the other side. I shrugged off the comments. Thank goodness they were only simulated flights. It was like playing a game, aside from getting waves of motion sickness. I left the simulator feeling exhausted and dizzy. My eyes were throbbing and dry from my intense concentration on the screen, and my head was spinning from trying to monitor my thoughts. Maybe I lacked the brain cells necessary to be successful in using their advanced technology.

CHAPTER 15

SECRETS

I slid my legs between the sheets to search for Gaelan. He wasn’t there. His side of the bed was cold and empty. I got up and found him standing in the study, staring out at a golden cluster of stars. The silhouette of his toned backside looked incredible with the glowing light reflecting softly off the muscles on his arms and back.

“You’re awake,” I said, touching his shoulder so I wouldn’t startle him.

He turned around to look at me with the hint of a smile and pulled me into his arms, supporting my back. “I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

“No. I couldn’t sleep either.”

“Oh,” he answered shortly, returning his eyes to the window to stare past me.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t stop thinking. I keep feeling like we’re missing something. We should have found the Dreon ship by now. We pass the creeps all the time when we aren’t looking to find them, and now, nothing,” he said with frustration.

“It’s like they’ve disappeared?” I suggested.

“Hmm,” he chuckled under his breath, bringing his eyes to mine.

“What? Can they do that?”

“No, we have been lucky enough to learn how to track their ships with precise accuracy. It’s just that you were saying something similar in your sleep.”

“I was talking?” I said, mortified.
Oh no,
I could only imagine what I may have said.

“You talk all the time,” he said with a curious grin.

“What did I say?” I got nervous. Please let me not have mentioned Jack.

His face turned serious. “Nothing really. You mutter mostly.”

“Sorry, I’ve been having some crazy dreams.”

“Mm-hmm.” He moaned before he pulled me closer to kiss the top of my head.

He appeared to be hiding the truth. I wondered what I had said. I thought he knew more than he was admitting because he seemed uncomfortable in discussing it more.

“I keep having visions of Dreons—” I admitted.

“Me too. They’re ugly freaks aren’t they? I’m confident we will find them soon. Our ship is as fast, if not faster than theirs. They’ve become so arrogant that they don’t even bother to cloak their ships when they land …”

Gaelan continued to tell me about the Dreons when my mind drifted unexpectedly. Here it comes, I thought as I felt an energy surge. Thinking about the Dreons had brought on another vision. Gaelan’s voice faded and I found myself standing on the Dreon ship. I saw a Dreon wearing a long white robe casually coming towards me. I stepped to the side even though he passed by, verifying I was invisible like before. Going unnoticed dispelled my fear, a little. I didn’t know why I was there, but decided to take the opportunity to check on Nia. I entered a room where a group of grossly non-humanlike Dreons stood around a crying victim. Their bodies were tall and lanky, eyes too large for their faces, and noses almost nonexistent. I came in closer and watched them study their latest experiment. They were hovered over a catlike alien, the size of a tiger, strapped down on one of their examination tables. One of the Dreons was prodding it with a wand, inflicting pain to torture the creature, for whatever reason. It shrieked loudly. I gasped and covered my mouth when it started shaking violently, going into a seizure. I fought to bring myself back to reality after I saw it foaming from the mouth. It worked. In a flash, I was back. It was as though I never left. Gaelan was still talking and I was still standing beside him. Perhaps I was learning to control this thing inside me after all.