Star Alliance (16 page)

The vastness of the atrium reminded Kaylan of a cathedral, and she realized the others must have felt the same because they spoke to each other in hushed tones.

“Do you know where the chamber could be?” Kaylan asked.

“I didn’t even know it was here,” Gaarokk replied. “But Ezerah should have clearance to find it.”

Ezerah walked over to a console. “The links to the neural net are down,” she said. After a few moments working on the console, the Nershal looked up at them. “I’m not sure how to search for this.”

Kaylan frowned and her mind raced to find an answer. They glanced at Gaarokk, who had a concerned, puzzled look on his face. They’d been so focused on getting here that none of them had considered how they were going to actually find the chamber.

“Okay, hold on a minute,” Kaylan said. “Let’s think this through logically.”

“How much time do we have before someone figures out we’re here?” Hicks asked.

“No one should be monitoring this place,” Ezerah said.

“Let’s assume they are,” Katie said. “How long before someone comes to check on things?”

Ezerah frowned in thought. “The nearest installation of any kind is more than an hour away.”

“So we have an hour then,” Redford said.

Hicks and Katie shared a glance. “No, we have much less than that,” he said.

Kaylan cursed inwardly. “Whoever is monitoring would have detected our approach in the shuttle, so the clock would have started after we first landed. We’ve been here for about twenty minutes, so that leaves us forty minutes to find the chamber and use it.”

Gaarokk headed for the console. “Let’s see if I can speed this up.”

Hicks and Katie walked over to Kaylan. “I can’t believe we didn’t think of this,” Kaylan said.

“Give them a chance. They should be able to find it,” Hicks said.

Kaylan nodded and couldn’t help thinking that the best person to find the proverbial needle in a haystack of data was the very one they were trying to find. She shared a glance with Katie, who seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“What would Zack do to find it?” Katie said.

“He was always practical about these things,” Kaylan said. “He’d start at the top and work his way down. So the top would be the layout of this place and perhaps the function of each building or area. But the project was a secret.”

Ezerah came over to them and listened in.

Katie nodded. “If it was hidden, then only certain people knew about it,” she said, and glanced at Ezerah.

The Nershal nodded and headed back to the console. “Show me the access logs from the day of the attack,” Ezerah said.

Gaarokk activated the wall screen so they could all see. A long list of access logs appeared.
 

“This is going to take too long,” Redford said.

Kaylan had to agree with the astrophysicist. “How would Boxans appear on this list? If we can we isolate them, it might give us a much smaller list.”

Ezerah nodded and her fingers flew through the interface. A much smaller list appeared. Kaylan was about to speak, but Ezerah cut her off. “I’m already looking for Ma’jasalax and where she went.”

The log entries dwindled down even further.

“Try filtering out known locations, like living quarters,” Gaarokk advised.

A few minutes passed. “There it is,” Ezerah said. “It has to be in one of the spires.”

“How do you know?” Kaylan asked.

“Because that’s the only place that fits with the frequency of Ma’jasalax’s visits, but the logs only show that she was on this level. They don’t show which spire she went to. We need to choose,” Ezerah said.

Gaarokk killed the holoprojection, and the rest of them followed Ezerah farther inside the enclave. The Nershal led them down a long corridor with high ceilings. The corridor opened to a landing, where they came to a stop. There were two further corridors that went off in opposite directions.

Ezerah looked at Kaylan. “Which way?” she asked.

Kaylan swallowed hard as the others all waited for her to answer. She glanced at both corridors and closed her eyes, pushing out with her senses and trying to focus on the chamber. In her mind, she raced down one corridor and up to the top of the spire. There was nothing there. Kaylan backtracked and headed down the other one. It had to be there. She went to where the chamber should be, and all was dark.
 

Kaylan opened her eyes and pointed down one of the corridors. Ezerah led the way.

Hicks walked next to Kaylan and leaned in. “Are you sure?” he asked quietly.

“No,” Kaylan replied, but it was her best guess.

They came to an open landing with wide doors, and Ezerah dusted off a wall panel, which lit up at her touch.

“We’re at the southernmost spire, and if Kaylan’s right, the chamber should be near the top,” Ezerah said.

“Why would they build it near the top?” Redford asked.

“Access to these spires is restricted, and since they’re out of the way, they would have been able to bring Nershals here without alerting anyone,” Ezerah said.

Kaylan closed her eyes and hoped she’d guessed right as the elevator doors opened and they got inside. The ride seemed to take forever, and when they finally came to a stop, the doors opened onto darkness. As they stepped out of the elevator into what felt like a large space, motion-sensor lighting along the walls progressively engaged, revealing dark, octagonal plating that lined the chamber they found themselves in. Multiple glowing cyan lights raced along the walls and came to a central point on the ceiling high above them.
 

Hicks glanced at Kaylan. “This is it,” he said.

Steel-colored blocks formed a pyramid in the center of the room, and crimson lines pulsed to life, outlining the structure. Mesmerized by the pulsing light as they approached, no one had a chance to speak before the door to the pyramid sank into the floor, showing an inner chamber beyond. The others fanned out into the room and Kaylan headed for the door.

Gaarokk came to her side. “Remember, the chamber will amplify your abilities. Focus is absolutely paramount.”

Kaylan nodded and felt herself go cold. “The last time I was in there, Ma’jasalax guided me back. What if I get lost?” she asked.

“This chamber isn’t fully powered like the one you were in. This is only for testing viable subjects. You should be able to find Zack, much like how you focused on finding our listening station in your star system,” Gaarokk said.

Kaylan nodded.

“We’ll be right out here waiting for you,” Hicks said.

Kaylan turned toward the others, and Katie gave her a nod. This is what they had come for. Kaylan turned around and entered the chamber.

C
HAPTER
F
OURTEEN

I
T
TOOK
THEM
longer to find the giant mutant’s lair than Zack thought it would. Etanu insisted that they move cautiously, which slowed their pace. This gave Zack time to note the small orange pods growing on shrubs close to the ground. The pods were a lighter color in the center, making them appear as miniature suns, and there were tiny protrusions along the pods, reminding Zack of the valley with the Skybowl. He’d seen orange pods like this there.
 

 
As Zack followed Etanu along the path, he was careful to walk as quietly as possible. When they had first set out, Etanu informed him that—vow or not—he wasn’t going near the giant mutant if Zack wouldn’t at least try to mask their presence here. Zack realized he’d been lucky during the time he’d spent exploring the pit that nothing had heard him plodding along—either that or they hadn’t cared. Regardless, paying attention to every little footfall was hard work and required all of his focus. In contrast to his intense effort, the blind mutant followed silently while maintaining his distance.

The area around them seemed quiet enough, but they still had to travel a bit before they closed in on the giant mutant’s lair. Zack really hoped they could confirm his theory that there were other doors in and out of the pit. If he was right, they just had to figure out how to open one of the doors and avoid being recaptured. But if they could entice all the mutants in the pit to escape at once, they stood a far greater chance at avoiding capture. At least that was what he hoped.
 

Never in a million years had he thought he’d be in some alien prison. Try as he might to focus strictly on getting out of the pit, he sometimes found himself yielding to hopelessness. What if they did get free somehow and then immediately got recaptured? All their efforts would have been worthless, and there was no way their plan would work a second time. He felt like Kandra Rene always had her eyes on him, and she could take his life at any moment. He’d seen his own death in her alien eyes while she beat him. How long would she hold out before she killed him?
 

A rough hand grabbed Zack’s arm, and he found himself looking into the eyes of the blind mutant, who was pointing at the sky. Zack glanced up and, along with a few clouds, they had a typical view of the encroaching gas giant. He looked back at the blind mutant. “I don’t understand,” Zack said.

The blind mutant pressed its fingertip onto Zack’s forehead and then back up at the sky.

“I got nothing,” Zack said, and looked at Etanu. “Any idea what he’s doing?”

Etanu shook his head. The blind mutant walked off.

“I’m not sure they’re completely blind,” Zack said.

“So now you think he can see?” Etanu asked.

“A little bit. How else would he be able to walk around in a forest?” Zack said.

“At least he’s quieter than you, and presumably you can see just fine,” Etanu said.

“I didn’t have any problems before,” Zack said.

“And you weren’t purposefully going near one of the deadliest creatures in this place,” Etanu answered. “Speaking of which, what’s your plan for luring the creature away so we can check out its lair?”

“I thought you had something in mind,” Zack said.

Etanu glared at him. “No, I thought
you
had a plan for this.”

“I thought you would distract it for a while, and I would take a closer look,” Zack said.

Etanu’s eyes bored into him. “You want to use me as live bait?”

The Nershal’s hard tone gave him pause. “It’s just an idea. You’re the soldier. Do you have a better idea for luring him away?” Zack said, and scratched his forearm where the tracker had been placed.

Etanu looked away for a moment. “Well, you’re right about one thing. We do need to distract it for a while. Let’s scout the area and see what we’re dealing with. And why are you scratching your arm so hard?”

Zack grimaced. “It’s the tracker they put in there. It itches really bad sometimes,” he said, and glanced down at his arm. He’d scratched it so hard that he was bleeding.

“You need to stop scratching. Wounds like that can fester,” Etanu said.

Zack wanted to stop, but he couldn’t. It itched so badly, and scratching it gave him a momentary reprieve from it.

“Stop!” Etanu said, and grabbed Zack’s arm to make him stop.

Zack struggled against the Nershal’s vice-like grip. He knew he should listen to Etanu, but he could feel the tracker crawling against his skin.

“If you don’t stop, you’ll trigger the detonator and you’ll die,” Etanu said.

Zack ceased struggling and felt his face go pale. Then he shook his head.
What just came over me?
Zack thought. “I’m alright. It just comes in waves. Don’t you have one?”

Etanu shook his head. “I don’t think they’re too concerned about me. Remember when I told you about the mutants that tried to escape over the wall?”

Zack nodded.

“It was the detonator in the tracker that killed them,” Etanu said.

“Great,” Zack said and sighed.

“Focus. I need you to focus on something else. Tell me about your companions,” Etanu said.

Zack’s mouth hung open. “We don’t have time for this. You’ve already met—”
 

“Just tell me about them,” Etanu insisted.

The blind mutant came over and squatted down, facing in their direction.

“Well, there are ten of us,” Zack began. His hand started to head for his forearm again, and he stopped.

“That recording Kandra Rene kept showing you—who was that? I didn’t get a good look at it,” Etanu said.

Zack brought his hand to his side and swallowed. “That was our commander, Kaylan.”

“This is the one you care for? The one you would form a bond with?” Etanu asked.

“Depends on what you mean by bond.”
 

“I assume your species mates in order to procreate. So, is Kaylan the one you want to bond with?” Etanu asked.

Zack felt his cheeks flush. “Yes—no—I don’t know. Katie and I were just starting to get to know each other.”

“Can you not have more than one partner?”

Zack snorted. “No, the women of my species tend not to like it when men are intimate with more than one of them at the same time. The same works both ways.”

Etanu frowned. “But you have strong feelings for both of them?”

“Well, yeah I do, and for the rest of the crew. I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to them,” Zack said.