The Awakening (The Hyperscape Project Book 1) (6 page)

“You kill enemy.
We thank you,” the big alien said.

Nick stared at
the massive beast in surprise. “They were your enemy?”

An answer came
from behind him. It was the female.

“Yes, they came
and killed millions our people. The ones they not kill, they enslave. Two races
fight each other over territory. Our territory they take.”

Nick pondered
her words. He was somewhat relieved to realize that this bunch of aliens hadn’t
been trying to kill him. Instead, it was their enemies that had been doing all
the shooting at him. The alien creatures aboard this ship were just caught in
the middle of some interstellar war.

The big alien
pointed to Nick’s pocket. “What is here?”

Nick was
momentarily puzzled, uncertain as to what the alien referred to. Then he
realized. The coin. But how did the alien even know about his lucky coin? 
“Oh yeah. The scan, that must be how you know about it.” Nick pulled the coin
out of his pocket and held it in his palm.

“This is a coin.
It’s money, what we use to buy things. Do you understand buy?”

“Yes, currency.
We also have.”

The female broke
in. “What you name?”

“Nick…Nick
Bannon.”

“Well, Nicnic
Bannon, I am Arya. This is Karg.” She studied him for a long moment, then reached
out and touched his hair. She seemed intrigued by the texture of his hair and
even wrinkled her nose a little as she rolled a few strands between her
fingers. “We have not seen any like you. What species you?” she asked. The
wonder in her eyes resembled that of a biologist examining some newly
discovered life-form. Nick just hoped his ass never landed on a Petri dish.

“I am Human.
From a place called Earth.”

“Urt?” She
glanced at Karg curiously. Karg looked just as puzzled.

“No, it’s….”
Nick started to correct her but then stopped himself. Maybe it was better if he
didn’t say
too
much. After all, he still had no clue who these
people…er…aliens were.

“What mean
this?” Karg poked the I.S.A. patch displayed on the front of Nick’s flight
suit. The power of the alien’s single, huge finger knocked Nick off balance,
forcing him to take a step back.

“I.S.A. is an
alliance dedicated to peace. It—”

Beep, beep.
Nick’s explanation was cut off as a voice erupted from the com-badges worn by
the two aliens. “Karg, Arya, I’m getting anomalous readings from the aft
section. Can you go…. Wait, what….I don’t understand. I just lost engine
control. I need you two to get down there. Now.”

Arya’s
expression changed to one of concern as she looked at Karg. With a low growl,
Karg turned and headed to the door.

“We’re on our
way, Argos.” Arya glanced back at Nick as she started to leave. “Stay here.”
She held up one hand, much like a human telling a dog to stay.

Nick didn’t even
get a chance to spit out a response before Arya and Karg disappeared through
the doorway.

The force field
zapped its way back into position, leaving Nick trapped and helpless to do
anything but wonder. No engines and enemy vessels all around did not sound
good, and his ass was still on the line. He’d hate to be stuck in an ugly, cold
room, unable to save himself should the ship go down. If these aliens couldn’t
get the ship fixed, they’d all be cooked.

Feeling
frustrated, Nick kicked at the force field and accidentally touched the edge
enough to get a good zap that left him reeling backwards and shouting curses at
his own stupidity.  He hopped around on one foot for a few seconds, his
injured foot held gingerly between his hands until his ass plopped onto a low
bench.  He put his head in his hands and sighed.

“Damn, can my
day get any worse?”

Faint, hollow
thumps rang from a remote part of the ship, bouncing off the walls of the room
where he sat. Nick dragged his face out of his hands and listened. The noises
reminded him of being on Earth, listening to the sound of distant thunder
rumbling through the metal aircraft hangar he’d spent so much time in. Figuring
the sounds were coming from the aliens working to repair the ship, Nick decided
to use the time to study his surroundings more closely. The dark, drab walls
were really more like a prison cell than a room. Through the dim light, he
spotted a sink in the corner with a mirror attached to the wall above it. He
stood and walked toward the mirror but was startled by his reflection. He
peered closer. The stress from the strange events of the day was clearly
evident in his haggard face. His dark, normally neat hair stuck up every which
way, his blue eyes were blood shot, and he sported a full day’s stubble. He
hadn’t seen dark circles under his eyes like that since his dad died. He was a
wreck, and he
felt
even worse than he looked. The drawn face looking
back at him brought a morbid sense of reality to his unbelievably bizarre day.
He had still been hoping it was all some sort of strange dream, praying that
any time now he would wake up safe in his bed after a hard sleep filled with
weird nightmares. But the face staring back at him said otherwise.

“You’ve gone and
done it now. How are you going to get out of this one?” he asked his pale
reflection. As the words left his mouth, he heard the sound of Arya’s voice in
the background. She was talking to someone as she approached from down the
corridor. The sense of urgency in her voice drew his attention.

“I’m headed to
pick up the alien prisoner. I’ll meet you on the Bridge.”

Karg answered,
his voice sounding tinny and distant over Arya’s com-badge. “No, Arya! We don’t
know if he can be trusted. Leave him and get to the Bridge.”

Arya paused just
down the hall from Nick’s room. “Karg, if they steal our prisoner, they will
find out what he knows. You know what the Mok’tu would do with that kind of
weapon!”

Weapons-fire in
the background punctuated Karg’s response. “Alright….”
Kawpow.
“But
watch him….”
Blang.
“I’m pinned down in Bay Two….”
Ping.
“Be
there as soon as I can.”

A second later
Arya popped around the corner. Nick immediately noticed the pistol in her hand.
“Come on. Quickly!” Motioning for Nick to leave the room, she pointed down the
corridor. “That way.”

Nick proceeded
down the corridor with Arya guiding him from behind. How interesting that she
called
him
alien. He had been worried about trusting them and yet all
this time they were afraid they couldn’t trust
him
.

“Stop here,”
Arya commanded.

Nick obediently
stopped.

She pushed a
button on the wall, and a door slid open. “Inside.”

Nick stepped
into the vertical transport tube with Arya behind him.

“Bridge.” The
tube bolted upwards, surprising Nick with its acceleration. His knees buckled
for a second and he had to force himself upright again. Just about the time he
managed to straighten, the tube came to an abrupt halt, leaving Nick with the
odd sensation of having his stomach thrown upward toward his brains as his
weight lightened. As he equalized, the doors opened, revealing a large,
although sparsely occupied Bridge. The slimy alien that Nick had seen earlier
was stationed off to one side, monitoring his holo-display. From a seat in the
center of the room, another alien worked a small control panel. From what Nick
could tell, the alien in the middle was from the same race as Arya, only this
one was larger and apparently male.

“How the frek
did the Mok’tu get on board?” Ayra demanded in an angry tone.

Without turning
around, the alien in the center of the room answered in a strong, commanding
voice. “It’s an advanced tactical squad. The coolant leak from engine three
must have masked their approach. They came in a Stalker.”

“A stealth ship
with a Tac Squad? How many?”

“Typical five
Mech crew. They breached the hull near Bay Two and managed to cripple the
engines. We can’t get past them to repair it.”

Not even
thinking, Nick spoke up. “Why don’t you just kill them?”

The alien in the
center spun around with a look of surprise and disdain. His eyes flared for a
second as his gaze landed on Nick. “Arya? What is
this
doing here?”

“Sorry, Captain
Argos.” Arya grabbed Nick’s arm and yanked him forward. “This is the alien from
the hole. We can’t allow him or his ship to fall into the hands of the Mok’tu
or everything we have worked for would be lost.”

The Captain’s
gaze slid back to Nick as he assessed the situation. Reluctantly, he gave Arya
a barely discernible nod of agreement then it was back to business. “You better
take a look at this.”

A holo-display
popped up in front of the Captain. With a voice command, the screen played a
vid recording of the Mok’tu entering the hangar bay. From the few seconds of
retrieved records, it was easy to see that the squad was searching for
something. They were using some kind of small device to narrow in on their
target, and that target was obviously Nick’s module.

Nick’s tension
rose. He didn’t like what he was seeing. Without that module, he wouldn’t have
a prayer of getting back to earth.

Upon locating
the craft, two Mok’tu immediately started to scan it. A third efficiently took
out the hangar bay cameras with a few quick, well aimed blasts from a rifle.
Then the screen went blank.

Captain Argos
uttered another brief voice command. The holographic image responded by
collapsing back into oblivion.   

“How did they
find us so quickly?” Arya asked.

The Captain’s
gaze moved to Nick.

Arya turned, her
brow lowering. “You! You brought them here!” She raised her pistol toward Nick.
A single stride brought her face to face with him, and with astonishing
strength, she knocked him to the ground. She landed on top of him, one hand
grasping his collar, while the other held the gun against his chest. Her
blinding speed had taken Nick completely by surprise. “And to think I felt
sorry for you!”

“Take it easy,
Arya,” the Captain warned. “He didn’t do anything deliberately. The Tac Squad
tracked some kind of fuel leak from his craft. That’s how they found us.”

Arya let go of
Nick and stood up, leaving him lying on the floor. She stared down at him for a
moment, an odd quirk to her mouth that seemed half smirk half apology. “Sorry.”

Nick wasn’t
happy about the Mok’tu showing interest in his module, nor was he pleased to
hear of the fuel leak. He would need every precious drop of fuel that remained
in the module’s tank to make it home. These aliens didn’t appear to have the
means to get him to Earth, so the module was his only chance. He sure as hell
wasn’t going to just let the damn Mok’tu take it.

He winced as he
picked himself up off the floor. “Listen, people…er…whatever. Why are we just
sitting here? You have weapons. We could take these bastards!”

The female’s
gaze met his, her mouth moving toward a slight grin. Nick didn’t know what to
make of her smile. Did she like his eagerness, or did she just think he was
being stupid?

As if dealing
with a small child, Arya took Nick’s arm and gently pulled him aside. “Mok’tu
Tac Squads have shields. You can’t shoot them.”

“Shields? Like
the door to the room?” Nick questioned.

“No, the Tac
Squad’s personal shields only stop energy weapons, like this plasma pistol.
Only a ship can generate enough energy for shields like your cell door, shields
that can protect against a physical attack.”

“So, you can’t
shoot them, but you can hit them with something?”

“Yes,” she
answered slowly. “A personal shield allows for normal movement and contact
between objects but blocks energy weapons. Otherwise the soldiers would not be
able to get close enough to anything to pick it up.”

Nick began
working out a solution in his head. Growing up as a wunderkind of sorts, he had
become accustomed to making the impossible possible. For him, defeat was not an
option. The Mok’tu had to have a weakness somewhere. Given enough time, he
would find it.

“We could draw
them out and hit them from behind. Ambush them,” Nick suggested.

Clearly annoyed
by Nick’s ignorance, Captain Argos interrupted. “This is all pointless. Tac
Squads are trained to disable propulsion and hold the area until support
arrives. They are very efficient. You can’t flush them out, and you can’t get
close enough to hurt one without becoming a splat on the deck. We don’t have
much time either. You can bet more Mok’tu forces are on the way.” The Captain
spun his chair back around and checked the sensor readings.

The sound of the
tube doors opening drew Nick’s awareness. He didn’t even have to look to know
who it was. He could tell by the vibration of the floor that Karg was entering
the room.

Karg went
directly to the Captain. “They’re entrenched good, Captain. They have all the
access corridors to the aft section welded shut, except for Bay Two.”

Nick touched
Arya on the shoulder to get her attention. “What about a regular gun? Would
that work?”

Arya looked
confused by his question. “A what?”

“Gun powder,
lead bullet?” He could tell by her expression that she had no idea what he was
talking about. “Um, an explosion that pushes a mass through a tube, at a
target.”

“My ancestors
had such things,” answered Karg. “Long ago, before plasma weapons. We have no
such ancient weapons here. Plasma much more efficient, will not punch hole
through hull.”

“Can we make
one?” Nick questioned. “There has to be
something
on this ship we could
use.”

The Captain
looked at Nick sternly. “There is no time. Can you create that hole of yours
again?”

Nick shook his
head. “No. Even if I could get to my ship, the equipment is destroyed.”

Argos looked
back at Arya and Karg with his usual commanding gaze. “I need options. If we
don’t do something before their Star-Killer gets here….” The Captain stared
straight into Arya’s eyes. “I will
blow
this ship before I let them take
it.”

Arya took a deep
breath and gave Argos an apprehensive nod. “Understood.”

Nick Bannon was
not about to let himself fall into the hands of an alien race that even Karg
feared. Nor did he plan on going down with the ship. He pointed at Arya’s gun.
“Tell me about your plasma pistol.”

Arya looked at
the Captain for his approval.

Argos nodded.
“Show him.”

She walked over
to a smooth, white table protruding from a wall on the right side of the
bridge. Pulling the magazine from her gun, she laid it on the table and
dismantled the pistol’s chamber. She held up the shiny silver ammo magazine for
Nick to examine. “This clip contains the fuel pellets for the plasma reaction
and the power source for ignition. Each clip contains 144 rounds.” Reaching
down, she picked up the dismantled reaction chamber. “The chamber is where the
Quantonium pellet is turned into plasma, which is then held by a magnetic
field. The electromagnetic field drives the plasma through the barrel. It all happens
very fast.”

“An
electromagnetic field? Like a linear accelerator?”

“Yes. You know
of such things?”

“Yeah, we use
linear accelerators in our rail guns and….”  Nick thought for a moment.
“That’s it!” His explosive shout startled Arya, and her ears automatically
folded back as she flinched. Nick was too focused to even realize that
he
had scared
her
for a change.

“Can you fire
the pellet without transforming it into plasma?” Nick queried.

“Yes, but they
are very small in mass. They wouldn’t—”