United: An Alienated Novel (19 page)

She punched the accelerator and zoomed across the canyon toward the hovercraft, prepared to bump it with her starboard wing. She approached so quickly Jaxen didn’t have time to react. His head snapped in her direction, his eyes wide. But too late, Cara realized she’d left the cloaking mode engaged. Without a visual of the wing, she could easily chop Jaxen in half instead of knocking him to the ground. She swerved around the craft and disabled the cloaking device, then came around for another pass.

This time Jaxen was ready. He raised his staff while Aisly and the clone crouched low to give him more freedom of movement. The staff headpiece glowed alive, and Jaxen aimed it at the shuttle. Cara dodged the invisible force with a sharp right, and then came at him again. She was closer now, close enough to see the fear etched onto her clone’s face. Rune had changed visibly since their last encounter. She’d lost weight, making her cheekbones more pronounced and her jaw sharp. She must’ve known what was coming, because she released Jaxen and jumped to the ground. Cara was only a few yards from connecting with the hovercraft when Jaxen raised his staff and struck out again.

There was a loud buzz, and instantly, the shuttle engine died.

As her stomach dipped in a freefall, Cara tipped the shuttle aside, just enough to tap the hovercraft with her port wing. It connected with a resounding
thunk
that tossed Jaxen and Aisly overboard.

Cara barely had time to brace for impact. The shuttle sailed toward the sand, where it hit with a bone-rattling jolt and skidded on its belly until it met the resistance of a dirt mound and jerked to a stop. Cara’s neck snapped forward and back. She opened her eyes to find the shuttle nose embedded in the landfill. The controls were silent, the whole system dead, but a quick glance in the backseat revealed everyone alive.

Troy had already started unfastening his harness, reminding Cara to do the same. She rubbed her aching neck with one hand while using the other to free herself. Elle and Syrine followed suit, and soon they all filed outside into the sweltering desert.

Dusk had fallen, the sun a mere glow on the horizon, but it was enough for Cara to make out Rune in the distance, hurt and limping toward Jaxen and Aisly, who were near the cliff ledge, struggling to stand up.

Troy didn’t hesitate. He dropped to one knee and extended his pistol, squinting to take aim. Before Cara could tell him to stop, he squeezed off four deafening shots. The hybrids flinched and ducked. Cara thought she saw Jaxen stumble backward a pace, but it was hard to tell.

“I hit him,” Troy said, standing. “I need a closer shot.”

And with that, he took off at a sprint, kicking up dust in his wake. Elle followed, yelling for him to wait. Cara started after them, then remembered Syrine’s broken ankle. The healing accelerant must’ve done its job, because Syrine sped past her.

The dusty air dulled Cara’s sight as she followed the others. By the time she caught up, she found the hybrids divided. Aisly sat alone at the cliff’s edge, cradling an injured foot, while about ten yards away, Jaxen stood protectively in front of Rune. A patch of blood blossomed out from his stomach. It seemed to be spreading quickly. When Troy fired another shot, Jaxen absorbed the bullet’s velocity with his staff and rebounded that energy in a bolt that sent Troy hurtling backward. His pistol landed on the sand, and Syrine dove for it. Once she had the weapon in her grasp, Jaxen knocked her into a violent roll.

“It’s over,” Cara called to Jaxen. “Aelyx disabled both of your ships. You’ll die if that wound isn’t treated, but if you lay down your staff and—” A force slammed into her, and she landed hard on the dirt.

She brushed herself off and watched Jaxen summon his hovercraft. Once it reached him, he scooped Rune into his arms and stepped onto the narrow board. “A generous offer,
Cah
-ra,” he hollered with a grin, “but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline.”

Decline?
Had he lost his mind? There was nowhere to go. He would bleed out before the hovercraft carried him beyond the desert.

Aisly managed to stand on one wobbly leg, raising a hand toward Jaxen as if hailing a cab. He rose higher and higher into the air, then began motoring in the other direction. Aisly let out a sob of panic and shouted to him in L’eihr. “Jaxen! Don’t leave me!”

But that was exactly what he did. It appeared Rune had replaced more than just Cara in his brittle excuse for a heart. All alone, Aisly screamed obscenities at him, until she noticed Troy and Syrine approaching. She glanced behind her, but there was nowhere to go but down.

Wiping the dirt from her face, Aisly tried to appeal to Syrine, who held the gun trained on her chest. “You need me. I’m the only one who can bring back your
l’ihan
. If I die, he dies, too.”

“He’s already dead,” Syrine replied in an eerie calm. “But don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you.” She added,
“Yet.”

“Give me the gun,” Troy ordered, but Syrine waved him off. The pistol began to tremble in her fist. If she didn’t calm down, she’d shoot Aisly whether she meant to or not.

Cara wedged herself between the two, holding out a hand for the pistol. “It’s okay, Syrine. You can give me the gun. I promise I won’t let Troy shoot her.”

After that, everything happened in a rush.

Aisly called Troy’s name, and he made the mistake of looking her in the eyes. An instant later, he rounded on Cara and grabbed her by the throat. Cara clawed at his fingers as her airway closed. She kicked and sputtered, but nothing fazed him. He dragged her toward Syrine, using his free hand to snatch at the pistol.

Elle stepped in, throwing a handful of sand in Aisly’s face. Then she picked up a smooth stone and struck Troy in the head. At once, the fingers around Cara’s throat loosened, and her brother collapsed.

Blinded, Aisly fought to maintain her balance while clearing the grit from her eyes. She began to stumble backward, dangerously close to the ledge. Cara lunged out to grab her. The tips of her fingers skimmed Aisly’s tunic, but before she could get a better grip, the arid soil crumbled beneath Aisly’s feet, and she fell backward into the abyss.

Cara’s breath caught in horror. Aisly’s screams echoed through the night and then abruptly cut off, replaced by a macabre silence. Goose bumps raised on Cara’s forearms. She remembered her brother and dropped to her knees by his side.

“Will he be okay?” she asked Elle.

“I’m sure there are healing accelerants in Aisly’s shuttle. She would have needed them after Troy shot—” Elle cut off with a gasp, pointing back the way they’d come. “Jaxen!”

Cara leaned around Elle, squinting in the growing darkness at their shuttle, which was still partially embedded in a pile of dirt. Jaxen pointed his staff at the engine, and it hummed to life, restored of the energy he’d stolen from it.

Cara jumped to her feet. “He’s stealing our shuttle.”

“All of our things are in there,” Syrine said, then drew a sharp breath. “
David’s
things are in there!”

But they were powerless to stop him. Jaxen and Rune boarded the shuttle, and the engine revved in reverse, freeing its nose from the dirt. Moments later the craft ascended, and then it was gone.

Cara’s com-sphere buzzed. Aelyx asked, “Where are you going? Come back.”

“That’s not me.” She explained what had happened. “I hope you didn’t ruin Aisly’s shuttle, because we’re going to need it.”

Larish’s face popped into view. “I only removed her cables. I can reinstall them.”

“How about the Aribols’ coordinates?” Cara asked. “Did you find them?”

Aelyx answered with a smile, his teeth glowing white in the darkness.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

His grin fell. “I thought you’d be happier.”

“I’ll take a celebratory rain check. Right now I need to restrain my brother before he wakes up and tries to kill me again.”

“Stay where you are,” Aelyx said. “I’ll come to you.”

Ten minutes later, an unconscious Troy was tied to the front passenger seat in Aisly’s shuttle while the rest of the group stood outside his open door, trying to figure out how to undo the effects of Aisly’s brainwashing. Cara had a feeling the girl’s death hadn’t magically erased whatever orders she’d given Troy. The hybrids had a way of permanently altering minds when they wanted to.

“I was right,” Elle said. She knelt on the ground, using a flashlight to sort through the medical kit she’d found in the shuttle. “There’s some healing accelerant left.”

Elle filled a syringe with milky fluid and injected it into the side of Troy’s neck. He began to stir, and Elle hopped back just in time. Fully awake, Troy thrashed wildly against his bindings with the kind of fury that made Cara worry he might hurt himself.

“Can we sedate him?” she asked.

“I’m already working on it.” Elle used another syringe to inject Troy with something that caused his muscles to relax. He didn’t fall asleep, but his eyelids slid to half-mast and he rested his head against the seatback.

Cara massaged her temples. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn’t take her brother to the hospital. The Marines would arrest him, and regardless, there was no cure for this sort of thing in the medical handbook.

Syrine made her way to the front of the group. “I’d like to try something.”

Cara moved aside.

“I’ve never seen into the minds of Aisly’s victims,” Syrine said. She situated herself in front of Troy and took his head between both hands. “I’m curious whether I can remove her influence the way I can remove negative emotions.”

She peered deeply into Troy’s eyes and fell silent while Cara held her breath in anticipation. The seconds ticked by and turned into minutes. Syrine’s hands began to shake. She strained to hold the connection until she abruptly broke away and slouched over, panting for breath. Cara was about to ask if it worked when Troy blinked sleepily and slurred, “Shouldn’t have looked her in the eyes. I told you that bitch has skills.”

Cara sighed with relief. “
Had
skills. Aisly’s dead.”

“Good,” he mumbled. “She told me to kill all of you, then shoot myself.” He yawned widely and flinched. “Why does my head hurt?”

Elle extended a hand to touch him and then pulled back. “I’m sorry. I hit you harder than I meant to.”

Syrine grinned at her friend. “I’m fairly certain you’ll earn his forgiveness,” she said in L’eihr. “He’s in love with you. I felt it.”

Elle’s mouth flew open in perfect sync with her eyes. She snapped her gaze to Troy, but he didn’t notice. His lids had drifted shut, and he’d begun snoring lightly.

Cara shared an amused glance with Aelyx and then cleared her throat. “Do you think you can do that again?” she asked Syrine. “To a whole group of people?”

Syrine blotted her forehead with her shirt hem. “Yes, one at a time. I’d have to rest in between sessions, though.”

“Perfect.” Cara smiled, cashing in her celebratory rain check. “Let’s see if we can book you an appointment with the president.”

Chapter Thirteen

I
’ll pass the coordinates on to the navigator team.” Jake swallowed hard enough to shift his Adam’s apple. His hologram paled visibly, which was saying a lot, as his blond-haired, blue-eyed software geek complexion was fair to begin with. “I can’t believe you found them.”

Neither could Cara. But now that her adrenaline had worn off and the night breeze cooled her flushed skin, she understood Jake’s reaction. She felt a prickle of sympathy for him. She’d been so focused on pinpointing the location of the Aribols’ home planet that she hadn’t given much thought to what the Voyagers would have to do with those coordinates. Soon they would go knocking on hell’s door to face an enemy they knew nothing about.

They had to be terrified.

“Will you pass along something else for me, too?” she asked.

“What is it?”

“My gratitude. I want all the colonists on board, yourself included, to know how proud I am of you. None of you had to join the search. You volunteered. And what you’re about to do is the bravest thing I can imagine.” She smiled at him. “I’m glad to have you on my team, Jake.”

The praise seemed to make him uncomfortable. He scratched the back of his neck and inspected his shoes while mumbling something vaguely resembling a thank you. He peeked up through his lashes. “If that’s it, will you hand me to Syrine? I want to ask her something before I go.”

Cara bit the inside of her cheek and glanced at the shuttle, where Syrine and the others were catching a few hours of much needed shuteye. “Now’s not a good time.”

“Oh. I’ll try her later, then.”

Cara was pretty sure what Jake wanted to ask Syrine, and
later
wasn’t a good time for that discussion either. “There’s something you should know. I don’t want this getting out, so keep it between us.” After Jake nodded, she told him how Aisly had manipulated Syrine with the false promise of reanimating the love of her life. “Now she’s grieving for him all over again, so you can probably imagine why it’s a bad idea to ask her for romantic advice.”

Jake’s whole face melted into a frown. “The poor girl. That’s awful.”

“Yes, it is,” Cara agreed. “So why don’t you ask me instead?”

His blond brows shot up.

“Oh, come on, I’m totally qualified for this. I fell for a L’eihr, too, remember? I know better than anyone what you’re going through. The whole ‘culture clash’ thing was a nightmare at first.”

“At first?” That piqued his interest. “So it got easier?”

“Sure, but there was a lot of trial and error along the way.” Cara thought back to those first awkward weeks with Aelyx. Neither of them had understood anything about the other. She’d tried to force-feed him pizza, which he’d hated, and he’d offended her with his clinical honesty regarding her waist-to-hip ratio. Even their first kiss had happened because of a competition to see whose method of expressing affection was best. (She’d won.) “So why don’t you tell me what’s going on between you and …” She tried to remember the L’eihr girl’s name. “Arah?”

“Ayah.”

“Right. Ayah.”