Chasing the Shadows

by Maria V. Snyder

  The shuttle lurches forward then accelerates. I’m pressed back into my seat as the engines howl with the strain. After an eternity, the craft levels off. The engines ease into their normal growl. Niall glances at me and I relax my death grip on his hand, but I don’t release it; there might be another missile.

  A few minutes later, Morgan calls, “We’re clear. No pursuers.”

  They must have figured out that we have Jarren on board. The four of us share big goofy grins. Elese whoops.

  “Thanks so—”

  “None of that,” Beau says to me. “This is what we do.”

  “And we’re extra motivated when it’s one of our own.” Elese hands me a couple of energy bars. “Figured you’d be hungry.”

  The adrenaline in my blood has worn off and my stomach growls in response. But my hands are shaking and the wrapper is being…stupid. Niall takes it from me, peels it off with ease, and hands it back.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be on bed rest?” I mock growl between bites.

  “I thought you were glad I disobeyed orders.”

  Ah. He received my message.

  Lacing his fingers in my free hand, he says, “Besides, no way I’m lying in bed when my girl calls for help.”

  I squeeze his hand. “What about Rance and Zaim?”

  “I didn’t even have to ask. They also wanted to come along in the shuttle, but they’re not as good at disobeying orders.”

  “And you’ve had lots of practice,” Beau says sourly, but it’s obvious from his grin that he’s kidding.

  “You must have taken off soon after we left. How did you avoid getting spotted by Jarren?” I ask.

  Beau’s grin widens. “We went the other way.”

  Too much has happened for me to puzzle it out.

  “We flew around the other side of the planet,” Beau says. “Jarren picked almost the exact opposite side of the world for his base. We could dig straight through it and come up right next to him.”

  “But still you were only a few minutes behind.”

  Elese laughs. “They wasted some time trying to shake off a hitch hiker. And Morgan pushed this bird well past the speed limit. Girl is a serious adrenaline junkie.”

  “I heard that,” Morgan shouts back.

  “Sorry! Officer Morgan is a serious adrenaline junkie. Better, sir?”

  “Much.”

  She smirks, leans toward me, and whispers, “Girl is a bit of a diva, too.”

  I shake my head. Someday I’m going to threaten to tell Morgan she said that in exchange for running less laps. Then again, being in better shape certainly helped me today. My arms and legs ache, but I’m alive. A shudder rips through me at the thought of how close I came. A phantom pressure sits between my shoulder blades.

  “Hey,” Niall says, sensing my panic. “It’s all right. You’re safe. And it worked out better than expected.” He tilts his head at Jarren.

  True. I dangled on the hook and caught a big smelly fish. “What about his people? Did anyone get hurt? Are my parents—”

  “Other than being worried for you, your parents are fine.”

  Good news. “I should message them.”

  “Already done,” Radcliff says from the cockpit.

  “Other than minor injuries, no one was harmed in the attack,” Niall continues. “Our team was successful. The looters who were not unconscious surrendered. They’ll have to be detained with the others from the first attack, along with Jarren. He’ll be put into detention once we question him. The others will be housed in Pit 1. We just don’t have the room or the manpower to guard them any other place.”

  And the good guys don’t kill people if they can avoid it. “Plus the threat of HoLFs might keep them on their best behavior.”

  “Yup,” Elese chimes in. “Y’all be good or we’ll turn off the radio waves and let you be HoLF food.”

  The shuttle lands with a slight bump, waking me and Niall. We curled up together and fell asleep during the last couple hours of the trip. Despite his claims of feeling better, he’s still recovering from the blood loss. My parents are waiting for me in the port. I’m squished in a parent sandwich as soon as I step down. Considering I never expected to see them again, I don’t mind at all.

  There’s excited chattering and explanations all the way to the infirmary. Niall hasn’t been officially discharged and the doctor wants to observe him one more night. And the various cuts and bruises over my body need to be—you guessed it—cleaned and bandaged.

  “It’s a good thing for you that we’ve invented accelerated healing,” Dr. Edwards says. “Or you’d have more scars.” He taps his chin with a finger. “Probably dozens. I wonder…you might have enough lacerations for a record. I’ll have to check your file.”

  “Not funny, Doc,” I say.

  “No, Miss Lawrence, it isn’t.” He gives me a long look before leaving.

  After I’ve dressed in scrubs…again…I go to Niall’s room. He’s no longer in intensive care, but this room faced the explosion, too. The broken windows are boarded over, which is good since the sun’s been up for a couple of hours. At least someone has cleaned up the glass. I shudder just thinking about those sharp little shards. Ugh.

  He wakes when I crawl into bed with him.

  “I can get used to this,” he says sleepily. “Makes me want to stay here longer. Because as soon as I’m discharged—”

  “Back to normal,” I say. “Or as normal as it gets for us.”

  “Which is pretty crazy.” Then he frowns.

  Uh oh. “What’s wrong? You don’t like crazy?”

  “How can you ask me that? I’m in love with you. Crazy is part of the package.”

  “Hey.” I swat him gently, because it’s true and he said he loves me. Can’t get enough of hearing that! “Love you, too, but why did you frown?”

  “Just thinking about all the stuff we still have to figure out.”

  “Like who Jarren’s working with and what they’re planning?” Knowing Jarren, he won’t tell us anything. Unfortunately, that’s not the only thing. “And what’s going on with those portals and how do we close that rip in Pit 2 to keep the HoLFs out forever?”

  “Yes. We have Jarren—a major coup—and, without him in the Q-net, we’ll be able to reestablish contact with DES, but I think the bigger battle is still to come.”

  Ugh. “Why don’t we worry about that tomorrow? Today, I’ve a more important question that needs an answer.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. Your middle name. What does the S stand for?”

  He smiles. “Sensible.”

  The next morning Radcliff and my parents come to Niall’s room for a short debriefing. I tell them everything that happened. Mom scowls when I recount my reasoning about grabbing onto the shuttle’s leg. “Staying close to Jarren was the only thing I could do to keep him from detonating the explosive device.”

  “The HoLFs are too good for him,” she mutters under her breath.

  The thought of what my mother might do to him… No. Not going there.

  “I’d like to get a closer look at his base, but I don’t have the manpower right now,” Radcliff says. “Jarren has clammed up as well. Too bad we don’t have any of that pink liquid you mentioned.”

  “You couldn’t use it anyway,” Niall says. “Jarren has rights.” His tone is full of disgust.

  “Yeah, the right to suffer horribly,” Dad says.

  Wow. No love for the murdering looter. Not that I can blame them. “Maybe since I’ve been there and Jarren’s no longer in the Q-net, I can worm into their files and find out how many people are still there, what weapons they have, and how they’re traveling,” I offer.

  “All right,” Radcliff says.

  “Once she’s fully recovered,” Mom adds.

  “Of course.” He turns to me. “I’m giving you a commendation for your quick thinking with the bomb. And for your role in making Operation Looter Attack a success.”

  Suddenly uncomfortable, I squ
irm. It’s a wonderful gesture, but I don’t really think—

  “Stop frowning,” Mom says. “You deserve it. Accept it with grace.”

  Typical Mom. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” Radcliff says. “Now the question is, which record do I list it in? Ara Yinhexi Lawrence’s or Lyra Tian Daniels’?”

  Ah, good question. I don’t have to hide from Jarren, and the rest of the base knows I’m alive. No reason to be Ara Lawrence anymore. Yet…I can’t go back to being Lyra Daniels. She’s an entirely different person than I am now. We have a few things in common—like the best boyfriend in the Galaxy, great parents (shhh…don’t tell them I said that!), and a tendency to be in the middle of the trouble—but I’ve found my purpose and I’ve experienced so much since then. No, Lyra Daniels is gone.

  “Ara Yinhexi Lawrence.” I shoot a glance at my parents. Will they be mad?

  Both are smiling. And when they leave, I get another parent sandwich. Bonus. Niall is discharged late that afternoon.

  “Don’t entangle with the Q-net for the next seven days,” Dr. Edwards says to Niall. “I’ll do another brain scan then and you can try again.”

  “All right,” Niall says.

  I’m curious, but refrain from asking Niall until we’re alone. As we’re walking back to security, a few scientists stop to thank us for saving everyone in the base. It’s nice and weird at the same time. They were all evacuated to Pit 21 before Jarren showed up. Many of them will be helping to guard the looters in Pit 1 and will be training to fight as well. It’s still another five hundred and eight-five days until the Protector Class ship arrives and Jarren’s cohorts will probably come after us. The scientists no longer have the luxury of doing research, but will be helping us to fight for our survival.

  Once we reach Niall’s unit, I ask, “What’s with Dr. Edwards and the Q-net?”

  “Oh. It’s a strange side effect of losing so much blood. It’s nothing serious,” he hurries to add. “It’s just I can’t entangle with the Q-net anymore.”

  That’s not serious? Not by my definition. “How—”

  “Dr. Edwards said it’s probably temporary. That my brain might need to heal some more. Or maybe the HoLFs damaged the sensors.” He shrugs. “I’m not too concerned. It’s not like I’m a super wormer or a navigator. I can still use the surface programs and a portable, all I basically use anyway.”

  Niall continues to downplay it. He gives me a kiss before going in to take a shower. My thoughts, however, are racing and replaying that light show the Q-net displayed when I mentioned fixing Niall. It couldn’t have healed him. Right? That’s all kinds of scary. Which you’d think I’d be used to.

  Except people have gone insane when they’re connected to the Q-net for more than twelve hours. And I’ve been connected since Jarren attacked over forty-eight hours ago. I haven’t disentangled. No, I just reach out when I need it and there it is. Like another part of my brain. I hurry to my room to sort it out.

  Of course all I manage to do is freak out more. I access the Q-net and go to my perceptive cluster. Then I search for information on brain damage and miracle healing and entangling and the science behind the sensors we all have in our heads. Who designed them? Which leads me to the Q-net’s origins and the original inventors. And…ugh. Way too much information and none of it helpful. Then I try to figure out if anyone else in the Galaxy can do what I do with the Q-net. I can’t be that special. Can I?

  YOU ARE, the Q-net says.

  Have I gone a little bit more insane? It has extended its vocabulary past here and not here. But I’ve exhausted all my emotional energy, so I just go with it. What did I do? What happened to me?

  NOTHING. I CHOSE YOU.

  There’s so much wrong with that sentence—the Q-net referred to itself as I—but I hold off on my freak out. Instead I ask, Why me?

  YOU SHINE.

  A video feed of me in the pits plays. I’m scrambling to hide the hatch to the factory, but, when I finish camouflaging it, it’s too late for me to escape. My actions prevented the looters from finding and destroying the Warrior hearts.

  YOU BELIEVE.

  A series of images of me flashes. I’m lying on the ground of the port with Menz over me. Then there’s one of Dr. Edwards shocking my heart. That was the first time I flew with the Q-net.

  YOU HELP.

  Another video plays. This time it shows me, the other security officers, and the astrophysicists in the archeology lab when we installed the sensor.

  I make a sudden realization. After each series of events, I was able to better work with the Q-net until I didn’t need tangs or a terminal and now I don’t even need to entangle and disentangle. And it’s all because the Q-net picked me?

  YES.

  Wow. Did you heal Niall?

  YES. YOU ASKED.

  Another staggering statement. And again I want to know, Why me?

  NEED YOU.

  An image of the rip in Pit 2 and shadow-blobs disappearing inside it. I mull over the implications and it hits me that this…thing I have with the Q-net started around the time the shadow-blobs showed up.

  YES.

  You need me to help stop the HoLFs?

  YES. NO LONGER PROTECTED.

  We’re no longer being protected because the Warriors are being destroyed?

  YES.

  Okay. That fits the timing. Except why does the Q-net care? Has it become self-aware and believes if we die, it will die too?

  PROTECT YOU.

  A picture of the entire Milky Way Galaxy spreads across my vision.

  I AM HERE.

  Then a strange thought forms in my mind. And there’s a good chance it’s not my own thought—'cause this entire exchange with the Q-net is beyond anything else I’ve experienced. However, the idea is that perhaps the Q-net wasn’t invented by the scientists on Earth. No, it was discovered and tapped into. Used.

  NO. PERMITTED.

  Why?

  YOUR TIME.

  Our time? I consider. We’ve advanced in technology far enough to earn the right to use the Q-net?

  YES.

  Why didn’t you let anyone know?

  NOT READY.

  Not until we destroyed the Warriors and let the shadow-blobs in. And once I think about it, we’re still not ready. No one is going to believe me. I’m not sure I believe it myself. I need to clarify a few things.

  Did you build and place the Warriors on planets throughout the Galaxy?

  NO. OTHERS.

  Okay. And where are they now?

  GONE.

  Where did they go?

  BEYOND THE EDGE.

  Of the Galaxy?

  YES.

  And you were…

  LEFT TO PROTECT.

  Back to this again. Why didn’t you stop Jarren from destroying the Warriors?

  CAN NOT.

  I suspect there’s more there, but I’m still trying to wrap my brain around all this. Basically, you were left behind to protect us and also help us when we reached a certain technological level.

  YES.

  And you’re an alien consciousness. Do you have a physical body?

  NO.

  What are you?

  I AM THE MILKY WAY.

  Oh. My. Stars.

  Thank You

  Thank you for choosing Chasing the Shadows, book 2 in my Sentinels of the Galaxy series. The third book, Defending the Galaxy, will be out in November 2020!

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  Acknowledgments

  I always wonder if anyone—besides the people being thanked—ever read the acknowledgments. And, if they do, are they bored with mine, since I practically thank the same group of people book after book after book. This is my eighteenth time writing an acknowledgment, and, truthfully, I’m a little bored. Not with thanking people, because I’m eternally grateful for the love and support of my network of family, friends, and all the hardworking people at Harlequin Australia! But with the format.

  In an effort to make my acknowledgments more fun, I’ve written this quiz. The answers are all the people who have made writing this book a blast! Thank you ALL so much!

  The Acknowledgment Quiz

  (answers on the next page)

  * * *

  Who designed yet another perfect cover for the book?