by Caryn Lix
Another alien emerged from around the corner, hissing and leaning toward the first. I blinked, almost too taken aback for fear. These aliens looked different from the ones on Sanctuary. I mean, not totally different. They were obviously the same kind of creatures. But they were larger, paler in color, with thinner tails and longer claws, claws extending at least six inches beyond what passed for fingers and curving in talons. Everything else was the same: the mottled coloring, the glistening skin, the hunched walk, the shrill cries—and, thank God, the milky-white eyes. It never even occurred to me to look for variations in aliens, or that some of them might have sight.
The aliens shrilled to each other, and I closed my own eyes, absorbing the sounds. On Sanctuary, I’d briefly understood bits and pieces of their language, and I’d read it on the ship, at least to a certain degree. If I managed the same thing here . . .
As always, the alien language was impossible to translate, because they didn’t speak the way humans did. I got the sense it was only a little bit like a conversation, and also a bit like animals communicating through tone and inflection. Still, I got a sliver here and there. I bit into my tongue, tasting blood and using the pain to refocus, to draw myself further into the alien voices.
At last they quieted. My eyes flew open in time to see a long, slithering tail lash around the corner, and I released a shaky breath. “They’re going to the command center,” I whispered, glancing to Cage. “At least, I think they are. They’re searching for something, or someone. I’m not sure what.” I scowled in frustration. “Sorry. I’m not much help.”
“That’s help,” Rune said firmly.
Cage nodded his agreement. “At least we know where they’re headed. Let’s get into Grigori’s apartment and—”
Another scream shattered the air, this one human. We hesitated for a split second before we broke into a run. No matter who it was, we couldn’t leave them to the aliens.
We’d only gone a few steps before I realized Liam wasn’t behind us. I spun. “Come on!”
He scowled and shook his head. “You three do what you want. I’m not going anywhere.”
I hesitated, but we didn’t have time to argue. “Give me your gun!” I snapped. “Coward!”
He shrugged and tossed it to me. “It’s not going to do much good against those things.”
I ignored his comment and snagged it out of midair. My hands trembled around the weapon as I steadied it. This was not a stun gun. It wasn’t a pistol like the one I’d fired at Matt, but if I missed with this, whoever I hit wouldn’t get up again. I’d demanded it without thinking and now I almost tossed it aside. The memory of that tail stopped me. I wouldn’t shoot, not unless I had a clear shot, not unless I had to. But I also wouldn’t be defenseless against those things.
We raced around the corner and found two aliens flanking Bian and Priya, both bounty hunters with their weapons drawn, not seeming to know what to target. Bian bled heavily from claw marks in her arm, and her weapon kept drooping even as Priya barked orders.
Cage swung into action, blasting across the room in a flash of silver and black. He skidded to a halt on the other side of the corridor, poised with his arm stretched behind him, his blade glinting with the fluid from the alien’s body.
The alien, its head now separated from its torso, crashed into the floor with a thud. Its body thrashed a moment longer before going still.
The other alien released a scream of utter rage, as if even without sight it knew exactly what had happened. It leaped for Cage with unerring accuracy, and he barely managed to propel himself out of the way. He must have swung his sword as he did so, because a moment later he tumbled to the floor, leaving the cutlass buried in the alien’s arm.
He’d missed.
Cage flipped onto his elbows and froze as the creature screamed again. It ignored the sword protruding from its arm, pivoting back and forth in search of him.
Somewhere in the distance, another alien howled.
“What are you waiting for?” I shouted at the hunters. “Kill it!” I raised Liam’s musket and targeted as best I could. I knew how to operate a laser rifle, but Omnistellar didn’t use them much; traditional weapons and stun guns were more effective. The weird design of the weapon didn’t help my limited experience, either. And then of course there were my trembling hands. I hesitated too long, making sure I had a clear shot before I pulled the trigger. By then the alien had slid out of my way.
Rune hovered helplessly behind me as Bian and Priya opened fire on the creature. I lowered the gun, more than happy to leave the shooting to them. The alien moved with bizarre speed and elegance, faster than I remembered the creatures on Sanctuary, its claws slashing for anyone within reach. I lunged out of its way, grabbing Rune and tucking her beneath me, rolling to my side and sheltering us against the wall.
Priya and Bian dove too, but Bian was too slow, and the alien caught her again. She screamed in agony as its claws tore through her neck. “Bian!” Priya roared, and the two women collided on the floor in a messy, bloody heap as she fumbled at Bian’s throat, trying to stanch the blood.
The creature targeted them, but Cage launched to his feet, whipping past it. He grabbed the cutlass as he passed and wrenched it free, and the alien gave another shrill scream.
Two more answered.
Close.
Very close.
“We have to get out of here!” I shouted.
Priya straightened, her face pale, and Bian stopped choking, stopped moving. Slowly, Priya passed her hands over the other woman’s eyes. Then she raised her arm and fired.
The bullet caught the alien in its left eye. Its head jerked, and its howl echoed through the halls. “Move!” she ordered.
None of us argued. I grabbed Rune, dragged her to her feet, and hauled her the way we’d come. Cage followed at a regular speed, and Priya brought up the rear, running backward with her weapon aimed at the hall behind us.
We returned to where we’d left Liam only to find, unsurprisingly, that he’d vanished. “I thought he’d at least wait for his weapons,” I said in disgust.
“Who?” Priya demanded sharply.
I shook my head. “Never mind. You don’t . . .”
My voice trailed off, because all at once Priya’s posture registered. She’d turned her back to the aliens and now had her gun trained on us. “Sorry,” she said. “But in the name of Omnistellar Concepts, the three of you are under arrest.”
THIRTY-FIVE
“ARE YOU GODDAMN KIDDING ME?” Cage demanded. “Didn’t you see what happened there? This is survival, not a political battlefield!”
“Survival or not, I always fulfill my contracts.” Priya’s face was set, unshed tears almost completely hidden. “Drop your weapons and kick them over here or I’ll open fire. And I’m not holding a stun gun. I’ll aim to incapacitate, not kill, but I can’t make any promises.”
And who knew what the sound of her weapon might summon? We’d already stayed here too long. I hadn’t exactly had time to focus on the alien cries, but the meaning was clear. The creatures were calling reinforcements.
Cage and I exchanged glances over Rune’s head. Was drug-fueled adrenaline racing through him the way it was me, urging him to fight, to run? I had to resist it. I was stronger than some drug. I shook my head, and Cage nodded. As one, we dropped our weapons and kicked them to Priya.
She left them where they were, instead removing a pair of cuffs and tossing them to me. “Cuff the boy,” she said. I glanced at him. I could see him calculating, but she added, “If you take off, I’ll shoot anyone you leave behind.”
Cage’s expression darkened. He extended his hands in front of him, and I reluctantly slid the cuffs into place. They tightened automatically, blocking his powers and restraining him.
Priya tossed another pair of cuffs in my direction. “Now the girl.”
I glanced at Rune, who shook her head, her face despondent. “We always seem to wind up in this situation,” she said, offering m
e her arms.
I resisted the urge to hug her and cuffed her instead.
Priya carefully extended a third set of cuffs, keeping them in her right hand, her left still aiming the gun in our direction. “Now you,” she said. “Come over here.”
With every step I searched for escape. Maybe Liam would come bursting out of a vent. Maybe something would distract Priya. If she got those cuffs on all three of us, we’d be sitting ducks if the aliens attacked.
But there was nowhere to run, no last-minute rescue on the way, and before I knew it, all three of us were cuffed and shoved against the wall. “Now walk,” she said, gesturing toward the staircase.
I opened my mouth to argue, but a shuffling sound in the distance got my feet moving as quickly and quietly as possible. We could escape Priya later. Cage had told me once that prison was better than being eaten by space monsters. I finally understood what he meant.
The door slid open at our approach, and we all hustled through it, even Priya, although she obviously struggled to maintain a steady demeanor. When it closed behind us, we heaved a collective sigh of relief.
If we’d thought that would make Priya drop her guard, though, we were mistaken. She hustled us down the stairs, keeping us at exactly the right distance, her weapon drawn and ready. Cage and I exchanged helpless glances. With our wrists cuffed, our powers disabled, and our friends captured, we had no weapons left . . .
Except words.
“Is this really what you want?” I demanded as Priya herded us into the docking ring. “You saw what the creatures did to your teammate.”
“Turn left.”
I spun on her instead. “Are you that cold? That foolish? You’ll let Omnistellar get away with summoning those things that murdered your friend just so they can get their hands on some alien tech?”
All at once, Priya’s steely demeanor disappeared, and she jerked herself ramrod straight, a flash of fire igniting her eyes. She lurched forward with such violence I thought she’d swing the butt of her gun right into my face, and I recoiled.
Cage and Rune tucked me behind them. They closed ranks in front of me, shoulder to shoulder. In spite of the situation, a shiver of warmth ran through me. My parents had never stepped between me and danger. No one had. It wasn’t the Omnistellar way.
Priya stopped a few feet away, her shoulders locked in a hard line. “I am a professional,” she said coldly. “So was Bian. We knew the risks. And don’t you dare lecture me, little girl, because I’ve lost more friends than you can ever imagine.”
I pictured everyone on Sanctuary and thought about arguing but dismissed the idea. The steel and resolve in her face rendered any discussion useless.
“Wait,” said Rune as we walked. “This isn’t the way to your ship.”
“No kidding, genius.” Priya gestured us against a wall and scanned her thumb at a different berth than the one she’d docked at before. I frowned. Had Legion moved their ship? That seemed unlikely considering they hadn’t obtained permission to leave Obsidian earlier. Why would anyone let them hop to another location? And why would they want to?
I got my answer thirty seconds later as we entered the airlock. This wasn’t Priya’s ship. It wasn’t any ship I recognized—and, at the same time, it was. Even though I’d never been on this particular vessel before, the clean lines, sleek white design, and soft lighting were unmistakable.
I stopped short. “This is an Omnistellar ship.”
“What clued you in?” Priya nodded at the giant Omnistellar Concepts logo on the far wall. At the same time, two men advanced along the hall: Matt and the bald man, Finn.
“Where’s Bian?” Matt demanded.
Priya shook her head. Matt froze, his eyes meeting mine and asking questions he dared not voice, but Finn showed no visible reaction. He grabbed Cage and hauled him away from me, and I had to physically resist the urge to leap after them.
Matt sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and shuffling his feet. For a moment I almost thought he might say something to Priya, but instead he muttered, “Come on, Rune.”
She glared at him, utter fury and hatred transforming her face into something twisted. “Make me.” I’d never heard so much rage and betrayal in her voice, not even when she’d yelled at me and Cage for lying to her.
Priya shoved her from behind. “If she resists, toss her over your shoulder and carry her. Just get those two locked up with the others.”
With the others. Tension I hadn’t realized I was holding relaxed. They must have returned our friends to the ship after Rune spotted them, which meant they hadn’t been slaughtered and devoured.
“And me?” I demanded, my chest sinking.
“You’re wanted elsewhere.”
Rune, Cage, and I looked at one another. I desperately hoped one of them had a brilliant idea, and they probably prayed for the same from me. But nothing was forthcoming, and a moment later Finn and Matt led the twins away. Rune opted against physical force, instead spewing an onslaught of vitriol like I’d never heard in Matt’s direction. He pretended impassivity, but the tension in his shoulders stood out in sharp relief beneath his armor, and I derived at least a little satisfaction from the sight.
But not much, because Priya dragged me down another corridor and shoved me into a conference room of sorts. “What am I—?” I began, but she closed the door in my face.
I yanked on the handle and found that, of course, she’d locked it. I examined my surroundings: a small office with a table and five chairs. A tray of glasses and a pitcher of water rested on a shelf on the far wall, and a recessed holoscreen sat above it. That was it, no windows, no interactive screens, nothing, only a man staring out the window, his hands clasped behind his back. I took a shaky step in his direction and his shoulders tightened before he turned.
“Oh my God,” I whispered. “Dad?”
He smiled uncertainly. “Hi, Kenzie.”
“Dad!” I repeated, and launched myself into his arms. It was really him. I hadn’t believed, not for one second, that Omnistellar would let him come to me, but here he was, flesh and muscle and the rough half beard he always grew in space. He clasped me tightly against his chest, my hands sandwiched between us, and rocked me, almost like a child. We pulled apart, his eyes large and bright with unshed tears. “Oh, my baby girl,” he murmured, cupping my face in his hands. “I was so scared. I thought I’d never see you again.”
“Dad,” I whispered. It seemed to be the only thing I could say. I stared into his dark eyes. He was as neat and tidy as ever, his uniform pristine, but he looked a bit thinner, a bit paler. Had it really only been a few weeks since I’d seen him?
“It’s me, Kenz.” He hugged me again, and for a moment I forgot everything: the bounty hunters and the aliens and Matt and my friends and the chip, and I trembled with relief that I still had a parent, and one who loved me. “Kenz,” he murmured. “I’m so sorry. I . . .”
“Don’t apologize.” I buried my head in his shoulder and tried to channel everything I couldn’t say into my voice. “I know why you chipped me. I understand, and Dad, I don’t . . . I can’t . . .”
“Oh, honey.” He pulled me closer, and I let him cradle me like a child. Relief flooded me. For the first time since Cage and Alexei had taken me hostage, someone older and stronger was in charge, someone who would listen. He just needed to know the whole story, understand what he was facing.
But that meant I had to detail what had happened to Mom, and the words stuck in my throat like molasses. “Dad,” I managed at last, “Mom, she . . .”
“I know, honey. Matt told us everything.”
“He couldn’t have told you everything. Not how vicious those things are, how single-minded. They came to kill and harvest and nothing else.” I searched for a way to make myself clear. This was my last chance. I had to get through to him. “There’s no reasoning with them, no fighting them, no resistance. They’ll just kill and slash until they get what they want.”
“Kenzie,” he said,
very softly. “I know.”
I closed my eyes against a sudden rush of terror. Dad’s words made it impossible to stay in my happy bubble. I couldn’t pretend he was ignorant. “If you know everything, why are you going along with this plan? Those things killed Mom. They killed Rita. They tried to harvest me. And you, what, opened the door and invited them in?”
Dad sighed heavily. “Sweetheart. You’re not seeing the big picture.”
I withdrew a few steps, examining my father. He was so familiar to me and yet so strange, too, like someone else wearing my dad’s face. “What happened to you?” I whispered.
All at once his lips drew together, his jaw tightening, his eyes narrow. “What happened to me? You’re the one running around the solar system with escaped criminals! Blowing up spaceships! Ignoring company laws!”
“Because I’m one of them,” I said slowly, watching his reaction. “I’m an anomaly too.”
“It’s not the same.”
“No, because I had parents who could help me.” I started to reach for him, but the cuffs caught my wrist again. I waved my bound hands impatiently. “You and Mom loved me enough to chip me. You lied to me because you thought I’d be better off not knowing. I get that now.” His expression melted, the hard lines of his Omnistellar mask melting into the father who loved me, but I pressed on before he could interrupt. “Now I need that same trust from you. Dad, you haven’t encountered these things. I have. You can’t go along with Omnistellar’s plan.”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“Of course you do.” I swallowed, reminding myself that only a few weeks ago, I might have said the same thing. “Things aren’t what they seem. If you just give me and my friends a chance, we can explain everything.”
He frowned, shaking his head. “Lives and futures depend on that alien technology. I know how scary they were. But we’re not going to let them hurt anyone. Especially not you.”
My hands trembled. I clenched them into fists. “So, all the work we did to destroy the ship was pointless. Omnistellar summoned the aliens. And why? To get their hands on alien tech?”
