“There was an accident, she hurt her hands and somehow she ended up with Karalian DNA. And that somehow made a miracle happen.”
“That is amazing. So we can have a girl too?” she asked.
“I think the Council hopes every female will have a girl and a boy. I have no idea of how, but Darl will make sure it’s safe,” Malik said.
She lay back down on the bed. “Your species will be complete once more.”
“Yes,” he said.
“Is this all some kind of a trick then?” she asked. “Coming out into space, is this like a sound bite, you know, the Karal making the right noises, saying the right thing, when really there is no way they will make a new colony for humans.”
“No,” he insisted. “That part is true. Okil worries what will happen if the girls are not fertile. If this planet is habitable, then I will do everything I can to help the colony succeed.”
She sighed. “You’re right, we should get up.”
She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and got up, grabbing her clothes and dressing quickly. He did the same, and once he had his overalls on, he went to her and put his arms round her, hugging her close. His colours drifted lazily across his skin, like clouds on a warm, sunny day.
“I promise you,” he said.
“I know, and I trust you, Malik. Now, let’s eat,” she said.
“I will put the samples away while you make breakfast. Then we can either leave, or fly to another part of the planet and take more samples. A few more hours here won’t hurt,” he said, pulling on his boots.
“Sure, I’ll put some tole on, it might wake me up,” she said, yawning.
She went to the small kitchen while he picked up the backpacks and emptied the contents out. The water samples weren’t there. They must have fallen out while they were by the stream.
“Chrissi,” he called. “I’m going to run back to where we were yesterday, we have lost the samples.” He went to the storage compartment and got two more vials, just in case he couldn’t find them. “I’ll be twenty minutes.”
“OK. Breakfast will be ready by the time you get back,” she said.
“Good, I’m starving,” he said, and opened up the exit ramp, leaping down it and then jogging off towards the lake. The day was beautiful, the sun warming the ground, and all around him birds flew, heading towards the lake, where he could see large flocks flying low, dipping into the water, and then taking off again.
It was idyllic. He made up his mind they would spend the day here; it would be fun to explore with Chrissi. And the fresh air would do them both good before the long journey home.
Reaching the lake, he turned to head along the shore, back to the place where they had stopped by the stream. Sure enough, there on the ground were the small vials. Gathering them up and filling the two spares, just in case, he put them in his small pack and paused to watch the birds. Hundreds of them, calling to each other as they flew around, drinking and feeding from the vast lake, a cacophony of noise that shattered the silence.
Shaking his head and thinking this would not be a good place for a colony, he headed back towards the space cruiser, relieved when he left the foothills and could see it shining in the morning sun.
And then he stopped dead in his tracks. For there, up above him, another space ship could be seen. He began to run, wanting to get back to Chrissi, to warn her, to protect her from the coming craft. He cursed himself for being too preoccupied to wear a communicator, and then he stopped again, his heart filled with dread.
The space ship wasn’t coming in to land, it was heading away from the planet, entering the atmosphere before disappearing out into the vastness of space.
The question hammering at his temples, thumping with each beat of his heart, was whether Chrissi was safe on the cruiser, or had she been taken by slavers?
Chapter Twenty-One – Chrissi
It happened so fast. She had been in the kitchen boiling water, humming to herself, when she became aware of a beeping sound coming from the control deck. Quickly removing the water from the heat, she ran to check the cause of the alarm, worried it meant something had happened to Malik.
She slipped into his seat, studying the screen in front of her. Staring at it, she then asked the computer, “Identify craft.”
“Space craft is Hrokili.”
“Hrokili. They are the slavers?” she asked quickly.
“Yes.”
“How long until intercept?” she asked, her mind racing as her training kicked in.
“Five minutes. They have entered the atmosphere and are on a direct course.”
“Why didn’t the alarm sound sooner?” Chrissi asked.
“Unknown.”
Chrissi tried to gauge how long Malik had been gone. There was no way he would have reached the stream and be back again. Her choices were either go and get him, and hope they had enough time to then outrun the Hrokili, or leave immediately and try to draw them away from Malik. She could return later to retrieve him.
The problem with both of those solutions lay in the fact that she wasn’t skilled at piloting the cruiser, either on land or in the sky. She didn’t have the expertise to outrun a fast ship. So they would both end up captured.
That left one more scenario. She let herself be taken.
The idea appalled her, but it meant that Malik would be alive and free.
What if the Hrokili took the cruiser too? Lilith was habitable, he could survive here, and the Karal would return. This was the planet they planned to turn into a colony, of course they would return.
“Time to intercept?” she asked.
“Three minutes.”
Propelling herself out of her seat, she went to the kitchen and gathered up food, some tole and a means for lighting a fire. Shoving them all into a backpack, she went to the exit ramp and threw the pack out. That would help him stay alive if the ship was taken.
Next she went to the control deck, and spoke to the computer. “Override command, Chrissi 3692.”
“Override command.”
“Shut down ignition system.”
“Unknown command.”
“Shut down engine ignition.”
“Unknown command.”
“Damn it!” She tried to think of all the commands Malik had given. Of course none of them were ever to shut the engines down!
“Intercept in two minutes.”
“Think. Think,” she said to herself. “Engine offline.”
“Engine offline. Await reboot.”
“That’s it,” Chrissi said to herself, the feeling of elation taken away from her instantaneously. She hoped she had made it impossible for the Hrokili to take the ship, but there was nothing she could do about them taking her.
If she ran, they would scout the area, and find both of them. No, if she wanted to save Malik, she had to sacrifice herself.
But Chrissi wanted to run.
The sound of the alien space ship drew closer, a low drone as it came into land, and when the shadow of it passed overhead, the need to get out of there and hide became unbearable. But she had to stay out, and hope Malik was far enough away that he would be safe.
The quicker she got this over with, the more chance he would have of being left behind. If they were here too long, Malik would see, and he would try to save her. Chrissi couldn’t let that happen.
The ground shook. The alien craft had landed, and her life was about to change, when all she wanted was to stay here with Malik and make love under the stars.
A strangled sob escaped her, and her legs no longer wanted to support her. Before they gave out, she sat down on the seat, trying to calm herself down. Her heart was beating so hard she thought she was going to have a heart attack before she set eyes on one of the … Hrokili. The name filled her with dread.
There was a sound towards the back of the ship. Voices, but they weren’t talking, it sounded more like a rasping noise, but the rise and fall in tone made it sound like they were communicating. Great, she
wouldn’t be able to understand what they were saying. Could the computer translate it?
Not wanting to activate the computer's voice, she decided it might at least be worth recording what was said, because Malik might be able to get it translated. She knew it might not lead to her rescue, and she hoped in some ways that he didn't try to get her back. But the recording might give the Karal some idea of how these aliens operated and what their goal was. Other than taking anyone they found as slaves.
“Computer set to audio record.”
“Recording.”
Chrissi tried to think straight. They might not be slavers; maybe the other species the last mission contacted were at war with the Hrokili. This might all be a misunderstanding. It might be all right, she told herself, trying to stay focused, trying to stay positive.
Then they were here on the control deck, pointing guns at her.
Chrissi raised her hands; she didn’t want to die. Although the alternative might be worse, at least if she was alive she had a chance of one-day escaping and finding her way back to Malik.
“What do you want?” she asked.
A series of rasping sounds emanated from one of the creatures. And creatures was all she could think of when she saw them. They were small and thin, very thin, as if they might snap if you hit them too hard. Frail. Yes, frail might be the right way to describe them, like little old men, wrinkled and dried up. She was sure that if she chose to fight, she would be able to beat them all.
But there were four of them and they all had guns. Or at least she presumed they were guns. They were certainly pointing them at her as if they were guns, and she wasn’t going to take any chances to find out.
One spoke again, indicating the ship and the control deck. Did he want her to switch it on? Well, that wasn’t going to happen.
“Broken,” she said, trying to make them understand with actions, as if she was playing charades.
There was some chatter between them, like dry paper rustling in the breeze. One indicated her, and then waved her towards the door. Chrissi sat still, not sure if she could stand. Should she fight? Should she try to overpower them?
But the guns were all pointing at her, and she figured if she was going to try, it should be when they were one on one, not four on one. So she got up from her seat, summoning her strength and courage. She would survive this. She hadn’t been chosen by the Karal and flown halfway across the universe to spend the rest of her life as a slave.
They moved to allow her to pass, and she thought about making a run for it, but when she reached the top of the ramp, she saw they had anticipated this and another of the Hrokili was waiting at the bottom, with his gun aimed at the entrance. No escape.
She went down the ramp, using her peripheral vision to take in everything around her. She could see the backpack she had left behind, sticking out of the bushes twenty feet away. She heard the birds across at the lake as they circled round and round, and that brought Malik to her mind. He wasn’t here. That was good. That was good, she repeated to herself.
Then she moved away from the Karalian ship, and saw the great Hrokili ship in front of her. What these aliens lacked in stature, they made up for in the size of their ship. Chrissi turned around, wanting to know if the rest of the Hrokili were coming. She had counted six of them altogether, but now she could only see five.
One of them had stayed on the Karal ship. Damn. There, at the bottom of the ramp was a Hrokili, his voice rasping like big metal plates, and she guessed he was giving orders to the one left on board. They intended to get the ship to work and take that too. Malik would be left here, stranded.
She hesitated. Was there anything she could do to make them leave the Karalian cruiser? If she fought, would they all come to help? A Hrokili spoke to her, his face like a dried-up orange, and she remembered her last day on Earth. If only she had never left her home planet.
Then she would never have met Malik.
The language barrier didn’t stop him making himself clear. He wanted her to go to the platform which had been lowered below the Hrokili ship. Chrissi walked towards it, no doubt in her mind what he was going to do with the gun he held if she disobeyed.
“Well, I’ll tell you what, buster, I’m going to get hold of one of those guns and use it on you one day soon,” she said.
Chrissi wasn’t sure if he understood her, because his expression changed, not that it showed fear. No, he actually looked as if he was laughing at her. Laughing! That made her so mad, his wizened old face creasing up even more and the rasping became a slow, rhythmical sound, almost musical.
“Yeah, you laugh, but I promise you, I am gonna shove that gun up your ass,” she said, smiling and nodding as if going along with his joke.
His face relaxed and he pointed at the platform and rasped his command once more. She moved forward, the other four Hrokili coming to flank her. One foot on the platform, and then another. Four Hrokili surrounding her while one stayed on the ground on guard.
Did they know Malik was out there? Were they waiting for him? Damn it, she hadn’t thought about that. She should have shut the ramp and delayed them; then when Malik came back they could have fought together. Instead she had made a sacrifice, one that left them weak and separate.
Stupid human.
Chapter Twenty-Two – Malik
His lungs burnt, his heart hammered in his chest as he ran back towards their cruiser. It was still there, they hadn’t taken it, but had they taken Chrissi? He had to know, and if they had, he had to save her.
The birds still circled overhead, their sound drowning out everything else. Occasionally one would dip down, to dive at him as if trying to chase him away. That was what kept the Hrokili from seeing him. Malik only realised this when he had almost reached the cruiser, and saw one of the creatures standing guard at the bottom of the ramp.
Slowing, he edged sideways, there were dunes to his left and they might provide him with some cover. Diving onto his stomach, he crawled up the slope, the sandy dirt getting in his overalls. Once he was hidden, he got up and ran, keeping low to the ground as he covered the distance quickly. Still the birds hovered above his head, becoming a nuisance. Would the Hrokili come to investigate the noise?
Malik stopped, diving under a small tree and keeping still. The birds hung around for a few minutes and then began to drift off back towards the lake. Five long minutes more, and then he felt it was safe enough for him to move again.
He crept out, moving slowly so as not to attract the damn birds again. They ignored him, content to feed and drink from the lake, with Malik no longer a threat. But he was a threat, not to them, but to the aliens who had landed on Lilith and possibly taken Chrissi with them. But he still held out hope that she was here, trapped on the ship.
An opening in the dunes led back out onto the plain where his cruiser was. Flat on his stomach again, he crawled slowly forward until he could see the cruiser. It was a hundred feet away, still too far for a surprise attack, but close enough for him to be able to do some reconnaissance. Looking carefully, he could only see one creature. It was small, like someone had stuck a few sticks together. But he had a weapon, a gun of some sort.
Nothing else moved. That didn’t tell him enough. Were there more Hrokili on the cruiser, or was it just this one standing guard? And where was Chrissi?
Slipping back into the cover of the dunes, he jogged along, having to go deeper in to keep his cover. At last he thought he was opposite the cruiser, and he made his way back towards the grassy plain. There was no opening. He would have to go over the top, an open assault that would leave him exposed.
Sitting down, he went over all the alternatives. There were none. If they were planning on stealing the cruiser, he couldn’t give them any more time. The override was difficult to break, but he didn’t know how advanced these aliens were. Advanced enough to be slavers, that told him enough.
Then there was Chrissi. If he left it much longer she would either be out of his reach on the Hrokili s
pace ship, or hurt, or worse. He tried not to think of that, blocking out any thought of what they might do to the females they captured. He knew how other species were treated, because his own species had done terrible things in the past.
Malik closed his eyes. He had to become a warrior, he had to leave behind all personal fear of what might happen. The words Okil spoke to him came to him, the mission is the most important thing, do not let it fail. Getting the ship back was his priority; he could not let it fall into alien hands, because it might very well lead the Hrokili to Karal. That could not happen.
Focused, he moved forward up the dune. Keeping his head low, he peered down at the creature below. It was looking across to where the birds were, and then sweeping its gaze out across the plain. It turned in a slow, predictable circle. Malik ducked back down.
He counted to five, peered back up to see the creature looking at the birds again.
Now.
Malik propelled himself forward, silent, deadly. Only at the last minute did the thing deploy its weapon, but Malik dodged and the aim was off. The Hrokili didn’t stand a chance when Malik slammed into him, cutting him down, breaking him in two.
The thing lay dead. Its last gasping breath rasping from its lungs. Malik felt nothing. He was doing what he was trained to do, and the battle wasn’t over. Up on his feet, he climbed the ramp, slowly, silently entering the cruiser he knew so well. There was no sign of any more of the creatures. But he didn’t relax. Until the cruiser had been swept, room by room, and the computer could confirm there were no intruders, he could not let his guard down.
The hold was clear. He pulled the door to and locked it. Next he moved down the corridor towards the control deck. Again, it looked empty. Maybe there was no one there; the guard outside might have been waiting for backup.
And then from behind him, there was a small noise, and something hit him, an electrical shock. Malik turned to see one of the wizened Hrokili, his finger on a gun which wasn’t built to kill, but to stun. Of course, they wanted to keep their captives alive.
Taken (Warriors of Karal Book 3) Page 10
