“Everyone’s okay?” she asked.
“Yes.” He pointed to her feet where he’d wrapped the dog in part of her blanket. “Even George. He wouldn’t leave, so I figured you might as well get the benefit of his body heat.”
“Here, boy.” She wriggled her fingers and the dog crawled up the blankets to lick her hand, then plopped onto her chest and peered right into her face. “I’m okay. But George is heavy.” She slid him to one side but kept him cuddled against her hip.
Her eyes fluttered closed again and she slept. Relieved, Jordan eased back beside her and slept with her. When she wakened a second time a few hours later, their legs were twined, one of his arms resting intimately on her hip.
He got up and fed her some hot broth. Again they slept, and this time when she woke up, her strength had returned.
But tension arced between them. It didn’t take telepathic powers to know she was still furious with him for abandoning her and the bridge.
He took the chair next to the bed. “I left to protect the Staff. If it had gotten too cold, the power might not have come back on.”
She locked gazes with him. “So how did you keep it warm?”
“I removed it from the Draco’s housing, retracted it, and placed it inside my shirt.”
“So you could have returned to the bridge?” she challenged him.
“Yes. But I feared the cold would slow me down. So I stayed in the engine compartment, waiting for the moment when you’d need me to place the Staff back into the housing.” And he’d prayed that the Staff’s power wouldn’t drop so low that he’d be forced back into owl form, unable to help her when she needed him.
She stared at him, her eyes swirling green pools of skepticism. He had no idea if she believed him. But he suspected any ground he’d gained by telling her his history had just been lost. He realized he’d made another mistake. “I’m sorry. I should have explained before I left you on the bridge.”
“You should have.”
“I’ll do better next time,” he promised.
But he wasn’t going to tell her that when the Staff lost power, or when it was out of his possession, he didn’t have the energy to maintain his human form, couldn’t protect her, couldn’t fight the Tribes.
Until he’d been tricked out of his Staff, he’d never once let it out of his sight. That error had cost him centuries. Centuries the Tribes had used to increase their domination over the galaxy. He had to remain human. Had to stop them. Had to make her understand they were on the same side.
But he didn’t have a clue how to do that. Sensing she didn’t want his touch, he fell back on normal conversation. “We should be orbiting the dark world within the hour. If you’re up to it, I’d like your opinion on where we should set down.”
“I gave Lyle busywork to keep him out of my hair.” She cocked her head and pursed her lips. “Is that what you’re now doing with me?”
“Hey.” He took her hand, pleased when she didn’t withdraw. “You saved the Draco. We all owe our lives to your quick thinking.”
“You mean my plea for mercy?”
He grinned. “I would never have thought of that tactic, and it worked. You were brilliant.”
He recalled her picking the lock to feed the hungry kids. She’d always been resourceful.
“And you were brave to offer your own life to save everyone.”
Although he was sincere, she wasn’t buying it.
“We were dying anyway. I had nothing to lose.”
Standing, he strode to the door. “I’m glad you’re better.”
He shut the door behind him, shocked to find his hand shaking. Apparently all that warming her up had made him cold.
He clenched his hands into fists a few times and the tremble receded before he reached the bridge. As always, he would do what must be done, but sometimes he wished he didn’t have to put the mission first.
Sean and Tennison looked relieved to see Jordan walk onto the bridge. Sean was at command, Tennison at the science station. Neither man had suffered from hyperthermia, thanks to the protection of the spacesuits. And while Jordan had nursed Vivianne, they’d pitched in, repairing frozen transistors.
“Status report,” Jordan requested.
“Gravity and life support are stable,” Tennison reported. “Darren and Knox are preparing lunch.”
“Good.” Jordan swung around to Sean. “What’s up with the dark planet?”
Taking up a third of the viewscreen, the Shadow planet didn’t look promising. The land was blackened as if singed by fire, and the brown sea looked mudlike.
“The good news is that Shadow appears to be uninhabited,” Tennison said. “And the bad news is that the planet appears to be uninhabited. No sign of plant or animal life.”
“Do we even want to land?” Sean asked.
“How’s the air down there?” Jordan stared at the polar cap of white ice.
“Breathable. No poisonous trace elements.”
“Then we land.” Jordan hated to waste fuel, time, and energy. But they might find algae in the mud, protein in the ice. And they’d come too far not to go down and see if they could find food.
Vivianne, with George on her heels, stepped onto the bridge. “Have we scanned to see what else is nearby?”
Jordan nodded. “We either find food down there or we jump blindly into hyperspace and pray we come out near an Earthlike planet.”
She peered at the data stream on the science monitor. “Have we figured out where we are?”
“Darren’s been working on it,” Tennison said.
“How?” Vivianne asked.
“He’s assuming we’re in the Milky Way Galaxy, and by calculating the rate the stars are moving, their speed should give us our approximate distance from the Milky Way’s center.”
Jordan exchanged a long look with Vivianne. Both of them knew that such a rough estimate wouldn’t do them much good. But it was a start.
“What kind of topography is down there?” Vivianne asked.
“Funny you should ask that.” Sean scratched his head. “These readings are peculiar. In fact, I’m wondering if the cold damaged the sensors.”
“Why?” Jordan asked, peering over his shoulder.
Sean pointed. “Can a world be this flat and uniform? Every reading’s the same. Shadow’s seas register the exact same depth. The land is exactly three feet above sea level everywhere. There’s no variety. It’s almost as if the world is artificial.”
Jordan clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re a genius.”
“I am?” Sean’s eyes rounded with puzzlement.
“If Shadow’s artificial, then someone created it. That ups the likelihood of finding food down there.” Jordan smiled.
Tennison shook his head. “The entire planet seems to be shielded.”
“A shield might mean that whoever’s down there doesn’t want to be found.” Vivianne peered at the planet as if willing it to give up its mysteries.
Jordan wondered what kind of people could create such technology. “Between the warning we already received to stay away from one world and those cubes that chased us out of hyperspace, this part of the galaxy isn’t exactly friendly.”
Vivianne followed his reasoning. “Maybe it’s not so surprising they’ve made Shadow look unappealing.”
Knox entered the bridge with a plate of burgers and a tray of drinks. “Anyone hungry?”
They helped themselves. Although they were rationing food, Jordan spied Vivianne feeding George part of her burger. Sean and Tennison did the same. And when George came over begging, Jordan tossed him a bite, too. When Jordan looked up, he caught Vivianne watching him, a smile softening her expression, then hardening.
Did she think he’d fed the dog to get on her good side? Come to think of it, that wasn’t a bad idea.
Except Jordan shouldn’t be thinking about Vivianne at all, never mind the dog. He couldn’t afford distractions.
He picked a spot where the land met the sea at r
andom. “Let’s set down here.”
To be wronged is nothing unless you do continue to remember it.
—CONFUCIUS
10
The Draco dropped from a high orbit around Shadow into a landing pattern. Vivianne blinked, then blinked again, still unable to believe her eyes. The brown seas they’d seen at the higher altitudes were gone. In their place was a gorgeous turquoise ocean. And the flat, barren view of the continents had been replaced by lush forests and verdant valleys with quaint villages dotting the landscape.
“You might want to rethink the landing site,” Vivianne said.
“Set us down in that open field,” Jordan directed, his voice tight.
“I’d love to see the specs on Shadow’s shield technology,” Sean muttered.
Jordan’s eyes narrowed. The cords in his neck and shoulders tightened.
Vivianne would have thought he’d be happy to see a healthy planet with abundant flora and fauna. She moved close to him and kept her voice low. “What’s wrong?”
Jordan stared at the peaceful village, the rolling farmland, the clean skies and blue waters. Did Shadow remind him of home?
“I’m not a big fan of making first contact,” he said.
“Why not?”
“It’s too easy to have misunderstandings. People always fear what’s different. They might attack us the instant we open the hatch because they think we’re hostile, or because we smell bad. Or they fear people with two arms and two legs. We should have experts in first contact here with us—not a bunch of nerd-brained engineers.”
“Speak for yourself, boss,” Tennison chipped in.
Vivianne gave Jordan a sharp look. “We would have had those experts with us if you hadn’t taken off ahead of schedule.”
“True. But this crew”—Jordan folded his arms across his chest—“has enough trouble socializing on Earth.”
“We’re not here to socialize.” Vivianne redirected the conversation. “What do we have to barter for food?”
Jordan toggled the intercom. “Lyle, pull up that inventory list.”
“Yes, sir.”
A few minutes later, Vivianne perused the inventory on the tiny computer monitor strapped to her wrist. While she recognized the parts, she wasn’t certain which were essential and which they could spare. “What do we have aboard that isn’t necessary?”
“The mutt,” Jordan teased.
Vivianne dug her elbow into his rib. “Be serious.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Don’t you think George would be happier running through the fresh air and grass than being terrified every time our gravity goes down?”
Maybe. But she liked having George aboard. She’d never had a dog before. Just petting him calmed her, and to deal with Jordan she needed all the calm she could get. She held out her wrist so he could read the screen. “What else here is expendable?”
“Lyle.”
“Not funny.” She kept her gaze on the screen, determined not to let him get under her skin. The crew might be on the nerdy side and Jordan authoritative, but Vivianne was good at negotiating and bartering. This didn’t have to be a tense, warlike meeting. Once she explained that they’d come in peace, they…
Her stomach swooped. What was she thinking? If aliens had dropped out of the sky and landed on Earth, they’d have been lucky not to have been shot down.
“Maybe landing in the open field isn’t such a good idea,” she said.
Sean looked up from the controls. “Tell me now.”
When Jordan didn’t say anything, Vivianne answered. “Can you set us down someplace where we can hide the Draco? Somewhere we can sneak into town without the authorities—”
“These people have a shield that hides their entire planet. You don’t think they have radar?” Jordan smirked.
“So you just want to fly into a public area and—”
“We’ll figure it out from there.”
“That’s it?” Vivianne restrained a sigh.
Jordan toggled the intercom. “Darren.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Keep an eye on Lyle for me. Make certain he knows that if he sets foot on Shadow, I’m leaving him behind. And he’s not to be allowed near a communicator or anything resembling a weapon.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lyle sighed sheepishly. “I may not be astronaut of the year, but I don’t make the same mistakes twice.”
“Good.” Jordan snapped off the toggle and motioned Sean to take them down.
Vivianne held her breath as the Draco flew through the clouds and over a small city. Muscles tense, she braced, expecting at any moment that the natives would scramble military aircraft, and they’d be shot out of the sky. At the very least, she expected Shadow’s equivalent of police cruisers to come screaming in, sirens wailing.
But no one attacked.
Sean set the ship down in the middle of a field of what she assumed was waist-high grass. But then she saw bean pods growing on the stalks.
She sighed. “We may have made our first error. We’ve just squashed part of a farmer’s crop.”
Departing the bridge, she headed down the corridor toward the exit. George stayed at her heels.
Jordan fell in beside her and handed her a leash. “You might want this.”
He’d taken a rope, separated the threads, then rebraided them so that not only would the leash slip over George’s head, she even had a loop for her hand. She bent and slipped the makeshift collar over George’s head. “Thanks.”
“If you’re going to keep him, it’ll be better if he doesn’t try to eat anyone.”
“From what I’ve seen,” she teased, “George is pretty much like you, all bark, no bite.”
Jordan’s eyes smoldered. “So those aren’t my teeth marks on your shoulder?”
Thanks to her dragonblood, she’d already healed from their turbulent sex games. But if he kept looking at her with that kind of heat in his eyes, she soon might be ready for a repeat performance.
“Are you coming outside with me, or are you going to pull another disappearing act?” she asked, careful to keep her voice breezy.
His eyes crinkled at the corners. “That depends.”
“Depends on what?”
“On what we find.”
“Damn it, Jordan. Now isn’t the time to be vague.”
All traces of amusement gone, Jordan jerked her to a stop. “Then let me be very, very clear.”
She raised her chin. “Please do.” It was about time he leveled with her.
“Don’t count on me for anything.” His eyes burned with blue fire. “Is that plain enough for you?”
“Yes, you’re very clear.” She wouldn’t have expected his declaration to hurt. After losing her parents, Vivianne had learned that not even the people who loved her most could always be there to offer their support. But her parents had died.
They’d had no choice. Jordan did.
To be fair, pretty much ever since they’d left Earth she’d known Jordan was on a mission to stop the Tribes, and he wasn’t about to let anyone, or anything, get in the way.
His kind of determination didn’t rattle her. Or frighten her. In fact, she admired Jordan’s drive and sacrifice.
Still, disappointment flooded her. She couldn’t forget his abandoning her on the bridge. Or his lame excuse. He was hiding things. She needed to watch her own back. Because Jordan would only do so… up to the point where she remained useful to his mission. And if she impeded his end goal, she might be not just irrelevant, but expendable.
Eying Jordan, she spoke calmly. “I’d like for either Sean or Gray to join us.”
At her request, Jordan’s expression didn’t change. Neither did his voice. “Fine.” He spoke into the handheld communicator. “Gray, please meet us at the main hatch with the Staff.”
Gray joined them by the hatch, anticipation glowing in his eyes. He handed Jordan the Staff. “We’re going out?”
Jordan nodded, retracted the Staff, tucked it in
to a sheath at his belt, and pulled the airlock handle.
Without the Staff and power, the Draco couldn’t fly. As long as Jordan had the Staff, the ship couldn’t leave without them. She didn’t like taking the Staff from the Draco, but knowing how precious the Staff was to Jordan, she didn’t argue.
The airlock opened.
George took one sniff of Shadow’s fresh but thin air, let out a soft woof, and tugged on the leash.
Jordan gestured for Vivianne to step outside. “After you.”
“Wow.” Vivianne allowed George to tug her out of the Draco’s airlock. She’d often dreamed of flying through space in one of her ships and of stepping onto other worlds, but she’d never thought she’d be one of Earth’s first explorers on an alien world.
Shadow’s smells hit her first. Lush grasses, rich soil, and something tangy and sweet. The temperature was downright balmy, the gravity slightly lighter than on Earth.
Beyond the landing site, huge trees with spindly trunks stood like sentries around the Draco. At first the flat grassy area seemed empty, but then she spied a pair of latte-hued eyes in a caramel-colored face staring at her through the high stalks. Then another set of eyes. And another.
They were surrounded.
A man has no more character than he can grasp in a time of crisis.
—LADY GUINEVERE
11
After Vivianne’s eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight, she glimpsed human faces. Their bodies were clothed in dark layers of nanocloth, their heads bald except for double arches of hair over their very human ears.
Jordan stepped beside her. “Keep your voice low, and don’t make any quick movements.”
“We wouldn’t want to scare them, ” she murmured, her quick head count suggesting she, Jordan, and Gray were outnumbered at least a hundred to one.
“Exactly,” Jordan muttered.
Even with the sun shining so brilliantly, she still couldn’t see these people very well. Either they were crouching low in the grass or they were about as tall as George when he stood on his hind legs. But as men, women, and children stared back at them in total eerie silence, goose bumps rose on her flesh.
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