Homeworld: Beacon 3

by Valerie Parv

  Where the hell are you, Adam? she demanded silently.

  She turned away from the wall of glass and pressed her hands into the small of her back, easing the ache that had lodged there during the flight. “I know when I’m not wanted,” she teased.

  Timo kneaded the spot and she almost purred. Then his arms came around her, strong and reassuringly human. “When I join you at the hotel, I’ll show you how much I want you.”

  “Promises, promises.” Touching her fingers to his lips, she smiled. “You’re good for me, Timo.”

  He nibbled her fingertips. “And I’m well aware of how much you’re brooding.”

  “I do not brood.”

  Her mock offense slid off him. “I’m glad you told me everything.”

  Fear lanced through her, quickly quelled. “It hasn’t changed your mind?” About us. The anguish she felt at the thought of losing him told her how much he meant to her. She would fight for him, if not for the whole planet.

  Her mother had indoctrinated her with the idea of the Prana homeworld as a kind of nirvana beyond anything Earth had to offer. For a long time, Elaine had fantasized about going there. Garrett, happy to be human and living right where he was, had accused her of being prejudiced.

  She probably had been until now.

  Nerine Lovell hadn’t known Timo. The two had met when a business commitment took him to Sydney, but Nerine’s failing mind hadn’t registered who he was. Even Garrett didn’t really get how Elaine felt about this amazing man. He might if he met someone as right for him as Timo was for her.

  Timo released her with obvious reluctance. “The limo is right outside. When the driver reported to me a few minutes ago, I suggested he grab some coffee, but he won’t be long.”

  “I’ll wait for him and Pali at the car.”

  Timo gestured toward the far end of the VIP lounge where she could see Pali and a uniformed man walking toward them. “They’ll be right behind you.”

  She had no trouble spotting the limo, it was the only such vehicle outside the terminal reserved for private aircraft. The rest of the area was deserted, the airport still technically closed. As part of the relief effort, and a cousin of the country’s ruler, Timo had been given special clearance to land.

  Before she could take more than a couple of steps outside, she felt a powerful rocking sensation. Another quake? But nothing around her was moving.

  She reached for something to steady herself, but the limo jolted away from her hand. Not the car, she realized in panic. She was the one in motion. Then her feet left the ground as if a giant hand had plucked her away. “What in the devil …”

  The sentence died on her lips as the air thinned and she found herself struggling to breathe. With no voice to scream, she could only claw at the bubble of thick, gelatinous material surrounding her as she felt herself being carried into the air.

  Below her, she saw Pali and the driver step through the automatic doors and look around for her. “Up here!” she tried to call, but her voice came out choked. Even if the men had thought to look up, her voice didn’t have the power to penetrate the walls of her bubble.

  Through a slightly thinner part of the cocoon, she glimpsed the ground dropping away rapidly and stopped fighting, afraid that if she managed to force her way out, she would fall to her death. Then everything blurred and darkened. She must be heading to the outer reaches of the atmosphere, perhaps into space.

  A hysterical laugh threatened to break free. She’d dreamed of going into space, of seeing her mother’s homeworld, without imagining the experience could be this violent. Be careful what you wish for.

  Was this how Adam had disappeared? The thought that he might be wherever she was being transported helped her cling to sanity. All the same, terror scrambled through her. Couldn’t Timo’s people see what was happening? Then she became aware of a sensation of speed. She was probably already too high above them to be seen, far less rescued. Even if anyone had seen, there was little they could have done.

  She was on her own.

  Think, she ordered herself. Akia Zael had to be responsible – no-one on Earth had the means. Adam’s version of the dampening field must have failed, at least long enough to let the Kelek grab hold of her. One beacon alone wouldn’t be much use to them, but Elaine assumed the captain knew that. Either she had plans to snatch the others – in fact may already have Adam – or she intended to use Elaine to persuade them to surrender.

  What means of persuasion she might use filled Elaine with dread. Light headed with hypoxia, she choked back a cry. She’d seen how Garrett had suffered at ESIN’s hands and she wasn’t nearly as brave as him. She also had her baby to consider. Would they threaten her child to secure her cooperation?

  Anger replaced some of her terror. It was all very well to glory in your secret status as an alien among humans. But that status came at a price. Now was the time to start paying. The thought did little to quell her fear, but she managed to think a little more clearly. Tentatively, she prodded the stuff cocooning her, finding the surface yielded slightly, like thickly set jelly. She decided against pushing any harder. If she was indeed being taken into space, she couldn’t risk poking holes in the one thing shielding her from vacuum.

  There was little enough air in the bubble now. If she wasn’t mistaken, there was less by the minute. If she didn’t get where she was going … She shoved the thought aside. She would either get there or she wouldn’t.

  When he’d attacked the first Kelek ship, Garrett’s shuttle had been moved to safety behind the flux by means they couldn’t fathom, and he hadn’t seen how the Kelek crew died. Unfortunately for Elaine, her vision had shown her enough that she still had nightmares about floating in vacuum, unable to breathe. She invariably awakened, clawing at her throat until reason returned.

  No point scaring herself now. She was probably safely in the back seat of the limo, asleep and dreaming this whole thing.

  But somehow she knew she wasn’t. Suspicion became certainty as an ominous shadow loomed above her and she recognized the space-dark torpedo shape of the Kelek ship. The jelly prevented her from seeing details, but she had no doubt where she was headed.

  *

  “You must stop this. You’re killing her.”

  Monitoring her controls, Akia frowned. “Her vital signs are weak but she’ll make it.”

  “You don’t know that. There’s barely enough oxygen in the cargo net to keep a zixel alive.”

  “I’ve transported my share of those, too.” Even though it was technically illegal to transport live cargo in the net, the way she was doing. Zixel were her home province’s prized livestock, bred for milk, meat and hides. They were also incredibly stupid. Many died in the distress of being picked up and she’d eventually given up on the experiment. She throttled back a little on the controls. “Satisfied?”

  Kam’s features reflected his alarm. “The beacon is going into shock.”

  “I can’t go any slower.” She checked a readout. “The atmosphere in the net is unstable. If I don’t get her aboard in the next sixty seconds, she’ll be dead.”

  “She may die anyway. This was a very bad idea.”

  “For what it’s worth, I agree. But I had no choice. These beacons are our last hope of getting to the homeworld.” The whole time she was speaking, her hands were busy.

  “There,” she announced, triumph in her voice. “She’s on board.” In what condition, the instruments meant for assessing cargo weren’t sensitive enough to tell her.

  She rose and headed for the transit tube that would take her to the cargo level several decks below. She didn’t have to order Kam to accompany her, hearing his footsteps ring on the metal deck close behind. Without looking at him, she grabbed a handhold and stepped into the tube.

  Once the cargo net had cleared the bay, she’d collapsed the bubble. The beacon lay sprawled on the landing pad. Breathing, Akia noticed with relief. It had been a close call.

  “Get a medic down here,” she order
ed, annoyed with herself for not thinking to have one meet them in the cargo hold.

  “One who knows human physiology would be useful,” Kam observed, adding, “preferably an obstetrician.”

  She shot him a sharp look. “Are you telling me this beacon is pregnant?”

  He nodded. “I sense beacon energy within her. It’s rudimentary and not aware yet, other than of her.”

  Another bargaining chip, Akia thought automatically. She also felt a bitter pang of jealousy. How dare this beacon nurture a child when she had lost hers, had been denied even the chance to inter him. The thought came so strongly, she felt her implant trigger. She inadvertently aimed a blast of pure energy at the unconscious woman, who jolted as if hit with an electrical charge.

  Kam stepped between them. “Akia, stop. She’s of no use to you dead.”

  “I know that.” Her shocked tone made it plain that she’d forgotten for an instant. She reeled against a wave of pain scorching her all the way to her boots. The implant was for pleasure, not to do harm, she’d been told when preparing for the procedure. Just as pleasure came back to her through the device, so did its opposite. Her one experience when she’d turned the device on a sexual predator should have convinced her. The man’s death may have cushioned her from the rebound effect, or else she’d been too furious to realize where her pain had come from. This time she knew and had to clench her teeth against the rawness of it.

  “I know that,” she muttered again.

  He shot her a curious look. “She’s reviving.”

  On the cargo pad, the beacon stirred and moaned. Her eyes fluttered open. Akia’s gaze found Kam. Wordlessly, he went to the woman and helped her to her feet.

  Swaying, she didn’t look at him but at Akia. “You’re the Kelek captain.”

  “And you’re one of the beacons of Earth.”

  Groggily, the woman looked around. “Adam …”

  “Who is Adam?”

  Instead of explaining, the woman asked, “He’s not here?”

  “You’re the only human on board my ship.”

  Akia saw the woman turn more pallid and start to slump. Kam held her up. Adam must be the missing beacon and the woman had expected to find him here. Interesting. Akia would have Kam investigate further as soon as they’d dealt with this one.

  “What are you called?” she asked.

  “Elaine, I think.”

  Akia felt grudging admiration. The beacon gave her name in the tone of Akia’s own kind when they were determined to provide no assistance to an enemy. In spite of the beacon’s soft, pretty appearance, they were more alike than different. Good, Akia could use that.

  “Well, Elaine, I shall enjoy getting to know you better once you’re recovered.”

  Akia hadn’t acknowledged the medic’s arrival but knew she hovered nearby. “Take her to the medical bay. Let me know when I can talk to her again,” she ordered over her shoulder.

  Kam seemed reluctant to surrender his burden and the captain gave him an inclusive nod. “Go with them.” Of all the people on board, he was the one most likely to win the beacon’s confidence. If the woman thought she had an ally, she might be tempted to share information with him that she wouldn’t entrust to Akia. At least not yet.

  Chapter 15

  “Elaine,” Garrett gasped.

  As soon as the fire tornado passed, he’d closed down the dampening field, anxious to assure himself his friend was all right.

  She wasn’t. Her sense of panic and terror reached him down their link, and he clawed at his throat with the sensation of being unable to breathe.

  Without her watcher skills he couldn’t see where she was, but he got a sense of a small, enclosed area, a box of some kind. No, not a box, a net. Elaine was inside the net being taken somewhere, and she didn’t have enough oxygen. All he could hear was the agonizing rasp as she tried to drag air into her lungs. With barely enough breath to stay conscious, she couldn’t spare anything to reach out to him, if she was even aware of his contact.

  He made himself pull in deep, steadying breaths, reminding himself that he was safe. He’d be no help to her if he lost his cool now. But there had to be something he could do.

  Abruptly, Elaine ceased struggling and a tight fist clenched around his heart. Then he caught the faint susurrus that told him she’d lapsed into unconsciousness.

  “What is it, Garrett? Are you ill?”

  He came back to awareness to find Amelia Takei standing over him. He was on his knees on the floor, gasping. She had her hands under his arms as she tried to pull him up.

  “I’m fine,” he insisted.

  “You don’t look fine. I’ve never seen anything like the reaction you just pulled. I thought you’d had a stroke or something.”

  “It isn’t me,” he ground out, struggling to his feet. He noticed she hovered close by as if expecting to have to catch him. She didn’t take a step back until he made it clear he could stand unaided.

  “What do you mean, it isn’t you?”

  He waited a moment until his vision cleared fully, and focused on Amelia. “The three of us have a kind of resonance that means we know if something’s wrong with any of us.”

  “You got that sense from …?”

  “Elaine. She’s in trouble.” He felt the sofa press against the back of his legs, and folded. “The Kelek captain took her.”

  “Took her how?”

  Amelia might have been dealing with aliens all her life, from the acceptance he saw in the way she looked at him. “I’m not sure. As a listener, I can only go by what I heard. She was scooped up in some kind of container that didn’t hold enough oxygen. I heard her fighting for breath.” The sensation had been as painful to him as if he were the one deprived of air.

  “You think she was taken to the spaceship in this … container?”

  He nodded, his throat slowly easing, although he felt bruised all over from the experience. “I know she was. She’s up there now.”

  Amelia folded her arms across her body, the gesture protective. Asking tough questions was her living, but she seemed to have to force this one out. “Dead or alive?”

  “Alive, for the moment.”

  She released a breath. “Then there’s time to help her.”

  “She’s on a ship in low Earth orbit. With the space center damaged in the tsunami, how do you suggest we get there?”

  The other woman’s features tightened into a grim mask. “We don’t. From what you’ve told me, making a gift of another beacon would be a bad idea. So we find a way to get the Kelek captain down here.”

  *

  Shana’s burned arm throbbed under the dressing. The rest of her ached with tiredness and the bruises she’d picked up getting June out from under the downed tree. Her security chief was still in the hospital with a fractured leg. Knowing June, she’d be back on duty on crutches if she had to be. Getting her to stay in the hospital overnight had been hard enough but she’d eventually delegated her two best people, Harrison and DeLeo, to guard the governor.

  None of Shana’s key staff had been home since they returned to the capital a few hours before. Government House was usable, although debris littered the ground floor, and the smell of over-stressed drains drifted up to the higher floors. Shana wrinkled her nose. Every window in the building had been opened to let in as much air as possible but it wasn’t enough. In the worst affected areas there would be water shortages to deal with, and the risk of disease to be contained. So much to do, and not enough people to do it.

  Prince Lorne was already ferrying supplies to the province. He’d promised her more people as soon as they could be mobilized. She expected a visit from him within days, not out of show, but because he cared about his people. When they hurt, so did he.

  Outside, under the glare of portable lights, clean-ups were being organized all along the waterfront, the sounds of activity reaching her through the open windows.

  Shana took a second to thank her gods for the minimal loss of life. Any los
s was too much, but the total could easily have been much higher.

  “Ma’am?”

  Snapping out of the micro-sleep she hadn’t known she’d slipped into, Shana looked up to find her aide regarding her worriedly. “I’m fine,” she said more out of habit than because it was true.

  He frowned. “You need to get some rest, governor.”

  “We all do.” She scrubbed a hand over her face. “What is it, Jules?”

  He passed a sheaf of papers across the desk. She barely glanced at them, knowing she wasn’t up to any sort of analytical thinking. “Anything more from the Kelek captain?”

  “Nothing.” He gestured toward the street below, and the damage greeting them on their return. “It’s hard to believe that all this was caused by someone from an alien race.”

  She knew her smile was wry. “You don’t read science fiction, Jules?”

  “I hate the stuff.”

  Too fanciful for him, she supposed from his response. If not for her Mayat heritage, she might have agreed, but she’d been raised knowing that there were, indeed, more things in heaven and Earth than were dreamed of in human philosophy. Of course, Shakespeare had used philosophy in its historical meaning of science, but the intent was the same.

  “You should,” she advised Jules. “Much of the way the world runs now was anticipated decades ago by writers of speculative fiction.” She made a mental note to give the young man a couple of Garrett Luken’s books as starting points. For now, they had all the speculative fiction they needed around them and in orbit over their heads. Thinking of the fire tornado, Shana quaked inwardly. There had to be some way to deal with the Kelek captain short of giving in to her demands.