by Valerie Parv
Without moving from the bed, she explored the room through her strange vision. The door opposite her led to a compact bathroom, the details clear in her mind. Another room was filled with equipment she took to be medical. Other, smaller doors hid lockers and storage compartments. Most of them she dismissed as being of no use to her, until she came upon a clothing locker. The folded garments inside seemed to beckon her.
She went to the locker. All the doors had numerically coded locks and refused to open. Then she got mad at herself and looked inside the mechanisms. They were simple to decode, the worn parts of the mechanism betraying the numbers in regular use. In seconds she had her chosen locker open and the clothing in her hands.
If asked, she’d swear she had never seen the garments before, but they spoke to her. The pants were linen and the sweater made from an incredibly soft fiber. Cashmere, she read the label, and touched the garment to her cheek. The rest of the clothes were of equally fine quality, including the lacy undergarments and a pair of soft leather pumps with vivid red soles. Whoever Elaine was, she had good taste. She began to dress.
The simple act made her feel more in control, although the headache persisted and she was no more certain of her identity than before.
The murmur of voices warned her that the man called Kam was returning with the medic. She subdued the panic threatening to overwhelm her. In seconds she had the lock to the medical equipment room decoded and she slipped inside. Her heart drummed against her ribcage as she hid between two large pieces of equipment. If they thought the lock was still engaged, they wouldn’t look for her in here.
She was right. At the first words of alarm from the medic, she heard the bathroom door open and close quickly when it was obvious she wasn’t inside. She braced herself for them to search the equipment room, but nothing happened.
“She has to be on this deck. She won’t know how to use the transit tubes,” she heard the medic insist. “I take no responsibility for her escape. It was your idea to remove the medication cuff.”
“It’s early to be assigning blame,” she heard the one called Kam say. “You take the port side, I’ll take the starboard. She can’t have gone far.”
The cabin door closed and she released the breath she’d been holding. She was safe for the moment. All she had to do was figure out how to get to the laboratory she’d seen in her vision, and somehow stop the captain from triggering the volcano. Preferably before Kam found her and plundered her mind.
Her quick glimpse through the closed door found Kam pausing outside, his expression confused. Then she had it. Whatever sense would enable him to reach into her mind had shown him her hiding place. She froze, as if that would help.
Then he turned away and she heard the outer door close as he followed the medic.
*
“I’m going after Elaine.”
Timo had commandeered an office not far from the governor’s, obviously with her agreement. When Garrett tracked him down, he was working on two cell phones and an iPad at once, firing off orders to his considerable work force.
Garrett stared at the diplomat. “You must be crazy. That’s a warship up there, not a pleasure cruiser.”
Timo told whoever was on the phones to hold as he faced Garrett. “I know. The tsunami and the fire tornado were enough to convince anybody.”
“Then what do you think you can do against them?”
“Not give up, for one. Elaine would do no less for me.”
“She doesn’t know who she is.”
Timo nodded. “That’s the only thing protecting her. As soon as she starts remembering, they’ll get out of her whatever they need to access the flux and find your homeworld. They won’t care what their interrogation does to her.”
The Kelek captain may not wait for Elaine’s memory to return, Garrett thought but didn’t say – Timo was fired up enough, obviously well aware of the danger facing Elaine.
“I don’t like this any more than you do,” he told Timo. “I just don’t see what we can do to get her back, although Shana has some ideas.”
Timo issued a barrage of orders into one cell phone then the other. Hearing them didn’t make Garrett feel any better. “You’re not waiting for Shana, are you?”
“We talked. She agreed to help with my plan.”
Garrett hitched a hip onto a corner of the desk. “The only way to get to the Kelek ship would be by using the shuttle. You saw the mess the tsunami made of the launch pad.”
“I did, and I don’t intend using it.”
“Then how—”
“By launching the shuttle from on top of the Global.”
“From your plane? Is that even possible?”
“Barely. I’ve spoken to their advanced design team. The changes would never pass certification, but it’s possible in theory. I’m flying in my own team and equipment from Hawai’i. They’ll work with the people from Black Tree to modify the plane.
“The fuselage needs structural reinforcement so we can install attachment points for the shuttle. Add enlarged winglets to replace the rudder. An increase in engine thrust if there’s time. Modify the plane’s center of gravity so the plane is safe to fly.” He ticked off points on his fingers.
“You’re trusting Elaine’s life to a theory?” Even as he asked the question, Garrett’s pilot’s mind was picturing the steps. Damn it, they just might work if there were time and money enough. Timo had the latter, Garrett wasn’t sure about the former.
“What about the effect on performance?” he asked.
“The extra weight and drag will affect stability and control,” Timo said, sounding preoccupied. “None of that matters as long as we can get Arrafin into the air.”
“It’s a hell of a long shot,” Garrett said.
Timo’s jaw tightened. “Do you have a better idea?”
Garrett didn’t and the diplomat knew it. The audacity of the plan took Garrett’s breath away. The ideas in his books were pretty wild, but they were science fiction. Unlike Timo’s scheme, they didn’t have to work in the real world.
“How does Shana fit in?” he asked.
“You’ll have to ask her that. I have a long list and not a lot of time.
Garrett stood. “And I’m in your way. What can I do to help?”
“Come with me,” Timo said. “You’ve had astronaut training and experience flying the shuttle. I don’t.”
The thought of taking the shuttle to the Kelek ship settled like a lead ball in the pit of Garrett’s stomach, but he made himself remember what Elaine had risked to save him. There was only one possible decision he could make.
“I’m in.”
Chapter 21
“You would hold my son’s body hostage?”
The affront in the Kelek captain’s voice as they faced each other across the screens told Shana that her plan might work. “You’ve done worse to us with your weather weapons.”
She waited for Zael to say something about decency and morality, but it seemed that even the Kelek captain could see the illogic in that. What was holding a dead body hostage compared to a whole world? Shana didn’t like what she was doing, but they needed every edge they could get.
She also needed to buy time and opportunity for Timo’s plan to work.
“If I agree, you will not be able to take me as your hostage. I will leave orders to destroy your country at the first sign of treachery.”
“You will be safe in Atai,” Shana assured her. “A truce will be in effect for the time it takes you to come down here and retrieve your son’s remains. The deal ends when you take off again.”
“You would trust me to honor such a truce?”
“For this mission, yes.” Not for any other. “Even in war there are certain civilities, such as the right to retrieve one’s wounded and bury one’s dead.”
On the screen, Captain Zael seemed to collapse in on herself for a moment. “You’re right. My crew will also honor your terms.” Then she sat up straighter. “It was considerate of you
to preserve his body.”
Zael probably knew as well as Shana that consideration had little to do with the decision to keep Ryn Zael’s body in cryogenic storage. As the first alien to be captured on Earth, as far as they knew, it would provide vital information about their enemies. Carramer’s scientists would be furious when they learned that their governor had agreed to hand the body back.
Shana inclined her head in acknowledgment. “Perhaps we are not as barbaric as you think.”
“The same may be said of us.”
Except for the demonstrations of power her people had already endured, Shana thought; they certainly didn’t encourage trust. As nothing would be gained by saying so, Shana moved on. “What facilities do you need to land your ship in my province?”
“My ship is not designed for landing. I shall come down in my captain’s cruiser.”
This much Shana had already been told by Rosie Granger, head of the Black Tree facility. Just as the captain of a large ship would have a helicopter or runabout at their disposal, so Rosie had assumed would the Kelek captain. In fact, Timo was counting on it.
Shana’s pulse raced with excitement mixed with dread. She’d consulted with Prince Lorne before giving Timo the go-ahead. The monarch had not only agreed, he’d pledged the additional funds and material Timo would need to pull this off.
If Timo could get the shuttle to the Kelek ship while Zael was on Earth, they’d have a fighting chance.
They would not be breaking the agreement as it would only apply to actions taken on Earth. Shana’s carefully-worded truce would hold until Captain Zael left the planet with her son’s body. By then, Timo’s shuttle would be closing on the Kelek ship. He would not take any offensive action until the pod cleared the atmosphere.
Not only Elaine’s life was at stake, but the future of Carramer and quite possibly the wider world. They had no way of knowing the limits of Captain Zael’s power and Shana would rather not find out the hard way.
*
Elaine waited until she heard no more sounds from the corridor. She risked using her strange vision to scan the surroundings. All was clear. The man called Kam seemed able to detect her whether she used her vision or not, but instinct made her cautious. He must have known she was in there when he’d paused outside the supply room, yet he hadn’t given her away. She wished she could trust him long enough to find out whether she had an ally.
Her vision had showed a lot of activity going on deeper in the ship. She didn’t think they were preparing to do battle, but something was definitely happening. She couldn’t afford to worry about it now. Her most pressing goal was to reach the laboratory. She could decide on the next step when she got there.
If she got there. She must be crazy. She was sick, in pain, and dealing with forces far stronger than herself. She had powers she couldn’t explain, and was being stalked by a man who seemed able to sense her but had decided, for whatever reason, not to give her away yet. Maybe he was waiting for her to hang herself.
She eased quietly into the corridor. The urge to go back to the cabin tugged at her until she reminded herself that the safety it offered was an illusion. She wasn’t safe anywhere on this vessel, or anywhere she could remember.
The activity centered on a cavernous space many decks below her. She saw the laboratory on a level above. The medic had mentioned a transit tube he didn’t think she could use. Well, she’d soon find out. First she had to locate the tube itself.
Finding the device was simple enough: all she had to do was hide in the shadows and see where the crew members went. Having located what she thought was the transit tube simply because people went into it and didn’t come out again, or at least not the same people, Elaine ducked into an alcove and waited. By switching her vision, Elaine saw the foot- and handholds being used. Precarious though the device looked, it was apparently the only means of moving between decks.
When she’d seen enough and the area was clear, she approached the tube. She was about half a meter away when a cowling opened automatically. Yes, there were the supports she’d seen the crew use. Fortunately she was tall enough for her feet to reach the holds easily. At about her shoulder height were a pair of handholds. As soon as she grasped them, the cowl closed but nothing moved. With emptiness above and below her, she felt horribly exposed. If she were to fall …
Only the thought that she didn’t know how to open the cowl again stopped her from retreating to the corridor.
“Up,” she said experimentally. Nothing happened. Tentatively she eased the handholds up then gasped as she started to shoot upward. Much too fast. She pulled back on the grips and her speed slowed. She came to a stop at what was obviously another level. The cowl opened automatically onto a deck, but how far she’d traveled she didn’t know.
Add it to the list, she told herself. Not knowing where she was couldn’t be any more daunting than not knowing who she was. She peered out cautiously. This area was also clear. She recognized the numbering system she’d seen in her vision of the captain’s laboratory.
Seconds later, she was outside the lab and used her peculiar sight to decode the lock as she’d done with the ones in the medical bay. They really needed a better security system, she thought, as the lock clicked open. Her timing had been fortunate. Obviously the captain and many of the crew were occupied with whatever was happening on the lower deck and the laboratory was empty when she slipped inside. As the door hissed shut, she felt a moment of panic. What did she think she was doing? She might have some weird powers, but she didn’t think she was a spy for all that.
She wasn’t spying, she was exploring, she told herself firmly and turned to the bank of screens, keypads and instruments she’d seen the captain and Kam arguing over.
On a central screen was an aerial view of a mountain that triggered a memory. “Mount Ekin,” she said, releasing a breath as the name sprang to her lips. She knew the place, knew the name. Could it be where she lived? Her mind remained stubbornly blank on details but looking at the mountain, she felt sure she was right. There was a connection, confirmed by the anger swelling through her as she contemplated the destruction the captain intended for it.
“Not if I can help it,” she murmured.
Experimentally Elaine touched the screen, jerking her hand back as images scrolled upward. It seemed her skill memories were more reliable than her memory of her own history. More gently, she touched again and the scrolling slowed, the language indecipherable. Without being able to read the screen, she could do more harm than good – possibly even trigger the volcanic eruption she wanted to prevent.
She looked around the office. A squat, stein-shaped vessel containing a black liquid sat to one side of the work area. The contents smelled like a strong, very bitter coffee. Her nose wrinkled as she put the stein down. Then her lips curved in a taut smile. Perhaps technical know-how wasn’t the only solution.
A quick sweep of the laboratory revealed a square trough with a valve contraption over it. She tried turning it without success. Pressed down on it. Jiggled several different ways. No luck – until she moved her hands under the outlet and a steady stream of water poured out. Pulling her hands back stopped the flow of water. So far so good.
She went back to the work area and retrieved the stein, pouring the contents over the main keypad. No sparks or explosions ensued, for which she was thankful. Starting a fire in the lab with herself inside wasn’t part of her plan.
Taking the empty stein to the trough, she held it under the outlet, watching in satisfaction as the container refilled. Three more trips provided enough liquid to saturate all the key pads and she had the pleasure of seeing the screens fizzle then go blank.
Adam would be horrified, she thought, then wondered where that came from. The man’s name teased at her, but her aching head refused to supply more details. Somehow she knew she usually carried aspirin in her purse, but she’d found no purse in the clothes locker. She was stuck with the headache.
The steady drip of water f
rom the work station onto the floor made her smile in spite of the pain. She may not have headed off the volcanic eruption for good, but she’d bet she’d done enough damage to give the captain a headache or two of her own.
*
“I’ve lost contact with the Kelek ship,’ Shana said, worry in her voice.
Her aide came over and keyed in a few commands over his boss’s shoulder. “The captain was about to launch her cruiser. Even if the main ship has communication problems, they shouldn’t affect the smaller vessel.”
“Let’s hope not,” Shana said. “We don’t want her thinking we disrupted her communications. She needs to trust us for as long as the truce holds.”
Jules gave her a long look. “And after that?”
“Nothing you need to know.”
“I got the same spiel from Garrett and Prince Timotea,” Jules said. “Should I be worried?”
“Only about the governor running out of coffee.”
He got the message and took her empty cup to the coffee machine. Watching him, she felt a frown start. What Timo proposed was reckless in the extreme. Even though she’d cleared his plan with her own superiors, she still had trouble believing it could work.
Time was their main enemy. It would take the Kelek captain little time to reach Atai and land at the coordinates Rosie Granger had provided. This would put the smaller ship down within sight of the Black Tree Space Center. From there, they could stall a bit longer, moving the body of the captain’s son out of cryogenic storage at the center to the captain’s cruiser. Rosie was aware of the need to stretch things out as much as possible.
If the captain became impatient, Shana didn’t know what she would do. She could only deal with the issues as they came up.
Timo had already mobilized an army of designers, technicians and extra hands to modify his plane so it could carry the shuttle to launch height. Work that should take weeks, followed by a battery of testing, would be done in a day. Testing was a luxury they couldn’t afford.
