“Amsi?” I glanced around, hoping I’d gotten lucky and she was still there.
“Here.” She stomped into view. “Where have you been?”
“I don’t really know.” I’d been in darkness the entire time. For all I knew it was all in my head.
“I lost my tracker on you, but I kept my tracker on Noah.”
“You did?” Hope surged through me. “Where is he?”
“I was put into mandatory shut down, and I am still rebooting.”
“Okay. Take your time, but we need to find him.” I didn’t really want her to take her time, but I didn’t want her to blow her systems by pushing herself before she was completely online. I touched the communication section of my watch, but nothing happened. It had been disconnected. Had the Reclo done it while we were out in the dark?
“Someone was in my systems.” Beep.
“In your systems? How? What did they do?”
“They tried to delete my central code, but they failed. All memory of what happened during my shut down is gone. Backup is still available.”
“Good. The fail-safe back-up worked.”
“Indeed.”
“And you have the tracker on Noah?”
“Affirmative. I am processing coordinates.”
“Good.” I tried to calm myself down. If I wanted to find Noah, I couldn’t lose my head.
“Coordinates loaded into central computer.”
I pulled up the information. “This makes no sense. These coordinates point back to Earth. Why would they have taken him back to Earth?” I looked at the current image of the floating blue, green, and white ball. At least the planet was still intact.
Amsi beeped. “I do not know.”
“They said they didn’t plan to kill him, but Earth is in danger. Why would they have done that?”
Amsi beeped. “Stop. Look closer. Those coordinates are not for the Earth today.”
“What do you mean?” I zoomed in. “You’re right. Something is off.”
“Look at the time stamp. It is all zeros.”
“What does that mean?” I really hoped I’d programmed enough into Amsi that she could problem solve. “What do the zeros mean?”
“The zeros mean it is not from the present time.”
“Not from the present time?” My head spun. “How is that possible? You can’t just send someone to a different time.”
“No, but it may be a reflection of a time. Those were Reclos. I finally found a match in my database.”
“A reflection? How can we follow him into a reflection?” Panic was back full force.
“We can’t.”
“Oh my gosh.” I buried my face in my hands. “This is horrible. I don’t know what to do.”
“Perhaps we can call in reinforcements?”
“Yes. Open coms to North Star.” As angry as I was with Telton he’d know what to do. He always knew what to do.
“Communication failed.”
“What do you mean? Are our coms down?” I pulled up another screen. “Everything looks normal.”
“Our coms are fine. North Star’s are down.”
“Maybe it’s only a farce. A protective shield. We need to break it down.”
Amsi beeped. “There is nothing there. The coms are closed.”
“But they couldn’t do that. They’d leave a way open for us to reach them.” I tried my watch again. Still nothing. We were back at square one. Or rather I was, because as alive as Amsi sounded, she was only bits and pieces of electronics.
“Would you like my suggestion?” Amsi asked.
“Yes. What is it?”
“Return to the original mission.”
“But we can’t. They threatened to kill Noah.”
“What have the Reclos done to build your trust?”
And there she’d said it. My robot got what I hadn’t been able to wrap my head around myself. I had no idea what these Reclos truly wanted or were after. I couldn’t just sit around and wait. “Set our course again for Soldrum.”
Amsi beeped. “Setting course.”
I strapped myself in, grateful when the engine came fully online and we started to move. Part of me couldn’t believe this was happening. Things were so much easier with Noah by my side. He kept me calm. He gave me so much confidence. I’d have even taken having Caspian around. I needed advice. But then it hit me. I had to stop relying on everyone else. This was my problem, and I needed to find a solution.
Maybe going to Soldrum on my own wasn’t the best idea, but it was the only one I had. Everyone expected us to be there. Maybe with the coms down Ella and Etan would be waiting for me there. Or Telton. We’d filled everyone in about the destination before we left. Thinking of everyone on North Star made me think about those who weren’t there. Like Angie. What was she going to do when she found out Noah wasn’t with me? Would she blame me? I pushed away those thoughts. I’d get him back. There was no other outcome I could possibly accept.
11 Rachel
The clouds above Soldrum were thick, dark, and completely uninviting. I was watching it from on the screen, but even from those images I could see the intermittent lightning. Would this small pod survive being struck? I didn’t want to find out.
“I don’t want to do this.” I spoke out loud even though I knew Amsi didn’t care. I had no choice. I saw no other options. Even without someone else dictating my every move, I was trapped.
I took in a few shallow breaths. One could never breathe in too much on a borrowed pod. Amsi said the air was safe— but it was subtly different. Even though I’d barely spent a few days on Earth I longed for it. But even more so I longed for Noah.
How had everything happened so quickly? Why hadn’t we fought the Reclos before it was too late? Maybe we could have made it. It wouldn’t have changed anything. The bitter words were the truth. But I could change things. I could follow through with our mission, and hope that somehow this Veraka girl and I could fix things and get Noah back. Even if it did mean finding Caspian in order to do it. I didn’t particularly want to face him again without Noah, but the Reclos were scared of what would happen if there was another starmate set. They were afraid of the power. That was the kind of power we needed on our side.
“Initiate landing,” I instructed Amsi.
I had to snap out of it. The only way I was going to survive this situation was if I stayed confident. I tested my seat straps. With this kind of storm you never knew what would happen, and I didn’t need to add physical injuries to my list of problems. Thinking of the word storm reminded me of what the Reclos had said about their figurative storm. I still wasn’t sure what they meant. Maybe that was the point.
I prepped for a rough landing, anchoring Amsi in, and double checking that everything was secure, but it was smooth. It was almost as if the storm was just a fake image, trying to keep people away from the planet.
If it was an illusion, what was the point? Why would they want to keep people out? The pod landed softly on a sandy shore. I looked closer at the screens in front of us. Our landing spot had the appearance of an island. There was water all around the large area of sand.
Amsi beeped. “There is life outside.”
“How is the air quality?” I was grateful I had Amsi. I didn’t have the proper gear on board to measure things the old fashioned way.
Amsi beeped twice. “Air is not safe. Use precautions.”
“Understood.” I expected as much. It would have been almost alarming to find the right mixture of air on Soldrum. Like this was all one big setup. I unbuckled and went to the supply closet. I dug around, grateful when I found a protective suit and helmet. I worked through the options, trying to find an air concentration that came close to that of Earth. At least I’d learned about air concentrations when I was on Andrelexa. The helmet was a clear requirement, but the suit may have been overkill as what I was wearing would have protected me from most things. Still, I wasn’t taking chances. I couldn’t take anything for granted. “Amsi check
the air in this helmet.” I connected it into her systems. It had its own readings, but I wanted to double check.
She beeped. “24 hours.”
Her answer matched the reading I already had. “Okay. I will have to work fast.” I really hoped I wouldn’t be cutting it too close. I also hoped it wouldn’t be too much longer than that before I was reunited with Noah.
“How close is that life form outside?”
Amsi beeped. “Within twenty feet.”
“Okay. So close.” I needed to stay calm. I had no idea if this life form was intelligent or not. It could be a wild animal or something else. Or it could be higher level. Neither possibility suggested a being I wanted to meet.
Amsi beeped again. “Transmission incoming.”
I braced myself as we waited.
Amsi beeped, as a message came from the main pod speakers.
Welcome to Soldrum. We do not have a record of your planned arrival. If you come for purposes of trade or mating, you may disembark. Otherwise, you have ten minutes to leave the surface before you are obliterated.
What? Had I heard the transmission correctly? Not exactly a warm welcome. I replayed the message. Yes, definitely threats of obliteration.
“Amsi. Send this transmission back. ‘Here for peaceful means. Seeking out an individual’.” I figured that about covered the situation.
Amsi beeped, and I followed the transmission from a screen.
The reply came immediately. Mating. Very well. State your home planet so we can have proper atmosphere prepared.
Nothing I’d said mentioned mating, but maybe the receiver was confused. I’d sort it out when I left the ship. “Amsi, transmit back our home planet is Earth.”
Amsi beeped. It felt good talking about Earth in the present tense. After so many years of believing it was gone, there was still something surreal about it.
The reply came quickly. Do you have a suit or do we need to prepare a walkway?
I sent back another transmission. “I have a suit.”
The final transmission was only one word. Proceed.
I pulled on the outer suit and the helmet. I breathed in and out a few times to make sure it was working. It was hard to put all your faith in technology, even when you grew up with it.
I opened the doors, having a momentary flashback to the last time I’d done that and we’d met the awful Reclos. I hoped Noah was okay. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to him.
I took a slow walk off the craft, glancing over my shoulder to make sure Amsi was with me. She was the only help I had.
I was grateful for the mask as soon as I stepped off the pod. Sand blew all around and would have most definitely been in my eyes without the helmet shield. The wind howled. Maybe the storm hadn’t been fake after all. But I saw no other evidence of the lightning. Just the sand every which way.
I continued forward, wondering where the life form Amsi detected waited. My movements were slow. Although my eyes were protected, the sand still impacted my vision. I chose each step carefully, hoping I didn’t end up falling into some huge sand pit or something. From the Explorer lessons I’d overhead, that was a frequent occurrence on sand based planets.
All at once I was jerked back. I looked down in horror as I realized mechanical arms were wrapped around my waist. They tightened and started to push me forward. I tried to fight against them. I tried to use my feet to stop myself, but it was no use. I was no match for the arms.
“Amsi?” I called out, hoping she was keeping up.
She beeped from nearby. I managed to glance over my shoulder enough to see that she was also being grasped by metal claws.
The large claws were tight and uncomfortable as they punched across my torso making it nearly impossible to breathe. I tried to ignore the discomfort and calm my shallow breathing. I thought of Noah and all of the things I wish I had said and done. I thought of my brother. And of all the years that were lost and could never be made up. I thought of Telton and Caspian. I thought of the betrayal but also the years we’d shared. With no clear idea of what I was going to face, I found the anger melted away; there was more a sadness left than anything else. I tried to see where the claws attached, but they seemed to come straight out of the ground.
The arms pushed me along as if following a track, until we entered some sort of tunnel. The wind stopped howling, and the sand was gone. There was a loud bang and momentary darkness. Then overhead lights turned on one after the other.
My helmet was yanked off my head as the arms released me. I spun around so fast, I stumbled. I was prevented from falling by a steadying hand. “Mating request accepted.”
“What?” I looked at the owner of the hand. It was a man who appeared to be a few years older than me. He was wearing a dark tunic over a jumpsuit, and on the surface he appeared completely humanoid. He had deep multi-colored eyes and long blonde hair. “You don’t have to wait for processing. Your application has been accepted. I will take you for myself. I will see that your ship is properly sorted.”
“Excuse me?” I tried to keep up with what the guy was saying. “I never said I was looking for a mate.”
“Sure you did.” He turned on a projector. The words of my transmissions splayed across the white tunnel wall. “You are looking for an individual.”
“Yes. I am looking for someone. That doesn’t mean I’m looking for a mate.”
“Well, you found a mate. You can stop looking.” The man grimaced—or maybe he smiled. It was hard to tell.
“I’m not looking for a mate.” I looked around for Amsi. Finally I noticed her a ways off down the tunnel. At least she made it inside.
“The outcome is the same. You’ve found one.” He reached for the hand I’d just pulled away from him.
I thought fast. “I already have a mate.” Maybe it was gutsy to admit such a thing, but I wasn’t going to go down this route of discussion.
“What’s this?” He tugged the chain out from underneath my suit. “Is this what you mean? You are a mate of an Andrelexa? Of the heir?”
I hadn’t been thinking of Caspian, but of Noah. We were starmates after all, but maybe the chain could do something helpful for me. “Uh, yes. That is correct.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Yet you are out here looking for a mate?”
“I’m not looking for a mate. Haven’t we been over this?”
“Then what individual were you looking for? It’s too late for you to turn back. Your ship is being sorted.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by sorted, but it probably wasn’t a good thing. But I couldn’t worry about my ship now. “I’m looking for a girl. Her name is Veraka.” I didn’t know for sure that the Relecos were being truthful with the name, but it was all I had.
“Why would you be looking for her?” He rubbed his chin.
“Because I am.” I straightened up. Hopefully, that would be a sufficient enough answer.
“She’s unavailable.”
“But you know her?” Although I couldn’t be sure she was really Caspian’s starmate, finding out the name belonged to a real person was a start.
“Of course I know her.” He grunted.
“Of course?”
“I am the gatekeeper of Soldrum. I know all who live within the gates.” He spread out his arms to either side of him.
“Okay then. When will she be available?” I didn’t have a lot of time, but I needed to find her.
“Never.”
The single word hit me like lead. “How can she never be available?”
“Because she’s comatose.”
“Comatose?” The tunnel was feeling smaller and smaller. The air felt safe enough, but I still felt as if my breathing was constricted.
“Yes. Completely unresponsive. She’s been that way for years.”
“How many years?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “A lot.”
“Can I see her?”
“Why? You can’t talk to her.” He stiffened.
> “I think I may know how to help her.” I wasn’t sure why, but I did. We had something in common. We were both starmate feeders. Surely that had to mean something.
“So?”
I tried to read his response. “Don’t you want to help the girl?”
“Why would I?” His brows knit together.
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“She can’t be my mate so why would I care?” He turned my helmet over in his hands. He needed to be careful with it. It was necessary if I wanted to make it back to my pod. Wherever it was. I didn’t know what the sorting involved.
“What is with this mate stuff? Don’t you have other things to worry about? And don’t you care about people for other reasons?”
“Do you know how many new babies were born on Soldrum in the last ten years?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Zero.”
“Oh. Wow…” The Andrelexa birth rate wasn’t high, but it was better than that.
“So you see, finding mates is of the utmost importance.”
“But you have women here? Like the girl?” Maybe figuring out the issue would help.
“Yes.”
“And men.” I eyed him. He seemed male to me. “So why no babies?”
“Because of the poison.” His expression darkened. His hand tightened on my mask, and I began to worry he was going to break it.
“Poison?” I reached for my mask, but he pulled it away.
“It won’t hurt you.” His expression lightened slightly. “I don’t think.”
“Let me see Veraka.” The sooner I could find Veraka, the sooner I could leave. And the sooner I was off of Soldrum, the better.
Part 6
Angie
12 Angie
I couldn’t catch a break. Things got crazier and crazier. And now something was up with Kelby. I was sure of it. Why else would he be dragging me off to the opposite side of the training facility?
He stepped into a room no bigger than a closet. I glanced in but didn’t join him.
“Come on. We don’t have time to waste.”
Starless: Half Light Page 7
