Lost Star

by Rebecca Royce

  “Anders has better hearing than most people. In fact, four of our fellow shipmates do. As much as it sounds insane, it is possible that he can hear your heartbeat over the alarm that he should be working on turning off.” Trenton walked over to one of the computers and entered something into a tablet he picked up off a console.

  Lifting his eyebrows as he spoke, Anders didn’t take his gaze off my hand on his arm. His skin was warm, and I wondered if my hands were cold and bothering him. “Yes. What he said is true.”

  “I can’t really apologize for being scared. I’m terrified. I’m not going to be able to control that. If it helps, I’m not sure how long we’ll be together, but I am very rarely scared. I can’t remember the last time it happened.” We were all shouting to be heard over the alarm. “Would you like me to stop touching you? I…I have the need to touch people. It’s just something I do because I tend to… Well, never mind. Are you worried I’m going to make you sick? Wade said this device in my arm would keep me okay, but maybe I shouldn’t.” In fact, that had to be it, I pulled my arm back. Germs were a real thing. If I was still unwell, then…

  Anders took my hand in his, squeezing it. “No one touches me.”

  I let that sink in. How strange a statement. Almost everyone I knew reached out to make that kind of contact with me all the time. It was a given for a person who ended up on my path. “Why not?”

  “Anders,” Trenton whirled around. “The alarm. For the love of the universe, shut off the alarm.”

  Dropping my hand, Anders nodded. “I’ll get on that. Fix the scared, Trenton. Sienna.” He furrowed his brow and strode out of the room as fast as we’d entered.

  Now alone with me, Trenton shook his head. He indicated toward the chair. “You get used to them. They’re very intense. Super Soldiers. Would you sit down? I can’t imagine Wade wanted you up and running around just yet.”

  It did sound nice to sit, so I did. My head pounded. It might be the alarm blaring. It might be…all of this.

  “How did I come to be here?”

  Trenton sat across from me. “One of our colleagues named Amber Chen was on a space station finding out about a new strain of virus when you were given to her by a doctor there. He told her that Evander Corporation was after you and asked her to keep you safe. You stayed with her, on Earth, in cryogenic sleep for a long time, but then we got word Evander had located you and was coming to get you. We arrived and took you with us. They’ve been chasing you ever since, but we’ve managed to avoid them. Does any of that sound familiar to you? Do you know about Evander? About what’s been happening?”

  The name darted around in my head like a flopping fish that I couldn’t quite catch. Still, there was something. They’d come…two men demanding entrance to the Temple. We hadn’t let them in. They wanted to see me… Then there had been heat. Why was there heat?

  “Sienna?” Trenton’s voice called me back to the present, and I blinked, trying to clear my head. The alarm stopped. How long had I been sitting there not speaking?

  I rubbed my eyes. “I have some recollection of Evander. There’s a war, right? A big one. They came. Wanted me. That’s all I really remember. Then heat…”

  He scrunched up his face. “You got sick. Maybe that’s the heat? They gave you something to make you sick. We’re not sure why. Perhaps to compel you to do something for them. What would they want you to do?”

  The door opened and closed, an out of breath Wade rushing into the room. “Fuck. Sorry. Trenton, Anders said he put her in here with you. Sienna, I’m so sorry you were alone to deal with this. There was an emergency.” He waved his hand in the air. “We’re all fine now.”

  Trenton sat back in his chair. “I was just getting some information from our guest.”

  “What did you tell her? I wanted her to rest, to take in bits and pieces. Not overwhelm her with everything.”

  Trenton laughed. “We don’t do gentle in this world. You know that. She’s fixed as best she will ever be, short of Evander handing over a cure to the hundreds of things they injected her with. At this point, I think we need to know what she knows if we’re going to keep her, and us, alive long enough to beat the shit out of them.”

  The language they used was so course, so different from the few men I knew. My cheeks heated up. Fuck. Shit. They were forbidden words. It was actually kind of fun to hear them. I shook my head. Focus. I needed to keep with the moment.

  Breathe. Stay present. My heart rate was slowing. That was good. There were things to be afraid of, but other than Anders hauling me around, nothing too untoward had happened here. I wasn’t in immediate danger.

  “She’s my patient, Trenton. I say when and how she gets delivered information right now.”

  Trenton shrugged. “Then I guess you should have been there with her and not had her dropped off in my command center. I don’t take orders from you.”

  “No, you take them from Blaze, and he put me in charge of her. So…”

  Their argument ceased as the door opened and four others entered the room in a straight line. Anders, I recognized, and although he’d been gone a brief time, I smiled when he came in. “I’m calming down.”

  He nodded at me. “I can hear that. We all can, actually.”

  Trenton ignored Wade to turn to the four guys who entered. “You know Anders because of before. That’s Blaze. Corbin. And Kellan.”

  I swallowed. That was a lot to remember. They were supposed to be like Anders. Super Soldiers. What made them super, I didn’t know.

  “Blaze is in charge.” Anders moved to stand next to me. I looked around. Was there a reason he’d picked that spot on my left? It had seemed a deliberate move. Or maybe I was overthinking things? “But Corbin and Kellan are also like me. We can hear things, do things you might not expect.”

  Blaze shot him a look I couldn’t decipher as I quickly tried to pick up emotions from the new people in the room. Blaze was the tallest, biggest of them all. He looked like a giant muscle. His hair was blond, shaved tight to his head. His face was all angles and slopes. And he was…focused. What a strange sense to get. Focus? I couldn’t say I’d ever read that on someone before.

  Corbin by contrast was the smallest of the Super Soldiers, putting him more in line with Trent and Wade’s height. I wondered if they’d consider him small. His hair was long, halfway down his back and dark. It fell in waves. His shirt was also off, like Ander’s, and he had cream applied all over him. That was right. Anders had said Corbin was burned. Was he in pain? I picked up nothing but annoyance and disappointment in himself.

  Finally, Kellan, with his neatly trimmed black hair and equally dark eyes, stared at me like I might be his enemy. I didn’t have to do much reading on him to immediately get that. He was the predator and I was the prey.

  Actually, I was suddenly glad for Anders standing right where he had.

  I gulped. Everyone’s attention was on me. I was used to that, it tended to be when I was in the room. I nodded toward Blaze. “You’re in charge?”

  “That’s right. So why don’t you tell me why Evander wants to kill you so badly? Let’s start with that and work from there.”

  Fair enough. I took a long breath. “It might be better if I just showed you.”

  Some of my fog cleared. The reason Evander wanted me was the reason everyone did. And it was the bane of my existence.

  2 Zap

  “Does it have to do with the fact that you can talk in people’s minds?” All four Super Soldiers and Trenton stared at Wade at his question.

  Kellan shook his head. “Dr. Bryant may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Or he may have just lost his mind. None of us actually believe you were talking in his mind. That’s not possible.”

  Unfortunately, it absolutely was. “We’ve spent a lot of time together, haven’t we?” I rose from the chair, speaking to Wade. “More than I did with anyone else? That must have been the case, right? You’re my doctor, and I’m…I’m sick.” That still didn’t
feel real. I needed an explanation on what that was exactly, but they seemed to want answers, and in my experience, things went easier if I pacified before I charged. That was my way at least.

  I was lost in space with strangers, but things didn’t change.

  Wade nodded fast. “Yes, a lot of time. It was my job to make sure you were okay.”

  Trenton spun his chair in a circle. “I’m sure that’s why you spent so much time in there.”

  What did that mean? Wade punched him hard in the arm, which made Trenton grin. I didn’t understand what had just gone on, but it was fascinating. How did hitting him make Trenton happy? This was confusing.

  “I do have the ability to speak in someone’s mind if I know them, if I’ve spent a lot of time with them.”

  Wade grinned. “I knew I wasn’t crazy. Amber heard her, too. I told you all it happened.”

  Kellan shook his head fast. “It’s impossible. Human brains can’t do that. If such a thing were possible, I’d be able to do that.”

  This made the others all smile like he’d been joking. He narrowed his eyes, a muscle ticking in his jaw. He was already intimidating, and like that… No, I didn’t care for that at all. Not in the least.

  Blaze furrowed his brow, obviously missing the look he was being shot by Anders or not caring about it at all. Weren’t they scared of Kellan? He was… A hand pressed on my shoulder. Anders? Was he being comforting? I squeezed it back for a second before every other eye in the room felt like they bore into me. Kellan’s look they ignored, but a hand squeeze garnered that much attention?

  Nothing made sense here.

  “Is this why Evander wants you? Because you can talk in someone’s mind?”

  I wished that was it. “No.”

  “It can’t be because that’s impossible. That isn’t something she can do, and if she says she can, she is lying.”

  Lying? Anders let go of my hand even as he widened his stance. “I never lie. Sometimes I keep things to myself for privacy or respect, but I never lie. You’ve all been taking care of me. I would certainly never lie to you.”

  Kellan took a step toward me. Just one. He wasn’t in my personal space, but that didn’t matter. If he wanted to, I was sure he could grab me. Trenton adjusted until he was slightly in between the two of us. There was so much going on in this room, but one thing I knew, even in the short minutes I’d been here, was that they could hear my fear. That meant I either had to have none, learn to control it, or own it.

  “Then someone has lied to you.” Kellan sounded so smug, so sure of himself. And his leader, Blaze, was doing nothing to stop it. I didn’t know what was going on with Corbin, but so far, my impression of the three of them wasn’t as favorable as Wade and Trenton. Or even Anders—who had hauled me over his shoulder like a piece of luggage, showing just how low the bar was at this point for me liking someone.

  I was going with option three—own it. “I think you mean to be frightening. I am already there. I’m scared, so you can back off. But no, I’m not lying, and I resent the implication. Where I’m from, people don’t talk to me like that, they don’t accuse me of fabrication. The reason for that? Well, I can do this.”

  Normally, I’d ask permission for my act. I even knew it was inappropriate as I did it. My temper was a wicked master, and it was better that I didn’t reach the point where I lost it to begin with. But there was Kellan, with his accusations, aggressive eyes, and clear distaste for me when I’d done nothing to him.

  It was always a matter of tuning in to a person’s frequency. His was right there for me to tap. I could hear it like a zing in my eardrums. Always there but easily ignorable, unless I needed it. There it was, and all I had to do was zap him.

  I pushed the electricity in my field toward him, targeting his head. His eyes widened for a second before he hit the ground, his knees taking the fall. I’d barely touched him. I could kill like that if I wanted to. I never had, but the ability was there.

  Kellan grabbed his head, rocking back and forth. The effects would wear off momentarily, although if he really was as sensitive as they seemed to be, it might burn him for a minute or two.

  “That’s why Evander wants me. The women on my planet, we’re all pretty much born weapons. But I’m the worst of them all. I can be lethal. With my mind.”

  The room exploded in action. Wade rushed past me, his eyes wide as he put his hand on Kellan’s back. I sank back into my chair. Blaze stared at me, panting like he’d run a race, even though he’d been standing still.

  Corbin laughed, which seemed a little off considering the circumstances, before he covered his mouth with his hand like he could stop the sound.

  Anders touched my shoulder again. “You okay? Does it hurt you to do that?”

  “Not now. Usually later. Too much, and it knocks me out in a few hours.” I stared at him. “Aren’t you scared?”

  He shook his head. “Oh no. You wouldn’t do that unless you had to. Kellan baited you. He won’t do that again. It’s not a bad idea to knock him around. Trust me on that. There’s a pecking order with him. And…”

  “Okay.” Trenton walked toward me. “Anders, fly the ship. Come on, I’m going to feed you, Sienna. I’m not sure what you just did, but we’re going to let the Super Soldiers digest that they might not be the most dangerous people on this ship. That’s going to take them a hot moment. Then I’ll show you to your room. My guess? We’re pointing this ship toward the Farm any second and going to report in about you. Someone like you? Evander’s never letting you go.”

  He held out his hand, and I took it. If the ship was going to start shaking again, then I would take the help. Corbin stepped in front of us. “Really glad you’re here, Sienna. Welcome to Artemis.”

  I nodded. “Thank you.”

  He winked at me before he got out of my way, and Trenton groaned, leading me from the room. “Don’t mind him. He probably watched a stream on flirting. They’re all trying so hard to be human. They just don’t know how. Some days, I feel like I’m babysitting, and oh they can hear us by the way. They can hear everything we say on this ship. Never say anything that you don’t want everyone to know. They haven’t quite figured out privacy. The other night…you know, never mind. Sienna, you’re on a ship with a bunch of men who can kill in a heartbeat without pause. Yet something, or someone, one day made them pause. Now keeping you from Evander is our cause.”

  At some point, he’d added the word our and included himself in that phrasing. “Who are you to them? They’re all different…okay, I’ll figure that out. And Wade is a doctor.” Exhausted to boot. “Who are you, and why are you here?”

  “I’m a lost cause.” He took me through a doorway that led to a kitchen. “But I can cook, so that is something. Anything you don’t eat?”

  My stomach grumbled. “How long since I ate anything?”

  “We have no idea.”

  Now that was a concept that was going to take some getting used to. “I’ll eat anything.”

  “Great. That works for me.”

  My stomach pained me, and I sat down. Trenton wasn’t the doctor, but he seemed to be more readily willing to tell me the truth. “Do you know what’s wrong with me?”

  The spot on my arm hurt where the tube stuck out, showing me the liquid moving through my body. Was it some kind of machine delivering the stuff?

  He looked over his shoulder as he placed bread on a plate. “I’m going to make French toast. An old Earth recipe. Breakfast for dinner works in crisis situations, which means I eat it a lot lately. And I don’t know the names of what Evander gave you, Sienna. But they made you sick. Presumably so that you’d have to turn to them for the cure. Then they’d have you, and that thing you did with your brain. I actually heard you zap Kellan. That was something. Your people sent you away rather than give you to them, and eventually, you made it to us.”

  The adrenaline was wearing off. I’d just zapped a man I didn’t know, who hadn’t physically harmed me, just to show I could b
ecause he accused me of being a liar. I put my forehead on my knees and closed my eyes. I was sick, I’d been frozen, I was on a ship. Oh, I missed my people. I hadn’t let myself think of them since I’d woken up, but now? I wanted them.

  Marla. Kate. Janice. Framje. The whole set of instructors who made me nuts most of the time. I wanted them. All of them. My mother and father. I didn’t see them much, but I’d do anything to spot them in the distance.

  I swiped at my silent tears but not before Trenton noticed them.

  He placed what looked like gooey deliciousness in front of me. I almost never got sugar unless it was honey, because it was so scarce on our planet. And even honey came and went with shipments depending on the current state of the pirates in the sky. They took most things from us that were worth anything. Sweet was always a treat for me.

  I wiped my eyes again. “Thanks.”

  He handed me a napkin, and I dabbed at the evidence of my tears. “Sorry. I’m not a crier. It doesn’t help, doesn’t fix.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” He cut into his food, and I did the same. “That doesn’t mean that sometimes we don’t do it. You’ve had a huge upset. I don’t think any of us were thinking about how odd this would be for you when you woke up. More focused on wanting answers as to what Evander wanted, how to keep you safe.” He tilted his head. “Not that the Soldiers would think about emotions. They almost never do. And that’s normal for them, I’m discovering, and it’s worked for me, because I’d rather not go around feeling everything all the time either. Better to just do. Still, Wade should probably have realized. Here.” He reached forward and dabbed at the corner of my mouth where I must have had a little syrup.

  That was sweet. No one had done that for me in years. I’d been taking care of myself for at least a decade. When I turned thirteen, I was pretty much considered grown, if not fully matured yet. “Thank you.”

  He nodded. “You’re welcome. Good?”

  “Crazy good. I’ve never had this before.” I chewed and swallowed. “Thank you.”