by Gail Koger
“Good idea.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and linked minds with him. “Show me how it’s done.” Whoosh! We zoomed down the hallway. Trayon’s tentacles acted like radar and kept him from crashing into things. Since I didn’t have any tentacles yet, hyper speed was definitely out.
In Trayon’s mind I saw the children running down the hallway. He skidded to a halt.
“Momma! Geepa!” Cason wailed and tried to climb up Trayon’s leg.
Pepe cried, “Where been?”
Twittering excitedly, Adoz flew circles around us.
“You are now Askole.” Chiara was wrapped around Pepe’s neck like a bandana.
“I am, except my tentacles haven’t come in yet.”
Dad trotted up with the twins on his shoulders. “The little buggers worked together to get the door open.”
“My children are very smart.” I slid down Trayon’s body and cuddled the kids.
The twins scurried up to my head and dug about in my hair. “What these?”
“Tentacle bumps.”
“You have scales like Chiara,” LeeLee giggled.
LooLoo added, “Fur better.”
“Ax.” Cason tapped my teeth, then touched his. “Ax.”
“Yes. We both have fangs.”
Cason laughed hysterically.
I tickled him. “Glad you find them so funny.”
Dad’s concerned gaze swept over me, taking in all the changes.
“I’m okay, Dad,” I said in English.
“Are you? We almost lost you.”
“Other than no tentacles yet, my conversion is complete, and I feel great.”
Dad touched the blood on my armor. “Where did that come from?”
“She tried hyper speed too soon and ran into a door,” Trayon answered.
I made a face. “Broke my nose, but I’m stronger now and have some new abilities.”
“Like what?” Dad wanted to know.
“My ability to see auras is stronger and I’m hoping with Chiara’s help, we can track down the bolt hole Mallox and Giovanni are using.”
“Good there’s something in the soil that blocks our scanners.”
“And the bad news is, we have incoming Rodan ships,” I griped.
Dad scowled. “If the Rodan lose Denebola, the war is over. They’re going to throw everything they have at us.”
“True.” I held my hand out to Chiara. “Let’s see if we can find the evil scientists’ lair and rescue Adam and the others.”
Chiara slithered up my arm and peered at me. “I felt your pain.”
Holy Mother. “I’m so sorry. I never meant for that to happen.” I scratched under her chin. “I needed to be stronger to save my brother.”
“You took a great risk. Adam is no longer human. He has become other. He will try to kill you,” Chiara chided.
A single tear rolled down my cheek. “I know, but I can’t let him go without a fight.”
“We will find him and do what we must.” Chiara snuggled against my neck.
Pepe butted against me. “Me help.”
“We bite, they die,” the twins crowed.
Adoz chittered loudly and landed on my shoulder.
I petted his head. “I know you can burn them with your fire, but we’re not leaving the ship. Chiara and I are going to mentally search for them.”
“You no fun,” LeeLee pouted.
Dad picked up Cason and Pepe. “How about I get you something to eat?”
“Bloos. Bloos.” Cason clapped his hands.
Pepe danced around Dad happily. “Hamburgers.”
Adoz landed on Dad’s shoulder and chirped at him.
Chiara translated, “He wants Bahmi fish.”
“You coming girls?” Dad held his hand out to the twins.
“You mean. We stay with Momma Jia.” LooLoo said.
“It’s okay, Dad.”
His worried gaze settled on me. “Be careful.”
“Always.”
Dad snorted in disbelief.
“I will watch over her,” Trayon promised and scooped me up. We zipped down the corridor with the twins yelling, “Wee! Go faster! Go faster!”
Chiara joined in, “Go faster!”
Being a good father, Trayon sped around the ship twice before returning us to our quarters. To my relief, everyone had left.
“That fun!” LooLoo cried.
“Yes, it was, but now we have to find the evil scientists,” I said.
LeeLee cried, “Want to do again.”
“Work now. Play later. I want you to observe Momma Jia’s and Chiara’s hunt for the scientists,” Trayon stated firmly.
The twins burrowed into my hair. “Kay. We watch.”
“You ready Chiara?”
“I am.”
“Start at the processing plant and then expand your search parameters,” Trayon instructed.
“Aye, aye, sir.” I linked mentally with Chiara and together we searched the abandoned plant for Adam. I stiffened when a bright blue ball shot from deep within the earth. “You see that Chiara?”
“Most unusual.”
“Its power level is off the charts,” Trayon stated, tapping away on his gauntlet.
“I’ll say.” My eyes widened in alarm when it rocketed toward us. “Sure hope it’s friendly. Maybe if we ask nicely it’ll tell us where the evil scientists are.” Sending out ‘we come in peace vibes’, I watched it approach.
“If it makes any hostile moves, break your link,” Trayon commanded.
“Not going to be a problem boss.”
An eerily melodic female voice asked abruptly, “Why have you invaded our necropolis?”
Merda! Was Denebola an alien cemetery? Why hadn’t the scanners picked up the graves? “We meant no disrespect. Our enemy, the Rodan, have brought our people here. We only wish to free them.” I flashed her images of a typical Rodan soldier, the carnage inside their slaughter ships and ended with Mallox’s and Giovanni’s ugly faces. “Those are the faces of our enemies.” I showed her pictures of Adam. “This is my brother, Adam. I must save him before he becomes this.” Drawing from my memories of Giovanni’s super soldiers, I gave her a live action version of the different types of monsters.
“Who she?” LeeLee asked.
“Shh, babies.”
LooLoo added, “She go fast like Father Trayon.”
“Yes, she does. I need you to be very quiet while I talk to her.”
“Kay,” the twins said together.
Find out what she is, and if she is friend or foe,” Trayon instructed on our private link.
Like I hadn’t thought of that already? “My name is Jia. What are you called?”
“Oni. I was awakened from my long sleep by your intrusion.”
“Reassure her that we mean her no harm,” Trayon ordered.
I rolled my eyes. Like nuking the planet wasn’t harmful. “We are not your adversary, but the Rodan are. They will destroy your city of the dead. We will help you protect your sacred places. All I ask in return is you let me search for those taken from us.”
“Why do you have two minds?”
Chiara answered, “We joined to search for the lost ones.”
“Are you mates?”
“No. Chiara is the daughter of my heart. My mate is called Trayon,” I replied.
“Are the small ones your children?”
“I did not birth them, but in our culture, family comes in all sizes, shapes and species,” I said.
“Children are precious and should always be protected.”
“I agree. Family is everything,” I said.
Oni’s blue ball halted a short distance from the processing plant. “All of you are females?”
“We are.” Butterflies danced in my stomach. I hoped that was a good thing. Oni seemed happy about it. Maybe she was just lonely and needed some girl talk.
“I will grant you an audience,” Oni proclaimed.
A crackling white energy storm engulfed us. “Wait!”
Trayon’s roar of rage echoing in my ears, a horrific, twisting funnel of energy rocketed us across a weird black void.
Chapter Twenty
The energy storm dumped us in an enormous cavern. Slashes of lightning danced and pulsed over stone walls elaborately decorated with carvings and paintings.
My head spun dizzily as I pushed myself upright. I never, ever wanted to do that again.
“What happened Mother Jia?” Chiara cried.
“Not quite sure. I think Oni used some type of transporter beam on us. Are you hurt?”
“I am a bit light-headed but suffered no physical injury.”
“LeeLee? LooLoo? Are you okay?”
“Their auras have dimmed,” Chiara warned.
Holy Mother! I pulled their little bodies out of my hair. They were both curled in a ball. I instinctively reached out to Trayon. “We need a medic. Fast!” Shock turned to fear and then panic. I couldn’t sense him. There was only a horrible, empty black void where our link should be.
“I cannot feel Father Trayon’s or Cason’s or Pepe’s or Adoz’s minds. What has happened to them?” Chiara wailed.
“I don’t know. The Rodan were still light years away.” Summoning every ounce of my power, I reached out again. “Trayon?” When he failed to respond, a raw and primitive grief overwhelmed me. Had a mad bomber gotten on the ship again? Was Trayon and the others dead?
“He cannot hear you. The walls are shielded,” Oni’s voice came from the glowing blue ball hovering over us.
A shudder of relief shook me. Thank God. Trayon had to be going nuts. “Please, my children are injured. I need to summon a medic.”
The ball landed. The hull cracked open and out stepped a cat-faced humanoid wearing tarnished silver armor. Her golden hair reminded me of a lion’s mane. A long wand appeared in Oni’s hand and she ran it over the twins. “The quantum beam has disrupted their neuron circuits. I will reset them.”
“Thank you.” I watched anxiously as a glowing silver light engulfed them. If anything happened to them, I’d never forgive myself.
Oni ran a gentle hand over the twins. “What are they?”
“They’re Tabors, a race of intelligent, telepathic arachnids.” I touched the first twin. “This is LeeLee and this one is LooLoo. They were stolen from their family by the Rodan, who wanted to use them in their vile experiments. By the grace of God, I was able to rescue them.”
“They harm children?”
“Yes.” I relived the horrible day when the Rodan attacked my town. I hit Oni hard with the screams of the dying, the blood and gore. I made my pain, my horror and rage hers. “To them we are either food or lab rats to be used in their quest to create the perfect soldier. They have no honor.”
Oni bared her fangs. “They must be stopped.”
“I agree. This planet is where they grow Eugleanophyta.” I sent her a mental image of the plant. “Once harvested, it will be used to turn our people into mindless puppets.”
LooLoo’s legs twitched. “Momma Jia?”
“I’m right here, sweetie.” I cuddled her against my face. “How do you feel?”
“Me kay,” LooLoo wiggled until she could look around. “Where here?”
“This is Sakkara, the city of the dead,” Oni announced proudly.
“No see dead.”
A light flared in the darkness, then another and another and another until I could see a walkway lined with towering lion-headed statues that led to an enormous six-tier stone pyramid.
Oni gestured toward the tomb. “The great ones reside within.”
LooLoo hopped up and down on my hand. “Wanna see.”
“Maybe later when LeeLee is feeling better.”
Chiara uncoiled from my neck to get a better look at the tomb. “Is it true Earth has pyramids?”
“We do. Most are in the Middle East and South America.”
Oni seemed fascinated by that fact. “Your people worship Karnak?”
Before I could answer her, LeeLee suddenly complained, “Me hungry.”
Utter relief flooded me. The twins were back to being hungry and inquisitive. “Once we get back to the ship, you can have all the mealie bugs you want, but now we must find my brother.”
Totally ignoring me, LeeLee stared at Oni. “Who she?”
“Her name is Oni. She guards the tomb of her ancestors,” I answered.
“Why?”
Oni said somberly, “It is my duty to keep the bodies from being desecrated and the treasure safe.”
“Where others?” LooLoo asked.
Sorrow filled Oni’s eyes. “They have joined their families in the afterlife.”
“I lost many nest mates to the Rodan. As soon as they are defeated, Mother Jia will hold a proper death ritual and you are welcome to attend and grieve for your people,” Chiara said with a quiet dignity.
I interjected, “Sister Sarah always told us the ones we love are never gone; they live within us. You’re welcome to join our family.”
“My duty is here.”
I studied the lack of footprints in the thick layer of dust. “How long have you been here?”
“I have spent a millennium in stasis.”
My jaw dropped. “Your people never came back for you?”
“We were at war with the Waziri. All communication was severed to hide the location of the tomb. I accepted my fate,” Oni said fiercely.
An eerie moaning, like a chorus of lost souls wailing a dirge filled the chamber. Every nerve in my body went on red alert. “That can’t be good.”
“Your enemies have gained access to Sakkara,” Oni advised.
“How many?”
A three-dimensional holograph appeared. Mallox, Giovanni, a dozen of their super soldiers and ten Rodan warriors prowled down a tunnel.
My gaze froze on eight creepy half-human, half-slug monstrosities with yellow puss oozing from their distended jaws. Odd protrusions dotted their bodies. I blew out a long breath. None of them were Adam.
Three grotesque, crocodile creatures with metal teeth and long scaly tails walked silently behind Giovanni.
Another monster came into view. Oh, dear God, it was Adam. He had the pale skin, metal teeth and claws of a Tai-Kok, but instead of red eyes, his were amber. Even more surprising, he still had most of his hair.
A note of disgust in her voice, Oni asked, “These are the ones you search for?”
“Yes.” Tears rolled down my cheeks. “I’m too late, they’ve been transformed.”
“The one with the black hair can be saved. The others cannot,” Oni stated.
“You can fix Adam?”
“I can repair his body, but not his mind.”
“Hopefully, Zarek can heal the mental damage.” I might be Askole now, but we were outnumbered and outgunned. The Rodan warriors were armed to the teeth. Me? I had a laser pistol and my energy balls. “We’re going to need help to defeat them.”
“I have released the Yak,” Oni said.
I was expecting mechanized robots or automatic weapons. What I got were a zillion multi-armed bug thingies scurrying down the tunnel. They swarmed over the Rodan soldiers and quickly reduced them to piles of bones. Whoa! “Ah, they’re going to eat Adam too.”
The energy storm enveloped Adam and he vanished.
“Where did he go?”
“I have placed him in the stasis chamber,” Oni replied.
“Thank you.”
Dozens of tentacles sprouted from the slug creatures and they quickly stuffed the Yak bugs down their deformed gullets. Within minutes they had eaten most of the alien insects.
My mouth went dry and my heart began to pound. “Got any more bugs?”
Shock and horror flashed across Oni’s face. “No.”
“Gorums are incredibly hard to kill and have been known to eat the entire crew of a spaceship. Do you have enough stasis chambers to hold them?”
“No. There is only one,” Oni answered.
An explosion shook the
cavern. Dirt and debris rained down on us.
“They have breached the security gates,” Oni said.
A cold knot formed in my stomach. “Chiara can you port the twins back to the ship?”
“I cannot. The metal shielding inhibits my abilities.”
I turned a frantic gaze on Oni. I had to get the children out. “Can you lower your shields?”
“No. The cavern is lined with adamantium and only the quantum beam can penetrate it.” Oni pulled a silver sword.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Like that was going to work against a mutant Gorum. “Your sword, my laser pistol and energy balls are useless against those slug monstrosities. My mate and our Gorum allies can defeat them. I need you to transport them here, now.”
“Males are forbidden from entering our sacred place.”
I really wanted to punch her. “Your holy place has already been violated by Mallox, Giovanni and their monsters. If we don’t get help soon, they will eat us and desecrate your tombs.”
“Mother Jia does not lie,” Chiara added.
“We no die,” the twins wailed.
A crocodile creature charged toward us.
I hit him with an energy ball, knocking him into a lion-headed statue. The carved figure toppled over, setting off a chain reaction. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The last sculpture hit the pyramid and broke into a million pieces. I winced. I had just taken out over a thousand years of history. “Sorry. Didn’t know that would happen.”
“Visualize your mate and the Gorum,” Oni growled.
I did as she requested.
The crocodile mutant crawled out from the broken statues and roared.
I nailed him with another energy ball. To my utter surprise, he burst into flames. “Whoa!”
“Behind you,” Chiara warned.
I spun around and got smacked across the face by a long, slimy tentacle. I literally saw stars. My knees buckled and down I went.
The mutated Gorum gave a cackling laugh. “I will feast on your flesh.”
“Up, Momma Jia,” the twins yelled. “Up.”
A tentacle reached for me as I struggled to get to my feet. A gray whirlwind erupted around us. Twenty seconds of falling down an endless black hole and we appeared on the fifth level of the pyramid. “You’re a life saver, Chiara.”
