Out of Orbit- The Complete Series Boxset

by Chele Cooke

  She tapped at the device, her frown deepening. She shook her head and tapped in new commands, only for the device to return to blank. Olless’ fingers trembled against the device again, and this time Georgianna knew it wasn’t the cold. “What is it?”

  “I can’t—”

  Alec waved his arms. “He screwed us. I knew it. That bastard had no intention of giving us anything. He probably only gave us the device to track us back here.”

  “No,” Olless said. “It is untraceable due to my position. But all of my permissions have been suspended, and I cannot create a way around it.”

  “So we have nothing?” Jacob said.

  Olless grimaced. “Not exactly. I have the lists.”

  Dhiren shrugged. “Then what’s the problem?”

  “They are in Cahlvenese. I cannot even use the translate function. They will be useless to you.”

  Jacob walked to the doorway and jumped down out of the tunnel car. ”Getting paper,” he said, sticking his head back through the doorway. “Olless and I have a long night of transcribing ahead. Someone make dinner, I’m starving.”

  Georgianna giggled at his take-charge attitude, and nodded, accepting the orders with a mock Adveni salute. She waved the others off, away from Olless.

  “You heard the man. Shoo! We have dinner to make.”

  “Do you hear that?” Dhiren said.

  Georgianna sat up on her bed, her brow furrowing as she strained to listen. Jacob’s pencil scratched and scribbled, the flame of the lamp sputtered alongside Olless’ tired and quiet whispers, and Alec snored in the corner, having taken over Dhiren’s bed.

  Lacie had been winding and unwinding the few bandages they had left. She paused, and peered into the darkness, pulling up her legs from where they’d been dangling in the doorway.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Georgianna said.

  “Shh!” Dhiren clambered off the end of Georgianna’s bed; his own bunk had been taken by Alex, who had been displaced by Olless.

  They listened.

  Dhiren tiptoed across the car and leaned over Alec. He rested his hand over his mouth and shook his shoulder. Alec awoke with a jerk and a brief struggle under Dhiren’s grasp, but came to his senses and sat up, rubbing his eyes. Dhiren tapped his ear and pointed out of the doorway, down the tunnel.

  With Olless in their little camp, they had considered posting a guard further down the tunnel. They didn’t have enough oil for two lamps through the night, and it was decided that together they could put up a more united front, which would be more useful than a thirty second warning. Right now, peering past the boys and down the dark tunnel, Georgianna wasn’t so sure that had been a smart move.

  Dhiren grabbed two weapons and handed one to Alec. Georgianna gritted her teeth and grabbed a copaq of her own. She picked up a second and passed it to Lacie. The redhead’s eyes widened, but she turned the weapon around without comment and held it like a seasoned hunter. Back on Alec’s bed, Olless had paused in her translation and was watching Lacie curiously.

  Jacob was halfway to his feet when Georgianna waved him back. “We got it. Keep going.”

  Jacob nodded, and prodded Olless into continuing.

  Alec and Dhiren had climbed down from the doorway, Dhiren taking the high aim and Alec the low. They edged further down the tunnel. As Georgianna took up a position in the doorway beside Lacie, she heard it: every few seconds there was a quiet crunch, like a footstep, getting closer.

  Georgianna adjusted her grip on the copaq and leaned in closer to Lacie. “Only shoot if Alec and Dhiren go down.”

  She closed her eyes, trying to focus only on what she could hear. The footsteps, slow but steady, had stopped. She could hear Jacob and Olless, and Lacie’s breath beside her, but no movement.

  Then, far too loud for it to have been an accident, a three-note whistle rang down the tunnel.

  Georgianna’s eyes flew open. Alec and Dhiren tensed, adjusting their grips on their weapons, ready to start firing. Lacie scrunched up her face in confusion.

  It made no sense. Unless the person was a friend, they wouldn’t announce their presence in such a way. Or, were they a foe, sent to deliver news about the trade, and didn’t want to be shot?

  The whistle came again, but still no footsteps. Georgianna frowned. The tune was familiar. She could remember hearing it, but not in a tunnel. It gave her a memory of the vast outdoors, and hundreds of people, and… a lake with Edtroka cursing beside her.

  She dropped her copaq and jumped down from the tunnel car with a crash.

  “Keiran?” She scrambled to her feet and ran past a cursing Alec and Dhiren, dodging their frantic attempts to grab her. “Keiran?”

  She didn’t have to go far before his silhouette appeared in the tunnel, stepping away from the tunnel wall. His features melted into view, revealing a broad smile.

  “Hey, Med.”

  Georgianna crashed into him, throwing her arms around his shoulders and burying her face into the crook of his neck. She held on tight and inhaled the scent she had missed for so long. There was a chemical smell clinging to his clothes, unfamiliar and sharp, but beneath it she caught the scent of his skin, as good as she had ever known.

  Keiran raised a hand from where it had been pressed against her lower back and gave a brief wave. He spoke through the waves of Georgianna’s hair. “Hi guys.” He chuckled and patted her back. “Come on, limpet. Down you go.”

  Georgianna released him and sunk back onto her feet.

  “What are you doing here?” Dhiren said.

  Alec frowned. “Bit risky, isn’t it?”

  “You kidnap a ranking Cahlven and you call me risky?”

  Dhiren grinned. “Good point.”

  Georgianna peered up at him and cupped his face, the tips of her fingers tracing the lines she had known so well. They were different now: cheeks more hollow than before, stubble so unkept it was practically a beard. But it was still Keiran.

  “What are you doing here?” Georgianna said. “What if they’re tracking you?”

  “It’s worth the risk,” he said, leaning in and kissing her forehead. “And I had to get in contact.”

  “I was going to tell you, I can’t come in through the shield anymore. They have an alarm for anyone passing through.”

  Keiran nodded. “I heard as much.” He glanced between them. “So, you have Olless.”

  “Missing your boss?” Alec said.

  Georgianna whipped around, her mouth already open and ready to tell Alec to cut it out. They knew Keiran was on their side; it had been a joint decision that he should be the one to stay, and she wasn’t going to let Alec get into all that traitor shit again. But the moment she saw his face, her anger fell away. Alec wore a childish, mocking grin, and Keiran smirked back at him.

  Alec and Dhiren turned, heading back to the tunnel car. Georgianna fell in after them, only to be pulled to a stop before she’d taken two steps. She twisted, looking up at Keiran. He leaned down, this time placing a gentle kiss against her lips. The Cahlven clothes might have changed the way he smelled, and the stress had made him thinner, but nothing could change the thrill that zapped from her lips all the way to her toes as he pulled her closer. If Alec and Dhiren hadn’t been so close, she might never have moved from that spot.

  “I heard you went all Veniche leader on Maarqyn and Naltahn,” Keiran said, against her lips.

  “Who told you that?”

  “One of the soldiers from Naltahn’s detail.”

  “Proud of me?”

  He chuckled. “More like seriously turned on.”

  Georgianna giggled and smacked his arm, pulling away. “Let’s go before any more Cahlven soldier stories get you wound up.”

  Lacie had moved further into the tunnel car, and Dhiren and Alec had climbed up, waiting for them just inside the doorway. Now there was more light, Georgianna could see that Keiran wasn’t wearing the Cahlven uniform they’d given him. He was wearing his old clothes, although they somehow looked diff
erent from the last time she’d seen them.

  “No Cahlven listening in, I assume,” she said.

  “Had to hide the coat. But to be honest, I doubt they’re watching me. Even if they are, they can’t tell that I’m underground.”

  “They can’t?” Dhiren said.

  “No. The Cahlven tracking technology only works from above, from what I can work out. They can find you on a map, but unless they’re in the vicinity with this scanner thing, they can’t get a vertical reading.”

  “Good,” Alec said, nodding. “So, if Olless has got one, they won’t know to look down here?”

  Keiran shrugged. “If there’s a big building above here, then not at first. But once they’re close enough, they can scan up and down.”

  Olless spoke from the other end of the car. “I don’t have a tracker in me.”

  Dhiren leaned back and glared at her behind Alec’s back. “Like we’d believe you.”

  Alec leaned down and extended a hand first to Georgianna, and then to Keiran, helping them into the car. Keiran took a moment to look around at their close-quarter beds and Lacie, sitting quietly in the corner. His gaze settled on Jacob and Olless. She glared back at him and snorted in derision.

  “Why am I not surprised?” Olless said.

  Keiran took a seat on the bed that belonged to Georgianna, regarding Olless with a cold and mocking smile. “Surprised I didn’t really fall for your crap? That I’d be perfectly happy with letting you imprison as many Veniche people as you could and test on them?”

  “It is lies!” Olless gripped the Cahlven device in both hands and glanced at each of them in turn as she smacked the device against her knees. “The Adveni are still winning when you believe these lies against us.”

  “Lies? Really? You expect us to believe that?”

  “Even Maarqyn made a comment about sickness,” Georgianna said, taking a seat beside Keiran. “I don’t know if he thought we’d understand it, or if it was just a snide remark at the Colvohan.”

  Keiran turned his ire away from Olless and met Georgianna’s gaze. “What did he say?”

  Georgianna looked at Lacie before she could think better of it. She hadn’t told Lacie about Beck, that he might not be the same when he came back. But she couldn’t keep it from Keiran just to spare the girl’s feelings. “When the Colvohan said we could have Beck back in the trade for Olless, Maarqyn said, ‘while he still has time left’. Like he knew he wouldn’t have much.”

  Lacie gasped. “What? Is Beck—”

  “Sick,” Keiran said. “And getting worse.”

  “There is nothing to show that the Cahlven had anything to do with that,” Olless said. “There has been an outbreak of a virus. It’s not surprising when so many people are in tight quarters.”

  Keiran leaned forwards and raised an eyebrow. “And your solution is to keep them in quarantine, all together? Cut off connection with those outside?”

  Olless looked non-plussed as she stared back at him. “Of course. Stop the infection from spreading further.”

  Georgianna laid a hand on Keiran’s arm and pulled him back, as he snarled and tried to get to his feet. She got up and sat on his other side, putting herself between them. Dhiren and Alec kept their distance, seemingly amused by the disagreement.

  “I don’t think she’s lying,” Georgianna said.

  Keiran finally stopped glaring at Olless for long enough to look at Georgianna. “No. George, you have to believe me. I managed to see some of the Ven in the quarantine before the guards found me. The people in there are marked with lines of symbols. I drew out everything I could remember, but… you have to believe me, George, the Cahlven are testing on them. This isn’t some random sickness.”

  Georgianna grasped his hand. “I believe you.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I just don’t think Olless knew about it.”

  Alec snorted. “How could she not? She’s their emissary, right?”

  “It’s what we found out with the attack on the Compound, and the Mykahnol,” said Georgianna. “Nobody knows everything.”

  “Except the Colvohan,” Dhiren said.

  “Well, yes. I doubt he’d be left in the dark, especially on something like this.”

  “How can we trust anything she says?” Keiran said. “She’s a good liar.”

  “Excuse me!” Olless said.

  Dhiren stepped forwards. “Oh, I would love for you to claim you never lied to us.”

  She said nothing, and seemed to take all of their voices with her, as an uneasy silence settled over the car, broken by the scribbling of Jacob’s pencil as he got back to work on the lists. He didn’t need Olless’ instructions anymore; it looked like he had figured out some of the translation.

  Jacob had drawn columns down the paper, a grid with a name on the left and then details that repeated. Georgianna frowned and shuffled to the end of the bed, picking up one of the completed sheets of paper, examining it. She turned it around to Olless. “This information. This is written in those lists?”

  “Of course,” Olless said. She turned the device around to show Georgianna and pointed to rows of columns. They weren’t words the way the Veniche drew them, but symbols.

  Georgianna took the device and held it in front of Keiran. “Are these the symbols you saw?”

  He nodded. “Pretty much.”

  “What?” Dhiren said. “What is it?”

  Georgianna frowned and handed the device back to Olless. “Registrations. Just like the Adveni’s.”

  “What?” Olless said. “No! This is just for information.”

  Georgianna snatched up the first sheet of translation and held it up in front of her. “37, male, no infractions, no infection. Class: soldier. 23, male, no infractions, infection detected code 3. Class: civilian.”

  “That doesn’t mean—”

  “Find me,” Keiran said. “You can search for people on that thing, right?”

  Olless slumped and sighed, glancing around the car in the hope of finding someone who might think that searching for Keiran’s records was a bad idea. No takers. She accepted the device back from Georgianna, turned it around and pressed her long index finger into one of the buttons on the side. A light shot up from, and a set of symbols illuminated in the air above the tsentyl. She fidgeted with the buttons and the symbols flashed and changed. When she found the set she wanted, Olless darted her fingers through the symbols in turn. Jacob leaned closer to get a look at the screen. Even from a distance, Georgianna could see that the information on the screen had changed from a list to a single record.

  “30, male, infractions, uh…” Jacob glanced at Olless and pointed out a symbol.

  Olless gave a dark grin. “Numerous,” she said, glancing at Keiran. Perhaps she expected him to cower or cringe. Instead, Keiran grinned back at her.

  “No infection,” Jacob said. “Class: soldier. There are a load of other notes once you get further in. No, uh… no…”

  “Family,” Olless said. “It is a code to reflect the blood connections with others. In this case, none that have been tracked into our system.”

  Jacob cringed as he glanced at Keiran. “Oh,” he said, hanging his head.

  Georgianna shuffled forwards. “Are we all on there?”

  Olless nodded and waved the device with a sarcastic smile. “Anyone else want a go?”

  “Look me up,” Georgianna said, before anyone else could interject. “I want to see what you wrote about me.”

  Dhiren chuckled. “Female, no infections. Class: pain in the ass.”

  Lacie giggled from behind him, earning a proud smile from Dhiren.

  Olless wasted no time in bringing the symbols up again, swiping her fingers through them in quick succession. Georgianna peered closer, her eyes narrowing as the screen remained on a list. Olless paused and glanced at her.

  “What?” Georgianna said. “What? Have I been removed or something? Banished from the shield, and now banished from your lists?”

  Jacob leaned closer and
shook his head. “No, George, you’re on here. But you’re not the only one.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “There is you. I can see the female sign. But there are three others, all male.”

  All of the air left her body, as if she’d been punched in the stomach. She stared at the device.

  “There must be some mistake,” Alec said.

  Olless shook her head.

  “Or the records taken before hand,” Dhiren said.

  Jacob’s gaze darted between them, his brow drawn low over his eyes. “I don’t—”

  Olless laid her hand on Jacob’s arm, silencing him. “These records are current,” she said. “They have been collaborated since our arrival, and only take those present into account.”

  Georgianna wanted to wrench the device from Olless’ hands and hold onto it until she could see for herself that the information it held was real. But she couldn’t move. Her hands trembled so hard, the piece of paper she’d been holding slid from between her fingers and floated to the floor of the car.

  Olless tapped the device, bringing up the registrations into four detailed segments. “Lyle, Halden, and Braedon Lennox are all tracked onto the ship at Adlai. They were picked up by one of our scouts to the south and they arrived five weeks ago.”

  “Are we just going to skip over the fact that George’s family are alive?” Keiran said, jumping down from the doorway.

  Alec paced and shook his head. He threw a glance back at the doorway before turning away again. “No, of course we’re not. Halden has been my friend since we were children. I want him back just as much as anyone. We still need to go through with this trade for Beck. If we put in more demands now…”

  Sitting in the doorway, Georgianna waved her legs back and forth and stared at her knees. She should have been happy. She should have been ecstatic that her family were alive. But she was nervous about seeing their information on a Cahlven device. Maybe it was all a trick; something cooked up by the Colvohan. Fool her into thinking her family were alive and use it to trap them, or manipulate them into something.