by Adair Hart
The screen lit up and showed another ship dock and land next to Jerzan’s. Once it stopped, a crew of seven-foot-tall humanoids with blue skin, bald heads, and facial tattoos emerged. Their heavy armor and weaponry were no surprise to Emily since she had seen Bilaxians like that before.
“Now who’re these guys?” asked Dan.
“Dolgus Kree and the Zhama mercenary group,” said Evaran. “He is even more brutal than Jerzan. Sadly, he was the heir to a powerful clan inside the Bilaxian Empire but has wasted his talents doing what he does. He prefers overwhelming force as a tactic.”
Dan sighed. “Is there anything not deadly on this ship?”
Levaran shut off the screen display and grabbed her UIC. “Not that I’m aware of. We have the information we need, and the adjustment thrusters have been fired. This ship is now headed to the sun. We just need to make it go faster.”
“Engine room time,” said Emily. “I wonder if the krall will be there.”
“If she is, we’re gonna have a sizable group,” said Dr. Snowden.
Evaran nodded. “We will need to be careful.”
Kri’tokhaar stepped forward. “Where is your ship docked?”
“Docking bay 4,” said Evaran.
Kri’tokhaar went to a workstation and tweaked a few controls. “There is a docking bay near the engine room that is much closer. If you can get your ship to that one, the trip from the engine room to the docking bay would be halved. There’s also a set of service tunnels between the engine room and the docking bay that are secure and make the trip safer from that point on.”
Evaran and Levaran perused their ARIs.
Levaran focused on Evaran. “He’s right.”
“Edev can stealth and go get the Torvatta, right?” asked Emily.
Levaran shook her head. “V could since he is bound to it. Edev is not. However, Edev will be bound to mine, but that’s not an option now.”
Evaran’s eyes darted around the group for a moment. “I will go.”
“Analysis. I will join you,” said V.
Evaran shook his head. “Not this time. It would be better if you stayed with the group. Your shielding would be more valuable as a tactical asset.”
V’s lights dimmed. “Acknowledged.”
Emily snorted. “Well, I’m going with you then. No way you’re doing this alone, and yes, I can keep up. I did on the Dyson bubble.”
Dr. Bryson’s eyes widened. “Dyson bubble?”
“Uncle Albert can catch you up on that,” she said, gesturing at Dr. Snowden. “However, me and Evaran can get the Torvatta, while Levaran takes everyone else to the engine room, flips it on, then heads to the other docking bay.”
Levaran nodded.
“Very well,” said Evaran. “We can come back if needed, but I suspect that will not be required.” He gestured at Emily. “Let us go.”
Emily reflected on the situation as she followed Evaran. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts, and although she knew she needed to focus, she was not too worried with Evaran around. She bumped into Evaran, who had paused at the main bridge concourse entrance.
“You are deep in thought,” said Evaran.
“Yeah. There’s just a lot going on is all.”
“I understand. I did not want you to step on the draug body in front of you.”
She examined the ground, then scooted back. “Oh! I didn’t even see it.”
“You will need to remain focused. With Dolgus Kree, Jerzan, and apex predators, this could get dangerous very quickly,” he said.
She nodded. “I’m with you.”
He laid a hand on her arm and lightly squeezed. “I know. Come.”
She smiled as he took a left out of the concourse. The scattered remains of Tolkus Gare’s armor and equipment made her grimace. It reminded her of when she had seen a large draug tear up one of Jerzan’s crew. She shook her head. “What a way to go.”
He pivoted and examined the remains. “He caused a lot of pain to people. On one of the planets I visited, he had poisoned the local water supply. Hundreds died, and painfully. What bothered me about the situation was that what he wanted, he could have taken. Instead, he chose to play a game with a lesser-developed society, and purposely decided to harm others.”
“What did he want?”
He nodded. “To be treated as royalty during his stay. He seemed to enjoy having others bow to him. Removing any competition was a game to him.”
Emily shook her head. “Maybe he didn’t want to deal with the fallout if he took it by force.”
“It is possible. However, he will no longer be able to do that to anyone,” said Evaran.
She wrinkled her nose as she closed up her helmet. The smell of rotting flesh was making her stomach turn. As they continued on down a large corridor, she turned toward him. “I guess we’re not going back the way we came. What’s the route?”
He flipped his hand out, and a projection shot up from his ring. It showed a map with a dot indicating where they were, a dot for the Torvatta, and a green line showing the path. “We are going to go through the living quarters on this level, then take an elevator near there down to the storage bays. From there, we only need to cross a few large rooms, but they will lead to an intersection that ends at the docking bays. Although it took us two and a half hours to get from the docking bay to the medical lab, we should be able to do this in about an hour and a half.”
“Seems reasonable,” she said.
“Keep your shield out and your PSD ready to fight. Are you ready?”
She nodded. “Let’s do this.”
He dipped his head and wheeled around.
They took off at a light sprint.
She focused on the environment as they hustled through it. The sounds were as she expected, and she was thankful she did not have to endure the smells. The light mist and dim lighting no longer bothered her, and the heads-up display inside her helmet highlighted everything.
It hit her how much she missed having V show things from his view inside her HUD. One aspect she found interesting was that she could hear the heartbeats of creatures a bit away. It was like a distant thumping of a drum, but noticeable enough to catch her attention at times.
The carcasses of creatures and Krotovore were everywhere. A bloodbath had taken place. Emily understood that this was a new path on the ship that she had never seen before. Memories of when she was on the prison planet flashed through her mind. If she could handle that, she could handle this. Traveling with Evaran, anything could be overcome.
When they reached the living quarters fifteen minutes later, they paused.
Evaran raised a hand and slipped to the side of a slightly cracked door. In a low voice, he said, “It appears the living quarters are not empty.”
She dipped her head and listened. Several heartbeats came into focus, in addition to the sound of footsteps and grunting noises. “What’s the plan?”
He pointed at himself, then at the door.
She nodded.
He crept up to the door and peeked in. After a moment, he retreated back to his initial position. “It appears Carrus Kilns are in there.”
She narrowed her eyes as he shot up a projection from his ring. The Carrus Kilns resembled orangutans with some sort of chitin-like armor on their bodies. Large fangs extended from their mouths, and their hands had powerful claws. It was the scorpion-like stinger tails that surprised her. Maybe they were poisonous.
“I believe our stun beams will work on them. They are too heavy for our repulsion beams,” he said.
She nodded.
“I’ll lead,” he said as he positioned himself opposite the door. With a kick, the door crumpled, and he entered the room.
Emily followed him in and took aim at the first Carrus Kiln. It went down quickly along with the one beside it, which Evaran hit. The third one jumped back, then scattered out of the room. She began to chase after it.
“Hold on,” said Evaran, raising a hand.
She paused near th
e two stunned Carrus Kilns.
Evaran scanned them. “The third one needs to stay alive to protect these two. I do not believe the third one will be a threat. Although they will die with the ship, they should at least have the chance to live out their lives to that point. However, there are others scattered about. We will need to remain vigilant.”
She sighed as she inspected the dead Krotovore bodies the Carrus Kilns had been feeding on. The Krotovore did not have any armor on, and from the looks of things, this had been their last stand. She wondered how many Krotovore were like Kri’tokhaar, hating what was being done but powerless to stop it.
They exited the room into a large hallway that had multiple rooms hanging off it like the one they were just in.
Evaran gestured down the hallway, and after a moment of surveying the area, they continued on.
After ten minutes of relative peace, they came to halt outside a four-way intersection.
Emily strained to hear the distant sounds, and the weapon fire stood out. “Dolgus or Jerzan?”
“I do not know. The weapons used by both are the same,” he said. He crept to the corner and peeked around. After a moment, he shook his head. “It is Jerzan’s crew. Hulldar is standing guard. Whatever they are firing at inside the room has their attention for the moment.”
Emily gulped as she remembered Hulldar. He had wanted to put shackles on her and use her as a sex slave. “Can we go around them?”
“Possibly, but I see an opportunity. If we can seal that room and put Hulldar in an adjacent room, we should be clear. However, it requires my UIC to be placed on the console.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How are we gonna do that?”
“You have camouflage ability. If you can place my UIC on the console, then shield it inside your cloak, I can lock the door.”
“And Hulldar?”
“Your choice on how to take him down.”
She grinned. “Sounds like a plan.”
He handed her his UIC. “Go now while they are occupied.”
She nodded and activated her camouflage. After shimmering out of view, she turned the corner and crept in silence toward Hulldar. Her resolve strengthened with each step. Hulldar looking around listlessly made her think he was not at peak focus. When she reached the door console, she peeked into the room.
What she saw was no surprise. It was a security storage center of some type. The panels on the wall could be pulled out and had holes on the front. She eased back and placed Evaran’s UIC on the door console. Leaning against the wall with her back toward Hulldar, she covered the UIC’s light.
The UIC connected, and the door slammed shut a moment later.
Hulldar stood straight and reached for his weapon. He pounded on the door. “What the hell are you idiots doing?”
Emily pulled off the UIC and then crept behind him while angling her PSD. When she was in position, she said, “Probably something they shouldn’t.”
Hulldar spun around as her stun beam enveloped him. He trembled for a moment, then collapsed to the ground.
Evaran joined her as she began to pull Hulldar across the hall.
The sounds of Jerzan’s crew pounding on the door echoed out.
“You did well,” said Evaran.
Emily paused to hand him his UIC and then continued dragging Hulldar into a side room. Once Hulldar was inside and Evaran had sealed the door, she smiled. “I don’t think they’ll be going anywhere.”
“Perhaps not. However, I only sense five heartbeats.”
She concentrated for a moment and verified his claim. “This means … there are three more somewhere. I saw the Rybox brothers in there with Galkett and not sure who the other one was. Maybe Simas or Rondall.”
“It could be someone we are unaware of as well,” said Evaran. “Nonetheless, good job. We are not too far away from—” He raised a hand and tilted his head.
Emily could feel it too. “My nanobots are tingling like they did when I was able to detect time anomalies.” She recalled feeling this way in their last adventure when they crossed paths with a rogue time traveler.
He sighed. “Yes. This time signature is well-known to me. The Time Wardens have arrived.”
“That’s not good.”
“It is not. I do not know where they are specifically, but every apex predator on this ship that crosses their path will know what a true apex predator looks like.”
Emily cracked her back as she stretched from side to side. “Well, we’ll deal with it if we have to. Maybe we’ll get lucky and not run into them.”
“It is possible,” said Evaran with a smile. “Your optimism is refreshing. They will be able to sense us as well and will destroy anything in their path.”
She grinned. “Let them come then.”
He nodded as they continued on.
Dr. Snowden had watched as Evaran and Emily left the bridge. It was not a surprise that she went with Evaran. Although he suspected she wanted to stay and learn more about her parents, at least the parallel-universe versions, she probably understood now was not the time to do that. Assuming everyone got off the ship, there would be time.
Dan tapped his arm and then gestured at the entrance. “They’re pretty close.”
“Yeah, they are,” said Dr. Snowden, looking down. “No one could replace her dad, and I was more of a close friend to her. Evaran sort of fulfills the father role to her, I think, in some way.” He noticed Levaran casting a sidelong glance.
Dan shook his head. “Well, she’s incredible.” He lightly squeezed Sarah’s shoulder. “We at least have an idea of what our kids could look like.”
Sarah sighed. “If I could have kids …”
“You’ll be able to soon,” said Levaran. “The nanobots inside you will resolve that.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”
“Analysis. She is serious.”
Sarah’s lips parted as she swiveled her head toward V, then Dan.
Levaran smiled. “We should head out to the engine room. Let’s go.”
Dr. Snowden noticed Sarah almost bouncing out of her skin as they walked the length of the concourse. Looking behind him, he saw that Kri’tokhaar hung back with V and kept his distance from Dan. Kri’tokhaar was probably still a bit unsure about the situation. Dr. Snowden tapped Dr. Bryson’s arm and nodded back at Kri’tokhaar. They slowed a bit to walk alongside him.
Dr. Bryson angled his head toward Kri’tokhaar. “I don’t want you to think I’m angry with you. I may have been at first, but at this point, what’s done is done. I’m looking forward to learning more about your culture if I get the chance.”
“I don’t believe that is the consensus with the other abductees,” said Kri’tokhaar.
Dr. Bryson waved a hand forward. “Give it time.”
“You are a member of a curious race.”
Dr. Snowden chuckled. “We’re scientists.” He pointed at Dr. Bryson. “My duplicate used to work with him.”
“Your duplicate?” asked Kri’tokhaar.
“I know it will sound crazy, but some of us are from a parallel universe.”
“That’s not crazy at all. The Krotovore have postulated its existence for some time now. We actually thought that the rifts we were going through would possibly take us there,” said Kri’tokhaar. “I’m curious as to how you achieved interuniversal travel.”
Dr. Snowden gestured at Levaran. “I’ll leave that up to her to tell you if she wants, but in this universe, my duplicate is dead.”
“Very interesting,” said Kri’tokhaar, glancing at Dr. Bryson. “And the duplicate of Dr. Snowden was a scientist in this universe as well?”
Dr. Bryson nodded. “I was more on the cutting edge, but yeah.”
“Then it’s the reverse in my universe,” said Dr. Snowden with a chuckle.
“Pfft,” said Dr. Bryson.
“I’m ashamed at what my species has done to the both of you,” said Kri’tokhaar. “I’m not even sure what type of tests they were
going for.”
Dr. Bryson shrugged. “It’s water under the bridge.”
Kri’tokhaar’s large eyes narrowed.
“Oh … umm … just an idiom for what’s been done is done.”
“I see,” said Kri’tokhaar. His eyes blinked rapidly as he surveyed the dead Krotovore strewn about.
Dr. Snowden shook his head. “So much death.”
Kri’tokhaar nodded. “It is … water under the bridge.”
Dr. Bryson smiled. “Now you’re getting it.”
When they reached the concourse entrance, Levaran took a right.
Dr. Snowden activated his shield and hustled up to Dan and Sarah. He motioned at V. “This is when Sanjay died.”
“Acknowledged,” said V. “I have transmitted the coordinates from where we saw Simas and Rondall from Jerzan’s crew in our universe to Edev, and she is checking it out.”
Dan wrinkled his eyebrows. “Sanjay?”
Dr. Snowden bobbed his head. “He was one of the other two that were abducted with me and Emily. He died taking a hit in the head.”
“Oh,” said Dan.
Dr. Bryson snorted. “You’ll never guess who the fourth was.”
Dan narrowed his eyes.
“Jay Beerman.”
Sarah gasped.
Dan’s face turned red. “What?”
Dr. Snowden sighed. “From what James tells me, Jay killed me in an accident. In my universe, we’re good friends.”
“In this universe, he’s rotting in a cell,” said Dan. He swallowed hard. “He took our Albert away from us.”
Dr. Snowden met Dan’s gaze. “I wish it didn’t go down like that.”
Dan shook his head. “Unbelievable.”
“The focus here, now, is to make sure what happened to Sanjay doesn’t happen to anyone else,” said Dr. Snowden.
“Right,” said Dan. “Don’t mind me. Just … that name.” He snorted.
Dr. Snowden placed a hand on Dan’s shoulder and then hustled to the outside of the group and walked backward with his shield at the ready.
“Edev is not showing anyone there,” said Levaran. “She has also scanned for the krall but has not seen her yet.”
