by Sarah Noffke
Julianna massaged her temples, trying to make sense of this all. “How could Kyra know that we would come looking for the Tangle Thief in the future?”
“Time isn’t linear for her,” Knox shrugged.
He’s exactly right, Pip said.
That doesn’t make sense.
It does if you understand that the space-time continuum works differently for various beings. For Kyra, there is no past or future; there’s only a series of ‘now’ moments.
That doesn’t make sense.
You’re repeating yourself.
Julianna huffed her frustration.
Knox pointed to the side of the battlecruiser. “The easiest way up is climbing along the side.”
“There are no stairs?” Julianna asked.
“Not that I found, and I searched pretty extensively,” Knox said.
“Did you live here?”
With a haunted expression in his eyes, Knox nodded. “I think so. For a little while, at least. Until Mateo found me.”
A small shiver ran down Julianna’s spine. She couldn’t imagine being a child living in a junkyard on an unclassified planet. The fact that Knox became anything was impressive. Or maybe it was because of the hardships he endured.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Outskirts Junkyard, Planet L2SCQ-6 in Frontier space
The fire tower was crawling with Petigrens. As fast as Nona was at shooting them down, she couldn’t get to every side quick enough.
Fletcher had some luck with clearing the north-facing side, but he was too far away to be much more help. He spotted a Petigren as it climbed over the banister, having made it to the top of the tower. Nona’s back was to it as she was focused on another one that was only a few feet from her.
“Fuller, you have a trespasser,” Fletcher said into the comm.
No answer.
He tapped the comm in his ear, trying to reset it, and a high-pitched noise sounded in his head. He pulled the comm out, wincing from the assault to this eardrum.
Dammit, the comms are out again. This happened the last time the Saverus invaded… It must be a tactic. Fletcher had to hope that Pip found a fix, otherwise rounding up his team was going to be difficult.
The Petigren Fletcher had seen caught Nona off-guard and grabbed her around the neck from behind. Another made it to the top, and was spilling over the side. Fletcher ran for the firetower. There’s no way I’m letting the best member of my team be taken down by fucking rat-men.
~~~
Knox grunted, pulling himself up to the third deck. Julianna peered down from the fifth level, her hands on her hips.
“Try using your legs for leverage. It will help,” Julianna offered.
“Being enhanced would also help,” Knox said, his face pinched red.
Julianna had made scaling the battlecruiser look easy. She’d offered to go behind Knox and give him a boost up at each floor, but he’d refused.
A hallway, severed in half, stretched out in front of Julianna. Wires trailed overhead and spilled out of the frayed edge where she stood. She guessed this was a rooming corridor, based on the layout. A buzzing noise echoed from deep inside the ship.
The ship is still alive, Pip observed, sounding impressed.
That doesn’t make any sense.
Are you intentionally trying to get on my nerves?
Maybe.
Well, it actually does make sense and it’s entirely possible.
Where is the ship getting its power from?
Magic.
Come on now, Julianna urged, watching Knox’s slow progress.
You know damn well how the Etheric works.
Is there anyone left on this ship? An entity of any sort?
I don’t think so. I was able to access the mainframe and learned that this ship was decommissioned.
Because it was cut into pieces?
Actually it was decommissioned and then cut into pieces, which were then scattered in different disposal areas.
And now, the question you’re waiting for: why?
I think it suffered from a virus of sorts. But I’m still trying to crack the encryption on the protected files.
Well, my curiosity is definitely piqued. The ship doesn’t look old enough to be decommissioned.
It isn’t. It’s in really good condition… but I sense there’s a fatal flaw.
Not exactly what I wanted to hear before a journey into the belly of it.
You’ll be okay. Or you won’t.
Thanks for the sympathy.
In other news, comms will be back online in thirty-seven seconds.
Could you be a bit more specific with the ETA?
Ha. Ha.
Knox’s red face peeked over the side of the floor as he heaved himself up, and Julianna reached down and pulled him all the way over. He rolled onto his back, breathing hard.
“You made that trip every time you came here?” Julianna asked, an eyebrow raised in surprise.
Knox shook his head. “I only came up here once. I lived on the lowest deck.”
“Good call. When you’ve caught your breath, let’s set off. Comms will be back online soon.”
Knox nodded, drawing a large breath.
Julianna looked out over the junkyard. From her high vantage point, she could see the sheer number of Petigrens they were facing. The creatures congested many areas in the junkyard; in the center of the expansive lot, Petigrens were even crawling up the side of an old fire tower.
If Ghost Squadron stayed any longer, they would definitely be overrun.
~~~
“Black Beard, do you read me?” Julianna said over the comm.
Eddie had never been so happy to hear her voice. For the rest of his life, he would be haunted by the vision of shooting her in the chest.
“Strong Arm,” Eddie said. “Comms are back?”
“Pip took his sweet damn time,” she replied.
Eddie smiled. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, Knox and I are on the fifth level of the battlecruiser,” Julianna answered.
Eddie shot a hopeful look at Cheng, who looked extremely concerned. “Great. We’re headed that way.”
“Cheng is alright, then?” Julianna asked.
“Yes, tell Knox that he’s fine and he even took out a Saverus,” Eddie said, giving the credit to Cheng because he did in fact deserve it. The scientist had spotted the Saverus for what it was, without the goggles.
“Good news. Okay, we’re headed into the ship.”
Julianna sounded antsy.
“We’ll meet you there. Out.”
~~~
Knox’s face lit up with relief when hearing that Cheng was all right.
“Lead the way,” Julianna said after a moment, getting his attention back to the task at hand. She extended her arm to the broken hallway.
Knox started forward, walking close to the wall since the remaining hallway was only about two feet wide. They were halfway to the next intersecting corridor when his foot broke through the floor, and he fell through up to his knee. Julianna leapt forward, grabbed him by the arm, and yanked him upwards.
“Be careful,” she warned. “This ship is fraying.”
Knox nodded, staying closer to the wall as he cleared the last section. It was like walking on the edge of a building.
At the next hallway, Julianna was accosted by the smell of roasted chicken, wafting through the air. Suddenly she had the urge to pull off her boots and splash in water. Julianna was shocked when she giggled at the thought of sneaking into the kitchen and stealing a cookie.
She covered her mouth and looked at Knox, but he was laughing, too.
“Isn’t it a great place?” Knox asked.
“What?” Julianna asked. “What are you experiencing?”
“Good emotions. Memories. Things that make me feel better,” Knox told her.
Not better, Pip cut in.
Have you figured out what the ship’s virus does?
Julianna was having g
reat difficulty working out the strange emotions flowing through her. Knox was right. Something was making her feel happier.
Yes. The ship isn’t trying to make you feel better; it’s trying to make you stay. Like a drug that keeps calling you back to it.
What?
The virus pulls memories from your cortex and supplies the details to you, putting you in a state of euphoria.
They decommissioned a ship for that? That’s bizarre. Some people would pay extra for that experience. Julianna giggled, unable to control herself.
Not if they knew the intention behind it. The euphoria a host feels is only a distraction.
From what? What is it really doing?
It’s absorbing the inhabitants of the ship, literally robbing them of their life force. But they don’t notice it because of the good feelings. By the time they realize something is wrong, it’s too late.
Julianna’s mouth dropped open. That’s where the power is coming from?
Bingo. This ship is alive because it’s feasted on so many people and absorbed their consciousness.
Wow. How many people did this ship absorb?
Three crews consisting of over a thousand members. That was before they figured out what was going on.
So it’s a vampire ship. It distracts you and then sucks you dry.
Not you, though. Again, you owe me big.
The strange euphoria fell away, and Julianna felt back to normal, which she wasn’t sure was a good thing. Being on cloud nine was really nice.
Did you find a way to block the virus?
Of course, because I’m amazing.
Or was it my nano?
Pip sighed. Well, they might have kicked in and protected you from the virus, but I’m taking credit.
So Eddie will be all right?
The captain will be fine, but you’re going to have to be quick getting Knox in and out of here.
He left on his own before, though.
It was easier to escape because the ship is in pieces, and the outside world is right there. But could you imagine being deep in space, locked inside this ship?
Wow.
So escaping the ship wasn’t a problem, and it still shouldn’t be; the longer that Knox is in here, though, the more life force the ship will leech from him.
Is that part of how he lost his memory? Julianna mused.
Quite possibly. It appears that the virus needs a solid three days to steal a person’s life completely, but it is still doing its damage in the meantime.
Julianna shivered at the thought, then turned to Knox. “It’s go time. Where’s the Tangle Thief?”
The smile that formed lit up Knox’s face, making his eyes sparkle. “This way,” he sang, skipping down the corridor.
~~~
Lars rolled his ship, narrowly escaping a barrage from a Saverus’s Black Eagle. He wasn’t sure how much longer they could keep this up. The pilots weren’t having much luck with attacking the Petigrens because the Saverus ships were constantly on their asses.
“Black Beard? This is Carnivore,” Lars said over the comm, grateful to again be connected to the ground forces.
“Carnivore, go ahead,” Eddie replied.
“Our defense efforts are being completely squashed. We can’t help with the Petigrens because we’re overrun by these Saverus ships.”
Lars didn’t like that his every word sounded like a complaint, but it was the truth. They’d been flying around, doing their best to avoid the Saverus, with no time for anything else. Their efforts felt counterproductive at this point.
“The ground forces are experiencing the same overrun,” Fletcher chimed in, to Lars’s relief. “We were nearly taken out at the fire tower. We’ve had to back down from our offensive tactics and retreat.”
“Carnivore, can you make another sweep? Provide a round of cover for the ground forces?” Eddie asked.
“Absolutely,” Lars confirmed. “We’ll do whatever we can to get them out of there safely.”
A loud sigh echoed over the fleet comm. “Black Eagles, this is your captain. Make one last sweep, starting at the northern border and moving south. I want you to draw as many Petigrens away from our Q-Ship locations as possible,” Eddie ordered. “Once the ground forces have made it to the ship, retreat.”
~~~
Knox appeared to be led by an innate force. He still let out a small chuckle every now and then, but once Julianna explained to him what the virus did, he was much more in control. Knowledge was indeed power.
“It’s down here.” He pointed at a hallway at the far end of the rooming corridor.
They were at the stern, but the greenish light from outside could be seen down the hallway. Julianna felt better as long as she could see the junkyard; it let her know that they weren’t going to be stuck in this vampiric ship.
“Where is it?” Julianna asked.
“I hid it under a loose panel in the floor,” Knox said.
Julianna was impressed. “Damn, no one was going to accidentally stumble across that.”
“I told you,” Knox said, laughing loudly.
It was such an uncharacteristic thing for him to do, that it brought home the fact that the laughter was only distracting him from his life force being drained.
“There you are!” Eddie yelled from the far side of the corridor, where they’d come from.
“Hey!” Julianna yelled, strangely relieved to see him. “Where’s Cheng?”
Eddie indicated with his head. “He’s coming.”
“Maybe it’s better if he doesn’t come all the way up here; there’s something wrong with the ship,” Julianna explained.
“Besides the fact that it has been sawed into pieces?”
Eddie laughed at his joke, but not just once. His laughter filled the air like he’d been infected with it.
Knox joined him, doubling over in laughter.
I thought you said the virus wouldn’t affect us, Julianna asked Pip.
You were vulnerable for about ten seconds before your nano kicked in.
Eddie was still laughing, although Knox seemed to have regained control.
Julianna pulled the Saverus goggles up from where they’d been hanging around her neck. She turned the lens once, and the image of Eddie disappeared, replaced by that of a giant, purple snake.
“Fucker!” Julianna yelled, releasing the goggles. She pointed her rifle, but the Saverus figured out he’d been caught. Still in Eddie’s form, he darted back the way he’d come. Julianna took off after him, yelling to Knox as she sprinted, “Get it and get out of here!”
Once at the side of the ship, the Saverus shifted into its natural form and slithered down, making quick progress to the ground. From the fifth level, she spotted Eddie—the real one—and Cheng, peeling around a pile of junk.
“There!” Julianna pointed at the snake, which was now on the ground. It resumed the form of Eddie and darted around the battlecruiser.
“Got him!” Eddie called back to her.
Julianna was about to rush back to help Knox when something caught her attention: partially obstructed from view, crouched down behind a car, was a figure she didn’t recognize. Cheng dashed by on the other side of the car, following after Eddie, who was hot on the trail of his own imposter. After Cheng passed the car, the stranger’s form flickered and was replaced by that of Cheng.
“Fuckity fuck!” Julianna spat. No rats over here, but there sure are snakes.
Julianna hesitated, looking to where she’d left Knox. Helping him was important, but if there were a bunch of Saverus deceiving the crew on the ground, it wouldn’t matter if he found the Tangle Thief or not.
Julianna took a couple of steps back before leaping off the edge of the ship and landing in a crouched position with a thud.
~~~
Knox remembered the strange euphoria he’d felt the last time he’d been on this ship. His father had taught him that unexplained and sudden feelings were usually a sign of deception. This insight was why he’d
had no problem leaving the ship each morning to scour the junkyard for items of use.
It was also why, when Mateo had offered him a place to live, Knox hadn’t hesitated to accept. Human contact couldn’t be replaced—even by a ship that made its habitants feel strangely happy.
This is almost over, Knox thought, seeing the tile where he’d hidden the Tangle Thief. He couldn’t believe that it had all come back around like this. The device that had stolen his father and changed the course of his life now rested only a few feet away. It bothered him that this device was still manipulating every aspect of his life.
But once I hand it over, I’ll be free, Knox told himself, kneeling. He dug his fingers into the side of the tile, trying to pry it up.
To his horror, it didn’t budge.
Knox stared around. He hid the Tangle Thief under a tile that was two away from the outer wall, and three away from the door to the right.
He stood back and counted again, then he smiled. He’d counted wrong before.
Taking a step forward, Knox squatted down again, this time easily lifting the loose tile out of place. In a small compartment under the ground sat the wooden box that Alleira had given him.
Knox’s arms suddenly itched. His stomach tightened.
He took a shallow breath. Grab it and go, he told himself.
Knox shook his head, rejecting his inner voice. He needed to ensure that the Tangle Thief was still here.
Lifting the cube-shaped box out of the floor, he let the tile fall back. It made a loud clattering noise that caused him to jump.
He sniffed, running his hand across his nose. His nerves were frayed, but he was fine. He had the Tangle Thief.
Letting out a long breath, Knox lifted the lid off the wooden box and stared down. Nestled inside were three controller-like objects. He reached forward, hesitating briefly before wrapping his hand around one of the pieces. He lifted the client into the air, looking it over.
This was what he’d used to try and find his father. Since its receiver had been destroyed when Cheng used it, the client transported him to the Tangle Thief that lay in the box. The one that Hatch had built.
Running footsteps stole Knox’s attention.
He bolted to a standing position, still holding the client. A moment later, Knox’s father materialized, halting at the sight of him.
