Into the Void (Beyond Humanity Book 1)

by Kellie Sheridan

  Evie rose as well, joining Oliver and the others near the room’s long window. Even Torque and Linna remained with their group, outnumbered on every side. Only Safa had fully immersed herself in a discussion with their hosts.

  “Everything okay?” Evie asked the captain.

  He nodded. “Better now, I think. They heard our story …”

  “And quickly decided we have nothing to offer,” Gwynn said for him. “Once they realized just how behind our technology was, they basically cut us from the conversation.”

  “Until Safa,” Sprocket said. “She overheard something about the faster-than-light technology they used, and actually seemed to know what they were talking about. Whatever it was, the conversation went far beyond the mechanics of their ship, or ours. I was in way over my head.”

  “I know the feeling,” Evie said with a tight smile. In that moment, the feeling was likely shared among nearly everyone not from this massive ship.

  “Evie.” Safa turned from her conversation toward Evie who stood just behind her, startled at having been mentioned, let alone included. “Can I see your ring? There might be something we can use.”

  “Mason wouldn’t have been involved in this,” Evie said, already working the small piece of jewelry off her finger. It felt like a lifetime ago that she’d copied over all her brother’s files. “He just had the coordinates for a work trip he was going on.” She handed the ring over as Safa nodded knowingly.

  “I know. But you backed up more than just his direct correspondence, yes? If there’s more here we can use, we have to look. You never know what might be helpful.”

  Already, Evie’s finger felt wrong without that last connection to home, to her family. But if giving up that ring, and all Mason’s secrets meant there was a chance of living long enough to see her family again, it was an easy sacrifice.

  The ring was gone, some of the aliens working to find a way to integrate it with their own system. The words outdated, and even prehistoric were thrown around more than once.

  Soon, everyone has broken off into small groups, all directed by Shan on behalf of the ambassador. Even Torque was swept up into a discussion on his own experiences being brought into the void. Linna remained with the humans, vigilantly watching everyone around them, and Lincoln watching her.

  “What can we do?” Evie asked, wanting to help.

  “We’ve given them everything we can.” Oliver looked over his shoulder in the direction of the exit. “I suspect they’ve already swept our ship, our sensor records, everything for anything that might be useful. They don’t need us.”

  An hour later, Evie was starting to drift off in place, only rousing when a young girl approached to offer food. Evie looked up to find everyone else had already begun eating, even if none of them had paused their work to do so.

  But before she could take a single bite of the doughy square she’d been handed, a small one of the Rohtet, with peachy-orange markings dominating his face like freckles, pushes his way through the crowd, accidentally digging his shoulder against Evie’s as he moved. “Commander,” he said, getting closer to the center of the group. The room fell quiet in response, only Safa and two of those she was speaking to continuing their discussion. “A new report from the control level. We’ve picked up an unusual signal.”

  “The humans?” the man he was speaking to answered, not bothering to spare a glance for the people he was speaking about.

  “They don’t think so. They believe.” He lowered his voice, forcing Evie to take a step closer to hear what was being said, despite already being nearby. “We think someone has found a way to infiltrate our security system. To listen in.”

  The reaction was immediate, everyone in the room springing into action as one. But before anything could be done to circumvent the intrusion, the world around Evie shifted. In an instant, the lights overhead changed from white to red. A nearby screen shifted from showing an overlay of the ship to a rapidly scrolling wall of text.

  “We’re being attacked,” a voice yelled from near the screen. “Seven ships, including six attack vessels.”

  “Please,” a voice said, interrupting everyone at once. Shan stood nearby, watching them intently. “I have been instructed to get you to safety. “They are attacking sporadically. We don’t expect this to be an issue for long, but there is no sense in risking your safety.”

  Likely, it was Safa’s safety they were worried for, but Evie was willing to be included along with her. “Is it the same group that was attacking you before?”

  “Yes. They have come in waves since we arrived. We were not expecting them to return this quickly.”

  Oliver took the lead as Shan stepped away. Almost none of the Rohtet had moved, all continuing what they were doing with even more vigor than before.

  “Safa?” Oliver called, pausing after only a few steps. Evie turned to find Safa still deep in conversation, poring over a screen that could almost have passed as a portascreen if not for its ultra-thin design.

  “Find me later,” she said, not looking up.

  “We’re not going without you. And we’re going.”

  Safa kept talking, and not to her crew.

  With a nod from Oliver, Evie gently grabbed Safa by the wrist, before tugging the other girl along behind her. Safa gave in with a groan, before calling out instructions to the women she’d been speaking with.

  Chalky-skinned people were moving in every direction, the colors in their skin burning intensely bright. But there wasn’t a chance to wonder what it meant. One second, her fingers were wrapped around Safa’s shirt. The next, nothing.

  Evie stopped cold, and would have sworn her heart did he same.

  Fearing the worst, but not even sure what that could be, she whipped around.

  There was no sign of the Lexiconis’ scientist.

  Safa had completely disappeared.

  Chapter Twenty-Three – Oliver

  Oliver had seen the moment when Safa had disappeared in a haze of blue particles. He'd turned back to make sure all his people were still with him. And they were. Then Safa had disappeared into thin air.

  Another volley hit the hull, sending Oliver's body surging forward as he struggled to take in everything going on around him.

  Safa was gone. She'd disappeared in a blue haze along with three of the Rohtet. A few other people nearby, mostly Rohtet, stared around the room in the same shocked horror that had overtaken Oliver. Evie was still slowly grasping at the air around her where Safa had been a second before.

  She turned, catching Oliver's eye, but there was nothing to tell her. And there was nothing she could do to help him now, or Safa.

  Spinning on his heel, Oliver searched the chaos around him for the Rohtet who had been leading them to safety, but all he saw was a rainbow sea of people moving in every direction.

  He was completely surrounded by the white skin and robes of the people who lived on this vessel, and he had no idea who could help him figure out what had happened to Safa.

  Oliver had done a full rotation of the room almost three times before the contrast of Lincoln's dark skin finally pulled his gaze. As soon as their eyes met, Lincoln started signing, asking if he'd seen what happened.

  But Lincoln wasn't talking about Safa. He'd been standing right behind their Rohtet guide when the man had disappeared into thin air right in front of him.

  When Oliver explained that he'd seen the same thing happen to Safa, his pilot's expression moved from confusion to horror.

  "Get everyone else," Oliver signed, jaw clenched. "We need to regroup. Now."

  He didn't wait for a response, turning back to where he'd left Evie. "What did you see? Tell me everything," he said, as soon as they were within earshot.

  "I didn't see anything," she said, looking suddenly younger. "I was holding on to her, then she was gone."

  "No one else approached you? Or her?"

  "I don't think so. But I was focused on catching up with you and getting out of here. Is there any chan
ce this is just some alien technology we don't understand? Maybe Shan can explain."

  "Shan?"

  "The ambassador's assistant. He was right …" Evie looked off to where Oliver had been a minute before.

  "He's gone too. Lincoln saw it."

  "Damn it." Evie wobbled on her feet with the latest impact. "The Rohtet might not even realize that anything has happened."

  "It's possible they've taken more than just those two. The same thing might have happened all over the city. If we're lucky, they're already working on finding a solution.

  Just then, Lincoln reappeared. Oliver quickly scanned the group assembled behind him, reassuring himself that everyone else was accounted for.

  "Was it a weapon?" Gwynn asked, once everyone had been brought up to speed. Her eyes were hard as she refused to look anywhere but at the crowd beyond.

  Was Safa already dead? It was the same thing Oliver had been wondering, but he wasn't about to voice the question any more than anyone else was. That wasn't a possibility he was ready to consider.

  It wasn't a possibility he could live with.

  "It could have been a transportation device," Sprocket said.

  "That's not supposed to be possible," Oliver said without thinking. No one pointed out that nothing that they'd been through together was supposed to be possible.

  "Actually," Torque wanted his say, "several races have been known to have their own matter transportation devices. The technology is heavily coveted. To the point where no single race has yet been willing to share and give up the advantage. But it's out there."

  "Could the aliens have taken Safa and the others somewhere?" Evie asked.

  "It's certainly possible. I can't speak to whether it's plausible."

  "Why though?" Gwynn wondered out loud. "None of this is making any sense."

  "I don't know," Oliver said. "I don't have the first damn idea about what is happening here. But I do know we're not going to get anywhere on our own. We need to talk to someone who is actually in charge here. And if they don't have answers for us, we’ll get back on our ship and keep looking until we find someone who does."

  If only Oliver had been half as confident as he'd sounded, he might have actually started to believe himself. Safa was gone. He was separated from his ship by several decks. And he had no idea what was going on out in the void. The attacks were still going strong, the city-ship taking hits every few seconds, although so far it hadn't sounded like any real damage had been done.

  But at least most of Oliver's crew was still together. And Safa could still be out there, needing help. This was on him now, and it was time to get some answers. He just needed to find someone who looked like they had actual authority and take it from there.

  Back in the same space where Safa had been discussing quantum mechanics with an alien race not long before, stood one of the few Rohtet Oliver thought he recognized. He'd noticed the zig-zag pattern of deep orange when the ship's commander had briefly stepped in on their meeting. One of the Rohtet leader's guards, maybe? Either way, he would have to do. He was Oliver's first step toward putting his crew back together.

  Except for the fact that Evie was already marching straight for the ambassador, fists clenched and ready to take on the world.

  It had taken a lot of discussion and debate, but somehow Evie had gotten both herself and Oliver an invite onto what could only be described as the bridge, leaving everyone else on the level below. They all likely would have felt a little better if they'd simply waited on board the Lexiconis, but no one they'd spoken to had been willing to take the time to show them the way. They were prisoners by way of logistics as much as anything else. Evie wouldn't have been Oliver's first, second or even third choice to accompany him now, but she hadn't left him much of a choice.

  The room they'd been taken to could more easily be described as a stadium. A few times over. It sat at the top of the city-ship, and was about the size of an entire level on the Centuri Station. Half-walls divided the massive space into different units, each surrounded by transparent screens, displaying data Oliver couldn't begin to understand.

  A few of the Rohtet Oliver had already been introduced to had ended up in the same space, though none of them had acknowledged the humans yet. Two guards hovered close behind them, while one stood just in front, still chatting with Evie as naturally as if the two of them had met over cocktails rather than in the middle of a raid.

  Almost everyone else was either focused on their own work, or stood near the massive, seamless screen at the front of the room. Or was it a window? Oliver couldn't be sure of anything anymore. Outside, several dozen ships zipped in and around one another. Most were bullet shaped and silver, zipping with impossible speed as they chased their prey, a handful of smaller vessels, each charcoal black and built like wasps.

  The black ships—Oliver assumed these were the invaders, having returned for another crack at the city-ship—were vastly outnumbered, and yet each one was managing to outmaneuver all their opponents. It had been nearly twenty minutes already, and yet a nearby screen still showed seven alien ships, their placement on the grid of the surrounding area showing them in a dark blue compared to the Rohtet's yellow.

  "We need answers," Oliver said to Evie, voice hushed. And help. But he kept that particular thought to himself.

  Evie’s eyes darted around the room. "Do you see the ambassador anywhere? She has the ear of the commander—I have to assume that's their leader. And since we're here as guests, we're technically her responsibility, no matter what else is happening. Besides, since Shan is missing too, she may actually be inclined to help us."

  Oliver couldn't even be sure he remembered which of the Rohtet was the ambassador, and he knew he hadn't picked up on any of the alien hierarchy that Evie had. At least he wasn't alone in this. Evie at least had no problem finding the woman they were looking for in a crowd on a dais near the front of the room. As the two of them slipped into the crowd, Oliver would have liked to believe they were going unnoticed, but as the only two aliens in the room, every set of eyes followed him and Evie as they shouldered their way as close as they could get to the ambassador, who stood alongside the commander, before two guards stepped in to block their path.

  "What is taking so long?" The commander said, clenching his fists, the only one in the room not looking at the new comers. "Pull our people back if we have to. We can survive a few hits, then use the main artillery to take out anything still flying. I've had enough of this."

  Oliver found himself holding his breath, waiting to see destruction unlike anything humanity was capable of. So far, he'd seen the aftermath of what this level of technology could accomplish, but a small, sick part of him was still curious to see it up close and personal. Would a battle in space look like it had in the movies, or was he in for something else entirely?

  Every screen in sight flickered as one, interrupting a hundred imagined scenarios and bringing Oliver right back to reality. Back to what was important. Whatever each screen or station had been showing a moment ago was gone, all replaced with the same image, one so dark he could barely make it out. Then three forms started to materialize from the darkness, each with brilliantly white skin of the Rohtet.

  The fourth form took a little long to see against the stark backdrop due to a skin tone so much darker than the others, darker than Oliver's own.

  "Safa." Evie nearly shrieked from beside him. All around them, the Rohtet were getting equally agitated.

  It was the commander who put the pieces together first. "They're on board one of the ships," the older woman yelled. "They've taken our people onboard their vessels. There!" She pointed off into the distance, where Oliver could barely make out the largest of the other ships through the darkness of the voice.

  Moments later, a sensor sweep confirmed her theory, just in time for another round of shots from the enemy ships hit right outside the walls of the control center, nearly making Oliver lose his balance completely.

  "Return fire!" the
commander shouted. "We will not stand for this."

  "Sir," the ambassador said, putting her hand on the man's arm, a distinctly intimate gesture. "Our people." They were going to destroy the ship, and everyone on board—friend for foe.

  The commander shook his head. The losses were deemed acceptable.

  Oliver didn't stop to think before lunging at the Rohtet that the order had been issued to. He was on top of the other man in a matter of seconds, dragging both of their bodies to the ground. As he fell, he could only hope he'd acted fast enough.

  Another of the Rohtet was on top of Oliver in the span of a heartbeat. Probably one of the guards who'd been shadowing them since they left the conference center. Moments later, each of his arms was wrenched behind his back as he was pulled to his feet.

  The five remaining ships disappeared into the void, and Safa with them.

  Chapter Twenty-Four – Safa

  The process of being moved, particle by particle, from one place to another did a number on Safa’s body. On her mind. It took some time to reorient herself, to learn to think again. In the dim, barely there lighting, she needed to learn to see again. When the ship shifted into top speed, she had to learn to stand all over again.

  But eventually, Safa felt more or less normal. As normal as she ever felt, if she didn’t account for her current location, anyway.

  Based on the circular structure of the room she was in now, Safa believed herself to be in the largest of the vessels that had attacked the Rohtet only minutes before she’d left the city-ship. One second, she’d been reluctantly following Evie, the next, she’d been nothing.

  Then she was here, relearning how to be.

  Three of the Rohtet stood nearby, none of them speaking. No one had spoken since they got here. Perhaps it was taking them longer to find their equilibrium again. Or maybe they were having the same problem she was, and that no one really knew what words to use in a predicament like this one. At least, the silence helped to calm the panic pulsing through Safa's nervous system. Logically, she had every right to be panicking right now. Realistically, she couldn't afford the distraction.