Beyond : Series Bundle (9781311505637)

by Miller, Maureen A.

  “Stay here,” Chara ordered. “I will be right back.”

  Aimee opened her mouth to respond, but the deck shook as she was jolted several feet across the floor. Fighting for balance, she looked up at the transom and to her horror saw a hulking vessel that looked remarkably like the Manhattan skyline. That was the best way to describe what she witnessed outside the bank of windows…New York City afloat in the stars. As if that wasn’t odd enough, the vessel came with what she perceived as two large, clawed feet. It was from these feet that a beam was emitted, and the Horus trembled as that ray made contact.

  If the foreign craft outside was as large as Manhattan, then what the heck was the size of the Horus?

  Aimee wanted to scream at the absurdity of her plight. This simply could not be happening to her. But the Horus shook again and this time she was knocked to her knees. Strong hands grabbed her arms and hauled her up against a body that felt powerful and secure. She looked up into amber eyes that were so intense they exposed her vulnerability all the more.

  “You can’t stay here.” The male voice was soft and husky, but she could hear it over the dissonance because he was so close.

  “Do you know where the Bio Ward is?” he asked.

  “Bio Ward?” she mouthed, her fingers curled around his arms.

  “Zak!” Vodu called. His tanned face looked strained. “We need you out there.”

  Molten eyes glanced away from her towards the elderly man. “I’m on my way.”

  “Get her out of here. She—”

  A blast hit the Horus and Aimee would have fallen were it not for Zak’s strong grip. He looked back at her and must have read her frantic look. He did not break eye contact with her, but spoke to Vodu.

  “I’ll drop her off in the Bio Ward on my way.”

  “Good.” Vodu clutched the panel for balance. “Zak. Be careful out there.”

  “Always.”

  Aimee felt herself pulled from the deck, and though she did not know this young man in the strange black uniform, she somehow felt safe in his presence. He exuded a take-charge charisma, and everyone they passed tipped their head towards him as if in a silent bid for luck. The hand that was not secured around her arm flicked impatiently at the door to the horizontal elevator.

  Inside, Zak surprised her when he touched a panel and the door collapsed into the floor, yielding to a huge plate of glass. Blazing along at parallel hyper-speed, Aimee was able to witness first-hand the destruction being imposed by the enemy craft. Sapphire beams flashed from the ship’s feet in myriad directions like a Disney laser show—only these were not innocent strobes, and they had one destination. The Horus.

  “What is happening?” she asked in a hoarse voice as the Horus shook again.

  “It's the Korons," Zak uttered with distaste. "They must be as surprised to see us as we are to see them.” He shook his head. “Inconvenient piles of rock and sand. Planet invaders.”

  “Planet?” Aimee felt the blood drain from her face. “They are from another planet? Somebody better tell me where the hell I am.”

  Zak let go of her and frowned. “There is no time to explain what you want to hear. You were taken from your planet by accident. You are on the Guardianship Horus. We just finished our Lifequest around the four spectral galaxies, and taking you on board was—” he seemed to hunt for a word, “a misfortune. We are not hostile like the Korons you see over there, so don’t look so panicked. We start the Lifequest over again soon. You will be back on your planet in no time.”

  Thank God! Maybe she would be back in time to tell her friends it had just been a family emergency. Heck, her parents were probably so busy talking over each other that they hadn’t even noticed she was missing yet.

  A blast of radiant lightning was followed by a thunderous vibrato. That shudder was powerful enough to hurl Aimee against the glass wall. When her cheek smacked the panel she squealed, prepared for the tempered pane to shatter and eject her into space. Powerful hands seized her shoulders and drew her from the threat of oblivion. She was aware of a heart other than her own beating against her chest. She inhaled the fabric of his uniform, thinking that the material looked remarkably like space itself. Celestial camouflage.

  Another sharp quake threatened to topple her, but she was pinned against that bizarre uniform, trapped within inflexible arms. Panic brimmed as she started to struggle. She didn’t know this Zak at all, and here she was, splayed against him like syrup on a pancake. Yet, the embrace was something to lock onto in a world full of chaos. Everything around her was surreal—but the heart that beat against hers was something tangible. The warmth of another body and the comfort of the embrace, as unintended as it may be, represented the first sense of stability she had experienced since this whole nightmare began.

  “Hang on,” Zak’s voice was as steady as his body. “You’ll be safe in the Bio Ward. I have to go.”

  “Where are you going?” She hated the desperation in that question.

  “I have to go out there.” He nodded at the fireworks display. “Don’t worry. Our Warriors will get this under control.”

  Another shudder shook the Horus, and in the glow of a nearby explosion she saw the focus on Zak’s face. He was indeed a Warrior. Prepared to go to battle to protect his own. In his eyes she saw the flares of lasers and the starburst of ensuing flames, and she also saw worlds she could never imagine. In those eyes she saw determination. At that moment he looked as she would have expected Hercules or Alexander the Great to look before embarking on a battle.

  “You said I could go back to Er—home soon, right?”

  His nod was automatic. “We’ll be back there as soon as the next Lifequest is complete…that is, as long as the Korons don’t succeed here.”

  Now released from his arms, Aimee felt dizzy and splayed her palms flat on the glass panel, absorbing the bedlam around her. The hulking silhouette of the Koron’s ship was barely discernible, obscured by a host of small crafts that darted about like lasers themselves. Shark-shaped vehicles emitting a green glow from their aft-ends drew brilliant wakes like neon markers. She tried to trace them, but they transformed into hyper-blurs, barely differentiated from the beams firing on the Horus. Every now and then one of the streamlined sharks would zoom by close enough that she could distinguish a solitary figure at the helm.

  Aimee swallowed. “How long does a Lifequest take?”

  Zak waved his hand and halted the horizontal motion, disabling her equilibrium as she collided into him. He set her back and considered the question. “Not long. I think in your terms it’s only about five revolutions of your planet.”

  Five years.

  Aimee closed her eyes.

  And she prayed.

  Chapter Three

  "Alright. We're here." Zak announced.

  Aimee cast one final look at the Koron's ship and hastened after Zak as he exited the elevator. His wide shoulders eclipsed the view of the stark white corridor. Before a bare wall, his hand jerked impatiently, causing the barrier to dissolve under his command.

  How the heck did these people find their way around here? Nothing was labeled. Would it be so tough to throw in a few mundane doorknobs? Instead, everyone just waved their hands and doorways suddenly appeared. How did they even know where the doors were?

  "How—" She started to ask, but Zak's hand lifted again to enter another chamber.

  This one looked remarkably similar to a travel show she had seen on TV. It was a special about exotic hotels, and the featured location was a resort in Finland built entirely of ice. A bar sculpted from ice. Beds carved from ice. Tables made of ice. That's what this room looked like. There were glass beds lined up row after row in barracks style. Some were occupied. Banks of glass cabinets were filled with intricate colored flasks that resembled Genie bottles. Glass tables and chairs sat occupied by chatting personnel. They paused in mid-sentence to glance at the ceiling as the distant sound of thunder marked another strike by the Koron’s ship.

  A young wo
man stepped up before them and asked Zak, "Is she injured?"

  Zak let go of Aimee's arm. Aimee wasn't even conscious he had been holding it until the warmth disappeared. "No. Vodu just wants her safe."

  The woman nodded and offered her a sympathetic smile. She possessed the signature set of features Aimee was beginning to identify with everyone on the Horus...everyone but Zak that was. This woman had long, sandy blonde hair and soft green eyes. Her countenance was pleasant and her voice matched the kindness.

  "I am Raja," she introduced herself. "One of the junior scientists here. We'll find some place comfortable for you to wait out this—" she glanced up at the arched ceiling, "—storm."

  Zak gave a brief nod and turned to leave.

  No! Aimee hastened after him, grabbing his arm. Beneath her fingers a muscle pumped. She dropped her hand.

  "Take me with you," she pleaded. "You are going out there. You can—" she hesitated, "—fly me home."

  There was no pity in his eyes. There was no impatience. To her dismay there was only resolve.

  "That's not possible," he vowed.

  Another rumble shook the floor. Zak was already backing away. Irrationally, she wanted to ask him if he was going to be safe, but Raja appeared at her side with another benevolent smile. "Come. Zak needs to go."

  Aimee watched him turn, and this time she predicted the spot on the wall he was going to wave at. Even though it was not marked, she could now discern the outline of the door. It was a small triumph, but it kept the cloud of mystery from overwhelming her. When his tall body disappeared she felt displaced and anxious. She glanced around her.

  "Don't worry," Raja read her expression. "You will be safe here. The Bio Ward was built directly at the center of the Horus to keep it structurally impenetrable."

  Yeah, well, if the whole damn ship blew up it didn't matter where the core was, now did it?

  Aimee gave a courteous nod and trailed behind Raja as she marched down the aisle of glass beds. Passing one that was occupied, she saw a middle-aged man deep asleep with a glowing patch over his right eye. He looked like a stellar pirate.

  "What is that on his eye?" she asked as they continued past.

  "He was blinded during the first strike today. The Korons possess solar rays that will destroy the naked eye. That is their plan. Blind their foes first, and then annihilate them."

  "Annihilate?" Aimee's voice caught.

  Raja turned around and offered a feeble smile that faltered when the next rumble filled the chamber. "Well, they intend to annihilate, but they never succeed. Our Warriors are too cunning, and they wear shields over their eyes."

  "He didn't."

  "The first strike caught some of our Watchers off guard. That's mostly who you see in here right now. Watchers." Raja's hand waved at the sparse inhabitants. "It's when the Warriors return that this place will get busy." Worry lines poked at the corners of her glossy lips.

  "Zak," Aimee hesitated, "he's a Warrior?"

  "One of our best." Raja nodded, continuing to amble through the empty beds. There had to be hundreds of them.

  "Will he be—" The floor jerked. Aimee grabbed onto an elevated cot for support. When the tremor stopped, she repeated, "Will he be okay?"

  "He usually is," Raja assured. "That's why he's one of our best."

  They stopped before a bank of flat-topped chairs with spherical foundations. A tablet floated before each seat. The tablets looked like bobbing iPads. "You can stay here for now. Use one of the JOHs if you would like."

  "Joes?"

  Raja reached for one of the hovering monitors and drew it close. She tapped on the screen and it came to life. A face stared up at her. Not human, but a synthetic representation of a face. An animation, almost like a cartoon character made from a mosaic of azure glowing crystals. Black cavities in the crystal orb depicted eyes and a mouth. That onyx mouth spread into a smile. "Hello Raja. I am experiencing some intermittent time-outs due to the solar interference from the Koron’s ship."

  "I understand." Raja pushed the monitor through the air so that it hovered before Aimee. "JOH, this is—" she arched an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, we didn't even have the time to be properly introduced."

  "Aimee," she quickly injected.

  "JOH, this is Aimee. She is new to the ship. Can you please watch after her for a little while?"

  The blue head flickered for a second but the black grin remained. "Oh yes, I've heard about her already. I have so many questions."

  Raja turned the monitor around so that it was facing away from them as she whispered, "JOH will spend hours trying to learn from you. He thrives on filling up his data banks, so if you get tired just tap the screen and he'll go away. He's really quite obnoxious after a while," she chuckled.

  Aimee felt her throat tighten. To her utter horror, her eyes started to fill with tears. Everyone was leaving her.

  The woman grew concerned. "Don't worry. We will be safe. The Korons have tried to attack us before. They never succeed. They won't today either."

  To disprove that testimony a muffled explosion clapped overhead. Raja ducked, but rushed an assured look back on her face. "I'll be back to check up on you in a little while. This should all be over soon."

  Oh, how she wished it could all be over.

  Aimee watched Raja's slim silver suit recede down the aisle and then moved over to one of the glass chairs and sat down. She expected it to be cold, but it was remarkably warm, and it felt like it was padded. It honestly looked like she was sitting in a big, inverted football helmet. She stooped over with her elbows on her knees and noticed her jeans and sneakers which looked so out of place. Peeking up from this crouched position she studied the spacious chamber and watched other women like Raja administering to the few patients. The watchers. Hah. A rather simple job. How could you miss a ship that size? It didn't exactly sneak up on you.

  She jolted when a door appeared a few feet away and someone passed through. The barrier quickly dropped closed behind them.

  Well, maybe the ship could sneak up on you.

  Aimee continued to survey the Bio Ward. It was the size of a circus arena, with a dome-shaped, mirror-plated ceiling. If she squinted real hard she could see a distorted image of herself looking down. The floor looked like black marble, but she never heard the tread of Raja’s boots against it. They weren’t really boots. More like footies attached to the bottom of the suit. Footies with heels. Aimee counted nearly twenty patients out of a myriad amount of beds. They were all male, and most of them possessed eye patches. Watchers. If she lived on this ship, she would never be a watcher. She would be a Warrior.

  Hah, right. She played the clarinet…she didn’t shoot lasers.

  Sighing, Aimee glanced at the tablet hovering before her. It trembled in the air each time the Horus shook from impact. She reached for it and guided it closer, gently tapping the dark monitor. A blue crystalline head lit up with a black gash that served up a grin.

  “Hello, Aimee.”

  "Hello," she replied, casting a furtive look to see if anyone watched as she spoke to Sesame Street's futuristic cookie monster.

  "Are you going to fill me full of titillating knowledge about your planet now?"

  Boom. JOH flickered and the staff in the Bio Ward ceased their tasks to gape at each other.

  "Don't worry, Aimee. The Horus infrastructure is still intact."

  Aimee noticed a woman nearby staring at another floating monitor. Even from this distance, she could recognize JOH's face on that screen as well. The woman gave a brief nod and tapped off the screen.

  "Are you talking to other people at the same time?" Aimee asked.

  JOH paused and she swore his blue orb wobbled in affirmation. "I am conversing with 3256 people at the moment. 3255 now."

  "How?"

  "How?" The black eyes flattened.

  "How do you speak to 3255 people at the same time?"

  "I—I don't know how to answer that." He regrouped and smiled. "So let's talk about you, then."
<
br />   "And your name is Joe?" Aimee persisted. "Everyone around here has funny names. How did you end up with Joe? That name comes from my planet." Oh my God, did she just say her planet? Not her town, or her country...but her planet.

  "My name is too long to pronounce in any language. It is a series of symbols of which the first three represent a sound equivalent to JOH."

  "So your name isn't really Joe, it's JOH."

  The black eyes flattened. "JOH."

  "Right," she almost grinned at the blue head. "I'll call you Joe."

  The screen flickered.

  Computers were the same no matter what universe you were in.

  "JOH is useless. I would not look to him for any insight."

  Aimee's head snapped up at the voice. For a moment she wanted to shrink back into her seat and drag JOH close for protection. The black line across the lower half of JOH's blue head no longer curved up. He watched her with unblinking eyes until a hand reached across the monitor and tapped it, obliterating his face.

  "So they stuck you in here until all the heroes could return victorious?"

  It was Salvan. He stood before her. She had never heard his tread on the marble floor.

  "You are not a Warrior," she observed. "You are a Watcher?"

  Salvan's face pinched in distaste. "I do more important things than either of those menial tasks."

  "I realize I am a foreigner, but it seems to me if the Warriors return victorious as you stated...that wouldn't be a menial task, right?"

  She didn't like the man, so she didn't mind pushing his buttons. "Why are you in the Bio Ward?" she proceeded before he had an opportunity to counter her challenge.

  "I am—" he glanced around. In profile, he did look feminine with his perfect, aquiline nose. "I needed some supplies."

  Aimee nodded. "Oh, well, don't let me hold you up. I'm fine."

  "You're fine?" A pale blond eyebrow arched. "We are at battle. You are in an environment that has to be a complete shock to your system. You have been abandoned here in the corner, and you are fine?"