Beyond : Series Bundle (9781311505637)

by Miller, Maureen A.

  "Do you see it?" He grinned as if she were suddenly in on a great conspiracy.

  "I see something."

  She squinted. When they abducted her they could have at least thought to grab her glasses from the dresser as well. "I see letters, or symbols."

  "No, think bigger than that. Look at the whole wall and try to relax."

  "If I was any more relaxed you'd think I was in a hammock on the beach."

  That comment earned her a frown from Zak. He crossed his arms and she tried not to stare at the contours the gesture made. She focused on the wall and took another deep breath...to relax.

  There! Now it seemed so obvious she wondered how she ever missed it. Zak must have read the realization on her face because she caught a flash of white teeth when he smiled.

  "What do you see?"

  "I see a—room. I see the room behind this wall?" she asked, witnessing the diaphanous image of a wide chamber with a vaulted ceiling and windows filled with a spider web of stars. A man sat at a desk, his head hunkered over whatever he was working on.

  "Yes. Now on the other side."

  She spun around and was amazed that she had only noticed a white barrier before. Now the wall was merely a thin veil, like a satin curtain. Behind it she perceived a huge chamber filled with tables and activity. People bearing trays moved about. There had to be a hundred of them.

  "This is one of the eating facilities," Zak explained. "It's small. Less formal."

  Eager now, Aimee started down the hall, inspecting room after room, some so beautiful she gasped at the display. Glancing up and down the corridor she was assaulted by the complexity. It was hard to even recall the original stark corridor. This view teemed with highlights.

  "How?" she gaped at Zak.

  "It takes a while. You are so used to looking with your eyes. They get in the way. If you relax and look with your mind, it's all here for you to see."

  "It's amazing, but—" she looked back at the man hunched over his desk, "isn't this an invasion of privacy?"

  "Come here." Zak cocked his head in the direction of their original path.

  Aimee followed him and noticed the change even before he pointed it out. Several yards ahead the wall was blank again. She tried to relax, but could only discern a faint line that possibly represented a doorway. She took a few more steps and was able to see into the next room, but as soon as she retreated, the wall before her was barren. She frowned at it. The engineer hungered for answers.

  "What just happened?"

  "Rooms can be cloaked by the people inside, if desired. To offer privacy."

  "That line that I see. Is it a door? Do you just wave your hand at it to open it?"

  "Not if it is cloaked. You would have to touch the door and a signal will go to the people inside to uncloak it."

  "I want to find a door that I can open myself." Suddenly she was desperate for this one liberty.

  Zak pointed to the next chamber. As she stepped up towards it she was amazed at how she could have missed this view. Though it was like looking through a fogged-up window, the interior of the ship was no longer a mystery. She searched the frame and located the rectangular entryway. She waved her hand, but nothing happened. She reached out to touch the panel, thinking that it was so transparent that her hand could pass right through it. But as flimsy as it may appear, it was a solid barrier. She knocked her fist against it and looked back over her shoulder at Zak, who leaned against the wall behind her.

  "How?" The thirst for knowledge consumed her.

  Using his shoulder, he hefted off the wall to join her. He swiveled his wrist and the door evaporated. She reached out and stuck her hand through the open space.

  "What did you do different than me?"

  He chuckled at her petulance. With another flick of his wrist the door was back in place.

  Aimee all but stamped her foot with impatience.

  "You're just waving your hand around in the air like you're trying to catch a Monawk," he said.

  "A Monawk?"

  "A bird."

  He reached over and put his hand on top of hers. It engulfed her hand. His palm was rough, with a patch of callouses as if he had spent a lot of time working outdoors...or battling Korons. The friction elicited a shiver, but she concentrated on what he was doing. He lifted her hand and pointed at the left side of the door, and then he swung their joint hands to the right side of the door. The barricade disappeared. Next, he pulled her hand from the right side back over to the left and the door closed again.

  "It's like turning a page in a book," he explained.

  She wanted to try, but again she didn't want to sever this contact. He broke the moment by releasing her and nodding. "You do it."

  Aimee hauled her hand from left to right and the door disappeared. She shrieked in delight.

  "You did it." Zak smiled.

  That look of approval made her stomach lurch. Maybe the cereal did not agree with her. She distracted herself by taking a step into the chamber. It appeared they had found a back entry into the huge assembly hall she was in this morning. It looked ominous cloaked in deep shadows now that the young ones were gone. She glanced back at Zak standing in the doorway.

  "JOH can turn on the illumination for you."

  "That’s okay. Can I still see your terra angel? Isn’t that what you call your ship?"

  She thought she sounded pathetic.

  He considered the question and a shadow of doubt crossed his face.

  "Yes, but briefly," he cautioned. "At least the main deck is near the flight level. I will be able to get you back to Vodu."

  "Thank you."

  Zak hesitated at the sincerity in her voice. With the back light, his eclipse was a formidable one, and yet she did not fear him.

  "I said briefly," he reiterated.

  "No, thank you for showing me how to see around this place."

  "You would have figured it out soon enough." His gaze was heavy. "You strike me as being very astute. You picked it up much quicker than any visitors we have had before."

  Pointing out that she had a scholarship probably wouldn't have inflated his opinion any.

  "How is it possible? These walls. What are they made of?"

  "An ore used in the homes on Anthum. This technology was commonplace there."

  Aimee nodded. She would have liked to have seen this planet. It sounded like a bunch of dork engineers such as herself.

  "You're welcome." Zak's deep voice cut into her thoughts. He wasn't smiling. He was just looking at her like he wanted to add more, but he jerked his head and turned back into the light. "Come on. You can tell me where the lateral transport is."

  She had to smile at that. He was tossing her the proverbial bone. "Deal," she beamed. “Lateral transport. That’s the horizontal elevator, isn’t it?”

  She was learning. Learning made her happy. So did this teacher.

  Chapter Seven

  The launch bay stole her breath with its magnitude. Science fiction movies could not do it justice. It had to be the size of an aircraft carrier. What struck her far more than the enormity of the bay was the fact that several hundred yards away sat a gaping hole. A portal to the yawning chasm of outer space. There was no protective barrier. If she were to stroll to the end of the platform, she could simply leap off into the stars.

  Aimee inhaled deeply, wondering how it was even possible to draw in oxygen. The air smelled acrid, but that could be the giant vessels rumbling in their bays as silver-suited men clambered around them like caterpillars hanging onto leaves.

  "There is no oxygen in outer space. How or what are we breathing?"

  Zak was in full Warrior mode now. His expression was tense, and his eyes keen. He assessed every flourish of activity with the vigilance of one in charge. Men approached him with questions to which he offered somber guidance. He never stopped moving and Aimee found herself jogging again to keep up.

  "Oxygen is piped in," he explained, never hesitating in his stride. "Though the bay
is always open, we have a vaporous barrier that traps the oxygen inside."

  His pace slowed and she watched his expression transform. A look of contentment settled over him. He stopped and stared, and she detected that dimple toying with the corner of his mouth again.

  Aimee followed his gaze and drew in a sharp breath.

  "Is that it?" she whispered.

  "Yes." The quirk of his lips conveyed pride and awe.

  Having suffered a series of overwhelming experiences in the past few hours, this craft did little to settle her stomach. It was sleek and narrow. Not as big as she would have expected—as if there could be any expectations in this surreal world. As best she could describe it, the vessel looked like a creature from the ocean depths. There were minimal contours to the body, enabling it to glide easily under the waves. It was crafted of a brilliant silver alloy, the reflection off the vivid veneer capturing her pensive expression.

  Its shape was that of an automatic weapon. A large-scale Uzi. It had a long nose and a cockpit that hung beneath the body of the craft. A band of glass wrapped around the middle of that cockpit. It appeared tight, designed for a single occupant. The rear end of the craft flared into large cylinders that dwarfed the front-end.

  "Did you name it?"

  "What?" Zak looked puzzled. "It is a terra angel. That's its name."

  "Come on," Aimee prodded. "Everyone has a name for their vehicles. I had a name for my bike, and the old clunker of a car I just put a down payment on."

  She might as well have been speaking Greek, but her point was conveyed. There was a glint in Zak's eyes, but it was a sad glint.

  “I call her Zari.”

  A her. Men’s cars were always female.

  “Zari.” Aimee cocked her head, thinking the vibrant, pistol-shaped craft didn’t meet the pretty expectations of the name. “Named after a girlfriend?”

  Someone like Zak had to have girls lined up by the dozens.

  His expression was quizzical again, as if he didn’t understand the term.

  “No,” he denied quietly. “Not a girlfriend.”

  He climbed up the small set of stairs that led up to the cockpit and traced his fingertip just beneath the rim of the glass. With a soft hiss, a doorway slipped open and Aimee was allowed a glimpse into the interior.

  A dashboard of black and gold housed an intricate circuitry panel. The driver's seat looked like a narrow soup ladle meant to hug its passenger in tight. The design of the cockpit was to afford complete control to the occupant of that seat. There was no room to stand or move about except for a small cargo area directly behind the chair. That area was stacked with what she could only guess were weapons. The sight of them jarred her.

  As much as she understood Zak's role as a Warrior, the impact of it had not struck until she saw the guns that he could wield in an effort to destroy his enemies.

  She retreated. The motion did not register with Zak as he picked up the first sleek weapon.

  She took another step backwards and this time he glanced over his shoulder with an arched eyebrow. His stare halted her escape.

  "Are you afraid of me?" he asked in that husky voice.

  She barely heard him amidst the din of activity in the bay. Rooted to the ground, she lost her voice until finally Zak nodded and uttered, "maybe you should be."

  Before she could respond he continued. "Can you find your way back to the deck?"

  She swallowed and bobbed her head.

  "Good. And you remember that if you get lost you can always ask JOH?"

  Again she nodded. This time she detected a grin on Zak's lips.

  "I think you will master the halls of the Horus now, Aimee."

  His encouragement made her stomach tumble. Space sickness. Had to be.

  "I have to get ready to head out," he reminded.

  Aimee cleared her throat and croaked, "Thank you for showing me the atrium, and for teaching me—"

  "I didn't teach." This time a full grin appeared. God, he was handsome. "I just told you to relax.”

  Zak turned his shoulder back towards the cockpit and reached for another mysterious weapon.

  That you did, she thought.

  Aimee's feet woke from their daydream and started to cooperate. She waved a farewell, but Zak was focused on the task at hand. Her whisper of goodbye went unheard.

  * * *

  It amazed Aimee how easy it was to find her away around the ship now. Granted, she could not read the symbols which probably referenced locations and directions, but she could see into the compartments and identify whether it was a place she wanted to be. A JOH startled her by hovering in the middle of the corridor and blocking her path. She stepped to the right and it shifted to the right with her. She stepped to the left and it mimicked her motion. Finally she tapped its screen and the big blue face smiled up at her.

  "What?" she scowled, not as happy as this technologically advanced box of hovering circuitry.

  "Chara is looking for you. May I tell her I found you?"

  JOH might be the source of all knowledge, but at least he respected privacy. Zak told her he would do that.

  Zak. An image of him gazing up at the stars in the atrium clashed with the portrait of the Warrior possessing a deadly weapon. He had warned her to be afraid of him. He had also taught her how to orient herself in these halls.

  He beguiled her.

  "Aimee?"

  "Oh, umm, yes, please tell her I'm on my way."

  JOH's eyes flattened into slits.

  "What?" she asked.

  "I'm telling her. I am also telling her that you have learned to navigate your way around. She will be very—" he flickered, "—proud."

  Aimee smiled but she didn't know if the smile was at the prospect of Chara being proud or for the way JOH struggled to define the word.

  This lust to learn her way around the Horus was simply a product of survival. She did not want to rely on others. She needed to be self-sufficient.

  "JOH, can you tell me what those symbols say?"

  Specifically she was interested in the most ubiquitous hieroglyph, an X with a line through the center and two points on each end of the line. It appeared at every intersection.

  "That symbol represents the brain of the Horus. What you call the deck. Follow the symbol and you will find the brain.”

  Cool.

  "And this one?"

  It looked like a teacup, but with a ray of sunshine spouting from its core.

  "That would represent the closest eatery."

  Aimee cleared her throat to disguise her glee at beginning to learn the secrets of this not-so-complex ship. "And this one?" It was a dismembered circle, dissected into equal, unattached pies.

  JOH's eyes flat-lined again. He was thinking. "The scientist quarters."

  Doubting that he meant their sleeping accommodations, Aimee guessed that it was their laboratories.

  "I can accompany you to the deck where Chara is waiting, Aimeeeeeee."

  Aimee grinned at the earnest blue face with its eyes now cast into a pair of triangles. "I think I can find my way, JOH. But if I get lost, I'll catch up with you down the hall, okay?"

  "You are smart, Aimeeeee."

  Approval from this floating computer shouldn't mean anything, but she felt a brief flash of self-pride.

  "Thanks, JOH. You're not too bad yourself."

  "I am never bad," he stated. "I am always good."

  "I believe that." She shook her head and laughed. "Tell Chara I'm on my way."

  Aimee gently tapped the screen and continued to smile at the empty panel.

  Her eyes slid to the wall, as she tried not to notice the occupants behind it deeply engrossed in a book. It was disconcerting to watch their private moments, but they chose to be on display. On the other side of the corridor the wall was blank. The room was locked. Whoever was behind it elected not to be seen.

  Aimee reached an intersection and located the X with the line through it emblazoned on the wall to the left. She turned
that way. A few feet later another X marked a spot in the middle of the hall, not at a juncture. Aimee took a deep breath and relaxed, and there it was, a familiar oblong panel. She reached into the air to her left and swung her hand to the right. The doorway to the lateral transport slid open.

  So cool.

  Pleased with her success at locating the lateral transport, and for having figured out how to commandeer it...all that was left was to determine when to stop the thing. Previously, she had been preoccupied with the view. Now she faced inwards, away from the windows, and noticed a series of symbols flash by at a rapid pace atop the door. They rushed by so swiftly that it was like watching an animated cartoon. There was barely time for the images to even register in her mind. She finally recognized the X and slammed her palm down on it. The transport slid to a stop and the door skidded open.

  Across the hall an X was lit up towards the right. She exited the chamber and headed in that direction.

  Aimee recognized the approach to the main deck. The drone of activity was like the subtle underscore of a cafeteria. She climbed a set of sparkling stairs and reached the apex, staring into the pulse of the Horus. So many silver-suited bodies. An army of glittering ants. Some had mechanisms attached to their ears. Some engaged in conversation with floating JOH's. And some charted a course on a digital overlay atop the vast expanse of windows. Beyond this flurry of activity was a vista so unique and grand you had to think that Heaven could not be far off in the distance.

  Aimee hugged the periphery of the action and stepped up to the closest window, pressing her forehead against it to see if she could glimpse down beneath the ship. The glass was slightly cool against her skin. The view below held nothing new. If she craned her neck though, far off to the right was a green orb smothered in a yellow veil of smoke. She was so absorbed with the sight that she nearly missed the reflection in the glass as a figure approached from behind.