Trapped (Shadows of the Void Space Opera Serial Book 7)

by J. J. Green

  They moved through the desert until the light from the Shadow’s building was faint, then crossed over the road in little more than a heartbeat. Even with her enhanced hearing, Sayen detected no sounds coming from the aliens’ building. They began their approach.

  In another few minutes, they were squatting below an open window. According to what Jas had seen, the Shadow girl was asleep in this room, alone. The plan was that Sayen would go inside, sedate the sleeping girl, then lift her and pass her out to Jas. When Sayen was outside again, they would take the Shadow back to the estate.

  She stood to peer over the windowsill. Inside, all was dark. She heard breathing. Using her night vision, all she could see was bare floor and walls.

  Jas touched her leg. When she looked down, the hunkered-down woman spread her hands wide in a questioning gesture. Sayen raised flat palm. Wait. She listened again. Someone was definitely in the room. No. She could hear two people breathing. She lifted two fingers to Jas, who grimaced in response.

  Sayen frowned as she listened again. There were definitely two sets of breathing sounds. One was soft and light. That could be the Shadow girl. The other, though, was even softer, lighter, and faster. If Sayen had been forced to guess, she would have said there was a baby in the room. Had the Shadows taken a baby? The thought sent a shudder down her spine.

  Jas pointed at her timer. Sayen had to act now or it would be too late.

  She grabbed the windowsill and pulled herself up and over in one smooth motion. She checked her momentum as she landed right next to the Shadow, who was sleeping under the window. The girl’s eyes opened at the sound of Sayen’s arrival. Her mouth also opened to shout or scream. Sayen quickly pressed down on the child’s face with one hand, muffling her voice, and with the other hand, she delivered the sedative into her bare neck.

  As the girl’s eyes closed and her body went limp, Sayen glanced around. Where was the second breather she’d heard? The room was empty. The girl was alone as she’d been when Jas had last seen her. There was no time to figure out the mystery. She had to pass the Shadow out of the window, and they had to get back home in time for the momentary defense shutdown.

  The Shadow girl was lying on a pile of clothes and blankets beneath an adult woman’s coat. Sayen reached under the coat to grab her around her waist and pull her out. As she did so, her hand encountered something soft, warm, and furry. She pulled back in surprise and lifted the coat to see what it was. A cat was curled up next to the girl. After Sayen exposed it, the animal took fright. It jumped onto the girl and out of the window. It must have landed on the waiting Jas, because Sayen heard her gasp from outside.

  The Shadow had been cuddling a cat. Or had the cat only approached her for warmth and she’d let it stay? There was no time to figure it out.

  Sayen lifted the girl’s limp body and lowered her into Jas’ waiting arms. She vaulted out the window and down onto the desert sand. Jas was already running, carrying the Shadow child. Sayen quickly caught up to her.

  “Pass her to me,” she said to Jas. “I won’t feel her weight at all.”

  Jas handed over the Shadow, and Sayen put her over her shoulder.

  The aliens in the building didn’t seem to notice the missing girl, because no sight or sound of pursuit came from behind. They ran from the revealing lights and into the darkness, to the point where they could cross the road unseen.

  As they approached her home, Sayen saw movement at the front. The truck was pulling around from the back onto the driveway, with Makey at the wheel. Her parents must have finished the modifications. They were nearly ready to destroy the suppressor.

  She and Jas had their Shadow. With the information they would be able to send, the Transgalactic Council couldn’t ignore the Shadow invasion. They had to dispatch the Unity forces to drive them out. Earth would be saved, even if she, her parents, and her friends might not live to see it.

  Chapter Twelve

  “You all right, mate?” Carl called down to Makey from his position behind the weapon on the roof of the truck. They had less than two minutes before Sayen’s dad would drop the force field and they would set out on their mission.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” the kid replied. “All set. And you?”

  “I’m all set, too.”

  “We have time to swap places if you want. You know I’m a better shot than you.”

  Carl laughed. He liked the kid’s spark. “In your dreams. I was shooting rumpabugs before you were born. Now shut up and concentrate on driving this thing straight. Have you got the shields up?”

  “’Course.”

  “Then let’s wait for the signal.”

  Carl settled himself back in his seat, his palms resting on the controls of the weapon Sayen’s mother had modified. Above him was the shield Mr. Lee had constructed. It was a smooth rotating dome, open only a slit where the barrel of the weapon ended. He wasn’t totally blind to what was happening outside, however: a visual of the sky was provided by an interface screen between his controls.

  He hardly recognized the weapon as Ozment’s out-of-date missile launcher. His brief instructions from Mrs. Lee had been basically to tell him to let the weapon do its thing—that its capabilities far exceeded human powers. His presence was only required in case the automatic targeting got taken out by a hit. Then, it would operate manually, but only to the extent of Carl’s ability.

  In case he lost targeting and visual on the interface, Mr. Lee had fitted an explosive eject system for the dome. It was a desperate measure, but Carl would be able to continue firing by sight. He hoped his skills would be sufficient to protect the truck until Makey had done his job. If they survived and made it back, that would be a bonus.

  The truck began to vibrate. Makey had started the engine and was driving. It was time.

  As the truck started toward the gate, Carl flipped the switch to activate the weapon. The display lit up, and the weapon swiveled right, taking Carl in his seat with it. On the screen, a large heli was revealed. The Shadows had seen the truck begin to move and had launched their response. Concentric lines moved down the screen to the heli’s center. The weapon had identified its first target before they were even outside the gates.

  The screen flashed repeatedly, as if the weapon were begging Carl to fire. He had to wait. If he fired, the charge wouldn’t penetrate the force field.

  “Nearly there,” Makey called, aware of the fact that Carl could see nothing but the sky.

  He heard a rumble as the estate gates opened. This was it.

  ***

  Makey had argued so hard to be allowed to do this, and tried so hard to get the adults to stop treating him like a kid. Yet when it came to it, he still felt like a kid inside. Maybe he’d been wrong to push so hard. Now, everyone was relying on him, and he wasn’t sure he was up to it. Maybe he should have let someone else drive the truck.

  His palms were sweaty on the steering wheel. Through the slit in the cab’s shields, he could see Mr. Lee standing at his front door, holding a small control device. He held one hand up in the air, its fingers spread. Five. Five seconds until Makey had to begin the drive down to the gate.

  It was too late to back out now.

  He gripped the steering wheel hard. He could do it. He would do it. He wouldn’t let everyone down.

  One finger on Mr. Lee’s hand dropped. Four. Another finger. Three. Two. One.

  Makey pressed the gas, and the truck approached the gates. He was counting in his head. He had ten seconds until Mr. Lee would open the gates and drop the force field long enough for him to drive through.

  He had one job. Get to the correct side of the building and drive right into it as fast as he could. It was vital that he destroy the suppressor. Otherwise everyone’s effort would be wasted. No message would get through to the Transgalactic Council, and Earth would fall to the Shadows.

  His stomach clenched. It was all on him. Everything they’d done up to that point, everything that everyone had gone through, was so that he—a
kid—could do this.

  “Nearly there,” he called to Carl.

  Almost as he was upon them, the gates parted. In another moment, he was through. Immediately, the truck rocked with the force of an explosion on the roof, and another explosion to the right caused it to buck violently. Makey wrenched the steering wheel to bring the swerving vehicle back under his control. He was veering too far to the left. Now he was too far to the right. He couldn’t seem to keep it straight. The truck was heading off the road and into the desert on either side, almost out of control.

  Flames erupted to his right as a heli hit the ground. Carl had got one. The truck shuddered again as they took another direct hit. On the left was another that sent deep vibrations through the cab and into his bones and teeth.

  Something was wrong. The truck wasn’t driving like it should. It was leaning and juddering hard. The Shadows had succeeded in shooting out tires on one side. Carl had told him this might happen, but he’d said the truck would still go, only it would be harder to control her.

  Makey brought the vehicle around. The building appeared in his sight. He only had to keep the truck straight and get her to top speed before impact. If he could only do that, it would be enough.

  ***

  They were barely through the gates before Carl fired the weapon. The heli that the gun held in its sights exploded and toppled from the sky, but before it hit the ground, the weapon was already swiveling around to another target. Carl fired again and caught a glimpse of a missile just before it dissolved in midair. Missiles? The Shadows weren’t only attacking from the air, they were firing at them from a base far away from the estate. Krat. He had no chance of finding and destroying the base using the weapon in the truck. They were vulnerable to every missile launched at them, and so was Sayen’s parents’ estate.

  He had no time to think about that. The weapon was swiveling rapidly once more. A shuttle was passing overhead, and both its guns were firing. Streaks of fire streamed down toward the truck, but on their way an answering bolt crossed them, traveling in the opposite direction into the heart of the shuttle’s engine. The space vehicle split apart like a massive exploding firework. Flaming debris was scattered across the sky.

  The truck took another hit from the missile launcher. It nearly turned the vehicle on its side. Carl was amazed at Makey’s skills at reacting to the deluge of hits, keeping the truck going. He guessed that they were driving toward the building.

  With a deafening crack, the dome above him blew away. A hit had triggered the eject device. The cold desert wind chilled his skin, and he saw the predawn sky with its clearing clouds and fading stars. The sky held more than stars, however. Carl was being carried around in his seat again as the automatic targeting system locked onto another aircraft.

  The gun roared, and Carl’s seat kicked back as it fired. The weapon was better than any he’d ever known, but would it be enough? The top of the building rose up at the edge of his vision. They were nearly there. They’d nearly made it. A stream of fire ran across the truck’s roof, searing the weapon. Flames flickered from Carl’s clothes, and for several seconds he battled to prevent the fire from enveloping him, scorching his hands as he extinguished the flames.

  As his panic eased, he became aware that he and the weapon were no longer moving. The hit had taken out the automatic targeting. If he were to defend the truck and Makey, it was now entirely down to him. He grabbed the controls and spun the weapon around, searching the skies for a target.

  A massive boom sounded to his right, and the truck began to topple. It leaned so far, Carl knew it would never recover. The power of the blast and the speed of their falling meant Makey would never right the vehicle. They hadn’t reached the Shadows’ building or the suppressor inside. It was over. As Carl was thrown to the side in the falling truck, more of the building became visible. They were only a few tens of meters from it. They’d almost made it. Almost.

  A heli appeared overhead. Was this the aircraft that had defeated them? Had the Shadow pilot come to gloat over his victory? With an enormous effort, Carl wrenched the weapon around and fired a final shot as the truck hit the rocky desert floor. He was thrown from the vehicle. Momentum carried both he and the truck forward. Carl tumbled along the dry dirt; the truck slid along on its side with a dreadful screeching and showers of sparks.

  As Carl finished rolling, he leapt to his feet to run after the vehicle. He had to reach Makey and get him out of the cab before Shadows emerged from the building. They might have failed to destroy the suppressor, but that didn’t mean they would give up. They would fight to the last.

  The sound of roaring came from overhead, and the ground lit up with reflected light. Carl looked up to see that the heli he’d fired at—the one that had delivered the decisive blow—was falling from the sky.

  With his last effort, he’d hit it. Carl smiled in grim satisfaction, but his expression turned to one of joyous disbelief as he realized the trajectory of the doomed vehicle. It was heading straight for the Shadow building. It was going to hit it on the corner they’d been aiming at.

  The truck finally slid to a halt only meters from the building. Carl sped up. The heli hit and crashed through the brick wall. As shattered fragments of brick sprayed out, the inferno that had once been the heli exploded.

  Carl was at the truck’s cab. The heat from the downed heli was almost unbearable. The cab’s shields were still up. He peered through the slit and just made out an unconscious Makey inside. He had only seconds before the metal of the shields heated up and fried the kid. But how could he get to him? He tugged at the door handles, burning his hands. They were jammed. He hammered on the steel shields, but Makey didn’t stir.

  Despair gnawed at Carl. He couldn’t let the kid die. He screamed at him through the window slit, and as he did, he saw the dark hole of the tunnel entrance behind the seats. Of course. In a moment, he was at the roof of the truck where it lay on the ground. He grabbed the edge of the tunnel and pulled himself up. Feet first, he climbed down into the chokingly hot cab.

  Makey was out cold from a blow to the head. Carl undid his seat belt. Somehow, he managed to maneuver the kid out of his seat and pull him up through the tunnel. He gulped the cool desert air as he emerged onto the roof with the unconscious young man and tumbled with him to the ground.

  Movement caught his eye. He looked up. They were surrounded by Shadows.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jas and Sayen had made it back to the fence surrounding the Lees’ estate just in time. They carried the unconscious Shadow child inside and to the elevator to take her her down to the basement. The Lee Family androids had put the scanner there after removing it from the back of the truck. The Shadow girl was about ten years old—the human victim had been about ten, Jas corrected herself.

  Like all the aliens, the Shadow was indistinguishable from the child whose place she had taken. Her hair was shoulder length and loose, and long bangs hung down as her head lolled. She had freckles across her nose, and two of her front teeth were missing.

  “Where was the cat when you went into the room?” Jas asked Sayen as they neared the scanner. The androids had connected it to a power supply. It was a simple, flat-bottomed tube on a waist-high base. Jas noted it was similar to the one she’d been scanned in when she’d first arrived on Dawn. An interface at one end displayed one word: Ready.

  “It was sleeping with her. They were both under a coat. I frightened it, I think, when I lifted the coat. That was why it took off.”

  “It was cuddled up with her? She was cuddling a cat?”

  “That was how it looked. It could’ve crept in there by itself after she was asleep, I guess.”

  “It must have, don’t you think?” Jas asked. “Kinda weird if it didn’t. I mean, I never thought of the Shadows liking other creatures. They don’t even seem to like each other that much.”

  “It’s hard to tell what they like or dislike. They’re aliens. They might not even have likes and dislikes. But I a
gree, it does seem weird. I don’t think I’ve ever been more surprised in my life than when I took that coat off of her and found a cat there. I was expecting a baby or something.”

  Jas tried not to contemplate the idea of a baby experiencing what she’d seen happen to the humans in the Shadow trap.

  “Come on,” Sayen went on. “Let’s do this. My parents said they have the packet ready to send the minute the guys destroy the suppressor. We just need to upload the readings from the scanner.”

  They laid the girl out on the belt. Sayen touched the interface, and it started up, moving the Shadow into the tube. Soon, they were looking at the soles of her bare, dirty feet. The scanner hummed quietly.

  To her surprise, Jas found she was holding her breath. She had this sudden, irrational hope that the child wasn’t a Shadow, even though it would mean that their plans to alert the Transgalactic Council might fail. She didn’t want to think about the victim’s death, or the Shadow’s strange affection for an Earth animal. She couldn’t reconcile her understanding of the aliens with the image of this little girl sleeping with her arms wrapped around a cat.

  “Look,” Sayen said. She was gazing at the interface screen.

  Jas joined her at the display. It showed a 3D graphic of the child’s body, split into sections. A faint glow emanated from all parts of the girl. As Jas watched it, the graphic disappeared and was replaced by the words, Shadow Confirmed.

  Her heart sank.

  Sayen was already swiping the screen, capturing the results and sending them onward to the message packet her parents had prepared.

  “We did it, Jas,” she said as she touched the icon to close the display. “After all this time, we finally did it.”

  “Yeah,” Jas replied half-heartedly.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I can’t quite believe that she’s a Shadow.” Jas sighed. “So, what now? When will the sedative wear off? And what do we do with her then?” She realized she hadn’t thought about what they would do with the captured alien.