by GARY DARBY
“I’m not sure how, sir,” Dason answered honestly. “All I know is that though I only spent a short while with Tor’al on the planet, I came to know him as well as I know you, or any of the rest of the team.
“And that wasn’t Tor’al we saw in the recording. It just wasn’t.”
“I believe you, Dason,” Shanon said in a soft voice.
“I believe you,” Alena said.
Nase and TJ nodded their heads, in unspoken agreement with Shanon and Alena.
Brant glanced over at Sami. “And what about you? Do you believe him?”
“Me?” Sami stammered and hooked a thumb at his comrades. “These guys do the thinkin’ and believin’, remember? I’m your—”
“I know, I know,” Brant interjected. “You’re my action guy, body of steel, mind of mush.”
Brant shook his head and said in a rueful tone, “Okay, I’ll bite and send a message. At this point, I guess it can’t hurt.”
“Thank you, sir,” Dason replied, but his creased forehead and tight lips didn’t give the impression of relief at Brant’s statement.
Brant sat back while he peered at Dason. “I take it, there’s something else spinning around in that mind of yours.”
Dason raised anxious eyes and glanced around at his teammates. “I was thinking,” he said, “that if the Sha’anay were angry before because the Faction kidnapped Tor’al, what are they going to do if they find out that someone is impersonating Tor’al and speaking on the Sha’anay’s behalf?”
He ran a hand over his mouth and said in a grave voice, “When that happens, I think that our sixteen days are going to evaporate in an instant.”
Brant sat straight up as if Dason’s statement was like an unexpected thunderclap inside the pilot pod.
He turned to Sami and said, “My apologies, Sami, your brain isn’t made of mush, mine is. Scout Thorne, you are absolutely correct. And that piece of information goes to the general right now, too.”
The loud rustling of clothing caused both Brant and Dason to turn. Sami had unzipped the hood from the collar of his field uniform and was flipping it back and forth over his head.
“Sami,” Brant asked in an exasperated tone, “just what are you doing?”
“Practicing,” Sami replied.
“Practicing what?” Brant asked.
“How to be a no-see-um,” Sami answered. “After what you two just said, we’re going to need all the practice we can get to hide from both the Mongans and the Sha’anay. I just want to be ready.”
Brant shook his head and let out a deep sigh while he turned to the n-space communicator to send his message to General Rosberg.
Dason chuckled while he rose from his seat. He clapped Sami on the shoulder. “Like I said, Sami, I really don’t understand you sometimes, but it’s awfully good to have you back.”
He pushed through the open doorway, taking Shanon with him. Together, they walked back to the little craft’s aft section, and stared at the flowing ebony curtain that marked n-space.
Neither said anything, just stood together, feeling the growing bond between them. Dason let his fingers intertwine with Shanon’s.
Even the tiniest of her tender touches sent his heart beating harder and wilder than he’d ever experienced. Seemingly, even more so than when he faced the Chameleon Coug or the devil-dogs, or Khalid the assassin.
He hoped it would never change.
“Dason,” Shanon murmured, “what you said about the Sha’anay, how much time do you think we have?”
Dason didn’t respond right then. He didn’t want to break the magic because he knew that such moments in the future would be fleeting.
Squeezing her fingers gently and softly, he said, “Right now, all the time in the world. Tomorrow, perhaps none at all.”
She brought her other hand around to place it on top of his fingers. “We take it for granted, but time is a precious thing, isn’t it?” she asked.
Dason was quiet as he gazed at her face before he said, “I think that time, like love and life, is a most precious gift, and we should never, ever, take it for granted.
“Savor it, because like n-space, once it flows past, it’s gone and we can never go back, never recapture the moment, never relive the minute or the day.”
He smiled at her. “And if we’re with someone who’s very special to us, then we should stretch out every second, relish every moment we’re with them, and never, ever forget how we felt in that instant.”
Shanon looked at him, her eyes tender and warm, but with just a tiny bit of mischievousness in them. “Wow, Scout Dason Thorne, for a moment there, you sounded just like the Scoutmaster.”
He laughed lightly and squeezed her hand again. He let his eyes wander over to the blackness of hyperspace. “That will be the day,” he murmured. “That will be the day.”
Just then, TJ stuck her head around the corner and said, “Hey, you two, we’re wanted up front, on the double. Something’s going on and you know what that means.”
“What else?” Dason said as he gazed into Shanon’s eyes. “It’s time for . . .
Scouts Out!”
THE END
The story continues in book four:
When Stars Fall
Of the Star Scout Saga
Other books by Gary J. Darby
Science Fiction:
The Star Scout Saga
Book One: Star Rising
Book Two: Fallen Stars: Darkest Days
Book Three: Star’s Honor
Book Four: When Stars Fall
Book Five: How Far the Stars
Fantasy:
The Legend of Hooper’s Dragons
Book One: If a Dragon Cries
Book Two: The Queen’s Vow
Author’s Note
Thank you so much for reading my novel. I truly hope you enjoyed third book in the Star Scout Saga series. The story continues in book four: A Fall of Stars and may you enjoy it as much as you did the first three books in the series.
If you’d like to see what I’m working on for future publication visit my website and log into the member’s only section by using the password: Hooper
Check out my blog too and lastly, if you can recommend this story to others please do so by providing a review and posting it to your social media accounts. Free advertising is a blessing to us starving writers.
Again, thanks for reading my novel and I sincerely hope that all that you read fills you with wonder, awe, and uplifting moments and thoughts.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Professional copy editing services provided by Marthy Johnson of Copy Editing Services (CES). You may contact her at 907.720.2032 or e-mail: [email protected] if you’re an established or a budding author who needs a little help, well, maybe a lot of help with those clunky commas, pesky pronouns, and annoying adverbs.
She’s also the author of Write or Wrong, a nifty reference manual that all authors should have in their personal library as well as Breakpoint Down, an excellent mystery novel.
You might want to check out her newsletter, Word for Word, just for writers that will help you avoid the pitfalls and potholes of writing in this convoluted language we call English, or as I sometimes refer to it, Anguish. You can subscribe to her newsletter by contacting her via email.
As always, dedicated to those who dream of Out There and to the girl of my dreams and fantasies, my eternal sweetheart Pamela, and to our children and grandchildren who fill our days with wonder and awe.
Copyright © 2016 by Gary J. Darby
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form whatsoever without the author’s express permission.
This book is a work of fiction in its entirety. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, description of characters, extraterrestrials, places, and incidents are wholly the product of the author’s imagination.
Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons,
living or dead, is entirely coincidental but if you recognize yourself or someone else in the story, it’s really not my fault.
