by J.P. Yager
The cells aboard the small Ruveran attack ship were standard—cramped and dirty. The crew was separated as a means of control. Nathan could see Trevor across from him and Raxus to his side, both out for the count. He guessed that he was sharing a wall with Glade.
Unable to communicate through the thick force field, Nathan sat and waited. This craft could easily make it to Razerus XIII in a matter of minutes. The sudden jolt indicated they were flying at light speed already.
He sat for a moment and pondered what his options were. There was little chance of escape from the cell. His opportunity would have to come when they were being moved. He had to get a message to Glade somehow. He kept trying to focus his attention away from seeing Kaida’s death over and over. She was dead. Gone. He was alone once more. It threatened to pull him into a catatonic state he couldn’t return from. He had to get his straight. He had to do it to get out of this. Then there was the other thing.
Nya was Render.
The thought stuck in his mouth like ground pepper. He remembered the young woman well. Carrie, his sister, had introduced him to her when Trevor had brought her home from college.
She had been a beautiful young woman—vibrant, sharp-tongued, and challenging for young Trevor.
Maura would have them over when they visited. They fought a lot, but so did most couples. Then she had gotten a job working for Scott on the energy project, probably at Trevor’s request. She had manipulated her way into his life. What else?
If she was one who had killed Scott, that meant she was one who hand-delivered the plans to Velkas. She was the reason Earth had been destroyed. She was the spy.
He pounded against his cell wall in frustration.
Nathan was glad Trevor had gotten such a good shot on her. Though half her face was still gorgeous, the rest was a mess. It left little to the imagination of who she really was inside.
But why did she have to kill Kaida? For being an Elysian? Poor Kaida. His heart ached, and grief threatened to overwhelm him once more. He couldn’t think of her—not until this was finished. That also brought up the thought that the Elysian signal screamer that had been on board his ship was floating into the great abyss of space. And Boost…poor stupid Boost.
As he thought of this, he noticed Trevor coughing into his hands. He was lying down trying to get up. The green bile was streaming down his chin. Then he collapsed again. He wasn’t moving anymore.
Nathan rushed to the edge of his cell and banged on the glass. “Someone, come help!”
Of course no one came.
When Nathan looked closely, he saw bright blue mixed in the green bile. He turned away when he knew what that meant. The parasite excreted this in the final stage. Within an hour, Trevor would be dead.
Nathan felt the giant ship leave hyperspace with another jolt. It didn’t take long for the guards to return, led by their leader.
“Let’s go,” Render said, in her robotic tone. “Time to see your old friend.”
-o-
Trevor kept going in and out of consciousness. Luckily, through the fever, he wasn’t aware of how much pain he was in. One minute, he was with his mom running through a green field by their house on Earth; the next, he heard the sounds of a massive space city, and then he was fishing with his dad. When he was self-aware between visions, he knew he was dying. The parasite had latched onto his brain stem and was poisoning his mind. Thank goodness he was euphoric.
“Trevor. You will be alright sweetheart.” His mother said knowingly.
The two of them were at the glen where Trevor had come in contact with the host parasite.
“What do you mean Mom?”
“Everything happens for a reason.” She motioned out toward the water’s edge and saw the parasite waiting for him.
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.”
“Don’t do anything foolish,” Nathan whispered behind him.
Trev wondered what he was talking about. Was this reality? And was he talking to him or Glade?
They were led through the massive space station. It was readily apparent this was the jewel of Ruveran progress, the Razerus XIII. Sky trams tore across their rails. Moving walkways pushed and pulled crowds to and fro. Elevators shot up through their guided lift ways. Breaker-class battleships docked into it, which was insane, seeing as they were the size of planets themselves. Everything was in blinding fast motion here. It put the Elysians’ Helcarion to shame.
After leaving the shipyard, they had been loaded into a small vehicle transport. It shot through a fake forest, several cities by rail, underground shock rails where you could see a beautiful view of the galaxy below, and then up to what could only be the central command structure. Towering over the city were three identical spires that met in the middle. At the spot where they all touched sat a black metallic disc. In the opening, beneath it stood a mass of people watching them. Some pointed and made their snide remarks; others just snubbed their noses at them. Most waited to see where they were being brought or who they were.
The transporter they were in transformed into flight mode and took off. They were flown up to the central structure, which opened as they came in.
The circular construct was big enough to land a medium-class cruiser in. The vehicle made a sharp landing, and then they were removed and manhandled down a long hallway.
“They aren’t going to imprison us?” Trevor asked weakly and then added, “No, Dad, those cigarettes aren’t mine.” Then he laughed. “What? How bad is your English, Nya? Just because there is no she-render doesn’t mean girls don’t submit. Fine, we’ll compromise; we’ll take the ‘sir’ out of surrender. Well, it still sounds ridiculous.”
Nathan was worried. Trevor would probably die before they even reached wherever they were being brought to. And he had taken away Trev’s one chance to even the score with Render. Just another regret to add to the list. When was the darkness going to get to this side of the universe and end this torture?
Trevor went quiet, breathing deeply.
When the hallway finally ended, a large set of double doors opened. The room beyond was filled with monitors, soldiers, and computers buzzing away. In the middle was a pale-skinned, luminescent-red-and black-robed man. His white hair was matted down slickly. When his mouth opened, Nathan saw his teeth were almost like fangs.
Nathan recognized his old nemesis, the man who had engineered the ruination of his life, killed his family, and destroyed Earth.
The girl Nya, Render, whatever she chose to be called, walked back around with the Eckelion’s pack. She pulled an orb out and knelt before him. “I have the Void Star, Father.”
Chapter 23
