Escape from Endeavor

by Daniel A. Jones

  ***

  Daemon saw that Angelica had stopped searching and wondered what she’d found. When she turned toward the tarmac, he asked, “What is it?”

  Mystique and Sara stopped what they were doing, too, and turned to see what was going on.

  Angelica was feeling Thomas and the others as they crossed the tarmac.

  “I think Thomas is here with a couple others,” Angelica warned them.

  Carefully, they all sneaked to one of the small windows to watch what Thomas would do. They were surprised when the three men split up to search for them.

  “That’s stupid,” Mystique observed with a little shake of her head.

  “You girls shouldn’t watch this. Angelica, if you can’t keep Sara calm, we’re going to have to knock her out,” Daemon warned as he watched Alan start walking toward the military ship. He knew what was going to happen, and the sight of it was going to be pretty horrible. If Sara started to panic they’d all be dead.

  Angelica decided to take Sara a little back from the window. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m okay. You just keep doing whatever you’re doing to make me feel brave.”

  “I will.”

  Mystique split her attention between the two and what was happening on the tarmac. She wasn’t sure Angelica would knock Sara out if it came to that, so she wanted to be ready to. Alan’s screams startled them a little, but they both worked hard at remaining calm.

  Daemon and Mystique watched as Alan ran cross the tarmac toward the forest. A dozen creatures started chasing after him. The four creatures that had been in the hanger with them ran out to join the group. The creature from the crashed transport finally broke through the hull and joined the chase. It looked somewhat like a huge spider with the front section turned up to form a humanoid torso with oversized claws for arms. It killed the smaller creatures as it caught up to them. They all seemed to be running slower than they were capable of, as if they were toying with the man.

  Daemon spotted Thomas as the man walked calmly away toward town, and shook his head in amazement at how cold-hearted Thomas was.

  Daemon looked at Angelica and Sara trying to judge if they could make the run to the crashed ship without attracting anything’s attention. He finally decided they could, so he told everyone his plan: “I think our best chance is to run over to the transport while everything is distracted chasing that guy across the tarmac. It’s a short run and we should be inside the ship before anything notices us. Once inside, Sara knows right where to get the coupling so we grab it, and get out. We can sneak to the woods in the opposite direction from the demons; with luck, they’ll be fighting with each other. If we have to we can wait in the ship while they calm down and leave.”

  “Didn’t you two sense something in the ship?” Sara asked, not having seen it leave to chase Alan.

  “It’s gone with the others. We have to move now,” Daemon replied as he opened the door getting ready to run across to the ship.

  Mystique was right behind him. “What about Arnold? He’s still in that ship.”

  “He’s never leaving that ship,” Daemon replied in a hard voice as he turned to watch Sara and Angelica leave the hangar. They were holding hands for reassurance.

  Daemon led the way along the building. He tried to keep as many spacecraft between them and the creatures chasing Alan as possible. They could still hear Alan’s terrified screams but they were growing weaker and more distant. They were going to have to cross the last fifty yards to the ship in the open.

  Daemon told them, “All right, I want you to look down and run; don’t look up, no matter what. Angelica, you two just look at the ground and follow me. Mystique, you’re bringing up the rear. Go.” Daemon started jogging across to the ship; the girls would never keep up if he ran. He stopped about twenty feet from the spacecraft to see if he or Angelica could feel any presences in the ship. He only waited a few seconds before deciding it was safe and continued to the hole the big monster had created clawing its way out. He didn’t stop until he reached a corridor that led fore and aft. Daemon waited for Sara and the rest to catch up.

  “I’ll stay and watch to see if they start coming back this way,” Mystique offered.

  “No, we stay together,” Daemon replied with a conviction Angelica seldom heard in his voice.

  The four progressed through the ship to the main engineering hatch. The hatch was secured and, being a military ship, it was a full-strength blast door. Sara started working on it with some of the tools she’d collected from the hanger but after a few minutes gave up; there was no way to get the door open without power. None of them wanted to go back to searching now that the monsters had been stirred up. They stood around, trying to think of what to do.

  Mystique checked the door while they waited. She wasn’t very good with machinery but she did like puzzles. Sara had removed the cover from the control panel but she’d not been able to do much more. Mystique stared at the exposed circuit board and was a little shocked when it started to fade away allowing her to see what was behind it. She saw a small lever with a faint glow. Acting on impulse, she pulled out one of her knives. She used the pommel as a hammer and broke the circuit board and then flipped the knife to pry up the lever with the tip. The lever shifted a little; the hatch snapped open about half an inch.

  Everyone, including Mystique, jumped when the hatch unsealed. None of them had been paying attention to what Mystique was doing until now. “How did you do that?” Sara asked, a little annoyed Mystique had succeeded after she’d given up.

  “I don’t know. I was looking at the controls when I just saw what needed to be done,” Mystique said a little defensively, not sure how the others would react.

  “What do you mean you just saw what needed to be done?” Angelica asked.

  “I was looking at the electronics when I could just… see the lever behind it and knew I needed to move it. I don’t know how or why but it seems to have done something,” Mystique explained.

  “The closer we are to the Rift the stronger our abilities become. Dad and I figured that out on one of our early trips here. You must have one that helps you figure out locks,” Daemon said.

  “That’s weird. I didn’t know I had a thing for locks.”

  “You might only be able to do it here. It probably has something to do with the radiation Sara was talking about,” Angelica speculated.

  “What’s radiation?” Mystique didn’t want to sound stupid but her mom hadn’t taught her much and it seemed important she understand this.

  “It a kind of energy, like the heat you feel when you walk into the sunlight,” Daemon said, proud he knew something she didn’t.

  Daemon ended the conversation by putting the blade of his ax in the crack between the doors and pried them open until he was able to squeeze through and went inside.

  The girls followed him inside and looked around. The compartment was pretty big, taking up almost the entire back third of the ship and the machinery in it filling most of the room, leaving only walkways and a small control room. The door to the control room was locked but the top half of the walls were made of some type of glass which allowed them to easily see inside. Three people in what they assumed were armored vacuum suits were sitting at control panels.

  Sara didn’t want to disturb the dead and told the others what they needed would be back among the machinery. So the group walked cautiously down the catwalk she indicated, Daemon in the lead. Neither Daemon nor Angelica could feel the presence of anything else in the ship so they had both relaxed some. Sara didn’t take long finding the coupling she needed, a flexible six-foot cable about five inches in diameter, used to transfer the power produced by the power plant to the drive motor. The connecting ends were a standard design, making them universally interchangeable, only the material they were made from differed. The one they were getting was a lot stronger than the one that had burned out on the Neptune. It was going to take two of them to carry it since it weighed over a hundred and f
ifty pounds and Daemon was already carrying three packs.

  Sara took Angelica’s rifle while Angelica and Mystique picked up the coupling, one on each end. Sara started to follow Daemon out but stopped, thinking. The others stopped and waited, not saying anything, until finally Sara pulled out some tools and started removing more parts from the engines. Angelica and Mystique set the coupling down while Daemon waited near the hatch. Sara spent about fifteen minutes collecting small parts from the reactor and drives before she was through. Mystique took some of the parts and put them in her pack and Sara put the rest in hers.

  Daemon wasn’t happy about having taken so long but figured Sara had good reason for collecting the extra parts. He led the way back to the hole and told them to wait while he went outside to look around. Daemon carefully looked out onto the tarmac and saw that the horde had killed Alan near the far edge. A few of the monsters were still picking at his corpse but most had left. The big one that had been inside the ship was walking toward town. It stopped to look at him for a long minute before deciding to continue going on to the Rift. Daemon waited until it was fully out of view before going back inside to get the girls.

  “What took you so long?” Angelica snapped.

  “I had to wait for the big one to leave and be sure that he did leave. There are only a few left so we should be able to make it to the woods without trouble. Follow me and stay calm,” Daemon answered, hoping the worst was over and they could get away from the spaceport.

  20

  The three remaining monsters had finished with Alan’s corpse and were walking back toward the ships when Sara climbed out of the hole.

  She took a quick look around and spotted the three creatures. The terror of what she saw was too much for even Angelica’s calming reassurances. Sara couldn’t stop herself from screaming.

  The noise attracted the monsters’ attention, and they quickly changed course, excited at the prospects of another meal.

  Daemon dropped his packs and charged out to meet them. Angelica and Mystique climbed the rest of the way out of the ship. Mystique grabbed Sara and forced her to look away as Angelica took her rifle back. She quickly checked to make sure it was ready to fire. Sara mumbled apologizes as Mystique held her in a hug to make sure she didn’t run off. Angelica started shooting at the lead creature.

  It was running on four, long thin legs that were moving almost too fast to be seen, though its strides were so short it was barely moving faster than Angelica could run. The second creature was hopping. It looked like a giant, five-foot-long frog with tentacles sticking out all over its body. The last creature had a circular body with four, short stubby legs facing out from the middle, forcing it walk in an odd shifting manner. It also had four arms ending in three clawed hands. It was thankfully not moving fast.

  Angelica was prepared this time when Daemon unleashed his beast and allowed it to take control of his actions. She’d decided to think of it that way; it wasn’t her brother, it was a horrible beast that took control of him. She would not accept that her brother could be that horrific. She had to stop shooting at the lead monster as it got close to Daemon. She quickly reloaded and started firing at the frog.

  Daemon had fought creatures like this before and knew he could defeat them. He focused on what they would do to Angelica if he didn’t kill them. The anger he kept such a tight control over turned to rage and now he didn’t try to contain it, he just targeted it. The first monster had eight arms ending in knife-edged claws like those of a praying mantis. It was going to slice him a dozen times before he got to swing on it. He didn’t care; the cuts would be shallow, meant to cause maximum pain, not true damage. He charged right into the thing’s reach, holding his ax high over his head. The monster did as expected and cut at his exposed stomach and chest. Daemon barely felt the pain before he brought his ax down. He swung with all his strength, driving the blade through the creature’s thick hide, not stopping until it impacted the plastacrete of the tarmac. The creature fell dead, twitching a few times as random impulses reached muscles.

  Daemon looked up just in time to see the frog leap at him. An evil grin crossed his face as he shifted to baseball-player mode. He twisted at the waist, bringing his ax around with as much power as he could directly into the mass of tentacles surrounding its mouth. The mass of the creature reversed Daemon’s swing and almost pulled him over backward as the ax tore more than cut through the creature’s jaw. Daemon’s arms felt like they were on fire where a dozen tentacles had touched him. The pain just added to his rage. He instinctively shifted his grip and chopped down repeatedly at the creature until it was nothing more than a puddle of green blood and meat chunks.

  Angelica stopped shooting and focused on keeping Sara and Mystique calm. It was hard for her while she was being assaulted by the flood of rage coming at her through her link with Daemon.

  The third monster must have felt the same rage that Angelica was. It stopped and thought for only a second before starting to run away from Daemon. It was the creature’s turn to feel fear.

  Mystique watched Daemon with a detached awe as he fought, covered in blood and gore.

  Daemon looked up from the frog and started to chase the third monster when Angelica yelled “Stop!” She pushed her desire to leave through their link until it penetrated his burning anger.

  Daemon stopped and watched the thing retreat, the pain in his arms beginning to fade as he healed. The cuts from the first monster had already stopped bleeding and were healing quickly. He stripped off the remains of his new shirt and wiped himself off the best he could. Daemon could feel Angelica’s desire for him to calm down and it helped him get control of himself.

  As Daemon walked back up to the group Mystique said, “Impressive.”

  “That’s what happens when I unleash control of my temper,” he said as he made an angry face that would have looked ridiculous if not for the carnage behind him.

  “Can we go now?” Sara got the nerve to ask as she looked out over the spaceport. The sight of the creature retreating was not as scary as when she saw it moving toward them. She would have sworn, though, that she saw someone move past one of the portals in one of the yachts and it spooked her.

  Daemon picked up his packs while Mystique and Angelica picked up the coupling. Sara took Angelica’s rifle back and they all started trudging across the tarmac toward the woods.

  Angelica wasn’t as focused on calming the group while she carried the coupling so Sara was feeling more anxious than she had when they arrived. She wasn’t scared but if she were nervous enough, she could attract attention.

  Daemon didn’t know of anything he could do to make her feel more secure.

  Daemon almost didn’t feel the attack coming. The attacker was at the maximum range of his ability to sense aggression. The attacker was behind them, back near the hangers. He spun around to look for what was coming.

  Angelica started to drop to the ground while Sara and Mystique both looked back.

  Mystique was the first to spot Thomas as he took aim and fired. She dove for Sara, knocking her to the ground just as the bullet tore through Daemon’s chest. Daemon staggered a few feet before collapsing. Thomas’s second shot barely missed hitting him in the head. Mystique pulled Angelica’s rifle free and tossed it to her.

  Angelica didn’t see the rifle or care about it; she was too focused on saving her brother. She was pouring every ounce of energy she had into healing him.

  Mystique thought that Angelica was lost in grief over Daemon’s death. She had no way of knowing he wasn’t dead. Sara wasn’t going to be any help either, so that left her to get Thomas. She jumped to her feet and started running. She changed directions often, hoping to avoid getting shot. Thomas took a few poorly aimed shots at her and a few at Sara and Angelica but he was a poor marksman. Mystique maneuvered to put the transport’s landing gear between him and her.

  Thomas saw Mystique coming and smiled. He was going to get to watch the wench die up close and personal. He stepp
ed out into the open to reload the rifle’s magazine as he walked toward her. She was still running at him doing her zigzag crap, and man, was she fast, but she wasn’t faster than a bullet. He shouldered his rifle to aim. Mystique, like most amateurs, had fallen into a pattern of zigzags without even realizing it. Thomas was about ready to fire when he died.

  Sara had regained enough of her wits to take careful aim with her rifle and shoot Thomas. She’d been aiming at his head but hit him in the center of his chest. She’d forgotten to account for the bullet’s trajectory.

  Mystique slowed down to a trot when she realized what had happened. She thought about going up and slitting Thomas’s throat, but decided she should get back to the others.

  Sara was standing next to Angelica when Mystique got back. Angelica was cradling Daemon’s head in her lap as she slowly rocked back and forth. Mystique knew they needed to get moving but wasn’t sure how to get Angelica to leave her brother. She’d envied them a little for being so close and caring so much about each other, but now that she saw the down side she only felt sad for Angelica.

  “Nice shot.”

  “Sorry, I took so long.”

  “Angelica, we need to get moving. I’m sorry he’s dead, but we have to get out of here,” Mystique said, trying to be as compassionate as possible.

  “I’m not dead yet,” Daemon stated in a strange accent, then laughed a few times before starting a short coughing fit.

  Mystique almost fell over with surprise. “But, how?”

  “I regenerate, remember. Gunshot wounds take longer than cuts do to heal but with Angelica’s help I heal even them pretty fast.” Daemon struggled to stand up. “You normally run at people shooting a rifle at you?”

  “I didn’t see much choice. It was either that or wait for him to get lucky. And your father never taught me how to shoot.”

  “It’s easy. Just point that end at the target and pull the trigger,” Daemon joked, trying to lighten the mood a little. He picked up his fallen packs and motioned to the woods. “Let’s go that way. I want to get as far away from town as possible before nightfall.”

  The group started walking toward the woods again. This time Sara kept looking back to make sure they weren’t being followed. A female figure standing next to one of the yachts caught her attention. She was watching them leave and didn’t care that Sara had seen her. Sara stopped to take a better look at her, which got Mystique and Angelica’s attention.

  “Wait a minute,” Angelica told Daemon as they set down the coupling.

  “What?”

  “There’s a woman back there near that yacht,” Sara pointed back across the tarmac.

  “I think that’s the ship Arnold went into,” Mystique said.

  Daemon grabbed a rifle from Sara and fired, not taking time to aim very well. “Stop looking at it. We have to get out of here.”

  Both Angelica and Mystique caught Daemon’s use of the word “it” instead of “her.”

  Daemon chambered another round and allowed his anger a little closer to the surface as he fired a second time.

  Whoever or whatever it was it didn’t like being shot at, so it turned and walked back into the ship.

  Sara took a few steps toward the yacht before realizing what she was doing and stopped.

  Angelica stepped up to her and guided her back to the group, confused that Sara would be feeling sexually attracted to the woman/creature they all knew had to be some kind of Rift monster.

  21

  Shektee had hidden from the ancient one, once she felt his presence.

  She was only slightly annoyed at having to stop her feeding but she could wait. She didn’t want to do anything that might attract the ancient’s attention. She’d become concerned when it faded to the point that if she hadn’t known it was there she would not have been able to sense it. She was relieved when it had started to move away, but to her surprise it wasn’t moving toward the Rift. She’d thought it would take the mortals it had collected there.

  Then she felt him stop for some reason and then there were distant feelings of strong emotions coming from those with him. The taste of the emotions was faint and very strange. She’d never tasted some of the emotions mixed in with the fear and anger she knew so well.

  Shektee was normally very cautious, like most of her kind, but this time her curiosity drove her to leave the yacht to get a better look at what was going on. She found a dead human nearby, and saw four more a ways off, walking in the direction of the woods. The ancient was with them, but not visible—at least not to her. This was getting even more interesting.

  One of the four spotted her so she beckoned it to come to her before she realized the foolishness of her action. The ancient looked at her and she knew she’d made a mistake; now it knew her. It was displeased and wanted her to leave the group alone. It wasn’t angry with her or she’d be dead already. She went back inside the yacht to think.

  She watched them leave through one of the portholes and tried to figure out what the ancient was doing. Why didn’t it consume the humans it was with? How was it able to travel this far from the Rift? Could she travel farther from the Rift? If so, how far? She had a lot of questions and no answers.

  After a while she went back to Arnold to feed some more and found something very interesting. He had regained some of the strength that she’d taken, not much but enough to be noticeable. She fed again, but just a little; it was hard to control herself but she kept from killing him. Now she would wait and see how long it took for him to regain his strength.

  A plan started to form in her mind: If he could regain his strength, others of his kind could, too. She could collect more and feed a little from each of them. As long as she didn’t kill them, she would have an endless supply of energy. She decided if he regained enough strength she’d take him back to this community of humans and collect more.

  She sat in the lounge and drank the scotch. The burn of the alcohol felt good, and her plan for the future put a beautifully evil smile on her face.

  22

  Angelica and Mystique set the pace the group could go through the forest. The coupling they were carrying weighed enough to sap their strength, so they were forced to take frequent breaks. Daemon had redistributed and repacked some of the stuff they were carrying, but they were still heavily encumbered.

  When the group finally stopped for the night they were only three or four miles from the city.

  Daemon lay down for a quick nap while the girls started a fire and cooked dinner. Angelica was careful to pay attention to any feelings she might pick up. Mystique collected wood from around their campsite. Sara just sat down and stared at the woods in the direction of the spaceport. Mystique was pretty good at making fires so it didn’t take long before Angelica was cooking. She made a thick stew and tea that would have been accepted at most fine restaurants.

  Angelica made sure Sara ate before she woke Daemon. He had only gotten an hour or so of sleep but she hoped it would be enough. He finished off all the stew that was left and two cups of tea before going for a walk to see what was near the camp. Sara was the first to fall asleep, while Mystique and Angelica talked quietly about Mystique’s relationship with Faust.

  “How long did you know my father?”

  “All my life. He’d come by for a visit two or three times a month.” She wasn’t very comfortable talking about what her mom did. She wasn’t sure if Angelica was influencing her or not but she felt that she could trust her. “I remember Mom saying that he was the only one that had brought her anything while she was pregnant. If he hadn’t, she would have been forced to look for a way to end it before I was born.”

  “Oh, my god, she wouldn’t have done that,” Angelica said, surprised anyone could be that cruel. She understood sometimes it had to be done, but to tell your child how close you were to killing her before she’d been born was unthinkable.

  “My mom, she would have done it in a heartbeat if she’d figured out how without risking her own life.”
Mystique said, her voice getting very low to the point where Angelica could barely hear her.

  “What are you two talking about?” Daemon asked as he sat down at the fire near Angelica.

  “Dad, and how Mystique knew him.”

  “Did you know your dad?” Daemon asked innocently.

  “Mom collected a little extra from a dozen men telling each that I was their daughter. I don’t think she really knew which was my real father.” She gave a soft chuckle when she saw the surprised look on the siblings faces. “How long have you been planning to get off the planet and what made you think a ship would crash that needed parts?” Mystique asked to change the subject.

  “Years, I guess. Dad never told us what he was planning until he showed up with Sara,” Angelica said.

  “So how did he know Sara’s ship was going to crash and need parts?”

  “Sometimes I have dreams or visions of important events before they happen. I guess I had one of those dreams and told him about it. I’m sure I thought it was just a weird dream but he took it as a chance to get away. So he started preparing for the day they would come to town.” It was Angelica’s turn to feel uncomfortable with conversation.

  “That has got to be terrible. I mean, you can see the future and know a ship is going to land, but you miss the part about your father dying,” Mystique commented seeing right to the heart of Angelica’s guilt about her father’s death.

  Daemon pulled Angelica into his chest to hug her. He had felt her hiding something and now he understood her feelings of guilt. He held her tight to let her know that he didn’t blame her for what happened.

  Mystique watched the two and felt the pangs of envy again.

  After a while Angelica, pushed her way out of Daemon’s embrace. “I can’t control the visions. I can’t make them happen and I can’t see everything clearly. So, no, I didn’t see what was going to happen to Dad.” Tears still rolled down her cheeks. Without another word, she lay down and wrapped herself in her bedroll and tried to sleep.

  “I didn’t mean to upset her,” Mystique whispered more to herself than Daemon.

  Daemon got up and as he walked past Mystique to his pack he whispered back, “It’s all right. We know you didn’t mean anything.” Daemon pulled out the chip reader from his pack. He came back and sat next to Mystique. “Dad got this from one of the science expeditions that landed a while ago. He got data chips on all kinds of stuff. Would you like to read about the ship we will be traveling on or the planets we could be going to?”

  “Thanks, but I can’t read,” Mystique replied as she slid away from him. She’d seen lustful looks on lots of men and what she saw on Daemon’s face looked a lot like that. But Daemon’s lust was for the knowledge contained on those data chips, not her. If you touch me while I’m sleeping I’ll slit your throat, was the warning Mystique thought about giving Daemon but she held her tongue. Angelica had promised that he wouldn’t, so Mystique would give him the chance to prove Angelica wasn’t lying. She’d been raped before and lived through it; if it happened again she would live through it again. The main thing was getting off the planet.

  Daemon watched as they drifted off to sleep. He knew their sleep would be full of nightmares but hoped they would get at least a little rest. He put a chip in the reader and spent the night reading about Marcus 3, the capitol planet of this sector.

  Daemon had to wake each of the girls a few times during the night to end the nightmares they were trapped in. He could tell by their fitful movements when they were having trouble. He was careful not to scare them anymore then he had to waking them and luckily they were tired enough to fall back to sleep fairly quickly. Daemon felt a few creatures’ presence during the night but none were brave enough to come near the fire or at least, that’s what he thought. He passed the rest of his time reading about the different planets he hoped he would have a chance to visit one day.

  Daemon took another nap in the morning while the girls got ready for the day’s hike. Angelica cooked breakfast while Sara and Mystique repacked their blankets and got ready. Mystique was happy to have more stew, but Sara was getting tired of having to eat the same thing every day. She really missed the dinners Robert used to make which reminded her that he’d died, too. Sara considered what had happened since they’d landed and wondered if Robert might have been the lucky one.

  Angelica noted Sara’s hesitation and said that they only had dried meat and vegetables, so stew was the best she could make.

  Angelica let Daemon sleep for an hour before waking him up to eat. He wanted to sleep longer but knew they needed to get moving. The amount of damage he’d regenerated was starting to tap into his reserves of energy. His only consolation was the fact they were moving away from the city and nobody was chasing them so they could take it easy. He ate quickly and was already packed so within fifteen minutes they were on their way. Daemon was leading them southeast away from the city. Sara wasn’t sure where her ship was, just that it was south of the city and west of town. Daemon had never been in this section of the forest so he was worried they’d run into another gorge or river or some other terrain feature that would cause trouble.

  They were able to keep up a steady pace for most of the morning, only stopping a few times to rest. The one river they’d run into had been shallow enough for them to wade across. Sara had suggested stopping at its bank for lunch and to dry their clothes. Daemon had explained to her that water sources attracted predators so it was best they just fill their canteens and keep moving. The vegetation around the river looked almost healthy compared to the other trees and brush. The water was flowing down out of the hills toward the city so Daemon presumed it was safe to drink.

  They ate lunch in a small clearing with a confusion of tumbled boulders. While they rested and ate Mystique asked, “Can I see that chip reader?” Mystique thought that Daemon had wanted her the night before but he’d held to Angelica’s promise not to take her, which made Mystique curious: If she asked for a favor, would he try something? She didn’t expect he would want much, but whatever he asked for would teach her more about what he valued.

  “Sure.” He dug into one of his packs for the reader. He put a data chip in it that contained information on the different animals found throughout known space and showed her how to use the reader.

  “How long will the power cell last?” Mystique asked as she flipped through the different pictures.

  “It has a solar panel so it recharges itself, and the cell will last for days without sunlight,” he told her, again proud of himself for knowing something she didn’t.

  She enjoyed looking at the pictures but the writing underneath each one made no sense to her. She returned it to Daemon when they were ready to go and thanked him for it. She waited for him to ask her for some form of payment but he didn’t seem to want anything.

  The group slowed down their pace during the afternoon. Daemon thought they had traveled far enough from the city and the Rift so that they wouldn’t encounter any of the Rift monsters. The trees and bushes were starting to look a lot healthier and they started to hear birds chirping and calling to each other. Angelica was relieved that she didn’t have to concentrate on keeping them calm and hidden from the monsters. She hadn’t realized how much energy it was costing her.

  Sara was in a better mood now that they were headed to the ship. She actually thought they might make it.

  Mystique was the only one concerned with how they were going to find Sara’s ship. She kept her thoughts to herself but worried they could spend months trying to find it.

  Angelica told Daemon to find a campsite later in the afternoon, well before they had normally been stopping for the night. She was tired and she knew Sara and Mystique were, too. Daemon didn’t take long finding them a place to camp. He dropped his packs and went off to collect firewood for the night. Mystique started making a fire with the twigs from around the campsite while Sara unpacked the radio, hoping they were far enough away from the Rift to get a signal to the
ship.

  Angelica sat with Sara to help her, while she waited for Mystique to get the fire going strong enough to cook on. Sara had the radio hooked up and was trying to transmit; she tried for five minutes to get a reply before giving up. She rechecked the settings on the radio and the connection to the power supply: Everything looked good. “One of the items I got from the engine room was a fully charged power cell for the radio.” Sara believed the radio was sending fine and could receive just as well. She decided to leave the radio on until she went to sleep.

  Daemon came back with an armload of wood for the fire. Mystique had the fire going pretty good with the start of a nice bed of coals. Angelica set to cooking: She agreed with Sara about wanting something other than stew.

  Daemon saw that the radio was out and asked if Sara had had any luck contacting the ship. He wasn’t surprised when she told him no one had answered; he just hoped they were still alive. He searched through the data chips he’d brought until he found the one he was looking for: an educational chip that contained all the books used for the first few years of school. He inserted it into the chip reader and brought it over to Mystique.

  “Here, I put the chip in that is used to teach children how to read. It should give you the basics.” He handed Mystique the reader.

  Mystique had no idea why he would think to do that for her. She was not used to people being kind or thoughtful of others for no reason. It just wasn’t how people were, at least none of the town folks she knew. Her mother had once told her if you act kindly to someone you’re admitting they’re better than you. She couldn’t imagine Daemon thinking she was better than him and believing he needed to serve her. He hadn’t asked for any payment yet, but if he was going to she expected it would soon. Angelica added to the problem by offering to help her with any problems she couldn’t figure out. Mystique hoped they were taking after their father, but she was too paranoid to be sure.

  Sara almost jumped out of her skin when the radio crackled to life. “Sara, come in, this is Jim.”

  Sara thought it was strange that Jim would be calling instead of Mac and that he’d used names when Mac had yelled at her for doing it. “Jim! Where’s Mac? Is everyone there all right?”

  “Mac is working on the engines. He needs those parts. Have you had any luck getting them? Nelson and I have gotten a full load of the plants, so all we’re waiting for is those parts and we can get off this rock.”

  “I hear you. We have all the parts Mac told me to get and a few extras. The problem is, I’m not sure how to get back. We’re about ten miles southeast of the city right now.”

  “We? Who is with you?”

  “Angelica, Daemon, and Mystique. Three people from the town; they helped me escape and get the parts for the ship. I’d be dead by now if not for their help.”

  “Oh, okay. A bunch of guys from town were nice enough to bring back the skimmer so I can come get you. I’ll call you from it. Out.”

  Sara set the radio down and smiled: Jim was coming and in a few hours she would be off this cursed planet.

  Angelica had come over with Daemon and Mystique when they’d heard the radio call. They were all pretty excited. “He should be here in less than an hour. We should build up the fire so he can see it easier,” Sara told them.

  “He sounded surprised to hear about us. Are you sure he’ll let us come with you?” Angelica asked as she returned to her stuff and started packing.

  “Yeah, Jimmy’s a good guy. He’s one of the most easy-going weapons specialists I know, plus, rescuing three damsels in distress is something he’ll get a kick out of.”

  “Weapons specialist? What does that mean? Is he some kind of guard?” Mystique asked

  “Yeah. Jim worked and trained under our security office, Alex, as assistant security officer. He’s young enough not to be suspicious of everyone he meets and still be a little romantic.”

  “Well, the townfolks that brought back the skimmer were definitely not being nice bringing it back. He must have killed them to get it away from them, so he knows how to fight,” Mystique said. “If he’s wearing the same armor the guy in town was, then we have nothing to fight him with. I heard they shot the other guy with their hunting rifles and everything bounced right off him until Faust got there with that cannon of his.”

  “Yes, he has the same armor but we won’t have to fight him. He’s my friend and I told him I owe you my life. Stop worrying, by this time tomorrow we’ll be in deep space.”

  Mystique dropped the conversation. It was clear that Sara believed in Jim and wouldn’t listen to any questions about what he was going to do. Daemon and Angelica didn’t seem concerned either, so Mystique gathered up what little she’d pulled out of her pack for the night.

  23

  Jim called on the radio about twenty minutes later. He told them he was flying in their direction and would be there soon. He had Sara activate the homing beacon on the radio. It would use less power than talking and the skimmer could lock in on it and follow the signal straight to them.

  Daemon added the rest of the wood he’d collected to the fire. They weren’t going to need it. The fire roared to life, building to a respectable bonfire. Everyone backed away from where they figured the skimmer would land and waited.