Beyond the Stars: INEO
Read Beyond the Stars: INEO Online
Authors: Kelly Beltz
Copyright © 2011 Kelly Beltz
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1-4563-1727-X
ISBN-13: 978-1456317270
eBook ISBN: 978-1-61915-076-8
LCCN: 2010916282
By the author:
Beyond the Stars: Kataria (Book one)
Beyond the Stars: Ineo (Book two)
Visit
www.createspace.com
to order additional copies.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and locales portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Ineo is phonetically pronounced
\i-’nā-ō\, (think \in-'ay-oh\)
This book is dedicated to my family. I love you and want to thank you in advance for not getting upset when I book our future family vacation in Space.
CONTENTS
I was feeling excited. Our ship’s departure was just minutes away. I
was finally
going home. I glanced at Gaelan and was caught off guard when I noticed a look of panic on his face.
Please no!
I clutched the armrests of my chair, fearing the worst.
“Tyden! Get Urit—we’ve got trouble!” Gaelan said, reading the letter that Urit, the ship’s doctor, had given him just before we had boarded.
“What is it? Tyden asked nervously, leaning around me to look at him.
“A change in course,” Gaelan replied.
My spirit was crushed. My newfound happiness was quickly replaced with dread. His words meant one thing—our return to Earth would have to wait.
Gaelan bent forward in his seat and showed Tyden and me the note:
Nia is missing. The Dreons came back.
At the same time, Urit came bursting through the doors of the command deck, his brows furrowed together in agony. My heart paused when I saw his red-rimmed eyes. They really did have her.
“The Dreons took my daughter!” Urit shouted at us with urgency.
The command center crew rotated their seats to turn from their stations. Their eyes fell on Urit with somber stares.
Tyden jumped to his feet. “Gaelan just informed me.
How
did this happen?” He paced across the room to meet Urit halfway as the crew chattered anxiously to one another.
Urit exhaled deeply. “Nia was studying a Dreon tracer,” he explained in a rattled voice. “On the way to Kataria, we discovered that Samantha was implanted with it.” He paused to give me a wince. “But I was able to remove it. We think the Dreons placed it in her during our encounter with them on Decca, or shortly after, but erased our memory of it happening. Initially, I didn’t say anything because Gaelan and Sam were already feeling pressure from the Katarian Council about their intergalactic relationship. I was afraid they would cancel our launch.”
Would they ever. If Gaelan’s brother Liam didn’t help overrule the Katarian Council’s verdict, Gaelan’s flight privileges wouldn’t have been reinstated, and I would be sitting here without him. I took a big breath and gazed over at Gaelan. He made my accidental voyage on the Katarian starship not only tolerable, but liberating.
Urit gave Gaelan and me an apologetic look, knowing our secret about the tracer was out.
Tyden turned around with his nostrils flared. “Gaelan, you
knew
about this?”
Gaelan nodded. “The tracer, yes. We didn’t think anything would come of it.”
Tyden huffed and rubbed his forehead.
“A tracer.
I haven’t heard of them using one of those for years.”
“A remarkable one at that; it’s quite powerful,” Urit elaborated. “The device was something I have never seen before, so I didn’t want to destroy it—a new and improved model. Nia hypothesized that the tracer had an extremely long signaling range, but I told her she was just being paranoid. Then, without warning, the device activated and teleported itself right out of the room, taking her with it. I watched her vanish … there was nothing I could do.”
Tyden clenched his jaw. Being a Katarian Starship commander, along with Gaelan and my brother-in-law Zaric, Tyden was the most seasoned, eldest commander aboard and seemed to pride himself on knowing the ship inside and out. I knew this news would certainly anger him. He was not someone who appreciated being kept out of the loop.
“When
did this happen?” Tyden asked in an irritated tone.
“Eleven hours ago,” Urit explained, closing his eyes briefly in anguish. “I didn’t know what to do. I was hoping that once we departed, we could go after them since they have yet to bring her back.”
Tyden’s mouth fell open. “Wait a minute. The Dreons were in Katarian airspace? How did they get past Spaceport security?”
“Well,” Urit paused, “I was questioned by Spaceport yesterday when they discovered a Dreon vessel sending a laser communication beam to my house. Spaceport told me the Dreons claimed it was a misfire and left on their own. We all thought they’d moved on. Gaelan and I decided it was better if we kept the incident to ourselves. You know the Katarian Council … if they found out that the Dreons were up to their old tricks and that we were somehow involved, we would
all
be put on trial. Also, Nia didn’t disappear until later that evening. The strange thing is, when it happened, they managed to take her without being detected. I never heard one peep from Spaceport control.”
One of the crewmen standing near Urit asked, “What’s a tracer?”
“It’s before your time, young man,” Urit said kindly. “The Dreons implant these devices in your body to record your thoughts, feelings, and, worse, your whereabouts. I brought the device home to study it with Nia while we were on Kataria. She was in the process of dissecting it in order to learn how it functioned. We were hoping to develop a defense against them in the future.”
Flooded with guilt, I jumped from my seat and rushed to his side.
“Oh, Urit,
I am so sorry. I feel terrible.” I placed my arm around his hunched shoulders to comfort him. I thought about my nineteen year old twins, Leah and Jackson. How sick would I be if they were abducted instead of Nia? I couldn’t bear to think of Urit’s pain.
“Thank you, but it’s not your fault, Sam,” he replied.
Of course it was. If the Dreons didn’t suspect I was from another planet, they never would have implanted me with the tracer to begin with, and Nia wouldn’t have been caught studying it. I felt like a terrible friend. Not only had Urit removed the tracer from me, he had saved my life on the way to Kataria. It was his vaccine which made it possible for me to physically tolerate the harshness of Space travel, not to mention the language translator he downloaded in my brain. I would have been lost without it. I was overwhelmed with remorse.
The Dreons were dreadful creatures. Just the thought of them gave me a shudder. They varied in appearance; some looked more human than others. Their offspring were developed through generations of genetic experimentation, which blended multiple species together in hopes of improving their race. They were universal bullies and forced everyone to submit to their intrusive ways. They had wandlike weapons, which they used to paralyze their victims, making it impossible to blink let alone fight back. To make matters worse, they were capable of mind control. I pictured the Dreon, Hyril, and his scary black eyes that were as dark as they were dangerous. I’d never forget that moment. I remembered the helplessness I felt. The pressure I felt as he penetrated my mind against my will with one poison look—it was unforgettable. Terrifying. There was no way to resist. Hyril distorted my world and tortured me by instilling gruesome visions into my head. It was hard to tell what was real and almost impossible to escape. I hated the Dreons. They scared me more than anything. I never wanted to get anywhere near them again.
