Beyond the Stars: INEO (10 page)

“No, take whatever you want,” Loic said with a shrug.

Gaelan gave Noah a nod to get to work.

“I won’t be long,” Noah said before he leapt past us into the craft’s open door.

I was impressed with his quick response. I loved how life with the Katarians left no time for lollygagging.

Loic got an enlightened expression on his face. “So, what does the Council think about you trying to hunt down a Dreon vessel?”

Gaelan frowned. “It’s a side mission.”

“Ooh.”
Loic’s eyes and mouth opened with surprise. “They don’t know, do they? This sounds
delicious.
Now I really want to participate.”

Zaric held out his hand, almost touching Gaelan’s arm, and gave him a glare of warning, probably urging him not to elaborate.

“Loic.” Gaelan paused for a moment. “Before we go, I want you to be clear of the terms. You can only come aboard on two conditions.”

Loic looked up at the sky and exhaled in frustration. “Here it comes,” he grumbled.

“You
will
be expected to follow orders and be granted a limited boarding pass. Your restricted access means no engineering or command deck unless you are invited,” Gaelan explained.

“I need a leash, do I?
Oh well,
it beats this dump. Let’s go,” Loic said without hesitation. He brazenly stepped around Gaelan and Zaric before coming to an abrupt stop in front of me. I lifted my face up to peek out from under my hood to look at his face. I was hiding in it to help keep myself warm. Loic’s eyes met mine briefly before they traveled shamelessly up and down my body. He looked surprised to see me. It was as though he just noticed my presence. Perhaps Noah had been keeping me out of his view before he left my side.

“Well, hello,
lovely,
I didn’t see you standing there. Excuse my rudeness—I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Loic Veenhoven. I am honored to become a passenger on a ship with you,” he said in such a charming manner it took me by surprise since it totally contradicted his scraggly, never-seen-a-hairbrush-or-bar-of-soap appearance. “Have you ever met a Katarian scout?” He continued to lay on the charm. “I could take you places you never knew existed,” he said giving me a wink.

“Hello,” I replied with a nod.

“And your name, sweets?” he asked.

“Sami,” I said, pausing. “Did your bag just move?” I looked closer to see if I’d imagined it.

“No,” Loic said defensively, clutching his bag against him.

Zaric scoffed. “Leave her alone, Loic. You’re embarrassing yourself. She’s with Gaelan,” he said with irritation.

“You don’t say. You always did have good taste in women. Maybe I can steal this one away from you, too,” Loic said snidely.

Gaelan furrowed his brow. “Loic, what are you talking about? Have you lost your mind out here?” He had a confused look on his face as though Loic’s claim was outrageous.

Loic grinned and continued to ogle me. “Gaelan, you really should keep current. To be the best explorer, you should try and stay in the loop with the latest gossip. The Council really has you brainwashed about minding your own business. All of their regulations and rules take the fun out of everything. You should be free to explore.”

“Stop staring.” Zaric stepped closer and nudged Loic’s arm, making his body shift to the side.

“Can’t I take pleasure in the sight of a pretty woman?” Loic moaned, finally removing his gawking eyes to look at Zaric.

Gaelan exhaled loudly, growing more annoyed by the second. “Loic, do you
want me
to leave you here?”

“No.”

“Then shut up! She is off limits to you. Understand?” Gaelan said through his teeth.

Loic smiled at me, and I looked away. “Fine. But come on, you bring a beautiful woman in front of me, after I’ve been here alone for months, and expect me not to notice?” Loic smiled and gazed up at me under his thick, manly brows.

Gaelan spoke over him. “Noah, will you please hurry up in there?” he yelled towards the ship.

“Yeah, Noah, I’m turning into a Popsicle,” I shouted and hugged my arms against my chest, just as eager to leave.

“Do you have a sister?” Loic asked me in a lowered voice.

Gaelan gave Loic a threatening glare to stop talking. “Loic,” he repeated. “Stay or go?”

“Sorry, I’ll be good. Don’t leave me here.”

A few moments later, Noah came out of the old starship with a content smile. I knew his quest for parts was successful when he held a small glass cylinder in one hand and cradled a metallic box in his other arm.

“Look what I found,” Noah said happily.

“Where
did you find
that?”
Loic questioned him with a surprised look. “Shoot, I forgot how well these models were equipped.”

Gaelan gave Loic a curious glare. Knowing Gaelan, he was probably shocked that Loic didn’t know the details of his own ship. I had no idea what the parts were for, but Noah appeared to find them valuable. He quickly stuffed them into his bag and hugged the sack closely to his chest in a hoarding manner, despite realizing no one else cared.

We started walking across the sandy path to return to our ship when a huge alien vessel drifted silently overhead. It was enormous. Where in the world did
that
come from? Its dark outline spanned across the sky for what looked like the length of a football field. I began to hyperventilate when it appeared to be lowering itself down on our heads. As it descended, a low-pitched hum radiated a current of pulsating waves, vibrating our flesh and clothes. It came so low I could make out the underside of the ship. I swallowed hard when I saw big protruding rings that looked like suction cups scattered across its blackened steel hull.

“Holy ship!” Noah said, sounding astonished, while his jaw fell open.

Loic got a panicked look on his face.
“Oh, bloody crooks.
Sheesh, I knew they’d come back. Hurry, we have to go—and don’t step inside its beams,” Loic shouted frantically as he backed himself away.

“What beams?” I asked.

As I spoke, a strong white beam of light shined down brightly on our heads from the huge alien vessel above. Instinctively, we all stepped back to remove ourselves from the ray of light. I shielded my eyes to try and see its origin. It appeared to be coming from one of the rings.

“Who the hell are they?” Zaric asked, squinting his eyes as he looked up.

“The Grulanti. I told you they’d return. Run!” Loic yelled.

Nervously, we looked at each other before reflexively running after Loic to remove ourselves out of harm’s way. No one was willing to find out what would happen if we’d stayed put.

“Loic, you said it was clear to land,” Gaelan shouted, as we ran to catch up. “Starship Thirty-three, we are in immediate need of assistance,” he spoke urgently into his ship’s communicator.

Our ship was probably over a mile away.

“Gaelan,” Tyden’s voice came through the speaker. “We picked up Rosemont and Bowman; they made a run for the ship when they saw the incoming vessel. The levitron is hidden in the mountains about a half mile from you, but Rosemont claims it’s damaged. Can you find shelter until the area is clear?”

“We can try,” Gaelan said.

“We’ll be—” The device went dead, cutting the transmission short. Gaelan paused to look down at his wrist and huffed at the failing transmission.

“Look, maybe we can hide in between those hills,” I said.

“Good idea, go,” Gaelan agreed.

We sprinted as fast as we could to distance ourselves from the vessel’s beam. I had to hold my side after it tightened from running so hard. To my dismay, I noticed my shadow wasn’t fading in front of me. I looked back briefly and discovered the ship was still following, floating threateningly overhead. I was hoping that its light would disappear entirely. Instead, I watched in horror as every one of the giant rings came to life, lighting in succession. The single ray had multiplied into two, then four, and so on. We had to come to a full stop and stood paralyzed when they enclosed us in its beams. Within seconds, the pillars formed a giant grid, spanning the entire surrounding landscape. It made me feel like a pawn on a giant’s chess board. Our escape looked futile. We were trapped.

“Don’t stop now,” Loic ordered before he alone leapt over to the next blackened square of land.

I cautiously turned my head to look around, fearful to make a wrong move. “What are these things?” I asked.

Loic turned back towards us. “They are motion sensitive teleports. Any activity in the light will set them off and suck you up,” Loic explained.

“We can wait here until they leave,” Noah suggested.

“No, they angle the beams and change their coordinates every few minutes,” Loic said with a huff. “They will get to us one way or another. I watched them suck up one of my crew before they started blasting the place into bits. We need to take cover in those mountains until they go. There is an entrance to the mine inside.”

“We’re not going to make it,” I cried. A trail of lights blocked our path to the mountain range.

“Yes, we are,” Noah said, standing beside me. “Step where it’s dark.”

He took a big step, avoiding the light.

“Come on, Sami, follow me,” Gaelan said, pursuing after him with a leaping stride.

I hated the thought of being separated from the group for even one second and quickly obeyed. We were halfway to safety when the light beams suddenly shifted, causing me to become startled when a pillar of light dropped directly in front of me. I was barely able to stop.

“Ahh,”
I gasped and distanced myself when I realized my shoulder had accidentally entered into the beam for a brief moment, but it was too late. An ominous humming noise radiated down from the alien ship into the light beam before me, making it vibrate with sound. It caused the lighted pillar to grow brighter as though it had been activated. It flashed once before pulverizing the ground beneath it with an explosive blast. The explosion showered us in a cloud of dust. It stung and felt as though it was raining nails. I covered my head to protect myself from the flying debris.

Gaelan grabbed me by the arm and pulled me towards him as flying rocks and sand sprayed through the air. I blinked to clear my eyes as the dirt settled. After my eyesight recovered, I was surprised to find a small crater left behind in the ground from the blast. Then, to my horror, the humming returned and activated the next beam in line. It became all too apparent that I had not only turned on one booby trap, I set off an entire cascade. Explosive blasts started emanating down the line of beams every few seconds, like lightning bolts making contact with a target in a violent storm.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” I yelled out between the deafening explosions.

“Let’s go,” Gaelan yelled, and took off running towards the mountains at an even faster pace.

I struggled to keep up. My feet kept turning, becoming partially buried, as I stepped on the soft sand littered with rocks.

Noah ran beside me. “It wasn’t your fault. I think I might have set off the beam with my bag,” he shouted, hugging his bag of loot closely to his body.

Boom! Boom!
The ship’s lighted landmines continued to fire as we tried to run for cover. The ground shook so hard, it resonated through my shoes and vibrated my bones. Swiftly, I looked up at the sky to catch a glimpse of the alien craft to see if it was trailing us, and saw a fiery red streak flare across the sky.

“Look, there’s more.” I pointed.

“No, that’s just our ship leaving,” Gaelan explained.

“What? They can’t just abandon us,” I gasped.

“Don’t worry,” Gaelan said breathlessly. “They won’t go far. They’ll come back for us when it’s safe.”

“Oh, God, we’re going to die!” I yelled.

“No, we’re not. Look we are almost there,” Gaelan corrected me.

“Ahh,”
I screamed when a beam of light suddenly moved and came down in front of me, blocking my path. I couldn’t stop myself. I was going too fast.

“Sami, watch out,” Gaelan shouted.

Gaelan quickly reached out his arm and shoved me to safety. I fell to the ground on my hands and knees in a safe dark spot. I quickly stood up and looked back to search for Gaelan. To my horror, I saw him standing in the illuminated pillar. He had inadvertently stepped under the beam while trying to help me. In an instant, I saw and heard an explosive flash, leaving only a spray of falling dust where he once stood.

“Gaelan!
No!”
I screamed. Where did he go? Did it vaporize him or transport him? I wasn’t sure. My entire body began to tremble. Seeing him disappear made me want to lie down on the ground and die. I couldn’t bear losing him.
Ever.
I started crying uncontrollably as I looked around for the others. My tears froze almost instantly on my face. “Noah, Zaric … Loic?” I yelled. Everyone seemed to be missing. I couldn’t hear them answer over the surrounding blasts and could barely see through the enveloping dust. The flash and flying dirt rendered my ability to see far useless. The only image I could see was the one burned into my eyes. The whitened blur of Gaelan … before he vanished.