Beyond the Stars: INEO (15 page)

We looked around the room anxiously, expecting to see a Grulanti alerted by the sound. To our relief, nothing appeared.

“Stop it, you dork brain,” Noah scolded. “I said not to touch anything yet. If you alert the guards, we won’t have the luxury of taking our time to figure this out.”

Loic frowned. “Who put you in charge? Oh, let me guess, you’re probably some Council prodigy,” he insinuated.

“Hardly,” Noah said under his breath.

“Wait,” I said, closely studying the control board. “That was helpful. Don’t you see, there might be a pattern?”

Gaelan got a gleam in his eye. “You’re right. Tap the next one,” he instructed me.

I hit the next button over. It triggered a beam on the next ship in line, a similar model, and made it disappear. I smiled. “The buttons are a graph. There’s one for every vehicle in here. They must activate the Grulanti’s teleporters. We just need to find the one that matches our levitron’s location.”

“I’ll start counting.” Noah took off in the direction of our levitron. You could see its hood from where we stood.

“That’s great. Only, we have one problem,” Gaelan said, rubbing his chin.

“What?” Zaric and I asked.

“Who’s going to hit the button?” Gaelan questioned.

Loic quickly pointed to the Garmite. “You … you can do it.”

“No. I want to get out of here as much as you do. You should hit the teleport for me and my ship instead,” Ari said in defense.

We all looked at each other in frustration. No one wanted to be left behind. It would be suicide to stay.

Noah ran back up to us. “You have no idea how hard this is going to be. Nothing is parked straight. There’s no reasoning to the placement of these craft. Each is a different size, and they’re all parked on angles. Our levitron could be any one of those buttons.” Noah moaned while he stared up at the formidable wall.

We stood quietly as dread filled everyone’s expressions.

“Let’s ignite one of these ships,” Loic offered as a possible solution. “An overheated power core will blow a gigantic hole in the hull of any ship. It will give us more than enough space to fly out.”

Gaelan winced. “Uh,
no.
Too destructive.” He looked appalled by his suggestion. “Even if we avoid catching ourselves on fire, it would draw too much attention. The Grulanti seem to be operating under the specific commands of ‘collect and deliver’. If we leave quietly, they are less likely to follow. There has to be another way.”

I stepped closer to the lighted board of buttons and searched for an answer. “Maybe, that’s not how it works,” I finally spoke, breaking the silence around me. “Ari, you said that the beamed up aircraft were deposited here, while the ones that lifted supplies and smaller items went into the other cargo bay where we found our friends.”

“Yes,” Ari said.

I gazed across the room and then back at the control panel. “Well, maybe the beams aren’t precise. Maybe there is no pattern. No, that’s not it. Wait, yes. Maybe the buttons were assigned to the items brought aboard when they were transported here to begin with. They might have been assigned a number when they arrived.”

“That’s it, Sami. I know exactly what to do,” Gaelan said.

“What?” Zaric asked.

Gaelan gave Zaric a resolute look. “We’re going to hit every one of them, all from the safety of our ship. Farewell, Ari. This should spring your ship as well,” Gaelan said before walking away.

“That’s a perfect idea,” Zaric agreed.

I noticed Zaric didn’t question Gaelan further. This wasn’t the first time I saw them appear to understand each other’s suggestions without explanation. They appeared to hold immense trust in each other’s decisions.

“May you find your way,” Ari said with a bow.

“Goodbye, Ari,” I replied.

Gaelan headed in the direction of our craft, while we all raced behind him. His pace took on one of excitement, almost thriving on the challenge before us. He wasn’t one to delay. Once he made a decision, it was immediately executed. I loved how he took charge.

Gaelan jumped into the driver’s seat while the rest of us piled into the levitron and strapped ourselves in.

“Everyone good?” he asked.

Gaelan turned to give me a sly smile. He seemed certain that his plan would work. He powered on the craft and lifted us off the floor before he propelled us in reverse to press our vehicle’s tail end up against the alien’s control panel. I hoped he had a target in mind since the control panel was much larger than the rear of our craft.

“What are you aiming for?” I asked nervously, as I watched the screen showing our rearview.

“I’m not going to hit it with our stern. I’m going use the wake of our wind from the exhaust jets when we take off to push
all
of the buttons. It will depress the gamut,” Gaelan said.

My lip quivered. “Gaelan, did you fail to notice we are surrounded by walls?”

“Here we go,” Gaelan said, undeterred before he accelerated the levitron.

We flew back in our seats, and our heads hit the headrest. The quick acceleration made the view out of our windows pass by in a blur. I wasn’t accustomed to the jarring sensation since the motion of their larger starship was always buffered against sudden changes in acceleration; the levitron, however, not so much. The dimly lit cargo bay exploded with gleaming arrays of newly activated lighted pillars. Instantly, the ships beneath their beams torpedoed through openings in the floor. Resonating booms encompassed us, deafening our ears with their activation. It looked as though we would strike the approaching wall head-on, but, in a flash,
we were free!
We found ourselves suddenly hurling through the blackness of Space with our levitron spinning in a barrel roll.

“Ahh,
I can’t look,” I shouted and covered my eyes.

Blood pulled in my legs and feet, and my head felt too heavy for my body. Even my eyes felt as though they were sinking into my face.

“Sami, relax. We’re fine,” Gaelan said in a smooth voice. “Calm down before you get sick. Take shallow breaths and breathe with your stomach.”

That was easy for him to say. I was struggling to hold down the contents of my stomach and was ready to black out. I fought to take a few quick breaths before managing to focus on the oncoming Space ahead. The dark sky was littered with the starships we had freed. Gaelan had no choice but to slow our levitron down in order to maneuver through the aimlessly drifting craft blocking our path. To my relief, the G-forces started to subside. I started to feel better and was overcome with relief when I realized that we had escaped. I watched him turn us abruptly, weaving to the left and to the right to avoid hitting each of the floating, unmanned ships. Seeing him handle the obstacle course with finesse, despite all the danger, was impressive. I turned to look out my side window, and noticed a small ship taking off in a controlled motion. It had to be Ari. I smiled. I was happy to see him go free.

CHAPTER 9

FREEDOM

The Grulanti ship had continued on its course and appeared oblivious to our exit; so much for their security system. Gaelan flew us away from our captors as Noah, Zaric, and Loic raided the levitron’s food cabinet. To everyone’s relief, the image of our starship soon appeared on the levitron’s viewer. I was ecstatic to see that they hadn’t abandoned us.
Grateful beyond words.

“We’re being hailed,” Gaelan said with a big grin. He sounded elated to be returning to the safety of our ship.

Gaelan tapped the viewer to enlarge it.

Tyden appeared. He was standing on the command deck. “I see
everyone
is accounted for,” he said, looking each of us over.

“Of course,” Gaelan replied.

“We have been awaiting your return. Have you finished your sightseeing tour yet?” Tyden asked with a hint of humor.

I laughed at his sarcasm. I didn’t know it was possible for him to crack a joke.

“Yes, I think we’ve gotten our fill,” Gaelan said in a playful tone.

“Good, I’ll clear you for landing.” Tyden held back a smile.

Tyden’s image disappeared, allowing a clear view of our triangular ship as it approached from ahead. It looked enormous. A small panel slid open near the bottom of the ship, making me question if it was big enough to enter. Gaelan flew us directly into the gap. It looked like we would crash into the sides, though we made it to the landing garage without one scratch. Still—talk about leaving no room for error. I saw Azil, Urit, and the two men, Rosemont and Bowman, who had gone to Dalinova with us to gather supplies, awaiting our return.

Azil ran up to Zaric after we exited the craft and threw her arms around him.

“Ouch,” Zaric whined in pain.

He got Urit’s attention, prompting him to examine his broken arm.

“It’s good to have you
all
back,” Rosemont said. “Thanks for bringing back the levitron. I felt bad for leaving it there.”

“I’m glad you did,” Gaelan said, smiling.

Noah grinned at the crewmen with excitement shining from his face. “I altered the levitron’s shell to resist the Grulanti’s inhibitory interference signal. Now, the craft’s force field is comparable to any full-fledged starship.”

Appearing enthralled, Gaelan and the men joined Noah beside the levitron while he explained the craft’s transformation.
Men and their toys.

While Gaelan was talking to them, Loic stepped in front of me with a bit of a swagger. “Thanks for not shooting me back there,” he said in a low voice while he leaned his body uncomfortably close to mine. “I guess I’m not the only one wanting to spend more time together. I saw the way you were looking at me,” he said with a wink.

“What?”
I scoffed with disbelief. I did not
look
at him. Aside from thinking he was behaving like a total idiot, he was the last thing on my mind. Did he think the world revolved around him?
What a narcissist.
How could he interpret me not killing him as a sexual proposition?

“Fine.
You don’t have to admit anything. Act coy. I like it.”

Gaelan’s eyes met mine when I gave him a desperate look like I needed to be saved. He left the men he was talking to and came back to my side.

Loic walked away as soon as Gaelan approached. He went to interrupt Urit as he cared for Zaric. “Hey, Medic, I need your help, too. Can you fix my leg?”

Urit turned around with a perturbed look. “Demanding, aren’t you?” Urit snapped at Loic and returned his attention back on Zaric. “You can move it, but don’t lift anything with it for the next two days,” he said firmly.

“Thanks,” Zaric replied.

A moment later, Urit turned towards Loic. “Now, you,” he said. “Let’s see it.” Urit squatted while he lifted Loic’s stained pant leg to expose a dried bloody cut and examined its severity. “This is minor,” he said, sounding unenthused while he took out a gadget from his shirt pocket.

“Wait a minute,” Loic moaned and shifted his body nervously. “Will it hurt?”

Urit rolled his eyes. “Terribly,” he stated coldly while he held the device to the wound.

I remembered Gaelan and Zaric telling me how Urit tended to have poor bedside manner until he had met me. They thought I was responsible for bringing out a gentler side of him. Lately, however, with all of his added stress, he seemed to be reverting back to his old ways.

Loic closed his eyes and grimaced. I watched the edges of the wound seal together, closing the tissue like a zipper. A moment later, Urit stood up and returned the tool to his jacket pocket.

“That’s it. That didn’t hurt at all,” Loic said with relief. “Oh, wow, you really had me going,” he said, pointing to Urit. “I’ve got to watch out for you.”

Urit looked at us and sighed before he noticed Zaric’s continued discomfort as he held his arm across his chest. “Zaric, come and sit down. Perhaps we should stabilize it better.” He led him to a bench against the wall.

Azil gave Zaric an empathetic look. She came up to Gaelan and me to give us both a loving hug. “You guys really had us worried. When I saw the Grulanti’s ship approach the planet, it couldn’t have been worse timing. I hope Loic is worth it,” she said, sounding concerned as she held her arm around my back.