Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1) (6 page)

Blue smiled back at him, "You are asking me on a date?” she said in disbelief. "What? Getting beat up by a girl turns you on?"

"Oh hell yes,” he said with relish.

This time Blue laughed aloud and just shook her head. "I'm so far out of your world, you couldn't imagine just how far."

“That's okay. I like a challenge,” Marco said. Following impulse Blue lowered her sunglasses so he could see her eyes. Marco’s eyes widened in surprise. “Freaky,” he said looking into the swirling clouds of pink and blue staring at him. Blue raised her sunglasses once again hiding her eyes. “Still want to date me?” she teased.

“More than ever.” He really meant it.

She shook her head at him. “You are a strange one Marco,” she told him.

They both looked over at the rooster who had started banging his heels against the floor in order to get their attention. "He's a mean one Marco, he likes to hurt women."

"I know that’s why the boss has me keeping my eye on him so he doesn't get a chance to. If he does I'll take care of him,” he said simply. Blue understood the implied threat and so did the rooster who went still. She untied Marco and helped him to his feet.

"Tell your boss he can have the asshole after I get done with him. I will let you know where to find him,” she said, "Now I have to go talk to some neighbors. She paused and cocked her head, “You ever think about changing jobs?" she asked him.

"To do what? I didn't go to college and the only thing I am good at is fighting. Besides, the boss pays well,” Marco said.

"How about legitimate security?" she replied.

"I could talk to someone for you.” Thinking of a top notch security company she did some work for. She really liked this guy for some reason. Underneath the wise guy persona he was a good man.

"You might want to wait until I am gone before untying the rooster. He really wants to hurt me and I don't have time to bury a body today,” she said with another shake of her head then turned to leave.

“Wait," Marco said, "Let me give you my number."

"I'll find you don't worry,” she said with a wave of her hand. "Get some ice for the nose and knee.”

Crystal Bones Billie Jo Hanlin

Chapter 7

The spaceship Trilleion was finally back in working order. Every major system had been checked and rechecked. Jayden and his crew were gathered in the control room. Sparks was at the helm. Vihan at weapons, Dro was at the science station. Idris was monitoring communications and Jos was, of course, at engineering. They were making another attempt to break free from the invisible tractor beam to nowhere, as Sparks was now calling it.

Jayden said to Sparks, "Go ahead and give it everything we have."

"You got it boss,” Sparks replied. "Putting the ship in reverse and accelerating. Engines at fifty percent, seventy percent, engines now at one hundred percent with no change in position. Pushing to one hundred twenty five percent. Still no change."

Jos told Sparks, "Engines are holding, go ahead and push to one hundred and fifty percent but be ready to stop when I say so."

"One hundred thirty, one hundred thirty five, one hundred thirty eight, one hundred forty three,” Sparks called out as he pushed the engines to give him more power. Just as he was saying, “Engines at one hundred fifty percent.” Jos yelled out.

"Stop, engines are at critical.”

Sparks slowly powered the engines down. He looked at Jayden and said, "That is all we have. We are not going anywhere but where the tractor beam to nowhere takes us."

"This has got to be the same thing that happened to Jabrel seven hundred and fifty years ago. My guess is that we are going to end up in the same place. Meanwhile I am going to take one of the shuttles out and see if I can break free in a smaller ship,” Jayden said.

"I will come with you,” Idris said. "I want to check and make sure it performs the way I designed it to. We did not have a chance to test all the systems before this mission came up.”

Jayden eased the small five man shuttle out the bay and slowly circled the Trilleion. This was the first chance he had to try out the craft and he found it to be very maneuverable and comfortable. The seat molded to his body as if it were made for him. With the controls at his fingers he did not have to reach or stretch for any of them. The shuttle had some of the same systems as the bigger ship. The outer shell was designed to reflect its surroundings so it could blend in anywhere on any terrain, right now it was as black as the space around them. The computers like the ones on the Trilleion could be accessed three different ways. Manually and through the use of an interface headset were the most common.

There were only a few beings who could connect their minds to the computer, essentially becoming one with the ship if they had the correct codes. That was the third and hardest way to get control of the ship.

Though the people who could merge with the ships were few and far between, the codes were on a constant random system. It would be a fast way to die if an enemy ship had someone on board who could take control of your ship by accessing the computers. The shuttle, unlike the Trilleion, could be remotely controlled if need be.

It was twelve feet by twenty feet and could be expanded by another twenty feet if needed. It was surprisingly cozy for being so stark. Made for sneaking on and off planets, it was built for short fast trips.

"Damn Idris, this thing moves like a dream,” Jayden exclaimed. "I know, we made a few changes to the dampers and got rid of a lot of things to streamline it. It is not for long hauls but great for the short ones,” Idris replied absently.

Jayden flew behind the Trilleion and headed in the opposite way only to come to a complete stop after one hundred clicks. He could not go forward, so he turned the shuttle around and went to the right only to run into the same barrier. Same with the left. The only way he could go farther than one hundred clicks was in the same direction as the Trilleion was heading. He tested the limits of the barrier for three hours while Idris tested the onboard systems. He was happy with all but one and that was a computer programming error that would have to be taken care of when they got back to the ship.

They had just landed the shuttle in the bay and were

exiting when the alarms sounded. Sparks announced over the com, ”Sensors are going wild and we have what looks like a ripple appearing in front of us."

Once again Jayden found himself racing to the control room,
At least this time I have my pants on,
he thought without any humor. He got there just in time to see the anomaly burst into being. One minute there was nothing but a ripple in space then the anomaly appeared.

It was as if a small piece of space itself split open revealing a swirling mass of colors. Pinks, greens and purple ribbons swirled around each other in a continuous dance, fading and brighting with no rhyme or reason. It was mesmerizing. It was one of the most beautiful sights Jayden had ever seen and they were headed directly for the center. The only spot the dancing colors did not touch.

For once Sparks had nothing to say, no sarcastic comment or joke. The control room was completely silent. Not even the sound of their breathing could be heard. They were all holding their breaths watching and waiting for what would come. Several long minutes later Jayden told Sparks to launch a probe. He wanted as much information as they could get before they entered that swirling mass.

He watched the probe enter the anomaly. One moment they could see and track it, the next it disappeared from sight. Swallowed up by the anomaly it sent no information back to its ship. The Trilleion started to gather speed. They were hurtling faster and faster towards the center.

Sparks tore his eyes from the view and looked at his console. He gave a low whistle and said softly, "According to this we are not moving."

None of the men were prone to panic even in extreme

circumstances. They had all joined the Alliance Combined Space Fleet because each of them had a personal reason to hate the Ragillians and the fleet gave them a chance to kill as many as they could. They were an elite covert group that had worked together for fifteen years.

Dro’s wife and daughters had been killed when the Ragillians had attacked a peaceful scientific exploration of an unpopulated planet. Sparks and Jos were twins from a planet on the outer reaches of the galaxy, that had been almost destroyed when a biochemical agent had been released into the atmosphere, killing seventy percent of the population. Including their parents, while they were at school on the planet Kasops. Their brother and sister survived but no one was allowed to leave or visit the planet. Their only contact was through ship to planet communications. Vihan had been captured and tortured for three months. He never talked about his time in the hands of the Ragillians but his hatred of them went bone deep.

Jayden and Idris hated them for the same reason. Jayden's sister, her husband and their two boys had been killed when the passenger ship they were on had been the target of an attack. Idris well, he had been trying to destroy the Ragillians ever since he thought they had killed not only his sister but his planet’s only hope for survival.

Now they faced this new challenge with the courage and determination they always showed, even knowing that of the dozens of ships that had disappeared in this area, only one had ever returned.

They flew straight and true as they entered the twisting mass of colors. The light was so bright Sparks was forced to dim the view screens so they could see what they were flying into. The colorful ribbons did not touch them at all.

They were flying through a tunnel surrounded by the ribbons but none of them touched the ship. It was almost like flying through a tunnel protected by an unseen barrier. Just like the barrier Jayden had found when he had taken the shuttle out. The sensors were showing nothing. The anomaly did not show up on any of the instruments so they had to rely on their eyes and hope the recorder was at least recording what they were seeing. They could study it later when they had the time.

Dro spoke telepathically. He could project to anyone but not everyone could respond mentally. Of the crew only Jayden and Idris could. The rest of them could hear him fine but could not talk back to him. Dro belonged to a race of telepaths who had no other way of communicating.
“It feels alive.
" His mental voice was as soft and soothing as it always was with no hint of anxiety.
"It is as if there are hundreds of eyes on us."

Jayden realized that all of them felt the same when everyone nodded in agreement. "As beautiful as this is I prefer the dead zone,” Sparks said.

"Me too,” Jos echoed his brother.

They traveled through the tunnel for hours before it opened to normal space as abruptly as it had appeared. The ship slowed down and they floated through the opening. The anomaly closed behind them. Leaving no trace that it had ever been there.

There was no dead space on this side. The sensors sprang to life spewing out information. It was a bit startling and a big relief after days of nothing to sense. "Well that was fun,” Sparks muttered as he got to work. "It looks like we are in the same place Captain Jabrel came out. So far I am finding the data he collected matches what I am getting. Nine planets and only one inhabited. Looks like they have made some advancement in seven hundred and fifty years. There are quite a few man made satellites orbiting the inhabited planet. They don't have anything that can detect us this far out though,” Sparks said after further reviewing the information coming in from the sensors.

Dro left his station and walked over to Idris. His entire focus was on the chrystal Idris was holding. It was now pulsing almost in time to his heartbeat and the glow had intensified. Dro laid his hand on Idris's shoulder and asked in a soft mental voice, "
May I?
" he pointed to the chrystal. Because he used his mind to communicate exclusively he could sometimes get impressions from other objects.

Idris looked up at him and just as softly said, "It feels alive not like the anomaly but alive." He handed the chrystal to Dro very carefully. Dro closed his eyes and focusing all of his attention he immersed himself in the glowing chrystal. Feeling the pulse and letting it flow through him.

When he opened his eyes he stated with such assurance that there could be no room for doubt.
"It most definitely is alive my friend… and so is your sister. This,”
he said handing the chrystal back to Idris as carefully as Idris had handed it to him,
"Will lead you to her."
He then went back to his station. All of them had heard the conversation and each man looked at Idris, giving him a silent promise. They would find and bring his sister back. Even if they had to tear the planet apart to do it.

Jayden gave out orders that were not needed but he gave them anyway. "We know we have at least seven days to find her and we will. Concentrate on the inhabited planet and ignore the others for now. Dro scan for any known metals from Shillidon. She had to get here in an escape pod and I do not think they have anything like that on this planet. There is no sign that they have the ability to space travel. That will give us a starting point. Idris we need to know the language, how hard is it going to be to get into their systems?"

"It should not be too hard but I am going to have to build an interface and that will take a few hours. We are already picking up chatter so I am loading that into the translators now. It looks like they have dozens of different languages so we will have to sort through them."

"Good, get started. Vihan find what you can on their weapons capabilities. Jos and I are going to study the terrain and work up a plan."

The men got to work, grateful to have something to occupy their minds after days of being able to do nothing. They had a lot to do and only seven days to do it in if Jabrel's data was correct. If they were very lucky the anomaly would reappear and they could go home. If not they still needed all the information they could get.