1942664419 (S) (29 page)

“Sorry. We don’t have time.”

The decking beneath us gyrated.

“We need to go,” David said, lifting me by my good arm. “This way.”

The wall we’d been standing beside shifted back, widening the hallway. David yanked me in the opposite direction. The floor jostled, and we stumbled forward.

“This is it!” David tugged on my arm, and we passed right through a swirling wall. I landed on my stomach, David beside me.

The walls stood silent. Just as walls should. I breathed a sigh of relief. At least part of the ship was still in one piece.

I tucked my hair back as the ambassador walked around the partition beside us.

“You made it,” he said. “Thank goodness. Come.”

David and I stood.

“Where are the others?” I asked, looking up at the ambassador.

Wait.

Looking up?

Poseidon grabbed my hair as I turned the corner, dragging me to the molding at the base of the wall. My injured shoulder seared as I clunked to the vibrating surface. I clawed at the hand holding me, but I might as well have been hanging from a robotic arm for all the good it did.

David raised his hands and backed away. A huge, lavender alien, maybe seven or eight feet tall pointed a silver cylinder at David’s face. The being’s form shone in the low lighting, flawless, not a single distinguishing mark on him. Not an Erescopian … a Caretaker.

The ceiling shimmered and rippled as if someone had thrown a rock into a pond, but upside down.

“We don’t have time for this,” Dad’s voice boomed through the room. “This place is coming down around our ears.”

I twisted in the direction of the voice. Dad, on his knees with his hands behind his head, sneered at Poseidon. A second Caretaker stood behind my father with a weapon trained at the back of Dad’s head. Crap.

Nematali knelt a few feet away from him, hands behind her back. Someone lay still at her feet, a mane of soiled, brown hair concealing his face. The ambassador. The
real
ambassador.

“Yes,” Poseidon said. “We
are
out of time.”

He shook me. My scalp stung as it stretched, but I bit back the need to cry out.

“What do you want?” David asked.

“I believe I already made that apparent. You’ve made things unnecessarily difficult for me, boy.” A blob of the ceiling dripped off, piling at his feet. “But since you’ve apparently lost my
colotia
powder, I need you to find another way to stall the Mars project.”

“Our people need Mars.”

Poseidon flinched. “Our people need Earth. It is preposterous that this senseless Mars venture has gone so far. I should have stopped this from the start.” The edge of his nose twitched. “I should have crushed both of you before you made your sniveling plea to the Council.”

David’s lips formed an O.

I winced, twisting against Poseidon’s hold to look up at him. His gaze bore down on David: eyes filled with malice, hate, and the need for power—the same eyes as the Caretaker who nearly had us both killed two months ago, when humanity nearly lost its right to exist.

David’s eyes widened. “This was settled by the people. The council voted against you.”

“The council was wrong.” He wrenched my head back.

David straightened. “Then why not kill me now?”

I cringed. What was he doing?

“You know quite well that you’ve left enough direction on terraforming for others to follow your plans.” The Caretaker twisted my hair. I whimpered, despite my clamped lips. “You will stop the project for me.”

“I won’t.”

“I think you will.” He took me by the neck with his other hand, hoisting me into the air. “Shall I kill her first, or make her watch me disembowel her father before she dies?”

Dad blinked and startled. He glanced about the room, as if seeing the ship for the first time.

His gaze settled on me, and his eyes widened—not the emotionless visage of a trained soldier, but the concern of a father.

He knew me.

Poseidon’s grip tightened. A gurgle erupted from my throat before I could stop it.

“All right. I’ll do it,” David said.

Oh no.

“A wise decision.”

Poseidon passed me on to the Caretaker watching Nematali. His grip hurt just as bad as the psycho’s did.

David’s jaw dropped when Poseidon removed a gold hoop from his wrist, pulling it apart and stretching the metal into a wide, broken circle.

He offered the trinket to David.

“What is that?” Dad asked.

“It’s a shunt,” David said. “If I put that on, I will be incapable of saying no to him.”

Poseidon fondled the hoop, which now looked more like a collar. “Your free will. A small price to pay.” The walls moaned as if the ship began to wheeze its dying breaths. “Put it on. I have no time for delay.”

David stepped toward him.

“Don’t do it,” Nematali said. “He will use you in ways you cannot imagine.”

The Caretaker holding my hair twisted. I arched my back and kicked my feet, trying to keep my scalp intact.

David took another step. “You promise you won’t hurt them. You won’t hurt Jess?”

Nematali’s eyes bore through me. She warned me once that they would use me to get to David. I couldn’t believe she was right.

“I promise I won’t hurt the girl. All I want is you.”

Another step.

I wrestled against my captor. “David, don’t!”

The ring neared David’s throat. His eyes narrowed.

Poseidon tilted his head to the right and growled. His hands shook as if fighting something.

Poseidon sneered. “Get out of my mind, boy.”

David stepped away. Dad grumbled and elbowed the alien behind him. The floor vibrated beneath me as David nailed Poseidon in the gut. The larger alien barely moved.

I kicked the shins of the alien holding me. He stumbled, releasing me as Nematali scrabbled for his weapon. She’d freed herself!

Dad kicked his captor’s midriff, and that Caretaker fell to the decking. With a raptor-like swoop, Dad snatched the cylinder that had been pointed at him and crunched the metal firearm against the alien’s face. The being dropped to the floor, motionless.

I fumbled for the weapon Nematali and our captor tussled over. The Caretaker raised his arm, heaving us both into the air.

“Jess!” Dad called. “The stomach, just above the navel!”

Well, the dude didn’t
have
a belly button, so I kicked where it should have been. He grumbled, but only elevated us higher. I kicked again, and his grip loosened. Maybe there
was
something to this kicking thing. I jammed my heel into his midriff. He harrumphed, and I plopped to my rear. Nematali seized the weapon, and a flash of light blasted from the cylinder’s tip. The alien fell.

On the far side of the room, David and Poseidon circled each other beside the ship we’d arrived in. The golden collar lay at their heels.

I scrambled to my feet as Dad ducked a fourth Caretaker’s fist. He swung at the being’s diaphragm, but the alien sidestepped him. I ran to Dad’s side.

“Keep back, Jess,” he said.

I never was good at following directions. I inched beside Dad, giving the goon two targets.

A voice behind us rattled off words in Erescopian. Nematali lay on the floor, the gun pointed at her face. Dang it!

Thunk.
I held my head and staggered. Flashes of light blazed across my eyes. Had I been hit? I slipped to the floor. Being a second target: not my brightest idea.

Dad grunted, and sounds of a scuffle came from my left. My eyes refocused as Dad fell to his knees beside me.

Damn.

The roof caved in on the far side of the platform.

David stumbled across the deck, covering a gash on his right arm. Deep pain emanated from his eyes.

Poseidon spat on the floor. “You’re done, boy. You have no more options.”

The goon holding Nematali pulled her hands behind her back. The dude behind Dad nudged him with the cylinder. The ringing in my head left the room spinning. There had to be a silver lining in here somewhere.

“You don’t care about saving Erescopian lives.” David grimaced, holding his arm. “You only care about staying in power.”

A grin crept across Poseidon’s face. “It’s always been about power. The old are the ones dying in those ships. Those still loyal to the Caretakers. But the young … ” He glowered at David. “ … have started to ask too many questions.” He picked up the ring and handed it to David. “Now we end this.”

“I looked in your mind,” David said. “I’ve seen the option you gave me. You’re going to make me kill my friends.”

Poseidon snickered. “It seemed appropriate, since it’s your fault they are here in the first place.”

He lunged at David. The Caretaker’s huge form overtook him, whacking David backward to the floor. Part of the ship behind them tilted. Were we sinking?

Poseidon sat on David, pulling both of his arms over his head. David squirmed beneath the alien’s bulk, fighting as Poseidon brandished the gold ring. I struggled to my full height, but something hard walloped my skull again.

My forehead thudded to the floor. Maybe the rest of me, too. I couldn’t feel much. The room swirled in circles, slowing just as Poseidon clicked the collar around David’s neck.

38

A chuckle rattled through the room as Poseidon slid off David and stood.

David took a knee, scowling. “I hate you. You’re an animal.”

“But aren’t we all?” Poseidon turned his cold eyes toward us. He pointed at Dad. “The first thing I would like you to do is rip out that human’s heart.” He sneered. “And then shove it down your precious human female’s throat until she suffocates.” The ground rumbled. “And do it quickly. The air is already starting to thin.”

David turned toward us. His face contorted before his palms covered his eyes.
Was it possible? Could he actually make David do this?

“Now!” Poseidon demanded.

My heart pummeled my ribcage. Tears pooled in David’s eyes. The goon behind us dragged Dad to his feet.

No. Please, God, no!

A deep hole formed in my chest. Sweat dampened my shirt. My mouth opened, drying my tongue in the parched air. The words I tried to form lodged in my throat.

David stepped toward my father. The muscles in his neck twitched. His legs moved sluggishly, as if he fought every step.

“Take control, soldier,” Dad said. “You don’t need to do this.”

David’s face contorted. Anger, hate, contempt, fear, loathing, horror, and sadness riddled his features: repeating, fading, and gaining in intensity.

His hands fisted. He struggled against himself, leaning back as his legs moved forward. David growled through clenched teeth, releasing his breath with a puff before taking another step.

He closed his eyes and sobbed. “I’m sorry.”

His arm shook as his hand slowly rose, reaching for Dad.

No.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No!

David’s eyes quaked. His gaze flashed toward me. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop!” My voice ripped my vocal chords as I screamed. “Don’t!”

His reach hesitated, poised between himself and my father.

That’s it! Fight it! Fight it!

Dad didn’t move. He stared David in the eyes.

David’s biceps trembled. Beads of sweat ran down his elbow. “I’m not strong enough to stop him,” David whispered. “Please understand I have no choice.”

He grabbed the collar of my father’s shirt. Dad’s gaze remained centered, focused on David. He whispered something, and David choked back a sob.

The sound of tearing fabric ripped open a hole to the gates of Hell; a hole centered within me, gnawing through everything that made me human, leaving me vacant. Lost.

Dad’s arms quivered despite the defiance cemented to his features. His bare chest rose and fell in deep, full breaths.

David released the edges of the torn shirt. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

“I don’t blame you, David,” Dad said, his tone strong and emotionless.

David recoiled. His entire body shook. “I’m so sorry.”

He wiped his eyes dry on his sleeve and reached for my father’s heart.

“No!” Bile shot up into my throat. Burning. Blistering.

David’s fingers reached Dad’s skin.

My God. This was actually happening. He was going to …

A high-pitched shriek rang through the room. Poseidon howled as a black, rounded shadow sprang from the side of our ship and bashed into the false ambassador’s side, pushing him into the wall. The partition gave, and Poseidon’s shoulder sank into the murky surface.

The spinning blur turned into a mass of spindly hair, legs, and teeth clinging to Poseidon’s torso.

Edgar!

The massive spider slashed his fangs at the larger alien.

Poseidon bellowed, throwing the
grassen
to the floor. Edgar bounced once and lay limp.

“What are you waiting for? Kill the humans,” Poseidon shouted at David.

Shaking, David turned back to Dad, his face twisted.

“Fight it, David,” I whimpered. “Please.”

Thomp.

The air wavered beside us. The wall behind us flared in sparks, and the Caretaker holding Nematali fell. She ran toward us, followed by the real ambassador brandishing a shimmering silver disc. He’d freed her!

“Hit her!” Poseidon yelled.

David swung his fist, smacking Nematali in the jaw. Her head whipped back before she thudded to the rumbling surface at his feet.

The ambassador limped toward us. He aimed the weapon at David, then the Caretaker holding Dad and me, then at David again. “How did he get shunted?”

The alien behind me shifted toward the ambassador and fired. The weapon flew out of the ambassador’s hands as our would-be savior fell back, unconscious.

I spun and slammed into our distracted captor. The alien cried out, and David paused as the being stumbled. Dad sprang forward and shouldered David in the ribs, driving him back. With ninja-speed, Dad turned and kicked our former captor above the navel. The alien fell to one knee. Dad’s second strike left the alien unconscious.