Beyond the Stars: INEO (19 page)

I groaned. “Great. I can’t wait.”

“Me either.” Gaelan gave me an excited smile and shut the door.

Gaelan was hell-bent on teaching me all he knew about starship navigation and piloting the ship. Although I was tempted to learn, I was nervous. No, not nervous, terrified. I couldn’t even read their language! To make matters worse, after months of trying to memorize the various signs aboard the ship, in hopes of educating myself, I learned I’d been studying everything backwards. Katarians read from right to left, a habit I found difficult to adjust to. Gaelan’s brother, Liam, even provided me with books on how to read Katarian before we left Kataria. They didn’t help. I was unteachable.
This sucks!
I could see the Katarian news bulletin now: after further investigation, we discovered that Starship Thirty-three had crashed and burned in a distant part of the galaxy, causes unknown.

CHAPTER 12

APPRENTICE

I entered the command deck and found it alarmingly quiet. Normally, the place was bustling. Today there were only three people present. Gaelan and Zaric were leaning over a desk holding Loic’s drafted star map, and Pascal, as usual, was sitting at his station with his screen flashing with an endless tally of data. There was a tangible tension filling the air. Gaelan noticed my arrival and glanced up at me with a grim expression before returning his attention to his task. I knew he wasn’t thrilled about something.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

Gaelan furrowed his brow and absently answered, “I sent them on break.”

“Should I go?” I asked, thinking it wasn’t the best time.

“No—stay. I sent them away on purpose.” Gaelan relaxed his face. “While we were waiting for you, Zaric and I decided to regroup and create a new strategy. Loic’s second lead came up a dead end. We are questioning whether to even bother with his third suggestion.”

“Where are we now?” I said, staring up at the giant floating holographic star map filling the center of the room despite my lack of understanding.

It’s funny to think I used to consider myself intelligent. This trip was humbling. I was so lost I wouldn’t even know if I was looking at Earth. It would need a blinking sign and arrow. The only thing I was sure of was that I was far from home. Gaelan pointed to a red dot in the center of the map.

“This is us. The next location he suggested is in this region.”

Gaelan touched the screen and slid his finger over to the new location. It drew a line on the map and rotated the image to display the end point. Pascal spun his chair around and nodded to draw our attention to the screen he was tending to so we would join him.

“Hey, the sample is cold.” Pascal said, pointing to the readings. “The area’s clean.”

“Damn.” Gaelan leaned over Pascal’s shoulder and ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

Pascal looked up at me and noticed my clueless expression.

“Sami,” Pascal said, “I took a measurement of the surrounding region. Anytime a vessel passes through an area, it leaves behind a wake of scant byproducts from the ship’s engines. It changes the composition, and the percentage of hydrogen in the zone decreases, leaving a traceable trail.”

I studied the numbers on his screen and although I couldn’t interpret their meaning, just seeing their similar use of mathematics, made me smile.

Zaric huddled in behind Pascal’s chair. “It doesn’t look as though anyone has been through here in months. The region is void of attractions. I don’t think the Dreons would come here on purpose,” he said.

“Yes, so let’s not waste time. It’s perfect for what I have in mind.” Gaelan gave me a slight smile.

He pulled out a small electronic gadget from his pocket and brushed my hair to the side. Without warning, he clipped the device to the back of my left ear and inserted an earpiece into my ear canal. I tried not to react from the discomfort, though it was painfully snug.

“You will be using an external control for steering the ship. You have
to earn
the implant, graduate from the academy, and have numerous flight hours.”

“Which is exactly why I shouldn’t be doing this,” I exclaimed and turned to leave. I had changed my mind. He stepped in front of me. “Gaelan,
no,
I don’t know what I am doing.”

“That’s why I’m going to teach you. Don’t you think it’s time she learned? … I do.” His eyes flashed with excitement.

“Sure, definitely,” Pascal and Zaric agreed, acting as well versed accomplices.

I was speechless.

Zaric pulled me towards the star map. “Sami, you really need to know how to operate our technology in case we have an emergency. Space travel is unpredictable.”

“Oh dear, I’m going to crash the ship and kill everyone onboard,” I protested.

They disregarded my concerns.

“I want you to take our ship over there,” Gaelan instructed while he slid his hand across the screen towards the left.

“Fine,” I grumbled. “How?”

“Clear you mind. Think about what I asked you to do. Now, picture us gliding to our end point. You and the ship are one, like a bird sailing through the sky. I will sign off and give you the control, in three, two, one.”

“Whoa.”
I gasped and fought to stay upright. “My head feels heavy.”

I tried not to act like a wimp. I was in control of the ship alright. I almost fell over when I was instantly struck with the weighted sensation as though a stack of bricks were balanced on top of my head.

“It will,” Gaelan reassured. “The steering has been transferred to you. Ready, now go,” he said.

There was no turning back. I concentrated on his soothing voice and listened to his precise directions. “Okay, I’ll try.” I pictured turning us to the left. The lighted red marker of our ship actually started moving with my command. It took me by surprise. “It’s working,” I said in amazement.

“Good, now straighten us up and take us around this darkened area.” Gaelan stood beside me. I could feel the weight of his eyes on me, but I didn’t look. I was afraid to take my eyes off the screen.

“This is so cool.”

I couldn’t believe I was moving the ship with my thoughts.

“You are doing great. Next, I want you to keep it steady and picture reading the analysis that Pascal showed to you.”

“I can’t read that screen.”

“You don’t have to. I just want you to try doing more than one thing.”

Instantly, the screen appeared before me when I remembered what the numbered data looked like. I was startled by my success—things were going too well.

“Have you reached any decisions?” said Tyden in his deep voice, coming up behind me.

His unexpected appearance in the control room distracted me. My heart rate quickened. Abruptly, I lost my ability to concentrate and turned around to look at him. To my dismay, the entire starship followed my face, making our ship take a giant swooping dive on its left side. With the radical dip, we were sent airborne and flew across the room doing somersaults. Our bodies slammed into the nearby wall on impact. Within a heartbeat, our ship leveled out and we rolled to the floor. Apparently, Gaelan had overridden my device and was already at the helm.

Zaric sat up and made an overhead announcement. “Attention all crew: sorry for the unexpected disturbance. We apologize for the disruption. It won’t happen again.”

“What
was that?” Tyden shouted out. He was hurrying to stand up like the rest of us. “Did we
hit
something?”

Pascal quietly returned to his chair and hunched over his desk while I slyly stood and pulled the clip from my ear. Tyden’s eyes met mine when he saw me remove the device. He gave me a surly look. My palms started to sweat. I knew we were busted. He turned and glared at Gaelan knowing he was behind it all.

Gaelan bit his lip and looked up guiltily. “We were—”

“Don’t
…” Tyden took a deep breath before he continued to speak through gritted teeth. “You know we have flight simulators for a reason.”

“You
have
flight simulators?” I got upset.

“Child’s play,” Gaelan said under his breath. His lips turned up at the corners as though he was holding back a smile. “Actually …,” Gaelan addressed Tyden, “she was doing fantastically until
you
came in and distracted her.”

Tyden sighed, and looked at the floor, shaking his head. After a pause, he reached out and touched my arm while giving me a stern look. “Sami, don’t let these three bully you into doing anything foolish. Promise me you will visit the flight simulators before you try this again.”

He must have thought he would have a better shot at getting me to listen than Gaelan.

“Sure, no problem.” My lip started to tremble, forcing me to keep my answer short.

“I came here to find out where we are headed,” Tyden said, taking a deep breath.

Together we faced the star map to discuss our route.

Zaric straightened his shirt and pointed to the next location on Loic’s list. “This is our next scheduled stop. However, we are not sure it’s even worthwhile. The region appears to be another dead zone, like the one we’re in now. We haven’t passed a soul.” Zaric moaned.

Suddenly, I felt a pulling sensation when I looked up at the map. It drew me in like a magnet. My spine stiffened, and I felt a flash of heat rush through my veins. I couldn’t stop it. It was too overpowering to ignore. It felt as though something was redirecting my eyes—a force inside me. “I know where they are. Right here. I can feel them. I can see them.” I stared out at the screen. For a moment I thought I could even see their ship appear, floating across the screen, before it disappeared when I blinked.

“Sector 10256,” Zaric said.

“Sami.” Gaelan came between me and the map and gave me a puzzling glare. “What makes you say that?”

I gazed at him, my eyes feeling heavy, as if I had been in a trance. “I don’t know. It felt like something called out to me, like I received the message because I asked for it. It came from this region of the map. Oh, just forget I said anything. I must sound crazy right now.”

My face flushed with embarrassment. I wanted to take back my words.

Gaelan gave me an apprehensive look and a gentle squeeze on my hand. “Yes, you do…. Is this similar to what happened to you on Dalinova?”

I shrugged. “I guess. I keep imagining strange things. I’m not myself lately.”

Gaelen bit his lip and was speechless for a moment. “Are you sure you’re still Sami
or
should I call you something else?” he said, leaning into me, half-smiling as if it were some kind of joke.

“Ha-ha.” I huffed out of frustration. “I’m not sure. I’ll let you know.” I got angry that he teased me. I couldn’t explain the pulling sensation I was overcome with. And seeing the Dreon ship flash across the screen made no sense.

He scratched his head and winced. “I’m sorry. I wish I knew how to help,” Gaelan said in a more serious tone, giving me an empathetic look.

I could tell he was worried; although he had no answers to explain what was happening to me. To my relief, he didn’t persist in questioning me in front of the others. I looked at Tyden. His body was rigid and face looked inquisitive, yet he didn’t prod. He glared at me like I had two heads, and kindly let our comments slide. He picked up Loic’s crinkled charts, took a glance at them while keeping them at an arm’s length, probably due to the weasel’s yellow urine stains, and abruptly tossed them back on the table with a sigh.

Gaelan faced him. “Forget Loic. I think we should take the Farni up on their offer to help us replicate the Dreon tracer using Nia’s notes. Maybe they will have obtained some information for us on their whereabouts by now.”

Tyden nodded. “I agree. It is sensible to change course. Let’s pay a visit to the Farni. Who knows, we might get lucky and pass them on the way. Meanwhile, keep interrogating Loic for answers. He might know someone else who can help us. I’m not certain he’s giving us his best effort.”

“I’ll set the course,” Gaelan said with a glint in his eye.

“As you will.” Tyden watched. He seemed relieved that Gaelan was in control. “Now if you will please excuse me. I have acquired an unexpected appointment with Urit. It seems I may have suffered an injury to my hip when I torpedoed myself into the wall.” He exited the room with a limp.