Beyond the Stars: INEO (20 page)

“I’m so sorry, Tyden,” I called after him.

He held up his hand as though there was nothing I could do and kept walking. I couldn’t believe he had been hiding his pain all this time. I soon discovered I was alone in feeling terrible. Gaelan, Zaric, and Pascal looked at one another and started giggling as soon as the door closed behind him.

“Did you see his face?” Gaelan said between laughs. “Even his ears were purple.”

“Shame on you. You shouldn’t laugh. I hurt him.”

They didn’t care. It only made them laugh harder.

“Relax, Sami, Urit will fix him,” Pascal proclaimed when he saw my face crinkle with concern.

“Other people might be hurt as well,” I exclaimed.

“It will give Urit something to do,” Gaelan said, as though it was a positive thing. “He needs to keep his mind off finding Nia anyway.”

Zaric smirked. “Gaelan, for a moment, I thought he was really going to kill you,” he teased.

“Who could blame him?” Gaelan said as he twisted his lips. “When was the last time the ship rotated like that?”

Pascal chuckled. “I’m pretty sure never.”

“We almost flipped,” Gaelan said. “I always wanted to do that. Man—that was fun!”

Zaric smiled at me. “Yeah, baby, you really rocked it, Sami,” he said, swaying his body back and forth to replay the motion. “Are you ready to try it again?” He raised his brows with excitement.

I ignored him and looked away.

“Guys, he could barely walk out of here. I pounded him into a wall,” I said sympathetically.

Gaelan nodded. “Yes, and it’s a good thing, too. It’s probably the only reason we’re all still standing.”

“That’s not funny.”

Gaelan smiled brilliantly. “It is and you know it.”

Before I could leave, Zaric arranged to have his son Maric meet me in the flight simulation lab later that afternoon. I could tell that Gaelan and Zaric were eager to avoid taking on the task themselves by the way their eyes brightened when they said, ‘Maric will teach you’. It was as though their prayers had been answered. Apparently, the Sim lab was a place used only by cadets. Clearly flight simulation was beneath them.

CHAPTER 13

INSIGHT

After lunch and a workout with Azil, I went to the room to freshen up. I wondered if Gaelan had any more luck in locating the Dreon ship.
Damn Dreons.
I wondered if their ship really was lurking in the region of Space I felt so inexplicably drawn to when I studied the star map earlier.
Where are you, Nia? I wish I could see you.

Painful memories of the Dreons filled my mind. I remembered how one of them, Hyril, had invaded my thoughts and petrified me when we first met, and then he surprised me the last time I saw him. He appeared to be sad, like a victim of circumstance. He was born into a life of obedience and lacked the freedom of choice. Such oppression could only lead to unhappiness. I could still picture his face with perfect clarity. It was devoid of all emotion.

Suddenly, a strange tingling sensation traveled down my arms, and the colors in the room appeared to brighten. I didn’t feel in control of my body. That’s when I knew something was terribly wrong.
Oh no, it’s happening again.
I became flushed, so I went to the sink and splashed some cold water on my face. I gazed up at the mirror, and, to my utter shock, I discovered that the bathroom behind me had disappeared. It was replaced with the reflection of a room on the Dreon ship. I feared I was no longer in my bathroom, yet I could feel the familiar metal sink still in front of me as I grasped its edges with my hands. I closed my eyes to make it go away. It was too late. My hands fell free, forcing me to catch my balance when the sink disappeared from beneath them. I opened my eyes, and the white bathroom walls were replaced with gray sheeted metal. Without delay, the bathroom tiles heated up, reminding me of how the soles of my feet burned when the Dreons had abducted me before. It was undeniable. I would recognize those dull walls and heated floors anywhere. I was aboard the Dreons’ ship. My heart pounded as I remembered how they tortured me.

“Oh,”
I gasped and rapidly spun around to defend myself. My rising fear was overwhelming. They found me. I had to get out of there. Swiftly I looked around. There was nowhere to hide. Two Dreons were huddled together at the far side of the room. They looked right at me, but didn’t react to my presence. Strange. Lucky. I must have been invisible. Maybe I was having a daydream, like when I saw Jack. I noticed Nia. She was lying unconscious on a nearby table to my right. She was covered with a white sheet. Her arms and face were battered and bruised.

“Nia,” I called out in a whisper.

I tried to wake her by touching her arm and giving her a shake. She didn’t move. I sensed someone standing behind me and turned to find Hyril. He didn’t say a word. He gave me a blank stare and glided across the room with a few steps. I watched him lift a small bundle in a white blanket from a table.

My jaw fell open when I noticed he was holding a baby in his arms. He came closer to me but seemed oblivious to my presence and rocked the infant from side to side. She looked like my daughter, Leah, when she was born. She could be mine—
no! She can’t be.
I went to take the infant away from him, but her body seemed to be clutched too tightly in his arms. Just then, the baby looked directly at me. She not only appeared to be able to see me, she acted as though she recognized me. I thought I heard her tell me her name was Ellison and that she was mine, only she never spoke. I swore I could hear her thoughts.

Hyril paused after she told me her name and aimlessly looked all around the room. He seemed to sense me standing there, watching them, but still appeared unable to see me. He got a peculiar look on his face and turned around nervously in a circle.
“Samantha,
is that you?” he called out in a whispery voice as his eyes focused blankly across the room.

I didn’t answer.

The other Dreon came over to us and looked down at the infant. “She is maturing better than I expected. Your samples have proven to be hardy,” he said without moving his lips.

I was surprised to be able to hear him talking telepathically.

“I replaced the weaker genes with Samantha’s. The new genetic codes demonstrably reversed the early deterioration we experienced in the earlier samples,” Hyril explained.

“We need to find Samantha’s origin. Break the Katarian down. You have been too patient. She cannot resist us forever. Drain her if you have to. Just make her talk. If we have access to Samantha’s people, we can eliminate the mutated links. I imagine there to be billions of specimens for the taking.”

“True. Only my research is still in its early phase. I am not certain the results will last. Samantha’s DNA may not solve every ailment. It may fail over time.”

The other Dreon fixed his large black eyes on Hyril’s. “Then you will terminate Ellison and start again.”

Hyril looked at him with a steady glare. “It will not come to that.”

Kill her. No. They can’t.
I had to protect her. “Give her to me,” I demanded.

Hyril didn’t answer. I tried to pull the baby away from him, tugging harder. Suddenly, the resistance of his arms disappeared and my hands went right threw his, giving me nothing but air.
I hate this. Make it stop.
I kept reaching and grabbing as the image began to fade.

Within seconds, there was only my bathroom as usual. My hands were clammy and began to tremble. What the heck was that? Another dream? No, I was completely awake. It must have been a delusion.
That’s it. I’ve completely lost it.
I needed drugs—now! I threw on the rest of my clothes and sprinted to Urit’s while holding back tears. I thought of calling Gaelan, but resisted, knowing his tendency of overreacting when it came to anything associated with the Dreons. He would think that the Dreons had actually abducted me, instead of me visualizing being on their ship. He would probably assign bodyguards to watch over me at all times until he could explain what had happened.

“Urit,” I screamed frantically as I burst through his hospital door.

Urit was at my side in a flash. “Sam, are you okay?”

I was slightly startled by his rapid response. “No.” I rushed straight into his arms and clung on to him tightly.

“Sam, you’re shaking.” He held me close.

“Please, you have to help me,” I pleaded in-between breaths.

That’s when I realized we weren’t alone. After looking over Urit’s shoulder, I noticed Loic jumping to his feet to get off Urit’s exam table. I instantly held in my words.

Urit released me, sensing my discomfort and turned to Loic. “Loic, you can go. Your levels are good.”

“Thanks. I’ll let you … get back
to work,”
he said snidely and left the room after giving me an inquisitive look when he walked past. I turned my teary eyes away to hide my face, feeling embarrassed by acting so rattled in front of him.

“Now, start over. What is this about?” Urit stated calmly after the door shut behind Loic.

“I think I’m losing my mind. I don’t know who else I can turn to. Gaelan has no idea how to help me and I’m still not sure he totally believes me.”

Urit furrowed his brow. “It’s okay. Now calm down and tell me what’s wrong,” he said.

We both took a seat. I didn’t know where to begin, so I carelessly blurted everything out: “I think I’m possessed or maybe the Dreons screwed up my brain when they implanted me with their tracer. They did something to me. I’m having visions when I’m both awake and asleep. I feel different, and I’ve been seeing dead people, hearing voices, imagining being aboard the Dreon ship, and I even saw Hyril holding a baby, only it all seemed real. I could hear the Dreons talking. It was like having a speaker inside my head. I even feel like I know where to find their ship without having a rationale explanation.” I rushed through the words.

Urit opened his mouth to say something, but instead gave me an apprehensive wince, drawing his eyebrows together.

“What’s wrong with me?” I shouted impatiently at his silence.

“Sam, strange things and even having strange dreams are not that uncommon out here. Our ship passes through all sorts of different energy fields. Our bodies are good transmitters. You may be more sensitive than the rest of us. It affects everyone differently. People have been known to experience bizarre dreams,” he finally responded.

“No! I’m not dreaming. Most of the time, I’m totally awake. I think I’m hallucinating or having delusions. Everything feels as though it is really happening.”

He looked at me empathetically. “Who did you see?”

“I saw and heard Jack, a couple of times. Once in a dream, and I swear I could even touch him. Unlike a ghost, he had mass. And I when I kissed him, he was the real deal.” I felt my face flush after admitting to the kiss. “He’s the same, but different. I can’t explain it. Then, a few minutes ago, my bathroom morphed into the Dreon ship before my eyes. I saw Hyril, and Nia—I was standing
right there
beside them. At the time, I really believed I was on their ship,” I said with exasperation.

“Wait, you saw Nia?” His voice grew anxious. “How did she look?”

“She looked alright. She was sleeping.” I decided to leave out the battered and bruised state I saw her in.

“Those bastards,” he said, staring down at the floor while he exhaled loudly.

“She didn’t look uncomfortable or in pain, and they were leaving her alone,” I said as consolation.

Urit returned his eyes to mine. “Oh … and their ship, it seemed real to you?”

“Yep, and it was as creepy as ever.”

Urit thought for a moment. “I’m not as concerned about you seeing Jack as I am with you thinking Hyril took you aboard his ship.”

He stood and picked up a scanner lying on his desk. It was the same one he had used to find the tracer on me the last time. I stood still while he traced up and down my body with the blinking device. He flipped it around to check on the results.

Urit shrugged. “You appear to be healthy, and there are no signs of any tracer.”

“Are you sure? There is nothing strange
in
me? Could you check me for a hormone imbalance or maybe a brain tumor? I keep having hot flashes,” I said at the risk of sounding like a hypochondriac. I couldn’t let go of Jack’s warning from the other night, let alone the feeling like something had gotten into me that puzzling night in the study. I didn’t want to tell Urit that I was worried about a stupid Katarian myth. He was a man of reason. I’m sure he would find the story even more ridiculous than Gaelan had. I was confident he could find a logical explanation without my bringing up the nonsense.