Imminent Danger: And How to Fly Straight Into It (13 page)

“And sitting with my companions, reminiscing,” Miguri concluded.

“Why did you leave?” Eris asked.

“I was banished.”

“What! Why?”

Miguri’s tail started to twitch. “A Ssrisk ship attacked us. They were probably hunting for pets for their home world. I could not just sit by and let them take everything from us.”

“You tried to defend the colony ship?”

“Yes. Our vessel was of Psilosian make,” Miguri said. “A gift from Psilos after our planet was destroyed. It came equipped with a plasma cannon, and the Psilosians did not bother decommissioning it. Claktills are pacifists, and the Psilosians could not imagine a Claktill even touching an instrument of destruction.”

“But you did.”

“Yes,” he admitted, hair drooping sadly. “The Ssrisk ship never saw it coming. Claktills do not fight, and they do not fire plasma cannons into other ships’ engine cores.”

“Did you kill them?”

“I destroyed the entire ship,” Miguri trilled softly. “They had not even bothered to raise their shields, for what did they have to fear from Claktills? From that moment on, my people abhorred the sight of me. They banished me the moment we reached a safe system.”

Filled with righteous indignation, Eris overcame her lethargy and jumped to her feet. “But the Ssrisk would have enslaved them! Why would they punish you for saving them?”

“I have never, even in my youth, been able to fully embrace the pacifist ways of my species,” Miguri said. “The injustices against my people filled me with constant fury. But I was always forgiven for my wayward beliefs—until the day I gave form to my violent thoughts and attacked the Ssrisk. Despite the pleas of my kin, the council said I was an aberration and would never achieve what they called the ‘natural Claktilli state.’ So I was banished.”

“Were you married? Did you have children?”

“Claktills do not marry in your human sense of the word. But, yes, I have offspring.”

Wishing she could hug the miserable creature, Eris settled for sending him her most sympathetic expression. “You know, pacifism is all well and good, but sometimes it just isn’t an option. Claktills probably get pushed around so much because they won’t stand up for themselves.”

“Be that as it may, the elders made the right decision. I am not a proper Claktill.”

“Miguri, that’s absurd, and you know it.” Eris decided to switch tactics. “How old are you?”

“Two hundred and thirty-six.”

She was thrown momentarily by the number but quickly rallied her argument. “That’s got to be old, even for a Claktill.”

“It is,” he admitted.

“Well, it seems to me that you’re old enough to make your own decisions about how to live your life, right?”

Miguri tilted his head. “I know what you are trying to do, Eris, but that is not the issue here. I betrayed the ways of my people.”

“You saved their lives! You chose to fight for your freedom, and theirs, and you are
not
going to feel bad about it as long as I’m around!”

Miguri gazed intently at her. “You may have a point,” he finally conceded, a trace of his old optimism returning.

“Of course I do,” Eris said. “I’m always right.”

The absurd hyperbole elicited a laugh from her little friend, the first one since their imprisonment in the laboratory. “I shall not debate that point either, as I suspect I shall lose,” the Claktill chirped.

Eris smiled. “Let’s try to get some sleep, all right? I bet they have all kinds of fun new experiments planned for us tomorrow.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan.”

She cast him a warning look. “And don’t you dare go insane on me! Next time you start feeling overwhelmed, just talk to me. Okay?”

Miguri nodded solemnly.

Suddenly, it was pitch black. Eris shrank back into the corner of her cell, fearing she was about to be introduced to some new psychological torture. But nothing of the sort happened. A few seconds later, dim lights hummed softly to life in the dark corridor. She stood up.
Power failure?

Eris tried to clear the fog from her brain so she could understand the implications of what had just occurred.
If the power is out, then maybe we can open the cell doors!
Steeling herself, she poked the door with her big toe. When she wasn’t electrocuted, she put both hands on the door and shoved it open.

She leaped into the hallway and then froze, afraid she may have set off an alarm. But nothing happened—no alarms, no scientists running down the hall, nothing.
This is good,
she thought, nodding.

Eris hurried across to Miguri’s cell and helped him open the door. “I suggest we escape before the power grid comes back online,” he said, stepping into the corridor. “Do you remember the way out?”

“We’ll just have to bluff it,” she replied. “We’d better hurry. Doctor T might show up any—”

“What are you doing out of your cells?” a melodious voice interrupted.

Eris whirled around, accidentally knocking Miguri off his feet. “Sorry!” she gasped. As she helped the Claktill stand up, she gave the intruder an astonished once-over. “You! You’re the one Varrin sold us to! You’re the one who brought us here!”

The Psilosian female inclined her head smoothly. “Yes. I am Alyra. I see you remember me from our brief encounter several days ago.” Eris took a few seconds to readjust to the fact that the tall alien had no mouth and spoke by blinking her eyelids.

“Change several days to nearly two weeks and encounter to abduction, and you’re almost there,” Eris growled. “Your stupid company’s destroyed my hair, removed my brain from my head, and nearly made my only friend go insane!”

Alyra blinked her huge, pale eyelids. “You have my sincerest apologies,” she lilted. “My superiors at IFTAP had hoped to have you out of this foul place days ago, but I had to prepare a diversion before coming to your rescue.”

“You buy us from a Rakorsian raider,” Eris said suspiciously, “sell us to a Chakra Corporation laboratory, then show up wanting us to believe it was all part of some big plan, and now you’re here to set us free? I don’t
think
so.”

A clanking noise echoed somewhere down the corridor along with muffled shouts.

“They will have the central power grid up soon,” Alyra blinked. “We must move quickly if we wish to escape before the alarm system comes back online.”

“Who
are
you?” Eris demanded, holding Miguri protectively against her side. “Who are you really working for?”

“I am Alyra. I am rescuing you.”

“Why should we trust you?” Miguri demanded.

“I am Psilosian. Psilosians are trustworthy. I will explain everything once we are away safely.” Alyra motioned down the corridor with one slender hand. “This way, please, noble human and good Claktill.”

Well, at least I’m noble now,
Eris thought.
And we
do
need to get out of the building.
With Miguri in tow, she hurried after the tall alien.

Once they were out of the cell block, Alyra led them along a series of narrow corridors, avoiding the main laboratory area. Miguri tugged at Eris’s coveralls and whispered, “Do you think this is a rescue or another abduction?”

Eris snorted softly. “Because I’m so good at determining things like that.”

The Psilosian glided up to the door at the end of the last hall. “Open. Authorization Alyra,” she said. Nothing happened.

“You cut the power, remember?” Eris said scathingly.
She
must
be trying to rescue us.
An abductor would be far more competent. Like Varrin. Although maybe we would have been better off if he hadn’t been quite so resourceful.

Alyra placed two hands on the metal door and pushed several times as if testing its strength.

“That’s a pretty thick door,” Eris said. “I really doubt you’re strong enough to—”

The Psilosian took a step back and then slammed her hands against the door. To Eris’s shock, it went flying into the next hallway, landing with a loud clang.

“Come quickly now,” Alyra blinked. “Doctor T will have heard that. It is never far from its laboratory, and it does not sleep.”

They raced down the corridor, turned, turned again, flew down a flight of steps, and sprinted down a long hallway. “My sides … hurt …” Miguri huffed, scurrying after the two much taller beings. “My legs … are only … so long.”

“This is the place,” Alyra blinked, slowing to a stop. They faced a wide door that had alien writing stenciled on it in large letters. Just as the Psilosian was positioning herself to slam the door open, the lights flickered on.

“I think the power’s back,” Eris said.

“That is unfortunate,” Alyra said. “I cannot break the door down now. I would be electrocuted to death.”

They heard footsteps pounding toward them from the direction they had just come.

“Then use your voice code!” Eris shouted. “And quickly, if you please, as they
are
coming!”

“I can attempt it, although codes at my security level are surely in lockdown mode,” the Psilosian said. Turning to the door, she said, “Open. Authorization Alyra.”

The portal slid open silently.

“This is unexpected,” Alyra allowed.

WEE-OO WEE-OO.

An alarm screeched to life. Alyra seemed confused by the blaring noise. Growling, Eris grabbed Miguri with one hand, Alyra with the other, and dashed past the door before it could shut again.

They emerged in a docking bay where Alyra’s bullet-shaped ship was hovering a foot above the ground. Eris rushed toward it. “This is your ship, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then get in, and get us out of here!”

As Alyra folded her tall form into the cockpit, Eris and Miguri leaped into the backseat and strapped themselves in. The engines engaged with a soft whirr, and the small ship rose. Below them, Chakra Corp. guards poured into the docking bay, shooting wildly at the spacecraft as it glided toward the bay doors.

Alyra flipped a switch, and a glass bubble arched over their heads to form a protective canopy. Eris shrieked when a plasma bolt exploded against the glass, but the canopy held.

The ship flew through the opening gap of the bay doors. As the guards stood at the edge of the docking bay screaming threats and brandishing their weapons, the small, silver ship streaked away into the night sky.

14

W
atching the Chakra Corp. spire recede behind them, Eris felt a grudging respect for the Psilosian who had managed to rescue them against all odds.
Unless she’s actually abducting us,
Eris thought.
Because then she’ll be going on my new list of people I will someday kill for abducting me. Fourth spot on the list, right after Captain Hroshk, Doctor T, and, of course, Varrin.

Turning to Alyra, Eris demanded, “So where are you taking us? What’s the plan?”

Alyra stiffened. “I apologize, but I need to focus on navigating this vessel. I promise to answer all your questions as soon as we land in Gorge City.”

Remembering that Alyra’s piloting skills left a lot to be desired, Eris decided to contain her questions until they landed safely.

As they neared their destination, it became obvious to Eris that whoever was in charge of naming cities on Alpha Centauri Prime took a very literal approach. Spire City had spires stretching up to the clouds, and Gorge City was built into deep, narrow gorges. As the craft flew lower, she was entranced by the deep crevasses filled with tall buildings, glittering lights, and ships zipping to and fro. Eris guessed that if the two cities were placed side by side, the highest point in Spire to the lowest point in Gorge would stretch over two miles.

They zoomed into one of the canyons, and Alyra brought the ship down roughly onto an outdoor landing pad. As soon as the canopy opened, they climbed out.

Alyra led them through a door, along a broad walkway bustling with aliens, and into a large hangar that contained several small spaceships. “We will take the new Trastix VII,” Alyra announced. “It is small and agile—perfect for our purposes.”

Eris squinted at the ship. It was big, silver, and boxy.
Something about it looks oddly familiar,
she thought. Then she realized what it was. “That’s a Chakra Corp. logo on the side! I thought you were working for IFTAP!”

“What are you playing at?” Miguri hissed, baring his pointy teeth at the Psilosian.

“Please, be calm,” Alyra sang. “I work for IFTAP. Truly. I was working undercover at Chakra Corporation to see if the rumors about their abuse of terrestrials were true. IFTAP requires indisputable evidence in order to pursue legal avenues against the corporation. When Chakra assigned me the mission of collecting a terrestrial specimen, I saw it as a perfect opportunity.”

“Wasn’t the fact that they wanted to buy us enough?” Eris demanded. “Couldn’t you have freed us
before
handing us over to Doctor T and just showed someone the bill? Seriously, your timing sucks.”

“The goal of the mission was to obtain proof that Chakra would hold you against your will,” the Psilosian hummed. “I had devised a plan for your liberation well before bringing you to them, but I admit I did not anticipate they would take such extreme steps with their experiments.”

“What did you think they were going to do with us?” Miguri snapped. “Serve us
caco
juice and sing us lullabies?”

“Couldn’t you at least have told us you were going to rescue us?” Eris exclaimed. “It might have made the whole ordeal a little easier, knowing it wasn’t going to last forever. You could have said
something!”

Alyra blinked a mournful tune. “My orders were explicit. I was to remain undercover during the entire mission and not compromise my position until I had full intelligence on your situation. I am sorry I could not lessen your distress by providing you with that information.” Her melody brightened. “Regardless, you are now safe, and we will depart in the Trastix VII as soon as it is cleared for launch.”

“And we’re taking a Chakra Corporation ship because …?” Eris pressed.