by Drew Seren
The buildings were low and made of simple adobe. They reminded Skylar of structures back on Hummassa. These seemed to have a lot more windows, but with the higher temperatures, that was probably needed. The door to the first building was primitive, rough-cut wood. Del pushed it open. Beyond the door looked like a reception area, with a single metal desk and some mismatched chairs. There wasn’t anyone there.
“Hello!” Skylar called out, hoping they would get an answer.
They waited, but no one called back.
“It’s light outside. I doubt they’re asleep,” Del said. “Unless this is one of those groups who believe in afternoon naps.”
“I don’t even know how day and night work on a binary planet,” Skylar said as he stared at some of the pictures on the walls. Most of them were of Solar Drakes like their fledgling. There seemed to be a wide variety of colors to the little flying lizards, but none of them looked like they grew very big. Even the larger ones looked friendly, in a reptilian sort of way.
Del didn’t respond immediately. “You know, that’s something I forgot to look up before we set out. There aren’t that many binary planets like this in the galaxy, so there’s not a lot recorded about them.”
“I’d never heard of them before,” Melody said, peering at the pictures of the Solar Drakes. “Is this why we came here—you’re bringing him back to his home?”
Skylar nodded in response to her, then answered Del. “Maybe you can ask the researchers if we ever find them. Hello! Is there anyone here?” he called out again.
“Do you think we should try one of the other buildings?” Del asked. “With the other ships parked out there, I would expect there to be someone here.”
Skylar nodded. “Me too. Yeah, let’s go check the next building. Did you have a time for our tour?”
Del shook his head. “I told them I wasn’t completely sure when we’d be arriving. They said just stop in when we got here. It sounded like they’re fairly loose with their schedules.”
“You guys had this all really planned out, didn’t you?” Melody asked as she turned away from the pictures.
“I like planning things out,” Del replied, a little shorter than he normally would. It made Skylar wonder if the two of them had had a conflict at school, or if Del was just irritated because she’d helped him with the navigation. It had ended up being a little more complicated than either one of them could figure out on their own. Even though he never would’ve thought to say it about a corp-brat, he was happy she was along with them.
Skylar tested the single door behind the metal desk. It was locked. He knocked on it. After several minutes, there was still no answer. “Okay, let’s keep trying buildings. Maybe they all went to eat at the same time.”
On their way, Skylar glanced around to see if Solaria was heading toward them, but didn’t spot any sign of her either. He hoped she wasn’t having trouble getting into her suit.
The second building looked just like the first from the outside, but the door led to a hallway with several more doors. They stopped just inside the door. “Hello!” Skylar called out again.
This time he didn’t wait very long before going to the first door. It was unlocked. Inside looked a lot like a medical office, but everything appeared designed for smaller-than-human patients. There wasn’t anyone or anything in it. Even the computer terminal was turned off.
As they worked their way through the building, there were more rooms like the first and the last two doors opened into a storeroom and a small office.
“At least this computer is on,” Del said, glancing at the desk that was the twin of the one in the reception room. “The screensaver is on, so it’s been deserted for a while, but the power saver mode hasn’t kicked in. We know that someone’s been here recently.”
“I wonder why their tech is so old.” Melody looked at the computer. “Some of this stuff is older than we have at school. I bet they don’t get a ton of funding.”
It was something Skylar hadn’t really noticed, since it was all similar to what he was used to back on Hummassa, but he nodded as he looked at more pictures on the wall. There was also a pair of large maps that almost had to be the Ring. There were several spots marked with various colored dots on both planetoids. “I wish we’d brought a tablet along. Having these maps might help us find a good place to release the fledgling.”
“Use your dermal com,” Del said.
Skylar looked at the metal square on the inside of his wrist. “What? These things can take pictures?”
Del walked over to him. “Yeah, didn’t anyone bother to instruct you in the use of your com? They’re for more than just keeping in touch.” He held the hand with his com on it up to the maps one at a time and tapped it before going on to the second map. “There, I’ve got it. Let’s hope we don’t need it.”
“I guess we try the next building.” Skylar sighed. “I wonder if we should go check on Solaria. She’s taking an awfully long time. How long does it take to put on an envirosuit?”
“We can check the reception area and see if she’s waiting for us there.” Del marched out the door and Skylar followed.
He was beginning to get the feeling that there was something wrong at the research facility.
When they got outside, Skylar resisted laughing. Solaria waddled awkwardly in the envirosuit. It looked like she couldn’t get her limbs to move right as she lumbered toward them.
“You know, I really don’t like this miserable place,” she grumbled as she got close. Her whiskers brushed the clear face shield as she talked. “How you three can stand the heat is beyond me, but this suit is almost worse. It’s cool, but it’s not flexible at all. How do they use these things to do space walks and hope to have any flexibility?”
Del laughed. “You’ve got it on backward. I don’t see how you managed to get the helmet on with the suit in that position.”
The dark glare Solaria threw him was almost enough to melt the protective face shield. “That explains why I broke two helmets trying to get one in place. I don’t suppose the buildings are cool enough for me to turn this thing around so I can move easier?”
Skylar shook his head. He managed to not smile at her situation and further enrage her. “Nope, about as warm in them as it is out here.”
“I’ll go back to the ship. Have you guys found anyone yet?”
“No,” Del said without any mirth. “We’re still looking. We’ve been through the first two buildings and nothing.”
“I’ll hurry.” Her frown deepened before she turned away from them to return to the ship. “Something feels not right here. After we check the other buildings, we’ll try checking the ships.”
“I’ll go with you,” Melody said, falling into step with Solaria as they headed to the ship. “It’ll go faster with two sets of hands.”
AN HOUR later, after thoroughly searching all the buildings and being unable to investigate any of the ships without giving Del time to try to crack their security, they still hadn’t found any people in the research facility.
“Hey guys,” Solaria called as they circled the back of the buildings. “We might want to go this way. It looks like a large number of people went over this grass within the past couple of hours.”
Skylar stared at the flattened grass trail leading from the buildings into the jungle that surrounded the small valley. “How can you tell it was in the past couple of hours? This path could’ve been here for years.”
She shook her head. “Predators track things. I’ve been following trails for years.” She knelt down and picked up a broken piece of grass. “See how the broken section is still damp? This didn’t happen that long ago. I’d say shortly before we landed.”
“You think they ran away because we were coming?” Skylar looked from the trampled grass to the jungle, then glanced at Del. “You don’t think there was something wrong with either your communications with them or in your breaking of their system security? Maybe they noticed the beacon is down and went to hi
de in the jungle until we’re gone.”
Del shook his head. “There wasn’t anything wrong in my communications with them. They might’ve realized there was a problem with their security.” He glanced at Solaria. “You can’t smell anything through that helmet, can you?”
She glared at him. “I got a big enough whiff of the jungle from the ship’s hatch. I don’t really want to smell much more of this place.”
“Do you think you could handle taking the helmet off for a minute or so to get a smell of the trail here?” Del gestured to the trampled grass.
“Why would I want to do that?”
“To get a scent of the people who walked this way. See if you can at least tell what species they are.”
Skylar looked back at the ships parked in the meadow. “Or could you look up the registration markings of those ships?” He looked at Del.
Del slumped slightly. “I didn’t even think of that. It would at least tell us their planet of origin. But how will that help us find the researchers?”
“It might not, but I agree with Solaria—there’s something not right here. Knowing where those ships came from might help us figure out something.” The feeling of wrongness intensified in Skylar. It was beginning to feel like his scalp was on fire with it.
“Let’s go back to the ship and see what we can figure out.” Del headed back toward Stars’ End Beta at a fast clip. Melody followed him, and it sounded like she was offering help to look up information.
Solaria walked along at a slower pace with Skylar. “I think you might be right. But we don’t need to waste time here. I was hoping we’d be back in space by now and heading toward the stargate.”
“I know.” Skylar nodded. “But we’ve got to make sure the fledgling has a good start and to do that, we need to talk to the researchers.” He sighed. “I wish Del was a stronger feeler. He might be able to pick up something that would lead us to them.”
“And this blasted suit makes me so uncomfortable… I don’t know if I could read anyone out here or not, and you’ve got that dampening bracelet on.”
Skylar stopped and stared at the bracelet on his wrist. “Do you think it would be safe for me to take it off? We’re in the middle of a jungle on a restricted world. It’s not like the Galaxeria. I won’t be able to hurt people out here, would I?”
The idea stopped him cold. He was finding a way to use his psychic skills for good. It felt good seeing that some of the things they were being taught actually worked and had real-world applications. It was the first time he’d considered doing something like this. He hoped his mother would have understood. He was quickly learning that the thing she’d hated the most could actually be used for good. More than once, he’d begun to wonder why she’d feared psychics so much. Maybe, if she was still alive, he’d be able to tell her they weren’t all bad, but she wasn’t and all he could do was hope she would comprehend.
“Wait until Del gets done with his scan,” Solaria suggested, walking a few feet ahead of him. “If something went wrong, I’m not sure I could get the bracelet back on you quickly, thanks to this suit. But I think it’s worth a try.”
Del and Melody disappeared into Stars’ End Beta.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Skylar hurried to catch up with Solaria before she noticed he’d stopped. “I guess everything was going too smoothly. It was probably too much to think that this would be easy.”
Solaria chuckled as he reached her side. “I’d be fine with a bit of adventure if I wasn’t in this suit. We had to rescue the egg of a flying reptile who lives on a jungle planet and then decide to bring him home.”
“Yeah, I guess next time we need to plan our adventure a little better or you need to let the corp-brats just torture the poor unhatched critter.” Skylar thought about the differences in Pathal and Melody. Although he was still getting to know Melody, he couldn’t see her torturing anything the way Pathal seemed to delight in tormenting things.
She shook her head. “You should know by now that I couldn’t do that. It’s one thing to kill something in a hunt with the intent to eat it; it’s entirely different to cause harm to the helpless, no matter what species it is.”
Blaster fire roared in the distance. A flock of creatures flew into the sky with loud raucous cries.
“We might know where the researchers are.” Skylar stared in the direction of the sound.
“A hunt.” Solaria beamed. “I’m ready for a hunt.” Then she frowned and held up her thickly-gloved hands. “But I can’t use my claws and I left all my weapons back in my room at the academy.”
“You think we should go find out what’s going on?” Skylar tried to figure out what to do. They could get back in the ship and go back where they belonged. But that didn’t help the fledgling. They’d come here for him, to give him a good life. They had to do what they could to make sure everything turned out okay.
Del came running out of the ship’s hatch, with Melody steps after him. “What was that noise?”
The little Solar Drake flew behind them. When it saw Skylar, it soared over and landed on his shoulder. A sense of worry flowed from the little guy.
“Blaster fire to the north,” Solaria said, pointing in that direction. “Did you think to bring any weapons?”
Del blinked at her. “Do I look like a guy who carries weapons? The closest thing to a weapon I own is a fishing net that I left back with my parents at home!”
“Maybe there’s something in the reception building,” Skylar suggested.
“You can’t be thinking we need to stay here and get in the middle of something, are you?” Melody said as Skylar turned toward the reception building.
“We’ve got to see what’s going on.” Skylar broke into a run. More blaster fire erupted in the jungle.
The reception area was still empty and the back door was still locked. Skylar slammed into it with his shoulder. The wooden door held against him.
“Here, let me try,” Solaria said from the doorway. “Let’s see if I can give it a little mover push as I hit it.”
“Mover push… Del, I almost forgot. We want to get my bracelet off, see if my powers can help us in this.” Skylar thrust his wrist toward Del. “Solaria was worried she couldn’t get it back on fast enough if something went wrong.”
Del frowned. “I want to go on the record right now that I don’t like any of this, but we need to find the researchers, and one of the ships out there isn’t broadcasting an ID code. Its markings aren’t coming up either.” He took the bracelet off Skylar and slipped it into his pants pocket. “Let’s just be really careful.”
Once the bracelet came off, Skylar’s mind cleared. The first thing he felt was the little Solar Drake sitting on his shoulder.
“Can you hear me now?” it asked in the same soft voice Skylar had heard bites and pieces from for days.
Skylar blinked at it. “Yes, I can hear you.”
22
Filzbalm
“LOOK OUT, boys.” Solaria charged through the reception room. Without his dampening bracelet on, Skylar saw the glow of power shimmering just off her shoulder. He hadn’t seen her using her mover powers without the bracelet on since the day they’d met and she’d been messing with his hair. It was impressive.
The door splintered as she hit it. She stumbled but regained her footing. He knew her well enough to know she’d feel horrible if she’d actually hit the floor.
“That worked. It would’ve been easier without this suit.” She wiped her shoulder, knocking a few splinters off.
“Did either of you two know that Solar Drakes can talk?” Skylar asked as he recovered from the spectacle of her ramming the door.
“They can what?” Del stared at the little guy on Skylar’s shoulder. “I didn’t hear anything.”
“I can hear him in my mind,” Skylar explained.
“We really should hurry—the others are very afraid. The strangers are after more eggs.” A sense of urgency flowed with the words in Skylar’s mind.
“Yeah, there was something about that in the information on the reception desk,” Melody said. “I scanned through it while you guys were looking in one of the other rooms.”
“Interesting,” Del said. “I wonder if that’s why they’re so attracted to readers. You can hear them and everyone else can’t. Makes sense. But there are other telepathic races in the universe, and their systems aren’t restricted. There’s got to be more to it than just they’re telepathic.”
“I don’t know everything yet, but he says that there are strangers who are after more eggs. I bet the ship that’s not broadcasting any signal is a raider of some kind.” At the mention of raiders, Skylar flashed back to the Boarisk attack on Hummassa. If the Solar Drakes were under a similar attack, they had to do something to help. He suddenly wondered if the inhuman screaming he’d been hearing in his dreams was Solar Drakes crying out for help.
“Sounds feasible,” Solaria said. “Let’s check this building for any kind of weapon I can use and we’ll go save some Solar Drakes.” She turned and hurried down the hall beyond the door.
They searched the building. Overall, it was more equipment and the communications system for the research station, along with computer storage banks. In the back room, they found what they were looking for.
“It’s not much,” Solaria announced. “I think this is an electron net of some sort. It immobilizes things. These look like stunners. They have a couple of settings, but I don’t think they’ll kill. I was hoping for something like a crossbow or even a spear or two, but these’ll have to do.”
Fear and terror washed over Skylar. He grabbed hold of the cabinet they’d found the stunner in to keep his balance. His head throbbed. The emotions he was picking up felt like a hundred people all screaming in terror at the same time.
“Here, let me help.” The little drake wrapped his tail around Skylar’s neck. At the touch, the emotions faded into the background.
“Are you okay, Skylar?” Del asked, touching his arm.
Skylar nodded. “I am now. A wave of emotions hit me, but he blocked it. He knew how to help me.” He stared into the drake’s sparkling eyes. It felt like they were looking into each other’s souls. It was more intense than any of his training with Professor Aduncus and in a second, he accepted what he’d been avoiding in all the training.