Orion's Gate

by Sabine Priestley

  “Seems appropriate.”

  Two hours out, Marty started reporting data on the anomaly. As suspected, they weren’t the only ones heading toward it. Three other ships were converging upon the structure. Interestingly, they all had different interception points. They may be in there together, but they were going at it alone, at least to start with.

  Vin couldn’t contain her energy. She paced. Bonding with Armond had altered something fundamental within her. She had more energy, and was more focused than ever before. And now losing wasn’t an option. She suspected a significant part of her desire originated with Armond, but it was her now, too.

  Once they had the object on screens, it was difficult to take her eyes off it. The substance was a black metallic material, but the surface was indeed more like that of a natural formation than anything manufactured. Protruding rock formations and deep crevices covered the thing from base to tip.

  They were slowly approaching when Marty pinged with more information. “Two degrees to our left we will find a docking bay. Of sorts. We are to engage the airlocks and board from here. You may select from the equipment presently available in the airlock lockers.”

  A quick check left them with the breather helmets. They had enough oxygen for five hours each. Wouldn’t do much if the place was depressurized, but there wasn’t anything they could do about that.

  “Marty, any idea where the others are docking?” Vin asked.

  “They are also approaching their perspective entry points.”

  “Do we know where those locations are?” Vin tried again, and donned her collar.

  “I am privy to that knowledge.”

  “And we are not?” Armond asked, his anger spiking.

  “Correct.”

  The now empty locker went the way of the jump seat on the bridge and lay in a smoldering heap.

  “I find the outbursts oddly therapeutic,” Armond said, a little louder than necessary for the benefit of the vidbot.

  “Not surprising, given that you’ve had to contain your emotions most of your life.” Vin sent a wave of love across their bond.

  “I keep thinking about how it would feel if I did that to Marty.” Armond gave her a barely perceptible wink.

  “Very funny,” Marty said. “I thought you’d like to know, there are an additional four ships approaching.”

  “Looks like it could get interesting,” Armond said.

  “One of them is team Starry Night.” Marty leaned against the airlock hatch, wearing hiking gear and boots.

  “Haven’t run into them since the opening,” Vin said.

  “Pick up anything useful about them?” Armond asked.

  “Mia’s a force, and I believe she’s honorable. D'Arek is privileged, cold, and proud. They may not know it yet, but he’d kill to protect her. Maybe we can use that to our advantage.”

  Marty was right when he said it was a docking bay of sorts. There was no support, only the coupling rings for the airlock. “Once we’re inside, I want you to decouple, Marty." Armond said. "Stay at this relative location in case we lose contact.”

  “What are you thinking?” Vin asked.

  “If this thing decides to accelerate, our umbilical cord will be ripped out.” Armond fastened his own collar.

  “Good point.” Vin ran an atmosphere check as soon as the access chamber was pressurized. “Air pressure, temperature, and oxygen are all nominal.”

  “Gravity?” Armond asked.

  “There is indeed gravity,” Marty said.

  She pressed the panel, and the doors slid open. There was a sweet scent. Something familiar, but elusive. “I know that smell, but I can’t place it.”

  “Reminiscent of something edible.” Armond used his psi to close the hatch behind them.

  The window to the interior of the mountain showed a long, smooth corridor that dead-ended a hundred feet or so ahead. Passages led off to the left and right.

  “Time to play.” As they stepped into the corridor, they were slammed into the wall, Vin landing partially on top of Armond. She choked back a laugh. “He wasn’t wrong when he said we have gravity.”

  “No doubt he oriented the ship incorrectly on purpose.” Armond’s annoyance filtered through their bond.

  Marty remained silent as they got to their feet.

  A moment later, the AI disengaged the ship as instructed.

  “When do we get more specific details, Marty?” Vin asked.

  “When I provide you with them, of course.”

  Armond was a step ahead of her when they reached the T-junction at the end of the hall.

  It caught them both by surprise when he fell. Straight up.

  “Stop,” Armond said, a few feet from the ceiling.

  “What’s happening?” Vin didn’t move, but craned her neck to see Armond.

  He was getting to his feet. On the ceiling. “At least my psi is fully functional within this structure.”

  “Glad that was you and not me. Could have broken my neck.”

  Armond’s psi wrapped around her and pulled her forward, rotating her position relative to him as he set her down.

  “That’s seriously disorienting.” Vin’s stomach lurched as she dealt with the mental fear of falling from what was the ceiling a moment before.

  The corridor on either side appeared to be identical to the one they’d just left, with pathways leading left and right.

  “Which way do we go?” Vin asked.

  There was a hint of air movement flowing through the halls.

  “Doesn’t matter until we get an objective and need to know where we’re at.”

  Vin took out her com and activated the laser. She etched two arrows on the corner of the wall. “First arrow is the direction of gravity. The second is the direction we take.” She then snapped an image of the arrows and made notes. “We do this right and we should be able to sort out generally where we are.”

  They made steady progress, marking their trajectory. The gravitational orientation changed at nearly every intersection. By the eighth turn, she was totally lost, even with her notes.

  They were eleven turns in when the lights went out. Total darkness engulfed them. And then they fell.

  Armond grabbed her and enveloped them in a psi cocoon. Gravity played a wicked game as they were pushed and pulled, not only up and down but left and right.

  They came to a stop and the lights re-engaged.

  They were at a forty-five degree angle a few feet above a metallic floor in a seriously massive chamber.

  Armond righted their relative position and set them down.

  Being enveloped in Armond’s psi felt pretty damn amazing, even when it wasn’t a sexual thing.

  The open space spanned hundreds of yards deep as well as high. Dozens of passageways led out in all directions, and a dizzying array of staircases connected them, each oriented differently, from a gravitational perspective.

  Other teams were spotted around the massive juncture.

  A warm sweet wind blew strands of hair across her face.

  “Look!” Vin pointed to the far ceiling.

  Mia Jag and D'Arek had just tumbled out of a passage far above. They nearly went over, which would have put them in a precarious position gravity wise, possibly going airborne and falling. With the agility of her feline genes, Mia leapt to the safety of the passageway above. D'Arek followed behind.

  “What are they doing?” Vin asked.

  “They appear to be fastening a rope,” Armond replied.

  “Be careful,” Vin called out. “It’s farther than it looks, and there’s no telling what the gravity will do in the middle.”

  “Are you helping them?” Armond asked.

  Vin crossed her arms. “Something is going on. It’s the right thing to do. Don’t know why.”

  D'Arek was descending on the rope with impressive speed.

  There was a tremble in the mountain. A feeling of foreboding settled upon her.

  Above, D'Arek was nearly down when a s
tronger tremor hit. The rope swung in a gravity defying, jerky pattern. He dropped to the floor in a crouch and looked up. “Mia—Now!”

  With feline grace, she griped the rope and launched over the edge. Halfway down she careened wildly. D'Arek struggled to steady her, but gravity was wreaking havoc.

  “Help her,” Vin said, the command shooting down their bond.

  Armond didn’t even blink, simply reached out with his psi, caught Mia, and steadied her descent. She landed in D’Arek’s arms a moment later.

  Vin nodded at Mia and turned to Armond. “They owe us one.”

  “We do not know they will see it that way.”

  “Mia will. Trust me.” She loved being able to caress him over their bond.

  “Are you enjoying yourselves?” Marty’s voice came over their coms. “The Corporation is live streaming, and your ratings just shot up three percent.”

  Vin snorted.

  “I can now tell you: your objective is at the top of the mountain, that being the narrowest section. All teams are being notified simultaneously.”

  She locked eyes with Armond. Her notes were useless. “Which way is up?”

  Chapter 8

  The other teams were either eyeing the cavern or exiting through the closest passage. It was a bizarre sight, having people sticking to walls and the ceiling. It would be a fun place to explore in other circumstances. “We can’t go till we know which way is up,” Vin said. “Marty, which way?”

  “I suggest you go left. Or perhaps right. On the other hand, down might be up.”

  “Bite me.” Vin turned to Armond. “So what do we do? We can’t just guess.”

  “No, but we have an advantage.” Armond stroked her cheek.

  “How so?”

  “My psi is fully functional. ‘Up’ is either to our right or left. The other direction is narrower. We’re going to have to traverse a way before I can tell if the width is increasing or decreasing.”

  “Left it is, then,” Vin said, with a feeling that things were finally sorting out.

  “Why left?”

  “We have a fifty percent chance of being right, and limited time. Let’s go.”

  They’d been going at a decent clip for just shy of four minutes before Armond let her know she was wrong.

  “Seriously?” Vin snapped. “Why is it every time I have a fifty-fifty shot at something, I get it wrong ninety-five percent of the time?”

  They turned back the way they’d come and picked up the pace again.

  “I'm only incorrect eighty percent of the time,” Armond said. “Next time, I’ll choose.”

  “Fine by me, but you just jinxed it.”

  They reached the second gravity shift and Armond enveloped them in his psi and oriented them with the new down as indicated by her etching. The moment he released her, they both slammed into the wall next to them.

  Vin stood, rubbing her bruised elbow. “I take it down is now sideways again.”

  “Apparently,” Armond said, standing and reaching out a hand to help her up.

  Vin staggered slightly when they moved forward. It was one thing to have gravity telling you which way was up, but another to convince your mind of the same.

  It was slow going with multiple gravity shifts, but they finally made it back to the central cavern. Inevitably, the direction they needed to go in was now straight up.

  Vin eyed the passage above. “Can you get us up there?”

  “Too far.” Armond quickly scanned the lattice of stairways. “This way.”

  They started up a stone staircase that protruded from the wall. It was a good five feet deep, but with no rail, Vin stayed close to the inside. They were three quarters of the way up when gravity began shifting again.

  Armond grabbed her arm, and they waited a few heartbeats. “We’re moving perpendicular.”

  They both crouched, hands on the steps. “The bottom of the steps will be the top,” Armond said.

  They crab-walked their way to the edge of the spine and over. Vertigo hit hard, along with panic.

  “You’re fine, Vin.” Armond sent calm and a burst of pleasure across their bond.

  She closed her eyes and continued their crouched movement until they stood firmly on the wall that was previously next to and below them.

  Armond helped her stand, and wrapped his arms around her.

  “I have to get out of this cavern,” Vin said, fighting her fear and vertigo.

  Armond kissed her, waking her passion and providing a much-needed diversion. “Better?”

  His smile grounded her. “Yes.”

  “We’re almost there.” She stayed between the wall and Armond, and they made it to their target passage.

  Relief washed over her as they stepped inside. “Hope I never have to do that again.”

  The passage was upside down from their original orientation, but that was fine, as they were moving in the right direction now.

  “Some of the teams are getting closer to the objective,” Marty piped in cheerily.

  “Are we one of them?” Vin asked.

  “Perhaps. Perhaps, not.”

  A bolt of anger shot from Armond. With no target, a section of the wall to their left morphed into an odd-looking patch like puckered leather. At the same time, the floor lurched, and sent them both tumbling forward.

  “Marty, what just happened?” Vin asked.

  “The structure you are in has begun acceleration. One moment… Three of our competitors have been disqualified due to the fact their ships docking bays are now disabled.”

  “Ha!” Vin pumped the air with her fist. “Thank you, Armond.”

  “Any of those teams ahead of us?” Armond asked.

  “One. Possibly more,” Marty replied.

  “Why do we even bother with him?” Vin said.

  They made their way as quickly as possible. They were traversing a particularly long passage when a gravity shift occurred, slamming them both against the wall.

  “Damn it!” Same shoulder as before. “I’m going to be green.”

  “Green?” Armond stood and held out a hand to her.

  “I turn green when I bruise.” She took the assist.

  “All of you?”

  “No. That’s a stupid question. Just here,” she motioned to her shoulder. “Where I’ve hit the wall twice now.”

  “Technically you hit the floor. Twice.”

  Vin growled at him, and pink ripples inked across her skin.

  “So, this is you angry.” Armond stroked her arm, following the delicate pink traces.

  They vanished instantly under his touch.

  “I’m learning a lot about you today.” Love and deeply textured emotion flowed across their bond. “I look forward to learning more.”

  Vin leaned in and pressed her lips to his. It was a teaser, and far too short.

  “Let’s figure out how to win this thing.” She didn’t want to think about what would happen if they lost.

  “Agreed.”

  They made quick time after that, and rounded the last corner. At the end of the corridor was door that appeared to open into space. As they approached, they heard footfalls. And D'Arek’s deep voice.

  “Run!” They bolted through the door and slammed into the wall, which was now the floor.

  “I’m so tired of this shit!” Vin screamed, getting to her feet.

  Across the chamber, Mia burst through another door with D'Arek on her heels. They had luck on their side, or help, as the floor was still the floor for them.

  Between the two teams stood a clear podium, and mounted on the top was the Octiron prize box. And Mia was going to get it first.

  Armond shot forward.

  Not fast enough.

  Mia snatched it up with a triumphant growl.

  Vin came to a stop next to Armond.

  “It can’t end this way.” She meant it. A life without him wasn’t worth living. Not now.

  “This is not the end.”

  A dangerous level of ener
gy burst forth, and Armond seized Mia and D'Arek in a psi hold.

  “What the hells are you doing?” D’Arek bellowed. “Release us, psi-freak, or you won’t live to enjoy what you’ve stolen.”

  “Easy, everyone,” Vin said. “We can all get out of this alive.”

  With Mia and D’Arek held together in Armond’s psi, Vin had an unusually clear channel to their emotions. D'Arek was far more concerned for Mia’s safety than the prize.

  “Mia,” Vin said. “If we don’t win, Armond and I will be separated. Permanently.”

  D'Arek struggled with incredible force, but was unable to free himself. It only added to his mounting rage. “Don’t listen to her, Mia. It’s a trick—I’ve warned you to trust no one.”

  The energy streaming out of Armond was barely controlled, and increasing.

  Vin shifted to deflect the energy, but the room had an unforeseen effect: instead of dissipating the force, it reflected it. Her muscles tensed as though hit by an electrical shock.

  “Vin?” Armond’s grip on the couple held, not realizing he was responsible for her distress. “What did you do to her?” He moved toward D'Arek.

  “It was you, psi-freak. You’re going to kill us all.”

  “Stop.” Vin got the word out on inhale.

  “Listen to her,” Mia begged, her eyes wide with horror. “Both of you, stop arguing and Armond, just stop!”

  “She’s right,” Vin gasped. “Armond, I can’t deflect in here. You can’t lose control.” She managed another pain filled breath. “Mia, please—let us have it and we all live. He can’t control his power. Not without me. And I can’t do it in this room. We will all die here today if you don’t.”

  “All right,” Mia called. “Take the prize. You need it, we don’t.”

  “Mia,” D’Arek growled.

  The Tygean gave him a pleading look. “D’Arek, please. Armond can’t hold onto his power. The prize isn’t worth our lives, or theirs.”

  “Either way, you lose,” Vin managed.

  “Wrong.” Mia smiled at her partner. “Prize or no prize, either way, we win.”

  The Aurelian gave her a look of long-suffering, but then he nodded. “Very well. Armond, stand down. You have my word as an Aurelian that we will not try to prevent your winning.”