“Seriously,” he said. “We’re unarmed.”
Their spokesman twirled his staff. “Good! That saves me the trouble of taking your weapons.”
“Look,” said Trey. “We’ve only come for your help.”
The man drew closer, his big, blue eyes becoming evident in the low light. “We don’t help traitors . . . or their bastard children.”
Trey’s stomach lurched. He was nothing like Steven Moorehouse, the rogue child of a cover-up agent.
Livy stepped forward. “You’ve got us all wrong.”
The surrounding gang gasped.
The leader lunged, swinging his staff. The tip halted just inches from Livy’s nose. “Well, well, well. What have we here?”
Slowly he circled Trey and Livy, keeping the tip of his steel bar trained on their heads. “Things just got interesting. I can’t wait to hear how you slipped through the brothers’ fingers. Did Daddy dress you up as a boy?”
Livy went rigid, mortified. The man was completely wrong, but he’d struck a nerve. Trey felt Livy’s pain, but more important than her bruised pride, he recognized a difference in these men. These men were rebels.
Trey broadened his shoulders. “I’m the son of Arken. My father was no traitor.”
The perimeter erupted in murmurs.
The leader stepped into Trey’s face, reeking of coffee breath. His blue eyes widened. “I’ll be damned.” He looked longingly toward the ship. “Is he with you?”
“No,” said Trey. “I wish he were.”
The man leaned his staff against his shoulder and offered a hand. “The name’s Raynor. At your service.”
Trey shook firmly. “Thanks. I’m Trey. This is Livy.”
Raynor opened a dirty palm to Livy, then nervously drew it away, nodding gentlemanly instead. “Miss.”
A thud shook the ground, turning heads toward the spacecraft. A naked alien lay in a clump below the center hatch. A second later, another gray blob dropped from the round opening.
Raynor lifted a brow. “Friends of yours?”
“Uh, definitely not.”
Trey watched fretfully, expecting Meagan or Dylan to flop down next. Instead, the feet of a robed man slowly lowered, then dropped next to the pile of aliens. He brushed his hands. “All clear.” He made no mention of Trey’s other crew members. A second later, his buddy lowered alongside him. The men proceeded to gather the limp bodies like garbage.
Trey chose his words, unsure how Raynor would react to alien sympathy. “They’re still alive.”
The men looked up, seeming surprised to see Trey speaking openly.
“It’s all right,” said Raynor. “They’re children of Arken. I guess the rumors were true.”
“Oh yeah?” one of them said. “Pleased to meet ya.” His tone went craggy. “But I ain’t stupid. I know these creatures ain’t dead.”
Livy broke in. “Where you taking them?”
The man rose with an alien over his shoulder. “A little place we like to call, none of your damn business.”
Laughter rippled through the perimeter.
But the mockery was short-lived. From the shadows, a hoarse voice cried out, “Incoming!”
A blast of vibrating energy pummeled the ground, sending robed men head over heels into the rubble. A huge dust cloud engulfed the scene, shrouding everyone in a smoky haze.
Trey grabbed Livy’s arm before losing track of her in the gray dust. Overhead, an aircraft whirred past.
A strong hand latched onto Trey’s shoulder. “Come on, kid,” barked Raynor. “Underground! Fast!”
“Wait!” said Trey. “Our friends are still on the ship.”
“Leave ‘em!” shouted Raynor. “They’re safer than we are.”
“No. We can’t leave them.”
A fist of energy pounded the aircraft, its shockwave sending Trey staggering backward. The gray haze lit bright orange in a flash. A raging fireball blasted from the lower hatch of Trey’s ship. A tongue of flames rolled from the open entrance ramp.
The ship was incinerated from within.
Moles
TREY’S FEET POUNDED the floor of a narrow underground corridor, his legs net yet adjusted to Kryo’s heavy gravity. Livy sprinted several paces ahead, barely keeping up with Raynor’s whipping black robe. Behind them echoed the slapping footfalls of aliens in close pursuit.
Raynor scuffed around yet another sharp turn. Trey glanced over his shoulder to see two gray creatures gaining on him. A pulse of lightning flashed toward him as he dodged the corner. Concrete shrapnel stung the back of his neck with the sound of the blast.
A solid wall stood just ahead, blocking the path. Raynor stopped abruptly, turning to wave Trey and Livy behind him. Backed into a corner, Trey watched the aliens appear and square off facing Raynor, weapons drawn.
A blast of electricity flew.
Raynor’s staff intercepted the blow, absorbing the energy. The steel rod glowed red hot.
From the dark shadows behind the aliens, a massive blob emerged from the opposite corridor. The dark beast bared sharp silvery teeth the size of baseball bats.
Raynor’s staff neutralized another lightning strike, forcing him back several paces. Behind the aliens’ backs, the approaching fangs slid apart, giving way to a gaping mouth and a crimson throat. The gray aliens spun, screeching in terror. Trey looked away, unable to watch the black monster ensnare the gray creatures and rip them to shreds.
Raynor froze solid, his palm stretched behind him, signaling for silence.
The black, short-haired beast waddled on six short, wrinkled legs, sniffing the concrete with a bullish nose, licking up remnants of alien parts with a long pointed tongue. Bat-like ears twitched, scanning for prey.
Raynor’s hand slid slowly into his pocket.
The miniscule brush of fabric piqued the beast’s radar ears toward him. Raynor’s hand sprang from his robe and pelted a small pouch to the ground, where it burst open in a puff of white powder. The strong smell of licorice filled the corridor with stinging bitterness.
With flared nostrils, the black blob retreated into its tunnel, seeming uninterested in such foul smelling prey.
Cautiously, Raynor waved Trey and Livy forward, treading lightly over the bloodstained floor. He turned into the long corridor and broke into a jog, leading them back in the direction they had come.
Well away from the beast, Trey looked over his shoulder breathlessly. “What the heck was that thing?”
Raynor slowed to a brisk march. “Gore mole. The brothers unleashed them in the tunnels to root us out.”
Livy pulled up closer to Raynor. “Are there more?”
“You bet your ass. But don’t worry, the lazy slugs are territorial and we know where they lurk. Something the brothers didn’t count on.”
Trey suspected Raynor had intentionally led the black-eyed aliens into a trap. He watched his leader closely, wary of becoming the next fool.
Raynor stopped at a four-way intersection and whistled. From the right , a distant chirp answered back. “This way,” said Raynor, heading toward the response.
Before long, a group of robed men trotted into sight. Amid them, a green-haired girl and a big, blond brute stood out sorely like clowns at a wake.
“They’re alive!” cried Livy, darting off.
Trey nearly tripped over his own feet, never so happy to see Dylan’s cocky grin.
Raynor held out his staff like a gate, slowing Trey and Livy to a stop. “Friends of yours?”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Trey. “They’re with us. I thought they were lost in that fireball.”
The approaching group slowed, swallowing Dylan and Meagan in a sea of block robes. The man in the front, nodded respectfully to Raynor. “We lost Buzzy. All others accounted for, sir.”
Raynor eyed Dylan and Meagan in the background. “What’s with the two kids?”
“They were scurrying for cover like all of us.”
Dylan pushed between the men, towing Meagan behind him.
“Trey, you slippery dog. You disappeared on me. I thought we lost you.”
“Hah,” said Trey, “You lost us? We thought you were char-broil.”
Meagan eased up alongside Dylan, still clinging to his hand. Trey was equally relieved to see her, but he avoided her eyes, not about to let her humiliate him in front of the rebels with some sappy mind trick. Her gaze dropped to the floor, making him sick for slighting her.
Dylan held out his free hand and planted it on the imaginary controls in front of him. “I saw everything from the ship. These dudes surrounded you and you were freakin’ shaking in your boots. When they came on board, Meg and I slipped right out behind them.”
Raynor stepped to face Dylan directly. “You should have stayed at the controls. You might have seen the attack coming.”
“Hey,” said Trey. “Give him some slack. We’re not soldiers. That’s why we came for your help.”
Raynor whirled, landing his staff in Trey’s gut just hard enough to make a point. “You better start acting like soldiers. This fight has just tilted in our favor.”
Trey pushed the staff away. “I think you’re giving us too much credit.”
Raynor laughed. “That fireball took out another fleet ship. We’ve got them outnumbered in the air now. The minute this comes down to a ground assault, the loyalist up top will unite with us again. We’ll have the brothers in our grip. Just like before.”
Livy stepped forward. “I’m willing to fight, but you have to protect Trey. He’s our only hope of finding your women. Our mothers.”
Raynor turned on her, shoving his staff under her chin. “Our women are dead. And I won’t rest until the day every last brother is held accountable.”
“But they’re not dead,” said Trey. He eased forward, letting Onna’s image wash over him. “I’m alive,” he said in her feminine voice.
Raynor’s face stretched in amazement.
Trey flipped his projection to the appearance of his own mother and spoke on her behalf. “You may not know me, but I’m alive as well.”
One by one, he cycled through the many nameless faces he’d seen in the laboratory, reproducing their likenesses in unfathomable detail.
Raynor’s wide shoulders withered, and he slumped, his weight on the staff. “Oh please, let it be true.”
Trey ended his visual assault and spoke as himself. “Believe me, they’re alive, but they’re in danger as sure as I’m standing here in the flesh.”
“Where?” said Raynor. “Tell me!”
“I can’t tell you in words, but if you know your way around the universe, I can show you.”
City of Bones
DEEP BELOW KRYO’S dusty surface, Trey lowered through a narrow shaft and dropped to a hard concrete floor. Above him, Livy descended rusty iron rungs. Voices and clanging boots echoed above her.
Trey turned to a poorly lit, windowless chamber. The stagnant smell of body odor stifled his breath.
In the center of the room, Raynor spoke to a man in similar black robes. The man’s large blue eyes lifted over Raynor’s shoulder to examine Trey closely.
Livy dropped onto stiff feet with a jolt. “Umph!”
“Sorry,” said Trey. “I should have caught you.”
“I’m fine.” She peered up at the first rung, well out of her reach. “But don’t leave me down here alone. I’ll need a boost to get back out.”
“I wouldn’t think of leaving you.” He glanced up at Dylan’s lowering soles. “I just hope gore moles can’t climb down ladders.”
“You and me both.”
Dylan landed with a heavy thump and looked up into the shaft. “You’re almost there, Meg. I got you.”
Meagan squealed, dropping into Dylan’s arms.
Raynor called out. “Over here, kids.”
The soldier at Raynor’s side vanished, a projection from afar.
Trey took Livy’s hand and strode toward Raynor. “I guess this is command central.”
“You might say that,” said the commander, gazing over the dank interior. “It’s pathetic compared to our opposition, but it gets the job done.”
The surrounding walls held dozens of black stones protruding from the surface like doorknobs.
“What’s on the other end of all these transmitters?”
Raynor stepped to the wall. “Most are connected to an aircraft we’ve liberated. A few are linked to posts like this one. This pair here keeps us in contact with insiders up top, like your father, Arken.”
Trey’s heart flopped, wishing it were so easy to connect with the deceased.
Raynor lowered his head. “Arken’s been missing a while. Is he . . . ?”
Trey nodded solemnly.
“Sorry, kid. He was a good man.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. There’s a lot I didn’t know about him though. Things I’ll never know.”
Raynor coldly looked past Trey. “Officer Vorne, go topside and round up a stargazer willing to help us.”
A robed man stepped from the group and wedged his way between Trey and Livy. “Right away, sir.”
Raynor stiffened. “Don’t return empty handed.”
Vorne nodded, then latched onto a pair of wall-mounted transmitters. Immediately he went rigid.
Raynor eyed Trey. “Hang tight. Don’t do anything unless instructed.” He waved an officer forward. “Keep an eye on them. Report to me the second Vorne returns.”
“Yes, sir.”
Raynor stepped away and leaned his staff against the wall. He wrapped his palm over a set of transmitters and froze like a statue. Robed men followed suit and dispersed to various transmitters, leaving one officer consciously present in the chamber.
Trey squeezed Livy’s hand and turned to his friends. “I guess we wait.”
Dylan dropped his arm around Meagan’s exposed midsection and pulled her closer. She cozied up and slid a hand into his back pocket.
Trey rolled his eyes. His heart belonged to Livy, and he had no real interest in Meagan, but deep inside he’d grown used to being the center of attention.
The middle-aged officer cornered his blue eyes to Trey, then hesitantly spoke. “Uh, excuse me. Did you . . . happen to meet a woman named Bethe.”
Trey did a double-take. “Oh, uh. You mean in the group of women? No, I’m sorry, I didn’t get many names, just lots of faces.”
The man nodded. “Sure. I just hoped . . .”
“Yeah, I get it . . . What’s your name?”
“Jode.”
“You want me to go through the faces again?”
The man gazed nervously at the room of inattentive officers. “If you wouldn’t mind.”
Trey let go of Livy’s hand and allowed his projection to mirror the first female he could recall, aside from those he knew by name.
Jode shook his head, signaling Trey’s transition to another woman’s face. One by one, image after image failed Jode’s scrutiny, until Trey exhausted the stream of faces he could produce from memory.
Jode stared, expectantly hoping for more.
“I’m sorry, Jode. That’s all I saw. But I couldn’t see everyone in the room. I’m sure there are others.”
Jode nodded, lowering his gaze. “Thanks . . . for trying. I imagine you’re right.”
Livy eased forward. “Is she your wife?”
“That’s an Earthly tradition. And besides, we were only children when I last saw her. But if she hadn’t been ripped from my life, I can only imagine.”
“Oh,” she said. “I just thought everyone was older when . . . you were separated.”
“No, we were only children. Not long after the more mature girls entered puberty, the brothers declared a resolution to isolate them from us boys. We were only permitted to communicate through transmissions. Never in person. I watched her grow into a young woman through years of periodic visitations.”
Trey swallowed hard. “Then something happened.”
Jode gazed over the officers, then nodded. “We don’t talk about
it.”
“I understand.”
Jode considered Trey and Livy, then Dylan and Meagan. His eyes seemed to concede that the youngsters did understand.
“It started with a group of four young men,” said Jode. “I only knew one of them, Paal. They hiked eighty miles to reach the ladies in city of Tomele. Eighty miles of black shards ripping at their boots. Bitter cold. But they made it, frozen, blistered, dehydrated.”
Everyone hung on Jode’s words.
“It was their final accomplishment. The brothers were waiting for them. They were made examples of. I’ll let you use your imagination.”
Jode took a deep breath. “But the brothers had made a critical mistake in judgment. Their brutality sparked a revolution. An army formed within days. Even we were shocked by the ferocity of our fight. To counter our offensive, the women were rounded up and taken to the valley of Krede. The sharp walls of the gorge were easy to fortify.”
Jode paused to reflect. “Things were different in those days. The brothers depended on us to maintain the fleet. We easily shut down the sky.”
He stopped speaking. With slow deep breaths, he gathered his composure. “When the brothers saw they were vulnerable in a ground fight, they took desperate measures. The women’s encampment was decimated. Krede became The City of Bones.”
Trey pushed closer to Jode. “They weren’t all lost. I’ve seen them. Your Bethe may still be out there.”
Jode went cold. “They broke our will when we had them in our grasp. What they’ve shown you may be another trick they’ve concocted in desperation.”
Trey stepped back nervously, recalling how easily Meagan had reshaped his desires. Was he as vulnerable to the influence of his black-eyed foes? For months he’d resisted being captured, yet somehow, through twisted fate, he found himself on Kryo. Had he truly come there voluntarily?
He suddenly felt trapped like a rat in a maze, deep below a foreign planet’s crust inside a labyrinth of dark corridors, hunted by gore moles and buck-naked aliens.
A vibration announced the arrival of a new presence.
Trey turned quickly to see the robed officer who had spoken earlier with Raynor. The projected man faced Jode, beaming with excitement. “Get Raynor’s attention immediately. I have a message for him.”
Misplaced Trilogy Page 39