“That isn’t yours.” Grey’s head still felt like mush, but she would not let someone steal from her without a fight.
Benton tapped at the disc, and Mrs. March’s hologram appeared again.
“I knew you would find this,” Mrs. March said. “I couldn’t risk what I’m about to tell you falling into the wrong hands.”
Rin and Grey were transfixed, but Benton seemed to guess their thoughts.
“She hid a second message under the first,” he said.
“Benton, forty years ago I made the biggest mistake of my life,” Mrs. March continued, looking as serious as Grey had ever seen her. “It took me ten years to realize it, but I did. I stole one of Mazdaar’s finest intergalactic vessels and came back to Jupiter with every intention of making amends. But things don’t always turn out the way we plan, do they?”
Grey didn’t see any reaction from Benton who remained fixated on the hologram.
“Before I could find you I was picked up by a Yien rescue team who didn’t exactly believe my story of renouncing Mazdaar. They brought me back to Earth where I was told you were dead. We all thought you were.”
Benton March ran his fingers through his hair. “They would,” he grumbled.
“I told everyone my ship crashed,” Mrs. March said. “But it did not. I hid it carefully, and as far as I know it is still there. I memorized the coordinates, and I now give them to you. I pray you will use them wisely.”
Mrs. March rattled off a set of numbers while the girls and Benton March stared at her fading form.
Chapter 36
Benton slapped his hands on his thighs and paced across the small room. Then he dashed down the stairs and left them alone only to return a minute later. He grabbed items off the tables, stuffing them into a box, mumbling under his breath. Rin wasn’t sure if they should disturb him, but none of this was making much sense.
She huddled next to her sister and took her hand. Together they watched the strange man Mrs. March had married. She wondered what they would’ve been like as a couple. It was a life that didn’t happen, much like her life growing up with her parents.
Benton March waved his arm around. “Do you girls have any idea what she’s asking me to do?”
“A little.”
“Well that’s not enough.” He rubbed the back of his neck and rolled his eyes when he glanced at them. “Children. She sends me children.”
Rin didn’t appreciate the way he seemed to be discounting them. “With all due respect,” she said, squaring her shoulders. “We’ve seen a lot more than you might think.”
Grey hushed her, but Rin continued anyway.
“My sister was taken against her will by Mazdaar and tortured for information she didn’t have about our parents, who work for Yien. You can see the marks on her wrists. She nearly died trying to save other prisoners. Our father is a brilliant scientist who created one of the world’s most ingenious inventions but then destroyed it for the sake of humanity. Our mother is a pilot who has saved hundreds on missions across the solar system. We have—”
“Save your breath, girl.” Benton March tapped his boot against the floorboards. “I saw the transmissions between your father and that general.”
Grey was still looking queasy, but Rin was clearheaded and already rolling around in her mind what Mrs. March had said. If she’d left a ship on this planet and it was still operational, getting to Galileo Station was actually feasible. The question was, what would they find when they got there?
Benton March flipped on what looked like a holographic transceiver, and it started humming.
“How are you powering all this?” she asked.
“Solar cells, generator, and lots of wire. Took some climbing,” Benton replied.
“Where do you get your food?”
Benton sat down in a wobbly chair and hunched over his equipment. “Supply ship went down, and I got rich. Plus Jupiter soil grows things fast.”
“Can you get transmissions from Earth?”
“Do you always ask this many questions?”
“Yes,” Grey said, and Rin elbowed her.
“I can only receive from this distance, no transmitting,” Benton said. “And only right after the winds. For about thirty seconds.”
Could the same phenomenon that allowed her to see the animals’ thoughts be enabling his equipment to amplify signals? Was there some sort of strange energy only during that short time?
Benton scratched his beard and turned to face them. It looked like he was holding something behind his back. “Here’s the short version. Galileo Station is a top secret Mazdaar outpost on Ganymede. It was created for the explicit purpose of controlling the space tunnels to and from Jupiter.”
“They can do that?” Rin asked.
“I don’t fully know how,” he said. “Your father probably would understand it far better, but I knew enough to realize it was a power far too dangerous in the wrong hands. So I shut it down. And they sent me here.”
“Why didn’t they just start it back up?”
“Because I took the key.” Benton smiled. “Or more accurately, changed the code.”
“Couldn’t they have rebuilt it in forty years?”
“Not if the scientists who held the secrets were locked inside.”
It took a moment before Rin realized what he was saying. She grimaced, and Benton gave her a shrug.
“No choice,” he said.
Grey took a step closer to him. “There’s always a choice.”
“Well, then I made one. Just like I’m making one now.”
Benton March took two quick strides over to Rin. Before she could blink, he pulled a syringe from behind his back and jammed a needle into her arm, pressing the plunger. Then he spun around and stabbed Grey’s shoulder.
“Sorry, girls,” he said.
Chapter 37
Dana didn’t feel the cosmoship land. Its gravitational correctors were so finely tuned she doubted she’d feel it if they did a somersault through the heavens. But when the drone came for her she was ready. Marie had given her a new set of clothes, a pantsuit made of fine Mazdaar linen and a luxurious green cape emblazoned with the Mazdaar star.
She wished more than anything she could walk down the gangplank on her own feet, standing tall and looking vibrant. A formidable picture of Mazdaar strength and grace.
Instead, the drone wheeled her down the long ramp and across the bare hangar without fanfare. No one waited for her. She was escorted via transport car to a small apartment in one of the high-rises near the great Mazdaar Hall of Justice, and an armed drone guard was stationed rather obviously outside her door. She was to await further instructions.
Dana wheeled herself over to the floor-to-ceiling window and took in the view of Mazdaar City. The sun glistened off the skyscrapers and caught the windows of the self-propelled autos far below. Jupiter was breathtaking, but Earth would always feel like home. She didn’t ever have to worry about oxygen or gravity here. Its laws of physics and nature were reliable and quantified. There was stability in knowing.
She rested her hand on the warm pane of the window. She never thought she’d see this city again, and now that she was here with everything she’d ever hoped for at her fingertips, it tasted sour. Like the baklava, which had gone down sweet but later made her stomach ache.
While she waited up here in luxury, where was Commander March? And what would happen to the others? It was possible they would be assimilated back into society since most of them were still Mazdaar citizens and could probably be brainwashed to keep quiet about what they’d experienced. But she knew that would not be the case for the Alexanders or March.
It was mid-afternoon when Nathaniel Hutchison called on her. The drone ushered him inside the apartment, and Dana faced the man whose blood she shared. He wore his dress uniform, a crisp white shirt under a midnight-blue coat that flowed to his knees. A golden sword sheath hung from his belt. Nathaniel removed his gloves and approached her, reaching for her hand
.
She obliged, and he gently kissed her fingers like a gentleman. She acknowledged the formality with a nod. She hadn’t forgotten everything she’d been taught as a daughter of Mazdaar.
“My dear, I have waited a long time for this moment.”
She had waited too, but she never expected it to be like this.
“I wish I’d known sooner,” Dana said.
He gestured toward one of the low chairs surrounding the wall which would transform into a viewing screen. Dana would’ve drooled over equipment like that back in the Preserve.
“You have done many commendable things,” Nathaniel said, lowering himself into the chair. “But I would be remiss to discount how you betrayed us as a people.”
Dana knew it would be a difficult hurdle for her to jump. She didn’t expect him or anyone else to roll out the carpet for her.
“Understand though that I want to make it right with you.” Nathaniel tapped his chin, and she realized where she’d gotten her long fingers and blue eyes. Her mother might be gone, but here stood a man she could come alongside. He could teach her everything her mother had not. But at what cost?
“I was foolish,” she said.
“It is wise to admit that now.”
“My mother . . .” Dana had to tread carefully here. “She wasn’t always there for me.”
“An error, to be sure.”
“She put a price on my head.” Dana stared down at her lap. “My own mother.”
“I’m sorry for that.”
Despite his uniform, today Nathaniel Hutchison seemed more like a father and less like a Mazdaar colonel. What would her life have been like if she’d known him as a child?
“Can you blame me for leaving?”
Nathaniel moved to the chair beside Dana and picked up her hand again, holding it in both of his. “If I’d known about you, it would never have happened.”
She stared into his face, searching for sincerity.
“How did Marie infiltrate Yien so well?” she asked. “It must’ve taken years.”
He smiled again. “She learned from the best.”
“She was very convincing.”
“Your interrogation skills need a bit of development.”
So that’s what this was about. Dana wanted to pull her hand away from him, but to do so would sever the thin connection she was making with this man.
“March is unlike anyone I’ve ever met,” Dana said, meaning every word.
Nathaniel laughed. “Very true.”
“I . . . wasn’t able to get the information we needed.”
He patted her hand then let her go. “Not to worry. I can’t say I expected otherwise. The Council is very pleased for the chance to bring an end to her insolence and defiance. They have cleared their docket, and we will bring her before them tomorrow.”
Dana’s throat felt parched. “So soon?”
“The time is right.” Nathaniel got a faraway look in his eyes and seemed to focus on something out the window. “Mazdaar is on a precipice, Dana. We have the whole universe within our grasp.” He held up his hand and made a fist. “But there are still dissenters who, no matter what we say or do, will always rebel. They must see what happens to one who dares to defy the great Mazdaar.”
“Like Fleur March.”
“Yes.” He turned toward her. “But you will be the face of those who have been enlightened again. Because you were once lost to us, you can show the world how Mazdaar welcomes back one of its own.”
She managed to give him a weak smile. “I’m honored.”
“Good.” He rose. “I am counting on you.”
# # #
The Mazdaar guard shoved Paul Alvarez into the holding cell with such force he smashed his face up against the opposite wall. He pushed off with his hand and spun around, but the guard just laughed and slammed the door. Paul swore and pounded his fist against the steel. He was one of five who had been packed into the concrete cell, and he could smell the sweat and blood of the others.
“Don’t bother fighting,” a bearded prisoner with a gut the size of a melon hanging over his trousers dropped onto the bed slab with a grunt.
Wasting energy would do no good, he knew, but ever since Commander March handed him that rifle a flame had kindled inside him. He would bother, all right. Just not in the physical sense. Mazdaar had shown their true colors, and he would never forget it.
Paul slid to the gritty floor and glanced at Tanner and Sue Alexander who sat together on the other bed slab. Tanner held his wife close, and she rested her head on his shoulder. He’d been watching the Alexander family and envied their bond.
“Think your people will get you out?” he asked the couple.
“We’ve been in tough places before,” Tanner said.
The man’s words held conviction, but Paul saw the resignation in his eyes.
“Your kids will be okay,” Paul said.
Sue Alexander held her hand over her face, no longer the captain who had led them to safety but a mother grieving the loss of her children. Paul knew his words were just platitudes. The chances of Grey and Orinda surviving were slim. But still. They were the most resilient girls he’d ever met.
Paul glanced at the ceiling and spotted the bulge of a camera painted the same drab gray as the walls. There would be no colluding here with Mazdaar listening, but he wasn’t going to surrender either.
He went to the metal door and started hitting it. The guards would get tired of the noise eventually and come looking to shut him up. When they did, he knew what he would do. It didn’t matter where you went in the galaxy, money still talked.
Chapter 38
Grey came to and felt warmth against her back. She was lying down, and she couldn’t move. She opened her eyes, and objects came into focus. Her hands and feet were bound with rope. Rin lay next to her, also bound and still unconscious.
She pushed herself upright and realized in a wave of panic where she was. A cockpit. She was behind the pilot’s chair on the floor.
“Good morning,” Benton March’s voice came from the pilot’s seat. He spun it around and faced her.
She glared at him. “What have you done?”
“Exactly what needed to be done.”
She pulled as hard as she could against her bonds, but they didn’t budge.
“I wouldn’t waste your strength,” Benton said.
“Untie me.”
“Can’t.” He now wore canvas pants and a leather jacket like she’d seen Jet Yien wear on occasion. His hair and beard were still as unruly, but his eyes didn’t seem to hold any malice.
“Please.” Grey checked on Rin as best she could, but her sister didn’t respond. “Tell me you didn’t hurt her.”
Benton shook his head. “You’ve both been asleep for over twenty-four hours. You’re probably dehydrated, but I promise I did not harm you.”
“Besides drugging and kidnapping us?”
“I had no choice.”
“Are you kidding?” Grey wriggled herself over to the wall so she could rest against it. If she could get her legs under her she might be able to stand, and then she could consider how to take this man down. “We told you the truth!”
“But how was I to know that?”
She admitted he had a point.
“I will explain,” Benton said. “After we enter the tunnel.”
“The . . . what?”
He spun his chair back around, and she heard several beeps as he talked to himself as if he had a split personality. She thought back to what he told them about the tunnels, and it became clear where they must be.
“Is this Fleur March’s ship?”
When Benton didn’t respond, she banged the back of his chair with her bound hands. He swatted behind him. “Do you want us to crash?”
“Answer me!”
“If I had some other intergalactic ship at my fingertips, do you think I would have been living in a tree on Jupiter? Of course it’s her ship.”
Dread slow
ly bubbled up in Grey. If they were heading to Ganymede, there would be no need for a tunnel. They had to be going somewhere much farther away.
“Where are we?”
He raised his finger but kept his eyes on the controls. “In transit.”
“To where?”
“And I thought your sister asked a million questions.”
A cloud of dizziness wafted over Grey, and she desperately tried to fight it off. If they weren’t on Jupiter anymore, they were in space. And if they were about to enter a tunnel . . . Mrs. March had trusted her to find this man. But she hadn’t had any contact with him for decades. Was he still the man she knew? Had he betrayed them?
Benton mumbled an oath. “Hold on to your hat.”
The G-forces shoved her back onto the floor, and the intense whine in her ears was nearly deafening. Grey closed her eyes and felt herself losing consciousness again. A drop of blood dribbled from her nose but she held on, and then it was over. When Benton turned around again, he looked as shell-shocked as she felt. He blew out a long breath. “Wow. I had forgotten. Are you all right?”
“Please tell me what’s going on.” She wiped her nose on her sleeve and tilted her head back to stem the flow.
Benton got up and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. He handed it to her. “I’m not your enemy. You can be sure of that.”
“Really? Because the last person to hold me against my will was with Mazdaar.”
Rin stirred, and Grey managed to half-crawl, half-drag herself over to her sister. “Rinny, wake up.”
Her sister groaned as her eyes fluttered open. She looked at Grey but for a moment didn’t seem to recognize her. When she did, she tried to sit up.
Grey held up her bound hands. “Please untie us.”
Benton March cocked an eyebrow. “I saw you with that drone. I couldn’t risk you doing something stupid.”
“Where are we?” Rin was looking all around at the cockpit.
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