by Sarah Noffke
“Lieutenant Fletcher, this is Officer Fuller. Do you copy?”
Again, silence.
Nona didn’t think, she only reacted, sprinting on her injured leg past the half-dead rat-men on the ground.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Area One-Twenty-Six, Nexus, Tangki System
Every part of Julianna was weighed down by a crushing force. On hands and knees, she felt unable to move, like she was cemented to the floor.
“The gravity in here must be high,” Eddie said, seeming to struggle with each word. He was also crouched on the floor.
“How is that possible?” Julianna stated, looking around. They were at the front of the large room lined with lockers. Was this a super gravity chamber? That didn’t make sense. The door to the corridor was still open.
“I think wondering how anything makes sense in Area One-Twenty-Six is a waste of brain cells.” Eddie indicated with his head in the direction of locker 2858. “Think we can make it over there?”
Julianna tried to lift her hand but the overwhelming weight made it nearly impossible. She managed to slide her palm forward an inch but the effort was instantly exhausting.
“Damn it!” she shouted. “This is going to take forever.”
“I think it’s going to wear us out before we make it over there,” Eddie said, his breath heavy as he inched forward beside her.
At the side of the room, something emerged through the wall. Julianna craned her head the best she could and gazed at the strange ghostly figure. It was a woman… No, not quite. She had the facial features and curves of a woman, but this was definitely an alien. Her head was bald, and she bore strange markings on her face and arms. She shimmered blue all over, and her transparency made her details hard to discern.
“Who are you?” Julianna asked, struggling to stay in the tabletop position. Her midsection felt close to crumbling to the floor from the constant downward pressure.
The alien looked at Eddie and Julianna as if she had just noticed that they were pinned to the floor. It was strange that the super gravity didn’t seem to affect her. Well, as strange as anything else in Area One-Twenty-Six. “I see that the gravity storm has shifted. It was overdue, I suppose,” the strange alien said.
“Storm?” Eddie asked. “That’s what this is?”
“Yes, it moves throughout Area One-Twenty-Six randomly,” the alien said, calm superiority in her voice. She flickered, disappearing and then becoming visible again.
“How do we get out of it?” Julianna asked.
“You ask,” the alien said simply.
Julianna sputtered a cough. That seemed ridiculous, but welcome to her present reality. “Ummm…storm, will you let us go?”
The alien shook her head minutely. “I meant me. You ask me.”
“Oh,” Eddie said, sounding as surprised as Julianna felt. “Will you help us out of this gravity storm?”
“Please,” Julianna added for good measure.
The alien lifted her three-fingered hand and directed it at Julianna and Eddie. She expected to fly to safety, but instead Julianna entered sudden blackness. There was nothing. She blinked, and still she saw blackness. There was only silence. Her body was frozen. She was just about to call to Pip when she materialized on the ground next to the far wall of lockers.
Breathless, Julianna spun to find Eddie right beside her.
“What happened?” Julianna asked him, but he had no answers. He scanned his body as if making sure it was all there.
“You asked for help, so I teleported you away from the gravity storm,” the alien said coolly.
“Thank you,” Julianna said, staring around. There was no way to tell where the storm started and ended.
Wow. No species that she was aware of could teleport. Whatever this alien was, she was incredibly powerful.
“Will you be so kind to teleport us out when we’re done?” Eddie asked.
The alien turned to the wall she’d come through as though about to leave. “I only offer one favor to strangers.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Julianna said in a rush. “Who are you?”
What she really wanted to ask was, “What are you?” However, that was usually considered rude among alien cultures. This woman wasn’t the typical alien they had found the galaxy. She might even be atypical for her race.
The alien stopped and faced them. “You may call me ‘Kyra.’”
“I’m Julianna, and this is Eddie. Do you live here, Kyra?”
She blinked, her large almond-shaped eyes impassive. “I dwell here, more like. As you might have guessed, I’m neither alive nor dead. I’m in-between.”
“I hadn’t actually guessed that,” Eddie said, mystified.
Julianna cast her eyes at the entrance. She expected the Petigrens or something else to be charging this way at any moment. Without any communication with Fletcher and his team, she felt cut off. The only thing that made her feel any better was that the gravity storm would provide a bit of a buffer should something rush in there right then.
“Why do you dwell here?” Julianna asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Kyra looked around, judging the space. “I do not fit into the world anymore. When offered the opportunity to reside here, I accepted.”
“And do they study you in return?” Julianna asked.
“They might try,” Kyra said simply.
The transmitter clicked in Julianna’s head before stating, “Near your location, two figures approach, both moving quickly.”
Julianna spun to Eddie and a look of caution sprang to his face. He’d heard the transmission as well. Simultaneously they pulled their weapons from their holsters, but Julianna knew she couldn’t fire. The bullet would be ineffective as soon as it hit the gravity storm.
She tensed at the sound of running footsteps. Whoever was approaching was about to come into view.
~~~
Eddie’s mind reeled with options for how to fight whatever was approaching. A gravity storm posed all sorts of hurdles, and he and Julianna were in essence stuck in this room. He glanced behind him momentarily. At least the Tangle Thief was close by.
Two figures ran past the door to the room, then immediately backtracked.
Fletcher and Kendrick halted in the archway, breathless.
Eddie’s blew out a breath and relaxed slightly. “Lieutenant, what’s going on? The comms are out.”
Julianna glanced at Eddie. “Pip said he’s working on it. He has a fix. It appears that a signal blocked the radios.”
Fletcher, with Jamison by his side, started forward. “We’ve fended off the Petigrens.”
“Stop!” Julianna commanded.
Fletcher halted, throwing out a protective arm at Jamison, a question in his eyes.
“There’s a gravity storm of some sort between the door and us,” she stated. “If you step in here you’re going to get caught in it.”
Fletcher’s face registered his alarm.
“The storm will pass within moments. It doesn’t like this space,” Kyra said from beside them.
Fletcher face twisted with confusion at the sight of the alien.
“Well, that’s good news, because we’re going to need a way out of here,” Eddie said.
“In the meantime…” Julianna turned toward the lockers at their backs. There were no handles, and the seams were barely visible.
“Right, but do you remember how we open the locker?” Eddie asked. He dared to look at Kyra, but she wasn’t paying attention. Her focus was on the men by the entrance.
“I’m sure there’s a reasonable solution,” Julianna said. She stooped, squinting at the unit marked 2858.
A sudden thought occurred to Eddie, and he revolved to face Fletcher. “How did Hatch say we were to open these lockers, Fletcher?”
Julianna shot a look of confusion at Eddie, but he tried to silence her with a covert eye movement and she understood at once. They needed to ensure Fletcher wasn’t a Saverus.
The Lie
utenant scratched his head. “If he said something about it, I don’t think I heard.”
So far, so good. “Right, maybe he didn’t then.” Eddie tried to think of another trick question quickly.
Before he could, Fletcher said, “My transmitter just reported that we have someone approaching from the north side.”
Eddie and Julianna had heard this too, and they both relaxed minutely. He was the real Fletcher if he had the transmitter. He had to be, which meant that they’d have to trust that Kendrick was the real person too.
“None of the Petigrens have gotten into Area One-Twenty-Six, correct?” Eddie asked, watching Julianna mess with the storage locker.
“No, and the guards I stationed outside are still there. None have come in or out,” Fletcher replied.
“That’s exactly what I needed to hear,” Eddie said with a sigh of relief. He noticed now that Kyra hadn’t left. She was watching them with mild interest.
Julianna pushed hard on the unit, but it didn’t budge. She pried at the edges to no effect. “I don’t get it,” she said, grunting with frustration. “How does it open?”
“Hatch should have told us that. He conveniently left out that detail,” Eddie said, amusement in his tone.
Julianna sighed and poked at the metal plate in a last-ditch effort. The drawer slid out from the gentle movement, opening fully.
“Ha-ha!” Eddie shouted, victorious. “It’s one of those ‘slightest touch’ sort of things.”
She smiled up at him, triumph in her eyes, but when they looked down they saw something they weren’t expecting.
~~~
“I-I-It’s empty!” Eddie stammered.
Julianna looked all around the drawer, even checking the back. She ran her hand over the top and sides, but found nothing.
“What’s going on?” Fletcher called.
“The drawer is empty,” Eddie said, running his eyes over the units beside the open one. “Maybe we have the wrong locker.”
“What?” Fletcher yelled. “How is that possible?”
Eddie shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Julianna stood. “I think it’s the right locker. Hatch said the Tangle Thief was in Unit 2858.”
“And it was,” Kyra said coolly.
Julianna spun to face the strange alien. “What did you say?”
All eyes were on the ghost-like figure. “The item you are looking for was in that unit—I will tell you that much.”
“Did you take it?” Eddie asked.
Kyra appraised him. “I cannot pick up objects. You might have noticed that I pass through them.”
“Right, so who took the Tangle Thief?” Julianna asked. “Was it the Saverus? Did you see someone recently come in here and steal it?”
Kyra cast her eyes at Fletcher and Kendrick before letting her gaze fall on Julianna. “No, the device you seek was taken many years ago, I believe. Time does not pass the same for me as it does for you, but I think it’s been close to a decade now.”
“A decade!” Eddie yelled. “It’s been gone for that long?”
“Hatch said that the items in here are kept locked up unless special orders are given. They are too dangerous to even risk updating an inventory list,” Julianna stated.
“Do you know who took the device?” Fletcher called from the far side of the room. He looked ready to pounce on something.
“Yes. I was standing right over there when it happened.” Kyra pointed to the other side of the room, which was exactly like this side. It was just a nondescript line of lockers.
“Who?” Julianna asked, buzzing with anxiety. “Can you tell us who took the Tangle Thief?”
“I cannot. I did not ask his name,” Kyra said, a misty quality to her voice. “He asked me if I’d help him, and I did.”
“Help him?” Julianna didn’t know what to do with this information. The Tangle Thief was gone! Well, it had been gone for a while. It was out in the galaxy somewhere. They had to find it.
“As I did with you two, I help all those who ask one time,” Kyra said flatly.
She was too calm in this situation, which called for immediate answers and lots of them.
“What did you help him do?” Eddie asked, sounding much steadier than Julianna felt.
“He asked me to send him someplace safe, so I did,” Kyra replied.
“Where did you send him?” Fletcher asked, his voice dripping with urgency.
Kyra gave him an unhurried look. “A place that is safe only remains that way while no one who is a potential threat knows about it.”
“We’re not a threat. We’re here to help,” Julianna urged.
“And besides, that was over ten years ago,” Eddie argued.
“I’m programed with certain laws, and one is to keep my word,” Kyra stated.
She was a hologram! Now Julianna understood. A hologram with incredible powers. It made sense that she could teleport, because she was a projection herself.
I’ve almost got the comm back online, Pip said
Thanks, Julianna said quickly.
Give me fifteen seconds and you can contact the team.
Okay.
“Can you tell us anything about where this person with the Tangle Thief went?” Eddie asked, pressing for more information.
“I cannot tell you the safe place I sent the boy because that would go against my programming,” Kyra stated. “All I can say is that my teleportation abilities are confined to the planet on which I reside.”
“Did you just say ‘boy?’” Julianna asked.
“A boy took the Tangle Thief?” Fletcher asked in disbelief.
“Yes, a boy with a black Mohawk,” Kyra answered.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Area One-Twenty-Six, Nexus, Tangki System
Julianna’s gaze connected with Eddie’s, and both had shock written in their eyes. That Knox had removed the Tangle Thief was unfathomable. It couldn’t be true. He would have told them. He was the least deceptive person that they knew.
Julianna shook her head. “You must be mistaken. That’s impossible.”
“I do not make mistakes,” Kyra said.
She wouldn’t, either, Pip informed Julianna. If she is programmed she’s not subject to mistakes, and all her information is stored accurately.
But Pip, this doesn’t make any sense.
“This boy,” Eddie began. “How did he get here?” He pointed to the floor.
“He just appeared, much like how I teleport,” Kyra answered.
“Was he holding a similar device to the one in the locker?” Julianna asked, starting to piece it together.
Kyra nodded. “Yes, and the drawer sprang open when he arrived.”
Julianna’s mouth fell open. She looked at Eddie. “Because he was entangled with the receiver located here.”
Eddie understood at once. “He used the client his father left behind in the house.”
“Probably in a desperate attempt to find Cheng,” Julianna said, completing his sentence.
“And when Cheng’s receiver was destroyed, the client somehow became entangled with the one here that Hatch had made,” Eddie said in a rush.
“We’ll have to ask Hatch if it’s possible to entangle more than two particles,” Julianna said in a hushed voice, thinking.
“Of course it’s possible!” Fletcher said, his voice irate. “What does all this mean? Where is the Tangle Thief?”
Julianna raised an eyebrow at Fletcher. He could know about entanglement, she reasoned. She ignored him, trying to piece all this together.
“We don’t know,” Eddie said, sounding as bemused as she was. “This is a mystery. We’ll need more answers.”
“What we need is the Tangle Thief,” Fletcher nearly yelled. He spun around to face Kendrick. “It’s here on this planet. She said so.”
“Wait, what are you—” The static of the comm interrupted Julianna.
“Captain? Commander? Do you read me?” a voice said over the comm. “This is Officer
Fuller.”
“Yes, Nona, we copy,” Eddie said at once.
“I’m trying to locate you,” Nona said, sounding out of breath. “We’ve had a breach.”
“Oh fuck,” Eddie stammered. “Lieutenant Fletcher said that the premises were secure.”
Fletcher looked up at the mention of his name. He’d been having a hushed conversation with Kendrick.
“Sir, Lieutenant Fletcher has been knocked out. He’s unconscious,” Nona stated.
~~~
Everything slowed down for an instant. The hum in the room grew indistinct and the space suddenly turned suddenly frigid. And then just as quickly the situation shot into fast forward.
Eddie yanked his gun from his holster and aimed it at Fletcher. The imposter froze facing Kendrick. His eyes darted to the side. He knew he was caught, but the real question was regarding the gravity storm. Eddie couldn’t shoot if it was still up, and they all knew it.
In his peripheral vision, he caught Julianna’s movement. She tossed something into the air. But why? And then he saw it. She’d pulled a bandana from her pocket and thrown it in front of them. It puffed up on release and floated to the ground normally, not immediately yanked down like they had been.
The storm was gone!
Eddie fired straight at the imposter, but he grabbed Kendrick and drew him in front of himself, using the soldier as a shield.
The bullet struck him in the shoulder and the Saverus discarded Kendrick Jamison and ran in the opposite direction. Eddie didn’t hesitate, tearing after him, but he found the hallway empty.
“Bob, where is the person who just fled from this corridor?” Eddie asked.
Julianna, he could tell from a quick glance, had stayed behind to tend to the injured soldier.
“Take your second right. He’s headed for the stairs,” the transmitter said.
“Shut down the main exit and secure the perimeter,” Eddie ordered into the comm.
“We’re low on forces, but can secure the main entrance,” one of the Special Forces soldiers answered over the comm.