by Rinelle Grey
“Marlee and I have been granted a pardon. Is that going to be upheld?”
Amelie might have been concerned about Tyris turning the rest of them in to save himself, if she didn’t know him better. He wasn’t trying to bargain, he was buying time.
Because it was plain there was no way out of this but to run. For any of them.
“It might be. If you turn over the alien without a fight.”
General Harrington’s words hung in the air.
How had none of them realised that the inhabitants of Semala would tell him about the alien? They’d been so busy worrying about the terraforming, it hadn’t occurred to them.
Amelie’s eyes flew to Kugah, and for the first time, she was glad he couldn’t understand what was being said.
Or could he?
Kugah’s fists clenched, and he stared at Tyris and the radio.
The word ‘alien’ was one he’d heard often enough to recognise. He knew they were talking about him. She just hoped he didn’t freak out this time. Just in case, she rose from her seat and stood next to him, her hand on his arm. Hopefully the solidarity would show him, better than words could, that they weren’t going to abandon him.
She hoped.
Despite the risks they faced taking the Resolution through the untested wormhole, it suddenly seemed a whole lot better than the alternative.
Tyris was only frozen for a moment. Then he hit the button, and said quickly, “What alien?” His eyes were on Kugah as he spoke, a frown on his face.
He wouldn’t be considering giving him up, would he?
A memory of the conversation earlier, about the Colonies being better equipped to handle the alien, floated through her mind.
But Tyris’s words were enough to keep her silent. He wasn’t giving Kugah up yet.
“Don’t play dumb with me. The occupants of Semala told us all about it. Come on, Tyris, you’re not stupid. You have to know that if there is a threat like this out there, the Colonies need to be prepared. You have no reason to withhold it. The alien means nothing to you. Hand him over, and you can all go free.”
It had all been a bluff. The threat of boarding and arresting them all was only to warm them up, so they would jump at his offer. Instead, his attempt to intimidate them made Amelie unreasonably angry.
Amelie could see the hesitation on Tyris’s face. Right now, there wasn’t time to wait for his compassionate side to speak up. She wouldn’t let him give up Kugah.
Without stopping to think her actions through, Amelie stepped away from Kugah and strode over to Tyris. He looked up in surprise when she held out her hand for the radio, but handed it to her with a smile.
Amelie smiled back with a sense of relief. He hadn’t been going to give up the alien. Just trying to think of a way to get them all out of it.
That freed her up to deal with General Harrington. Since she was no longer bound by him being a superior officer, she was free to say what she liked. And she could think of quite a few things she’d like to say.
“General Harrington?” Amelie said.
“Dr Benton? Is that you? Surely you understand the need for us to understand more about this alien?”
While she was talking, Tyris rose and slipped out the door where Kerit had disappeared.
“And just how do you plan to ‘study’ the alien? Surely you know the law dictates that any sentient life form, from anywhere in the universe, cannot be detained without having committed a crime?” Amelie said flatly.
“You leave that worry to me. It’s not your concern.”
She knew what that meant. It was easy enough to push someone into committing a crime. Or to make one up.
And she was pretty sure that Kugah would oblige, if they tried to take him.
Her eyes found Kugah, staring at her. Trustingly, she imagined. Her heart constricted at the thought of the Colonies getting hold of him. After his initial outbursts, Kugah had given her no need to fear him at all. He’d been gentle, and friendly, and…
Amelie’s thoughts stumbled. The thought of losing Kugah to this monster, of handing him over to the Colonies, frightened her as much as the threat of aborting Marlee’s baby had. And her determination to prevent it was just as great.
There was no way she’d let them have Kugah. She would do whatever she had to to prevent it.
Where was Tyris? Had Nerris got that engine going yet? If someone didn’t take this radio off her soon, she was going to say something she might regret.
Forget that. She wouldn’t regret anything she said to this lowlife.
“As chief medical officer on board this ship, it’s my responsibility to see that any patient under my care is treated with respect, and in accordance with the laws of the Colony.”
“Didn’t you just say that you weren’t part of the Colonies? And that alien certainly isn’t.”
Amelie wouldn’t be surprised if her blood was boiling. “I will not be party to this. It’s a blatant disregard to the laws that you profess to obey. It’s unacceptable.”
“Put Tyris back on,” General Harrington growled. “I’ve had enough of these games.”
Luckily, Tyris came back into the room right at that moment. Amelie handed the radio back to him, without the button depressed, saying, “Sorry, I don’t think I helped any.”
“You bought us just enough time. Nerris is ready to go.”
Amelie bit back a sigh of relief as Tyris hit the button and said, “We’re preparing for you to board. We need ten minutes to clear the bay so there’s room for you.”
“You have five,” General Harrington said, and cut the connection.
“I hate that man,” Amelie said. The words weren’t strong enough to convey the rage that his words inspired in her. He always had to push.
“You’re not the only one,” Tyris said with feeling. “I only hope that buys us enough time to jump.”
“And that it works,” Marlee said, her voice strained.
Isala fussed, and she rocked the baby instinctively, but it didn’t seem to calm her any.
“I’m sure it will be fine,” Tyris said soothingly. He put his hand on Marlee’s shoulder and squeezed it.
Amelie had to look away. She pretended to check her tablet, so that she didn’t have to see the closeness between them. Sometimes she wanted someone to hold her, to tell her everything would be all right, so much it hurt. “I suggest we send out an announcement to everyone to sit down and hold on, just in case,” she said. “Even though Kerit and Folly didn’t have any issues, they had more time to get lined up and enter the wormhole than we do.”
And they had a machine that had created a wormhole large enough for their ship. But she didn’t say that. While she didn’t mention it, while none of them did, she could keep pretending that this would be okay, and that nothing would go wrong. Those thoughts kept the panic at bay. Panic wouldn’t help her in any way right now.
Tyris made an announcement to the ship, and then headed up to the bridge, calling Kerit, Folly and Glesin to come with him. Amelie and Kugah followed. A tingle of nerves and excitement ran up her spine.
They were about to jump into a wormhole and travel light years in mere minutes.
It was hard not to be at least a little bit excited. Amelie just wished that they’d had time to complete all the testing, and that this first voyage wouldn’t have a cloud of doubt hanging over it.
She hoped it worked.
Tyris’s sat at the helm, flicking buttons expertly. Folly, Kerit and Glesin all had their assigned seats as well. The others who had come found any spare seat they could, or held onto something steady, just in case.
“We’re about to jump,” Tyris announced over the intercom. “Everyone ready?”
Everyone gave a nervous smile, and nodded.
“Come on, it’s not that scary. Folly and I have already done it,” Kerit said bracingly.
Amelie didn’t bother to point out that he’d done it with a ship that had, theoretically, already been tested by Folly
’s father. A much smaller one.
And he hadn’t been running from the Colonies at the time.
Amelie stared out the side window, the one on the opposite side of the ship to General Harrington. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then a tiny pinprick of darkness appeared amongst the stars. It grew rapidly, blocking the stars from view, seeming to swallow them up. The larger it became, the faster it grew, until it filled the whole window.
Then the ship swung around so quickly even the artificial gravity couldn’t overcome the feeling of movement. The radio crackled in front of them, but everyone ignored it. Amelie could just imagine General Harrington’s angry voice telling them to stand down. She hoped he was feeling panicked.
She hoped this worked.
That was all the thoughts she had time for before the Resolution moved forwards and into the wormhole.
For a moment, everything was still. They seemed to hang in space. Then the stars beside the window moved into streaks.
Amelie was sure her mouth was hanging open as much as everyone else’s. But she couldn’t take her eyes off the view to see.
A shudder shook the ship. Then another. Amelie was knocked off balance, straight into Kugah. He didn’t stumble at all. He stood steady as a rock, and his arms went around her, keeping her upright. His wings followed engulfing almost all of her within their protection.
The streaks of stars lurched, and the trails almost seemed to form zig-zags in the sky. It was like hitting bad turbulence in a planet side shuttle.
Scratch that, this made turbulence seem like a gentle breeze.
The ship shuddered and bucked, each bump seeming like it would tear the vessel apart.
Amelie looked over at Tyris, whose face was pale as he hung onto the control column as it tried to buck out of his hand, then at Kerit, holding onto the console beside him. Was this what was supposed to happen? She opened her mouth to ask him, and another jolt caused her to bite her tongue. As the pain lanced through her, Kerit’s wide, panicked eyes gave her the answer.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Chapter 7
Kugah had had a bad feeling about the situation from the moment the message had arrived. He’d stuck with Amelie, watching the tension in the room, knowing it had something to do with him, but not being able to guess what. Without the ability to communicate further, there was nothing he could do to help anyway.
Even if the humans had trusted him.
He’d wondered, for a moment, if they were going to hand him over to the voice on the radio. Only Amelie’s hand on his arm had kept him from panicking and bolting for his ship. When they’d opened the wormhole, he’d realised the severity of the situation.
Still, nothing had prepared him for the passage through the wormhole. As the ship tried to shake itself to pieces, Kugah was grateful for the genetically enhanced balance that enabled him to remain upright, and shelter Amelie.
He waited, staring at the humans, wondering what they would do.
Tyris fought to keep control of the ship. Kerit pressed the communicator button several times, calling out something urgently, but there was nothing but static in reply.
Folly said something urgent, and tried to stand, but she couldn’t keep her feet as the ship heaved and rolled.
They needed to stop the ship. And the best place to do that was in the engine room.
Kugah moved a few steps to a console in the middle of the room, like the one where Amelie had shown him the map of the galaxy only a short time earlier. Surely it had other pictures, so he could show Amelie his plans?
He stared at the screen, filled with tiny images. One jumped out at him, the ship. He pressed it, and a map flashed up on the table.
Amelie said something, but the only part Kugah recognised was his name.
He stabbed his finger on the engine room. “Kugah go.”
Tyris, glanced over at him. His hands were clenched on the control column, and his face was pale. “Go where?” he said sharply.
Amelie said something, and Kugah caught enough of it to realise she was telling him about his plan.
Stop, he knew. And engine.
Tyris nodded. He said something urgent to Amelie, then turned back to his job.
Kugah looked down at Amelie, still held against his chest. If she secured herself into one of the chairs, like the others had done, she would be safe here. Far safer than she would be out in the passage way.
But she had something he didn’t, the ability to communicate.
She must have been thinking the same thing. Immediately she said, “Kugah go. Amelie go.”
That was that decision made then. He scooped her in close to his side with one arm. She gave a satisfying little gasp of surprise, then her arms went around his waist.
Spreading his wings around both of them to protect them if they crashed into the walls, Kugah started out the door and down the corridor.
The weight of the human was slight, but it did throw him off balance. Or was the ship actually lurching more? It didn’t really matter which it was, he just needed to compensate for the weight, and keep going.
Kugah tried to ignore Amelie’s arms wrapped around his torso. The pressure was firm enough that he shouldn’t be able to feel them, but somehow, he couldn’t shake their presence.
That was before he even got started on the fact that her breath on his armour was warm and feather light.
He shook his head and concentrated.
He only had to traverse almost the entire ship, and manage to communicate Tyris’s message to the engineer. No pressure.
Kugah looked down the distance, and gave an internal groan. But nothing was going to change until he got there. So he headed off.
As he strode down the third rolling corridor, a door slid open ahead of them, drawing his attention. A man stuck his head out.
It was the same man who had confronted Kugah that first day, while watching Folly and Kerit fly through the wormhole.
This was not going to be good.
The man only confirmed his suspicions by speaking loudly and angrily. The only words Kugah could recognise where the names. His, and Tyris and Kerit’s.
Kugah could just imagine what he was saying, even though he couldn’t understand. He was probably calling Kugah a monster, and saying Kerit and Tyris had made a mistake in letting him on the ship.
Kugah felt the anger rising in him, and fought it back as hard as he could. He didn’t have time for anger now. He needed to get to the engine room. He pulled back his wing, which he’d wrapped around Amelie, to let her answer the human.
She glared at the man. She spoke angrily back, and Kugah guessed she was telling the man what they were doing. He caught his own name, and that of the engineer, as well as the word engine.
Her explanation didn’t seem to satisfy the man. He replied in kind. The only word Kugah caught was alien.
He didn’t seem to get it. He was wasting their time with this nonsense.
Amelie’s hands tightened on Kugah’s chest, and the movement was strangely calming.
Amelie though, was obviously angry, and she didn’t try to hide it. She spat some more words at the man.
He took a half step out of the doorway just as the ship lurched badly. He smashed against the door frame, grunting in pain. Kugah’s body just rolled with the movement. He didn’t even have to adjust his weight. He couldn’t help feeling a little superior, even though he knew he shouldn’t.
This time, when the man spoke, it was softer, more placating. Kugah was pretty sure he was making excuses.
Even though Kugah couldn’t understand the man’s words, he could guess that it wasn’t an offer of help. His anger evaporated. This man was all bluff. He wasn’t brave and determined like Amelie. He was a coward.
At least he disappeared back into his room and closed the door, so that they could continue on their way. They needed to get to the engine room, before the ship tore itself apart.
Unfortunately, they ha
d four more corridors and two elevators to go to make it there. The corridors were deserted and almost devoid of human made noise. The cries had subsided to the occasional wail. Kugah wasn’t sure how much longer the humans could take this rough passage.
The trip through the wormhole wasn’t supposed to take this long. Folly and Kerit had been there and back in this time. Something was horribly wrong. Urgency gripped him.
Kugah forged his way on. Amelie clung to him, only the occasional gasp showing that she felt the roughness of their passage. The elevator was at the end of this corridor. Not far now.
When he reached it and hit the button the way he’d seen the other humans do, the mechanism beeped acceptance, but didn’t open. Kugah growled and hit it again, but the result was the same.
Amelie muttered something, but didn’t attempt to leave the safety of his arms to try to open it.
It wouldn’t do any good anyway. The jolting of the ship must have damaged it.
If there was another way down to the engine room, Kugah didn’t know it.
“Gengine?” he said to Amelie, pointing to the elevator.
She stared at it, her face hopeless. She spoke, and the meaning was clear, even if her words weren’t. This was the best way.
Kugah stared at the elevator, his mind working overtime. Surely the engineer could feel what was happening to the ship? Why hadn’t he already turned the engines off? Surely it wouldn’t take a message from Tyris to tell them this wasn’t what was meant to be happening?
A sense of foreboding washed over him. Something else must be wrong as well.
Kugah punched he elevator in frustration. If only there was some way to force the door open. He reached for the edge, searching for a gap to grasp. It was hard with one hand, but he wasn’t going to let go of Amelie to use two.
The mechanism had disengaged slightly when he’d triggered the button, but the gap was too small for him to fit even a finger in. Growling, Kugah extended his spur with a flick of his wrist and stuck the tip in. He wriggled and forced the weapon into the gap, until it widened a crack more.
He couldn’t do this one handed. Amelie had a firm grip on his torso, so he released her, keeping his wings spread around them, and gripped the door with both hands. His armour protected his fingers as the door tried to close on them.