“Hey!” Cassandra said. “I didn’t bring you here to make him feel—”
“Silence, girl!”
Darius felt a flash of anger at the way Tanik had dismissed his daughter. He scowled at the man. “I didn’t ask you to send anyone after me.”
“You didn’t leave us any choice. I told you, Darius, you’re the key to everything. I couldn’t afford to let you die.”
Darius held the man’s vomit-green gaze for a moment longer and shook his head. He didn’t know what to say to that. Guilt wormed inside him, making him feel sick. No wonder Dyara didn’t want to talk to him.
“Don’t worry, you’ll pay your debt back—and yet some,” Tanik said. “Fortunately, in spite of our losses, the mission was a success, and we have five new Revenants on board. That makes eight in total. It’s a good start.”
“A good start for what?” Darius asked.
“For our war.”
“Uh huh. Speaking of Revenants, does the crew know what you are yet?”
Tanik’s lips twisted into a snarling smile. “Yes. Of course.”
“And they don’t care that you were controlling them all? Forcing them to fight for you?”
Tanik placed a hand against his chest and leaned away from Darius in shock. The medic standing on Darius’s other side gave Tanik a wary look.
“I can’t force people to follow me, Darius. I’m not that powerful. And even if I could, why would I want to? That would make me no better than the other Revenants, the ones who conscript our children and force them to fight in their war.”
“But you admitted it to me!” Darius roared.
“No, you’re mistaken. I admitted no such thing. Furthermore, on Lieutenant Eraya’s suggestion, we held an emergency election yesterday. The vote was nearly unanimous. The crew wants me in charge.”
Darius couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You what?” He shook his head. “Let me guess, your name was the only one on the ballot?”
“No, not at all,” Tanik replied. “Dyara herself ran, as did Ra, and Blake, and several of the others. It didn’t matter, though. People want me in charge, Darius. That’s why they follow me, not because I’ve somehow made them do so.”
Darius scowled. “Whatever. You saved my daughter, so I guess I owe you. Let’s just drop it.”
Tanik inclined his head. “I think that would be best.”
“So now what?” Darius asked. “Did you find your artifacts?”
“I did.”
“So where do we go from here?”
“Into hiding. We need to lie low for a while. Both sides of the Eye are swarming with Cygnians after our attack on the Crucible.”
Darius remembered the Crucible and all the kids they'd been forced to leave behind. Then he recalled the final stage of their mission: after successfully boarding the Crucible they were supposed to destroy it. Icy dread trickled into Darius’s heart. “We didn’t destroy it, did we?”
Tanik scowled. “Of course not. What do you think I am? A murderer?” He shook his head irritably. “The simulations called for destroying the Crucible because I didnt anticipate that your daughter’s arrival had coincided with the arrival of other tributes. But it doesn’t matter, we’ll go back and destroy it later, when we have the chance.”
Darius nodded slowly. “Why don’t we just jump around the Eye? Go back to Union space. That’s who you’re supposed to be fighting, right? The USO.”
Tanik blinked. “We can’t go back there yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re dangerously low on fuel, and because we’re on the opposite side of the galaxy from the Orion Spur. It would take us more than three and a half years in FTL to get back there, and that’s assuming we could take the shortest route, which of course we can’t. We’d have to go around the black hole at Sagittarius A, not to mention numerous other celestial bodies between here and there.”
Darius rocked back on his bed in shock and almost floated free once more. “What? You mean we’re stranded out here?”
Tanik gave a shallow nod. “I’m afraid so, yes. Here, let me help you find your mag boots,” Tanik said, and reached out to Darius with his magically re-grown arm. That arm whirred with a mechanical noise as Tanik extended it.
Darius leaned away, eyeing Tanik’s hand as if it were a snake about to bite him.
“I’ll help myself,” he said. He yanked the IV line out of his wrist and removed the electrodes pasted to his scalp and chest.
“Suit yourself,” Tanik replied, sounding amused.
Darius pushed off from his bed, aiming for the door to his room. He drifted free, and Cassandra appeared, jogging beside him. She grabbed his hand to help guide him to the door.
Darius hit the door and grabbed onto the edge of the frame to keep from bouncing away. Something troubling occurred to him, and he twisted around to look Tanik in the eye.
“If we’re stranded, what happens when we run out of food?”
“Oh don’t worry, we’ve still got plenty of food in storage. Besides, I’ve already found a nice habitable planet for us to start our training. I’m sure we’ll find plenty to eat down there.”
“Training?” Darius echoed. He had a bad feeling that he already knew what Tanik was talking about. “What training?”
“You, Dyara, Cassandra, and the other children aren’t going to become Revenants without guidance.” Tanik smiled encouragingly and nodded. “We’re all going to become good friends over the next few years.” Darius gaped at him, and he went on, smilingly, “The Revenants are coming, remember? That’s us.”
Tanik’s smile broadened into a twisted grin, and apprehension sang in Darius’s veins. He turned to look at his daughter with wide, blinking eyes, as if to ask if she already knew about this. For her part, Cassandra was staring warily at Tanik, but there was no sign of shock or surprise on her face. She knew.
Darius looked back to Tanik. “What makes you think we’re going to become Revenants?” he demanded.
Tanik just went on smiling, and a gruff whisper came slithering through Darius’s thoughts: What makes you think you have a choice?
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OTHER BOOKS BY
JASPER SCOTT
Suggested reading order
Broken Worlds
Broken Worlds: The Awakening (Book 1)
Broken Worlds: The Revenants (Book 2) - (Coming April 18th 2018)
New Frontiers Series (Loosely-tied, Standalone Prequels to Dark Space)
Excelsior (Book 1)
Mindscape (Book 2)
Exodus (Book 3)
Dark Space Series
Dark Space
Dark Space 2: The Invisible War
Dark Space 3: Origin
Dark Space 4: Revenge
Dark Space 5: Avilon
Dark Space 6: Armageddon
Dark Space Universe Series (Standalone Follow-up Trilogy to Dark Space)
Dark Space Universe (Book 1)
Dark Space Universe: The Enemy Within (Book 2)
Dark Space Universe: The Last Stand (Book 3)
Early Work
Escape
Mrythdom
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasper Scott is a USA TODAY bestselling science fiction author, known for writing intricate plots with unexpected twists.
His books have been translated into Japanese and German and adapted for audio, with collectively over 500,000 copies purchased.
Jasper was born and raised in Canada by South African parents, with a British cultural heritage on his mother's side and German on his father's, to which he has now added Latin culture with his wonderful wife.
After spending years living as a starving artist, he finally quit his various jobs to become a full-time writer. In his spare time he enjoys reading, traveling, going to the gym, and spending time with his family.
Broken Worlds: The Awakening (A Sci-Fi Mystery) Page 34