James shot up and slammed his fist down on a panel beside the opening. The hatch shut just as a hundred pairs of black eyes stared up at Skye like minions blindly worshipping their god.
Skye fell back against the wall and slid down, their eyes burning into her retinas forever. She’d never forget the utter bleakness of a mass of souls eaten away.
Chapter Fifteen
Take off
“It’s all right, Skye. We beat them. It’s over.” James had never seen her unravel like this. Had she given up while success loomed so close? He crouched by her and put a hand onto her shoulder. She fell forward and he held her in his arms.
“Their eyes…they reminded me of Grease.”
“I know.” James treaded on icy ground, knowing the wrong words would send him flinging into cold water. He knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. “You and Carly are safe now.”
“I never want to see them again.”
“You won’t have to. When we go back to the city, you and Carly can stay on the ship. I’ll need someone to work the controls.”
Somehow, he’d said the wrong thing. She pulled back, her eyes bright with fear. “You’re going back down into the city?” The muscles in her chin trembled.
“I have to, Skye. I need to help my people escape.”
Skye nodded, swallowing hard. “I understand.”
The way her voice broke on her words tore a hole in James’s heart. Had she said the same thing to Grease before he left? James smoothed her hair, his hand traveling from her head to cup the back of her neck. She’d had so many wrongs in her life, and he wanted to right them all. “I’ll never leave you, Skye.” Not the way Grease had.
She froze, her lips parted in a question, as if she doubted his true intentions.
Why wouldn’t he ever leave her? Because if they succeeded, they’d be stuck on the same space station together for the rest of their lives? Or because of something more—because of feelings he thought he’d never have again blossoming from the rawness of his broken heart. The truth knocked the air right out of his lungs.
James had feelings for Skye, and he had to show her. He had to give her something to prove he cared beyond her immediate welfare. He had to show her when all this ended, if they survived, they’d still be together, not as a gang member and his recruit, but as lovers.
Every thought in his logical mind told him to pull away. He’d loved so deeply not long ago, it was hard to imagine ever loving again. Yet this woman, beautiful, vulnerable, and strong, sat before him reaching for his love as if she needed him more than anything. He’d started as her caretaker, but she’d saved his life just as many times as he’d saved hers and had helped him achieve his goals. He couldn’t have done it without her. He needed her, too.
James brushed his lips against hers in a tentative kiss. She kissed him back fiercely, pressing against him, as if releasing pent-up urges that she could no longer contain. Desire stirred inside his chest like a spark blown into a full flame.
“Yucky.”
James jerked back, embarrassed. Carly sat with her little arms crossed, clicking her tongue.
Skye laughed behind him, and when he turned back to her, a gorgeous blush brought out the freckles on her cheeks. For the first time since he’d met her, she was happy, and she’d never looked so beautiful. He had to remind himself they were still surrounded by an alien horde.
Ruffling Carly’s hair, he stood up and offered Skye his hand. “Now, let’s go see if we can fly this thing.”
They ran through a hollow exoskeleton of a starship, a shadow of what it was dreamed to be. The floor changed from new chrome plating to metal grating, the holes so big their feet could fall through if they weren’t careful. Wires hung in clumps from the unfinished ceiling, and raw circuit boards stood in place of panels. James wondered how operational such an unfinished project could be.
They ran down the length of four buildings before they found the main control chamber. Unlike the rest of the ship, this deck seemed partially finished. Control boards lit with status charts and systems operations illuminated the room. A long sight panel with glass a half meter thick ran across the front hull, providing a view of the cavernous chamber. Black shadows moved around them as the alien horde circled. There must have been three hundred of them waiting for the hatch to reopen so they could flood the ship’s bowels.
How many teams had gone down to regain control of the experiment and failed?
A current of dread followed by gratitude flowed through him. He would have failed as well if it weren’t for Skye and her excellent scythe-fighting skills.
Plugging in his miniscreen, James thought of Mestasis driving the Expedition with her mind. A control deck much like this one was her new home. Although he missed her, this time thinking of her didn’t carry such a severe pang. He’d always love her, and that would never change. But his love had morphed from a tortured state to one of admiration and respect for her decision and her destiny. If she truly loved him, she’d want him to go on, and that’s exactly what he planned to do. He wished Mestasis all the best, and in a way, in his inner heart, he said good-bye.
“Do you think you can fly it?” Skye asked him, studying all of the panels and charts with wide eyes.
He had no such powers as Mestasis, but he did have his miniscreen. The program Dal had made for him popped up with a click, and the parameters of the exercise adjusted to the ship, linking to the controls. He could use the flight simulator he’d been practicing on.
Confidence brimmed up inside of him and he replied, “Yes, I can.”
“Good, because there’s no way we’re going back through those things.”
James smiled. “When the engines ignite, we’ll blast them all to the moon—supposedly where they came from in the first place.”
He clicked a few keys on his miniscreen and turned on the ship’s working systems. Low-pitched hums grew louder and higher in a drone as the ship’s systems came online. They had central air ventilation, hover power, and flight speed capability—all the things they’d need for a two-day trip to Outpost Omega. What they didn’t have was food. The biodome hadn’t been installed, and no living quarters had been finished, but scrounging for food for a few days and sleeping on the floor were small beans compared to radiation poisoning or being burned alive.
He waited until the systems booted completely before igniting the engines. Thunderous rumbling echoed around them and the deck below their feet shook as the engines fired up.
James turned to Skye and Carly. “You might want to find a seat belt.”
Two chairs flanked the commander’s seat. Each one had a shoulder harness jutting out from the plastic cushion. Skye belted Carly in. “Thank goodness they finished these.”
“Makes me wonder if they pushed to make the ship functional before it was finished for the very reason we’re using it today.”
“Good thing we got here first, then.”
James pointed to the aliens squirming on the balcony like ants on crack. “I think we got here second, third, or even fourth.”
“Well, I don’t want to be the next person to walk those corridors,” Skye said as she yanked her belt across her lap. “Nothing left to escape in.”
“There’ll be no one left to escape after the nuke.” James pulled a lever and the hum of the engines intensified.
Skye shouted over the din, “All the more reason to leave right now.”
James took her advice. Wires detached as the vessel rose up, spewing air so hot and fast it burned the aliens away in a heat wave. His seat shook underneath him, making his spine tingle and his teeth rattle as he increased the air pressure.
“You all right?” He turned his head, checking on Skye and Carly. Skye nodded, and Carly gave him a thumbs-up.
Not bad for a girl that had called him “green hair” two days ago. James smiled as the ship rose from the chamber to the broad daylight of the desert. A cloud of sand spewed up, and they rose above it until the dust settle
d and the shack was a dark speck in an otherwise bleached out land.
They could cover the distance to the city in half the time of the hovercraft they’d flown in to get there. James sped them forward, eager to send a message to Dal.
Chapter Sixteen
Rescue
Skye awoke to the droning hum of the Destiny’s engines. Red light bathed the city skyline in an ominous sunrise. Rising smoke stacks were scattered on the horizon. Her heart sped into her throat.
“Are we too late?”
James turned from his miniscreen. “No. It’s gone to hell in three days.”
“Do you think the moonshiners got out of control?”
“Could be.” He pointed at a silver speck rising in the sky, trailing orange and gray. “Look, there’s a colony ship. I hope it’s not the last one.”
“If they saw our ship, they’d wait to nuke the city, right?”
James shook his head. “I doubt we’re on their list.” He gave her a serious look. “We’re taking a risk, Skye. If we can’t leave before the bomb goes off…”
“We’ll be fine.” Skye straightened in her seat. She had full faith in James’s abilities and she’d never be able to live with herself if she asked to take off and leave all those people behind. His dream had become her own. She finally understood why he couldn’t have gone with Mestasis, even if he had passed the genetic test. “Just keep driving. There are a lot of people waiting for us to save them.”
“Thank you for waiting.” James gave her an apprehensive smile.
“Only a jerk like Thadious Legacy would leave those people behind.”
James looked down at the scene. “Dal just sent me a message. He says they’ve collected a bunch of survivors from the city. The hard part will be getting them up here to the Destiny.”
Skye checked on Carly, making sure she still slept. “Can you park this whale on the rooftops?”
“No. It’s too heavy. It would crush the buildings and I may never get it off the ground again. We’ll have to hover.”
“Can they meet us on the roof?”
“Maybe. Dal says moonshiners are swarming the city. We’ll have to fight them back as survivors board.” James shook his head. “It won’t be easy.”
“Makes me wish I still had my scythe.” Skye laughed.
“Oh, I’ve got something better than that.” James flicked the miniscreen on autopilot and dug underneath his seat. Skye unbelted herself as he pulled out a laser gun twice as long as his with two pumping chambers on either side.
“It’s what they call a high emission beamer. I found it on the deck while you were sleeping.” He handed it to her and her arms sagged under the weight.
“You don’t want it?”
“Although it fires with more power, it takes longer to shoot. I prefer my trusty old laser pistol. She’s gotten me through quite a few pinches.”
“What does it do?” Skye looked through the target, focusing on a building on the horizon. Her arms molded to the length and her right finger wrapped around the trigger.
“Blows things up.”
“Nice.” She met his gaze and smiled.
“It’s not the most romantic present anyone’s ever given.”
“For me, it’s just right.”
The miniscreen beeped, signaling their approach to the building above the Radioactive Hand of Justice headquarters. An older man’s face, haloed in wispy white hair, flicked onto the video feed. “James, we’re ready.”
“I’ll be above the roof in seconds, Dal.” James saluted the screen. “As promised.”
“We’ll start working our way up. These buildings are infested with moonshiners, so it may take us a while to break through the lines.”
“We don’t have time.” James’s jaw was set in a grim line. “I just saw a colony ship leave. And if that’s the last one…”
“We’ll hustle.” Dal disappeared and the screen blinked out.
James nodded to Skye. “We’re going down.”
Skye placed the weapon beside her seat and belted herself in. James slowed the Destiny to a halt above the building and incrementally decreased the air pressure on the hover drives. The skyscrapers came up so quickly, Skye worried one of them might poke a hole through the hull. The ship cast a gigantic shadow across the city. Debris sprayed up as the engines gushed air.
“How are they ever going to get past the wave of hot air?”
“Directly underneath us is totally calm, like the eye of a storm.” James squinted at the miniscreen. “I’ll try to get as close as I can. Looks like there’s a ramp I can lower about ten meters.”
Skye held on to the hand rests, feeling her stomach flip as James navigated the air currents.
“Here. Let me set the electromagnetic field anchor.” He pressed a button and the controls froze. The Destiny hovered in place over the city like a sleeping giant. Pulling out his laser, James gave Skye a meaningful look. “I’m going down.”
Once again, Skye was torn. Stay with Carly? Or help the man she loved? A wave of nausea came over her as she thought of the day Grease left. “Won’t they come to the ship?”
“I have to clear the roof. We don’t want straggling moonshiners sneaking up the ramp.”
As if he saw the fear in her eyes, James came over and placed his hand on top of hers. “Everything will be all right.”
She’d heard that before. But the unwavering determination in James’s eyes made her believe it. Skye blinked and nodded her approval. James put a gentle hand on Carly’s head and smoothed back her hair.
“I promise.” He took off down the corridor before Skye could summon the courage to stand up and kiss him good-bye.
Carly shifted in her seat and started snoring. Skye tapped her fingers on the hand rests, watching the city turn from dark red to orange in the glowing sunrise. She kept picturing missiles falling from the sky. The high emission beamer lay at her feet like an unused toy still wrapped in the box. She itched to go help James.
Skye no longer felt like the useless couch potato she’d turned into. Now she had a mission, a dream. She’d fought those aliens and won. She could exert her will to control her own destiny. She’d always been able to, but fear had held her back for too long. Choosing her path had brought her here: aboard a starship she thought she’d never set foot on, enacting the epic rescue mission of the century. And she wasn’t about to stop toying with fate now.
Reaching across her seat, she jiggled Carly’s arm. “Wake up. I need you to watch the screens while I help James.”
…
James sprinted down the corridor feeling like every second ate a hole in his chest. Time would run out, and he didn’t want the ship to leave without everyone on board. But that’s exactly what would happen if the government decided to rain on his parade. He’d set his miniscreen to maneuver the ship away from the city if it picked up any missile movement from the surrounding area.
At least Skye and Carly were on board. At least they were safe. He hadn’t told Skye about the miniscreen setting because he knew she’d override it and wait for him. That was one thing that differentiated Mestasis from Skye. Mestasis was practical enough to leave, and Skye was loyal enough to stay. He loved that quality about her, but he didn’t want to be the reason she and Carly didn’t make it out alive. If they had to, they would be forced to leave without him.
James squeezed the laser in his hand. He didn’t want to face watching a colony ship sail away all over again. At least this time, if he didn’t make it back, he wouldn’t live long enough for it to torture him.
Stepping down unfinished stairs, he found the panel controlling the exit and he pressed the button to activate the ramp. Gears turned as the ramp lowered outside. His fingers paused over the panel to the hatch. The roof could be teeming with moonshiners, or it could be abandoned. There was only one way to find out, and he didn’t want Dal opening the stairway to the wrong welcome party.
Taking a deep breath, James pressed the panel and the hatch lift
ed, revealing a silver walkway, built with rubber ridges like the bottom of a sneaker. James raised his laser and took the first steps down, ducking his head as he cleared the hatch.
Greenhouses filled with brown foliage lined a walkway to a building housing the elevator and emergency stairwell to the levels below. The atmosphere was still, as if the moment were frozen in time.
That’s right. Eye of the storm.
James closed the hatch behind him just to be sure. The energy in the air prickled goose bumps on his neck. Office equipment, painted in red, was spread out on the cement in crude words that read SURVIVORS INSIDE. James knew Dal would never give away the coordinates of the hideout, so others had taken refuge in the building, seeking help. He wondered how long ago they’d set out their message.
If they are still alive, Dal has found them.
James stepped around a piece of a desk and tiptoed down the walkway, checking every angle. As he approached the door, the handle jiggled, and then stopped.
Is it Dal? Could he have made it to the roof this quickly?
James increased his pace, still wary of the spaces in between the greenhouses. Shadows flickered in the narrow glass window behind the door. The handle jiggled again and the door clicked, swinging open.
Moonshiners poured out onto the roof in a steady stream, each one at a different level in the transformation process. The more alien ones moved even faster than the ones that still looked human. James started to fire, and he downed the first three before more pushed through, darting between the greenhouses. They moved so quickly, he couldn’t keep track of them.
Dammit!
James fired at the torrent of bodies as they poured out the door. Some had hairless heads with skulls that extended in an oval shape and others still had braids of golden silk, their eyes and speed the only telling factor of their transformation. He fired at the moonshiners running directly at him, but his senses screamed as the others circled, closing in. The situation had gone from him having complete control to chaos, and he swore at himself for not being more careful.
Now he’d pay the price.
A Hero Rising Page 11