Jinx stays close to Kat the whole walk over. Kat keep looking over to Jinx who has a weird look on her face. There was more to the conversation that Jinx just had with Mark. Kat was sure of that. She just didn’t know what it was or if it mattered. Like what was this sword? Was it magical, mechanical, or in-between? What did it do, and why did it matter?
Mark opens the door to the stair case and walks in.
Jinx whispers, “There is something about this guy. It’s setting off every one of my warning flags. What about you?”
Kat whispers back, “Like I said before, I trust he wants to get out of this planet as much as we do. Beyond that, I don’t trust him at all, until we can get some straight answers out of him. But we need him right now.”
Mark pokes his head around the door. “Everything is clear.”
Kat and Jinx share a look and Kat gestures for Jinx to go first. She rolls her eyes, but moves forward anyway. When Kat enters the stairway, she sees the glow stick thing that Mark had tossed down the stairwell at her feet. The walls and stairs above her dripped with water. Which took her a second to realize it was her ice that was melting, if not already melted.
Mark asks, “So, once we get Terra out of here, what’s your next move?”
Kat wasn’t sure if she should tell him the truth. He had been pretty straight with her, so she didn’t see any harm in telling him about heading to a resurrection site to get Jinx out of Graven before heading to the ship. She could be surprised and he comes up with an idea to do that without getting interrupted. So she tells him the plan.
He says, “There is that old original one on the hill there, sure. You could just use the one they have in the lab. This tower was built on top of one. They built a room around it, and dug into the rock below. The engineers wanted to test everything. They get that way. Give them an idea and they run with it, almost literally.”
Mark opens the door into the lab level. There is a room on the other side, with three thick looking containment doors. Kat follows Jinx and Mark inside. Everything is a bright white, the walls, the doors, floor and ceiling, white. Mark walks over to the door on the right, opens it. Beyond the door is a chamber filled with nozzles and a purplish light.
Mark says, “If we go this way it leads us to the resurrection site that the tower was built over. We can get Jinx out and then go get Terra. It shouldn’t take but a few extra minutes from what I understand.”
Mark just said the magic words to Kat. She can get Graven back. Terra could wait a few more minutes. It’s not like she’s going to know the difference being in a hybernetic sleep. Graven is more important to her anyway, and having another body here wouldn’t be the worse thing in the world.
Kat turns to Jinx and says, “Lets do it.”
Jinx shakes her head, “No, lets go get Terra first and then get me taken care of.”
Kat slump her shoulders while making giving her a look of disappointment. She takes a few steps into the chamber and says, “Come on, this can’t be any more convenient.”
21
Jinx reaches out and stops Kat from taking one step further into the decontamination chamber where Mark asked her to go. She pulls Kat out of the room like a child being picked up by a parent. Kat might have been turned on by a gesture like that if it was Graven doing the picking up, but right now with Jinx in control, it had a very different effect. It was making her furious.
Kat blurts out, “What the hell do you think your doing.”
Jinx looks at her with a glare a father would give a child who was just told not to stick a penny in a socket. Which only served to fuel Kat’s already growing anger. She was not some ignorant child that can be manhandled like that. She had just as much experience with judging people and their intentions. Mark didn’t throw a single red flag up about anything. For Jinx to think she had the right to pull her out of that room.
Jinx looks over to Mark with Kat still up in the air. She says, “Mark take off your glasses.”
Kat is completely confused and about two seconds away from kicking the shit out of some Eydulan ass if things don’t start getting answered quickly.
Before she gets the chance to say anything, Mark says, “Why would I want to do that?”
Jinx says, “Because I want to see what kind of Foremid I’m dealing with.”
“What makes you think I’m Foremid?”
“Lots of things actually. Most notably is the fact your walking around their tower without any type of shackle or collar. Sure I thought that maybe you didn’t need it here, in this place. There can’t be many masters here. Then you started to open doors, knew the layout, had access to terminals, and new their structure. Each master I’ve ever had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting were very particular about how they had things. The only thing in common with them all, is they liked to mark their property, and would never allow such freedoms upon them.
So again I’ll ask you, take off those glasses so I can see what kind of Foremid that I’m dealing with?”
Mark lets out a breath, slumping his shoulders as it leaves his body. “What was it that gave me away?”
Kat’s eyes went wide. Mark was Foremid, and she didn’t even question it. Jinx had been protecting her just now. All of her anger and frustration drain out of her. She looks over to Mark, and can’t see anything that would make her even think about him being Foremid. Sure he was wearing glasses, but she thought he was blind.
Jinx says, “It was glasses that made me instantly suspicious, followed by each encounter with the droids, robots, and the warrior. You never helped once, everything didn’t attack you, and you had access to everything.”
Mark nods slowly. “If I would have made it harder to get around and maybe have gotten attacked. I guess I’ll have to remember that.”
Kat can feel the heat of her anger boiling back to the surface. Who was Mark, and more importantly what was he?
Jinx says, “You still haven’t taken off your glasses yet.”
Mark says, “You got me. But I swear my original plan of taking ditching you in this tower and running off with Terra and your ship changed after I met you.”
He reaches up and takes off his glasses. Behind the black rimmed shades are two glowing yellow irises. Each oval, each missing a chunk in the middle. The rest of his eyes were black, just like the last two Foremid that Kat had seen. She just can’t wrap her head around how he could talk so much like a human, look like one, and fool her so easily.
Kat says to Jinx, “Put me down please.”
Jinx does, with a sorry as she places Kat back on the ground.
Kat asks, “Mark, what was your original plan?”
Mark says, “I wasn’t lying about how I got here, or how long I was here. I never wanted to be on this deserted inverted planet. The masters of the home worlds don’t like change. They just want to keep expanding and don’t care about the other species that we conquer. Which is how I got stuck here. By them. I might be able to order everyone around here, but it was a prison. I started to change my appearance to a human one, because I wanted to go out amongst the humans and see if they are capable of giving the masters of home worlds a challenge. When they brought Terra back, I knew what they were going to do to her. What that would mean for the war against your kind. If they were able to get a handle on magi-tech and adapt it for use, I’m not sure anything would be able to stop them ever again. I was planning on getting Terra out with one of the broken Eydulan ships I found. It was almost running, all I needed was power. Which is why I was in the secondary power room when you showed up. I swapped my plan to blowing the power, which would cut communications, tracking, and surveillance. Grab whatever I needed to run your ship, and take Terra and myself out of this place. Since you’ve gotten here, I’ve changed that up quite a bit. I was planning on telling you what I was, truly, just after we got out of this place.”
Kat wasn’t sure what to believe. He seemed to be telling the truth to her, but she must have been too quick to trust. She didn’t really ca
re about Terra at this point because of everything that has happened to Graven. He was the only thing that mattered to her right now, and until that was resolved, it was hard for her to think about anything else. She mentally puts a boot to her ass for not keeping her cool, and paying attention to the signs that were clearly there. Luckily Jinx was actually watching out for them, and ironically, Kat had been suspicious of her the whole time.
Kat asks, “So is there really a resurrection site through here?”
Mark nods, “Yes there is. Some one just has to operate the controls on this side, and then there are controls on the other side to activate the chamber as well. Anyone that comes through this way needs two. Through the service tunnel area, it was put in there for me and me alone. I was still thinking I was going to take your ship for myself and Terra at that point. It was when I saw you deal with the drones when I changed my opinion, and plan.”
Jinx says, “I’m glad to hear that you want to go with us. I think it would be pretty simple to do, and I know a way I can trust you completely. Just give me or Kat your coin.”
Kat watches as Mark’s face hardens.
Mark says, “You do know a lot about our kind. That is not something my kind talks about openly. How did you find out about it?”
“There is a lot you can learn from another species when you live inside of one for a few hundred years.”
“So you know about the old customs.”
“I do. Just give it to me or Kat. You do that, I know that you’re on our side.”
“Then you also know what that would mean for me, yet you still ask.”
“If your plan would have started out with telling us who you are and what you wanted, sure, I wouldn’t be asking for something that precious. With the situation we are in right now. You didn’t leave much choice.”
“I can’t do that. What about pledging my loyalty to you on my blood honor.”
Jinx shakes her head, “That might be good enough to get us out of this tower, but not on the ship.”
Kat places a hand on Jinx’s shoulder, “Look lets just get you and Graven separated. He can swear an oath to us, or however it works, and then we go get Terra.”
“We get Terra first. Then worry about us.”
“I can’t keep doing this. I need Graven back.”
Jinx raises her voice, “This isn’t the time to be worrying about him, Katrice. We are on a mission, and we finish the mission first. You and him had that agreement didn’t you?”
“Yes, but —”
Jinx cuts her off, “No buts. You know what he would say right now if he could tall you himself. So I will say it for him. We are rescuing Terra first, then we can work on him next. He’s still alive and well, and right now there is no rush for him to get out. There is a rush needed to get Terra out and get back to Jack and Hanna. They might need our help, and hopefully not worse.”
Kat wanted to argue, but that sounds like something he was say. It might not be his voice, but Jinx was just as right as he would be. He must be telling her what to say some times, or she just knows him that well. Which was something she immediately didn’t like. She shouldn’t feel jealous like this, but couldn’t help it. Graven was her husband, and scripture tells her that they become one when they marry. Jinx is literally one with Graven, so the whole experience is more intimate that she would care to recognize.
Kat says, “Fine. You and him are right. So how does this whole blood oath of honor thing work?”
Mark says, “Blood honor. It’s more of a promise than anything. In the early years of Foremid culture, we were a brutal bunch. Swearing by one’s blood honor meant you wouldn’t do what ever it is you said you wouldn’t.”
Kat says, “Just like any other one that I’ve heard of.”
Jinx says, “Right but its only to the letter of what was said. So he can try and shift his way out of it.”
Mark agrees, “Yes. That is true of some of the more ruthless parts of my people. Most though don’t try to squirm out of anything. They are too caught up in their own lives, like every other culture I’ve ever seen.”
Kat says, “Jinx we could sit here and talk about things for hours I guessing. Lets just take the oath thing now. Get Terra. Then if he wants on the ship, he can hand over his coin thing.”
Jinx nods, “I think that works.”
Mark raises his palms, one at Kat the other pointed at Jinx. He speaks words that Kat doesn’t understand, which wasn’t what she expected. She was thinking it was something she would understand. He was swearing an oath to her after all. In pronunciation of a few of the phrases she can cringes. His voice almost sounds like the warrior’s.
Mark then asks in human, “Was that sufficient?”
Jinx says, “That will do. I like Kat’s idea. Someone needs that coin before you get on our ship. You can take your time to figure out who, but once we reach the ship, that is all the time you have. Until then I expect you to keep not only the word but spirit of the words you spoke.”
“On my honor, and privilege as a master.”
Kat asks, “With that settled, which way to Terra?”
22
Mark points to the other door in the room. Saying it will take them straight to Terra’s chamber, and that is works the same way. Two people have to operate it so everyone can get through. Jinx tells Mark that he and her are going through first, and Kat will operate the controls first. Then he is going to get her across. Mark agrees, and reiterates his oath prevents him from doing any harm to either of them ever.
Jinx grabs Mark by the arm, pulling slightly toward the other control panel. Kat follows and has Mark show her the controls. Which are very simple to operate, something that Kat was happy about. No way to mess it up. With Whisper around she had been slacking on the tech side of things. Leaving stuff like this to her. Kat used to be really good with tech, and maybe it was time she got back into it all.
Mark and Jinx walk into the decontamination chamber. Kat closes the door behind them and presses the buttons that Mark had told her to. She hears the doors pressure lock and watches through a small windows in the door while Jinx and Mark go through the process. Different colors of air blast out. Red, blue, yellow, then white. A barely audible ding to Kat happens inside the chamber, and the other door opens inside of the lab. She waits until her door is able to be open again, which isn’t long.
She was so quick to jump into the other one for Graven a second ago, she forgot about her slight claustrophobia. It wasn’t like she was afraid of small spaces, just getting stuck in one. Like the one time she went was crawling through a vent on the Felicity shortly after her and Whisper met. Her hips caught in an exit, and she almost had a panic attack. This wasn’t quite as bad, but she could feel it come on at any moment. Especially if this took longer that what she just saw Jinx and Mark go through.
The chamber plays a tone, opening on the side where Jinx was waiting. Kat takes in a relieved breath, and steps out.
Kat says, “Lead the way Mark, and no more tricks.”
Mark says, “I wouldn’t dare. My honor is all I will have left after I leave this place, and I want to have that in tact.”
Jinx says to Kat, “Foremid are all about honor and appearance to each other.” She turns to Mark, “Im not sure how you’re going to retain anything when you leave here with us.”
Mark says, “Why my honor, not what those perceive, but what I have value in. That is all.”
The hallway that Mark lead them through was short in both distance and height, plus it was cramped. Jinx’s arms almost touched the walls as she walked through. The hallway was slightly different than the rest. Everything was too clean, like the quarantined portion of a hospital used for infectious diseases. Mix that with not being able to tell the difference between the walls and the floors. If the gravity changed, Kat thought she might have a hard time remembering which was the original floor. Mark pressed his hand against a wall at the end of the hallway. The door slides open, and inside is an open room. Which
was a vast improvement from the near claustrophobia inducing hallway.
In the center of the far wall is Terra’s containment chamber sits atop a tilted pedestal. Hoses, wires, displays, and blinking lights are surrounding her. Mark walks over to her containment chamber panel, and types in the code he found, or already knew. Kat wasn’t sure which. A small box slides out next to the panel. Mark inserts the glass pyramid, then turns in receptacle counter clockwise.
A hiss of pressure releasing happens at each corner of the rectangle box. Kat and Jinx rush up to the side of the box, and help remove the lid. They each take care as they removed all of the tubes and needles stuck inside of her. Jinx lifts her out and holds her in her arms. Terra takes in a sharp breath and her eyes blink open. She opens her mouth to speak but her eyes roll back in her head before closing again.
The lights flicker back on. Kat shoots an accusing look toward Mark and he just shrugs while shaking his head.
Kat says, “You didn’t have anything to do with this did you Mark?”
“No. Like I said before, I just want to get off this metal rock. They just fixed the auxiliary power faster than I thought they would without me or their tools.”
“Fine. Lets just hurry up and get out of here.”
The doors to the lab room close with a wisp of air. To either side of the door a circular hole opens up in the wall. Kat thinks to herself that so far nothing good has come out of those holes. This time two silver and copper balls roll out of each hole, each easily coming up to her waist. Kat looks over to Mark who is taking a few steps back and she begins to feel uneasy. Each rolls into an even space away from the next blocking the doorway. The middle two open first. Four curved appendages spring forth and hold up the rest of itself into the air. Two more come out of the back that form S shapes. They place themselves on the ground, allowing the first four to open up fully themselves. One last compartment opens up on with a single red light.
Starship Magic 3: Abducted Page 11